We were having lunch today with Kristen, over at Lemongrass. And she mentioned that she was starting to become interested in the herbs and spices Anne and I (and her sister and mother) use to stay healthy. I think this is pretty cool, because Kristen is young enough and generally healthy enough that it might do her some real good (as opposed to what it does for me, which is to keep me from completely falling apart.

Then later, I was looking at some companies around here (some of which we have done some work for). I noticed that the company formerly known as Perception Kayak is working with an outfit called Verde PR (or something like that). It’s a PR firm out of Colorado that claims to be all about green companies and companies that are into outdoorsy stuff (not sure I see the connection, but I guess it’s a different generation). Anyhow, this gave me an idea.

We eat almost no red meat. And we take hundreds of dollars a month worth of supplements (I mean fists full every single morning). So why shouldn’t companies that are committed to that sort of thing be interested in what we can do. Especially since we have some capabilities and a track record with things like HTML, specialized web tactics, text messaging, loyalty campaigns, insider communications, and stuff like that.

So, with renewed enthusiasm, I am going to start tracking down Earth Fare, Garners, and Greenlife. Or maybe, if they’re as sophisticated as they oughta be, their spiders will find this blog post and come looking for me. In any case, wouldn’t it be cool for folks like us to get to help folks like them? Well, let’s see what happens.

So, we met last Saturday about 7:00 in the morning at Miss Anderson’s house, to head off for our annual adventure at G-Hills. The trip was pretty uneventful—if a 7+ hour trip with a van-load of fundamentalists can be uneventful. We stopped on our way out of town to pick up some hymnals at the chapel. Interrupted Stan’s prayer breakfast, which gave Stan the opportunity to come out and wish Maxine a happy week. It was sweet.

Got our hymnals and got on the road. Made the obligatory Starbucks stop in Bristol, VA (just across the boarder from Bristol, TN, where the speedway is). Learned that Cheryl doesn’t drink coffee, but to be social she gets hot chocolate whenever she goes to Starbucks (I honestly didn’t know Starbucks had hot chocolate, but it makes sense). About two-thirds of the way we stopped for gas and lunch—a fateful stop in my opinion.

Pumped gas into the giant van. Got rhino-virus on my hands. Insufficiently washed hands before eating lunch. Got a sandwich at Arby’s, rather than a salad (increasing the likelihood of mucous. Sat in the over-cranked air conditioning, breathing truck-stop air. By the time we were back on the road I was feeling fatigued. By the next day, my throat was scratchy. Then it moved to a full-fledged sore throat…then chest congestion…then head congestion. Ended up laying out of meetings for a whole day. We blew off the camp food for the second half of the week, so we could stock up on the good greens. Began to fight back. Feeling somewhat better now. Somewhat.

The speakers were awesome. My good friend Alan Gamble, from Glasgow spoke on Nehemiah. Great lessons in leadership and nation building. His wife Elizabeth played the piano for several meetings—she’s really good. They call it the two-for-one deal. While we were there, G-Hill traded their grand piano for a digital. If you can’t say something nice about a piano, don’t say anything. So I won’t.

Also, got to hear Bruce Hulsheizer and John Gordon for the first time. They were pretty good—Bruce in 1 Tim. and Johnny in James.

We also, of course, had side trips. We went to Gettysburg for tea. And we visited the round barn—got an apple cider vinegar remedy that is made about 20 miles from here (discovered that later). And we went to a place called Ollie’s, which I guess is the Yankee equivalent to Big Lots.

Ride back took forever. It always does. Stopped at a little town in VA—Buchannon I think. Ate at a family diner. They tell me the sweet corn was awesome, and they wouldn’t lie about sweet corn.

It’s good to be back.

We have a young friend, the 13-year-old daughter of our neighbors up the street, who is a very promising runner. She is already the fastest girl on her high school track team in the mile and 2-mile races. AT 13! So, just to improve and train, she has to find people to run with. She used to run with the boys. But now, she’s faster than the boys. Sometimes she runs with one of her coaches. A while back, she got to run as a guest (I think in the marathon world they call them “pirates” or something like that—people who run the course, during the race, even though they are not registered) with another team, on which two of the state’s top runners are members. I understand she fonud that to be a cool challenge.

We have another friend, a 21-year-old woman, who is a very accomplished runner. Runs track and cross country for a college in North Carolina. Wins a lot of medals and stuff. We’re hoping to introduce our two friends. We think Dana (the older one) would be a great influence on Caroline (the younger one)…in a lot of ways. And being able to help a younger girl might also be very satisfying to Dana.

I hope the whole thing works out, because they are both very special people. I know this, because I have observed them (partially through the eyes of both sets of parents). But what’s really cool is that neither Dana nor Caroline seems to see anything particularly interesting or unusual about herself. To both of them…it’s just running. I know one thing; I could train for a year and get a quarter-mile head start, and they would both still leave me in the dust. Probably you too.

In the past few days, we’ve gotten blog hits from every continent except Australia and Antarctica. We’ve been visited from Hawaii, and just about every mainland U.S. time zone. And the other day we were hit from an island in the Indian Ocean, off of Africa, which I had never heard of (somebody interested in the post about “Wearing somebody else’s clothes”). I get to talk to folks I will never meet, in places I will never visit. And if I use the right search words, I might get visits from even more folks. Stuff like dune buggy, locust infestation, rat pack, brat pack, and free-for-all.

