I’ve created an Alice in Wonderland set on Flickr, but here are some of my personal favorites.

The family let me sleep in and then they made me a French Toast breakfast. I read the Sunday Boston Globe like I always do with Coffee and then we headed to Emily’s final performance of Alice in Wonderland.

It was a lot of fun and since this was my second performance, I brought my 135mm lens and moved seats so I wouldn’t have the conductors head in my shots like I did the other night. I have roughly 1300 pictures from both performances to go through and I don’t know if I’ll get to that before vacation or not. We’ll see how the week goes.

We took Emily out to dinner afterward and as if they knew I was coming they had a special which is one of my favorite dishes on the planet but one I don’t get very often – Lobster Fra Diavolo. It was spicy and amazing and completely made for a great way to end the day.

After getting home I was given my presents and now I have a new Lastolite Trigrip reflector that I’m itching to use on a photo shoot. Emily also really wanted to get me tickets to a play so we’ll be out on the town getting some culture again really soon.

My hope for Father’s Day was to stay unplugged and spend as much time as possible doing whatever with the family. I got that wish. Granted I had to blog about being a Dad because I couldn’t get it out of the brain, but I’m ok with that.

All in all it was a great day. My noodling helped me write the one e-mail I had to before going to bed and that lead to a couple, but I’m still cool with that.

How did you spend your Dad’s Day?

I’d love your thoughts over on Digital Dads.

If you’ve never heard of Ze Frank that is ok. He is a warped, twisted, comic genius mind that after watching this video I have a new found respect for.

Not sure how you could not be inspired by the stories he shares.

All last week and earlier this week I couldn’t stop getting asked why I wasn’t speaking at the 140 Conference. Honest truth is that Jeff Pulver asked me about the conference ahead of announcing it and I was offered a place to speak at it. But, for lots of reasons it just wasn’t a fit for me. Then this weekend is Podcasters Across Borders and once again I won’t be attending. Between it being Father’s Day and Emily’s play weekend I can’t be away.

I’ve been doing a LOT of thinking about a variety of topics lately. It frustrates me where a lot of things in my industry are right now and because of that I’m making some big decisions on where I want to focus my energy. It is refreshing, but it isn’t an overnight thing either and thus why when I tell people I’m busy but good I mean it.

Also, for those of you that have wanted to hear me rant a bit, you’ll be happy to know that on this week’s Managing the Gray I went off on the whole Mommy Blogging focus and why it bugs me so much. With Father’s Day this weekend it is at the top of my mind.

I just snapped the photo for this post to capture some of the emotions I’m feeling, but at the same time I’m very upbeat and positive. I’m sick of a lot of things and it is time to change them. Watch out. *laugh*

Of course this is 150% tongue and cheek and I had a blast with the photo shoot. I’m a bit disappointed that so many of the other guys taking part in this went with a stock photo of them rather then having a lot of fun with it. I know we are all busy, but finding a couple of minutes to be a goofball with a camera can be done by anyone.

The money is going to DonorsChoose.org which provides students in need with resources that our public schools often lack. Teachers submit project proposals for materials or experiences their students need to learn and this charity gives them money to execute them. I love the concept behind it all.

Two things I need you to do for me.

1. Buy a copy of the calendar (they make great gifts)

2. Tell everyone you know to buy a copy of the calendar.

The calendar is only going to be available for 30 days and I really want to raise a nice chunk of change to help out the kids. Plus, you get to laugh at all of us goofballs who took part in the calendar.

I don’t care if this is an ellaborate Skittles ad or not (I don’t know the answer to that question), but Augmented Reality is something that is here and is going to change a LOT of things we do beyond just gaming.

Now, that you’ve helped support an independent artist and all around smart ass you can continue reading.

I’m not sure where I first came across Hugh and his drawing on the back of business cards, but I liked his mix of snarky reality that he brought to all his drawings. They were not complex and the cut through all the bull shit to get right to the heart of the matter. If you’ve never seen his images then swing on by GapingVoid.com to get a feel for them.

I met him for the first time outside of a bar at SXSW and I have to be honest that he was NOT what I expected and I say that in a good way. That made me like him even more.

Now, I don’t know Hugh all that well, but I love the work he does. In this picture you can see one of his prints that I purchased which hangs in my office. His first book Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys to Creativity is a pull no punches kick in the nuts to anyone that takes themselves to seriously.

It is a very short read that you could do on a flight or a long train ride without any issues. But, be warned you ARE going to read it again. You are going to go back and look for quotes that made you laugh. You are going to want to find the prints so that you can throw them as cube grenades in your office.

You don’t have to be into social media, art or anything else to enjoy this book. Honestly anyone with a brain, a sense of humor and any form of grounded reality will get a lot out of this book.

Thanks for writing it Hugh!

Like a good little Beta Clone, I pre-ordered a copy of Personal Effects: Dark Artas soon as I could and even though I’ve read the book already I was excited to get the official printing in the mail and wanted to capture the moment on video because I was psyched to see all the goodies inside.

Order your own copy today!

Photography has been on my mind a lot lately. I’ve been reading more about it and watching a lot of video as well. Of course all this inspiration should then be channeled into playing with my lights and shooting a lot of photos, but there just isn’t time for that right now. I know the only way to get better is to shoot constantly and experiment and that is what I’m hoping to find some more time for, but it just hasn’t been there.

