The Entrepreneur

Found all over my neighborhood.

I am so tempted. I am so tempted. I am so tempted.

Happy Endings?

Tonight I saw a nutty billboard. It was an ad for a cemetery and it presented a photo of an older, smiling woman half straddling a tippy looking tricycle in the middle of the road. The billboard read:

I am going in style. Talk about it.

Which, obviously, was meant to associate a fun-loving, carpe diem feeling with this final resting place and to encourage people to discuss their burial plans.

But what it looked like to me was: I am a drunken woman who went on a bender, rode a tricycle in the middle of the road and was struck down by a speeding Porche. Woo hoo! I sure went out in style. Now the neighbors will talk about it.

It's All A Matter Of Perspective

I used to say that my online persona was horrible because I only received spam about bankruptcy, impotence and the occasional sexual deviance. Clearly I am a loser in cyberspace.

And then....

Before I became a parent I was issued a password from a website -- hipmom -- and I was kind of insulted because I surmised the company thought I was kind of groovy, for a "mom type." Which, to my mind, was not exactly the pinnacle of cool. Now that I am a mother I only hope to live up to the password.

If I can be a hipmom then I have got it made.

Clearly I have issues...and they don't just reside online.

Super Premium Spooky

Today I had to write a press release about a commercial for Esso (Exxon in the US) that ran prolifically during the Olympics. (Yeah, a little late on this one). Anyway, it brought to mind a memory:

When I was twelve, Esso ran a promotion wherein they gave away mini witchcraft books featuring a kind of sexy, Elvira type witch on the cover and spells of various kinds within. My friend and I used to sit in her walk in closet, walls adorned with posters and images of teen heartthrobs of the day (read: Leif Garrett), and practice our sacred black magic.

From the pages of an Esso gas promotion book.

Now that I work in an advertising-related business, I am really, really curious as to how that client promotion pitch must have gone. Where they attempting to build brand loyalty by creating cadres of mini witches in the making? Did the love potion recipe include a vial of petroleum? And how did the ad agency intend to lure parents in to the filling station with this offering? I would have loved to have been in on that presentation.

Yet, I do remember the book. And the sponsor. But do I make sure to fill up exclusively at Exxon stations? I would, if I could configure a spell for free gas.

Being a mom makes you paranoid.

This morning, I saw a spider climbing up the shower wall. "Spiders are good. They kill other bugs," said the voice in my head. The courteous voice that tells people the things you should say. Like "Don't litter." And "Be kind to the elderly." Then I thought that I honestly didn't know a great deal about spiders and what if this seemingly harmless brown spider went into the baby's room, bit her, and she had a terrible allergic reaction?

So I squished the spider and washed its remains down the drain.

Being a mom makes you paranoid. And a killer.

As a start