It began when I was working for Software Innovation. I looked through the sales brochures and noticed all the smiling, business-dressed humans. Some I knew, some I didn’t. But always smiling and above average good-looking. The pictures tried to convey an image of success, effectiveness and trust, but I didn’t feel it. My thought was more of how grey this people were, how little of interest and fun the people and environment seemed. The brochures targeted businesses, but even they are staffed by people who like to have a good time and their primary concern in life is their family, kids and spare time.
On wednesday I was at Nationaltheatheret and I noticed the bright poster from “Bring” shining towards me… again with these happy, good-looking people. 3 men and one woman. If I purchase something from them, does it mean there’s a 75 % chance I will get a guy on my door? I don’t mind having handsome men coming to my door. Actually, I encourage it!
But other than that – I’m not interested. Seeing these people doesn’t make me in any way more interested.
So, there’s a price cut on refrigerated products (are there a better word for it?). What products? Is that woman on the move supposed to make me want to run to the store? She doesn’t. There’s nothing there that remotely makes me notice the commercial, except the fact that I don’t understand the use of only people in commercials and somehow I felt like writing about it.
I don’t have kids. May be that’s the reason this commercial doesn’t make me want to spend my money?
I’m obviously not the target for this commercial since I’m Norwegian and don’t make long distance calls. But still… does this commercial make you want to call your dear ones?
This is actually the first commercial I saw where it made sense to use humans. It’s a political party where putting the politicans to the forefront, making them known to the public matters. The issue they fronted though (a city for everybody) just makes me want to yawn. So how will they go about making that happen? …. and more importantly, I didn’t know the city wasn’t for everybody. What did I miss??
Of course one have to use humans in commercials, but seeing people doesn’t automatically make me feel trust or invoke interest on my part. There has to be something special there… like the image below of Lizzie Miller. Look at it… there’s something there I will purchase at once. It’s natural, bright, beautiful smile. This picture sparked a big debate in the US because she’s a plus size model (and how that is possible is beyond me, I would kill for a body like that!) and her little (cute) belly was considered unhealthy.
Most commercials of people are so incredibly boring, and don’t make me want to purchase anything. But hey, some of the goal is probably just to be noticed by the correct people, so may be the content of the commercials isn’t that important.
On the bright side, from now on I will probably notice good commercials when I see them.
I have been wanting a notebook for a long time. A small computer I can just put in my bag and have with me everywhere I go. I have for a long time been reading every rumor that has been available on the iPad, so when it was launched I swallowed everything I could find about it, and then I started comparing it to what I want in a notebook. The iPad fell short quickly because of two main reasons:
HDMI, there isn’t a way to connect it to a TV using HDMI. When looking at the iPad specs it also haven’t a good enough resolution to support it. I want a a computer that I can easily connect to a tv and watch films with as little hassle as possible. Plug-and-play, baby!
Portable keyboard. The iPad supports a pluggable FULL-SIZE keyboard. But, I don’t want a full size keyboard. I want something small and easy – a small, portable, foldable Bluetooth keyboard like the Stowaway iGo keyboard. Unfortunately, that doesn’t exist yet – as in there is no drivers on iphone (iPad just seems to be a large version of iPhone without telephone capabilities) that recognizes it. I have seen one video where it works with a jailbreaked iphone on an apple bluetooth keyboard, but that keyboard isn’t very foldable – and still full-sized.
My conclusion is therefore that I will not purchase an iPad any time soon. I will instead go for a notebook sometime before I go on vacation. But what notebook to buy?
I have noticed that I’m happier if the space around me is clean, tidy and light with as little clutter around me as possible. I get more tasks done, I get more creative and more importantly is the feeling of happiness, harmony, being in charge and that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. I’m aligned with the universe-feeling.
When I let things slide I quickly get a feeling of malcontent. I’m unbalanced, out of harmony, unhappy.
