I can’t wear contacts. My eyes are too dry or something. Good thing I don’t mind wearing glasses.

I had an eye exam for the first time in years – like seven, actually – and it turns out my eyes have more than doubled in suckiness. So, I took the opportunity to update my frames also.

I made the mistake of first looking for frames I would like on the Country Club Plaza at the Optical Shop of Aspen. I should have remembered the simple equation Plaza + Aspen = Unaffordable, but I didn’t. Thank the Lord for the interweb.

Enter modernglasses.com, while they won’t ever be nominated for a SXSW Web Award, they do offer a great service: boutique level and designer eye frames at great prices. I saved well over $300 on a pair of frames and lenses (with Crizal, no less).

Whilst searching for a new frame my friend !jon asked if I was getting “a pair of glasses like all the ska-kids wear?” Well, I guess so, I told him. “Oh man… those are so lame! They look like your trying to hard to be cool!” Hard to hear your trying to hard to look cool from this guy!

Trying to hard to look cool? Really? Do I come across that way? I always feel like I’m trying to hard to suppress my coolness. Seriously, I have to dial it way down all the time.

I wonder if my friend !jon feels this guy is trying to hard to be cool?

Yesterday I received an email from someone who was a part of the Barack Obama pre-campaign informing me I should log onto BarackObama.com today to watch an official announcement. I say was because today that person is now a part of the official Barack Obama 2008 Presidential campaign.

Obama made his announcement and intentions official this morning on the steps of the courthouse in Springfield, Illinois.

I’m just going to say this up front: I will unashamedly campaign for Obama on this blog. I think the man has the right idea about politics and how they should be used, first and foremost for the betterment of this country and its people as well as the betterment of the rest of the world.

Furthermore, as much as I now like President Bill Clinton and what he was able to accomplish in office, I think it is time for a fresh face and name in D.C. Seems to me Hillary will only bring more of the same old politics and legislation. I certainly don’t want to see another Bush or anyone affiliated with he or his family in the White House.

Who knows what will play out over the next year and a half of campaigning. I am sure at times it will disgust us all as campaigns tend to do. My hope, though, is that there will be more “A-ha!” moments than the same old “whatever…” feeling.

If you don’t know much about Obama, you should learn. I for one am happy to see someone running with an actual chance that seems to represent my thoughts and feelings without weighing them down, or padding them with platforms of appeasement (gay marriage, stem cells, etc.).

On a completely superficial note, Obamas website is boss!

For those of you that don’t know – and if you don’t it means you don’t watch the Today show – Windows Vista came out on Tuesday.

In an effort to reach those whose souls have been enlightened by the “Get a Mac” ads M$ released a pretty funny viral, soft sell marketing campaign. Demetri Martin, a very funny comic and host of Trendspotting on the Daily Show, was tapped for the main role in this campaign.

I am still a loyal Mac user, but am willing to give credit where credit is due. Check it here (clearification.com). Pretty pretty pretty pr-et-ty clever!

I would also like to learn how to control my glands.

I’ve needed to get this off my chest for some time. It’s something that urged me into the voiceover world. Business owners doing their own voice work – or television ads for that matter. If you are a business owner who does their own voiceovers I’m going to tell you what your “Account Manager” will not: you sound awful!

Local radio is rife with small business owners proclaiming, “Ooo-wee, man! Our fries are the best,” or “Make sure you come to my dealership before you buy another car…” At first, I can’t take it and I turn the channel. The next time I hear the ad I think about what a disservice they are doing their business. People just like me are turning the station because we can’t handle listening to their shrill, smokey, fake, or monotonous voice.

