On my way to work this morning, I was listening to the Diane Rehm show, per usual, and the discussion was around this snippet that I quoted from their Web site:

“A U.S. appeals court has ruled that the F.C.C. does not have the power to force Comcast and other Internet service providers to give equal treatment to all Web content. What the ruling could mean for consumers and the future of net neutrality.”

Net neutrality is not a new concept for bloggers or traditional journalists, but if I can increase the awareness on this potentially monumental issue surrounding this recent legal case, then I’ll take this limited space to do so.

Started in 1934, the Federal Communications Commission has worked to regulate a complex communications system that continues to grow in size. Beginning with the radio, the advancement of technology makes the FCC’s job harder as the [...]

I fell in love a few weeks back. I fell in love with a love story. There is an extra soft spot in my heart for love stories, and The Pioneer Woman’s love story made me laugh, cry and hope (you really should read it if you like love stories). All the good makings. So, like any good little blog follower I added her to my Google reader, an action I now deeply regret.

As a marketing manager for a major company, I try to stay connected or at least be a strong observer of the social world online. My observations have often left me disturbed and distraught. I have found that most blogs fit into one or more of the following categories, which I have described below.

1 ) I started writing a blog and by (somewhat) chance got a lot of followers and now use it to [...]

You may remember that I previously wrote a post titled “What the Eff is Marcom” a while back, which Andrew Swenson then kindly followed with a guest post describing his thoughts on Marcom. He and I have recently been discussing marketing, and he sent me a nice little email that I’m going to repost below without his permission (better to ask forgiveness right?) followed by some of my thoughts. I took the liberty of bolding sections that I thought deserved bolding.

Before all that fun happens though, I find it interesting that we, even as professionals, throw around these terms without being able to succinctly and accurately tell people what exactly marketing, public relations, branding, etc. is and instead usually respond with an evasive, “Well, it’s difficult to explain.” Sure we can pull out our old class notes, do a quick search on Wikipedia, phone a friend, but I think before you ever try to act like you know [...]

I’m going to go out on a limb here and stay that the happiness of your employees, the satisfaction of your customers and ultimately the success of your company rests on the buy in. Sure you have to have a product or service worth selling, and you need to have your typical business ducks in a row, but if your company lacks culture and if your customers and employees are not aware of the company’s culture and vision, you will fail.

There are many companies out there limping along that never had a vision strong enough and a culture established enough to gain buy in. One thing I learned from working at Wal-Mart’s headquarters is the strength of getting your employees on board with the vision of the company. Call it drinking the water or whatever metaphor you want, but when people get on board with you, you will [...]

I don’t know all the ins and outs of what makes a brand “cool,” and I assume it has more to do with what the brand’s target audience considers “cool,” but the point of this is that I secretly think VW is pretty darn cool. Now I realize cool is subjective, but I think you’ll agree even if you wouldn’t buy a car (but wait, isn’t that the whole point?). Sure I drive a Honda Accord (uncool, but paid for, dependable and practical) and everyone knows I’d love to own a mini cooper, but there is just something about the VW and their advertising that does make me consider selling everything I have and buying a golf. You know, like “Come, follow me, and I will make you a driver of a hip, tiny foreign car.”

So this “cool” factor was further proved today when I stumbled upon a [...]

One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the general population’s complete lack of understanding/awareness of correct grammar, especially working professionals. I’ll refrain from a discussion regarding the extreme use of exclamation points in emails of non friends, which really has less to do with grammar and more to do with professionalism, but I digress.

This post is about the hyphen (cue School House Rock music). Now, I’m not usually one to brag, but I did darn well on my AP grammar test in college. But like all good journalism students, my awareness of grammar and general knowledge of AP style have waned over the past couple years.  So I surprised myself recently with the realization that I still know very little about proper hyphen placement.

Here are some of my recent hyphen struggles (like most good AP students I defaulted to the hyphen, usually to my detriment):

… our [...]

I’ve been an unfaithful blogger. I don’t consider myself the kind of woman to cheat, but I’ve been cheating since day one on the poor Picaresque. Dreaming of other blogs I could start. Ways I could redesign my blog so that people know how to pronounce and read the name instead of using some obscure artsy word that I felt “perfectly fit my life and vision for my blog.” It’s a blog people. A WEB-LOG. Not the latest business I’m going to begin.

So what is it about me that has caused me to spend my entire life buying pretty new journals only to write four over-dramatic entries and then leave the $25, vintage floral-cover bound notebook out to dry, only to cheat on it weeks later in another room with a tan, leather embossed one?

This is what I have decided is the reason. [...]

It only makes sense that birthdays bring about a time of reflection. In the same way January 1st marks a new calendar year, a birthday marks a new year of you. To be honest, I thought I might spend my 25th birthday crying into a beer. Especially with all the introspective “where is this all going” thinking I’ve been doing lately; however, 25 is turning out to be amazing (ask me in two months). A clean slate, a fresh start.

I’ve wanted to write about my thoughts on Gen-Y for quite some time, and a more in-depth post will come later, but I think what has to be considered when discussing generations are that there are always exceptions to the rule, age is a universal demographic and personality plays a big part as well. I say this because I think some of the aspects that shape my generation, my [...]