Summertime and its joys

Last night was a great summer's night. The air was milky with a high degree of humidity, the Red Sox game was on and I had fried clam strips to eat. To me that is about as good as it gets during the summer. I have to admit that one thing I never understood about people in the Massachusetts area is why they crank up the AC once the temperature turns 80? We are crammed into our homes for 9 months of the year thanks to Arctic weather and now that it is nice out we have the chance to enjoy nice weather and I see all these people going around with their windows rolled up or I hear the hum of lots of different air conditioners.

Last night I slept great and I did not use an AC to do so. It is summer time and this is how you are supposed to feel! God, imagine those poor fools who didn't sleep during summers prior to Mr. Carrier's invention? I for one enjoy the AC.

I also enjoyed watching Clay B stifle the Blue Jays last night. I hope we are seeing the 2007 version of him with that awesome control and wicked slider. If the talented Red Sox in the minors can contribute to the teams success then I like our chances this year and for the next five to ten!

And food fans the clams last night were from the Red Wing on Rte 1 south in Walpole, MA. They were simply amazing. That is the only word I can use to describe them. If there is any food that I am becoming addicted to it is them. Wow what more can I say????

Well off for the usual Saturday routines plus breakfast.

Thoughts on how the weather teaches us about marketing

Like a great number of my fellow Northeastern U.S. citizens, I am living through the summer that never was. Aside from one nice weekend last week around July 4th, we have been in nothing but cold dark and miserable weather. There have been either all day long showers and drizzle or horrific thunderstorms neither of which are fun.

I can't help but think of all the people who run seasonal resorts in Maine or Cape Cod. Unlike those in the mountains, who have the ski season to fall back on, the resorts in Maine and on the cape rely on the summer for the bulk of their revenue. What has to make this even worse is that with the economy the way it is, they certainly do not need another weight on their shoulders to make their lives even more difficult.

The point here is that sometimes you can have a great marketing plan in place and be ready to go to market and events out of your control will then intrude and make lemons of your lemonade. Does this mean your plan was bad no, nor does it mean that you failed by not having a plan B. There is no plan B when it comes to an act of nature. Rather what needs to be done is you need to have an emergency plan where you can pull back a bit and then when the environment returns to a more agreeable setting, you are ready to seize back the initiative.

I remember reading a history of the Boer War fought, at the turn of the century between the Boer's a Dutch colonial group who colonized today's South Africa, and the British. The Boer commanders gave one order to their troops and it was save your resources and fight the battle's you can win. That way you win the war. That is true when dealing with attempting to market against the unknown element that is mother nature. You plan your marketing, but have a reserve group in place to act when and if your first plan is not able to be used.

In my other favorite news, I was so happy to see that Tim Wakefield proved he is an All-Star last night. 8 strikeouts is in my opinion a perfect cap to being named to his first All-Star team. Also, speaking of the weather, we had a monsoon here yesterday for the second straight day. I thought New England was a temperate climate, not a tropical one? Oh well it is fun and cool to watch.

Well work will not wait. Some writing to do and then an errand in Newton. I hope the hot dog guy is there with his cart in Wellesley Hills. Yum!

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!