McHuston Booksellers

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Tag: Catoosa (Page 73 of 101)

The Great Race. Rose style.

October 7, 2013 /

I’m thinking about hiring sherpas. Getting to the front door of the shop has apparently taken on a difficulty factor equal to scaling Mt. Everest. Or that TV show where teams race from place to place while overcoming outlandish obstacles.

Since the construction began, I’ve mentioned a “Thanks for braving the construction,” on occasion. Normally, the response is something like “Ah, it was no trouble.” Or, “I found a parking spot right in front.” (Several times on that one.) Unfortunately, there are no more parking spaces in front.

There’s a big pit.

So, today, when I thanked the folks who came in for lunch and tackled the construction to get here, the replies were a lot more descriptive. Those hardy folks didn’t just pop in at lunchtime. They set out on a mission.

And it’s probably a good time for me to say “Thanks.”

Trying to keep upbeat about it, knowing that the Rose District is going to be a beautiful shopping area once it is all finished. I’m also trying to remember that there are just a few more weeks for the streetwork’s completion.

The contractors are moving along at a quick pace and are trying to keep access open to the sidewalks. There’s a big yellow dino-bot right at the intersection this afternoon. The orange fence is blocking off the Commercial Street entry.

Hopefully, it won’t be required tomorrow.

So, to those of you who have already found your way in during this construction period, I want you to know it is sincerely appreciated. To those who have been thinking about coming down to see what it is all about – rest assured – there are offstreet parking spaces available in addition to the on-street parking between Commercial Street and Dallas.

The seventh-grade science teacher used to remind us that “Patience is a virtue.” I’m not trying for Sainthood or anything, but I’m certainly stocking up on that asset to get me through the next few weeks. Oh, and my other daily business proverb – that it only takes a couple of good sales to make the day – has proven true once again. What is likely my last sale of the evening has made up for the rest of the day!

It’s all good. Load up the backpack and climbing boots, then come visit!

McHuston

Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 South Main Street, Broken Arrow OK!

What’s the frequency, Kenneth?

October 5, 2013 /

I’ve dragged out Dad’s radio. An old beast. Single speaker job, pre-stereo. It used to sit on his desk. He was proud of that new FM thing.

I have plenty of gadgets in the office. TV. Computer. But no radio.

And I needed a radio. The OSU Cowboys are playing football on TV. So I need a radio.

Sometimes when you hear someone talk, you just wish they wouldn’t. Maybe if they’d change the subject, it would be more bearable. Maybe if ESPN’s Rod Gilmore talked about tree pruning or gourmet cooking I could listen.

Football?

Sorry, Rodney. I would listen if you were giving me legal advice, I promise.

He’s a practicing attorney in San Francisco, in addition to his television broadcasting chores. A bright guy. Stanford graduate. Howard Cosell was a lawyer, too. Couldn’t listen to him either – but I don’t think it’s the attorney thing.

The Oklahoma State Cowboys radio network is carried by radio stations all over Oklahoma and I tried a list of them that stream their programs on the internet. There must be some sort of legal angle that prohibits the games from being streamed over the internet. Rod could probably tell me.

The TV and the game were on. While I was cringing at his commentary, I glanced over and spotted Dad’s blue-tube stashed on a shelf.

Plugged it in – and it works!

Well, it works as well as the technology from that era should be expected to work. It’s a Philco model 926 from 1962. Sold for about twenty bucks brand new. The technology was different back then – what they called “vacuum tubes.” Those were replaced by transistors, which allowed radios to be produced in much smaller – and portable – versions.

On the back are a couple of posts sticking out that allow a wire to be attached. Amazingly, I just happen to have a radio antenna loop here in the office, which pulled in the FM stations. Turns out the game is carried on KFAQ – an AM station – which didn’t need the antenna.

