Working today on the front porch annex office. Across the street is a pediatric dentist's office. Now, based on the title of this post and the brief facts just provided, who is yelling to whom and in which direction are they running?
If you guessed: parent yelling to child, you are correct!
If you guessed: running away from the doctor's office, you are INCORRECT!
Dr. Dyson has some sort of magic going on over there that actually makes kids RUN INto his office. A fairly busy street separates Dr. Dyson and I, and often I have seen excited children spring from vehicles parked on MY side of the street, bounce onto the sidewalk and then nearly dash into traffic in their eagerness to get to his office.
I've heard there are Lego's and trains in there. I also know for a fact there are balloons (wailing ensues when the rookie child releases the string just outside the front door). But that can't be all there is to it. Kids are smarter than that. Bribes and toys only go so far. To have a memory so good (or at the very least not bad) of the dentist's office that you literally RUN to get inside... I can't fathom it. But it's a happy thing to witness.
Reason number 6,457 why the BDO rocks: Cool dentist dude across the street.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
An easy lesson in branding
Last week I saw a great example of how businesses should use Facebook. Below is a "status" posted by Life is Good that showed up in my news feed since I am a "fan" of the company.
Life is good.(R) We will never know all the good a simple smile can do.
3 hours ago * Comment * Like
The folks at the company actually do this quite a bit; post happy little thoughts that make me smile and love this brand even more than I already do. The posts embody what the company is all about – or at least what the company wants me, the consumer, to think it is all about.
That, my friends, is branding. Its value is stealth but potent: creating or reinforcing a bond with customers that goes beyond simple preference for your products or services. It's communicating the personality of your company, without an overt or immediate sales agenda.
Life is Good has also used its Facebook status updates to promote sales, new products, store openings and other events more traditionally associated with marketing. But here they have used a quiet pause to build the brand. Brilliant. Man, do these guys get it.
Witnessing such an enlightening use of the medium almost makes me feel justified in spending all the time I do on Facebook. It's research for my work, right? Not a frightening vortex that sucks hours and hours from my life. Almost billable isn't it? Probably not.
Life is good.(R) We will never know all the good a simple smile can do.
3 hours ago * Comment * Like
The folks at the company actually do this quite a bit; post happy little thoughts that make me smile and love this brand even more than I already do. The posts embody what the company is all about – or at least what the company wants me, the consumer, to think it is all about.
That, my friends, is branding. Its value is stealth but potent: creating or reinforcing a bond with customers that goes beyond simple preference for your products or services. It's communicating the personality of your company, without an overt or immediate sales agenda.
Life is Good has also used its Facebook status updates to promote sales, new products, store openings and other events more traditionally associated with marketing. But here they have used a quiet pause to build the brand. Brilliant. Man, do these guys get it.
Witnessing such an enlightening use of the medium almost makes me feel justified in spending all the time I do on Facebook. It's research for my work, right? Not a frightening vortex that sucks hours and hours from my life. Almost billable isn't it? Probably not.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Views from the BDO: Circus tent?
I've been a bit neglectful of this blog, because another online communication tool has been sucking all my spare time into its very special black hole: The Facebook Vortex.
My Facebook status to accompany this photo would be: "Carole finds it difficult to concentrate on work when a small circus tent has been erected on the front lawn."
We have an annual fundraiser yard sale here at our home. Proceeds benefit our local Habitat for Humanity chapter and a small scholarship fund for an award given at our local high school in memory of a friend of mine who passed away in 2004. We get donations from members of Habitat, friends, and family and we usually do quite well for both organizations.
It's Wednesday and the sale is scheduled for Friday and Saturday. With the tent up, the doorbell has already rung twice this morning and it's only 9.30. How will I ever get any work done today?
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
A tomato by any other name
Is it a coincidence that elementary school students from right here in Washington, NJ where I live inspired the introduction of a bill in NJ to have the tomato named the state vegetable? I think not. Initially, I wasn't sure I could really get behind this effort. Stickler for detail that I am, I stumbled on the fact that, technically, a tomato is a fruit not a vegetable. Or so I always thought. That is, until, my brilliant friend Jodee got me to do a little research on the matter.
