The Lifecycle of a Blog

Below is the lifecycle of 98% of blogs. For half of those blogs, imagine the posts to be 20 to 30 times longer and just as boring.

Day 1: Hey everyone! So this is my new blog and I’m really really really excited to tell you all about everything going on in my life. It’s just going to be so epic! Stay tuned for more info soon! Love and hugs!

Day 3: Hi friends! So today I saw an ant carrying a tic-tac. It got me thinking about how hard life must be for ants and how I’m a lot like that ant. I’m so full of sadness and wonder. Love and hugs!

Day 47: Hey everybody! It’s been forever since my last update! I’m so sorry! Today I went shopping for a new pair of jeans! Jeans are so hard to shop for because they are like an extension of who you are, you know? That’s not rhetorical. Please leave a comment. Please. Love and hugs!

Day 191: Hey everybody, so I’m thinking about shutting the blog down. It’s just too hard to find time and no one ever comments and it makes me wonder if anyone’s really reading it. I think I’m going to need some commenters if this is ever going to get turned into a movie. But I’m going to leave it open, just in case you want to comment. So, maybe I’ll post again sometime soon. Love and hugs!

Beer Cheese Soup

It’s cold in Colorado. It’s cold everywhere. There was a story today that 49 of the 50 states have snow. SNOW! Everywhere but Florida. Which is where I was supposed to be this week. But an ice storm in Atlanta kept me from making it there.

When it’s cold, Amy and I love to make this soup. It’s Amy’s recipe and so she gets the credit, save one piece. I was the one to insist on a decent beer. We’ve tried all different kinds, from Ambers to Wheats to a nice Dark Black Ale. Play around with it. Just no Bud Light, okay?

Ingredients:

2/3 cup of Shredded Carrots

1/4 cup of Chopped Onion

1/4 cup of Butter

1/4 cup of Flour

2 1/2 cups of Milk

2 cups of Grated Cheddar Cheese

1/2 cup of Beer

1/8 teaspoon of salt

1/8 teaspoon of pepper

It your pot, cook the carrot and onion in the butter over medium heat until tender, stirring frequently. Add flour and mix well. Gradually add the milk, stirring until well blended. Stir constantly and cook until thickened. Reduce heat to low. Add the cheese and cook until melted, stirring frequently. Stir in the beer. Cook until heated through, but do not boil. Salt and pepper to taste.

Now this is the most important part: Top with popcorn. Seriously. Make a lot.

Makes around 4-6 servings, depending on the size of your bowl. You can double this recipe for a bigger group.

Enjoy!

New Year’s Resolution: Act like a 2 year old

I spent Christmas with a two year old. Amy and I don’t have kids. The closest thing we have is our dog, Bella. You’d think having a two year old and having a dog would be a lot a like, but it’s really different. It really is. It’s totally permissible to put the dog in the laundry room when company comes over. You can’t do that with a two year old.

Not that you’d want to of course.

This is Cade. “C!-A!-D!-E! CADE!” Cade is full to overflowing with life. And by life, I mean joy and excitement and energy. He runs about a million miles an hour. Every hour. All day. Every day. It’s impressive when you think about it.

Cade is very curious about everything, on account of him being two and all. Because he’s two, he doesn’t really understand what everything is. But he wants to. His favorite questions are “What’s that?” and “What are you doing?” and “What are you eating?” And because learning is hands on, he wants to have, do, or eat whatever your answer is.

Can you imagine if Cade never asked any questions? If he never asked what the stars are or what those little thin candy-shelled chocolates are? What if he never wondered why we give presents at Christmas or how to use the toilet or what Mommy’s doing with her head bowed and hands folded? He’d be kind of a bum, really.

Asking questions can be dangerous. They can change everything. Sometimes we’re not ready for the answers. Cade isn’t ready to ask where Grandpa went when Santa showed up. But eventually he’s going to have to ask that question. Because as dangerous as asking questions can be, not asking them can be more so.

