Post A Day 2011 Is Over…Now What?

So Post-A-Day 2011 is over as I have already mentioned and I successfully completed it. While that’s all fine and good and I am very proud of myself and extremely happy with all I have accomplished on this blog in the past year the end of the Challenge begs an important question:

Should I continue to post every day?

It isn’t like I don’t enjoy posting to this blog. I absolutely love getting my thoughts out into the ether but the fact of the matter is that there are a few reasons which immediately spring to mind as to why I shouldn’t continue posting on a daily basis. These include:

1. Let’s be perfectly honest here, there were days when I wrote completely garbage posts. There were days when I straight up said I have nothing to write but posted anyway because I was doing a challenge which required posting daily. Shouldn’t I be trying to separate the wheat from the chaff now that I am not doing a regimented post per day kind of thing?
2. It is one heck of a lot of work and sometimes I found it got in the way of other things because I ‘had to post’ each day.

Now on the other side of the coin why I think I should continue posting every day:

1. I’ve gotten into a good habit of posting every day and why should I stop now? Look it’s 11:46pm and I am still typing away right now doing my post for today.
2. Often topics and posts that I thought were incredibly inane and which I just wrote because it was 11:30pm and I needed something to write about really struck a chord with people. Case in point, my signature scent vs scent switching cologne/perfume post, I truly did not think that that post would resonate with anyone and it was just something to write about with time a-wasting before the midnight deadline. If I wasn’t tryign to write a post every day would I have written about the cologne? I’d love to say I would have eventually gotten around to it but I can’t say that and be perfectly honest.

What’s funny about the second thing is that I have heard it time and time again (or read about it) from people in creative fields that are markedly different from each other. Cracked.com put it best when describing the origins of the Guns N’ Roses Song “Sweet Child O’ Mine” in their 6 Classic Songs That Were Supposed to Be Jokes article. They write under the entry for the famous G N’ R song (which topped the list):

“What you like, and what your audience likes, are probably going to be very different. It’s probably best to just go with it.”

Basically, what I think to be throwaway writing isn’t necessarily that.

So here’s what I’m thinking, I will continue to write a post a day so long as it isn’t a post about how I can’t think of anything to write that day. What do you folks, my readers, the most important people in this relationship think? Good decision? I am open to suggestions and really would like to hear your thoughts, pop em down below in the comments.

Google+ Fail Pet Discovered!

The other day I was on the new Google social tool called Google+ (the way that is read is “Google Plus”) and I found myself given a 404 Error page. I don’t know if this is across Google or just for Google+ but it seems I have discovered another Fail Pet (or as I call them, Fail Cutie) to my list which I first started here and continued here.

Any ideas what we should name this robot? There were some suggestions on Twitter but I am still open to suggestion. Let me know in the comments!

Post-A-Day 2011 Learnings

As you all know this whole year I have been involved in the WordPress Post-A-Day 2011 Challenge.

This has been a huge learning experience for me, not only in the difficulty that comes with creating content that is interesting – at least to some degree – and well written on a daily basis. Beyond the challenge that is associated with completing this endeavor as long as I have and continuing on there is also a lot of good and interesting conversations that have come out of it.

One such conversation happened last night. A friend of mine contacted me via Facebook and asked me about the challenge. She was wondering whether or not she should start blogging daily as well. I honestly had no answer to give her. I explained to her that j found the task a very challenging one while also being very fun and rewarding. She then opined that if she wrote about het life in a blog it would be really messed up for people reading it because her life is filled with so many trials and hardships and weirdness. I told her that just because she is choosing to blog daily doesn’t mean that you necessarily must write a lifeblog and explain to everyone everything that is going on I’m their own her life but it is her decision to make at the end of the day.

LevyNewsNetwork Quote Is At Mickey’s Pizza

 

As you can see in the picture above I returned a little while ago, OK a month and a half ago, to Mickey’s Pizza in Mississauga (feedyourdragon.com, on Facebook Facebook.com/MickeysPizza, and on Twitter @FeedYourDragon). I went because since the last time I’d been there my dragon had been doing some serious growling and needed some feeding!

There were other reasons I went, one of them being to introduce Nus aka @MichaelNus, Chris aka @CBrooker, and Krista (who is not on Twitter and as far as I know doesn’t have a website/blog…yes I actually do hang out with people who don’t have an online presence) to Mickey’s Pizza and the wonderful couple who run it.

So we got out passports stamped on the QEW out of Toronto to Mississauga (I kid, I kid) and we were on our way to feed our hungry dragons. When we got there I looked on the wall and lo and behold! Mickey’s Pizza had a quote and photo from my earlier blog post up on their wall!!!!

