I was out of the office yesterday to serve as a judge for the state level 4-H speaking competition and wanted to share how awesome it was.
I’m pretty convinced that I wouldn’t have been nearly as successful if I’d competed against these clever presentations.
So while I still get a lot of grief from my born-and-raised city dwelling friends, 4-H is a great youth program with lots of leadership and social opportunities beyond livestock.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
7/28
Happy Monday! 1. I set up an account on Flickr.com to share my passion for photography with the world. Look me up: alli_the_b or go directly to my photostream:
2. Went to the Lite Bright film festival at the Southgate House in Newport on Saturday. Fantastic event! Truly talented filmmakers and the animation shorts- wow! Great way to spend an evening, I highly recommend making time to go next time this event rolls around.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Book Review: Captain Alatriste
Captain Alatriste
By: Arturo Perez-Reverte
By: Arturo Perez-Reverte
I picked up this book on the recommendation of my grandfather, who told me it was one of his favorite books of all time- and after completing the epic masterpiece myself, can see why he spoke so fondly of the tale. Set in 17th century Spain, the book follows military war hero turned assassin Captain Alatriste on a series of adventures spurring from a botched assassination attempt on the heir to the British crown.
What I can appreciate most about this story is the way the Perez-Reverte doesn’t show his all his cards and lay out the plot to be discovered long before events occur. Just as life, his characters meander about, paint scenes of everyday life at the time and interact with others-beyond those within the immediate story.
Rating: 10! It’s exquisite!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Safe Haven Animal Sanctuary, Cincinnati homeless pets and 'Kitten Season'
I have a notoriously large soft spot for animals, and one of my clients the Peppermint Pig, exists solely to support Safe Haven Animal Sanctuary, a Cincinnati no-kill animal shelter. Despite the fact that these people are 100 percent committed to their work and cause, it's saddening to know that shelters are overflowing to the point that over 30,000 perfectly healthy cats and dogs are euthanized every year (in Cincinnati alone) because there simply isn't a place for them.
Rory Uhler, the president of Safe Haven Animal Sanctuary, recently did an interview with Scripps Howard Foundation Wire to talk about 'kitten season.' See full article below:
http://shfwire.com/story/global-warming-could-be-causing-a-kitten-boom-experts-say
Rory Uhler, the president of Safe Haven Animal Sanctuary, recently did an interview with Scripps Howard Foundation Wire to talk about 'kitten season.' See full article below:
http://shfwire.com/story/global-warming-could-be-causing-a-kitten-boom-experts-say
Monday, July 21, 2008
7/21
Try as I might to produce a whitty entry to begin the week, the weekend has exhausted my supply of clever thoughts. So en lieu, please enjoy a photo I took in Prague! Happy Monday! Friday, July 18, 2008
Maybe this social media thing works after all…maybe
I may be a cynic through and through, but I try my best to refrain from complaining, really and truly.
It takes a certain level of complete and utter dissatisfaction for someone (or at least me) to blog about it. It’s unfortunate that a blog entry (NOT our letter to customer service) caught the attention of the uppers at Network Solutions, but it’s smart of them to monitor the chatter. And it’s appreciated, as a person who had a situation that needed rectifying.
The point in all this lies in the fact that I go round and round with clients all the time about the benefits of social media. Monitor your chatter! Find out what people are saying about your brand- and if bad- use it as a customer service tool (as Matt did by leaving the comment to my previous entry.) It’s genius. Google alerts are an amazing [and free] thing.
As a consumer, I feel better knowing that a brand I’m talking about could be read by the company. As a company, I’m empowered with a tool that is a window into the consumer’s mind.
Awesome!
And I really do hope we can work something out with NetSol.
It takes a certain level of complete and utter dissatisfaction for someone (or at least me) to blog about it. It’s unfortunate that a blog entry (NOT our letter to customer service) caught the attention of the uppers at Network Solutions, but it’s smart of them to monitor the chatter. And it’s appreciated, as a person who had a situation that needed rectifying.
The point in all this lies in the fact that I go round and round with clients all the time about the benefits of social media. Monitor your chatter! Find out what people are saying about your brand- and if bad- use it as a customer service tool (as Matt did by leaving the comment to my previous entry.) It’s genius. Google alerts are an amazing [and free] thing.
As a consumer, I feel better knowing that a brand I’m talking about could be read by the company. As a company, I’m empowered with a tool that is a window into the consumer’s mind.
Awesome!
And I really do hope we can work something out with NetSol.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Highly Disappointing: A Rant
Today I had a customer service experience that fell flat of my expectations. One of our service providers, Network Solutions, recently updated their internal controls and, during this process, managed to completely disable and change many settings on one of our client’s websites.
And this puts us in quite a pickle. We were informed by their customer service rep that we would have to go back in and manually enable each of the (50+) products in order for them to be available for purchase.
In this business, as in the service industry as a whole, time is money. So this leads to the inevitable question: who gets the bill for this snafu?
