Sticky(9) - Do you remember the Sears Catalog?

176 pageviews, 4 likes, 5 comments

I do! And it was sticky. I loved leafing through it. And then the Wish Book. For a blast from the past visit Wishbook web and look through a few of your favorites.

What happened? I don't know, but I got this ACCOUNT CLOSED credit card in the mail. Can't use it for much though, they closed the Sears on Kauai a long time ago.

Sticky (8) - Craft 19 Sumner

125 pageviews as of 3/4/16

Soon after Kathy and I moved to Washington state we visited the town of Sumner. It was quaint. It had a junk shop and a Salvation Army right in the middle of the main street. Kathy said it reminded her of Mayberry from the Andy Griffith show. But it certainly wasn't sticky.

Then the Salvation Army building was put up for sale. Kathy and I explored putting a team of investors together to buy it, it was one of the biggest one story buildings in the town and a perfect location. We brought in the best retail entrepreneur teams that we know and spent three days working on the business plan. Basically divide the space up. A restaurant, or Eastern Washington focused wine bar that is different than anything else in the area, a spa, use all the wall space as an art gallery and some sort of retail. On the second night, my friends looked up at me and asked, "Why are you doing this? You don't need it, your job meets your income needs." I replied that they town needed something like this. Rudy replied, "There is a lot more work to doing something like this than you might think." Then they told me story after story of the things that had happened in their restaurants and stores. The madness passed. That was three years ago.

Today, after puppy training class we wanted to hang around the town for socialization, he has a big test coming up in a couple of weeks. Sorci's is the highest end restaurant in the town and sometimes they will let us sit on their outside table with the puppy. We called ahead and they said no, outside patio was not open tonight. So we decided to walk around; passed around the old Salvation Army building and it was beautiful; totally redone. And there was an outside table, it was a crepe shop, (only one in town), called Craft 19. I hadn't had a crepe in a while. So Kathy, the puppy, Yogi F. Von Kinghaus, and I sat down. While we were eating, a man came out of the building, polishing the windows, he was none other than my primary care physician, Dr. Waldo Dagan. He took us on a tour, the site was first class. He had put together a team of investors, put in a restaurant, the spa opens in a couple of weeks, and there was a multi-use area anchored by financial investing; a very similar implementation of what we had considered.

After the tour, Dr. Dagan said, "The town needed something like this". All I have to say is sticky!

Sticky (7) AI WEIWEI @ The Foundry

103 LI pageviews as of 3/4/16

Sticky doesn't necessarily mean cute or happy. It means something sticks in your mind. May 12, 2008 something happened; something most of us have forgotten. An earthquake in China killed over 70,000 people including over 5,000 students in modern, "earth quake" resistant schools. Ai Weiwei, an artist and activist, created this exhibit at a terrible personal cost to himself and a friend. He endured being badly beaten by the police so that you and I would remember. Here is the overview:

They organized a group called the citizen's investigation so the names of the children would not be lost. Below is a snapshot of the list of names.

Sticky (6), Otis Kenyon is hot, hot, hot

111 LI pageviews as of 3/4/16

How many wineries are in California and Washington, the top two wine producing states in the USA? Somewhere around 4600. How do you get yours to stand out? You need something that helps your label to stick in people's memories!

Who was Otis Kenyon? A dentist. What did he do that was unusual and tends to be remembered? He burned down his competitor's dental office and got caught and was imprisoned. His wife never told his kids about him. But through a forerunner of Familysearch.org, his kids found him.

Later when they opened a winery, they named the label after Otis. The label looks like it was burned on the bottom and they threw in some matches. Those things, plus being one of the best Malbecs I have ever tasted, ensure this label is going stick in this consumer's mind.

Tasting notes: September 28, 2015 Kathy and Stephen, Walla Walla, Otis Kenyon tasting room. 2012, 100% Malbec, 14.3% alcohol from Phinny Hill vineyard, Horse Heaven Hills AVA, 198 cases produced. Dark, garnet meets ink color and depth. Right after opening, fruit first, could not distinguish, moderate, youthful aroma. First taste, off dry-medium sweet, crisp acidity, dry tannins, not strong, just enough to dry the tongue. Good balance between fruit, alcohol, tannins. Flavorful, tart cherry, oak, hint of caramel. Finish, 6 seconds on tongue before it starts to change, fruits drop out, tannins start to rule. We purchased a case, we would give it 3.5 on the Delong scale with every expectation of 4 something next time we open it. We paired with a vegetable broth, pasta, pork and garlic soup and it seemed to work. Conclusion, lay the case down till 2017 and pop a bottle with someone we love. 

Sticky (5) Survey Monkey look out

32 LI Pageviews as of 3/8/16, apparently the world does not agree this is sticky

I took two surveys yesterday. This was the first one. It was at SEATAC Airport right off the Alaska Air regional air gates. You see it as you head into the restroom. It gives you time to think about the question and answer on the way out. That is sticky and they will be able to collect metrics to see how they are doing.

The second was a Survey Monkey. The majority of LinkedIn members do not fill out surveys for a chance to win an iPad, (we already have at least one). We fill out surveys as a contribution to our community, one of the ways we give back. I have a bias against long surveys, but in this case, there really was no alternative. It was a multi-day tour Kathy and I had just completed and there were some safety issues; not sticky, but important. It took 30 minutes to complete, and it sure would have been nice if they had button arrays like the one in the picture at each turn in the tour. And given the traction of IoT, I expect we will see a lot of that in ten years or so.