Friday and I'm off to class

Thanks for all the nice comments on Reggie. It was a tough weekend, but getting back into routines was nice. We had to spend a lot of time at home this week for Rodney, the beagle. I had heard that other animals go through a period of mourning. I just didn't know how bad that could be for them. He's coming out of it though.

On the plus side, I had a lot of nice positives this week. I barely squeaked an "A" on the Econ mid-term, but hey... an "A" is an "A". The grades ranged from 92-29. 72+ (my grade) was an A and 50+ was a B. We still had 6 people flunk. I was mad at myself since 3 of my errors were careless. BUT, I'll be going into the final well positioned for an "A".

LOST has started and as always, I'm mesmerized by it. Naomi... who the hell are you? And Ben is still the creepiest person on TV. Anyone know how many episodes were made before the writers' strike?

Happily the work situation is over. I let go of the person last Friday. (Yeah, last Friday was a pretty bad day.) Unfortunately, it's a lot more work for me, but at least the work is being done right.

Have I mentioned how much I love my study group? There are six of us who now meet on Wednesdays (outside of our assigned groups) to go over the homework problems from the chapters. We get along, we laugh, we eat and we learn. It's exactly what I expected graduate school to be. Four of us from the group will be staying an extra three days after Vietnam to travel to Angkor Watt in Cambodia. Any recommendations on your many Cambodian travels would be appreciated.

OK off to class. Today is our 6th class of Microeconomics and 2nd class of Operations Management. The professor is not very organized for this second class. Plus he treats us like undergrads. Every week is a small quiz to make sure we've done the readings. Memorizing is just a tad ridiculous at age 41. Oh well.

Have a good Friday and a great weekend.

Career Changes

The joy of living in Washington DC is that politics always makes the headlines. And right behind those stories are the scandals.

This morning, I was in the kitchen reading the paper as Larry came down the stairs.

S: Well, there's more about the senator's sex scandal.
L: Which senator?
S: It seems that two more guys have come forth claiming that Daniel Craig paid them money for sex.
L: I think you mean Larry Craig. Daniel Craig is the James Bond guy.
S: Oh...same thing.
L: The rest of the world might differ with you.
S: Whatever. One of the guys is that Mike Jones guy who also had sex with Ted Haggard. He seems to be doing everyone these days. How is this guy not knowing he hooks up with famous married guys?
L: Some people are more popular than others.
S: Did you know he gets $200 an hour? I'm totally in the wrong job.
L: You make good money. (He began to calculate my hourly wage.) OK, I was wrong. He makes at least 75% more per hour than you.
S: How great would that be? I could do that an hour or so each day and still watch Ellen.
L: Are you thinking of a career change?
S: I'm just saying, we could write off the guest room as a business expense.
L: You may not be able to command the same salary.
S: Who wouldn't pay $200 for a body like this?

(With that I make a muscle man pose that pretty much looks exactly like what Corey does when showing people how strong he is.)

L: (pauses) You're learning about economies of scale in your finance class, right?
S: Yep.
L: Perhaps you should look over that chapter again. Besides, you'd have to have sex with old decrepit men.
S: James bond is not old and decrepit.
L: I don't think Daniel Craig would need to pay anyone for sex.
S: You're probably right.

And so our morning began.

Travel should take you places

Well, I'm in Chicago for the next two days. Trying to escape from grad school? You would think that after Friday's tyrant but a number of good friends have given me more things to look at besides a single conversation (see comment section). Additional thanks to Rich for not only sending commenters my way, but cutting his hair in solidarity.

I have a business meeting for the next two days and am hoping to accomplish half my stats final while I am here. Honestly, it's not terrible and I can do two of the four problems in my sleep. (Seriously, the whole thing is four problems. But you can only imagine how much time goes into each.) Still, I can do it.

This trip has me back at the Palmer House. The last time I was here...well, was my prom in 1985. Scary to think back to those days. If I were at home in DC, I'd include the obligatory photo of me with Kevin Bacon's feathered hair. I even used to say 'jump back' like I was some kid in corn country who couldn't go to his prom with the preacher's daughter. (Remember, I played for the other team back then.)

