Thoughts from Meggie Poo

Four Square - not just a schoolyard game anymore

noreply@blogger.com (Meggie Poo) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:13:00 +0000

I guess I've been breaking the #1 rule I learned as a child: don't talk to strangers. Between my blog, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and now FourSquare, sometimes it feels like I'm talking to no one but strangers. However I enjoy putting my thoughts and feelings out there and meeting new people online - it's just that after today, I think I'm going to set some stricter boundaries for myself.

I signed up for FourSquare a few months ago because I thought it was an online meetup site that coordinated random games of the actual game of FourSquare (you know the one I'm talking about - the four boxes and rubber ball). I was wrong. It's a geo-location social networking service where you "check in" and earn badges depending on your activity. Lately I've been semi-making fun of it: checking in at my desk, on the broken metro car, etc. But I can see the actual value in the service, when used correctly. Businesses can offer incentives to frequent customers, and you can find new spots in your city. But it's risky...

Today I was waiting for my dad and sister at an Italian restaurant. We were meeting for lunch before I drive back to DC (I have the day off). I was bored waiting, so I checked in at this Italian restaurant on FourSquare and allowed it to be published in my Twitter feed. No big deal. Not a lot of people in this area use Four Square and I added a line about how delicious the garlic knobs were at this place. My sister and dad finally showed up and we order. In the middle of ordering, another waitress comes up to our table and asks "Are you Meghan?".... I looked up and said "yes?" She said "you have a phone call..", and immediately I thought "Shit, this can't be a coincidence." If anyone needs to call me, they can call my cell phone. It's not exactly hard to get a hold of me either, you can tweet or email me at any time. I told the waitress that I'd rather not take the call - she didn't know who it was. She came back into the room and said "It's someone from the breast cancer cure - they want you to come to the phone." Wow. Talk about invasive AND persistent. The waitress saw the look of fear I apparently was wearing and said "I'll just hang up on them." My sister said it looked like I was about to cry.

Not only did this person see that I was at lunch - they took the time to Google the restaurant and the phone number, then call and ask for me by name. I immediately deleted that tweet. But the entire time we were there I kept wondering if someone from this so-called breast cancer cure company was going to walk in or call again. The invasion of privacy was so surprising - it really hit me hard.

I learned a lesson though: FourSquare is not evil or a complete and evil invasion of privacy. Like all forms of social media, you just need to be careful. I didn't think anyone would see or care where I was for lunch, but by thinking that I made myself vulnerable to a spam or prank phone call. At first I thought "omg I'm deleting all my social media accounts" but I realized that was drastic. I just need to continue to be very calculated and careful about the information I publish about myself. It's that simple.

UPDATE: A Twitter friend (@riaglo) sent me a link to this site, Phone Losers. Sounds like they're behind the kind of stuff that happened to me today, though I have no idea if it was them since I refused to answer the phone. No matter, what if this was a pranker and not a breast cancer cure site spammer? That means they used my Twitter background and told me they represent a cause so meaningful to me - that is flat out wrong. I don't care if I was the one putting my stuff out there - that was hateful. And if it was a spammer, then they should have contacted me via Twitter of FourSquare, not by stalking the restaurant and calling me. Lame.

Will You Accept This Rose? #Thebachelor

noreply@blogger.com (Meggie Poo) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:57:00 +0000

On open letter to Jake Pavelka, the newest Bachelor, about his final rose decision and the online activity surrounding it

Dear Jake, I hope you’re happy. Your season of The Bachelor: On The Wings of Love has ended and you’ve picked the woman that four different ladies on the show warned you was only there for fame: Vienna.

I won’t feign surprise. I knew this was coming. Insider information has been leaked for months about how you fell for Vienna. Even respected gossip sites (i.e. Reality TV Magazine) reported that you liked Vienna so much you took Beyonce’s advice and “put a ring on it.”

But don’t feel bad, I can’t remember one season when the audience wholeheartedly believed that the star made the right choice.

I’ve been a fan of The Bachelor since it began in 2002 when Alex Michel, the successful Stanford grad, dated 25 different women. At the end of the season, Alex announced that Amanda Marsh was “the one”, much to the audience’s chagrin. While he was trying to figure out who would get a rose each week, I was trying to talk about the show with my sisters and my roommates, but they weren’t watching.

