Media Planner Spam

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Sales reps need to understand that the fact that I talked to them about a buy three years ago doesn't mean they can sign me up for every e-mail newsletter and outbound partner e-mail that their publisher puts out. I'm getting newsletters about drivetrain components (probably due to someone on the MathWorks plan), teen girl fashion newsletters (probably someone we talked to for Zingy) and tons of other irrelevant crap. I wonder what my database profile looks like to the catalog marketers...

On iPods and Guilty Pleasures

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So a couple weeks ago I was over at Lauren's place trying to pillage cool stuff from her CD collection. Most of it was stuff I already had, but haven't gotten around to ripping yet. Some Alice In Chains, Billy Joel, Garth Brooks and yes - I'll admit it - Wilson Phillips. I knew it would come around and bite me in the ass. At dinner on Thursday night, Lauren announced at the dinner table in front of her whole family that I had, in fact, ripped her Wilson Phillips CD.

"You weren't supposed to tell anyone about that," I said in feigned embarrassment.

I turned red for about 3 seconds and then realized something: Everybody there who had an iPod probably had at least a dozen songs on it that they would never admit to listening to. Over Men's Weekend, Cousin Al, Walt, Matt and I had a brief conversation about that while Al scrolled through through my songs.

Yeah, I've got a bunch of really crappy songs on there. I'd prefer my guilty pleasures to dead air, though. My iPod has 60GB of space, and I'd prefer to have my favorite 15,000 songs on it than only the 5,000 or so that I'm not embarrassed by. Yes, I have "Summertime Girls" by Y&T. Yes, I have three songs by Firehouse on there. Yes, I have an entire Dixie Chicks album. Don't like it? Well, screw you - let's see what's on your iPod.

It made me think about the interview I did with that Los Angeles radio station a couple weeks back. The interviewer told me her friend lost her iPod and was completely devastated. I commented that I thought iPods were highly personal items and that there are always a few songs on there that you probably wouldn't want other people to know you listened to.

So, confess your guilty pleasures in comments. I'll start by adding to my list. I've got:

  • An entire Whitesnake concert from 1990, which I listen to often (especially on long road trips).
  • "The Final Countdown" and "Carrie" by Europe.
  • Two Heart albums
  • An Indigo Girls album
  • At least half a dozen John Cougar Mellencamp tunes
  • Almost everything that Poison and Def Leppard have ever recorded
  • REO Speedwagon
  • Restless Heart
  • I could go on...

Men's Weekend in Progress

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I'm on the annual trip to Mohegan Sun with Cousin Al, Walt and Matt. Coincidentally, the Larsens are up here as well and I saw Craig and Rich yesterday. Last night, I thought I was down at least $300, but as it turns out, when I got back to my room last night, I found another $125 in chips in my pocket that I somehow lost track of, plus another $100 in cash I didn't know I had. Then I remembered that yesterday before I left I went to Best Buy to get my mom a new PCMCIA card for her laptop so she could get on the wireless network at the house, and I paid for it in cash out of the Mohegan Sun fund. So I'm actually pretty much even.

Been losing a lot of tough hands at blackjack, but I'm fighting my way back. Hopefully, my luck will be better today.

I've got a new pet peeve. The dealers won't let you touch your cell phone to send a quick text message across the casino to your friends, but they freely allow distracted players who don't actually sit down at the table and constantly turn away from the table to talk to friends. I can't tell you how many times the dealer was trying to get the attention of someone who was in the middle of a hand who was turned around, talking to a friend and holding up play. It's an annoying trend. Either come to play or go hang out in the shopping court.