Lucky for me, I arrived smack dab during the Chicago marathon. It took about 60 minutes to get downtown but the cab driver and I had a great chat. You can meet the nicest people in the oddest of places.

When I got to the hotel, my room was not ready. With the volume of folks running the marathon, most had requested a late check out. However, since I'm a Hilton Honors member, my room would be ready in less than two hours.

Now beggars can't be choosers, but check out this room. How does it take two hours to get these things ready? If the entire hotel looks like this, the cleaning services should be able to do all the rooms in about an hour. (And yes, there is not even a set of drawers to put things in.)

And that is my bathroom sink. I put the toothbrush in there for perspective. Notice that the shampoo/conditioner/soap tray had to fit UNDER the sink since there is no room up above.

(PS I've been told it's a tirade not a tyrant. Sorry.)

Random Nothings

I'm still here... I swear. I just went through a writing withdrawal after the Chicago trip.

I wish I had more rest once I got to the hotel but that didn't happen. It seems the Westin Heavenly Bed just isn't so heavenly for me. I prefer my beds as firm as can be. Gotta a dinning room table you're not using? Perfect for my bedroom. I don't like my beds mushy and let me say that Westin is the king of mushiness.

Add to it that our conference kicked into full gear last Monday morning, just about the time the news was announcing the Virgina Tech nightmare. Most of you know I'm in marketing, well the association I work for represents higher ed. We had three attendees from Virginia Tech at the conference along with 400 other college and university professionals who shared the incomprehensible feelings that campus was going through. It was quite a somber two days as you can imagine.

While out of town, I also had an employee quit. There are no hard feelings; he felt it was time to leave and I understood his need to move on. However, I hate interviewing and hiring. It's not my strong suit... though it's another opportunity to practice skills. (Look at me being so fucking positive.)

In case you were wondering, I have not been nominated for any of the blogger choice awards. Many of you have probably been anxiously looking, so it's a good you are hearing the sad news from me. If they did have the hot-gay-daddy-from-the-DC-area category you might actually see a nomination. It would definitely be a tight race with the other local candidate.

My backlog of products and meme's are starting to pile up like my parent's basement, so look for a number of those coming out soon. I also have a Blogfather's post that has a lot of jumbled words which just aren't funny enough for human consumption. Don't you hate when those pre-posts don't materialize the way you want them to?

If you're watching LOST, I must say that the 2nd half of this season has really picked up. I mean what the fuck is going on with Juliette? I'm still not figuring her out. And the "Paulo Lies" episode...brilliant. I nearly crapped my pants. Not sure if that winter break re-energized them or not, but I'm all for eight weeks off if the shows are going to be this compelling.

This weekend has finally gone back into the 70's. This is my favorite type of weather and favorite time of year. I spent half my day in the yard getting ready for planting. The other half of the day was spent painting. Our guest room has been this green color that worked for a while and then just irritated me. So finally today I primed the room with two coats. Maybe tomorrow I'll get the two coats of paint up. (You'll see before and afters of that project.)

On a funny note, my boss called me in on Friday to ask me a question. "So I was reading your blog" he says, "and I got so confused in one of your stories."

You can only imagine how my mind was racing trying to remember if I had said anything wrong, offensive or of a nature that would have me fired by day's end. I so need to learn to stop telling everyone about this blog.

He went on, "I had gotten through the story of the vasectomy and how you had to masturbate in the bathroom because you work in a cube. It took me a while to wonder why any gay man would get a vasectomy, but hey I'm not always on the cutting edge. Then I reread the story and realized it wasn't you."

Makes the rest of the week pale by comparison, doesn't it?

It's All in the Bag

I'm a marketer; that's what I do for a living. I craft a message that I think will entice people to do something. I present it in a fashion that I think accentuates a need, fear or desire. And then I measure it to see its effectiveness.

I create test and control groups so that I can tell if my new idea sells more than my original.

I constantly read to see how to say something with less words or more effectively. I look past the ads to see how they are selling it rather than what they are selling. And I always steal from the best.

Four weeks ago, I renewed a magazine subscription. It was earlier than I needed to, but they were offering a free garden bag and garden tools. That it's above; isn't it great?

Yeah, when I saw the picture of it I thought it would be convenient to use in our yard. I love working outside, so it made me feel good to renew early.

