Month: August 2008

Is everyone holding their breath for Obama?

What is going on with the news today? I don’t usually read mainstream news sources, figuring that if it’s important, either someone’s blog will mention it, the wife will mention it, or my office-mate will read about it in the Express. But today, my RSS feed was so devoid of anything interesting that I went to the Washington Post website to see if anything interesting had happened. Almost the entire front page is dedicated to whatever Obama is going to do tonight, and I just can’t get myself to care. I made up my mind long ago that I was voting for him. And at this point, he would pretty much have to tear off his face and reveal himself as a chupacabra or space alien or something to get me to change my mind.

Actually, I would vote for either of those ahead of McCain so long as they promised to try and undo some of the damage to the country that Bush and Co. have done. And listening to the news anchors talk about President Chupacabra would be fun, too. I think I also can’t get interested because I just can’t (or maybe won’t) imagine how McCain could possibly win. I may be naive. Considering the lukewarm response to his “I forget how many houses I own” remark, coming during the lowest point in the real estate market in my adult lifetime, it’s a strong possibility. Anyway, I suppose we’ll watch some of whatever is going on tonight. Maybe it will even be interesting. And maybe tomorrow the news will be back to normal.

Your job is more interesting than mine

I can’t be the only one who constantly finds that most other jobs seem more interesting than mine. It doesn’t help that I’m going through a frustrating time at work where we’re understaffed as we’re expanding, so I get to deal with a ton of customers who aren’t that happy with us because we’re pushing back deadlines. And I generally like my job. I’m paid very well relative to how hard I have to work, the company treats me like a person, and I like my coworkers. But there are so many other jobs that sound cooler. For example, I’ve recently rolled over an old 401K into a new IRA, which means I can do a little playing in the market. So I’ve been reading market articles here and there, and I read about a “planned coup” at Lehman Brothers, and a lowball offer for a competitor by Precision Drilling Trust. These things sound exciting! And then you have the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac disaster, and the general unrest in the financial industry, plus releasing earnings statements . . . All I have here are annual budget submissions. It pales in comparison. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to be a day trader or a fund manager or anything like that. That sounds distinctly like work. What I’d really like is for someone to pay me for offering uninformed insight on the market. That would be pretty cool.

A hub of Central American culture

In the Post today, via my mom, there are improvements coming to the strip of 14th Street north of Park. For some of you, that may just be “the area around the Red Derby”. But keep an eye out for some new stuff.

[the Mid-14th Street Business Association], in conjunction with a District-based nonprofit organization, the Latino Economic Development Corp., has begun an effort to add fresh layers of paint and new signs to many of the businesses. The business association also plans to launch seminars catered to the shop owners starting in September. Rosemarie Salguero, executive director of the association, said one of the goals is to brand the area as a hub of Central American culture.

If I’m lucky, maybe a Costa Rican restaurant will open up and serve some nice casados and gallo pinto.

I’m wearing a left shoe!

It will be six weeks on Wednesday since I had my foot surgery, and today I wore two shoes to work. For many of you, that may not seem like a big deal. You probably wear two shoes to work every day. But try only wearing one for a while. Better yet, try only wearing one because your foot is so swollen that it won’t fit into the shoe. Then you’ll see. So the foot is a little uncomfortable in the shoe, but not terrible. And I brought the boot, just in case. But I’m hoping to make it through the day with my shoe on.

Buy my stuff!

Blue Complaint Hub Shirt

You may have noticed a new section in the right sidebar – Merchandise! Inspired by a friend, I have made Complaint Hub t-shirts! And you can buy them! And, just in case the sheer awesomeness of the shirt isn’t motivation enough to buy one, the first person I see wearing one who I don’t know in person at the time of seeing the shirt will be entitled to a beer at CommonWealth on me. Or, something of more or less equivalent value if you happen to not drink beer for whatever reason. So, current friends and family are not eligible for this offer. But all of you locals reading the site hoping I’ll go off on another rant about DC parking enforcement are! If you have ideas for how I could make the shirt better, feel free to share. A graphic designer I most certainly am not.

