Call To Awareness
We each play a part in changing someone’s life everyday. Not in the pay it forward, you held an elevator door for someone kind of way. Although, yes I suppose that works too. Our effect is more notable and we do it every day in our own way. It’s an important fact to note. Not so we can pat ourselves on the back but simply in order to recognize it.
As a recruiter I chat with a lot of candidates on the phone every week. Sometime the change I have is obvious. I make an internship offer and give someone an opportunity to start a career. Not every call ends in employment, so sometimes the change I create might be in the lack of employment, or the information provided on college courses, reading material or other career paths.
This is one way I change lives. It’s not just the doing that is important, it’s the realization of what we do. I’m not planting trees, curing cancer or feeding the hungry. But whether I like it or not I’m affecting lives. So are you. But how?
Most of us spend the day solving problems and answering other people’s questions. We focus on the task at hand, the next deadline, meeting or appointment. How often do we stop to ask ourselves the big questions? The ones that matter. Am I happy? Is this the path I want to be on? How do I make a difference?
The answer may not be as vital as it is to simply ask. This is not a call to action. It’s a call to awareness.
Stop and think.
Office Mates
The quietest guys I know.
Sadly, since this picture was taken, biker king has moved out of the office.
Old School Spam-aka Direct Mail
From the dawn of the internet there were pop-ups and pop-up blockers. One could not exist without the other. Today we can happily check our email without being overwhelmed by offers to refinance our homes or extend our partners sexual endurance.
However, there is still one place where we can’t hide from Spam, the mail box. The real mailbox that sits outside your home, or hangs outside of your apartment door. That thing you only willingly check once a year, on your birthday, because there is bound to be a card in there with some money. The rest of the year you check it out of obligation, because you fear running into the mailman on his way to shove “weekly ads” in your tiny mailbox that is busting at the seems like a fat man at an all-you-can-eat buffet. You know you’ll get “the look” or worse he might go out of his way to knock on your door on a Saturday morning and ask you to empty your mailbox, so he can refill it with more worthless advertisements for car repair shops and Kmart blue light specials. Maybe the last one only applies to me. Either way there is no need to have receive this much junk in a week! Weekly ads my ass.
I finally understand how Kramer felt.
I like to stay positive. I live to believe there is a solution and answer to everything. So like a good Gen-Yer I turned to the internet. And look what I found.
http://www.usps.com/history/anrpt03/2003ar.pdf#search=’spam’
“Consumers are saying no to telemarketing. They’re blocking spam…” Well look at that sounds like they actually understand. ”But most welcome direct mail…” Hold on a second, did they just say– “It’s one of the most respected and effective sales tools available to marketers.” Doh!
Come on USPS it’s not like we’re talking about this kind of direct mail.
http://www.sapientnitro.com.au/work/best-job-in-the-world/
–Cannes 2009 Direct Grand Prix
If anyone figures out a real solution let me know. You might just save a forest too.
Retro Pixation: International Style
I took this picture while in London. I stared directly at the bus and took a picture of what I could have sworn was a double decker bus. I was very pleased with my little piece of London culture. It was not until the next day, while reviewing my photos, that I realized I had taken a picture of a very ordinary, very single deck bus.
TMZ: Trying Out Investigative Journalism
We’ve all been inundated with Kanye news since the VMA’s sunday night. If you don’t know what’s going on you’ve clearly been living under a rock. http://www.dickipedia.org/dick.php?title=Kanye_West
The latest scandal? A white house reporter tweeted a pre-interview/off the record statement where Obama calls him a “jackass.”
Up until this afternoon all we had was the tweet. Courtesy of TMZ we now have the audio. First they break the Michael Jackson story, now they have audio of Obama calling Kanye a jackass. If they keep this up they may just get a reputation for being a reputable news source.
http://www.tmz.com/2009/09/15/obama-calls-kanye-a-jackass/
I can just hear the endless debates in journalism classes across the country, was the reporter in the wrong? Is anything ever really off the record? How is twitter effecting journalism? If you ask my old PR college professor, you watch your “p’s” and “q’s” around our media brothers and sisters. Assume it’s all on the record.
Glee–because we all have a little singer diva inside
The fall tv season got off to a great start with the Fox premier of Glee. It’s the right mix of great music (albeit karaoke style) and dramedy. The characters are quirky with a spin on high school teacher archetypes.
The evil plotting “Cheerios” coach is all too familiar. It must be a standard for cheerleading coaches to be nuts.
If you missed it you can check it out on http://www.fox.com/glee/
What is a Pixation?
Pixations can be best described as thoughts that make complete sense in my head but fall apart when said out loud. The actual thought can be a pixation or the explanation of the thought. Some call it a blonde moment, others word vomit but I like to think of it as word association, a train of thought, free writing for the brain.
I’d love to take credit for the term “pixation” but I can’t. However, I can take pride in the fact that these moments occur so often that someone felt the need to coin the term.
