Balancing News Junkie Tendencies and Little Mary Sunshine-hood

Truly a problem. I love being informed. I read two printed newspapers every day, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. I get news alerts from Proquest, Yahoo News, Google Alerts, CNN, Topix and loads more. I also get Moreover alerts in slews of categories. Those give me great background on all kinds of subjects. A highlight of the day. Oh, and another really interesting one, Hot Articles, that provides me with info that I’d never naturally come across. Today for example Computing Unplugged is disappointed by the long-awaited Doom 3 and With home prices rising, should we expect a bust to follow? FDIC FYI analyzes the history of home prices (which I admit I read wondering if we should sell our house before the bust!) and Not Your Father’s Ethanol A new blend could reduce U.S. dependence on oil and cut greenhouse gas emissions which might not sound fascinating to you (imagine that) but Andrew worked for MidAmerican Energy years back on a groundbreaking alternative fuel project. He also worked on a plant that would recover zinc from geothermal wells after they were used to generate electicity, but I digress.

At any rate, the point I’m trying to make is that because of my business, I a compelled to read across category, general news, and more. HOWEVER…..

In my personal life, I agree with Jenne Beecher who wrote yesterday, No News is Good News. Period. I can’t remember the last time I watched television news. Actually, I can. It was 9-11. And I surely don’t want my kids watching tv news. It’s really scary. There are those (and you know who you are) that call me “Little Mary Sunshine.” I don’t mind. I do look at the bright side. I am happy. In fact, I think I have a near-perfect life. How many can say that? But in order to be this happy and this optimistic, I have to turn off the news. Let it reside in my work-world, but keep it out of my personal life.

Sounds silly. Of course I still remember the news when I turn off my computer. And I do talk to my kids about major news and world events. I don’t want uninformed kids and, even more, I don’t want them getting misinformation from their friends. I even let them read the newspaper. The kidspost section is a terrific way to show the little ones appropriate editorial. And while we’re all together with our coffee and chocolate milk (I get coffee) we can discuss what it all means. It’s not like seeing those images on tv. It works so much better for us.

News intake is our choice. And I believe in choice.

Primary Research

There is no debate that primary research can be extremely useful. When used properly. (Very frequently, I believe that it makes sense to do some secondary research to see what is already published first saving time and money.) There’s a really thought-provoking post at Brandshift today called The perils of market research. Johnnie Moore discusses some of the downfalls, including the wrong reasons to do primary research.

My favorite line is “How weird that the nearest some marketing teams get to customers is to observe them from behind the safety of a one-way mirror in a focus group facility.” Scary stuff.

Valentine Ramble

I love candy. Particularly chocolate. And even more specifically, Kirchmayr Chocolate. It’s wonderful stuff. And I love Chocolat Moderne – for the aesthetics as much as the taste. But, I don’t like Valentines Day. It’s way too commercial. It makes everyone feel obligated to spend too much money, waste too much time in school making boxes and exchanging cards, and makes those not in relationships feel crappy. Besides, I want good chocolates all year long.

When I was little, my family was on a budget. My dad had started a business and we were frugal. I thought Valentines Day was February 15th for a long time – the candies were 1/2 price that morning. (I have to add that my 7-year old asked me last night as he was drifting off to sleep what ‘frugal’ meant. I explained to him about prudent spending and responsible budgets. He said, “Mom, thanks. But what I want to know is when you’re on Google and it says Froogle at the top, what’s that for?” Oh, the times we live in.)

I found some Valentines-related stories I feel compelled to share. The first (and my favorite) discusses a website that went live today. A website where New Yorkers can see if their dates have felony records. How romantic. Check it out at ISpyNY.

Then, there’s My Creepy Valentine — a collection described as “Sometimes it’s the expression on a face. Maybe it’s the off-kilter sentiment expressed in the wording. Maybe it’s just a monkey. These are genuine valentines that no one with half a brain would send on February 14.”

Or check out Kid Cupid’s Valentine Revenge where you hunt down evil imposter cupids and win ecards.

For those of you who are too tired to create your own love note, try Valentines Sweet Nothings, where you can create a Mad-Libs like letter for your only true love. I’m sure it will be cherished.