Then I think about how awful it is that this business just spent hard earned money to promote their company for naught. I wonder if radio sales people are telling these business owners, “What we’ll do is have you do the commercial! People like the personal nature of hearing the owner talk to them. Plus, you get to be on the radio!” And these poor souls are duped in to thinking they have bought an effective tool. Sad. Side note: isn’t it ironic how radio stations spend millions researching how to get listeners to listen to their product, but not the spots providing the millions to pay for that research?
I have a client in Texas, a business owner who has this figured out. He knows he doesn’t belong on his own radio ads. Kudos to him. Not just because he’s one of my clients, but because he could have taken the easy and cheaper path of doing his own spots. Sure, it costs him a little extra to have someone else voice and produce his spots, but he knows it is worthwhile. His professionally produced spots keep a listeners attention and prompt action.

So a call out to all ad agencies and radio salespeople: take advantage of your creative departments/freelancers. Your clients will thank you when they discover how effective their investment really is, then spend more money with you!

Friends don’t let friends do their own radio spots!

Words I had to look up (either for meaning or spelling) in writing this post: rife, monotonous, naught, duped.

Over the weekend America lost a legend; Kansas City lost a voice and most importantly a friend. Buck O’Neils history is 94 years rich.

Because of segregation he was never allowed to attend Sarasota High School, or play baseball for Florida State. However, at least he had some opportunity at a formal education unlike his Grandfather who was a slave.

As an adult O’Neil played baseball in the Negro Leagues for the Kansas City Monarchs. He will be remembered by most, though, for his work in preserving the history of the Negro Leagues and the seemingly thousands of stories about the men he played with.

As a kid I remember going to watch the Royals play here in KC and my Dad would point out this man holding a radar gun sitting down low behind the plate and taking notes. “That’s Buck O’Neil,” he’d tell me, “he played baseball a long time ago.” Between innings people would line the aisle way down to where he was sitting and working to ask for autographs. He signed every single one of them and greeted each seeker with that smile that became so familiar in Kansas City.

More recently while working for a sports talk radio station here in KC I was given the good fortune of many personal encounters and conversation with Buck. He loved to talk… about anything! While sitting in the studio with us once, doing the show, we got to talking about baseball, the home runs, steroids and the lot. I mentioned that I was bored with it all, the whole game. I’d rather watch the small ball: bunts, sac flys, hit & runs, stolen bases, spectacular defense, etc. O’Neil chuckled, smiled real big, pointed straight at me and said, “That’s because you’re a baseball man!”

To most that wouldn’t mean much, but to me it meant a ton. I always struggled with feeling like I didn’t belong in the sports radio world. For Buck to say that to me, and agree with me, was great encouragement. He may not have known the weight that remark carried, but I suspect he did.

That was a great thing about Buck. He knew the respect people gave him. He knew what kind of weight he had to “throw around,” and he didn’t do it flippantly. He respected his clout, and never held it over anyones head. He used it to help revitalize a suffering and segregated part of Kansas City, to appeal to Lawmakers to make the Negro Leagues Museum in Kansas City the National museum for the Negro Leagues and most importantly he used it to break down barriers of race. He never once said a bitter thing about the horrors of racial segregation he faced. No he chose to forgive and encourage others to do the same.

Coincidentally, Buck was one of my wife’s patients during the two weeks leading up to his death. She said he was never short of visitors (family and close friends) and never absent of a smile. Even my wife, who had limited interaction with him, commented on what an inspiring and delightful person he was.

When Buck was rejected for the Baseball Hall Of Fame he said, “Don’t cry for me. I’ve lived a long and plentiful life. Cry for the children who don’t get to go to a good school…” That’s perspective.

Buck, we will miss you: a true National Treasure and a “Baseball Man.”

Wal-Mart announced today that they will begin offering nearly 300 of the most popular generic drugs for $4 for a 30 day supply (read here).

It appears that Wal-Mart is actually doing a great thing for the common good. The best part about this plan is that it is available to anyone with a prescription regardless of their prescription drug or insurance coverage (or lack thereof as the case may be).

While this isn’t the nationwide free healthcare I’d like to see, it is a step in the right direction. I wonder if I will be able to purchase on-line so I can actually avoid visiting a Wal-Mart.