So I'm Back, From Outer Space

July 11th was the last time I posted here. I've been busy. But I've also been just lazy in my time management and my priorities. I know, I know. I understand you're upset. But I'm here. Now. And we'll work this out. Just give me some time. Just a week or two. And we'll get back on just like we used to. It's going to be a cold winter; be good to have someone to curl up and read. Just saying.

So starting tomorrow (or, I guess, today), I'll be posting every weekday, M-F with occasional weekend Gravy. I'll keep it light and insightful, just like it used to be.

Thanks for reading. Be talking to you real soon.

Wendy's Fried Linguistics

You may have noticed that since November, Wendy's has been offering slimmer, skin-on fries called -- well, let the branding speak for itself:



At first glance, you notice the rustic/artisan patina print, "Natural" and "Sea Salt!?" OMG - Wendy's is going all natural, must be organic or something. Must have!

They did an amazing job on their branding for this because that was my first, subconscious reaction as well: Yay! Wendy's goes natural, go green! Ah, but it is not to be so.


Quick review of the language

Natural-Cut: This is not "Natural, cut" but natural-cut, literally meaning cut naturally. Now I can imagine a few horrific scenarios where you might see potatoes being cut and exclaim "Oh, how unnatural!" but seriously: how do you cut things unnaturally. That's like advertising "Coherent-Reality Chips." When wouldn't they be? And if they went through such extensive pains NOT to call their fries natural, what are they exactly?

Fries: Lest you forget amongst all the magical potato language and graphics, these are french fries. They are fried taters. And while fried taters may be delicious and varied in taste and preparation, they are NEVER good for you.

Sea Salt: Yes, sea salt is different than table salt, especially the micron-powdered stuff they used to coat the fries with, but it's still salt. You ever hear a doctor tell his/her heart patient "The table salt is killing you, but if you can switch to sea salt, I think you'll be just fine."?


The Truth

Based on some preliminary articles, Wendy's missed the boat on this one. Despite appearing more appealing to foodies or naturalists, "the new fries will pack more sodium - a medium size fry goes from 350 milligrams to 500 milligrams ... and calories jumps 10 to 420."

Caveat emptor, my friends. If something looks too good to be true, ...well, you know.


(And on a personal note, I do think the new fries are pretty tasty.)

Flashback Nostalgia: The 286 & Hindenburg

I came across this historic video of the Hindenburg disaster and my nostalgia circuits lit up out of my mind:



Back in what must've been 1990 or 1991, I was about 13 and our first home computer was a 286 PC. I still laugh at the words the salesman at the computer store pitched to my father: "This thing has 40 MEGAbytes of hard drive space - you'd never fill that in your lifetime!" (Note: At the time, modified for data explosion, 40MB was like 4TB for home use.) He wasn't lying. He just didn't have any idea about Moore's Law.

I remember helping set up this computer and being so excited and one of the first things we did was access the Encarta encyclopedia program through the DOS operating system (I later was able to install Windows by modifying batch files to drop other BS and allocate necessary memory). My parents and I and one of my sisters clicked around and found ...VIDEOS!?!?!

The point being: the VERY FIRST video I ever saw on a computer was an Encarta file that must've been about 150 pixels wide of the Hindenberg disaster. I think we found a video of Hitler screaming something terrible in German after that. But as weird as it sounds, it was a defining moment in my life. I was energized with what computers had the potential to do and at the same time my post-modern referential file was opened at 13: "Oh, the humanity!" entered my lexicon before most of my peers and, well, I'd guess many Americans probably couldn't tell you the source of that quote to this day.

Hindenberg opened my eyes in many ways that were never imagined when that blimp went down in flames. And I guess it's iconic that the the highest tech of my time united me with the highest (dirigible) tech of that time.

Yay computers!

RIP Palm Pre: Jun 2009 - Nov 2010

I loved you, Palm Pre. Yes, I took the chance and early-adopted and was aglow in your wonder from the first moment I purchased you. And while your OS sometimes faltered, I stood by you. And when iPhones and Androids mocked your lacking app catalogue, I fought for you. But, Palm Pre, you failed me.

Say NO to Crack

The Palm Pre has one fatal flaw that is shared with any and all touchscreen phones: crack the screen in a way that disables the ability to touch control the phone and the phone is not only dead to use, it is dead to transferring anything via USB and dead to a Sprint rep pulling your contacts from it.

Palm Pre, because of its particular shape, is especially prone to cracking.

Personally, I had my phone, not in a case, but in my pocket with a pen - I think that's how it started. Apparently an angled lean produced a slight crack in the face near the charger port on the right. It was sad, but not catastrophic. But basic use can turn a small blip into a monster, like a windshield splitting.

The crack spread towards the single button over a couple months. In the other direction it spread to crack the rest of the charger port and the piece holding in the port plug was disabled; it fell out. Two weeks ago, the crack hit the main button and spidered - on the inner-screen - in a 5-fingered mess.

At first, I could still use the screen in all but the lower right 1/4 quadrant. But then it got worse. Thanksgiving day I woke and noticed I couldn't drag the icon out to unlock it. My touchscreen had been rendered useless.


