Whack on the Side of the Head Wednesday: Surprise BirthRay

Important announcement at the end.

I was heading into this day with one idea about what we could we could whack, but then Cheryl made the fun suggestion of celebrating Ray's birthday.  Two good ideas, so we'll whack them both.

First surprise.  Actually, "Surprise" with a capital "S," as in Surprise, Arizona.  Julie, one of our fun and loyal readers, recently relocated to Surprise, Arizona, where she will be living for the next few months.  I have not been able to shake the name of the city that she now calls home.  Living in - or knowing someone who lives in - a town called, "Surprise" is way too irresistible for someone like me.  I suspect it might be for you too.  I feel like if you live in Surprise, Arizona fun and spontaneous things ought to be happening all the time.  Spontaneous random acts of kindness, funny ads in the local paper, helium balloons with the word "surprise" tied to parking meters or street signs, and so much more.  I figure we, Highlowaha, are just the people to do it.  So, I am proposing we create one "surprise" a week from now until Julie moves again (about three months, I think) to bestow upon the town of Surprise.  The acts can be executed by Julie, but on behalf of our fun community.  That's the first idea I want to whack.  Can we do it?  If so, what can we do?  And, any other brainstorms that come to mind.

Second.  BirthRay!  Cheryl's right.  Ray needs a birthday.  Cassie P. made some suggestions yesterday about how we might assign Ray a D.O.B. (first day he was "conceived," "first day he was sketched, or his first appearance on Highlowaha).  What are your ideas and can we whack them to make sure we have come up with the A-#1-best possible idea for assigning Ray his birthday.  Along the same lines... how old is he and does he have a back story?

These are the two ideas I hope you'll join me in "whacking" today.  For those new to the community... Whack on the Side of the Head Wednesday is the day of the week when we jar our thinking in order to be more creative.  We do this with a little help from our friend Roger von Oech.   I pull a card from von Oech's Creative Whack Pack and you use the prompt to see what new and improved idea you can come up with.

No idea what I'm talking about?  Jump right in and try.  You'll see it's not hard and you will be amazed at what our readers come up with.

Now for the whack...

Be Whacky.  One day a new product design team got into a really whacky mood and made fun of their product.  They were zany and off-the-wall.  The meeting was a great success and many new ideas were generated.  The next week, everybody was in a serious mood and no new ideas were generated.  Moral: there's a close relationship between the "aha" of discovery and the "haha" of humor, and being whacky stimulates your creative juices.  As the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu put it, "As soon as you have made a thought, laugh at it."  What whacky things can you do to your idea(s)?

So that's it.  Mill von Oech's idea around for a while and then check back later this afternoon to let me know what you've come up with.  How can our being whacky help us further develop our Surprise surprises or Ray's birthday?

Can't wait to see what you come up with.

Important Announcement:

• Tomorrow Highlowaha goes Goal Fishing.  What's Goal Fishing?  Simple.  It is Highlowaha's attempt at helping readers stay motivated to achieve your New Year's resolution(s).  Each participant submits a resolution, along with name, address, and email.  Each person participating will draw someone's name and then serve as a his/her cheerleader for the year.  Send and encouraging note, cut a relevant article from a newspaper, make a positive affirmation, and anything else you can think to do.  In the meantime, someone else will be doing the same for you!  Sixteen of you are already signed up, but NONE of you will want to miss out.  To get in on the fun, simply send your name, mailing address, and new year's resolution to me at cbeeny@lslog.com.
  

Signing off until tomorrow...

Whack on the Side of the Head Wednesday: Marker Marketing

On Monday I told you we would be doing some housekeeping this week.

I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon packaging Pirate Bingo boxes for the post office, sending emails to package sponsors, and distributing patchwork patches.  I'm using the rest of this week to regroup and to cross all my "t"s and dot all my "i"s.  (See 9/19 for more details on Pirate Bingo).

So while I'm doing Highlowaha housekeeping, I might as well revisit my failed "Make Your Mark" campaign (see 8/5).  I don't mean rehash my gross overestimation of how many people would clamor to participate.  I mean revisit what to do with the 66 remaining boxes of 10 Classic Color Crayola Markers.

