Friday Donuts

Friends, I’ve been thinking about the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn on the 21st. Perhaps it’s fitting the media hyped it and dubbed it the Christmas star. One might be forgiven for misaligning expectations and reality. You had to know what it was, where to look and add magnification to really appreciate it. Otherwise, to the uninitiated it looked like two medium-sized stars right next to each other. A big let-down. But, if you knew where to look and what it was you saw, maybe, just maybe, you’d be in awe -even without a medium-powered telescope. Kind of like Christmas itself. The birth of a poor boy in a shed at a backwater town of a distant colony of the Roman Empire, so long ago. A refugee of dubious paternity born away from home, on a government-imposed journey whose actual birthday was lost to time. How incongruent these humble beginnings seem when you watch frenzied shopping for unnecessary gifts shared at banquets filled with excessive eating. Colorful lights, tinsel, ornam

Friends, We're a week away from starting the twelve days of Christmas, try as retailers might to move them ahead of the holiday. Still, it's never too early to start practicing your caroling. It occurs to me the void left by the lack of traditional yule gatherings could be filled with video streaming. Thus, the idea was born for a curated playlist modeled after the popular melody. It's called the twelve plays of Christmas. I will spare you the first eleven verses of the cumulative song and cut to the final verse. Ready? On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love streamed with me: Twelve Years a Slave, Ocean's Eleven, 10 (with Bo Dereck), District Nine, the movie, The Hateful Eight (or Code Eight), The Magnificent Seven, Six Feet Under, Fifth Element, the Fantastic Four, Three Men and a Baby, Two Weeks Notice and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. You may need to speed-up or slow-down a syllable here and there, but it tracks pretty closely to the original. So, grab som

Friends, Did you read about the latest drug recall? AvKare mixed-up packaging for erectile dysfunction and depression medications. The news article steered clear of the plethora of readily available humorous references –as they should, given the potential harm to someone prescribed one of these two meds for serious conditions. The good news is I’m not in the media and feel no compunction to take the high road. Also, I’m not above taking the low hanging fruit and juicing it to the last drop. In fact, I’ve been pondering how they might leverage the situation as a marketing opportunity.  Here are a few thoughts: Depressed? Our meds will quite literally raise your spirits. A novel approach to keeping a stiff upper lip.  World crumbling down around you? We put the “stiff” back in “stiff upper lip” Having performance problems? Our antidepressants treat the “D” in your ED (Elongation Depression)  Hard times? Get hard. Winkie won’t wag? Prescription

Friends, With no-shave November behind us, I thought I’d have some Friday fun with facial follicles. The week started with a full face of hair. As the days progressed, so did the razor, revealing a different look –memorialized for posterity with a selfie. Looking back, it occurs to me the mugshot for each weekday reflects that day’s personality rather fittingly… Mysterious Monday . Part assassin –killer of the weekend buzz. Part terrorist –think momentary panic, what was I supposed to do this week? looming deadlines? Part sage –or is that just the weekend fog still settling? Trapeze Tuesday . The three ring circus is in full swing. Juggling tasks, taming wild deliverables and flying all around without a net. All while looking like wild Buffalo Bill Cody. Worldly Wednesday . You’ve got this in spades! Half the week is behind you and things are going according to plan. Calm, collected, professional. Every workday should be like this.