I’ve never watched The Real Housewives of New Jersey. Or Beverly Hills. Or Atlanta or Dallas or Miami
Thank you, no.
But I’m pretty sure we have that reality show franchise to thank for the ‘Everyday Collection’ TV ad from Target.
Gotta love that ‘tude.
Thank you, Housewives.
Posted in Advertising, Business, Entertainment, Humor, Life, Shopping, Television, TV
Tagged advertising, Atlanta, attitude, Beverly Hills, Business, commercials, Dallas, Humor, life, Miami, reality show, shopping, Target, Television, The Real Housewives of New Jersey, TV
Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, pretty please with sugar on top…
Pick my numbers in the Power Ball lottery drawing tonight.
I actually played today. Heck, everybody played today… because the jackpot is so freakin’ huge.
But the danger in my playing is that I think I will actually win.
I think I can. I think I can. I think I will.
Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease.
Posted in Business, Commentary, Humor, Life
Tagged commentary, Humor, life, lottery, Powerball
It’s been a tough week –on this we can agree.
So to get the weekend off to a good start, I share these neon signs I found on the Intertubes that made me smile, giggle or guffaw.
‘Cause you just can’t put a price on a good guffaw.
Welcome to Fun Fact Friday!
I just invented it because I ran across a fun fact on Google that I wanted to share. It is, in fact, a fun fact about Google…which makes it even more fun.
Well, at least, to me.
Anyhoo, here is your promised fun fact –
Google has a pet dinosaur. His name is Stan. He is a T-Rex.
His skeleton was unearthed near their headquarters, authenticated and later adopted by Google. Now Stan is kept on a fairly short leash outside Building 43.
Are these Stan’s real bones or a scale model? This fact I do not know. But having a dinosaur as a pet?
Very cool. And very Google.
Posted in Animals, Business, Humor, Museums
Tagged animals, Business, dinosaurs, Friday, fun fact, Google, Google campus, Google search, headquarters, museum, pet, pet dinosaur, scale model, sit stay good boy, skeleton, Stan, T-rex
Are these sticky notes a ‘good thing?’
Of course they are. They’re Martha Stewart Sticky Notes.
You heard me. Martha is branding sticky notes now. Applying her custom colors — and what appears to be tiny notches — to the corner of everyday stickies.
They are supposedly super sticky — more so than the regular Avery brand that Staples carries. And Martha has handpicked the colors, so they will coordinate with any other Martha accessories you have in your kitchen or home office.
Because using sticky notes that don’t match your home decor?
That’s definitely not a good thing.
Posted in Business, Commentary, Design, Home, Humor, Life, Shopping
Tagged accessories, Avery, Business, custom colors, design, home, home decor, home office, Humor, it's a good thing, kitchen, life, Martha Stewart, Staples, sticky notes, super sticky
Do you ISBN?
If yes, it will cost you.
A friend has a book close to publication, and today she purchased her ISBN — International Standard Book Number — that you see pictured above. This 13-digit number identifies the author, title, edition and format being printed. Publishers, booksellers, and libraries use it for ordering, listing, sales records and inventory control.
That’s all fine and dandy.
But having writers pay for the identifying number assigned to their book would be like me having to pay for my Social Security number. Or the passwords I use to access the many accounts in my life. Or the name tag they give me at ComicCon.
Wait. I guess I essentially do pay for all those things.
Sorry, Tina. I tried.
Posted in Books, Business, Commentary, Humor, Life
Tagged author, book title, books, bookseller, Business, comiccon, commentary, Humor, International Standard Book Number, ISBN, library, life, name tag, password, publisher, publishing, Social Security
What did you do today?
I stood outside and pretended to yell and cheer.
It kinda looked like this — I was with a group of people miming mass excitement in a commercial shoot in Brooklyn — but nothing else was remotely the same.
See the blue sky in that photo? We never saw that today.
It was all grey clouds and showers…and often heavy showers. And on this particular shoot, we had nowhere else to go. No comfy, dry holding area for us. So we had to stand around outside, huddled under umbrellas, waiting for the rain to pause to get the shot.
Think about it. We had to stand outside — stand — in the rain for 10 hours.
Acting is so glamorous.
Posted in Business, Humor, Life, Television, TV, Weather
Tagged acting, blue sky, Brooklyn, Business, clouds, commercial, commercial shoot, Humor, life, mime, pretending, rain, screaming, showers, Television, TV, umbrella, weather, yelling
I came to Milan to work, and today was the day.
I spent most of it in a conference room conducting a training session…and it went very well. But at 4:30pm the work was done, and my official vacation began.
We started by heading to Milan — the city itself, not the outskirts where my hotel is located. Luckily there is a subway stop just down the road, so off we walked, much to the chagrin of the taxi drivers lined up outside the entrance.
Our first stop was the Duomo, which is literally at the top of the station steps. It is even more majestic then it appears in photos, and I joined the groups of people gathered ’round, head tilted way back to soak it all in.
We arrived at the very moment they closed the Duomo to tours each evening, but we still had time to take the elevator ride to the top and walk across the roof.
I don’t know how the two tours compare, but the view from the roof is pretty incredible.
We could see the entire city — the beautiful architecture, the ugly new buildings that mar the landscape, all the people teeming about in the square, and of course, the amazing detail of the Duomo itself — both the existing structure and the extensive amount that is still under renovation.
After our tour, we strolled through the shops in the historic galleria — where children were spinning on a fresco of a bull for luck — and wandered the streets until a sidewalk cafe caught our eye for dinner. Later we had gelato and headed to the subway to make our way back.
It was all and all a lovely evening in Milan.
Tomorrow? We are thinking of making an unplanned day trip. Where could it be??
Stay tuned…
Posted in Business, Life, Photography, Travel
Tagged architecture, Business, conference room, day trip, Duomo, Galleria, hotel, Italy, life, Milan, Milan bull fresco, outdoor cafe, photography, renovation, subway, taxi driver, the square, tour, Travel, vaation
Does your work week calendar look a bit like this?
Mine too.
How about your weekend?
I’m as guilty as the next person of jamming my work calendar with as much as I think I can reasonably — and sometimes not so reasonably — handle.
(I’m freelance. The busier I am, the more I make.)
But when it comes to my weekends — or whatever days end up being free that week — I am hesitant to schedule too much. I crave the lack of responsibility. The chance for solitude.
No deadlines or time schedules.
Spur-of-the-moment activities are always welcome. But elaborate weekend plans?
That’s too much like work.
Posted in Business, Commentary, Family, Friends, Humor, Life, Relationships, Vacation
Tagged Business, calendar, commentary, deadlines, family, freelance, friends, Humor, life, Relationships, solitude, spur-of-the-moment, time schedule, too much like work, vacation, weekend, weekend plans, work week
Dish it out
I just read something that doesn’t stack up.
Ice cream, that is.
In 2006, Breyers moved their facilities from Green Bay, Wisconsin to New Jersey. Then they stopped using all-natural ingredients, instead opting for food additives like Tara gum, maltodextrin and propylene glycol. As a result, their products don’t have enough milk and cream anymore to actually be considered ice cream.
And how did Breyers tell consumers about this turn of events? Well, they changed the label to ‘frozen dairy dessert.’ And they explain the difference on their website as “a whole new way to create a smoother texture.”
Wow. That’s some smooth bullsh*t there.
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Posted in Business, Commentary, Foods, Humor, Life, Shopping
Tagged all-natural ingredients, Breyers, Business, dairy, dish it out, Foods, frozen dairy dessert, Humor, ice cream, life, maltodextrin, milk, propylene glycol, shopping, tara gum