RichC | December 15, 2024
Click image of landscape pond from back in 2008 when we asphalted the rear driveway. Both have aged. ☹️ My mistake this past month was when it came to scrubbing some of the waterfall area off and using Dawn dishwashing soap … whoops! Not a big deal, but it still has creating an offseason soapy […]
RichC | March 2, 2024
Hm … Tesla is the cost for Chinese to buy its popular Model Y in China, while raising them in the U.S. — an interesting business move??? Tesla raised the price of its Model Y rear-wheel drive and long-range vehicles in the U.S. by $1,000 to $43,990 and $48,990, respectively … while Chinese consumers buying […]
RichC | February 13, 2024
As a long time Volkswagen guy … I enjoyed the “An American Love Story” commercial (YouTube) in Super Bowl LVIII. Of course there were a lot of creative advertisements, but the VW one tugged at my heart-strings. Those who know me, know that I’ve had a memorable history with VW vehicles, from my high […]
RichC | January 13, 2024
The advertising from Tesla is working on me as the range and charging infrastructure continues to improve. Having driven and watched my son-in-law use his Tesla Model3 (mostly for daily commuting) since 2019 with impressive success, a Model3 might make a great second car … IF the price were lower or incentives better (perhaps a […]
RichC | April 28, 2023
Do you trust that Google isn’t using your emails to push advertising to you? Personally I’m thinking this might be a “sleight of hand” considering the cookies and the fact you are signed into your Google account and search are used in advertising. Perhaps they aren’t using the content of Gmail to generate advertising, but […]
RichC | October 27, 2022
Favorite actors pitching products has been a staple in the advertising business for a long time … probably because it works! Shortly after this Gigi and James Garner commercial came out for Mazda 323 in 1986, we bought a “new” 1988 Mazda 626 turbo that replaced a Volkswagen Golf (MK2 Wolfsburg edition). To this day […]
RichC | January 30, 2022
Since we will be focused on watching football and especially the Cincinnati Bengals this weekend, I’m pre-posting something that frustrates me when going to the grocery or drugstore. I know the inexpensive “brand” of shampoo that I like, but Suave for Men makes so many different blends, bottle sizes and labels that I can never […]
RichC | December 10, 2021
The surprise increase in blog traffic corresponded to my taking a few more security measures such as locking down more of the personal content to only logged in readers … but I’m not sure that had anything to do with increasing earnings? Still, I noticed upward change (more than doubling) of Google Adsense earnings and […]
RichC | November 14, 2021
Prior to 2017, I backed a ThingCharger Kickstarter project that was an excellent product. It was overpriced for what it did, but I ended up buying a couple extras for gifts (Brenda’s phone charging in photo at Katelyn and Drew’s house). In 2017, after the business failure, founder Seymour Segnit started a new company telling […]
RichC | October 28, 2021
I noticed that Thursday’s post disappeared from the blog so in a quick attempt to repost the graphic, here we go again. One of the “very small” perks of using the Brave browser on the web is that it offers the option to accept fairly non-invasive advertising and links on the default home page and […]
RichC | September 15, 2021
As our current Apple iPhone smartphones age (currently Brenda and I have iPhone7 and 7 plus), there is an interest in upgrading to the 5G capable Apple A15 chipped iPhone13 or 13Pro. The Apple Event on Tuesday afternoon highlighted the new smartphones and focused on their photo and video capability. As a photographer and Apple […]
RichC | August 15, 2021
For decades now I’ve had a fairly positive relationship with both business (CPP) and personal banking … and particularly with local banks. I grumbled the 1990s when multiple bank mergers forced out the manager I worked with in NE Ohio. He knew me by name and often pulled me aside to see if there was anything […]
RichC | August 1, 2021
Perhaps I’ve been asleep at the wheel, but when looking to buy another pair of Eddie Bauer shorts (liked the lightweight ones I ordered last month – below), I noticed that they are promoting a “Rent Your Adventure” outdoor camping gear program. It caught me off-guard to see them renting outdoor gear as well as […]
RichC | June 21, 2021
This content is restricted.
RichC | June 7, 2021
This content is restricted.
