Thank You For An Awesome 2006

This ancient (admittedly very cool) guy enjoyed an AWESOME year in 2006 and a lot of wonderful people deserve a HUGE "Thank You" for making it happen. So here goes.

To Sabrina Kerim, my totally amazing and AWESOME darling wife... Thank YOU.

To my eight totally amazing (now grown) children... Naiomi, Shea, Sender, Lucas, Aaron, Joshua, Tova and Rivcah... Thank YOU.

To my three delicious grandchildren... Thank YOU.

To my wonderful sister and two very special brothers... Thank YOU.

To my many friends and colleagues around the world with whom I play (another way to spell work) and make magnificent contributions every day to help others in our chosen vocation of business... Thank YOU.

To those very special people in the social interaction and blogging worlds who have added so much to my life in 2006... Thank YOU.

In particular the following totally amazing and totally AWESOME people deserve special recognition...

Sarah Blow, my friend and "ethos of blogging" mentor, exceptionally talented UK software engineer, Founder of London Girl Geek Dinners, Barcelona Girl Geek Dinners, Girly Geekdom and so much more... Thank YOU.

Hugh MacLeod, the totally creative and wildly original artistic creator of the magnificeient Gaping Void Blog... Thank YOU.

Dennis Howlett, wonderful thinker and writer of the AccMan Blog, focusing on the issues of professional accountancy, technology and business... Thank YOU.

Jeff Wheeler, the oh-so-young and totally amazing totally competent website and blog designer and huge Django fan. It is almost impossible to believe that Jeff is only 16 and still in high school! He inspires me with his professional competence and he is teaching me the lingo of young people and so much more... Thank YOU.

Dharmesh Shah and Brian Halligan, the Founders of HubSpot, who share a magnificent and totally amazing desire to reach out to the millions of people owning a very small business (VSBs) and helping them to successfully compete in the global marketplace... Thank YOU.

Michael O'Connor Clarke, his magnificent way with words and his Celtic way of moving through this beautiful world moves my spirit... Thank YOU.

Sigurd Rinde, the Founder of thingamy, the "Here's 30 Megs, Go Run the World" genius and mad cyclist... Thank YOU.

Thank YOU all and best wishes coming your way for totally AWESOME health, happiness and prosperity in 2007!

Oh Joy!

Christmas 2006

Luke 2:1-20

1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. 2 This was the first enrollment, when Quirin'i-us was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be enrolled, each to his own city.4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered. 7 And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

8 And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 10 And the angel said to them, "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; 11 for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!"

15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." 16 And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it they made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child; 18 and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Oh Joy!

Maggie K. Fox has Spunk!

Maggie turned me down flat! And I've just got to share this GREAT! story!

We briefly met at the AWESOME pre-Mesh 2007 event in mid November.

Thereafter we began an email exchange wherein Maggie asked if I might be willing to provide a little mentorship. Now this was an important question because I had to make decision to commit time and energy as when I make a commitment I go 1000% because that's what works for me. In any case I said "yes" and that's what ended up inspiring me (totally unexpectedly I might add).

Lot of emails back and forth, lots of questions and answers and I became really motivated because the harder I pushed Maggie the more she would do and... Always very high quality stuff on her part.

I began researching social media and social interaction in order to provide benefit to Maggie, and in the process, my excitment grew and grew. I also prepared an information package relating to Maggie's efforts with respect to developing her company, Social Media Group. And, along the way realized that I wanted to take an active role in helping Maggie to acquire clients and revenues, no small consideration on my part.

During our luncheon (Maggie invited), we had a fabulous conversation, I turned over the information package, and I opened a door to the possibility of my helping Maggie grow her firm.

The following week, Maggie turned me down flat and... For one of the greatest and most valid reasons in the entire world. In her words, "I want to do it first myself!"

Of course this ancient (and admittedly very cool) guy was a tad miffed (after all I am one of the very best in the world at what I do), and at the same time, I was loving Maggie's spunk and she inspired me even more!

Now before continuing this story I want to make clear in the spirit of full disclosure and complete transparency that I do not work for Maggie or her company, I do not receive anything in the way of compensation (other than that one magnificent luncheon), and we will not be working together in the future. 'nuf said and here goes...

