By rote

Magnet #1294 - Dos Caminos

Ya'll. I keep getting lost on the way to work.

Ok, ok, not lost exactly, but whenever I'm on autopilot, I end up doing funny things. Funny things like:

- getting out at Union Square instead of 28th Street in the morning, or
- walking right past my office building til I look up and realize...I've walked right past my office building. Or,
- leaving the office, intending to walk up several blocks to a restaurant on 29th...only to remember I'm already on 29th.

It's amazing, in my head, I've stepped into the Manhattan map, only my origination/termination point, is my old office building. So, when I'm on autopilot, I end up completely disoriented, and not where I'm supposed to be.

I suppose it's natural - I mean, I spent a third of my life in that building (holy crap), but still, it's so odd!

Of course, the new gig in a new building does mean getting to know a new neighborhood, and new restaurants.

Dos Caminos isn't one of those new restaurants - my friends have been going there for years for lunch. And since I rarely did lunch, I never did get to go with them.

So I finally got to go, and voila! Magnet!

You don't *get* to complain

Magnet #1272 - Grouchy Smurf

Love Grouchy Smurf. Love him. I would never want to hang out with him, but in small doses, he's great.

Although, what do you suppose he's doing with his hand behind his back? (I mean, Smurfs don't have middle fingers, right?

Picking him for today because I find it hard to believe I've never used Grouchy Smurf on this magnetblog, especially given how miserable I was the last couple of years at my old gig. Granted, the misery was my fault, and I was too lazy to do anything about it for a dozen years, but it was misery nonetheless.

I've been thinking lately about how different I am from that stranger I became over the last few years. I look at myself through the filter of folks who have met me over the last year, and I can see it. I'm happier. I smile a helluva lot more. It's nice.

But I feel for the folks left behind. Well, some of them, anyway.

It's funny because I saw a tweet from the chick who replaced me last fall, and she was tweeplaining about it being a whole two weeks since she'd left the office before 8:30 at night. Really?

First, try a whole decade of that.

Second, really? Less than a year of time served, you don't get to complain, sweetheart. Not unless Edwin the nighttime car service dispatcher knows your travel information just by the sound of your hello.

Now the idea of an all-nighter/round-robin at the office is so foreign to me. I mean, I can't believe I ever lived by the mantra of "A Coke at 8 gets me to Midnight, a Coke at Midnight gets me to 3, and then I can call Edwin to get me home to wait for me while I take a shower and come right back."

Oh, yeah, completely surprised I never used a Grouchy magnet before. I just thank God and the universe for giving me the last year to learn some hard lessons and make me appreciate that things happen for a reason, and that it'll work out in the end.

I told ya'll it'd be fine.

And it was.

The long shadow

Magnet #1270 - Madison and 34th

When I first moved here, my first job was at Berkley Publishing at 200 Madison Avenue.

Every day I'd walk across 34th street to get to my westside train, pass this exact corner on this Tiggy Ticehurst magnet of 34th and Mad and the Empire State Building and never really look up. We could see it from the bathrooms at work - I know, because somewhere I have pictures.

But to be honest, my young 22-year-old self never really took the time to look up and appreciate how cool the view was.

I would however, go there for lunch every once in a while.

Yes. Lunch.

I'd take my $4.75, walk right into the elevators with minimal security delay (try none), and eat a $3.00 hot dog with Gulden's mustard at the top of the building - all in the space of an hour.

No way you could ever do that now with forever and a day wait times and crazy tight security. But, I have to tell ya'll, it was a fantastic way to spend the lunch hour.

And now, I get to see the ESB every day again - my new gig is just a little bit south on Madison, in the 20s. So when I walk across the island for my westside train, I have an even better view. The difference is, I don't forget to enjoy it.

I love getting caught by the lights on the corners of 29th and 5th - I look up and over, and there I am, standing in her long, long shadow.

Fantastic.