O! M! G!

I was so very excited to see this I had my friends take a bunch of photos of me standing in front of the sign with the quote on it. Then I babbled about it to them for a bit and tweeted about it along with the pictures in absolute amazement. One of those pics is, obviously, what you see there at the top of this post. (Hopefully WordPress for BlackBerry didn’t resize it horribly…if it did don’t worry I’ll repost it when I get to a desktop. UPDATE: WordPress didn’t resize it horribly it just posted it 8 times at the top and then once on the bottom on an angle…FAIL)

On to the experience – delicious as it was last time and also uber-reasonably priced! It turned out that Mickey’s Pizza had a sweet deal going on that eve (and still has awesome deal every now and again via Facebook and Twitter). We ended up getting very, very well fed for under $30 so I advise you to always check their Twitter or Facebook pages before heading over to Mickey’s!

I’ll fill in all the proper links later but That was the experience in a nutshell. Talk to all y’all soon! Thanks Mickey’s!

Update: As I mentioned in the previous post WordPress for BlackBerry was giving me serious, serious issues posting this last night. I was nowhere near a computer and finally had to make an entirely new post, copy the text from the old post and paste it into the new one and have it publish but by then it was 12:08am on March 30th. I consider this post created on the 29th as it really was…the problem was I couldn’t post it. As such, I have adjusted the posted on date to reflect when this post was actually completed (this update and note notwithstanding).

REVIEW: The Thank You Economy By @GaryVee & An Open Letter To Gary

I just finished reading Gary Vaynerchuk’s new book called The Thank You Economy. Gary, or @garyvee as he is known on Twitter, describes himself in his Twitter bio as a guy who is all about:

Family 1st! but after that, Businessman, @winelibrary, @Vaynermedia, Author of @TYEbook and a dude that Loves the hustle (hard work), people and the @nyjets

His bio on his own personal website is uber long so I will just say he has accomplished a lot and if you’d like to read it, check it out here. 

On to the book. I really enjoyed reading it and if you are already interested in social media (I know Gary hates that word as he says in the book but that’s what the world at large calls it so we are sort of stuck with it now) and how it relates to business in the 21st Century I recommend reading this book. Anyone can learn from it, from students to CEOs (if they’re open to hearing about something new where the ROI [return on investment] is long-term). I finished the book’s back pages as I sat on the TTC subway today waiting for my 30 minute trip which got stretched into an hour somehow and while I waited I wrote an email to Gary as he encourages people to do in the book. I received a very nice response directing me to a number of contacts but none were – as far as I could tell – suited to my own little review of the book. Actually, I don’t know if I would call the email I wrote a review of the book so much as comments and suggestions for the book so I will also review it a bit.

The book is well written. I am given to understand that he had a ghost writer write it – although I do not know the level of involvement Stephanie Land had in the actual writing of the book I am going to assume that Gary is more the type of guy who paces around a room with energy and just reels of his thoughts in sequence and Ms Land wrote them down. He probably then read what she wrote when she translated his verbal gestalt into words on a page and approved it but nonetheless he didn’t, it seems, actually do the writing of the book. I read that he had a ghostwriter in the acknowledgements – ya I read those.

The book definitely brings out Gary’s passionate feelings on the matter of social media and is sort of a guidebook for all of us of the generation that is slowly but surely taking the reigns of business and the corporate world from the Baby Boomers – Gary was born in 1975 making him part of the tail end of Generation X. The book gives us a lot of great case studies and examples of successful businesses in the 21st Century where companies chose to use heart and pull customers in to their orbit and then keep them there. He also mentions companies that sort of did the job but then failed to follow through – such as one company that made quite the boom with some of their advertising and then just failed to keep up the conversation online afterward. He gives opinions based on his own life experiences and their results and really makes you feel as if you are listening to him talk as he goes through the different aspects of the Thank You Economy.

It’s all in all a great read, very easy to get through, understand, and a lot to relate to. It is broken up into very easy to digest bite size chunks because, as I am sure @GaryVee of all people know, these days we are bombarded (and bombard ourselves) with so much constant stimuli a book with uber-long chapters and sections becomes difficult to pick up and actually get through. The book is designed for reading when you have 10 minutes to site down with it or and hour to sit down with it and that’s great in my opinion.