“The supreme court - 100 years ago or so - declared it a veg. instead of a fruit so that it could be taxed,” she wrote in an email to me. “Their logic was that one eats it with dinner not as a desert.” I looked it up and it’s true.
As I was looking that up, I got sidetracked on an interesting linguistic element of this whole discussion. Something I read said that "fruit" is a botanical classification whereas "vegetable" is simply a culinary term, so it isn't really an either/or situation. I looked up both “fruit” and “vegetable” and found, MUCH to my delight, that a tomato is actually BOTH! How cool is that?
The definition of vegetable is: “any herbaceous plant whose fruit, [etc.] are used as food” or “the edible part of such a plant.” The definition of fruit is: “any product of vegetable growth.” So, basically, “vegetable” can refer to the plant itself or the fruit of said plant if the fruit is edible. Ergo – a tomato can be correctly called either a fruit or vegetable. Phew!
And now for some fun. A silly chain email also forwarded to me today:
Subject: Fw: Tomato Garden
An old Italian man lived alone in New Jersey. He wanted to plant his annual tomato garden, but it was very difficult work as the ground was hard. His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison.
The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament:
Dear Vincent,
I am feeling pretty sad, because it looks like I won't be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. I know if you were here my troubles would be over. I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me, like in the old days.
Love,
Papa
A few days later he received a letter from his son.
Dear Pop,
Don't dig up that garden. That's where the bodies are buried.
Love,
Vinnie
At 4 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug-up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left. That same day the old man received another letter from his son.
Dear Pop,
Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That's the best I could do under the circumstances.
Love you,
Vinnie
“The supreme court - 100 years ago or so - declared it a veg. instead of a fruit so that it could be taxed,” she wrote in an email to me. “Their logic was that one eats it with dinner not as a desert.” I looked it up and it’s true.
As I was looking that up, I got sidetracked on an interesting linguistic element of this whole discussion. Something I read said that "fruit" is a botanical classification whereas "vegetable" is simply a culinary term, so it isn't really an either/or situation. I looked up both “fruit” and “vegetable” and found, MUCH to my delight, that a tomato is actually BOTH! How cool is that?
The definition of vegetable is: “any herbaceous plant whose fruit, [etc.] are used as food” or “the edible part of such a plant.” The definition of fruit is: “any product of vegetable growth.” So, basically, “vegetable” can refer to the plant itself or the fruit of said plant if the fruit is edible. Ergo – a tomato can be correctly called either a fruit or vegetable. Phew!
And now for some fun. A silly chain email also forwarded to me today:
Subject: Fw: Tomato Garden
An old Italian man lived alone in New Jersey. He wanted to plant his annual tomato garden, but it was very difficult work as the ground was hard. His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison.
The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament:
Dear Vincent,
I am feeling pretty sad, because it looks like I won't be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. I know if you were here my troubles would be over. I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me, like in the old days.
Love,
Papa
A few days later he received a letter from his son.
Dear Pop,
Don't dig up that garden. That's where the bodies are buried.
Love,
Vinnie
At 4 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug-up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left. That same day the old man received another letter from his son.
Dear Pop,
Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That's the best I could do under the circumstances.
Love you,
Vinnie
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
A rip-off post or "My Jersey Pride"
My aunt and I are making dinner plans for tomorrow night. She's suggested the Red Wolfe Inn and despite living in this part of New Jersey for most of my life, I have no idea where it is. I googled the place and stumbled across this fantastic description of the area in which I live.
I am often at a loss when trying to accurately capture the stealthy beauty and charm of this area, but this writer has done it. I am reprinting his words here without his permission (or that of the New York Times where it appeared), but I am hoping to be forgiven since credit is given.
The following is excerpted from "RESTAURANTS; Backroads Bonanza" written by DAVID CORCORAN and published (on nyt.com at least) December 1, 2002:
"AT THE RISK of sounding like a paid advertisement for the Chamber of Commerce, I urge you to take a drive to this corner of the state -- unless you already live here, in which case the following will not come as news.
