"It's okay. It's okay to want someone you can't have. It's okay to keep friendships when you don't want them or want something more. It's okay to cry when you're hurt. It's okay to stay mad at someone who hurt you. Believe it or not it's always going to be okay. That's just how it works. Sometimes things don't always work out the way you want them to and alot of times it seems like they never will, but it's okay that's how life is supposed to go. It's about learning about the bumpy parts in the road and waiting until they're smooth again. It's about forgiving and forgetting. It's about wanting and waiting and wishing. Thats just life."

My get up and go quote. More to come after today.

Blogged at: 11:22AM

I had an awful time trying to get out of bed today. I decided to go through my closet to see what I should try to wear in a new way, perhaps bigger clothing that I no longer fit? I used to wear size 9 jeans and size large t-shirts. Now that I lost weight and dropped to a size 5 as well as size small t-shirts, it's hard for me to wear my old clothes. With my old jeans, I decided to roll up the jeans so that they are shorter in length, and the thigh area will be tight around my legs. Anyways, so I went through my closet and I found this size large button up collared white shirt. You know, the white shirts that all those cowboys wear. So I decided to wear a nude cami, a red skirt (that totally does not fit me right) and the white shirt half buttoned. I took my stretchy belt and wrapped it around my abs-area and now I made a big shirt look small.

It was awkward wearing it around the Asian market though after church. The old perverted guys kept staring at me, especially the hobos. I mean, you have two options: 1.) Help them by giving them money 2.) Walk away. When I was younger I used to give money away to the homeless, until I realized they use the money to gamble it off. I know not all people are like that, but I researched into it, and found out that most of these people didn't work, didn't do anything, drugs, crimes, you name it. Do they really deserve it? I'm not sure, but I still gave the guy my change anyways. I don't know, the world is quite deceiving.

Un sot ii scrie sotiei:

"Draga mea,

Nu-ti pot trimite salariul luna aceasta, asa ca iti trimit 100 de sarutari. Tu esti iubirea mea!

Sotul tau"

Dupa cateva zile, sotia ii raspunde:

"Dragul meu,

Iti multumesc pentru cele 100 de sarutari si iti trimit detaliile cu privire la cheltuieli:

1. Laptarul a fost de acord sa primeasca doua pentru lapte, pe o luna de zile;

2. Electricianul nu a fost de acord, decat dupa 7 sarutari;

3. Proprietarul vine in fiecare zi si cere 2-3 sarutari, in loc de chirie;

4. Proprietarul supermarket-ului nu a acceptat numai sarutari, asa ca i-am oferit si "alte articole"...;

5. Alte cheltuieli: 40 de sarutari.

Nu-ti face griji pentru mine, mi-au mai ramas vreo 35 si sper sa ma descurc luna aceasta. Sa-mi fac la fel planul de cheltuieli pentru luna viitoare? Te rog mult, sfatuieste-ma!

Iubirea ta"

Something you may not have considered when you're down the shops is how many kilometres the food we eat has travelled to end up in your local supermarket.  Part of the CO2 footprint that we all contribute to is from the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced in transporting food from farmer to supermarket.  So when you buy oranges from California, the GHG emissions produced from transporting those oranges from a US farmer to your local supermarket are enormous.  Even the GHG emissions produced from transporting food around Australia are enormous and contribute to our CO2 footprint.

One way of diminishing your contribution to the GHG emissions from food transport is to visit your nearest farmers' market.

Farmers' markets gives a place for local growers to sell their fruit and vegetables, and in many cases these markets include other wares to buy.  The best thing is that farmers' markets sell food that has been produced locally, probably within mere kilometres of your front door.

Fortunately, through the work of the Greens councillor, Miles Dymott, there is a farmers' market held in Sunshine every 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month.  Get more information from the Brimbank City Council

Although there are times in this Stephen King horror when you really want to shake the cast and say to them "wake up and smell the coffee!" overall it delivers enough nasty surprises and ratchets up the suspense to such a degree that it is really effective.