Krabby joy - Escape Home to NYC, Part 2, Day 6

Magnet #1187 - SpongeBob SquarePants

I'll confess. I've never watched a full episode of Spongebob. I know! There are whole religions out there devoted to this guy and I can't be bothered to watch a few minutes.

I really only bought this tiny, tiny magnet at a street fair a few weeks ago because it reminds me of a colleague of mine, whom we call SpongeRob NoSocks. Annnd, you can figure out how he got that moniker...and probably guess that he's part of that Connecticut crew on the New Haven line. I wonder if Don Draper would ever go sockless in loafers. Heh.

Anyway, feeling pretty krabby today because it's my last day in town for a while. (Ok, fine, for only a couple of weeks, but I'm getting my pout on here, so shuddup.) I mean, it's been a fantastic trip, filled with tons of New York minutes and fun quintessential New York. It's just tough to leave.

(Plus, I hate packing. No, seriously. If I could be one of those people who are like, we'll just buy everything when we get there? I would SO be that girl.)

To distract myself while doing the dreaded packing, I find myself stuck on Boomerang, my favorite cartoon network. They tend to air all the classic cartoons I grew up watching, versus all the crazy, hip and cool stuff that Cartoon Network airs.

And SpongeBob would not be part of that bunch. Tonight was Scooby-Doo, the Clue Club, Thundarr the Barbarian, the Hair Bunch, etc.

I honestly don't even know when we found time to watch them - they weren't all on the Saturday morning rotation, probably more the USA Network cartoon block or elsewhere.

But man, every once in a while, it's good just to relive your childhood and leave the tv on Boomerang for a couple of hours.

Or, you know, days.

Bearly making it - Escape Home to NYC, Part 2, Day 2

Magnet #1183 - Yosemite Bear


How cool is this bear magnet that my friend brought back for me from Yosemite?! Superdupercool.

Even cooler? The bear spins around. I don't quite get it, but it does. And it cool.

Day 2 in NY has me sitting in a temp office cube, a far cry from Yosemite's open spaces. I'm hoping it was just the caffeine, but it's so weird being in an office setting right now, particularly after not being in one for the last nine months.

Once, I used to have this cuteboy assistant account executive who sat over the wall from me for a couple of years. A few weeks after he left for bigger, brighter things, he said to me, "You know what I miss? I miss hearing your giggles over the wall."

It's something that I'd forgotten about myself. That I have the (possibly crazy) talent of entertaining myself with absolutely no one around me, entertainment which leads to a lot of giggles. A lot of the time. Yes. I'm THATcrazychick in the corner cube, amused by everything and no one.

I remembered it a couple of weeks ago, when I drove yet another account executive nuts, as he kept asking what was so funny.

You know what? Haven't a clue what it was, but I pretty much guarantee you it probably wasn't as funny as I thought it was at the time.

It never, ever is.

eta:
By the way, just to go back to bears for a second. Every freakin' day across the South lately, it feels like we keep getting bear sighting stories. I think they all know I'm on the lookout for my very own bear, and are showing up in every place that I'm not. Just to taunt me.

And, since I'm on the bear kick - I posted this before, but I don't think I embedded the actual video. My favorite sleeping bear scene of. all. time. Following by my new favorite sleeping puppy scene. of. all. time. Both of which came from one or the other or both sisters.


SLEEPING BEAR:



SLEEPING PUPPY:

Pretty boys, pretty...castles

Magnet #1181 - The Consort

Whoa. Probably should have labeled this one NSFW, though really, it's not all that bad. Really.

It's another one of the magnets my friend brought back from the Romantic Times convention last month.

I know, right?

I think I've said it before, but it's one of the reasons I miss publishing. Or, really, my little Loveswept cube, where behind me sat stacks and stacks of manuscripts and galleys full of happy endings.

And everywhere else, were pictures of the cutest cuteboys of the cute, the models we were using for our cover art. Best part of the job, sifting through lookbooks and cuteboy collections looking for appropriate pretty boys to adorn our covers.

