Leading up to that special day that Hallmark created for us this Thursday, I want to feature things that I love, or maybe even just like-like a lot. Sure, my husband, family and friends are a given but these are some of the intangibles, some things that honestly, I wouldn’t be able to be without every day. Part Two: Google and Gmail
Google
Dear Google,
I’d like to think that I know you. I know how to enter all the right keywords to make you churn up the best results, customized for me – finding what I want. You’re so thoughtful. You have map searches, image searches, news (now even local news), and I can even use you as a calculator to let my in-laws know what 10 Celsius would be in Fahrenheit. You’re just so convenient, and you’ve also been nice to me. Your expedient indexing of my website, along with giving it a page rank of “5” is very much appreciated. You even have a sense of humour, with your tISP and seasonal graphic displays on your home page. You also allow me to share my calendar with my husband, share documents for work with my boss, and customize my homepage and RSS feeds with your lovely iGoogle.
I just wanted to take the time to say, thanks Google. You make me seem at least 10 times smarter than I am on most occasions and my mornings, noons and nights just wouldn’t’ be the same without your search engine.
Gmail
Dear Gmail,
In August of 2004 I discovered your potential and I haven’t looked back. Hotmail who?. You sort my life, you contains correspondences, passwords, love notes, announcements, wedding invitations, silly photos and a whole lot of bacn. My nephew being born, the first time my husband sent me an email including the words “I Love You”, job applications, and even your chat. Honestly sometimes I fear what would happen if I ever lost you, how would I get notifications? Remember passwords? Or hear from folks I haven’t corresponded with in years, although I really should touch base with them soon. Now that my office has switched to you as well, I never need to leave you.
Thanks Gmail for your coloured labels, for organizing my life, being searchable, having filters, and a spam folder that knows I don’t want to hear about the latest Rolex or ways to make myself bigger… you know… down there.
It was two years ago that I came across the Social Media Press Release and Newsroom template. At the time it was innovative and truly the standard that businesses and news organization have should strived to achieve at the time. Making your news searchable and even news-worthy is key, it’s also crucial to engage your audience and allow them to share and become a part of what they’re reading.
The NakedPR posts I linked to back then still hold water today. One of my faves is, “Your Target Audience Hates You, Here’s Why“:
Are you a fun, hip, and trendy online business? Then why does your site look like something that predates my grandmother? Again, it’s all about image. Forget about marketing for a minute, and worry about how you look in the eyes of others, especially in regards to the target audience’s expectations going in. You’d better meet… no, exceed, those expectations if you want your target market to love you, keep coming back, spending money, giving you traffic, clicking your ads, etc.[NakedPR]
I admit, that’s mostly about content and image but it works in many other ways that news delivery services should attempt to follow. I wrote a post a year ago about how PR professionals and newswires just didn’t seem to “get it”.
By “it” I mean using social media tools to help engage your audience, distribute your news and get the most exposure. I once worked with a group of PR professionals and was rather willing to share all of my knowledge on the topic, but it fell on deaf ears. Now years later, newswires are realizing how valuable these practices are, however instead of embracing the technology and admitting they’re jumping on the bandwagon, suddenly they’re the innovators. Continue reading this post ⟩⟩
When I was little I thought there was a mermaid perched on a rock almost 100 feet from the Sea Wall in Stanley Park. As it turns out one of the most recognizable marine landmarks in this city, the statue Girl in Wetsuit, actually does have a mermaid involved in her history.
A life size bronze statue of a woman in a wetsuit, with flippers on her feet and her mask pushed up on her forehead, sits on a large intertidal boulder just offshore of Stanley Park. In September of 1968, Douglas Brown, a Vancouver lawyer, talked to sculptor Elek Imredy about his desire to commission a sculpture inspired by the famous Copenhagen mermaid, which could be sited on the great granite boulder just off the northern shore of Stanley Park. [City of Vancouver]
The “Little Mermaid” in Copenhagen is in fact fashioned after the fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen. We may know her better as Ariel with an endearing yet annoying guppy friend Flounder. It’s hard to imagine that in a roundabout way our Girl in Wetsuit has that Disney connection.
To top it off, the original “Little Mermaid” statue in Denmark was commissioned in 1909 by Carl Jacobsen of Carlsberg Lager.
If you put all the pieces together, our little seagull-stained Girl in Wetsuit sits perched on her rock on the north shore of Stanley Park, near the bridge erected by Guinness and resembling a statue for Carlsberg.
Although I may get Under the Sea stuck in my head the next time I walk by, at least I’ll be inspired to go drink some beer.
One of the highlights of my year in 2007 was meeting some members of the Canucks Alumni hockey team in North Vancouver. Dave Babych, Cliff Ronning and of course, GINO! It’s always fun to watch the stars you’ve admired over the years, those you grew up watching, and the local guys that made the Canucks organization what they are today (with 201 consecutive sellouts).
This spring the Canucks Alumni will take on a team for a fundraising event – a team and league I had not previously known about until I was contacted by Shawn, a member of the BC Rockies Deaf Hockey Club.
BC Deaf Hockey is something that intrigues me, but it isn’t really surprising that these folks would want to play hockey, afterall it crosses all boundaries and I think it would be amazing to see these guys in action.
Come out to Queens Park Arena in New Westminster on March 22nd 2008 and watch the BC Rockies take on the Vancouver Canucks Alumni.
Support our local deaf hockey players in their quest to raise money for their upcoming trip to the 7th Canadian Deaf Ice Hockey Championships in Whitby, Ontario… …Come early and have a BBQ with the BC Rockies players and the Canucks Alumni, get some autographs and enter to win prizes like an Autographed Brendan Morrison jersey! [BC Deaf Hockey] and [Canucks.com]
When: March 22nd 2008
Where: Queens Park Arena (1st Street and 3rd Avenue, New Westminster, BC)
Time: Festivities at 6pm, Puck Drops at 7pm
Tickets: Adults: $10, Seniors/Teens: $7, Youth(12-under): $5, Children(4-under): Free
Family Packs: Family of 4: $20 / Family of 5: $25
“Ever wonder how a deaf person plays hockey? How they hear the referees whistle? How they call for the puck? How they adapt to a game that was intended for hearing folk?” There’s a video on the Rockies’ website about what it’s like to play without sound.
Tickets are available by calling (604)-263-0027, emailing Shawn, and you can also check out the Facebook Event for more information.
To say our Saturday was Surrey-licious would be an understatement. John and I took the train out to Central City in the early afternoon to meet up with our good friend (and honorary sister) and my niece for Winterfest. We got some thundersticks, ice skated on plastic, were hassled by mascots and listened to some really loud music on a big live stage. Children were running amok everywhere, it was slightly soggy out but all in all, it was a pretty great day even if my niece didn’t want to make a “magic wand” or get her face painted (in all honesty, neither did I, so it was cool).
John was able to take some good shots despite the grey weather and low-light, the following are from his Flickr set.
The Rec Centre parking lot, 102nd Ave, and the Central City Plaza were all reserved for Winterfest.
Olympic mascot “Quatchi” with Surrey mayor, Diane Watts.
Shane Philip with the didjeridu on stage.
Kids craft fair and story-telling inside the mall. Smell the commerce – mixed with Elmer’s glue.
More activities for kids. This tent was giving away saplings. My niece had no use for such a thing although she did enjoy this animal tracks quiz.
We skated on a synthetic polymer “ice rink”. It was… interesting.
He is the “Ice Prince”. He wanted to tell you that a lot, which my niece did not appreciate.
View the rest of the photos from Winterfest in John’s Flickr set.
