Sunday, January 28, 2007

You're Invited: Net Impact Professional Chapter Membership Kick-Off @ EP's Delta Kitchen

Dear friends,

You are invited to attend the Net Impact Professional Chapter Membership Kick-Off on Thursday, February 8th at EP’s Delta Kitchen and Bar!

I have included the details below. Feel free to repost this message and to invite friends!


See you soon,
Angie

What: Join the charter Net Impact Professional Chapter at EP’s Delta Kitchen and Bar on Beale Street for our exciting Membership Kick-Off!
Net Impact is a national organization whose members create positive social, economic, and environmental change through business. More importantly, Net Impact connects members to others who want to do the same! We’ll have drink specials, networking, and a wonderful new professional organization to introduce you to. In addition, all new members will receive a coupon for EP’s Delta Kitchen!

When: Thursday, February 8th @ 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM (If you can't make it until after 5:30, not to worry. We'll be networking until 7:30, then a group will stick around for for dinner.)

Where: EP’s Delta Kitchen and Bar
126 Beale Street, Memphis, TN 38103
(901) 527-1444

More Information: http://www.memphisnetimpact.org/

RSVP: rsvp@memphisnetimpact.org



Friday, January 26, 2007

Affiliate Summit-- Revenue Today and Schedule

A special thanks goes out to Revenue Today, who linked to me this week for writing about the Affiliate Summit. Revenue brands itself as "the performance marketing standard." It's a marketer's guide to permission marketing and personal search.

This link motivates me to follow up on my previous post and share with you what I enjoyed at the conference.

To start with, here are are the sessions that I attended at the Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas:
  • Marketing Your Affiliate Site - Outside of the Box
  • Mobile Phone Affiliate Marketing
  • Ask the Experts: Super Affiliates
  • Bloggers-- The New Super Affiliates
  • Optimizing Landing Pages
  • Affiliate 2.0: Discover Ten Top New Webtrends

I'll post notes from a few of the sessions in later posts.

Google Patents-- Check It Out!

I found a completely cool and very useful thing today: Google Patents!

Google has compiled the whole collection of public patents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

There have been around 7 million patents issued by the USPTO.

This site would have been extremely useful during my engineering studies at RPI.

Here's a fun patent for lipstick.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Macy's Waiting Line Online - What are they thinking??

What's Up With Me -- A Quick Summary: Sick, Affiliate Summit, Las Vegas, & More!

As I've been noticing that my readership is growing, my guilt for not posting for over a week has started to mount at a proportionate rate.

This is the short of it: First of all, I've been sick... really sick. And, I was tired of ranting about it, so I just stopped writing.

Here's one last set of details--

I'm in week 5 of being sick (not including my short stint in November) and I'm about as sick of talking about it as actually feeling bad. I've been to the doctor 4 times, had my blood drawn 4 times, had 3 antibiotics, 3 cough medicines, 2 shots, 2 X-Rays, 1 sleeping medicine, 1 mucas thinner, 1 inhaler, 1 pain killer... and around 5 or 6 bags of cough drops.

Needless to say, I can't remember having been sick for such a long period. It's been a real challenge. I've lost my voice on more than one occasion, and I've been coughing non-stop.

I basically have a super sinus infection and broncitious. Oh yeah, and my ribs are inflamed now from all the coughing... so now I have pain to deal with for a while. I think that my body is essentially re-adjusting to being back in Memphis. It's much more humid here than Los Angeles.

I'm beginning to feel better. But as you can imagine, I'm just TIRED of it all. So between you and me, I'm done being sick. ;-) I'm going to do my best not to talk about it anymore here.

With that... NEW TOPIC--

I just flew back tonight from Las Vegas. I was at the Affiliate Summit on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.

The Affiliate Summit was a great chance to meet other people who are on the cutting edge of internet marketing-- and to absorb new creative internet marketing ideas.

I flew out to Las Vegas on Friday night and met up with BoRyan. We stayed at Neil's place, which was noteably well decorated! Thanks Neil!

BoRyan was also sick on Friday when we met up, so we became Neil's excuse to stay in. At one point, he told someone we were "sick as dogs." :-) At least someone got some mileage out of it. Hehe.

I should probably share more with you about the Affiliate Summit, but I'm going to wrap it up for now and work on Net Impact. In case you haven't heard, I'm launching a professional Net Impact chapter in Memphis! We are the FIRST professional chapter in the entire state of Tennessee!