My New Sidearm

I've broken my Pre and didn't get insurance when I bought it, so it is dead. Luckily my wife recently upgraded from a Blackberry Curve to a Tour, so I'm now slinging a cranberry Curve.

I just need to get my contacts transferred...


Sprint & Palm: Customer Service ...?

First stop: Sprint store. Within a minute of presenting my phones and declaring the Pre screen useless the Sprint CSR said: Sorry, there's nothing we can do.

Great. Okay, second option: I have my contact data backed up on the Palm server through my profile. I can just access that, right?

WARNING: Always use the rule of 3's on data. With phone contact information, you want to back up with the device company, with Gmail, and obviously you'll have your data on your device. Lessons learned...

Palm has my data. But through a broken-English online chat with "Steve" and then his supervisor "Austin," it was clear that they had NO answer except: You will never see your data again unless you purchase another Palm product. Frustrated, I had them escalate it to Corporate (yes, you can do that) and got a call back yesterday. Yes, Sprint can transfer the data, but they'll need to use a separate device to login to Palm with my account and harvest the data from that.

Entering the store this afternoon, I talked to a very helpful and understanding rep name Cort. He was happy to answer any questions I had and even suggested something I'd never considered: if they have a Pre in store for a repair, they could just switch out screens temporarily to make that one screen press needed to generate the file for transfer.

Unfortunately, they didn't have any Pres. Nor did any of the other 3 Repair centers in the region from Dayton to Florence, KY. Boo. So now I'm waiting, calling every day to see if they've got one in so I can transfer hundreds of contacts to my new business lifeline.


Looking Back

The Palm Pre was a great phone. I enjoyed the ease of use of PalmOS, the slick feel of the "river stone" design, the Google integration, and the induction charging of the dock. Yum. I loved the squidgy tactile feel of the buttons that allowed my too-thick fingers to feel comfortable typing on such a small board.

I won't miss 5 integrated emails and moderate use killing the battery in 3-4 hours (activating WiFi at home or hotspot could extend that by 1-3 hours). I'll miss the multiple alarms but not some of them going off twice. I won't miss checking the phone for time and - creepy! - it jumping back a minute. I won't miss the sparse App menu.

After a few days playing with my Blackberry, I'm really missing the multitasking of the Pre (I can't check a text while using the GPS Nav program without completely closing out of the Nav program). I can't stand that text messages and sync'd emails and facebook messages are all lumped into one mass pile (Pre had separate text section sorted by threads), though each email has its own icon. The extensive customization is just not there. But it'll do. It'll do.


Looking Forward

I got my Pre in June of 2009. At the time, I was enamored with the design and hot off a Treo with a terrible Windows Mobile OS. As I mentioned, I loved my Pre. Based on my purchase date, I don't get the full benefit on an upgrade until June next year.

And I'm troubled.

I've been hot for the HTC Evo since I first glanced at it. It's damn hawt. And then when I was in the store today I saw - and touched - the Samsung Epic and I think I had to wipe the drool off my face with its slick interface and physical keyboard slide.

But there's a part of me that's scared to get a new touchscreen. Then again, I'd get the insurance on it and now know to double-down on the contact backups.

But that decision is a few months down the line and I'm guaranteed that I'll be even more conflicted in six months when even sweeter phones have come out.


Verdict

Palm Pre was great, but I probably won't go Palm again. I will ALWAYS get the insurance and ALWAYS back up my contact data in as many ways as possible. Until then, I'm rocking the Blackberry. And that's okay.

Hopefully you can take something away from this tech silliness. As always, comments and suggestions are welcome.

Restarting the Flow

Sometimes life interrupts.

And that's not an excuse. Life always interrupts. But people who try to blog on a regular basis, try to keep their social networks going, sometimes falter. That's me right now.

It usually comes out as "Oh, the holidays!" or "we had a death in the family" or "business got too busy" or "everyone in the house is sick" or they're lazy or tired or depressed or "there just wasn't time." Please, don't think I'm criticizing anyone but myself. Count me in on all of them.

How do you fix it?

You get back on the bus; you restart the flow, and you keep that flow going.

My best advice?

Plan well. Set your week's blogging subjects on Sunday or Monday. Even all you do is create a blog and give it a title and save it for later, you've already got your week primed for a quick interjection.

Set a schedule like it's part of your job. If you are even remotely related to social marketing, it is. "I'll blog at 10am every day." If you can pin down a time, you have no other thing to be doing. Blog.

So go ahead and plan and set and we'll be seeing more of you and your business.

And you'll be seeing more of me.

That will be all :)

Smile!

A couple weeks ago I had the wonderful experience of seeing Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers with my wife from ten rows back at the Riverbend Arena. It was amazing.

But as I was standing there in awe of the sound and talent, of the music coming from the stage, I saw many, many people looking around and even straight at the stage with a blank or even guarded look on their faces.

And the only thing I thought was "Why aren't you smiling?"

