Thursday Night- Randomosity

Life has been hectic lately. But just like Jake says, "Life is Good". Because of the chaos that is a new computer, a new iPod, long distance relationship turned short distance, crazy work occurrences and establishing a greater online presence, I've neglected updating my blog with ideas filling up my Inbox. So, in one post full of random bullet points, I present to you my Thursday Night Brain Explosion...

- Are you moving? Have a sneaky suspicion? Or are you just a nosy neighbor? You can visit Felon Spy to see if any convicted felons live near you. And the much discussed Family Watch Dog allows you to find out if any child molesters are down the street.

- Helvetica the movie. I heard some creative types at my agency talking about it months back. It's $9.99 on iTunes so I'll probably just add it to my Blockbuster Online queue. If you've seen it, what did you think? Is it worth it? Does it have anything to do with typefaces? I love fonts and typefaces.

- With the recent passing of Estelle Geddy, I've been reminiscing about my favorite Golden Girls moments and what was actually so golden about that sitcom. I remember, as a little girl, visiting my cousins and aunts who lived in the same house. My cousin looked just like Blanch and my aunt looked like Dorothy. I always wondered where Rose and Sophia were since they were my favorites.

- My blog has made Alltop's Twenty Something listing. This is the first time I've done some real self-promotion for my blog, besides asking Chris Brogan if he thought I was a rock star (he did). So check out the page where I'm featured and check out the different feeds on Alltop. It's incredibly thorough and informative.

- My friend Amiee, whose dog Maui was featured in Times Square, tipped me off to an interesting MediaPost article on social media in marketing. It posts predictions on the rise of social media. It's not going away, you know, in fact social media advertising is expected to generate $1.4 billion this year.

"With more than one-quarter of adults domestically and 13% in Europe regularly engaged in texting and blogging, widgets and social networking, social media is nearing critical mass–and is here to stay. eMarketer estimates that by 2011, half of all online adults and 84% of online teenagers in the U.S. will use social networking."

"Economic stress actually forced the issue for some by utilizing social media devices and interactive tools to drum up and secure revenues in tough times."

- My coworker, Tia, tipped me off to an interesting Web site, Neurofocus. She says this about the company "For decades, television networks have relied on ratings to sell advertisements. Now, a company, NeuroFocus, studies the brain's responses to TV scenes and commercials to find out more about a viewer's attention span, memory and level of engagement." I received their latest White Paper and I can't wait to dive into their research. Check them out!

- I've recently been researching and reading up on solid researching regarding my generation. Generation Y, Millennials, Social Natives, Whatever. What I've found is that the research available is full of mass generalizations and overwhelmingly offensive assumptions. I'm in the process of doing some research of my own and putting my thoughts together on this topic.

NOVEMBER!!! POTTER!!!

Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince Trailer



Coming in November...


UPDATE: In the most unsatisfactory of Potter updates, we have since learned that the film will open in 2009.

Responsible Spending (Facecard) + Social Networking (like duh) = BFF (AE)

Just in time for an economic recession, edo Interactive and Mastercard have invented a way to get consumers to spend early, often and responsibly.

Facecard, a new prepaid debit/gift card allows users to learn financial limits without the risk of overdraw charges. The cool thing: Facecard users can also create a unique online profile for friends and family to give funds. So they can log on, say "Hey Aunt Mary, how are you? My birthday is coming up and I'm saving for new iPod. Instead of a traditional gift I'd love some funds on Facecard." and TADA! the funds are there.

The demographic is the teen/ tween generation, so Hot Topic, American Eagle, Claire's and Baskin Robbins, get ready for some Facecard action.

The Intelligence Group's trendcentral eNewsletter has this to say about it (July 29, 2008):

Facecard , launched by edo Interactive and Mastercard, is a new prepaid debit and gift card aimed at Gen Ys and Millennials. Like other prepaid debit cards it appeals to parents who want to introduce their tweens and teens to spending freedom while also teaching them financial responsibility (with the benefit of protection: there is no possibility to rack up overdraw charges with a prepaid card)...