Our Memphis Net Impact kickoff event is going to be held on Thursday, February 8th at Elvis Presley's Delta Kitchen. If you've been meaning to try EP's, this is your chance! We'll have drink specials, networking, and a wonderful new professional organization to introduce you to!

I hope to see you again soon. I'll do my best to get back into the swing of things here.

:-) Angie

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Get Well Soon...

I'm renaming this blog post. I've heard that my title of "testing" is confusing.

I was actually planning to delete this post, but since I got a cute comment, I'm going to keep it.

In case you were wondering, I was testing out Google video. I made this homemade movie clip of the "Get Well Soon" gift BoRyan sent me last week.

Since he couldn't be with me in Memphis while I was sick, he did the next best thing. He FedEx'd me snacks!

THANK YOU! :-)




Friday, January 12, 2007

Wang's to the Rescue!

If you live in Downtown Memphis, you know that getting food delivered is next to impossible if you don't want Papa John's Pizza.

My favorite delivery restaurant in Memphis is Wang's Mandarin House. They have great food, free delivery, and are inexpensive. Wang's has been voted Best Chinese Restaurant by Memphis Magazine and Memphis Flyer for 23 years in a row. Someone knew what they were talking about!

My one challenge with Wang's is finding enough food to meet their $15.00 minimum purchase for delivery. If I was going to have one problem, this is the one I'd choose. Tonight, I'm going to have sweet and sour shrimp, crab ragoons, egg drop soup, and 7-up. Whoo hoo!

If you're finding yourself hungry in Memphis, be sure to check them out:
Wang's Mandarin House
113 S. Main Street, Memphis
(901) 523-2066

They're Growing Up!!

I have 16-year old twin brothers who are identical and live outside of Oklahoma City. Since they were born, I've been about the same size (as you'll see below). They have been growing up before my eyes, and after a recent photo, I feel compelled to share it with you:

Before:

Chris, Nick (check out his tiny RPI shirt!), and two friends

Nick, Chris, Me

After:

Chris



Nick and Lauren


All together now.... AWWWWWEEEE!! :-)

A Few Notes

I stayed home from work today. I didn't fall asleep until probably 4 AM this morning because my ribs are hurting me. I've just been sick for so long, that my body is giving in. Today, I'm staying in bed and I hope to feel better soon. I may have to stay in bed the entire weekend to build up my strength. Anyway, hopefully it's almost over.

Last night, I went to Drinking Liberally for the first time. It was at Dish and I went with Serrabee. Other than that I couldn't talk, it was a great time. I definitely want to go back again.

Afterward, I headed over to TJ Mulligans at the Pinch for trivia. Our little team started at around 6 people and over the two-hour game, grew to 14 people. It was a little chaotic, but fun. We again had a great team, but this time, we had pop culture covered. In the end, we only got one question wrong and got first place by a big lead. We won a gift certificate for $50! Unfortunately, I guess that the other people in the bar were suspicious of us or something because they told the bar that we were cheating. This was disheartening for me because we never cheated, and wouldn't cheat. Either way, we got to keep our prize and the night worked out. I should note that I drank a ton last night -- a ton of hot tea! I've never had hot tea at a bar, especially not 3 or 4 cups.

Like I said, today I'm relaxing. If I feel up to it, I may blog a little...

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Still sick, healthcare, and more...

The verdict is officially in..................................I'm STILL SICK!

If you have been within earshot (or blog's reach) of me in the last month, you probably already knew this. I have been fighting it like crazy and I've almost won, but we're doing one more round in the ring, just for fun.

Today, as part of the "fun" associated with my doctor visit / physical, I had the following: a chest x-ray, an EKG, a urine sample, and a blood sample. Oh yeah, and I couldn't eat beforehand. If you know me, you know that I don't do the day without breakfast. I just don't!

The good news:
* I do NOT have psnemonia
* I do NOT have mono (My little brother was diagnosed last week with the stuff, so I had to be sure... despite not even giving him a kiss on his 16 year old cheek.)

The bad news:
* I still have my sinus infection :-(
* My ribs, back, and shoulders are beginning to be in a considerable amount of pain from all the coughing I've done over the past month.
* My weight today was higher than ever before in my life (I'm hoping maybe I was wearing really heavy clothes... :-) )

The doctor gave me much stronger drugs this time. They must be, because they cost way more too!

