Wired For Noise

photo credit: Doublep1

The guy who had my phone number before me must have run up some serious bills. I’ve gotten a truck load of phone calls from creditors looking for him. A couple credit card companies, one with a thick Australian voice every time they’ve called.

Not that I don’t have my own share of financial woe. I’m staring down 2 huge bills this month that even with the best of work I’m not sure how to cover. One was an unexpected medical expense, the other was me not reading the small print right and fees ending up twice what I had expected. I’m spending more time each day writing articles here, there, and every where but I don’t seem to be making a dent.

Times are tough for a lot of people now. Even though the experts claim the worst is over, there are still bills piling up and lost jobs. No one is stock piling MP3 players and expensive shoes, most of it is coming from medical bills and emergencies. Of course, when you lose your job buying groceries or paying the electric bill is an emergency. Some people are finding themselves jobless for so long they’re just throwing in the towel.

Money is tight, even with us living frugally. I suspect it’s going to get worse before it becomes better.

Just a test post from my Blackberry. I, trying the new Wordpress/Blackberry app.

A pro-life mouth piece told me that the only reason I hate the Tebow Superbowl ad is because I’m really just pissed that his mom didn’t have an abortion.

She made her choice. You just hate it.

This line of thinking, unfortunately, is nothing new. Too many anti-choice mouth pieces assume that if you are pro-choice, you are pro-abortion only. They ignore the many of us who are actually mothers ourselves, they ignore our words and actions, they ignore our arguments. They just claim we want all women to have abortions then stick their fingers in their ears and sing “lalalalala” as loud as they can. They would rather pretend that we just want to kill babies than consider that we want a woman’s choice to become a mother just that, her choice.

They couldn’t imagine a world where people actually accept that other people have choices of their own. They take their belief that every woman should be forced to give birth whether they want to or not and assume we must also want to force women to do as we say.

I usually stay away from televisions when the Super Bowl comes anyway. Big guys slamming into each other and fighting over a funny shaped ball isn’t my idea of a good time. Sure, I’ve grown to appreciate baseball and can watch a few games with Michael. Football, not remotely enjoyable to me.

Still, if they could actually get the Sean James and Al Joyner commercial to air, I’d watch the whole damn game. With bells on even.

Wait, I think I’ve become a Saints fan now. I might just have to watch the game.

photo credit: laffy4k

A few months ago Nestle invited a group of moms to a little get together, fed them some half truths and misinformation, and tried to pretend they were a sunny, happy, family friendly company and everyone loved.

It didn’t work out so well.

A group of loud and outspoken people fought back on Twitter, refusing to let the death of infants and the slavery of children go ignored for the cost of a chocolate bar. One of the loudest was Anne of PhD in Parenting, who fought back with information, facts, and the questions everyone should have been asking. Some people laughed, others got angry, and a ton insisted that the shouts of a few angry people on Twitter and a mostly ignored 30 year old boycot didn’t mean much.

I guess it did though. Nestle is now launching a major PR change trying to give themselves a better image.

When was the last time you caused a major corporation to change their marketing tactics based on something you said?

When was the last time you said something trying to make a change?

We’re surrounded by marketing ploys and PR schemes every day. From the coupons that come in the newspaper to the bright colors on the point of purchase displays. Many of these companies are making their way into the social media world online. Twitter, Facebook, blogs. These are becoming not just places to chat with friends, but places to let companies know exactly what we demand form them. It’s 2010, they either learn to listen or fade into obscurity.