Category Archives: Books

Blogging for Business

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This morning — at the invitation of my friend, Steve — I attended a KU Professional Edge Breakfast Seminar at the Edwards Campus called, Blogging Down to Business: When/Where Mass Communication Gets Personal presented by this guy, Dr. David D. Perlmutter (his blog), a so-called expert on the subject. After all, he did write a book with the word “blog” in the title…

The problem is that Perlmutter’s book was about political blogging, while I actually attended the seminar to hear about business blogging. And Perlmutter spent the first 40 minutes of the hour introducing the group to the history of blogging (heavily focused on its basis in the political realm) rather than spending any extended period of time discussing the practical application of blogging in business.

Now, it’s true, I probably know more about the subject than Perlmutter, I know that many in the audience did not. I attended the seminar because of the invite from Steve as well as out of curiosity. However, Perlmutter’s presentation was littered with self-aggrandizement (he showed video of himself on the Daily Show) and just plain WHA? moments where I failed miserably to see how what he was talking about had ANYTHING to do with the subject. I couldn’t ignore it.

The worst part was that in his attempts at impressing us, he went over his time and left out 8 slides at the end that actually might have saved the presentation — case studies on uses of blogging in different industries. TIME MANAGEMENT FAIL.

So here’s what I’m offering…my simple 9-point plan to blogging for business:

  1. Have a purpose. It can be as simple as “to increase the keyword-rich content on our site”, but just make sure that you know what your purpose is and always refer to it when writing.
  2. Be compelling and write well. If your content sucks, there’s no point in having a corporate blog. Have something compelling to say or don’t say it at all. And when you do say it, make sure it’s run through a spell-checker. Some browsers have built-in spellcheckers, but they don’t catch everything. It’s not hard to proofread and it’s worth the extra step.
  3. Host it yourself. For the love of God, don’t pretend a Blogger or WordPress.com account is actually hosted by your company. People who consume news this way on a regular basis (read: nerds like me) will see right through it. Not only that, but it’s lazy and cheap, two things you typically don’t want to be associated with unless you are Walmart.
  4. Integrate it into your overall site. Link to it from the home page. Make it fit. This may require the use of a Web designer, but it’s worth it. Ahem.
  5. Encourage dialogue. The format of blogging encourages dialogue (for more on that dialogue and how it relates to design, read Jason Santa Maria’s excellent article). Make sure your customers have the ability to comment. It allows them to feel invested in the conversation. If you are doing a good job with your customer service, your comments shouldn’t be too negative.
  6. Do your research. There’s nothing worse than a company that blatantly lies on its official blog. Slightly less bad is being easily proven wrong with a simple Google search. That means you should always cite your sources.
  7. Link liberally. And don’t launch a new window. That’s what the back button is for. If your writing is compelling and your information useful, readers will return.
  8. Test before launching. If there’s one thing that really grinds my gears, it’s people who only test their sites in their browser of choice. I hate Internet Explorer as much as the next guy, but I always test in it. Internet Explorer still accounts for over 70% of browser usage, so you cannot discount it yet.
  9. Stick to the schedule. You don’t have to post daily (although that would be great), but you should post at least once or twice a week. Schedule your posts so your customers know when new content will appear. (Side note: if you don’t publish an RSS feed for your readers to subscribe to, don’t even bother with a blog.)

These are all suggestions. I’d like to hear yours.

Lucky Dog

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Lucky Dog
by Mark Barrowcliffe
RATING: 7 out of 10 

I finally finished a book.

It’s been a long time since I finished a fun book. I’ve been reading a lot of church books lately and needed a break. Lucky Dog by Mark Barrowcliffe is a book I’ve had on my shelf for several months and one I’ve been looking forward to reading.

The book focuses on a British real estate agent named Dave Barker who happens upon a dog that starts to talk to him. At first glance, a talking dog seems like a bizarre way of telling a story. To be honest, there were times where the plot certainly unravelled a bit, but the one thing that was always right was Reg the Dog.

Reg provides great nuggets of wisdom throughout the book with an intelligent and witty, albeit decidedly dog-like countenance. Consider his stance on neckties:

“Every time you put it on you end up going somewhere you don’t want to. That’s what I call a leash.”

Lucky Dog suffers at the hands of its main character, unfortunately, who makes one bad decision after another. It is those bad decisions that ultimately put the book in a bad place for me – a place where Reg the Dog was absent for large stretches of the book.

Still, Lucky Dog is intriguing to someone like me because Barker fills his off-hours by playing poker. When the dog enters his life, he suddenly has a leg up on the competition, an animal instinct (if you will) for his opponents weaknesses, confidences, and nervous tics. Reg the Dog gives Dave access to almost subconscious tells he can sniff out.

