Author: sethmsparks

I Did Not Die Today.

By sethmsparks

I stole that title. It’s the same title as one of my favorite Wizard of Ads Monday Morning Memos. I stole it to capture your attention. I stole it because this morning I became fearful of something less than death. To help myself rationalize and calm the fear, repeating the simple statement “I did not…

A $7 Cup of Coffee

By sethmsparks

Who would buy a $7 cup of coffee? Simply put, I would. Or at least, I have been lately. Today even. A Starbucks large mocha frappuccino made with soy milk and two extra shots of espresso. Thinking more about it, I’m not sure it’s something I’m proud of. I see it similar to someone paying…

3 Rules for Successful Partnership Marketing

By sethmsparks

My department is founded on the principle that one business can utilize the customer base of another business to market its product and achieve mutually profitable results. The success of this kind of program is rooted in the hope that the individuals you are granted marketing access to, have a deep connection with their business. …

6 Things I Want Tweeted NOW

By sethmsparks

Twitter is awesome.  There’s no denying it.  There are haters for sure, but daily Tweets have become as much a part of my lifestyle as clean underwear. (Which is a necessity.) Over the last few months, I’ve thought about local places not using Twitter that I would love to see. Here are the places and…

Google Voice Transcription – Tested

By sethmsparks

As you may have heard, a long while back Google bought a little start-up called GrandCentral.com.  I was lucky enough to get a GrandCentral account setup while the beta was still available, and use it as a contact number for work-related calls, so I don’t have to give the 4,000 people that see my e-mail…

Dirty Business Practice 1

By sethmsparks

For the last two winters, the Ankeny video and game rental company Hollywood Video has done something that bugged me. I’ve done nothing more than lived with it, until now. Never thinking about how Hollywood Video’s actions might impact certain individuals, I was seeing only the side of the employees at the shop. So what’s…

New Years Resolution… Again… Getting Fit

By sethmsparks

<—–  As you can see to the left, I have revived my Traineo.com account to try and again motivate myself to lose weight.  This is my usual goal this time of year, so let’s see how well I do in 2009. I have a few new tools that might help me along this year.  I…

Hey, I Can’t See Your Pictures!

By sethmsparks

It seems like I get a lot of e-mails from the companies I do business with.  They usually find some reason to send me an e-mail trying to solicit more of my marginally profitable business, and very rarely do they make it past broca’s wall. Something I’ve noticed recently, however, is that I continue to…

It Sucks to Be a Teacher

By sethmsparks

“But Seth, you’re not a teacher.” I know that I’m not a teacher.  In fact, the closest I’ve come to teaching was taking Fundamentals of Education in college, which required me to fulfill quite a few classroom hours with students. But my wife is a teacher. My wife teaches for a small school on the…