Marketing can be dangerous. Your offer has to be right or you actually do more damage than good. Tell a person to log-in to your web site, it had better be easy. Hell, it had better be working. You really want to build a long-term relationship, not go for the single 'kill'.

What is that famous saying.... you don't get a second chance to make a first impression. The single most important guideline to great marketing.

Today I received my garden bag. As you know, I'm a person who believes in sharing great services and products. Backyard Living Magazine was a magazine I used to love. But today, the company abused my relationship. I guess you could say things were "put into perspective". Take a look at my great bag now with a sneaker next to it.

I decided that I would do the favor of recommending they discontinue the promotion... you know, as one marketer to another. After navigating through a four-minute phone tree and then having to verify every detail of my subscription, Andy listened as I explained my disappointed and recommendation.

"Well, some of our readers liked the bag," he said.

"Really," I inquired. "They actually spent four minutes on the phone to say thanks. Seriously, my dog eats out of large food bowl than this."

Andy got defensive. "Well, you need to remember that most of our readers are octogenarians." (Seriously, he actually used that word.)

"Andy, are you saying that it's my fault I'm 40 and that's why I cannot appreciate the clutch bag you just sent me?"

"No, but our average reader does like the bag."

Well Andy, let me help you there. As of next year, I won't be lowering your statistics any longer.

Backyard Living Magazine has a major competitor; Garden Gate Magazine. I also subscribe to them as well. It doesn't take a telephone operator to figure out which magazine I'll be reading next year.

An East Coaster on West Coast Time

What's that mean? It means I'm in San Diego, it's 5 AM and I'm wide awake. I hate time zones. I swear it takes me days to get adjusted and then when I do, I'm hurling back through the air at 700 miles per hours.

As many of you know, I hate flying. Yesterday was no exception. First there was a three hour delay at Dulles. It seems the crew arrived late the night before and they have a minimum number of hours they need for downtime before they can return back to work. (That I can totally understand, btw. I think there jobs are important.) What I don't get is that these is no back up? I mean, won't that make them three hours late tomorrow? Doesn't the cycle just continue until these poor folks have a day off? 300+ people need to wait now because seven others need to rest? I just don't get airlines.

On top of that, the entire ride was bumpy--like as in "Flight attendants, take your seats immediately" bumpy. Let me just point out that what you consider bumpy is like my-rubber-pants-just-filled for me. I fucking freak with bumps, especially the stomach-in-your-mouth little drops. I used to be a good flyer, but about 4 1/2 years ago (yep, the same time I became a dad), I started freaking out. Related? Who knows, but it's not a fantastic role model for the little boy. "Here, you watch Little Einsteins while daddy craps his pants."

I was lucky enough to have the middle seat free. I was on the window and this poor guy on the aisle had to witness my flying abilities. At one point he looked over and said, "So you don't like flying?"
"How can you tell? I asked.
"Your seat arms are soaked with sweat. I thought that was a pretty dead giveaway."

This plane also had one working aft lavatory. Let me just say that when you're in the last few rows, the build up of people was unbelievable.

On the plus side, we had two good movies The Good Year and The Queen. There were also three infants sitting within a few seats and each was quiet with the exception of take off and landing, which luckily enough helped conceal most of my screaming.

I always feel sorry for parents traveling with infants. Even if the child is sleeping in their arms as they board, most passengers will roles their eyes or look back if the baby even utters a peep. We never traveled with Corey as an infant. I couldn't imagine the scorn... or trying to pass the baby off to someone during the bumps so I could hang on for dear life.

We finally arrived in San Diego which is like 72 and perfect. Fuck seasons, I want this all the time. I'm so fine with never getting snow again. It's 54 degrees right now and DC is 36....yep, I could live here.

When I checked in at the hotel, my room wasn't ready. Normally, I'm okay with that, but seriously it was 2 PM and I had a day already filled with irritations. The lady at the front desk spent a few minutes looking through her limited inventory. "Oh, here is something you'll like. We have these Bay side suites with gorgeous views and are the three times the size of a normal room. They have a kitchenette and a huge balcony."

I paused and looked at her. "And yet you are offering this to me...a person who is getting the staff conference rate. What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing. It's enormous."

