Me in 2008

So I sit down to write this post, all about what I did in 2008. I figured I must have something to show for the year. Anyways, this is what I came up with:

1. I went to the Emerald City Comicon and met Wil Wheaton. Ed Brubaker, Tim Sale and many others in the spectrum of nerdery.

2. I went to London and Paris. Whilst there, I met Stephen Fry. I saw Avenue Q and Timon of Athens. I also saw Sam Roberts in London, because I can never see his Vancouver shows for some reason. I went to the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Parisien catacombs, the arc de triomphe, and saw a dead body being dragged out of the Seine.

3. Was first in line for the midnight screenings of the Dark Knight, Indiana Jones, X-files: I Want To Believe, and Quantum of Solace.

4. I learned how to play chess (properly), and joined a bowling league. I discovered the secret to solving the Rubik's cube.

5. Found in myself a tremendous passion for Social Media and Marketing. Therefore, starting this blog, getting over my resentment of facebook, and becoming a twitter addict. I read more marketing books than I ever thought I would.

6. Went back to Alberta (my birthplace). It was nice to see the Rocky Mountains again.

7. Had the silly idea that having three jobs at one time would be a good idea. As it turns out, that wasn't such a silly idea after all.

Aaand...

That's as far as I got. 

Ok yeah,  I did some awesome stuff. But those events were few and far between. In fact, I don't have anything on the list that didn't happen before April. In 2009 I hope to remedy that. 

So far in January I will be...

Getting a tattoo, attending a concert, and maybe a conference or two. 

I resolve that next year will be twice as exciting as this year.

What is your resolution?

Taking Off The Extra

I love it when employees defy the policies of thier company in order to give the customer a better experience. Here's my story:

There being almost a foot of snow out there I needed a little warm-up before heading to my weekly bowling meeup, so I popped into my local starbucks before putting on my bowling shoes.

I've talked about Starbucks here in the past, but today they impressed me again. Only this time, it was all thanks to an enthusiastic employee, and not the boys in charge.

So I order a medium steamed soy milk with vanilla, and she charges me something like $3.27. Less than I usually have to pay. I asked her if she included the vanilla. She said she had, but she hadn't charged me for soymilk.

I thanked her, but asked her why. She told me it was because she didn't believe in charging more for a healthier option, especially seeing as how so many people are lactose intolerant anyways.

And besides, she added, It's not like starbucks isn't making a big enough profit margin on thier drinks. They can totally afford it.

I think shes right. I think it would make more sense for them to charge the same for both kinds of milk. It would encourage less people to drink dairy, and give you a clear edge over the competition. I always order my drinks with soy, and if I didn't have to pay extra, I would go out of my way to order at starbucks.

So two things in here to think about:

One. If you are enthusiastic about your where you work, you do have the power to greatly influence the customers experience. Even if that means bending the rules a little.

Two. If your making a huge profit margin, please do think about where you afford to give the customer a break! Taking off that extra charge could make all the difference in enhancing the customers experience.

Alright, thats it. Happy Holidays everyone!

Branding of a Different Sort

Do you ever have those moments where you see a classic example of brand evangelism, and get really excited about it? 

No?

Well, I do. So when my friend got a tattoo this week, I was stoked. Getting a tattoo in itself is pretty badass, but when I found out that her design was actually a logo, I had a little squee moment.  

Okay, so it isn't exactly a brand per se. It happens to be the symbol for the Anxiety BC. But I think the principle is the same. The loyalty to the organization to the extent that the consumer is willing to quite literally, brand themselves with it.

So what's the point?

Brand evangelism, good, bad or ugly? I can't say either way. But it sure makes me excited. I really don't have much to add to this, so....

What do you think? No I mean it, I really would like you input. I know there are people reading this. A comment would make my holiday season complete. <3

I might not post again before the 25th. Just wanted to say Happy Holidays to all my lovely readers. Stay classy, internet. 

The Future of Education

Yeah, you know what? I work. I have a day job. And what's more, I make minimum wage. I don't make much money, but I make enough to get what I want out of life.