When the first season ended, I stopped tuning in because, beyond the tales of love and treachery, what I really wanted was a group of people to connect with about the show. But after discovering the amazing network of fans scrutinizing and LOLing about all the drama via Twitter, Facebook, blogs and message boards, I’ve recently revived my love of The Bachelor franchise.

Every Monday night, I’m live-tweeting the event with a dedicated posse of Bachelor fanatics. I read the Entertainment Weekly recap column (including the hilarious and sometimes harsh comments) on Tuesday morning, as well as reports on RealitySteve.com, the oddly accurate Bachelor psychic who somehow never gets his predictions wrong. While I prefer the snarkier blogs about the show (the EW.com column written by Kristen Baldwin is gold), plenty of other options exist for fans to get their fill of Bachelor recaps and reviews - more than 110,000 blogs to be exact. Your show has really “taken off”, Jake.

This kind of network was exactly what I was looking for when I was an awkward high school senior watching your predecessor Alex figure out who got the “final rose.” It feels like the proliferation of easy-to-join, easy-to-use social media platforms and applications has magically opened up to the pop culture world, showing us how awesome it is to be “in the know”.

So did you feel the pressure, Jake? We were all tweeting and posting about what we thought was coming next and you didn’t fail to entertain us. In fact, even though only one couple has gotten married in the 18 seasons of The Bachelor and Bachelorette, we all keep tuning in because we want the star to be happy in the end. And now we have a robust network of people to talk about it with – even if we think they picked the wrong girl!

I hope it works out for you guys, I truly do. But until I see the previews for your fairytale nuptials, I will remain skeptical. I hope you understand.

Yours, Meghan.**

** For those of you not living in my crazy Bachelor world, Jake Pavelka is the most recent star of ABC’s franchise “The Bachelor”. On Monday, March 1, 2010, his season, aptly named “On the Wings of Love” since he’s a commercial airline pilot, came to a conclusion. Vienna, his new bride to be, was chosen over Tenley, the chipper divorcee. Vienna was the cause for much drama on the show, leading viewers to dislike her and hope she wasn’t the last one standing.

Originally Published by Meghan Sager at NMS Blog on March 02, 2010 in New Media Strategies, Social Media,Online Marketing, Pop Culture

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The End of the Snow... Sorry

noreply@blogger.com (Meggie Poo) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:29:00 +0000

All winter I've been displaying this cute snowman flag in my garden.

Since the snow just never went away I thought it was appropriate.

Then it dawned on me. Maybe the snowman glad isn't cute because of the snow. Maybe there is snow because of the snowman flag!

I have removed said flag (retired until winter next year) and put up a St. Patty's Day one.

Thus ending the snowcapolypse.

Redesign! What do you think?

noreply@blogger.com (Meggie Poo) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:02:00 +0000

I didn't change much... but I changed enough for me to notice, so I thought y'all would care too!

I've revamped my profiles on Brazen Careerist and 20 something bloggers, which helped me launch my blogging career in the first place.

I hope that this will give me motivation to continue to post often... see y'all soon!

xo

Millenials Post

noreply@blogger.com (Meggie Poo) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 04:43:00 +0000

So as most of you know, I served on the panel for Washington Women in Public Relations' "Generational Gap" discussion. I represented the Millenials, it wasn't too hard, since I am one!

At 25, I've held 3 jobs and had 5 different positions. Reasons behind all of these numbers were brought up, and many different issues, as well. I'm working on a deck (PowerPoint) to go over what I learned and what you may find of interest. Until then, let me know any generational questions you have and we can get to the bottom of it!

What's Up Gen X & Baby Boomers? Wanna chat?

noreply@blogger.com (Meggie Poo) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 02:35:00 +0000

Tomorrow I am going to be a panel for Washington Women in Public Relations (WWPR) called "Mind the Gap: A Generation Panel and Discussion." I will be the Millennial on-call for the panel to chat with and ask questions.

This is my first time being on an official panel. From what I know, I need to prepare a little blurb about myself and why I'm there, and be prepared to come up with quick answers to tough questions. I'm a bit nervous, because it seems the only reason we're having a panel or talking about this, is because of my generation.