School is just about done for the kids and that means drama and lacrosse will be done as well which will free up some time. I’ve also got to clean up the basement a bit so that I can set up my lights and learn to shoot better with them. I might have to find some other “models” besides the kids because they will get sick of it really quick. Anyone in the area want some new photos of them? I’ve got some people in mind that I really want to get in front of my camera, but not till I’m sure I can do them justice.

I did get to have a fun photoshoot the other night for a secret project that is the brainchild of Dave Delaney. I still can’t believe he convinced me to do it, but the people that will benefit from it made it all worth while. The picture here is an outtake from that shoot.

We are also gearing up to head to Florida soon for a family vacation. This will be the first time the kids have gone and we’ve got plans to do Disney and Aquatica, but are figuring out what else to do. Let me know if you have suggestions. I have a feeling I’m going to get more then one Digital Dads post out of this trip. Hopefully all for the good! *laugh*

I took a few photos while there, and was very impressed by the line up of speakers. Mark Beeching kicked it off and instantly got my attention.

I’m not much of a celebrity guy, but it was funny all the little encounters I had during the day:

• I had a nice long conversation with Justine Bateman who I grew up watching on Family Ties and who is now doing great stuff with her production company FM78. We compared some war stories about how hard it is to get executives to understand this space.
• I was editing this photo of Tom Green when in my ear I heard, “Is that really what my hair looks like today?” and I turned around and it was Tom Green doing the asking. He is everything you’d imagine him being and then some. He left me to go over and check out all the technology powering the stream from Revision3.
• Finally, I noticed at one point that Milo Ventimiglia was standing out in the hallway just chilling so I went up and said hi. I think I surprised him a little when of all the projects I could mention to him I lead with It’s a Mall World. We chatted for a couple of minutes and he introduced me to his producer from Divide Pictures.

All in all it was a really powerful event. I wish that there were more success stories and examples presented, but perhaps next year we’ll have more of that.

It was great to hear so many people talk about how the media landscape is changing, but it wasn’t so great to hear that so few have figured out how to monetize. I guess if I was to look for a silver lining about this it would be that no one has fully figured it out so it isn’t just the independent little guy and girl who can’t make a living doing this quite yet.

I was also very impressed by Al Gore and everything he  has going on at Current right now. I knew he was a great speaker, but seeing him in person was extra cool. For some reason we were not allowed to take photos during his speech, which is why you won’t see any here.

The entire event was steamed live and I know that a lot of people were watching from their homes and offices based on the comments throughout the day. I’ve had more then one person ask me if any of the content will be archived and available to view at some point and I’ve been told that “it is being worked on.” I’m sure that if and when some clips are the first place to find out will be @TheThirdAct twitter account.

I hope I get a chance to attend next year. I left psyched about the future of this space. (not that I wasn’t already *grin*)

Tags: nf09, newfront, internetweek

The Advance Guard got involved with the team putting on this event and they asked me if I could attend. The entire event is being streamed live and is part of the official line up of Internet Week New York events. I’m sure I’ll be tweeting throughout the day or you can follow the official Twitter stream by following along with the hash tag of #NF09 or on the twitter account @TheThirdAct.

When I watched the highlight video from last year (shown below) I remember thinking, “wow how have I not heard of this before?” Then I found out that it was the first year and that is probably why I missed it.

It goes without saying that I’m sure that I’m going to walk away today with a head full of ideas and a ball of creative energy. It’ll certainly keep me jazzed about Emily Explains It if nothing else. *grin* Plus I get to spend some time tonight with my good buddy Dan Patterson so that is the icing on the cake.

Since I know the event is at full capacity be sure to watch the entire event live online. They will be taking questions via twitter and with the diversity of speakers I can only imagine the topics that will be covered. If you are attending the event in person be sure to say hello.

Tags: nf09, internetweek

I drove up on Sunday and had dinner with my parents and sisters and then crashed at their house for the night. In the morning I hooked up with an old childhood friend that I hadn’t seen in years and we drove up to Burlington together. It made the trip fly by as we caught up on everything going on in our lives and I learned a ton about raising chickens. Who knew there was so much to know?

I gave a presentation called “Social Media is Like a Small Town” because I do think there is a mentality that comes from growing up in a small town that companies need to embrace to really work and play in this space. I’m not sure if this presentation would work in a big city or not. I knew it would work in Burlington though and I was right. I was even grabbed by the local news for a quick report for their evening news.

Unlike other events of this sort, what I loved about this one was after the speeches were done all the attendees were broken out into small groups to brainstorm around Grounds For Health. This is an amazing non-profit organization helping women in coffee growing communities to get cancer scans. Remembering that I now had the ability to live stream, I fired up Qik and captured some of the ideas that were shared.

I hope more events have brainstorm sessions like this where real world advice and tactics can be developed for organizations who really need it.

Leaving the event I was energized about the community that is forming in Burlington around this space. I felt the same energy when I was in Memphis lately. I love that this is happening more and more outside of the big cities and I think we are going to continue to see it happen more and more. It is a trend I like a lot.

A few minutes ago I got to do my first Qik live from my iPhone. No, it is not jailbroken or anything like that. I don’t even want to think about going down that road with my primary phone. Just can’t be without it. A friend of a friend hooked me up with a sneak preview of what is coming.

People checked in via twitter and watched it so it worked. I am curious what happens when I go from WiFi to not and I can’t believe my WiFi reaches so far outside of my house. Good to know.

