OMG! OMG! OMG! We're going to see Al Gore!

I just bought tickets to see Al Gore speak at Boston's Wang Theater on March 30, 2009, which is, incidentally, the night before his birthday! But he's giving the bday present to US! I've been waiting just YEARS!!!! to see Al speak. I'm so excited I can barely type!

Only slightly less exciting (and only because we've seen him before in concert) is our upcoming Harry Connick, Jr. holiday concert this Sunday night, which I got last-minute tix to. I'm a bundle of anticipation!!!

Harry AND Al! I just can't wait!!! (Only have 2 days to go for Harry!)

We Are the Merry Fiskateers

In the first chapter of Secrets of Social Media Marketing, I wrote about Fiskars, the Finnish maker of fine cutting tools that uses a community of scrapbooking enthusiasts called Fiskateers to evangelize its products to specialty craft retailers. It's a perfect example of how to use social media to create street-level awareness.

Dana, wasted no time in applying to become a Fiskateer, and last weekend she attended a gathering of her fellow crafters in central Massachusetts sponsored by Fiskars. What a bounty of gifts they received! Dana counted no less than 15 raffles for the 28 attendees. She won four of them and carted home about $500 worth of swag. Above is a photo of the goodies.

Fiskars sent lead Fiskateer Kelly Jo as well as one of its "Fiskaneers," which is what the company calls its engineers There was also a representative of Brains on Fire, the media agency that conceived of the community. Fiskaneer Doug chatted with the group about ideas for new products, yielding great insight from dedicated crafters. The attendees were treated to plenty of food and a trip to the nearby Yankee Candle superstore. The spent the rest of the afternoon crafting together.

Did Fiskars overdo it with the sheer quantity of stuff it gave away? I doubt it. These 28 women have already declared their allegiance to the brand, and giving them more incentive to promote Fiskars through their online and offline social networks can only help boost word-of-mouth marketing. The group has been designated "crafting ambassadors," only it's clear that the brand they favor is Fiskars. By harnessing their enthusiasm, Fiskars can extend the value of a few gifts to a much broader audience. The cost of goods for this exercise is cheap compared to the value of good cheer the participants will spread.

Bandit's an inside kitty now

On September 8, I brought Bandit to our vet to get her checked out and then brought her inside. No longer is she sleeping in open garages or under our back deck. Now she's got comfy rugs and cushions and toys and windowsills. And, remarkably, my allergies haven't flared up ONCE since she's been in our home. True, I keep her brushed and I wipe her every now and then with these moist kitty wipes to keep her dander at a minimum, but I also smoosh her and cuddle her and hold her and pet her like crazy and I don't react. Could this be a touch of fate, that I got a cat I'm not very allergic to?

To answer your questions preemptively, no, the bunnies have not met her yet. She's such a sweetie, though, that I'm confident she'll be appropriately pushed around by the bunnies. Especially the toughie, SweetPea! You want the predator animals to be below the prey animals on the pecking order in any house. Otherwise, you have a very dangerous situation.

Her name is Bandit not only because she needed a tough girl name outside, but also because she stole my heart. Damn cat. ;-) Thought you'd like some pictures, so here you go:

I maul Bandit (and she loves it!):

She looks like a very big cat here. She's like 9 pounds and actually a very small kitty:

Bandit's closeup:

My beautiful kitty:

Purrrrfectly happy (she hardly ever stops purring):

"I'm a model? Of course I'm a model. I couldn't care less."

Naptime (it's always naptime):

"Hey, whatcha doing? Is it playtime yet?"

"It's my house now!"

FramesByDana.com

They say that many successful Internet voyages begin with family and friends. You tell your circle, they tell theirs, they tell theirs and before you know it, you've got a great audience. I'm hoping my blog friends will tell their extended family and friends about FramesByDana.com, which I've just spent 3 days updating. It now has a shopping cart, a wedding section, and a streamlined frames section.

Please tell people about the site. It's what I love doing. And I don't know what better thing you can say about an income stream than that.

If you're wondering why I redid the site this week, between 2 big vacations and while researching our book, it's because I've taken an ad on a local deli's paper placemats. There's 800 placemats, I think, which should last Kugel's Deli about 8 or 9 months. My ad is top and center, so should be very visible. I'm hoping to get real business from that investment. I've known all along that my site gets WONDERFUL SEO (search engine optimization) -- that is, Google loves me. But the lack of constant ordering is because I don't have what you expect at a commerce website: a shopping cart. Well, now I do. So with the site now at over 17,000 page views, I decided to add it and give myself a real chance at this.

