Who Knew? A Tale of Irony and Coincidence
I didn’t know him at all, but from what I have heard, life for Joseph John Janson was not all that kind to him. But before he was married. Before he had two sons. Before he tragically slipped and fell in a bathtub, drowning at the age of 57 and before life had thrown its curveballs, he was just a young man of 22 years, living his life when he took to the open road. I grew up in an old Victorian house on the Main Line of Eastern Pennsylvania. It was the “wrong side of the tracks” but it was still a nice big house with lots of cool places to hide. A few years ago, I was rummaging around in the third floor storage room and I happened upon three old black journals. They were the kind that were flimsy and bound with thin, black leather. About the size...
Having Everything and Having Nothing
We were passing through Vail the other day on the way to a camping trip and stopped off at a 7-Eleven to stretch our legs and see what the big 7 had to offer (not much). On a whim, while purchasing a few comics for the boys, I threw two dollars on the counter and said “two, quick picks.” This is a silly but entertaining thing I do maybe once every 2 years. Part teaching opportunity, part mental exercise, the purchase of a lottery ticket always sparks conversations that evolve in interesting ways. This year, with the hurricane in Texas, I was able to think in two realms. Having a lot and having nothing. Having a Lot Being able to buy anything you want is always — or at least most times — the fantasy of those purchasing lottery tickets. I...
A Victim of the Murderous Mob
“Dear Father, I don’t know that the sun will ever rise and set for me again, but I trust in God and his mercy. At eight o’clock, I sit in court. The mob have me under guard. There is no cowardice in me, Father. I am worthy of you in this respect. I am, in this one respect, like Him who died for all: I die, if die I must, for law, order, and principle; and too, I stand alone.” My family and I, one Saturday when we were looking for something different to do, decided to head to the cemetery on Wolfensberger Road. It seemed a peculiar thing to me, the whole burial ritual being a bit of a mystery, but my boys had heard about people doing rubbings of epitaphs on markers and having just acquired sketch pads, they wanted to give it a try. So it was...
Is the Coffee Really That Good?
There is a saying in marketing about what it takes to sell a product. Sell the sizzle, not the bacon. That, it seems, is what marketers focus on these days — the perception, not the actual product, quality of it or how it will actually help the customer. A few days ago, my wife and son stopped off at Starbucks to get hot chocolate. That seemingly innocuous event became the lead in to the placement of the last piece of straw onto the back of a far too laden pack animal. Now, I am no real fan of Starbucks – although I used to be. I do happen to believe that way back when they were not a huge, dense corporate monster and Howard Shultz’ vision of atmosphere and good coffee was still alive, they were a great company and their shops were great places...
Laundry Forensics
Jerry Seinfeld has a bit about what happens to the missing socks in the laundry. They had to go somewhere right? That’s the law of conservation of matter and energy. But for some reason, they disappear. Never to be seen again. We have a bundle of socks tied together in our laundry basket. It rides along every time the laundry is done and never does anything but sit there. The intention is to, at some point in the future, match them up with their mates once they come home to roost, but that hope is never realized. So what is there for this lonely bundle of singles to do? No matches to any of the socks exist. But there are close to 10 of them in there that have accumulated over the last few years. My question is, why do we keep ‘em? Shouldn’t there...
All Your Base Are Belong to Marketers
So wake up, open your eyes and realize that most of the shit they’re peddling you don’t need, won’t use and are just spending money on because they told you you should. Use your brain. Stop consuming like a lemming. Be a human.
Busy Signals
I heard a busy signal the other day for the first time in, well, I’m not exactly sure, but it’s been a while. Until I heard it, I hadn’t realized that it was a dying thing. Something that now seems superfluous. It occurred the other day when calling a business. I don’t think this is a common thing. I think it is on its way out and is gasping for its last breath. I miss the busy signal. It is virtually disappearing. You can make a call now and have someone answer. Someone, something, voicemail, ACDs, VRUs, recordings, whatever. No more, or at least rarely, do you get the burnk, burnk, burnk letting you know it’s the end of the line. You’re not going anywhere until the line is free. Without the busy signal, no more do you feel the...