Sunday Stealing: The Semi Charmed Meme, Part One
1. My uncle once:
Was working for my dad at the flour mill and was gonna slip a flat belt over a drive shaft to start a grinder. Something he had done hundreds of time without incident. One time something went wrong and he got flipped over the shaft (about 10 feet in the air and returned to the floor with only his shoes and socks and underwear still on his body. He was otherwise unhurt.
2. Never in my life:
Have I used marijuana.
3. When I was five:
I was kissing the neighbor girl. She moved shortly after that. Wonder what ever happened to her?
4. High School was:
Mostly incredibly bad.
5. I will never forget:
Getting hit in the head with a pickaxe by my cousin: son of the uncle mentioned above.
6. I once met:
Miss Michigan Aerospace Miss Congeniality – and I married her.
7. There’s this girl I know who:
Was a cheerleader – and I married her.
8. Once, at a bar:
We skipped out without paying the bill.
9. By noon, I’m usually:
Done with chores. Chores may not be done, but I’m done with them.
10. Last night:
I stayed awake until 11 pm. A first since we moved!
11. If only I had:
A jazilliono colones.
12. Next time I go to church:
It will be because somebody else wanted to visit.
13. Jonathan Frid:
Was meaningless to me. I had to Google him.
14. What worries me most:
My next blog post
15. When I turn my head left, I see:
The kitchen area
16. When I turn my head right, I see:
The rancho
17. You know I’m lying when:
My ears turn blue and my eyes roll back in my head and my nose grows.
18. What I miss most about the 80s:
The clothes and hair. I really liked the 80s. Probably my most fashionable time.
19. If I was a character in Shakespeare, I’d be:
I don’t know Shakespeare characters. Was there smart-assery in Shakespeare? Can you give me a quote from Shakespeare that qualifies as smart-assery?
20. By this time next year:
This post will be one year old.
Thank you for reading Sunday Stealing!
You remember New Coke, the soft drink that was gonna snag market share away from Pepsi. Instead New Coke hacked off a lot of loyal Coke drinkers and market share plummeted so badly that Coke brought back the old formula.
Ford is gonna pull the same stunt with the iconic Mustang brand.
Nancy’s first car was a 1966 Mustang. Like the one above, six cylinder automatic. She bought it with her own moola.
Girl Car!
Her dad had a fit when the first weekend she went through $30 worth of gas (at 17 cents a gallon.)
Mustangs were wildly popular when it was launched in 1965.
Not good enough says Ford.
Probably at the 50th anniversary of Mustang, 2015, Ford will piss off many loyal Mustang owners in an attempt to be relevant to a younger demographic – who don’t buy cars!
Targeting Baby Boomers with cars has lost it’s luster at Ford, while the rest of the marketing world is hitting the Baby Boomer demographic hard with new products and solutions.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Ford is working on a significant design overhaul for its signature Mustang that will see the next iteration keep the classic shark-nosed grille and round headlights but adopt an overall look closer to that of the new Ford Fusion.
Generation Y – those born between 1980 and 1999 – is the target Ford is aiming for.
“You cannot sustain sales without looking for new buyers. True, you are going to lose sales, but you need to refresh the population of buyers,”
Strategic Vision analyst Alexander Edwards told the Wall Street Journal.
“True you are going to lose sales”
A classic strategic vision if I’ve ever read one. Imagine how THAT meeting went down…
OK guys, you need to redesign a car that has been selling at an acceptable clip for fifty years. Never mind that there are thousands of Mustang Clubs around the world that are so in love with the brand they will buy two or three or more Mustangs. Forget those guys. Let’s focus on the people WHO DON”T BUY CARS.
Edwards says the current average Mustang buyer is 51 years old.
Exactly! The kind of car buyer that may will buy more than one Mustang – or keep updating his Pony every year or so.
Are you ready for a Mustang EV or hybrid, chocked full of accessories that do not improve performance? iPhones and iPads and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter?
Driving itself has become a lower priority for younger people with a 2011 study by the University of Michigan finding that just 65 per cent of 18-year-olds had their driver’s license in 2008, down from 80 per cent in 1983.
Smooth move Ford.
The last rear-wheel drive Ford made in the US is the Mustang. (no more Crown Vics or Lincoln Town Cars.)
Soon the last rear-wheel CAR made in the US will be the Corvette.
Unless GM hires Strategic Vision to kill that brand too.
What’s the greatest American generation? That’s something that will always be contested, of course. There is our parents’ generation, the ones who fought in World War I and World War II and pinched pennies through the depression, while raising a herd of kids. Not too shabby. On the other hand, you’ve got the Mark Zuckerbergs of Generation Y, kids creating the tech that shapes the way we live today – for better or worse.
Between it all, there’s the baby boomers, children of one generation, parents of the other. And still one of the best American generations, in my opinion.
Boomers Have Seen the Evolution of Modern America
As wonderfully cheesy as it is, I always think of the movie “Forrest Gump” when I think of the boomers. For me, the movie is a fun, if not realistic, journey through post-war America to the America of (almost) today. Forrest was a boomer himself and, like the others of his generation, he saw and participated in many of the movements and events that have spawned modern America.
There were the cultural movements: The sexual revolution, civil rights, women’s rights, and the revamping of the American workplace that came with it. There was the Cold War and the constant threat of nuclear attack. Boomers have also witnessed and experienced the change from a manufacturing-heavy industry back then to the information-based industry of today. I feel this switch has been especially momentous and far-reaching. You can learn more about mechanical engineering and degree programs here.
They’re Still Changing with the Times
While boomers have “been there, done that” more than most American generations, the amazing thing about them is that they’re still going strong. While our parents dreamed of retiring to someplace sunny and living out their days on a pension, the reality for many boomers is different. I have friends who started new businesses in their 40s and 50s, who have grown knowledgeable about overseas manufacturing and production after earning an online international business degree. Others are turning to world travel or settling down in Costa Rica, Belize, Argentina, and other international locales. The boomers are still on their toes and as unafraid to change as ever, and that’s why this generation rocks.