My generation (Gen Y, Millennials, etc.) have obviously caused an uproar in the workplace. I've enduring many mass generalizations that I am either 1) super lazy and never want to work or 2) an Internet genius that should know everything at the click of the button. Hopefully tomorrow I can shed light on the fact that the majority of the workforce in my generation is just like me, and just like Boomers and Gen X were at our age.

We want to succeed, we want to learn fast, but we also need to slow down. We need to take a moment and learn how to listen. But in return, we need bosses who don't forget how to listen to us. I know I am not the perfect employee, but I try, and to be generalized as a "slacker" because a select few in my generation somehow found themselves at the receiving end of a "very important poll that made it into the Post" just isn't fair. I don't think every word I have to say is super important, but if a boss will listen to me and mentor me (as most bosses should do, right?) they'll find that I'm competent.

So, off to more preparation for this panel. I just had to do a mind dump on my blog to think through some of these issues and possible questions in my head.

Cool thing though: while doing my research, I pulled up the Porter Novelli Millenials white paper that came out in Summer 2008. That thing made me so angry, but instead of taking to my blog, I read it top to bottom, made comments in the margins, and contact the company. Together we created a generational panel and I came up with a game plan. Unfortunately, it never came to fruition, but it was cool to see that I'm finally able to do something I've wanted to do for four year now.

Here goes nothing...

Oh PS - here's the trophy I received for writing this blog post. Thanks ;)

Book Signing Compilation Post

noreply@blogger.com (Meggie Poo) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 03:51:00 +0000

In the past year (and a few months) I've been to more book signings than I've ever been to in my life. Here's a snapshot (literally), in chronological order. Enjoy:

John Hodgman, More Information Than You Require

Jen Lancaster, Pretty in Plaid

James Patterson, You've Been Warned

John Grisham, Random Book

Nicholas Sparks, The Last Song

Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried

Kathy Griffin, Official Book Club Selection

Google Earth - Historical View

noreply@blogger.com (Meggie Poo) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:05:00 +0000

As I'm snowed in at my parents house (having a lot of fun! and no, that's not sarcasm), I downloaded Google Earth. I haven't played with this software since college --- but since I'm researching beach houses for our family vacation so I wanted to check out exactly how much beach space the house we want has available after hurricane season.

After I got the images I needed... I played. Since I last used it, the Google Earth folks have added more functionality. Instead of only being able to see the image of the place Google chooses (usually from the previous day), you can now view each place at any time of day (ie.. you can see cars in the driveway at night, none during the day). I mean, it's a little bit startling, but probably not 100% accurate so I'm not going to worry too much... yet.

The coolest version now available, though: historical view. You can view places how they looked over 15 years ago. I saw my home in 1994- before the farmland next to us was bought and a ritzy subdivision was built. You can even scroll throughout the years. You can't go that far back for each place, for instance I could only see my grandfather's house back to 1998. Still, very cool. Makes you wonder what will be next in Google Earth and public sattelite imagery?

The final date I saw on my house was Jan 31, 2010 - which is tomorrow. I am hoping that was a glitch. My dad told me to see if I could view 2020 and, if I could, we would be "getting the hell outta here."

Download it and let me know what you think/ what you saw!

A year and a half in --- my WMATA Metro Review

noreply@blogger.com (Meggie Poo) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 01:25:00 +0000

I've been taking the metro to work everyday since August 2008. I'm an Orange Line rider, but occasionally have taken the blue, green and red to get around. Overall, I get where I need to go, but I hear complaints everywhere. It's a mix of 1) The metro employees suck 2) The metro executives suck 3) The metro riders suck.

Here's my review: it's a mix of all three.

First of all, I don't think we should blame everything on the metro employees. As much as we hate it when we hear them calling on the radio that we have to "de-train", I'm sure they aren't thriilled to be sitting in the front of a broken train. Yes, there are some really crappy employees that text-while-driving and do other illegal things, but I've never seen that with my own two eyes so I don't think it's that rampant.

Secondly, if our metro trains are breaking down, then why did the metro executive offices get new chairs or carpet or something a year ago? If the track is breaking and the cars and disgusting and unsafe, why do the metro exec's still have ridiculously high salaries?