I had a giant grin on my face from the moment we walked through the gates - and got to hang in the VIP area - to when we drove out of the parking lot. It was a stunning performance, even if they ran a little short of expectation.

And I wondered about those people who had things on their mind other than the experience, other than just focusing on the moment itself. And I felt bad for them.

So for your own sake and the sake of those around you, express yourself! If you're having a great time at a concert, smile. If you're having a good day, smile. If you're enjoying that sandwich: SMILE! You will not only brighten your own experience, but you'll pass it on. And what a gift that can be.

The FREE Way to Clean & Protect Your Computer

I recently got an emergency email from a friend of mine saying her 9-year old daughter was having issues with some non-age-appropriate pop-ups. I was happy to help her, and it reminded me of those "Make Your Computer Faster" commercials where they'll "scan" your computer and then suggest you purchase their cleaning program.

You don't need to subscribe to a service or buy software to clean your system. You can do it youself - for free! Here's an overview.

The Problem

Every time you visit a website, every image you see on your screen is actually stored on your computer in a temporary file. It's referred to as a cache by the browser. When connection speeds were slower, this helped everyone: the browser checked if the referenced file was already living on your system and the server didn't have to download it and you saw web pages faster because the bigger graphics were already there.

But today, when speeds are much higher and good developers optimize graphics, it's not so much an issue. But the storage still happens. And with a higher rate of speed comes a higher rate of browsing - and much more sitting, stale, on your hard drive.

Along with graphics comes Cookies. A Cookie is when you go to website - say a weather website - and they put a little bit of information on your system. In this case, your zip code. So when you visit that weather website again, you don't have to enter your zip again; it reads it off the cookie and you see your town without ever thinking about it. Multiply that times a million.


The Danger

Whether it's a nasty bug or a full-on virus, if you are on the internet, your are vulnerable. Programs and clips of programs piggyback on everything you can possibly download. And it can shut down your system or act as a "zombie," waiting an activation code to attack anything from YouTube to a government computer, depending on what the writer intended.

Some viruses only exist to propagate and gum up the system. I actually had one of these 2 years ago and it not only slowed my system to a crawl, but crippled almost all my anti-virus and anti-malware programs, as well as shutting down the installation of new anti- programs.


So whether it's cleaning your system or killing viruses, here's what you need to do.


Your Browser

First off, everyone who is using Internet Explorer needs to be using Firefox. Go to their website and download it for free (will open in a new window - do it NOW). IE is more susceptible to these issues. Period.

Once Firefox is installed, go to Tools > Options > Privacy and make sure Clear History when Firefox Closes is checked. Click the Settings... button next to it and make sure it clears everything. Then, every time you close your browser, you're getting rid of junk.


The Shield

And here's where I tell you to download the cleaning software. Don't worry; it's all free (save 1 optional). And you don't need ALL of them. Try the first couple and if you still have issues, keep going. Click on the name to go to that site - all open in a different window.

CCleaner - cleans out the temporary files and cookies cached on your system. It scans your registry. You should run this at the end of every day.

Window Washer - This does what CCleaner does, but a little more thoroughly. It's my personal fav and the only program you would have to buy that I'm listing. It can erase data with an overwrite standard of the NSA. I like it; you don't have to buy it. CCleaner does what 99% of you need to do.

Malwarebytes - scans for some of the more dangerous items, called "malware" that can be part of downloads and might be programmed to do your computer some damage. If your computer has them, it'll root them out.

Ad-Aware - Classic standby to keep the pop-ups at bay. This hits the cookies as well, but tends to be best to root out the bad stuff you might pick up by clicking (or even viewing) advertising.

A-Squared - This is the program that saved my computer. Granted, it was because the virus's database did not include that program as a Stop, but it's especially good at rooting out trojan horse viruses. And killing them dead.

HijackThis - This program will run a scan on your whole running system if you have a problem. The only issue I have posting it is it's not DIY for amateurs. You'll have to go to the website forum, post the result, and get an answer. Granted, the folks there are awesome and responsive. Just wanted to alert anyone to the extra step (especially if they're dealing with a dead internet connection).


That Virus Thing

You should also have ONE anti-virus program running (multiples can cancel each other out or even fight for dominance). These run all the time and check out incoming items as they're saved or opened. The best free I've found - and both are excellent - have been:

AVG

Avira AntiVir


Now go get those programs and clean up your stuff! If you've had your computer for more than 4 months, you should probably also Defragment your hard drive, but that's a completely different post.

Be with you soon about that.


As always, comments welcome, especially from anyone who has different/better programs to pass on to my readers. Much appreciated!

Candid: The Loki Keyboard that Bit Me

In Norse Mythology, Loki is the troublemaker, the gadfly, the instigator (in case you needed that reference).



And in day to day reality, I am a fallible tech geek. Some folks who blog - especially those that have a business - hold themselves at a must-be-godlike standard. I understand, however, that occasionally exposing my flaws makes me more human, and we can all do with a little more human in our day to day interactions. It doesn't happen often, so enjoy the story:

Ghost in the Machine

About a month ago, I noticed that I was having some keyboard issues on my workhorse laptop. Specifically, on occasion, when I was trying to do anything from advance between the regular cavalcade of almost a dozen working applications to simply keeping a cursor in a web form, it wasn't working. Things were popping up or shifting fields as though there was a sticking problem in either my ALT or CTRL or TAB keys - or all three.

