Book Signing Compilation Post

In the past year (and a few months) I've been to more book signings than I've ever been to in my life. Here's a snapshot (literally), in chronological order. Enjoy: 

John Hodgman, More Information Than You Require

Jen Lancaster, Pretty in Plaid

James Patterson, You've Been Warned

John Grisham, Random Book

Nicholas Sparks, The Last Song

Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried

Kathy Griffin, Official Book Club Selection

Google Earth - Historical View

As I'm snowed in at my parents house (having a lot of fun! and no, that's not sarcasm), I downloaded Google Earth. I haven't played with this software since college --- but since I'm researching beach houses for our family vacation so I wanted to check out exactly how much beach space the house we want has available after hurricane season.

After I got the images I needed...  I played. Since I last used it, the Google Earth folks have added more functionality. Instead of only being able to see the image of the place Google chooses (usually from the previous day), you can now view each place at any time of day (ie.. you can see cars in the driveway at night, none during the day). I mean, it's a little bit startling, but probably not 100% accurate so I'm not going to worry too much... yet.

The coolest version now available, though: historical view. You can view places how they looked over 15 years ago. I saw my home in 1994- before the farmland next to us was bought and a ritzy subdivision was built. You can even scroll throughout the years. You can't go that far back for each place, for instance I could only see my grandfather's house back to 1998. Still, very cool. Makes you wonder what will be next in Google Earth and public sattelite imagery?

The final date I saw on my house was Jan 31, 2010 - which is tomorrow. I am hoping that was a glitch. My dad told me to see if I could view 2020 and, if I could, we would be "getting the hell outta here."

Download it and let me know what you think/ what you saw!

A year and a half in --- my WMATA Metro Review

I've been taking the metro to work everyday since August  2008. I'm an Orange Line rider, but occasionally have taken the blue, green and red to get around. Overall, I get where I need to go, but I hear complaints everywhere. It's a mix of 1) The metro employees suck 2) The metro executives suck 3) The metro riders suck.

Here's my review: it's a mix of all three.

First of all, I don't think we should blame everything on the metro employees. As much as we hate it when we hear them calling on the radio that we have to "de-train", I'm sure they aren't thriilled to be sitting in the front of a broken train. Yes, there are some really crappy employees that text-while-driving and do other illegal things, but I've never seen that with my own two eyes so I don't think it's that rampant.

Secondly, if our metro trains are breaking down, then why did the metro executive offices get new chairs or carpet or something a year ago? If the track is breaking and the cars and disgusting and unsafe, why do the metro exec's still have ridiculously high salaries?

Thirdly, I rode the WMATA Metro Bus today. The passengers were 10 times more friendly than on the metro train. The difference was a marked improvement on my regular "I'm going to look you up and down, not smile, not move and push you over if you get in my space" metro train ride. I mean sometimes something that happens to me on the metro train in the morning can ruin my day. Like the time I stood on the metro and it didn't move for 15 minutes. Then again, on the bus line, a child did kiss my leg repeatedly until his mother  pried him off (ew). So you take what you can get as far as clientele, I guess.

Overall, I have gotten everywhere I needed to get safely, and gotten a few good stories out of it. But I think the biggest problem is the major 'tudes of metro passengers. We're all going in the same direction, we all don't want to be stuck, we all want that seat with no one sitting by us... can't we all just get along?

Recipe Review: Mushroom and Swiss Chicken

Tonight, I made a recipe from "My Mama Made That", a cookbook my sister gave me full of "Virginia Favorites" from the Junior League of Hampton Roads, Inc. This is a big step for me because lately my "cooking" has been marinara and pre-made tortellini.

Mushroom and Swiss Chicken
Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 tbs red wine vinegar
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 tbs Cajun seasoning
1/2 tbs pepper
1 cup chopped scallions
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
4 slices Swiss cheese

Instructions: Preheat the oven to 350. Mix the olive oil and garlic in a 9x13-inch baking dish. Add the chicken and turn to coat well. Sprinkle with 3 tbs vinegar, the Cajun seasoning (editor's note: use this seasoning with a light hand because it's HOT!) and pepper. Bake for 30min. Cover the chicken with the scallions and mushrooms. Sprinkle with 1tbs vinegar. Bake for 15min longer. Remove from the oven and top each chicken breast with a slice of the swiss cheese. Serve with wild rice or Cajun rice (editor's note: we had it with white Minute rice and it was still delicious).

Review: This recipe definitely cleared out my sinuses, so I think I'll cut the Cajun seasoning in half next time I make this, which will be soon. I definitely recommend this meal because it's easy, really delicious and fairly healthy.

One thing with me is that I tend to not cook a lot because I don't have a lot of the ingredients and don't know how. This cook book is awesome -- I also bought myself a Rachael Ray cookbook.

Happy eating!

Cyber Shopping Tips

I wrote this for the New Media Strategies blog, published on November 15, 2009. Since I deal with a lot of Bargain Shopping and Savings and Communities, I've picked up some tips to save money while shopping online.  If you haven't finished your shopping yet, maybe some of these tips will help you save some money before Christmas!

Savvy Savings When Cyber Shopping

Since the beginning of September I’ve been asked on four separate occasions if I’m receiving more opt-in e-mail spam than usual.  Of course, like the rest of my peers, I am.  In the past, we would have received all of these discounts via the postal service or clipped them from back of the newspaper.  But now savings are staring us right in the face when we check our e-mail, so isn’t it worth our time to start taking these companies up on their offers?

Nowadays, when I’m buying things online I look for the best deal possible.  Sometimes I will purchase something just because it’s on sale (I know, Mom, not the best use of my money).  I’ve even set up an e-mail alert for a certain product so when a deal pops up I know automatically.  With such instant and convenient access to coupon codes and savings opportunities, the space under the tree doesn’t have to be as bare as we thought it would this year.