Just a random clip with no much excitement. But, the fact that I did it from my iPhone LIVE to anyone in the world is where the power in this is. Stay tune for more at http://www.qik.com/cc_chapman

I asked a question on Twitter this morning about how people make decisions. I was a little curious if people were more of the do the research type or follow your gut instinct type. Me personally I go with my gut feel first and back it up with research. If something feels wrong then it is going to take some big time proof to the contrary to change my mind. Seems most people do a hybrid approach as well based on the replies I got.

I’m also filled with an urge to shoot photos. Not sure when I’m going to find the time, but between Hilary’s adventures and the latest Bui Brothers video I’m itching to get out shooting. Thinking I might try using my lights outside with the kids to see what I can come up with. Only way I’m going to get better is to shoot with them more. Plus I’ve never shot outside with lights before and since I don’t have remote power I don’t think I’ll be doing it that often.

Amazing how much one brain can bounce around at any one time.

• We started working with the team behind The Newfronts 2009 and I’m excited that I am going to be able to attend this event in person. Check out the schedule and be sure to follow on Twitter for the latest.
• I attended a special event for the new PBS film Digital Nation and there are many more blog posts coming about that for sure because I’m still wired from everything I saw and heard. Pictures here.
• Finally wrote about Memorial Day on Digital Dads which I’ve been wanting to do all week.
• I had planned on recording a special new Accident Hash, but it turns out the software I’ve been using to record podcasts for years no longer is going to cut it for me so I’ve been looking for something new. I think I found it. Need to play some this weekend.

It feels like more went on, but trust me when I say there is plenty more that I can’t talk about just quite yet.

I hope you spend a lot of time outside this weekend around the ones you love and don’t forget that we get to celebrate Memorial Day because of the sacrifice of the men and women of the military. Never forget that and always support them.

I was fortunate enough to get an advance copy of Personal Effects: Dark Art which will hit store shelves in a couple of weeks. While I love my Kindle, it is books like this that insure that printed books are never going to go away. You’ll have to pick up a copy to see what I mean, but the whole style and printing is as much a part of the story as the written words are. Trust me and order a copy today.

To try and and give you a plot synopsis would be pointless because I don’t want to give anything away. Just know that this is one part CSI, two parts Fringe, a dash of X-Files with a healthy dose of Sneakers and a dash of Suicide Girls thrown in for good measure. I was expecting more of a psychological thriller and wasn’t ready for an almost crime drama, but it all worked together. Plus any story that takes place in a Psych Ward is going to make for a good time.

As with most good books, it was over far to fast and left many open questions and possibilities for more books because it only scraped the surface of all the characters and got me interested in all of them. Hutch has a way of giving you just enough back story and little details about every character that you crave more while you fall in love with them. Best part is that JC is already making this happen by releasing an audio book prequel called Personal Effects: Sword of Blood that you can subscribe to now.

I think this is a book that most anyone could get into and enjoy. If you’ve ever enjoyed something by Steven King or James Patterson then you are definitely going to dig this book. Certainly not for the little ones though unless you want them to have nightmares and suddenly become scared of the dark.

I’m truly blessed to have friends like Hutch and I hope a lot of people buy this book and make writing a full time career for him. He deserves it!

As someone who likes to help others do good, it bugs me when I see a completely missed opportunity. This morning certainly was one of those.

I’ve got a Toyota Tundra that I lease and this fall I’ll be returning it as the lease ends. We’ve been looking for a new car and the list is short because we ned it to fit the four of us, our dog and still have room for anything needed for a weekend trip. I’ve been really happy with my Toyota experience so the Highlander is one of the cars on our short list. The problem is we haven’t had the time to go in and test drive one yet.

Today I had to drop the truck off for some service and they give a rental car for the day. One thing I love about Ira is that they allow me to schedule maintenance online. You put in all the problems, what needs to be done and then when you drop it off it is all there and you can pretty much drop and go. When filling out this yesterday I put down that I needed a rental car for the day and requested a Highlander and explained why.

I just got home from dropping off the truck and my rental car is some random other car. Not the Highlander I had hoped for.

I’m not upset, but just a little baffled that in the market we are in right now that car dealers wouldn’t pass up such a easy and small win as this. While other companies like GM and Ford are trying hard to listen to their customers and do what they can to help, I’m not seeing Toyota doing anything.

Missed opportunities suck.

Right now is a very exciting, but busy time in my life. The Advance Guard just won another contract and we’ve been having some of the most amazing conversations with people. Every day it seems something new and exciting is presenting itself and I love that feeling.

This week Emily celebrated a birthday and I couldn’t help but smile when she told me, “for my birthday dinner I want grilled steak, scallops and green beans.” that is my little girl! Of course she is not so little anymore and quite often I have to remind myself that she is actually younger then Dylan. They act the same age most of the time.

I’m excited that everyone is reacting so positively to Emily Explains It as well as Digital Dads.  Both are total sites of passion and I’m having a blast with both so it is very fulfilling that people are enjoying them.

This week I also secured a new sponsor for Accident Hash that I’m excited to announce next week. Different then any sponsor I’ve had before and this came directly to me since I can now find my own advertisers for my podcasts. Like I said, lots of exciting stuff going on.

Saturday is here and while it is rather beautiful out, I’m taking a few minutes to catch up on all the photographs I’ve taken recently but have yet to do anything with them. Focusing on the lacrosse ones right now and then can get to all the other ones.

I’m alive and well. Just cranking through life. Or as Gary V would say “I’m crushing it!” *laugh*

Managing the Gray^TM today focused on my sharing more details on the Passion is Contagious presentation I gave in Memphis last week. I had enough people ask me to talk about what the slides represented, that I figured capturing them in a podcast would be the easiest way.