I would do anything from reboot to pound on the ALT key to scream and invoke Thor to take down this Loki in the machine. (Hey, when you're hand-coding and can't get a "<" out to start an anchor tag, things get a little crazy in the room.) I once did a Trojan scour, found one and thought it was all good - for about 30 minutes. And sometimes it worked, sometimes it faded for a time, sometimes it sent me to the Xbox360 demo of Bayonetta to do some virtual killing of demons with gun-shoes.

Yes, this has been going on for a month. I'd done some rudimentary searches for MS bugs on Vista, but only came up with a few minor operational errors that appeared rare. Bad thing was, when I was hard-up for a solution, I couldn't do a decent search because my keyboard didn't work.

Threshold | Epiphany

And this morning it hit a threshold: waking after a restless night, not yet enough coffee in me, the bug came at me with the first touch of the keyboard. I could send an email with the mouse, but couldn't type the contents; the pressing of buttons resulted in the on/of switch that is CTRL+Space, which takes my English letter combinations and translates them into a selectable tooltip for Asian characters. Basically, I could get absolutely nothing done.

I got another cup of coffee, took a few deep breaths, and - suddenly - it struck me. Not any more monumental than any other epiphany as I was holding back hope for disappointment, but there it was:

Redemption

With my graphics background on a Quantel Paintbox (pen & board), I have much greater preference for a mouse over the horrible touchpad that is on most laptops. About 6 months ago, I clicked-out my first, wired mouse and switched to a wireless Microsoft one I had previously purchased for my wife. It was a simple setup of a USB plug-in to a wireless receiver to accept input from the mouse ...and paired keyboard.

So, what if...? I went to the storage closet about 20 feet behind my desk, opened it up, and found said keyboard - sitting underneath a box of paperwork. I moved the keyboard to a higher shelf with nothing on top of it.

Guess what? No boxy, no pressy, no Loki.

Without pressure on what I thought was a do-nothing keyboard, the problem stopped: I'd been fighting with a keyboard in the closet with a box on it that was resting on the TAB, SHIFT, CTRL, ALT, and Space keys.


So what's the lesson here? Humanity, by definition, is fallible. Tech-savvy people, by definition, are fallible. And no matter how perplexing and unresolvable the problem you face, you may be surprised by the simplicity of the solution. Just pick up the box that's weighing you down.

Los Angeles, I'm Yours

As many of you know from my Twitter/Facebook updates, I spent the last several days in Los Angeles to visit my brother. This is a random listing of some of the things we did and some of the thoughts I had.

Please note: this is by no means a comprehensive compendium of what LA is actually like as a whole. I spent most of my time in Hollywood and Burbank and only 5 days at that.

Normal, Just Big

Growing up in the Midwest, you get this iconic, fabled view of what Los Angeles and Hollywood actually are from movies and teevee and popular songs. Which proved surprising when everything was so normal. Sunset. La Brea. Santa Monica. Busy, stacked with restaurants, stores, bars, but pretty normal ones. We didn't walk into any place I didn't feel comfortable

Population Makeup

Again, from news and television, I guess I expected a much larger Hispanic population, but in Hollywood - while that existed - there was also a noticeable Asian and Armenian population. Even a "Little Ethiopia." And it all makes for a fantastic selection of little restaurants and a very diverse culture.

As far as the idea of "pretty people everywhere," you can knock that to the curb. The population appears to have a much larger percentage of fit people, but if you match the overweight with the unhealthily gaunt, I think the averages weigh out.

Traffic

Terrifying. I spent some time driving in Boston, some time driving in Dublin (Ireland), and this beats all. The traffic here can be best described as erratic and random with punctuations of straight up danger. Constant lane-changing almost into your car, motorcycles swerving between larger vehicles. Basically, if you're not "on" you're going to get into an accident.

Much love to my brother Adam for taking the helm for my entire visit.

Jay Leno

A great co-worker of Adam pulled us some Leno tickets. After going to Guest Relations, were were pooled with some 20 other people and we walked through the back lots to Studio 11 where we turned the corner and ...hundreds of people were waiting 2 and 3 deep on the right and left. And we walked past them all. It was exciting and elating and I had the biggest grin on my face.

We entered the studio audience ahead of everyone and it appeared we were getting sweet front row seats in fixed-seat house (yeah!), then a coordinator pointed to us and said "you two, come with me." He ushered us out on the floor house left and pulled tape off a couple seats to plant us in row 2. On the floor. Of Leno. Waaahaa!?


My brother in blue, me: to his left

It aired Friday, May 7th, and you can still see it on NBC.com as well as Adam's other screenshots on Facebook here.

Don Cheadle, Erin Andrews guests, George Takei showed up to say "panties," amongst other words, and Landon Pigg & Lucy Schwartz performed. All-round, a great show.

