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Extra whipped cream please! - Xer Thoughts
Posted on December 4, 2007
I have been brought up in a society that lives for the moment. It has been this way since I was a child, and the consumer marketplace has been providing goods and services that bring that “moment” closer and closer. It’s because of this that I struggle with regularly thinking about and planning for the future. I have trouble accepting that the food I eat will be making me heavier tomorrow. I can’t even think that far ahead when it comes to indulging. If you took gaining weight out of the equation, I would probably stay at the same level of eating because I am barely limiting myself anyway. Skills like eating, drinking and saving money were not taught to me at any level, and it is really something that I have to work on. These are all things that I don’t ponder on for very long, and if I don’t get better, I will be fat, drunk and broke. As appealing as that is, I just can’t stomach that as my future. I have begun to overcome my bad habits, but I will always struggle with keeping my hands off the Godiva brownie with extra whipped cream from The Cheesecake Factory, even though it is packed with cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc.
This post was written by skernick
Sneak Attacks- Gen-X Thoughts
Posted on November 1, 2007
I tend not to be overly sensitive to what others might perceive to be “invasive” advertising. Even when my four-year-old daughter informed my wife and me that we need to buy a national brand of insomnia medication so that we can sleep better, I thought of it as an opportunity to talk with my daughter about advertising rather than worry about its influence on her future purchasing habits. I don’t even mind every statistic, football down and piece of athletic gear being sponsored when I’m watching college football (“We’ll now turn to the Acme Health Insurance Halftime Injury Report”). I will even go so far as to say that product/brand placement can add a sense of necessary realism to much of my favorite entertainment (e.g., Staples and Office Depot references as the competition of Dunder Mifflin on “The Office”). The only truly invasive advertising examples I have witnessed are the “sneak attack” advertisements on many websites. The first type typically appears seconds after a web page has loaded, when it expands from a banner ad at the top of the page to fill the entire web page. The second type, and my least favorite, is the “mouse-over” ad, which suddenly starts playing a video or expands to fill the screen simply because I have accidentally moved my mouse over the ad (without clicking). These ads give a “clickable” option to close them, but we’ve all been burned by trying to close an unwanted ad only to find our computers infected with spyware. So 30 seconds of my time is wasted while I reconsider wasting my time with the sponsoring brand ever again.
This post was written by jpage
Making mistakes - Gen-X Thoughts
Posted on October 1, 2007
About a year ago, my wife was involved in a hit-and-run accident. Someone T-boned her at about 45 mph and then just kept going. Luckily, no one was hurt. It’s hard to understand why someone might not stop to check and see if the people in the car they hit were OK. Maybe they didn’t stop because they were on drugs - or because they would be in some sort of trouble if they had to present information to law enforcement - who knows for certain. Then a couple months ago, my wife was involved in another accident–side-swiped by someone in a pick-up, his utility trailer piled high with landscaping equipment. Again, luckily no one was hurt. Thankfully, this time the person stopped. My wife called me to come help out and mentioned that the person could not speak English very well. With adrenaline pumping and my super-protective instincts kicking in, I marched right up to the man and asked if he had insurance. Definitely not the most compassionate way to begin the dialogue on my part. I had assumed the worst - that because he could not speak English, he might not be as committed to the laws and customs of this country - which might mean he did not have insurance. I was wrong. He was a licensed in-state driver with excellent insurance - and a very nice fellow, I might add. We both reached a certain level of congeniality given the circumstances, everything worked out, we shook hands, and we went our separate ways. How does this tie to the topic of illegal immigration? It’s about mistakes. Everyone makes them, but in some cases illegal immigrants don’t have the same chances to make those mistakes that everyone else does. That’s not fair to either us or them. This leaves me a bit fearful and wary and ultimately, yes, a bit prejudiced. And that stinks for everyone.
These postings are my own and don’t necessarily reflect the opinion or position of Yankelovich, as content listed here is not read or approved by Yankelovich prior to posting.
This post was written by Andrew Cardman
Filed Under Gen-X | 3 Comments