Author: charlesbuell

Be Careful Judging Books by Their Covers

We may not always do this, some don’t come with pretty covers, but it sure is easy to do.

Of course this is a metaphor for any number of things we judge by their appearance.

But their appearance where?

Most men are afflicted and helpless with the power of a pretty woman walking by. I was thinking about this the other day when I saw a pretty woman headed home from a hard day’s work at the office.

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Obviously I have no clue as to whether this is true or not. I suspect I could make up endless stories about what the truth really is, but I suspect regardless the truth, it would not alter the high likelihood of their being a dark side most of us would not want to go to.

I wish the picture was in better focus, but I suspect that would not clear up the overall focus.

While most guys will automatically see her as “beautiful”–regardless of focus—the truth is, there was almost nothing unusual about her such that, if you saw her in Nordstroms, you would have any clue this might be where she lived. Either here, or in one of 20 other similar homesteads on this median of Interstate 5 in downtown Seattle.

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I found the juxtaposition almost unbearable.

Solutions apparently are difficult to come by, and I have to assume the varied causes are themselves, likely part of why nothing gets done.

Charles Buell

Something is lost when success leads to mediocrity.

DSCF1228While I live in the land of all things Starbucks, it never occurred to me there might actually be a very “first” Starbucks–and that one could actually “go there.”

I guess it is logical there had to be a first and that one could go to it, but not being a fan of burned coffee, I have never spent as much time thinking about going to the first Starbucks as it will take me to write this post.

What struck me about going to the first Starbucks (besides finding out that it is not at the actual “exact” location of the original one–but very close–at least in the same Pike Place Market), was noticing the degree to which Starbucks sold out as it went after, and adapted to, a wider audience.

What started out as a very cool and different coffee shop, with a different taste and with perhaps one of the coolest logos of all time, had to “cover up” their vampish mermaid logo so as to not offend the tastes of a wider audience—a sometimes prudish and conservative audience.  The logo became “safe” and much less interesting.

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But this is the way of businesses that feel compelled to figure out ways to clone themselves in the pursuit of profits.  It is one of the fringe benefits of globalization.

Something is lost when success leads to mediocrity.

 

Charles Buell