Celebrity Sighting

On Sunday, we headed over to Hollywood's Happy Ending bar on Sunset (an excellent sports bar in its own right) for some Cavs :( and grub. Amazing food, great staff, great clientele.

As a matter of fact, Neal McDonough stopped in to root for the Celtics against the Cavs.



You may know him from Desperate Housewives or Minority Report. I loved him in SyFy's "Tin Man" and he was also in an old episode of Quantum Leap, Angels in the Outfield, and Band of Brothers.

But he was just another guy in a bar watching the game. And that was cool.

Business Expansion Potential

I don't want to generalize or pine romantic about Los Angeles, but as a web developer, the problems I've seen there for production companies and restaurants are pretty much the same as here:

• Sites built entirely in Flash; this is still not a viable option, especially if you expect someone to pick it up with a smartphone.
• Remnants of a site built several years ago that has used duct tape to keep it up with minor updates.
• A website composed by a cousin who had this class this one time and looks like 1995 (read: cheesy animated gifs)

Yes, these sites exist, even in LA. Which is sad and disappointing, but a fantastic opportunity, especially for the markup potential in what the market will actually support.

Ending Notes

I'd like to thank my parents. Really. My dad was a local celebrity on Cleveland television and my father always said: "I'm just a regular guy; I'm just on TV." And that helped ground us growing up and I don't think any one of us four kids ever got big-headed or name-dropped for any reason. It was just Dad. And seeing celebrities in Los Angeles it's the same thing: they're normal people, just with a job on TV or in movies.

I can't wait to go back. As I said before, it's not demonstrative, but you can see what I did while I was there through Foursquare and check out my pictures on my Facebook profile.

I leave you with The Decemberists. Yes, Los Angeles, I'm yours.



Cheers!

How Foursquare Changed My Brain

Last weekend I attended a fantastic Second Saturday with New Media Cincinnati. The panel included D.G. who touted the wonders of Foursquare, elucidating about the ability of it to take social media and turn it around and foster real-world relationships.

Hey! That's what I talk about all the time!

So I had to jump on - finally. I downloaded the app for the Pre right then and there and as soon as I got home, I set up an account and started digging in.

And then my perception changed in an interesting way.

When I was in college, I worked for a few years in television production and the result of that was a change in how I saw news fonts and graphics on air. Soon after college, I acted in an independent film which changed my understanding of how films were organized and shot as opposed to how they showed up in the final cut. This was a much quicker and less monumental change, but a noticeable one nonetheless.

As soon as I was set up, I checked in for the first time - at a location I had to create: The Irish Heritage Center of Greater Cincinnati. And something lit up.

My thoughts moved to what was coming up in the next few days, where I had to stop, where I could check in, and my plan for stops on a daily basis went from a list to a mental map with little glowing nodes that signified where I'd check in and the glowing lines between them.

Gas station, eye doctor, Dilly Cafe. Mexican restaurant for dinner, bar for drinks, Kroger for shopping.

I'm sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. Foursquare is a website with app companions that help you "unlock your city." Sign up for an account, download the app, and when you load it, the GPS in your phone will alert you to venues people have created. Check in and you earn points. You can see who's been there, who's there now, and if you check in at least twice and more than anyone else at that venue, you become the Mayor of that venue. As you progress, you also unlock badges like "checked in 10 places" or "3 places in one night" or "Local: same place 3 times in 1 week." You can also add suggestions to each venue to give someone a heads up on something they should try.

Granted, there is also potential danger - someone could use Foursquare to see that you're not home and go rob your house. Then again, as an article I recently read talked about, an answering machine pickup or even a funeral announcement in the paper can do the same thing.

A week later, I hold two mayorships, have unlocked 3 badges, and am just getting started.

From a marketing standpoint, the more a business gets involved, the more visible they can be by promoting themselves and even posting deals on their Foursquare venue page.

Like I said, I'm a n00b, still trying to figure it all out. So check out Foursquare for yourself when you get a chance. Add me to your friends. And have fun with it!

Oh, and here's a Foursquare rap I found: Badges Like Us

Know Your Partners: A Cautionary Tale

When you own your own business, you can work the social networks, you can imbue every part of your work and practice with integrity and you can view the entire world as your growing oyster.

But people will take advantage. If someone can - or has for a while - gamed the system, turned things slightly unethical to get a buck into his/her pocket, they will always be that person.

Allow me an example: I got into business with a friend and her business partner. The parameters were pretty straightforward: Nice niche, I build the site, they handle the logistics, and I get a cut of the profit after a down payment. Pretty normal. She seemed to trust this guy, so I was fine with it.

Business dramatics aside, I got a call from my friend yesterday. She had received a text from her business partner: "Tell Eric we sold the business and get the passwords so I can have this guy in India work on it." Luckily I have a friend first and a business partner second. We'll be making our own move soon.

Logistics of selling a business aside, who does that? Who thinks that kind of business practice is even reasonable?

Answer: No one you want to deal with.

Lesson learned: Spend time - hours and hours if necessary - before getting into business with anyone. People have the potential for anything. Hope for the best, but get to know them. And even then, prepare for the worst. Always have something in iron-clad writing.