Giant’s okay, but the customers are crazy

There’s been a big discussion over at the Columbia Heights Forum about the relative merits of Giant vs Harris Teeter, the two major grocery stores serving Columbia Heights. I would argue that the Whole Foods on P does, too, but whatever. The argument boils down the fact that Giant is union, but the service is awful. Harris Teeter is not unionized, but they have shorter lines and friendlier staff. I won’t really get into the argument, because I’ve had quite enough of it at the forum, but I thought I’d relate my experience at Giant this morning. I went out to get milk for coffee and a lemon for delicious lemon-cornmeal pancakes. I would have gone to Hi Market, except they often don’t have fat-free milk, and I didn’t have any cash. So I walked to Giant. It wasn’t terribly crowded, although another checkout lane might have been nice. Still, at 9AM Saturday, it was acceptable. And I moved through the line pretty quickly. The cashier was pleasant if not outgoing. The problem I had was with another customer. I passed her on my way to the milk, and she was talking to someone, and while I didn’t hear what they were saying, the dynamic of the conversation seemed strange. It appeared that the guy she was talking to didn’t really want to be talking to her, but was too polite to walk away. I didn’t think much of it. I grabbed the milk and turned around to pass her again. I was walking on the wrong side of the aisle, as that’s where the milk is, and she was coming towards me with her cart in the middle of the aisle. She actually jerked her cart abruptly to the side so she was coming straight for me! “Excuse me,” she said sweetly. Excuse you? You intentionally moved across the aisle to try and run me down with your cart! I have an injured foot! Well, it’s not all that injured any more, but I still can’t wear a regular shoe because my foot swells during the day. But it hampers my mobility. So, everyone employed by Giant was just fine this morning, but I could do without the crazy customers.

Just because HDTVs are cheap now doesn’t mean your child needs one

Have you ever ridden in an elevator with a little TV screen provided by The Captivate Network? There’s one in the elevator at my office. I like to watch because it makes me forget that I’m in an elevator (As faithful readers know, I hate elevators). It also occasionally has some interesting things, like little news tidbits and weather. Today, I was coming back from lunch, and the screen showed a “gadget review”. They mentioned a 32″ Samsung HD TV. They mentioned that it was perfect for any dorm room. At the bottom was the price. $850. What college student could possibly need an $850 television in his/her dorm? Do you know how big the TV was in my college dorm? 13 inches. And I turned out just fine. Seriously, parents, if you buy your college student an $850 TV, you are a bad parent. College is about being poor and trying to hook up with as many people as possible. If you’re spending a lot of time in your room watching a huge TV, you’re doing it wrong.

Clicking ads is not saying thank you

I like reading Seth Godin’s blog. It’s generally interesting, and he talks about marketing in a very general sense that applies to more than just “professional” marketers. It probably even applies to you. But today I think he is absolutely wrong. He says that you should click on ads to say thank you for good content. Let’s list the reasons why this is not what you should do. First, you’re tipping with someone else’s money. If you want to give the author 10 cents for a good blog post, great. I’m sure he or she will appreciate it. But when you click on an ad (And we’re assuming no interest in buying, if you’re actually looking to buy it’s different), you’re giving the author someone else’s 10 cents. Sure, that person left piles of dimes out, but they left them with the understanding that you’d take one and give it to the blogger only if you really wanted to look at what was being advertised. Second, you are actually putting the blog author’s account at risk – ad sellers take click fraud very seriously, and if tons of people click an ad then immediately leave the advertiser’s site, the ad seller is going to get suspicious. Third, you are under absolutely no obligation to support the business model chosen by the blogger. If the ad doesn’t speak to you, ignore it. If they can’t make a living without your ad click, then perhaps they need to rethink the business they’re in. There is a demand for quality content, and it is definitely possible to be compensated for creating it, even without advertising. If you see an ad for something that interests you, and you think you’d like to know more about the product or service, by all means click the ad. That’s what it’s there for. But if you have no intention of learning more about what’s being advertised, and you certainly aren’t going to buy anything, then just skip the ad. By the way, note that I did not say that clicking an ad with no intention to buy is stealing. It’s not. As I mentioned, the advertiser has put the pile of dimes out there for you to take and give to your favorite blogger. And yes, you have no obligation to support the business model of the advertiser any more than that of the blogger. But if we want to talk about honoring the writer, then we need to talk about honoring the advertiser, too. Edit to add: He’s posted again, clarifying his position, because apparently I’m not the only one who disagreed. I still don’t entirely agree, but the second post is much better than the first.

Record labels are stupid

For whatever reason, NIN.com has a really crazy archive system, so this link may not work for you, but apparently someone has released an old NIN album on vinyl without Trent’s knowledge or approval.

You may have heard there’s a new re-release of The Downward Spiral on vinyl. I heard that, too. I have no idea what it is or what’s on it because the band has had no involvement in it.

How typical of the music industry – a band finds new ways to make money without treating fans like criminals, and some label that has rights to older music decides that it’s going to support the artists by cutting them out of the loop. Way to go, record label! That’ll show everyone that you’re still relevant!