An interesting question about good writing

I was speaking with someone about writing yesterday and the question came up, "how does a professional writer create something worth while? We all have a fantastic idea that writers are budding Hemingway's or Shakespeare's and that is far from the pale in what real business writers should be aiming for, and is also far from an ideal that any writer wishes to aim for. The easy answer to this type of question is that there is no easy answer. Most professional writing comes from the assignment of a task and is often involved in the execution of a greater mission and for better or worse that makes it easier to get started. I can't say that makes the job easier but it removes much of the questioning from the process.

The other factor that I have seen ruin good writing is the perfect example of the old cliche about too many cooks ruining the pot. I have seen way too many circumstances where a draft while not perfect, is sent to others for review and comment. Each person decides they want to add their own inputs to the draft and more often than not consider the document incomplete unless their inputs are made. At the same time, these people are loath to offer any input during the drafting stage when input would be far more powerful and helpful. Of course keeping egos in check is always a challenge. I recall one senior executive who said to me that his quote didn't make him sound statesman enough and I told him that he wasn't a statesman. Honesty is so rare in the office these days.

Went on a run to Framingham and Natick yesterday and had the chance to stop by Casey's Diner in Natick for lunch. For those who don't know Casey's and have not had the privilege of eating there yet it is simply a joy. Small and family run, with maybe a dozen seats inside and some of the best hot dogs you will ever eat. Give me a place like this as opposed to the McDonald's or what have you in the world today.

Three things have me very happy today. The first is that John Lester pitched wonderfully again and the Sox won 4-0. Granted it was against the Orioles who are for all purposes a AAA ball club. I also won a free appetizer at the local Irish pub by knowing all three John Cusack/Jeremy Piven movies. Lastly, Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in jail yesterday. The men received all the mercy he deserved in my opinion. He was worse than a thief and in some cases killed people more violently than if he beat them with a club. My hope is that he live a long life behind bars and enjoy every view of those cold concrete walls.

Speaking of cold, I hope the weather turns before much longer. Supposedly it is going to be nice on July 4th. I will believe that when I see it!

Strange days indeed!

Wow there is just a lot of strange stuff happening these days. I think I have to start with the weather. I can not recall a June where the weather has been worse and where summer has been in less evidence than this year. I can not recall when we have had less sunshine than this past month. I mean it is one thing if you have this type of weather in April but then to see it continue into June is beyond the pale. Every day the weather people are forecasting that the weather will break soon. It reminds me of something my uncle used to say when lousy weather was happening. He would look out in the middle of some storm or stretch of bad weather and say, "the back of this storm is broken." Of course that is usually when it would ratchet up a notch or fifty.

I took my nephew to see the new Transformers movie so allow me to provide you with my review of it. This may be a sign of me getting older and thinking that things were better when I was a child, but this movie was lame to put it nicely. The acting was bad, the plot was paper thin and there was no real reason to do a sequel other than to make more money. Granted whoever had the explosives contract for this film made out like a bandit as there were more things blown up here than during D-Day. And the thing was 2 1/2 hours long to top it all off. So if you like to see things blown up please go and see this movie, otherwise I am sure something more intelligent will come out.

The Sox did give it an effort yesterday but could not sweep the Braves. I have to say no shame there as the Atlanta pitcher really did a great job and threw the ball right past Sox hitters as the Sox pitchers had done to the Braves the first two games. Once again, Jason Bay had done a great job and had the first Red Sox hit of the day.

Now I do wish to say for what ever record that I am officially tired of the Michael Jackson adulation that is ongoing. Someone explain to me please why a 50 year old pop star's death is worthy of more attention than if a 50 year old heart surgeon dies. To be honest, the heart surgeon or teacher is a greater loss to society. I was saddened to hear of the loss of another 50 year old that being Billy May the TV pitchman. I never bought what he was selling but he was a self made man and while I had no use for his products, I respected a fellow entrepreneur. What a shame for his family.

Wake is just amazing!

I've made no secret of the fact that I am a big Tim Wakefield fan. I have had the chance to meet him twice and he's really down to earth and you can look at his role with the Red Sox over the years and you can see how much he's meant to the team. Yesterday, not only did he pitch well, but he tied Roger Clemens for the Red Sox club record for starts.

They represent quite a contrast. Wake is the ultimate team player and leads, from all accounts, a good decent life and puts team first. Clemens is the ultimate selfish player who always put self above team and expected to be treated differently because he was the lord almighty Roger Clemens. Keep on doing what you're doing Wake! While sports stars should be automatically held up as role models, for his hard work and commitment to the community and the team Tim Wakefield should be held up!

OK so there were massive thunderstorms in Foxboro yesterday and I missed them!!! I love a great thunderstorm and God knows New England doesn't get enough of them. Foxboro received 4 inches of rain in something like an hour. That is amazing!!! Of course I was having a blast at a friend's party so I can't complain. Oddly 25 miles away and we heard one clap of thunder and that was it. Now the stupid birds had me up at 4:30 AM this morning so now I feel like I had zero sleep last night.

Today is another lousy day so I am taking my nephew to see the Transformers movie. I looked online and it is 2 1/2 hours long so I sure hope not to fall asleep. One thing I heard on the news struck me as wrong and that is that a town in Maryland is building a new school and has decided to name it after President Obama. Now the decision belongs to the town of course, but I tend to believe that local buildings should be named for local leaders and if it is a national leader it should be one whose accomplishments are not disputed and whose record is complete. An Abraham Lincoln or an FDR for example. I have no issue with the President but it's too soon for the accolades to start.

Summer Time Has Finally Arrived

Well it was hard to get to sleep last night. Understand I am not an AC person so I tend to sleep sans AC and while it's tough it never ceases to amaze me how my body just turns off like a switch. One minute I am doing some type of mental gymnastics and then the next thing I know it is several hours later. Just when I am about to get up and watch TV or something because I don't think I will ever fall asleep, I do. I sometimes wonder if I were walking would I fall to the ground.

No summer has arrived and by the dew point I would say it is trying to make up for lost time. Now if we can only hold out for one more week so that July 4th is fine and dandy. Of course thanks to all the lousy weather we've had there is a plague of mosquitoes to look forward too.

Josh Beckett pitched a beauty of a game and David Ortiz hit a homer so all is right in Red Sox land! For some reason Danny Ainge has decided that Rajon Rondo is not worthy of playing for the Celtics anymore even though he's an all-rookie and kept the Celt's in the playoffs much longer than they would have without him. I don't quite understand what Ainge's issue is but he does tend to fall in, and out, of love with players.

I watched the film Doubt last night. What an amazing movie. I find that great acting can make a movie so much more watchable than stupid special effects. This is the type of movie you have to watch to follow and enjoy. While there are many outstanding performances, I have to say I loved Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Father Flynn. Of course who can forget Hoffman's role as Dusty in Twister and his invention of the word sharted which every guy thinks is just fantastic.

Well everyone is treating Michael Jackson's death as this huge social crisis. Someone I heard on TV said the world has lost a saint. Had I been eating, I would have choked. This man was a singer. That is it. While it is sad when anyone goes that young losing a teacher or a doctor would have been far sadder in my opinion. It is another sad example of our twisted culture where celebrity means you are better and more worthy of attention than valuable members of society. Michael Jackson's death is no more and no less tragic than anyone who else who died on Thursday.

