Please join me in a fun Friday quiz that lists musical artists and to see if you are a fan of their music or not. We have added a few more choices to make this quiz a little more fun. Enjoy! This will only take 2 minutes.

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As we landed I noticed that we were basically surrounded by fire trucks, emergency vehicles and other airport cars. We stopped on the runway as inspectors and engineers came on the plane to assess the damage.

After a short amount of time the engineers took the plane out of commission and they deboarded us and reboarded us about an hour later on a different plane.

I really don’t want to make this about was I scared or not or the thoughts that went thru my mind. What I will say is this happened so, so fast that it was over before I truly knew and could understand what was going on.

The real question is what are the lessons learned?

How can I put this into perspective?

When I look back on this, the pilot was VERY calm in an emergency situation. He made a decision very quickly (within 30 seconds) communicated what was going on, what was going to happen and then when we made a safe landing, effectively communicated to the engineers exactly what happened so the experts could decide (quickly) what to do with the plane and passengers.

To me that is the message – to me that is the lesson. 

• Yes life is too short
   
• Yes life can be taken away at a moment’s notice
   
• Yes bad things can happen quickly
   
• Yes you shouldn’t put off everything until next week
   
• Yes you should tell your friends what they mean to you

The list can go on and on.

But to me it was really about communication. The way the pilot handled himself in a difficult situation was amazing. He was calm and kept everyone calm! What would have happened if he was frazzled when he made the announcement or decided what we should do. It would have been chaos and passengers could have gotten hurt. Thankfully no one was injured. Yes people were scared and decided not to get on the new flight–their choice and I respect that.

• What do you think the message was?
   
• What do you think I should have learned from this experience?
   
• Has this ever happened to you?
   
• If so what happened?

I really look forward to your comments

I must admit I don’t watch a lot of commercials these days. With TiVo fast forwarding is very easy and if I am watching regular TV I will channel surf when a commercial comes on.

I must admit I like this commercial. It makes me chuckle all the time but more important I believe this commercial differentiates this company from the competition.

Most people don’t like the airlines these days.  They don’t like how they are being nickel and dimed for everything. Eight dollars for an ugly, small blanket . . . do I need to say more?

• This commercial directly goes after the competition
   
• It clearly identifies a price difference between Southwest Airlines and other carriers
   
• It highlights baggage carriers – which to me look like regular people who care about their job.

To Southwest Airlines I tip my cap and say "a job well done and money well spent!"

What do you think?

• Do you like the commercial?
   
• Do you think Southwest does a nice job with the message?
   
• What other companies’ commercials do you currently like?

I look forward to your comments.

For me the year is flying by. January was much better than I thought it would be and February was about what I thought it should be. The net is we are ahead of last year but still cautiously optimistic moving forward. From talking to clients research spending has freed up a little bit and more people are optimistic. Our proposal volume is heavy and clients appear to be making decisions on projects more quickly than in 2009.

• What are you seeing?
   
• How are you doing?
   
• Is business better than you thought it would be?
   
• How are you feeling about things?
   
• Are you bringing in as many new clients as you thought you would?
   
• Are you still pulling back your expenses?
   
• Are you still watching your travel and marketing budget as closely as you did last year?

I look forward to reading your comments.

I gave it a little time to pause and am almost embarrassed to say what my three shows are:

1. The Office – I like the goofiness of the cast and especially the character that Steve Carell plays in Michael Scott. I love the dry sense of humor and the flow of the show.
    
2. Survivor – I really enjoy the challenges, the competition and strategy of the game. I have been watching it for ten years and truly do enjoy the show.
    
3. Deal or No Deal – I like Howie Mandel and the way he gets the contestants into the show. I also enjoy trying to figure out what the banker is going to offer prior to him offering it. Ok I will admit it I always liked math!

Not sure what it says about me that I picked these shows. Interesting that I picked a reality, comedy and game show!

Ok your turn.

• What do you think of my choices?
   
• What are the three shows you would watch every week?
   

I look forward to reading your comments.

Growing up I always knew that Wade Boggs ate chicken before every game. He would also come out of the dugout at the same time every game at 7:17 to do wind sprints. 

Last night I was watching the Dallas Mavericks take on the Indiana Pacers and newly acquired star Caron Butler was chewing straws during the game. Yes, I said that right — apparently he chews 12 straws during a game and 60 — yes 60 — every day. I thought it was a joke until the announcers actually got some straws and started to chew them as they were announcing the game.

Jason Terry — the night before every game, Terry goes to bed while wearing the shorts of the next day’s opposing team.

And there was tennis great Bjorn Borg who for good luck always grew a beard during Wimbledon.

Baseball player Jason Giambi had a different superstition. When he went into a slump he would wear a golden thong to get him out of the slump.

• What do you think of the ones I listed?
   
• What are some of your favorite superstitions that athletes have?
   
• When you are playing sports do you have any of your own?

I look forward to reading your comments.

I think you will really enjoy this.

Click here to take the quiz.

I look forward to seeing your answers.

PS – this will take only a minute.

I have a vanity plate and although it means something special to me it isn’t as deep as WEIT. Mine is SOX07. For those who know me well, you know it stands for Red Sox 2007 which is the last time they won the World Series.

Here are some of the ones I have seen over the years: 

• 4sakn
   
• Ddysgrl
   
• MyToy
   
• Was His
   
• I CUFF UM
   
• DRTHVDR
   
• Gore Won
   
• BKRPTCY
   
• KIDLESS
   
• Il Sue U
   
• Blogger

I thought some of the ones I have seen were cute and funny.

• Do you have a vanity plate?
   
• What do you think of the ones I listed?
   
• Do you like mine?
   
• What are some of the ones you have seen over the years?

I look forward to reading your comments.

Time to get creative, think out of the box and plan the halftime show.

As you are thinking of acts, here are a few things to remember: the audience is global and covers all age groups. So whatever you do really needs to appeal to everyone. Since Dallas does things big, MONEY is NO object. You have an unlimited budget.

As you are trying to Sfigure out who you might want, here is a list of the last 11 super bowls halftime shows:

I will go first. How about Diana Ross and Jon Bon Jovi–a combination of old and young. Great songs that will be played on the radio forever. 

• What do you think of my choice?
   
• Who is your halftime show for the 2011 Super Bowl?

And who knows since it is in Dallas you never know what kind of surprise I might have up my sleeve for anyone who posts a comment.

I look forward to reading your thoughts.

I was thinking about the number three with three different categories:

• What three websites do I visit every business day? Market Research Global Alliance Social Network, Google I am still amazed at how many times I am using their search and of course The Merrill Dubrow Blog (please stop laughing).
   
• What three things do I read every business day? I read the same three e-newsletters every single day. Daily Research News from MrWeb, eMarketer Daily, The WOMMA Word
   
• Who are the three people I speak to every business day? R.H., S.A. and S.S. Two of the three people are industry contacts. I think it is critical with the economy being the way it is to really have your pulse on what is going on and speaking to these people helps me accomplish that. The third is one of my best friends whom I speak to early in the morning (6am) about what is happening in the sports world.

Now your turn:

• What three websites do you visit every business day?
   
• What three things do you read every business day?
   
• Who are the three people that you speak to every business day?

I look forward to reading your comments.