Foursquare vs Whrrl

I started my experiment with foursquare a couple months ago – and it was a rough battle. I was up, I was down, and I was unsure what I thought. Finally, after some time and some trials, I figured out foursquare and what I liked about it. It was simple to use – allowing tips easily and effectively. Check-in’s were simple and quick and I could choose where it went to. I could also earn pretty awesome badges, immediate rewards at some places and become the mayor of the places I frequented…which meant I could earn better rewards including free food, drinks, or discounts. But, what I didn’t like was the fact that so few businesses were using it. I could go to probably 30 venues without earning anything more than points for being there. It had simply become a contest to see who could get the badges, not about earning rewards for frequenting a location…because there were so few rewards! Some of the big companies understood how to use it, like Del Taco did in Orange County. But, for every one that gets it there are thousands that don’t…and even more that don’t even have a foursquare account at all. One other issue is the fact that there are usually a couple different versions of each venue, because anyone who wants to can create that venue. But, it is usually easy to figure out which one the real one is (has the most info or the most checkin’s) so the problem is slowly fixing itself. On the positive – it is growing and there are more and more companies figuring out how to set up their companies foursquare account and create meaningful offers and specials. This means that soon, there will be a lot more to get from foursquare – and the early adopters will have an advantage at keeping their mayorships, and the perks that come with it!

On the other side of the coin is whrrl. If you have an iphone…you’ve had the option to use this tool for a long time. And I had hears a lot about how awesome it was – and seen some of the awesome whrrl stories. As a droid user, I just (as of Tuesday, the 12th) was able to check it out myself as they launched their droid app just before Blogworld. Of course, where better than to test it than at one of the biggest new media conferences? So on Wednesday, when I arrived, I downloaded the whrrl app and took it for a “whirl” (sorry, I couldn’t avoid it…). At first, I was a little confused and overwhelmed. Whrrl is much more indepth than Foursquare and has a lot more serious check in procedures and processes. For someone who had only used foursquare, it was overwhelming to start trying whrrl. One of the most confusing pieces of whrrl I found was that you actually click “check in” to get the list of places you can then choose from – where foursquare, you only click “check in” once you have found where you are.It actually took me almost 10 minutes the first time I checked in somewhere because I did win something (cool) but had to go through about 6 different acceptance screens to actually get to the thing I could show at the restaurant to claim my prize (not so cool). The following day, I had the opportunity to sit down with Heather Meeker and Jeff Holden (the PR director and CEO of Whrrl, respectively). Over lunch, I was able to show them some of the things I loved (like the picture sharing, notes and recommendations) and what I didn’t (the long process, the confusion with the layout, and the too many step process). They were more than receptive, and I had a great time talking through the site with them – and learned a lot about how I could use whrrl more effectively. They also directed me to their tutorial section for other questions, which did help! Ultimately what made whrrl win me over was the ability to create an entire story about your event – and connect it to the stories of your friends who are there too. Basically, once you check into a location, you can then add a picture, tag others at this venue, share notes, and even write recommendations. This means that at the end of a long night somewhere, all the photos you and your friends shared, any notes you sent out and anything they contributed is all connected in one big whrrl story. *Side note: Sometimes the pictures load sideways when I take them, sometimes they are fine…unsure if it’s the droid or whrrl or me…still discovering that one*

Overall, I think that both tools have their place and I will continue to use both. What I am planning on doing though is sending less of the checkin’s to twitter and only doing it if I am at a place with a large group of people. I watched my stream this past week, and using both tools means that there could be a lot of messages sent out – and that could be very obnoxious. I really only need to send out the final whrrl link so people can see the full story, and checkin’s on foursqaure to twitter can be saved for big events. In addition, using both tools means that I can acquire more perks, since some businesses are only using one or the other to actually give something to the users.

Until one becomes prevalent in the market, I see no reason to use only one tool.

What do you think? Have you tried one or both? Prefer one to the other?

What makes a leader? #leadershipchat

Last night, I participated in my first leadership chat, thanks to Steve Woodruff @connectionagent. Last week, he announced his newest project with @LisaPetrilli – Tuesday night tweeting with the stars, under the #leadershipchat hashtag. According to Steve, the point was: “So YOU get to be the stars as we all chat together about Leadership topics each week. While these one-hour Twitter chats will be free-flowing, there will also be thought-provoking themes, which we’ll introduce on our blogs beforehand each week”.