I know. Terrible objectification of men. I won't lie, it was a bit like Playboy (Playgirl?) without the full-on nudity or the articles. We didn't even get to learn if they liked long walks in the rain or reading sociology in their spare time. We just matched the boys up to the manuscript description, picked 'em for their pretty looks, and moved on to the next month's covers. (Mind you, I also had to pick pretty girls, too, but honestly, it was not nearly as engaging.)

Fun stuff. A far cry from all the business-to-business corporate stuff I deal with nowadays.

Still, I would definitely think twice about reading this book in the subway - truth be told, I tend not to read my romance books on the train to begin with, when they show even the slightest of skin. I did it a few times, but man, it's awkward when you're reading a love scene and realize that the dude next to you is reading it, too. Ewwwwwww.

Of course, now, I'll be wondering exactly what books those people are reading on their secretive eReaders across from me on the train. Hmmmm.

And possibly, ewwwwww.

Goodness in mankind. Right?

Magnet #1176 - Malist

Another one of my Nicola and the Newfoundlander magnets that I got last year at the Union Square Holiday Market. You know I love 'em!

Except that I'm mad at myself for buying this particular word magnet. While I love the image, I hate the word. Malist means someone who believes the worst in the world, that it's evil.

While I do believe the world is ending and quite frequently say so, I don't believe that the world or mankind at its core is evil. I just don't.

The definition that Nic & the Newfie give - presumably an older definition of the word (it being "reclaimed," and all) - is that it's "one who thinks this is a terrible world, but not the worst of all possible worlds." Which is a slightly more hopeful definition, I guess.

I hope it's that second definition that drew me to this magnet in the first place. Because the alternative would make me a sad sack of a soul, and I reject that, too.

Although, one thing that's made me think of the first definition lately is the plethora of articles, blogposts and Tweets I've been reading about the Facebook/Google snafu this week. Like watching a train wreck, I can't stop myself from clicking on the Twitter links - on my search column, for most of this evening, it's been at least a Tweet a minute. (It's Friday night, how are people still so engaged over this story?)

No, I won't go on about it - it's a magnetblog, after all - but I think what scares me most out of the whole embarrassing and quite disappointing fiasco, is the thought that this isn't the first (or the last) whisper campaign ever to be mounted. This one just has high-profile players who managed to get caught, is all.

Which only makes me wonder with a sick, icky feeling, what other negative "news" content out there in mainstream or social media was ruthlessly whispered into someone's ear.

Or emailed, as the case may be.

Unrealized potential

Magnet #1165 - James Dean, Giant

Bought this magnet from my Union Square magnet guy - it's James Dean in Giant, where he plays arguably his best role, as a bitter ranch hand who turns into a wealthy oil wildcatter. I figured it was a fitting magnet for our first day at OTC, the Offshore Technology Conference (#OTCHouston), one of the largest oil & gas industry trade shows.

James Dean was only 24 when he died, and had only three movies to his name, and yet it feels like every girl goes through a James Dean phase at some point in their lives, no?

It's partly the "every girl wants to reform the bad boy" mentality, but for me, he was just awesome. And awesomely hot.

I'm sure my parents wondered if I'd done the math and knew that he'd died back in the 50s, but I was certainly the only one my age who totally had some iteration of his boulevard of broken dreams poster on my wall. I still own his movie set, even though it's been years since I've cracked them open. If I were totally honest, I'm sure if I look hard enough, that poster's somewhere, too.

I still get mad that he died so young - I mean, he had two Oscar noms in three movies. Amazing. He was amazing. Just like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger, so much unrealized potential. Argh.


"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today."

- James Dean

"And get a white wicker basket for Joy..."

Magnet #1142 - Starbucks Coffee

Little did we know that that text would spark the funniest team story to come out of our golf tournament last month.

We sent our youngest teammate out to the store to run some errands. We texted him to pick up some sharpies, some paper towels, do the daily Starbucks run, and get a white wicker basket for Joy.

