"Alas, poor Yorick...

I knew him Horatio."

What better way to end a week than finding a the skull of an old friend? Whew, 64 barbarians and counting. Now I just have to ink them all and put them in a book.




Took a long walk today. I go around downtown every few weeks delivering postcards as a self-promotion. It was a beautiful day here in Chicago and I love the anonymity of being a messenger. Nobody asks any questions. They just guide you to the mail room and go back to their Iphones.

The sad thing was that a few people on my list were no longer with the companies that I had them listed at. These days hearing the phrase, "He's no longer with the company." always has a sting to it. They may have left of their own accord, but you don't really know until you track them down at the next job or see them delivering postcards. I like to think that they all left because they wanted to.

I also ran into an old friend who's company is closing it's doors. He seemed okay with it. He's that kind of laid back guy that rolls with things, but it was still a little sad. It's hard to build a marketing company and then watch as a recession comes along and everyone's first response is to shut down all marketing efforts. I saw a lot of it when the tech bubble burst, now this and even knew of a few back in the eighties when I was just getting into the ad biz. Tough stuff, but I know he'll survive as will we all.

The weird thing to me is that in a recession no one is spending money, right? So you would think that the first thing to do is to start talking to your customers more. To go out and try to convince them that your products and services are worth spending money on. You would think that marketing would be the first thing that you would increase. Now, bear in mind that I don't have an MBA or some other high level economic degree, but it just doesn't seem to make sense. I'm sure I'm missing something, but I'll be darned if I can figure it out.

In lighter news I went out for $1 burgers today with some friends. It's good to know that they still exist and they were fantastic. Duffy's Tavern on Diversey in Chicago, every Thursday in case you're in town.

Also, I have been emailing back and forth with an old friend, Brian. He has a blog that I've mentioned before about influencing people in your life (http://influence-people-brian.blogspot.com) and it always makes me think. He's got a lot of good information if you're into self-help and improving your interactions with others. You should check it out.

It's kind of cool. We knew each other in high school, but didn't hang out a lot together and even today I'm sure our world views are different, but I think we enjoy hearing other people's opinions and aren't frightened that others may not think like us. If he was ever giving a speech before congress, at my local comic book shop, or even on a soap box in the park I would like to think I wouldn't shout out, "You lie!" when he was trying to make a point.

This brings me to civility. Does anyone know where it's gone? I used to remember that you could disagree with a friend without shouting. That being respectful of others in public was something you didn't have to think about, you just did it. I don't think I'm dating myself here or fondly remembering a past that didn't exist. I know for a fact that there used to be rules to how we behave in public.

My mother and father drilled respect for others into our heads when I was a kid. You looked people in the eye. You listened before you responded. When someone, anyone, was giving a speech you kept your mouth shut. Not that you had to be a wilting flower, but you weren't supposed to go out of your way to be a d**k. And if you were there were consequences.

I'm not sure if that's so true today. Great, now I sound like an old man, "Hey, you kids, get off my lawn!"

That said, I am an old man and that's enough ranting for this evening. Time to get some sleep and dream of simpler times like long gas lines, a recession, and bad clothing.

Hey, that 70's Show is on. Cool!

Cheers!

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