• Full show notes
• Subscribe in iTunes
• Podcast Feed

One cool highlight for me was finally getting to my first Social Media Breakfast, which this time was held at Puma City in Boston. Rather then showing you any of the pictures I took, I wanted to showcase several different ones that other participants shot of me that I particularly liked.

Photo by Clarence Smith Jr.

Photo by Steve Garfield

Photo by Joselin Mane

I talked about the reasons in detail in this post on the site. But, the long and the short of it is that I wasn’t finding the type of content I wanted on the site about being a guy in today’s world with kids. While there are a lot of amazing fathers out there online and other great father focused sites like Dad-O-Matic I didn’t see enough to make me happy and wanted to get my voice out there.

I couldn’t do all the writing myself, so I asked two good friends who I knew could deliver great writing and insights to join me as well. If your not familiar with [munk] or Dan Gorgone then please get to know them. Great guys and awesome Dads.

And a special thanks to Mitch Canter for the awesome design work he did on the site!

I chose #14:

Corporations do not speak in the same voice as these new networked conversations. To their intended online audiences, companies sound hollow, flat, literally inhuman.

Don’t get me wrong. We’ve come a long way since that statement was first written. But, yet we have so far still to go.

I’ve talked to everyone from the single entrepreneur trying to keep her head above water to senior executives at some of the largest companies in the world. All of them want to be active online, talk to their consumers and engage in social media. But, over and over again they decide that they can’t break away from the way they have always acted where they talk AT the consumers rather then talking WITH them.

It is really time for all of you out there to change. Anyone who might be reading this. Anyone who works in marketing, public relations or corporate communications. It is time for you to just stop for five minutes and think about how you talk to your friends, family and buddies at the bar. Think about how you talk with your children. How you write an e-mail when you send it to a friend or how loose the conversation is over instant messenger to your friend a few offices down. Think about the discussion you had with the parents sitting next to you at the little league game or at the last church supper.

Now that you have that in your head, think about this. Why does the way you and your brand act and talk online not feel the same as the rest of those examples?

Did you stop and think about it? Can’t come up with a real good answer can you? So what is stopping you from becoming more conversational online and talking to your consumers like you talk to the rest of the humans in the world?

We live in a society where everyone is talking to everyone. We don’t write long letters in cursive anymore. We’re lucky if we find time beyond a status update or a tweet to really show our emotions. It’s choppy. The grammar sucks. There is new lingo to learn. But, you know what? It is what it is and you need to get smart to it or fall by the wayside.

Brands can reach out and talk to their consumers easier then ever. People are online and discussing every aspect of their lives. Every day this becomes easier and it is not going away. But, if you and your brand act like the boring guy at the party who stands off in the corner and when someone says hi you talk down to them then no one is going to want to talk to you.

Get a life. Show the human side of your company. Don’t be that old dead log in the woods. You won’t grow into a majestic redwood immediately over night and that is ok. Always remember that the mightiest of oaks once started off as a mere acorn.

Tags: cluetrainplus10, clue+train+manifesto, brands, companies, social+media, corporate+communications

We were told that the audience would be hip to the market and the various tools and that the hope was to stretch their minds beyond the obvious. This sounded great to me and it was fun to see that both myself and the other presenter Adrian Ho avoided any talk of tools, sites or tweets.

My presentation is below and as is usual for my style the slides only do so much on their own without me speaking to them. One fun thing was that there were no speakers so my video of Brooklyn Hilary played without sound, but it still worked because her passion came through the silence.

The point of my presentation was that I think people need to realize that we are all passionate about a lot of different things, but when you ask people “what is your passion?” very few mention any brand or product. Companies have a huge opportunity to fuel that passion at and enable their fans to begin talking, sharing and recommending their products.

I wanted to highlight that companies that want to get into using social media as part of their marketing initiatives need to begin thinking about leveraging passion in their campaigns. After giving what I think are the key components needed for success I wanted to showcase some people that I think are doing it right. I highlighted the Fiesta Movement that is happening now as one that has gotten my attention and so far is doing things right. I also wanted to showcase an example that doesn’t have Ford’s budget so I showcased independent authors Scott Sigler and JC Hutchins and what they have done with their fans.

I got asked a lot of solid questions and hope that my answers delivered. This is a concept that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about and I have a feeling I’ll be writing a lot more about passion in the coming months.

Have you seen other good examples (big or small) of brands leveraging passions? I’d love to hear them.

The other thing that happened was as I read more and more of the book I kept thinking in the back of my head, “dang, I could have written this book.” That isn’t a slight at Marc at all. What I mean is that so many of the thoughts, feelings and points I agreed with completely and have for quite sometime. While our experiences in life have been quite different, I can tell that we walk down the same path a lot as well at this point in our lives.

I first heard of this book when a mutual friend told me he knew this guy Marc who thought of himself as a “family first entrepreneur.” Now, I had never heard of that term before, but I instantly knew it described me.

Everything I do in life is so that I can have a happy family life. Doesn’t matter if it is a business decision, going to the gym, what I say online or what I make for dinner. Each and every piece of my life is for the good of my family and the life I have with them.

Ever since opening up shop with The Advance Guard it has been something that is harder then ever. Running your own company takes a lot of time. Mentally your brain is always thinking about work no matter where you are. As a business owner this is something you can’t get around. But, the balancing act is being able to also focus and spend time on the other parts of your life as well. This is something I’m working on all the time, but it is important because one fuels the other and it works in both directions.