RichC | May 6, 2021
Whoops … an interesting Throwback Thursday #TBT flashback and mistake on my part … I received an order for MayFly Lures that I posted back in 2018 and sold a few and then sold my entire inventory in one lump in 2019. Unfortunately I forgot to remove the original blog post and so received a […]
RichC | March 10, 2021
After cleaning out my email in-box and “attempting” to unsubscribe to a bunch of marketing oriented email lists, it became clear that I chose to remain subscribed to the lists that do more than plug their products or repeat sales again and again. A couple “subscribed-to” lists stood out because they were informative and were […]
RichC | January 23, 2021
Once upon a time, I was … or at least tried … to be frugal in most things. I’ve always shied away from buying higher priced brand names, when there were less expensive option. Coffee is a prime example … since I was perfectly happy with the Chock full o’Nuts brand of canned coffee since […]
RichC | July 24, 2020
As a start up, doing business with big company in order to boost sales and visibility can be a great way to grow a business. Unfortunately it can also be cut-throat and the smaller companies can and are taken advantage of. It is not new, but but in the fast-paced and highly competitive technology world, […]
RichC | July 15, 2020
“So that’s what this is for?” I had a “duh” moment the other day when sifting through subscribed emails from vendors. A company called OnlineMetals.com sends out educational marketing emails to customers who enjoy working with metal. I’ve used them as a supplier for a variety of small projects as a source for steel and […]
RichC | June 7, 2020
Just an automotive kind of filler today after sharing Erwin Wurm’s “chubby” Volkswagen Hot Dog “microbus” from NYC last week on Tom Appel’s Twitter feed. The discussion started when I commented that the Fiat 500X Sport reminded me of the “plump when you cook it” Ballpark franks commercials in the 1990s. Eventually I shared the […]
RichC | December 15, 2019
I’ve often questioned just how much data is being collected by Facebook, Google, Amazon, etc … but considering I’m a relatively light user of FB … getting push timely advertising is a bit creepy. I called my insurance company last week for a windshield repair/replacement for our 2010 BMW X5 35d and handled the entire […]
RichC | July 24, 2019
As a conservation minded “conservative” and as someone who has always balanced the cost vs benefits of decisions, I once thought “recycling” was as simple as “not littering” and cleaning up pollution highlighted by the 1971 ad campaign (Iron Eyes Cody photo above). From an early age we were bombarded by pointing out how careless […]
RichC | June 28, 2019
Unfortunately I’ve bought into – or was “gifted” into 🙂 – BUT really enjoy the Amazon Echo smart speaker virtual assistant devices. I know Alexa is “always listening” (as is my cellphone, iPad, computers, etc) and that they are doing “who knows what”with my data, but probably not always what I want. Obviously, they dissect […]
RichC | April 14, 2019
It is hard to believe our local El Rancho Nuevo Mexican Restaurant has been around for 9 years now (photo from opening in 2010) … but as the competition has increase, entrepreneurs have had to step up their game. This restaurant is one of the greatest small business example of why capitalism works: with increased […]
RichC | April 12, 2019
The “customer experience” (a marketing buzz-term nowadays) can make or break companies. Some do it right, others fall on their face early in their start-up cycle … and others like Ebay ($EBAY) and Paypal ($PYPL) have employees, customer service departments and management issues dragging their company down … yes, this is going to be a […]
RichC | March 22, 2019
This is project for work as I wanted to demonstrate to a customer what I was referring to when I encouraged them to add a simple “read a script” podcast channel or simple YouTube video component to their marketing. It is a way to capture audiences who have moved away from reading articles and blogs […]
RichC | January 20, 2019
A quick piece of advice for those who are in the habit of shopping online … especially if you are used to using Amazon and their Prime shipping. I’ve habitually price products since Amazon isn’t always competitively price with other online vendors, BUT my advice is to remember just how dependable and reliable shipping from […]
RichC | January 18, 2019
The recent price increases rumbling through the economy are starting to be felt in the products we all use and have learned to appreciate. One of the services I’ll likely eliminate before the monthly price increase is the streaming service Netflix. We did this once before, but with all the new added content and lack […]
RichC | January 6, 2019
