Dayngrous Discourse

See You at Social Media Week Miami #SMWMiami

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Stop SOPA and PIPA Now

Watch the video | American Censorship page | View the Infographic | Read SOPA on OpenCongress | Read PIPA on OpenCongress

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Training Your Company for Social Media

Thinking about getting your business more involved in social networking and new media and looking for some resources? Well, you're already off to a great start. Planning how to you'll train your staff (or get up to speed yourself and build a social media strategy is important. Though you can just jump in and get started, there are some things that you'll want to know before you go public. There's no better time to get started!

You can read all the articles related to Training Your Company for Social Media throughout the month of May, on the Radian6 blog (Disclosure: I work for Radian6). You can specifically read the ones I've authored by visiting the links below.

Training Your Company for Social Media

Before You Go Public - Your company is ready to go! Everyone is on-board and excited to begin using social media. Your team is thinking what’s next? Perhaps the best place to start is by making sure that everyone’s on the same page.

Laying the Groundwork - Resources will help your team grow more knowledgeable about what’s going on across the social web, as well as give them a good foundation to build upon as they go forward. How do you go about finding resources? Where should you look?

The Magic Elixir - When it comes to social media success, everyone is looking for the magic elixir. The bad news is there is no magic elixir. However, there are some pretty good examples of what has and hasn’t worked across the social web. That’s right, we’re talking about case studies.-

Lost In Translation - It happens. Sometimes professionals forget that not everyone in their audience knows exactly what they know.

The Time is Now - Getting started with social media is a little like starting a family – except instead of taking care of a baby, you’re taking care of your brand.

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Blue Skies and Clear Roads

2012 is here. Can you believe it? I didn't write as much as I could have or probably should have throughout 2011 but for good reason - more blogging and writing at work. But, I still have plenty to share here and tons of photos. Instead of writing in my spare time, I got out and about with the Dayngrous Duo. In fact, we traveled to New York (their first official plane trip) and we went to Gainesville, FL twice and we ended our year with a surprise trip to Disney where we stayed at one of their resorts. All in all it was a year filled with adventures - there were some bumps along the way but they just made us more appreciative and we wouldn't have it any other way!

How was your 2011? Did you get done all you'd set out to do? How is 2012 shaping up?

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Digital Christmas Story

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Three Wise Men, The Real Story

Caspar: Well, the Lord has given us a sign, and we must follow the star. You guys packed?
Melchior: Yup.
Balthasar: Yup.

Wise Men go outside. Caspar takes out his clicker and pushes the button to try to find his car.

Caspar: I could have sworn I parked it right around here.
Melchior: Let’s try the next row.
Balthasar: You’d think it’d be easy to find since everyone else has camels.
Caspar: Yes, you would think that.
Melchior: Indeed.

Caspar still can’t find his car.

Balthasar: (humming) We three kings of Orient are, late because we can’t find the car…
Caspar: Knock it off.
Melchior: We don’t have time for this. We’re not going to find it. We better walk to the rental place.

The three Wise Men walk to the rental place and go inside.

Abu: Welcome to Abu’s Camel, Ox, and Donkey Rentals.

Melchior: Didn’t it used to be “Abu’s Camel, Ox, and Ass Rentals”?
Abu: It did, but we switched to NIV. The business cards aren’t as funny, but the Baptists have stopped complaining.

Caspar: We need to rent a camel.
Abu: Oh yeah? Where you headed?
Caspar: Well, we each had a dream, and were told by God to follow a star. The star will lead us to a baby who is actually a king, and when He grows up, He will save the world and…hmm. This does sound a bit far-fetched, doesn’t it?
Abu: Yes it does. But if you have the money, I’ve got your camel.

Caspar: Well, we have $100. We need something that can travel over field and fountain, moor and mountain.
Abu: For $100? Hmm. Let me see. I can get you onto a compact camel. One hump. No radio.
Caspar: We’ll take it.
Abu: And you’ll want to buy this extended insurance.
Caspar: No, we don’t.
Abu: Suit yourself. The camel’s tied to post number 8.

Balthasar: I call shotgun.
Melchior: Balthasar, it’s a camel.
Balthasar: I call saddlebag.

The three Wise Men start their long journey. Night falls as they continue traveling.

Balthasar: Uh, guys.
Caspar: What is it?
Balthasar: I got good news and bad news. The good news is, we’re making great time. The bad news is, I may have accidently been following an airplane for the last 3 hours.
Melchior: How could you mix up a star with an airplane?
Balthasar: I don’t know…they’re both in the sky and they both kind of twinkle…
Caspar: I knew I should have been in charge of the steering.
Melchior: I’ll get the gps out. (He pulls out gps unit and punches in some numbers.)
GPS Unit: (In robotic woman’s voice) Turn left in…52,789,000 cubits.

The three Wise Men finally make it to Jesus’ house, but it is almost two years after his birth. The Wise Men form a huddle to discuss the gifts.

Caspar: What are we going to do? None of the gifts we brought are useful now. We’ve got diapers, wipes, and a boppy.
Melchior: We could give Him some of our own stuff.

Everyone pulls out their bags.

