I have launched a bookstore over at my real blog (Beauty of the Bible) so readers can browse and/or buy Bibles, Hebrew resources, books reviewed on that site or this one, and much more.

The bookstore is named, cleverly enough, the BOB Bookstore. So, if you are in the market for a new Bible, Father's Day gift, great books, or other stuff, click on over to the BOB Bookstore and have a look around.

We have our very own Baby Bach, and, although I'm partial to Mozart, "Baby Bach" just has a nicer ring to it:

Not exactly Facebook bucks, but Facebook credits.

CNET News is reporting that Facebook users may soon be paying Facebook "credits" for Facebook applications. I suppose it was inevitable.

Apparently some app developers are making a killing on virtual currency, and Facebook is looking for its cut. If any of you are spending your hard-earned cash on purchasing this virtual currency, you will soon be able to purchase Facebook credits instead to be used across the Facebook application universe.

It's hard to blame any company for chasing down potentially huge revenue streams, but, in my own humble opinion, so many of the Facebook apps are annoying enough as it is. Now, I'll have to click "No" who knows how many times just to confirm some third or fourth cousin's relative request.

It will be worse than leaving a drive through. If I want to add an apple pie, chili and/or cheese to anything, or purchase a gift card, I will say so.

Recently, when my wife and I were in San Francisco (at a restaurant which shall remain nameless), we overheard a wait staff training session where the manager was teaching the staff about "check building." Upgrading this or that, pushing fruity beverages, and suggesting sides and desserts are all ways to "build checks." A bigger check = bigger tips = more money for the restaurant...you get the picture.

Well, now it's coming to Facebook.

I walked into a local bakery today, and the clerk kept referring to me as "hun." It was no surprise, really, she always does that, and so do the other clerks who work there.

Now, it's entirely possible that I could be so utterly charming that each individual clerk is compelled to refer to me so affectionately. But, if that's the case, then I just so happen to be at the bakery at the exact same time as other equally charming people because they get the same greeting.

I wonder if they actually train the employees to call people that, or if the tradition that started with the previous generation of employees (because it's been going on for a long time) just continued.

A couple of weeks ago, I reached a point in my life I never thought I'd reach: I complained that there was too much football on TV.

I was flipping channels when I noticed ESPN-U was showing the Alabama spring game. "Are you kidding me?" I thought to myself.

Over the next couple of weeks I noticed that ESPN-U was showing various SEC school spring games, and I said to myself, "If ESPN is showing intra-squad practice games in April, there is too much football on TV."

I was just flipping channels again tonight, and I saw that ESPN-U was about to televise the Texas spring game.

Oops, I guess I was wrong.

-- From My iPhone

Following up on my last post (Observations on Marketing), here are my Top 5 Marketing (Mis)Spellings.

Qualifier: I realize these may be legitimate spellings somewhere, but it is obvious (to me, at least) that these spellings are deliberate marketing efforts and not simply alternative spellings.

5. Towne - Seriously? Is "town" somehow insufficient? Can you charge higher rent for living or conducting business in or at a towne?

4. Pointe - If you are a ballerina, feel free to use "pointe" as necessary, otherwise... Do I need to pointe out what's wrong with it?

3. Centre - It's not quite a silent (and useless) "e", but it's just as bad. Let's make it doubly bad and name a shopping center Towne Centre or Centre Pointe. Why not just do away with "er" spellings altogether: Blogger is now Bloggre, Twitter is now Twittre, and I am now Petre.

2. Shoppe - I think we should all boycott Shoppes on principle and shop elsewhere (another storre perhaps).

1. Markette - Okay, I made this one up. I haven't seen this one yet, but it wouldn't surprise me to see it somewhere soon. And if you do see it, by all means, stay away.

Don't you just love driving through a row of apartment complexes and reading the lofty-sounding names?

How ever do they come up with such drivel?

If you ever have the misfortune of having to market apartment complexes, here is all you have to do: take any two of these naturally occurring phenomena and combine them: stone, ridge, creek, hollow, bend, crest, brook, wood, river, briar, hill, meadow, timber, and forest. For example:

• Stone Crest Apartments
• Timber Ridge Townhomes
• River Bend Apartment Homes

See what I mean? Piece of cake.

If you're marketing high-end (or luxury) apartments, use three:

• Meadowbrook Hollow
• Stonebriar Creek
• Woodridge Forest

And if you want to attract people with more money than sense, add a "the" and an "at":

• The Hills at Rivercrest
• The Bend at Hollow Creek
• The Meadows at Stonebriar

If there are other marketing questions, I'll be happy to help.

-- From My iPhone