is it just me?
Monday, July 18, 2005
Oh $*%&!
Yesterday we were driving down the highway and we saw a billboard that had kind of a cartoony picture of a guy falling of a ladder with the title of this post as the caption. It was for lawyers who defend people who have had workplace accidents. I mean, really. That's the best you can do? I am sure that good marketing people are hard to find, but I think we can do better than someone says "Oh shit!" as they fall off a ladder. Honestly.
Yesterday I was grocery shopping. Just in case I forgot that I live in Wisconsin, they have an entire area in the grocery store devoted to jerky. Mostly beef, though I am sure there were some other jerkified meats in there. Does any other state have a jerky aisle? Actually, they refer to it as the 'Jerky Outlet' which does not make it any better. In addition to the jerky section the dairy section here is about two acres. They have more milk than you can possibly imagine, two aisles of cheese and a cooler the size of des moines filled with sour cream. We are America's Dairyland after all. Do you judge people by what is in their cart at the grocery store? I do. And I feel terrified that everyone does the same to me.
Since the theme for today is random, I thought I would mention some other things that have caught my eye recently. One is a church that is named Peace thru Christ Lutheran (I think) Church. Would it really have killed them to spell out the word 'through'? I mean, I don't find thru very spiritual. It makes it seem like a quickie church. I am generally opposed to intentional misspellings, but it seems especially egregious in the case of a church. Kwik Mart is one thing. Peace thru Christ another altogether.
On the drive from here to a town called Black River Falls where we go to see some of my in-laws, there is a place of business. Their slogan is "You be the judge". I have absolutely no idea what their business is. It is impossible to tell. But they are really, really fond of their slogan. In addition to having it written in a permanent plastic sign on the roof, they also have a large painted sign closer to the road which says it again, only on that one judge is in all caps. Oh, and there's a picture of a fence. It is so weird. If I am the judge, I say they really need to emphasize the name of their business a little more.
Not far from the judge on the same road there is an old painted sign. It features what is supposed to be a bashed up car that looks to be from the 70s. The caption is "It was only beer but the end was death." I like it. It's succinct. To the point. I think perhaps they could have added a warning about not drinking and driving for the less perceptive, but there you have it.
If you keep driving down this same road you will also pass the Baraboo Candy Company, Home of the Original Cow Pie. The lesson here is: if you need a few laughs, drive down Highway 12 between Madison and Baraboo, and pay close attention to everything.
Some more advice: if you are feeling down, listen to the song "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles. If you are still in a bad mood after that song, let me know and I will mail you $1. I know what you're thinking - how am I supposed to listen to it? The answer is simple. You need Real Rhapsody. (This is not a paid endorsement, but if anyone at Real Rhapsody is reading just let me know and I would be happy to say many more nice things for a small fee.) It is a totally cool online music service where you pay $10/month and can listen to as many songs and radio stations as you'd like. The only trick is you can't download. Well, you can for 79 cents per track. But it is great. They have almost everything. You can try it for free for some amount of days. And if you're cheap like my friend Chad you can probably do the free thing more than once with different email addresses. But if you like to listen to music while at work and you don't like to buy cds rhapsody is for you. Did you just hear the tail end from some old favorite on the radio and now you are dying to sing along to the whole thing? Rhapsody. Feeling nostalgic for your high school theme song? Rhapsody. Want to know if you want to buy a cd or if the one song you heard is the only good one? Rhapsody. It's great. It's not expensive. You should try it. The end.
Yesterday I was grocery shopping. Just in case I forgot that I live in Wisconsin, they have an entire area in the grocery store devoted to jerky. Mostly beef, though I am sure there were some other jerkified meats in there. Does any other state have a jerky aisle? Actually, they refer to it as the 'Jerky Outlet' which does not make it any better. In addition to the jerky section the dairy section here is about two acres. They have more milk than you can possibly imagine, two aisles of cheese and a cooler the size of des moines filled with sour cream. We are America's Dairyland after all. Do you judge people by what is in their cart at the grocery store? I do. And I feel terrified that everyone does the same to me.
Since the theme for today is random, I thought I would mention some other things that have caught my eye recently. One is a church that is named Peace thru Christ Lutheran (I think) Church. Would it really have killed them to spell out the word 'through'? I mean, I don't find thru very spiritual. It makes it seem like a quickie church. I am generally opposed to intentional misspellings, but it seems especially egregious in the case of a church. Kwik Mart is one thing. Peace thru Christ another altogether.
On the drive from here to a town called Black River Falls where we go to see some of my in-laws, there is a place of business. Their slogan is "You be the judge". I have absolutely no idea what their business is. It is impossible to tell. But they are really, really fond of their slogan. In addition to having it written in a permanent plastic sign on the roof, they also have a large painted sign closer to the road which says it again, only on that one judge is in all caps. Oh, and there's a picture of a fence. It is so weird. If I am the judge, I say they really need to emphasize the name of their business a little more.
Not far from the judge on the same road there is an old painted sign. It features what is supposed to be a bashed up car that looks to be from the 70s. The caption is "It was only beer but the end was death." I like it. It's succinct. To the point. I think perhaps they could have added a warning about not drinking and driving for the less perceptive, but there you have it.
If you keep driving down this same road you will also pass the Baraboo Candy Company, Home of the Original Cow Pie. The lesson here is: if you need a few laughs, drive down Highway 12 between Madison and Baraboo, and pay close attention to everything.
Some more advice: if you are feeling down, listen to the song "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles. If you are still in a bad mood after that song, let me know and I will mail you $1. I know what you're thinking - how am I supposed to listen to it? The answer is simple. You need Real Rhapsody. (This is not a paid endorsement, but if anyone at Real Rhapsody is reading just let me know and I would be happy to say many more nice things for a small fee.) It is a totally cool online music service where you pay $10/month and can listen to as many songs and radio stations as you'd like. The only trick is you can't download. Well, you can for 79 cents per track. But it is great. They have almost everything. You can try it for free for some amount of days. And if you're cheap like my friend Chad you can probably do the free thing more than once with different email addresses. But if you like to listen to music while at work and you don't like to buy cds rhapsody is for you. Did you just hear the tail end from some old favorite on the radio and now you are dying to sing along to the whole thing? Rhapsody. Feeling nostalgic for your high school theme song? Rhapsody. Want to know if you want to buy a cd or if the one song you heard is the only good one? Rhapsody. It's great. It's not expensive. You should try it. The end.
Archives
April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 December 2009 January 2010 March 2010 April 2010 May 2010 June 2010 November 2010 June 2011