As we grow up, we stop asking so many questions. We know more stuff and most of the time we’re just too busy to be curious. Sometimes, we do ask questions, but they’re questions to justify ourselves, our habits, our behaviors.

We learned all this stuff when we were like, twelve.  Isn’t it time for a little change?

Maybe for 2011, I need to be more like Cade.

Ask more questions.

Seek real answers.

Wonder at the world.

Maybe running another half-marathon wouldn’t be a bad idea either.

A new blog is coming

For those wondering what the poll at the right is all about, I’m starting a social media blog for the Colorado Springs Gazette. The focus is going to be getting the most out of your social media space, emphasizing strategy and highlighting need to know news.

I really like all of these titles, so I’m excited to see which one you guys pick. Thanks for your help.

What does Follow Friday actually mean?

Em Griffin wrote that words don’t mean things, people do. I’ve found this to be true, that one person can say one thing and mean another and that words or phrases can take on different meanings as people use them in different ways. So when I see Follow Friday, or #FF as the kids like to say, I wonder, what does that actually mean? Are we recommending a list of people to follow? And if so, how effective is it?

Back in May, Andy Crouch tweeted something to the effect of “It’s always flattering to be mentioned on ‘follow Friday,’ but … gotta say I’ve never seen the slightest effect in new followers. #twivia”. Andy Crouch, best selling author, sought after speaker, regular columnist and senior editor at Christianity Today, and delightful conversationalist, had never received a bump in followers from #FF.

I have to agree with Andy. I’ve been listed some really good Follow Friday lists and it is flattering (unless you’re one of 600 people listed by an individual in a 10 minute time frame, in which case it has the opposite effect). I think I’ve picked up one or two followers from that. Maybe. And those were at least eight months ago. I figure there are some people out there that pick up a lot of followers from a #FF mention, but I wonder how many of them actually follow versus just follow so that you’ll follow them back. From what I know about Twitter is that it’s far more the latter than the former. I wonder if Follow Friday is like the homemade cheesecake at Old Chicago or the worship songs in which we sing about ourselves: we call it one thing, but it’s not actually the thing we call it.

So if Follow Friday doesn’t actually result in people following each other, then what is it?

Maybe it’s Friend Friday, where we mention a bunch of our friends and people we like? Or maybe Flatter Friday where we mention as many people as we can in an effort to make them like us more?

I wonder if we should start an alternative movement called Unfollow Friday to the point where we’re just following people whose tweets we actually read. Then your whole list is like a big #FF every day of the week.

What do you think about Follow Friday? How what does it actually mean?

For a good laugh, here’s the rest of The Oatmeal’s take on Follow Friday. (thanks to @mizzle.)

Sunday playlist

Today’s music courtesy Derek Webb‘s Democracy project. It’s a very cool project which was part of the Stockholm Syndrome launch. People have voted for songs for Derek to cover and each month, he’s put out a new song. I’m pulling Arcade Fire or White Stripes in the last installment this month. All 12 songs will cost you just $6. Some of the best money you’ll spend on music this year.

Thanks D.

Democracy Vol. 1

1. While My Guitar Gently Weeps – Originally performed by Beatles

2. Fix You – Originally performed by Coldplay

3. The Times They Are A-Changin’ – Originally performed by Bob Dylan

4.  Who’s Gonna Save My Soul Now – Originally performed by Gnarls Barkley

5. Chicago – Originally performed by Sufjan Stevens

6. Where The Streets Have No Name – Originally performed by U2

7. Power Of Love – Originally performed by Huey Lewis and the News

8. Eleanor Rigby – Originally performed by the Beatles

9. The Sound Of Silence (ft. Sandra McCracken) – Originally performed by Simon & Garfunkel

10. Karma Police – Originally performed by Radiohead

11. Hallelujah – Originally performed by Leonard Cohen

Tweet Unto Others: Social Media Plagiarism

pla·gia·rize verb : to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own : use (another’s production) without crediting the source – Merriam-Webster Dictionary, merriam-webster.com

Thanks to Edutopia.org for the image.