Caspar: I’ve got some gold.
Melchior: I’ve got some frankincense.
Balthasar: I’ve got a Wii Fit.
Caspar: What?
Balthasar: (Digs in his bag.) No, wait, there’s some myrrh here too. I’ll give Him the myrrh.

So the three Wise Men gave their gifts to the newborn King. Then they planned their journey back home.

Caspar: I say we rent a bigger camel for the way back home.
Melchior: I agree.
Balthasar: This time, let’s get one where I can plug my iPod in. It wouldn’t work with this camel. He kicked me.
Caspar: Camels aren’t compatible with iPods. Where did you try to plug it in? Wait. Nevermind. Melchior, make a list of what we need, and how much it will cost.
Melchior: Ok. Let’s see. Larger camel for the way back: $275. Food for the journey: $300. Lodging: $550. Not having to follow that stupid star all the way back home: priceless.

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Breaking News! Santa Converts to Judaism

Exhausted and overworked, Santa Claus has decided to convert to Judaism to lessen his workload and decrease his stress.

The next obvious benefit was that he had eight days of Hanukkah to deliver all of these gifts instead of jamming the entire shipment into one night, which constantly required the already weary Santa to travel at the speed of light to accomplish the task.

Finally, the straw that broke the reindeer's back was the realization that Jewish households had far more delicious cuisine to offer. Gefilte fish, chicken soup, blintzes, knishes and the like are more palatable than the milk and cookies he got bored of after the second century.

Circumcision won't be necessary for Santa, because that's already been taken care of in a freak accident involving frostbite after getting stuck in a tight chimney. {TMI?}

Santa has left the frigid, brutal confines of the North Pole and has begun his toy shop anew in the sunny climes of Miami Beach, Florida. He has fired all of those annoying elves and replaced them with nice Jewish retirees from New York.

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Social Media Can Help You Rock Your Campaigns

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Before Your Brand Goes Public, Consider This!

If you enjoy it, share it and let me know your thoughts by adding them to the comment section.

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And the Pillow Goes to @MKLopez...

The winner is Miguel Lopez! Miguel, I know you're going to enjoy this pillow and if you missed all the luxurious goodness I wrote about previously, here are the details again:

Here are a few additional details on the Silver Dual Comfort Pillow:

• Luxurious jacquard anti-microbial cover
• Removable cover for laundering
• Standard size
• Traditional pillow shape
• Two year limited warranty

Miguel, drop me a comment here or DM me on twitter for all the details!

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Fun at the School Book Fair

Lola on the other had would have taken just about every single book if I'd let her. She devours books and is the first to ask (ok, beg) for a bedtime story every night. I never mind buying books because we do read every night and in the end, both kids get to enjoy the stories. I just adore "Llama Llama Misses Mama" and "Pout-Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark." I'm also a huge fan of the Fancy Nancy series and the Skippy-Jon Jones series (they come with a CD so you can listen to the story too!).

If you've got young children, they'll enjoy all of Lola's choices!



{ Tags: South Florida Blogger, Nominated Best Local South Florida Blog, New Media Darling, Savvy Social Media Mom, Dayngr, Dayngrous Discourse, DayngrZone }

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Fall Decorations in the DayngrZone

Happy Fall one and all!

Since I live in Sunny South Florida we don't get any beautiful autumn leaves (unless we buy them), so just before Halloween we decorated our little Fall corner of the house. Here's what it looked like, along with some of our Halloween decorations, too.

Can you see the glowing spiders in the web?
Those pumpkins on the windowsill were made by grandma!

At the top of our little Fall sign you can see our green cobwebs.

Above, you can see some of our leftover caution tape. We had some on the outside of our door. What fun!

For Thanksgiving we swapped out the Jack-o-laterns and added these festive pumpkins and wheat. I was supposed to have some decorative corn in there but the cashier either didn't ring it up or the bag boy didn't bag it. Either way, it never made it home and I never made it back to the store to pick more up. It still looks nice to me. What do you think?

How do you decorate for Fall?

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We've Got Winners!

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Wondering Why I've Got a Moustache?

I bet you've been wondering why my avatar has a moustache! Well, it's because it's MOvember!

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Have a Good Night's Sleep on Me

To complement their “What Do You Dream About? Sweepstakes,” they've given me one of their Silver Dual Comfort Pillows (valued at $99.99! Who knew?!) for me to sleep on and review and I'm going to give one to one lucky reader by November 28th!

There are few things I value more than my sleep so I have to admit, I was a little reluctant to try a new pillow. However, I'm happy to say that this pillow is a winner. I've been sleeping on this pillow now for a week and it's been very comfortable. I'm a weird sleeper. I sleep on my side with my arm under my pillow (or maybe that's normal?) and it's not always comfortable. My big ole melon head makes my arm fall asleep. Interestingly enough, I didn't have that experience with this pillow. I'm not 100% sure why but I think it may have something to do with the supportive memory foam.

So let me tell you a little about the pillow you've getting a chance to win! It's got a reversible design. One side is made of memory foam to relieve painful pressure points (which is great if you've got a big ole melon head like me), and the other side is made of plush micro-fibers for added comfort. It's really soft but not soft in a way that doesn't give you support.