Last year, the chit-chat from Paul Elio was that production of the Elio was scheduled for the end of 2019 … far longer than any reservation holder had anticipated. I’ve remained confident and have ignored the doubters … but likely because I’ve put on an artificial blindfold to remain positive – who likes admitting they […]
RichC | November 20, 2018
Plenty of jokes were bantered around last week when Hasbro announce a new version of Monopoly for Millennials. The "forget real estate. You can’t afford it anyway" comments and winning is collecting points, such as a "3-Day Music Festival" EXPERIENCE or "going to a vegan bistro because memories last forever." Without digging a little deeper […]
RichC | October 13, 2018
A friend from a Facebook group posted a 1982 Mercedes Benz advertisement with a W123 beauty – I thought it looked pretty close to my ‘82 MB 300D Turbodiesel. Nice! When the W123 went out of production in 1986 it had surpassed the Stroke Eight as the bestselling Mercedes-Benz with more than 2.5 million cars […]
RichC | October 3, 2018
If you use your battery powered drills as much as I do and are suffering with something a bit older than a couple of years, it is time to check out the new lithium powered tools. I can’t tell you how pleased I am with both my slightly older Craftsman Drill and Impact driver and […]
RichC | September 11, 2018
“We’re Going to Do Something …” After a week of total disgust over Nike selecting Colin Kaepernick as their new spokesperson suggesting he "sacrificed everything" when he knelt during the National Anthem and wore socks portraying "police as pigs" … I saw Mike Rowe’s Facebook post and thought his way too polite comment sum things […]
RichC | August 31, 2018
Tech news this week highlighted Yahoo and AOL brand email services. There are still plenty of users still using them and unknowingly being spied on (including me since I still use Yahoo for "junk" mail — I started with AOL & Yahoo in the early 1990s kept the simple rdc2@ addresses). The search algorithms and […]
RichC | June 27, 2018
Colgate is my usual go-to toothpaste, although generally prefer the old fashion white and am partial to baking soda … but I’m off topic. My gripe is that their recent packaging (at least so I’ve noticed) is terribly misleading. After opening the normal large sized toothpaste box, I noticed it was WAY larger than the […]
RichC | June 24, 2018
Since I drive a diesel BMW X5 35d as well as an old 1982 Mercedes 300D Turbodiesel, and use diesel fuel in our Kubota and John Deere lawn tractors (not to mention sailboat) … seeing pump prices 20 to 40 cents higher at the pump is starting to cut into my theory of saving money […]
RichC | June 6, 2018
Once in a while we all end up squabbling with a company over their product or service. Neither Brenda or I have ever been advocates for "frozen meat" or ordering the generally higher priced national brands that require significant cost to package and ship a product … but earlier this spring we took advantage of […]
RichC | May 24, 2018
A moon rock? Yes, my very own moon rock … or perhaps "rock" or even "stone" is too big a word – maybe moon chip or flake is more appropriate? Nevertheless, the publisher’s promotion to encourage social networking assistance in marketing Robert Kurson’s new book Rocket Men, The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the […]
RichC | March 17, 2018
Just to set the stage when it comes to shaving … I’m a “humble twin” or cheap Schick ST2 razor kind of guy. I usually add a little Barbasol Aloe shaving cream or CVS equivalent and rarely opt for an after-shave lotion. It is a daily chore that I’ve repeated daily for decades, although have […]
RichC | February 5, 2018
Although there are quite a few reservation holders starting to doubt whether we’ll ever see production (last update was 2019 deliveries), the marketing team continues to tease (update) on this small commuter car. The original low price has been inched up, but it still will be a bargain if Elio Motors can afford to put […]
RichC | September 2, 2017
For the fun of it, I ran a lightly responded to Twitter poll (200+ votes and nearly 40,000 views) with an idea that could generate some subscription based income for $TWTR – yes I would like to see the stock price rise too. My purpose was to see just how many users would be interested […]
RichC | July 7, 2017
Complaining is getting me nowhere … but those of us old school users of Yahoo and Google continue to be frustrated to see both companies going down the "design for smartphone – card look format" to their pages, even for large display computers. YAHOO A few weeks ago Yahoo Finance forced all users to give […]
RichC | May 26, 2017
Are you tired of more and more sites with pop-ups blocking content and asking your to whitelist their sites from your browsers ad blocking extension if you want to read their content? Then read on. First, I’m an advocate for advertiser supported websites and appreciate readers who occasionally read and click the few ads that are semi-hidden […]
RichC | May 23, 2017
