Austin or Bust!

It’s been a long month. Things have been especially busy at work, so I’m really looking forward to our trip to Austin. Our flight leaves tomorrow morning….at dawn.

On the other hand, we’re not looking forward to paying to check our bags. We, ironically, ordered our tickets in June, one day after the new checked-baggage fees went into effect – $15 bucks a bag. But, we do have a gigantic suitcase, so managed to smush all of our stuff into one bag and then we’ll carry a couple bags on the plane. Now, the only question is – will our checked bag come in under the 50 lb. limit?

Flying has become such a hassle lately, but I’m sure it’ll be worth it when we’re dancing (or trying to – neither us “cut rugs” very well) to Beck and Joe Bonamassa at the ACL music festival and licking the Texas BBQ sauce off our fingers.

With that said, there won’t be much action on the blog for a week or so. While we’re away, just remember…don’t squat with your spurs on!

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A Different Kind of Political Spectrum

Here’s how it works: I’ve plotted where each candidate falls along a spectrum of positions/abilities for 5 big-picture concepts that are important in this election. The descriptions for each concept basically represent opposite ends of each spectrum, and there is a gradient in between. They’re positioned along each spectrum based on their stated positions, voting records, and my opinion.

For example, at one end of the socio-economic spectrum are people who support socializing services/industries and distributing wealth/opportunity through government; at the other end are those who would leave the provision of these things entirely to the forces of free market capitalism and open competition (so, someone like Karl Marx would be on the very tip of the left end, whereas someone like Milton Friedman would be on the right end).

Or, take foreign policy - On one end you have those whose acumen for foreign policy essentially amounts to having twice breakfasted at the International House of Pancakes (i.e. totally inept); on the other end are those whose acumen merits the moniker of ‘commander in chief’. You get the idea.

I thought this would be a fun and interesting way to visually characterize their general disposition on key issues.

Personally, the right side of each spectrum is vastly preferable to the left side…so although neither candidate is ideal (gee, what a surprise), this does point to McCain as the preferable one by far. Obviously decide for yourself: on which side of each spectrum do you think our next president ought to reside?

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Flickr Photo of the Day “He’s Full”

I’m not sure where this was taken or what the story is behind it, but, in addition to being an incredibly interesting photo, it reminded me of a dog that Dan and I came across on our honeymoon about a year ago in Aruba. We made reservations one night for dinner at  El Gaucho, an Argentinian steak house. (It was DELICIOUS. I highly recommend it if you’re ever in Aruba!)

So, in typical Dan & Elicia fashion we showed up early and waited for a bit outside until our table was ready. We were in good company with the security guard and his Boxer. We must have only sat outside for 5 or 10 minutes, but in that short time period, at least 3 or 4 people gave the dog leftover scraps of some of the tastiest beef on there way out. What a life! Below is a photo of the El Gaucho dog, but I admit, it is by no means as well shot as “Eyebrowed’s” Flickr photo above.

If you’re just sitting down to eat….bon apetit! May you feel as satisfied with your meal as these dogs do.

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Energy Efficiency Myths

There are a lot of myths out there about energy efficiency. For instance, it is a myth that turning your computer off-and-on takes more energy than just leaving it on or in “sleep” mode; and the Patrick administration just announced it is taking advantage of this ridiculously easy way for the state to save some serious cash.

Boston (WBZ) – The Patrick Administration says it can save $2 million and 12 million kilowatts a year just by turning off computers at executive branch agencies. The administration on Friday announced a new policy of shutting down the computers or switching them to energy saving “sleep mode” when they aren’t being used. Aside from the energy and cost savings, the administration estimates the policy will reduce 5,051 tons of carbon emissions — roughly equivalent to driving 925 cars for a year or providing electricity to 669 homes for one year.

So how about a few other myths along these same lines:

• Myth #1 – Turning off lights uses more energy. Turning off lights, even for short periods of time, really saves energy, with little impact on the lifespan of the bulb.
• Myth #2 – Turning off car uses more energy. Idling a modern car always wastes more energy than turning it off and then on again (even for short periods of time).
• Myth #3 – Turning down thermostat uses more energy. It is good to turn down the thermostat while you’re away from the house for the day. If you are out for a good stretch of time (say 8 hours or so), this temperature “set-back” will save more energy than it will take to bring your home back to the desired temperature.

