Tuesdays with Media: A Danfoss Valentine

One of the responsibility of Danfoss North America's marketing department, of which I am a member, is to increase brand awareness with our customers.  Part of that means improving product packaging and making our website more user-friendly and part of that means being more active on social media.  To help do this, every week, we meet to discuss what's planned for the week's Facebook updates and Tweets in order to fill in any gaps that may exist.  A few weeks ago, Valentine's Day was brought up and I suggested that I could take a picture of a product bent into the shape of a heart.  Magda, my boss, really liked the sound of that, so I put aside some time for the photoshoot.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a red background.  In an office where the main color is red, the closest I could find was a burgundy tablecloth (according to one of my coworkers in a different department, we have red tablecloths, but they keep disappearing).  Still I did the best I could and was able to get this out of it:

It took more work to get it in the right shape (I used a coffee mug to help make the curved top), but I'm pretty happy with the outcome.  And while the background's not the ideal color, it's still reddish, which isn't too bad.  Still, I thought I could do better, so I played around with the picture in Photoshop.

Not only did I manage to make the red more crimson, I also made the product (a thermostatic expansion valve, if you're curious) more silver-colored, making that more accurate as well.

It was fun to have something silly to do, but to my surprise, the tweet that used the final picture performed the best of all of our social media posts since we started tracking them in November.  Apparently HVACR technicians like cheesy pictures appearing in their twitter feed.

Valentine's Day is a weird day for those of us not in relationships, so I'm glad that I was able to celebrate the day in a non-romantic way.

Double-checking the Double-check

I made some cream puffs yesterday, but I couldn't figure out why the custard I made to use as the cream-filling was so runny.  I went back and looked at the recipe and discovered that I had misread it: instead of putting in one-and-a-half tablespoons of corn starch, which is what the recipe called for, I put in one-and-a-half teaspoons.  Corn starch is a common thickening agent and does its job well, but only when used in the proper quantities.

I'm embarrassed that I made such a rookie mistake, but hopefully my coworkers won't mind.

Almost Duped

I almost fell for a Nigerian Prince Scam.  For those unfamiliar, this sort of scam has a Nigerian prince  (or other foreign dignitary) contact a victim for help: due to political unrest, he cannot access his vast fortune; he offers to send a large check and all you have to do is wire back a small portion of it so that he can free his family.  The problem is that the check is fake, but due to a law in the US, it will initially clear.  After a couple of weeks, however, the bank will find out that the check is fake.  If the victim sent the money as asked, they now owe their bank that amount and, likely, overdraft charges.

I had heard about all of this years ago (Allison nearly went through with it once), but this one had a new twist: I was asked if I wanted to be a secret shopper for Wal-Mart.  I thought that sounded pretty good, so I provided my contact information and asked for more information.  A few days later I got an email from a different email address telling me (in broken English) that I had been approved for the secret shopper program.  It continued by saying that I would receive a check that I was to use for my secret shopping experience.  I thought something was fishy, but when no check arrived despite their promises, I figured that they had given up.

Then the check arrived on Wednesday.  The letter gave me instructions to cash the check and transfer some money to some dude in Texas (they hadn't even bothered to come up with a fake business name) from MoneyGram and review the store from where I wired the money.  I will give the scammer props for giving detailed instructions for the kinds of things to look out for (professionalism of staff, cleanliness of store, etc.), making it seem more legitimate.  The big tip-off that it was a scam (in addition to changing the store I'd be reviewing) was that my "salary" was to be deducted from the check.  If I'd gone through with it, I would have lost over two thousand dollars.

I took the check to work yesterday and sent it through the shredder and I've blocked the person from my email.  I let my interest in something that sounded cool blind me from seeing some blatant warning signs.  In the future, I'll need to be more careful.

Overly Cautious

Remember how we had a massive blizzard a few weeks ago?  Well, the National Weather Service issued a warning earlier this week for another storm, albeit a much smaller one (only four to eight inches of accumulation were expected).  After the disaster that we experienced last time, I planned ahead and worked from home yesterday.

When it was all over, there was barely any snow.  It was snowing when I got up in the morning, but not very hard and nothing was sticking.  I decided to play it safe and stay inside, but there apparently was never a risk of getting stuck.  I'm a little embarrassed about my decision, but I guess it's better to err on the side of caution.

Though I do feel a bit betrayed by the NWS...

Tuesdays with Media: The First Day

I wrote an educational children's story.  You can read it here.  If you have access to children, I'd appreciate if you read my story to them and share their reaction with me.

The Best Gift

On Saturday, I visited with the Larsens to celebrate Clara's seventh birthday (it wasn't her actual birthday, but it was when we could all get together).  Last year, my birthday present to Clara (and later, Henry) was to make her whatever birthday cake she wanted -- which was chocolate with mint frosting last year.  This year, I was ready to offer the same gift, but Clara requested one before I could ask.  I was touched: apparently she now associates custom baked goods with her Uncle Jordan.

Clara asked for a strawberry shortcake, but I suggested something that I thought would be a fun twist on that idea: a trifle.  As soon as she saw a picture of one she quickly agreed to the change.  I made the pound cake and custard the night before so that I would only need to assemble everything the day of.  After buying fresh bananas, strawberries, and blue berries, I washed the berries, hulled and sliced the strawberries, cubed the cake and layered everything in a trifle bowl (cake, bananas, strawberries, blueberries, custard, repeat).

