View from the Mountain

Brand Worship

Here we are at Christmas.  A whole segment of society is very concerned about getting the right shirt, watch, computer, MP3 player, camera or box of candy.

To a certain extent we have become a brand obessed society.  Individuals, especially sports heroes, often are their own brand.  What makes up a brand today is pretty complex.  It is a mix of advertising, performance evaluation, personal experience, and opinions we receive from others.  Still a brand is highly subjective.

Marlboro was the number ten brand in 2003 and the number nine brand in 2004. They are not exactly on any of my lists except a company to avoid.

Coca Cola, Microsoft, IBM, GE, and Intel were numbers one through five brands in 2003 and 2004.

I cannot seem to find a HTML version of 2004 brands, but there is a good pdf which will show up with a Google search of "Top 100 Brands."

You can find the Business week 2003 version at the link below.

2003 Global Brands Scorecard

Another Circle Closed

Yesterday, I suggested that the holiday season is a wonderful time to renew connections.  Today, Glenda and I made a spontaneous decision to visit Charlottesville for a little Christmas shopping.  The real reason for the trip is the annual effort to determine what Glenda would like for Christmas.  The second reason was a visit to Bodo's Bagels so we could bring back a few for our neighbors who are moving back to Oklahoma.

Driving up Interstate 81 was real challenge.  Traffic stopped twice.  One stoppage was for twenty minutes in the Lexington area.  The second halt happened just south of Staunton.  We got off the road and headed over to Route 11 and then up Route 340 which took us to Waynesboro where we picked up Interstate 64 to finish our trip.

Ten minutes after getting to Charlottesville, I remembered the reason I could never live there.  The traffic is just painful.  For a city it's size the traffic moves at a pace that seems glacial.  We even had trouble finding a parking spot in the small shopping center I wanted to visit.  I only wanted to go to two stores.  The first was Plow & Hearth.  We spent about twenty minutes in the store, and I paid for our items.

Just as I was about to leave, the lady packing my bag turned, looked at me, and said I know you. 

Time For Friends

Lots of folks think the holidays are time for gifts, but I have always thought the holidays were the best time to reconnect with people who have touched your life.  Having just cleaned out my mother's house at 347 West Pine Street this past summer, I can attest that over time the gifts sometimes lose their significance, but the people always remain bright in my memories.

Life has been a wonderful roller coaster, with many people helping me along the way.  Some of them have disappeared in the fabric of America, but I enjoy reminiscing about the little moments that have meant so much to me and some of the ones that have really changed me.  Then there are the funny ones which probably were not very funny at the time.

Southern Cooking Magic

Sometime early in our first year of marriage my mother gave us a four quart Dutch Oven, it was a Magnalite pot by Wagnerware.  The pot was not new when we got it.  My mother had gotten it with Green Stamps which means it likely dates back to the late fifties or early sixties.

There is no particular magic in the pot, but in the hands of a skilled southern cook like my wife, Glenda, things happen to ordinary food that are not of this world.  If you think you can find  find better food than what comes out of this pot, you had better back off on the spiked eggnog.

Back To The Future

Less than a month after my Dell was shipped, I have finally achieved what I am going to call victory.   Linux and Windows are both functioning on the same Dell machine.  I am very happy. Having Linux and Windows on separate hard drives is fine with me.

The final step to victory began this morning when I decided to give one more try to the Windows XP DVD that shipped with the Dell in the hopes that it might repair my Windows hard drive. There must be something magical in the air or perhaps it is just the season for gifts, because I got a technological gift this morning.