It’s a small world

I had an hour of downtime today. Really, I did. I can’t remember the last time I did. (Okay, yesterday I played hooky and we took the kids tubing at Liberty Mountain, but I still had mom duties even with all that fun!)

What I decided to do while the kids played Super Smash Brothers Melee (which I still can’t believe I let them play) I went surfing for blogs. I read some great ones, but want to branch out. I followed Jeff Risley’s blogroll, and then followed the links from there and so on and so on and so on — kind of like the Breck commercial. I read some fascinating posts from obits to rants to new business start ups. And some terrific tips on writing properly and technological breakthroughs and marketing strategy insights. My kind of hour. But I wanted more. More, I say!

So I decided to search by keyword and went to Blogwise as a diversion (I don’t usually use that one) and searched for moms, then motorcycles, then research, and some other terms that interest me. I found a guy named BMW who rides a Japanese bike (strange misnomer) among others. But then I stumbled on a really groovy blog – Uncaged Librarian, matching two of my interests – motorcycles and information. It has links to some great motorcycle-related articles. But then I realized I know the writer. She is on a listserv that I’m on. I’ve spoken to her and she has even done a proposal for me before when I needed help on a research project. It’s a small world after all.

Performance Reviews

Performance reviews. Gotta love ‘em. You trot into the boss’s office so she/he can tell you all your strengths (whew) and your weaknesses and you can work diligiently to refocus your efforts to be all your company dreams you can be. You know that your pay is tied to performance (exceptions apply) so it can be really stressful. But here’s my question…why don’t we hear how we’re doing all year long? Wouldn’t it be more productive and less traumatic to work on one strength at a time? And shame on us if we don’t know if our companies, clients, constituents are happy with our work. Right?

Parent – teacher conferences. Performance reviews on our 1) parenting/management skills 2) kids’ abilities 3) kids’ ability/choice to behave when you’re not around. Wow. Scary stuff. It’s a wonder that we don’t all go into these conferences with our guards up. In all seriousness, I like conference time. I like hearing confirmation from the boys’ teachers about what they are doing well and what they might not be doing quite as well. But no surprises for me. I’ve always heard exactly what I expected. But that’s not the case with lots of parents. Shame on us if we don’t know how are kids are doing in school all year. Right?

Poker Night

Tonight is poker night. My favorite night of the month. I know that poker is “hot” these days. Game on: Leisure is at play in home decor talks about people buying game tables, Poker equals next college campus trend is self explanatory. To tell you the truth, I hate that poker is so popular now.

“Within the online gambling boom, poker is by far the fastest growing sector, ” according to a Times article today. I don’t understand online poker. I understand it, but I don’t care about it. What I love about poker is the bond.

I started playing regularly in the 80′s. Ellen, Holly, Janene, Diane, Pam, Laura and me and a girl whose name escapes me, but I remember her being very sweet. She dated a guy named John who spent his time training his frisbee-catching dog. But back to poker, it wasn’t cool by society’s standards to have a girls’ poker game, just unusual. We played weekly or bi-monthly. It was great. We were all single. Then Ellen got married. Some of the rest of us did too. But it really changed when the babies started coming. I don’t know when the group dismantled. It wasn’t sudden. It happened slowly — but I missed it.

I tried to start a game in Omaha when we moved out there. But no go. The women there played mah jong or stayed home. Most stayed home. So after we moved back east and my book group blew into a million pieces, I called Ellen. She lived nearby. We chose women we really liked and who didn’t know each other. We put together our Chick Poker group. Almost 2-1/2 years strong now. We’re all different. Some married. Some single. Some with kids. Some without. Some great women. Women I love to spend my favorite night a month with — playing poker.

We don’t play for much money. But we play with heart.

Are we all drinking less?

“The average American family spent $40,817 on goods and services in 2003. Where’d the money go? More than half of the typical family budget went for the house (33¢ of every dollar) and car (19¢). After paying for food (13¢), medical bills (6¢), a little booze (1¢) and more, families had a nickel left to spend on entertainment.”

This from WHAT U.S. CONSUMERS ARE BUYING AND WHY (free registration required) from Ad Age’s ‘American Demographics.’