After a terrible storm one night a sleepy community in Maine awakens to find a mysterious mist approaching from across the water. Local artist David Drayton (Thomas Jane) takes his young son Billy (Nathan Gamble) and his neighbour Brent Norton (Andre Braugher) into town to get supplies and while they are in the supermarket something terrible comes out of the all-enveloping mist. Slowly (a bit too slowly) everyone in the shop realises no one is going to come and help them and they must battle the hideous things in the mist by themselves, using only the weapons they can improvise from products in the store.

David becomes the leader of a break-off group including the store manager (Toby Jones) and schoolteacher Amanda (Laurie Holden) who want to make a run for it, but the hideous religious fanatic Mrs Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden) has other plans. Director Frank Darabont frames the film beautifully and Harden in particular stands out in an overall excellent cast (at one point she tells Amanda ‘if I want a friend like you I’ll shit one out of my ass’) while the ‘horrors’ the film contains will make your flesh crawl.

But the time it takes for everyone to put two and two together is really frustrating, especially as no one thinks to ask the military personnel in the supermarket if recent military experiments could have unleashed the mist until three-quarters of the way through the film. Overall though, this is a knuckle-biter with an ending that really does shock.      Dee Pilgrim

1. Check e-mail
2. Attend to immediate routine job duty
3. Decide where to go to lunch
4. Fire up iTunes
5. Read a review of the latest smart phone on the Internet

It doesn't mean people are shirking their duties. It's just that technology and the meshing of work and family life present opportunities to engage in all new ways and places.

According to Advertising Age, about one-quarter of the workforce spends about an hour each day reading blogs.

That doesn't count sufring the Net. It doesn't count time spent reading e-mail. It doesn't count time spent selecting and listening to music on iTunes.

Each of these channels presents opportunities to influence the consumer decision on which place, product and price to choose.

To say that 70 percent of the purchase decision occurs at the point of purchase is like saying that the decision of whom to marry is made when the groom says, "I do." Our relationship with consumers is a courtship, and we owe it to our brands to leverage every point of contact at our disposal.

We do a great job in-store. We do a great job on TV. We're learning how to use the Web.

But consider this:

The average primary grocery shopper is a busy individual. Time is growing ever more precious. Grocery lists are being made on the elliptical trainer at the gym and written on sticky notes in office cubicles.

One agency calls this Borderless Branding^TM. It's the idea of reinforcing the brand message in places that are most relevant to the consumer.

Like a milk bottle:

Or a sidewalk:

It is at those contact points that brands can win the battle before the target enters the store.

What is important is that we, as individuals, do something about it.  Being green makes you feel better and will in turn help the environment.  There is plenty of information on the internet about how to live green and organic.  More and more Malaysians really need to step up and start educating themselves about these issues.

The first, easiest and best ways to start living greener is to saying NO to plastic bags.  Whenever someone at a store offers you a plastic bag, say you don't need it.  Actually, in Malaysia, you'll need to tell them in advance that you don't want them putting your goods in plastic bags.  Whenever you go grocery shopping, make an effort to bring your reusable bag with you and to use it once your at the checkout counter.  One reusable bag generally fits enough stuff to save 3 plastic bags (from my observations).

There are heaps of stories about how Malaysians who try to be greener get funny looks etc.  I've been bringing my reusable bags to grocery stores for the past year now (and I should have started earlier, especially after coming back from Australia where plastic bags are frowned upon) and I get looks from either the checkout girl or just the people around.  Maybe it's just the start of the whole thing, and maybe it's just people looking at someone who is doing things differently, but it should really be the other way around.  People who use plastic bags whenever they do their weekly grocery shopping should be getting the looks.  

Once, I was in Hock Choon, my local supermarket on Jalan Ampang.  I pulled out an RuMe bag and told the checkout girl that i didn't need plastic bags.  Hock Choon is actually pretty good about the awareness of people not wanting plastic bags.  There was a woman in front of me, Chinese and in about her mid-40s who heard and saw me do my thing with the RuMe bag, and she commented, "Oh, all you young people and your fads."  

Like, huh?

Seriously, it was the generation of my parents that created this consumerist society where things started becoming disposable and "more convenient".  From disposable diapers, disposable sanitary pads, plastic bags and what-not.  This woman really had no right to comment about me using a reusable bag and calling it a fad.  Maybe it's just because we're more aware of our surroundings, lady.

