It's a small world.

When people visit Disneyland, I don’t think they do so in hope that they will learn a valuable life lesson. I know I didn’t anyway. I went for the rollercoasters and the man in the giant mouse costume. And to get my gran

Satan's minions.

dmother on the runaway train ride (“It’s a slow one, honestly!”). She still hasn’t forgiven me for that.

In return for my hilarious prank which resulted in a lot of British children becoming au-fait with a lot of swear words that only a seventy year-old Parisienne could be credited with knowing, I was forced onto the infamous ‘It’s A Small Word’ ride. Karma also had its say in the matter and saw to it that the ride broke down, and we were trapped in there for nearly an hour. I’m certain that this hilarious chain of events played an integral part in my phobia of dolls.

However, while we sat on the boat and awaited rescue, I had plenty of time to absorb the message that these awful dolls were repeating over and over again. It is a small world. It seems overwhelmingly huge sometimes, but it’s not really. I say this with a sense of authority because, for the third time this year, I have crossed paths with the girl I was best friends with at primary school.

She was a nice enough girl when we were 6 years old. But fifteen years has driven a wedge between us, and we don’t really have anything in common any more, which makes for some bloody awful awkward silences. I saw her about a year ago, when we walked past each other on a street in London. It was nice to see her then, and to have a quick chat, but we both had places to go to in a hurry: cue lots of empty promises about getting in touch.

I bumped into her again (literally) in Boots on a nearby street about six weeks later. That was even more uncomfortable than our last encounter as neither of us had got in touch. Rather thankfully I w

as already in the queue waiting to pay, so our riveting conversation about the shampoo I was buying had to end. There were no promises of going for a drink this time.

I was on a train this week when it happened again. I sat down, and was reading my newspaper, when I got that feeling that someone was staring at me. I waited until I felt the person’s gaze move away, then looked up quickly. Yes, it’s bloody her again. She’s sitting opposite me. What do I do? This train journey is going to take 40 minutes – we don’t have 40 minutes of conversation between us. I decide to carry on reading my paper as slowly as possible, an

d try to drag it out for the duration of the trip. If she had seen me and ignored me, I can only assume that her unwillingness to get dragged into another uncomfortable chat about nothing was as strong as my own.

The next 40 minutes turns into an elaborate tango between the two of us, both desperately trying to avoid making the fatal error of eye contact. I become engrossed with my iPod, and start work on a new playlist. My battery dies. We’ve still got 20 minutes to go. I try closing my eyes and pretending to be asleep, but I’m so tired that I have very real concerns that I will go to sleep and wake up in Manchester. There’s 15 minutes left. I pick up my BlackBerry and start frantically responding to every unanswered email that I have from the last month. I have a look on Twitter, read some headlines on the BBC and go on Facebook.

The best part of all of this is that the girl and I are friends on bloody Facebook. So when I have a look on there, I see that she’s updated her status:

On my train home sitting next to someone I don’t want to talk to!! Help!!!

Bloody charming. But thankfully as I’m about to say something to her, I reach my station. I pick up my bag, drop my concentration and make eye contact. I have to say something now, I can’t ignore her. “Oh my gosh, hi Fran, I didn’t see you there!” I overcompensate in an effort to feign surprise that she has been sitting opposite me for the last hour. “Laura! Hi! No me neither,” she gushes.

Awkward pause.

“Well…this is my stop so I have to go. It was nice seeing you,” I lie, as the doors close. Fran waves goodbye. By the time I get home, her Facebook status has been deleted. I’m surprised, and somewhat sad about the fact that I haven’t been.

[Via http://laurawire.wordpress.com]

THOUGHTFUL SALAD

There’s this thing on a certain social networking site, known as Facebook, where one writes up 25 things about themselves and sends the list to 25 people. The idea is to share intimate, less known facts about yourself with people of your choice. Instead of writing down my 25 things and posting it on the above mentioned website, I thought I’d toss them here and make a salad out of it.

1. Almost every morning, as I dress up my bottom, I glance in the mirror and smile with approval at the sight of my profile.

2. The more I cook, the more appreciation I gain for my mother’s culinary talents. I didn’t realize how good of a cook she was until I tried the trade myself. The goal is not to be able to make a few dishes I can later alternate when making dinners for my family. Instead, I cook to free my soul and go to heaven for having discovered and exploited my potential.

