Sometimes Your Online and Offline Lives Sync

Everyday we try to get our work done but end up taking the 21st century smoking break: web surfing.

For me, I call it research, as I am usually trying to find new ideas to integrate marketing into my low (read non-existent) budget. So, you can usually find my Twitter feed running faster than the Roadrunner or an article from Mashable on my screen with the hope of spark an idea.

Well, today I came across a "must read" headline from Mashable: "HOW TO: Sync Your Online and Offline Marketing Campaigns". The well written post by Dana Zemack provides a short "how to" for integrating online marketing plans with an "offline" event. Offline, is a real event where people interact face to face, yes, these still do exist.

After reading through the first few points I come across a video which I watch without any hesitation. As I do with most videos, I have the video on one screen while working on another project on a second screen, listening for something interesting.

Today, I got more than something interesting. 30 seconds into the video I was no longer at my desk but in my freshmen door room at Elon (Sloan 201). Why? Sounds of that door room came flooding back through my speakers. The spokesperson in the video was a person I knew in college. The voice belonged to Lexy A. the (then) girlfriend of my freshmen roommate. I couldn't mistake that voice who would spend time hanging out.

It is not everyday that you are on a major site and you personally know someone that is a part of a video package.

The piece, by the way, is excellent and an interesting look at the marriage of online and offline marketing.

Sometimes, you are lucky enough to have your online and offline life sync.

"Let's Move!" U-S-EH?

This is not a knock on Canada, Mike Green, the Washington Capitals or the Chicago Blackhawks. First Lady Michelle Obama has been the champion of a program called "Let's Move!" an initiative to get America's children active for at least an hour a day. The campaign has teamed up with celebrities and athletes alike to get out the message that kids need to be active and that does not mean repeating Up Up, Down Down, A, B, A, B on a Nintendo control pad. This is not a knock on what the First Lady is doing nor the campaign.

However, I saw this tweet from @NHL today and I thought, What's wrong with this picture?

The problem isn't that the NHL is partnering or that this is taking place during the Blackhawks visit with the Stanley Cup to the White House. The problem? The featured players are from CANADA! Wouldn't it make more sense to have John Carlson (Natick, MA) and Patrick Kane (Buffalo, NY) be the highlighted athletes for national effort for the United States? Both are young and popular in their markets and throughout the U.S.

I think the initiative is great and even I need to remember to get out once a day and be active. But come on, knock-knock, White House press/community relations department, doesn't someone realize that they should highlight US stars for a US campaign?

Brett Favre

So, aftDC is a BIG Vikings fan and when I mean big I would say just as much as I am a Caps fan (maybe even more). So big, in fact that in our Fantasy Football league she took Brett Favre as her QB...IN THE SECOND ROUND!

This may be the best spoof I've seen in a while. Enjoy!

Hockey Joke

Once in a while there will be a really funny e-mail chain. While I hate to see "FWD" in the subject line you hope for the best but fear the worst. Today, especially with all the work I've got on my plate, I received a gem. I'm sure that you can replace any sports team into the punch line but I'll take it in the form in which I received it. Thanks to one of my STH seat buddies from 107. Enjoy!

Dad's Profession


David was in his 5th grade class when the teacher asked the children what their fathers did for a living.

All the typical answers came up - fireman, policeman, salesman, etc.

David was being uncharacteristically quiet and so the teacher asked him about his father. 'My father's an exotic dancer in a gay bar and takes off all his clothes in front of other men.

Sometimes, if the offer's really good, he'll go out to the alley with some guy and make love with him for money.'

The teacher, obviously shaken by this statement, hurriedly set the other children to work on some coloring, and took little David aside to ask him, 'Is that really true about your father?'

'No,' said David, 'He plays for the New Jersey Devils, but I was too embarrassed to say that in front of the other kids.'

Voice of Reason, Coming from Comedians?

Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert's "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" in 2010 made headlines, "scared" Republicans, "invigorated" Democrats and was theme of "stick it to the man" for Independents.

The way I saw it, however, was more of "hey 'traditional media' isn't this what you're supposed to be doing?". Time and time again I find myself being drawn to political satire such as The Daily Show and Colbert Report to even The Onion or late night personalities. Why? Because they are actually being "fair and balanced".

The shooting that took place in Tuscon, AZ is a tragedy and is still a shocking event. From all the information I can gather from news reports, the suspect acted alone and without any motive to make a political statement. Yet, blame is being put on political talking heads and sections of political parties by the mainstream media.

However, while pundits, commentators, journalists and columnist all play their usual games of speculation and finger pointing there is a voice of reason, which comes from a comedian.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Battle of the Bans
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> The Daily Show on Facebook

You see, Stewart makes a very reasonable point (2:26):

"Most of us don't need clarification on the whole 'Thall shall not kill' thing. And for the ones that do, clarification never seems quite specific enough."