Nomtastic Times At Boston Pizza Yonge & Sheppard

On Wednesday last week a bunch of us from the North York area and as far north as Thornhill got together to grab a drink at Boston Pizza Yonge & Sheppard (@BostonPizzaYS). Little did we know the nomtastic experience we were about to embark upon as Calvin @cdot_in_tdot decided to use us as guinea pigs for some new Boston Pizza menu items which will start appearing as being featured as of April 4th.

It all began so randomly it took us a while to remember how it began – Persian New Year (Norooz) celebrations at Mel Lastman Square March 15. I was sitting at home, actually writing a blog post, and Warren (@WaterProofWeb) tweeted at me to ask me, as a fellow North Yorker if I had heard the loud banging & popping noises outside. I hadn’t but I went outside to listen and still didn’t hear anything. That prompted Meg (@MegButton) and Jesse (@JesseHernick) to chime in that they had heard the pops too and didn’t know what they were either. We all wondered if they had been gun shots or fireworks until Warren found an announcement online about the celebrations and all became clear. But one more question remained for me – since when did Meg live in North York? For some reason I am unsure why I had decided with no prompting from her that she lived out west in Mississauga or Etobicoke but she is a North Yorker like me, so we all decided it would be a great idea to grab drinks and have our own little North York Twitter meetup. Then at some point in the next week the whole thing grew a bit.

Warren waits impatiently for me to pass the Effen Vodka.

Over the course of the week we somehow added Corey H (@cellguru), Cory S (@corysilver), Miranda (@running_cloud), Jorge R (@rosalesj), Vanessa V (@sesssa), and Vanessa’s friend Kate (who has Twitter but says she is barely on it so I never got her handle).

On to the night, unfortunately Jesse was unable to make it due to last minute stuff that just came up but the night grew quite a bit from just being me, Jesse, Warren, Meg, and Calvin.When I got to Boston Pizza, Warren was already there and I was the second one to arrive (I don’t count Calvin’s arrival because he works there). There was already a bottle of Effen Vodka – insert swear word jokes here – on the table chilling on ice so I knew we were in for a treat!

As everyone started arriving – this took time because March 23 was the day of that snowstorm which turned Toronto driving into hell – and getting settled in drinking some vodka we asked Calvin if we could see some menus and he told us not to worry the food was already ordered. Food was already ordered? Whaaa? I already knew Calvin was awesome and the bottle of vodka was quite enough already but he ordered food? OK…this night just turned from awesome to awesomazing.

The first to arrive at the table once we were somewhat lubricated with Effen Vodka was a sweet large vegetarian pizza which looked absolutely delectable. It was so delectable, in fact, that I didn’t even have a chance to take a picture of it before there were a couple pieces already missing – ok, you caught me, I’m the one who did the serving of the slices, must be my experiences from my Jewish mother had an effect on me…they all looked so hungry! Like skin & bones I tell you!

The pizza was really good – and one would hope so from a place with Pizza in its name even though that isn’t the only thing they serve – it was good enough that I began to fear the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were going to come up from Manhattan and steal it off the table but I figured Calvin and Boston Pizza had probably put security in their sewers so there was really nothing to worry about. I did keep looking outside looking for the orange flash of Michaelangelo’s bandanna  in the drainage grates on Yonge St though. But this pizza, as far as I know, wasn’t anything new for Boston Pizza and you’re probably thinking, “Get to the guinea pigging out already, Dan!” so here we go.

Boston Pizza had been finding that their baked wings, while the obviously healthier choice, just wasn’t as delectable as their fried wings so Calvin and the test kitchen folks set out to improve on that problem. As well, they found a supplier who supplied much bigger wings so they look better and have more meat on them and the picture below is the result. We tried 3 new types of wings although I only got a picture of two of them: Caribbean Jerk Wings, Asian 5 Spice and Sweet Thai Chili Oven Roasted Wings and they will all be featured as of April 4th.

In the picture above, the wings on the right are the Caribbean Jerk Wings and they were my favorite of the bunch. I am not going to lie to you, I really, really cannot for the life of me remember if I took the other picture of the Asian 5 Spice or the Sweet Thai Chili but I think those are the Sweet Thai Chili. The other two I would say are a tie for deliciousness and more than a match for any other of your standard fried wings. They are both definitely great choices but I implore you to scarf down some of the Caribbean Jerk Wings. The thought of them is making my mouth water as I write this and I may have to head over to Boston Pizza tonight and try to convince Calvin to have the kitchen whip me up another special batch – ya, they’re that good.

