Very hard lesson today. Can’t speak about it, can only say that it hurt physically, spiritually, and emotionally. My stomach had so much acid I thought I was going to see a hole appear in my gut.

All I can say is my lesson is to avoid putting people in places where they cannot succeed. Capability and ego are often two different things, but rarely can a person see their own shortcomings. Instead it is much easier to blame someone else entirely. A very basic Dale Carnegie lesson I learned a long time ago. And now I have received an unwanted refresher. I guess that’s as good a place as any to begin my Dale Carnegie leadership training next week.

Here are the customary blog links for you from the blogosphere:

Mommy Life discusses the Snickers ad departure (thanks to gay rights groups) from a different perspective. Regardless, one must assume Snickers got a ton of buzz from ths, and is now an edgy chocolate bar… Yeah.

A local ad agency, White and Partners just launched their blog, the Blah Blah Blah blog. The name is supposed to be a tongue in cheek swipe at talking heads blogs. Note my picture to the right. Whoops. This blog is very good, and has some flavor to it. I like how the whole agency is team blogging, giving you a wide variety of perspectives.

Escape from Cubicle Nation talks about needing to have a beginner’s mindset when it comes to starting your own business. Forget the past, start again.

If you are looking for the usual Monday quotes, click here. It had a write up of the new 94.7, the Globe’s positioning. Here’s a summary of what my favorite Super Bowl Ads, which can all be found at CBS Sportsline.

• Chevy HHR college generated as was outstanding
• Coke: Grand Theft Auto, Old man gets a tattoo
• Doritos User generated ads were all good, but Cheesy was the best.
• Emerald haunted by Robert Goulet
• Bud Light’s Fist Bumps are dead, Face Slapping is in
• Snickers Love Boat
• Orange County Choppers ad from HP

Clearly some big agency ads worked, but the user generated You Tube-esque ads were all very good, too. It just goes to show you, per the Blah, Blah, Blah blog, if you take the committee out of creative, you get something interested. Maybe this will take the conservative, boring nature out of advertising, maybe just a little. All in all, a fun experience watching. See Ad Rants for additional write ups.

Hannibal Rising was lame. Make it go away. CareerBuilder’s parody of hell at work was still metza metza. Still the point was well taken.

The green Honda ad was uninspiring. Go Daddy rerun was worse round II. EGCG anti-oxidant green tea was pretty funny. The winner of the make your own ad for the NFL was an end of the year number, pretty good.

Rex Grossman will be the goat of the game after those two interceptions. Wow, Indianapolis’s defense. And would you want to be Rex Grossman living in Chicago? Shades of Bartman?
Orange County choppers by HP was actually pretty good. Izod recycled the sporting goods ad, which was pretty food. Budweiser Black with the Never Say Never Again hand video game was OK, but not great.

Flomax prostate ad was a laugher, but not in a good way. e-Trade was pretty funny, tell your stock broker where to go. But definitely OC Choppers for this round.

FedEx Ground was amusing. K-Fed ad as short fry chef was demeaning. The Bud Light axe man ad was crazy, and good.

A round of local ads doesn’t count.

The Bud Crabs hail the King ad was outstanding. Prudential was rocky (very unimaginative). And the Honda CR-V ad stunk to high heavan. Another agency that should be canned.

CareerBuilder modern gladiators was decent. Lions Taco Bell ad kind of missed. I just didn’t see it. Van Heusen was terrible, and uninspiring.

Toyota Tundra: Feel the testosterone. Robert Goulet in the Emerald Nuts ad was hilarious as was Charles Barkley in T-Mobile as a non wanna be Dad.

Pre and post Prince ads were blah, since some were local or network driven I’m passing on comment. My buddy Carrie says Purple Rain was very Austin Powers with the shadow play on the guitar. Was that a Viagra ad? That was one of the better Super Bowl half time shows I’ve seen.

Disney’s promo for Meet the Robinson’s was a little blah. The e-Trade bank robbery ad, eh. Coke CGI ad II was a little weird, but pretty creative. Both CGI ads have viewed in movie theaters before.

Bud Light apes ad was hilarious. Sheryl Crow was bad. Revlon, are you kidding, me? Uh no.

Hog Wild was a hilarious movie trailer. Sprint mobile was forgettable.

The Old Man Coke ad was also pretty good, but not the best. Tostitos black pride ad was a halp effect play, but obvious, and it calls out an issue that shouldn’t be an issue. This should have happened a long time ago.

Bud Light: Fist bumping is out, face slapping is in. That was great! American Heart Association and King Pharmaceuticals mugging ad was not good. A little too heavy handed.

GM robot ad loses his job, was pretty creative. I like the obsessed with quality, but not as good as the face slapping ad.

Another site with Super Bowl Ads, www.CBSSportsline.com/superads. The ugly dog Bud didn’t really do it for me. New York is cool then. Heavy metal Garmin personal navigation was pretty good.

The NFL/CBS public service ad was well, a public service.
CareerBuilder pencil shooter ad was outrageous. Doritos #2, in the store, also very good. User generated ads are working! Now the college ad for Chevy HHR was the best so far!