February 24th, 2008
Griddlesode #S3-010: How 1-800-Flowers Ruined My Life
In this first ever “Viddlesode,” Ron tells a story called: “How 1800 Flowers Runined My Life.”
Music by Kevin MacLeod
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In this first ever “Viddlesode,” Ron tells a story called: “How 1800 Flowers Runined My Life.”
Music by Kevin MacLeod
ron i realy liked the viddlesode. I’ve been listening to your podcast from the begginning and i love it. You looked different than i thought you would but i guess i have a big imagination say hi to the other ron SDB
Nice. Although I was hoping it would be animated like the rarely seen Viddlesode pilot… Real people are nice too! Who’d you get to do the camera work?
Is this a form of “now media un-advertizing?”
Hi Toaafaru, Well hopefully I didn’t disappoint. I mean, hopefully you weren’t expecing Brad Pitt or anything?
And JTM…my son Bryan did all of the camera work.
Yay! Finally, we can put a picture to the voice. I had pictured you differently in my head, but seeing the video, it all makes sense now. I appreciate, that you had the courage to appear in front of a camera. Good job there
The Viddlesode was totally different than the usual Griddlesode, a lot less words, a lot more pictures. Interesting concept, though.
I also noted, that there was less… err.. “anger” in the production than I have heard between the lines in S3-9, I guess, everybody has calmed down a but now. That’s nice to see
Hi Frank. Good point. When you have a face for radio, it DOES take courage to jump in front of the camera, doesn’t it? And yes, it was an experiment to see if I could tell a story with pictures instead of words. Thanks for listening!
Ron -
As an OC florist, let me suggest you go local next Valentine’s Day and then your wife will get her flowers * on time * and you won’t have to suffer through voice mail hell.
There are lots of great florists right here, plus you’ll save the extra $13-15 service charge tacked on by 1-800-Flowers.
Pretty cool !
Curious about your dis-satisfaction with the internet flower broker.
Was this a take off on the real experience ?
If so
know that you certainly weren’t alone.
Spaldings
P.S.
In the future deal with a Real Florist to save the day. No surcharges or gimmicks ever.
Check out FloristDetective.com and RealFloristBlogs for helpful consumer info
geared toward eliminating problems like these.
Ron…sad to say your not alone in your dealing with 800Flowers…
Love your viddlesode, and am glad to find GriddleCakes!
Cathy—send me an email (griddlecakes *at* gmail.com)so that I can have the name of your place.
Chris—Yes. Based on a true disastrous story.
Thanks FlouristDetective. I’ll have to checkout your site!
Great story, Ron! Liked the video, only I had to take one more step to get the M4V on my non-iPod video player. Next time could you please release a MOV, MP4, AVI, ect.
Nice glass wall!
Thanks for the get back Ron.
You’ll be very pleased with Cathy from OC, and so will the wife. Once you experience her shop you’ll never buy through an
internet broker again. Trust me !
You will also thoroughly enjoy FloristDetective.com as the information provided to consumers is invaluable.
Most consumers have no idea that such levels of deception exist. Truly a shame.
In fact there may be a few Viddlesode ideas in there. ( Hint Hint )
I’ll be talking you up from this end and will suggest link ups from many on my contact and client lists.
Regards from the east coast.
Keep up the good work !
Spaldings
Chris
Joe—Video is just much more intense than audio, because there is no “ubiquitous” format. AVI is too big (the AVI for this Griddlesode is 2.3GB!) and there are many different compression schemes to choose from. I chose M4V because the vast majority of my audience comes through iTunes. I chose to embed the Flash Player into the Show Notes so that folks without the ability to play on their machines could stream it.
Lastly, MOV, MP4, and AVI can be played by Apple’s QuickTime Player…which also plays M4V. Rather than encoding many different formats (which take 1/2 hour of crunch time per file and about that much to upload said files to a server) perhaps a common FREE desktop player would work?
Yvonne—One can always tell the longtime listeners when they start making references to older Griddlesodes. Thanks for listening.
Ron. On the Giddlevision: Now I know how people felt when Dragnet went from radio to TV. Somehow, it just doesn’t seem right. Don’t get me wrong the production value was there, the story itself was great, the open and close were consistent—I can’t say a word against it—it just doesn’t seem right. However, I must confess, I’m an auditory kind of guy who listens to his MP3 player more than he watches TV. A really nice job—I love the beach—I just think I enjoy the theater of the mind even better.
Griddlecakes always delivers even if 1-800-Flowers doesn’t! Thanks for another great podcast! By the way, the “other Ron” didn’t by chance have anything to do with the missing flowers, did he?
Ron – I usually never have problems ordering from 1800flowers or FTD.. except this year.. ordered flowers for my wife, they never showed up, -AND- I couldn’t get through to anybody on the phone until the 19th. The flowers FINALLY arrived -late- on the 20th, after my wife had left work for the day (even though she had talked to them that morning and told them when she would be there). they didn’t ofer me any compensation, not even % off the next order.
You are not alone this year.
Thanks for the viddlesode! It was nice to hear from you. I like the sound of the waves on the background. Looking forward to another episode.
Ron, did I see a beautiful view of the ocean behind you in the scene where you’re drinking the beverage and sulking? Fun to see you and your Bride acting together. Along with your son’s camera work, it was a real family project. Cool!
Hi Kevin,
No, that’s not the ocean. We live on a ridge that looks over a canyon. But at least I can drive to the ocean in about 15 minutes!
Ron
Hello Ron (and the other Ron)~
The same thing happened to my Dad when he bought shoes online. They said they had been delivered but they hadn’t. 1-800-FLOWERS = bad business
Make more Viddlesodes !
The Farmer Family in Richmond, Virginia
Wow! I didn’t expect to get a visual to the voice and the “characters” of your family anytime soon, but I must confess that I had to work up the courage, as it were, to actually do it when granted the opportunity!
As fun as it was, though, keep up with the regular ol’ podcasting. You yourself have made the point that audio-only storytelling is great for commutes and the development of imagination!
Ron,
It was great to see a video show this time, but I have a request: Please make a separate feed for videos… I listen to most of my podcasts as I’m driving in the car (iPod link) and didn’t watch the show for about a week before I remembered to do it on my PC. I’d love to see more, though!
It wasn’t a surprise to see you depicted… you’ve got a picture no RonAmok.com is memory serves.
Oh, and way to promote alcohol! Now I’ll have to question letting my kids watch/listen to the show… unless that was root beer!
Walt Snider
http://www.OffTheWalt.com
http://www.KoreNewMedia.com
HOLY COW! The Viddlesode seems to have quite a few comments… I’m not sure if that’s because it was a video, or because so many people could relate to the story itself!
Personally, my wife and I don’t fall for all that Valentines day hype. Flowers are cheaper most of the rest of the year, AND the day after, all that candy is half price…. Now there’s a deal! smile
If anybody wants to start a movement to IGNORE February 14th and start a more reasonably priced counter holiday on the 15th (or there abouts) let me know!
One word, my friend: BRAVO!
Once again, you’ve raised the bar. I called the whole family in to watch the viddlesode over my shoulder, and all of us were laughing…at the appropriate times. What fun!
Steve Webb
http://LifespringMedia.com
I wanted to see a little CG Ron on your shoulder. You gotta make that happen for the next viddlesode. Great job.