September 2010
Such an amazing sky tonight
September 29, 2010
#Musicians Institute lobby view
September 29, 2010
#Political Cartoonist Michael Ramirez does it again!
September 29, 2010
My favorite way to unwind after work
September 26, 2010
#Natalie Baroni creates the most beautiful goddess jewelry
September 26, 2010
Gorgeous day in #Marina Del Rey for #Susan Levin's seminar
September 26, 2010

If you have to attend an all-day seminar on a Sunday, might as well do it in a beautiful location!
Getting ready to learn a ton from Speaker Services Guru, Susan Levin. She's been training speakers for over 15 years and been a friend/mentor to me for a long time. I'm seeing so many people I know too which is fun. Recognize the names Chellie Campbell, Moira Shepard and Julie Thong anyone? Gotta run! My seminar, You The Star - Speak, Write, Market has started... Whoo hoo!:) Sent via BlackBerry from T-MobileMy newest fave - behind food trucks near #Casa Del Mar #glow
September 25, 2010
#18 Anne Herlihy's Bella Luna is great! #GLOW
September 25, 2010
Free outdoor rave in front of Loewe Hotel #glow
September 25, 2010
Holiday Inn getting into @ #Glow.
September 25, 2010
Latest #Hermosa Beach Pier Ave upgrade view
September 25, 2010
Aren't they the cutest Japanese tourists @ W?
September 25, 2010
Barack Obama says Islam has always been a part of America's story... Not!
September 24, 2010
Received this letter from a friend and thought I'd post it for consideration while I continue blogging on something else. Wake up America!
Please take a moment to watch this informative news show exposing the deadly Muslim Brotherhood in America right now you won't hear about on mainstream media. This is homegrown terrorism and it's allowed by our government! It's just shocking to me.
Now on to the actual letter I received...
Barack OBAMA, during his Cairo speech, said: "I know, too, that Islam has always been a part of America 's story."
AN AMERICAN CITIZEN'S RESPONSE:
Dear
Mr. Obama:
Were those Muslims that were in America when the Pilgrims first landed? Funny, I thought they were Native American Indians.
Were those Muslims that celebrated the first Thanksgiving day? Sorry again, those were Pilgrims and Native American Indians.
Can you show me one Muslim signature on the United States Constitution? Declaration of Independence ? Bill of Rights?
Didn't think so.
Did Muslims fight for this country's freedom from England ? No.
Did Muslims fight during the Civil War to free the slaves in America ? No, they did not.
In fact, Muslims to this day are still the largest traffickers in human slavery. Your own half brother, a devout Muslim, still advocates slavery himself, even though Muslims of Arabic descent refer to black Muslims as "pug nosed slaves." Says a lot of what the Muslim world really thinks of your family's "rich Islamic heritage," doesn't it Mr. Obama?
Where were Muslims during the Civil Rights era of this country? Not present. There are no pictures or media accounts of Muslims walking side by side with Martin Luther King, Jr. or helping to advance the cause of Civil Rights.
Where were Muslims during this country's Woman's Suffrage era? Again, not present.
In fact, devout Muslims demand that women are subservient to men in the Islamic culture. So much so, that often they are beaten for not wearing the 'hajib' or for talking to a man who is not a direct family member or their husband. Yep, the Muslims are all for women's rights, aren't they?
Where were Muslims during World War II? They were aligned with Adolf Hitler. The Muslim grand mufti himself met with Adolf Hitler, reviewed the troops and accepted support from the Nazi's in killing Jews.
Finally, Mr. Obama, where
were Muslims on Sept. 11th, 2001? If they weren't flying planes into the
World Trade Center, the Pentagon or a field in Pennsylvania killing nearly
3,000 people on our own soil, they were rejoicing in the Middle East. No one can dispute the pictures shown from all parts of the Muslim
world celebrating on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and other cable news
networks that day.
("We will be closed on
Friday, September 11,
2009 to commemorate the
martyrdom of Imam
Ali")
Strangely, the very "moderate" Muslims who's asses you bent over backwards to kiss in Cairo , Egypt on June 4th were stone cold silent post 9-11. To many Americans, their silence has meant approval for the acts of that day.
And THAT, Mr. Obama, is the "rich heritage" Muslims have here in America ..
Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to mention the Barbary Pirates. They were Muslim.
And now we
can add November 5, 2009 - the slaughter of American soldiers at Fort
Hood by a Muslim major who is a doctor and a psychiatrist who was supposed
to be counseling soldiers returning from battle in Iraq and
Afghanistan...
That, Mr.
Obama is the "Muslim heritage" in America.
When will people wake up to this homegrown terrorist threat within our own country? This is why I'm against the NYC Mosque as stated perfectly by Christine Brin:
"The issues at stake in the Ground Zero Mosque and the Shariah Index Project are not about Americans supporting the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom.
Americans support that protection.
The issues at stake here are about Americans protecting the Constitution from Shariah-adherent groups using the protective guise of religious freedom to attack the Constitution itself – using a triumphal Ground Zero mosque as “the base” for a project to institutionalize Shariah in America."
You can read more background information on the actual plans at:
Ground Zero Mosque’s Hidden Websites: Follow the ShariahPlease share this important information.
Social Media Optimization Summits, The Joule review & update Part 1 #OptSum
September 23, 2010
It's taken me a bit to process my speaking experience at the Social Media Optimization Summits, catch up on work, and take a break from attending the various Social Media Week seminars I'm attending to write this long-promised blog wrap-up.
First, Social Media Optimization Summits in Dallas, TX. I was very fortunate to be treated to a very luxurious hotel experience at The Joule upon arrival. I told my Facebook friends I felt like I was staying at my rich boyfriend's bachelor pad it was so well-appointed.
Here's a few pix to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.
My favorite amenity - a jacuzzi! Needless to say, took advantage of it as soon as I arrived.
There's a bunch more which I'll share later, but wanted to give you a peek early.:) Nice, eh? This is how I roll. LOL
I didn't get much sleep that night and woke up at 4am (CA time) to dash off to hear Keynote Speaker, Brian Solis speak on the Conversation Prism. He definitely is worth the big bucks because of the depth and breadth of his knowledge.
Here's some quick pix I grabbed during his talk to show you what I'm talking about:
Brian said, "Executives don’t care about
transparency & authenticity – money & bottom line is their question." 1. How
much? 2. What is the opportunity cost? 3. How does this perform? 4. How do we
benefit? 5. What’s the
ROI? 6. Who’s going to lead this and who will support them?
7 steps (missed one - ask him.:)
1. Who – brand personality, it’s mission & purpose 2. What -3. When 4. Where 5. Why 6. To what extent
If you want to take a Social Media Audit, according to Brian you need to consider the following:
Volume, frequency, sentiment, share of voice, questions, concerns, challenges, options
What value are you providing? What conversations deal with your brand?
He researchs this information for corporations using numerous analytical tools on a 30 day period: Share of Voice, Share of Conversation, Conversations Requiring Response, Sentiment, Potential Impression/Reach, Looming Crises/Opportunities, Recurring Themes – for brand, product 30 day analysis
1. Once he's done that he determines keywords and searches each network using these parameters. Now do you see why I say he's deep and wide?:)
- Document the frequency of conversations in each network
- Document the frequency of competitive conversations in each network – establish the benchmark
- Document the number of appearances of your brand and competitor’s brand in the overall landscape
- Establish a share of voice and share of conversation benchmark – You vs. competition vs. conversation
- Log sentiment: positive, neutral, negative – document recurring themes and notable commentary (Most of the time neutral. Important to move from neutral to positive. Q & A.)
- Determine potential impressions compared to existing referrals & traffic (Blog measurement – compete.com)
- Assess missed opportunities and potential crises. More than you imagine.
- Organize conversations by departments who should responded. Participation is marketing.
There's a bunch more information he presented, but you should have attended the OptSum conference, or hire Brian.
Just saying...:)
I was too distracted dealing with a business situation back home, fighting lack of sleep and mentally preparing for my talk that I didn't attend many other seminars that day.
My presentation: “Beyond Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin: Introducing, Combining and Leveraging New Opportunities to Boost Your Brand” was well-received which was gratifying.
Watching everyone else's presentations the next day gave me some great insights into how I can build on my power-point presentation to increase value. Always improving!:)
Here's a shot I took of the crowd to show how easy it is to instantaneously upload information to Posterous, my other The Joy Writer blog site.
I had this picture taken the next day because it had the logo of the seminar and it's a better angle.:)
Here's a few other pix from that day, but sorry, didn't take many notes.
This is Jason Falls giving an in-depth workshop on how to SEO your corporate blog. Lots of hands-on action in this conference! Jennifer Kane (below) was really dynamic!
I have to run, but I'll share more later.
Panelists discussing Social Entertainment Platform #smwSEP
September 22, 2010