Just imagine how far people would travel to hit this blog if it were a big important blog by somebody like Alan Greenspan or Clint Black. Humbling to think about, really.

Let’s see who has spiders…

UMPQUA, Bank of America, Proctor and Gamble, Microsoft, Barack Obama, Chiat/Day, Carolina First Bank, PUBLIX, BMW, New York Times, Washington Post, Dick Cheney.

It’s 11:09 by my count. Let’s see what happens.

They never showed up this time. Guess they’re onto me. Cried “Umpqua” one time too many.

Took about as long as it took James Joyce to write Ulysses, but our new site is up. Go check it out. Let me know what you think.

Okay, you might say I’m getting carried away with this whole ukulele thing. But I think it’s a rich vein. Here at the headquarters, we’re always looking for shorthand ways of talking about personalities, styles, capabilities, aptitudes, and stuff like that. We talk about the quintessential/exceptional paradigm, in which greatness falls into one of two categories (Michael Jordan is quintessential, Dennis Rodman is exceptional). We have a whole alphabet soup of Meyers-Brigs and HBDI language (I am an INFP, quadrant B resistant, D-C…of course).

Well, I believe I have discovered a breakthrough in personality pidgin-holeing (pun intended). I call it the Jake/IZ continuum. The whole idea is that the extremes are represented by Jake, the totally awesome, rhythmically sophisticated, precise, accomplished virtuoso of the ukulele. IZ is the other extreme—the primitive, self taught, inventive, one-of-a-kind charismatic dynamo of the ukulele. With these as the ends of the rope, we can create a continuum. Zero is boring…right in the middle, not all that accomplished, not all that charismatic, but safe. A J10 would be extreme mastery and virtuosity (Mozart). A IZ10 would be an extreme innovator, driven by invention, spontaneity, and charisma (Jim Cary or Dexter Gordan, maybe).

As writers go, I would consider myself about a J8. I used to work with a savant named Terry Doyle, who talked in headlines. He would be like an IZ7 or IZ8—his stuff always worked, but he couldn’t really tell you why or reconcile it to the strategy.

The coolest thing about branding is getting to know people from other places and learning about their cultures. The other day I was on YouTube, watching and listening to IZ videos. If you’re from Hawaii, you know what that means. If not, search YouTube for “IZ,” and treat yourself to some practical Aloha. This gentle giant’s sweetness came out through his voice and his ukulele playng (oo-koo-ley-ley). I get emotional over music sometimes. And there I was with my headphones on, tears welling, listening to this 800 pound man sing “White Sandy Beach,” “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “What a Wonderful World,” and “Hawaii ’78.” I even liked Pearl Jam’s version of “Hawaii 78.” Something I’m learning is that there is a lot more to Hawaii than meets the eye.

We had the opportunity to return to Hawaii last week. We gave a report to some very cool clients (I guess they’re products of their environment). We made a presentation in the morning to the marketing team. Then, we went up the elevator in the afternoon to present to the executive team. I think the findings were well received. So, we look forward to building the brand.

Spent Saturday with our friend Ken, who showed us around some parts of Hawaii most haoles don’t get to see. First, we went to the Honolulu Academy of Arts, where they have a once-in-a century show of antiquities from Bhutan. There were some fabulous textile pieces that were hundreds of years old, but looked better than some of my ties. And a few small statues were from as far back as the sixth century. Wow!

Over lunch, we got some more teaching about Hawaii culture. We learned that a lot of names are transliterated into the Hawaiian language, but because the language has a limited number of sounds the names have to be changed slightly. For example, Kenneth is “Keneke.” I was delighted to learn that in Hawaii, I am “Kimo.” Cool, huh!

Then, we headed to Pearl Harbor. Turns out, Ken is a retired Navy Captain, so he was able to take us backstage. We got pictures of the Missouri and the Arizona Memorial, but our favorite part of the visit was the Utah Memorial (we were the only ones there). We stood on the shore and Ken explained the brilliant Japanese strategy for Pearl Harbor—and how their failure to complete the mission allowed us to get back on our feet and eventually win the war in the Pacific. Good case study in strategy and execution, which I will surely use at some point.

Last stop of the day—a Shinto shrine right in the heart of Honolulu. Ken explained the role of Shinto and Buddhism in the traditions of Hawaii, especially among Asian Hawaii people. We appreciated his willingness to share these things with us.

Keneke is an incredible person, yet completely unassuming. It was an awesome day. Mahalo!

I always thought it would be easy to do the old Jackson Pollock paint drizzle thing. I always thought it was a clear case of an interesting, promotable guy creating a “style” that he could reproduce fast, in his sleep, and make a lot of money. Well, maybe that’s all true. But the paint drizzling thing is not as easy as one might think. And if you don’t believe me, try it.

My problem is knowing when to stop. Also, it’s hard do decide, on the fly, how much to use of a given color, or what color works well drizzled over what other color. Of course, unlike Pollock, we can just hit the refresh key and start over. Once he drizzled on a canvas, the die was cast.

Try it. Let me know what you think.