200,000 and counting

My 1989 Toyota Camry wagon just turned 200,000 miles this week and it made me reflect on the auto industry.
Here is a great article that speaks volumes about where the auto industry is at, for the big three and "imports": http://www.businessandmedia.org/news/2006/news20060602.asp

Surf hurts

We were blessed with a little Nor'easter on Wednesday, so I decided to take a half day yesterday and hit the storm surge, pre-tourist style.

Only I was the one getting blown up. The tide was low and I was a little late dropping in

Now, I've been surfing for over 10 years and taken my fair share of pummeling, in much bigger surf than yesterday. I have been lucky not to have really dinged myself up over the years

I paddle into a nice head-high set, ready for a nice right. I get up, look down and see "full closure beneath my feet". It's such a bittersweet moment, cause it was a great wave and I was on top of it, but only for .1 second. I tried to pull out, but i was committed and I knew i couldn't just ride down the face of the wave (floater), cause it was too steep and I was in the worst possible position. Right on the top of it.
Basically, I was fucked. So i crouched up and got ready for the washing machine. Right before the wave tumbled me, i remembered a key rule to surfing: when getting worked over by a big wave, kick the board as far away as possible. I didn't. And I saw myself falling right down on the consequences (surfboard).

I'm lucky cause I got out without much damage. Just a fin in the back.

how to build relationships 101

From a marketing standpoint, transportation depots offer visibility to thousands of disillusioned travelers every day.
About two months past, i was flying back to Massachusetts from Miami. Having just finished up an advertising program at the Miami Ad School (Bootcamp for Account Planners), my mind was inundated with marketing concepts, ideas and strategy.
Airports are an interesting place for a hundred different reasons, but what most amazed me that March day, was the credit card displays lining the corridor of the terminals. It's almost like a credit card bazaar, with the merchants offering free offers of tee shirts, fleece blankets and free flights. Each kiosk/booth was staffed by 3-4 energetic salesmen, all wooing passing travelers with their incentives.
Anyways, on my way to the gate, i was sucked in. The little model airplanes (for my cute little nephew, Trent) combined with talk of a free round trip ticket was enough to make me spend two minutes to sign up. As soon as the credit card came in the mail i cut it up and threw it out.

Enough said. Right?

Nope. I get a statement in the mail about a month ago, $39 for the annual "membership fee".
I just threw it out. I thought it was a joke. Who the hell charges a membership fee in this day and age? I thought. Last Friday, I get another statement, saying, i now owe $69 for failure to pay the aforementioned fee.
No way. I called customer service and talked to a "relationship manager" from Juniper Bank.
All i asked was:
"how do you (Juniper Bank and Airtran Airways) expect to build relationships with customers if you charge them a fee for signing up for some ubiquitous credit card? I haven't even used the thing."

I wasn't so much mad for being charged the fee (which was removed), just disappointed in both Airtran Airways and this Juniper Bank. Their respective marketing/PR departments must not really respect their customers if they try to pull the wool over their eyes.

entre

The saga begins, my eyes is the photography lens
Properly push pens, and show quality gems
The horrors be grim, but yo maybe tomorrow we win
If we follow the trends and keep count of the dollars we spend
I want a mahogany Benz, I want lottery ends
I want property, friends, plus my hobby is skins
If I decide we in sin, then my prophesy ends
But the God'll begin, watchin my odyssey spin
In the place where war be, based on a true story
Territory was made for me to pursue glory
Blast alone masses in zones have to be sewn
Every capacity blown, I'm internationally known
-Rakim