I think the values outlined in this book apply to people who don’t have a family as well. The key is the fact that work shouldn’t be the only thing in your life. You need to leave room for passions and loves. That could be anything that doesn’t involve the time at your work desk.

I love my job. I get up every morning excited about working with our clients, growing our business and satisfying my entrepreneurial cravings. But, I also love it because I know that it is allowing me to be the family man I want and need to be as well. I’ve worked with people in the past who didn’t understand that this balance is possible and required and it has never worked out. You need happy employees working for you and if YOU are not happy then we all know what trickles down. *grin*

It is far from the standard business book, but I really hope people pick up a copy of ONO and take the time to read it. You’ll get through it in no time and I think you’ll feel better for it.

Marc is going to be a guest on an upcoming Managing the Gray so if you have questions let me know them and I’ll be sure to ask them.

There is an article in today’s Globe about the “Boston Twitterati.” I was listed in there along side some other people and it made for an interesting read. You know I usually roll my eyes and shake my head at any sort of ranking, classification or praise due solely on numbers or perceived “fame.” But, it was a good article and if it brings more exposure to The Advance Guard and the work we are doing, then I’m fine with it.

My friend Steve Garfield did a good write up about the article. I have to say I’m a little sick of seeing blowhards trashing any technology that they don’t participate in or fully understand as was the case of at least one person quoted in the article. But, there will always be people like that in the world and I try to just ignore them. It was funny to see this little call out on the front of Boston.com today though.

This weekend I took some time to go into Boston and do a photo walk with Clarence & Steve. I didn’t take nearly as many photos as I had planned to, but I did get a couple of good shots and as usual you can see them on my Flickr page. The shot of the day though goes to this one that Steve took.

It is going to be a busy week here with everything going on and a quick trip to Memphis at the end of the week. I’m hoping to stay sane through all of it. *grin*

I’m cranking Waltham right now and getting the day underway. I’ve got some writing to do and conversations to have. I much prefer to have a list of things to do then not,  so the focus is a good thing today.

Two pieces of new content for you if interested:

• Accident Hash #287 – full of upbeat tunes to get through Tax Day
• Managing the Gray #76 – focusing on Ad Age’s “five new rules of marketing”

My rental lens from Pro Photo Rental arrived yesterday and I’m looking forward to playing with it this weekend. I rented a Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 L IS mainly to try one out and to shoot Dylan’s LAX game on Sunday. The weather is suppose to be awesome so perhaps I’ll get out and play some more with it.

I’m also getting excited to head to Memphis next week to speak at a private workshop titled Mastering the New Modes.  There are still tickets available and it looks like a great crowd already so I’m excited to be part of it. If you are going, what are some things you’d love to know? I’m still fine tuning my presentation and would love to include an answer if you’ve got the question.

Ok, that 2 Do list is sitting here looking at me, so I better attack it.

Make it a great day.

As usual, I arrived early and had a few minutes to just sit and think. I twittered about reflecting on how my life changed in those very halls, but 140 characters is not enough to fully share what I was thinking about.

But, as I sat there going through my e-mail it got me thinking about how several years ago my life changed while in that same building. Heck, I even sat on the same couch and had a conversation that sort of helped nudge it all down the path I’m on right now.

What happened was I attended a great Ad Club event. It was my first time attending anything in the marketing and advertising space. As I sat there listening to presentations and being amazed at the lack of knowledge by some people in the room I realized that I had to go into this field and help people and brands realize the potential and importance of the web in their campaigns.

After that conference I launched Managing the Gray and my whole career path would change. It had all lead up to me sitting again on that couch today with a new client of The Advance Guard. A company that back then on that day I didn’t have any clue I’d be starting, but still today recognize those same thoughts and it is what makes me want to make this company of mine as successful as possible.

It just all goes to prove that you never know when meeting someone, attending an event or a simple conversation could have major implications on your life. That is what makes life for me personally. The unknown can be a lot of fun sometimes.

I’m excited more then ever about where it is all going.

I picked a Garlic Roast Beef and Champagne Cauliflower. The first sounded like something the family would love and the second got the best of my curiousity since I laugh cauliflower but the thought of cooking it with champagne really got my attention.

I’ll say it again that I’m not a food photographer, but it is an interesting challenge for me since they are crowdsourcing the photos for the cookbook.

Below you’ll see shots of the rub for the roast, it being carved and the finished product.

One thing I will say about the recipes. I have NEVER had Dylan ask for seconds of any sort of meat before and he always dips all meat in ketchup. He loved the taste of it that he never asked for anything to dip it in and both kids asked for seconds. So needless to say it WILL be made again in the house. Can’t say the same for the cauliflower. *grin*

Matthew Belinkie edited together the above video of some of the best. The shear variety of the clips is amazing and it is nicely done edited together to flow. Worth the three minutes to watch. Especially if you need a little kick to get your day going.

I’ve had to change how I blog a little bit. As more people began reading my ramblings I couldn’t be AS honest as I had always been because I realized the reach of a simple post was greater then before so I had to at least think about what I was saying a bit before writing it. Plus, we’ve all written that blog post that gets taken wrong and then you have a big old mess to clean up.

But, I have to be honest and say that I miss the old style of blogging from the heart rather then blogging for the search engines.

Yes, I understand the power of SEO and I get it. Hell we all write posts that we hope will get attention. But, at the same time I wish some people wrote more top of mind, from the heart types of posts more often. As I went through my morning surf of reading almost all of them had a comment on a new tool, reaction to someone elses blog or a list (since everyone loves lists).

