Stogies? Why Not?

One more blog? Why not?

This time it's porn for email marketing and copywriting. Going to keep it real niche.

Famerican

Caroline is rolling over France with web marketing, or should I say "campagne webmarketing"?

Gotta love babies in power heels.

In the press

MindValley had an article written about their diggity dank hiring strategies. It appears I got quoted at the end.

putting it in

IMG_1331 by Mix Master on Zooomr

Since you're bored, you might as well head over to our "premier hookah blog," which we're updating fairly regularly again.

A few points of interest include our hookah tobacco reviews and the hookah tips entries, where, if you're not careful, you might learn something.

For you bare-bones bloggers

This is a pretty cool new tool. Similar to Tumblr, but even simpler. You just email their address, attach pics, music, etc and write your post in the email body (title is the subject line). Then BAM, you have a post.

I'll probably use it from time to time. Arthur might like it.

more linquing

I'm having fewer and fewer of the conversations I'd like to have around here. The immersion I desired is waning. It was somewhat uncontrollable, more evolutionary than anything else, but it is what it is, so I've got to react. And I did.

Part of my thought process is out, and it begins If you aren’t an artist, you probably won’t start a successful art website...

Sometimes you have to just make the decision and then run, full throttle at the target. Without looking back. You can't run as fast or hard if you look back.

Get in It, to win It.

On consistency

Some things are worth changing, some are not.

Tributary

RIP Good Man. That was a sweet hat.

Scheunstock

Not wanting to be the foreigner who poops in the urinal, or whatever the cultural equivalent is over here, I’ve spent several minutes staring at this thing, trying to figure out its secrets. After much reflection, I think I’ve got it. Wish me luck.

A friend of mine from Fondy, USA is in Syria and blogging. Not only is his title rad, but so are his tales. This is the kind of blog you don't need to know the author to enjoy.

I'm excited to read how this Dream unfolds.

Shameless

Masturbate mentally, or exist where you can act.

Rainbow Pimping down in the City Center

I like to think of myself as a facilitator.

Even, it would seem, a facilitator of pimpin.

PS VOTE FOR SPLINTER!

Another shoe drop

TOMS Shoes had their 2007 shoe drop, which is worth checking out, even if only for the cool photos. Somewhere in South Africa, a kid just received a new pair of shoes courtesy of Mix and TOMS. It goes to show how a business can still make money while contributing to an idea larger than itself.

Which is what I'd like to somehow emulate.

A Learning

It's not just guys in business who fall into this trap,
unfortunately. It happens just as often to people taking a less
conventional path. It's sad enough when you see it happen to a friend
of yours. When it happens to you, it's even worse.

The good news
is, it's easy enough to avoid. Especially with experience. Suddenly you
realize that you're just not into the same things you once were. You
used to be into staying up late all night, going to parties, now you'd
rather stay in and read a book. Sure, it sounds boring, but hey,
sometimes "boring" can be a lot of fun. Especially if it's on your own
terms. (Allow Your Work To Age With You)

I've noticed at work that it takes an amount of work, and I think receptive leadership, to keep new experiences coming. For the most part, each day in the office has me considering new problems and new ideas. This, in a way was something I requested and have been lucky to receive.

My short time on this planet has shown me that not everyone desires this. I can't say yet whether those people are better or worse to have on a team; they certainly are necessary to get work done.

But I now see how easy one can fall into the trap of repetition, some of which are obvious and some of which are not.

And that is one of my quickest paths to destruction.

Inspired Verbiage

Then you strike, like a cobra, but smaller and stiffer. (Dilbert Blog)

Scott Adams (creator of Dilbert) offers some advice for getting laid. Break down another's temptation resistance with decoys, then go in for the kill.

My interpretation:

"Want a brownie?"
"No"
"Want a brownie?"
"No"
"Want a beer?"
"Yes"

Check out the post, there's even a little science behind it. If you haven't added him to your RSS reader yet, I'd suggest doing that as well.

Echo Tap last weekend

Patriots: 2 (hero)
Trips: 2
Intended number of pitchers: 2
Pitchers drank: 6
Pitchers paid for: 5
Intended shots: 0
Shots shot: 14
Shots paid for: 0

Echo Tap is reaching new levels of sickness. In 14 days we've been there about 8 times. All names of night employees as well as several regulars are known. We are reaching 'regular' status. Rare is it to remember closing the tab.


And in other news, get yourself a pair of these shoes. Pretty cheap price and an amazing cause. I'll be buying mine this week:

quotage

Cleaning up old emails and I came across this prose from a forum discussion. Thought it was worth scribing on a blogger page, where longevity should reign pretty strong.

