Three weeks in October

If you don't write it down, it never happened.

I learned this after undergrad, but before grad school, from Tom Clancy of all people.

In his book "Debt of Honor" Clancy paints a picture of a country in crisis; one of many looming problems is a broken market system. Bad guys attacked the servers that kept records of trades on the NYSE. All of them, including backups, for an entire afternoon.

The main character's wife, a surgeon, remarked off handedly during the crisis that as a doc she had far too many things to keep track of in her head. "If you don't write it down, it never happened," she states, regarding her own notes. The main character sees this as a way out of the huge financial crisis. Everyone just picks up from the last recorded trade as if nothing happened.

At this very moment, I am getting a strong vibe of art imitating life.

I've referred to Tammy here and there in various online venues ( as well as real life, of course ), and hinted at our relationship. That's over now, or rather, we're "back" to being what we were before, I guess. This happened last night, but I've known for a few days it was a conversation we were going to have.

I bounced by her blog today, and noticed something. She hadn't mentioned Her & I once, there. In and of itself this doesn't really mean a thing. But somethings she had mentioned, last night, bring the absence of her and I in written-down-form into sharp relief.

For my part, I am clearing up any ambiguity, on my end:

For three weeks in October, I was involved with a girl named Tammy, and happier than I have been in quite a while; this was despite reluctance on both of our parts to go "all in". She is many things a partner should be, and any man would be very lucky to have her.

Regardless of what she thinks or says.

It's all about the "O"

Actually... it's all about the branding.

Branding is something's consensual identity; that which is associated or attributed to it by everyone who perceives it. Corps spend -zillions- of dollars on branding, and a corp's brand identity is estimated to be at least -half- of the company's total worth.

Half. At least.

Not the stuff it owns, Not the people it employs, or the money they'll probably make next quarter. Just what comes to mind when people think of them. The little, probably irrational associations people have.

Who cares, eh?

Immune from all this? Are you smarter then that, and you just make decisions based on the product or the thing itself, not on it's branding?

Got an iPod?

Why?

Dell makes a thingy that's twice as good, and costs a third as much. But it's not an iPod, is it? I don't even know what Dell's thingy is called. And I'd never consider owning it.

Branding.

Overstock.com I have no idea what they sell, there. But I sure as hell remember the commercials, and the name of the company. This is due to a number of factors, but most of those center on branding efforts put fourth with a hot older chick in a group of 80s-eque monochrome settings. Overstock.com's name recognition went from 12% to 47% in one quarter, after these commercials aired.

These are the kinds of commercials where I can't take my eyes off the TV, and I wave my hand vaguely at whomever's talking, gesturing that I'm not listening to their prattle for 42 more seconds.

"It's all about the 'O'..."


What is your brand like? When people think of you at work, what do you suppose they associate with your name, with the idea of you? Do you work on maintaining this in a good way? How about in your personal life... How do people think about you?

I'm not being shallow, certainly. It's a very different discussion, debating if you should care what your "branding" is... I'm not asking if you care. I'm just wondering if you're aware of -what- it is.


Apparently, with me, it's all about the intellectual arrogance, with a hint of humor, a helping of loyalty and empathy, and maybe a cheesburger, wrapped in a Ralph Lauren buttondown.

Hmmmmmmm.