Starbucks vs. Dunkin’ Donuts

Coffee chains batter-ing it out? Has this fight been brewing for a while? It was announced that coffee chain Starbucks is closing its stores nationwide today from 5:30-8:30pm for espresso training. And rival Dunkin’ Donuts is foaming at the mouth just to get an additional shot of Starbucks’ regulars. Today, from 1pm to 10pm, Dunkin’ Donuts is offering a small latte for $.99. When opportunity came a’knockin’, Dunkin’ Donuts opened the door and said, “Have some coffee!” This is one of the best examples I have ever seen of taking advantage of environmental opportunities when they arise. I may live in the online marketing world most of the time (guess I’m just wired that way), but I always appreciate seeing examples of the marketing techniques I was taught in school. This caffeine-charged campaign may sprinkle Dunkin’ Donuts with a new crop of coffee drinkers. And a robusta market share is just what the barista ordered for this breakfast bakery. In the past year or so, the company has already changed its image by adding a new face, Rachael Ray, as spokesperson, and also by expanding its menu. Look out, Starbucks. Dunkin’ Donuts isn’t just playing for beans anymore!

Bravo and Thank You!

Thanks and bravo to everyone who’s been reading! Today we had a record number of hits!! Thanks you guys!! I really appreciate all of you who are reading, and even more, those of you who are commenting! Comments are my favorite. (“I like smiling, smiling’s my favorite!”) So, you know what would make me more happy? Subscribe to my blog, bookmark it, and list it on your facebook/MySpace (other various social network pages) under your favorite websites.
Thanks again, you guys are the best!!
wwLove to you all!
♥Chase♥

Ensley on Ellen

It doesn’t matter how many times I hear this. It gives me goosebumps everytime.

The streets of Heaven update

*for anyone stumbling across this because of the Academy Awards in search of where the quote comes from, I’ll tell you. I first heard it in a speech given by Martin Sheen as President Bartlet in the television show The West Wing. Before that, it had been used by Tom Hanks in his acceptance speech for Best Actor for his role in Philadelphia in 1994. I can’t find anything before this, so the only assumption I can come to is that the quote comes from his speech. A little anti-climactic, if you ask me, for a quote that eloquent to come from an Oscar speech, but there it is. I used it in reference to the deaths that occured in the tragic massacres at both Virginia Tech and NIU, but if it needs to be reduced to an Oscar speech, there it is.

Not again…

Well, what else can I say. Ralph Nader announced on Sunday (2/26) that he will run for President as a third-party candidate. I don’t know what he is thinking. He has run for President, what, 47,000 times already (4 times, ‘92, ‘96, ‘00, ‘04, and ‘08 will be *lucky* number 5)? He announced on “Meet the Press” that part of his decision was driven by attempts to keep him out of the race in 2004. “They were mean to me last time. I’ll show them.” I don’t think that people should be denied the opportunity to run for President if they have a legitimate reason to run for the office. And I suppose that Mr. Nader did some excellent consumer advocacy work back in the 60s with automobile companies, but does that give him the credence to run for President? No, not to run, to be elected. Let him run, if he wants to. Let whomever run that wants to. But he isn’t going to be put on the ballot in some states. And he’s going to get even fewer votes than he did last time. Why? Because 1) the people who would generally vote for him already have a candidate that they can get behind. The young voters that would vote for him are behind Barack Obama, and 2) He’s become a stodgy old guy, and this gen’s Ross Perot. The guy that people look at and think, why? Ok, you have something to say, but you’ve said it 100 times, and now it is just starting to look sad. We appreciate what you are trying to do, but step aside and let some of these other (younger) people work on it. These are your issues, but they are ours too. We’ll help you get it done if you will get out of the way and let us talk to the people that are in more of a position to do something about it. Honestly, Mr. Nader, if you cared about these issues, you would spend your time, money, and efforts into solving, or fighting to solve the problem, rather than campaigning for a position that you are never going to win, and possibly hurting the people that would help you the most were they elected. Read more at NY Times.

