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Friday Frivolity

Posted on May 26, 2006 by Luke Armour

Hate getting email junk from friends or family, but are afraid of hurting their feelings? Worry no more. Just let someone else do it for you, reply to their email and send them this link.

Oh, if only we could have websites for all unpleasant things. A few suggestions:

  • Bad breath
  • Breakups
  • Broccoli in one's teeth
  • Your kids are driving me crazy
  • Your blog is an insult to my soul
  • And many more!

Any you'd care to add?

Hat tip.

Filed under: Frivolity | Leave a comment »

Todd Defren Wins! (sort of)

Posted on May 17, 2006 by Luke Armour

A while back we posted that we'd be having a contest to change the name of our blog. We received a few comments and suggestions, but none so thoughtful and encouraging as those of Todd Defren who authors the PR Squared blog and The Good Pitch blog. Now, we didn't actually use any of Todd Defren's suggestions, but we liked his style, his creativity, and his willingness to give it a shot. We did like nearly all of Todd Defren's suggestions, but googling some of them showed us the competition.

Not wanting to water down our strong, fierce brand, we've decided to go with something very similar to our original name. We spent hours pouring through academic PR books and combining the suggestions with obscure literary references. We finally decided that we really liked our original name, but just felt the one word was no longer relevant. So we dropped it. I tried to change "Graduate" to something like "Super Awesome" or "Two-Way Symmetrical and Excellent," but Beth thought it was a little wordy. So there we have it. We observe and report. That's what we do, that's who we are.

Thanks to all those who contributed and tracked back to us. It was fun getting comments, silly or serious. Congratulations, Todd Defren, for sort-of winning our contest. Now if only we'd posted some sort of prize…I guess having "Todd Defren" splashed about on our blog will just have to be reward enough. Right, Todd Defren?

Filed under: Admin Notes, Frivolity, Public Relations, Todd Defren | 2 Comments »

Friday Frivolity

Posted on May 12, 2006 by Luke Armour

I'm feeling a little frivolous today. Just found out I earned an A in empirical research, which means I managed to maintain my four-point-oh GPA for my graduate career. I'm pretty pleased. As I was having a conversation with Erin the other day we concluded that hard work may indeed pay off. And just when I was about to give the whole thing up…dang.

So I'm just about wrapped up with my coursework and all the hoops one has to jump through to graduate, which I plan to do with much aplomb this weekend.

So in the spirit of good cheer, here's something for you. At a completely inappropriate time yesterday, I ran across this site while I was proctoring my student's final exam. You just have to read it. It'll make your day. So funny.

Much to the dismay of my mentally-taxed students, I actually laughed out loud during their test. I couldn't help it, just struck a nerve with me and I lost my composure. Another way the Internet can get you into trouble. Thanks to Boing Boing for pointing it out.

So what does this have to do with PR? C'mon, cut me some slack, I just finished exams…okay, okay. If you simply must have a connection, let's look at it this way. Suppose you're the PR person for the department of transportation in this area. How do you handle that?! Two days? That's a long time. I know a woman who works for the Dept of Transportation in Akron…that is not a job I envy. Can you imagine handling communication during summer construction? I can just see trying to sell a blog to your boss if you work there. "You want me to allow people to post their thoughts on what we're doing? Now? During construction season? Have you lost your mind?" It would be an interesting challenge. I'm always up for a challenge. But not right now…give me a couple days to rest…then I'll be ready.

Filed under: Frivolity, Public Relations | 2 Comments »

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