At Port Columbus Airport

Columbus, Ohio is a city smack in the middle of the great, expansive American midwest. Yet its airport is called "Port Columbus Airport." The word "Port" to me implies ships. A landlocked city cannot be a "port." Not in my mind. And my mind is all that matters.

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But because we are tiny cogs in massive machinery, we often feel powerless to satisfy these needs - so in reality we don't feel that secure or important.

That may be the best summarization of our current dilemma as I've ever seen. Here in the U.S. people wonder why the American public expresses such uneasiness when by global standards we have it as good as can be dreamed. You provide the answer.

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And hmm, there clearly is a certain type of woman you are attracted to buddy!

Oh, absolutely. My preferences were shaped by several factors, not all of which I am proud to admit:

• In 10th grade I developed a horrible crush on a girl named Deana Frederick. She was one year back from me. I had a sense from informal sources that she was interested in me as well, but a painful shyness and fear of teasing prevented me from acting. She had the most luxurious mane of long dark hair I'd ever seen. She wore glasses, which had the photo-tint option. That provided an air of mystery. That's where my preference for the Chrissie Hynde and Carolyn Jones look came from. (Three years earlier -- 7th grade -- I made the "mistake" of admitting to a friend I thought I could trust that I liked this girl who I knew also liked me. That "friend" promptly blabbed that around school, and the teasing I received was merciless. Every day. Total strangers. Throughout 7th grade. All through 8th grade. All through 9th grade. It wasn't until 10th grade, when that girl -- Marilyn Arnold -- blossomed and became a cheerleader did the teasing cease. For her benefit, clearly; not mine. The impression was deep and lasting. No effort to connect with Deana Frederick, no dating in high school at all. In the end that resulted in my "settling" for fear I'd get no other chances, which meant I married the second girl I ever dated. That marriage lasted 8 years. How different my life might have been had I a chance to do normal adolescent relationship development.)
  
• About that same time I started getting Playboy magazine, and Miss September 1976 was one "Whitney Kaine." Her most striking attribute to me was a near perfect pair of small breasts. I am to this day much more a fan of small than large. My lovely bride tends to the small, which she feels is a liability. Not a day goes by I don't remind her that I love that aspect of her. Of course, the source of that preference isn't something she likes. (Yes, she is aware of it. She doesn't celebrate that, but she does bask in the benefit of it.)

There you go. :-)

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With regard to the SOA initiative -- we just finished our two "one day roadshow" versions of this thing. Ten people in the first; six on the second.

I have several "problems" with this effort:

1. I do not agree with the format and content of much of the lecture material, which I did not create. I feel it's really just a tremendous list of functional capabilities. I doubt people can absorb much of that after a spell.
2. The hands-on labs, which everyone loves, do not, in my opinion, really provide much educational benefit. They are point-and-click exercises. People complete the requisite steps and when it's done they see some expected result (hopefully), but in the end they don't really have a clue what just happened.
3. This workshop is really a introductory lead generation tool. I don't feel hands-on workshops are the best tool to achieve that. It can achieve some success, but it's a low-odds thing. Much of our company's marketing is along these lines nowadays: throw a plate of spaghetti on the wall and see if any sticks. The problem is there's a tremendous expense to this -- and not just money. Enormous amounts of time and energy is spent waving arms and flying around on the hope of some sale. All the "sales training" that's been invested in over the last decade or so is ignored. Do "we" really have any clue what our customers are doing, what their concerns and needs are? Or are we just a rag-tag bunch of peddlers, each with our basket of things, hoping someone -- anyone -- will buy something?
4. Is introductory marketing lead generation the best use of my time as a member of ATS? I would think not. But who knows ... maybe that's what our company does want of me.
   
5. I have a problem with my co-instructor. I am ashamed of my problem. In my heart I hold him in contempt. That is, for me, the most corrosive of emotions. It's different from dislike -- I like the guy -- I just have contempt for the way he achieves what he wants. It is hard for me to "love" him. I have myself convinced that for me to do so will necessarily involve getting chewed up and spit out, all for the fulfillment of his selfish desires.
   

I am trying to work my way out of this workshop. Unfortunately, to do so will necessarily mean I have to say "No" and be branded the uncooperative element in this equation. That's one tactic of his -- paint people into corners. He said as much last night: he admitted that he truly enjoys manipulating people. Another source of contempt in my eyes.

I am a troubled soul, my friend.