Theoretically, the fault lies on the one who makes the mistake, but, shirking their responsibility and washing their hands of the entire situation, we are left with having to take the time to make the storefront operable again.
Do we bill the client, for the updates that we wouldn’t have made if this change hadn’t taken place?
Do we demand a fix or a refund of some sort from the provider?
After all, this is billable time we’re talking about that could’ve been spent working on another client.
Let’s not forget the client whose site this is. They make their money solely off their online sales. How long has the site been like this since the ‘change’ which we were unaware of? How much money could they have lost?
In this case, an apology simply isn’t enough. When the error falls on your shoulders, and it’s causing your clientele to lose money or valued customers this becomes a bigger problem that can't be fixed by an "I'm sorry".
Also, what happens next time they decide to upgrade their control panel? Will we have to do the same thing?
The unsatisfactory resolution and poor organization of Network Solutions has caused us to seriously reconsider our hosting provider.
And this puts us in quite a pickle. We were informed by their customer service rep that we would have to go back in and manually enable each of the (50+) products in order for them to be available for purchase.
In this business, as in the service industry as a whole, time is money. So this leads to the inevitable question: who gets the bill for this snafu?
Theoretically, the fault lies on the one who makes the mistake, but, shirking their responsibility and washing their hands of the entire situation, we are left with having to take the time to make the storefront operable again.
Do we bill the client, for the updates that we wouldn’t have made if this change hadn’t taken place?
Do we demand a fix or a refund of some sort from the provider?
After all, this is billable time we’re talking about that could’ve been spent working on another client.
Let’s not forget the client whose site this is. They make their money solely off their online sales. How long has the site been like this since the ‘change’ which we were unaware of? How much money could they have lost?
In this case, an apology simply isn’t enough. When the error falls on your shoulders, and it’s causing your clientele to lose money or valued customers this becomes a bigger problem that can't be fixed by an "I'm sorry".
Also, what happens next time they decide to upgrade their control panel? Will we have to do the same thing?
The unsatisfactory resolution and poor organization of Network Solutions has caused us to seriously reconsider our hosting provider.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Book Review: The Spies of Warsaw
The Spies of Warsaw
By Allen Furst
By Allen Furst
It’s the eve of WWII, and conflict is afoot. The city of Warsaw has transformed into a hotbed of intrigue and espionage, crawling with refugees who know too much, foreign correspondents and citizens who happened to fall into the line of spy work.
Jean Francois Mercier, a military attaché working at the French embassy during this time works to uncover conspiracies and military attack plans through various social and a few disreputable connections.
This book was a thoroughly enjoyable read. Furst is able to impeccably capture human reasoning and create engaging, relatable characters. Add some suspense, and you have a thrilling page-turner carefully crafted overtop a historically accurate backdrop.
I find it amazing how Furst is able to take the tiniest detail of this time period and craft a novel around it, complete with believable characters. Kudos to him! I was able to visit Poland, Krakow, and see firsthand the impact WWII had on the country, and can only imagine it amplified in Warsaw. It makes me want to go!
Rating: 9 [Oh snap!]
Friday, July 11, 2008
Up to the minute Alli
Try as I might to shy away, I'm bound and determined to figure out the mystique behind this twitter phenomenon.
Should you take an interest in my scrolling, confusing and generally arbitrary thoughts, please help yourself to: http://www.twitter.com/abrinkman.
Keep in mind, I don't 'twitter' on the weekend, as I prefer to remain relatively detached on my days of rest.
Have a great weekend!
~A
Should you take an interest in my scrolling, confusing and generally arbitrary thoughts, please help yourself to: http://www.twitter.com/abrinkman.
Keep in mind, I don't 'twitter' on the weekend, as I prefer to remain relatively detached on my days of rest.
Have a great weekend!
~A
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Very pleased to announce...
The 2008 EMG Media Resource Guide is now available for download [free] at www.eisenmanagementgroup.com
We've put in some hard work in order to better serve other businesses in our area with their marketing and public relations efforts. --edited by yours truly!
On another note, if you happen to stay in a Carlson hotel from now through September, be sure to check out Voyageur Magazine, their complimentary in-room publication. I'm quoted on page 37, "Dear Diary..." an article about travel journals.
If you don't happen to be traveling, be sure to pick up this week's (the July 14) issue of Woman's World magazine- on page 34 you'll find me talking about my digital camera preferences as a novice photographer.
We've put in some hard work in order to better serve other businesses in our area with their marketing and public relations efforts. --edited by yours truly!
On another note, if you happen to stay in a Carlson hotel from now through September, be sure to check out Voyageur Magazine, their complimentary in-room publication. I'm quoted on page 37, "Dear Diary..." an article about travel journals.
If you don't happen to be traveling, be sure to pick up this week's (the July 14) issue of Woman's World magazine- on page 34 you'll find me talking about my digital camera preferences as a novice photographer.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
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