Just a couple thoughts to add to the list of replies on this very interesting, and very important, question:

First, given the structure and function of AIESEC, management of exchange is central to the taking responsibility and leadership roles, in that exchange - as a complex and challenging process - provides the work for our people to do while going through other elements of their AIESEC Experience. As I work on exchange, I go through the challenges of generating increasing quantity and quality, and so learn in the process.

There are a number of levels of learning that take place while on exchange. At the most basic level, a person learns about another country and culture. At a bit more of an advanced level, a person begins to see the underlying differences in ways of interpreting and valuing the world that result from the culture one is in. And at its most advanced, the individual on their exchange experience starts to challenge their own ways of seeing the world, and by assuming a fundamentally different worldview, they also gain a much deeper perspective on themself and on the world.

In fact, in studies of human growth, one of the properties of the growth process is that of being able to see from an increasing number of perspectives. It's like looking at a beatiful sculpture. If you look at it from one side, you see a bit, but to really see the whole sculpture, it requires walking around - or changing your perspective.

Being immersed in a different culture and environment for an extended period of time - such as what happens on an AIESEC internship - is one of the most powerful tools for 'walking around the sculpture.' Except in this time, the sculpture is one's self, and the world. There's a difference between gaining new knowledge (reading books, looking on the internet, or travelling to a place), and learning how to see things differently (being able to see through different cultural 'glasses'). This, to me, is why exchange is such a fundamentally important element of the AIESEC Experience.

And this is why we need to continue to work like crazy to create more internships for our people, and more people for our internships. It is a crucial part of the AIESEC learning experience, and working on exchange is a part of our own learning process.

I remember some of the most exciting times I had in AIESEC was when I was raising TNs back in my LC in Calgary. It was incredibly challenging, and that's why I learned so much.

Thanks for the question...

brodie

It very well articulates elements of the process I went through while thinking about, going, then coming back from Egypt. I'm beginning to wonder what my second adventure shall entail.

still on the Quote Train

More proof that a embarking on a Traineeship Rocket Ship is the way to go:

...and I finally figured out why every American tourist thinks everyone here speaks English; the only places tourists go are populated by Turkish people who can speak English, trying to sell them things or help them order food in a restaurant. I´m getting a completely different experience in the city than most people will ever get. Jawesome. (A Ninja abroad)

Yea, jawesome.

turning gears

The struggle to feel accomplished at the end of every day continues. Alas, if it ain't this it is that.

Mallory brings us this gem from Denmark:


Check out the community blog we set up for our members currently abroad; what a great stream of hilarity.

As always, last night I started looking towards the ending of my next stage, namely the end of my time in Malaysia (Sept 2008). As I slowly toss around some adventuresome ideas of grande scale, a few words from this blog came to mind:

On the way home we hopped on the wrong train and got a little lost, which is a must if you ever travel. (O'Malley)

Well said.

And Seth Godin finally gets it with The Vibe and comments on something I've been pondering as of late.

Once juploadr gets compatibility with zooomr I will have much visuals to soothe your teary eyes.

Yesterday was my first attempt to sell a HoboHookah to a vendor. He shook hands much like I envision Cinderella doing so. I got rejected, but followed it up with a delicious lunch.

gone quite astray

It seems the two crooks never learned two things, they were in Montana and Patricia had been a clay shooting champion since she was nine. (libertypost)
Shout: digg

Quite a story, but the comments are the most interesting to me. There, people are applauding a child for killing 2 people with a shotgun. And of course, it's ok to kill illegal immigrants, disregarding the situation that has put them here or whether they have a family, aside from the general applause at taking a life. Yes, they have broken the law and there may have been some terrible, terrible things had she not done the deed, but the joy over these deaths is troubling. Also, what about the effect on this child? Applauding her? What sort of children do we want to create?
And the "weaklings at VT?" I will not comment.
There is so much underlying this story, the conversation makes me sick.

Vegas Baby!

By now it should be quite apparent that Mix often entertains thoughts of Vegas. As such, he was quite happy to find this guide to Sin City, and is happy to direct you to it: The Rands Vegas System. Excellent read, even if only for the prose.

Oh yea, I also finally imported this to Facebook. We'll see how that works out.

subtlety in advertising

Check it out.

Via Doc Searls

Jobs: down with The Man

The third alternative is to abolish DRMs entirely. Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players.

Steve Jobs on music distribution and what a DRM-free world might look like.

Interesting stuff.