The last couple of months I have had this feeling because things have just been piling up:
Christmas time and presents
Bills I haven’t dealt with immediately
My closets that needs cleaning up
My bedroom where I spend most of my time have been messy.
It’s surprisingly easy to fall into a state where I don’t deal with something immediately, like take up my clothes instead of letting them lie on the floor.
Now I have started on a new mission: Tidy up my bedroom. I actually love to spend time tidying up – I’m just not so effective when I’m doing it. I started it some days ago, and already I feel the benefits are showing up. I have dealt with my bills, thrown out magazine’s I have read or never will read, dealt with some to-do tasks (like paying bills, stop newspaper subscriptions etc.).
I’m going to take a critical look at my bookshelves and start throwing away DVD’s I’m not going to see again, books I will never read (and hopefully can purchase as ebooks).
The result is more space around me, it’s lighter, and I feel more inspired and energised.
I’m never able to drink up my tea before it gets cold, which have resulted in that I either throw the leftovers into the waste bin or out the window (there is no kitchen sink nearby). I have gotten some weird looks from collegues when doing this, but no comments, mind you! So yesterday I purchased an USB Cup Warmer from Teknik Magasinet, in the hopes that I would never drink cold tea again!
The results was depressing.. I’m still drinking cold tea. The plate is a little bit warm, but not enough to keep the tea anything but lukewarm at best.
On sunday I went with a couple of friends to Korketrekkeren which is a sledging hill in Oslo. I had never tried it out before, so naturally I was excited. It was a sunny day and perfect for some childlike fun. To get there we took the metro to Frognerseteren, except that the metro didn’t go that far. There were some upgrading being done. so buses where set in between Besserud and Frognerseteren.
When we got up there me and Anders rented sledges from Akeforeningen. Those sledges were awesome. They were robustly built for speed. They were heavy (iron all the way, baby). The steering mechanism was the rope you can see Anders is holding in the picture below. By pulling on one end, you get the sledge to steer that way, and no breaks: that’s what your body is for – one way or the other your body will stop moving.
Those sledges screamed speed, and they delivered. Boy, did they deliver! It takes about 6 minutes to get down the hill. The hill ends at a metro station, so it was just to wait for the metro (that arrived after 8 minutes usually), and do it all over again.
The weak link in this threesome was Einar. He brought his own sledge where the seat was duck taped!! We had the batmobil of sledges – Einar had the slowmobile. We rushed ahead, stopped sometimes, and sat waiting for some minutes for Einar to arrive. He refused to trade in the slowmobile for the Ferrari of sledges, no matter what we said. He liked the speed of his duck taped misery – chicken!
I will not recommend going to Korketrekkeren on a beautiful, sunny sunday when the metro doesn’t go all the way up. The buses showed up quickly, but there was always some people that didn’t get into the buses, it took some time to get to Frognerseteren, and the sledge is heavy.
Secondly, there was a LOT of people on Frogneseteren. It seemed like half the population of oslo decided to visit that day.
We had a lot of fun that day, and I will certainly do it again.
How to get there: You take the metro nr. 1 to Frognerseteren
Finally, I had a complete day at home with no plans except relaxing and chasing my own tail. For some reason it feels like a really long time since I’ve had it, but my life has been very busy the last two months. So I have been catching up today!
I’m writing on this blog again, which have been in great need of updating.
I started subscribing on Aftenposten some months ago, and finally I sat down and read one newspaper.
Tidy up, except that for me it involves to mess up even more before it looks cleaner.
In the evening I got a visit from my cousin, Vibecke. It was really nice, we had homemade pizza and chocolate mousse… yummy!
It has been fantastic and I went right back to that happy-place where I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be, doing exactly what I’m supposed to do, being the one I’m supposed to be.
…. that screams boring!
I don’t have kids. May be that’s the reason this commercial doesn’t make me want to spend my money?
I’m obviously not the target for this commercial since I’m Norwegian and don’t make long distance calls. But still… does this commercial make you want to call your dear ones?