I met the Meebo CEO at OMMA years back. Nice to see him on this panel discussing his platform as it compares to entertainment brands.
Arrived late and don't know the others, but go to www.socialmediaweek.com for all the details. Internet hasn't driven commerce, but what is new is how much time ppl are spending to drive outside awareness. 30 second spot is branded entertainment. Many brands creating viral videos that are considered entertainment (Samsung), but it's extremely difficult to create quality content. Great interactive opportunities, video, search, taking out display units. More sites adding interruptive content - Hulu, ABC sites will have just as many ads as TV since sites have to make money. More hyper-targeted. Premium you can get on Hulu is targeting, added interactivity, social media, on-demand TV platform you didn't have in a linear TV experience. "The end of my business has been coming for awhile. The biggest hesitancy has been to break out the windows due to rights issues, theatre chains hate the idea, but we need to get there or die." NetFlix & Hulu on a crash course to define this. NetFlix is established, but Hulu is having to back their way into films.Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
#HOBROX panelists - discussing Twitter now
September 22, 2010

Moderator:
Jeff Leeds - Editor-In-Chief of BuzzMedia Music, the biggest independent publisher of music content on the Web Panelists include: Mike Doernberg (@m1chae12) - Chief Executive Officer at ReverbNation Tim O’Brien – Head of Business Development at Disney Mobile (Previously, VP of Business Development at Tapulous - recently acquired by Disney) Ross Hoffman (@Hoff) – Responsible for Twitter’s Entertainment and Sports strategy as a member of their business development team. (Prior to Twitter, Ross held a strategic position at Youtube) Jason Kirk (@jkirk22) - Vice President of Distribution & Media for Ustream and oversees the company's web distribution partnerships (Prior to his current role, Jason was Vice President of Video & Entertainment at MySpace) Nic Adler (@nicadler) – Owner and Operator of The Roxy Theatre (Music venue with largest audience on Twitter and Facebook in US) D.A. Wallach (@DAChesterFrench) - One-half of Chester French, Interscope recording artist, and the first musician to use facebook and Salesforce.com for promotion and fan relationship management Re: Twitter - panelists say make it easy, be a band first and provide quality product, and support other bands to help develop your fan base.Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
Finally made it to #Live Nation panel at #House of Blues
September 22, 2010
Love the new entry to The #Sunset Strip!
September 22, 2010
#SMW Geo - final panel
September 21, 2010

VP, Director Digital Incubator for Allen & Gerritsen, Mike Schneider is really funny describing things (stealing candy.)
Geolocation Industry Veteran and Expert, Marc Prioleau, has been involved in location for over 15 years and says everyone always says, This is the year it hits. The interesting thing about Geo-location is the narrow reach, providing high value. Niche marketing per se. Dir, Biz Dev for AT&T, Maria Kermath, says she's sick of herself and seeing her status updates (or words to that effect) and feels more and more people will begin to reach saturation overload soon. I agree. She referenced having a stalker and I can relate as a highly visible woman in the online space. Who wants weirdos knowing your every move?:) That said, I can see how the location-based aps presented tonight have high value for companies, brands, bands, and retailers. Definitely plan to apply this! Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile#DeHood connects neighbors - cool ap
September 21, 2010

Babak Hedayati (isn't that best name?:) sharing how his ap DeHood works.
We just learned DoubleDutch is an ap you create and own through them (at least that's my take-away.) You brand it, create the games, and then collect the geo Data. DeHood is designed to be more localized connections for you as neighbors - buzz, places, people, shop, more... I like this one. Body Glove needs to get on it - they're in one of the examples and aren't showing any deals whereas other retailers are. There's a game aspect to it as you shop too. People can check-in, report the deal, then friends can go in and see if its real. This is a global ap. Very cool. Neighborhoods are defined by your natural radius around you (virtual) and the other is traditionally. They have 100's of thousands included. A virtual visit is different than a live visit to allow stores to market differently to each user. Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile#H & M case study on #My Town
September 21, 2010

Interesting stats and results based on integration of user's proximity, categories, time of day, and one other I missed.
Applies to film, fashion, lifestyle. Seems more male-driven, but they're showing female case studies. Pantene - 252,308 bar codes scanned, a 47% engagement. Campaign still live and "trending quite nicely."Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
#MomentFeed presenting Location-Based Marketing @ USC
September 21, 2010
#Political Cartoonist Lisa nails CA in this cartoon
September 21, 2010
#OptSum wrap-up & #The Joule review coming soon
September 20, 2010
I've had a lot to catch up since arriving back in California and plan to write a massive wrap-up blog later on tonight. I had a wonderful experience in Dallas, TX all the way around. Met some really smart people, enjoyed a luxurious boutique hotel, saw a very interesting museum and other city sights, dined on the most delicious authentic BBQ, and presented a topic many found of interest. More to come later. TTFN!My online presence on Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook and others can be found here: www.thejoywriter.com
Even the sky is brighter in Texas:)
September 17, 2010
#Dallas has the best transit system
September 17, 2010
#World Famous Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse
September 17, 2010
The building where #Oswald shot #Kennedy
September 17, 2010
#6th Floor Museum on John F Kennedy in #Dallas
September 17, 2010
@Mackcollier discussing Dell issues w/ @Michellebatdell for #OptSum
September 17, 2010
YouTube isn't the only place to distribute video #OptSum
September 17, 2010

