Thursday, June 18, 2009

Google's Local Business Center

Google has added to Local and has made a fantastic small business marketing tool even better. Google local is terribly underutilized even though it is really where a potential customer enters into the conversion funnel for a brick and mortar store.

I assume Google is opening this additional analytics data so it can encourage small business owners to help develop their search results. It's a win for both - especially for the small business that needs to promote themselves with little advertising budget.

For the small business owner you boost your keywords and content in the Google system, and then get more information in return on topics such as zip codes which are requesting the most driving directions to your location. Maybe that won't be a surprise...but maybe it will be if, for instance, in Ashland, OR you see many searches for your restaurant or hotel are coming from San Franciso. You can tailor a page or offer directly to SanFran customers using this knowledge. Make it easy for them - as in: "Driving from San Francisco? We're easy to find, and we'll help with the vacation expenses...as for our 10% discount"

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

on my way into work...

I drove past a trailer park and saw a lady standing outside of it, holding a sign pointing toward where people would be coming out of McDonalds and Dutch Brothers. She had wet hair which looked like it was partially blow-dried and was dressed in a purple sweatshirt with black slacks.

I thought to myself that she got up this morning in a worn out trailer (all of them are in that park). When she awoke she knew she had to go out there and hold up a sign asking for help. She had to take a shower and think about that, blow dry her hair and get dressed thinking she would soon be standing out there – probably seeing people she knows while she holds up a sign for help from people going to McDonalds and getting coffee.

That would be so hard for me in so many ways, so embarrassing honestly and so hard on my pride. I don't think I could do it.

That compared to me dealing with this petty stuff that make my daily grind (“reporting and accuracy!”) made me feel pretty pathetic to be feeling sorry for myself about my job and where it seems to be going.

It's all about your perspective in life, right?

There are plenty of others far less fortunate. Be thankful for everything you have, while realizing it will eventually fade away. Live in the moment now - while you still can - and help those around you.

That, I believe, is the secret to life.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Hulu. *sigh* I heart you.

Hulu's added more functionality to the gold-standard of online video. Now if I only had a TV with HDMI input to connect my laptop to.

The more I've used Hulu the more I realized that it completely absolves me of cable TV and that irritating $50/mo for crap I never watch. While American might avg 29 hours a week of viewing we watch more like 3-4 of network TV. So Hulu is the perfect solution for easy, low commercial watching of my fav shows.

This desktop solution makes it even more attractive. Nice work guys!

http://www.hulu.com/watch/74775/hulu-how-tos-hulu-desktop-overview

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

James Harrison is officially a thug

Reason I despise James Harrison (the NFL player/celebrity, I guess I honestly can't speak for him personally):

(1) Super Bowl shove
(2) Refused to go with the Steelers to the White House
(3) Is responsible for more bad press on my beloved pit bulls

Harrison is apparently the worst the NFL has to offer - a poor sport and a violent person who begets violence on those around him. He kept a dog (and any dog can be this way) in a pen and had raised it to be violent - he was aware it was that way and didn't seek help for it. The burden is on him, not on the animal he was responsible for.

Additionally, if you really want to be saddened by humanity, read ESPN comments sometimes.
- one of the worst highlights "We should kill all pit bulls"

Sad that someone would actually even type that - we should kill animals whose behavior we're responsible for. Additionally that the commenter was quick to stereotype all animals of a breed, especially when Cocker Spaniels account for far more bites every year.

second camping trip of the season

Had a great time camping over the weekend at Mill Creek Campground in the Redwoods. We stayed on site 43, which has fantastic seclusion.

I'd suggest 39, 41, and 42 - in that order - for future use. 39 has perfect creek access and sun, while 41 is less sunny, but has great access. 42 is a one-day only site. 43 is great, too but had no creek access.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

zoinks

oh look everyone! it's my lonely lil blog. Methinks I don't have much to say since I'm never here.

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Slumdog Millionaire

Better movies than Slumdog Millionaire, on the same subject:

City of God:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/cityofgod/
Born into Brothels: http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/bornintobrothels/
Chop Shop:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/chopshop
Shelter:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/shelter?q=shelter

City of God and Chop Shop were, imo, far better.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

new laptop

Typing from the new laptop tonight. finally got it in shape and ready to go...

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

widgets and TV...what's not to love

Samsung announced widget enhanced TV. Love the idea. Gives you the ability to add personalized widgets to your broadcast. Yes, it could make us all even more ADHD, but it also could add additional content to football (leaders in stats), weather updates for morning TV, and maybe someday additional interactivity like quick polls, etc.

http://snurl.com/9lxea [www_engadgethd_com]

Friday, January 2, 2009

Squeezebox Duet

There are a few electronic things, that when unveiled, you say to yourself "that would be perfect for the batcave is a must have."

Sonos could never bring their excessively expensive richboy toy down to my level so I bought the Squeezebox Duet instead. Since I've foregone the requisite HDTV and don't have cable, I am now using Hulu and Netflix instant downloads for my entertainment and had hoped for Squeezebox to fill in the gaps.

I couldn't be more happy. It's a love affair now.

Things I love about it:

I've got 15 podcasts in it, ready to play whenever I feel like it: KEXP song of the day, NPR's numerous excellent podcasts, The Instance (for the WoW nerd in me), Writer's Almanac, Writers on Writing (for my wife really), several fly fishing podcasts, and several How Stuff Works podcasts including "What you missed in history class"

Pandora, built in. I have extremely random music moods and pandora suits me - from Dwight Yoakam radio to Thievery Corporation, it's all there and easy to use.

ALL my music, now available at a whim. 30GBs and growing...

Highly recommend this to anyone, and plus it comes with fun mp3s to harass your dog with, like a rooster crowing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCrXflpPIhE

resoution #1

Write more. In any form, on any format.