Thirdly, I rode the WMATA Metro Bus today. The passengers were 10 times more friendly than on the metro train. The difference was a marked improvement on my regular "I'm going to look you up and down, not smile, not move and push you over if you get in my space" metro train ride. I mean sometimes something that happens to me on the metro train in the morning can ruin my day. Like the time I stood on the metro and it didn't move for 15 minutes. Then again, on the bus line, a child did kiss my leg repeatedly until his mother pried him off (ew). So you take what you can get as far as clientele, I guess.

Overall, I have gotten everywhere I needed to get safely, and gotten a few good stories out of it. But I think the biggest problem is the major 'tudes of metro passengers. We're all going in the same direction, we all don't want to be stuck, we all want that seat with no one sitting by us... can't we all just get along?

Recipe Review: Mushroom and Swiss Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Meggie Poo) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 01:28:00 +0000

Tonight, I made a recipe from "My Mama Made That", a cookbook my sister gave me full of "Virginia Favorites" from the Junior League of Hampton Roads, Inc. This is a big step for me because lately my "cooking" has been marinara and pre-made tortellini.

Mushroom and Swiss Chicken
Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 tbs red wine vinegar
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 tbs Cajun seasoning
1/2 tbs pepper
1 cup chopped scallions
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
4 slices Swiss cheese

Instructions: Preheat the oven to 350. Mix the olive oil and garlic in a 9x13-inch baking dish. Add the chicken and turn to coat well. Sprinkle with 3 tbs vinegar, the Cajun seasoning (editor's note: use this seasoning with a light hand because it's HOT!) and pepper. Bake for 30min. Cover the chicken with the scallions and mushrooms. Sprinkle with 1tbs vinegar. Bake for 15min longer. Remove from the oven and top each chicken breast with a slice of the swiss cheese. Serve with wild rice or Cajun rice (editor's note: we had it with white Minute rice and it was still delicious).

Review: This recipe definitely cleared out my sinuses, so I think I'll cut the Cajun seasoning in half next time I make this, which will be soon. I definitely recommend this meal because it's easy, really delicious and fairly healthy.

One thing with me is that I tend to not cook a lot because I don't have a lot of the ingredients and don't know how. This cook book is awesome -- I also bought myself a Rachael Ray cookbook.

Happy eating!

Cyber Shopping Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Meggie Poo) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:16:00 +0000

I wrote this for the New Media Strategies blog, published on November 15, 2009. Since I deal with a lot of Bargain Shopping and Savings and Communities, I've picked up some tips to save money while shopping online. If you haven't finished your shopping yet, maybe some of these tips will help you save some money before Christmas!

Savvy Savings When Cyber Shopping

Since the beginning of September I’ve been asked on four separate occasions if I’m receiving more opt-in e-mail spam than usual. Of course, like the rest of my peers, I am. In the past, we would have received all of these discounts via the postal service or clipped them from back of the newspaper. But now savings are staring us right in the face when we check our e-mail, so isn’t it worth our time to start taking these companies up on their offers?

Nowadays, when I’m buying things online I look for the best deal possible. Sometimes I will purchase something just because it’s on sale (I know, Mom, not the best use of my money). I’ve even set up an e-mail alert for a certain product so when a deal pops up I know automatically. With such instant and convenient access to coupon codes and savings opportunities, the space under the tree doesn’t have to be as bare as we thought it would this year.

If you’re new to the online savings game, I have one tip for you: Google Google Google! Last week I was buying PJ’s for my sisters and saved more than $40 onAerie.com by shopping during the advertised “free shipping” window of time andgoogling the products to get a 20% promotional code.

Tons of discount websites and e-mail newsletters exist, but finding ones with useful information and the best deals takes a little time. I’ve put together a short list of the ones I’ve found to be the most reliable and up-to-date, and if you have others feel free to let me know in the comments or through Twitter.

Coupon Cabin

With verified coupons and deals available on the home page, a great search function and an e-mail option, people searching for certain products should give this a try. When you click on a deal it delivers you right to the home page of the product and applies the coupon – a negative of this feature, however, is that you don’t have direct access to the coupon code so using multiple codes is more difficult.

