mpolino.com

I was watching regular TV the other day, and saw a Gatorade commercial (repeatedly, in the most annoying way) with professional athletes pleading that they want to play, indeed, they were willing to play any sport. (Here’s a link to an example) It would have been funny except for the contrast with professional athletes who keep not wanting to play, or stopping play, and then deciding to play again a few days later. External circumstances made the ad fall flat. I realize that ad buys are made well in advance. I also know that they can be pulled. I think Gatorade is wasting money on this add now and it may actually be functioning as a negative.

I suspect that no one at Gatorade was willing to pull the ad because ads are expensive. This is a lesson worth repeating as much for me as for anyone. We say “ignore sunk costs” as a shorthand, but sometimes things get shortened enough that they lose their original meaning. I like to think of it as, “Ignore what you’ve already spent and make the best decision you can for the current circumstance.” The fact you spent money doing the wrong thing, whether “wrong” was under your control or not, doesn’t mean you keep throwing money away once you figure out it’s not the right choice for the current environment.

Just a quick note, if an Alexa is in the same room as controlled devices in the app, you can be less specific with requests. For example, “Turn on the lights” works, “Turn on the bedroom lights” isn’t required.

There is a much better description at this link https://www.smarthomefocus.com/alexa-turn-on-lights/ but this was a huge win for me.

Some very talented friends were recently laid off. I’m confident that most of them will be employed pretty quickly. As a group, they have strong networks, and are well liked, but the world they’ve lived in has been changing slowly. Most of them recognized that long term changes were going to negatively affect them, but “long term” implies time to decide. COVID accelerated and exacerbated the situation, resulting in sudden and drastic change. My friends are going to have to adapt and adapt quickly, and they are not alone.

I’ve decided to start a regular, or irregular, column with my current musings. These musings are as much for me as for anyone else. Expect random streams of consciousness and don’t assume that my position is fixed on any opinions expressed.

Today’s musing, it’s time to let go of the COVID guilt. Times are hard for a lot of people, but not for everyone. Despite the challenges, people still work, marry, and have children. Life goes on, even if it’s a little weird. Some people will have used this time to do something good, lose some weight, tackle that novel, remodel a bathroom, whatever. It’s can be tough to feel good about accomplishments when others are hurting and when so much around us seems out of whack.

Let it go. Don’t feel bad for doing something good.

On the other side, if you’ve put on a COVID 15, binge-watched your way through Tiger King for the 7th time, and not bothered to clean your bathroom, it’s still okay. Everyone is dealing with the oddities of 2020 differently. Let go of the guilt and move on.

Writing in Adventure Journal, Laura Kranz explains why Why We Need Bigfoot, Even if it isn’t Real.It’s a nice read and great exploration of the importance of bigfoot on our collective psyche. Of course, what happens if bigfoot IS real? I mean, if you can’t believe MSN who can you believe?

‘Yeti’ footprints sighted claims Indian Army tweet

Bigfoot obviously loves to be free so I’m setting Woodbooger free to roam on Kindle for five days starting on Friday, May 3, 2019, through Tuesday, May 7.