This is a Pantless Knights tribute to our favorite entrepreneurs (who are all “new dorks”). It’s a spoof of Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ “Empire State of Mind,” from the guys behind Grasshopper.com (thank you!). We made it because there’s a new type of dork that is cooler than ever. Look at tech entrepreneurs, hipsters, Computer Science Barbie – they’re all super popular new dorks!

Free Falling from Maria Bowskill on Vimeo.

Algunos comentarios de como se hizo el video http://bit.ly/9hAPKk basado en el video de Magnus Engsfors “Suddenly” vimeo.com/1668653

My lack of blogging lately has been due largely to the immense amount of change that has taken place in my life this last year. So I have been reflecting on how change can effect a relationship.

Change is inevitable. It is happening all the time, and it always has an effect of us personally and on our relationships. Stress is a natural side effect of change some positive and some, not so much, and even positive change can create negative stress.

For instance, we recently moved closer to family, including our grandchildren; the result – positive change. But moving to a different state, climate and culture has required changes in our life that have been difficult to acclimate to. Consequently our stress levels have been a force to deal with at times, and we have both had to be mindful of each others need for loving support and kindness.

Too often when under stress people have moments of selfishness, thinking only of their needs and forgetting that their partner has needs as well. Our stress can seem so overwhelming that we become self absorbed, neglecting our duty to show compassion toward others.

Even the happiest of couples can be torn apart when we begin expecting more of our partner than we are giving in return. During periods of stress try replacing your requests for help with acts of kindness. You may be surprised at how doing so not only relieves your own stress but strengthens your relationship as well. Once you are on the other side of your difficulty you will look back and realized that your relationship grew stronger and that you weathered the storm together.

Feel The Fear And Get On With Life

Elbert Hubbard said, “The greatest mistake you can make in life is continually to be fearing you will make one.”

Fear of failing in a relationship can lead to exactly that. Fear is the opposite of hope. When we have hope, we are expecting and looking for good things to happen. When we live in fear, we are expecting and looking for bad things to happen.

Fears are as varied as the people who have them. For some it is the fear of what others may think; for others it may be the fear of intimacy, or being hurt, or being rejected or being alone. Whatever fears you have, it is important first to acknowledge and validate your feeling. And it is doubly important not to get stuck in them.

There is no point in worrying about things that we cannot control. Accepting what is, allows us to move forward. There is also little point in worrying about things that we can control. For things that we can control we need to make a choice, either we do something about it or we don’t. Worrying does not help.

So let’s take a deep breath, acknowledge our fears and move forward choosing to hope for good, rather than expecting bad.

Susan Derry, B.Ed., M.S.Psy., R.P.C.
Professional Counselor & Life Coach

Co-author of Marriage Prep: Beginnings a downloadable marriage preparation course

Co-author of Intimate Sex: Manual for Lovemaking, a sex manual for couples

Offers a free Nurturing Marriage Ezine

Improving Relationships Blog

Just as good fences make good neighbors, good boundaries make good relationships. A relationship requires limits, not limits on what it can become or where it can lead but limits to shield and safeguard the relationship and the individuals involved. These limits are the boundaries set around the relationship or the couple to protect the sanctity of the relationship.

Boundaries are the parameters within which the relationship operates or lives. Relationship boundaries consist of several different sets or types of boundaries. There are individual boundaries, couple boundaries, and family boundaries, boundaries of friendship, work boundaries and so forth.

Individual boundaries are boundaries that each person has set for themselves; these boundaries serve the same purpose for the individual as they do for relationships. For the purposes of this discussion we will focus primarily on couple boundaries and, where needed, individual boundaries as well.

A quick and easy definition of a boundary is, a set of rules or guidelines unspoken or spoken that define what is allowed within that boundary. For example a boundary set when getting married, often unspoken, is that each partner will remain true and faithful to the other. In other words there will be monogamy. This protects the intimacy and sexual relations of the couple.

