When one Cell Phone is just not enough

Just a few years ago I thought smart phones are unnecessarily complicating people’s lives. Who wants to drag this clunky, expensive, overpowered pocket computer around at all times? But then Google Fi came around, and I caved in. Smart phone it had to be, even for me. It isn’t so bad, now that I solved the “how do I carry that thing?” problem by inventing the ExxoPok.

Last weekend I had another crazy inspiration: an ExxoPok for two cell phones!

Now, that’s phone pouch overkill, you might say. Who’d want to carry two smart phones around? I’ll let you know, that I’m seriously considering doing that myself some day. A few people I know do it already – for different reasons: one phone is for work, one is personal; or you live in an area where network coverage is choppy, so you have two different carriers; or you travel the world, and want to use a local phone at your destination.

But, there are dual SIM phones available, you might say. While that is true, they are all just DSDS – means Dual SIM, Dual Standby – I haven’t seen one true DSDA (dual SIM, dual active) device yet. So, if you are one of those select few who already knows why you need two cell phones, now you could go to my Etsy shop and order one beautiful, handmade by me personally, ExxoPok for them.

ExxoPok for two cellphones

Counterclockwise ALDI

counter-clockwise Aldi, new Aldi store Fort Wayne, germanize your shopping trip

On my way home from work today I stopped by the new ALDI that recently opened. For most people this is just a low-priced grocery store, but for me it’s a cure for the homesick blues that I still get now and then. This particular new shop features the counterclockwise set-up, which is a rare find. I don’t know what the statistics say, but from my personal experience most ALDIs are to be travelled in the clockwise direction.

The reason behind this can be found in shoppers’ psychology, and marketers’ attempts to manipulate the crowds. Most things in nature tend to rotate counterclockwise, if you let them – water down the drain, weather systems, even the entire planet Earth – they all rotate counterclockwise. People, and animals, feel more at ease and comfortable walking around a circle in a counterclockwise direction.

So, if you want your customers to feel good, spend more time in your store, and subsequently buy more stuff, you should let them flow naturally, counterclockwise. Be prepared to have more people crowding your aisles, spending more time in the store on average, and requiring more attention from your personnel too. On the other hand, if you have a small store with mainly simple, cheap goods, and not enough employees, your main focus would be to get people in and out quickly. That’s why most discounters, Dollar stores, or Walmarts, are set up in the “unnatural” clockwise direction.

If you have some time on your hands, try navigate any store against the planned layout – and pay attention to how that feels different.

Adventures 2.0

After 330 posts on an antiquated platform designed in the ’90s I felt it was time for an upgrade on my blog. Several important requirements had to be met: it should not cost more to run, I don’t want to lose any of my old posts, and the platform needs to be future-proof.

What looks easy enough at first glance evolved into a bigger project quickly, once I started thinking about the details.

  • create a subdomain in my webspace
  • install WordPress on it
  • find a suitable theme
  • get plugins (Jetpack, Syndication, Spamprotection)
  • configure my theme
  • make an about page, and a contact form
  • import those 330 old posts from Blogspirit – in chunks of 10 via 33 individual rss feeds

Karin's New Adventures home pageThis is what I’ve come up with. I like the clean, modern look of it. Also WordPress gives me more control and flexibility, so if the fashion trend changes, I can simply “go with the flow” and adapt – instead of having to start over.

What do you think?