What a crazy news day

Boy yesterday was one for the ages as far as cheap celebrity news goes. While I certainly hold no ill will towards either Farrah Fawcett or Michael Jackson, their deaths are no more a tragedy than the deaths of anyone else who died yesterday. Our media thinks that due to the fact they are celebrities, their lives are much more worthy of attention and therefore deserve far greater attention.

I for one think it would be refreshing to see local TV news run an obituary when a person who helped out in the local community passes away. Every town has them, the people who help out at soup kitchens or help those in need, maybe paint the town common bandstand or make sure everyone has Christmas presents. These are real people and people who contribute far more to the fabric of our society than eccentric celebrities whose only contribution is a warning of how not to act.

It is hard to believe we are almost at the Fourth of July. I think the lousy weather has us feeling so down that it makes us shake our heads to look up and see that we are one week away from what is often considered the mid-point of the summer. Still it is a great holiday and a day to enjoy the summer weather and enjoy everything that is the U.S. of A.

I am still sickened about the poor young 7 year old boy murdered by his "father" in Worcester on Father's Day. I put the quotes in because I wish to describe this piece of filth and can't think of a better term without devolving into petty name calling which is all too easy. I am a firm believer in the death penalty. I know what the arguments are both for and against and I can describe my own support for it in one word, justice.

First of all, I believe that the family of the convicted should be allowed to decide if they wish for the state to pursue the death penalty or life in prison. I do believe that the death penalty should only be used in cases of first degree murder and I am willing to use any and all DNA tests and crime lab tests which can virtually eliminate the risk of putting an innocent person to death. Keep in mind that the reason stories of persons freed from prison after being wrongfully imprisoned get such attention because they are so rare. But as the man once said, let the punishment fit the crime!

Well John Smoltz didn't exactly light up the field last night. Granted it was a year since he last pitched but I think I can say it was a big disappointment to see him hit so hard by the Washington Nationals!!! The Sox have a solid first four and I hope number five doesn't turn out to be a weak spot. I am guessing that Clay B. may be up in the bigs in a short time.

Well off to make sense of this weird world!

The Joy of Networking

Yesterday was a big networking day for me and as with all networking it was a mixed bag. I have to admit that I enjoy networking. I am a social animal and do don't have any fear of walking up to someone new and introducing myself. I started off at a luncheon in Boston and parked down by the courthouse and the Barking Crab and then walked to Broad Street. Thanks to our lovely June weather, I was wet but the time I got there and soaked by the time I got back to my car. None the less the event was interesting and I was able to make some connections that I hope will help the business down the road.

I also went to the Price Center's cookout, held indoors due to bad weather. They had pizza from Paddy's which was very good and by the time I went to my third networking event of the night I was so full I could barely move. Still, I made some great contacts and most importantly, I enjoyed the events. Having to sell a new concept is never going to be easy, but if you're able to do it based on not only firm conviction but an easy, gregarious nature then you are sure to succeed.

Getting back to being soaked that is just another symptom of our lovely June weather. It never rained hard and that was the case yesterday. The wind is what made me wet, I never walked through anything more than a sprinkle but it was whipped around by the wind so that I was it from all ends. Needless to say, I was soaked and if were not for an access to a dryer, I would have caught pneumonia.

My third meeting was at Boston College last night and it was for a restart of their community service committee. After so many years of gross mismanagement it is nice to see them take back the initiative and return to something closer to what Boston College is supposed to be about. The previous administration of both the Alumni Association and chapter in the Boston area was a textbook case in incompetence and inability to even care about the alumni themselves. They were out for a few people and the rest of the alumni were basically excluded, quite the opposite of the great program they inherited. Thankfully this dark chapter seems closed.

Oh and another win for the Sox last night and another homer for Big Papi. Lester seemed to pitch a good game and things look great. It will be interesting to see if John Smoltz is worth the money he is set to be paid. I hope I get home in time to see it tonight!

Heading out to build a company

Well today I brave the dreary weather and head into Boston for what should be an interesting conference on using design and architecture to build safe homes for people as they age. It is ironic that in our world focused on IRA's and 401K's that so little attention is paid on what one will do when they retire or more importantly, how they will retire. Sure some people will say they want to live on the 9th hole of some golf course or maybe move to Florida, but very few people stop to think if they are buying a home that will meet their needs as they age?

Would you buy a car that has no brakes? Would you fly an airline that has the wings wrapped in duct tape? Would you buy a hot dog that the vendor drops on the street? Of course not. Yet people think nothing of buying a $5,000 Bannister because they like how it looks. The key issue as our baby boomer generation ages is that we do not have enough institutional care rooms to take care of them nor are there enough health care providers to help them. That is one chapter in the tome that is the sad book of American health care.

Now if it would only stop raining perhaps I could wax philosophical about something more pleasant. The news this morning said this will go down as the third dimmest or least sunny June on record. I don't doubt that! Tomorrow is supposed to heat up but not necessarily be any sunnier. What I wouldn't give for a nice warm and sunny summer's day!

Well at least one summer occasion is working out. The Red Sox continue to win. Jacoby Ellsbury and Jason Bay were the big bats for the Sox last night against the Washington Nationals. First of all ,I believe that moving the old Montreal Expos to Washington was a stupid move. The Baltimore Oriole's are the team for D.C. and the market isn't that big for two teams. Second, if the Expos had good owners and not people didn't care about the team or the market then they could have made a go of it. The rare teams that were O.K. drew great crowds. In D.c. they still have bad ownership, terrible fans and a worse team. They are not going anywhere! Oh and speaking of not going any where Manny Rameriez is playing AAA ball to get back in shape. He's not worried about the Dodger's fans because everybody loves him. How nice!

Well there is a committee meeting tonight at B.C. where I hope to get an answer as to why they did nothing to promote the wonderful Cleansweep program. Generally B.C. only cares about money and how to make more of it. That ideal was put on display this spring where a stupid fundraiser was trumped to the point of being spam and worthy programs where ignored. Once again more reason not to give money to B.C.

Lastly I just read a biography of Roger Clemens called "The Rocket that Fell to Earth." A tremendous book and one that shows how the hubris and ego of Clemens caused him to loose any and all respect he built up in during his career. It also gives many examples of Clemens acting as a good person but at the same time always putting his own needs first and foremost. Clemens is not demonized by the author but is held accountable for his actions.

How hard can it be?

I find it funny that some people get paid lots of money to do their jobs poorly and yet like cockroaches somehow survive all layoffs and reorganizations to continue doing a terrible job. I laughed this morning when I saw that I had an email from a major Boston company. That's odd as the subject was "Updating You on Your Interview Status." Equally odd was the fact that I had not interviewed with this company in several years and certainly not at any point during the last few weeks.

Well "my" email started off with "Dear Ms. Allen, thank you for taking the time to meet with us regarding the XXX position. After careful consideration, etc, etc." The etc. are mine. Well I had to laugh at what was very poor human relations management I did feel a twinge of guilt. Obviously, this woman interviewed with this company and is probably wondering what's going on. The email does not allow for response so I am stuck as I would like to let them know so they can correct their mistake but since we live in an impersonal age, there is no chance to do so. Sadly, HR is often the weakest link in an organization, yet has the most important function.