And this weeks topic was Leadership and Power based on Jeffery Pfeffer’s interview about his latest book, “Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don’t”. First Lisa and Steve shared their thoughts about the article and Power on their own blogs…Lisa believed that it can depend on which lens you view power through, and Steve’s video says it all…Then tonight, the flood gates opened and worlds collided – #leadership chat was amazing. Thoughts and ideas were flying way to fast to keep up with everything, but there was definitely a lot of agreeing and disagreeing.

Some of the best of the best tweets (in no particular order):
bettinadeperez: Effective leaders have innate stamina & focus, that allows them to persevere thru obstacles that exhaust & defeat others

@Starbucker: And, above all else, you have to love to lead, consider it an honor to do so, and have a passion to serve

@lizstrauss: Great leaders are always learning from the people they serve.

BrandRanter: @TomMoradpour AGREE: To be successful you have to know your “magic power”… That thing you are better at than anyone else

thekrg: Leaders set people up for success and then leave them alone while they reach that goal. No micromanaging.

@DaveMurr: Something I heard today: All leaders know how to win, but they can only be great if they have experienced great failures

swoodruff: @LisaPetrilli I agree that power is achieved to some extent via networking. I do question the “manipulation” aspect (me, me)

@CarlSorvino: You may perceive yourself as a leader but if no one else does, then you’re not,.. It’s about contribution.

MackCollier: @kirstenwright @jonathansaar So what about empowering those below to come up to your level? Being teacher even? Merit?

SeeboldMarCom: @swoodrufff leadership without hierarchy demands practicing what you preach and becoming/remaining the leader by example

What I saw as the overall theme is that leadership and power must be earned – and not so easily given based on the perceived value of a persons rank. My biggest belief is that your reputation should be earned, and leading has to be proven through how you handle trials and failures. We all believe that for a leader to really be a leader, they must be fair, just and deliver something that is worthy of following. Power does not a leader make, but most top leaders do have a lot of power.

If you have a solid hour (or can browse quickly, as there is over 40 pages of them) I suggest checking out more of the #leadershipchat tweets.

What do you think about leadership & power?

The Wise are Who They Are

“In the story of the Ugly Duckling, when did the Ugly Duckling stop feeling Ugly? When he realized that he was a Swan. Each of us has something Special, a Swan of some sort, hidden inside somewhere. But until we recognize that it’s there, what can we do but splash around, treading water? The Wise are Who They Are. They work with what they’ve got and do what they can do.

There are things about ourselves that we need to get rid of; there are things we need to change. But at the same time, we do not need to be too desperate, too ruthless, too combative. Along the way to usefulness and happiness, many of those things will change themselves, and the others can be worked on as we go. The first thing we need to do is recognize and trust our own Inner Nature, and not lose site of it. For within the Ugly Duckling is the swan, inside the Bouncy Tigger is the Rescuer who knows the Way, and in each of us is something Special, and that we need to keep”. The Tao of Pooh

Thoughts?

Your answers to absolutely anything…

Yesterday, I opened up the doors to anything. I allowed my twitter followers the once-in-a-lifetime chance to ask me absolutely anything they wanted…and I would answer it today.

@HealthOC Anything? That would get me in trouble, lol. I want to know..if you could sit anywhere in SoCal for the day, where and why
Well, this would have to be somewhat hypothetical because the place I want to sit doesn’t actually exist as a place you can currently sit. But, I would want to sit in an overstuffed armchair in a coffee house that also served amazing salads and sandwiches that overlooked both Rodeo Dr. and The Spectrum. I could people watch, and work at the same time…in a comfy chair with food But, realistically, I have a couple favorite places to go and work: The corner bakery in Irvine off of Main st., the Starbucks at the corner of Oso and Antonio in RSM, and T-street beach in San Clemente…to do absolutely nothing all day!

@remarx: How do you organize your schedule so you have time to blog daily?
I schedule my writing time just like I would any important appointment. On Sunday, before my week starts, I look at my calendar and what I have scheduled. Then, I map out 45 minutes each day where I am only going to focus on my blog. Because I do this every day of the week, I have a lot of content I develop each day, giving me the ability to have extra content when I have a day where fitting in time would be impossible, or for when I go out of town. It was very difficult to do this for the first 3 months, but after that, it got easier. I still have some days that I hit a wall and can’t think of anything to write…so on those days, I still do work on my blog, I just don’t write. I will check out new plugins, search for interesting pictures on flickr (which can sometimes spur a post) and browse through Digg and Stumbleupon (which can also get me writing). The point is that writing has to become a task that you do every day, just like eating lunch or taking a shower.