I have no preconceived notions... other than... ideally we won't lose money on the deal.  It's icing on the cake if we can use the markers to find a few more committed readers or draw lurkers out of hiding.

This is a job for von Oech and his magical Whack Pack.  For those of you new to the game... the rules are simple.  Take an idea (in this case, what to do with my 66 boxes of Crayola Markers) and whack it by applying one of von Oech's principles of creativity.  Today's principle is...

Flex your Risk Muscle.  Bull's eye every time?  If so, you're standing too close to the target.  As comedian Woody Allen puts it, " "If you're not failing every now and again it's a sign your not doing anything very innovative."  Everyone has a "risk muscle."  You keep it in shape by trying new things.  If you don't, it atrophies and you're no longer able to take chances.  How can you exercise your risk muscle? 

Let me interject two things before we get busy whacking...

First, thank you von Oech.  I accept today's prompt as a subtle reminder that it's ok our Make Your Mark campaign failed miserably.  We were just keeping our "risk muscles" healthy and hunting for the next great innovative idea. 

Second... I've noticed a slow decline in "true whacking" over the past few weeks.  Readers liberally make comments on the dilemma, but few of you are actually applying the concept and truly refining the idea or helping to solve the problem.  Consider this exercise as much a test of your creativity (or a flexing of your "creativity muscle") as it is an opportunity to help highlowaha solve a problem.

So today I will sweeten the pot.  Today I will offer the latest and greatest craft tool to the person who offers the most viable and creative idea/solution (as judged by me and my family tonight at dinner).  The tool I will be giving away comes recommended by Taste of USA participant, Kristen.  Each participant was asked to bring his/her "go-to" craft tool for a short Show and Tell activity.  Kristen's tool got the loudest "oohs" and "aaahs".  We all agreed our lives would be enriched if we owned the...

Fiskars Rotary Cutter  

Valued at $19.99 (at least at Michael's)  

The Rotary Cutter is a superior tool that is ideal for cutting through heavy stock or multiple layers of fabric, paper, felt, vinyl, cardboard, mat board, cloth, leather and fiberglass material.

So consult with von Oech and let me know what you think.  How can we exercise our risk muscle to do something purposeful with the remaining 66 boxes of Crayola Markers?

That's it for me.  I'll step out of the way and let our creative readership get to it.

Signing off until tomorrow...

Whack on the Side of the Head Wednesday: The Lost Day

Announcements at the end.

It's been a few weeks since we've delved into a Whack on the Side of the Head Wednesday.  Our last whack was an attempt to improve my strategy for gathering 100 inspiring teacher stories for 100 unsuspecting teachers around the country.  I dare say, with still only 15 stories in hand, that neither my strategy nor your creative suggestions will be winning highlowaha any awards.

A short commercial break...  IT'S NOT TOO LATE!  Low pay coupled with countless hours of work preparing lesson plans, grading papers, and responding to parents, makes teachers worth the fifteen minutes it will take you to share your story.  Ten to fifteen lines about your teacher of note is all we need.  Stories will be packaged with a box of Crayola Markers and mailed as Random Acts of Kindness to teachers around the country. 

And, if that isn't enough... submit yours before August 29 and be in a drawing to win the beautiful, hand crafted Back to School Tablecloth featured in yesterday's blog entry.  Those of you mailing your paragraphs should aim to have your letter postmarked today, Wednesday, August 26.  Paragraphs (along with $5.00 for packaging, postage, and markers) can be sent to: Claudia K. Beeny, 4012 Harvestwood Court, Grapevine, Texas, 76051.

Moving on.

I sense we have enough new readers/lurkers that I am going to do a quick recap of the idea behind Whack on the Side of the Head Wednesday.  The idea... improve an idea by forcing yourself to think creatively.  But... if thinking creatively was easy, companies wouldn't have to pay consultants for creative solutions to old problems, people wouldn't complain of boredom, and the idea of rut wouldn't exist.  Truth... thinking creatively sometimes requires an outside force to, as my son would say, ..."shake things up."  We rely on von Oech and his Creative Whack Pack for this.  Each of the cards in von Oech's Whack Pack contains a different principle and when the principle is applied, in theory, our idea ought to be better than when it started.  Problem solved.  Here we go, giving it a whirl.

