Third boxcar, midnight train

I love being in different places, but I'm a bad, bad traveler. I'm glad that I'll get to talk to Jenny (nonstop, natch, just like the flight) all the way to Newark, but I'm even more glad to have such a good friend to hold my hand when the plane takes off. Jenny doesn't really know yet, how flying puts me into a mild panic. But now that I know I get to sit next to her, I'm remembering the end of Say Anything; you know that part where they hold hands till the seat belt sign goes off? I couldn't find a still of that scene, but since you can't ever go wrong with Cusack, here's a little picture for you. You're welcome! Also? I just realized that I have had a moviestar crush on him for over twenty years. Damn. He's really getting old.

So -- like Jenny, I'm happily surprised to be invited to this JnJ thang. I am so looking forward to seeing my friends, yes, but really I am also hoping to fork over my two cents on marketing to women (to moms in particular). I have opinions about these things.

Every person or company who sells stuff is interested, or is about to be, in riding the (mom) blog viral marketing slipstream. Seriously. Raise your hand if you picked your new digital SLR camera based on the pretty photos on someone's blog. (Andrea of Superhero Designs, in my case.) Or your laptop. Ever bought a different brand of some household staple, tried a new restaurant, checked out a band, changed banks, chosen a car, or decided what city to move to based on the content of your favorite blogs? It may sound a little silly, saying that blogs have that much sway over folks. It's absolutely true, though. If you replace the term "blog" with "friend," it sounds more reasonable. If blog posts are party conversations, companies with a brand to get out there are the new arrival in the corner, sipping their cosmo and sizing up the room to see how to get in on the discussion.

I'm up way, way past my bedtime and with just over 48 hours until I leave town -- I'm slammed. I work full time, so there's a chunk of those hours. Tomorrow I'm going to an appointment to have my taxes done (hold.me.) and then I need to spend time with my kiddos. I miss them. Tuesday night after work will be hectic packing and manual lining up of planets (hard!) to get everything taken care of before the car comes to get me at, DUDE 4:30 am. Jenny, do you have Say Anything or Better Off Dead on DVD? Don't worry, I've seen them both enough that it's okay if we talk through the whole thing!