What do you expect?

Unfulfilled expectations are the death of any creative-type, or anyone, for that matter.

At the end of Season 3 of Mad Men (one of my favorite shows on TV, hands down), Don Draper, the world’s best ad man (in his own mind… but then again, no one does anything great without first thinking that he is worthy or capable of undertaking it… right?), is starting off on a new adventure…

As Roger Sterling and Don Draper look at their old offices for what could be the last time, Roger asks, “How long do you think it will take us to be in a place like this again?” Don replies, “I never saw myself working in a place like this.”

Work as if you’ll never get glory or wealth (or pay, for that matter), and you’ll find a jagged stone of some original, creative idea.  Ugly, but yours.  Polish that stone for a while, and you’ll have a diamond.  Maybe.  But if you did it for the love, and not for the money, it will be worthwhile.

And yesterday, they called and passed.

I am not, however, sad.  Let me shout it from the mountaintop that Kelly Luegenbiehl is one of the nicest executives I’ve ever worked with.  She took extra time to give us some feedback and welcomed us back anytime to pitch new pilot concepts.  She deserves all the accolades she’s getting right now for the ABC Wednesday night comedy line-up (sans Hank, of course).

It reminds me of a related funny story.

I’ve been in to pitch ABC three times now. The first time, the floor receptionist asked us if we wanted any water.  We said yes, and she offered either chilled or room temperature.  Giddy like unpopular schoolgirls asked to sit at the A-Group’s lunch table, we asked for chilled water.  We received a pair of perfectly cool Fiji water bottles.  It was a good meeting.  We sold our project.

Our second trip, right around the Writer’s Strike, we came in to re-pitch a few ideas, and were again offered water.  The receptionist didn’t ask our temperature preferences, so we assumed that she remembered!  What joy!  We had made it.  We were important producers!  Then the receptionist handed us some room temperature Arrowhead bottles.

Then, two weeks ago, we again approached the receptionist desk, and, this time, there was no mention of water.  Not even a look towards the mini-fridge under her desk.  So we grabbed a seat… right next to the self-serve Arrowhead water cooler.

Tough economic times have forced us all to scale back… even ABC!

It just goes to show you that no matter how far you’ve come, you shouldn’t take yourself too seriously. It’s just drinking water, and it’s just doing work.  Keep on doing both.

(PS — During all of our visits, Kelly’s assistant offered us water, coffee, and candy!)

I always wanted to enter the sleek, stylish world of AMC’s multi-Emmy nominated series “Mad Men.” And I just did! (That’s me in the suit.)

The show’s Web site lets you “Mad Men Yourself” — create your own “Mad Men” (or Mad Women?) avatar. Choose your body type, hair color, clothing, accessories and drink of choice. Then, put your character in a scene and set the image as your background. This. Is. Awesome. It’ll tide you over until the 10 p.m. Aug. 16 season three premiere.