Empire State of Mind

Wow - it has been close to a year since I posted anything here. This will again make my "New Year's" resolution list. Along with getting in shape, running a half marathon and essentially living a better life. We'll see about that....

First, it's off to New York City for this midwest girl. In less than 48 hours my mom and I will be off to a two day trip to the Big Apple. We are going to do all of the touristy attractions I have never done before. Double decker bus tour and Top of the Rock Tour just to name a new.

Obviously we will eat our way through the town. Hopefully I can convince her that the little hole-in-the-wall pizza places are to die for.

More meaningful media stuff soon....

The Real Meaning of the Holidays?

As I am reading blogs and posts on twitter, I'm realizing more than ever that this holiday gift giving thing is just getting crazy. I tell you want I want, you tell me what you want and then we wrap it up and give it to each other at Christmas. All surprise or creativity is gone. We are essentially doing other people's shopping for them.

Here's where the exception comes in...I love shopping for my 6 year old son and seeing how excited he is on Christmas morning. He still believes in the magic of it all. I love shopping for a family that has fallen on hard times so that they can have the same excitement my son does on Christmas.

In most cases we can't eliminate the exchanging of gifts. I would just like to make it more meaningful.

So tell me what your family has done to bring back the true meaning of the holidays. Please!

Super Cool Stuff

Working on a super top secret event! Stay tuned!

New Finds

Some new finds online!

http://fuelingnewbusiness.com/ by Michael Gass

http://she-conomy.com/ by Holland + Holland Advertising

What have you stumbled across lately that's worthwhile?

Lawn of Shame

I have decided to use my blog for good not evil. And that good is to enforce the "good lawn" clause that most of my neighbors adhere to. However, there are a few that do not. Coincidently, within an hour of thinking of taking a picture my neighbor's lawn, he cut it. Don't worry. In another week, it will be a fright. Then he will be exposed. Weeds and all. I am watching. If the RV returns this summer it will be war.

Who's Following You?

About a year ago I heard about Twitter. I signed on and just couldn't figure out what to do with it. My first three "tweets" were something like "Trying to figure out Twitter". Compelling stuff, I know.

However, as the year went on I kept trying to figure it out and from the stats below, so did everyone else.



Over the last three months I have actively started "following" social media types like Chris Brogan, David Armano and Guy Kawasaki. They post interesting information and provide links to current articles. As I started getting more involved in Twitter, others started following me. It was kind of strange. There are the typical spammers but there are others that may actually be interested in what I have to say.

Then one day I received an email that said "Maria Shriver is following you on Twitter". The First lady of California!? I had found her on the list of 50 people that Demi Moore follows. Yes, Ashton and Demi are big fans of Twitter. (So is MC Hammer but that's another converstation.) Could Maria be actually following me? If so, I better step up my twitter game. Maybe she just has an automatic program in place to follow people who follow her. For now, I will just pretend that she is really interested in me.

From a public relations side of things, Twitter seems to be a very effective tool. Information is picked up quickly from your followers so you have to be careful of what you say. Many news sources are on Twitter and it can be an efficient way to get headlines.

It's another item in the long long list of social media apps to keep up with but that is my job.

You can find me at http://twitter.com/mdwstmediagirl.

I will leave you with this link. You know Twitter has made it when Jon Stewart makes fun of it.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=219519&title=twitter-frenzy

DVR Proof

The Huebner family hasn't been big American Idol fans in the past. At the end of last season my son and I started watching as David Cook won. He still knows who David Cook is and loves his song.

So this year we started watching it from the beginning and have had a lot of fun. It's a show we can watch together that's not Spongebob, Johnny Test or Pokemon. We get to watch a family friendly show together and I get to keep what's left of my sanity.

The thing I have realized - from an advertising standpoint - is that we are not DVRing this show. We watch it live. While DVRs are on the rise, there are definitely shows that are DVR-proof. This is one in our household. At 7:00 we are on the couch ready to cheer on Milwaukee's own Danny Gokey.

What are your favorite family shows?