Tag: generation x

The Return Of The Phone Warrior

The year was 1998, I was in my mid 20’s, and I got my first company paid StarTAC phone, which was a great phone for the times.

Although it was so compact, it could easily fit into your pocket, many StarTAC users wore them clipped to a belt. I’m not sure why, perhaps it was a Batman fetish, perhaps it was to show everyone you had this phone. But wherever you stored it, it was a tremendous asset for anyone who needed to do business while on the go.

“Small and Powerful”-that’s what she said

Being A Phone Warrior

Most phone warriors become that way because they are also road warriors.

The Original Scaffolding Team

No, not that kind of Road Warrior. The kind that is constantly on the move, which I was.

After my second month with the phone, I got a call from our company’s VP of purchasing. He wanted to talk about my phone usage. That month, April of 98, my phone bill was around $1,100. But what Jason wanted to talk to me about was significantly increasing my time on the phone. More phone time, more, more, more.


I gave him what he wanted.

Unfortunately, during the pre-internet times, car buyers were on the phone constantly. I spent my entire 20’s and 30’s connected to a cellphone and a pricing guide (Black Book for me). I was a phone warrior and a road warrior.

But then, I left the car business, and left the constant phone work behind.  In fact, still to this day, I often don’t touch my iPhone throughout the day. Part of me is still repelled from heavy phone work as a throwback punishment to my youth.

These days, there are soooo many ways to get or stay in touch with someone. Email, Slack, Discord, Text, a private message on one of the gagillion social media platforms available, and on, and on the list goes.

But do you know what hasn’t changed since the 90’S?

People Still Need To Do Business

  • Doors need to be opened
  • Deals have to be closed
  • Product needs to be shipped
  • Returns need to happen

And on and on the business cycle goes. But which channel do many, if not most, people pursue in order to perform these business functions? They choose the most crowded channel possible.

“I’ll send so and so a cold email, that’ll get their attention”, says a person who is delusional about how crowded inboxes are. If you are a middle manager and up in today’s email-fueled world, your inbox is probably bulging at its digital seams. In fact, I think I’ve received 100 fresh emails while typing this sentence.

So, how do you break through this resistance? Let’s look to an American poet for the answer..”

“Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” Robert Frost

Take the path less traveled, especially if you are trying to sell to someone Generation X and older. All day, every day, many in corporate America type furiously on our keyboards answering emails, Slacks, etc. All the while, our desk phone sits silently on our desks.

So if you are looking to make a new contact, or move some deal forward, or open new opportunities, try today’s least populated communication channel, the telephone.

Pick up the phone and call. Do this all day, every day, like Bud Fox, and outsized returns should follow.

Persistence!!

Halftime Happiness For Generation X

You may be searching for a negative review of last night’s Super Bowl halftime show. If that’s your intention with this article, you’re going to be extremely disappointed.

First, I have to mention the game.

As a Georgia Bulldawg/Matthew Stafford fan who has attended every Rams training camp, and dresses his children in Rams gear, and who leaned into Cooper Kupp exposure this season, it was a special night that was the culmination of a special season.

But as much as I loved the game, I’ve played the halftime show 5 times already and haven’t replayed one part of the game.

First, the Chronic 2000 has been in my cd changer/playlist since it was released. Which officially qualifies me as an old-head, but I’m an old-head who looked forward to hearing Kendrick Lamar’s set as much as I wanted to hear Snoop.

Let’s go set-by-set.

First, Snoop reminded everyone of his roots. The Doggystyle album cover picture was a nice touch. Apparently, his wardrobe was a bit too “gang-related” for the NFL folks. It’s notable the league and the haters’ minds went to the Crips instead of the Rams considering how much gold was on his wardrobe. So, for the NFL, and the media, I made a guide to help you

Rams = Gold and blue.

Crips = Blue.

Dre got his first chance on the mic with California Love, which everyone knew was coming. (It’s a Super Bowl in LA-duh!) Dre’s performance led us to an upside-down 50 Cent.

Upside Down Fifty

Fifty killed it. Period. The internets have jokes today considering his weight. While I normally appreciate the constant joke machine that is the world wide web, in this case, they are wrong.

First, you never criticize an actor’s weight because chances are good they are either coming off a role or prepping for a role.

Second, I thought he looked swole and trim. He’s not 22 anymore. This is what mid-life looks like.

Next, this is the Super Bowl. Most of America is 48 nachos, 4 slices of pizza, and 12 chicken wings into their meal by halftime.

Lastly, as a die-hard Beat Street fan, the man who wrote “I tagged ‘Spit’ over Ramo’s shit, I’m a vandal.” gets a lifetime pass from me.

Fifty took us to Mary and the Queen didn’t disappoint. Her first number one single, produced by Dre, “Family Affair” was first and she gave the audience a spirited dance to her classic. In 2001 when Family Affair dropped, if you went to a club, you were going to hear that song. Period.

Then she left it out on the vocal field with “No More Drama”.

Kendrick took over where the Queen left off.

His set ad libbed more than the rest and everything about his delivery was on point. The dancers were sharp and some of the overhead shots of their patterns around the city grid was visually stunning.

As soon as it was clear he was performing “Alright” I was simultaneously excited and intrigued on how he would handle some of the lyrics. Notably, the word “po-po” was omitted from his lyrics, “and we hate po-po”.

From the camera angle it was impossible to see if the omission was Kendrick leaving out the word or the censor muting it. I’m certain this was by design.

