They always say that bad things come in threes. Well, the loss of Tim Russert was #1, and now the loss of George Carlin is #2. I awoke to horrible news this morning: George passed away yesterday from heart failure at the age of 71.

I’m a firm believer that the meaning of life is to laugh, and George certainly helped us do that. He pushed the envelope and when it pushed back, he pushed harder. And in the process, he helped create comedy for multiple generations. He was one of the greatest comedians to ever live and I think today, the art of standup has lost a God among its men and women.

When I think of George, I know I’ll always hear his scruffy voice, but whether the mental image is of Rufus or of a much older George with long white hair remains to be seen. Surely both are stellar visual representations. Regardless, I always think of George performing his explanation of the differences between football and baseball. This is truly my favorite Carlin bit. The best way to grieve this man is to laugh, so please enjoy the video below.

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As if taking his time to enjoy his latest kill, Tiger Woods extended the U.S. Open this weekend with a wicked putt to force a tie and a bit of OT. There is no sudden death replay of a hole at the U.S. Open to serve as the tiebreaker. Ties are settled here by another round of golf. As if the five straight days of golf these guys have played wasn’t enough, they are playing another 18 holes today.

Poor Rocco Mediate. My heart goes out to him. He was thisclose to winning the U.S. Open when Tiger caught up on the final hole. I’m convinced that Tiger had this one in the bag from the start and he’s enjoying this win to its fullest. Tremendous personal tragedy can’t stop Tiger. Knee surgery can’t stop Tiger. Pretty sure the apocalypse couldn’t stop Tiger. So it’s no surprise that my prediction for today’s playoff is that Tiger will emerge the champ.

 Again. Go Tiger!

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I know we all joke about how I’m superstitious and I have to put the left shoe on before the right shoe, but I’ve never bought into the whole stigma of “Friday the 13th” being an unlucky day. And this was going to be a post about how I don’t believe in Friday the 13th. At least, that was the plan until I walked passed the TVs in the lounge area around 1 today and discovered that I’ve been horribly wrong this entire time.

Tim Russert died this afternoon and even as I type that statement, my brain cannot process it. I mean, first of all, it’s an election year. You’re telling me he won’t be here to walk me through the election?? I can hardly remember an election without him. Second, I have spent a great deal of my life learning from this is a man. From Meet the Press to special election coverage, he always struck me as that high school teacher (and we all at least one) who was so excited about the subject he was teaching that he got you excited about it, too. Tim made politics interesting to me.

So, this Friday the 13th was a very unlucky day for us all. We lost a wonderful media icon and I think this entire office will agree with me when I say that Tim Russert will be greatly missed.

I don’t know if Friday the 13th is lucky or unlucky, but I do know that it’s just like any other day: There are no guarantees of luck. Whether you get a flat tire or find a $5 bill in the parking lot, it’s like a roll of the dice. But I’ll still put my left shoe on before my right - you know - just in case it does help.

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I was hanging out at Mr. Pickles on my lunch break, enjoying a delicious sandwich and Diet Snapple beverage. As we all do, I looked under the cap of my drink for Snapple’s refreshing fact of the day. And I was shocked. The refreshing fact was totally offensive! Snapple alleges that I share my birthday with at least 9 million other people in the world.

How dare you, Snapple cap fact reseracher, imply that I share my birthday with others? It’s my birthday and I will share the honor with no one! However, should I deem it appropriate to share my birthday with someone, I will acknowledge one man and one man only: Carlos Santana.

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With The Office and 30 Rock finished for the season, and with the finale of Lost still A WEEK AWAY (but that’s another post), I could wallow in despair. But there is hope. Nay, there is salvation. So You Think You Can Dance premiers its fouth season tonight on FOX!

Can you tell I’m totally excited? I can’t dance, nor do I even try; but I LOVE this show!! The first round is similar to American Idol in that you see the good AND the bad. And the judges aren’t shy about telling you that you can’t dance. There’s no Paula “Sugarcoat The Obvious” Abdul here.

What I get from SYTYCD that I don’t get from AI anymore is an emotional connection. The dancers must have a connection to their choreography in order to sell it. On Idol, there are a good number of the contestants who just go through the motions and don’t give any real emotion to their songs (not all of them, but enough to make us channel surf in the middle of a performance). There’s a lot of talk about what AI is lacking right now and I think it has a little less to do with hosts or the judges and a little more to do with, what’s this competition all about? When Kelly Clarkson won, you felt that she connected to each and every song. And that’s what you get from the dancers on SYTYCD.

Which is why I’m super psyched for the debut of season four! I’m also looking forward to pointing out the similarities between SYTYCD judge Mary Murphy and Merlot’s own Kym Preslar… again, that’s another post.

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OMG NKOTB. They’re back! And Joey’s still the cutest one. The link provided will take you to the first New Kids On The Block performance in FOREVER. Enjoy. Happy Friday!

Oh yeah, and YOU’RE WELCOME!

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Yeah, I think I forgot to mention that I talk a lot. So what? You’d try to find the best way to clarify the correct pronunciation of your name too if your name, spelled J-A-N-A, was pronounced with an uncommon-in-the-English-language short ‘A’ sound. I removed the first category name simply because I wanted my husband (whose name - conveniently - is John) to understand the reference. He didn’t get the play on Destiny’s Child’s “Say My Name.”

I wage a daily war to correct those who address me as “Jaaaaana” or “Joan-uh.” Heck! My elementary school principal once announced me as “Joanna” when presenting me with a trophy. But I have to say, I’m comforted that I’m not the only one in this fight.

So for all of those who understand the importance of branding, my name is Jana - JOHN-UH. Jana. And if you think that’s difficult, you should meet our girl Zsavonne…

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Let me be clear: This post is not about the contestants. This post is about the plethora of signs I saw in the crowd last night. It might just be me, but when did AI become a WWE event?

Best: “Simon, you’re my 3rd favorite judge”

My feedback: Held by a little girl who can’t possibly be out of elementary school yet, I found this sign to be quite clever. Especially for a sixth-grader! Yes, it was a knock on Simon, but its subtle and non-threatening approach was refreshing. I give her high marks for its passive-aggressive nature.

Worst: “Cougars 4 Cook”

My feedback: I found this to be utterly disturbing. IMHO, it was just… creepy. Merlot’s resident Cook, Robert Cook, and I downloaded this morning about the cougar reference (BTW, “Cougars 4 Cook” was his favorite sign of the night, for obvious reasons) and I received an education into the various classifications of Cougars. And it is now my expert scientific opinion that we were dealing not with a cougar last night, but rather a coyote.

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40,081: Total steps according to my pedometer. That equals 26.72 miles!

10: Total number of events Merlot coordinated and managed while in Chicago.

126: Total number of editors and reporters Merlot’s clients saw in their booths at the show.

13: Number of camera crews that stopped by Merlot’s clients’ booths.

11: The combined average media tour attendance per booth and per media tour (each client had multiple tours).

1,200: And just to reiterate, we did recycle all 1,200 empty plastic water bottles!

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Every year, the Merlot team is fortunate enough to attend the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (K/BIS) to support our clients in the industry. K/BIS is the world’s largest tradeshow for kitchen and bath professionals. This is like Super Bowl, New York Fashion Week and the American Idol finale all rolled into one for us.

Months of planning and pitching comes down to just three days of execution at the show. It’s a pretty incredible thing to be part of.

Well, K/BIS 2008 has come and gone and as the office comes down from its incredible adrenaline high, we thought it would be fun to share our completed K/BIS checklist so you can see what we, as a team, accomplished at this year’s show in Chicago:

(more…)

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