Why I Can’t Wait to Leave Augusta

Having lived in Augusta for over nine years and having a home and raising a family here, locals are often surprised that I can’t wait to leave. I ask them, “What’s to like — hot, humid summers and a crooked, bigoted government.”

I expected the first. I don’t like hot weather; especially hot, humid weather. I realized that it was going to be hot here. I dealt with it. I tend to look on the bright side of things; make the best of any situation (comes from my many years as a military spouse). If you don’t make the best of a situation, you’re going to be miserable and make everyone around you miserable.

I had no preparation for the local government.

The local government, and the city commissioners in particular, are the biggest bunch of racist bigots I’ve ever seen. They say they want Augusta to advance and improve yet they do nothing to make that happen. Most of the commissioners vote along racial lines (which, by law, is racially balanced) every chance they get. They use stall tactics to avoid a quorum when trying to get some much-needed changes made in this city. It’s insane. What they don’t realize is that I’m not alone in my opinion and their actions are hurting Augusta.

Augusta could be so much more than it is; we’ve got seven, that’s right seven, major hospitals in this one city. And it’s about two hours from anywhere — the mountains, the beach, Atlanta, etc. It’s really a pretty place. It’s too bad they have voted in the city commissioners that they did. They’re ruining Augusta.

I do have to give credit to the new mayor, Deke Copenhaver, I think he’s doing his best to tame these out-of-control tyrants. But there’s only so much one man can do. Good luck, Deke. Augusta’s counting on you.

Marketing to the Right Audience Isn’t That Hard to Do

Being intimately involved in marketing, I tend to view markeitng efforts suspiciously. For instance, while watching a commercial on TV (my Internet’s been down for a week so I’ve had to resort to killing time in front of the television, but that’s another story), I automatically try to figure out which demographic the advertiser is trying to target (not hard to do) and why they chose that particular channel and time slot. It’s kind of fun actually. I’ve noticed advertisers believe the majority of people watching the History Channel during the middle of the weekday think their audience is out-of-work adults who must either be in financial trouble or need more money. There was a commercial offering to help file for bankruptcy and a commercial to help you lower your insurance bill.

Ok, I’m getting off track here; the thing I want to rant about here are commercials that for one reason or another, drive me nuts. And as weird as it may seem, I’ve actually vowed to avoid these stores and/or products because of their marketing. For example, I cannot stand the new Old Navy commercial with the girls singing about “getting your fash on.” I hate it when they make up words like that. I hate it so much that I turn the commercial off and I refuse to go to Old Navy. I am sort of their target market since I could potentially buy their merchandise for my three children. If they’re just looking for people to remember their commercial, they’ve succeeded; however, they failed in garnering a recurrent customer in me.

Another one I saw just recently was a commercial for the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce. Their catch phrase or tag line — it certainly wasn’t a Unique Positioning Statement in the truest sense — is, “New Mexico, come full circle.” That phrase is repeated in several segments throughout the 30-second spot. What does that mean — come full circle? See, that’s what I’m talking about; advertisers think we’re idiots. They don’t think we’re going to question a tag line like that? Unless I’m missing something critical, I just don’t get it. Come full circle. Start in New Mexico and end in New Mexico? If they’re trying to get people to visit or move there — which is what most chambers do — they’ve missed their mark. If you know something about this that makes sense, I’d love to hear about it.

I truly don’t spend a lot of time watching television but I often listen to the radio while shuttling my son to and from school and I have decided mentally-challenged marketers write local commercials. Some are so bad I have to turn the station, shut off the radio or slip in a CD. No kidding; there’s one local commercial that says their name no less than six times within close proximity of each other in the 15- to 30-second spot. It doesn’t even flow with the rest of the text. It’s like someone told them that people will remember your name if you say it often enough. Well, guess what? Not only do I turn off the commercial, I don’t even remember the name of the store! Talk about bad marketing. Even if I did remember the name, I’d probably avoid the store just because their commercial irritates me so much! Good job, advertisers!

Valuable Information: Inquire Within

I just signed up for an account with Mozy.com and I’m so excited about it that I thought I’d pass along the information.

I had been using FilesAnywhere.com for an online backup of my computer files as well as a way to send large files to clients. But it cost me $15.95 a month for 4 GB of space. No problem … until I found out about Mozy.com through a VA forum. They offer 2 GB of space for FREE! I opted for more space (30 GB) for only $4.95 a month! And it’s so easy to use! I’m performing a backup of everything on my hard drive as I type this! For sending large files, I’ve downloaded the free file sharing service from Pando.com. Check this out too! I love to get things for nothing (or next to it!).

I could never figure out how to use the automatic backup feature with Files Anywhere but the one with Mozy.com is so easy! I have it set up to automatically back up my files everyday at 5:30. I know I sound like a commercial for them but I’m excited to spread the word about such incredible deals.

If I find out about any other cool programs for a great price, I’ll let you know. By the way, I tried to use LogMeIn.com for accessing my home PC from a remote location (my laptop) and never could get it to work. I tried the several suggestions they provided to no avail so I just deleted it off my system. It must work for some people, but I couldn’t get it to work for me. If you’re interested, go to logmein.com to check it out. They have a free version (not a trial version). Good luck with it. ;0)

Have a great week!