Coupons.com

These coupons can be easily browsed because they’re carefully categorized. A neat feature of this site is it’s “clip” feature which lets you choose coupons to print and then go to the store to get the savings. I’m not a huge fan of this site, though, because it seems to target parents --- offering savings on mainly Consumer Packaged Goods and game products on the home page.

Retail Me Not

Parents do not fret, your holiday toy savings can be found here, along with coupon codes for tons of great online stores. This site searches over 40,000 online stores and posts the coupons, allowing customers to review the accuracy of the deal. With daily contests, a very active forum and an easy coupon sharing function, this is a top spot to find good deals.

Groupon

Instead of searching out great deals in your area, sign up for the daily Groupon e-mails and get them delivered to your Inbox each day. These aren’t just your everyday “free shipping” or “10% off” deals, though. I’m talking 50-90% off at luxury spas, boutique restaurants, exclusive products and much more.

In the future, I’m sure that getting deals will be easier than ever before. We are seeing signs of that already, with cell phones enabling customers to take a photo of a barcode and compare prices or receive coupons. Grocery store, Giant Food, has a new handheld scanner that you carry with you as you shop, and every once in a while it’ll tell you about current deals going on in the store.

I’ll leave you with one final tip, if your shopping site of choice only lets you use a certain number of coupon codes, you can call your order in instead and verbally give them the codes you found. Hopefully you’re now prepared to shop ‘til you drop and maybe even have some cash leftover in your holiday budget!

New Google Blogger Features?

noreply@blogger.com (Meggie Poo) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:07:00 +0000

So I haven't done maintenance on my blog in a WHILE. It needs a good makeover. Not a total revamp though. Does anyone like any Google Blogger features in particular? I'd love to hear your feedback.

Also, any feedback about my blog? I know I need to post more. Other than that, whatcha got?

What did the ocean say to the sand?

noreply@blogger.com (Meggie Poo) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:02:00 +0000

Nothing. It just waved.
(wokka wokka wokka)

My fantastic brother-in-law gave me my much coveted invite to Google Wave. I started "waving" at work, but my Firefox hasn't been updated yet so I could only write in hyperlinks (note: not effective). Now that I'm visiting home and on my mother's computer with the enormous space monitor (it's amazing) I checked out Google Wave. I'm not gonna lie: it's pretty cool looking.

Problem: I don't have anyone to "wave" with. And I haven't learned how to send invites yet. But when I get to send invites, put your address and I'll invite you and we can wave.

Good part: Easy to figure out and they have great training videos.

Problem: I'm worried that none of my very important Gmail conversations and contacts won't transfer over. Also, in the future will I only be able to "wave" to other people with wave. This isn't going to REALLY take off for years, and I need to be able to contact others on the Internet not on Wave.

Good part: It makes me feel like I'm from the future.

Working When You’re Not at Work

noreply@blogger.com (Meggie Poo) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:12:00 +0000

This is re-posted from its original entry on the New Media Strategies Blog.

Working When You’re Not at Work

An NMSer talks about being a Millennial in DC and getting involved in PR organizations
By: Meghan Sager

Just about a year ago I moved to the Washington D.C. area to work at a boutique PR firm. Obviously, a great network of communications professionals exists in the city and I decided to join Washington Women in Public Relations (WWPR) so I could meet more people. I was hell bent on finding my way in this industry and in this city, and I knew I had to branch out beyond my 9-6 job to do so.

As a Millennial (or Gen Y’er), people assume that I’ll only work hard if I’m being sufficiently rewarded. However I’ve found a balance between working hard, having a life and networking outside of my j-o-b. Most of the time, professional organizations have meetings during lunch or happy hour so you don’t even have to request time off to attend. However, sometimes I force myself to connect with senior communicators even when it’s not convenient with my social life, because I know I’ll enjoy it and I’ll learn something in the end. I think a lot of people starting off in their career forget that being successful doesn’t always mean working 9-6 then clocking out. You have to put in the effort to get your career on the track right.

After a few months of volunteering with WWPR I became a Board Member and now serve as the Marketing and Communications co-chair. In this capacity, I was given the freedom to explore social media options for WWPR and add the knowledge and experience I gained to my resume. I truly believe that this volunteer position was what gave me the relevant experience to become NMS’ next Online Analyst.