But, out of the 40 or so blogs that I scanned through only 3 of them had anything of a personal, slice of life, type of post.

I have always written about whatever is on my mind. Some days that is fun with the family and other times it is commentary on the new media world I work in. I write what is on my mind and that can be a large variety of things. Sure, that means my blog will never get any sort of ranking, but I’m fine with that. It is the way I approach blogging and it is what works for me.

Am I the only one missing personal blog posts? It never was only about cats. *grin*

I took this picture before the game of him and his buddy Jack from across the street. They both played extra hard and had a good time.

I’ve known that sports photography is not something I really enjoy doing, but something was different about today and I took a lot of photos. Full set here.

Next game I’m going to actually bring my telephoto lens and see what I think. Today I’ll be deleting more then I keep I’m sure since I only had my 24-105 lens on the camera. Who knows, maybe I’ll finally have a reason to rent a lens and give a monster lens a try.

I recorded episode 75 of Managing the Gray today and on it I gave all the steps needed to start building a social media strategy. When I listened back I realized that some agencies and individuals would NEVER share that information with the world because they feel that is their special thing to keep behind closed doors and only share when you write them a big check.

Where the fishing comes in is around the old saying about giving a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, but if you teach him to fish, he can feed himself forever. I guess how I’m looking at this space is that I want to teach everyone to fish. This might be through my podcast, public speaking or this blog. It is why The Advance Guard does things like write a white paper on Facebook Pages or freely shares tips to make that page even better.

My hope is that once you know how to fish that you will come to me and my company to figure out how best to cook it.

Let’s face it, with all the tools out there you can set up multiple profiles, a blog and a twitter account all on your own. Once you know what is hot and where to look you can do that. But, if you really want to use them right and be successful, then you have to know which ones work well together and how to integrate them into everything you are doing. Same thing with fish. You might be able to catch/buy a whole fish and bring it home, but then what do you do with it?

This was beating up my brain so much that I had to get it out there. It started with a conversation around the echo chamber of the fishbowl and then I started thinking about all the sharks and bottom feeders swimming around in that space. Somehow, that all lead to this post.

What are you doing to teach people how to fish in the the social media waters?

Last night I spoke to a blending of two classes at Boston University. It was fun, but I have to say that out of all the colleges I’ve spoken at recently these were the most unengaged students of the lot. Might of had something to do with it being a night class. I remember never much liking those when I was in school. Maybe what I was talking about just wasn’t of interest. Who knows.

Another interview I gave at SXSW has gone up on The Engaged Consumer blog. I haven’t listened to it yet, but I remember it going pretty well out in the busy hallway of the convention center.

Today my day includes meeting with my accountant and wishing Brogan a happy “birthday.” I’ve also got a few other little things I want to take care of and of course The Advance Guard has some things cooking that I’m excited about. Tonight Dylan has his first outdoor lacrosse practice of the year and I’m looking forward to that in a big way.

It is a new month. I just flipped over my calendar. The title for the month is Play With Emotion. I like that. I think I’ll make sure I do that.

While I’m doing that I wanted to share some recent content.

• I published Episode 74 of Managing the Gray this morning focusing on how you, your clients and brands in general can break through all the talking and babbling going on in our space right now.
• I was interviewed at SXSW by the BlogTalkRadio team and listening back to it, I forgot how we went down a rabbit hole talking about filmmakers and social media. I always love talking with John because we never talk about the usual stuff.
• I lead a discussion at Social Media Jungle Boston about “The Human Side of Social Media” and the video is now up of that conversation.
• Media Hacks #5 went up and it was one of our best ones yet because the topic was an interesting one. We are recording another one today and it’ll be fun to see where that takes us.

I also got a cool BzzGuide about Diet Mountain Dew from BzzAgent yesterday. It is something I already drink so I was more then happy to take part in the campaign. Diet sodas have come a long way from tasting horrible. Granted, a lot of them still do, but this is one I can actually stand. My usual soda fix when I need one is either Cherry Coke Zero or Diet Dew. Most places will have one of them on hand. What is interesting about this campaign is that they are also using something called ChatThreads that I hadn’t heard of before. Will have to research them some more. Anyone out there ever use them before?

It has been a busy morning, but busy is a good thing.

The world is a big place, but every day through the power of the web and connection tools it gets a bit smaller.

I have Friends in countries I’ve never visited before. If business takes me to any major city in the US I can find someone to have dinner with or at least get a recommendation on where to eat.

I’ve also been thinking about how I would like to see The Advance Guard take on some more smaller brands as well as at least one global campaign in the future. I’d really like to show just how powerful a well planned and executed marketing program can be for a smaller brand. I’d also love to take an over arching campaign and then execute it on a global scale or multi-country scale to see how different parts of the world react.

Many small businesses forget that they can leverage the same tools as the big guys. I won’t go so far as to call social media Hamburger Helper, but it does allow anyone to take what they are already doing with marketing and PR and spread it even further. The problem as always is time and money. That doesn’t change no matter what size company you are. But, smaller businesses have less red tape and are more open to thinking outside of the box most times.

It is sort of fun to ponder the global economy and the small business owner at the same time. Granted, this early in the morning, with barely a cup of coffee in me it stretches the mind in all sorts of weird ways.

I told you it was all over the place and yet in some way all works and plays nice together. I’m sure I’ll be noodling over it all day. Writing it down actually helps me focus.

What did you wake up thinking about today?

This was for his fourth grade science project.