I think back to her description...view, size, balcony...something is missing.

"What size bed is it?" I ask.

She actually sighed. "A queen sleeper sofa."

"HA!" I said. "No way. My people don't sleep on sofa beds." (We do actually, but if I'm staying here I'm not sleeping a bed I need to put away each morning.)

A room miraculously appeared and let me just say.... it's sweet. I have a view of the bay and the mountains. I have a gin-ormous bed and bathroom. And I have coffee maker. (I also have a 400 pound person above me that I hear every time they take a step, but I do have a coffee maker so I'm cool with the elephant sounds at 5:00 am.

Today it gets busy, but not until Noon. I'm hoping to get in a nice walk and perhaps a dip in the pool. And I'm having dinner with one of my favorite bloggers tonight as well.

Geez, I love business travel...well...except for the flying part.

The City that Never Sleeps

Prior to all this birthday celebrating, I was actually in NYC on business. My goal had been to write about it on the Saturday I returned, but that day sort of catapulted me into a week of chaos.

My company had a conference for three days in New York. I was lucky enough to stay the Crown Plaza Times Square, which for a theater buff, is like Mecca. The meeting had all to do with endowments...not those kind... financial ones.

As the head of marketing and membership, it's important to network at these events. During the days, my boss and I mingled with the members. And in the evenings.... well what else happens when you are two blocks away from the TKTS booth? These are the times one thanks the Gods for a boss loves theater more he does.

This was the first real trip my boss and I did together. We had been at our annual meeting in Hawaii last summer, but it was on the heels of my starting the job and his taking a four-month paternity leave. We'd only worked together a few weeks since he'd been out for all that time, and so the two of us didn't really get the chance to bond much.

That changed in NYC and I felt like we got to know each other better and even bccame friends outside the work place. We laughed, we had great meals and we saw musicals.

The first on our list was Company. A Sondheim classic done with a new twist. Similar to last year's revival of Sweeny Todd, the cast played its own instruments. I was leery of the idea and given that this show is weak on staging, hadn't expected much. What a pleasant surprise to watch the chorography of actors/musicians walking about and performing together. Seriously, I was a never huge fan of this show, but the outstanding cast, the cute lead of Raul Esparza and some overall powerhouse numbers such as Sorry-Grateful, Another Hundred People and Being Alive made this a fantastic performace.

Based on the life of Edith Bouvier Beals and her daughter Edie, Grey Gardens tells the story of their rise and fall as a prominent family in the Hamptons. What makes this magic is the incredible Christine Ebersole who has the role of the matriarch in Act I (taking place in 1941) and then the daughter in Act II (1973). The music stays true to style for both periods and trust me when I say, Act II makes you feel all the creepiness that comes along with two eccentric women who eat cat food. Not only were there great songs Another Winter in a Summer Town and (I swear) Jerry Likes My Corn, but we sat two rows behind Christian Slater (my new brush with fame).

Our third show, Spring Awakening, is being hailed as the new RENT. While I loved the two previous shows, this one is the most innovative of them all. With music written by Duncan Sheik, the show actually features audience members sitting in bleachers on the stage amongst the actors (who are there when not performing). There is a great rock-n-roll feel to the show and it would be an understatement to say I was about 20 years older than their target audience. One Warning: To say there is a lot of sex portrayed on stage would be an understatement. I'm pretty comfortable watching just about anything (as my firefox porn cache will tell you), but it was awkward sitting next people in their late 60's while a young boy, dressed to be 12, masturbates under his nightshirt as four "12 year-old" girls sing around him. OK, more than awkward. But, I definitely recommend the music.

The highlight of the trip however, was meeting one of my favorite bloggers: Two Okapis. He & I became friends last year and finally got to meet up for lunch. We'd hit it off online and meeting for the first time only proved we'd been right. After 2+ hours of chatting and lunch, he finally had to be back to work and I had to hit the TKTS booth for that night's show tickets get back to our membership booth. I am constantly amazed how this world connects people from different backgrounds & locations and makes them friends.

Luckily, I'm heading back to NYC in May for more theater, more friendship and to perhaps meet other bloggers from the Big Apple.