Here are a few additional details on the Silver Dual Comfort Pillow:

• Luxurious jacquard anti-microbial cover
• Removable cover for laundering
• Standard size
• Traditional pillow shape
• Two year limited warranty

How to Participate:

Enter the What Do You Dream About? Sweepstakes on Facebook
Follow Mattress Giant on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mattress_giant
Mattress Giant's Facebook: http://facebook.com/mattressgiant

How to Win a Silver Dual Comfort Pillow of your own:

• Follow me on Twitter or Subscribe to my Blog (and)
• Comment letting me know you'd like to be entered to win and which of the above you chose.
• Enter by November 20th, 11:59pm est
  

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Calling All Bloggers and Digital Photo Lovers

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Winter in Canada

Winter Tree

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Dear Bloggers #7

Dear Bloggers,

Let's talk. I love you, really, I do. But there are some things that I think we need to discuss. Actually, I discuss and you implement.

I've been visiting you and in doing so, I realized a few things about myself and your blogs - and neither are pretty. Allow me to share...

No Pics: If you don't use pictures in your posts, we're probably not going to read you. Pictures draw us in and make us want to learn more. No pictures, we're skipping that post. Unless of course, the title is really catchy.

Read More: If you have a bazillion posts on one page with a brief paragraph and a link to {read more} we're not really reading more - we're moving on.

Clutter: If you have a million ads on your sidebar, {yeah you, we're talking to you} it's not appealing to us. Clutter stresses out our minds and we visit your blog for entertainment, education and for value. Bombard us with ads and we won't stay long enough to read anything, let alone click your ads. Cut the clutter and save the chaos.

Great Design: Please do us all a favor and make a little effort with the design. Beautiful pictures and a great design go a long way. If your site is visually enticing, we're going to read everything we see on one page and maybe even dig a little deeper. * You with the red text on the blue background, shame on you!

Long Posts: Long posts, for the most part, are just that - too long to read. Short and sweet or even a little long and to the point is best.

No Dates: Do us all a favor and date your posts. If we can't tell if your blog is timely or relevant then we're moving on to the next blog.

Nothing Recent: And speaking of dates, if you haven't updated in months and you're not making a connection with your commentors, they probably won't stick around to see if you'll be blogging again.

Community: Which leads us to community. You like comments right? So do we! So when we comment on your blog we'd like you to do the same. Selfish? Maybe. But it's all about community. You're either sharing the love or you aren't and no one likes to give, give, give and get nothing in return.

Email: Hey, just because we're forced to include our email when we comment doesn't mean you have permission to email us and it doesn't mean we want you to. Though your reply to our comment is appreciated, it would be better on your blog post than in our inbox - or swing by our blog and comment on one of our post and then thank us for commenting on yours. (see: Community)

Just a few tips for you to mull over. Now get crackin' and make those changes. Don't make us blog nasty about you!

(Click to read the whole Dear Blogger series.)

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Returning to Canada

I just realized that I never blogged about traveling to Canada again, back in September. Canada is beautiful. If you've never been, you must go for a visit. Regrettably, I didn't get out to do much sightseeing, since I was there primarily for business. Plus, I had just received some heartbreaking family news that didn't leave me feeling like partying it up was appropriate.I'd previously visited Canada in the Winter, so coming back to see the beginnings of Fall was a nice treat and the cooler weather was welcomed!

Jen Seeley was a wonderful hostess and gave me a fun Canadian experience. She introduced me to Smarties (which aren't at all like our Smarties) and to Kinder Surprise.

Smarties a bit like M&Ms. I brought some home for the Daynrgous Duo, they had no complaints!

Kinder Surprises are hollow chocolate eggs with toys inside - illegal here in the U.S. but plentiful in Canada. The joke is that American kids aren't smart enough to eat them without choking on the toy inside. Naturally, I smuggled two home for the kids, after all, I am Dayngrous. I'm happy to report they loved them as much as I did and they did not choke.

Very much like the chocolate Easter Eggs we have here in the states, except for what's hiding inside. Surprise!

Open the Chocolate Egg and there's a plastic capsule inside with a surprise waiting to be discovered.

Mine had a mini race car inside, which I tucked away to take home to the Dayngr Boy. All in all it was a great trip, very productive and I'll be sure to share more photos. Hope you'll swing by and take a look.

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OMG I Am An Animal Hoarder

OMG! I'm an animal hoarder! Ok, not really but with 5 pets it sure feels like it. More accurately, sometimes I am a sucker for an adorable animal. It's how I ended up with two dogs and a cat instead of just one puppy as originally planned, but I digress. A few weeks ago, we brought home an adorable Netherland Dwarf Rabbit. She started out as Thumper but has since been renamed Bella, which I think is much cuter and more appropriate. {Actually, her full name is Bella Bunny Thumper Pants}

Then it happened, we got the call to bring home our baby bird and in heading back to The Aviary, we met Bella's brother. He was just as cute as she was and maybe even a teensy bit cuter. I couldn't resist {again} and brought him home, along with our baby bird. What a fun car ride that was!

So, without further adieu, meet Beau ...

Beau Bunny

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