Janet Lee Johnson | The Art of Marketing

As I sit here catching up with a little work this morning (Happy Fourth everyone!) on a gorgeous sunny day in Portland, I’m amazed once again how time flies. This Saturday is 07.07.07.

Wasn’t it just yesterday that it was 07.07.77?

I remember it like it was yesterday. My sister, who’d just gotten her driver’s license, was driving me out to my summer job at the Cowlitz County Road Department. It was a gorgeous, sunny day in Longview, Washington, the sky was blue, we were driving in our fabulous ‘64 Ford Fairlane and all was right with the world.

We laughed at the date at the time, and I still get text messages from her on days like 05.05.05.

In 1977 I was working my way through college by “running signs” - maintaining them from shotgun holes (that was way before graffiti tagging, at least in Longview…); driving a fuel truck and (mostly) flagging for the guys who were paving the county roads.

I wore overalls and work boots and a fabulously cute yellow hard hat over my afro. Tres chic!

I think it was that summer that I developed a huge respect for tools - even unfamiliar tools to a 20 year old college girl like a crow bar…

I was welcomed/hazed by being shown huge piles of 150-200 railroad ties out in the “yard” and told to pull the railroad spikes out of them and stack them.

By myself.

I honestly think they expected it would take me all summer to do so. Within the week I’d mastered the crow bar, finished the job and gained their respect.

The right tools for the job can only make our lives easier, which is why I’m so committed today to my laptop, WordPress, my Blackberry and RSS.