Today seems like day 900 of rain in Boston. I watched a show on TV last night about albino animals that 99 percent of the time would have done nothing for me. But with this weather, I couldn't help but enjoy the irony of watching about animals who don't see the sun for days, weeks even years at a stretch! Both ironic and appropriate at the same time. How I would love to see blue sky again!

What a tragedy in Washington D.C. yesterday with the Metro and what I hear now is 7 to 9 people dead. I hope it's not another case of an operator on the cell phone or texting. Boston was for once ahead of the curve and banned these activities and not only should they be banned for operators of public transportation, all drivers should not be allowed to use cell phones when driving.

I finished reading Under The Royal Palms a behind the scenes type expose of the crowd in Palm Beach. It had great reviews and I have to say that upon reading it I was disappointed. I think that any journalist should remain independent and offer real perspective which was lacking. This is a totally fawning profile of these people. Trust me and don't read this waste of paper. Mourn the trees killed to make it. Well even though summer came in on Sunday, Thursday is when it really shows up! I hope so!!!

Oh special kudo's to the blind gentleman who walked the entire Appalachian Trail! I could do more than a mile on it and he did all 21oo miles plus!

What in the heck do we do about social media?

As I look around the PR landscape today, many executives are looking at social media like a young girl in love with the high school's star quarterback. All they see is a positive and in typical fashion decide that they need to be on board that band wagon and need to do it yesterday. Often, they do not take the time to figure out how to best use the technology to meet current and long term needs or even how it fits into current and future marketing and branding strategies.

Social Media can also be compared to an all you can eat buffet. Someone sees a sign in Las Vegas that says $9.95 all you can eat buffet and thinks, "wow that is great, I need to do that." So they plunk down $10 and head to the table and of course load up on tons of stuff and usually end up feeling bloated, not very satisfied and usually seeing that the plate is still have full. Then to top it all off, they are usually hungry again in a few hours. Social Media is certainly an interesting phenomena but like anything else in business, it needs to be approached with purpose and with a clear goal regarding how it will be used to achieve corporate goals. Social Media does not exist to serve its own ends.

Social Media also presents risks regarding the potential for information leaks. While you need always be on guard for intellectual espionage, Social Media presents another concern where you may have employees who are proud of their accomplishments and take to the blogsphere or Facebook to brag about what they do. Pride is a human weakness and as well all know, pride preceds the fall. Employees should be instructed to treat any communication with outside parties the same regardless of whether they are meeting with friends for drinks or writing on a blog.

For my own two cents, I believe an approved blog is the best Social Media vehicle today. It allows for a disciplined and measured interaction with the world at large. It also allows the most secure and disciplined means of reaching a target audience and offers the benefits of the two way channel of communication we want with Social Media. Twitter is a close second when done properly but Facebook to me, still needs to prove its value as a business tool for social media.

More good news from the Sox yesterday. Nick Green hit a great walk off home run on Father's Day and ended what was a really fascinating and gut-wrenching day for both teams. I felt sorry to Tim Wakefield as the bullpen really did him no favors, but then again that's nothing new. But Green's homer was just a shot and only left a question of fair vs. foul. Oh and once again, Julio Lugo on the bench = Red Sox don't lose!

Well still no sign of summer or warm weather. The weather forecaster's say later this year and all I can say is that we shall see! Funny Foxborough has already put its water restrictions in place for the summer. I hope they are right!

Happy Father's Day

Let me begin by wishing all the fathers out there a happy Father's Day! While my own father has passed on, the loads of happy memories I am left with makes me appreciate the great treasure that it is to be a father and to have a father. I can't help but think of the Red Sox games, the many many times he drove me to the movies or to friends parties, houses and so forth. The many life lessons that only become apparent in adult hood and the general ability to enjoy life.

I was pleased to see the warm response that D. Lowe received from the Red Sox fans at yesterday's Red Sox game. The star of the game was beyond a doubt Josh Beckett. He just pitched one heck of a game! It is so rare to see a pitcher go all the way these days and of course I was glad to see that Tito let Beckett finish what he should have. I wouldn't mind a return to the old days of when pitchers pitched. I remember as a very young boy seeing Luis Tiant pitch a complete nine inning game that was 9-7 and while he wasn't at peak form he was winning so why take him out?

The Special Olympics are going on this weekend at Harvard around Harvard Stadium. These games are amazing and don't let anyone fool you, these athletes are just that, amazing athletes. Except they don't cheat and are actually thrilled to receive the laurels that come with victory. The only down side is that the greedy SOB's at Harvard charge $5 to park. Oh please poor Harvard has seen its endowment slip from $40 billion to $30-35 billion so now the people who attend the Special Olympics have to pay.

The weather is still not any thing to write home about. I wish summer would show up? Right now it's gray and gross. On the plus side it was a bit sunny yesterday and I got a decent tan and slept like a baby last night! Well to all the fathers new and old, happy father's day.

Will Summer let us know when it has entered the building?

Well here we are at another week with no signs of summer. Officially on the calendar, summer begins on Monday but I for one will remain skeptical. Now I am wondering if we are going to have continued lousy weather into July and August or, as often happens in this wacky weather that is New England, will we have this blazing hot summer weather? I personally think the latter is going to happen. Not due to any cheeky optimism on my part, but rather due to the fact that the exact opposite of what you expect to happen in New England weather wise is usually what happens. Who would want to be a weather forecaster in New Mexico or San Diego where you know what the weather will be like on September 4 right now, because it is exactly the same each year on that date?

I do have to say that I am a bit disappointed in President Obama and the way he is handling this Iran mess. I think it's pretty obvious that the election for President there was far from a fair and free election. Never mind that the nut jobs who run the country pick the candidates anyway the fact that a man who has run the country into the ground while picking fights with any country who can help Iran won something close to 70 percent of the vote is unlikely to say the least. There is a line that I think came from the Woody Allen movie Banana's where he says "we don't want the people to think we stole the election, a simple landslide will suffice." Some force full words would be very appropriate I believe.

I just finished "Go Down With Me" a book about Bonnie and Clyde. It was very interesting, I gave it four stars on Amazon. The author basically makes the Barrow gang to be a bunch of people who were very violent and who were one step ahead of the law trying to catch them. Thanks to B&C law enforcement started to work much closer together and now we see international manhunts and Amber Alerts all of which seem to stem from this one case.

As for the Red Sox what can I say other than poor Dice K. I like you man but you can't walk 7 or 8 batters a game and expect to win!!! Oh and dinner last night was courtesy of the Red Wing Diner on Rte 1 in Walpole. The places at Patriot Place look much better but not a one can match the Red Wing when it comes to food! Well I hope my new shower rod is behaving itself and staying up today!

Oh what a lousy Friday!

Who would have thought that a Friday could be such a lousy day but today is. Where to begin? First there is the absolute terrible weather. It just sucks outside. June has been one of the worst weather months I can ever recall, nothing but rain and dampness. This is like Seattle weather but even in Seattle the summer months are usually rather nice and sunny. This is just plain horrible!