I wasn't popular in high school, and I didn't try very hard to fit in. I got rather mediocre grades, but I had my high points. I'm not spending my nights in a textbook, and I don't plan to in the near future.

Why? Because everything I want to know is out there already. Anything I want to learn or experience on marketing or any other interest, I can google, download, or check out at the library.

Heck, I went down to value village and looked at buying first year textbooks for five bucks. Who needs to attend class, when the material is all cheap or free? When there are so many valuable resources at your fingertips.

We often talk about the end of traditional media, and in this recession, the space seems to be in palliative care. But what about the end of traditional post-secondary education? Or really, education in general?

Imagine the possibilities if everyone had access to post-secondary. If a med school degree wasn't accessible only to the privileged at birth. If grads didn't spend a lifetime paying off student loans. Think about all the young people that wouldn't have to be held back from success and making a difference in the world, just because they can't cough up the dough for school

It's rather heartbreaking, really. I believe everyone should be allowed an equal chance at life. I think digital post-secondary might be a giant step towards equal opportunity.

Do you think that education will ever be digitally based? Why or why not? Would it work for you?

Dear Twitter...

Warning: This post will niether be neither consice or well thought out or awesome or magical or make you the princess of Denmark heck it might even include a highly unecessary and bizaare run on sentence or two that goes on and on till it's just awkward but you feel like you should keep reading because you might get a prize at the end. Beware.

Dear Twitter,

You know what I would LOVE? If I could seperate my twitter pals into groups. Mine? Personal, business, and the super-awesome. I want to be able to send tweets so ONLY the groups I specify are able to see them. I hate subjecting my more businessy contacts with rediculous tweets. And! I want to be able to do this on my browser without using TweetDeck or any other twitter app.

I want to be able to search for people new peeople to follow by interest, location, and authority. And I want to do this without having to use Mr. Tweet, Twitter Grader or Twitter Search. Or at the very least, link to these resources somewhere obvious. I got a great idea! How about mentioning it on the "Find People" link. That would prove very helpful.

Also, please turn on the SMS delivery in Canada. Life sure stinks without it.

Yupp, that's it. I'm already addicted to your platform, but with these easy changes, I'd love you forever.

Sincerely @owlex.

Scribbles on a MacBook

Things have been rather quiet around here since the celebratory 50th post. It's been... ten days? Feels like longer.

This doesn't really have anything to do with social media, marketing, consumerism or any of the usual topics. It's more, well, just plain old strange.

I came across this message, written on a MacBook box, while walking home from work this past Saturday.



Can't read it? I wouldn't imagine you could. I did take it with camera phone after all. But I will dictate for you:

To all who have been cruel...

Did it occur to the residents and merchants of "OUR" community of the
drive, that there is a small brave and patriotic group who have volunteered
their time by living on the streets as a way to motivate all to come together and
clean up and make commercial drive a more secure place to be. If it wasn't for
us "BAD" people, whose children are all honour-roll grade children, commercial
would still be unprepared, unsecured and still apart from each other. Think about
it. Maybe you us an apology, and a thank you would be nice.

We are ready for 2010
<3 Tray-c

I wish I could understand the idea behind this message, but for the life of me, I just can't.

Is it about homelessness? Is it about drugs? They mention 2010, so maybe it's about the Olympics? Perhaps all of the above. But if so, how does volunteering time to live on the street do anyone any good? I just don't get it.

So what's the point?

The point is, if you are passionate about something, someone will care. Someone will get involved, and someone will help. But only, if you know how to ask for it.

It's not that it was written on a MacBook box, to be honest, that's what got my attention in the first place. It's that the message was garbled and unfocused. They could have some good ideas here, but who knows?

I hate it when good ideas, from passionate people, are stepped on because they simply did not know how to get the message across.

I don't know, what do you think? Does this kind of thing ever bother you?

I asked around twitter, and word on the street is I should switch platforms from blogger to wordpress. I think I'm going to do that. Additional pro/con comments would be greatly appreciated.