When I arrived, everyone said how yummy the dessert looked.

(Ian and I shared this exchange:
Ian: Wow, that's impressive.
Me: 'Tis but a trifle.)

We did a few activities before digging in, though I added fresh whipped cream to the top of each serving.  I don't think it's unreasonable to estimate that if you were to buy a similar dish from a bakery, with everything made from scratch and the out-of-season fruit included, it would cost about 60-70 dollars.  Everyone agreed that it was lovely birthday treat.

I'm happy to be able to provide a gourmet dessert experience to my family and I'm glad that Clara wanted me to be a part of her birthday celebration.

Of Illnesses and Doctor Visits

I hate going to the doctor's.  It's time out of my day that could be spending doing something else, usually working.  When it's for big stuff, like after my first seizure, it's much less annoying, but if I have a cold or the flu, I will tough it out using over-the-counter medications and homeopathic treatments.  A big reason for my behavior is that I've gone to see doctors for past colds who've basically told me that I needed to just rest and get over it.

However, after another rotten day and a lousy night's sleep, I decided to go to a local urgent care facility.  I'd looked up my symptoms and how long I'd been sick and thought that my chances of it being taken seriously were pretty good.  Even so, I said a prayer before I left home and I felt that I was making the right decision.

It took a while for me to be seen, but once I saw the doctor and explained everything, he measured my vitals, felt under my throat, and decided I had an upper respiratory infection.  I got a prescription for antibiotics and a nasal spray.  It was pretty easy.

(What was also easy was my payment.  When the receptionist asked how I'd be paying and I gave the name of my insurance, she seemed to be delightfully surprised.  I know that being uninsured is technically illegal now, but her reaction makes me believe that plenty of people have decided that the fines are easier to handle than regular membership fees.)

In the end, I'm glad that I did my best to get better on my own, but I'm also happy that I was able to recognize -- and receive confirmation -- that I needed get additional help.

What a Waste

Last week, I felt under the weather so I decided to take the week off from the gym.  I had mixed up a protein shake with some berries, but since I hadn't worked out, I decided to save the shake and drink it the next time I worked out, so as to not waste the protein powder and fruit.

I went to the gym yesterday.  After I was done exercising, I shook up the shake and opened the bottle to a loud "pop" sound.  The bottle was pressurized, which meant that the fruit had fermented.  I considered not drinking it, but decided that it would be a waste of money if I just dumped it down the drain, so down the hatch it went.

You may already know where this is going.  I drank it and about an hour later, I endured the first of many trips to the bathroom that night.  I'll spare you the details, but rest assured that it was not pretty.

I tried to save money by not wasting one scoop of protein powder (which costs less than a dollar) and I ended up wasting it in a different way.  Lesson learned: when in doubt, throw it out!

Tuesdays with Media: Buckethead and That 1 Guy

Many musicians, even skilled and talented ones, often find it difficult to stand out from the crowd.  Some study hard and become the best at their instrument and in their style, while others go with a gimmick.  Today's post is about two men that fall in the latter category.

Buckethead, the stage name of Brian Carroll, is a fantastic guitarist, but boy is he weird to watch perform:

Your eyes do not deceive you: he's wearing an expressionless white mask and a KFC bucket on his head.  He's a great guitarist and a talented composer (and a prolific one with 255 studio albums to his name), but man is he weird.  All of his stuff I can find on YouTube is some form of rock, but he also has some great jazz albums, which is how I first heard of him.

Another weird performer is That 1 Guy, seen here playing his Magic Pipe:

Don't ask me how that thing makes those sounds, because I haven't a clue, but that song, "The Moon is Disgusting" is a tough earworm to lose.  Mike Silverman, the real name of That 1 Guy, has a more normal look (i.e., not like a serial killer) than Buckethead, but his instruments of choice are truly bizarre and mostly homemade.  The only way these two could get weirder is if they were to team up.

Here's what that looked like:

Appropriately, they call themselves the Frankenstein Brothers when they collaborate.

Two weirdos that rock harder than pretty much anyone else.  That may be the most rock 'n' roll thing ever.

Ensemble

On Friday night, I went to Ian's place to meet him and some of his friends to play some music.  Ian, Joe, and Jimmy had met once before, but lacked a bassist.  When I bought my instrument -- with no intent to join a band -- Ian was quick to invite me.

By Friday, I'd only been playing the bass for two weeks, so my skills were very limited.  Even so, I was able to keep the rhythm and pluck away at the root of the chords being played.  Joe, the drummer, told me that I really brought something that the group was missing.  At one point, Jimmy, the guitarist, started playing a song that I didn't know, but I was able to follow him by watching what chords he was playing.  Ian was on piano, so unless he told me ahead of time what he would be playing, I couldn't recognize just by looking.

We recorded the whole thing, but the audio is really poor quality -- not that it's static-y or anything; not everyone can be heard.  The guys said that they want to get a better sound rig so that we can record everyone properly.  Hopefully, we'll have a recording that's worth sharing next time.  That's right: we're planning on meeting again later this month.  Ideally, we'd like to meet every two weeks, but there are some conflicting work events coming up so we don't know when meet after that, but at least we have a plan in place for the near future.

I had a lot of fun.  I'm playing my instrument in the most simplistic way possible, but for now that's enough.  I'm still practicing everyday and I hope to be able to bring more to the table next time.