In addition to the great career advances you can make when you branch out and network, you also meet some amazing people and come across opportunities you just can’t turn down. WWPR member Mary Fletcher Jones and I started tweeting and commenting on each other’s blogs before she approached me to be a guest on her podcast titled “Conversations in Public Relations”. She wanted to share with her audience of over 2,000 subscribers the experiences I’ve had while working in a communications agency. The interview turned into three separate podcasts, you can check the podcasts below (and in previous blog posts on Thoughts from Meggie Poo).

Not every opportunity like this is right, but you’ll never stumble across these hidden gems and great mentors if you don’t branch out of your comfort zone. It will help your career, help your resume and more than likely help your company.

A Cab Ride Story

noreply@blogger.com (Meggie Poo) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:37:00 +0000

Random e-mails from friends like this area amazing. Here's an excerpt of an e-mail I received this morning, outlining a late night cab ride in D.C.

This type of scenario is why my friends should be followed around with cameras...

"I don't know who said it first nor how long it took for this interaction to begin, but the cab we jumped into was one of the best smelling cabs I have ever been in and we couldn't help but say something to the driver. He was gracious for the compliment and proud of this achievement, but the excitement seemed to carry over more into myself and C. We couldn't stop talking about the wonderful smell. We told him that he should bottle the creation and sell it to other cab drivers, that his cab was the best smelling cab in all of D.C. We even sang songs about the smell to the tune of Janet Jackson's "What Have You Done for Me Lately" singing, "What Have You Fre-Breezed for Me Lately" We were having such a great time, singing and laughing, all in our short 6 minute cab ride across town. He loved it and he loved us. In true form, C even made up a song on the spot about his cab. It was great."

**Names have been changed to protect the awesome.

Working at/ breaking into the PR and Communications Agency Field

noreply@blogger.com (Meggie Poo) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:42:00 +0000

Mary Fletcher Jones has posted the last segment from my interview with her for Conversations in Public Relations. Check it out below. Again, I'll say the disclaimer that my thoughts may not be perfect or complete, so if you have anything to add leave it in the comments!

And just in case you were wondering: yes, that is me in HD.

@meggiepoo's Twitter Success Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Meggie Poo) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:21:00 +0000

I don't really consider myself a huge Twitter success yet- I have a decent following and a tweet a lot though. I don't have an enormous following, a great niche or a business to promote. I just have fun. But I know a thing or two about how to help businesses and brands on Twitter, and I talked to Mary Fletcher Jones with Conversations in Public Relations about how individuals can test the waters with this platform and gain more followers.

My tips and strategies won't work for everyone, and if you have any to add please comment! I'd love to hear what you think and how you use Twitter!

Why I Joined Washington Women in Public Relations

noreply@blogger.com (Meggie Poo) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:14:00 +0000

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of sitting down with Mary Fletcher Jones and talking to her about my involvement with Washington Women in Public Relations for her show: Conversations in PR.

I had never done anything like this before but she was super helpful- telling me which angle was best and letting me practice/ do-over when I needed.

Check it out below, and also check out WWPR and our 20th Annual PR Woman of the Year luncheon coming up!

Remember when times were simpler... on Facebook?

noreply@blogger.com (Meggie Poo) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:20:00 +0000

I love the Way Back Machine. It will take you to any Web site archived on the Web somewhere.
I tried to login to the old Facebook, the way it was when it wasn't open to the public and only a few colleges had access.

Remember this?

It wouldn't log me in to see how things were back then, and I can't even remember. Gone are the days without newsfeeds, wall to wall messages and Fan pages. I like the new way of Facebook, it's fun, but wouldn't it be easier to teach our parents how to use Facebook by using the older model?

I want these socks.

noreply@blogger.com (Meggie Poo) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:01:00 +0000

Back to school 3 pack found at Ashi Dashi.

Welcome back to school, kiddies.

Beautiful Lengths for Life

noreply@blogger.com (Meggie Poo) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:06:00 +0000

Much has happened since my last post, just about one month ago. Tomorrow, I begin my new job at a wonderful firm and I'm so excited. This was a necessary move and I think it's going to make a huge positive difference in my life--- I also think it's going to be challenging, rewarding and fun to work there. So stay tuned. This firm works with new media, so I hope that it will convince me to re-commit to my blog, meaning more posts and maybe a re-vamp.

