Why am I here?

Why am I here? Am I blogger? Am I a marketing blogger? What’s my blog name mean?

Well I am a writer, or at least I fancy myself as one. I write advertising copy by day and everything else when I can.

I wanted to be a blogger so I started blogging.

I found a fantastic blog called Mpdailyfix. I was hooked. Smart people doing what I do to some extent and I felt a connection. I have nowhere near the credentials as most or all of the contributors to this blog but I likey!

David Armano - I think - I could be wrong - but I seem to remember him writing a blog about being influential. God! Influential! Dreamy. Then a co-worker showed me the definition to foofaraw. Silly word. Sort of the definition of silly. So to be influential foofaraw sounded exquisite to me.

can I write?

Dunno

Cheers all

Why are you here?

Bitch Attacked by Bees and Dies. YEA!

One day I was standing in line for music class. We were lined up against the front wall where the chalkboard was. Someone kept playing with the chalk behind their back making that clinking noise chalk sticks make. My first grade teacher turned around and told me to stop it. I said it wasn't me. And it wasn't me. I don't know who it was. A couple seconds later the clinking began again. Getting very annoyed my teacher turned around again and yelled, "STOP IT!" I meekly replied, "It's not me." The clinking began again. My teacher turned around and slapped me across the face with her full flat hand. I don't remember if I cried but I'm sure I did. She marched the class to the music room and left me behind to write "I will not play with chalk." as many times as I could on the chalkboard. I never told a soul. Two months later my teacher was attacked by bees and died. To this day, I'm glad she was attacked. Years later I told my mom the story; she was livid. She was so mad at the teacher, and so sad I didn't tell her, and as happy as I was that that fat old bitch was attacked.

You got arrested for not paying your road rage fine - true story

True Story

I woke up this mornin' and you were gone
then I noticed you'd never been home
I called your cell phone to no avail
I called your receptionist, she said you weren't there
Now I'm getting worried cuz it's not like you
to miss a day of work let alone not to phone
So I called your sister, she said that you're in jail

CHORUS:
(4 part male harmony ala Oak Ridge Boys)
You got arrested for not paying your road rage fine.
You got arrested for not paying your road rage fine.
You got arrested for not paying your road rage fine.
You got arrested for not paying your road rage fine.
(Then I come in a warblin')
So Darlin' where's the money coming from this time?
























You called later that mornin' with a traumatic tale
They put you in a cell with 60 men from hell.
The judge shook his head and couldn't believe
those Oro Valley coppers arrested you
for a silly ol' misdemeanor, and no more
You forked out the money that we really don't have
You cursed Oro Valley as you began to leave.
















CHORUS:
(4 part male harmony ala Oak Ridge Boys with me warbling along)

You got arrested for not paying your road rage fine.
You got arrested for not paying your road rage fine.
You got arrested for not paying your road rage fine.
You got arrested for not paying your road rage fine.
(Then I come in a warblin')
So Darlin' where's the money coming from this time?

Ideal Bite and Nazi Enviromentalists

Hey there! I just found this cool free tip service for all things 'light green' - you know, things that are easy to do and add up to positive changes. You should totally sign up!

http://www.idealbite.com/

Also read this...

http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/rebecca_adler/

JOE

The chair has been knocked out.

I'm floating in a most of peculiar way.

I feel lost and out of sorts.

When will you visit me again?

I miss you.

You made me laugh

harder and louder than anyone

you're gone

dead

I feel disconected

I've noticed your absence

It feels like I'm not real

death does that

makes the living feel unreal

sureal

well dear friend

We'd surely be drinking if you were here

so cheers

I miss you.

Here's to the crazy ones.

Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round heads in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. But the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

- from Jack Kerouac's book On the Road

THENERVOUSBREAKDOWN.COM - Read It!

THENERVOUSBREAKDOWN.COM



















I just had to have it!