Boundaries define what the individuals can or cannot do within the relationship. The above example is an obvious one, however, all boundaries are not that obvious. In fact, most are much more subtle and undefined or unrefined. An example of this might be when our family or in-laws expect us to do certain things for them, with them or even in a certain way, yet we as a couple have our own ideas of what we will or will not do. Establishing “our way” involves setting a boundary. Often times we only find that boundary when someone else’s expectations breach that boundary.

As Miranda, from Sex in the City, states:  “ It’s a slippery slope … without boundaries you never know what might happen.”  This is so true. If we have no boundaries our spouse can dominate if that is their wish, or they can be too distant, or whatever they feel to do. As we are deciding what to allow we must keep in mind that a couple, a successful couple, is two strong and healthy individuals who have reached a meeting of, not only the minds, but the heart as well.

Boundaries are not written in stone. They are in fact quite flexible. Like a water balloon, boundaries can flow around an obstacle and still retain their integrity. Water balloons will burst under constant sustained pressure or explode when pierced with sharp unexpected blows, as will boundaries. Boundaries are extremely durable while at the same can be fragile.  Arthur Baer tells us what to expect from our neighbors about fences and that advise applies to spouses and boundaries as well. He says: “A good neighbor is a fellow who smiles at you over the back fence, but doesn’t climb over it”

As a couple, we need to respect each other’s boundaries and we need to expect other’s to respect our couple boundaries.

Dallas Munkholm, B.A., B.Com., R.P.C.
Professional Counselor & Life Coach

Co-author of Marriage Prep: Beginnings a downloadable marriage preparation course

Co-author of Intimate Sex: Manual for Lovemaking, a sex manual for couples

Offers a free Nurturing Marriage Ezine

Improving Relationships Blog

Acaba de salir un libro que se llama “ The Checklist Manifesto. How to get things right” escrito por un cirujano, con lo cual se refiere obviamente a la cirugía, pero también le habla a gente de la construcción, chefs de cocina, inversores de riesgo y al tipo que escribe los checklists de los pilotos de la Boeing. El libro trata cómo evitar que gente altamente entrenada cometa errores estúpidos.

Hoy, leyendo la web de la revista Direct, me encontré con este checklist escrito y actualizado por uno de los pioneros del Marketing Directo que pienso les puede servir para refrescar un montón de cosas sabidas pero que cuando las ves en un solo lugar y todas juntas, te pueden servir para evitar errores. Aún más cuando estas empezando un año y te proponés sus objetivos.

David Ogilvy con esa genialidad que caracteriza a los grandes redactores y un converso del Marketing Directo como herramienta para provocar comportamientos, decía cuando te mandaba alguna línea a seguir…”-Guides, no Rules you fools”.
Saludos a todos

Alex di Paola

Nota: para ver los guidelines hacer click AQUÏ

Según un estudio realizado sobre 9 sectores representativos (farmaceutico, banca, seguros, telecomunicaciones, medios, viajes, belleza, restauracion y bebidas) se han analizando los volumenes de opiniones publicados en prensa digital y medios digitales colaborativos (web 2.0) durante el periodo comprendido entre el 15 de enero de 2010 y el 15 de febrero de 2010, extrayendo como conclusion que

existe en media un 40% mas de informacion en web 2.0 que en prensa digital.

Para más información ver Marketing Comunidad

Like many in our industry, it was with a sense of great relief that I watched the clock tick over into 2010. I was happy to see 2009 vanish – a year that brought little to our profession. It was a year that saw agencies downsize, creativity slump, and media outlets collapse. Unfortunately, we also saw many marketeers demonstrate expertise in the recessionary duck-and-cover manoeuvre.


