Here's a big THANK YOU to those of you who've been posting here. It's uncomfortable for me to think that our beloved Phischkneght would be allowed to whither and die.
Some of you have noticed that the blog I brought to your attention is dead. It was dead, for about a week, but now it's alive and well at a different URL. Please stop in if business, entrepreneurship, or Utah commerce in general are in any way your cup of herbal tea. (Me, I like a good, strong mint.)
The most recent post over there is about the new book review program I'm launching for the site. It'll be fun to read books with my readers, and get different viewpoints on them, and of course any and all here are invited.
Cheers!
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Sunday, February 25, 2007
AVG Free!
It has come to my attention recently that Grisoft has stopped support to AVG 7.1. I have also been told that they no longer support the free version and that you have to pay to upgrade to AVG 7.5. This is FALSE! Ok they stopped support for AVG7.1 but Grisoft still has a free version and it is AVG 7.5 here is the link. I am happy to help those who can’t afford to pay for a virus scanner and so is AVG. Making a free addition in my mind is good business. This keeps the home computers free of viruses. This in turn helps keep the corporate computers and those who pay for licenses free of viruses. So if anyone from AVG happens to read this thank you.
From a small user.
May you always be profitable.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
The Commercial Spinoff Showcase
Have you noticed that sometimes a decent commercial suddenly becomes a long series of lame commercials? Let's look at a few of the ones that have really stood out:
Geico's Gecko--The lovable little critter appeared to start as a catchy ad gimmick before going on to become the symbol of the company. Now, he's doing lame interviews with an accent (Australian? I'm lousy about accents).
Geico's Nerdy Office Worker--In one of the first gecko era commercials that didn't feature the gecko directly, they interviewed several people in an office about what they thought of their computer generated spokesmodel. One interviewee was a nerdy fellow who later appeared in several commercials including some where he went around the country interviewing customers, sometimes in a hot tub.
Geico's Cavemen--I've never really got these. They're sometimes kind of funny, but they've often strayed from their origins. Lately though they've gotten back to referring more to Geico in each one. (I think it's funny that Geico has three examples that I've been able to easily think of, and Wikipedia mentions some other ones that I didn't remember at first and I won't go into here).
Dodge Showroom (Marty)--There have been a series of radio commercials in our local market where one Dodge dealer calls up another one and mocks him. It started with the one dealer asking the other how the sale was going on and the other would have some lame attempt to copy the success of the caller (kind of like a not-so-good-natured version of the recent Macintosh commercials with the PC), but now this guy is just calling up the other dealer and verbally abusing him. It's not funny anymore (not that it ever was), and now it's just painful to listen to. Not as painful as the supermarket jingles, but painful all the same.
That's all I have for now. I guess that except for the Dodge one, none are really that awful, but come on. I think we've seen enough of these for now. Speaking of Dodge, maybe I'll get around to explaining why I hate them so much (in my defense, they hated me first).
Geico's Gecko--The lovable little critter appeared to start as a catchy ad gimmick before going on to become the symbol of the company. Now, he's doing lame interviews with an accent (Australian? I'm lousy about accents).
Geico's Nerdy Office Worker--In one of the first gecko era commercials that didn't feature the gecko directly, they interviewed several people in an office about what they thought of their computer generated spokesmodel. One interviewee was a nerdy fellow who later appeared in several commercials including some where he went around the country interviewing customers, sometimes in a hot tub.
Geico's Cavemen--I've never really got these. They're sometimes kind of funny, but they've often strayed from their origins. Lately though they've gotten back to referring more to Geico in each one. (I think it's funny that Geico has three examples that I've been able to easily think of, and Wikipedia mentions some other ones that I didn't remember at first and I won't go into here).
Dodge Showroom (Marty)--There have been a series of radio commercials in our local market where one Dodge dealer calls up another one and mocks him. It started with the one dealer asking the other how the sale was going on and the other would have some lame attempt to copy the success of the caller (kind of like a not-so-good-natured version of the recent Macintosh commercials with the PC), but now this guy is just calling up the other dealer and verbally abusing him. It's not funny anymore (not that it ever was), and now it's just painful to listen to. Not as painful as the supermarket jingles, but painful all the same.
That's all I have for now. I guess that except for the Dodge one, none are really that awful, but come on. I think we've seen enough of these for now. Speaking of Dodge, maybe I'll get around to explaining why I hate them so much (in my defense, they hated me first).
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Life Irritates Art
A couple of weeks ago, I went on a business trip to scenic Scranton, PA. While the trip was an interesting series of drives through unknown and unfamiliar territory (punctuated by periods of actually doing work), one of the more memorable experiences came during my flight home.
For some reason, I was put in the middle seat of my row for both of my longer flights on the trip. On our flight from Cincinnati to Salt Lake City, I sat behind a bald man who, as soon as the wheels left the ground, plopped his seat back as far as it could go. My passive-aggressive efforts to persuade him to sit up were fruitless and I ended up spending three hours wedged behind a seat in what remained of my personal space that had been too small to begin with.
