Double Journey

CBS announced that it was rejecting an ad from mancrunch.com that was to be shown on Superbowl Sunday.

I have no opinion if CBS is actually being discriminatory here.  Their excuse is that they are unsure if the company, who I have never heard of before, could actually pay for the 30 second spot which runs for about $2.5 million. This sounds somewhat fishy to me because it seems the owner of mancrunch.com is willing to pay cash for the ad.  The wording on the rejection is

“CBS Standards and Practices has reviewed your proposed Super Bowl ad and concluded that the creative is not within the Network’s Broadcast Standards for Super Bowl Sunday,”

Now I’ve watched the ad.  It really is not that bad so long as you are comfortable with two men kissing which I suppose many people are not.  But seriously, I’ve seen WAY worse ads featuring heterosexual couples so I find CBS’ flimsy excuse pretty bad.  Why not just come out and say, “We don’t want to show two homosexual men kissing.”  At least they would be being upfront and honest about the whole situation.

But that’s not what I’m actually here to write about.  The one winner in this I can assure you is mancrunch.com.  Seriously, they are getting a ton of free publicity and it is all very positive.   I’ve been on several sites and there is a lot being written about CBS’ rejection.  At the end of it, mancruch.com will probably get more press for their rejection than they would if they had actually been able to run the ad.  And they won’t pay a dime!

I’m not saying that mancrunch.com did this on purpose but it probably could not worked out better for them.   That actually would be  pretty interesting tactic.  Just make a commercial so racy that it does get rejected.  People are just too curious and in this day and age they will go out of their way to find the commercial online.  I’m pretty sure it is something that Godaddy has been trying and I’m surprised  more companies don’t try this.

I was reading a book today that was talking about the keys to marriage success. One of the main pieces of advice was to communicate with your partner on a daily basis for several minutes on topics not including work, family, or household chores. According to this book, the couples who are the most successful are those that know each other intimately and this requires good communication on a constant basis.

This got me thinking about my own marriage. I tend to think I know my wife pretty well. We constantly talk about things and almost never talk about work, family, or chores (although she does nag me quite a bit J) But we don’t really “talk” in the traditional sense. During the week, I’m pretty busy at work. I’m running around to meetings all the time and would never have the time to call my wife in the middle of the day to talk. But the one thing that is contant throughout the day is that I’m tethered to my laptop. It goes with me everywhere except the bathroom.

This means my wife can get a hold of me pretty much at any time through Instant Messaging. I may not answer her right away but I do eventually get back to her. We normally don’t chat for very long, and the topics can be pretty random, but I get a pretty constant play by play of her day. If, for whatever reason, we are not chatting on IM I can probably she how her day is going via her status on facebook. While I don’t use facebook all that much, it is a constant stream for many people meaning your significant other can stay pretty connected to you throughout the day.

Technology is allowing people to stay connected in so many different ways and in time frames that are suitable in a variety of circumstances. While it is by no means a silver bullet for marriage, especially in an age where divorce is rampant, it can definitely help those who know how to use it and take advantage of its convenience. It has gotten to the point where I actually miss the communication I have with my wife throughout the day if for whatever reason we can’t chat.

How about you? Have you found your relationship strengthened with your significant other because of technology? If yes, how so?

There is a big controversy going on in Los Angeles over who should pay for the Lakers’ parade.  The estimated cost is $2 million.  The Lakers have already agreed to pay half of the money but there are those who feel that the city of Los Angeles still has no business spending $1 million on a parade when they are laying off so many city workers.

I have a simple and effective solution.  Don’t have the parade.  I mean seriously, how important is having a parade anyway?  I’m a huge Laker fan.  It actually hurts me when I watch a game and they lose.  So nobody is happier than I am that the Lakers won a championship.  It has been a very painful seven years for me, the last time the Lakers won a championship.

But in these tough economic times, you have to make choices and you have to prioritize.  However much I would want to celebrate a Lakers victory, is it more important that jobs and a reduction in services?  Probably not.  So why even have one?  Does it make the Lakers any more of a champion?  No.  And given the problems that the police had controlling crowds last night maybe it would be a good thing to not have the parade anyway.  Too many stupid sports fans ruin it for everyone else.  Crowds are dumb, and Los Angeles Laker fans proved it last night.

If the Lakers want to have a parade, than let them foot the whole bill.  If they don’t, I wouldn’t be mad at them.  It is not like they have a few million dollars just sitting on the side to throw a big party.  Let’s figure out what is really important and prioritize correctly.

Whenever I go out with friends, I make sure to always leave more than I should when it comes to splitting the bill.  I find that most people leave too little, usually forgetting tax or tip or often not paying for the drinks that they had.  I normally don’t correct people when this happens, I hate squabbling over a few dollars, but it definitely does bother me when people don’t pay their fair share.

The thing is, someone is always underpaying.  I usually don’t take any money back and we usually leave the right amount.  So if I’m overpaying, someone is underpaying.   I often wonder if people realize this.  Do they think other people just don’t notice, and that they are getting away with paying less than they should?  Or do people generally not know how much they should be paying?

I like to give my friends the benefit of the doubt.  I think most of them are fair and honest people and definitely not just trying to save a buck or two at my expense.  However, when I go out with people I’m not as good of friends with, I often wonder.

What are your thoughts and experiences?  Do you find yourself paying a greater portion of the bill than you should?

There is another birthday in my household. My cat’s birthday was yesterday. I actually almost forgot about it because I’ve been so busy.

I don’t know if it is his actual birthday. I picked my cat up off the street. He was just a stray that kept coming around my apartment. I took him in one day and he stayed (or I wouldn’t let him leave depending on who you ask). I know I’m approximately right because he was about two or three months old when I found him and I picked him up in June.

He is now six years old. I feel somewhat like a parent in that I can’t believe he is already six years old, it certainly doesn’t seem like it.  I used to give Bandit gifts for his birthday, but I realized he doesn’t realize its his birthday nor does he really care.  I just said, “Happy Birthday” to him and he just ignored me.  Maybe he has reached the age where he lies to everybody how old he really is.

Almost time to re-enter the market. The market opened sharply down and recovered after the Fed announced a 3/4 point rate cut.  One quick comment on that.  Not sure what type of house that my former professor is running.  I would prefer to see the fed leading the way rather than reacting to every little thing (OK a 500 point drop isn’t little) that happens.

I still think that the market is flat to down over the next few weeks if not month.  But it is impossible to pick the bottom of a market.  If you can take the long term pain, you should start thinking about putting your money back into the market.  Financial stocks are going to be the first to recover, but they might still be pretty scary here.  I still like my MO and I really want to by Home Depot, but I’m holding off for now.  Bottoms take a long time to form.  In 2000, it took months before we actually reached bottom even though there were several sharp drops.

There is still weakness however.  Apple is touching the 130’s in after hour trading.  They had a good quarter, but their outlook was grim.  That is going to be the theme for a lot of companies.  Good earnings, grim outlooks.  Thank god I passed on it at 195.  Tech is going to be a hard place to be.