Monthly Archives: August 2008

Be Clear Be Obvious

The downside to not being on the ball and taking immediate action when it hits you is that someone else is probably going to beat you to the punch.  Maybe they’ll do a better or worse job, maybe they’ll do exactly the same job.  But they’re doing the job, and you’re left to kick yourself in a crowded parking lot at two in the morning on a Tuesday night inevitably asking yourself, "How the fuck did I let this happen?"  I don’t know.

Shortly after finishing a nine-month-long leadership course in 2007 I quit my then current job and started working with Thompology in a tiny attempt to find personal freedom.  This got me to start thinking about marketing which lead me to thinking about branding.  Sadly, I didn’t fully understand either until it was too late.  However, I did eventually coin the term "Be Clear.  Be Obvious." for my personal slogan, and I never shared it with anyone, at least not until early August 2008 when I shouted it out while jay walking across a street in Portland, Oregon at two in the afternoon.  (Why then?  I don’t know.)  So there it was.  My mantra.

Not even a full week after returning from Portland, Mr. Calacanis was at it again with his newsletter and emails a four thousand plus word writeup about PR and sums up his branding philosophy in six little words, "be amazing, be everywhere, be real."  Talk about very strange timing.  The only proof I have that I said mine first is the couple of witnesses jay walking with me, and I won’t incriminate them.

Essentially, it took Jason six words to say what I said in four.  Except I forgot the most important piece — "be amazing."  Very crucial and probably the part I take most for granted, which is likely why I completely glossed over it.

Calacanis has been at this quite a bit longer than I have, but that’s not a good excuse.  So take what you can from what either of us said, and learn your lesson.  Be Clear Be Obvious and to drive home what JCal said, be totally fucking amazing.  The rest will follow.

San Joaquin Woman

As you know, I’m a fan of Google Alerts and I use it for a variety of serach terms, including the name of the company for which I work because we regularly make it into local newspapers and such.  Today it took me to this link, House panel to probe mortgage mess in Stockton, an article on iabuzz.com talking about an upcoming event in which my boss is participating.  As part of a character profile, they linked to an interesting article about her in San Joaquin Woman magazine.  Check it out.

In Booth Radio Time With V101.1FM

It was nothing like I expected it to be, at least not from what I’ve seen on TV.  Although, why would you expect TV to be like radio.  I suppose it was your average clear channel booth, but what do I know about that sort of thing.  I was a little disappointed there were no headphones to wear, and I was a little grossed out as they continued to push the mic closer to my face.  “How many people have hacked, spittled, or coughed on this thing”, I wondered to myself.

Not the point.

I was at the Station early Monday morning, we’ll call it 7AM, to do a bit of promotional work for my employer.  I met with Lee Perkins and Andrea Gomez to do a couple of short interviews about a home ownership expo coming up in late September.

I was noticably nervous and fumbled a few of my words.  The bits were pre-recorded, so I don’t know the final product sounds like.  But, I definitely had at least one two second or longer “uhhhh…”  I’m usually on top of those sorts of things, but I suppose, maybe, thinking about it might have caused it.

Listen for me Monday mornings to hear weekly stumblings of me falling over words.  The topics will change monthly.

Democrats Securing Indian-American Vote

This is what level of not so funny?  Stop.  Wait.  You have to kind of want to laugh because it’s not as harmless as it first seems.  Which is to say, this is not a political post so much as it’s a, “hey, all these clowns are clowns” post.

To be fair, this is probably just a bit of off-color humor.  I doubt they have 7-11 quick stops in Delaware.

PSI Basic, Basically Bull *Sigh* Seminar

I recently had the opportunity to attend Basic in San Francisco from PSI Seminars.  (PSI stands for Personal Success Institute, and is pronounced “sigh”, as in the Greek letter.)  This is the first in a series of three seminars, roughly totaling a grand sum of $11K and requiring about 21 days of your life.  (You can take as much time between seminars as you like, but you get discounts if you sign up sooner.)  If you opt in, there’s a serious commitment.  To take the Basic will cost you about $600, which is where they weed out crazy people and anyone not interested in further self-exploration.