But I didn't say anything and hindsight is a bitch.

Another incident happened at Isetan where I walked past and saw the checkout girl put one of their RM20 eco-bags (that's already wrapped in plastic when you first purchase it) and put it into a plastic bag along with all the customers other shopping in plastic bags.  Things that piss me off about that:

1) THE CUSTOMER DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING.  I think I actually saw her nod in acknowledgment.

2) It was right in front of a big Isetan campaign board about reducing the use of plastic bags.

3) I didn't say anything because I was too chicken and yes, hindsight is a bitch.

Seriously, Isetan should really step up their game (I have called them to let them know).  They only have one supermarket in the country and hence, it's not that hard to educate your checkout girls to first ask the customer whether they have their own bag.  It shouldn't be the other way round that the customer has to take a little tag off a hook to say that they don't want a plastic bag (that's their new system - if you don't want to use plastic bags, there are wooden tags next to the counter that you have to take).  

I guess Isetan is talking the talk, but not really walking the walk by observing how other countries do it.

What should really happen is that supermarkets should start charging for plastic bags.  They do this in other countries, and Malaysians being so kiasu about things, habits will change and they'll start to think twice about using a plastic bag to take away a bottle of soft drink.  Even Ikea Malaysia doesn't do that, when it's practiced by other Ikea stores in other countries.  

Hopefully, things will change and Malaysians (and the rest of the world) will be able to reduce their use of plastic bags.

I'll write more in the next blog about handy solutions but meanwhile, visit Tiny Tapir and Project Daily Million for some ideas!

Cleanliness? Check! Every minutiiae from washing and drying of hands, to separating cooking equipment, crockery, cutlery, pots and pans. Which tea towel for what. Chopping board: one each for meat/fish, veggie and fruits.

But there are finer points unrelated to cleanliness that get overlooked. I mean when I say "peel this apple", I don't need to add, "and then put the peel in the trash-bin", do I?

It seems that such finer details aren't always obvious to those who come from the deepest of Indonesia.

Let me illustrate.

There's this rather expensive vegetable called Choi Sum Fa (Chinese spinach with tiny flowers ranging from green to yellow as seen in the pix).

Now you would imagine there's no need to instruct someone, indeed anyone, that the flowers (besides the tender stems and leaves) are the piece de resistance and that's what makes the veggie quite pricey.

So, I never thought to tell Siti the maid who joined us 4 months ago, unlike digging out the "eyes" from potatoes, sweet potatoes etc, taking out the seeds from chilli, running water when peeling onions and so on.

Image my surprise earlier this week when I walked into the kitchen and found her at the sink diligently snipping off the yellow flowers of my precious bag of choi sum!

"Why are you doing that?" I demanded, more suprised than angry, just like I would be if I found her putting a tub of ice-cream next to boiling pot, with the gas turned on high. (Actually, she's done that with fish fresh from the market but that's another story!)

"What ma'am?" asked my dosey maid, snipping off yet another flower.

"Stop it, now!" I said in my most peremtory voice as she looked at me with her hush-puppy eyes.

Oh, I gave her an earful about the flowers but at the end of the day, what else could I do but gnash my teeth that I had once again 4gotten to dot the "i's" and cross the "t's". One may think it isn't necessary to spell out everything but that's where one is wrong. Never take anything for granted with an FDW!

Come to think of it, we have had choi sum fa on several occasions already and it now occurs to me that each time the dish had come to the table sans the yellow flowers, even tho the veggie back from the supermarket often had resplendent bouquets.

Must make sure I reinforce the lesson the next time we have choi sum fa for dinner.

Ignorance of local name of flaxseed also made it difficult to track it. I even thought of printing the picture and taking it to the shopkeeper at one stage. Finally, a random google search yielded fruit - its local malayalam name is cheruthana vittu ! But sadly, even after getting its local name, this guy was total stranger to the local shopkeepers and health store managers and more frustratingly, to the ayurvedic doctors and acharyas.

After long exhausting investigation, i finally tracked mr. Flaxseed in Nuts-n-Spices store in Chennai. But I couldnt buy it from chennai as i dont have a relative or friend in that cosmo city. Nuts-n-spices people gave me information about some of the health stores in Bangalore, where i have few friends.