Along the way, Dave manages to get himself involved in a variety of quandaries, from shady business dealings and fraud to girlfriend troubles and problems with some mobsters.

Barrowcliffe’s characters aren’t terribly interesting, save Reg the Dog, who made me wonder just what my own dog might say to me if he could talk. It’s sometimes fun to imagine. But the humans (or the ‘hellooos’ as Reg calls them) are just kind of droll.

Still, the story is fun. Despite having a talking dog as the main character, it’s a very grown-up story about figuring out what kind of person you want to be.

The Phoenix Affirmations

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The Phoenix Affirmations by Eric Elnes

The Phoenix Affirmations
by Eric Elnes
Rating: 9 out of 10

It’s now been almost 2 weeks since Alli and I got back from the Congregational Life Workshop for our church. One of the wonderful things (of many) that was a part of the workshop was that we used The Phoenix Affirmations as a conversation starter for our early morning Living Room Group discussions.

The book is a really fascinating collection of “the new tenets” of Christianity that have been gathered ecumenically from across the country and were ceremoniously walked across the United States to Washington D.C. and “nailed to the doors of all the major religions” Martin-Luther-style.

As a strong believer in a living God, I think these affirmations are a wonderful step toward bringing Christianity back towards its original purpose.

This book is a very easy read, one that certainly will challenge the faith of some, but ultimately is a step in a great direction.

The affirmations are as follows:

  1. Being sincerely Christian without denying the legitimacy of other religions.
  2. Listening for God’s Word, which comes through praying, studying the Bible, and attending to God’s activity in the world.
  3. Celebrating the sanctity of God’s Creation, including Nature, the sacred and the secular, the Christian and non-Christian, etc.
  4. Worshipping in a way that is sincere, artful, and biblical.
  5. Treating all people as creations made in God’s image, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, economic class, nationality, religion, physical or mental ability, etc., just as Jesus did.
  6. Standing up for the poor, for the margianalized, for the oppressed, seeking justice and peace for all.
  7. Preserving religious freedom and maintaining the separation of church and state.
  8. Humbly acknowledging our own shortcomings while sincerely trying to see and bring out the best in others, even if they consider us their enemy.
  9. Basing our lives on the faith that Christ restores all things and that all of us are loved beyond our wildest dreams.
  10. Recognizing the sanctity of both our minds and our hearts and that both science and faith, doubt and belief, serve the pursuit for truth.
  11. Realizing the benefits of prayer, worship, recreation, and healthiness in addition to work.
  12. Acting on the faith that we born with a purpose, a vocation that serves to strengthen God’s Kingdom and extend God’s love.

These affirmations match up very well to the latest counsel to our church and provided for some great discussions with a diverse group of people. If you are a believer, I’d suggest this book. It’s a great theological study. At times, the book can be repetitive and it is certainly challenging in sections, but ultimately, it’s a great read.

Kitchen Confidential

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Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
by Anthony Bourdain
RATING: 8 out of 10

Anthony Bourdain is chef-cool for a lot of reasons. He gets mad respect in the community of chefdom, although many may only recognize him from his excursions on the Travel Channel. The truth is, back in the day, he was a chef at Brassiere Les Halles in New York City, the culmination of a food career that is so degenerate and depraved that it would make some sailors blush.

This middle-class-to-well-off lad “with the French name” has held every job in the kitchen, from dishwasher to line cook all the way up to executive chef and now, “Chef-at-large” (whatever that means). Along the way, mistakes were made, mostly due to excessive cocaine and heroin use, but Bourdain somehow managed to come out alive.

Kitchen Confidential is – at its core – the autobiography of one fantastically interesting character. However, along the way, Bourdain manages to skewer, slice, dice and whatever-other-cooking-euphemism-you-prefer the restaurant business, exposing what has been his experience up to 2000 (when the book was originally published). He pulls no punches (divulging the secret to never order fish on Monday and doesn’t like Emeril all that much) and writes lovingly of the debauched behavior of kitchen staffers (sex, drugs, etc.).

People like Anthony Bourdain are truly amazing. Here is a guy who is well-respected as a chef (although he would admit he can’t hang with the Eric Riperts and the Tom Colicchio) yet manages to tell a story that not only totally compelling, but also brilliantly written. You can hear the sounds (usually curse words in Spanish) in Bourdain’s ears, smells the aromas of his kitchen; it’s written so well that you can almost taste the food.

There was a time in my life where I wanted to be a chef. I think it’s one of the most amazing crafts and that great chefs are truly artists of the highest kind because they have the ability to touch every single one of your senses. After reading Kitchen Confidential, I don’t. What a life these guys lead…

I really liked the book a lot. If you like Bourdain or you watch Top Chef (my favorite reality show) or a lot of Food Network programming, I suggest you pick up the book.

