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:

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.

Above are a couple of photos from a visit to New Orleans back in 2003. Most of the shots were taken in and around Bourbon street.

One of my fondest memories was the dinner at Antoines. There were about twenty of us and we had the Rex room all to ourselves. The food and company were amazing. Antoines has been around since 1840. Now that’s some history.

Also see:
New Orleans 2003 Flickr set

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. One year after King’s famous “I have a dream” speech [28 August 1963], he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway on December 10, 1964. This is an excerpt from his acceptance speech:

Therefore, I must ask why this prize is awarded to a movement which is beleaguered and committed to unrelenting struggle; to a movement which has not won the very peace and brotherhood which is the essence of the Nobel Prize.

Interesting that King graciously accepts the Nobel Peace Prize and at the same time asks why the prize is awarded to a struggle which has yet won the peace and brotherhood which is what the Nobel Prize is all about in the first place. King makes a strong point without disparaging the very award he is given. He merely wants the audience to understand that the movement is ongoing until peace + brotherhood is achieved.

I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. I believe that even amid today’s motor bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men. I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the land. “And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid.” I still believe that We Shall overcome!

“I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up.” This unto itself is a powerful and relevant statement for our time. Self-centered can be good or bad. It just depends on the focus. I like the positive spin he puts on self-centered. As if to say we can take that self-centered energy and focus it on something positive for all of humanity rather than the opposite. So it is on this day I reflect on King’s words and see so much relevance for today. Like all great leaders and prophets, Martin Luther King life was taken on April 4, 1968 by an assassin’s bullet in Memphis, Tennessee. He was only 39 years old.

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

If you’ve received a gift over the holidays that you really dislike, you may consider regifting it. Regifting comes from the infamous Seinfeld episode “The Label Maker” which originally aired in January 1995. Hard to believe it’s been over ten years already. In this episode, Tim Whatley gives Jerry a label maker for Christmas which Elaine had previously given him. Thus Elaine dubs him the regifter. See a video clip here.

Here are a few rules of the road that I found on regiftable.com:

Is the gift regiftable?
Never regift handmade or one-of-a-kind items. Signed books and monogrammed items are off-limits. Do you have to be told not to regift free promotional items? Some gifts that are good candidates for regifting include good (unopened!) bottles of wine, new household items and inexpensive jewelry.

How is the condition?
Only new, unopened gifts in good condition should be considered for regifting. Never give partially used gift cards. Don’t give items that you have owned for a long time. A general rule of thumb: if you have to dust it off, it is not regiftable.

Is this going to work?
Successful regifters use common sense. If you are going to regift, be sure you know who gave you the item, so you don’t return something to the original giver. Only regift items to people who are not likely to see the original giver.

Do you have good intentions?
Don’t just give a gift to give a gift. Be sure that the recipient will appreciate the item. Remember, if you feel that an item is undesirable, the recipient probably will too. If you are regifting simply because you ran out of time, gift cards are simple to obtain and always well received.

How does it look?
When it comes to gift-giving, go for show! While gift bags in good condition can be reused, wrapping paper is a one-time thing. Always spring for a new card or gift tag.

Can you handle it?
If you don’t plan to announce the gift as a regift, ask yourself if you can keep the secret. Never feel guilty about regifting once you’ve done it.

Have you considered your options?
An unwanted gift could be a welcome donation to a charitable organization. It is also an option to suck it up and keep an unwanted gift—after all, it was a gift.

So there it is. JetBlue figured out what jet setters wanted and boy did they deliver. Did I care about the simple snacks served on jetBlue? Those terraBLUE chips. (Okay, I get it, I get it), those cookies, and all the other tasty morsels they offer. The snacks are unlimited and you can eat as many snacks as you wish. They even give you little bottles of water. Doesn’t this make sense on a plane. It sure beats those sad little cups of water those other airlines offer.

Once upon a time in the 70’s, a new airline named Southwest debuted and they changed air travel forever. They were incredibly successful. However, along came JetBlue and they one-upped Southwest and beat them at their own game.

Enter Virgin America into the already crowded airline space. Do we need yet another airline? If it’s Virgin – The answer is YES! – we need it. Richard Branson has built one of the strongest brands in the world. What other brand name do you know of that contains, record stores, cola, mobile phones, etc. When Branson rolls out a new segment under the Virgin brand name, we’re already familiar with it. We know it. We know what to expect. We’re excited because we know that innovation is built in.

Virgin America has a hot look and feel. It looks similar to Virgin Atlantic but is that much hipper. They have a cool frequent flyer program called EleVAtion. Ahh, nice. Of course they don’t actually use the old tired words “frequent flyer program” in a brilliant move to distinguish themselves from what little competition they have.

Virgin America IS the new jetBlue.

Virgin America offers several new features never before seen on a plane. (or at least to my knowledge) Innovative new seats. You’ve never seen airline seats like this before. Stylish, hip, and… different. But what makes these seats so revolutionary is what they have built into them You can now plug your laptop into the standard 120 plug. How about a USB outlet. Yes please. How about Internet connectivity via a CAT-5 cable. YES! Why didn’t anybody think of this before? You mean I can know design on my Apple powerbook, listen to music on my iPod/Iphone and not have to worry about running out of juice… incredible. I’m about to hop off the jetBlue train and gleefully jump on the Virgin party bus.

The only downside is I have to wait until they offer more routes. I’ll can’t wait!

I’m excited once again about air travel. Thank you Richard Branson for bringing it to America!

I googled my name and much to my amazement, I found this from the Old Bailey Proceedings, 25th April, 1688:

Stephen Chip , was Indicted for stealing from Ann Jennings of Branford in Middlesex, on the 7th of April, 1 Silver Porrenger value 20 s. 2 Silver Tasters value 8 s. 3 Jacobus pieces, Rings, 30 l. in Mony, and other things : It appeared that the Prisoner had been her Apprentice, and that he had left open the Windows whereby other Thieves had got into the House, and that she had lost the things at several times; but the Prosecutor not being positive as to the Prisoner, and other circumstances concurring, he was brought in not Guilty.

Wholly crap, I don’t remember jumping in a time machine and going back 319 years. Amazing there is even a record of it. The good news is THAT guy was found not guilty.