Some one month ago, i send a group email to my buddies in Bangalore enquiring about flaxseed/alsi. One of them, finally tracked it to one of the health store called Nilgiris. Suddently, information from bangalore revealed that flaxseed is available in most of the health stores and supermarkets there.

finally, after almost 2 years, i received a courier from my friend with 2 packets of flaxseed worth 500 gm. Hurray, finally, i got it.

I blame communist parties for not allowing gaint supermarkets from entering kerala. I think it is a very stupid thing to do to the people of the state. They have to rely on other states to search for products which are not available in the traditional markets in the state.

asklaila.com also helped me immensely in the search for flaxseed.  I think it is a very useful site.

some more facts: Flaxseeds are an excellent source of omega-3 essential fatty acids. They are a very good source of dietary fiber and manganese. They are also a good source of folate and vitamin B6 as well as the minerals magnesium, phosphorus, and copper. In addition, flax seeds are concentrated in lignan phytonutrients.

It's pretty clear to us when something is completely contrived, like when we walk into ESPN Zone and the hostess has no clue who Stuart Scott is. Boo-Yah? No, just Boo.

But when you walk into a place called Doc's Steakhouse in Wichita, you know you are someplace special.

There is a "676 Miles to Wall Drug" sign on the wall. The signature dishes are the Garlic Salad and Hamburger Steak. News clippings heralding the discovery of "new galaxies" also adorn the walls, along with menus from the last half-century. Worn carpet and stale smoke complete the bygone experience. As soon as you are seated, ice water in stubby, eight-ounce tumblers is raced to your table.

I went with my friend Steve. Here are just a few of the things I heard from him:

"My dad used to take us here for special occasions."

"My wife and I used to come here a lot when we were dating."

"I remember when the guy taking your money at the cashier stand wouldn't let you by without talking to you for awhile, even when the line was backed up 15-people long."

Ought to be some way for chain restaurants and supermarkets to tap into the potential to be unique the way Doc's has done.

It has to have integrity and can't appear stilted. Just authentic, neighborhood and familiar. Giving people a little something extra to hold on to in uncertain times never hurts, either.

A German supermarket is encouraging customers to scan their shopping using mobile phones, and check out without the help of a cashier. If this were to become widespread, there would be a ton of possibilities for CPG marketers -- recipes, coupons, point-of-purchase marketing, etc etc. It might even have supply-chain implications: imagine consumers being able to let you know when they run into out-of-stocks.

Click here to see the video from the BBC.

Me, being the good husband that I am, decided that taking the boy would be of benefit to my wife since he was just getting in the way of her cooking and just being a general all around pain in the rump.

So as the boy and I were strolling through the market, as is typical of any 5 year old, he was wanting any item that was on an endcap or display rack. 

"I want this" he would say.

"No, you don't need a candy bar.  Dinner is really soon", I would respond.

"Can I get this?"

"No.  You have plenty of cereal at home.  Put it back"

"I need this"

"Umm... no.  You don't need tampons.  You have not gotten your period yet."

So as we continued down the front aisle of the store, he was continuously lagging behind me as he was picking items up and asking for them.  I kept repeating to him that we were in a hurry and gave him several "Let's go buddy!"

He yells back to me "I'm coming dickhead!"

The store manager, who was stocking coffee on and endcap spun his head around so fast that I am sure that he called out of work the next morning because of whiplash. 

Of course, since I am well known for laughing at inappropriate things, it was all I could do to keep from bursting out laughing at his outburst. 

I told my wife about the incident and she has since removed all movies, cable and video games from his room.  She thinks that is where he got it from since we don't talk like that. 

I see many visits to the principals office in my future because of this boy.

You can't go wrong with a good hunk of jerky.

Now, thanks to the wonders of mass dehydration, we can experience the wonders of fruit leather. I'm not talking about any wimpy, thin fruit rolls here. I'm talking all-natural and organic, thick strips of sweet, pressed fruit in all sorts of flavors. They're one of the best snack foods since string cheese.

The eating experience of these foods is intensified by the genius behind their creation. People have been drying meat over fire and fruit under sun for centuries.

