Eazy D - 1, 2, 3. | Eric Deutchman

It gets harder when you're a big chain with more customers and more staff to keep track of, sure, but is it too much to take it slowly and think? To put yourself in others' shoes? 

People want to feel a connection to a store. It's why that person you know bought a Lexus and hangs out at the dealer with the rest of their tribe. It's why the people who have been socializing in person or online will do business together instead of some cold call.

Either way, there is one super simple thing you can do to make sure you at least don't look like a total ROBOT and/or noob: don't leave things blank. Huh? If you've got some machine or automated system, don't have it display something when there's nothing to display. Systems don't like the lack of data.

One of the things that makes me happy and totally confident that I can now and forever never pay attention to someone is when I see an e-mail starting with "Dear [Null], blah blah blah blah.." because that's exactly what I see after that greeting: none of it matters. I know they didn't take the time to give me even a second of personal attention. I would have accepted them if they took off the "First Name" field from their auto-filling e-mail system, because O.K., sometimes I don't give out my first name when filling out a form online, and they need to understand I'm not the only one like that -- but for them to pretend that they are greeting me as an individual is just an insult to my intelligence.

Also, way to go, Wendy's-- Took this pic of their register where normally a promotion will show up:

Meeting in Chicago, Press conferences, NBC speculation, etc etc etc.. what's the deal here? Will Hillary Clinton be asked to be Senator [yes, still senator] Obama's future Secretary of State? Why are the media speculating Secretary of State? Maybe it's because of NBC's Andrea Mitchell's comments. I think it could be a strong move.  msNBC says "We won't comment on speculation." ...but..maybe they did. I am thinking that if this really is the case, it makes sense politically and symbolically, but I think there would be a nasty conflict of interest if that happened. Clinton did call Obama's policies 'dangerous' and how he's not ready to be a commander-in-chief. How could they work together? Senator Clinton said that during a campaign trail, yes I understand, but the words were still spoken.

What do you think Obama's intentions are? Clinton's?

We thought we would again never see the day depicted in the image above, but it's here. Gas is almost under $2.00 per gallon. I filled my tank up (the meter was below the "E") today and paid a 'mere' $21.36 - whereas all summer I had been paying upwards of $45.00 or so.

15 miles to work + 15 miles back = 30 miles per day.

I get 265 miles per tank. Mathematically, every 8.8 business days, I had to fill my tank up. Guess what though, I did more than just go to work with my car. Carpooling with Nate every day added miles per day, trips to home in Eastern Mass netted about a 200 mile trip, up to Maine brings about 400 miles, trips to the store, etc etc etc.

I spent a lot of god damn money on gasoline.

So -- the situation is better. The price per barrel of oil fell to $56.16 today, pretty darn good - just as people have been saying that the era of cheap energy has come to an end. However, let's not forget how cheap gas used to be. Granted, I came into the game late - I didn't start driving until I was 15, and this was only back in 2000. Self-serve, unleaded gasoline in early 2000 cost an average of just over $1.00 per gallon. Just 13 months later, gas rose up to $1.54/gal when you adjust for inflation, however, it actually ends up being cheaper than it was during the Great Depression. The price didn't stop growing--

Until now.

So, I've been slacking on the blogging front, but other things I want to post can wait.

I used to have some respect for Nader and some of his thinking, but this bitter old man should have bit his damn tongue on election night. Like my friend reminded me the other night, the guy has been running a shitty campaign for almost a quarter century and has never set a foot in any office. I think it's time to stop wasting people's hard earned money on your campaigns and GTFO. Let someone else with some class step in your place.

See the video of him trying to defend himself uttering "Uncle Tom" in reference to President Elect Barack Obama, on the historical night of his election, as well as an introductory commentary which I recommend reading as well: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=24&entry_id=32372

I'd argue that he spoiled the 2000 election by taking enough votes away from Gore to let Bush win, but then again, I don't think Obama would become the President in 2009 had it not been for Bush.

For a long time now, he's been claiming that Barack wants to "talk white."

I almost want to thank the Fox News network for bringing this to light. Almost.