Companies love their acronyms and initialisms. The thinking seems to be, why waste your breath to say the full words when you can abbreviate? Thus I am working on revising an article today that contains three acronyms I had not yet seen (and I keep a list for this client because there are so many, and because I am a big believer in spelling things out to help everyone understand) plus the entertaining Randomly Capitalized Words.

The alarming trend to abbreviate is making its way to company names, too. Why say Hudson’s Bay Company and Ontario Lottery Corporation when you can dash off the (presumably) chic, stylish and short HBC and OLC (sorry, it’s actually OLG – Ontario Lottery & Gaming Corporation)? And banks — is there a Bank of Montreal or Royal Bank of Canada that hasn’t turned into BMO and RBC?

I once attended a talk by Naseem Javed, founder of ABC Namebank, in which he railed against the trend to abbreviate as preventing potential customers from understanding who you are and what you do. In the case of HBC, you are also casually sweeping aside a long history important to Canada. It just doesn’t make sense.

Dave Traynor’s post on customer service on Sunday (hey, I’m trying to catch up on my feeds!) reminded me of another customer service experience of my own the other day. Son #2 wanted to get his G1 license — that’s what used to be called a learner’s permit, his license to learn how to drive. So we went to the government office that dispenses such things to write the required test, armed with a government-issued health card. It wasn’t enough, as we were informed by a snarky and impatient man. Have you noticed how grumpiness is extremely catching? We left feeling stupid for having brought the wrong I.D. and annoyed for wasting the trip.

We went back a few days later, armed with every possible I.D., including passport, health card, birth certificate, student card. The same man was there, but fortunately we were called over to a different desk. The woman was warm and friendly, like someone’s really nice mom. She was pleasant and helpful with us and, as overheard while I waited for Cory to write his test, equally helpful with her colleagues. We didn’t present her with the same challenges, but I am positive the experience with the wrong I.D. would have been quite different with her, just because of her attitude.

We left with a warm feeling and a temporary driving permit.

One of the enjoyable aspects to working in a home office (and there are many!) is the loyal dog snoozing at my feet. He makes sure I get some fresh air at noon so I get back to work with a clear head, and he’s just good company. Of course, there are times when he could be a little less noisy, although clients hearing him while we’re on the phone don’t seem to mind. In fact, some then confess to working in a home office too!

So here are some of the things we can learn from dogs, modified from a longer list making the rounds of the Internet (author unknown):

1. Stretch before rising.
2. Run, romp and play daily.
3. Take long walks.
4. On warm days, stop to lie down on the grass.
5. On hot days, drink lots of water and rest under a shady tree.
6. Eat with gusto.
7. Be loyal.
8. Never pass up the chance to go for a ride, and enjoy the wind in your face.
9. Take naps. Relax every muscle.
10. When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.

What else do you learn from your dog?

After coming back from Las Vegas to 200 pieces of smelly comment spam, I knew it was time to get help. Thanks to Joan Donogh of In Formation Design, who designed and hosts this site, I discovered that WordPress has a built-in filter for comment spam. All I had to do was register for a WordPress.com account and I received by e-mail the free key to turn on Akismet (short for Automatic Kismet).

It’s not only super effective, the Akismet people have a sense of humour. You can go in (under “current activity”) and check to make sure a legitimate comment wasn’t tagged as spam; the program saves the spam in a database for 15 days before automatically deleting it. Today it said it had caught 46 spam comments, and added: “You have no spam currently in the queue. Today must be your lucky day! ”

I’m a happy girl.

As you will expect, I didn’t come home Las Vegas with a suitcase full of money. The good news is I didn’t leave behind a suitcase full of money either. Here are my tips for having fun in Vegas, whether you gamble or not:

