Jeff the Great Gets Some Sugar!

I've been working hard as a consultant for a local hair care product line from the Hickox Studio. Today we received some great validation for all our hard work when one of the web's hottest beauty blogs featured the products.

BellaSugar.com had this to say about Hickox products:

"Justin Hickox has grown up with hair. As the son of a hairstyling couple, he's been around it all his life — so it's no wonder that he's opened his own studio in Portland, OR. Using so many styling products on a daily basis, he had a hunch that he could improve upon many of the formulas. And that's just what he did.

The Hickox Studio line is small, but it doesn't mess around. The star of the line is his Styling Cream ($19), which is, he claims, an improvement upon Bumble & Bumble's coveted and similarly named product that changed its formula a couple of years back. It also includes two different styling waxes, a volume-boosting foam, curl products, and a thermal protecting spray.

To see what I thought of a couple of the products, read more."

To read the rest, visit the Hickox Studio article directly here. If you are one of the few Portlander's that hasn't yet tried these products, now is a better time than any!

-Jeff the Great

Jeff the Great Puts Out a Call to Action

If you are in or around the Oregon area and love technology, you have probably read my favorite blog: Silicon Florist. A few weeks ago Rick, the author of Silicon Florist, wrote a story about how Oregon students get a "D" in technology education.

Lots of people commented on the blog post. In fact it may have been a record response to a Silicon Florist article. People were generally passionate about doing something to improve technology education in Oregon. It was a great sight, the Portland technology community was jumping into action.

Rick followed up a few weeks later with a call to action and a few ways we can start to get the ball rolling. One was a newly formed discussion group through Google Groups (thanks to Dave Merwin) and the other was a proposed Silicon Florist internship program.


What great plans! Except for one thing. The Google discussion group has been quiet. What happened to the folks that generated the 30+ comments on Rick's original blog post? Where is the passion and desire to act that everyone expressed?

I am disappointed.

So I put out a(nother) call to action. If you care about technology education in Oregon. If you care about the jobs your kids will be qualified for when they are your age. If you love to complain about public education as much as I do. Get off your butt and join me in making a difference.

See you in the Oregon Education & Technology Google Group.

-Jeff the Great

Costco is Brainwashing You

Have you ever spent any time thinking about Costco and the rituals we go through when shopping there? Specifically, the idea of stopping as you exit and showing your receipt to a Costco employee so they can put a pink mark on it?

Why do we stop at the door and get our receipt checked? Do you do that at a department store or the grocery store? Does the local mini-mart check your pockets when you leave? So why do we do it at Costco?

We do it because that is how it's always been done. We do it because Costco puts employees at the exit and tells them to do it.

So do you have to stop? Does Costco have the legal right to make you stop? What would happen if you just kept on walking? Why do we sometimes wait in a long line of other exiting shoppers just to be checked for stolen goods? I'm not a criminal, are you?

Today I was leaving Costco after purchasing a bouquet of flowers for my wife. I don't really mind stopping as long as there is no line and the employees are ready for me at the door. Today the two employees at the exit were busy talking to each other and after extending out my receipt to them with no response back, I kept on walking out. My feet didn't skip a step...just kept on walking.

What happened next surprised me. One of the employees followed me out, yelling "excuse me sir, excuse me! Did you get your receipt marked?" I turned around and said "nope, you weren't paying attention" and kept on walking to my car. I looked back a few steps later and she was standing there almost in shock that I didn't let her mark my receipt.

Costco is not only brainwashing their employees, they are brainwashing us. I'd love to see a national "Don't stop for the receipt markers at Costco" day. Anyone with me?