Sunday

I think that 1 was going to be a "guest" contributor today, but I suspect that her day may get away from her with road time from DM.

FFF in IC yesterday went pretty well as scheduled. Without the preferred parking pass, Mom and I found ourselves clear down at Hancher, which was fine, but certainly not convenient. My pal Roy called to keep me up to date on the score of the game. From his location in Bettendorf. Thanks, Bud. I set up the BBQ and the post-game event was fine.

2, 3, and 4 all went to the game on student tickets. And it was a great game. In my boredom, I actually did a pass-through of the Iowa Art Museum. Let's see, that's two art museums in a three day period. That may be a personal record.

Let it be known that I did turn on the heat in my house this morning for the first time since probably early April. It may have been cool enough inside to impact some of my plants. A hard frost here overnight. Then again, it will be November this week.

I'm wondering where Halloween falls in the pecking order of retail sales for "holiday" events in America. When I finally settled down on my couch last night to catch a little TV before falling asleep, I think two out of three stations, cable or network, had some Halloween theme going with their programming. And the stores have been stuffed with costumes and candy for the last month. I don't get it.

Christmas is the obvious Number One commercial hit of any year. What's next? Here's a Top Five list off the top of my head:

1. Christmas.
2. Valentines Day.
3. Mother's Day.
4. Halloween.
5. Thanksgiving?
6. July 4th?

Maybe the reason that Halloween is so popular is that it falls in a slight "dead zone" on the calendar. There really hasn't been any National holiday or cross-population-segments event for retailers to focus on since Labor Day in early September. School has been going on for a couple of months, and the "holidays" don't start for another three weeks. Shelf space is available at Walmart. Horror movies sell well. Lots of people have a sweet tooth. Everybody from kids to middle-age adults see an opportunity for a party. (We old f**ts are just too old to get excited.) So we have a Perfect Storm and the result is Halloween.

Hallmark Cards have tried to create a greeting card event for each month. In addition to the obvious ones, they have Grandparents Day, Clergy Month, Letter Carrier Day, and Teacher's Month. You may think that these separate organizations have taken it upon themselves to create their own day, week or month, but it is a well-known fact that all of these curious celebratory times can be traced back to Hallmark.

The new marketing opportunities are on the Internet. USA Today had a story on Friday about individuals making significant money through ads/clicks on their websites. I doubt if 4000 Days has that potential. But creative types can do it. Legitimate sites can have appeal to different market segments, whether it be for the Moms of the world, or maybe different sports things for the men. Hallmark and Walmart need to employ geeks just to protect their own turf.

So I'm off for the day of stuff around the house. Have a great one.

BCOT