An hour later, when the dude showed up in front of me with a tray of a lone venti cup marked JOY, I could only look in askance at him. Particularly since I hadn't ordered a coffee. He hands me the tray and I kinda back away, saying, but I didn't get that. He looks at me and says, "Yeah, the people at Starbucks didn't know what a White Wicker Basket was, so they made me this."

Here's the thing. Ya'll should all want to play poker with me, because I am incapable of keeping a straight face. So I can only imagine the look of utter confusion at his utter confusion, and then my barely muffled laughter as I slowly realized that I was being handed what he thought was a white wicker basket. Even the dude who sent him on the errand had his head cocked slightly, wondering what was going on. And as we dissolved into laughter, I said, "But I wanted a White. Wicker. Basket."

"Yeah, this is it. I showed them the text and everything, but they were still confused, and this is what they gave me."

Tears were welling up in my eyes from the laughter, so I had no choice but to say thanks and take the coffee. I then proceeded to walk around with it for the next couple hours, giggling periodically, in between bouts of hysterical laughter.

I stopped him again a bit later, and I was like, "Ummm, so we're clear...I wanted a White. Wicker. Basket."

He looks at me, and goes, "Yeah, I know. But the Starbucks people didn't know what it was. I'm sorry if it wasn't what you wanted." I giggled again and walked away.

It wasn't until later that night in the office, that we actually went through the White. Wicker. Basket. story again, with the same result. Finally we took pity on the poor boy and Googled images of a WWB...to which he replied,

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."

And the light went on.

In the end, you have to excuse him - he's a boy. How many boys in their early 20s know right off the bat what a white wicker basket is? And, within the context of the texting, yeah, maybe we should have been more specific between the Starbucks run and the WWB for Joy.

Still, it provided hours of entertainment and joyous laughter. Literally. It's why I could NOT pass up this magnet. I just couldn't.

Tell you what though. I'm very sad I'll never be able to recreate that drink, because that White Wicker Basket?

Was the best damn Starbucks coffee I've ever had in my life.

Joy. Lighthouse keeper?

Magnet #1140 - Cape May Lighthouse

The sisters, BIL and I did a fun sidetrip out to Cape May, NJ, a couple of years ago. Saw the town, saw the houses, saw the lighthouse out at Cape May Point State Park.

It's a cool lighthouse, built just before the Civil War, but has been automated since the 1940s. Like most lighthouses struggling to survive, they charge a small fee to head up to the top of the lighthouse to see all the views of the Jersey coast. We didn't get to go up to the lookout, but apparently, I missed climbing 217 steps. Darn.

The fact that it's automated kind of makes me sad, because the hermit part of me bets I'd be an awesome lighthouse keeper. C'mon, a remote rocky point along the shore, with a tiny little house, with a great big light that I'd have to monitor at night. (I'm assuming. At least that's what the folks in Pete's Dragon had to do.)

And I'd never really have to go to the actual beach. Just stash me in the little house with a little tv, and maybe an elevator to get to the top, and I'd be good to go. Joy. Lighthouse keeper. It could work!

Though, no offense to Cape May, but I couldn't be there, because apparently, it's one of the best places to go birding during the fall migration. Birding. Um. NO.

Of course, there aren't any birds in my Cape May pictures...save for those three weirdos below.

I'm still standing

Magnet #1116 - Mary Pickford quote

Love old-school Hollywood, especially silent film stars, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks - even if I can't name a movie I've ever seen with them. Seriously.

They were famous, the Brangelina of the 1920s - complete with a grand estate called Pickfair, where old-school Hollywood used to party like crazy.

They divorced in the end, but I refuse to accept it. Through a weird twist of fate, Pia Zadora demolished Pickfair after it fell into disrepair...which I also refuse to accept.

Failure's another word that I refuse to accept, which is why I love this quote from Mary. It's true. When you get knocked down, and you stay down, that's when you fail.

It's why when the company laid me off after more than a dozen years of service, I didn't let it get me down. I didn't cry or even talk it over with them, I just accepted the package and moved on happily. It was time.