But, way back when in 1989, Laura and I started dating on this day. The story of us getting together is a fun one and one that I had planned on telling at this years Fray Cafe, but that didn’t happen and I think I’ll leave it for another time today.

People are always amazed when they find out that Laura and I are that time old tradition of the “high school sweethearts.” We got together at the end of her Senior year and the end of my Sophmore year. Everything about it said that we shouldn’t have lasted and we sure did go through some rough patches as well. We use to joke that the odd years were the crappy ones. Thankfully we made it through them.

People (especially guys) are always shocked at our relationship. She honestly is my best friend as well as my lover and wife. We are brutally honest with each other, joke around and know how to have a good time with each other. I’m always amazed at how few other couples are like us. Of course we know we are the lucky ones and shake our heads at so many others.

Laura and I are complete opposites when it comes to most things. But, on the important ones we are two peas in a pod. Our family always comes first, we help each other chase our dreams and our support of each other and our kids is something that never waivers.

People always ask how we have stayed together so long and what is our secret. I always tell them the same three things. Complete honesty, a sense of humor and tons of intimacy. If you have all those then anything is possible.

Twenty years ago I would have never thought a simple tape fight and helping with some math homework would lead to this day. Sure, I missed out on some of the experiences that most people go through and I do wonder about them sometimes, but I wouldn’t trade any of those for the experiences I’ve had and continue to have with Laura.

Now and always sweetie. I love you bunches.

My main focus for the week was to find new business. The Advance Guard wants new clients and I wanted to meet new people who we could work with on projects, who could become clients or who were involved with technology that we might want to use on a project.

I met people in all three of those areas, so it was a worthwhile time in Austin from that aspect. I was good this year and spent my first day back following up on every business card I was given to be sure to continue those conversations beyond the hallways and streets of the conference.

I also spoke on a panel about building your brand using Web 2.0 tools. It was weird because people kept dropping off the panel so right up until we started I wasn’t sure who was going to be on it. The room was packed, everyone was asking questions right from the beginning and I hope people got a lot out of it. You can look at some of the twitter conversations here from the session. (Above photo by Keith Burtis)

I opted not to go to most of the overly packed, wait in a line, type of parties. I learned last year that they were just not my thing. Instead I opted for smaller dinners, breakfast business meetings and hang out with old friends and new. I took in a couple of movies including a midnight showing at the famous Alamo Draft House Theater which was a lot of fun. I did go to one large scale gathering at Mohawk and I’ll go on record as saying I think this is the best venue in Austin that I’ve been to.

The panels were hit and miss as usual. I don’t know how they could fix it, but there always seems to be blocks of time when there is nothing I want to go to and then when I do find something of interest there is usually more then one panel at the same time that I want to attend. During my speaking slot there were two other awesome panels that I wished I could go to. I know it’s a scheduling nightmare, but I wish there was some way around this.

I took a ton of photos as I usually do and got interviewed by a couple of different people while on site. On my last day I even recorded a Managing the Gray to capture my thoughts live from the show.

SXSW is something that you can’t fully appreciate until you actually go to it. The shear volume of people and activities is unlike anything else I’ve been to. I stick by my recommendation that if you can only attend one event in this space that it is the event to make the time for.

In the end, after a few days to think about it all and reflect, I can safely say that it was worth the time, energy and money for me to be there. More people now know about The Advance Guard then before the event. I made some great new contacts, formed new friendships and got some substantial leads on new business. I managed to catch up with friends that I don’t get to see that often face-to-face and have business meetings among the chaos. I wanted a balance of fun and business and I found it.

I can’t wait for next year. I better start saving up the sleep now. *laugh*

I uploaded more to Flickr, but here are a few of my favorites:

She called me up and asked if we could meet to discuss how brands could and should be using Twitter. Her timing was perfect as I had 30 minutes until my next panel. We went out on the balcony of the Austin Convention Center and my friend Ewan Spence worked the camera while we chatted.

Jolie is currently out of work, so if you are looking for a writer, editor or graphic designer why not swing by her site or her twitter and say hello to her. I also took this great picture of her while I was here.

When people ask me why I come to SXSW, I always tell them that it is about the people first. This event brings together the most diverse group of people from around the globe and I want to meet them all and tell them about me and my company. Plain and simple that is what it is about. Yes, the sessions are great, the parties are fun and the food here you can’t go wrong with.

The point that Tony made that stuck with me was when he talked about “the two to three year payoff.”

While I’ve never called it this, it is something I have talked about and firmly believe in. The fact that you might meet someone today and while it may instantly not lead to something more then a new online friend, in the long run it may come back to you years down the road. I’ve had this happen over and over and while some people don’t put a lot of stock in it, I do personally and professionally.

We live in that fun filled world of the always on society. Everything you say, do and create lives on beyond that moment it happened. I had someone come up to me at SXSW who only knew me from a single video I made, but that video he connected with and it meant something to him. That was a pretty damn cool moment and I keep telling people about it.

You never know how the next person you are going to meet is going to change your life. Not every encounter does lead to something bigger and better, but in the long run it’s impossible to know. They might mention you to someone who later becomes a client. Perhaps they know someone that can help you with a project you are working on. Heck, maybe the next time you are in their town you now have someone to grab dinner with.

Monday morning rambles are fun, but this is something I believe in. Tony was right. So put away your laptop and get out there and say hi to people today. I may be in Austin and doing it, but you can easily do it wherever you are.

If you want to get ahold of me this week the best way is to call or send a text message. I will warn you that I don’t have many numbers in my phone so if you send a text please tell me who you are.

