As Advertised on....take your pick

I have been trying to think of shtuff about which to write here, and it hit me last night...television commercials.  For the most part, I despise them.  I loathe them.  Especially when one set goes off to return to the programming I'm watching only to return to commercial not five minutes later.  Really, two minutes of commercials, then less than five minutes of programming, and a return to two more minutes of commercials.  Seems a little overkill to me.

I understand the premise behind television advertising, and of advertising in general.  Media outlets need the advertising revenue in order to provide programming and information to the masses.  I get that.  I really do.

This morning as I was standing on the porch while Bailey went out to the yard for his morning constitutional, a recurring thought popped into my noodle.  It's everywhere.  Advertising is everywhere.  On Facebook, online news media, driving down the road, listening to the radio, watching television...hell, you can't even go to the damn movies nowadays without having to sit through an advertisement or two.  Professional sporting events have become nothing more than orgies of advertising.  The name of the stadium, ballpark, or whatever the venue is an advertisement of some business or other (with the exception of a few, I concede that).  The athletes are required to wear a particular brand of uniform, socks, shoes, pads, jock-strap or mouthguard.  Hell, they don't even get to choose what popular sports/energy drink they may want (heaven forbid they drink water).  It all depends on the contract agreement between the team and whatever company supplies the team.

It seems like a bad joke to me.  A bad joke that has gone really bad.  I used to work for a company that used little to nothing in the way of paid advertising.  You never saw an ad in print (beyond a coupon), on the television or anywhere else.  What it did rely on was the word of mouth advertising due to the  quality of the product it provided.  It too eventually sold out to the advertising behemoth and changed the entire face of the company, but only after the founder of the company left the helm (sound familiar Wal-Mart?).

Sounds pretty simple to me.  Kind of like "if you build it, he will come."  I know that only happens in the movies, but even the most outlandish fiction has an element of truth.  Why else would people enjoy it so much?

Prices keep on going up and up and up.  We spend the money willfully in part because we need what we're buying, and also because we are made to believe we might need something.  I bet prices could come down, at least a little, if businesses relied more on their customers' word of mouth and product quality rather than spending money on snake-oil medicine shows.

That's just me.  I just hate commercials.  I can't be the only one.  I've never heard anyone say that they love watching television commercials, well except for the Super Bowl.  But then, I haven't watched that in couple of years.

It's been a pretty lazy day around here.  The rainy weather makes it impossible to build up the motivation for much of anything.  I still have a bit of a dull headache, which multiplies the effects of worthlessness.

I'm pretty sure this is the first weekend I've had nothing to do in a long time.  Part of me is bouncing off the walls, wanting to do something.  The other part wants to enjoy the nice, quiet house.  Bailey doesn't even feel like doing anything, just lazily lying on the living room floor.

I know that I probably won't, but I better get up and get at least one thing done around here.  I'm sure I have some laundry or something to do.

Things are rolling around inside my noggin.  Hopefully, I'll conjure up something world shattering soon.

Just the beginning...

I'm going to try and get back to it.  Blogging, that is.  I have another blog that is wholly devoted to all things politics, but I go through phases when it comes to that subject.  Sometimes I just don't give a shit about what is happening in the political world, and other times it is all I think about.  So, I feel it is best to start another blog that is a little more open to all subject matter.

I've got more than a few things about which I like to vent.  I have a lot of ideas, dreams, visions, points of view, and thoughts that everyone else ought to consider.  Seriously.  Everyone.  If people could see things the way that I see them, the world would be a much better place.  I wasn't as diligent with my other blog that I would like to have been.  I hope that with this one, I'll be more apt to write and share my grand vision with any and everyone.

So far this morning, the day has been quite pleasant...except for waking up at 5am with a headache.  I've been up for almost four hours, had at least one cup of coffee per hour of consciousness and lots of ibuprofen.  It's rainy, which means that I have a pretty good excuse to not do anything other than piddle around the house and play with Bailey.  

About the title of my blog...There is a book that has been making its way around for a while now called  Don't Sweat the Small Stuff:  And It's All Small Stuff.  Now, if you know me, I sweat the small stuff...always have, always will.  More than likely this will be the place where I vent my frustrations, but I hope to share the joyful small stuff as well.  And contrary to the title of the book, I believe wholeheartedly that there is big stuff out there, and some of that may end up here, too.