...Accounts can be managed via the website, by mobile phone or at the good ol' brick and mortar bank. When money is transferred to an account it is available within 15 minutes - that means that kids can call their parents from the mall and have money on their card before they leave the dressing room....

...Sharing money electronically definitely makes sense for a generation that loves to give virtual gifts on social networking sites such as Facebook (where gifts are icons meant to beautify the recipients profile page) and with whom microlending is a growing trend.

Monday Night, Before Bed Thoughts

First blog from the Mac, woot woot! Things are going well with me and the new computadora. Gmail is finally cooperating and I made boyfriend a killer greeting card in the photo editor that features my face inside a heart (lucky guy, right?). iTouch and the new HP are all getting along swimmingly and the speakers from my trustee old PC make Patty Griffin sound like an angel coming from the now Apple-fied iTunes playlist.

Anywho, tomorrow is a big day. Going to see Wall-E after work and then coming back in time to watch ABC's 10PM special on Randy Pausch's Last Lecture.

I have five e-mails in my Inbox that all have different and (IMHO) very interesting topics that I'll be writing about in the next week or so. So stay tuned for more "meat and potatoes" in my content and less "lemon meringue pie".

Virginia Beach on iTunes

An article in today's Virginian-Pilot reports that Virginia Beach is "believed to be one of only two municipal economic development agencies nationwide trading on iTunes."

You can subscribe to the podcasts on iTunes or visit their Podcast site and listen. The purpose of this initiative is to show the public that the Econ Dev department is tuned into the City and its happenings. The department's area of expertise isn't broadcast or podcasts but they understand the purpose of these tools and are using them wisely. They've interviewed the Editor of Men's Fitness Magazine that named Virginia Beach one of the "Ten Fittest Cities in America" in 2008.

This is a great start for a city whose online presence is lacking.

Thursday Thoughts: Mac, Freon, Dark Knight

PC to Mac Transition: Day 3 - Woke up this morning and got on my Mac, not my PC. All the files have been switched from the old computer to the new one and the programs have been installed.

After work I can officially work on "getting to know" the system. Boyfriend and I played with GarageBand and PhotoBooth last night. This weekend I'm giving my old (and soon to be completely wiped clean) PC to madre since her Dell runs on Microsoft ME, that's right, Millenium Edition, the system Microsoft no longer supports.
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The Environmental Protection Agency is phasing out freon (Hydrochlorofluorocarbons, or HCFCs). It's bad for the environment, you know? So in the next ten years or so we may see the cost of freon on the rise. We also may experience a crunch to purchase an EPA recommended unit that doesn't rely on freon. This is great. But what will happen to our old units? Thanks to MH, my contact within the EPA, for the info.

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I saw The Dark Knight last night. It's truly an incredible film. I think it surpasses the "comic book movie" title because of its depth. I loved Batman Begins and The Dark Knight is ten times the greatness of Batman Begins. The statements it made about the morality of human nature were intense (I won't spoil it for anyone- so that statement ends there). Every single character was beautiful. Katie Holmes would have wrecked the role of Rachel Dawes in this movie, I'm so glad Maggie did it. Bale, Ledger, Oldman, Eckhart, Caine & Freeman were unbelievavle. And Christian Bale is smokin'.

PC to MAC Transition: Day One

Yesterday I purchased a MacBook. For the past six years I have been using the same Dell Desktop running Windows XP. In 2002, during the first few months with my PC, I had to get a new mouse and a new monitor because the ones that came in the box mysteriously broke down. Luckily, I only had to pay for the mouse. After that, things ran rather smoothly, however the college obsession with free music downloads (Kazaa, Limewire, BearShare, Napster) wreaked havoc on my system, bringing spyware, hidden viruses and bots to my machine. My poor little PC just wasn't the same. I cleaned up my computer, had many conversations with the JMU Computer Help Desk and straightened out my consumer conscience (which meant paying for music downloads).

