Somebody needs to respond to this if you live in a town as messed up as mine. Tonight was October 30. Day before Halloween. So what do the lucky kids in Edwardsville, Troy, and Glen Carbon, Illinois get to do? Go trick-or-treating. On All Hallow's Eve Eve. At some point, someone, somewhere decided that the kids would candybeg a day early, and somehow, everyone seemed to agree.

Can town's do this? Just make arbitrary changes to traditional holidat celebrations? Do they do this anywhere else? I gotta know.

Oh, and since they do this, I have halloween pictures early.

I'm as healthy as a horse, so I'm going to keep my nose to the grindstone, give it 110%

• "My brother broke his leg the other day playing badminton. At the emergency room the doctor was taking his history, and my brother proudly exclaimed 'I'm as healthy as a horse', so the doctor shot him."

• Do horses never get sick? By golly, if the horse is the standard benchmark against which human health is measured, I'm changing my primary care physician to the local large animal veterinarian. "Morning Doc. So long as I'm as healthy as that horse lying over there, I'm good to go." "Sir, that horse is dead." "Then I'm looking real good!"

• These athletes and other realted overachievers are pretty much just idiots. I hate to tell you this, but you cannot possibly give 110%. Not unless you borrow 10% from someone else, but even then, you can't carry it. 100% is all you have. Giving it your all? That's giving it 100%. Do you really think that someone who gives it 110% is really trying 10% harder than someone giving it his all?

• Perseverance. Dedication. Strong work ethic. Bloody grindstones. Noseless laborers. At what point in history did somebody figure that putting their nose against a grindstone and keeping it there would help them continue working despite any number of challenges? I can't imagine that keeping your nose to the grindstone did anything for them but cause a lot of pain; it certainly wouldn't provide incentive to persevere.

Equal Opportunity Blogging

She has a natural charm and grace, don't you think?










Okay, I fully admit that I am biased as hell, but still, isn't she the most beautiful girl in the world? Yes, she's really is mine, despite the resemblance to the FedEx guy. Do I know how to marry into good genes or what?

A different kind of dancing baby

This is mah tiger-boy, just shy of a year old. He can't really walk yet, and the steps he manages make him look a lot like he's had a few too many at the local pub. Provided he didn't get carded. Despite his inability to master upright forward motion, he has become quite the dancer. We're not really sure if this means he has a particular talent, and we should be researching dance schools and hiring an agent just yet, but I do plan on making a living off of my children's talents, so why not start planning early?

Are you a Hoosier?

Just a quickie. Here in Illinois, or at least in my area, they call rednecks Hoosiers. Unapologetically so. And it is mildly derogatory in usage. I wonder what out neighbors to the east (Indiana for the geographically ignorant) think about this? The Hoosier state, the Indiana Hoosiers, fine basketball lineage and all, and an outstanding brand of automobile tires. And this is an insult. Perhaps a lingering remnant of centuries old territorial disputes? You know, sort of like the term Pollock, while simply referring to a person from Poland, became derogatory in nature, why?, because of territorial disputes, in that case, a small dispute called World War II. Of course I am kind of guessing at the actual origin of the usage of the term Pollock, but the guess is relatively accurate in spirit if nothing else. Regardless, it's funny, and it was on my mind. Now it's not. Thanks RM.

Until next time, Hershberger...out.

What, you expect me to post more often than every 15 months?

I suppose I should just quit my job and become another one of millions of active bloggers out there. This has become an industry, if you can believe it. Who doesn't have a blog these days?

I have given some thought to it, and have considered many times reinventing this very blog to be a more useful resource related to my teaching. And then I realized something. 90% of these blogs are nothing more than personal sounding boards. Most people in the world need an audience. I don't. I have one, a captive one. I get to have an audience who I can punish for not listening to me. How cool is that? There are already plenty of resources out there for marketing students, and I am not so full of myself that I think I could add to that in a significant way. My time is better spent doing my research, making my classes more enriching, interacting personally with my students. So this blog will not, I repeat NOT, become a sounding board about what I think is important in the world of marketing and advertising. If you want that, enroll in one of my classes.

This blog instead will remain as it has been, a place for me to spend down time, puting down in type the thoughts that sometimes come into my head, but so rarely get to come out. You know, really important stuff like the best fast food, the benefits of pop culture icons, why real butter tastes better than anything that you can't believe it's not. So 15 months from now, get ready, because it will be time for yet another chapter in the history of.....whatever.

Until next time, Hershberger...out.

Surprising food...

Okay, this is going to seem like a paid spot for Hardee's, but I just finished eating on of their new thick burgers, and I do have to say that it was a very good burger. The bacon actually tastes like bacon, the beef is good, nice cold iceberg lettuce, all in all a successful burger experience. So when you see those commercials, well, you can believe them.

Until next time, Hershberger...out.

Where are we going, and why am I in this handbasket?

