| Tuesday, March 27, 2007 |
| Your Big Chance |
If you've ever wanted to be in the coolest TV commercial ever, now's your chance.
If you can dance even just a little:
Hip-hop or break
or
Disco
or
Whatever dance they danced in the 40s-50s
or
Swing
We want you. And we'll feed you handsomely. Plus, you'll get to work on a real set. The director might even yell at you (ok, he probably won't, but if you want- I will). We need you Friday March 30th and/or Saturday March 31st. If you're interested, please email me at brett [at] bcrockett [dot] com. |
posted by Brett Crockett @ 7:00 AM   |
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| Monday, March 26, 2007 |
| Looking for a Change of Venue |
So I'm on the job hunt again and the job descriptions I've seen so far have been awesomeme. Requirements for a graphic designer position in SLC:
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl; and talk or hear.
The employee must exert up to 20 lbs of force occasionally, and/or up to 10 lbs. of force frequently, and/or a negligible amount of force constantly to move objects.
Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.
Sounds like a dream job. |
| posted by Brett Crockett @ 9:00 AM |
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| Wednesday, March 14, 2007 |
| Photographic Evidence |
These are photos taken by friends and family. Thanks to Gary, Jake, Valerie, and others who took 'em.
Click on any one of the three galleries to see the pics. But you've gotta have the Flash player. If you don't, download it here. |
| posted by Brett Crockett @ 9:18 AM |
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| Tuesday, March 13, 2007 |
| After 2 Months... |
Photo by WhittneyLynn
Holy smokes. It's been two months since Whittney and I got married. It seems like it's been 2 days but at the same time it feels like it's been forever. In a good way.
We've moved into a cool little apartment in Draper, and are having the time of our lives. In fact, if you're planning on making a trip to the new Ikea, make a weekend of it and come stay with us. We have carpet for you to sleep on.
A few family and friends have been asking to see pictures, so I've put together a slideshow with pictures from our engagement, wedding, and honeymoon- you can see those pics by clicking here.
Anyway, a couple months ago when we returned from our honeymoon, I sat down to write about some of the things I'd learned. Something came up, though, and I never actually wrote anything. In the meantime, I've forgotten most of what I learned- but here's a quick attempt to recap what I do remember.
1- The "Island Lifestyle" you see portrayed in most movies and on tourism commercials from Jamacia is a myth. It's a fairy tale with maybe-maybe a toe in reality. The country's landscape and ocean is beautiful, but the living conditions are so 3rd world, I was shocked. We took a jeep safari though a decent chunk of the country, and were able to see what things were really like. The true island lifestyle seems to consist of sitting in the gutter surrounded by garbage with bare feet and a joint. Honestly, it was an eye-opener. The poverty is amazing, and quite obviously a result of the rampant drug trafficing. We swam in a jungle river, and stood under what some believe is a waterfall, and the jungle was beautiful. But the cities were actually shanty towns, and the people in the streets looked hopeless. Whittney and I agreed we were glad we went. It was an educational experience. But we both decided Jamacia was not a place we'd return.
2- A cruise is one of the best vacations there is. I was skeptical at first. I'd been to Europe and Belize, all over Utah and a good part of the United States, but never on a cruise. I figured they were for the old folks, and I preferred backpacking or road trips. After our first day on Royal Caribbean, I changed my mind. It was amazing. Let me just make a few points:
Free food
Free room service
You can have as many entrees as you want
You can eat as much steak as you want
You don't have to eat fruit or vegetables
You can have as many desserts as you want
You don't have to worry about finding a hotel
You don't have to worry about finding transportation
If you get an interior room, you can sleep for 24 hours without being awakened by the sun
You don't have to make your bed
You don't have to hang up your towel
You are your own boss
You'll see places you'd probably never see otherwise
The ship is so big, you probably won't see all of it
The ship is so big, you probably won't have time to do all the activities on it
Even though the ship is so big- you never feel crowded
It's the most relaxing vacation I've ever been on
Seriously, I'm sold. It was great.
3- And finally:
Marriage is way better than anyone ever said it would be. |
| posted by Brett Crockett @ 1:58 PM |
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| Thursday, March 08, 2007 |
| Albert |
Don't get me wrong- I'm not against global warming. Or the internet. It's just that if this man decides to run for president, I hope he makes it more interesting than that Earth science video he made.
It was like paying to sit in a crowded gen ed course down at the community college. Again. |
| posted by Brett Crockett @ 8:00 AM |
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| Tuesday, March 06, 2007 |
| A Thought About Contests |
With the launch of the Tiki Wisdom Challenge this week, I thought I'd give an insider's peek at how good your odds sometimes are at winning stuff from various contests.
When I worked for KSL, i was regularly in charge of collecting entries for prizes at ReAl SL games, The Utah Symphony, Utah Auto Shows, and various other events along the Wasatch Front.
Due to people's fear of SPAM and junk mail, they're generally averse to entering any kind of contest that requires your age, email address, etc. There were times we would be giving away free cruises as on-air promotions, and only a couple hundred (if that) people would "dare" to enter the contest. That means the person that ended up winning that prize wasn't really that lucky- they just had great odds. Somewhere around 1 in 150, most of the time.
The best part, though, is what we did with all the entries that didn't make it. After we picked the winner out of the box, we kept that entry so that we could notify the winner of their prize. The rest of them went into the garbage can. Yup. All those names and email addresses went straight into the garbage can. Nobody sat down to a computer and entered the information, which means none of the people that entered the contest were ever bothered again! A horrible marketing practice-but it goes to show that the point of the promotion was promotion, not to gather a bunch of email addresses for spamming.
Working for an ad agency provides some back-up for for what I've just said. This same scenario happens all the time with local contests. Only a couple hundred people take the time to enter the contest, and as a result, the odds of winning are usually very, very good. Since most of our contests are online, we're not as bad with the email addresses as KSL- and they occasionally get used. If given permission, we might send out announcements about new games or contests- but never spam. In two years, I've never seen an email address taken from one contest and given to another client. In fact, I've never seen an email address taken and used for anything other than what the user had signed up for.
With the passing of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, agencies (ours, at least) are paranoid about compliance. The bill permits e-mail marketers to send unsolicited commercial e-mail as long as it contains all of the following:
- an opt-out mechanism;
- a valid subject line and header (routing) information;
- the legitimate physical address of the mailer; and
- a label if the content is adult.
The penalty for breaking the rules? Each violation is subject to fines of up to $11,000.
Now, we don't send unsolicited emails from our databases, but even more important- that opt-out link really works. For good reason people have been told to stay away from responding to, or clicking on any link in an unsolicited email. In our case, though- and likely the case of any reputable company- if you click that link, you'll be automatically be taken off the list. By law, if a user opts out, a sender has ten days to cease sending email.
So- that's the deal. Many of these local contests have great odds- and little potential to flood your inbox with spam. And if you do start getting emails you'd rather not, you're just one click away from stopping it. That's all.
So, want to win a trip to Hawaii? Want something to do at work instead of work? Play the Tiki Wisdom Challenge- it's a pretty fun game that gives you clues about your friend, and you have to guess who your friend is. If you're a horrible guesser, you can throw some spears at coconuts and still win an entry into the contest. And you can enter as many times as you want.
If you like the sound of the waves, or the thunder, or the swoosh of the spear through the air...I chose those. They're basically my only claim to fame on the game...but I can't complain, I got paid to do it. The rhyming in that last sentence was unintentional, I promise.
To play, visit www.tikiwisdom.com And good luck. |
| posted by Brett Crockett @ 9:51 AM |
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