@Bmunlin Do you think u are sexier with or without the cowgirl hat?
I guess I did say anything …Okay, so I think that one is a “based on what you prefer” and isn’t really an easy one to answer. I have a lot of fans of the hat, and then a lot of fans of no hat. Personally, I like myself without the cowboy hat better because then you can see my face more. Plus, the hat doesn’t fit in every situation. However, it is a big part of me because I really am a cowgirl at heart, so I do have a soft spot for my hat.

@jeffespo Why is the sky blue?
So, funny story…I was playing with colors for my new condo and deciding between blue and green. in the bathroom Long story short, the hubby and I got in a bit of a fight over the color choice and started throwing paint. The green went low, the blue went high and *splat* …blue sky (which, coincidentally, is also why the grass is green).

@DNACowboy: What is the one major fail that any new blogger can simply avoid?
Other than the 10 reasons people shouldn’t start a blog…? Actually, the major fail to avoid is really simple: If you plan on giving up writing before you’ve given it at least 1 full year of focus and energy, you shouldn’t start at all. Blogging is like anything, it takes time, practice and experience to get it right. You are not going to be a rockstar blogger on your first post, and you shouldn’t expect to be. If you happen to get lucky, awesome, but for the majority, it is going to take time for people to find you, follow you and want to continue reading. Blogging is not for the faint of heart but if you’re willing to work for it, it can bring some awesome results.

@PeterParks Peter Parks
would like to know what’s your favorite muscle car to drive & why, how often you drive it. Also what’s your fav desert (:-
Well, let’s start with desert. Depends if you’re talking home-made or in a restaurant. Home-made is my mom’s boysenberry pie with Lunardi’s Vanilla Ice cream. In a restaurant, it is Cheesecake Factory’s 30th anniversary cheesecake. For the cars, the simple answer is I am a Ford girl when it comes to raw muscle. I am also a bit of a Porsche fan, but you didn’t ask about European cars… so, my favorite muscle car that I have ever driven is a 2006 Shelby GT500 Mustang – it was a friends that they had supercharged…and really, it was just amazing. The first Ford I personally owned was a 2003 Mustang Mach 1. She was my baby…so beautiful, so clean, and with an after-market exhaust that set off car alarms. But sadly, it was wrapped around a tree in early 2008. Now, I drive a 2008 Mustang GT. It is definitely gorgeous, and I have an after-market exhaust on it too, but it just doesn’t have the same growl that my Mach 1 had. Which is why my dream muscle car is a 1970 Mustang Mach1, supercharged, like the one in front:

@TheDailyDecibel: How did you decide upon WordPress, — and if you weren’t using WordPress, what would you use? thx
I not only use wordpress for my own site, but for almost all of my client’s sites. I chose wordpress for a lot of reasons, but the most important were its flexibility with design (no two sites ever have to look the same), its ease of use (I can teach anyone how to use it) and the number of plugins it has available. WordPress can pretty much be customized to do whatever you want and works for every kind of site, from photography and food to corporate finance and real estate. If I weren’t using wordpress, I would be lost. Honestly. I can’t imagine trying to do everything I do for my clients without having a platform like wordpress behind me. If you haven’t tried it, looked at it or thought about using it, you’re missing out.

@Busko:What made you decide to do what you are doing and how long have you been doing it?
I started in marketing when I first got out of college, and really had trouble finding my world. I tried the sales side, then the PR side, and finally in 2007, discovered the web design and blogging side. I worked for a couple different companies between then and 2009, when I was laid off due to the economy. Backpedaling, in 2008, I started writing this blog. It started as just an outlet of my creativity and turned into ideas from what I learned in business, to experiences in twitter, facebook and other social channels. I had also done some really small jobs helping people set up twitter backgrounds, develop content for blogs, and determine how to market themselves. I did it more for fun than anything since I was working full-time. So, when I was laid off…I did some thinking, asked my readers what they thought and posed the question on twitter: “What should I do”? That was when I decided to start my own business. It was a huge risk but I had my hubby and parents support so I went for it. It has now been a little over a year on my own and I am so happy I made the decision to go out on my own!