3. There’s something about Jason’s nipples I cannot simply resist.

4. I am on none-speaking terms with Starbucks for their new line of VIA Ready Brew. While the world screams “RECYCLE! USE LESS PACKAGING! STOP CUTTING DOWN THE AMAZON!” they come up with those tiny coffee sachets worth 1 cup each. Hello! Have you not heard of global warming and The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is twice the size of Texas?? These Starbucks people are bananas! Argh!

5. The awesome thing about the holidays is that Jason can’t stop me from making peanut butter and chocolate brownies, or a shit load of chocolate cookies, or even a brownie pie!

6. My favorite candy store? Sur la Table for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

7. My favorite day of the week? The bra-free day. I like to keep my girls free and give them all the play-time they want before I get them to work for food when I get pregnant next year.

8. Hey, Mister! Have you not noticed your car has built-in blinkers? Nooo, these are not Christmas ornaments. You ought to use blinkers all year round dammit. Oh, yeah, that’s a huge pet-peeve of mine.

9. I grew up surrounded by books. Love ‘em to the last page. However, since I started this blog, I’ve been mostly purging words rather then inhaling them. I miss that.

10. Cosmo is a four-legged Pelè in disguise.

11. I have a vivid imagination. In my head, I see pictures of myself and/or people close to my heart in extremely catastrophic scenarios. Those images come to me randomly and out of the blue. Often they are so realistic I start to cry. I am unaware of the origin of this condition. I don’t know how to overcome it either.

12. Beauty moves me. It fills up my chest till it hurts and I start to cry. Again.

13. I secretly fart.

14. I haven’t used a hairbrush in six months, since I cut my hair short.

15. I was a witch in one of my previous incarnations, who lived in the woods and brewed herbal concoctions for various ailments.

16. – 24. Last night I made a salad, a twist on Coleslaw, that was so good the world stopped spinning for a moment. It was so fantastic in fact it’s worth 9 points of the 25 Important Things From Agnieszka Graczyk’s Life. Here’s how I did it…

I bought a package of shredded cabbage. I’d have gotten a whole head if the store offered one, as you know how I feel about the unnecessary packaging, etc. They didn’t carry the veg in its natural form. Back in my kitchen, I emptied the bag into a large bowl and added shredded Granny Smith Apple along with a bunch of chopped scallions. In the meantime, I toasted maybe a 1/2 a cup if raw walnuts, let them cool, and then roughly chopped them into small boulders of brain nuts.

Don’t they totally look like brains? The truth is they are really good for your brain, so it’s a clever tip to remember. The smurfs that write on Whole Foods web pages made my life easier for describing in detail the nuts’ magic:

Walnuts have often been thought of as a “brain food,” not only because of the wrinkled brain-like appearance of their shells, but because of their high concentration of omega-3 fats. Your brain is more than 60% structural fat. For your brain cells to function properly, this structural fat needs to be primarily the omega-3 fats found in walnuts, flaxseed and cold-water fish. This is because the membranes of all our cells, including our brain cells or neurons, are primarily composed of fats. Cell membranes are the gatekeepers of the cell. Anything that wants to get into or out of a cell must pass through the cell’s outer membrane. And omega-3 fats, which are especially fluid and flexible, make this process a whole lot easier, thus maximizing the cell’s ability to usher in nutrients while eliminating wastes–definitely a good idea, especially when the cell in question is in your brain.

The salad would not be complete without the dressing I quickly whipped up in our Magic Bullet. These were the components:

-       freshly squeezed lemon juice from 1 lemon

-       1 tbsp of honey

-       2 tbsp of heavy cream

-       3 tbsp of olive oil (the whole nine yards – organic, extra virgin, first cold pressing, etc.)

-       2 tsp of sea salt

-       1 tsp of black pepper.

Everybody in the bowl (the cabbage, scallions, apples, and nuts) got coated evenly with the silky dressing, then chilled in the refrigerator for at least 45 minutes before consumption time. Then I took a bite, and with it I heard music and saw fireworks on a horizon. It was amazing, beyond delicious. There was the tartness from the apples and the dressing, but instantly the nut took away the edge and spread comfort and bliss in my mouth.

I didn’t need anything else for dinner. That was my delight of the day. For Jason, however, I reheated leftover penne over pancetta and garlic, and grilled three chicken tenders. Just like that. Nevertheless, the salad still took the Guest of Honor’s seat, and got a round of applause. Pure brilliance on a plate.

25. I am madly and uncontrollably in love with that white boy from Texas named Jason Blaine. Moreover, I am madly and uncontrollably loved by that white boy from Texas named Jason Blaine. He loves me just the way I am.

