Whose Faulty Vision

Google Reader Revamp

The good news is, the new Google Reader absolutely rocks–the revamped interface makes it easier to keep up with a large number of feeds than ever before. And since I’m now up to 90 feeds I’m following, that’s a big advantage.

The bad news is, Blogger is refusing to publish my blog, so who knows when anyone will ever see this post?

Difficult Development

I’ve had a very difficult round of strategic development for a new project I’ve been working on. After a couple of rounds with the client, they totally rejected the strategy I’d written and said to come back with something different. So I sat down and thought about the product’s benefits and the target audience, and came up with something I actually thought was better than the original strategy–it spoke more to a specific need of the target audience.

Since then, though, it’s been tough convincing anyone else about it. First the account team was skeptical of it, and I had to win them over. Next one of the creatives didn’t really buy it, and we (me, another planner, and the account team) had to win him over. So when we were planning to present to the client today, I was nervous–would they be as tough as everyone else has been on this strategy?

So I presented the new strategy, and the other planner and one of the account people chimed in supporting it, and there was just silence on the other end. We asked them if they needed a little time to think about it, and they said they did, and put us on hold for a couple of minutes. But when they came back, they liked it–said it was much stronger than the older strategy (I agree), and that their one concern was whether the creatives would be able to deliver on it. We assured them that the creative team had signed off on it, and they approved it.

What a relief to have that over. Now we just have to wait and see what the ads look like.

Don’t Fight the Laws of Economics

One of the fundamental rules of economics, which politicians keep ignoring, is that if you pay people to do something, more people will do it–regardless of what that thing is. A wonderful example that just popped up in the news: A Chinese policy that amounted to paying people to get divorced caused a rash of divorces. No surprise to people who think like economists.

Argh, Itching!

I want the itching to stop!

I actually woke up at about 4 this morning because the itch from one of my bites was so bad. I smeared some goo on it, and it seemed to help a little, and I was able to get back to sleep. But still.

Ugly Chicken

The ugliest chicken I’ve ever seen in my life, taken a couple of weeks ago when Christmas and I were in Connecticut:

Quote of the Whenever

Quote of the Whenever:

Delirium:“Um. What’s the word for things not being the same always. You know, I’m sure there is one. The thing that lets you know time is happening. Is there a word?”

Dream:“Change.”

Delirium:“Oh. I was afraid of that…”

-Neil Gaiman, Sandman

Bug Bites

I have some bug bites on my arms and hands that are driving me nuts–they itch on and off all day. The frustrating part is, I got them over a week ago–one set when I was up in Ithaca the weekend before last, and the other at Christmas’s a day or two earlier. And they’re still there, and they still itch. I’m not used to bites itching this long, and it’s really bugging me.