I hope you'll help me by simply telling people about the site.

I still have much to add to the site -- a greeting card section, for one -- but I wanted to get what I've been working on the past year (the wedding section) online and also add the shopping cart. So stay tuned for more goodies in the months to come. And make sure to navigate all the pages/sections. There's a handy-dandy nav bar on every page so you don't get lost. Tell me what you think about the new and improved site!

Thanks for any publicity you can toss my way! Or feel free to order something... :-)

Gettysburg Tours are a Travel Bargain

About six years ago I stopped by Gettysburg, PA with my son for a half day while on a trip to nearby Baltimore. I've wanted to go back ever since. Gettysburg is like no other historical attraction I've ever visited. The National Park Service has maintained the site and battlefields in a condition that mirrors almost perfectly their state on July 1, 1863, when the pivotal battle of the Civil War began.

This week I got a chance to go back with the luxury of some time for exploration. A full day at Gettysburg still doesn't do the place justice, but I discovered the history bargain of a lifetime: the private guides provided by the Park Service.

For just $55, you can hire an expert to accompany you in your car for a two-hour tour of the battlefield. After that, you can return at your own pace, armed with the wisdom your guide has imparted. With group bus tours running $26/person, this service pays for itself quickly. Our guide was Mike (left, explaining cannon ballistics for my kids), one of about 150 contractors who work in this capacity, and his knowledge was voluminous. There was barely a question we could throw at him that he didn't answer.

The great thing about tour guides is that they're unique. You can take the same tour with two different guides and learn entirely different things. The last time I toured Gettysburg, we had a group tour guide who was an expert at describing the scene on the battlefield. Mike was great at defining military strategy, and we couldn't have had a better setting for his expertise.

Standing in a wooded area, looking across an open field, we could almost see the Confederate troops advancing on Cemetery Ridge for the fateful Pickett's Charge, the tactic that nearly turned the war in the south's favor but ultimately forced Lee into retreat. The great thing about Gettysburg is that the entire six-mile battlefield is spread before you. You can survey the scene almost exactly as the generals did before the battle.

Mike told us how authorized tour guides have to leap tall buildings to gain NPS approval. He said he had to finish in the top 10 of roughly 200 people who took a written exam, then submit to an oral test and finally a tour of the battlefield with experts who fired all sorts of trivia and trick questions at him. All this so he could earn $25/hour giving tours (I tipped him a well-deserved $20). That is dedication. And the Park Service has no shortage of applicants for these jobs.

I also recommend the Eisenhower house tour. My knowledge of our 34th President was minuscule, and the self-guided 90-minute tour of his final home in Gettysburg gave me new respect and admiration for him. The Park Service guides punctuated the visit with bits of wisdom and skillfully answered all questions without being intrusive.

Podcamp Boston 3

Some good quotes already from Podcamp Boston 3. Paul and I are here, trying to learn something new about social media.

Chris Brogan (in an impromptu talk in the cafe about old media vs. new social media): Now there's Twitter and that's what you do in the bathroom.

David Meerman Scott session now (just a Q&A, but he's great at that) gives us this video (1.9 million views of a toilet company video):
WARNING: NOT FOR KIDS!!



Now if I could just get the damn time to continue the BunnyBlab podcast series! =:-3 (The archives are still valuable, though, so get thee to the podcast series!)

PCB3 is crashing both the Harvard server and Twitter today. Go us!

4 bunnies and now one (outdoor) cat

This weekend was kind of exciting around the Gillin house. It appears we now have a cat. We think it's a girl kitten and we've named her Bandit. And she's as sweet as can be -- affectionate and playful. She likes me a lot more than Paul right now because Paul tried to pick her up the first time he petted her. I think she felt a little threatened. She's beautiful, too...





Too bad I'm so allergic; I'd have her at the vet and in the house in no time if I wasn't. As it is, she hides out in our next door neighbor's garage (which is open) during the day and comes over for attention and pets and food. Day One was Saturday and she got 2 cans of tuna fish. Then on Sunday, Paul bought her some kitty food, so we put some of that in a dish every night. And there's a dish of water out there waiting for her whenever she wants it. She's been known to lay on our driveway and on our porch.





If anyone in Framingham wants to give this kitty a good home, email me!