The story behind what we will be whacking today is funny and compliments of a woman many of us know and love... Cheryl.  

So, here I am repeatedly talking about the importance of the number #218 to our blog community.  We've had contests where #218 was incorporated into the answer; we're troop #218 for goodness sakes; and in less than a month I am going to introduce a new ritual... based on the #18.  Let's face it... #218 is here to stay.

The problem.  Soon after we introduced Patchwork (highlowaha jeans used to showcase all the cool patches earned by participating in fun activities), Cheryl emailed me to say... "How do I tell you this?  Your first blog entry was on February 19 not the 18th."  

WHAT?  Big gulp on my part.  Are you kidding me?  Countless number of initiatives, contests, stunts, etc... are based on the my first entry being posted on February 18 and all at once - in one fell swoop - Cheryl drops a bomb on me.

Thank goodness!

Quick re-frame on my part.  I have options.  Pretend I didn't get the email and just keep plugging along in my own little world of denial.  Acknowledge the email, but threaten Cheryl with something awful if she dares to tell a soul.  Fess up to my mistake and just move on.  Or... creatively problem solve my way out of the dilemma.  I like option number four.

My wheels started working fast.  How about a lost day?  That's it.  Highlowaha will have a lost day to recover the February 18 post that never happened.  Perfect.  And, it's leap year to boot.  Somehow that HAS to work to our advantage.  This year there actually is an extra day... an extra one to spare.  Perfect.  But here's the big question.  The question so much fun to think about and so irresistible, I almost have to share it with you.

What do you do with a lost day?  Is this a day we get to do everything we wish we could have done, but didn't have time for.  Or, is this the day we do nothing.  Or, is this the day we repeat everything we did on Monday, February 18?  Or, is the lost day the day a day of mystery?  So many possibilities.

That's the thing that needs some whacking today.  What should highlowaha do to recover and celebrate the lost day - February 18, 2008?  Here's what von Oech has to say...

Let Your Mind Wander.  Much of our thinking is associative: one idea makes you think of another - no matter how logical the connection.  Use this ability to generate new ideas.  Look at something, and make associations based on whatever  you can think of: function, location, size, shape, sound, personal, opposite, weird, etc.  Example - work: play: actor: star: sun: light: bulb: tulips: kiss: love: tennis: net: profit: prophet: oracle: auricle: heart: life.  What things does your idea remind you of?  What do each of these remind you of?  How can you use this cluster of associations to develop your idea?

I'll play this associative game, but I'm more interested in what all of YOU have to say!  Help me.  Help me turn this bitter lemon into lemonade.  Look around the room you're in.  Spot something and then play the associative game.  how can you use your cluster of associations to help me develop great ideas for how highlowaha can use our lost day?

Some announcements and then you can get busy...

Announcements:

• Make Your Mark:  I received three paragraphs from Julie yesterday, boosting our count to 15 inspiring stories.  Eighty-five more to go.  The deadline is Friday, August 29.
  
• Helping Hand: Click on the Helping Hand link at the top right hand of my blog.  Our service project coordinators are looking for input on families in our communities who ought to be considered as recipients of our generous initiative.  Don't fail us now.  Consult with your church, a local organization, or people in your work place.  Submit a name by before the week is over.
  
• Countdown to the Super Bowl:  Still seeking four competitors.  My husband - chef extraordinaire - claimed one of the fourteen available spots.  Cassie, Montana, AZLori?  Who else?  We need four more people up for the challenge.
  
• Taste of USA:  Ten days until our Taste of USA participants meet in Philly.  Our list of participants, to date, consists of: Cheryl, Amy, Tera, Treye, Julie, Katie, Nicole, Kristen, Heidi, and Jayme.  We're still waiting for definitive answers from Brian and Maureen.  For the purposes of planning, we will set Monday, September 1 as the last day to RSVP.  The sooner we know the better.  
  

Signing off until tomorrow...