@Bill King: Basically, my guy hosts our website after he fixed it from it’s previous design. We pay a monthly host fee. I don’t think it costs him anything, so it seems to be free money to him. Then I have to pay him for any updates to the site (I think the fees are reasonable). So, I’m basically asking, “Am I wrong that it’s free money for you to host my site?”
Okay, so I don’t know the exact right answer because I don’t deal with hosting sites myself, but what I know is: “Hosting” is basically a short term for renting out server space from a company and they store all the content of your site for you. Usually, people work with large hosting companies like Lunarpages, GoDaddy, etc. and pay them to host the site. I use lunarpages, and it is about $180/ 2 years of hosting. There are different levels of hosting, depending on how much space your site needs and how large it is. There are also better hosting companies that have more dedicated servers that have lower risks of going down – and they charge a lot more. Then, there are individuals who do hosting. Web server’s are available for the public to purchase. These usually cost a couple grand. The purchaser (who is like your web guy) can set the price to charge to rent the space to you. This cost is based on really, whatever he wants. But, logically, he would price himself higher than the large companies because he doesn’t have as many clients, and had to pay for the server himself. But, he also has less risk of issues because he usually only has a couple of servers to deal with as opposed to an entire building full of servers so he can ‘validate’ the price. As for the design changes…well that is a whole other conversation, because if you had a wordpress site (haven’t we talked about this?) you would hire someone (me) to create a custom design for you and then you would have the ability to modify the content whenever you needed to change it – without calling me. For your site, I really think you are getting (pardon my language) royally screwed. You could be saving a ton of money using just lunarpages to host your site – and then you wouldn’t be tied to one person.

Didn’t get the question you wanted to in? Then ask me now!

Video-blogging: How To Make Sense of The Complexity In Content Production

A couple weeks ago at #smmoc, we got to talking about video blogging and whether small businesses can benefit from it. The answer was a resounding yes. Unfortunately, as much as I would have liked, I couldn’t share with you the “how”…So I asked a friend of mine, an impressive video-blogger, Mel Aclaro (@melaclaro) to share his tips and advice on video blogging. So first, a big thank you to Mel for taking some time to write this! Now, onto the content…I hope you all enjoy it!

When it comes to explaining to others how to develop a flow for consistently producing web video for social media and online marketing projects, one of the questions that occasionally comes up is the question, “How do you do it?”

Don’t get me wrong, I recognize the question for what it is. It’s not really coming from a point of awe-inspired wonder. Rather, it’s a simple enough question. It’s a question about process. What they’re really asking is, “Hey, Mel, what’s your workflow like?” “How do you quickly get video online from the time you push the Record button and the time when it’s visible on YouTube?”

The answer may surprise you. The fact is, it’s a complicated series of events. There a lot of steps involved. When taken in totality, the whole process represents a huge investment of time. Producing video isn’t for everybody.

That said, the extended answer may surprise you even more. Despite the factuality of the statements above, I think it is equally true to say: producing web video may be a lot simpler than you think.

Let me explain.

Typical Video Development Workflow

Below is a diagram of all the steps I typically go through to get video content onto my blog. Now, I’m not going to list every umteenth level of detail in each step. That would require a whole chapter in itself. Rather, it’ll suffice for our purposes to touch on each step at a higher level.

In a nutshell, it goes like this:

1. Idea. You have to have an idea, concept or theme for the video. This can involve a bit of brainstorming, outlining or perhaps even some formal scripting or storyboarding. In any case, the topic has to form. And, it usually helps to write down at least the key highlights of what it is you plan on saying.

2. Studio Setup. At some point, the “studio” has to be setup. Now, I wrote that in quotes because, when we’re talking about video for purposes of web-based content and video-blogging, it’s important to remember that we’re not talking broadcast video. We’re not producing for the sequel to Avatar. Instead, in our case the “studio” can be as simple as your camera being mounted on a tripod, along with some basic lighting considerations. If you’re shooting video indoors: then some artificial lighting sources will likely be in order. If outdoors: depending on the sun and cloud conditions, it may be the case that the “studio setup” involves nothing more than having your camera, a microphone and a tripod.

3. Record. This is the step where you shoot the video. In a nut, this involves making sure your talking head is on the business end of your camera, pressing the Record button, and then getting your talking head to say the right words. (You have to picture me writing that sentence with a grin on my face.)

The reality is that, for some reason, once the Record button is pushed and the little red indicator light starts blinking, most of us feel the pressure to start speaking immediately, eloquently and with a minimum of errors.

Here’s a tip: Turn on the camera. Then just sit there. Sit there for a full 2 minutes. Yes, 2 minutes! Tell yourself that you’re going to allow those two minutes (or more) of tape to just “burn.” Then during that time, just do whatever comes natural. Banter with your friend. Talk to yourself. Stare at the sky, swat at flies. Scratch your, uh, nose. Whatever. The point is, eliminate the pressure. You don’t have to start right when the camera’s record button gets pressed. The fact is, video tape–at least the kind you and I would typically use for this kind of production–is relatively inexpensive. Let it roll.