We have since learned that you don't have to use the prettiest, most savory cuts and pieces for these convenient snack and meal replacement applications. But, oh! The wonders of culinary creativity when function and flavor collide!

Three great foods:

• Barbecue riblets
• Beef jerky
• Fruit leather

Besides being tasty and convenient, they share one other common characteristic: Industry found a way to use them to get more value out of an input that might otherwise have been wasted.

Bravo!

Trival but nice : Right out of busy Pigalle's 'Champion' supermarket was a clown entertaining people. Pleasant :) I admire people with these kind of ideas.

Geheime plekken in de supermarkt

Secret places in the supermarket

Có hầu hết các ngành hàng.

Phục vụ nhu cầu hàng ngày của người tiêu dùng trong khu vực.

Dịch vụ ăn uống giải trí (giới hạn).

Có hầu hết các ngành hàng.

Phục vụ nhu cầu hàng ngày của người tiêu dùng trong khu vực.

Dịch vụ ăn uống giải trí (giới hạn).

How’s your state of mind? I expect it to be nothing less than awesome!

So, guys, this is my last post before I get recruited. I have to leave in about 12 hours, I will have to get up at 4:30 am lol.

I really don’t know what to post this time, I feel very excited about going, so I will probably talk about that.

I feel like there’s a whole new chapter of my life is getting started in 12 hours!  Although the army here is mandatory, I still feel like this is a very good thing. You know, in Russia a man isn’t considered one in the eyes of his father until he gets recruited and goes through the whole process of being a Russian soldier.

To tell you the truth, when I was little, back in Ukraine, I was so freaking afraid of going to the army, you have no idea! The thought itself was terrifying is hell! All the stories people would tell about the service back there… they would always involve vodka, officers who don’t give a crap of the soldiers and cruel – cruel guard duty or kitchen duty… not even mentioning the food and life in a Kazarma ( mutual room for 30 soldiers..), well not a room, a freaking tent - that’s what it was! Lol!

And it still is that way over there. Israeli army compared to that is heaven. I visited the base I would be going to after I complete first 2 month, and there is a fridge, couch, TV and a heating battery in practically every room. More than that, there is a supermarket so you can buy stuff you are missing or just get some snack or something, hell! There is a Burger King there! Jeez..

I see Israeli army kind of like a duplication of American college.. You have a dorm and all, 8 to 5 you work and than you are free to do whatever you want, don’t forget that your friends are by your side so the army experience is freaking Gewd !

 K, it’s time for me to get packing! So I will see you guys the next weekend and share some experiences with you!

Take care!

Anyway, as I headed to the checkout counter, my jaw dropped, my eyes bugged, and my socks were violently knocked off at the sight of TJ Maxx's very own Earth-friendly shopper fabric bag.

It was red. Red just happened to be my favorite color. It's large too, only 79 measely cents (three quarters and four pennies) of awesomeness. On the bag, "IT BAG" is in large print and on the sides, it reads the store's name.

Of course, I bought one! What were you thinking, really, now?! In any case, it brought me to today's subject: fabric bags. Every grocery store (or most of them) have been jumping on the fabric bag-wagon (PUN MOS' DEF' INTENDED, Y'ALL). However, grocery stores are not the only place I shop. In fact, I would feel just plain awkward bringing a fabric Hannaford bag to shop at Macy's or something. Which is why I found the TJ Maxx IT BAG. (I also would like to add that I HEART Hannaford majorly for promoting eco-friendliness by issuing bag credits to shoppers who use fabric bags and also by endorsing minimal plastic bag use **END SHAMELESS PLUG**). I would just like to add that the Hannaford bags are awesome because they fold up and fit in your purse.

In any case, my point is that billions and billions of plastic bags are being used every year and are used. Ending up in landfills and being too light to stay still, the bags end up flying around. The toxins in them eventually contaminate the ground, polluting our plants, soil and water. They also end up hurting the Bambis of the world.

"YO! Lay off Bambi, man. I don't want to hear no shiz-nat about Bambi gettin' hiz-urt, dawg," said the urbanite reading this blog.

"I'm sorry!" I quickly interject realizing that I'm talking to no one except another voice in my head.