TRANSLATION For many laws they only affect those that already abide by them, not the ones that don't care who are the intended targets (ahhh).

Need an apples to apples comparison?

You're only making a law for the good apples, the bad apples don't care what the good apples do, the bad apples will try to spoil the whole bunch.

Another point made by Stewart and a growing question among many Americans, why do government officials/employees get special treatment ov

er other (private) citizens? Other than their job title what makes them different or more important? I can think of a lot of private citizens and/or company officials that the general public does not agree with and whom I assume have had threats against them personally or threats against their company.

Additionally, while the intent of Rep. Brady (D-PA) is to prohibit the use of threatening symbols (allowing this would be in violation of the First Amendment) I find it hard to believe that the language in the proposed legislation would clearly define what is/is not allowed. Working in a government affairs shop and seeing how legislation and regulation is written the original intent far exceeds what is presented. I can see Target (the private retail store) having to reconfigure their location map. Why? Because they brand very well and use their "target" symbol on a map to visually represent their store locations, thus fall within the definition of showing a "violent symbol" in a political district. While this would seem like two separate meanings by rational people must legislation based on the wording does not differentiate rational vs. irrational intent.

What happened in Tuscon is beyond horrible and I pray for the families and people affected by this senseless act.

Before any rash decisions are made, let me leave you with what I believe is a rational statement and one that I have not heard from the "mainstream" media:

"We end up enforcing laws and forcing everyone to live by rules that only attempt to prevent the last thing that was done by the least controllable among us. It doesn't have to be this way. We must not give in to fear. We must empower our better judgment to create a society where violent rhetoric and imagery is frowned upon, not because it drives the unbalanced to action but because it's inherently wrong." - Jon Stewart

Ideas for the post were provided by this Huffington Post article and provided the embedded link above. The image of the Target map is from www.target.com.

A view from the "Not So Cheap" Seats

Aside from the picture with aftdc, I think my favorite is from the Hendricks/Downie fight in which I captured Hendricks sweater over his head. Brooks is my favorite player so there are a lot of pictures of him (ladies, you're welcome). Varly gets a bunch of shots because I felt like I could talk to him through the glass.

A full post about the experience of sitting on the glass will come soon, I promise, the delay is the fact that work has priority.

Great dining find in Dupont

In 2010, aftdc and I set a New Years resolution to try one new restaurant on the Washingtonian's Top 100 list each month. We were able to eat at 12 restaurants in 2010 but ended up breaking the trend in October, which aftdc believes is breaking the resolution. I think we did what we set out to do, which was to try new places in and around DC.

I give this background to say that we have been to a number of different places and have some favorites and some least favorites.

Last night, we were looking for something to complete of our "pizza and wine" mood and craving.Being yet another cold night within the Beltway we ventured a short block around DuPont circle. We ended on P street and after being satisfied by the initial menu ventured down into UrbanaRestaurant and Wine Bar. We have probably walked, run and biked past this place a hundred times through our routines but had never ventured down the steps and into the establishment.

The adventure was well worth it!

As aftdc says, the mark of a good eatery or watering hole is how crowded it is and this place was well visited. For a Thursday night the place was well trafficked but was not overcrowded. We decided the take seats at the empty pizza bar, which ended up having single patrons come and go after a light dish and a drink. Urbana is connected to the Hotel Palomar Washington DC which allows for Urbana to cater to hotel guests, business travelers and locals alike. The lounge area just behind the host stand was well populated with small groups taking up the seating area. The decor was great and sitting at the pizza bar was a pleasant experience.

Our waiter Jake had some spot on recommendations for both of us. I am a sucker for mussels and had the PEI mussels. After some debate I took Jake's recommendation of the saffron, tomato, and spanish chorizo. It was prepared perfectly and the chorizo gave the tomato sauce a great bit of bite. Aftdc stayed on the original theme of the night of pizza and ordered the brick oven Margherita. From New Years we learned that 2007 was a great year for California wines so we decided on a bottle of Zinfandel from Napa Valley called Porque No? which was just as good as the Zin we had on NYE. We started with a Cheese & Charcuterie with amish cheddar and midnight moon cheeses with soppressata and prosciutto di parmameats. I will be the first to admit that I'm not a blue cheese fan and the amish cheddar was not to my tasting. The midnight moon was great, especially with the meats.

The decor and food were fabulous and so was the service. The manager, who was previously at FireFly, was very nice and we had a great conversation.

All in all I think we have found a new place to become regulars as the wine menu was fantastic and there were a number of entrees that need to be discovered.