Everyone knows plagiarism is wrong. Amongst sins, it ranks somewhere between kicking your dog and peeing on the toliet seat. You just don’t do it. I don’t care if the dog peed on the toilet seat. Don’t do it. We’ve known plagiarism is wrong since fourth grade when the kid at the next desk tried to pass off three pages of quotes from the Encyclopedia-Britanica as his own paper on brontosauruses. There’s just no excuse.

It’s not rocket science: Don’t copy other peoples work and make it look like it’s yours.

This is just as true in social media as it was in fourth grade. The whole thing is built around sharing and repeating other posts. This makes it easy to blur the line between networking and stealing. The retweet has been central to the success of Twitter. Facebook includes a Share button on posts with links, photos or video. Sharing is a core component of the social aspect, which is why any of this exists in the first place. The bottom line is that sharing means more content. More content means the network expands. And when the network expands, people make money.

But even though more sharing means fatter wallets, networks have attempted to curb plagiarism. Facebook’s share feature credits the original author. The Retweet button, Twitter’s own default Retweet method, puts the original author’s username and photo in your feed.

So what does plagiarism look like on Social Media? The networks themselves are still changing at such a rapid pace that it’s hard to nail down a firm set of rules for what constitutes stealing someone else’s ideas. So here are three guidelines:

1. If it’s not your post, say so. Clearly. On Facebook use the share button. On Twitter, use RT, via, or the Retweet button. They are the acceptable methods for a reason. Use them however you like, just use them.

2. If you found it on another account, it isn’t yours.If you want to pass on a link that you found on someone else’s account, indicate that. On Twitter, it means using the HT designation. On Facebook, simply thank the person with @ tagging. Better for someone to find out you’ve enjoyed something they posted than for them to think you’ve copied their work.

3. Have original thoughts once in a while. It’s hard to steal someone else’s idea when you post your own thoughts and ideas. Just sayin’.

I should finish by saying that though I’ve seen this happen a lot I’ve never noticed it happening to me. It’s probably because I’m just not really that interesting. Or maybe it’s because the community I have connected with online just doesn’t have this problem. But it’s not the personal offense of my content being lifted as much as it is the offense to the entire community. It weakens the authority and authenticity of the social interaction.

And if you’ve plagiarized my work, I still love you. Just a little less. (Thanks to Josh for that joke.)

You can read more on Twitter plagiarism and how to avoid it here.

Farewell, DAI! Hello, Gazette!

http://images.onset.freedom.com/colgazette/images/logo.gif Yesterday, I accepted a position with the Colorado Springs Gazette. As of October 11th, I will be Social Media Brand Manager for the Gazette.

Seriously, how cool is that?!

Amy and I have subscribed to the Gazette since our first anniversary. We love the paper, this community of Colorado Springs and the people in it. I also love social media and see the enormous potential it holds for businesses to find, interact with and serve customers. I’m thrilled with the opportunity to unite those two passions.

As I move into this role, I must say goodbye to my colleagues at Development Associates International. For a year and a half, I’ve had the pleasure of telling people about the amazing work of DAI in leadership development around the world. Their impact on the lives of leaders, families and entire communities cannot be understated and I am proud to have been apart of their work.

That said, I really couldn’t be happier to be joining the team at the Gazette. Many thanks to Carmen Boles for the opportunity!

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On Customer Service

When Amy and I were first dating, I would drive to Greeley from Colorado Springs. Have you ever been to Greeley? I’ll spare you the details, but the place smells. I mean, a high school locker room thinks the town stinks. If dead cows played football, their locker room would smell like Greeley. And it’s a two hour drive. But, I wasn’t going to see Greeley. I went to see Amy. I didn’t know it yet, but I loved her. So I drove up there to see her.

