Gosh! That is one sweet tank top!

Please take a minute (or three) to also enjoy the music video for the theme song.

And then there’s this piece of genius

Anyways. Being married to a man who is a total movie buff and thinks that if Hollywood has put it on film it should be seen by him, I’ve seen some pretty shitty movies. I set some rules in house that I’ve mentioned before. I will say that his love of cinema has certainly exposed me to movies I wouldn’t have watched otherwise and some which should have never been made. But, I love him, this husband of mine.

By the way, did anyone else notice how they set Big Trouble in Little China up for a sequel that never happened? That’s a crying shame.

Today, my sweet husband did a whole bunch of laundry. And the dishes. All as a thank you to me for doing our taxes. That was super great of him. Then, after we played some video games upstairs, he middle-school-slow-danced with me to the last verse of my favorite Willie Nelson song (I’d Have to be Crazy). Later, we folded sheets together and it was so boring and normal and sweet.

So, maybe we’re not jet-setters or super interesting people. But, today…that’s the kind of run-of-the-mill, everyday activities that make up most of our lives. It was interesting and fun and romantic in a boring kind of way. That’s what most of our lives are made of and what creates those memories of the regular times.

Fantastic day.

I think about all those posts and status updates by other people, “WTF! My mom just friended me on Facebook!”  Like this blog. And this blog post on Facebook.  It’s such a big deal, there’s even a flowchart circulating the Internet.

So there are all these people lamenting over their mom friending them.  But, what do you do when she unfriends you?

I liked being Facebook friends with my mom.  I’m not a big phone talker.  I used to be.  I used to talk to my mom for hours, like, every Saturday morning.  Then I eloped with my husband.  It totally changed my relationship with my mom.  She was really, really pissed and has been pissed off at pretty much every single thing I’ve done since then.   We don’t talk on the phone anymore.  At all.  We live in the same city, but rarely see each other.  It just evolved that way because we couldn’t interact without her getting mad and me apologizing a million times to no avail.  It seemed to me that since it was so upsetting for her to talk to me, it was better just to leave it alone.

But, on Facebook, it looked like we were making some progress.  It was great.  We commented on each other’s posts, she said really nice things about being proud of me.  I felt like we had a chance to have some kind of positive relationship.

Then, Christmas.

At first I thought it was some kind of glitch.  I clicked her profile and got the dreaded, “Your mom only shares her information with certain people” message.  Then, I thought, maybe it was an accident!  No.  It takes some real effort to unfriend someone on Facebook.  It doesn’t just happen accidentally.

So, which is worse: your mom wants to be your Facebook friend or your mom doesn’t?

Anyways.

I like it when I get to go to our Toronto office because I get to meet faces that belong to names of people I talk to often.  That is so exciting to me and it’s one of the pieces of social networking I like best.  It’s one of reasons I will always do my best to make it to Pittsburgh for social media stuff there.  When virtual becomes IRL, it freaking rocks.  There’s something about making eye contact with others that essential to the human experience.  The point is that all of this technology can be a facilitation to deeper human connections.

However, I’m a Texan and I don’t own a coat.  So, I will not be returning to Toronto until it thaws in the spring.

Social media, online networks, remote working ,or teleconferencing can diminish or eliminate geographical boundaries.  Social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook can reconnect you to people from your past – good or bad.  I’m not making a judgment on that, I’m just saying -  what is it with people and their High Fidelity moments?  OK, that was off topic.  Sorry.

You know what Grinds my Gears?

It really grinds my gears when marketing people think they can treat social channels the same as their mass media or sales channels.  It also grinds my gears when people who work at agencies think they have the expertise to “do” social media because they attending a marketing conference on it in their best networking outfit and they have their own Facebook profile.  It really grinds my gears when people cheat traffic rules to get ahead of a line of cars.  There, I said it.

