Several years ago I worked for a fairly large ad agency in Miami. In the kitchen there was a refrigerator where the staff would put their lunches. Over the period of a few weeks, people started to witness a bizarre occurrence. Each day, a different lunch bag was missing something. Sometimes it was an apple. Other days it was a half eaten sandwich. It became almost an obsession to catch the perpetrator in the act. After several weeks had passed, the perpetrator was indeed caught. It turned out to be one of the agency partners. Yeah, kind of creepy.

Had we been armed with these anti-theft bags, that incident could have been completely avoided.

Via ThinkOfThe.com

Today, in the United States, it’s Martin Luther King Jr. day. A day or remembrance and reflection on a man whose words are as powerful today as the day he spoke them. We celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. day on the third Monday which is close to Kings birthday. (January 15)

Below is a mashup, from an earlier post, of King’s famous “Drum Major Speech.” I took the audio from the speech and created a music bed then added a female backing voice:

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For the record, I want everyone to know that no trees were harmed this past year as my family and I celebrated Christmas. Let me repeat NO TREES WERE HARMED.

That’s right.
We went green last year!

In previous years we would venture out to choose the perfect tree. It went something like this. No, that one’s too lopsided. Mmm, too wide at the bottom. Too scrawny … it looks like a Charlie Brown tree. Ahh, perfect. Let’s hurry up and get it before someone else does! Then we drag it to the front, pay for it and throw it on top of the SUV and head home.

Last year we picked up a GE pre-lit tree. It takes five minutes to pull out of the box and assemble. The best part are the lights. You just plug it in.

I could say the main reason we went green was to save several trees over the next few years. That’s true. The truth is that it’s fast and easy. No more needles all over the floor. No more sap all over my arms or scratches when stringing the lights. No more shelling out 100 bucks per tree every year for a real tree.

In the end, we did save trees, money, and time. More importantly, we had a great Christmas because our family was together. The tree was merely there – a bit player in our memories.

A severely damaged piece of mail arrived today courtesy of the US Postal Service. It was so badly mangled that the address could be barely be seen. The Postal Service placed what was left of the mail in a plastic bag that read:

WE CARE

Dear Postal Customer:

We sincerely regret the damage to your mail during handling by the Postal Service. We hope this incident did not inconvenience you. We realize that your mail is important to you and that you have every right to expect it to be delivered in good condition.

Although every effort is made to prevent damage to the mail, occasionally this will occur because of the great volume handled and the rapid processing methods which must be employed to assure the most expeditious distribution possible.

We hope you understand. We assure you that we are constantly striving to improve our processing methods in order that even a rare occurrence may be eliminated.

Please accept our apologies.

Sincerely,

Your Postmaster

I felt much better after reading that message. It warms my heart to know that the US government actually cares. They’re just doing their best and this sort of thing should be expected. Who could blame them for mangling an occaisaional piece of mail? Certainly not I.

Thank you Postmaster for your apology and kind hearted words. I wish you a happy new year and eargerly look forward to your next coorespondence.

For some strange reason, random people feel it’s necessary to come up to me and tell me which celebrity I resemble. I look at them and say.. thanks? I mean, what do they expect me to say? Yes, you got me… I’m him. Sometimes they too resemble a celebrity. It’s usually not someone very flattering so I don’t reply “Hey, you look exactly like Roseanne Barr”! “Wow, the resemblance is uncanny!”

Over the years the two celebrities that I’ve gotten I look like the most are either James Spader or Jeff Healy. I think I may have resembled both when I was younger but I still get tagged with both celebrities. James Spader is looking more like a junior William Shatner these days. I’ll take the Jeff Healy comparison any day.

A few years back I was in a bar in Key West and a couple came up to me and asked me if they could have a photo with me. I looked at them and asked “Why do you want a photo with me?” They said “Because you’re Jeff Healy!” I was honored but let them know that I wasn’t Jeff Healy. They didn’t believe me. I asked them if they knew that Jeff was blind. They replied “Of course we do.” They I said “Well, I’m clearly not blind and therefore I couldn’t possibly be Jeff Healy. They laughed and begged me to take a couple of photos with me. They were both taking photos with me. That seemed to draw a crowd. One woman whispered to her husband “Who is that?” “A celebrity?” The couple yelled out “It’s Jeff Healy.” The others looked puzzled. Apparantly they either didn’t know who Jeff Healy was or they thought this couple was nuts.

Sadly, guitar great Jeff Healy passed away earlier this week of lung cancer. He was 41. R.I.P. Jeff.