Even after all that work, I still needed something better than what I was getting from my PC. It's old and runs very slow. With my increasing use of the Internet & fancy computer programs for networking, blogging and work I needed something to work almost as fast as my brain.

Enter MacBook.

I can't give a full report on this transition since I've had my new system for less than 24 hours, but here are some initial noticings from this new Mac User:

1. I'm going to have a lot to get used to on a Mac. It's not a bad thing, just a different format. First, there's the naming: All the programs have a different name than Microsoft uses. Second, there's the layout: I'm not used to all the programs at the bottom, the close-the-window X button being on the left and probably many more changes I haven't yet discovered. Third, the right click button on my mouse is gone. Woe is me!
2. I opened my e-mail (probably prematurely since nothing was installed on my Mac yet) and signed into my gmail account. I was impressed with how quickly the list started to populate and how thorough it was. Oddly enough, I was seeing the very first e-mails ever I ever received on gmail (varying from my current employer during my internship application process, to silly notes from my best friend before we graduated and she got married). However, the list of e-mails stopped populating around July 2006 messages. It was strange. Hopefully after everything is installed it will catch up.
3. I don't have many concerns about my new Mac. I know the transition process will be a long once since the PC system is so ingrained in my head, but I'll get used to it. I do have a concerns about how my new laptop will use memory, though. I bought the most memory that the Apple Store would sell me, but I don't want my computer to crash and to lose everything because I don't have an external hard drive. However, I would have worried about that if I bought a Dell desktop, too.
4. I'm loving the simplicity and the lack of trash that came in the box. Go green packaging!

In the next few weeks I'll be researching how other people beefed up their Mac knowledge quickly and what I should be prepared for, but until then I'll keep updating my blog with how this transition is going.

Another tidbit: I also bought an 8GB iTouch yesterday. I'm waiting for it to power up so I haven't even been able to turn it on yet. I'm currently using an iPod Nano with an embarrassingly low amount of space on it.

ART-FP (Request for Proposal)

The company I work for submitted a response to a local RFP (request for proposal). This is the first one I've directly worked on and the process was hard at first- but now I think I have a better understanding of it. First, you have to figure out what the potential client needs. Then, you have to decide if your company can actually provide this to them. Finally, you do research until you cry and write wonderful and crappy ideas down until it's time for the copywriter to make it look pretty.

This particular client is local and currently uses a Public Relations agency in New York City. In our RFP we wanted to emphasize how our services can 'paint' a better picture of their business locally, regionally and nationally since we grew up and live here.

So what do we do to make this point? Put our response in an art kit, of course, thanks to our awesome creative team. Our page dividers were original paintings by a local artist featured in our regional newspaper that were created solely for this purpose.

I'll keep you updated if we win this business.

What are some clever ideas you or your company have come up with to "wow" a client/ business/ boss?

Elements of a Great Vacation

My vacation is over. I'm sad I no longer get to wake up at any time I want (the average wake up time for me all week was 8:30am, though). The break from daily routines was fantastic. I couldn't have asked for a more fun, relaxing, crazy time. I've posted some pictures to illustrate the major elements that helped me have a great vacation (besides wonderful company):


1) Access to a beach.










2) A good view.











3) Lots of beverage options.










With that said, it's back to the real world. I've already done my cleaning, e-mail checking, Internet browsing and newspaper catchup. What did I miss?

Vacay

My iGoogle countdown now sports the phrase "The sun and the sand and a drink in my hand...".

I've been waiting for this for months. Tomorrow I leave for a week long vacay with my familia to the beach (with one day of work intermingled). If you miss me a lot shoot me an e-mail. Otherwise check out the blogs on my BlogRoll.

Peace, Love and Rock & Roll,
Meggie Poo

InBev really likes Bud Light

Crap... I thought Auggie Busch was sticking to his guns. But I guess a good deal is a good deal. I just hope they don't mess with Busch Gardens Williamsburg, man.

