Tuesday

Huge win for the 'Clones last night in Stillwater.  The best part of the win from my angle was that I didn't stay up to watch the second half/three overtimes!  ISU can play with anyone...who doesn't have an aircraft carrier in the middle.

Big sell-off in the market yesterday.  I'm thinking that money managers have been looking for a selling-point, and have taken the soft economic news and the global currency skittishness as that trigger.  Japan has fallen off now over 15% since the first of the year.  They obviously have their own problems, but global growth (read China) is not robust. The road is gonna be a bit bumpy this year.

So I really didn't pay much attention to the Super Bowl commercials.  Let's face it...I'm not much of a consumer.  I do have an Annoyance Factor that has been raised by several ads that have been on the air currently (and in the recent past).  My Top Ten list of, "Not again, please!" commercials/ads:

1.  The Fed Ex ad with the guy at the counter giving himself a new title because his customers were so happy with his one-man company's use of Fed Ex shipping.
2.  The "Everybody knows that" ads by GEICO on car insurance.  Like the auctioneer check-out clerk or the tree falling in the forest making a noise.  Spare me, Mr. Buffet.
3.  All those Cialis erectile dysfunction ads.  It ain't workin'!
4.  All the diet pill/supplement ads that say that you may have to reduce intake to 1/2 dose if weight loss is too rapid.  These are mostly local radio spots.
5.  Those Christmas/End of Year luxury car sales where they have the big ribbon/bows on top of the car in the snowy driveway.  Does anyone buy a car that way?
6.  The endless promo's by sports announcers for nighttime programming on their network.  CBS on golf broadcasts is just awful.
7.  The bottom-of-screen rolling ads on websites.  I don't care what is being sold.  I reduce my visits to those sites that use that style of pop-ups.
8.  ESPN's online default to an audio spot in a small box on the Home Page, or I guess any subsequent page that you might go to.  I mute my office PC to combat it.
9.  Any political ad.  They're already playing in Illinois for the primary for the governor's job.
10. The advance of aggressive promotion of sites and people on Twitter on my new iPhone 5.  It really starts to clutter my feed.

For the record, I didn't watch the swimsuit TV special last night.  Even after getting a text reminder from my pal Bill.  If I wasn't going to watch the "Clones, I wasn't going to watch this either. 

I did page through the current issue of People with Christie Brinkley on the cover while getting my hair cut yesterday.  With all the photo-shop tweaking that seems to be done with publicity shots, I don't give much credence to whatever shows up in print.  (There was a very scary comparison of an aging Diane Keaton with what an ad firm did with her in a recent commercial.)  With the layers of make-up that the models wear, its hard to believe any Hollywood-presented complexion. 

But since Christie has spent all of that time in recent years working out with Chuck Norris on the Total Gym, she's gotta be real, right?  Walker, Texas Ranger wouldn't let her lie!

Make it a good Tuesday in your neighborhood.

BCOT