The weather isn't the worst part of it all, I go to take a shower this morning and my shower rod broke into several pieces. Yelling and swearing did not make it all back together. So now I have to run out and buy a new one. Oh yea, just what I need another needless expense. So once the weather lets up some, I will head down to Aubochon Hardware and buy a new one.

The Sox lost a tough one last night. Of course, if it had gone nine I am sure they would have won hands down. Yesterday was the day for freaky news like the pilot dying during the transatlantic flight and then the truck driver who seemed to forget that cutting of a car is one thing but cutting of a plan on the runway at Logan Airport is totally different.

I have to say one thing I hate about freelancing is people who seem to think you need to prove your value to them by giving them several solutions to their specific marketing or PR needs. That's like saying to a car dealership, let me drive it around for a month before I buy it to see if I like it? Or go into Brighams and say, let me have a chocolate cone to see if I may buy some more. These are always the ones who complain about your work anyways and will always give you issues on payment. For example they will say that you said left and not right and don't bother we told you to say that, we changed our minds and it's up to you to anticipate our moves. I actually had a CEO say that to me once.

Don't forget this weekend, besides being Father's Day, is also the Special Olympics in the Boston area. If you are free this Saturday or Sunday, stop by it is time well spent.

An amazing streak for the Red Sox

Well if you did not hear it on your own news, last night the Red Sox had their 500th consecutive home sell out. That is a streak going back to 2003 and is quite impressive. Granted, those of us who are real Red Sox fans have to deal with the pin heads who sit there with their pink hats and sit behind home plate on their cell phones mugging for the cameras. Still real Red Sox fans know these are great times for the Sox and make us realize how well run the Red Sox for the first time in their history.

There is a great book out now titled "It was Never About the Babe." This is a very well written and researched history of the team and lays most of the blame for the team's failure at the feet of Tom Yawkey and his heirs, right where it belongs. Yawkey bought the Red Sox as a tax shelter and ran them with his drinking buddies for a number of years. The stars could do anything and developing younger players or talent was never a serious chore for him. Worst of all, Yawkey's racism prevented the drafting of black players and shamefully made the Red Sox the last team to field a Black player. Even into the early 1990's the Sox seemed to have a cap on the number of non-white players they would have on the roster. Ironic how they won the Series with a roster mostly Black and Latin.

Last night I had the opportunity to hear Ambassador Ray Flynn speak at Bad Abbott's in Quincy. First off, Bad Abbot's is really quite bad! I was not impressed. Ambassador Flynn how ever was quite impressive. There are two things I respect about Ray Flynn, first, he is a man of his convictions. He is one of the few political commentators who is willing to speak for the poor and working class. Second, he is a self-made man and as a result he speaks his mind. Yes he is a shrewd political but at the same time he makes it clear he can sleep very well at night being criticised for doing what's right than being cheered for doing what's expedient or popular.

I noticed a trend in PR that I find worrisome and concerns me. I think too many PR people are falling in love with social media and seeing it as this perfect solution to whatever problems you may have communicating with your audience. For those of us who can recall the emergence of the web in the mid to late 1990's, the terminology is very similar. While yes it is great to see those brave souls in Iran using Twitter to communicate about their revolution, I can't say that I see Twitter, or Facebook, as universal applications for all businesses. PR people tend to paint a broad brush to impress clients or management and I think this is simply another example. Just like you don't put out a news release every time you sign up a customer, you don't need to tweet every time you are stumped about the name of that Val Kilmer movie from the 1980's where he builds the death laser (Real Genius).

Well to close out on a Red Sox note another great game on the field. Brad Penny pitched well though he got whacked hard in the chest. Big Papi is hitting well by the looks of it and as I said yesterday if only the weather would turn we may think it is summer!

More Lessons from the Business Trenches

Well I continue to build the business along with my partner and from a marketing perspective I am becoming more excited by the day. I believe we are onto a unique niche market and can offer a product that has clear benefit to the end users and more importantly, can be ahead of the curve in changing attitudes towards healthcare. Think of it this way, would you rather spend $1 today which has would prevent you from spending $25 a year from now. I think a lot of people would say that they would choose to spend the $1.

Preventative care is one of the better aspects of the British and Canadian healthcare systems and is one we would be wise to copy. Rather than be a country of fast food joints and obese pre-teens we should start walking clubs, smoking cessation programs and make it so people can age in a setting that provides the greatest benefit. It would be a nice thing if joining a health club could be tax deductible and maybe help community service groups like the YMCA.

In more important events here in Boston the Red Sox won again and Tim Wakefield shows what an ageless wonder he is. He pitched a wonderful game last night and Big Papi swung a good stick to help the Red Sox win. Granted it was the Florida Marlins, one of baseball's biggest franchise failures, but still a win is a win and I will not poo poo it. A great job by one and all!

I am a big fan of Facebook now and started a lively discussion, that being the respective achievements of Val Kilmer during his career. I stated, and still believe that his career hit its respective peak with the films Real Genius and Top Secret. I did love the responses I got but I stand by my original statement!

Tonight I will go with a friend to Theology on Tap in Quincy. Besides going to tell those knuckleheads that run it that I want to get their blasted emails, Ray Flynn, former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican will be a speaker. I am not sure of the topic but Ray is an interesting speaker and his love for the media spotlight not withstanding, has a unique view of what America should be doing not only as a country, but as a people.

Well I hope to get out and enjoy this gorgeous weather since it is going to be lousy for the foreseeable future. Oh well, maybe summer will show up sometime before the first snow flake or the leaves turn.

Democracy on the March

Watching the protests in Iran on the news this morning I am struck by two things. How passionately some people in the world will fight for a right that many American's take for granted and how some governments think they can steal elections and then intimidate their own people into not only accepting the results, but doing so with a smile on their faces. Had Iran's president, whose name I can not be bothered to spell, had won by 52 to 48 percent I doubt there would have been much of a stink. But like Putin or Hugo Chavez, they insist on winning by these huge margins that show that the ballots were fixed. I think the people who protest are incredibly brave and here we sit 20 years on from Tienanmen Square and I hope we have learned that crushing protest is something that is un-American.

On the local level, my business process keeps on trucking. Right now it's web site hell. I can't get over the people who advertise that they want to work with you and can do so inexpensively. They agree a quid-pro-quo to get the process started but then decide they really need market rates in order to proceed. I have to say that if I am going to pay market rates well then I want someone with a lot more experience then you.

It is ironic how much we rely on web sites these days. With my business we may not need a physical office for a year or more but we need a web site yesterday to get started. Not only is the web site a key part of our marketing message and essential to communicating with our customers, it serves as an essential part of our company's operations. So it is both the window dressing and the back room sewing part to use an analogy from days gone by.

I was upset to see the hated Lakers win the NBA Championship the other night. Of course the saddest fact is that the Celtics have become more like the Lakers at least when it comes to attending their games where one can hardly see the game through the cheerleaders, roving cameras and other stupid stuts. I actually would like to see a basketball game when I buy a basketball ticket? Go figure huh?

Forgive my tanget but the other point I hated to see was the knuckleheads who always crawl out of the sewers and set things on fire and turn over cars when their team wins a championship. I think that instead of just treating these people for being disorderly in public, we should treat them as the rioters that they are and make sure that they do some hard time. Put their stupid faces in the local papers and make them pay to be tested for drugs and alcohol so that they understand how stupid they are. Oh and while we are at it, in these tight economic times, trash barrells in schools and parks need to be emptied and dog parks need to be cleaned, why not let these bozo's do it?

