Wanted: George Washington

Wanted: George Washington
Where: New York Library
Why: Overdue library books

This is not a joke. According to the Associated Press, George Washington has two books overdue. He checked them out about 220 years ago, and apparently they just realized they were missing. This is serious. What ever will we do?!

Okay, as ridiculous as this article was, it got me to thinking about the future of libraries. Are they going to be necessary in the next 10 years? With the release of the iPad, the success of the kindle and ebooks, who is going to need to go to a library? This saddens me. I blogged a while back about how some things should stay the way they are, particularly books. And after this insane article, I don't see a future for library fines. Why would anyone want to check out a book and possibly have to pay for it being overdue, when they could just download the book to their iPad, Kindle etc? It just doesn't make sense.

Oh well, I guess only the future will tell if George will make a guest appearance and return his libary books...or if there will even be a library for him to return them to.

Why Texans Are Badass

I always knew Texas was a badass state...from the lonestar, to the cowboys, we pretty much rule down here. With the recent economic downfall, Texas has managed to escape most of the drawbacks. According to the article (linked in the title), Texas continued to create jobs through most of 2008, when most of the nation was struggling. We still have a pretty high unemployment rate - 8.2%, but when comparing to California at 12.5% or Michigan at 14.1%, we're doing alright. The leading industry of Texas, energy, is almost recession proof because regardless of what's happening, we all continue to consume energy.

This article was pretty interesting, and confirmed my assumptions that Texas wasn't doing as badly as the rest of the country. I think that if other states take our lead, and don't get overhyped about certain things, and consume in moderation, they too can fare off the recession.

I'll leave you with 10 reasons to love Texas, according to The Washington Post
10. Pickup trucks with deer antlers (fake, we think) on them.
9. Sweet tea.
8. LBJ
7. This bumper sticker (American by Birth, Texan by the Grace of God)
6. The weather (we kid).
5. Gigantic American flags at every car dealerships.
4. Lots of George Strait on the radio.
3. Brisket.
2. Rick Perry vs Kay Bailey Hutchison.
1. Panther football.

Paying For What We Want

Just this past week I had the opportunity to attend the French American Chamber of Commerce luncheon where the CMO of Alcatel-Lucent spoke. I’d never been to a big fancy, formal luncheon, and was super excited. After the lunch portion, it was time for the speaker, Allison Cerra. Her speech was very interesting, and caused to me to think long after the luncheon.

She proposed, along with Alcatel-Lucent, that consumers should pay their service providers – AT&T, Verizon, Sprint etc, for better internet/video streaming coverage. Some of what she said went over my head, but the point did not. Should consumers pay for what they want? Absolutely. I think with the internet and technology boom, we’ve all gotten too much stuff for free, and it’s bound to fail at some point. Why should advertisers capitalize on the internet, when service providers are going to eventually lose their customers? I think the playing field should be evened out, and everyone would be happy.

While I love watching things on the internet for free, I wouldn’t be completely opposed to paying.

Required: Defining Responsibility in Advertising

I was recently asked to define responsibility in advertising. So, I thought I’d start with the real definitions of advertising, and responsibility.

Advertising: the non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media.

Responsibility: capability of fulfilling an obligation or duty; the quality of being reliable or trustworthy.

To me, advertising is a combination of things, and one of those things is being socially, and ethically responsible. Advertising is a socially responsible form of communication with the intent to persuade, all while living up to a code of ethics.

Shatterbox

Just recently, my friends sister Amanda launched a website called Shatterbox. Like many recent college grads, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with her future. After trying several different jobs, she realized she wanted to inspire people. She decided to get inside the minds of people who loved their jobs, and were happy to go to work each day, and wanted to find people who creatively found their passions. Enter Shatterbox- an online video based community of people sharing stories of inspiration and innovation. In times like these, it’s difficult to lose sight of your passions and settle for something you don’t really want to do. I believe that when people lose sight of their dreams, they lose themselves. With Shatterbox, people can create online profiles and network with other users about how they found themselves and their careers.

I spent well over an hour watching all of the videos on the site, and I truly felt inspired. It made me stop and think how I want to leave my mark. Do I want to work in advertising? And if so, what field? What if when I graduate, I don’t want to work in advertising, will it be hard to find something else? While the website doesn’t answer these questions, it makes you stop and think about your own state of happiness. I think that this website is a great stepping-stone to thinking outside of the box, and finding your inner passion. How will you make your mark?

I’ve decided to post a few of the videos that inspired me below.

Viktoria Harrison from shatterbox on Vimeo.

Jason Rueger from shatterbox on Vimeo.

Intrinsic Motivation At Its Finest

Marathon runners are one of a kind. Their athletic ability blows my mind, and their motivation is beyond me. A few months ago, my two best friends said they were going to run a half marathon. I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t believe them, and at times they didn’t even believe themselves. But, they surprised me. They planned out their training schedule impeccably, and stuck to it. After months of training, sprained hips and exhaustion, they both finished the Dallas Half Marathon under two hours and thirty minutes! I was so proud of them. At the end of it, I thought about what kind of motivation they had. I asked them both why they were doing it, and they said, “I want to do it for myself, to prove that I can run that long.” If this isn’t intrinsic motivation, I don’t know what is. I think that all actions should be done with intrinsic motivation, and as little extrinsic motivation as possible. Now I’m not saying I’m going to run a half marathon, but I’m definitely thinking about planning some goals that are solely done for me.

Civil Duty?

Just this past week, someone hit my friend's car and didn’t leave a note. Now, this wasn’t just a little scratch from parallel parking or something, but rather an enormous dent with chipped paint everywhere. This caused me to think about people’s civil duty, or lack there of. I could never hit someone’s car and not leave a note. I would have the worst conscious over the situation, and wouldn’t be able to live with myself. My friend now has to pay tons of money, for someone else’s mistake. The bigger picture here is that, if humans do what there supposed to do, the world will continue to go round. Its when people, like Mr./Ms. Hit and Run, don’t live up to their civil duty that the system gets thrown out of whack.