GE Desalination Green Disguise and Clorox Plays with Poop

GE advertises how wonderful and green they are because they engage in ravishing our oceans for water...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUSS4tj1Kus

Abstract Enormous amounts of seawater are desalted everyday worldwide. The total world production of fresh water from the sea is about 2621 mgd (9.92 million m3 day-1 1985 figures). Desalting processes are normally associated with the rejection of high concentration waste brine from the plant itself or from the pretreatment units as well as during the cleaning period. In thermal processes, mainly multistage flash (MSF) thermal pollution occurs. These pollutants increase the seawater temperature, salinity, water current and turbidity. They also harm the marine environment, causing fish to migrate while enhancing the presence of algae, nematods and tiny molluscus. Sometimes micro-elements and toxic materials appear in the discharged brine. - Ibrahim S. Al-Mutaz - Chemical Eng. Dept., College of Eng., King Saud University

So I thought I would write to them and ask them point blank... "What is the desalination process you engage in doing to the ecosystem of the site from which you've extracted the water and then flushed the by-products back into that same site?"

Tammy,
Thank you for contacting GE Infrastructure Water & Process Technologies.
Your inquiry will be routed to the appropriate sales or product support person who will contact
you and answer your question or resolve your problem.
Please do not reply to sender as this email address is unmonitored.
If your problem is urgent, please contact one of our global customer support centers via phone.
Our locations and phone numbers can be found via this link:
http://www.gewater.com/who_we_are/our_locations/index.jsp
Thank You
GE Infrastructure
Water & Process Technologies
Customer Support

Stay tuned to see if I get a response.

On another front, apparently Clorox wants to scare us into using it's products because children play with poop in the toilet and don't wash their hands. nice.

I couldn't find the commercial... But seriously, it show kids whispering to each other and one kid says "I play with my poop in the toilet" Where's this kids parents?

It's just over-the-top manipulative. I'll buy generic bleach from now on.

Tammy Friday, Mother's Day My Mom

My keyboard doesn't type every letter. Sometimes if I type really fast it eliminates letters.

It is really annoying.

Today is Friday

Today I am starting Tammy Friday.

I have many things I am passionate about.

Sometimes I don't know I am passionate about something until I get into it.

Today I wrote a lot of Mother's Day copy.

I'm a mother.

I didn't know I would be so passionate as a mother.

Tomorrow is my mother's 80th birthday

That is a serious accomplishment;

especially if you are my mother.

She raised two girls as an artist.

She raised two girls as an artist in the 60's, & 70's

She is amazing!

Her art is not New York, Paris or any other "cutting edge" school of art.

Her art is beautiful.

She is beautiful.

She has been featured in countless articles and books.

She is one of the most respected artists of her genre and generation.

Happy Birthday Mom!

I love YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, these are some of her paintings.

If you google Mary DeLoyht Arendt you will find her.

http://www.p-a-p-a.com/ArtistPage.asp?varID=9

LESS update

Ben:

"Hi Tammy,
I could tell from a glance at your site that you and I were simpatico and agree more than we disagree.

Buy (LESS) is generating a ton of interest, much of it international. Mercifully, the attention is directed where it ought to be, which is on the issue of transparency and reform within the greater cause-related marketing industry. We really do want to help improve the model.

Happy to answer any questions you might have. And thank you for keeping an open mind and your willingness to overlooking the many ways in which I rubbed you wrong.
Best, Ben Davis"

Me:

"I certainly appreciate you taking the time to write to me. I can get pretty passionate about certain issues. I also appreciate your efforts to improve cause related marketing and for bringing charitable giving into the forefront of current news.

Good luck! And try not to piss anyone off. :-)

Have a great day!"

In international news. . .

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/features/article2342789.ece

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2007/03/shopping_and_donating_are_diff.html

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/showbiz/article-23388118-details/Bono

http://www.u2france.com/spip.php?article10160

http://www.pr-inside.com/bono-s-red-campaign-slams-financial-assessment-r61086.htm

LESS vs RED

Thanks to Ann Handley at MarketingProfs Daily fix: http://www.mpdailyfix.com/2007/03/rediculess.html


A super conversation was generated. I chimed in a few times and I felt that Ben Davis of LESS sounded a bit condescending and I think the message of LESS could be better expressed in a "Less" mean-spirited way.

Mr. Davis took the time to write to me:

"Hi Tammy, So sorry to turn you off. Let me know if there’s any way I can win you back. I don’t really want BUY LESS be the issue. I’m much happier with the outward focus that Adage.com took. No one should care about BUY LESS. Everyone should care a bit about cause-related marketing, and making it more transparent. Best,--Ben Daviswords pictures ideas"

This was my response:

Ben, Thank you for writing to me.

I still have a problem with the LESS message. It comes across as mean-spirited, and that dilutes what the message actually is; holding cause related marketing to highly transparent standards.

