Category Archives: Uncategorized

Jul 24 2011

The Death Of “Death Of …” Posts

Just a quick post to get this off of my chest.

Public Relations... not dead

Advertising… not dead

RSS Technology… not dead

Newspapers… not dead, just evolving (the smart ones are)

OK, these things are not dead. Let’s all get over the fact that despite everyone’s best bet, they aren’t dead.

What might qualify as “dead”

  • Friendster
  • MySpace
  • Kirk Cameron as some kind of religious leader

Before we all jump on the easy linkbait stories about the death of RSS, or Public Relations, or JR Ewing, or whatever, let’s all take a step back and think about what ever is being touted as dead and if it’s really useless to business needs, instead of our needs.

That’s what should be an overarching theme in social media, business and public relations for 2011. Is there going to be a shift back from the “social media” expert to an incorporation of social media into your communications plan?

Jun 12 2011

Corporate Mindfulness, and not Letting the Past Rule You

(From March of this year, as I migrate more content over from SquareSpace)

Don’t repeat the past, the past is there to guide the present into the future. Too many organizations are mired in “how things used to be run” and how to reexamine bringing the past back into the present. The past is in the past for a reason, to be learned from to help you achieve a tomorrow that is better than today, not for you to bring it back from the dead.

The past is in the past for a reason.  Leave it there and learn from it. We try to focus on the past for so much because we want to, for lack of a better term, “hoard” time.

Too many of us want to “turn back the clock” and go to the “good old days.” In personal lives we want to regain our lost youth, and in business we want to return to a day when there was “more” to go around (jobs, wealth, financial security, etc).

While in our society we enjoy poking fun at people who are called “hoarders,” considering ourselves to be above them – but it does not dawn on us that too often in the business world we end up “hoarding” many other things: money, power, desire, contacts, etc. Much like the person who has too much physical clutter in their homes, businesses run the risk of running into too much corporate clutter which warps our mental state as much as any physical junk pile.

Being mindful of not just your corporate needs, but the impact your corporate decisions will have on your community,  can help alleviate some of this, if you are aware of when this clutter begins to show up in your mind.  It’s hard because in order to avoid this “corporate hoarding” you might have to act in ways that are good for the “spirit” but not always the best for the shareholders’ pocketbook (in the short-term, I believe when you look at the long-term it will be better for your organization/city/neighbors/etc)

Nov 27 2010

Not Gone, Just Blogging Rugby

I promise I haven’t forgotten about this blog, I’ve got a lot of posts bubbling around in my skull right now.  I’ve just been spending a lot of time blogging about rugby at my “Rugby SuperSite.” I’ll have some new ideas up here soon, promise!  In the meantime, check out the rugby site, you might like it!

- Benson

Feb 13 2010

A Force of Nature

So I’m looking at changing some things around here, wanting to better organize my thoughts and love of all things content creation, public relations and social media. I was having lunch with my friend Will Reichard today and we talked about a few of our own evil plans, or as Hugh MacLeod (the artist behind Gaping Void) likes to call them, #evilplans. So to start off, I’m thinking about dropping a grenade and rework my content on the blog (or blogs, as it might turn out). I apologize if it’s going to look random for a little while, but I think there’s actually a plan leading me this time. :)

So I hope you’ll indulge me while I figure out how to become my own “Force of Nature” (advice is appreciated… check that, good advice is appreciated.)

Jan 14 2010

Benson's Holiday Hooch Recipe

(We take a break from your regularly scheduled programming for an important announcement)

For the last couple of holiday season’s, my wife and I have been infusing vodka to give as presents to people.  This helped us out when we were saving money for our wedding, we were still able to give people presents and honor what they asked us to do for the holidays – which was “Save your money, you’ll need it for the wedding.” I’d like to say our vodka is known in the Rockies, and I think getting two paragraphs in the Denver Post still counts towards that end. ;)

This year’s holiday hooch was cinnamon spice-vanilla vodka.  The recipe is fairly easy to follow.

3-6 cinnamon sticks (depends on your love of cinnamon)

20-30 clove sticks

1 nutmeg, cracked in half

10-15 allspice

1 vanilla bean, cut in half and each half sliced lengthwise

1 big-ass bottle of vodka

The recipe is fairly simple – take all solid ingredients and drop into the bottle of vodka.  Wait for infusion.

The vodka infusion after the first couple of days.

Then you set the vodka in a cool, dry place for 4-6 weeks – depending on how strong you want the infusion.

Your tasty vodka as the infusion gets close to perfection

Feel free to add vodka to anything you wish to spice up, from tea to hot apple cider (a favorite) to Sprite and more!  The great thing about this recipe is you can add whatever you want, replace whatever you want – the previous year’s recipe included pumpkin and orange instead of cinnamon and allspice.

Jun 12 2009

My "Split" Personality

Ok, an idea.

For the legions of people… ok the three of you… who read me regularly, I want to pick y’all’s brains.

Since I write a big pile of different things here I was thinking about splitting off my social media and PR posts into another blog and leaving this as my personal one. Since you take the time out of your day to read this, I wanted to hear from y’all before I did anything.

So speak up now, remember I’m going deaf so you’ll have to be clear. :)

B

May 16 2009

Lovin' the Zombie Flix

Just a quick post to say “y’all got to check this out!” Our UNM Live account is linked to it.

Real posting to resume soon (if the New Mexico winds don’t blow me halfway to Canada before next week!)

Aug 4 2008

Damn, Today was a Good Day

I’m wrapping up the evening’s festivities and getting ready for a quick nap before heading to work tomorrow morning and I realized that it was a pretty good day.  I’m on a compressed work week at the university, working four 10 hour days instead of five 8′s, so I had the day off, which works great for me because my fiancee also has Monday’s off.  (There’s been a little bit of consternation in the media about the compressed work week – how dare those ungrateful people working for the university work only four days instead of the five we have to work.  Of course, the media want us to work five 10 hour days and only get paid for 40 hours, like they do, but that’s a story for another time).

Most of today was spent working around the house, playing on the XBox 360 (Call of Duty 4 and Half Life 2, Ep 2) and planning out the rest of my work week.  This month’s UNM Today stories are due on Aug. 11 and I’ve got a light writing load this month.  Although our office is also working on an experts list for the upcoming election.  Keep your eyes on this space to find out more soon!  I’m only working a couple of days this week, my birthday’s on Friday (big 35, now I’m looking at the downside of my angry 30′s) and I’m heading to Vegas next week for the New Media Expo and Podcasty Goodness Convention.  I’m really looking forward to that.

But the big news for today comes from the future Mrs. Net News 54.  She went to meet with her heart doc today and came away with pretty much a clean bill of health!  As some of y’all know, earlier this year, she was rushed into the hospital with a weak heart – her blood ejection fraction was around 20%, which was perilously close to “Danger Danger Will Robinson!” status.  Today her ejection fraction was back up to 55%, which is normal, and the doctor’s weaning her off of some of her meds now that her heart is stronger.  So my birthday present came early this year, and it’s all I really wanted anyway – my fiancee to be OK again. :)

Well, it’s time to crash and get ready for another exciting day of PR goodness!  Watch this space soon for my thoughts on “educational consumers,” or as I like to call it, WTF?

Peace out, Space Cowboy.