Playing for Pizza

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Playing for Pizza by John Grisham

Playing for Pizza
by John Grisham
RATING: 7 out of 10

Remember back in the day when the world clamored over when the next Grisham book would come out and how great it would be? I remember reading A Time to Kill and The Firm years ago and devouring them as I marveled at Grisham’s ability to make legal proceedings accessible and to make lawyers seem a little less…um…lawyer-y. For about 6 years during the late 80′s and early 90′s, he dominated the book world. His books now come a little less often, but are still putting plenty of coin in his pockets.

Grisham has written 16 legal fiction books and 4 non-legal fiction books (as well as a single legal non-fiction book). Playing for Pizza falls into that second non-legal fiction category and focuses on an American football player who has managed one of the single biggest failures registered in the history of the NFL (think Lin Elliott).

Rick Dockery is a typical anti-hero…lazy, physically gifted, a real schmoozer. But he’s also tainted goods. No one in the NFL will sign him so he flies the coop off to Parma, Italy where they play real American football (not that silly stuff we call soccer). Apparently, Italy has a league that allows 3 American players per team (Grisham apparently discovered American football while researching another book in Italy) and the competition is probably equal to that of large-high-school football.

The title of the book comes from the way that most of the players in the league get paid…with pizza and beer. Most of the Italian players are athletic guys who just enjoy the game. Oh, to have players that enjoy the game…

Anyway, you can imagine what happens. But predictability is not the biggest sin of this book…the story itself is interesting and Grisham’s descriptions of the food and the cities of Italy made me miss it very much. The story is light on character development and it just made too many leaps where there were opportunities for great storytelling. The book reads more like a screenplay and, frankly, it will probably be better as a movie. Actors will (hopefully) be able to capture the nuance and subtlety of the characters’ feelings, which was one of the major omissions from the book.

Still, it’s a quick, enjoyable read; it just leaves you wanting a little more. It certainly could have been longer, only clocking in at less than 250 pages, giving Grisham more room to develop the characters, but like I said, it’s something that actors will be able to overcome in a movie (as long as they are decent).

Wild at Heart

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Wild at Heart by John Eldridge

Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret to a Man’s Soul
by John Eldredge
RATING: 6 out of 10

I’ve been “reading” this book for quite a long time. I started it sometime in January and it took until June for me to finish. This was not necessarily the fault of the book (although it could be improved), but more the fault of it not being what I wanted to read.

Normally, I would have given up, but I really wanted to actually get through the book because I love the concept behind it – it delves into exactly what the title says. It talks about the spiritual aspect of how men need to be men…we’re built to be wild and passionate people and the world has emasculated us in a way that keeps us from reaching our full potential.

It sounds a little new-agey, but Eldredge has some excellent points in the book. Unfortunately, he struggles to string them together into coherent chapters. The ideas are there, but the book really needs some editing. (Mr. Eldredge, you can email me shane at this domain dot com if you need an editor.)

Over time, I felt like the book was repeating its key concepts instead of focusing them into specific sections. And while I wanted to really like it, I just couldn’t get over the organization of the book.

What did I miss?

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So I’m back from Jamaica.

The Jamaican Sky

Alli and I and the rest of the family have been at Beaches Negril since last Saturday. While we were there, my brother and his lovely significant other Kelly got hitched on the beach on Tuesday afternoon. Both families were there as were a bunch of Jake’s friends and we had a great time. After an all-day journey yesterday, we’re back in Kansas City, away from the island humidity.

It looks as though the internet didn’t break while I was gone, although I  did win a contest and my biography was posted on Brad’s site. It looks like everything else is as it was. 

I read two books while I was gone, finally finishing Wild at Heart by John Eldridge and quickly consuming Playing for Pizza by John Grisham. I’ll post reviews soon.

As far as the rest of the week…I’m taking the rest of the week off from work. I may tackle a redesign of my own site if I can do it quickly. We’ll see.

How are you?

Prince Caspian

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Prince Caspian Movie PosterTuesday night, we went to see The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

With this and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I’ve been reminded of why I love going to the movies.

Prince Caspian picks up about a year after the end of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with the Pevensie children back in England after having saved Narnia from the White Witch. They seem restless having spent like, 18 years, in Narnia and returning having not aged at all.

Meanwhile, back in Narnia, Prince Caspian is on the run and he…well…I don’t want to ruin the story.

But I’ll say this…it was really good. If you liked the first movie, you’ll really enjoy the second movie. It draws upon the same themes, but it’s a little more grown up. If you compare The Chronicles of Narnia to the Harry Potter stories, you definitely see the progression of the characters from story to story.