My feeling is, if a company is going to sell a product, advertise it, market it, whore it, whatever and then give some percentage of the sale of that product to charity then so be it. RED is not a charity, it is a campaign, and if the companies who've joined the campaign spend massive amounts on advertising and give a small percentage to the cause. So be it.

I agree transparency needs to be monitored. I can see how a company could say it has a pro-cause philosophy, gain respect and make more sales and not actually give anything to a cause. That's fraud.

I also think companies calling themselves "green" should be held accountable too. I despise the de-salination advertisement by GE. What impact does this have on the oceans' habitats, etc. It feels icky and not green at all!

I digress. Transparency. Accountability. Good.

Fraud. Bad.

Many others have written about this debate and someday I will know how to imbed these links but for now here's a few other stories and POV's.

http://www.buylesscrap.org/

http://www.joinred.com/

http://www.note-to-cmo.blogspot.com/

http://www.chaosscenario.com/main/2007/03/red_isnt_well_i.html
http://adage.com/article?article_id=115287

Scarlett

Your tears salt my bitter wine.

ideas

I have a lot of great ideas but I lack the vocabulary

and sense to make them pliable

I mean viable

tee hee

Writing is easy. Jazz is . . .Which speaks to you?

"Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead."

- Gene Fowler -













"Jazz is the only music in which the same note can be played night after night but differently each time." - Ornette Coleman -

Which of these statements speaks to you more? why? How are they similar?

Connections & Dreams

While having lunch on Thursday, the discussion turned to Austin, TX. A co-worker’s son lives there and she was talking about what a neat town it is. I agreed and began thinking of one trip I had made to SXSW, an annual music conference in Austin. I had flight benefits with American Airlines and I flew standby to Dallas hoping to get on a flight to Austin. If you didn’t know about the events occurring in Austin you might have thought there was a large group of people going to funeral by the sea of black clad passengers waiting to board their flight. Music people always wear a lot of black, whether they are A&R, Press, Agents or actual musicians. I shivered for a moment at the thought of this flight full of music types. Don’t musicians and promoters typically die in plane crashes?
As the last passengers boarded the plane my name was called and I had scored a seat on the flight. The plane was a DC10, in fact it was one of the last DC10’s that was scheduled to retire the following month. Again a shiver ran through my spine. How far is Austin from Dallas anyway? A DC10 for a short hop of a flight. I white knuckled it and when it was time to land, I swear to God, we came out of the sky with a huge thud on the runway. Scared me to death!
I hooked up with some friends from Tucson playing at Liberty Lunch and secured ground travel for the trip back home. It was a VW bus. Slowest damn VW bus ever! I was stuck in a bus with 5 stinky musician guys talking about taking a dump and other lovely topics but I made it home.



















Flash back to reality.

I ‘m tucking my daughter into bed. I remember how an old roommate used to tuck me into bed and turn on Sarah Mclaughlin to sooth my desperately depressed heart and lull me to sleep. Very sweet.

Later I’m sitting watching LOST and there’s this whole VW bus scene. Weird! I was just thinking about an old VW bus today. The final scene, in chimes Sarah singing “In the Arms of an Angel” Ooh. more weirdness.

That night I had a very vivid dream. My mother wanted me to meet an artist. I invited one friend along to join me. I entered this tiny white house nestled between huge foothills mansions. Inside a little old black lady was smoking a cigar. My mom stood silently in the corner. Three little black girls were there too, about 12, 8 and 6 years old. They were smoking cigars too. The cigar smoke was thick and smelled like nothing I had ever smelled. It smelled like heaven.
My friend called me on the cell phone. I went outside to take the call.
The woman warned me not to go, but I was already out the door. I told my friend how to get to the house.
I noticed large pieces of cardboard painted in a primitive Mondrian style. My friend ran up to me, she was followed by 6 or 7 other women. I said I had only invited her and the house was really small and I didn’t think it was appropriate to bring anyone else. She began to berate the woman’s artwork and my clothing. It was all catty and high school-like. The other women laughed and beckoned my friend to follow them. They wanted to go out on the town.

I said “Whatever! You superficial freak!”

I went back inside and the lady sat in the kitchen arguing with the 12 year old about somethig in the bathroom. Then she smiled at me. I smiled and felt warm and perfectly content. The smell, the smell was amazing. I closed my eyes.

Then I woke up.