K-I-S-S

I took a little break from blogging this weekend, but I am back and in full force. I want to talk right now about education. And as a person who spent her life in public schools, I believe I have every right to lodge a few complaints. I spent some time last night working with my younger sister on a paper she has been asked to write for an advanced placement class. I will not pretend that I am a fantastic writer. But I did manage to survive high school, college, and am now well on my way to earning a masters degree. I think I can safely say that I know a little. And every piece of knowledge that I possess about writing well and the writing process was useless while trying to help my sister. What ever it is that he has taught her, it is incorrect. I’m not saying that this is a different opinion, or a different writing style, but instead that it is just plain wrong. It is as if he is saying that 2+2=7. And apparently he will be the first to admit it. He (my sister’s 10th grade history teacher) claims that his wife, who teaches 11th grade english, has to re-teach them the proper way to write. I do not blame her teacher. After all, he is teaching specifically to a test that students across the country take, the Advanced Placement test. My complaint is with the makers of this test. Document-based questions. Essays that are written based on an idea formed by looking at a series of documents. It is a good idea in theory, for research papers and the like. But I have never, ever written a paper in the format that is taught and considered acceptable for the AP test. Isn’t the point of the advanced placement test to award college credit for college-style work? This is not college-style work. Short, simple sentences without variety in structure or thought. I repeat, this is not college-level work. What it is, is a repression of individuality. There are only so many ways that a document can be interpreted in one short sentence. English and history were always my favorite subjects in school. I have a thing for words, and in my opinion, the bigger, the better. I’ve since been taught that while big words work in some instances, in others, they are useless. These papers that they are being taught to write in order to pass their AP tests and earn college credit are devoid of imagery, descriptors, metaphors, similes, and hyperboles, the marks of good writing. WHY?? Why are students taught to hide their intelligence and creativity in order to pass an advanced placement test? I am not a teacher, but I am a student. I understand the K-I-S-S principle. Keep it simple, stupid. The oxy-moronic version of our education teaches us first to advance our vocabulary and continually challenges us to learn words that never appear in ordinary conversation, and then when we finally come across the opportunity to use the word loquacious (talkative) or acalculia (an inability to perform arithmatic functions), we’re told to keep it simple.
Yeah. Keep it simple. It is stupid.

You can’t fish while on horseback, but you can carry a gun to class?

One of the strange laws of the state of Utah is that it is against the law to fish from horseback. Even stranger? You can carry a concealed gun on any college campus (public colleges). Sure can. College kids can get up, strap on the .22, pull on jeans and go to class. Until late 2006, University of Utah had a ban that prohibited firearms from campus, but it was struck down by the state legislature. The school, along with the other public universities in the state is fighting with the legislature to reinstate the ban. In light of the massacre at Virginia Tech and the more recent one at Northern Illinois University, some college students claim they feel that they can better protect themselves by carrying a concealed weapon. I suppose if there had been someone with a gun when Seung-Hui Cho (Virginia Tech) started shooting, that might have ended sooner and spared some lives. But we have no way of knowing that. Private schools in Utah such as Brigham Young University in Provo have the power to ban firearms.
I went to a state university (THE STATE’S UNIVERSITY), although I was out of school before the Virginia Tech shooting happened, but I am not sure I would feel comfortable knowing that some of my fellow students had concealed weapons on them. If I was on a college campus with a firearms ban and I saw the outline of a gun that was being concealed under someone’s shirt, or in someone’s pants, then I would know there was a problem. If there was no such ban, how would anyone know? Granted, concealed weapons are just that, concealed. Does it increase accidental gun deaths? I mean, think about how many college kids are getting drunk every night? And then they have easier access to a gun because they are either carrying one, or one of their drunk friends is carrying one? That’s a frightening thought. Maybe they aren’t as worried in Utah, as they have some pretty interesting liquor laws. To read more on this subject, read this article posted on CNNU.

This week in NEWS

Fidel Castro stated he would not accept the nomination for President of Cuba. He has been bedridden for almost two years now, and his brother Raúl has been ruling in his place. Does this signal changes for Cuba? Or is it going to remain in Castro’s inner circle of communist rule? I don’t honestly know if I can say one way or the other. I think, probably, there isn’t going to be much change in Cuba. I wish I could say that I thought there was going to be. But I just don’t think so. Raúl Castro has had power, maybe not in title, but in every other sense while FC has been bed-ridden. And FC has been in power for almost 100 years now. (I exaggerate). My question is…is the United States going to get involved? *Unofficially, off the record, and all that jazz.* We seem to get involved in all sorts of places where we aren’t wanted, so it only seems natural that we put our two cents in in Cuba too. Speaking of getting involved where we aren’t wanted…
Have you seen the MadTV Apple video? If not, here it is.

