Here’s a commentary of mine published today by the Columbia Chronicle on the effort afoot to repeal the 1998 Higher Education Act, which in part denies federal college aid to anyone with a drug conviction.
And here’s my latest story for Insurance Journal, a feature examining different types of agency cooperatives, or clusters. An abbreviated version of this story was published earlier — this is the big enchilada.
Why don’t you do like Stu — and screw up another great cheesy ad jingle? Again, a legendary local jingle has been altered for the worse.
Viewers of daytime and late-night Chicago-area TV should know that after the question, “Why don’t you do like Stu?” The catchy musical suggestion is that one, “Push it, pull it, tow it to Golf Mill Ford.”
“It” is your old, broken down car, and the ad showed a hefty gentleman pushing, pulling and then towing a junker into the lot of this suburban Ford dealership.
In the new ads, there is no singing. It’s just a spoken suggestion and loses all of the force of the original.
What’s next? Attacking another country just because they might at some unspecified point in the future have weapons half the world already has? Oops.
So for Karen‘s birthday last night we dined at Geja’s and then stayed at the Hotel Monaco downtown near the Chicago River.
Geja’s is a fondue place and prides itself on “romantic fondue dining.” And, true, they do have the flamenco guitarist plinking away in the corner and the lighting is “romantic.” As for the food, I believe it’s generally accepted that melted food is more romantic.
But when the dining experience is over, how is the lingering, overpowering stench of grease supposed to help get us in the mood? Does this turn people on?
Here’s a story I filed yesterday about an insurance conference on discrimination that I attended with my dad.
There it sits. Unloved. Unwanted. But why?
In the lobby of my building, the gift of a wide world full of possibilities awaits the “Current Resident” who has the wisdom to simply take it.
The shiny metal case, promising “1045 FREE HOURS!” But why won’t anyone pity that poor America Online promo CD?
“I just want to be loved, is that so wrong?!” it cries. “I just want to overcharge you for crappy connection service and allow spammers to target you mercilessly.”
Yet, amazingly, no one is interested. Oh, “Current Resident,” when will you ever learn?
The Cubs’ second baseman of the future will retain that status for now, as the club sent Bobby Hill down to Triple-A Iowa to somehow find the form that deserted him this spring, when he hit .154 and made five errors.
It’s a shame, because the Cubs’ needs all the help it can get. Hill was supposed to be a catalyst, a guy who could get on base ahead of Sosa, Alou and Choi.
But sending him to Iowa is the right move. Give him a month or two there to regain his form. I just hope Grudzielanek doesn’t show a sudden spark that might make Baker hesitant to play Hill most of the time when he gets called back up.
I don’t know if you’ve seen the ads for Progressive Insurance Co. targeted at teens, but they (of course) accompanied by a Web site.
It’s actually a very good site, with lots of helpful information about auto insurance, coverage quizzes and other interesting stuff. Well, interesting to an insurance geek like me, anyway.
Originally, I found the ads puzzling. After all, most teen-agers are insured through their parents’ policy, where they get better rates. And auto insurance is not exactly the kind of things kids see as a status symbol (“Oh, mah Gawd! I cannot believe she is insured with State Farm. What was she thinking?!”).
But Progressive knows that very few teens who explore their site will actually wind up buying insurance from then, at least now. What they are doing is trying to explain the basics and help teens figure it out for themselves. The site even talks about the pros and cons of going solo.
So, even if this target market cannot afford Progressive now, it’s a name they’ll know and perhaps look to get a quote from three or four years down they line after they’re finishing up college. At least, that’s how a Progressive rep. explained it to me yesterday.
I have no idea whether it will work or not, but it’s another example of Progressive’s thinking outside the proverbial box. As the kids might say, “Kewl.” (Yes, I know I’m only 25 years old.)
The only danger will be if the anti-tobacco folks might start persecuting Progressive for pursuing the teen target market. “Look at all the kids you’ve hooked on insurance!” I could imagine them howling on “Nightline.”
Chicagoans who watch TV are doubtless familiar with Empire Carpet, a shop-at-home carpet service that for years has had a catchy jingle, “588-2300 … Empire!”
And now they’ve gone and changed it. Now, the slogan is, “800-588-2300, Empire Today!” It just doesn’t sound right, not to these ears which have for lo these many years been comforted during many a dark moment by that catchy jingle.
Sure, the new jingle better imparts Empire’s quick service, but at what price, I ask you. At what price?
It’s only since I began regularly walking our dog, Sport, that I’ve realized how much discarded food winds up the sidewalks and gutters of your average city street — or at least, our average city street. And of course Sport seems to find every scrap.
Now, I understand how a french fry might fall out of a McDonald’s bag in the rush home, or how some bread crumbs the birds weren’t interested in could be hanging around. But on our walk last night, I saw Sport had found something.
It was dark, but I could see the outline of this massive object hanging from his little mouth. I bent down to get a closer look, and it was a damn half slab of ribs!
Not a rib. An entire half slab of discarded ribs. How does this happen? In what alternate universe are people randomly leaving half slabs of ribs on the sidewalk?
The wife is celebrating her 30th birthday today. She was delighted with her presents and we’ve got an adventure to go on tonight.
The only sad thing about Karen’s birthdays is they mean that there’s another year with her that I’ll never get back — but I guess that’s what memories are for.
Gene Healy has many right-on things to say about the war in Iraq so far.
An abbreviated version of a story I wrote for Insurance Journal about agency co-ops, or clusters, is now online.
Enjoy!
I just finished a 2,000-word story on the California homeowners insurance market. May you never have to write a 2,000-word story on the California homeowners insurance market.
Not that I don’t love it!
kboreilly.com 
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