Tales from the trenches, part 2

Image via Wikipedia

Since my son announced he would not eat out until after swine flu had passed, I decided to go to the discount grocery, Aldi's, and stock up. Couldn't hurt, right? And what if things got worse and we were quarantined?

When I arrived at Aldi's, about 30 people were waiting for the doors to open. I assumed they were there on the same mission: to stock up on supplies before hunkering down.

Nope. It was Aldi's $5.99 special on hanging baskets that brought them in.

Good sign.

News pandemic

Image via Wikipedia

Swine flu news is pandemic.

I have finally managed to wean myself from the 24/7 news cycle, turning off TV and staying away from news sites. I am following CDC on twitter, which is useful, not overload.

It's a different matter for my 12-year-old. Glued to CNN, he reminds me that this is his first pandemic. I tell him about others; polio in the 50's, swine flu in the '70's. He is disappointed to learn that I was born too late for the polio epidemic and that I did not catch and survive swine flu, because that would have given him immunity.

Now he's announced that he's not leaving the house until swine flu is over. Except to go to school, CAP Cadets, or outside to get some fresh air.

So I think we'll be ok.

Front-Yard Archaeology

Image via Wikipedia

Now that a spring rain has washed away the last of winter, curious things are appearing in the yard. Strange, multicolored bits of plastic.

Imagine if an archaeologist were excavating here. What would they make of these?

The remains of a spring fruit ritual?

What would archaeologists find in your yard and what would they think?

Tales from the Trenches

Such as they are.

Tale #1. To my shopping list (coffee, greens, milk, borax, pears, peas, beans, bread), I added flu masks. And Cub Foods had none. Walgreens had none.

Tale #2. Drove my son to his CAP Cadet program tonight at the Air Force Reserve station. As we slowly approached the guard at the gate, ("Ten miles per hour, Mom!" Michael cautioned), I thought, "Or what? They'll shoot me?" Then I thought, "If I were in Iraq, they would shoot me".

So near and yet

So far. What is 70 or 80 years? Not much. Yet the world of these pictures is gone. And largely forgotten.

tweet tweet

Image by Zesmerelda via Flickr

Been twittering for several months now and am just about twittered out. Really have nothing to say. Few do. Most of the "peeps" (people) I follow twitter about new media, which interested me when it was new to me. But now it's not. Yes, it's a sea change. Yes, it's a revolution in the way we do business, but it's just a tool. I'm familiar with it now and I use it, but it's just another tool in my toolbox. Time to move on.

Hire My Mommy

Here's some new media that's been picked up by old media. Angie Gerber made a YouTube video that features her kids asking you to hire their mommy. It was picked up and broadcast by WCCO-TV, the local CBS affiliate. Word of the broadcast was tweeted by MNheadhunter, who I follow. I went to YouTube, watched it, embedded it here on my blog, and now Angie Gerber is an internet sensation.

Books and their covers

By now, everyone's seen Susan Boyle, the over-40 singing sensation from Britain's "You've Got Talent" show.
She's the new poster child for "You Can't Judge a Book By Its Cover" ; the antithesis of every 40-something woman on reality TV: un-retouched, un-botoxed, uncut by cosmetic surgery, unassuming, unpretentious, yet wonderfully talented.

Who woulda' thunk? Not Simon Cowell or any of the audience members caught rolling their eyes.

As I left a new media group this morning, I realized that to the assembled interactive marketers, I looked like Susan Boyle; over-40, unpretentious, un-retouched, unbotoxed, entirely forgettable. Wonderfully talented, but they'd never know because my packaging is so... un-remarkable; overweight, middle-aged, just plain. They don't even see me. I'm invisible to them.

So they won't hear me sing.

#1 in Minnesota

Lucky us in Minnesota's 3rd Congressional District. It's the healthiest place to live in the state, according to a new report from Gallop and Healthways.

The well-being index is made up of six metrics: life evaluation, emotional health, physical health, healthy behavior, work environment and basic access.

The Third District, which includes the western suburbs, is Minnesota’s top-ranked place to live in the study.

We Minnesotans already think we live in God's country. Now the Minnesotans in my neck of the woods will lord it over the rest of the state. Apparently we live in God's congressional district. Don't tell Michelle Bachman.

Bang, bang

At Least 12 Slain in Binghamton, N.Y.

By MITCHELL L. BLUMENTHAL and LIZ ROBBINS
Published: April 3, 2009
Twelve or 13 people were killed when a gunman opened fire in an immigration services center in Binghamton, N.Y., Gov. David A. Paterson said Friday.

How many was it at the mall in Omaha? The college in Virginia? Illinois? Louisiana? The Amish school in Pennysylvania? Columbine?
When is it enough?
Never.

Not when I wrote about it in 1993.
Not when I wrote about it in 1998.

Not now. Not ever.
Clearly, the pen is not mightier than the pistol.

Another day, another toxin

Image via Wikipedia

Today's toxin: Rocket Fuel

In baby formula
Now you can have both: toxins in the bottle and toxins in the formula.