Before one of my first trips up there, I got a haircut. I went into one of those discount places that put some synonym for cheap in their name. I don’t go to those places any more, but I went this day. It was just an hour before I was going to leave and they were making this big deal about customer service points. The stylists got stars on a board for doing customer service. I didn’t know a lot about customer service at the time, so I figured the idea was that she’d be sure my hair cut looked really good and I’d be out in no time. So I told the girl how I wanted my hair longish on the top and shortish on the sides. I expected her to have some new idea for me that would make me look really good for Amy. I imagined her starting to talk to me about it, and like some Rembrant of hair cuts she would give me the best hair cut that had ever been conceived.

Tim Tebow's hair cut thought mine looked dumb.

What I didn’t imagine was this girl trying to talk about Tuesday night football games that didn’t exist, stumbling through trying to relate to me (whatever that means), and talking about how good a job she was doing at customer service with me. And I really didn’t expect her to cut my hair short on top and long on the sides. It looked so dumb. Tim Tebow thought my hair cut looked lame.

I wasn’t really expecting some great hair cut. I would have been happy to just sit there, not say a word, and get what I asked for. I wasn’t looking for a relationship with the stylist, and it’s fine to chat and all, but you’ve got to get my hair cut right, don’t you? I mean, isn’t that customer service?

That kind of stuff happens to me a lot. I walk into Starbucks and they ask me if I’m going to try a double Java-chip Frappuchino with whipped cream and a chocolate donut. All I want is a cup of coffee. They ask me if I want a “treat receipt” and drop a stamp right over the actual receipt. How am I suppose to keep an account of what I’m spending if I’ve ink all of the receipt (and my hands)? Then they ask me to make sure the 155 degree drink they just handed me tastes good. I can’t drink that stuff for at least 20 minutes. I really can’t.

Anyway, I don’t feel very served by all that customer service. A lot of places ask their employees to go the extra mile with customer service. But you have to walk the first mile before you try to go the extra one. Maybe they should start calling it company service. That would make more sense.

Katrina’s Dad

Remember Katrina?

I do. I worked with her at the swimming pool. Her dad was my math teacher and basketball coach in 8th grade. He was a really happy guy. I mean he didn’t really seem to get down and always had something to smile about. Sometimes he would get on your case and when he did you knew he meant business because he was so happy all the time. He didn’t really get too mad, just frustrated. He wasn’t frustrated because you messed up, he just knew your potential was better than what you were giving. He just knew you had it in you, you know? And man, you never saw somebody so happy as him when you got it right. He just found a lot of joy in life, I guess.

Anyway, poor Katrina. She had a real nice name until that hurricane. Now when she meets someone they’re probably thinking, Man, that was a horrible hurricane. Instant downer and all you did was say your name. I can’t imagine introducing myself and everyone getting all sad because my name is Paul. Right after the hurricane, I had a waitress named Katrina and it just about ruined the meal. I left her a big tip because I figured people got mad at her just because of her name.

I remember when Katrina happened. The hurricane that is. It seemed like everybody was really pissed at Bush. It wasn’t everybody, though. It just seemed like everybody because the only people talking were people who hated Bush. And they were talking loud. People who liked Bush weren’t saying much at all because they knew he screwed up. And so did the people who hated him. Man, did they let him have it. I really felt sorry for him even though I was mad at him too. Now the same thing’s happening to Obama with the oil spill. The people who were quiet before are loud and the people who were loud are real quiet.

It’s funny how everybody says they expect politicians to do a bad job and then still get all cranky when they do. People rail on politicians for acting like gods, call them hypocrites when they say they aren’t gods and then put them on blast when they don’t turn water into wine. I’m not saying politicians don’t need to be accountable because they do. But most of the time we’re just trying to use a bad situation to get someone else into office. This guy screwed up disaster response, let’s vote in someone who wants lower taxes.

Katrina’s dad didn’t treat people like that though. He wanted you to be better because he knew you could be. He wanted you to succeed. I liked how Katrina’s dad treated me. I try to treat other people that way, but I’m terrible at it. I really am. But I bet it’s like free throws. I need practice.

I haven’t heard from Katrina’s dad in forever. He moved to Africa to help kids. I don’t blame him. I don’t think Africa’s had any natural disasters named after his family.

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