The creators of the program have cultivated a self-help pyramid scheme with a side of cult-like following.  It’s amazing, frightening, and all around intriguing.  It’s usually someone close to you that will lure you in, inviting you to one of their graduation ceremonies from one of the three seminars.  These graduations are more sales pitch than graduation ceremony.  You think you’re showing up to support someone close to you in his accomplishment and you come out having been pressured into signing up for Basic.  (Some graduates believe so strongly that the program is what others need, that they will shell out the initial payment for someone else.  That’s how I arrived.)

The solution they provide, regardless of what anyone finds wrong with himself, is that we have our parents to blame.  In some way, the obviously awful and difficult life we are living now is because of our parents, and where we fall short is also because of them.  Busted relationships?  You didn’t get along with mom or dad.  Fear of commitment?  Mom or dad didn’t accept you.  Problems with addiction?  Mom or dad was an alcoholic.  You get the idea.  And after they get you to accept and believe in blaming your parents, they ask you stop blaming your parents.  “You have the power now to choose.  Choose not to carry resentment, which leads to resistance and revenge.”  Holy crap, everyone is cured.

But wait, there’s more.  We can’t really cure ourselves in just four days.  If you want the healing to stick, you must sign on to the next show, where you can go deeper and really break up the programming we and our parents spent so many years putting into our heads.  A lot of the time during the first four days is used selling the next seminar, and telling everyone how great it is.  To reinforce this statement, graduates from the programs are available all weekend (volunteering) to answer questions and support you in your decision to sign on to PSI Seven, the next seminar.

Obviously their tactics aren’t as blatant as I’ve made them to be, but I use exaggeration to make a point.  It’s an emotionally exhausting weekend for many people.  You’ll laugh, dance, chat, sing, connect, and cry.  The facilitators are preying on people who, a) believe they have lost control of their lives, and b) people that  think they don’t belong anywhere.  Many leave the first class believing they’ve scratched the surface to recovery, and they want to break all the way through.  Handing over a few thousand dollars for this is a very small price to pay, and you’ll make some friends along the way.

I’ll tell you what, and here’s the deal — rather than shelling out a bunch of cash and throwing away valuable days of your life, invite me to coffee, buy me an Americano, and ask me to listen before I respond.  It’s the best gift I could ever give you.  OR you can watch the Last Lecutre by Randy Pausch .  (Randy passed away July 25, 2008, and this lecture made it on to the Google Search home page.  It’s that good.)

Let me wrap this up as plainly as possible:  I am not a fan of PSI Seminars.  Stay away.

Madonna At It Again, Entertaining All

I don’t know how she does it, or how she continues to keep doing it, but Madonna really just is not ready to call it a day and hang up her singing career.  It’s absolutely amazing.  She continues to stay current and relevant, and it’s not just her music.  According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle via Jimmy Orr at The Christian Science Monitor, she’s at it again surrounding herself in controversy.  I’m sure she could sell out concerts from here to the end of the universe, so it’s safe to say she doesn’t need to stir the pot but hey, it’s Madonna, and her antics help hold our attention when we tire of her singing about not asking she quit or slow down.  Right?  I mean, wasn’t it just a couple years ago that she was in the papers for kidnapping children from third world countries.  There’s no such thing as bad PR, even if it means stealing a couple of foreign-born kids.  I suppose this time it’s not quite as exciting as she’s just depicting her opinion of the presidential candidates during some portion of her live concert.

Early Adopting, For Geeks Or FanFolks?

Every now and again I show up somewhere and wind out talking about techy things that aren’t necessarily appropriate for public consumption.  Most recently it was a Sunday BBQ at the home of @alum and his lovely wife.  He and I somehow (probably my fault) started prattling on about Twitter when another guest chimed in with, "what’s that?  Is that another Facebook or Myspace?"  Neither of us had a really great way to explain the service to her.  (I didn’t use my sex analogy, but I should have.)  Ultimately, I told her it was only for early adopters, to which she replied, "you mean people like you guys."  Ha!  Yes, precisely.  Although, maybe more like myself than @alum — I don’t want to implicate him in its use.