Moving on... I do love the Bambis of the world enough to just buy a reusable bag. Sometimes, I do recognize, it is awkward to tell the clerk that you don't want her mangy plastic bags. So, if you end up using plastic, be sure to recycle it -- most supermarkets actually have a recycle bin for plastic bags, so that should be your destination.

SO YOU'VE DECIDED YOU WANT A TRENDY FABRIC BAG, HAVE YE?? ARRRRGH. *pirate face*

Well, isn't that splendiferous? The good news is that there are a ton of really trendy bags out there for you to buy. I will even push you in the proper direction by sharing some of my faves (aside from those found at your local Hannaford Supermarkets and TJ Maxx).

FredFlare.com

"Mega-durable tote bag!"

$28

Made of natural canvas and printed with water-based inks.

A portion of sales will go towards World Wildlife Fund

AmericanApparel.net

The incredible Cities Bag!

$28

Bull-Denim Woven Cotton

Print of major cities on both sides!

lululemon

Price unknown :-(

Click here to read the words on the bag (Lululemon's manifesto!)

Can only be bought in-store

Click here for a list of store locations

If you are still unsatisfied with, you should search for the fad-fave, "I Am Not a Plastic Bag" Bag on eBay. It's probably your best shot. And eBaying is eco-friendly because it is second-hand. Also check out ShopIntuition's biodegradable bag. $19.99. Go for it. I've said enough. Much love and stay green.

]]> http://marketingspoonful.wordpress.com/?p=21 Thu, 26 Jun 2008 04:27:44 +0000 marketingspoonful http://marketingspoonful.wordpress.com/?p=21 It's hot here in Kansas. I just finished my third glass of iced green tea. Earlier today, I had some green tea chewing gum.

And you know what sounds good right about now? A frozen green tea Frappuccino from Starbuck's.

Functional foods haven't caught on quite as fast in this country as in Europe. But if anything has a chance, it appears to be anything that promises antioxidant benefits.

Green tea. White tea. Red tea. Lutein. Acai. Beta carotene. Gingko biloba.

We seem to be fascinated with cleansing and purification. And if we can do it in tasty, convenient ways, then all the better.

... if you're in the supermarket and want to go wandering off in search of kumquats, don't leave your cart sitting in the middle of the aisle blocking the way ... and don't stand in the middle of the aisle blabbing with a friend and blocking everyone else ...

... when you get to the top (or bottom) of an escalator, don't stop abruptly to figure out where you want to go while blocking the people behind you ... ditto when you get off an elevator ... or out of the jetway at the airport ...

... for crying out loud, carry a little cash around with you ... don't be holding up everyone else while using your credit card to buy a 99 cent candy bar at a convenience store ...

... that toll booth at the local bridge didn't just spring up overnight like a mushroom ... it's been there for years ... have your money ready before you get there so that eight cars don't go through the lanes on either side while you're fumbling around and holding up traffic behind you ...

... lead, follow or get out of the way ...

Dear Crazy Diaper Marketing Exec, Why are you trying to make an already unstable mom lose her mind on the diaper aisle?...

So we bought 20 pounds of shoulder clod and strip loin, popped in an instructional DVD from Canada's Beef Information Centre and went to town.

First, we learned that the guys with knives on the video make it look a lot easier than it really is. It took a roomful of our heads and several rewinds of the segments before we were able to roughly imitate our customers' craft.

Once you've experienced your customers' challenges and victories, you will begin to have empathy for them. Once you experience empathy, you're better able to speak their language and reach them with your message.

I've heard that really savvy investors like Warren Buffett experience the products and services of companies before taking major equity positions in them. Remember Victor Kiam? He liked his Remington shaver so much, he bought the company. Shouldn't we be just as passionate about understanding our customers?

All I know is, we had a great time, we developed understanding and empathy, and we learned something about our customers together as a team.

Plus, how often do you get to eat your teaching tools? The strip steaks and chuck steaks we cut ourselves were quite satisfying.

I guess it's just part of a day in the life of a place where understanding the target audience is priority one for everyone, from the business manager to the brand manager to the copywriter and the proofreader. The challenge is maintaining that focus. But having a little fun is one way to do just that.