And it begins
After a couple of delays at the Wichita and Houston airports, Hayley and I landed safely and soundly in Mexico, ready to soak up the sun and consume large amounts of free resort buffet food.
Despite Hayley’s and my strong desire to go on the Amazing Race — and strong belief that we could win — neither of us have ever traveled internationlly before. It was an experience to go through customs and its stringent examination to ensure we were who we said we were. We then picked up our bags and found our travel club’s prearranged transportation waiting and ready for us. No thinking or planning required on our part.
When we got to our room at the resort, there were a lovely pair of swans fashioned from towels watiing for us on the bed. They really were quite impressive. A little bit more impressive, however, was the view from our room. (Sadly, the Internet isn’t as impressive so the pictures will have to wait.)
Last night we had quite an experience — the entertaiment was a dancing review of Mamma Mia. I’ve never seen Mamma Mia before, but I think, thanks to Hayley, I have a general idea what was happening.
Today, Hayley and I are planning on relaxing by the pool, partking of resort buffet food, lying by the pool, walking on the beach (which is wickedly cold), and a Broadway dancing review.
On Saturday, Hayley and I are trying to decide between swimming with some dolphins and snorkeling. If you’ve done either, which would you recommend?
Cheers from Cabo!
Mexico, Here We Come
In two weeks, Hayley and I will be sipping margaritas, lying by the pool and frolicking (ok, I will probably the only one frolicking) on the beach in Cabo, Mexico.
Our friends Jan and Jeanine invited us to participate – for free – in their travel club. We’ll be blogging, tweeting, photoing and maybe even videoing our experience to share with the world. Or at least our little online slice of it.
So far the experience has been pretty amazing. We haven’t had to really do anything. We sent our flight itinerary to the booking agent and they’re handling transportation to and from the hotel as well as our accommodations, and they’ve provided a really nice guide of what to do and expect when we get there. All we have to do is get onto the plane.
We’ve never been to an all-inclusive resort, so we’re looking forward to having our care taken care of. But we’re also eager to travel into town to see the local sites.
So we’re looking for advice from you. If you’ve ever been to Cabo, what are the not-to-miss things we should check out?
If you’re interested in learning more about the travel club, let me know. I’d love to connect you to Jan and Jeanine. Not only are they lovely, fun people, they can get you all the information you need.
And to all would-be Internet stalkers and robbers: we will have a security guard on-site and our trusty ADT security system activated. So don’t even try it.
The Arrested Development Movie Trailer
This is the post I’ve been waiting to write for four years. Below is a trailer for the upcoming Arrested Development movie.
Let its beauty wash over you.
Ok. Sorry. That’s not real at all. But it is really awesome.
Gone too soon, AD. Gone too soon.
The times, they are a-changin’
Well, friends (if there are any of you still around/subscribed), I have a big, blog-worthy announcement to make.
I am no longer employed.
Before feeling badly for me, allow me to explain.
I’ve left steady, gainful employment to strike out on my own as a freelancer, consultant, strategist, trainer, speaker and (hopefully) writer.
I’ll have more details about this decision soon, but I wanted to post and let everyone know the latest. Also, I needed to have a new blog post for this quarter.
In the meantime, head over to my freelance site. There’s not much to see yet, but you can sign up to be notified via email when that site goes live.
Feel free to ask any questions, request a project or provide commentary on my decision.
The Church and The Connected
One of the defining characteristics of our generation is our connectedness – or at least a perception of connectededness. Thanks to sites such as Facebook or Twitter, we can simultaneously broadcast our thoughts and feelings to the masses and maintain more intimate or personal relationships at the click of a button.
These tools are doing more than simply connecting us, they’re informing and empowering us as never before.
And, I’m afraid, they’re creating a society that is leaving the church behind.
We don’t need a church to give us mission or an opportunity to serve. We can send a text to The Red Cross and change the world.
We don’t need a “community” of people that we see once or twice a week. We’re connected to 1,000s of friends via Facebook or Twiiter, many of whom we dialog with more regularly than fellow churchmates.
We don’t need weekly sermons. We can download podcasts from preachers all over the world and from years gone by and listen to them anytime we want.
We don’t need potlucks. Fried chicken and Velveeta shells and cheese aren’t that good for us.
So what do churches have that we do need? A couple of things come to mind, but I’m interested to hear what you think.
Wait. What’d you say?
I had the wonderful opportunity to be invited to speak at Newman University yesterday about personal branding and social media. I had a great time and the room was packed – largely due to the wonderful posters up around campus and the promise of extra credit for the attendees.
After the presentation, several students and faculty came up to introduce themselves and ask questions. I noticed a girl hanging around, obviously wanting to chat with me, but wanting to wait until everyone else had left the room.
After the room cleared out, she came up, introduced herself (we’ll call her Jenna) and we had the following conversation.
JENNA: You talked about turning customers into fans. You didn’t go into that as deeply as I wanted you to. How do you do that?
ME: Well, it all depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. What is your objective?
JENNA: Let’s just say that I was on a forum. And I sold…let’s say…coats. And my customers, they love my coats. How do I get them talking about me outside of that closed environment?
(At this point, I thought maybe she was into live-action role-playing, Dungeons & Dragons or something similar, and was too embarrassed to tell me what she actually did.)
ME: Well, you could create a blog and encourage your customers to follow you from the forum to your blog and ask them to blog, tweet and mention you on their platforms.
JENNA: Yeah, that’s a good idea. My website has the option to just turn on a blog.
ME: Perfect. Well, I should really… (I needed to get back to work, so I was trying to make an exit.)
JENNA (interrupting): My website also has the ability to add a members-only section.
(Five-second awkward pause)
ME: Oh. So…you would…um…invite…people to become a part of your member section?
JENNA: Oh no, they would pay.
(Another five-second awkward pause)
ME (nervously): Hehe…you’d have to have some pretty big fans of yours to be willing to pay to get access to your coats.
JENNA: Oh, they’re BIG fans.
ME: All right, then! Good luck with your coats, Jenna. Bye!
Jenna TOTALLY has an adult-themed website and she was asking me for consulting advice.
So, Jenna, if you’re reading this post, my advice to you is skip the blog and just do the members-only section. I haven’t made a dime off of this site, so if you can get people to pay for your “coats,” more power to you.