Besides actual hats, I can say I have a trunk load of skills.

Hop on over to my profile section to see samples of my writing, photos, video work, as well as my voice over demo.

Falling in love is easy… talking about marriage sometimes isn’t. Becky would get all giggly, blush and usually the conversation would end. So, about 6 months prior to their engagement, David randomly came up with the words “chicken sandwich” to use instead of marriage or wedding. This made it easier to talk about with each other. Instead of saying, “Whenever we get married, I want to move to a different house,” they would say, “Whenever we get a chicken sandwich, I want to move to a different house.” It definitely made for some funny/interesting conversations.

The week of the proposal, Becky had been really sick with a bad cold. So when David told her he was taking her on a surprise date on Saturday, she felt instantly better. This wasn’t an unusual thing for David to do. In the beginning of their relationship, David often surprised her with fun dates. When Saturday morning came, David sprang out of bed right at 8:00 a.m. Anyone that knows him would find this very unusual, especially since its very hard for him to get out of bed in the morning. He informs Becky that they need to leave by 9 a.m. sharp. “Is there anything special I need to wear,” Becky asks. “Yeah, something nice and springy,” David replies. David had informed Becky the day before that after the surprise date that they were going to have a picnic. So at 9 a.m., they were on the road with a cooler in tow. Little did Becky know what was hiding inside that cooler.

They started off down the road and an hour later, found themselves on country back roads, passing through small towns neither of them had ever heard of. Becky was completely confused by this point. David asked her to close her eyes and not peek. When he told her she could open her eyes, this is what Becky saw.

Becky instantly knew where she was… but that didn’t make her any less confused. This was Becky’s favorite tree. It’s huge, majestic and stands all alone in the middle of an interstate median. Every time they would pass the tree, Becky would always comment about how much she loved it. Looks like David had been paying attention.

“Let’s get out of the car,” David said, as he reached in the back and pulled something out. As they walked towards the tree, Becky saw that he was carrying something in his hand. She honestly thought it looked like a bottle of wine or champagne wrapped in a brown paper bag. When they arrived in front of the tree, David handed her the bag and told her to open it. This is what she found…

It said, “Will you share a chicken sandwich with me for the rest of our lives?”

David got down on one knee and held up a small box and asked, “Will you marry me?” Becky perhaps nodded yes, she really doesn’t remember. The only thing she does remember for certain was the way he looked at that moment. That look on David’s face will be etched into her memory forever. He stood up and asked her if that was a yes. (It was.) They hugged for a long while, unaware of all the cars zooming past.

When the tears subsided, David said, “Oh by the way, remember how I told you we had to be here at a certain time?” She nodded. He continued, “That’s because Ken is sitting across the street in his car taking pictures.” (Ken is David’s coworker, who also happens to be a brilliant photographer.) At that point, Ken ran across the busy interstate, with camera equipment in hand, so they could re-stage the proposal for the camera.

After the whole whirlwind of the proposal, David and Becky went to a nearby park and ate their chicken sandwich.

Tired of finding losers in bars, Becky and David decided to search the interwebs for potential dates. Due to their thriftiness, they both joined Plentyoffish.com™, a free dating website. When David came across Becky’s profile, he found himself unable to resist messaging her. Neither of them remember exactly what was said in that first email, but whatever it was, it caught Becky’s eye. She thought that David seemed funny and smart.

This picture was taken a couple weeks after David and Becky first met

They didn’t waste too much time before deciding to meet each other in person. On a warm Sunday evening in July, they met each other for the first time at Stone Werks, a popular restaurant in San Antonio. They seemed very comfortable with each other, even though Becky didn’t quite get David’s sense of humor right away. She suggested he should get the Pecan Crusted Chicken for dinner, to which David retorted, “If I don’t like it, I am going to totally blame you.” Being the gullible person that she is, Becky took those words to heart and was a little worried when the food came. As it turned out, David loved the food and Becky didn’t have to worry about David blaming her. Becky learned quite soon, after that first date, to not take anything David says too seriously.

After dinner they decided to head to a nearby bar to sing some karaoke. David, trying to impress Becky, sang:

* Weird Al Yankovic’s “White & Nerdy”

* Weezer’s “Say it Ain’t So”

* Melanie’s “Brand New Key”

And astonishingly so, this did impress her. Only Becky would be impressed by Weird Al’s “White n’ Nerdy.”

They had a a wonderful first date, but what it made it even better was that David called the next day… and the day after that… and the day after that… and from that day on they were inseparable.

The back of the card has your twitter handle, how many tweets you have written and how many followers you have on Twitter. You can chose between having your Twitter information or your LinkedIn information on the front.  Also on the front is your picture, real name, bio, special power and quote.