And yet, oddly, eight months later, I find myself absolutely vindicated, freelancing for two of my former (and favorite) clients, both of whom squee'd happily when they welcomed me back on the team. Hearing their welcoming cheers was completely happy-making and gratifying, to say the least, and I thank them both for what's possibly the best work feeling I've had in a few years.

Mind you, though it has very little to do with me leaving, I find it even more vindicating that I'm actually working on exactly the same projects I was working on, after the work had been taken away from the former agency, and given to other agencies.

As my client put it when she introduced me to a new team member, "She was working with [company], but she's on her own now, and she came down to help us out this week." It wasn't until I heard her say the words out loud that I suddenly realized it was true.

I am on my own. I'd taken a fall, but here I am. Still standing. On my own two feet.

It's a weird feeling, but one that I don't mind.

Not. One. Bit.

Small gifts

Magnet #1099 - Frank Lloyd Wright's December Gifts

Heh. #1099. Appropriate given how much freelance work I'll have done this year. Yep. Rather than settle down to find another agency job, I've taken on a few freelance projects to tide me over the beginning of this year.

Things happen for reason, because the day after I accepted the third concurrent project, I found myself urgently flying down to North Carolina. And with me here for a little bit, it's been a very good thing that I can tackle these projects remotely.

This magnet - yet another from my BEA escapades in the Pomegranate booth (I should work for these people, at this point!) - is an adaptation of Frank Lloyd Wright's December Gifts, one of a dozen abstracts that FLW designed in the late 1920s as covers for Liberty, one of the leading magazines of the day.

From what I understand, they were never actually published, but these graphic designs ended being adapted up on many - and I mean, many - walls, floors, tables, countertops, and windows. Not to mention countless keepsakes, books, coloring books, postcards, notecards, ties and calendars.

And of course, magnets.

Setting the bar

Magnet #1069 - I Just Don't Listen

I think this is one of my so-very-out-of-my-demographic Claire's Happy Bunny magnets.

When I was still an only child of four or five, I used to argue so much with my parents that it was then when they decided I would be a lawyer.

No, really. I remember sitting in the car pouting over something, and my dad saying, yes, you're going to be a lawyer some day.

That pattern continued straight on through to my senior year of high school, when my mother handed over the Carolina majors book, with acceptable prelaw majors checkmarked for me.

Uh, yeah. So, clearly, that totally didn't work out for them.

Maid of the Mist

Magnet #1065 - Maid of the Mist

Confession: I've been sitting here mulling over, researching, and writing this one little magnetpost for a good 45 minutes, just listening to the oddly lulling music track over the Maid of the Mist website. Try it.

It reminds me of my college summer job admin temping in a personnel office. The owner had a stereo system pumped throughout the whole office, and it was up to me to make sure the discs were changed.

Trouble was, it was the same 15 or so discs. Actually, the real trouble was, it was the likes of John Tesh and Yanni and Jim Brickman and George Winston. And? By the end of the summer? I found myself buying a couple of CDs here and there to take back with me to Carolina.

What? Maybe I was brainwashed by it, after all, I was the only 20-year-old in the world stuck listening to this music day in and day out for three months. Plus? That was the summer I was grounded, so it's not like my homelife was a barrel of laughs, either.

Yes. You read right. 20. Grounded. And, that should paint you a picture. Cuz there's not a magnet alive that can make me blog about that summer.

Moving on.

I really love this sepia-esque magnet that the Save the World Couple brought back for me from Niagara Falls. The very look of it makes me feel like it was produced back in 1846, when the first Maid of the Mist, a sidewheel steamboat, was launched.

If you haven't gone, go. Niagara Falls is something that everyone should see once in their lifetime. I've only been on the (current) Maid of the Mist once, many years ago, on a long-ago roadtrip to Niagara.

Such a cool trip - even when you're totally wet and somewhat freezing, and the boat's being buffeted about by the waves, and you can barely hear anything because you're wearing those silly-looking ponchos over your ears, and you can barely see for the water on your faces, it's still such an amazing thing looking up at more than three thousand tons of falling water.

