WTF inappropriate?

My “Tri for Les” triathlon training has taken over most of my free time these days and unfortunately my blogging time has been pushed aside for early morning bike rides, evening swim and run practices, and late-night fundraising brainstorming sessions. Excuses, I know, but it’s all for a good cause, in honor of a great woman (my Aunt Leslie) and I don’t feel too bad for prioritizing.

I’ve also been getting a creative fix from a side project, called Letters to Letters. It’s a fun commitment and good for keeping the creative juices flowing.

That being said, I am still working in social media full-time during business hours and wanted to share a bit about a recent experience I had with the term “WTF.”

Continue reading WTF inappropriate?

Tri for Les: Support the fight

It’s early in the morning and still dark out. The alarm on the other side of my bedroom buzzed me awake and I’ve just silenced it by slamming my fingers on the snooze button. It’s quiet. Nobody is watching and I’m standing alone and dreary in the dark, with a crucial decision to make:

Do I listen to my tired body and stumble back to my soft bed for another hour of sleep?
Or do I throw on some clothes, take a drink of water and get the day started with a workout?

The battle ensues.

Continue reading Tri for Les: Support the fight

Notes on Google+

I’m trying not to get too excited about Google+.

I remember when Google Buzz launched about a year ago. I was all jacked up, and within a few weeks I felt pretty silly for contributing to the over-hype of what has turned out to be a dud thus far.

And as genuine as my efforts for objectivity are, I can’t deny that I’m a Google fanboy and am cheering for them to succeed in the social space.

So, yes, I am excited about Google+ and here are some of my notes on the new platform.

I hope they help your exploration of Google+ in one way or another. At the very least it’ll be fun to look back on this in a year and measure the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of my assessments and predictions.

Continue reading Notes on Google+

Social media breakdown: 3 sentences on the channels I use and their value

Bejeweled spider webs: Bristol is so frosty this morning.

I’ve seen others break down their methodology on various social channels and thought it would be interesting to evaluate what I’m using, how I’m using it and the value therein.

I hope this gives you some ideas for new ways to use these networks, and I encourage you to share your own breakdown in the comments.

Also, I plan to do a post like this every year to see how the industry, and my participation, is progressing.

And to keep me from getting too long-winded or granular in my evaluations, I restricted myself to three sentences on each topic (inspired by a great creative writing blog called Six Sentences that you should subscribe to).

Continue reading Social media breakdown: 3 sentences on the channels I use and their value

Something Baked Cookie Collage

C is for cookie, that’s good enough for me!

Samples from a tasty shoot for my cousin’s cookie business: Something Baked. The photos will be used on her website, and were featured in a recent review on a local food blog: Phoenix Bites – Get Baked.

Notes from the shoot:

  • I still haven’t perfected the white balance settings when using the light tent. I used a gray card this time to help, but still found myself adjusting lighting and tone in photoshop afterwards. It was an improvement, and required less editing time than my first attempt, but still stands to be streamlined.
  • Arranging the collage also took some trial and error and getting the borders even remains tedious. I think if I used the stroke effect on the layers more effectively I’d save myself a lot of time and the borders would be more aligned and proportionate.
  • Otherwise, I’m generally pleased with this final product. And as good as they look, they tasted even better!