1. Have a plan. Get a map of the strip and figure out where you want to go and what you want to see. The hotels seem close together but they are sprawling structures and it will take you 20 minutes to get from one to the next. Here’s one place to do some research.
2. Wear comfortable shoes. See #1.
3. Book a show or two ahead of time. We saw Elton John (a great show by an engaging entertainer) and one of the many Cirque du Soleil productions. Both highly recommended. The shows don’t have to be huge productions like Cirque; Jerry Seinfeld is coming in June and he puts on a terrifically funny show.
4. Book a nice restaurant or two ahead of time. Tried this time and highly recommended: Nobhill at the MGM Grand and Spago at Caesars Palace. Expensive (but aren’t you worth it?) but wonderful food and fantastic service. Emeril’s Fish House at the MGM was sold out and our concierge (who helped with the booking) told us it often books up months in advance.
5. Pick up a free player loyalty card. Even if you aren’t a big gambler, you’ll spend more time than you think at the tables and it could earn you discounts and freebies, if you don’t mind sharing the information on how long you gamble and how much you win/lose. At Caesars Palace it was called Total Rewards, and was good at other Harrah’s properties such as Paris and Rio. They are cagey about how many hours/dollars it takes to earn rewards, though.
6. We did not get there (ran out of time; see #1) but wanted to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower at the Paris hotel for a drink and a stunning view of the city. The elevator ride is $9.
7. If you plan on taking a gondola ride at the Venetian hotel ($15-20), book ahead (same day only). We didn’t and ended up being there too late to do the ride and get back in time for an early dinner and show.
8. Stop and watch the Bellagio fountains dance to music and lights. Free!
9. Bring a bathing suit but don’t plan on spending much time by the pool; it’s just too hot this time of year anyway.
10. People will say you can bring children, and we saw many, but don’t. Yes, there are some things they may want to do but Vegas is really not set up for children; it’s hot, there’s too much walking and the tamest shows will have risque elements.

Warning: delays in blogging ahead.
I’m off to Las Vegas this morning so will be out of commission for several days. I’ve heard a lot about this crazy town, and I’m sincerely hoping it’s true you don’t have to be a gambler to enjoy it. I’ll let you know when I return!

Last night, after a quick change from capris and bare feet to Little Black Dress and heels, I attended IABC/Toronto’s Ovation awards night in downtown Toronto, “applauding excellence in communications.”

I’m pleased to say that I was part of a team accepting an Award of Merit. Over two years, Cyrus Mavalwala, Veronica Feihl, Lee Weisser and I were the executive board directing IABC’s Alliance of Independent Practitioners. Our award recognized that we helped breathe new life into this special interest group and took it from 44 members in 2004 to 84 in 2006. The group recently hit the 100-member mark and is going strong.

What is probably most satisfying about the work we did is that (a) we were all volunteers and (b) we had virtually no budget. As the judging comments said, “Great results given resources and budget challenges. Sound programming using research and addressing various audiences.”

Last night at a meeting of IABC independent communicators (AIP), a colleague mentioned the Reuters news item that said:

If the typical stay-at-home mother in the United States were paid for her work as a housekeeper, cook and psychologist among other roles, she would earn $138,095 a year, according to research released on Wednesday.

The 10 jobs listed as comprising a mother’s work were housekeeper, cook, day care center teacher, laundry machine operator, van driver, facilities manager, janitor, computer operator, chief executive officer and psychologist.

The researchers clearly separated the stay-at-home mother and the mother-with-full-time- job-outside-the-home. We wondered what the results would be for the stay-at-home mother who is also a working-from-home mother, as many of us are — handling the full-time job (from home) but doing all the cooking, cleaning and so on. I suppose it’s similar to the job-outside-the-home mom but we don’t have to wear pantyhose as much. You just can’t put a price on that!

Fellow writer Gloria Hildebrandt of Orchard House Communications pointed me to this very funny Web site promoting a book by Miranda July. Follow “the link” written on the stove top (really!) and you’ll find Miranda’s Web site with more detail about this filmmaker, performing artist and writer. The book promoted on the site, “No one belongs here more than you: stories,” is on order by my local library, and I’m number two in the lineup to get my hands on it.

MarketingSherpa’s free weekly newsletter led me to the wonderfully named Gobbledygook Manifesto, which was cited as a winner in its 2007 Viral Marketing Hall of Fame. David Meerman Scott calls himself an “online thought leadership strategist” (hmm, speaking of gobbledygook), and posts the results of a study showing the appalling number of times marketers use fairly meaningless buzzwords like “flexible,” “robust,” “best of breed” and “scalable” in news releases. Having written for tech companies and tried to make sense of buzzword-laden information provided as background for articles, I wasn’t surprised to see they are among the worst offenders.

On his blog, Web ink, Scott has done a smart thing and welcomed MarketingSherpa readers.