[The title should draw the search engine queries in by the thousands.]
I have no recommendations now that Vioxx has been taken off the market. What I found very interesting was the rush to fill the void. I was watching The Today Show this morning and I must have seen commercials for three or four different options I had never heard of.
I know the world is moving faster, but I am amazed at how fast companies are moving to fill this gap.
While washing the dishes this morning, I drop a glass and place my hand squarely in the remains. A trip to Urgent Care gets me 14 stitches in my left palm and a tetanus shot. Typing is a little painful, so it may be a little slow for the next couple of days.
I love the The Wall Street Journal and think their lifestyle and personal coverage is outstanding. Great to see they are launching a Saturday edition next year.
The whole reason for our trip to Europe was to attend (and in my case officially witness) the marriage of Cindy and Thibault Bretesche-Bestland.
We had an absolutely wonderful time.
The ceremony was in Nantes. The reception was held at a cute little place near Chateaubriant. They honeymooned in Sicily.
Congratulations!
We are back home safe and sound.
I am going to sleep.
The stories start tomorrow.
Just a quick note from the road.
Our trip is coming to an end. We are in Copenhagen today and fly back on Monday.
Lots of great stories to tell when I return!
Here is a little reading I forgot to pass on earlier today.
Metacool wonders what it would be like if the CEO knew his(her) products?
BJ at the Start-up Chronicles gives a great view of the Music Business.
Lisa at Management Craft wrote four great posts on Stephen Convey’s talk in Seattle (one, two, three and four) [Disclosure: Lisa is a client].
Frans Johansson has a blog (and an upcoming book) called The Medici Effect.
My family and I are leaving for Europe tomorrow. We will be gone for three weeks. We have a wedding to attend in France. Our wonderful friends Cindy and Thibault are getting married. The second and third week are going to be spent driving all over Scandinavia.
As you can expect, things will be a little quieter here and at the 800-CEO-READ blog. I am bringing the laptop and hoping to post from time to time.
Last month, Ben and Jackie at Church of the Customer posted an opening for a marketing intern. I have been a fan of Ben and Jackie’s stuff, and decided to throw my hat in the ring.
You might ask why I would do that – take a non-paying internship as I am trying to grow my own business. The first factor was proximity. They are located about two hours from my house. It is not a daily commute I would want to make, but spending time in the office is possible. I thought it would be equally important to them.
The second factor is freedom. I have the time available to do this. If I was working a 50 hr a week job, I would not have even considered it. I have the luxury (and it is a luxury) to make decisions about how I spend me time.
The experience is the most important factor. It has really struck me as I watch shows like Made and Faking It. What you see is the value of working with good mentors. You also see the progress you can make it a relatively short period of time. I looked at this internship the same way. I thought there could be a lot learned in a short period of time.
They asked for a pdf file that described your interest in the position, your view of marketing, and your work history. Here is what I submitted.
I interviewed with Ben and Jackie early last week and received a call from them on Friday asking if I would like to work with them.
I said yes.
This week we are going to go with Sing, Sing, Sing performed by the Benny Goodman and his Orchestra. This is a remastered version from the Centennial Collection album just released last week. The best recorded version I have found is on the Swing Kids soundtrack.
I went to college at Michigan Tech and was a proud member of the MTU Pep Band. Sing, Sing, Sing was our trademark song. There are few songs that have the overwhelming energy Sing, Sing, Sing has. You can’t help tapping your foot.
If you are interested in TLC’s new small-biz makeover show “Taking Care of Business”, you can find application instructions at the Business Opportunities Weblog.
Maciej Ceglowski at Idle Words has recorded an Audioblogging Manifesto.
Ceglowski is not a big fan of audioblogging. To make his point, I think he makes it as painful as possible to listen to his entry. He spells out web addresses (h-t-t-p-colon-backslash-backslash…). He starts background music halfway through that sound like the theme to “Hunt for Red October” and increased the volume as he marches toward the conclusion.
I don’t disagree with many of the declarations Geglowski professes in his audio post. People do read faster. The web is about motion (page to page, top to bottom) and with audio posts, the reader has to stop and listen. It is not as efficient.
I still think there is a place for audioblogging. I think readers will listen to an occasional post. You can convey additional information using emphasis, intonation, and cadence. Put links you refer to beneath the link to the audiopost to provide relevance. It adds more personality to your blog.
I think it is going to take some more experimenting in form and function. How can I easily record post and upload them? What if it was easy for readers to download audio posts onto their iPod and listen to them later? RSS readers detecting audio posts, downloading the new ones, and putting them into a playlist on iTunes?
P.S. If you are still against the whole audio thing, you can read Geglowski’s manifesto here.
I like what Forbes is doing. I think they have great reporting with alot of original stories.
Here is what you could learn by reading the current issue of Forbes:
I did mean to go overboard today, but I run across this too.
James Shatner has a new album coming out. Ben Folds arranged and produced it. They have previews of all the track with interviews.
[via lighthearted boy]