Scott Bush

Have you seen the logo for Sherwin-Williams paints? I live near one of their stores but never noticed their disturbing logo until I had occasion to buy some paint. There I was in line and noticed the upturned paint can disgorging its contents over an unsuspecting globe. “WTF?” I thought. That is just wrong!Sure, it stands for dominance in the paint market, a powerful representation of a brand that smothers the competition with its ubiquity (and glossy latex sheen). But the 50s are over and a little something called the environmental movement happened. Why haven’t Sherwin and Williams gotten together over a lunch of Exxon Valdez oil-soaked shorebird and red-tide shellfish to discuss updating their logo for the 90s, let alone 2007?

As you can see, it’s pretty horrible. It evokes images of lead-based paint seeping into every nook and cranny of the world. Even if you don’t see it like that, it’s still a massively sloppy paint job. See those four nasty drips? There’s no drop-cloth under planet Earth, so that can’t be good for Mars, Venus, or whatever other planet is under the Earth in its current location (except Pluto; it was kicked out of the planet club). But I digress. They need a new logo and someone should tell them! Wait, I just did. But they probably don’t read my blog.

My posts tend to be exercises in logorrhea, but this one is short. If you are a Mac user (and, as I’ve said before, you should be!) and care anything about the history of the Mac and what makes it the finest OS around, you should read AppleInsider’s series of articles. They cover the new features and updated applications in OS 10.5, “Leopard,” which hits shelves on Friday.

Jump right to “Road to Mac OS X Leopard” and start reading:

• Finder 10.5
• Dock 1.6
• Dashboard, Spotlight, and the Desktop
• Mail 3.0
• Time Machine (this is amazing!)
• Spaces
• iCal 3.0
• iChat 4.0
• Safari 3.0
• Dictionary 2.0
• Preview 4.0

Faithful readers will recall I wrote about a day at the zoo (as will readers who can click) where my employer hosted a fun-filled day of sponsored entertainment for the whole family. (That assumes of course your family had purchased on of my employer’s homes.)

Today I’m pleased to say that my teammates and I on the marketing team responsible for the aforementioned zoo day were recognized at our quarterly meeting. We received a “team synergy” award and I must say it’s well deserved. It was the first time our team had put on this event and it really came off well. Congratulations all!

I’m off to spend the prize money! Ooops—got confused for sec, thought we got $1.3 million to spend, but that’s actually for Nobel Prize winners.

… don’t mix. I’ve noticed (as I’m sure you have, too) that people can’t seem to let a monitor, projector, or other device with an energy-saving mode actually work in their presence. Here’s the scenario: room full of people in a meeting, one of whom has a laptop hooked to a projector. The discussion goes on well past the topic of the slide projected on the room’s screen. When the signal from the laptop cuts out due to inactivity–as it’s supposed to do in order to save energy and the life of the bulb in the projector–someone absent-mindedly shakes the mouse to wake it up, though the information isn’t relevant to the conversation.

I’ve seen this happen as many as three times in a row. Though I’ve wanted to say something, I didn’t want to sound like a shrill eco-nazi. “Stop wasting energy!” I’d scream, and everyone would swivel toward me, staring. I’m already on thin ice for mentioning that the faucet doesn’t need to spew gallons of water down the drain while some lady idly rinses a tupperware (that she’ll place in the dishwasher moments later) while talking to her colleague.

So, the next time you see someone wake up a computer for no discernible reason, say something. That way I won’t have to.

After seeing Andre Rieu this evening, I’ve broken with my rare-if-ever concert-going tradition. I’ve now seen two events at the Key Arena this year (the first being The Police reunion).

I went with my wife and her friend, filling in for the absent original third member of their party. His music—classical and operatic—is not really my thing, but I went. Overall it was a pretty good show. There were more antics than I expected, which helped break up the monotony, though it did get old. Rieu actually seemed pretty nice, though he did call out one older lady when she arrived late. The cameras turned on her and he stood there, waiting. He said “We’re European; we’re never late.” Laughs all around, even from the scapegoated woman.

The ensemble was actually more than European, however. Besides the orchestra, the three male tenors were from Australia, Hungary, and Germany. There were two featured woman singers, one of whom was another Aussie (20 and quite pretty!); the other was from Chile. The music was primarily by Strauss, though there were selections from other composers, one Phantom of the Opera tune, and some classics like Amazing Grace and God Bless America during the several encores (six is too many in my book).

With all the political unrest in a particular SE Asian country recently (that I think is important and support the monks’ desire for democracy), that country’s name is all over the media. Actually, its names. As you’re undoubtedly aware, the country formerly known as Burma is now called Myanmar. That change occurred in 1989… by my math that’s almost two decades. Why then must every foreign correspondent, anchor person, and cub reporter feel the need to add some variant of “Myanmar, formerly called Burma”? There must be a statute of limitations on using a former name… I’d offer up 5 years. After that if someone doesn’t know, the onus should be on them to ask the oracle of all knowledge for the answer.

So, I’ve decided upon the solution. I really should get a Pulitzer or something for the service I’m doing for journalism. Here’s the deal. The country will now be referred to with a hybrid name. Yes, like TomKat, KFed, and my favorite, HamKey / TurkHam (that’s ham made of turkey or turkey made of ham). Burma Myanmar will now be called MyanMa. Or, if you prefer, BurMar. It’s up to you. I prefer MyanMa. Journalists, update your AP Stylebooks and stop “educating” everyone about Myanmar’s former name. Thanks.

As an aside, there was an episode of Seinfield in which J. Peterman goes to Myanma because he’s burned out writing the catalog in New York. He calls Elaine and tells her where he is, and says “You may know it as Myanmar, but it’ll always be Burma to me.” Thus proving once again how relevant that show is to life.