I am pleased to see two good ideas come from Beacon Hill in one week never mind one year. One is to test older drivers which I believe is long over due. The data is well established that most accidents are caused by drivers under age 18 and over age 75. There are laws for those under 18, which are just and fair, we now need to balance the scales for those over 75. Second, there is a proposal for a law that requires smokers to smoke 25 feet from the front doors of state buildings. I think it is a great start but I would say make it in front of any building!

Getting the week off to a slow start

Oh goodness, what is it about starting the week with a dreary, gray Monday that does nothing for me. This is perfect weather to just go back to sleep and enjoy a nice long nap! Yesterday was a washout and once again the weather forecasters got it all wrong. Boy, I wish I could have a job where you could be wrong most of the time and people not only expect it, but reward you for doing so! What a life!!!

I have been watching the news from Iran and my own opinion is that the bozo who runs the country, and I couldn't be bothered to spell is name, stole the election. I mean if he won 51 to 49 I doubt that anyone would be more than upset and sad but to do it so flagrantly is only to stir up the hornets nest or poke the bear or insert metaphor here. There was a line I recall from the Brink's Job movie where one of the characters said that the only mistake they made was to rob from Brink's. The point being that how and who you steal from matters almost as much as what you steal.

I saw a very interesting position this morning at Bank of America and of course sent my resume in for it. I am curious that they are hiring and if so they are doing it very quietly. I like the idea that the plan is for community service grants as well which interests me thanks to my work with a number of non-profits through the years including several years on the Price Center board. Well as they say, time shall tell you know.

Yesterday I went to a First Communion for my cousin's quadruplets. Yes you read right she had four kids, two boys and two girls and they had their First Communion yesterday. It was a shame about the weather but oh boy was the food amazing. I love good BBQ and this was great BBQ. Of course I ate like a pig and when I came home last night could not move a muscle. More accurately, I had no desire to move a muscle.

Sadly the Red Sox could not pull off the sweep of the Phillies yesterday. Josh Beckett had his first bad start in almost two months and it was bound to happen. Of course Julio Lugo played so my theory of playing Lugo means the team loses still stands. Kudo's to Beckett for hitting a home run in the loss though!

Well today's big goal is finalizing the name of my company with my partner and once we have that done we can start to move faster. The devil is truley in the details when it comes to starting a company. But it is also more fulfilling. You feel like you are doing something, rather than just going through the motions.

Here comes the rain again!

All together let's sing that mid-1980's song by the Eurythmics. It is amazing that despite the rain during the past week we somehow remain in a drought or below rainfall expectations whatever the meteorological term would be.

I have been giving some thought this weekend to the idea of what to name my company. Surprisingly, this is much more difficult than one would think. One the one hand you would like to have a name that tells what you do, but on the other hand you need to have a solid marketing program behind what you do that will sell your product or service. For example, Amazon.com works much better than, buy your books using a computer and have them shipped to your home. Of course, I can't help but smile when I see Stop & Shop. As far as a name goes, that one does the best job of simply stating what the company's purpose is.

Another Red Sox win does help to make an otherwise yucky Sunday morning more palatable. Winning ugly is still winning and when the Yankees lose so much the better! The lead is now three games and looking very good but of course as all life long Red Sox fans know, the Sox never look strong than what they do in June. If World Series were decided in June the Red Sox and not the Yankees would have 26, maybe 30 plus World Championships!

Now I will admit to seeing a kids moving and enjoying it tremendously. I saw Wall-E on DVD the other night and was surprised that I found myself sucked in by the story and while I had expected something cheesy and sugary, instead it was quite warm and inspirational.

Oh by way of retraction, I believe I said that Cuckoo Clark Rockefeller should have had the book thrown at him. What happened is the wrong book was thrown. He should have had War & Peace thrown not some little kiddie book!

The Rains Have at Last Abated

Oh how nice it was to wake up this morning and see the sun shining bright in the more-or-less blue sky and be able to take a deep breath of fresh air. All is right in the world today not the least of which is the Red Sox winning over the Phillies last night. Jon Lester pitched a great game and were it not for a blown save would have another win on his belt. This guy Ramirez seems to blow more than his share of saves. If you recall when relievers were called fireman well this guy should be called the Arsonist.

Congrats to the Pittsburgh Penguins for winning the Stanley Cup. Still I can't get over those loser fans in Detriot booing the team and booing their own team. Gee the Wings have won it like 4 times in the past decade and are always in the final 6 or 8 each year. Yeah they are an embarrassment to a city where a mayor sits in prison for lying about firing a body guard who refused to protect him when he was cheating on his wife.

Also good jobs today to the jury that convicted Cuckoo Clark Rockefeller. This man is a con-artist pure and simple and what he is doing is trying to use the suffering of truly mentally ill people to get away from another crime. Sadly this being Massachusetts, he is only going to prison for a very short time and no doubt will be treated as if he were mentally ill. To commit a crime in Massachusetts is simply to change into another vocation. Massachusetts is a state where to break the law is rewarded and where to be an honest decent person is to be a fool. In the words of Jimmy Walker one of the most corrupt mayors of New York City during the second reign of Tammany, "Show me an honest man and I will show you a sucker." That is the Massachusetts mentality pure and simple.

Well today is errand day again as any Saturday is. Of course, Max the Wonder Dog will want to be walked and will nag until I do it. I never knew a dog who could nag?

What a great start to the weekend

Oh what a great way to start off a weekend. First, the Sox swept the Yankees and showed off all of their most glaring deficiencies. Chiefly, that the Red Sox have great pitching and real talent. Even C.C. Sabathia, who the Sox owned during the ALCS in 2007. While he pitched better here it was no where near enough to help the Yankees. Also, why is that bozo Johnny Damon still in left? With his arm if he was a third baseman and Big Papi hit a slow roller up the line I would give Papi a 50/50 chance of beating the throw. Papelbon was once again the closer of the year we all love him for. I love that look he gives when he is about ready to throw!

Well some economists think the worst of the recession is behind us? I can't help but think of someone in Banda Ache who on December 27, the day after the Tsunami, said, "Well thank God that's all done with." I am not seeing any improvement from the business end of things and am finding banks still as tight with money as ever. They government wants them to loan out more money but they keep saying we only support a new business who has a sustainable business model, (e.g has revenue) which is silly since I can't get a business started without support, but can't get support with out a loan. Hopefully the economy rebounds as sharply as it went down?

The heavy rain was a nice way to wake up this morning. I can't speak for others but I like sleeping with heavy rain going on. It's a treat and you have to enjoy the small things in life. At this point, have a life of few regrets and those few regrets should revolve around what you didn't do for your friends and loved ones.

Well I am spending part of my weekend trying to finalize the name of my company. This is tough because we went something memorable but it's difficult to be descriptive without going into a 25 word name. So please wish me luck!

Enjoy your weekend!

Rick

Amazing what some people think!!!

I have to say that one of the allures of freelancing in PR is that you never cease to be amazed by what some people think Public Relations is all about. One guy who posted online wanted a PR person to help him push something, he wouldn't say what, that was pushing the limit and may actually end up being illegal. He wanted someone with no morals or ethics and who would not let these "details" get in the way.

