VanJohnson.com

One word, INSANE!

He’s BIG, he’s white, and he can dance

I recently attended a conference for work and a buddy of mine (now ex-buddy) got some video of me on stage dancing it up with Wyclef Jean. It was a blast!

It’s been awhile since my last post and I am sorry but I need to come out of it with a rant and here it goes.

What is the story with the new/old Starbucks logo? I guess it’s a throwback logo for Starbucks from back in the day but is this permanent? What marketing genius came up with this idea? “Hey I’ve got an idea; let’s change our globally recognized green logo that has become synonymous with coffee to something different. And while we’re at it let’s try and freak out a few people by displaying our Mermaid a little more prominently and show the fact that she actually has two tales.”

Come on, whenever you saw a green coffee cup be it on the street, on television, or in a movie, your first thought was probably, “hey there drinking Starbucks”. Yeah tamper with that type of marketing, great idea Starbucks. And the mermaid, dude she is really freaking me out. Maybe if I was a sailor or even somewhat nautical, I would understand and perhaps appreciate the two tail thing she’s got going on. But I don’t, it freaks me out and looks like Aquaman porn material. It just looks wrong. I mean I always noticed she was holding two things in the logo but never thought it was two tails. One of those; I won’t ask, please don’t tell me just give me my drip and let me be on my way. Now that image is embedded in my head.

The wife learned another interesting fact about the color change. It seems that the new color cups and the color sharpie or local Starbucks uses tend to turn her Non-Fat something (which they typically mark with a ‘N’) into a Vanilla (’V’) something because the N blends in with the color of the cup and looks like a V.

Starbucks, I am sure you are not seeing your business increase as part of th effort, please return back to the colors everyone know and loves and has made you a crazy amount of money of the same color.

Oh yeah, its coming. Mark you calendars now.

Gmail has gotten colorful
Looks like Google decided to add a little color to their GMail product.

Very nice addition, I do something similar using Mail Act-On and MailTags on my Mac.

Came across this story today, thought it was kind of funny. This Linux user was convicted of doing some bad things on the Internet and is now being told that if he doesn’t start using Windows he will not be allowed to use a computer.

Linux felon forced to install Windows | CNET News.com

A Linux user who was jailed for uploading a film onto a peer-to-peer service has been told he will have to switch to Windows if he wants to use a computer again.

I am always trying new mechanisms to help manage my extremely hectic life. There is an entire GTD world out there with application designed to help you manage task, email, and life in general. I’ve used a lot of them, from stand alone clients for Windows, Linux and Mac to web based, and maybe one day I will write about my experiences with them. Personally, as with most of the things I like working with, I gravitate to web based solutions and for the longest time I used a site called Remember the Milk but I was turned onto a new site today and I have to admit I have really taken to it. If you are looking for a good task management application I recommend you check out a site called Toodledo. Very nice tool
Here is a nice comparison chart of web-based to-do list

Check it out Toodledo.com

I’ve seen this happen a couple of times and I still think its cool. What seemed like a sudden and random act a bunch of bees decided to all meet at the same time on the same tree branch. I’ve had it explained to me that what is actually happening is that a Queen Bee, who is a weaker flier than her drones, stopped to rest. All the other bees surround her to protect her.

They were like this for several days.

Looks like those guys at Google have done it again and have released Google Desktop for Mac Now I look into this a little, haven’t actually installed it, but it looks like it comes up very short to the Windows counterpart Google Desktop for Windows.

At this stage Google Desktop for Mac looks more like a Quicklsilver replacement. I am a huge Quicklsilver fan but am also a big fan of Google and everything they do for Macs and Linux so I might find myself giving this a try. If I do give it a try I will let you know how it goes.

From the “Are you flipping serious” department, can you believe a company called Tesco tried to market and sale the “Peekaboo pole-dancing kit” to children. Seriously, someone at that company actually thought this was a good idea.

Get this, apparently one of the slogans was “unleash the sex kitten inside”. I’m not sure if someone at the Tesco company got the “Adult gag gifts” mixed up with “Toys for children” bins but this is crazy. It looks like the kit even comes with fake dollar bills and a garter.

Check out the story for yourself
Tesco condemned for selling pole dancing toy

update: So I Google “Tesco Peekaboo” and found it still on the Tesco Direct site. Looks like it has been “re-marketed” however. Now it says “Suitable for adults only” and is sold under “Fitness Accessories”  (url -> http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.100-4792.aspx)