The front of the card has a thumbnail of your picture, your name, email address, website and phone number.  The coolest thing about the card is that you have your own personal QR code.  People can scan the code and it will take them to a personalized meet-meme page with all of your info.  What is super awesome about this is you can update this page as often as you want!  If you created a new blog or changed jobs you can always update your site to provide those links.  Here is my meet-meme page.   Be sure to check out the “tweet this” and “share on Facebook” buttons.  This allows the person that you gave a card to tweet, “I just meet @becky_J.”  Seriously…. how cool is that??

Here are some QR Scanner apps.

iPhone

Android

Team Uncle Dynamite’s entry into the 2010 San Antonio 48hr Film Experience.

Our selections:
Genre: Telenovela
Character: Peril – a character trying to quit smoking
Line: For what it’s worth, I used to be a man.
Location: Nightlife

We also posted the video on Funny or Die.  We would love it if you could vote for us.  Wouldn’t that be cool if we got to the front page??  I sure think it would.

Thanks!

XOXOXO

Becky

The Beatles star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood was on a little island away from everyone else… well except for Elvis.  But he’s ok to share an island with… I suppose.

While we were in Hollywood, we took a trip to the very first Guitar Center.  They had their own little Man’s Theater, with famous guitar players hand prints out front.

Like Less Paul and Eric Clapton.

The Guitar Center also had a small museum with signed guitars.  I was so close to these but couldn’t touch.  To actually own one of these would be a dream come true.  I believe the second one is also signed by Paul’s late beloved wife Linda.

When we were in Las Vegas we ate dinner one night at the Hard Rock Cafe.  They had several animation cells from Yellow Submarine, one of George’s gold records and as you were leaving the restaurant we saw this oh so famous quote from the Fab Four.

The next night we went to see a Beatles Tribute show.  It was in a small venue at the Planet Hollywood Hotel.  They were great and I got invited to go up on stage and play the tambourine!  It was a great time!!

Maybe next time I go to Vegas I’ll be able to see Love; the Beatles Cirque Du Soleil Show.

My last post about the forthcoming film “The Social Network,” has really spawned some spectacular parody trailers among the internets.

Here is one about Myspace, “The Other Social Netowrk.”

A very amusing one based on YouTube, “The Video Website.”

But my favorite out of the parodies is the one about Twitter, “The Twit Network.” They even have their own parody of the eerie version of “Creep.”  (Call 911!  Do they have a Twitter? BWAHAHAHA!!)

The thing about these parodies is that they aren’t too far gone.  I mean if they made a movie about the start up of Facebook, Hollywood could certainly make a movie about Twitter. Is it really that off base?  Twitter is just as popular as Facebook, so why not?  It just goes to show that Hollywood can take anything and dramatize the heck out of it and make it somewhat interesting.  Not like that’s a bad thing.  People like to be entertained.  That’s why we go to the movies.  That an the amazing movie theater popcorn.  Yummmmmm!

I remember the first time I heard about social networking.  A friend of mine said, “I found this new site where you can see your friends profiles, then see who they are friends with and so on.”   Sounded fairly interesting, so I checked it out.  This was of course the notorious Myspace.  I was hooked instantly.  It wasn’t long after, that I found out about Facebook, which at the time, was only allowed to those that had a .edu email address.  I’m not sure when it happened, but my enthusiasm for MySpace subsided and I become enthralled with Facebook.  I could see what all my friends were doing, take silly quizzes and find old high school friends.  It was fun!  It wasn’t until I landed a job as as social media marketer that I really saw the benefit of Facebook for a business or a brand.

Now, Facebook is expected to reach 500 million users this week.  As Facebook is the most visited site on the internet, that is definitely to be expected.  However, who would of thunk that a “Facebook movie” would be looming on the horizon.  So, what exactly would a Facebook movie be about?  “The Social Network” staring Jesse Eisenberg, made famous by “Adventureland” and “Zombieland” (what’s with all the -land movies Jesse?), is to be released October 1st.  The screenplay written by Arron Sorkin, Charlie Wilson’s War, A Few Good Men, is based on a Ben Mezrich‘s 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding Of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal. The movie is based, loosely, around the creation of Facebook and founders, Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin.

While the story seems over the top, the over dramatized trailer was exceptionally well done.  Especially with the eerie choral rendition of Radiohead’s Creep for the backdrop.  The first minute of the trailer shows random screen shots of profile pictures and “What’s on your mind” status messages.  This goes to show how omnipresent Facebook is and we all can tell what these things are referring to…. fade to Harvard 2003 and poor ol’ Zucky harping on the fact that he just wants to be accepted by the Harvard hipster crowd.  Revenge of the Nerds?  Anyone?  Anyone?  So, he creates a website for the college crowd to connect with each other.  AND cue drama.  2200 visits in an hour?  No, 22,000 visits in an hour.  If you guys were the inventors of Facebook, you’d have invented Facebook!  Suing in federal court and Zucky in a hoodie telling it like it is… fade to movie title.