I will also be using Loopt this week to see how well it works for something like this so you can try that as well.

I hope our paths cross.

With the announcement last week of the new fan pages on Facebook we figured there would be a lot of mixed reactions. We went in and investigated the new options to update our company fan page and then started wondering how we were going to be able to fully utilize these updates for our clients.

In sharing our thoughts and notes with each other, we figured it would be best to share this information with everyone so that more people could take what we had learned and put it into practice for themselves.

The whitepaper can be downloaded for free from http://aboutface.theadvanceguard.com and we truly believe in this as a living document that will evolve over time and are hoping the community can let us know about other companies doing great things in Facebook so that we can add them to the document. Also, we’ve started a Facebook discussion about things that could be improved, added or questions that didn’t get answered.

Looking forward to hearing what you think.

What bothers me is while the article got all the facts right, it feels to me as if it is an overly negative article. Just look at the sub-headline which in my mind is completely false. Yes, me and my roommates (and others our age) have all been through some rough times and are going through them right now along with everyone else, but all of us were very optimistic and up beat when we did the interviews. All four of us in the article are actually very hopeful.

I worked hard (and continue to do so). Lived within my means and Laura and I made some very tough, but appropriate decisions throughout our life together. None of this made it into the article. It felt like they were trying to showcase some bad decisions made, and I’m not going to speak for my roomies, but I will say that I don’t regret any decision I’ve made in relation to the topics of this article.

Right now is a tough time for a lot of people and I had hoped that this article was going to showcase how different the paths the four of our lives have taken, but how we’ve all come to a point in our lives where we are happier then we’ve ever been. Sure, things are not as great as they could be right now, but we’re also positive of where our lives are going.

I grew up with a humble upbringing and that has always kept me grounded to this day. Throughout the ups and downs I’ve always made sure to keep grounded. I’ve worked my tail off to provide for my family and none of it has come easy and I’m ok with that. I never thought any of it would come easy.

Maybe I’m reacting this way because I’ve been sick all weekend and am still not feeling quite right. We just need more optimism in the world right now and this article didn’t give me what I had hoped for. Again, maybe I’m just a bit grumpy from being sick, but I’d be the last person to call myself or any of my friends in the article as “lost.”

1. There are way to many people out there talking more then doing.
2. People seem to only be interested in talking to people in their comfort zone where people already understand them. (aka The Fishbowl)
3. Lots of individuals are “selling” themselves as companies and making promises that I’m worried they can’t keep.
4. For all the talk of conversation out the in the open, there is a LOT more happening on the back channels then most people realize.

I’m sharing this mainly to sort of open that last point. To put it out there and see what people think.

Have you had conversations around these topics? I’m sure it can’t be only happening in Boston and NYC.

The business world has never been a fan of people who do nothing but talk. We’ve all hired that consultant that got us excited about the next great thing, but then when it came time to put it into action there was nothing there. In today’s economic storm it is more crucial then ever to deliver results. No one wants to pay for talk. They want to pay for results.

As I watch people preach about social media, I’m not seeing many people stretch beyond the already converted. I’m eager to speak in front of rooms of people who have no clue who I am or what it is that I’m bringing to the table and teaching them about. That is the teacher in me. The shaman way of thinking. I want to talk to the people who don’t have a clue about the space I play in and enjoy every day. But, I keep seeing people out there over and over saying the same thing to the same people. I just don’t get it.

I’m riding along the Acela and that gives my brain time to unwind and unleash. This isn’t a rant, a negative nanny bitch session or anything like that. It is an observation. One that I wanted to share. Something I’m very curious what other think.

But, what do you think? Are you having similar conversations? Yes, I get the irony in asking you to talk about something here. *grin*

I figured I’d write a post about the process and take some photos as well. It reminded me why I’m not a food photographer, but I still had fun and was pleasantly surprised with how the final presentation picture came out.

The recipe I chose was Poached Pears with Chocolate Raspberry Sauce. The kids got in on helping me make it.

The first thing we had to do was to peel some pears. I had never done this before but of course it’s not that hard of a task to do.

I’ve also never poached a pear, so standing them up in the pot and filling it with the lemon zest, wine and other ingredients made for an interesting little cauldron of fun.

Even though I had taken the extra suggested tip of cutting a flat bottom in the pears, they still all fell over once the pot got simmering. I turned them a bit just to make sure they got evenly cooked.

Now, I’m not sure how soft a poached pear is suppose to be, but they felt way to firm after the time on the recipe so I gave them an extra 10 minutes. They were still harder then I would have liked. I’m wondering if it is because I didn’t core them (couldn’t figure out how to while leaving the stem on the top as directed) and the juice couldn’t get inside.

Once the pears were done, I put them on a plate and outside in the frigid night air to cool down while we got the ingredients together to make the sauce.

I’m also a big fan of dark chocolate so we had a couple of half eaten bars that we mixed in this recipe. I was also happy to find good raspberries at the store. You never know this time of year what you might fine.

Emily helped me make the sauce and she found the concept of a double boiler pretty neat. It is always more fun to have an assistant in the kitchen.

I had no idea how to plate these up since there were no instructions in the recipe so Emily and I got creative.

The verdict? Being the first time I’ve ever had a poached pear it was different then I imagined. I liked them, but I think I would have liked them more if they were softer. I also think I want to try making them again but without the wine to see if more of the fruitiness of the pear comes through.

I can’t wait to try my next recipe I’m going to test for them.

All of these photos were taken at Ashland State Park. It was the first time Laura and I had been there and I can’t wait to go back this summer.