The other complete treat which we ate and which now cause me to anxiously await April 4th are the Los Grande Nachos. As you can see they are nachos which are baked with some amazing goodness right onto them including bell peppers, meat, cheese and jalapeños. There’s a very good reason they are served with a spatula…they are so top heavy that the chip might otherwise break if you try to pick one of them up without proper support. These things I loved and I think I would have been happy to munch down the entire two plates Calvin had brought of them to myself. Therefore, I warn you that once they are on the menu if you order them tell your friends you are going to the bathroom and have them brought to you at the bar so you can quickly shove them into your mouth and then sprint back to the table. Boston Pizza is going to have to beef up security once they introduce this appetizer April 4th as I envision them causing numerous fights breaking out. Instead of guys proposing to their girlfriends they may end up breaking up with them when their girl tries to reach across the table to sample some.

So all of the things we ‘sampled’ at Boston Pizza that night were damn good as I think I have made clear. However, my two top choices of the night remain the Los Grande Nachos and the Caribbean Jerk Wings. I encourage you to go to Boston Pizza Yonge & Sheppard (I assume they are going to be offered at other locations but don’t know if that’s how it works, I will update this when I find out UPDATE: I asked Calvin about this and he said most of the locations in Toronto should have them but not every location will) and try all 4 of these new treats once April 4th rolls around. The wings are a definite huge win in my books especially with the Final Four happening soon, the start of the MLB season, and the soon to start NBA Playoffs we will all be eating a lot of wings and why not try to be as healthy as you can about it if you can still have all the taste and more. (Damnit, now I sound like one of those diet soda commercials but I swear I’m not lying!)

Get out there and try them and let me know if you agree with my choices! There may also be more stuff coming to Boston Pizza’s menu on April 4th but only time will tell!

• Boston Pizza Yonge & Sheppard’s address:

4841 Yonge Street, North York, Ontario, M2N 5X2 (Google Map) Right on top of Sheppard-Yonge Subway Station

• Boston Pizza Yonge & Sheppard’s website http://www.bostonpizza.com/en/locations/yonge_and_sheppard0463
• Boston Pizza Yonge & Sheppard’s Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/BostonPizzaYS/
• Boston Pizza Yonge & Sheppard’s Twitter page: http://www.twitter.com/BostonPizzaYS/

We Came Up With A New Type Of Fun! ‘Quantum Recreation’ – Here’s What It Means:

We came up with a new term at the Tweetgasm on March 21 – Quantum Recreation!

Before I continue I think I should explain what the heck a Tweetgasm is – mainly because a lot of people on Twitter were confused when we were tweeting about it on Monday. Tweetgasm is: The monthly tweetup at The Gladstone Hotel (@GladstoneHotel), with an awesome party in the Melody Room. We all came and enjoyed a drink (ok, maybe a few more than  one) and mixed and mingled with fellow Toronto Twitterati. Hosted by @photojunkie, this past month we spent the night being entertained by the awesome DJ duo, Speedboats and Big Explosions (@SBBEmusic).

After the DJ Duo had wrapped up and most people had already left, John Edgar aka @JEdgar, Sacha Sayan aka @SachaSayan, Allegra aka @CapnAllegra, and I all remained amongst a few others talking. I told either Sacha or John I am working now for the QR Agency and he asked me if I knew what QR stood for*. Before I could answer he answered it himself by saying “Quantum Recreation?” and laughing. Once he had come up with that term we decided we needed to define exactly what it is. We decided that since quantum means: the minimum amount of any physical entity involved in an interaction (I took that from Wikipedia’s article on “Quantum“) Quantum Recreation therefore meant a small amount of fun. But then we continued with our ridiculousness saying, well if it is such a minute amount of fun did it even happen? Maybe Quantum Recreation is fun so brief it didn’t even happen? OR – and this is where we came up with our stroke of genius – maybe it is fun that never happened because we will never, ever speak of it again! Much the way it is said “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”, referring to the idea that any activities or fun that is had of a nature which might disappoint or anger other people back home does not ‘come back with you’ from the party city of Las Vegas, that is exactly what Quantum Recreation is.

To use it in a sentence: “Yup, Bill just came back from his trip to Vegas, he went there for some Quantum Recreation.”

Much as with the thought experiment of Schrödinger’s cat where the cat existed as both alive and dead in the box until it was observed by a human, quantum recreation never happened and did happen unless observed by a human in which case they and they alone can know the truth. Trippy isn’t it?

I put this word on the Urban Dictionary so when it gets reviewed and posted onto the site (it is under review right now) I will post a link and let’s get it fully approved!!!

 

*I do know what the QR in QR code stands for – it stands for Quick Response.