So much more in fact that this afternoon, my phone rang. It was Visa's fraud detection department. They wanted to let me know that someone had made an unusually large purchase at Walgreens today in this place I don't typically make purchaes in a place called "German...(pause)...town".

Hahahahaha!! Finally, a beaken of light and happiness in my day!

Lets be clear though, Germantown has some kick ass shopping to be had. Love me some Saddle Creek!

Maybe this entire experience was really to teach me something about myself....



I need to get out and go shopping!
(P.S. I am NOT contagious. I've been on medicine for weeks now. If you see me, be kind and please know that I won't get you sick too.)

Monday, January 08, 2007

Linked In to Guy Kawasaki

I really enjoy reading Guy Kawasaki's blog, How to Change the World.

This week, he addressed LinkedIn and ten ways to use it. If you haven't heard of LinkedIn, you should try it - especially if you're in Memphis. LinkedIn has so many great advantages; it is an amazing networking tool and can fast forward your interview process.

So far, most of my contacts are on the east and west coasts. Memphis, this is your chance - check out Guy Kawasaki's blog and give LinkedIn a try!

Which Superhero Are You? I Am Supergirl

Your results:
You are Supergirl
Lean, muscular and feminine.
Honest and a defender of the innocent.



Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

A Blog I Read: The Homeless Guy

I read a blog that you should check out: The Homeless Guy. You may have heard of him before-- he's quite famous. Kevin Barbieux, the Homeless Guy, lives in Nashville where he writes about his daily trials of being homeless.

Kevin writes in his blog lately about being sick and how challenging it can be to spend time with others while you're coughing. If you've been around me in the last two weeks, you know that I can relate to this.

He also writes about what it's like to live a life with limited choices... or maybe finding the path to choice again.

Here's a exceprt from a piece about Kevin from USAToday.com (from 2003). I do hope you'll take a few moments to visit his blog, and maybe consider donating a few dollars to his cough medicine fund via PayPal. :-)

It's just after 9 a.m., and most of the computers at the Nashville Public Library downtown are occupied, as usual, by the homeless. They're a ragged group in knit caps and ratty coats, hunched over their keyboards. Most spent the night at the shelter a mile down the road, or shivering in camps just outside of town. Now they're pointing and clicking their way through cyberspace.

Kevin Barbieux, 41, a mild-mannered veteran of the streets, slides into his seat and pecks out the address to his Web site.

Five months ago, Barbieux, started a Web log about his life. His goals for the "blog" were modest. Mainly, he wanted to show people a different side to homelessness.

But a strange thing happened. Barbieux's site took off. What started as a few dozen hits a day grew to a few hundred a day, then a few thousand. At last count, more than 195,000 people from around the world have visited, and the number continues to grow.

Barbieux is now trying to get his life together. He wants to get off the streets for good.

Trouble is, he's not sure if he can leave that life behind.

Shy and professorial, Barbieux doesn't look homeless. He dresses neatly — usually in jeans, an oversize golf shirt and a heavy coat — and keeps his graying beard trimmed. He ambles around town in a new pair of $10 boots from Wal-Mart. He almost never drinks.

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Thanks FashionTribes!

I want to give a special thank you to Fashiontribes blog, who was listed my Angie's Adventures blog in their blogroll of favorite blogs, FT Faves.

Fashion Tribes is a daily fashion column that keeps up to date on the trials and tribulations of the fashion world.

Thanks Fashiontribes!

Birthday Pictures Posted

I have finally posted the pictures from the November 2006 trip that BoRyan & I took to Kauai, Hawaii to celebrate our birthdays.

You can find the photos here: http://angiedawn.shutterfly.com

You'll need a password. It's the name of the school where I most recently studied.

Have fun!

Angie

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Restaurant Coupons at Restaurant.com

Restaurant coupons you should check out: http://www.restaurant.com/

An Amazing New Restaurant

I found an amazing new restaurant in Downtown Memphis this week. Since eating there, no other food compares. The place that you just have to try is Encore.

I had the beef wellington and my friend had the duck. It did take a little while for the food to arrive, so they boxed up some carmelized pumpkin cheesecake with pear confit for me. It was amazing! To see their full menu, visit encore-memphis.com.

The chef at Encore was previously the chef at Chez Phillipe, another great Memphis eatery.