This omission makes it obvious that this lyric was contested. By the league? By the network? By the FCC? By some of them? By all of them? Who knows?

But the omission was only noticeable to those folks who dig the song. His cadence was so tight around that line that the rest of America had no idea that something was missing.

It was music to the ears to hear the N.W.A. shout out.

And almost immediately Dre cut to a splice of “forgot About Dre” as a way to introduce the biggest selling artist of the 2000’s. Since time is crunched, he went with the biggest solo hit of that time.

I quickly noticed Eminem went with the Jordan 3s for his retro footwear, which is also my retro footwear of choice for “big” occasions as well.

Eminem’s set ended with him kneeling. I’m certain, many folks across the country started cussing as soon as they saw him take that pose. If you think for one second that the curses don’t make Eminem grin from ear to ear, you haven’t listened to any of his music. Ever.

I was focused on Dre playing Tupac’s “I Ain’t Mad At Cha” on the piano.

Maybe Em was kneeling out of reverence for Tupac, maybe it was for Kaepernick, maybe it was for a completely different reason. But whatever the reason, he had Karens all across the country clutching their pearls.

The wealthy have a saying, “what good is having fuck-you money, if you don’t occasionally say ‘fuck you!’” In other words, there’s no reason to be the biggest rap star in the world if you can’t say “fuck you” from time to time.

Dre’s Tupac shout-out morphed into the famous piano riff throughout “Still D.R.E.” and Snoop and hundreds of dancers emerged for the finale.

It is notable that between Snoop’s appearances, he did manage to smoke some cannabis. Which, I have to say, smoking cannabis in the middle of your Super Bowl halftime show is one of the most Snoop  things I could’ve imagined. Kudos to Snoop!

The finale reminded everyone that it is still Dre’s Day.

It is notable that Dre’s lyric “still not loving police” was kept in the song.

Which leads to my favorite part of the show—when all of the performers are on the stage at the end. The Queen is grooving, Snoop is dancing, Kendrick and Fifty are hugging, and they are all there, just to emphasize that it’s still all about the D.R.E.

Fifty’s joyful smile at the end of the show said everything. I was smiling just as wide.

Gen X Super Fight

This would be a Gen X dream card. But I think the actual fight would fall flat.

Everyone knows I have mad love for Daniel LaRusso, I even bought my last Audi at LaRusso Audi. But Bruce Leroy would wipe the floor with Daniel and the entire Miyago-Do Dojo.

p.s. the “Special appearance by DeBarge” is a nice touch on the poster.

Participation Trophies

These days, I see a lot of comments on social media from those Gen X and older about the “trophy generation”.

In over 4 decades on this planet, I’ve seen some glorious things and I’ve seen some things that would make the devil himself blush.

But I have NEVER, ever, in my entire life seen a 7 year old walk into a trophy store, lay down his own money, and walk out with 25 trophies.

Just like there are no bad dogs, only bad dog owners, maybe, just maybe, those throwing stones at the younger generation should take a long hard look at their own generation, since y’all were the ones who raised this generation.

p.s. the reason they can’t drive stick, is all you older folks stopped buying sticks in the 90’s (probably because you couldn’t drive a manual either), so manufacturers stopped making them. Supply and demand are real.

Watching “The ‘Burbs” in The Burbs is sooooo Meta

My wife and I have a standing agreement that if one of us enjoyed a movie from the 80’s, and the other spouse hasn’t seen it yet, we watch the movie together to share in the other person’s childhood memories, and to add to our own level of 80’s nostalgia.

Yesterday’s dinner conversation morphed from an actual volcano, to an episode of Miles from Tomorrowland about a volcano, to “Joe Versus the Volcano”, to another Tom Hanks film— “The ‘Burbs.”

burbs1

I was “The ‘Burbs” veteran, and she was the rookie, but I could barely remember the plot, which is the preferable way to go into a three decade old movie. I gave adequate warnings about the possibility of the film sucking, which is always a risk with media from the 80’s. So, once the kids were tucked in for the night, we hustled to our media room.

For those of you not familiar with the movie, Tom Hanks stars as the ringleader of a group of neighbors with too much time on their hands. These suburbanites take it upon themselves to investigate the “mysterious” neighbors who recently moved in to their cul-de-sac. The movie costars: Carrie Fisher, Bruce Dern, and Corey Feldman.

burbs 2

Does this movie stand the test of time? That is the question I ask about any movie I revisit from the Reagan decade.

There were plenty of things to like about The ‘Burbs.

Even though the movie has a noir feel to it, the story telling was refreshingly simplistic, as are most movies from the 80’s. Apparently, screenwriter’s hadn’t yet got the message to “make every movie as convoluted as possible”.

The visual elements were authentically 80’s.

The hair was big. No surprise there. But, Corey Feldman’s hair was exceptionally glorious.

The limited amount of technology used by the characters was primitive, even by early 90’s standards.

The movie contained the required 80’s elements of a dream sequence and a music montage.

It’s easy to forget that Tom Hanks was/is a remarkable physical comedian. This movie was a decent vehicle for him to express that talent, and it was nice to see that aspect of his acting again.

While the movie had a few other positive moments, that was about it for the good elements. I didn’t know if my disappointment stemmed from already knowing the answer to the mystery or from the film’s overall quality. I asked “The ‘Burbs” rookie, and she was also disappointed.

Did “The ‘Burbs” stand the test of time?

It was a close call, but unfortunately, this movie is best left in the 80’s.