Now first and foremost, this is NOT by any measure Public Relations. We are a field with a strong sense of ethics and actually have spelled it all out. Are there unethical PR people out there? Of course there are, just like there are unethical doctors, lawyers and accountants. But to go out and actively solicit people to do unethical work is unimaginable to me and shows just how ignorant some people are about what PR is designed to do.

While my blood is up I have to comment about the shooting at the Holocaust Museum yesterday. I did hear this on the news last night, and have to say it sums up my feelings exactly, how could someone who fought to defeat the ideal of fascism and the evil it stood for, turn around and become exactly what they stood against? My feelings go out to the family of that brave man who stopped this evil person from harming more innocent people and I am happy that A) He was stopped before he did a great deal more damage and B) For once, once of these losers is captured alive and can, hopefully, stand trial for their actions. The Holocaust is a fact people there is no denying it and anyone who judges people by the group, the color of their skin, their religion or any falsehood is wrong and should be called out for that!

On more pleasant news, I was glad to see that the Red Sox have now beaten the Yankees in 8 straight games! Tim Wakefield is pitching very good again and once again with Julio Lugo on the bench the Sox are winning a heck of a lot more than they are losing. Jason Bay is proving that Manny is a total loser and not fit to wear a Red Sox uniform. I am sure that Dodger fans wish they never heard of him!

Well there are many stories in the naked city and those are my views on a few of them. Only one more day to go until the weekend and heaven forbid, sunny weather!

A Lovely Day Despite the Raindrops

Nothing will bring out the Sun on a rainy morning than a Red Sox victory of the evil empire. Once again, we saw Big Papi bring out the Big Lumber and Josh Beckett pitched like the Becket of old. It does seem that Alex Rodriguez broke out the special steroids he takes to choke in big games. Not only did he go 0 for 4 but he muffed an easy double play grounder that should have ended the inning and would have saved 2 runs. Now lets give A-Fraud some credit he's only been playing third for going on five years now and this time he didn't let the ball through his legs did he?

The business continues to go on. It is tough getting a business set up when you need a partner and you have to realize that this is not like working for an established company where you can say, "Hey our deadline is tomorrow." No in starting a company you have to make sure you are balancing the partner's well being with that of your own. So it can be a slow process but you have to make sure that forward momentum never ceases.

It seems like the news is full of lurid murder stories these days. There was the one last night about the woman who was found murdered in the Blue Hills and then the two Catholic Memorial alumni who killed their coke dealer/business partner to settle a debt. How did these two guys come up with something so evil? Now I see myself as an intelligent fellow but I have to admit that I could never cook up a scheme like what we see here? But then again I also think I am way to smart to try and do that. How often do we see these idiots hauled off to jail? Look at Cuckoo Clark Rockefeller for proof that living the life of a fraud only gets you so far before you are caught.

Oh this is the time of year when television is terrible and I have to say thank God for books! I do enjoy reading in the summer time! But it will be nice for summer weather to return so I can indulge in some ice cream and especially a frappe or take a walk to Friendly's for a fribble :)

Well must work and see if the economy is rebounding as strongly as the stock market seems to indicate?

These are the times that try men's souls

My blog title post today is my own personal tribute to the Bicentennial of the passing of Thomas Paine, one of our lesser known Patriots. Thom wrote some of the greatest tracts that stirred passions during the Revolutionary War and if that wasn't enough he also wrote the Rights of Man during the French Revolution. He had an amazing ability to get under the skin of the powers that be, even those who benefited from his writings. He is a lesser known Patriot but someone who should not be forgotten.

I have had yet another lovely occasion with a recruiter who puts a thought into my mind. I believe it was Henry Kissinger who once said about lawyers that 99 percent of them give the other 1 percent of them a bad name? The same holds true about recruiters. I had one call me because she saw me and thought I would be perfect for a job she was recruiting. She had seen my resume online and asked if I could send her a word version. Well that was about a week ago and no response to courteous follow up emails and a phone call. No I may have been born at night but it wasn't last night and I can tell what tricks she is pulling but you know how hard is it to shoot back an email saying we picked some other candidates.

Or better yet like the job I interviewed for a few weeks back where I nailed the meeting, got thank you's from the people I met with saying how much they enjoyed the meeting as well. After several weeks of hoping I would go away, they lied and said they hired someone for the position. The hard part is that they didn't. The media contacts have never changed. Now I don't care about not getting a job but being treated like I have a brain and with courtesy and respect is so lacking from the recruiting process in this day and age and that annoys me.

I must say that there are several recruiters I have worked with who I consider the ever shrinking rare exceptions to the rule. But again most of the recruiters treat candidates as cattle or sheep and seem indifferent to the result. There is the case of one of Boston's best known recruiters who used to hire for Marketing and PR. Then they hired this guy who kept telling all candidates they were not suited for positions and told all hiring managers he couldn't find any qualified candidates. Monster killed their business to no great surprise.

I was interested to see that in Pakistan some citizens are rebelling against the Taliban. Can I say about time!!!! Speaking of rebellion, the Globe's employees not ratifying the plan offered by the New York Times is a good thing I think. The Times has ruined the Globe and giving senior executives fat packages while expecting all the worker bees to take deep cuts for the good of the paper is ridiculous. Much the same as what is going on at many Colleges where they want employees to take cuts but leave the senior posts untouched.

Well off to another day of building the world's next great Home Healthcare company!

Moving Forward On Oh So Many Fronts

Well my wish that Monday would be outlawed has not come to pass gosh darn it. Once again our amazing string of luck held where the weather was great on the weekend and once Monday's comes the weather turns bad. Wish I could say the Red Sox had a better weekend but Dice K just didn't have his stuff, once again thank you World Baseball Classic! You have to blame the offense too who just did nothing to help out the pitching. It seems every time there was a runner on the inning ended with a 6-4-3 double play. The Sox can give you fits!

Once again my favorite local weirdo, Cuckoo Clark Rockefeller will be back on trial today. It's closing arguments and if this jury takes more than five seconds to convict this bonehead then that will be a travesty of justice. I am also fascinated by the business moves going on with Chrysler and GM. There are several great articles in this week's Business Week about the economy and as usual Jim Cooper had an insightful and interesting ad. Business Week has really been great the past several months and has provided some amazing articles on the state of the global economy. I would strongly suggest that if you are not reading their articles you should!

The weekend was filled with walking Max the Wonder Dog. He loves to go for walks and there is something great about the unabashed love you get from a dog. Max is always happy to see you and that is always such a wonderful thing to have happen. No matter what happens, Max is your friend and always wants to cheer you up.

Starting up a business is always a challenge and even more so in these difficult days. Fortunately, I do think my partner and I have a business model which could prove very successful if we can make it work! It is amazing how little the State and Federal Government offers individuals trying to build businesses. If you are trying to build your own business the advice from the SBA is so bad as to be almost worthless. Trust me you can check a book out of the library and read that and get more on how to write a business plan than some of the SBA geniuses can offer. One offers the pearl that there aren't new business ideas out there so dont' argue you are bringing anything new to the market. OK, thank God Microsoft and Intel didn't listen to that advice.