Rather than letting the camera dictate when you start, take the pressure off and give yourself permission to let the tape roll. Tape is cheap. Start when you’re good and ready. You can always edit all the undesirable footage out of the final production and before it gets uploaded to YouTube.

4. Upload to Computer. This is the step that requires somehow getting the spoken word and the captured images from your camera into your computer so you can process the footage further in some way. Unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach here. The fact is, every camera has its quirks. The software you choose as your video editor will also have its own requirements. It’s not really a technical thing. It’s just a process, that’s all.

Admittedly, this step can cause some consternation even for experienced video bloggers. So, what I usually like to encourage my friends who are new to video-blogging is to, again, take the pressure off; get a camera that takes on much of this burden for you.

“Flip” type cameras, like the Flip Ultra HD or the Kodak Zi8 are excellent starter cameras. In fact, many long time video-bloggers use these cameras as their device of choice even after they’ve been at it a while. The benefit of these cameras is that not only do they make the video recording process as easy as, literally, “point-and-shoot,” but they also come with their own editing software. After recording, simply plug the camera into your computer’s USB port and *it* loads-up and launches the editing software. You can then pretty much follow your nose through the instructions. Which, brings us to the next step.

5. Edit. This is the fun part. This is where you get to cut out all the “ums” and “uhs” and even those first 2 minutes on the front end when you appeared to be deep in thought in a discussion with yourself. Editing is the creative step in which many video enthusiasts actually find their lost creativity. Enjoy it; find yours.

6. Upload to YouTube. Once you’ve edited and produced your video into a file format that’s compatible for viewing online (your software can help you with this), the next steps involve navigating to YouTube.com and clicking the upload button. Then, simply follow YouTube’s instructions for getting your video online.

7. Write copy for YouTube. Though your video may have captured upwards of 30 pictures for each and every second you were speaking, and you may have even been speaking upwards of a dozen words every 10 or 20 seconds, none of it is worth a lick for SEO juice if search engines can’t find it. So, it’s up to you to attach the proper words to your video in such a way that search engines can index something related to your video. That’s where things like the Title for the video, Description, Tags, and so on come into play. Ultimately, it will be via these types of descriptive textual information is how search engines will find your video and not (yet) via the spoken words.

8. Transcribe. Closely related to Step 7 above is transcribing the words spoken in your video. While the description, title, tags and such in Step 7 are ultimately associated with the video you upload to a video hosting site like YouTube, the fact is, that’s not the end of it. Ultimately, your goal is to get your video on your blog. By the same token, you want search engines to be able to index words associated with the video in your blog. That’s where transcribing your video can come in handy. In fact, the transcription itself can pretty much operate as the text version of your blog post.

9. Blog post. Finally, once the video has been produced and uploaded to YouTube, you want to take both the video and the transcription and post both into your blog.

Does all this sound easy enough? Well, in fact there are indeed a lot of steps… especially if you’re a small business operating a one-person shop. Oh sure, I can I can tell you that it’s easy. But you’d be well within your rights to look at me with that incredulous stare daring me to be reasonable. And, you’d be right. The fact is, those are a LOT of steps involved. So, here’s another way to look at the workflow.

Rapid Video Development Workflow

I adapted the workflow below from Gideon Shalwick’s video-blogging process. In a nutshell, it goes like this: understand the process, but outsource the busy work. Simple, right? In fact, yes.

Notice that all the steps are the same. The only modification has been limited to you taking on only the key roles of: generating the idea, hanging around for bit about actually recording the video, then wait to receive the final video so you can upload it to YouTube. (See the middle row in the diagram above.) You can also take on the burden of writing the copy of the description for YouTube. But ultimately you might also consider outsourcing the copy writing for this step, as well.

In any case, everything else are tasks you can–and should–be outsourcing to an assistant. And, keep in mind, the “assistant” doesn’t necessarily have to be a paid professional. It can be your spouse, niece, nephew or even an intern. The point is that you should be focusing on the steps that are core to your business and the ideation of the concepts discussed that relate to your business, your brand and your image.

Look at both diagrams again. I’d venture to say that any anxiety you might feel during a first-pass looksee at the workflow isn’t really related to any particular step being insurmountable. Rather, the anxiety is probably more a byproduct of looking at the number of the steps involved as a whole. When viewed in totality it gives the perception of difficulty, complexity, perhaps even a bit of chaos. It’s only when you break the whole thing down to its component parts that order emerges from chaos and things start looking a little more manageable.

