Rhet Crit

I'm a nerd, I know.

My favorite class in college was Rhetorical Criticism. I loved analyzing ad campaigns and researching what made them work or not work. I actually like watching commercials more than I like watching tv...especially during the Super Bowl!!! There were some fabulous commercials and some not so fabulous commercials. I think the fact that the most popular commercials were the Doritos commercial with the dog knocking the door down and the Bud commercial with the dogs serving beer goes to show that the average American loves dogs and is stupid.

I did laugh out loud at the resurrected grandpa Doritos commercial.

I love ambiguity in advertising (wrote a nerdy paper about it my Junior year if you'd never like to read it...) I personally think the Hundai Elantra ad is fabulous (this one and this one too). They use subliminal messaging to make you think you're buying into some subliminal compact car conspiracy. The Reliant Energy ad that is (not) endorsed by Troy Aikman works really really well too- you can hardly tell Troy is endorsing Reliant.

The Kia Optima and Carmax are growing on me. They're thinkers too- the flow from one scene to the next works a lot like my brain does but I find that normal people in normal conversation don't really follow me there, so I wonder how many people get lost in these ads.

The worst ones by far that really rub me wrong are the Groupon commercials that take actual problems with humanity or the environment and belittle them. The whole thing with Tibet was ridiculous and uncalled for. I'd say the Groupon commercials are actually worse than the Old Navy mannequin commercials. That's why I get my deals from Daily Social, not Groupon.

On the flip side...I LOVE Toyota's commercials "Ideas for Good"- it sort of makes up for Groupon, but not really.

You know who made a smart move?....Crystal Light.

Ocean Spray marked on their box (on the top and the front) that their flavor packets were only 5 calories per serving. Crystal Light's were 10 calories a serving. What did they do? They cut their serving in half. Now, the back says a serving is 1/2 a packet, but so does Ocean Spray's...so they're the same, but stupid shoppers couldn't figure that out before so Crystal Light had to step up their game to compete with Ocean Spray. Good move Crystal Light.

SUPER STORM MMXI

Yesterday I woke up in a slight panic- the "worst case scenario" had happened.

It was the coldest night in Dallas in 15 years and I woke up at 6:00 am to no power. I immediately called my mom, because that's always what you should do when you're panicking. My throat was killing me and my apartment was getting colder by the minute. I closed my sheer curtains as if that was actually going to help keep the cold out. A ton of cold air was coming in through my fireplace, but I didn't have wood. For about 8 seconds I actually contemplated burning old books or clothes that are too big...luckily I snapped out of it.

After layering on clothes and snuggling up in bed, I realized...this is what cavemen went through! Except they didn't have candles to light, or matches to light them with, or a soft bed or a secure apartment. I have some serious respect for prehistoric humans! I was so thankful to at least have my iPhone so I could stay in contact with the rest of humanity.

I feel so awful for the homebound elderly and disabled during this "SUPER STORM 2011." I saw Meals on Wheels wasn't delivering yesterday, and I doubt they're delivering today. I'm quickly running out of food (probably have enough to last me until Saturday, but then again, I live within walking distance of a gas station), but I can't imagine what those who depend on others for their food are going through! I hope they either have kind neighbors or their food providers delivered extra before the storm hit.

Most of North Texas experienced some power outage as they did rolling blackouts. I don't understand the whole power system enough to really know why, but they said each outage would only last about 15 minutes. Mine was out at least 2 hours, and another friends was out 3 hours and 20 minutes. Do you know how fast a house can get cold when it's 18 degrees outside?! No fear though, every building associated with the Super Bowl had full power all day- you know...for security reasons.

It's supposed to snow tomorrow. You know you're officially "grown up" when the word "snow" doesn't get you excited anymore. I don't want to go throw snowballs or make snow angels. I just want it to be warm, I want the roads to be clear, and I want to go to work. I'm working from home again but there's just something about getting dressed up and going into the office. I like it and I miss it.

I'm alive...with a case of cabin fever

I have an excuse....okay, many excuses....I did try to post a new blog entry at some point in January but it just didn't work.

Other excuses:
- I'm a workaholic

I think that covers everything.

North Texas is in a state of emergency. Current temperature= 18 degrees, but it feels like 1 degree (straight off weather.com...that's not me being exaggerative). It rained most of the night, started sleeting about 4 am and it started snowing soon after.

I knew conditions would be rough, and I woke up to the news/talk radio show saying, "If you possibly can, stay home today." No way dude! I'm still a glorified intern. I have to show dedication and determination (and stupidity). A friend said I am a rare combination of a defiant and stubborn 12-year old and a 35-year old workaholic dad. That's a fair assessment. I woke up at 5:25 am and got ready for work. Mom texted just as I was about to step out the door and said, "I hope you're planning to work from home today!" I ventured outside. The complex was a ghost town. The sidewalk was solid ice, the parking lot was solid ice....my car was solid ice. I tried scrapping the little snow off the car and it wouldn't go anywhere. I started defrosting the car, and not much happened. I could tell 1 car had made it out of the lot successfully, but I had visions of me sliding out of the lot hitting every car on my way. I don't think my insurance would cover that much damage....my boss would understand.

So, I'm working from home against my will. It's Mother Nature's way of forcing me to update my blog. Like the new layout?! I took the background pic with my dad's old black and white film camera (and had the film put on a cd before I developed them myself in class...so fun!)

I have cabin fever already. Temperatures are supposed to stay below freezing until Friday. FRIDAY. That's 4 days I could be trapped in my apartment. (P.S. my electricity just flickered, so this could become an interesting week).

I just want to go outside. I'll walk around the neighborhood in the freezing cold, I don't care. Last January, when I was the student assistant for Jan Term in London, I had lots of free time to explore the city. One day I went on a solo adventure up to a Northern London neighborhood, Hampstead Health, and walked around a HUGE park. I walked miles and miles in the snow, taking baby steps on the ice. I might be crazy, but how many free days do you have in London? Take advantage! I saw some pretty cool stuff and got some cool pics.

This is the Kenwood house where the last scene of Notting Hill was filmed.

Maybe I'll actually finish working on my scrapbook from my semester abroad that I did 3 years ago! Or I can do like 5 workout DVDs a day and read 20 books. I mean....I'm working from home. I have work to do.

I've gotten some really interesting calls while at work recently. First, I've gotten calls from Clearwater, FL nearly every day for the past 3 weeks. I usually ignore them or miss them, but I've been 'chosen' for a million dollar prize, maybe a free cruise too. I don't really listen, I just say, "I'm not interested in a million dollars, thanks." Boy, is that weird to say! I got a call from my cable company last week and they were offering me this amazing deal where I could get my internet, cable and a land line for only $107. That's great, but I only pay $39 now and I don't need a land line. *click*

My favorite calls are when the caller asks to speak to the owner of my company. Hmmmm....let's see. In the 9 months I've worked here, I've seen Michael Dell once, and that was kind of a big deal. I've never spoken to him, so no, I don't think you can either. Who do these people think they're calling?

My next favorite was a lady who called for a Mr. Hamilton. I told her she had the wrong phone number. She apologized but asked if there was a veteran in the home. I said no, but a coworker said I should've said, "Well...actually, yes. Mr. Perot."

I might choose to be stupid and go into work for a 1pm meeting. We'll see. I just can't stay inside forever!