Warren County, especially the western reaches that look across the Delaware River to Pennsylvania, is New Jersey before the era of the corporate campus, before the McMansion, before Target. Out here, U. S. 46 is actually a pleasure to drive: it hugs the plunging, silvery Pequest River on its way through tiny forgotten hamlets like Bridgeville and Buttzville, Sarepta and Manunka Chunk. Jenny Jump and Worthington State Forests are thick with woods and hiking trails.
This isn't exactly unspoiled New Jersey; it isn't Hunterdon County, say, or the outskirts of Princeton, which owe their rolling, preserved-in-amber beauty to wealth and zoning codes. The back roads here are edged with cornfields, orchards and Christmas tree farms, but also with body shops, abandoned churches and adult-video stores. It's hardscrabble New Jersey. And the Red Wolfe Inn fits right in. "
Footnote by Carole, February 2009: Sadly we do have Target out here now and McMansions too, BUT not as much or as many as other parts of the state and the rest of this description still holds true. Ok. Now I still need to go figure out how to get to this place.
I am often at a loss when trying to accurately capture the stealthy beauty and charm of this area, but this writer has done it. I am reprinting his words here without his permission (or that of the New York Times where it appeared), but I am hoping to be forgiven since credit is given.
The following is excerpted from "RESTAURANTS; Backroads Bonanza" written by DAVID CORCORAN and published (on nyt.com at least) December 1, 2002:
"AT THE RISK of sounding like a paid advertisement for the Chamber of Commerce, I urge you to take a drive to this corner of the state -- unless you already live here, in which case the following will not come as news.
Warren County, especially the western reaches that look across the Delaware River to Pennsylvania, is New Jersey before the era of the corporate campus, before the McMansion, before Target. Out here, U. S. 46 is actually a pleasure to drive: it hugs the plunging, silvery Pequest River on its way through tiny forgotten hamlets like Bridgeville and Buttzville, Sarepta and Manunka Chunk. Jenny Jump and Worthington State Forests are thick with woods and hiking trails.
This isn't exactly unspoiled New Jersey; it isn't Hunterdon County, say, or the outskirts of Princeton, which owe their rolling, preserved-in-amber beauty to wealth and zoning codes. The back roads here are edged with cornfields, orchards and Christmas tree farms, but also with body shops, abandoned churches and adult-video stores. It's hardscrabble New Jersey. And the Red Wolfe Inn fits right in. "
Footnote by Carole, February 2009: Sadly we do have Target out here now and McMansions too, BUT not as much or as many as other parts of the state and the rest of this description still holds true. Ok. Now I still need to go figure out how to get to this place.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Smells from the BDO: Last Night’s Roast
I love it when my house smells like warm roasting dinner. Marjoram, thyme, garlic and the melting fat getting all crispy and delicious. It reminds me of my childhood and being at my grandparent’s house. In my memory, the roast smell goes with the smokiness of the crackling fireplace, my grandfather’s musky-clean-smelling aftershave, my grandmother’s root-vegetable-kitchen smell, and the bright-sweet smell of those pink peppermints they always had out in a white ceramic candy dish on the drum table next to the front window.
Yup. Last night, as I was tinkering around the house doing little this’s and that’s while dinner cooked, I was also basking in the warm glow of these memories.
Of course this morning all that’s left is the pungent, offensive garlic smell. Which is not really a happy morning smell for me, personally. I’m sure it’s cultural and for some this would be a great smell to wake up to. But me? I want to run to the nearest Yankee Candle and get some cinnamon, maple, or vanilla thing to blast away this unpleasant olfactory assault. Funny how smells are all relative.
Yup. Last night, as I was tinkering around the house doing little this’s and that’s while dinner cooked, I was also basking in the warm glow of these memories.
Of course this morning all that’s left is the pungent, offensive garlic smell. Which is not really a happy morning smell for me, personally. I’m sure it’s cultural and for some this would be a great smell to wake up to. But me? I want to run to the nearest Yankee Candle and get some cinnamon, maple, or vanilla thing to blast away this unpleasant olfactory assault. Funny how smells are all relative.
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