When I got home, I found two instances of creative works that captured my experience. One was a strip from my new Dilbert Desk Calendar (which is very poorly designed this year, but that’s another story) with Dilbert sitting on a plane behind some big lout who leaned his chair all the way back into his lap. The other was a brief article in the Reader’s Digest about a woman who was stuck behind someone who had invaded her space by leaning back. I was really empathizing with her through her article as she told about her efforts to entertain herself (we had both read the SkyMall magazine, for example). Then, at the end of the article, she said that she “waved her warm towel in surrender.”
What the belgium? I have absolutely no sympathy for someone who’s spacious first class living space was invaded by the slight recline of a seat back that was too far away for her to even reach. When the seat back is so close that you cannot bend down and reach your shins, then you can complain you spoiled, arrogant little columnist.
For some reason, I was put in the middle seat of my row for both of my longer flights on the trip. On our flight from Cincinnati to Salt Lake City, I sat behind a bald man who, as soon as the wheels left the ground, plopped his seat back as far as it could go. My passive-aggressive efforts to persuade him to sit up were fruitless and I ended up spending three hours wedged behind a seat in what remained of my personal space that had been too small to begin with.
When I got home, I found two instances of creative works that captured my experience. One was a strip from my new Dilbert Desk Calendar (which is very poorly designed this year, but that’s another story) with Dilbert sitting on a plane behind some big lout who leaned his chair all the way back into his lap. The other was a brief article in the Reader’s Digest about a woman who was stuck behind someone who had invaded her space by leaning back. I was really empathizing with her through her article as she told about her efforts to entertain herself (we had both read the SkyMall magazine, for example). Then, at the end of the article, she said that she “waved her warm towel in surrender.”
What the belgium? I have absolutely no sympathy for someone who’s spacious first class living space was invaded by the slight recline of a seat back that was too far away for her to even reach. When the seat back is so close that you cannot bend down and reach your shins, then you can complain you spoiled, arrogant little columnist.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Remember All That Talk About Business?
So things are changing a little bit.
Before I get to the meat of this, I really want to say that this is a great blog with great posts and terrific contributors.
I love this place. I'm not leaving, and I hope that our other contributors will come back to life and begin posting again. Eric, Jeff, Leon, Krys, Julianne...I'm looking at you.
Now, the uncomfortable part. I've begun a new venture, and it requires that I write well on a regular basis. My official goal is to post damned near every day, and that is hard. So hard that I'll probably not be posting here much. Much, you hear? I'm not deserting, I'm still here, and I still want to keep Phischkn....uh, FishNet Tech Forum alive.
In that spirit, I'm calling again on our contributors--none of whom have yet posted this year--to step up to the plate and reactivate. Please tell us what you're up to. Tell us what you're doing for work these days. Gripe about frustrations. Give us restaurant recommendations. Review the books you've read. Plan some LAN parties.
What am I doing? I've started a new website called EntrepreneursMeanBusiness.com. It actually has several other URLs that are shorter and easier to spell, but EMB was the original concept and that's what we're flying with. The website is devoted to people who want to have their own businesses and improve the businesses that they're already running. It's still very young, and very beta.
When Phischkneght Forum was new, I practically twisted the arms of everyone I knew to get them to read the blog. I won't be doing that any more. The business I'm in requires that I be interesting to people that I don't know in order to produce revenue. If you'd like to check in, I invite you to do so at EMB (no longer at FishNetTech! The link embedded here is fixed!).
Finally and one last time, this is not a farewell post. I'm still here, and I'll be kicking the butts of those who do not find time or motivation to be here as well.
Thank you.
Before I get to the meat of this, I really want to say that this is a great blog with great posts and terrific contributors.
I love this place. I'm not leaving, and I hope that our other contributors will come back to life and begin posting again. Eric, Jeff, Leon, Krys, Julianne...I'm looking at you.
Now, the uncomfortable part. I've begun a new venture, and it requires that I write well on a regular basis. My official goal is to post damned near every day, and that is hard. So hard that I'll probably not be posting here much. Much, you hear? I'm not deserting, I'm still here, and I still want to keep Phischkn....uh, FishNet Tech Forum alive.
In that spirit, I'm calling again on our contributors--none of whom have yet posted this year--to step up to the plate and reactivate. Please tell us what you're up to. Tell us what you're doing for work these days. Gripe about frustrations. Give us restaurant recommendations. Review the books you've read. Plan some LAN parties.
What am I doing? I've started a new website called EntrepreneursMeanBusiness.com. It actually has several other URLs that are shorter and easier to spell, but EMB was the original concept and that's what we're flying with. The website is devoted to people who want to have their own businesses and improve the businesses that they're already running. It's still very young, and very beta.
When Phischkneght Forum was new, I practically twisted the arms of everyone I knew to get them to read the blog. I won't be doing that any more. The business I'm in requires that I be interesting to people that I don't know in order to produce revenue. If you'd like to check in, I invite you to do so at EMB (no longer at FishNetTech! The link embedded here is fixed!).
Finally and one last time, this is not a farewell post. I'm still here, and I'll be kicking the butts of those who do not find time or motivation to be here as well.
Thank you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)