And, maybe it's the music playing, but there's something comforting about knowing that many, many, many Maids of the Mists and 164 years later, those observation boats are still traveling as close to the waterfalls as humanly possible.

Hmmm. You know, I still own that John Tesh CD. Um, yeah. I'm gonna go close that Maid of the Mist tab now.

The force is strong

Magnet #1047 - Read, You Will.

Confession: I wasn't a Star Wars girl. Sure, I saw all the movies, but when I was little, I never hearted Han Solo or wanted to be Princess Leia, or played with lightsabers (real or pretend).

In the late 90s, I ended up working a very short stint on the production side of the Ace imprint at Berkley Publishing Group. I was surprised there was a healthy list of books that continued the Star Wars saga, and ended up with a whole set of them. Which remained unread on my shelves for several years until I finally gave them away.

Cut to early November last year, when Harrison Ford was doing his Morning Glory press rounds and said that Han Solo should have died in Return of the Jedi. And early December, when the giant Millennium Falcon was like the coolest toy in the Salvation Army Toy Shop.

Both got me trying to remember Solo's storyline in the Original!Recipe!Star Wars. And of course, I couldn't rewatch O!R!Star Wars, without watching the prequels. And thus began my own saga...of going to sleep while watching every single one. Bad move to watch them late at night. Nevertheless, I made it through each one in chronological order, finishing Return of the Jedi this morning.

The original movies stand on their own - to this day, they're still pretty good. Simple stories, simple aliens, simple effects and all. And, though it may be an unpopular opinion, I do think the prequels, even with their overexposition, and zillion stories, civilizations and wannabe memorable characters thrown in, made a decent backstory for the original.

Second confession: Even if I spent New Year's with my hair in not-quite-Princess Leia braids, I'm still not a Star Wars girl. But, as someone once told me, you don't have to be a fan. But you have to respect the fans. And I do. You have to. They're the ones who have been keeping the saga alive for the last 34 years.

Oh! And hell no, Harrison! No way should Solo have died in Return of the Jedi! He and Princess Leia should live happily ever after!

Of course, now, I'm totally sad I gave away all those books I had, because now that I know who he is, I totally want to go back and read the Wedge Antilles series right now...

Yoda says I should.

Just. Behave.

Magnet #1038 - Don't Bother Me

I used to have this pin/magnet at my work desk, having bought it the day we went looking for button-making machines in the city.

Yes. Button-making machines. And that's not even the weirdest wild goose chase I've been on for work.

But, it's so true, this magnet.

When we were little, and we were having a crisis in the car (a mysterious odor coming from the engine - the fanbelt; the car exploding exploding - twice!; the car not starting, etc.) our first reaction was to immediately shrink back in our seats, and not make a sound.

Just. Behave. While the adults dealt with the situation at hand.

It's probably why you don't see my sisters or me in this picture, as my dad and BIL try to navigate this tree out of our driveway in the wee hours of the morning...

Safer. Smarter. More Secure.

Magnet #1034 - BEP/UST $20 Note

Took a tour of the Bureau of Engraving & Printing this week. If you knew me back in the early 2000s, you'd realize how freakin' funny it is that I never took a tour before.

Can I just say? I really did not enjoy it...and this time, because of the tour guide. And her fake game commentator, tour guide speech pattern. Nice enough lady, but I seriously never wanted off a tour so bad, even if it was free. It was almost like I was taking a tour with Dick Vitale.

But, I will say, it was really cool seeing the printing machines of the BEP, watching them make money the old-fashioned way. By printing it.

And yes, I had a whole much longer post written up about the New Color of Money, but then thought the better of posting it.

If you want to learn more, take the tour. It's free. No. Really. It's Washington, remember? Where else can you see a million dollars...for free.

Only boring people are bored

Magnet #130 - Betty Draper Francis

This Betty quote from Mad Men: The Illustrated World is something I've heard all my life. It's why I try never to be bored. I can forgive a lot of things, but boring people, not so much.