So, we shall see if this movie scores or flops in the box office.  There are high hopes considering director, David Fincher, has movies like Fight Club, Se7en, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button under his belt.  Hmmm… makes me wonder why Brad Pitt isn’t in this film.  Arron Sorkin’s filmography ain’t too shabby either.  With a pile of Emmy’s for The West Wing and a few Golden Globe noms for Charlie Wilson’s War, The American President and A Few Good Men, this film should have a better than adequate script.  The cast looks pretty decent too. I thoroughly enjoyed Jesse Eisenberg in, the totally under claimed movie, Adventureland.  Plus he has the perfect hair to play Zuckerberg.  I also love the fact that Rashida Jones is hopping on over to film.  She totally kicks butt in two of my favorite NBC shows, The Office and Parks and Recreation and ever since SNL’s D*ck In A Box, Justin Timberlake is a- ok in my book.

From what I can tell by a 2 minute long trailer, the movie looks pretty good.  I like Fincher’s directing style, Se7en was phenomenal.  Kevin Spacey was oober creepy.  Plus, with plot points like: greed, obsession, unpredictability and sex what really could go wrong?  I’m hoping a movie about Facebook will keep me enthralled for the whole 2 or so hours, but then again, I am a little obsessed with social networking so that may not be too difficult.

What are your thoughts about the movie?  Are you going to see it when it comes out in October?  Do you think it’s too soon to make a movie about Facebook?

When I was little, Ringo was always my favorite Beatle.  Why you may ask?  Six year old me would say, “Because he always looks happy and he can twirl his drumsticks.”  As good a reason as any I suppose.

So Happy Birthday, to legend that doesn’t look a day over 25.  Peace and love Ringo.

Anyway, this is my ridiculous segue into my third post on taking advantage of social media after an event.

So, now you had this great event and SO many people showed up because of your awesome promotion skills.  You took pictures/ videos, you hashed, you tagged, you checked- in, you connected with people and told them how to stay connected with you via your “Connect With Me” cards.

Now what to do!  First things first.  Take off those ridiculously uncomfortable, fabulous shoes and now that you’re comfy, you can get to work.

Follow- Up

Following up with a potential client, a current client or the custodian that helped you set up your booth is equally, if not more, important then meeting them in the first place.  I mean, look at it this way.  If you were an employer interviewing for a new position, who would you remember the most; the person that came in and had a nice interview or the person that came in had a nice interview PLUS sent you message thanking you for meeting with them?  You would probably choose the later.  Same thing goes with this.  If someone gave you their business card, call or email them.  If they left you a comment on Facebook, send them a comment back.  If they reached out to you first, follow up with them in that same matter.  You don’t want to call someone that mentioned you on Twitter.  That is a social media no-no in my book.

Keep Them Connected

Let’s say you attended a trade show and afterward two vendors from the show contacted you.  Company A said: “It was great meeting you! Thanks for stopping by our booth.”  Company B said: “It was so great meeting you Becky.  I’m glad we finally got to meet in person.  Let me know what you think about the ideas we talked about at the show.  Also, if you have any suggestions for us for next year’s booth, I would love to hear them. P.S. I hope your doggie is feeling better.”  Which company would you be more inclined to respond to? (Jeopardy music plays) Ok! Time’s up!  If you chose Company A, you would be wrong!  Well actually, it’s more of an opinion question than a right or wrong question.  I personally think more people would respond to Company B’s follow up than Company A’s.  Company A could have sent out that same message to every single person they spoke with at the event.  While Company B’s message was waaaaaay more personal.  They mentioned your specific name, wrote about a specific topic that was discussed at the event (also good so you will remember them), asked a question to gain feedback and mentioned something personal.  All of these are good tactics to use to stay connected with your clients and/ or customers.

Pics and Vids

Going through the photos and videos from the event is always my favorite part.  These photos and videos hopefully captured the mood and feel of the event.  They are a great way to show everyone that was there and those that weren’t what it was like.  So, go ahead and post those pics!  Even the ones where your boss is putting bunny ears on the intern.  These photos give your company a more personal and fun feel.  Unless your business is consultation company on how to be serious all the time, then I think it’s totally ok to post those kind of pictures.  [Disclaimer: Please be aware of your company's social media policy before posting pictures or videos of any kind.] Once you have posted your pictures you can encourage the people that you met at the event to tag themselves in the pictures.  Tagging is always fun.  As long as it’s not the illegal kind.

Did you learn your lesson?

Remember when Mom said, “Go to time out and think about what you did”?  Then asked you afterward, if you learned your lesson?  Well, this is kinda like that; only less time- out and more reflection.  You can always learn from your challenges, mistakes, and even triumphs.  Take the suggestions, compliments and complaints and make a case study out of it.  What worked well?  What was the most horrible idea ever?  Compile all of those thoughts and save them for next time; for the next event.

Whew!  I’m exhausted just thinking about all the work that you all need to get done.  Now go… and Learn. Share. Grow.

Anything else that I missed?  Comments?  Other strategies?