They're open for lunch Tuesday - Friday and dinner on Tuesday - Sunday. Although you don't need reservations, they are available. And, they also have take out.

The one suggestion that I have is to enter from the street. If you enter from inside Peabody Place (like I did), you have to walk through the entire place to get to the server. Nobody is there to explain this, so it can be a little uncomfortable.

Happy eating!

Rensselaer Medal Program

My undergraduate school, RPI, offers this scholarship for high school juniors:

For more than 85 years, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in conjunction with high schools around the world, has awarded the Rensselaer Medal. This is awarded to promising secondary school juniors who have distinguished themselves in mathematics and science. The responsibility for selecting the Rensselaer Medalist belongs to faculty and staff within the participating secondary school.

The Medal was first presented in 1916 with two purposes: to recognize the superlative academic achievement of young men and women, and to motivate students toward careers in science, engineering, and technology. This $15,000 per year merit scholarship is guaranteed for four years (five years for the School of Architecture program) for each medalist who is accepted and chooses to enroll at Rensselaer.

For more information, visit: http://admissions.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=1&setappvar=page(1)

Harvard University Free Tuition Announcement

Harvard University has announced that from now on undergraduate students from low-income families will pay no tuition. In making the announcement, Harvard's president Lawrence H. Summers said, "When only 10 percent of the students in Elite higher education come from families in lower half of the income distribution, we are not doing enough. We are not doing enough in bringing elite higher education to the lower half of the income distribution."

If you know of a family earning less than $60,000 a year with an honor student graduating from high school soon, Harvard University wants to pay the tuition. The prestigious university recently announced that from now on undergraduate students from low-income families can go to Harvard for free ... no tuition and no student loans! In addition, Harvard announces reduced fees for students from families with incomes between $60,000 and $80,000.

To find out more about Harvard offering free tuition for families making less than $60,000 a year visit Harvard's financial aid website at:

http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/daily/2006/03/30-finaid.html
or call the school's financial aid office at (617) 495-1581.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

I was right - Sinus Cocktail!

A few people have searched Google the past few days for "what is a sinus cocktail" and "sinus cocktail" and have landed on my blog.

Surprise-- they were all from Memphis!

The sinus cocktail is a Memphis thing. :-)

In Praise of Memphis

A great blog post about Memphis can be found here: http://fearlessvk.blogspot.com/2006/12/in-praise-of-memphis.html

Here's an excerpt:

Sense of Place: Many mid-size cities feel like Anytown, USA, with no distinctive sense of place or history. Memphis positively oozes its sense of place from every pore of the city, from the juke joints and hole-in-the-wall BBQ restaurants and the National Civil Rights Museum to Burke's Bookstore showcasing Southern literature and the countless art galleries showcasing Southern folk art. The colors, the smells, the architecture - everything testifies to Memphis' soul, and pays allegiance to its history. The challenge, of course, is to pay allegiance to history in a way that is not hopelessly nostalgic and reactionary, but my sense is that Memphis is self-aware about the challenge and does a better job than many other cities of embracing its past, scars and warts and all. In Memphis, I can walk down the street and feel surrounded by ghosts and memories and struggles.

A Different Kind of Beauty: Finding the beautiful in Memphis forces us to reconceptualize beauty itself. No, the beauty won't come from an architecturally dazzling new contemporary arts museum or from rolling green hills. But it will come instead from the unknown bluesman on the corner (of which there really are many), the every-one-is-unique knobs on the gates to the National Ornamental Metal Museum, the faded signs on the sides of so many abandoned buildings, and even the quasi-existential sight of more cargo planes than you can imagine loading and unloading at the Memphis International Airport in a surreal spectacle of the inner cogs of a global economy laying themselves bare. People who can find beauty in this city are unusual, idiosyncratic, and have cultivated a different way of seeing from the ordinary modern American vision - these are people I want to know, and I want to learn to see like them.

The Times They Are A-Changing: For all my griping about the cosmetic nature of downtown revitalization and the poverty of vision (or concern) regarding the zip codes where tourists never tread, there is no doubt that Memphis has transformed rather dramatically and will continue to transform itself as the years go by. This is a fascinating process to watch - how neighborhoods are built, how demographic composition changes, how cities and developers and citizens interact and negotiate and wrestle over the details of this transformation. Memphis is therefore a city that sparks imagination and vision - knowing that downtown might look completely different in 5 years, provokes us all to imagine how it will look, what it should look like, who will be touched by these changes. A professor at the University of Memphis told me that when he arrived in Memphis nearly 15 years ago, there was basically nowhere to eat but fast-food restaurants, BBQ joints, and Chinese buffets. That is a remarkable transformation indeed, and I think not just cosmetic. Wanting to experience different cuisines marks a kind of cultural curiosity and creativity that is a good sign of things to come.