Cars inventories are building up, especially “cars” as compared to SUVs, etc. … so for the best deals (negotiation power) on new cars start with what isn’t moving. If an SUV is a must, the mid-sized models might make for the best deal and if it is “just reliable transportation” you need, there are a […]
RichC | May 21, 2017
For those of you who are regular visitors to MyDesultoryBlog and are not running an ad blocker plugin on your browser, you may have noticed a small snippet of new ad content in the sidebar. Last month, GoogleAdsense offered an upgrade to this blog’s minimal advertising experiment. The new ad content promotes “matched” internal content from similar previous posts […]
RichC | April 19, 2017
My friend Jeff and I try to get together for a Friday lunch once or twice a month. We often discuss work, politics and management, particularly as it relates to his job and potential advancement … although we recognized the limited number of years for that second part. Anyway, one of the books he is […]
RichC | March 26, 2017
Two years ago, Intuit’s Turbo Tax software tried their "money grab" in attempted to strong-arming their long-time and new customers into paying substantial more to use their software to file their 2014 taxes. The CEO took to the Internet and made an apology and stepped up to Intuit’s greedy "mistake." One would think that competitors […]
RichC | March 24, 2017
A couple years ago I backed Seymour Segnit’s ThingCharger project and was very pleased with the “plug-charger” gizmos. After learning from his previous launch, the sharp marketer is giving a new “system project” a try. Take two, if you will. This time he has added and improved the earlier design and added a “kit” worth […]
RichC | March 22, 2017
Well the FTC has some simple advice for those "still" receiving robocalls even when on the Do Not Call List or Registry. Most of us continue to receive unwanted calls on landlines and cellphones, even we are on the registry (and have renewed). It is illegal unless you have giving the caller written permission. Many […]
RichC | January 21, 2017
Those who have been blogging for a while learn to monitor their viewership. We’d like to know what kind of traffic is hitting the servers and often looking at the breakdown as to what generates interest and ad clicks. In the early days, a "hit counter" was sufficient, but as country music artist Loretta Lynn […]
RichC | December 29, 2016
One month ago I inquired as to the "tongue creep" on a pair of Clarks Desert Boots that were a gift. Occasionally I will give a company feedback if there is something positive or negative so they know they are pleasing a customer or disappointing one. I sent a image as requested to the consumer […]
RichC | December 22, 2016
Speed kills … and being rushed can make people do stupid things, that would be me in this case. I was in a hurry to get a HVAC replacement estimate after scavengering parts off of one furnace to keep the other running — both need to be replaced. While researching gas furnaces and air conditioner […]
RichC | August 19, 2016
I really don’t know who these Minion characters are, but admire the phenomenon and their “cuteness.” Frankly I’ve haven’t actually seen the movie … or is it movies plural by now? Anyway, seeing them creatively showing up on a corner at our local Delhi Garden Center puts me in a good mood — and that […]
RichC | June 4, 2016
Talk about “desultory” … who else blogs on Milwaukee Dill pickle “jars???” Like George Berdes (link), I love Milwaukee Midget Dill Pickles … although I’m not so sure about the corporate conglomerate brand Pinnacle Foods? I add “5” midget dills to my plate at every home lunch and have done this for years with […]
RichC | June 2, 2016
Kiplinger has long been one of the many websites who’s content, along with their magazine, that I’ve enjoyed reading. I follow several contributors to their content on social networks and complained recently that I disliked their multi short page approach for reading content. I’m sure they want to generate "clicks" and therefore break and article […]
RichC | May 19, 2016
When consuming the news and information, whether on the Television or any other news media, it is important to pay attention to the biases of who is “painting the picture.” Off the top of my head, I’m thinking about how Facebook priorities their newsfeed.
RichC | March 7, 2016
Who doesn’t enjoy the short breaks between the hour upon hour of negative news on TV? The Values.com and RandomActsofKindness.org organizations are a worthy humanitarian outreach.
RichC | November 11, 2015
An uncanny resemblance: Volkswagen's “FAST” and the Cincinnati Bengals Andy Dalton.
RichC | October 25, 2015
It is interesting how certain commercials are bring smiles to our faces … but we always seem to stumble on a commercial that sticks in our heads. This one from Time Warner Cable has Brenda and me doing back and forth “yes, welcome” to each other … just as one from Geico did in 2012. It’s […]