KFAQ’s radio frequency is 1170, but you can see in the second image that the old radio doesn’t believe it for a second. The analog dial indicator is sitting midway between the 10 and the 11. Doesn’t matter to me.

I get to listen to the home town announcers, and more importantly, I don’t have to listen to Rod Gilmore while watching the TV coverage.
Nothing like going old school. Watching the game remembering my dad and his FM Muzak, symphonic versions of the Beatles. I hope his radio holds up long enough to get through the fourth quarter and the Cowboys hold up long enough to win the game.

PISTOLS FIRING! (a radio announcer touchdown thing…)

Come visit!

McHuston

Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 South Main Street, Broken Arrow OK!

Google this. I mean – search using Google brand search engine.

October 2, 2013 /

Suppose you’re a famous artist and people want to buy your stuff, just because your name is on it. Then some knock-offs start signing their paintings with your name, just because they sell better that way. Who you gonna call? The signature police?

You gotta protect what’s yours, even if it’s just your name.

Just heard a television commercial for Band-Aids. Oops. Make that: BAND-AID® Brand Adhesive Bandages. Sometimes it is hard to remember that the little strip that we attach to our boo-boos isn’t called a Band-Aid. It is a bandage. Technically, it is an “adhesive bandage” if it is the peel-and-stick kind.

On the commercial, the kid is singing the old jingle and I can mentally sing along because it’s the same thing I’ve heard since I was a kid scuffing up my elbows in bicycle crashes. Here’s how it goes:

I am stuck on Band-Aids, cuz Band-Aid’s stuck on me!

Except, that isn’t how this kid sang it. His version had one more word: Brand. “I am stuck on Band-Aid’s brand, cuz Band-Aid’s stuck on me!” Still works musically. Half-notes instead of the whole-note. In doing that, the company protects its registered® copyright.

Hopefully.

Here’s the thing. If a company’s name becomes identified as its product, the term becomes generic. Here’s an example.

Aspirin.

In a lot of countries, even to this day, that would be in big letters as the brand name for a product – acetylsalicylic acid. As in Aspirin brand Pain Reliever. In the US, it has become Bayer® brand aspirin. Because in the US, Aspirin® did not protect the name from becoming generic.

Here are a few others: linoleum (maybe the first one to become generic, in 1878 (note that none have a capital letter in front, which they all would have had as a brand name); thermos (1963), dry ice, escalator, videotape (already pretty much obsolete), cellophane, and – get this – heroin.

Heroin was trademarked by Bayer® Company back in 1898. They got distracted for some reason and failed to protect the brand name. Who’d ’a thought?

There are plenty of others. Kerosine. Lanoline. Except, these days, they are kerosene and lanoline. No CAPS. Generic terms, assimilated into the language collective. It is fu-tile to resist.

There are some companies that have battled the Big-G in keeping their name off the generic list. Some are continually misused.

“Will you hand me a kleenex?”

No. Sorry. It’s a Kleenex® brand facial tissue.

“Well, then. Will you xerox this for me?”

Nah. I can photocopy it on the Xerox® brand copy machine.

In our part of the world, we don’t often hear people ask us for a soda pop. Don’t even hear those terms separately. As in, Let’s get a soda. Or – wanna get a pop?

Mostly, we hear, “Ahhhhh, Ma. We weren’t doin’ nothin’… We was just out gettin’ a coke.

No. It’s a Coke® brand soft drink, bottled by Coca-Cola®. And it stays that way only as long as the company continues to run advertising that makes it clear that the name is a brand name associated with a product. Nothing generic.

And – just so you think of this when you see the Band-Aid® brand adhesive bandage commercial, print it out and stick in on the fridge with some scotch-tape (or Scotch brand cellophane adhesive tape), or – just use a post-it® note. Ooops. Post-it® brand self-sticking note.

Meanwhile, I’ll get a brillo pad® and some clorox® and clean up the Book Shop®.

Come visit!

McHuston

Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 South Main, Broken Arrow OK!

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