The True DIY Culture: Once upon a time, I was young, stupid, and really into punk rock. (Now I am older, hopefully slightly less stupid, and more enamored of post-punk - the more things change....) The buzz acronym at the time was D.I.Y. - Do It Yourself - start your own band, write your own zine, put together your own record label, sew your own clothes, organize your own protests, blah blah blah. But really, I don't mean to mock, because for all its adolescence and narcissism and naiveté, the DIY ethic is a commendable one. And in Memphis, where cultural creativity exists, where political dissent exists, where writers and readers and artists and musicians gather - the spirit is necessarily a DIY spirit, because unless you're William Eggleston (whom I adore, just to be clear), you won't be in the national spotlight, the cultural overseers won't deign to notice you, unless they do so in a moment of extreme condescension, and you certainly won't make big bucks in this river town. But I really do think that makes the creative, artistic, and intellectual communiites of Memphis unique - uniquely self-motivated and uniquely idealistic. I've been enormously impressed by some of the people I've met in this city, struggling for all the right reasons aganst a wall of ignorance, complacency, and oblivion. Their spirit reminds me of my old adolescent idols, people I've long ceased to think about - and I really appreciate Memphis for reinvigorating that part of me and reminding me of the struggles worth fighting.

Remember the Main Article - Memphis Daily News

I thought I would take a moment to write a quick post beore running off to work today. I recently met up with an old Mpact Memphis friend who has been working on a proposal for a development project in downtown Memphis.

The proposal is for a $43 M apartment building along South Main. It would include quite a bit of retail space and a parking garage as well.

I was excited to hear about this proposal because upon my return to Memphis, I found very few options. Most of the places that were once apartments have been renovated and are now upscale condo buildings. When my apartment came onto the market, I snached it off the day it posted. This used to be something I had only heard of in LA or NYC, but right now, there are so few options in downtown Memphis that I see it happening here too.

And, it just so happens that my apartment is a condo... so even my apartment isn't exactly an apartment.

I guess my story made an impact because I'm the "old friend" in this article about the development project. You can find the original version here: http://www.memphisdailynews.com/Editorial/StoryLead.aspx?id=95655

I hope their project is chosen; good luck! :-)

I have placed a few excerpts for you below:

Remember the Main
New development team wants to build $43 million complex at Main and Gayoso
by Andy Meek

In the midst of guiding the development partnership he helped assemble to create what could become the largest African-American-led project ever in Downtown Memphis, Darrell Cobbins heard from an old friend recently.

She told him about her impending move back to Memphis and all but reaffirmed the untapped market for the multimillion-dollar mixed-use project Cobbins' team wants to develop at a key site along Main Street.

Operating as Riverside Partners, the developers have submitted plans to build a $43 million, 20-story apartment and commercial building at the corner of Main Street and Gayoso Avenue. The proposal calls for, among other features, the inclusion of six efficiency apartments, 118 one-bedroom and 78 two-bedroom apartments at the site.

Cobbins and the rest of his team - mostly young black professionals who have tapped some major financial backing for their project - say they believe rental opportunities at top-quality apartment developments Downtown are quickly drying up. Yet demand for them remains intense.

One example is the recent search by Cobbins' friend, who moved back to Memphis within the past month.

"She had to rent an apartment online, sight unseen, just to go ahead and grab it because she couldn't find an apartment anywhere Downtown, and she wanted to live Downtown," said Cobbins, an associate with the Memphis-based commercial real estate firm Commercial Advisors LLC.

...

And in addition to apartments, the team also is planning 14,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and 390 parking spaces. There's been talk of adding a concierge in the lobby of the development, which will be called Riverview at Gayoso.

...

A roof garden also has been added to the design for the top story, a feature that gives panoramic views of the Downtown skyline and the river.

....

Officials with the CCC's Downtown Parking Authority still are evaluating proposals from the four development teams that submitted plans for the site a few weeks ago.

To read the entire article, go here:
http://www.memphisdailynews.com/Editorial/StoryLead.aspx?id=95655