High Times Shopping In The Sky Mall

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Sometimes I Don’t Get Marketing

Now I’ll be the first to admit that there are some things I just don’t get.

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For example I don’t get most things that have to do with home decorating. When Christmas rolls around my wife will take some classy looking ornaments and, say, arrange them on a side table over a snazzy table cloth with some glass bead strings snaked around the table.

It looks great! But I never would have thought to do that on my own. To my way of thinking ornaments belonged on a tree. Arranging them festively on a table would never have occurred to me.

This sort of thing has become a running joke in our marriage. We’ll see something along those lines and she will turn to me. Do you get that? You don’t get that do you?

Nope.

It looks great and all. But that someone would have taken the time and effort? Don’t get it.

I’m really OK with not getting some things.

I get most things about business. But there are some things about the whole marketing thing that I just make me shake my head. Nope. Don’t get that either. Read more

Free FCC Ringtones: When Is a Monopoly Not a Monopoly?

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I’ve Got a Question

Isn’t a generally accepted principle here in the US that monopolies are pretty much bad things?

I mean it’s something that most folks here seem to agree on regardless of their political persuasion. Those who shade toward the conservative side see competition as beneficial for the economy. And folks with a more liberal outlook generally see behemoth corporations as undesirable.

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And didn’t the US government spend something like 8 years in court to break up the monopoly that AT&T had over out nation’s communication system?

I’m sure they spent a ton of our tax dollars on that.

They Say That Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

Where I lived we weren’t too affected one way or the other by the break up. We happened to live in a very rural part of Upstate New York and our family somewhat affectionately called our local phone company, Taconic Telephone, Rinky-dink Tel. Read more

What is He Talking About? Chris Cree on Pacing Yourself

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SERGEANT HULKA: Soldier, I’ve noticed that you’re always last.
PRIVATE WINGER: I’m pacing myself, Sergeant.
–From the Movie Stripes

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I’ve always been an all or nothing sort of guy.

When I was growing up my folks bought some horses. I wasn’t part of that decision. Really didn’t have any passion for the beasts, at least not at first. But I discovered I liked them, threw myself into working with them. Eventually found myself in an unusual place. I was an eighteen year old guy who was really good with horses.

Then I went off to college and I’ve maybe ridden a horse 5 times in the nearly 20 years since graduating.

I used to drink a lot. The short version is that I was a drunk. Then one day I stopped completely. Haven’t had any alcohol in well over 10 years now.

About a year and a half ago I got into blogging. My wife says I’m a bit obsessed. (I see no signs of that one slowing down yet.)

My two favorite food groups are coffee and chocolate. (I count Klondike Bars in the second group. They go good with coffee too!) I seem to prefer quantity over quality in these two groups, although that shows some signs of changing as I get a little older. I don’t know if my taste buds are getting more refined or if maybe my wallet is getting just a tich fatter.

What’s my point?

Well I tend to be a little intense and driven. I sometimes take on more than I can get done. And I often find the alarm clock rudely shaking me away too shortly after I fell asleep the night before.

Private John Winger, on the other hand was the other extreme. He was good at pacing himself. Perhaps too good.

He tended to be a slacker who had to learn to get things accomplished.

But he seemed to get enough sleep most nights.

Me, sometimes I seem to be on the path Neil Young talked about when he said, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away.”

There’s got to be some good middle ground out there that will be healthier for us but where we’ll still get things done. The trick is to find it.

So I’ll throw the question out to all you smart Successful-Bloggers. How do you pace yourself?

–Chris Cree, SuccessCREEations.

That’s Okay . . . We’ll Sit in the Dark

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How Many Legislators Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb?

Wait, wait. Don’t tell me. I’m sure I know this one.

Scanning through the headlines yesterday I saw this one:

California may ban conventional lightbulbs by 2012

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What will they think of next?

Apparently conventional lightbulbs are bad. They are the scourge of the planet and must be banned. That wondrous joy of late night reading that Thomas Edison gave to us nearly 140 years ago has to be cast aside in favor of newer, more expensive technologies.

And California has just the legislature to make this happen.

You see there are folks there who are working on enacting a ban on traditional incandescent lightbulbs. This would leave folks in the Golden State with a couple options. Read more

What is He Talking About? Chris Cree on Learning

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“Personally I’m always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.” –Sir Winston Churchill

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I took Friday off from my “regular” job and went to a local blogging conference here in Savannah. I was surprised by the folks who attended.

What surprised me were the large number of folks who were there because they didn’t know much of anything about blogging and wanted to learn. In fact there were so many that the organizer of the conference adjusted the schedule and added an impromptu session to cover some of the basics of terminology so that those folks could get more out of the rest of the sessions.

That was very cool.

However there were also one or two folks there who didn’t share the enthusiasm to learn. One lady in particular seemed to have her understanding of blogging all worked out before she got there (although I don’t think she’s blogging herself) and spent a large portion of the conference time attempting to convince the rest of us to accept her views.

Apparently she was too smart for the rest of us and certainly wasn’t interested in learning from us.

She apparently didn’t like being taught.

Of course I’m not one who enjoys life’s forced lessons either. I was being taught how not to completely bite someone’s head off.

Fortunately for me while I was talking my wife happened to be sitting behind the challenging person and was able to help me out by signaling me to keep my cool. I hadn’t realized before that public speaking can be a team sport.

I sure appreciated my teammate helping me keep from doing something foolish!

But I didn’t much enjoy the learning process for that one Friday.

Sometimes my attitude toward learning is similar to my attitude toward exercise. I like having learned, not learning in just about the same way I like having exercised, not the act of exercising itself.

The best part about working out for me is finishing!

Oftentimes life’s lessons are painful to learn. However the benefit of having learned them makes that pain oh-so worthwhile.

How about you? Do you always enjoy the learning process?

What are some things we can do to make that process a little less challenging for us?

–Chris Cree, SuccessCREEations.

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