The weekend started out with the meet and greet where I got to reconnect with @wormy920, @unclecrappy, @dangreenwald & @sixdegreesPGH, only this time in person. I met some new folks, too, which was great.  And I drank a lot of BitchBurgh’s boxed wine, which was also delightful.

I had the chance to share the three-step feedback process which I developed with my colleagues in the office.  It’s really foolproof and an effective way of making sure your audience is listening.

1) Start with the phrase, “Listen MotherF*cker…”  This guarantees that you’ve got their attention and also helps to establish a hierarchy for the conversation

2) Here, insert your bit of constructive feedback.  Let them know what it is you came to say.

3) End the conversation with, “Bitch.”  Here, you’ve reinforced the hierarchy of the conversation and ensured a closure to the feedback.

After sharing this tidbit of personal professionalism, and after the boxes had gone dry, we moved the meet and greet to the DoubleWide bar next door.  I shouldn’t have really indulged, but I did allow @chilla to bring me whatever it was his adorable girlfriend (@wormy920) was drinking.  Then, a (later realized) unintelligible text message conversation with my sister.  I’m not sure, but I think she might be moving.  I also relished in the impression I’ve had of Pittsburgh for a while; that it’s the Yankee Austin.  It’s such a great place with wonderful, super cool people.  When I decided to get a cab home, I had my weird, like that could have been trouble, Pittsburgh moment.  While hailing a cab, some dude pulled up and offered me a ride.  Me, after a bit of boxed wine and whatever it was @chilla’s girlfriend was drinking, naively asks, “Do you take credit cards?” at which point the non-lisenced-not-really-a-cab sped away.  The Cashless Wonder wins again!

I spent the weekend sharing social media ideas.  Which, in my opinion, was way better than the ISConference I went to in Houston earlier in the week.  That was more like marketing people continuously giving a pitch about how smart they are in social media.  The audience, on the other hand, seemed to be more marketing people who thought they were becoming social media experts because they went to the darned thing.  And there were a lot of marketing and PR women displaying plenty of their Melrose Place Professional style, complete with hooker shoes. (I hate Houston).  I like the sharing, sans hooker shoes, WAY better.

I should also mention here that The Texas Longhorns beat the Hell outta Texas Tech and my Tennessee Titans got hammered by the Pittsburgh Steelers (so I just kept my mouth shut about that one).

Since I was up above the Mason-Dixon, I also took the opportunity to stop by my company’s Pittsburgh office.  I delivered a road show about our social media strategy and our engagement so far.  Although, I think there were some people who came because I have fabulous prizes to give away, there were a lot of people who were there because they were actually interested.  With four show times, I think we had a decent showing and I got a lot of great questions and feedback.  It was really nice, as well, to meet so many people.  Love it!

Now, I’m back home.  Hubby is gone on a business trip – we just missed each other by a few hours.  But, it’s good to see teh puppies and I can’t wait to sleep in my own bed.  I love the Omni, but their pillows suck.  I will miss the room service though.

I don’t usually write about social media in this blog because I haven’t tried to position myself as an expert.  I’m still learning (and I hope I always will be).  But, I do have opinions about it and I’m finding that more and more people are asking for them.  My interest and enthusiasm for social was so natural to me that I’ve just sought out as much information about it as I can.  I’ve started thinking my experiences could be valuable to those who are still navigating how to get started.  In short, at the new job, I wrote the business case, developed the strategy and am implementing it.  My belief in the power of social media marketing allowed me to create whole new professional opportunities.  And the people who have supported me made them possible.

Fast forward – Now, I’ve submitted for my second speaking opportunity on the subject of social.  I’m becoming someone who can contribute to the discussion about social media.

Right now, I feel like a lucky, lucky person.

P.S. The organization I left now has a social media component in its marketing strategy.  I wish I could have help build it, but I also take satisfaction knowing I was right.