The trick to quickly and consistently producing video-based content for your blog isn’t, at the end of day, a technical hurdle. Like many tasks we tackle in our respective businesses, it’s a task management issue.

Your Turn

What are your thoughts. Do you feel you can trust some of these other steps to another person? Does the whole workflow feel more do-able when you focus on the middle row of tasks?

Mel Aclaro is the Principle of MindBridj, LLC. He develops online and video-based training for small businesses and non-profits. Mel is an avid blogger and video-blogger at MelAclaro.com and can be found frequently blogging on topics related to business, social media, video and training.

Do you have a daily paper?

Each day, I have a few tweets from my followers that look something like this:

It is a tweet that is automatically created by your daily paper, which you can build at paper.li. According to their homepage, “paper.li organizes links shared on Twitter into an easy to read newspaper-style format. Newspapers can be created for any Twitter user, list or #tag. A great way to stay on top of all that is shared by the people you follow – even if you are not connected 24/7!”

Until today, I hadn’t tried paper.li, but I decided to test it out and see what I thought, and give you an insight into whether creating a daily paper makes sense for you.

• Signing in was easy – you connect either through your twitter or facebook account (I chose twitter). Once you do, the homepage doesn’t change much, so it can be difficult o figure out what to do next. The “create a newspaper” link is up in the top right corner. When you click, you are given a choice (click picture to enlarge):
  
• In order to be thorough, I decided to try one of each. I started with the top option – creating a paper…of a Twitter user + those being followed. Once i entered my name and clicked create, it sent me to a waiting screen where it pulled in all of the stories, followers and information. Once it did, I now have a live version of the Kirsten Wright Daily. Unfortunately, after just a quick browse, I realize that this is a really bad characterization of what I actually read on twitter, or the people that I listen to the most. So, I decided to try the next one
• The next option was to create a newspaper…of a Twitter #tag. In this case, I am choosing to use #bwe10 because it is an active group, and contains many brilliant minds, all of whom are preparing for Blogworld. I figured this might help me learn more about who is attending with me. After entering the hastag and clicking create, the #bwe10 paper went live. This paper, again, didn’t really capture what I was looking for as it was not a good sampling of the people I really pay attention to. So, I decided to test the final way to set up a paper.
• The last option is to set up a paper…of a Twitter @list. This seems the most promising as a list is something you develop on your own of exactly what you want. But, I ran into a problem…the list that I want to use is actually a private twitter list. Which means that I can’t use it. So, I either have to make the list of my favorite people public, or use a different list. I decided to bite the bullet and deal with it if there were any hurt feelings and just make it public. So, my Amazing Daily Newspaper was born. And finally, there is a newspaper that actually captures what I enjoy reading, the people I listen to the most, and the ones that I participate with. Are there a few people missing? Yes. But, this does the best job capturing what I was hoping for.

What can you take away? If you are going to create a daily paper, you are better off using a list that you have custom created with the users that you want to share.

Have you tested out daily paper? What do you think?

Laughter is the key to productivity.

Okay, so the statement in the heading may not be true, but I certainly believe that laughter is extremely important in making you happy and happy people are more effective. So with that said…here are a few thoughts that are guaranteed to make you grin at least a little…and hopefully brighten your day!

1. I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.
3. I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.
4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.
5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
6. Was learning cursive really necessary?
7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I’m pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
9. I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind of tired.
10. Bad decisions make good stories.
11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren’t going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.
12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after BlueRay? I don’t want to have to restart my collection…again.
13. I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to.
14. I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
15. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.
16. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.
17. I wish Google Maps had an “Avoid Ghetto” routing option.
18. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
19. How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear or understand a word they said?
20. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!
21. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.
22. Sometimes I’ll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.
23. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey – but I’d bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time!
24. The first testicular guard, the “Cup,” was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. That means it only took 100 years for men to realize that their brain is also important.

*Special thanks to my awesome girlfriend Jen for sending me this email*

Which were your favorite? It’s okay, go ahead an laugh…we all need it!

Apparently I don’t know everything.

Today, despite the year and a half I have been on Facebook, I just learned how to move already uploaded photos from one album to another without losing the tags & comments. Thank you to @BillKingOC and @TheBigDebowski.

We are always learning, always growing, and always finding out how to do something better or more effectively.

What did you learn today?