I can't help but notice all the people suffering from allergies and/or colds so to everyone who is suffering in any regard, get well soon! Oh my last Random Thought of the Day, great family guy last night. Yes that show destroys the line but it is oh so very funny!

The Joys of Summer Time

Last night was almost a perfect summer's night, that was until a nasty chill wind blew up for no good reason. Still it was a perfect night to sit outside and enjoy some tasty burgers and dogs from the grill and enjoy what little precious summer we have here in Boston. I was able to take Max the Wonder Dog for a walk and as usual he managed to freak out yet another dog. This thing of his where he has to be the A-Number-One dog on the block is amazing. Imagine meeting someone for the first time and as you go to shake their hand they say, "I make more money than you, drive a better car and my wife is prettier than yours." That is basically how Max behaves in social settings.

I have to tip my cap to Jon Lester who pitched an awesome game last night. I think Lester is one of the most amazing sports stories to come along in many a year. Not only is he a decent left handed pitcher, and really the first one to come up via the Red Sox farm system that I can think of since the good ole days of Bruce Hurst. His battle with cancer is inspirational so if he goes out and does what most of us can only dream about doing then you have to be in a state of awe! Notice that the Red Sox won and you know who was parking his over priced kiester on the bench.

Well I hope it does clear up more for later on. I think taking MTWD for a walk will be on the agenda. Have you ever met a dog who nags? Seriously, I am not allowed to sit down and take a breath before I hear low level growls and whines which basically means get off your rear and take me for a walk. Oh on the plus side I see on the news that Midway Auto in Framingham is going out of business today. They were the biggest crooks and gave dishonest auto dealers everywhere a bad name. I would say this is addition by subtraction and no great loss.

Speaking the name whose name I shall not mention

When I am thinking of the current starter at short stop for the Red Sox I am reminding of the hysterical scene from Scary Movie 4 where in the spoof of the Village they ask, if we speak of those to whom we do not mention then aren't we discussing those to whom we do not speak about? I feel that way about a certain shortstop that the Red Sox were stupid enough to offer a big fat contract too prior to 2007. Needless to say, he is terrible beyond words and yet again his poor baseball playing cost the Red Sox another game last night. Why do the Red Sox think that any player who plays well AGAINST them will play well FOR them? This is a tired old routine which has been proven oh so wrong over the years.

I am glad to see that the crooks on Beacon Hill are trying to get rid of two of the hack holiday's, Bunker Hill Day and Evacuation Day. Now I am a history lover and have no doubt of the importance of these days but understand that fat cat politicians want to make sure that their idiot cousins, who could not work as greeters at Wal-Mart get more for less than those of us idiots who support their quasi-welfare lifestyle. If anyone wants to see what a Socialist state looks like, check out Beacon Hill. Except in Europe, I think they might want you to actually put in some work? But I do have an idea. Any state work who wants the day off must be able to answer two questions 1) Where was the Battle of Bunker Hill Fought on? 2) Why did the British evacuation Boston on March 17?

Today looks like laundry and maybe a Sox game. I am keeping my fingers crossed. Of course if he whose name we can not mention is playing I may end up incarcerated after the game!

The Weekend Is Starting Well

Well today's job report was quite the stunner. It came in well below expectations which makes me wonder if the numbers aren't wrong. Much as one can not look at who the Patriots take in the first round, you have to look beyond the first number to see what's going on. And also keep in mind that this means companies are firing less and not hiring new employees. But still I am optimistic that we are beyond the worst. I think we went down too fast and that when we come back it may not be as fast but pent up demand will have to be unleashed at some point.

In other news I am pumped that the Sox swept by the Tiggers :) Tim Wakefield is having a heck of a season and Jason Bay, or the Anti Manny, is proving that the trade for Manny may be the Sox's best move since they traded for Tek about ten years ago. I am also rooting for the Magic in this year's finals. Basically anyone vs. the Lakers gets my vote and the fact that the rapist Kobe Bryant should be in jail and not playing basketball should also be enough reason to go against the Lakers.

I did get a laughable treatment from a guy looking for a PR person. He wanted someone to write press releases because he knew that's how you get coverage. Of course this is wrong and I tried to tell him this but he knew. I asked him how he knew and he told me that you see all these press releases out there and all those articles get written so they must be getting written from the press releases. I thought wow this guy must also think that since he only sees the sun during the day it must dissapear at night. Amazing the thoughts and the certainty that goes through some people's minds.

Well a quite day. Once the rain is gone it looks like a nice weekend so I will take Max the Wonder Dog out for a walk and try to work off some of his fat!

A Great Game For Beckett but another win for the faux fans

OK before I lavish praise on Josh Becket I need to comment on how appalling it is to see that the fake Red Sox fan's have made another inroad into their attempt to pass for real Red Sox fans. Sorry but if you wear a pink Red Sox hat your a poser! If you wear a pink hat with scratch and sniff watermelon accents not only are you a poser but you should be taken out and shot. This is the baseball equivalent of sacrilege.

On the real baseball front, Josh Beckett pitched one hell of a game last night. He reminds me of the 2007 Beckett the one who was robbed of the Cy Young Award. And yes I know the vote is taken before the playoff which is really stupid if you ask me. The Tigers were almost clueless against him and were swinging at his pitches way outside of the strike zone or frozen like wax figures at the ones just over the plate. His command was incredible. Nice to see Julio Lugo riding the pine and with Jeb Lowerie coming back from the DL Lugo will join that long list of signing mistakes the Red Sox committed at short.

I do see that the saintly crooks on Beacon Hill are railing against getting rid of their hack holiday's. Of course we need to raise taxes and cut essential services but heaven forbid we not have St. Patrick's Day ( I mean Evacuation Day) or Bunker Hill Day off. Hey if these days are so critical why not take them off with pay? Sorry it took me five minutes of laughing before I realized what I had said. Now granted the dumbest Wal-Mart greeter has more job skills than any state employee ( I can't bring myself to call them workers since no one has ever broken a sweat up there), but given that corporations are cutting back on workers to ease the pain is it too insane to ask the recipients of the Commonwealth's largest welfare pool to take a hit, or at the very least to do some work?

Well the dreary days of June are here. We have had a nice run so I will not spend much time complaining but let's not make a habit of it. In other news, the company keeps moving forward but these things are slow going sometimes and I think the one thing you have to realize is that your clock is not always other people's clock. So last game for the Sox and Tigers today. God I wish they could play them every game. Oh well as long as we don't have to play the Angels in the regular season. They are unbeatable them. A pushover in the playoffs but bears in the regular season. Oh and tell your friends to vote for Jason Bay for the All Star team. It would so rock if he made it and Manny did not!

Oh it is nice to see BC reached the goal for the stupid Neenan thing which I boycotted. If they only put as much effort into promoting a real BC institution like Cleansweep we could feel proud. Sadly those of us who take pride in the institutional goals of one of the premeire Jesuit Universities can't help but notice that fattening up the endowment and fielding a Top 25 football team seem to be all that matter.