Taken from MSNBC on July 11, 2008:
After weeks of public bickering, media reports say Anheuser-Busch’s board is likely to accept a sweetened buyout offer from the Belgian brewer as early as this weekend.

InBev has boosted its takeover offer for the St. Louis-based maker of Budweiser, Bud Light and other beers by $5 a share to $70.

100th Anniversary Post

Television shows get major fame and killer parties when they reach their 100th episode.
This is my 100th blog post. To celebrate, I'm going on vacation for a week. Ok, I'd be going on vacation anyways but now I have an excuse to eat cake... or fly in a cake shaped hot air balloon!

The 50 Foot Tall Puppy

My friend Amiee's dog, Maui, was recently featured on the side of a building in Times Square!

How? Amiee, along with 9,000 other proud parents of pooches, signed up for Long Live Your Dog, Purina's most recent social campaign that, from what I can tell, is building some pretty solid brand loyalty.

Amiee's customer testimonial:

"I received a marketing e-mail about how Purina Dog Chow had created an online Dog Park. I went to longliveyourdog.com and created a profile for Maui. I played around a bit on the site and found out how I could sign up my dog up to appear in Times Square. I thought, “Maui’ll be a star!” All dogs entered were featured – over 9,000 dogs! I believe one lucky dog (and owner) got to see the photo live in Times Square."

New Masthead Ahoy!

I changed the fonts and moved the picture. Thoughts?

Any suggestions regarding the format/ content of my blog?

PS- TGIAF. So close to the beach I can taste it...

Big Haired Women Always Make History

This article in the LA Times written by Melissa Magsaysay (awesome name, by the way) made me giddy. Honest to goodness, squeal with excitement "Finally I can be cool again" giddy.

I love big hair. It's not often I sport it, though. One of my finer big haired moments was at my big sis, Skelator's, wedding. This 'do was a masterpiece by my fourth sister and hairdresser of almost 20 years, Linnette.

Thank you culture, for completing the circle of awesome hair trends. Thank you.

Big Bad Bertha Brown

My father has been worried about Bertha, mainly because we have a beach house in our name reserved next week and she could really ruin our plans.

Great news though, she is turning away.


...hold me closer Tony Danza. Heh heh heh.

Hold Me Closer Tony Danza

This is my favorite misheard lyric. I've had it in my head all morning. It makes me LOL.

Why so serious?

Check out the viral site for the next Batman installment, The Dark Knight. Click on everything. They have games, teasers and Easter Eggs so intricate you can search the Gotham Catholic Church Directory. This is the way to to do right.

My favorite? Click on each listing from the phone book. They each have their own individual Web site with information on the "company", "cause" or "brand". The Web pages are so in depth that you can call the phone numbers listed and leave a message or e-mail them. This is awesome, too.

I hope the movie is half as good as this viral campaign. I cannot WAIT to see the movie. Who's with me?

Rabbit Rabbit July

Have you ever heard of the Rabbit Rabbit Day superstition? This is the tale that says if you say "rabbit rabbit" when you wake up on the first day of a new month, the rest of the month will bring you good luck.

I heard this in High School. Mrs. Wallace, my English teacher and also a good friend of my Nana, taught us tons of superstitions. She also exposed her classes to many of the classis movies (Gone With the Wind, Casablanca, etc.) that kids our age usually haven't seen and don't want to.

I always think of Rabbit Rabbit Day on the first of the month. To my recollection, I've never been able to remember to say it first thing in the morning. Well, this morning, July 1, 2008, I woke up at 5:00 a.m. and was trying to fall back asleep when it hit me, and I said out loud "RABBIT RABBIT!"

Maybe I'll have good luck this month.

Maybe I believe that luck is something that falls into place with good planning and impeccable timing.

Either way, I'm super happy that this childish superstition found a way into my Tuesday morning.