More efficiency mythbusters from ACEEE here

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Storms, Scaffolds, and Stuart Street Don’t Mix Well

Last Wednesday, I’m sitting at my desk at work and all of a sudden a massive storm swept through. The rain flew in sideways and the wind was so strong that some of the temporary partition walls at the construction site next door flew into the street. Observing all of the action from my 4th floor window, I saw five or six workers rush to retrieve the walls from the middle of Clarendon Street. 

That is not even the half of it!

In addition to the construction site next door, there were also construction workers on the side of our building standing on a scaffold 4 or 5 floors up. The scaffold was located on Stuart Street, which, due to its position next to the huge Hancock building, is ALWAYS a bit of a wind tunnel to navigate. The storm intensified this to a terrifying extent. For a number of minutes, these guys held on for dear life as they were whipped back and forth up against the building – even damaging the “YWCA” sign. I know the photo below really stinks, but it links to a video from WBZ that says it all (just click on the image).

I hope these guys get at least a few days off, if not a raise or bonus!

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Saturday Strips

While browsing the comics recently, I discovered the Reality Check strip by Dave Whamond. I’m a fan of single frame comics, so these are right up my alley. While not “laugh out loud” funny, here are a couple that made me smile

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Bus Stop Musings

Five minutes at a bus stop with Craig and Dan…

I thought I’d share a couple amusing observations we made while waiting for a bus to the Red Sox game last night (’cause who doesn’t love an amusing observation).

First, we observed that people often converse as if they’re leaving the lines blank on the Mad Lib of life. For example, Elicia called and I asked her, “So, do you have to go to that thing tonight?” Instead of naming the thing, I left life’s Mad Lib unspecified. It’s like this:

“So, do you have to go to that                      tonight?”
                                                       Thing

Speaking in such generic terms is boring. I mean, if the alternative is to leave it blank, then I might as well just start talking as if our conversations really are Mad Libs and throw in random      bananas      that make no sense, just for the fun of it.                                     Thing (plural)

Then, we determined that the best possible title anyone could ever use for a memoir is, “I Took a Shit on a Gold Toilet.” One of us needs to live the life that allows us to write that memoir. And think about it – If you shat on a gold toilet, just imagine what other amazing stories you must have to tell.

Yep, good times at the bus stop

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And then there’s US…

Post 9/11, our country has an even more unique and critical role in the world. I really like the way Mitt Romney put it:

“What we have today in the world is four major strategies at play. One, they’re the nations with the energy, like Russia. They’re trying to use energy as a way to take over the world.

Then there’s China, which is using communism, plus sort of a Wild West form of a free enterprise. They’re going to give nuclear weapons — or nuclear technology to the Iranians, they’re going to buy oil from the Sudanese. You’ve got China.

Then you’ve got al Qaeda, which wants to bring everybody down.

And then there’s us, the only major power in the world that says we believe in free enterprise and freedom for the individual.

And this great battle is going on right now, and it’s essential for us to strengthen other friends like ourselves, and to confront one by one these other strategies and help turn them towards modernity so that the world our kids inherit does not have to know war.” 

 

Source: Debate at the Regan Library, January 30, 2008

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Go Patriots…..Place!

The Patriots season officially kicked off yesterday with our first game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Technically, we won, but we lost our quarterback! It has been a dismal 24 hours and we’re all thinking to ourselves “what will this season bring with no Tom Brady?” At least for now, I can overlook this horrible injustice as I revel in the opening of Patriot Place. Have you heard of it? Apparently I’ve been out of the loop – I just heard about it yesterday.

Patriot Place is a shopping and entertainment mecca built adjacent to Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. Not all of the stores are open at this point, but my guess is that, if the retailers are smart, everything will be open by Christmas. The complex will feature mall staples like Aeropostale, Bath & Body Works, Claire’s, GNC, Godiva, Hallmark, Pac Sun, Old Navy, Victoria’s Secret, and more.