The More Things Change,,,,Yada Yada

So was anyone really surprised to see speaker Sal indicted yesterday for corruption? I for one would love to see the job description for Speaker, Massachusetts House of Representatives. Does it say, Ensure House Runs Smoothly, Be House Counter to Governor's Power, Be Hopelessly and Blatantly Corrupt. To call Massachusetts politics a cesspool is to not even come close to the nature of the nature of the corruption at the fetid dump that passes for the Massachusetts State House. While we know there is a dire need for some type of reform we all saw how when this was attempted the legislature thought that the best way to improve ethics was to eliminate the ethics commission. I can't help but think of the child sticking their fingers in their ears saying loudly that they can't hear you and if they can't hear you it's not true!

The trial of Cuckoo Clark Rockefeller goes on and on. He's done a very good act of looking like he is crazy but the guy is just a sleazy operator who found not one, but two gullible women, who did exactly what he wanted. I don't know which one was more naive, the one who married him for his green card and who he left the day after, but then didn't divorce him until 10 years later, or the one who was making a million dollars a year while he wasn't working and let him manage the money. Is she still single???

Oh I heard a good story from a friend interviewing for a PR position. He met with a SVP who told him that their image was bad and they didn't have good relationships with their news media. When asked why he thought this was the SVP said that it probably had something to do with the fact they didn't tell the news media anything and communicated only via news release. But that was OK since that was how the news media want to communicate.

On more friendly front it is a good thing that with Dice K pitching the Sox have a deep bulletin. I mean the guy must have had two men on in each inning and got out of it each and every time. Big Papi is slowly wearing out what ever good will there was for him. I think the Sox need to put him on the DL and figure out what to do with him. Jason Bay continues to show he was more than just a throw in for Manny the Cheat. Add together Bay's stats subtract what Manny might have done over the same time and then add in the 20 homers and 75 RBI's you can add in when you take into account not having to deal with Manny's BS and you have what someone like Jason Bay who just does his job is worth.

The word is out that Rodney Harrison is going to retire. I will always remember in the Super Bowl against the Panthers when he broke his arm and did not come out for something like 3 plays. He was and is a warrior and helped the Pats win 2 Super Bowls. Appropo of nothing, some 93 year old guy crashed his car into the Wal Mart in Danvers, MA. I am amazed he was able to do it. I don't think that if you tried to do it you would be able to!

The Beat Beat Goes On

I can't help but wonder what it is like to be the PR manager at GM in these days. I mean if you are at GM corporate it must have been brutal for the past several weeks seeing the writing on the wall and knowing the company was going down in flames. If you were in one of the product lines, you have to have been going crazy seeing how badly GM was planning it's future and developing more big, gas guzzling cars when the market taste was shifting towards more fuel efficient models. Yes GM has filed for bankruptcy and its not quite the end of the world, that's now happening in December 2012 if you're wondering. This will be a painful progress and sadly a number of good people will be hurt by it but sadly it is necessary in this case to cut off the infection to save the patient. My only hope is that we don't see the incompetent managers who lead GM into this position leave with bundles of golden parachutes.

One possible good outcome of this mess is that it could end the second gilded age in America and the idea of the CEO as a god. CEO's are grossly overpaid and in many respects are paid regardless of whether they succeed or fail. Also, their short term, quarter-to-quarter view handcuffs them into pleasing Wall Street and not in pleasing their customers. Last time I checked, Wall Street bought zero for product yet most CEO's behave as if that is the market they most need to appeal to. If you want to see an example of one company doing the right thing look at Amazon. They are among a growing list of companies who refuse to provide guidance to Wall Street and "manage" earnings. Not surprisingly, they tend to be more successful and often have stronger earnings and be more in tune with their own markets.

Well the Red Sox didn't play last night which was a good thing because it was a good night for TV watching. Personally, I think CBS has the best hour of TV between 8 and 9 PM on Monday's with the Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother. The guy who plays Sheldon on Big Bang is one of the funniest characters on TV today and should receive an Emmy nod though I doubt he will. I mean how many years did Friends get those automatic Emmy nod's and it basically sucked. I think the funniest episode of Friends would qualify as a lame episode of How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang. I also watched the first season of Barney Miller on DVD. Barney was one of the best TV shows ever and is still extremely funny to watch even today!

I think it's a shame about the Air France jet but I am not buying the theory of a lighting strike bringing down the plane. What I don't get is that this model of Air Bus is equipped with both satellite and Doppler Radar and if the weather was so bad, why didn't the crew just fly around? The black boxes will keep beeping for 90 days so I hope they find them because I think that's the only way this mystery will be solved.

Finally a Nice Weekend and a Crappy Week

Well at long last we had weather that was nice on the weekend and not so nice during the week. Oh what a pleasant relief that was. Perfect weather for a walk, or a ride with the car window rolled all the way down or just sitting outside and reading a good book. All of which were activities that I partook in. I gave Max his walk and as is becoming habit he got beat up by the Malamute puppy that lives up the street. Max is very socially inept so when another dog wants to play he really does not know what to do.

Oh and of course Sunday would not be complete with out a good dinner. A nice stuffed chicken breast with mom's stuffing did the trick for me. Nothing like a good home made dinner to offset the grease fest of fried clam strips I had on Friday. My walking hopefully will offset some of the grease I ate and the fact I make Max run on our trips might also help out somewhat.

I was also happy to see the Sox save at least one game during their trip to Toronto. Jason Bay, Dustin Pedroia and Youk all came up big and they are already on my All-Star ballot. I like Jason Bay because he is the anti-Manny. Gee he does his job quietly, puts up good numbers and actually can field the ball. Oh yea and he is not a lying cheat that too. I was glad to see Jon Lester pitch a great game. Given his health history, any game Lester pitches, never mind wins, is a miracle of medicine and he should get praise for that accomplishment.

I did have the chance to meet with a small company CEO last week and this guy was a trip. He had just let go of his PR agency because they were writing in his terms "nothing but press releases that weren't doing anything." So what was the problem as he saw it? They were not writing enough press releases. He wanted me to write 3-6 per week and turn them into stories in Time and Business Week. I diplomatically suggested that was not the way to go and that he needed to focuses not only on his industry books but he needed to build relationships with editors and reporters. "Oh no," he says to me, " I know for a fact press releases are what gets you noticed. The never talk to companies." So knowing I wasn't going to get the job, or for that matter wasn't interested in working for yet another clueless CEO enjoyed debating with it. Sitting there telling him he was basically an idiot in nice double speak terms, never losing the smile on my face was just so enjoyable.

So today is also the day that GM finally files for Chapter 11. This is one of the really sad stories in American business. This is a company that has ignored every trend in the past 50 years and has made every wrong headed decision a company can make. Poor quality, high prices a ridiculous insistence that it is somehow my patriotic duty to buy a piece of junk made over seas so GM can make more money for their senior executives and union leaders made my head spin. Hopefully they find someone to run the company who actually puts money into marketing and moving with the marketplace.

I am still mad at the notice the Pastor of my church put in last week's bulletin. He claimed that he was saddened to see how church collections have been dropping and how over the past few months, preposition as an adverb no no, and that many people are using ones instead of fives. He knows times are tough but he thinks that makes it even more important for people to help out those less fortunate. I was so mad I didn't write the email which would have said hey buddy when you're worried about the mortgage even giving at church become discretionary spending. I was feeling bad about cutting back on my donation each week but seeing stupid comments such as this makes me feel much better thanks!