I wasn't burned this time, but I have been before. And fool me once...


What are your experiences in business? Do you have any horror stories? Magnificent stories? What advice can you give based on your business or life experiences?

Monday Motivation: Getting Out of Bed

I'm not a morning person. I'm generally up and working by 7am, but only reluctantly. Coffee helps, but only mildly. The most productive portion of my day is 11am - 3pm. I'm just not that morning guy.

But I get up. We all do. The working world seems to operate that way.

And there is a great deal of intrinsic drive to me getting up every morning: so much time and so little to do. Wait. Strike that. Reverse it. Little projects, big projects, contacts and sales. Making sure I've left something good in place of a day passed.

But even with all the mental push you can muster, with all the good intentions you scrape together, I know some of you are still thinking "but I just don't want to get up!" And physically, early in the morning, your body just doesn't want to rise to the occasion. So what to do?

Little commitment, big payoff.

Here's a little exercise that I do on a regular basis:

1. Turn and sit on the edge of the bed, feet on the floor. (Yes, you can do this in the dark with your eyes closed.)
2. Begin rotating your shoulders forward, as though you were rowing but without the arms involved.
3. Take a deep breath. Hold it for a few seconds. Slowly exhale. Then two more like that.
4. Now reverse direction of the shoulder roll and take 3 deep breaths.
5. Instant jump in alertness.

Why it works:

The rotation of the shoulders gets your body morning, even if on a minor level. The specific motion helps to open up the lungs. The deep breathing - paired with your opening lungs - delivers more oxygen to your brain, naturally making you feel more alert and awake. Even the grumbliest of morning grumps will feel more awake after this brief moment.

[NOTE: For those of you who - like me - spend most of the day in front of the computer which lends itself to non-optimal seating positions that may naturally shallow breathing: this exercise is a great pick-me-up to re-seat and re-invigorate yourself a couple times a day.]

So now you're out of bed. Go smile in the mirror and get off to a great week!

French Phishing!

My French may be a little rusty, but I can spot a scam email a mile away. In all my years of broken English lottery or money transfer spam, a foreign language one is a new one on me. Thought you might enjoy:

Très Chère;

Depuis notre dernière rencontre à la diaspora internationale du bénin sur Internet, je n’ai pas laissé votre E-mail adresse;

Dans le seul but de rentrer en communication plus profond avec vous dans un cadre bénéfique a tous deux. Par ailleurs je passe par cette opportunité précieuse pour vous proposer une affaire d’une grande importance ;

Je voudrais sollicité votre aimable et discrète concours pour la récupération d’une mallette contenant une importante somme de: (§12,000.000.00us) douze millions de dollars us.

Ainsi je vous faire comprendre que c’es après le crashe d’avion Libanaise qui c’étais produis en décembre 2003 en Afrique notamment au Bénin que mon feux patron a aussi connu la mort ;

C’est bien là que je suis rentré en possession de ces fonds ; Alors pour ne pas susciter l’attention malveillante des autorités compétentes de la banque ;

J’ai déposé la mallette dans une maison de haute sécurité de bien privé, ou j’ai déclaré que elle comporte des documents précieux pour un partenaire qui viendra la récupérer dès sa présence.

Alors très chère ami je vous propose si vous acceptez mon offre une commission total de 20%sur la somme total dont 5% pour couvrir vos petite dépenses effectuer pour la réussite de cette l'affaire.

Espérant vous relire sous une bonne discrétion.


Contact Téléphone : (00229) 93- 30-49- 33

Cordialement Monsieur Christ Prince

Monday Inspiration: A Moment of Quiet

So often we look to sources of inspiration and motivation to get us fired up and rocketing forward. But what about those things that keep that fire burning? What about stopping for a minute, letting the engine cool down, and taking a deep breath?

Meditation can take many forms from a walk in the park to breathing and silence to praying to full-body chakra alignment, and is completely subjective and particular to every individual. It can be a spiritual moment or a purely physical calming. And anecdotal benefits range from increasing productivity and brain power to having a higher sense of fulfillment during the remaining part of your day.

There are as many motivations as there are methods when it comes to meditation, so let's review one simple method:

1. Get comfortable. You can do this in an office chair, sitting on a couch, the floor, or even lying down. (NOTE: I suggest not becoming too comfortable, especially if you're prone to nodding off.)
2. Close your eyes.
3. Establish a deep breathing pattern. You can try a 5-7 second inhale, hold it for a second, slowly release, but make it yours and only do what is comfortable.
4. Clear your mind. No, this is not as easy as it sounds, but don't waste focus and get frustrated when thoughts enter your mind; simply acknowledge them and let them move on.
5. Continue for 5-15 minutes or as you see fit.

And there you have it: a basic meditation that - done once or twice during the day - can just flush your head of clutter, give your processing centers a break, and allow you to re-engage your work with renewed vigor.

Let me know if you have any specific methods or ideas for taking that few minutes of calm and how they work for you. And have a great day!