But, what I’m most excited about are some of the restaurants and bars, like Davio’s and CBS Scene, and the new “Showcase Live” venue (Joe Bonamassa is playing in the fall – we’d probably be there if we weren’t already seeing him at Austin City Limits in a few weeks). I’m also looking forward to visiting the new Christmas Tree Shop (best store ever!) and the first Bass Pro Shops in New England (a 150,000 square foot outdoor superstore – yeah, that’s 3 1/2 football fields.) Not to mention, I’ve never been to the Patriots Pro Shop and, with all of the new added benefits of Patriot Place, it will make the trip from Newton to Foxboro even more worthwhile.

Click on the image below to check out the interactive map of Patriot Place.

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Gamer’s Bill of Rights – PR to Buzz About

In Public Relations, especially “consumer” PR, the challenge of having no news is a frequent occurrence for many companies. In these cases, the PR department (or agency) has to get creative when figuring out how to attract attention to the company or cause.

A perfect example of this type of creativity is Stardock Games‘ recent creation and announcement of the Gamer’s Bill of Rights. What a catchy concept!

Stardock spotted what they considered an industry-wide issue – that PC games are often not held to the same standards as console games. With The Bill, Stardock not only gained attention for their company, but helped to shed light, for a brief period, on some of the issues in the PC game industry.

Stardock issued a press release just prior to the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), a video game conference held in Seattle each year (some of my clients from 360 were there as well  ). In the release, Stardock promoted their booth # and then, at the show, prominently displayed the Bill of Rights in their booth.

Brad Wardell, the CEO, even penned an article for popular industry website Edge-Online surrounding the Bill. As a result of his article and the press release, the news snowballed and was covered by tons of websites including Boing Boing, Slashdot, Kotaku, CNET, Gamasutra, GameDaily, 1up, and Wired.com.

As a PR initiative the effort was a success, in my opinion. On the other hand, I don’t think the Gamer’s Bill of Rights will become an industry-altering official document that game developers worldwide will adhere to. It doesn’t hurt to try, though!

The Gamer’s Bill of Rights:

1. Gamers shall have the right to return games that don’t work with their computers for a full refund.
2. Gamers shall have the right to demand that games be released in a finished state.
3. Gamers shall have the right to expect meaningful updates after a game’s release.
4. Gamers shall have the right to demand that download managers and updaters not force themselves to run or be forced to load in order to play a game.
5. Gamers shall have the right to expect that the minimum requirements for a game will mean that the game will play adequately on that computer.
6. Gamers shall have the right to expect that games won’t install hidden drivers or other potentially harmful software without their consent.
7. Gamers shall have the right to re-download the latest versions of the games they own at any time.
8. Gamers shall have the right to not be treated as potential criminals by developers or publishers.
9. Gamers shall have the right to demand that a single-player game not force them to be connected to the Internet every time they wish to play.
10. Gamers shall have the right that games which are installed to the hard drive shall not require a CD/DVD to remain in the drive to play.

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End of Summer – It Ain’t So Bad

The unofficial end to summer has come and gone (Labor Day), the official end to summer is fast approaching (Autumnal Equinox)…and I couldn’t be happier. This is the best time of year in New England. Sure I love summer, and yeah, the dwindling daylight is a bummer, but there are just so many things I love about the fall:

●  NFL, college football, fantasy football
●  Pennant races, October baseball
●  Foliage – I’ll admit it, I dig foliage
●  Orion starts creeping up over the horizon – I’ll admit it, I dig constellations
●  Stews, braised meats, roasted birds, and other comforting fare
●   Crispy morning air that will wake you up better than a shot of espresso
●   And of course, our wedding anniversary

And get this, all the suffering through the tedious rain we endured during the summer is paying off in spades for the fall harvest. Cranberry and apple farmers in New England are expecting one of the most bountiful, colorful, and juiciest harvests in years. Extra helpings of cranberry sauce and apple pie all around!

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