You ought to hire Maggie and her company to help you with respect to social media and social interaction. Why... easy... Maggie inspired me and she will inspire you. She has AWESOME ideas for those in the fast moving retail sector. So Nike, Holt Renfrew and you other cream of the crop players ought to hire Maggie fast. She will tell you the unvarnished truth. She will be a great coach and mentor to you and your team with respect to social media. She will laugh when you win and she will shed tears with you when things are tough. Maggie will help you create a dialogue with your customers that you never dreamed possible and... your customers will begin an entirely new kind of relationship with your company and your products. You will discover that Maggie really care about you and about your customers and she will give you way more than you could ever expect.

Maggie K. Fox inspires people to even greater greatness!

Oh Joy!

Living Your Dreams is Hot!!!

What are YOUR! Dreams!!

Look up! Look forward! Look inside! Look outside!

What are those beautifully inspiring pictures you are seeing!

What are those just right sounds you are hearing!

What are those incredibly wonderful feelings you are feeling!

What are those beautiful just right smells you are smelling right now!

What are those gorgeous tastes you are tasting!

NOW... You are in the right frame to take action and live YOUR! Dreams!!

If this ancient (and admittedly very cool) guy at darn near 60 can do it and live it every day, YOU! can just easily imagine what this beautiful world of wonderful experiences holds for YOU!!

Oh Joy!

Think Differently... Brainpark is Hot!

Middle of the night here in Toronto and couldn't sleep (a not uncommon experience for ancient guys even if they are awesomely cool!).

A great opportunity for me to get TONS of useful stuff done and loving the uninterrupted free time to discover something new, something fresh and delicious!

Speaking of new, fresh and delicious... I discovered brainpark just before I thought I was about to crash for a good night's sleep. On this little gem of a site there were two (count 'em two) ABSOLUTELY AWESOME presentations (look in the green grass to see the links).... The first presentation is eight ways to think like an innovator and the second is 10 ways to re-create your world.

These brief presentations are powerful and highly beneficial at multiple levels of personal understanding and experience... They will brightly hue your imagination with the sensual fragrance of flowers, lift your soul and spirit free to fly high and... they will awaken your mind and heart to think differently!

The fresh minds and spirits behind these AWESOME presentations are Bobby John and Mark Dowds of Brainpark and Creationstep. Bobby is based in the USA and Mark in Canada. Both of these dynamic, creative and talented young men have a solid history in starting and developing companies and share a vision to create companies with meaning.

AWESOME guys!

Oh Joy!

Snap is Way Cool and... Very Hot!

I’ve added a way cool and FREE feature to my blog... Snap... It's A New Way to Search!

You’ll see an adorable balloon appear with a visual image of the URL link along with a super search tool as you hover over an external link. Of course. you can still click on the link as usual.

Snap is HOT!

Oh Joy!

Maryam Ghaemmaghami Scoble

I enjoyed the delightful experience of discovering Maryam Ghaemmaghami Scoble (a Gem!) via Sarah Blow's Girly Geekdom November 30th post regarding the recent (and Hugely Successful!) London Girl Geek Dinners 9.

FYI Sarah Blow is a talented young UK software engineer, Founder of London Girl Geek Dinners and Barcelona Girl Geek Dinners, and... my friend and "ethos of blogging" mentor.

Maryam's London Girl Geek Dinners presentation (captured on video by some thoughtful soul) captured my heart as she spoke of her thoughts and emotions about entering the world of blogging. I highly recommend this lovely video to everyone interested in blogging and the blogosphere, especially for those wondering if they ought to give blogging a try.

I loved Maryam's honesty, good humor and openness so much that over the weekend I decided to go on a Maryam video search to see if I could discover other videos and... YAHOO!

My initial video interview discoveries quickly revealed that Maryam is a major supporter of Magnificient Women! and their Magnificent Journeys!

The first video (Outstanding!) interview with Betsy Aoki... The ever so talented and Magnificent! Woman! who formerly led efforts behind the MSDN blog network and is now leading Microsoft's Q & A search engine who speaks openly and sincerely about developing communities online, being a girl geek, the Microsoft culture and so much more.

The second (Outstanding!) video interview with Liz Lawley... Social Computing professor at Rochester University and Magnificent! Woman! as she speaks about her time working at Microsoft research, the future of social software, why she thinks there are few women following in math and computer sciences and why she likes playing video games with her sons.

Maryam' blog, Maryam Ghaemmaghami Scoble's musing about Life, Love and Everything Else... is well worth reading, and Maryam often includes links to her (Outstanding!) video interviews.

Let's raise a glass (Champagne of course!) to Maryam Ghaemmaghami Scoble... A Magnificent Woman! with a Magnificent Journey!

Oh Joy!