Social Networking in Cincinnati

I've been doing a great deal of networking over the past few weeks and have had some excellent experiences and met fantastic people. Here's a quick guide to some of the events and groups I've been interacting with.

Cincinnati AMA
The Cincinnati chapter of the American Marketing Association has over 600 members in the Cincinnati/NKY region. With about a dozen monthly events planned around SIGs like Business-to-Business and International Marketing, there are plenty of opportunities to get to know people in your niche in both structured learning environments and more social mingling that the Young Professionals group gravitates towards. The fee is reasonable and scaled for business size, but non-members can attend just about every event.

Tristate Business Network
TBN's mission is to bring businesses from all over the Tri-state area together to meet, network and help each other grow business relationships. They have a monthly speed networking event (90 seconds - go!) and daily - yes, I said daily - meeting and networking opportunities in and around greater Cincinnati. With over 200 official members and a constantly changing flow of visitors, TBN focuses on giving first. A modest membership fee is worth the friendships and connections.

New Media Cincinnati - Second Saturday
If you don't know about this one, check out the New Media Cincy site. A relaxed gathering every second Saturday at the Pub at Rookwood organized around new media of some sort by Daniel Johnson, Jr., you can see some of the Twitter traffic by searching #newmediacincy. Event is free, food and drink are attendee's responsibility.

Jelly Cincinnati
This is the #CincyTweetup coworking event that takes place at Crossroads at Ridge and Madison once a month. "The idea here is to have folks who work in many different job functions working together in an open environment. The expectation is that creative juices will flow and new friendships will be forged." Honestly, more networking happens than actual work getting done, but there are people coming and going all day and always someone interesting to talk to and learn from. Was started by @researchgoddess (we'll miss you!) but is now headed up by @hellogerard and @blecount. Event is free.

Market and Profit (MAP)
Twice a month a speed networking event (where you're the only in your field in your group) followed by open networking and a meal. Excellent turnout every time. Very small fee to attend (joining group is free) and another great way to meet professionals and business owners in Cincinnati. Keep abreast of the events through the Linkedin Group. Over 600 Linkedin members.

Social media helps you get out your message and helps to build your presence for your face and your brand online. But nothing substitutes meeting people face to face and growing real-world relationships. Remember: A smile and a handshake is worth a thousand tweets.


So where do you go to network? What groups do you belong to or mingle with? I'd love to get your feedback.

UPDATE!
Thanks to some great feedback through Twitter from @newmediacincy and @hellogerard, we've got some more resources to toss in there, and some things I needed reminding of:

Job Search Focus Group
The Job Search Focus Group of Hyde Park is often lauded in Cincinnati as one of the most extensive "in transition" groups in the region. I was able to attend once and the resources and networking are great; if I ever moved from owning my own business to in transition, that's the first place I'd stop. Follow some of the Tweeting with #jsfg

Cincinnati Social Media
Follow the tweets at #cincysm. And set your alerts! The Enquirer event coming up 9/9 knocked down 50 seats in 45 minutes and the Social Media Breakfast usually goes faster than that.

Resources for Women
I've heard nothing but good things about the Cincinnati Women Bloggers (@cinwomenbloggers), Girlfriendology (@girlfriendology), and the women's publication Cincy Chic.

Additionally, Breanna Gaddie's Networking With Passion blog is always a great read, and Krista Neher created a post a while back that covers some of the items I did not in this post.

Oh, and Thursday, August 20th is networking at the Hofbrauhaus in NKY at 11:30 (thanks @justinrains

Anything else? I'm always up to update!

You Are Dead to Me! My First Twitter Block

If you read one of my previous posts - 10 Reasons I Will Not Follow You Back on Twitter - then you know I have a set of criteria that governs the decision whether or not to follow back.

Blocking?
Generally that is enough. If I'm not following them, I don't see their updates and no worries. However, there is one step beyond the passive "not following," and that is to block someone. If you get email alerts that someone is following you, the link to block them is right there in the email. When you visit someone's profile, in the column to the right you will see "block" user (just under "message" if they're following you). Tweetdeck has it on the avatar under the "Other" star > User > Block.

What is blocking?
When you block someone, you do not see their updates, they do not see yours, and they are not able to follow you.

Why would anyone block?
As I said, just not following is fine. And PersonXYZ (no, I will not say who) was ignored for multiple reasons: 0 updates, no profile pic or location information or bio information. But then PersonXYZ followed me again. And then again. At the third time I sent PersonXYZ a direct message stating that I only follow accounts that add value and they had no updates. Then I was followed again.

And that is why I blocked PersonXYZ. If you're not going to add value and constantly follow me over and over again, that is annoyance and lowering the value you add to a negative number. Done.

There are dozens of other valid reasons to block someone, and I'll cover that in a future post. But this was my first official block and I wanted to share that experience with you and - if you've never done it - let you know that it's okay. It's part of the etiquette cycle within Twitter.

What are your thoughts? Should blocking be used more liberally? Never at all? Comments always open.