Erica's presentation is PACKED with great resources and information.
I would say this is the best seminar I've attended the entire conference. I knew the majority of what others have been discussing, but this is one field I wanted to expand my knowledge. Who knew an apartment site video manager would be so brilliant?! Erica Campbell is great!!! Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile#Video & Photo Sharing seminar - Erica Campbell is great! #OptSum
September 17, 2010
People have the funniest screen savers #OptSum
September 17, 2010
#The Magnolia @ #West Village #Dallas
September 16, 2010
#Dallas at the golden hour
September 16, 2010
#Charlie Palmer Restaurant Happy Hour dishes
September 16, 2010
#Social Media Optimization Summit attendees listening to my talk
September 16, 2010
Love how #Sheraton Dallas rewards you
September 16, 2010
#American Fashion Ltd. Luxury Edition
September 15, 2010
#Lily Pad Sustainable Street Food in #Dallas
September 15, 2010
#Dallas Main Street Garden
September 15, 2010

If you look closely you'll see a soccer game being played. The building to the right is the University Center at Dallas Texas A & M University Commerce UT. The building with the clock is called the Mercantile and hosts luxury high rise apartments.
Rather quiet with not a lot of people walking around. Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile#Dallas Municipal Building
September 15, 2010
My hotel lobby - beautiful!
September 15, 2010

And I'm listening to John Mayer music. Good luck sign.:)
Dallas is so interesting. Really like the architecture and brick. Drove by the infamous "grassy knoll" where Kennedy was shot and thought for some reason it would be a lot bigger. So much history here. Off to explore! Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile#Musicians Institute Industry Fair
September 14, 2010
Looks like Chateau Marmont has some fun planned later:)
September 12, 2010
Bundled up for UP!
September 11, 2010
#Manhattan Beach UP Movie on the beach
September 11, 2010
Beverly Hills did #Fashion Night Out right!
September 10, 2010
This was the first (and last) time I go somewhere without some type of camera. It was killing me all night long!
There were so many great fashions & people watching and art to share! Now you'll just have to read about it instead.
The fashionistas were out in full on Melrose Ave for the Marc Jacobs stores; Diane Von Furstenberg had amazing dresses.
Of course.
Have to admit, watching a size zero woman try on one of my favorite dresses in the store and complain she didn't like how it looked when she was stunning wearing it reminded me why I avoid being friends with neurotic, anorexic women!:)
Enjoyed visiting my favorite stationary store, Soolip, which has the most amazing hand-crafted wrapping paper and gift items curated (there's no other for it since many look like art) by the wonderful owner, Wanda Wen, who I met attending the Lexus event in Beverly Hills awhile back courtesy my friend Elizabeth.
Turns out Wanda's recently written a book entitled, The Art of Gift Wrapping, published by Random House, runs an annual A Soolip Wedding (high-end bridal show), and is writing another book!
Such a talented lady. We had a delightful chat and may work together if all goes well.
Also enjoyed visiting her neighboring store, The Clothespin, run by the designer, a former model in the 70's. I looked at her and said you look familiar.
She said, Well, I'm a celebrity, I should.:) She's been covered in the LA Times and on numerous TV shows. It was a lot of fun chatting with her. Beautiful vintage fabrics, dresses, and other hand-crafted items.
Now the show stopper of the night was Beverly Hills though! It just says something when they close down Rodeo Drive in both directions and put such a great big Ferris wheel in the center of the street.
It says, there's a party here and you're all invited!
We ran to Tiffany's first which was stunning. Delightful baubles, ok yellow diamonds if you really must know.:)
Gorgeous diamond rings, many of which have been on vision boards I've created in the past.
It was also fun to pop in and out of all the haute couture stores too.
We enjoyed Harry Winston's, Roberto Cavalli, and many more.
Walking by the Luxe Rodeo Boutique Hotel reminded me of the many exclusive events I've attended on-site during past Oscar seasons, and also two wonderful events I threw there with friends.
Fun, fun, fun memories!
I love Beverly Hills because you never know who you might run into. Tonight was no exception.
Larry King and his wife were patiently taking pictures with adoring fans while they waited for the light to change.
A little farther down the street Kelly Osbourne was in a group of people being photographed by paparazzi.
The streets were teeming with all kinds of people and it was a lot of fun.
As I told my good friends, Melinda Augustina and Mary, who brought me there, "Fashion makes me happy."
And that's all she wrote. Happy Friday! Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile