February 25, 2013
These past few months, the television has been on in the background (to lure the dog out of seclusion) for background noise. I haven’t had tv on this regularly since I was a kid jonesing for my cartoon fix.
Some of the commercials are so awful I have to wonder: Does this stuff work on anyone? Personally, these bring out the SkeptiGrinch in me.
Every holiday car commercial ever
Tagline: Give the best surprise/present/gift of love ever!
Image: Red ribbon on a car
Reaction: Because after the surprise of a new car wears off, the cost of a car payment or the car purchase can be your next shiny surprise! WOO! PiC didn’t need to be told he’d be stabbed with a fork if he bought an unplanned brand new car without discussing it with me. And hold the puppy kisses but as much as he’d like a surprise car, he would NOT like what we paid for it.
Toilet Paper commercial
Tagline: Let’s get real about what happens in the bathroom!
Image: Lots of women gushing over toilet paper and very carefully not ever saying poop or pee.
Reaction: When were we pretending that any self respecting bathroom with a toilet wasn’t for poopin or peein? Because that’d be a new one on me. What’s with the completely woman-centric casting? You’re trying to tell me that men don’t use toilet paper? Oh. Right. Men aren’t supposed to care what caresses their tushies. Except believe me: they do. Maybe not to the extent of discussing it on television but strictly speaking, I don’t care that much either.
Local S.F. clothing boutique (Lauren knows my pain!)
Tagline: We really like you!
Image: Women fawning and chitchatting.
Reaction: Get. AWAY. *slaps hands* If I wanted a shopping buddy, I’d bring my own.
They “like” their customers and that’s why we should shop there? Not because they provide excellent products, prices or service? This is a business not a friendship. PLBTTT.
Mirena
Tagline: You don’t have to think about it
Image: Woman yoyoing on the decision of whether to have children. In the background, a litany of side effects including hypertension, acne, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, depression, infertility and very commonly, ovarian cysts.
Reaction: Is that actually worth the risk?
The Buy a Home, funded by no-we-haven’t got an Conflict of Interest Realtors Association
Tagline: “Owning a home increase self esteem and test scores.”
Image: Happy fake families.
Reaction: PROVE IT. Show me those studies.
Also while you’re at it, tell me about the side effects on families when people overreach their means to buy real estate they can’t afford, or have unexpected events like job loss or serious illness that impedes their ability to pay the mortgage because of this myth that everyone should – no matter what – buy a home.
Men’s testosterone supplements
Tagline: It’s just a number, if it’s low, increase it!
Image: A dude confident now that his “numbers” are higher.
Reaction: What Lauren says: 
It’s the rare commercial that’s clever, entertains without being maudlin, cheesy, scary or offensive. Twitter friends pointed me to the recent Toyota “granting wishes” commercial- that was funny and cute. Of course I still love the Volkswagen Darth Vader one, not least because it plays on my geekdom and little kids learning to love it as well. Oh and the Purina (?) dog in training to lose weight commercial is fun.
But I can’t remember the last commercial that made me think, maybe I’ll try that. Can you?
February 29, 2012
Nicole and Maggie (I’m on a Grumpy Rumblings kick this week, as you’ll see): request in this post:
Please do not try to work full-time and also go to school full-time. That’s why we have low-interest loans for education. Don’t take out more than the average salary for someone in your major from your school, but don’t kill yourself either. School isn’t just a degree– the reason it gets you a job is because of the skills you learn, and a lot of these skills are fuzzy… they’re training your ways of thinking. How to think like a [insert your major here]. If you’re just repeating things you’ve memorized back, or cranking numbers through an algorithm like a computer could, then you’re not really much more useful to an employer than a high school graduate would have been.