Gobble, gobble…!

[Via http://agablack.wordpress.com]

Big Mouth Media Social Survey - Our Report

Our intrepid reporter Dave the Penguin yesterday attended the Big Mouth Media Social Survey Summit (in conjunction with econsultancy). He had a great time and wanted to share some of the facts from the survey results. The survey had 1100 respondents of which 458 were client side and 522 came from agencies/suppliers. The survey was across various industries including financial services, retail and publishing.

• When it comes to Social Media activity, 64% stated they were ‘experimenters’

• 73% were looking to gain brand awareness from SM alongside 71% wanting increased engagement

• 61% of individuals see it as a tremendous opportunity whilst only 31% would agree that their organisation believes the same

• When it comes to tactics employed 78% were using twitter,

• 65% facebook (and other networks)

• 60% have video content and 47% a brand blog

• 39% were engaging in social bookmarking (digg, stumbleupon).

The highest function of the above was for listening and buzz monitoring

• With regards to Resourcing – 90% more time is being taken up by SMM than one year ago – no real surprise there, Dave would have bet his next batch of halibut on that one!

• Watch out agencies – only 42% stated they were happy with the SMM knowledge levels within agencies/suppliers

• Now the nasty Budget part – 31% are not using any for SMM purposes

• Half are spending up to 10% (hey big spenders!) on SMM

• 25% feel they have gained tangible value from SMM

• 60% fell they have gained ’some’ value

• Now on to every Penguins’ favourite – Twitter

• 31% see it as a tremendous opportunity

• 50% are open minded

• 13% see it as a major risk (and are also scared of pink fluffy bunnies with bows in their hair)

• 62% of those surveyed publish new content pointers via twitter

• 27% are using it as a customer service tool

• 50% have an overall company profile with 28% having separate profiles for individuals

• So what are their main Barriers?

• 54% state a lack of resource

• 34% a lack of understanding (they need to employ some Penguins!)

• 20% blame a lack of ‘buy in’ from senior figures

• 23% think their company culture is a barrier

So that is a brief summary of the stats for you all. Dave stated that it was a very informative day and that he feels there is a ‘real appetite for progress’ amongst the people he waddled up to and had a chat with (the Penguins have electronic voice simulators, a bit like Stephen Hawkins but they sound a little cuter) but does feel there is a need for further engaging education across the board. Stats are so important to us marketers so to get a real views from a decent and diverse cross section is great.

The full report can be downloaded from www.bigmouthmedia.com

Happy engaging!

[Via http://socialmediamike.wordpress.com]

Facebook trucos Farm Town

Para crecer y ganar niveles de experiencia más rápido, debes sembrar papas. Las fresas y uvas también ayudan a crecer en poco tiempo. Los animales y árboles no son convenientes pero puedes utilizarlos para diversificar tu granja y hacerla más atractiva.

El nivel 34 es el más alto, al llegar a este nivel puedes seguir jugando Farm Town, pero ya no necesitarás ganar tanto dinero. Puedes seguir mejorando y decorando tu granja para hacerla la mejor entre tus amigos.

Visitar a tus amigos te permite conseguir trofeos, y si riegas sus plantaciones puedes ganar algunas monedas.

La mansión se obtiene en el nivel 34 y cuesta 1.000.000 de monedas.

Recuerda que para obtener más dinero en Farm Town, lo más importante es sembrar y cosechar. Busca aquellos vegetales que te den más dinero (por ejemplo las piñas) en menor tiempo para lograrlo.

Para contratar amigos en el mercado y que trabajen contigo en tu granja, debes conseguir vecinos (un mínimo de 10). Puedes obtener amigos para tu Facebook en Amigos granjeros para Farm Town.

Listado de trofeos (8 en total):

1. Vecino popular: Conseguir 5 vecinos.
2. Vecino influyente: Conseguir 8 vecinos (al obtener este trofeo puedes comenzar a vender de todo).
3. Visitor aprendiz: Visitar 25 granjas.
4. Visitor adicto: Vistar 100 granjas.
5. Visitor compulsivo: visitar 300 granjas.
6. Comprador aprendiz: gastar más de 500 monedas.
7. Comprador adicto: gastar más de 3000 monedas.
8. Comprador compulsivo: gastar más de 50000 monedas.

