Three Things (for 10/31/13)

Haven’t done one of these for a while … which actually provides the third & final “thing” for today

1) Interesting work-related realization this morning.  One of my standard tasks this year has been preparing single-week TV ad campaigns for one of our regular clients.  A series of consistent “one-offs” basically.  The whole process, minus a little down time in the middle, takes about five days.  In reverse order, it’s basically: 1 day to make sure everybody gets the spot they need, 1 day to write the orders up & send them out, 1 day (give or take) to actually plan the buy … and 2 days to beg the current rates & availability out of the sales reps at the roughly 3 dozen stations (who all get an email request for info at the same time)  That the stations themselves – and specifically so many of their employees – are the biggest hold up in the entire process is very telling … and almost completely explains why I honestly look forward to the (still mostly hypothetical) day that portion of advertising is considerably more automated.

2) Congratulations to the Boston Red Sox, worthy winners of the 2013 World Series.   Don’t try to tell me (as some want to insist) that there’s no such thing as “clutch” players.   Both David Ortiz and Shane Victorino strongly suggest otherwise.  As good as their performances were though, it’s hard for me not to realize just how much my interest in baseball — and honestly nearly all sports — has faded over the years.  There was a time not all THAT long ago that missing any part of a World Series game was virtually unthinkable for me.  This year?  I believe I actually watched live maybe two or three at-bats.  It’s not all baseball’s fault IMO, it’s the combination of too much available coverage of sports in general, a steady diminishing of the product through various means and simply having too many other options that warrant my time and attention.

3) Until I decided to try to knock out another edition of Three Things, I really didn’t realize just how long it had been since I’d put one together.  I knew it had been a while but not quite as long as it turned out to be.  I’m pretty sure I know why that’s true: I’m a parent with a child still in school.  Between the demands on my time and the demands on my limited patience, well, writing anything is much more of an effort than at other times of the year.  I’m not going to wish his life away — I really do enjoy my kid — but the physical, emotional, intellectual and psychological toll that the simple mundane realities of even halfway involved parenting takes is something that ought to be the subject of more serious study.