If you do work full-time and go to school full-time, don’t blame us for trying to make you get a solid education even though you don’t have time for it. Choices = consequences. As your professors, we realize that you have other things in your life besides our courses. But if you don’t place a high priority on our courses, your grades will suffer, and if they don’t, you have to wonder about the worth of the degree you’re getting. More importantly, you won’t be learning anything. Save yourself the time and money and don’t go to school full-time now if it’s not going to be a priority.
And… regardless of the schooling choices you make, it is never too late to learn and grow and change.
Do you think people should be encouraged to work full time while going to school full time? What would your advice be?
The comments thread was so big I didn’t even want to dive in so I thought I’d muse over here instead.
Now, I’m that kid that went to school full time and worked 40-80 hour weeks. More or less, I didn’t plan to pay for college because I thought I’d get more scholarships than I did, and I thought I would have my parents’ support, not that I’d be supporting them.
While I graduated with an ok GPA that I wouldn’t state publicly because I’m not proud of it, it’s not bad. It’s just not as good as I think it should or could have been (summa cum laude, say). I know I skated through at least one class on decent testing skills and probably the professor’s empathy (B). Also, I took some classes that were just for learning because I wanted to, not because they were required and not because I knew anything at all about them. And those Russian Lit classes were way above my brain-grade so making Bs in those classes was kind of a miracle.
Yet, I always got my homework done, always. I took care of my ailing mother, I worked my tuckus off and I graduated within four years. It required a bit of summer school, very little social life, and very little sleep, but I did manage it. And I have a thriving career now, thanks to the start that degree gave me.
Meanwhile, here are Nicole and Maggie citing studies that working less than 10 hours per week is beneficial and while working more than 20 hours per week is detrimental.
And I’m wondering – what would I do if I had kids?
Deep down, you know I’m totally going to judge my kids if they don’t at least try to work through college, whether it be a few hours during the week or just full time summers, right? There’s absolutely a bit of me that says you have to want it and you have to earn it, and yo’ momma wasn’t the smartest cookie in the jar and she did it, so can you. And I recognize that’d be poor parenting and the voice of inexperience being 18+ years away from having to even think about the question. But still.
What is really a good answer here?
Obviously, I haven’t a clue because I haven’t met my prospective kids yet, so I don’t know what might be best for them in their specific circumstances. But I am quite certain that their future does involve having a vested financial interest in their success and progress through college.
:: What would you do? What did you do?
:: Bonus question: did being either an on-campus or commuter student affect your experience?
May 7, 2011
“I know you’re not much of a romantic but …” as a friend outlines a proposal for our travel plans.
“I think this room/hotel is a bit romantic for friends just sharing rooms …” (same friend)
At first I’d be inclined to agree that romance isn’t precisely my forte since planning this trip to Thailand with alone time factored in didn’t occur to me. Then I kept looking around the hotel room in question and couldn’t figure out the least romantic thing about it. Clean lines, 1940s-era modernist, more amenities than I’d seen in a week, kind of cute with the vase and a flower on a twig thing… but romantic? I just didn’t see it.
Perhaps the reality is simply that my (our) romance radar just isn’t tuned by the same fork as the general public’s. PiC agreed that he didn’t see anything inherently romantic about the rooms we’d booked for ourselves and our friends.
What IS romance? I’m not weakened in the knees by sparkles and flowers, grand gestures and sweeping statements. They’re pretty to look at, and make me smile, but they’re window dressing. What really defines romance?
My romance is over six years of being awakened by “Good morning, I love you” nearly every day, long distance notwithstanding. My romance is my partner who picks up the heavy burdens when I really need the help but don’t want to say so. My romance is my partner who trusts my capability to get things done even after I’ve shown weakness. My romance is a man who lets me change his channels even if he’s watching something and cooks for me when I’m tired. My romance is traveling with PiC on a nearly unplanned adventure with my friends he’s spent little to no time with before and spending even the frustrating moments of it laughing together.
My romance on this trip is asking PiC where the soap is, having him hand me water instead and start using the soap himself, then both start laughing so hard at the look on my face until we cried.
What’s your romance?