The Current State Of Fashion

I went to the mall in San Francisco this afternoon to help my girlfriend pick out some outfits for work, and was surprised at what Nordstrom’s is putting on mannequins these days.  What is going through retailer’s minds when they dress these mannequins?  Do retailers think this is what people want to buy and wear, or is their strategy simply a marketing gimmick?  The outfit on the right is half decent, but what is going on with the one on the left?

Even though outfits put on display can be outrageous, what people are actually buying these days tends to be pretty tame.  This topic led to an entire discussion on what the current state of fashion really is.  I think we are living in a time when people really do have a good sense of fashion, and I’d actually say people are dressing more “normal” than any point in the last 30 years.  I know we really can’t define normal, but in 20 years if we look back at fashion’s current state will we be able to define it?  How would you describe our current state of fashion?

Screencast: How to Subscribe to Your Favorite Web Sites

Few people know about RSS or if they have heard about it they don’t know what it does or how to set it up.  In my first screencast I wanted to show you how to subscribe to your favorite websites and have them delivered to your RSS reader.  RSS enables you to subscribe to sites so you don’t have to continually check and see what updates were made to the site.  Instead the new content is delivered to you.  A big shout out to Scott for showing me the beauty that is Google.  I was a huge Yahoo! fan but Scott converted me over and I haven’t looked back since.  In true Jeremy form I wanted to share with the world what I’ve learned so let me know what you think.

Some Random Thoughts About Society

oakland-airport-shuttle-pickupI am flying to Minneapolis, MN this morning. I arrived to the airport on time and learned my flight is delayed.  The airport has free Wi-Fi, so I’m just hanging out being an electrical outlet hog, charging all of my devices before the flight.  I got a Starbucks, and I am people watching.

A Few Observations

A lady with a young daughter was yelling at a ticketing agent because our flight was delayed. Further down at another gate, a mom is yelling at her husband because he can’t control the kids while she watches the overhead television. Earlier, a TSA agent yelled, “make sure and check your pockets and take off your belts…you are going through a metal detector, so it will detect metal.”

Every time I fly, I am reminded by how much society has changed. It sometimes feels like we have let our fears control us. Society has also become more complacent to previously unacceptable social norms. People don’t seem as patient as they used to be.  If we had a time machine and could go back 20 years to tell people in the future you can’t get through airport security with ChapStick in your pocket, people would laugh, right?  Despite these things often being everyday norms, why are most of us complacent to them?

Summary & Takeaway

In 1984 Twisted Sister sang, “We’re Not Gonna Take It”.  More than 20 years later, not only are we taking it, we seem happy to be happy to do so.  Long live the 80s.

What Do You Want On Your Tombstone?

Death is a pretty morbid subject, but I am going to try and put a positive spin on it.  Death is inevitable, so almost everyone has likely had the misfortune of losing someone close to them. I have been very fortunate to have not lost too many loved ones (knock on wood) but those I have lost definitely had an impact on me.  For instance, my grandfather passed away a few years ago who is one of the most gentle and kind people I have come to know.  Seeing him in an open casket was nice in that I got to see him one last time, but obviously difficult for the mind to consume.  We often take those around us for granted, but during funerals we are all reminded how fragile life is and how important it is to appreciate those around us.

At work, we lost an executive who was deeply loved and appreciated a few months ago that I had met at a restaurant about a year prior to his passing.  I remember hearing everyone talk about him the day everyone learned of his passing and how many people said they would miss him and how genuinely nice he was to others, which leads me to the reason I am writing this post.  I recently heard a quote which basically said those we will miss upon death are people who came into the world crying when everyone around them were smiling, but when they leave the world they will be smiling when everyone around them is crying.

The Flipflop Generation: How Generation “Y” Will Change the Workforce


As I have mentioned in past posts, I was at a Communications Media Managers Association (CMMA) event last week in Arizona.  Before I was a manager I always hated not getting any information about what my bosses got to learn at the events they attended so I vowed when I became a manager I would communicate everything (as much as possible anyway) that I learned.

CMMA brought a speaker in to talk about the differences of the generations in the workforce which I thought was interesting being a person from the Generation “X” era.  She said her son wears flip flops to work and she gives him a hard time for doing so but he says “oh mom people don’t care what I wear to work”.  Each generation is bringing their own style and way of thinking to the workforce.  As older genreations retire newer generations are going to greatly change the way we manage people, think, and work.

Continue reading

The Future of Education

My First Long Form Blog
I’ve been writing down a few topics in draft form and adding to them as I have time. That may be good news or bad news, depending on if you like to read long posts.  Please know with all blog posts that my ideas are just that, ideas.  Society tends to want to think the way it has always been taught, but change is inevitable.  Bruce Barton said it best with his quote: “when you are through changing, you are through”.

My Educational Experiences
It is no secret I love technology, and sometimes you can’t help but wonder how it will continue to change our lives (for better or worse).  I look back at my education and the teachers who had the daunting task of trying to teach a dunce like me a thing or two.  I never really enjoyed school, in fact, the day I graduated from high school has to be one of the best days of my life. My wife and I have a son who is fifteen months old at the time of this writing.  After talking with a coworker who asked if I had started saving for his college, yet I replied I hadn’t but in the back of my mind I get a “spidey sense” I should.  Part of the reason I haven’t saved for my son’s college is because we have other financial priorities at the moment, but part of me also wonders what college will be like for him in another 17 years.  By not saving for his education, I am taking a calculated risk that in the future, education will be nothing like it is today.  After going through 12 years of public education in 7 schools, I hope it will be very different!

Continue reading

Beacon Rock Pictures…

If you ever get the chance, hike Beacon Rock in Washington.  These pictures are probably 6-7 years old.