If you’re new to the online savings game, I have one tip for you: Google Google Google!  Last week I was buying PJ’s for my sisters and saved more than $40 onAerie.com by shopping during the advertised “free shipping” window of time andgoogling the products to get a 20% promotional code.

Tons of discount websites and e-mail newsletters exist, but finding ones with useful information and the best deals takes a little time.  I’ve put together a short list of the ones I’ve found to be the most reliable and up-to-date, and if you have others feel free to let me know in the comments or through Twitter.

Coupon Cabin

With verified coupons and deals available on the home page, a great search function and an e-mail option, people searching for certain products should give this a try.  When  you click on a deal it delivers you right to the home page of the product and applies the coupon – a negative of this feature, however, is that you don’t have direct access to the coupon code so using multiple codes is more difficult.

Coupons.com

These coupons can be easily browsed because they’re carefully categorized.  A neat feature of this site is it’s “clip” feature which lets you choose coupons to print and then go to the store to get the savings.  I’m not a huge fan of this site, though, because it seems to target parents --- offering savings on mainly Consumer Packaged Goods and game products on the home page.

Retail Me Not

Parents do not fret, your holiday toy savings can be found here, along with coupon codes for tons of great online stores.  This site searches over 40,000 online stores and posts the coupons, allowing customers to review the accuracy of the deal.  With daily contests, a very active forum and an easy coupon sharing function, this is a top spot to find good deals.

Groupon

Instead of searching out great deals in your area, sign up for the daily Groupon e-mails and get them delivered to your Inbox each day.  These aren’t just your everyday “free shipping” or “10% off” deals, though.  I’m talking 50-90% off at luxury spas, boutique restaurants, exclusive products and much more.

In the future, I’m sure that getting deals will be easier than ever before.  We are seeing signs of that already, with cell phones enabling customers to take a photo of a barcode and compare prices or receive coupons. Grocery store, Giant Food, has a new handheld scanner that you carry with you as you shop, and every once in a while it’ll tell you about current deals going on in the store.

I’ll leave you with one final tip, if your shopping site of choice only lets you use a certain number of coupon codes, you can call your order in instead and verbally give them the codes you found.  Hopefully you’re now prepared to shop ‘til you drop and maybe even have some cash leftover in your holiday budget!

New Google Blogger Features?

So I haven't done maintenance on my blog in a WHILE. It needs a good makeover. Not a total revamp though. Does anyone like any Google Blogger features in particular? I'd love to hear your feedback.

Also, any feedback about my blog? I know I need to post more. Other than that, whatcha got?

What did the ocean say to the sand?

Nothing. It just waved.
(wokka wokka wokka)

My fantastic brother-in-law gave me my much coveted invite to Google Wave. I started "waving" at work, but my Firefox hasn't been updated yet so I could only write in hyperlinks (note: not effective). Now that I'm visiting home and on my mother's computer with the enormous space monitor (it's amazing) I checked out Google Wave. I'm not gonna lie: it's pretty cool looking.

Problem: I don't have anyone to "wave" with. And I haven't learned how to send invites yet. But when I get to send invites, put your address and I'll invite you and we can wave.

Good part: Easy to figure out and they have great training videos.

Problem: I'm worried that none of my very important Gmail conversations and contacts won't transfer over. Also, in the future will I only be able to "wave" to other people with wave. This isn't going to REALLY take off for years, and I need to be able to contact others on the Internet not on Wave.

Good part: It makes me feel like I'm from the future.

Working When You’re Not at Work

This is re-posted from its original entry on the New Media Strategies Blog.

Working When You’re Not at Work

An NMSer talks about being a Millennial in DC and getting involved in PR organizations
By: Meghan Sager

Just about a year ago I moved to the Washington D.C. area to work at a boutique PR firm. Obviously, a great network of communications professionals exists in the city and I decided to join Washington Women in Public Relations (WWPR) so I could meet more people. I was hell bent on finding my way in this industry and in this city, and I knew I had to branch out beyond my 9-6 job to do so.

As a Millennial (or Gen Y’er), people assume that I’ll only work hard if I’m being sufficiently rewarded. However I’ve found a balance between working hard, having a life and networking outside of my j-o-b. Most of the time, professional organizations have meetings during lunch or happy hour so you don’t even have to request time off to attend. However, sometimes I force myself to connect with senior communicators even when it’s not convenient with my social life, because I know I’ll enjoy it and I’ll learn something in the end. I think a lot of people starting off in their career forget that being successful doesn’t always mean working 9-6 then clocking out. You have to put in the effort to get your career on the track right.

After a few months of volunteering with WWPR I became a Board Member and now serve as the Marketing and Communications co-chair. In this capacity, I was given the freedom to explore social media options for WWPR and add the knowledge and experience I gained to my resume. I truly believe that this volunteer position was what gave me the relevant experience to become NMS’ next Online Analyst.

In addition to the great career advances you can make when you branch out and network, you also meet some amazing people and come across opportunities you just can’t turn down. WWPR member Mary Fletcher Jones and I started tweeting and commenting on each other’s blogs before she approached me to be a guest on her podcast titled “Conversations in Public Relations”. She wanted to share with her audience of over 2,000 subscribers the experiences I’ve had while working in a communications agency. The interview turned into three separate podcasts, you can check the podcasts below (and in previous blog posts on Thoughts from Meggie Poo).

Not every opportunity like this is right, but you’ll never stumble across these hidden gems and great mentors if you don’t branch out of your comfort zone. It will help your career, help your resume and more than likely help your company.