Other aspects of my life have changed, more notably in my appearance. Last Friday I made my second donation to Pantene Pro-V's Beautiful Lengths. I weighed my options carefully, knowing very well that Locks of Love is an outstanding organization. However in my research, I found that many of their wigs go towards one very deserving need- children with alopecia- but I really wanted my donation to go to women with cancer. Beautiful Lengths ensures that it will. It also ensures that all donated hair would be used and the length requirement is only eight inches. To me, this was an easy decision. Check out their Web site or Blog to learn more. If you have any questions, please ask!

Anywho, Linette, my wonderful hairdresser of almost 20 years and self-proclaimed sister, did the deed of cutting my donation again. I wandered into Linette's Hair Studio in Grafton, VA and she was ready for me. I wanted to share with you all photos from my big donation hair cut (click the photo to see a larger view), so please check them out:

Before...

During...
After...So, I have a new job. New hair. Some cute new outfits (duh!) and will hopefully have more great news and updates to share with everyone soon.

Wii Fit Made Me Sweat!

noreply@blogger.com (Meggie Poo) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:45:00 +0000

On Sunday, I bought Wii Fit from Best Buy. Most of my large technology purchases are from Best Buy because of their Rewards program and service, I think it's the best.

So, after installing the Wii Fit it quickly told me I'm overweight (thanks) and then made my cute little "Mii" grow a belly. Fantastic.

Okay, negativity out the door. Wii Fit is awesome. It actually helped me set goals to get to my weight down to my target number and help me get healthier.

Tonight I played for just 15 minutes and I broke a sweat. I even unlocked four extra games, including yoga. I've never been a yoga girl, but I may give it a try now that it's a video game.

If my progress continues, I'll keep posting. But so far, I recommend the Wii Fit!

To the left are chocolate Miis. I got these for boyfriend for Valentine's Day 2008. Eat your heart out :)

Pushing a giant- will they push back?

noreply@blogger.com (Meggie Poo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:37:00 +0000

According to this Washington Post article, Rosetta Stone filed a lawsuit against Google for selling their trademark brand in Google's wildly popular and successful AdWords program. I'm not sure how effective this lawsuit will be, but I think Rosetta Stone makes a good point and I'm a little bit proud of them for sticking up for themselves. As a company headquartered just down the road from me, I know a few people who work there and I am very familiar with their products.

I could be wrong here, but allowing anyone to purchase trademarked names or phrases in AdWords does seem a bit off. Anyone agree or disagree? If someone tried to do this in print advertising, it would not be permitted, so have we reached a new wave in regulating online advertising and content?

Oh Say Can You See... Fireworks!

noreply@blogger.com (Meggie Poo) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 02:33:00 +0000

Below are two amateur digital camera videos I took of the fireworks on the beaches of Yorktown, VA on July 4, 2009. Enjoy!

Sorry this one is sideways! I have it flipped the correct way on my computer but the Blogger uploader didn't recognize it and took so long to upload I don't want to try again. On the right, that shine is the York River.

"When I count my blessings, I thank God I was an American child!" - Phil Vassar

You Must Be a Digital Nerd If...

noreply@blogger.com (Meggie Poo) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:29:00 +0000

... on June 12 you waited up to get your personalized Facbeook URL. Then you did it again on June 27.

Yes, of course, I did it both times. The first time I was aching to get the /meghansager URL before my Iowa name twin had the chance. The second time, I was trying to secure the URL for my current employer and the organization I volunteer for since this was only available to Fan Pages with 1,000+ Fans on the 21st. Facebook clearly stated that on June 28 at 12:01 a.m. Facebook Pages with 25+ Fans would be able to create a personalized URL. I was befuddled when I could not.

When I checked back today, Facebook now states that only Pages with 100+ fans can create a personalized URL. Failbook.

Also, another complaint: I'm now missing many a'Facebook friends' birthdays ever since the brithday reminder was moved tot he bottom of my Home Page. Facebook: Make this a moveable feature so I can get back to my "Happy Birthday!" wall posts.

kthxbai.