I’m sorry, but that is just too funny. Props to whomever thought that one up.
Has anyone heard this week that Harry and Hermione are dating?! Ok, not the characters from JK Rowling’s books, but the people that play them in the movies. Perez Hilton, or a “source” is reporting that the two (Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson) were spotted together on Valentine’s Day and were looking very cozy. Aw…..I always think of them as being, I don’t know, 11 years old or something. So, that’s just weird for me. But, good for them.
Wisconsin, Hawaii, and Washington held pimaries last night. Was anyone surprised by Wisconsin going to Senator Obama? I was. It seems as though the Clinton campaign is losing momentum, which I think worries…a lot of people. March 4th is going to be a very interesting day. Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont are all holding their primaries that day, and Texas and Ohio have suddenly become very big players. Well, ok, they were already big players, but even more so now. I’m under the impression that the Republican nomination is owned by Mr. McCain, so I choose not to focus on those primaries.
The space shuttle Atlantis landed today, because we are going to try and shoot down the faulty spy satellite that is orbiting the earth. Seems like our missions need to be a little more stealth, if ya know what I’m saying. We’ve clearly not done a very good job keeping our spy satellites under wraps. Next thing you know, someone is going to leave the missile launch code book on the metro…

Ensley and Ellen

Just wanted to let everyone know that our favorite Idolite is going to be appearing on the Ellen Degeneres Show on Friday, February 22nd. Apparently Ellen is a big fan of Kyle’s (well, who can blame her??) and so he is going to go visit with her. Be sure to record it (or watch it, if you are going to be home.)

Let’s Get Outta This Town

I am finishing my graduate degree at the end of July. It has been quite a journey, not just graduate school, but the entire universe of my educational career. Granted, it is only February, and July 26th is still 157 days away. Yes, 157 days. But for the first time in my entire life, I can see the end of my schooling. 18 years I’ve been in school without a break any longer than the two and a half month summer vacation we are so gratiously alloted. And as of July 26th, it will be done. Officially. Whoa. The magnitude of that is something that has occurred to me recently. It’s kind of a big deal! One that most of my friends have already realized, having finished their college educations already. I’m not sure how I am handling this yet, the realization that after this there is no more school. Well, there could be, but so far that isn’t a part of the plan. Anyway, like I said, this is a big occasion in my life. And to mark the occasion, a friend and I have been tossing back and forth the idea of taking a trip in August. We’re talking about it now, because we are both graduate students with loans that we have to think about. So saving for this trip will take a lot of planning. Who has tried to plan a trip online? I travel pretty frequently, and usually venture between Expedia, Travelocity, and Kayak when I am looking to book a flight. The difference right now is that I am also looking at hotels (and for one of the destinations that we are looking at, attraction tickets). So, I have logged quite a bit of time on these websites plus many, many other travel sites in the past few days. And I haven’t found that they are going to save me any money. Seriously. For the places that I want to go, the time is going to be off-season, so the website prices are the same as these special price-saver sites. I am not saying don’t use the sites, because I still always use them when I am booking a flight to Dallas. But I thought I would save a lot if I booked a package with one of these sites, but it is turning out to be less expensive if I book everthing seperately. Maybe if you have a family, or a lot of people (more than two?), then the packages are less expensive. But so far, what I’ve found is that for just my friend and I, it will be more expensive to book a package. I love planning trips. I really do. Take a trip to DisneyWorld, for instance. If I were planning a trip to DisneyWorld, not only would I research the best prices for flights, hotels, park tickets, etc., but I would be looking for the best times of the year to go, average rainfall for the time I wanted to go, average temperature for the time I wanted to go. Then once I had my dates set, I would see what special events were happening during the days I was going to be there. (If you are a Disney traveler, then I am talking about things like their extra magic hours and stuff.) A few years ago, I did this for my family. Once we had the dates we were going, I spent days researching every minute detail that I could for us to make the most of our trip. We were going during July, which is one of the busiest, hottest, and rainiest times to go to DW. And I did not want us to miss anything because of long lines or rain. I researched what days each park was the busiest, which rides were busier in the morning versus the afternoon, which rides had fastpasses. I researched the best places to view the fireworks shows at each park. I researched the best restaurants for which times and which budgets. Then I cross-referenced all this information with maps of the parks so to optimize our time even further (not running from one end of the park to another ride at the other end of the park, and then back). I was able to put together a detailed itinerary that outlined what park(s) we would be visiting each day, what rides we should stop at, what rides we should get fastpasses for, and what our options were for eating at the respective parks. The totally neurotic side of me thinks this was the most productive way to do this, the normal side of me realizes what a freak show the neurotic side is. Well, my family (who asked me to do this, by the way, because they know of my neuroticisms) largely ignored my itinerary, except for the days that we would visit each park. But I learned a lot in my experience. Particularly where to go to find good travel tips and the like. All this to say, my recent research has yielded some interesting results.
And now I want to go to Disney World.