Posted by Heather on Sep 5, 2011 in boys, children
Mark, you have no idea how proud you make me. You fight to prove yourself every day, I see you try. With your tenacity and energy I am excited to see what your future holds. You’re wicked smart and driven, alternately cheeky and sweet. Happy 6th birthday, Little Man, quit trying to grow so fast.
Pants are “icky” and sparkles and princesses color your world. I may not understand the appeal, but I love seeing life through your eyes.
I love that you stand your ground and don’t let the boys push you around. I can only hope that trait stays with you through your life. Your brothers love you, even when they are tormenting you. Don’t believe me? Just wait until the first kid outside of our family picks on you. Your brothers have already been planning for years what to do if they ever find a bully; I already feel a little sorry for that kid.
Saturday I was mic wrangling for the Type-A Parent Blogger Townhall Meeting. Jim Lin took a moment to remind us that marketers are people, too. I know this. Yet I can’t just let this topic go. I think the problem may be that the mistakes are so visible and feel very personal due the delivery method.
Spam isn’t personal, it’s very obvious that the email isn’t for me. “Make her cry at your man meat,” yeah, I just can’t relate, this makes it easy to delete and forget.
Halfway decent marketers do a good job of making even an email blast feel personal and I think therein lies the danger. When a boneheaded or insulting pitch arrives, the insult is perceived differently than when it’s carried out through other media. It takes a colossally offensive advertisement to rile me up and I suppose even then they are still creating effective brand recognition.
Last night an email loaded with arrogant ways to use your Klout score landed in my inbox. I thought I could leave it alone. I thought it would just sit there with all the other emails collecting virtual dust, waiting for a response. I should have deleted it.
I didn’t and now it’s still rolling through my head.
Disclosure: I have a modest Klout score and I got to go to their party in Las Vegas during Blog World Expo. I had a lot of fun. Once in a while I check my Klout score. I do this as just another way to put off more productive work (Yes, much like this post is also a procrastination tactic). I don’t obsess and I don’t include it in any metrics because it just isn’t that great and I really don’t think it matters that much.
From the email’s suggested ways to use your Klout score:
5) Problem resolution.
Your car breaks down in the middle of a road trip… Having a high Klout Score will often get you speedier service and a potential refund/credit, saving you valuable time and money.
If I ever hear of someone using their Klout score to bully a customer service rep into an upgrade, I will think less of that individual.
This is the visual portion of my Traffic Building Bootcamp from Type-A Parent Conference. I’m hoping to have the audio in the future. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them promptly.
Please note that this site is purposely not optimized for traffic. This is just my personal, little playground.
It turns out that composing blog posts and presentations in your head while tossing and turning is, in fact, not the most effective use of one’s time and energy.
I’ll remember that in the future or maybe I’ll just try to cut out caffeine after 4 so I can take advantage of the time I do have to sleep.
Crunch time is here. I’ve got the presentation / signing on Monday, the 21st I’m doing a two hour workshop on going from blog to book for the Center for Women, that evening Aidan will receive his First Communion. I leave for New York on Monday, I’m flying out of Charlotte very early on Tuesday morning, the plan is to hole up in a hotel room for the evening and polish everything. Wednesday morning I’ll moderate a session and Wednesday afternoon I’ll present with Kelby. This means I should be able to enjoy Wednesday evening and Thursday. Friday is Aidan’s last day of school so it all has to be wrapped up by then, too. Throw in two tv promos that make my hands sweat at just the thought.
Writing that out?
Didn’t make it any better. Hold me.
Well don’t, really. I get kind of cranky when I’m stressed, it’s probably best to keep your distance. Oh and I’m supposed to finish my article for LifeHacker.
They are coming to take me away ha ha, they are coming to take me away ho ho. . .
And this one isn’t for prudes, but it’s hysterical, mostly because it’s unintentional. DYAC.com. I save that last one for bad days when I need a laugh.