While browsing the web this morning, I came across this review of a recent coporate identity redesign. I think the author has some interesting thoughts on the redesign, but I couldn’t decipher his meaning very easily due to his extremely long sentences. An example:

Just recently, in late June, Kansas-based Payless Shoesource, unveiled a new logo and a new direction for their retail stores as a result of new leadership change in the summer of 2005 when Matt Rubel, who previously worked on retail brands like J. Crew, Revlon, Tommy Hilfiger and Nike’s Cole Haan division, joined the company and procured Payless Shoesource in need of a new, more focused direction: to dispel the notion that they only sell “cheap shoes,” to appeal to a more design and budget-conscious customer (in other words, Targetize it) and, ultimately, to somehow deliver on the brand’s promise and strategic direction, “to democratize footwear and accessory fashion and inspire fun fashion possibilities for the family.”

Parsing that sentence gives me a headache.
(To be fair, it seems that the author is not a native English speaker)

Water-assisted flatulence

Listed here, all on Youtube.

The press release is titled: “Kroger Introduces ‘Disney’s Old Yeller’ Chunk Style Dog Food.” What’s next? ‘Song of the South’ fried chicken bucket at KFC?

This little gem of wisdom struck me this morning: Life is like a Taco Cabana drive-through: you rarely get exactly what you ordered.

The NY Times reported yesterday that the former Bell Labs headquarters in Holmdel, NJ, will be demolished (here is the building on Google maps/satellite). It’s too bad that it’ll be destroyed; it’s an amazing–and amazingly large–building.
I worked at that building for a few months in 1996/7. My first official job in Internet technologies was contracting for AT&T. This was just after the AT&T/Lucent split, and the though the Holmdel building had gone to Lucent, the AT&T that group I worked with was still located there. Due to a strange convergence of facts (I was a contractor who was hired from a non-personnel budget, the building belonged to Lucent, space was tight), I did not have an office until the AT&T group that I worked for moved to an AT&T building. I spent my few months in Holmdel in a testing lab. The lab was located in the corner of a HUGE server room: 65 degrees, roaring computers. The lab was only marginally quieter and warmer. It was quite an experience.

According to this no-duh article, shoppers have reported the following problems:

• 50 per cent have had a retail problem.
• The main problems are time it takes to find parking or the product the consumer wants, and unknowledgeable or rude staff
• The bigger the store, the higher the chance there will be a problem
• Men are less loyal than women.*

After analyzing the results of the survey, Wharton School marketing professor Stephen Hoch made the following recommendations:

If businesses want to stop the bleeding from negative word-of-mouth, it’s clear that they need to invest in ensuring that each customer experience is first rate – from adequate parking, to trained front-line staff, to the right product mix, both in stock and on the shelves.

Boy, the sponsors of the survey got their money’s worth with that astounding act of analysis.
* That’s a shocker!

I think I’m glad that I don’t run in circles where I’ve ever run into (or even heard of) this problem: waiters pushing expensive bottled water on diners.

In anticipation of some traveling related to my new job, I recently joined American Airlines’ frequent flyer program, and today I received my first statement (problem highlighted in yellow):

Jeff Gates muses about running into a John Bolton lookalike on his morning commute. I remember when we bought our house just over three years ago. After meeting the next door neighbor, I wondered, excitedly: is he THE Cyrus Vance? Alas, a quick Internet search revealed that he isn’t THE Cyrus Vance.
(In high school, I read the three major news magazines cover to cover each week (I know; what a geek) in preparation for informative and persuasive speaking contests, so I was familiar with all the major members of the Carter administration.)