[Via http://margotu.wordpress.com]

Ikutan PayPal WishList, Kita Dibayar Sampai $ 100

PayPal WishList adalah Sebuah program aplikasi facebook yang di buat paypal yang secara khusus di tujukan bagi warga negara dari India, Thailand, Malaysia, Korea, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia dan Singapore.

Beruntung Indonesia masuk disana sebab dengan adanya PayPal WishList ini kita dapat menghasilkan dollar, merupakan hal menarik tentunya main facebook bisa dapat duit. Bagaimana cara kerjaanya?

Cara kerja aplikasi facebook ini sederhana, tinggal mengikuti langkah-langkah berikut :

* Daftar (Log ini) dahulu di Facebook

* Anda cukup mengaktifkan terlebih dahulu aplikasinya melalui link: http://bit.ly/wishlistpaypal.

Begitu mengaktifkan aplikasi tersebut di facebook, rekan rekan akan mendapatkan bonus $ 1 USD, di aplikasi paypal wishlistnya.

* Buat wish list (daftar keinginan) anda.

Ini adalah hal ke dua yang perlu anda lakukan, Wish list dalam hal ini adalah 5 item/barang yang ingin untuk anda miliki, kebetulan kalau saya sendiri barusan memilih item item seperti: Apple Macbook, Canon Digital Camera, Vesta Destroyer Swiss Watch, LCD TV, Thailand Baiyoke Suite Hotel. Sebenarnya pilihan itemnya banyak, dari mulai parfum, game, movie, gadget, dsb, yang pasti pilih saja 5 barang yang anda harapkan ingin anda miliki suatu saat nanti. Hanya memilih, jadi gak dipungut biaya.

* Setelah itu publish hasilnya di wall facebook anda, setiap ada 1 orang yang berhasil untuk anda ajak mengaktifkan aplikasi paypal wishlist dan membuat daftar keinginan maka aplikasi paypal wishlist anda akan di tambahkan sebesar $1 USD hingga terakumulasi maksimal $100 USD.

* Masukan data alamat email paypal anda di bagian kiri atas aplikasi paypal wishlist anda, karena pembayaran akan di kirim langsung ke sana pada tanggal 28 Februari 2010.

Untuk promo aplikasi paypal wishlist di facebook akan di adakan hingga pukul 23:59:59 tanggal 31 desember 2009 (waktu Singapore), jadi harus cepat mendaftarkan diri sebelum terlambat. Bagi yang gak sabar untuk mendaftar, silahkan ke link berikut :

http://bit.ly/wishlistpaypal

Untuk akun PayPal bisa daftar setelahnya, bisa juga daftar sekarang di link ini :

http://bit.ly/bikin-akun-pay-pal

[Via http://barudownload.wordpress.com]

Hamas Deal Would Halt Rocket Attacks on Israel

The Palestinian political group Hamas has reached an agreement that other militant groups will stop firing rockets into Israel for a year. The agreement also suggests that Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who has been held in Palestine for over 3 years, may be released soon in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners being held in Israel, Guardian.

23 people are dead after a ferry sank in Indonesia. Over 200 people had to be rescued, BBC News.

The United States is one step closer to health care reform after the U.S. Senate voted last night 60-39 on a procedural motion to move debate further, Voice of America.

Fort Hood shooter Major Nidal Hasan had his first hearing for charges in the deaths of 13 people. Hasan, who is paralyzed from the chest down after being shot by a civilian police officer, had the hearing in his hospital room. New evidence has emerged that the Federal Bureau of Investigation that the FBI had intercepted emails from Hasan to people connected with al Qaeda but that information was not passed on to the military, BBC News.

A Canadian woman has lost her long-term disability benefits for depression after an insurance agent for her private supplemental insurance saw a picture of her on Facebook smiling and having a good time on vacation, Associated Press.

[Via http://citizensdailybrief.wordpress.com]

Blitz

If you have both Facebook and a lot of work to do, avoid Bejeweled Blitz. While having a 1-minute limit on the good-old jewel-switching game might seem like a great way to spend a little time having fun before returning to your task at hand, what really happens is that it makes you want to play more and more and again and again. To make it worse, they have a version of Blitz integrated into the Bejeweled for iPhone application. How addicting is this game? Let me put it this way: I paid $2.99 for Bejeweled for iPhone just to play Blitz, a free online game. I paid $2.99 for a free game.

- Quote from my upcoming guide Procrastination: When It’s Time To Stop And Say “Fuck It!”

[Via http://qfmub.wordpress.com]