Yes, I am alive. Yes, I’m even feeling more or less normal — the contagion/pathogen that took out our entire family seems to have eased considerably, if not disappeared entirely. Daily headaches are still an issue, and a stronger and more willful kidlet is resulting in a flare-up of my tenosynovitis in my right wrist and pain in my lower back. But all’s well. Hubby and I need to work at having more “US” time before we continue too far along this path of our PRIMARY relationship being “Mommy” and “Daddy,” but we’ll get through it. We haven’t made it twenty years together on sheer luck, alone, though it played a certain part I am certain.
Need to get back to blogging about kidlet more. She changes by leaps and bounds daily, much less monthly. I have short audio and video clips that deserve to see the light of day, as well as my musings as an adoring (if not always also frazzled) parent.
Exhausted so signing off. Just wanted to get a post-Thanksgiving entry up. Will blog our road trip later…at least the “highlight reel”.
November 21, 2008 at 4:28 am
· Filed under Spaceflight
From a tweet yesterday (November 20) from @Saroy, real life rocket scientist (and member of the current/STS-126’s Shuttle mission’s Orbit 3 shift): “Happy 10th Birthday to the International Space Station! Oh how you’ve grown…”
There were times it’s looked like the Space Station would never be completed — between the ever-present issues of budget and time — so it’s especially nice to see what it has become in ten year’s time.
By the way: *BEEEEEP* This is not a Mommyblog. If this had been an actual Mommyblog, the attention signal you just heard would have been followed by official information, news or instructions about everything related to motherhood.
November 18, 2008 at 11:24 am
· Filed under Geek Speak
Justin mentioned an awesome 3D implementation using only the wii remote & sensorbar (and a bit of custom code, which is available for download.) Johnny Lee Chung was at Carnegie Mellon at the time of posting this video on YouTube (the video’s received over 6.5 million views), but if you hit Johnny Lee Chung’s homepage you notice he’s now been picked up by Microsoft — makers of the Nintendo wii competitor the XBOX 360.
Motrin brand managers no doubt had a manic Monday, between the botched babywearing Motrin ad formerly on their homepage and the inexplicable unavailability of their website once the ad (and negative reaction to it) went viral on Twitter.
Today? They did what they had to do and issued a formal mea culpa in place of the ad on their homepage –
Check out this inane marketing campaign currently running which was on Motrin’s home page (Motrin.com) for at least 24 hours. I’ve included a YouTube link (someone else uploaded it) since undoubtedly at *some* point rational thought will prevail and they will pull the ad… after the damage is already done (there were many declaring a personal boycott of Motrin and/or encouraging others to boycott as well.)
Transcript of the advertisement:
“Wearing your baby seems to be in fashion.
I mean, in theory it’s a great idea.
There’s the front baby carrier, sling, schwing, wrap, pouch.
And who knows what else they’ve come up with. Wear your baby on your side, your front, go hands free.
Supposedly, it’s a real bonding experience.
They say that babies carried close to the bod tend to cry less than others.
But what about me? Do moms that wear their babies cry more than those who don’t?
I sure do!
These things put a ton of strain on your back, your neck, your shoulders. Did I mention your back?!
I mean, I’ll put up with the pain because it’s a good kind of pain; it’s for my kid.
Plus, it totally makes me look like an official mom.
And so if I look tired and crazy, people will understand why.
PROBLEM: It belittles moms (and dads) who wear their babies (in slings, pouches, backpacks and other baby carriers), and the gal narrating sounds like a total self-absorbed ditz. Of all the ways to sell your pain med, makes you wonder WHO thought that was a good angle to take. Geez. What’s their alternate ad pitch… a ditzy gal complaining about what a drag breastfeeding is, perhaps? /FAIL
More on the furor that’s spread(ing) on Twitter about the ad is available in this article.
I guess the quickest way to explain why the ad’s offensive is they’re belittling something NATURAL to sell a DRUG PRODUCT.
POSTSCRIPT: As of 10:40 PM CST, Motrin.com is OFFLINE/unresponsive — coincidence? Doubtful. And an apology email has already been dispatched to some of the first folks to write in to Motrin.com and complain about the tone and content of the ad. Here’s more on the continuing saga. Apparently the ad is also part of a current print ad campaign, but Twitter proved to be the focus group that Motrin’s brand seems to have lacked when it conceived of and executed the ad. It didn’t have a sympathetic tone, a genuine “we feel your pain” (their slogan… meh) and instead veered headlong off the precipice of “we have absolutely no idea who you are.”