In other news, this weekend – and the first part of next weekend – will be all about getting ready for our upcoming 4th of July party.  There’s a lot of little projects to finish and, of course, cleaning to be done.  Now, when I say little projects what I mean are the things that my darling husband has started and he hasn’t finished.  But, now that we’re going to be entertaining then there’s a rush to get them done.  These are things that have been incomplete for months.

Like, having the chandelier installed.  We installed the one for the dining room ourselves just before Thanksgiving.  But this one is giant and is for the two story entryway.  So, we need professionals.

There’s also that not-so-little ding in the wall from moving all the video games upstairs.  This repair will, of course, require the repainting of two whole walls.  Again, we need professional help.

Sigh.

The one project I have lost all hope of reaching completion is the mulching one.  You see, I wanted landscaping bricks instead of the sad little rocks lining the beds that were here when we bought our home.  Hubby didn’t want to pay to have mulch delivered every year.  So, I got my bricks and he got his mulch made from recycled tires that supposed to last for 15 years.  Installing this also involved putting down weed block and leveling the ground so the bricks lay right.  He did a great job of those things and I even helped with the weed block.

This is where we hit the “brick” wall.  Hubby doesn’t like the way I put down the weed block in the backyard under the bushes which run along our fence.  He wants to re-do it, or patch it or something.  So, he can’t put down his special mulch until he fixes my work so there won’t be weeds. (I’m not going to mention here that there are weeds growing the front where he did all the work and not so much in my “faulty” beds)  Now, here we are.  A year after he first started this. And in my backyard is a pallette of recycled rubber mulch, waiting to be put down.  The lawn guy mows around it.  He won’t let them finish the project for us.

I’m putting the whole landscaping project into my denial folder now; that’s obviously where Hubby’s been keeping it anyway.  In return, I’m going to take small victories in the chandelier and the wall repair and check them off the list.  If I think about, then that really will only leave the landscaping on the list of unfinisheds.  Wait, what landscaping thing? (See how cleverly denial worked for me there?)

Anyways. I was talking to my boss about social media, which is my job, and was showing him WordPress’ stats and tracking and trending. I was exposed.  My blog sucks.  I have all this knowledge and skill that I haven’t been putting into action in my personal social efforts.  I’ve mostly only been active in Twitter and somewhat less so in Facebook in my non-work life.  I’ve struggled with blogging.  Now, I’m going to do that thing I’ve witnessed from other bloggers.  I’m going to commit to my blog.  I’m going to give it attention without fretting about what I’m going to write about or what people will think if they read it or if I’m sacrificing some bit of privacy I might actually have left.

If I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna do it.  And I’m gonna do it.  So, there it is.  I’m going to write at least one post per day for at least the next…..uhm….what can I commit to here?….mmmm?  30 days!  Starting today!

One down.

First of all, Hubby is not known for picking the best movies.  He loves movies and seems to feel an obligation to watch any movie if it’s been made.  He also seems to think  since I’m married to him, that I should  have to watch these movies with him.  I’m generally pretty flexible, but after a couple of years and thousands of movies of this I  had to set down some rules.  1) nothing under 2 stars.  2) nothing starring Steven Baldwin (see rule #1) and recently 3) no more zombie films.

Back to Zombieland – I declared was putting my foot down on rule #3.  Then, of course, I took to my Facebook page.  As I’m doing this, Hubby remarks, “I was telling So-And-So about our RV and she said it was good news because it means we’re preparing for the zombie apocalypse.”  Yep, this cult following has even sparked preparation manuals. And to top it off, one of my Facebook friends claim to scope out her zombie attack plan whenever she walks into a public setting.  The cherry on top of this is now AMC is even going to have a zombie themed TV series.  Wh’thahell?

So, is this all just fiction or should I really be concerning myself with the impending zombie apocalypse? And will it be coming a la I am Legend or Resident Evil?  What determines whether they’re fast or slow moving zombies? I’m not that strong of a swimmer, but I’m pretty sure I can make it if they’re slow.

Oh, and Zombieland was much better than expected.