Besides, there's always something to do...even if it's sleep. You just have to find it.

And, that's how I ended up at Matthew "No Refunds Here" Weiner's discussion with Thane Rosenbaum at the 92Y last week. (For those who don't know, the 92Y started out as the Young Men's Hebrew Association, and has grown to be one of the premier cultural and community centers in town, with some incredible programming.)

Remember how I don't like to read too much into anything? That I take art for art's sake? For the most part, that extends to television and film. Which means that I enjoy what I'm watching, but don't really think too much about the cultural ramifications or "statements" made by any show. I make no apologies for it: It's television. It's film.

It's how I was surprised when creator/ep & showrunner/headwriter Weiner managed to put Mad Men into much more context than I'd ever thought about before. The conversation centered around how the show is a pretty great love letter to New York in the golden age of the 60s, using advertising as a useful and interesting backdrop for some really screwy, but always human characters.

Which I always knew...but for me, the ad agency shenanigans was my entree to the show. I've always overidentified with the characters within advertising construct, with their crazy lives secondary. Or, if I'm honest, tertiary, really, if you consider the cultural history of the 60s that's more interesting for me.

Don't get me wrong - I love (almost) all of the characters, and can get pretty invested in their lives, but it was always the advertising - the clients, the presentations, the creative work, the dynamics between the account/creative/management teams - has always been what drew me in and repulsed me at the same time.

I find myself unable to get too deep into a retelling of the night, otherwise, it gets into a debate on Jewish culture, advertising metaphors, why Don Draper isn't naked more often, the Bay of Pigs, and the decaying of New York.

Just know it was a great session...of course, now with this new insight with which to watch the show, I feel like I need to rewatch Mad Men from the pilot all the way through.

What? So far, that's only 52 hours!

Speed-dating San Francisco

Magnet #1016 - San Francisco

While at home last week, I stumbled over several pictures of my parents and me all over San Francisco. Of course, I was like six months old at the time, so I have absolutely no recollection of it.

Then several years ago, I spent less than 24 hours in San Francisco. I flew in, got in at like, 4 or 5 in the afternoon, had a sunset dinner by myself at Fisherman's Wharf, went into the office to help a friend get some urgent work done for a few hours, then late in the night, went back to my room at the W, to await my 8am flight. Truly a shame, since I didn't get to sleep but three hours on those 800 thread count sheets.

All that fuss, to drop off a banner stand and banner, for a pitch...that we didn't even win. Oh, Corporate America, will you ever cease to make me laugh.

Anyway, I think a friend of mine gave me this magnet, and clearly once again, it's been doctored from Joyce, to make my name. I mean, no offense, but seriously, when was the last time you even met a Joyce?

I'm just sayin'.

Sterling's Gold

Magnet #998 - Mad Men's Roger Sterling

Yep, another one of my Mad Men: The Illustrated World pins magnets that I picked up at New York Comic-Con this year.

I'm using it today for a couple of reasons, mostly because ya'll know I'm supertotally picking up Sterling's Gold this week. How could I not?

If it's anything like Kendall Hart's Charm! or Richard Castle's Heat Wave, it'll totally hit the New York Times list. Although, I will cry if it's as bad as the excerpts that Don overheard on the show. Let's hope Roger's ghostwriters did a great job.

One thing's for sure, Roger would be pleased as punch that as an ad girl 12 years in the business, I haven't read David Ogilvy's Confessions of an Ad Man and I haven't read Bill Marsteller's Creative Management (I own it, so that kinda counts, even though they used to give it to all Marsteller employees.) but I'm about to read Sterling's Gold.

Boy. I can't wait for Don Draper's book to come out.

eta:
Hah! I totally forgot the whole reason I decided to do this magnet this week in the first place. It's because I saw John Slattery's Lincoln MKX ad. Nice to see him in it, cuz he's purty, but it probably wasn't a good thing that I thought it was a very nice companion piece to Kate Walsh's Cadillac spot a couple of years ago. Oops.