Personally, I look forward to seeing a greater emphasis on social media as part of the communications mix in 2010.  For those wanting to enhance their social media programs – or who plan to put greater emphasis on social media, I’ve dusted off my crystal ball. It revealed six social media trends you should be planning for in the Year of the Tiger…


Augmented reality changes the way we make decisions
Must be frank – I love augmented reality (AR). There’s something inherently cool in being able to connect the digital and physical worlds via devices such as GPS-enabled smartphones and webcams. Early applications have done everything from telling you where your nearest Japanese restaurant is (and offering community-based ratings) to letting you try on a pair of new virtual eyeglasses from  the comfort of your desk. The opportunity is for PR folks is to figure out how this type of heads up display technology can benefit your clients – and fast!


Corporate journalism fills traditional media vacuum
In spite of media outlet closures, people still want to hear, see or read well-written content. Social media channels give the companies we represent the wonderful ability to fill the growing traditional media story void. They can present their news stories, thought leadership positions, even product information directly to the people they want to influence. The trick is going to be ridding themselves of facile corporate happy-talk and producing content people actually want to consume.


Companies forced to actually speak to their customers 
Shock! Horror! The people have spoken and they want conversation. Why is it then that so many companies refuse point blank to talk to their own customers? They’d rather pay bloggers or – heaven forbid – spammers – to own these most critical relationships. I hope 2010 is the year in which Asia Pacific companies realize that social media engagement is the way of the future and empower their staff to interact through blogs, forums and the myriad of other social channels. There might even be some money in it for them….


Web analytics force PR folks to embrace their inner nerds
PR folks aren’t renowned for their skill with numbers. Otherwise they’d be accountants. However they’re going to have to improve their analytical skills if they’re to get anywhere with social media. The greatest argument for social media as a game-changer is using web analytics tools to demonstrate how social media tactics have changed consumer behavior. A myriad of web tools can explicitly show how a forum conversation, blog discussion or Facebook game encouraged an audience to download, vote, view, join or take other bottom-line-impacting actions.


Real time search requires real-time reaction
The growth of Facebook and twitter as search destination has forced the major search engines to incorporate real-time search into their results. Search algorithms still prioritize results based on criteria such inbound and outbound links to quality sites but in parallel they’re showing the latest twitter tweets, news or blog posts. From a PR perspective, this makes the real-time monitoring of these channels even more critical. Regardless of your best SEO efforts, your customers can now see the latest thoughts from the crowd on your company during the same search.  These thoughts – no matter how abstract or ill-informed – now have a place of pride on the critical first search engine results page. You need to be ready to respond should the posts warrant it.


Sidewiki helps companies offer an online alternative
One of the greatest fears of social media is the lack of control. Those who publish through blog, micro-blogs, discussion forums or other social channels aren’t bound by journalistic conventions such as corrections, letters to the editor, apologies or take-downs. But with the introduction of Google’s Sidewiki, companies have a digital right of reply. Using this tool, users can make comments that appear alongside a web page – comments that can’t be edited by the page’s owner.


Hopefully this advice helps as you bring more social media into your public relations programs. And as the last Chinese New Year firework fizzles out for another year, I raise my glass in toast. May the best of your PR yesterdays be the worst of your PR tomorrows.


- Jeremy


This post appeared in the February 2010 issue of Marketing Magazine.

I’ve been buzzing for a couple of days and have found some benefit. 
Putting aside (if possible) he security and privacy concerns, Google Buzz seems to be a better place for genuine conversation than either Facebook or Twitter. I like the fact that you don’t need to mess around with blog-like comment systems to offer thoughts, and that these comments are managed conversationally (unlike Twitter, which is more like a Where’s Wally approach to discussion). Facebook also doesn’t lend itself to real dialogue, which I think Buzz offers. I also like the fact that Buzz discussions I create or join pop up in my Gmail inbox (instead of needing to hunt for discussions across disparate platforms). 
Saw something saying there had been 9 million posts and comments since launch, so I think we’re witnessing the start of something here. Got to say I’ve spent more time in Buzz in two days than I had in Wave over two months. So will I buzz? I think Google have pushed some of the right buttons here, so yes, count me amongst millions..


- Jeremy