I love this statistical stuff. But what I find most amazing about the article is that household spending has increased dramatically since 1950. BUT spending on food & alcohol accounted for 32.5% of spending in 1950, 26.0% in 1960, 22.6% in 1972, 16.2% in 1984, 15.2% in 1993, and 14% in 2003. How can this be? Spending has increased tremendously, but not for food and alcohol. I can tell you that neither my wine budget nor our liquor budget has decreased in the past 10 years. But kids’ll do that to you.

Of course, I understand that statistics can be misleading… or not. The cost of food has dropped. The number of 2-income households has increased dramatically since the 50′s. And housing costs have become a much larger percentage of our spending. So please forgive the lighthearted interpretation of the stats. And all you info-geeks – check out the article, if you get a few minutes. This is the kind of info you usually have to pay for.

SOBs (not that kind)

It’s a beautiful weekend. Temperatures in the 50s. Whew hoo! So yesterday, Andrew had a playdate. So while I drove to birthday parties and basketball games, Andrew got on his 1984 BMW R100 and headed north to meet the SOBs. His homeys. The boys. Semites on Bikes. They describe themselves like this:

Semites on Bikes is a group of predominantly jewish bikers riding in the Baltimore & Baltimore County areas of Maryland. Members are non-stereotypical jews who should have at least three of the following traits (though we accept anybody foolish enough to ride with us):

1. works with hands
2. the closest 695 exit near your home has a numeral less than 18 or greater than 23.
3. has to lip sync kaddish at funerals…only knows first two words
4. has been arrested at least once
5. only goes to schul for weddings and bar mitzvahs
6. shiksa goddess(god) is synonymous with wife(husband)
7. rides a V-Twin cruiser
8. bowls
9. hunts and/or fishes
10. has caused the death of another human
11. has a tattoo that won’t wash off
12. does their own home improvement
13. enlisted in the military
14. is a right wing conservative

Don’t let the big talk fool you. This is a group of middle-aged Jewish guys. Mensches. And please don’t tell anyone that Andrew does not qualify for three of the above. Unless he has caused the death of another human, and I don’t think he has. Yet.

Super Bowl

I searched for Super Bowl alternatives out of curiousity. In all honesty, I’d forgotten it was this weekend. For many years, Andrew & I went to the same party with the same friends and it was a wonderful tradition – not for the football (at least not for me) but to see these wonderful old friends. But it has since died out – ever since the blizzard of 2000 when no one could get there….. But I digress.

A friend of ours is in tv production. I got an email this morning suggesting a show he did – that is on Sunday: The Puppy Bowl, on Animal Planet. Hard to figure out which is cuter – the puppies or the football players. I suppose I’ll have to choose.

The advertising is a highlight of Super Bowl for me – well really the only part I like. But it’s changing, as you know. Great story from All Things Considered yesterday about web ads being more adventurous than tv ads. And it talks about how last year’s halftime changed the standards of the entire production. It’s reality. But don’t you think it’s a little silly? That Janet Jackson’s stunt could be the impetus to deprive us all of good, interesting, creative television spots?

Kind of reminds me of the time when that kid Billy acted up in 3rd grade and we all had to miss recess. No fair.

Seeing a project through….

In today’s adrants read YWCA Debuts Anti-Racism Campaign – the campaign started this week and already it is getting people talking about the issues. The folks at Bozell & Jacobs were amazing to work with on this project. Of course, so were the folks at the YWCA !

Normally, as a researcher, I work on parts of projects. Fun parts and definitely challenging parts. Often, I get involved in strategy and implications. But it’s been a while since I’ve worked on a project from thinking and planning from nothing to full blown implementation. It was very rewarding. Very.

So, when we divide our work by function, few people get to feel the pride and excitement of that kind of “every step along the way” involvement. Maybe, we even leave them out of the email trail or the memos – because why would the entire team need to know? It will waste their time to know more. Not so, I say. I think that if we include everyone on a project or account in the trail, they’ll work harder and feel more a part of the whole deal, feel more personal pride and feel more tied to the company and the project. Sounds good for employee retention. Sounds really good for producing the best work.

It’s just a thought.