I have a concern that is as old as concern itself. Today's youth seem to exhibit some worrisome characteristics, namely apathy and irresponsibility. Now I know that parents have been saying the same thing for generations giving life to a myriad of cliches. But it seems to me that the problem is getting worse. I have daily contact with this age group as I have a 16 year old step daughter, and I teach college undergrads. Now my concern would not be very acute if I was only basing my opinion on my step-daughter's seemingly bizarre behavior. The indiscretions of a single 16 year old are not cause enough for me to claim that the world is coming to an end. The fact that she cares less about her grades than she does about her hair color is attributable to kids being kids. Although the lack of awareness of consequences is a bit alarming. She claims to want to go to college, but makes no effort to even pass her classes. But as I said, I am not going to create a societal judgement using a sample of one. It's my students that are my true concern, because they exhibit many of the same behaviors that my 16 year old does. Apathy is part of it, but the apathy seems to be the result of a larger problem, and that is the belief that they deserve success, regardless of their actual performance. Believe it or not, I have a theory about this. Let's think about it in terms of timelines, working in reverse chronological order.

Todays teens were born from 1985-1991. This means that they have parents who were born, roughly estimating, from 1955-1970. So the parents of our teens had parents who grew up roughly from 1935-1950. WWII era parents raised the current parents of our teens. So how were these parents raised? To oversimplify and overgeneralize, they were raised during hard times, when people were expected to work hard for what little they had. Because they grew up in homes that had little, they grew up saying to themselves "when I have kids, they wont have to go through this." In fact it is every parent's desire, I believe, to give their children a better life than they had. And so their set of parenting objectives includes giving their kids all the things they never had. Unfortunately this mentality has resulted in teens today who are used to getting the things they want and need with little if any effort on their part. So what is to come of this generation of self-proclaimed slackers? When laziness and apathy are character traits that are admired and pursued, what will our world look like 20, 50, 100 years from now?

Maybe that basket weaving class was a good idea after all.....

Until next time, Hershberger...out.

And another thing

Why do dogs smell so bad when they get wet? Do humans smell that bad? Is it a chemistry issue? Or is it that dogs don't bathe as often as humans (generally speaking) and the rain brings out the ground in sludge? It's a curiosity of mine. Don't let it get to you.

Until next time, Hershberger...out.

Rainy days and Thursdays?

I consider myself to be a relatively intelligent guy. I also consider myself to be pretty easy going and insensitive. In a good way. What I mean is that I don't let much really get to me, especially things that are just not that important, like stuff for example. By stuff I mean things. Belongings. You know, that stuff you fill your house with, only to complain that you have too much stuff. And so you go and buy more stuff to organize or even dispose of your stuff. Now a lot of people would not mind having the problem of "too much stuff," and I can understand that. But at the same time, stuff really isn't all that important, is it? I can't provide attribution for this, but I heard a really good quote the other day: "He who dies with most toys wins...but he still dies." When it comes right down to it, why is stuff important? Largely because stuff provides us with some sort of value, be it entertainment, safety, esteem, convenience or anything else that you value. And all of these have one thing in common: experience. I think few would argue that life can be measured by the experiences we have. Stuff is seen as a surrogate for experience under the idea that more stuff will provide enhanced experiences. And to a certain extent I agree. But honestly, does a $2000 kitchen table really provide that much better an experience than a $200 kitchen table? Does it make my life better in any meaningful way? I mean other than keeping my wife happy, which itself is of immeasurable value. What I am saying is that I have a hard time spending money on things that do not accomplish one of the following goals: 1) provide a direct experience, 2) make attainment of other experiences easier or more likely, or 3) satisfy some physiological need. Now that I have committed that into type, I am sure that I am leaving some important category out, but at the end of the day (or life) what we have is memories of experiences. What about personal relationships, you ask? When decomposed into the value that they provide, I think you will see that relationships provide direct experiences, and so spending money on relationship maintenance is perfectly acceptable. What about "doing good" through charitable donations or other forms of service to those unknown to you. While I certainly have no moral objection to charity, I personally do not engage in such behavior. Although one could suggest that giving to charity provides a direct experience because it makes you feel good. Whatever floats your boat I say.

Until next time, Hershberger...out.

Don't you just hate when....

Do you watch Fox's hit TV show '24'? I do...religiously. Most often used line this season? "Chloe, just do it." If you watch the show, you know what I am talking about.

Funny thing about entertainment such as dramatic TV, movies, novels...half the fun for most people is trying to figure out what's going to happen next. Solve the mystery. Figure out who's the bad guy. I am not one of those people. When I read a murder mystery, I just read it. I don't analyze it. I don't try to solve the murder. I don't try to predict the next twist. Why not? Because I would prefer to let the author take me on a ride. Same with TV shows and movies. At a particular point during '24' my wife might say something like "Oh I saw that coming" or "That's so predictable," and usually follow it up with "What, you didn't figure that out?" No woman, I did NOT figure it out, because I didn't WANT to figure it out! Let me enjoy the ride. I spend most of my days solving problems, analyzing situations, figuring out what should happen next. That's the last thing I want to do when I am supposed to be relaxing and enjoying some pop culture. So don't tell me who you think did it. Don't say "I bet 'so-and-so' is really a bad guy." Don't tell me when you've figured out the Wheel of Fortune puzzle. Enjoy the entertainment in whatever way you choose to, but don't ruin it for me with your predictions. I just don't want to know. For that very reason I avoid watching the "Next week, on 24" segment after the show, and would much prefer to see a movie without having seen the previews. There are so few surprises left in life, why take these away from me?

Until next time, Hershberger...out.