Random Thursday: Wednesday Edition
Category: Random Thursday...
Posted Wednesday, October 17, 2007 at 09:48 AM [GMT-6]

It's been a busy few weeks (months?) around the Gazette household, but I'm sure everybody's in that boat. MLB and I are occasionally feeling stressed over some of the things that are going on, but when I take a look at the list of the most stressful life events and see that we're not experiencing any of them, then I have to admit that we're pretty spoiled.

Nevertheless, I am dealing with some pretty weighty issues. Like, how do I know whether to refer to someone as a "rapper" vs. a "hip-hop artist"? I mean, what's the difference? Are the former's lyrical vulgarities more crude? Are the latter's drive-by shootings done with a gold-plated rod? And does anyone still refer to a gun as a "rod"?

Also, why does Charmin insist on having eight varieties of toilet paper? Big rolls, mega rolls, ultra rolls, ultra-freakin'-ginormous rolls. Who can figure it out?

Anyway, here's some noteworthy stuff that I trust won't stress your mind too much:

• Got a lot accomplished before 7:30 this morning, including installing and configuring a message board for a nonprofit client, and tweaking the home page layout for a second customer. I also caught the appearance of fellow Midland blogger Ricë Freeman-Zachery on the local CBS morning show, as she took temporary leave from her easy chair at the Rankin HIghway S$s to plug her new book, Living the Creative Life in advance of her book signing at Barnes & Noble on Saturday. I trust that she was pleasantly surprised that the interviewer pronounced her name correctly.


• I think there's a whole boring post to be made around this concept, but for now let me just say that website designers are in danger of becoming the next used car salesmen (and by that I really mean no disrespect to any actual used car salesmen, all of whom are paragons of fiduciary responsibility and compassionate marketing strategies; I'm referring to those unfair stereotypes, doncha know?) if my most recent clients are any indication. The last three have retained me to rescue them from lousy designs and/or unresponsive designers. One of them told me, "I'd be happy just to have someone who answers their phone." Methinks we need to have a little group meeting to discuss such things as reliability, discipline, and customer service. After that, we can move on to the many reasons why scanning a brochure and slapping it on a server as a series of JPEGs does not a useful website make.


• How out of it am I? After telling some friends last night about the new album being released by a major recording artist, Toni informed me as diplomatically as she could without rolling on the floor in laughter that George Harrison's All Things Must Pass is, in fact, more than three decades old. (I have socks older than that, so that's not a big deal.) Say, did you know that he's dead? Next up: I share some rumors about this really big boat hitting an iceberg and sinking while an orchestra plays a hymn.

I'm pretty sure I had a couple of additional observations that would bring the world closer to true harmony and the ubiquitous availability of really good chile rellenos, but it all escapes me now.