This got me to wondering who really is using these almost daily new web 2.0 apps and the like.  Part of my explanation to the listening guests involved my admitting that, from a branding standpoint, whenever I find a new service or app, I want to sign up with my desired username before anyone else can.  So it’s more of a fanboy frame of mind from that perspective.  However, there still is the geek set in me that wants to turn and tweak every setting, and scan through the code if it’s available.  So, I don’t know.  It’s fairly middle of the road as I see it, but I’d have to lean toward mostly fanboy since I sign on to any and every service with the same name and photo.  I’m a branding maniac in that sense.

I checked the people I follow on Twitter and they are mostly tech bloggers or local Sacramento dwellers.  I define most of them as fanfolk — the tech bloggers, at least — the type of people who use Apple products simply because they’re not Microsoft products and are much easier to manipulate than Linux-ware.   These people are always ALWAYS using or at least talking about the latest and greatest web 2.0 apps.  Unlike the Geeks, the Slashdot folks, who you’ll find repeatedly complaining about shoddy algorithms and miss named quanta.  Definitely not the same people.  So it goes.  And it’s not just my Twitter stream, you’ll find the fanfolk in my feedreader, too.

The truth of the matter is, the fanfolk are the early adopters.  They’re willing to sign up and beta test whatever app you toss them and they want to be the first to blog and microblog to you whether it’s cool or not.  They are the cool kids of the scene, regardless of whether or not they know what they’re talking about, and they are probably going to determine whether or not an app makes it to mainstream.  Before we get carried away, let’s be honest: would you rather roll out on Friday night with iJustine or CmdrTaco ?  Umm…no contest.  iJustine, drinks and tech talk?  My treat.  Ring me when you’re in town.

Cheese Return In Another Life

I don’t know what it is, and don’t get me wrong, I enjoy fresh Provolone cheese, but if I were ever to return in a future life as a stick of Provolone cheese, I would be very disappointed.  It’s just so plain and boring.  But it does go well with crackers and salami, so there’s always that.  And maybe that’s just it, isn’t it?

Anyhow, I couldn’t say for certain which type of cheese I would like to return as, maybe a Pepperjack or something, but even that seems too easy.  I like the spice, but it’s not really the flavor of the cheese so much as it’s the additive.  Perhaps a nice aged cheddar from Wisconsin.  I like the sound of that.

Dot's Dog, Stockton's Red Hot Chicago Hot Dog

I’m in Stockton two to three days a week for work and, while I will usually pack a sack lunch, occasionally I’m lazy or running behind schedule in the morning and I leave the house with no lunch or snacks.  So I have reason on these occasions to leave the safety and comfort of my office to find a lunchtime meal.  Keeping with the spirit of my love for a  tasty hot dog, I found Dot’s Dog in Stockton.

Dot’s, located at the corner of Pacific and Adams, prepares a mighty fine Chicago Dog, boasting that all their ingredients are flown in from Chicago.  (Except for a few of the fresh vegetables.)  Let me tell you, I’ve eaten a hot dog in Chicago, where you don’t even think about asking for ketchup, and Dot’s does a darn good job of bringing that authenticity to the West Coast.  From the neon green relish to a poppy seed bun, you’d never know you weren’t eating at Super Dog in Chicago.

There are a few other hot dog choices, as well as a meatball sandwich, and a french dip authentically drenched with au jus.  (Probably the only thing I haven’t had yet, and I’m looking forward to it.  I just have to be in the right frame of mind to eat wet bread.)  Dot’s Dogs offers chips as a side, which I’d like to see replaced with fries.  I don’t know what it is, but something about cheesy Doritos just doesn’t sit well next to an awesome Chicago dog.  (Sometime I order two dogs and skip the side orders.  They’re that good!)

As per the usual, I’m not that concerned with the interior decor, which they’ve done up in classic rock paraphernalia.   It’s nice.  The strange thing here is that they’ve fenced off a portion of the inside of the building for potential lease to a tenant.  I don’t know who would open up shop inside a hot dog stand, but hopefully it works out and Dot’s stays in business.  And there’s plenty of sidewalk seating along Pacific and along Adams, which also sports a walk-up window for ordering.

Another solid eatery offering quick and delicious food that I recommend whole-heartedly.  Make sure when ordering, you tell them to “drag it through the garden.”  They’ll know what it means.  You won’t be sorry.


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