Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

Warning: It’s Friday, so all bets are off. Extreme silliness ahead. Please fasten your seatbelts, adjust your tinfoil hats and get a firm grip on your drink. Ramblings, random observations, and new (not-so-silly) blog recommendations. I’ll be back in (semi) serious business mode on Monday.

Quotes of the Week:

“Living well is the best revenge.” (George Herbert)

“If hair could smile, it would look like this.” Bill Maher re Jon Tester’s cheery old-school flattop. (Now, please MSM, move past the startling “news” that the man only has seven fingers! If only the media paid as much attention to the amount of brains our elected leaders have – or don’t have, as the case may be.)

In looking through my spam folders: I admit, I rather enjoy some of it. I marvel at the sheer stupidity of spammers. I guess they assume everyone else is just as stupid. Most of it is lost on me anyway. I’ve apparently led a very sheltered life; I’m clueless about most of the drugs and don’t understand many of the porn terms. And – ewyyyyyyewwww! – I’m not about to click on the site to find out.

Too bad Rush Limbaugh doesn’t know you can buy all these cool drugs on-line. Would save everyone (including his housekeeper) a lot of trouble. But, I digress. Mr. Limbaugh is an easy target and old news. The sad thing is that so many knuckle-dragging mouth breathers take him and Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin, etc. etc. literally, not realizing they’re just out to make a buck with all that outrageous nonsense. (Note: If you’re a knuckle-draggin’ mouth breather and are offended by this – Stand up straight and see your doctor about those sinuses. Correct posture and getting enough oxygen to your brain could totally change your view. If you’re still offended, then send me an email.)

Is Google going to take over the world? We now have Google Science!

From NYT: Ancient Crash. Epic Wave. Some scientists believe they’ve found where “a large asteroid or comet, the kind that could kill a quarter of the world’s population, smashed into the Indian Ocean 4,800 years ago, producing a tsunami at least 600 feet high, about 13 times as big as the one that inundated Indonesia nearly two years ago.”

Here’s the money quote: “This year the group started using Google Earth, a free source of satellite images, to search around the globe for chevrons, which they interpret as evidence of past giant tsunamis.”

(Personally, I think Google may have jumped the shark, but more about that when I’m a serious mood again.)

Three new (not-so-silly) blog recommendations (added to my “life” and “business” lists at right):

Life: Another example of why I love New Mexico. NMGastronome (Gill’s Thrilling Web Site). Tons of information about eating around the state. And, not all of it involves chile (which is seriously addictive, but worth it.) We chile heads put it in pretty much anything and everything, from oatmeal to dessert. Virtually every restaurant has something with either green or red chile, or both. Green Chile gyros. Green chile rolls on the sushi menu. Chile Chocolate Peanut Cheesecake. Grilled salmon and red chile. Green chile lasagna. Eggs and chile. Even Mickey D’s offers green chile on their burgers. In fact, we look at folks funny if they don’t at least want “chile on the side” with just about anything (”You ain’t from around here, are ya?”)

Business:

1. Opinionated Marketers. Man, wish I’d thought of that title! John Whiteside, Maureen Rogers, Sean Branagan speak up, out and make a lot of sense! Maureen also blogs at Pink Slip, which is based on her (sigh) 25 years in high-tech companies. I’m sure we could share some common war stories.

2. Joel on Software. Joel Spolsky is CEO of Fog Creek Software and scary smart and wicked funny. He’s the kinda guy with whom I’d like to knock back some beers. I’d laugh and learn a lot. If you’ve ever done product/biz dev, you can relate to his views. If you’re just starting out, his blog is chock full of techie writing (that us citizens can understand) as well as how the development process works (and/or doesn’t). While he talks about “software development” – the lessons learned can be applied to any type of product development. You’ve got to design something that people want (and will pay for, and more than once); it’s gotta work; you’ve gotta get it out the door sometime in living memory; you’ve got to keep doing it; and you’ve gotta be able to go with the flow when problems crop up.

So, my dream drinking/dinner party list is now: Joel Spolsky, John, Maureen, Sean, Scott Adams, Seth Godin, Bruce Fryer (and Linda), Susan Getgood, Dawn Rivers Baker, and pretty much everyone else on my blog list. Think Eddie Izzard would drop by? Throw in – oh, I dunno – Al Franken, Al Gore, Keith Olbermann, P. J. O’Rourke, William F. Buckley Jr., William Kristol, Jon Stewart, Tina Fey, Senator John McCain, Bill Clinton – and it’d be a rumble to remember! (I’d invite Bill O’Reilly just for grins, but he’d do embarrassing things with the falafel and ruin it for the rest of us.) Why, I bet you could see the sparks from space. The aliens on the way to buy KFC buckets could drop by and assimilate us.

I warned you this Friday’s post is particularly silly! Have a great weekend, and do something fun, time is short. The aliens may already be on the way to your house!

If you’ve gotten an idea or chuckle out of this post (or others), drop by Habitat for Humanity and make a donation. Every little bit helps! $10 = a box of nails; $35 = Shingles; $75 = a window and so on. Habitat gives people a hand up, not a hand out. If you’re in the Albuquerque area, you can donate here Or, look up the affiliate in your area – that way all of your donation will go directly to them for your local community betterment.

More Mind Candy & Brain Food

Tags: Google, spam, spammers, Mary Schmidt