Much of the story (as was the case in the first movie) is told through young Lucy’s eyes and that’s to the benefit because the girl who is played with so much joy and brilliance by Georgie Henley. She totally overshadows the rest of the Pevensie kids. The only character giving her any competition for chewing the screen was relative newcomer Ben Barnes as Prince Caspian.

The Chronicles of Narnia are enjoyable stories and watching them being brought so well to life on screen has been great. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair are already scheduled for 2010 and 2011…we’ll see if they can get through all seven books.

Until then, I enjoyed the movie a lot. If you liked the first one, you’ll like this one. It’s just a fun movie that makes you smile.

2007 Wrapup

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I thought a Year in Review might be fun, since a lot has happened this year that’s worth mentioning. I did something similar last year…thought it might be a good way to start the year off right.

Got the year started by watching the Chiefs lay another playoff egg in Indianapolis. I don’t care that Manning and the Colts went on to win the Super Bowl…the Chiefs plain sucked in that game. I considered going Martha Stewart on my home office, but decided against it, having the gift my parents gave me for Christmas 2006 (a custom California Closets desk) installed. Alli spent a lot of time in January in Ohio with her mom and her ailing grandma. We spent 11 days apart, the longest since we’ve been married.

February was Oscar month. Scorsese finally won his Oscar, which was awesome. I also spent some time in the ER because of chest pains that fortunately turned out only to be Costochondritis. Phew. Alli and I both visited the hospital that month. I struggled to read much of anything early in the year because Kyle Smith’s awful Love Monkey kept me down.

March had both sad and happy moments. Alli’s grandma passed away and we visited Ohio for the funeral. Jake and Kelly got engaged early in the month. I considered getting braces. I professed my newfound coffee love.

April contained a lot of posting on the blog because a lot went on. Alli and I took the church Senior High group to Branson for Young Christians’ Weekend, the Jayhawks lost in the tournament again, the Chiefs made a great first-round draft pick (who I met in December), Alli and I finalized our Italy plans, and the producers of American Idol raised over $70 million for the ONE Campaign. We also made another hospital trip in perhaps one of the scarier days of my life.

May happened.

June did too. Alli had an art show at Starbucks. I went to Atlanta for the HOW Design Conference and saw a 7-foot, 9-inch tall man. We left for our 3-week trip to Paris and Italy, which also took up over half of July. It was the best trip I’ve ever taken. For a review, read this post.

I spent much of August reviewing our trip on the blog. Alli turned the big 30. She dealt with it much better than me. I predicted a Larry-Johnson-less Chiefs to go 5-11. Not a bad prediction. They showed how awful they were going to be by going 0-4 in the pre-season and gave us a glimpse of how dysfunctional they were through Hard Knocks. I finally got around to reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I loved every moment of it. Alli and I also got totally addicted to Big Love on HBO.

September marked the arrival of my first niece, Ireland. The Fall TV season started up with some good new shows that will ultimately be cancelled. I worked a shift at the Cowboy Boot Carnival. Apple, as they do, released another wave of ipods. This post was my favorite of the year.

October is usually a great month, but it was marred by awful Chiefs play. Helping to raise my spirits was Alli’s second art show of the year, this time at Terrace on the Green. I went pink for October on the blog and saw a couple of excellent movies. The Sprint Center opened and we got to check it out for the So You Think You Can Dance show. I also helped Luke announce the launch of his KCDiningSpecials.com website.

I returned to Atlanta for about 36 hours in November for a brief industry conference. I also discovered an absolutely brilliant comic website, The Superest. I railed on the Chiefs quite a bit in November. Who would have known that they wouldn’t win again during the whole season? I visited Allen Field House for the first time in my life. The Slap Countdown timer expired. KU lost a close one to Missouri at Arrowhead. I initiated the first annual ‘Complete this Sentence‘ project. I was thankful.

December is my favorite month of the year. Especially when it snows. The Chiefs continued the longest losing streak in team history. We launched some awesome new technology at work. I turned 31 and got 15 comments on my birthday post (a new personal best!) and saw some movies. I tried to fix my back problems. We rang in the New Year with Jake and Kelly.

As for my favorites of the year, I’ll try to be brief:

  • Favorite Movie: Across the Universe (not even a contest)
  • Favorite Book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
  • Favorite New TV Show: The Big Bang Theory
  • Favorite Reality TV Show: Top Chef
  • Favorite Existing TV Show: Either Lost or The Office
  • Favorite Album: Either the Across the Universe Soundtrack, Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black, or OneRepublic’s Dreamin’ Out Loud
  • Favorite Event: The birth of my niece
  • Favorite Trip: No contest here…it was obviously France/Italy 2007
  • Favorite Restaurant: Caffe Leonardo in Rome

Overall, it was perhaps my best year yet. Hope yours was great as well. Here’s to an even better 2008.