Old News Education: Flash Can Still Kill SEO

I would say that [potential] client education is one of the most important parts of what I do. And sometimes I forget, because I do it all day long all the time, that there are still some items that need clarification to most people. Today's education will talk briefly about Flash animation and how it should and should not be used.

There are basically 2 points:

1) Flash will kill your search engine optimization (SEO) - still
Search engines are still having trouble with Flash websites. While Google and those other two or three have said they are making strides to pick up on that Flashy content, it is still a crippling venture to choose to develop your entire website in that flowing, textured beauty (when done well, of course).

In the very best case scenarios and future scenarios where the search engines can pick up every word of copy on your site, your Flash site is still, functionally, a single page because the entire Flash piece exists on one page. So even if you have hundreds of Flash "pages" of content, even if you knock out best practice SEO for that page aside from the Flash bulk, you have an entire site that is essentially your homepage. And that's it. And you are effectively irrelevant.

I'm specifically nailing this to the ground right now because we had a nice little chat about it at Podcamp Ohio 2 and I just saw - today - that one of my favorite places to get a haircut and massage redid their website: entirely in Flash. Almost 1/3 of my business over the last year has been re-designing the work of a mediocre - or worse - designer/developer. And that shouldn't happen.

The people and businesses who are in the market for a website redesign need to know this information and the development companies providing these sites are either ignorant or deliberately misleading for the "wow" factor. And that makes me sad for the businesses and angry at the service providers.

Now, with that said...

2)Flash is NOT the Devil
Flash is - and has been since its inception - an excellent and attractive (again, if done well)addition to a site. If you want some of that pretty-pretty moving picture stuff on your site and don't want to make it invisible by creating the entire site in Flash, that is the preferred method of execution. The only thing that you must remember is that any text that lives in Flash components is potentially un-readable to search engines. So either reiterate that in copy or keep it to lovely images retaining all copy for straight-forward HTML text.


In the spirit of full disclosure, I am a web designer and developer that works hard for my clients to get them the best SEO results. In the spirit of honesty: I'd rather see a business spend money elsewhere knowing what they really need to purchase as opposed to wasting money and ending up with me, angry, distrustful, and just wishing they'd done it right the first time.

Get it right the first time: Never pay for a website that is entirely designed in Flash.

Oh Crap. My Parents Joined Facebook.

When social media becomes popular enough that it begins to span generational gaps, discomfort and hilarity spreads. Then it spawns meta-sites like Oh Crap. My Parents Joined Facebook. Here Facebook users - almost exclusively the son or daughter - can submit screenshots of the questionable tresspasses. It's no ICanHasCheezburger or FailBlog, but it's worth a few of your precious time-wasting minutes.

The mix of social media and familial relationships is very interesting, but not without real-world correlations like your parents walking in on a party and trying to be cool, not only embarrassing you but changing the dynamic of your own behavior, as though a sanctuary had been violated.

I'm looking forward to that level of awkwardness coming soon from both ends: I've probably less than a year before my parents get interested enough to join and I get liberal enough to let my daughter open an account. Then it's weird all over.

Incidentally, I'm currently dealing with my own Facebook snafu: my account has recently been deleted. Entering my own vanity URL results in an Account not found and my login no longer works. I think I've traced the source of the problem, but am awaiting response from the Facebook Support team. I gain only slight encouragement from positive comments about the help folks I've come across. Wish me luck.

And let me know: do you have or know of cross-generational accounts on Facebook? How's that working? No big deal or out of control?

The Breakdown of Marketing: My Personal Razor Experience

When I was a young man I, like most young men, began shaving with what my father used: I started on Bic. It was disposable, it had 2 blades, and it was blue.




Then, about the time I started college, I received the newest technology in the mail: The Gillette Mach 3. This one had a metal handle, 3 blades, and you only replaced the top. Slick.



Then, a few year ago I came across Schick's Quattro. As you would imagine, we're now up to 4 blades on a non-interchangeable, proprietary system designed to get you to buy more blades. And the replacements were starting to get pricey, but I stuck to it for a while.



Finally about a year ago I received from a friend or maybe even my father a free sample of Gillette Fusion (Onion article here). I'd heard about it before. It was orange, it was big, and it was 5 blades strong ...+ 1 precision trimmer! And I tried it. And it worked. And then I went to the store and realized exactly how expensive those replacement blades were running and wondered exactly what the difference in shaving was, as I had come so far.

And where have we returned?



To the beginning, of course. The double blades of Bic give me a fine enough shave and I spend 1/5 of what I would replacing all those poly-blade heads. The shaving industry, from my perspective, has run the route of epic fail. Except for those guys making the plastic blue razors. I'm proud to say my father never left them. Wise man.

So do you have a personal marketing experience you'd like to share? What razors do you use? I'd love to hear from you.

John Stewart Explains Twitter

I've got a post brewing on technology and privacy and Wii, as well as insight to a poll taken a while about SEO services. However, due to some wonderfully busy days, I've only this to offer: John Stewart. Explaining Twitter. It's 3 weeks old, but if you haven't seen it, it's worth a look.

Be back tomorrow with something more substantial.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
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comedycentral.com
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