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Lou Pickney's Online Commentary

Madhouse

Thursday
November 13, 2003

Today is one that I'd best describe as chaotic. Filling orders galore. Trying to get sides A, B and C to work together and ending up severely admonished in the process. Playing beat the clock racing across town trying to get an emergency supply of Ned t-shirts over to the BTLS CD signing at the CompUSA in Brandon by 6:30 PM. All in a hard day's work.

But I'm not complaining. The past two weeks have given me a new appreciation of the challenges of order fulfillment and many interesting business-side insights. Plus, business has been roaringly successful, which is encouraging. We've had plenty of orders from our affiliate cities -- no surprise there. But the influence of XM Satellite Radio cannot be denied. XM has more than one million subscribers as of this writing, and while not everyone tunes in to Channel 152, we've got enough listeners out there who do and who have decided to buy our show material. Even some international orders have trickled into the system (some Canadian orders, which I expected... but then also a couple from the UK.) Bubba is known worldwide, particularly by people who follow the pro wrestling, and soon when we get the streaming situation going then I can anticipate us having even more of a global reach. Yet another reason to love the internet...

Paris Hilton picture
Paris Hilton is invited anytime at the Guinness Hotel (aka my apartment).

I was thinking about this whole Paris Hilton sex tape scandal -- what if this is really an elaborate way to promote her new reality TV show? Wouldn't that be one of the most clever approaches ever? Become a household name overnight (besides the E! TV crowd which already knew her), create instant fame (or infamy as the case may be) and get the megapush behind your show. Granted, I don't think that's what happened in this case. But it is an idea for on down the line for some ruthless PR type...

Right now my Canon A70 digital camera is waiting for me over in the Camden Ybor office. Not that I could do much with it now if I had it here, but still I'd like to see it. I have $67 or so worth of in-store credit over at Best Buy that I'll probably use to buy a big flash card for it (256 megs I'm thinking). What's funny is that someone 10 years from now will look back at this and laugh at me for spending so much on that. Much like Kim Martin was laughing at me the other night for having paid $300 for my DVD player in 1999 in Evansville (it was a high-end unit.) Live and learn -- the DVD was an overpriced purchase, but with my television I did my homework, spending time and effort studying up before I bought my 27" JVC 27D201. I landed it for a really good price from a store in Oregon, of all places (which had free shipping.) I bought that one in particular because it has component inputs in the back, which is rare for a 27" TV. The kicker there is that I bought the TV, and then one week later took a job at Channel 10 in Tampa. So I guess "free shipping" is a relative term. But it made the trip down here in one piece, so hey, that works for me.

Though, I have to admit, I'm being totally ruined by seeing those gorgeous flat widescreen plasma TV units at the video stores (and at Bubba's house). I saw one over at a store called "Sound Advice" in Tampa several months back, and they very wisely had an HDTV hockey game on there as a demo. Good grief, now that's how hockey was meant to be seen on TV. It's almost bad though to see that, because then you back to the norm and you've been spoiled. It's like when you go from playing a bunch of PS2 games and then you pop in an old PSX (PlayStation One) title and think ugh... But I'm content with my JVC TV; unlike my Toshiba 6-head VCR that eats tapes, and my Aiwa 3-disc CD player that can't play CDs anymore (and can't get stereo sound out of my TV, working in stereo only to pick up FM radio), and my PlayStation 2 that had to be sent to Sony TWICE for repair from the dreaded disc read error, the JVC TV works like it should (knock on wood.)

I'm starting to scout cars that I'd consider for replacing my 1997 Dodge Neon. The Neon (which really never was given a name, besides "The Neon") has held up alright, all things considered. But the paint is peeling (a symptom of mid-90s Neons due to the way the primer and final paints didn't stick properly) and I'm looking for a car with some more juice (the Neon isn't exactly a speedster.) My bro Matt made fun of me for saying it was "sporty" when I first bought it. And rightfully so. I really deserved a severe beating for saying that. They did make a "sport" version of the Neon, but alas, mine is not it. I've had some good times in that car, but when the cash situation is set, I'll be looking to make a switch. Gene Lasker was ribbing me about it last night at Bubba's house (though he made the mistake many people do in saying it's purple -- dammit, it's light blue, get it right!) Situations like these are where my digital camera will come in handy -- you can make the call.

2002 Honda Civic
The Honda Civic is a nice-looking car (especially in red).

One car I really like is the Honda Civic. Get a one or two year old Civic in cherry red and I'll be good to go. I've always loved red cars; my old dream car, and the first car I ever owned, was a 1988 Chrysler LeBaron convertible (aka the "Love Machine"). They make Civics in about that same shade of red, and that looks to be down my alley. So we'll see.

Some friends have pushed me to buy a truck or an SUV. And I say: why? I don't need all that space. It's not like I have a family to haul around. It's just me. And while there is some comedy in me packing my Neon full to the brim with USPS shipment boxes, that whole delivery thing to the Tampa airport post office won't last much longer (at least that's the plan once we get with UPS.) Personally, I'll take a car that can gun it when necessary, cruise through traffic in style and park without taking up a ridiculous amount of space. But that's just me.

As if there weren't enough Americans in prison, we have bills like this being proposed in the Senate: the so-called "Artists' Rights & Theft Prevention Act" would make the unauthorized online distribution of any number of copies of unreleased material a federal felony. Senator Dianne Feinstein of California is one of the backers of this (why am I not surprised?) Would that make the leaking of the Paris Hilton tape a felon then if that happened with that new law in effect? A federal felony?!? In my opinion, the RIAA and MPAA have some elected officials in DC on the take...


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