Category: OakMonster’s Empire

All about me, yo.

6-Month Check Up

Hey hey party people! It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

Frankly, I haven’t blogged because I’m ashamed of the state of my blog. JUST LOOK AT IT!!! I know it’s been broken for quite sometime now and I have all the intentions to fix it. But I couldn’t bring myself to the computer. Part of that is also literal, as in my office is a total FEMA disaster zone with all the cosplay and arts and crafts stuff everywhere that getting my desk is like a Spartan Race.

As a part of my reorganizing, I can’t really put much away yet either. So everything is just kind of…there. I just need a weekend away from the couch. Ahem.

That’s besides the point. The point is for me to check in on my progress for the year on my goal. Aren’t you curious about that? May be just smidget? I know you are!

Run 5K under 40 minutes

Still a hurdle, this one. So far the first few races of the year, I’m still consistently at the same time. But I haven’t changed much in terms of training. So that explains…everything. LOL

Learn to make fried chicken

I have been in the kitchen a lot less lately too! Tamara has offered to teach me to fry some chicken so I must take advantage of that before she moves to Oregon in July.

Cook one new recipe each month

I’ve been whipping up new drinks. Does that count?

I’ve gotten so horrible with cooking, and California heat is not helping with that.

Revamp the blog

I bought a new theme tonight! It’s coming. For realsies.

Play piano/guitar once a month

Now THIS has exceeds all expectations. Remember that whole impromptu Christmas gathering thing? It turns into a band. Say hello The Fail Wailers!

We have tested the waters at a few open mic nights around the OC, but earlier this week, we played a 30-minute set at a bar in Huntington Beach. Not only did we not get booed, we are invited back! (ETA – Next gig TBA!)

The Fail Wailers - Fitzgerald's - Huntington Beach
Heather (The Voice), Ken (Dear Leader), Wyatt (The Beard). and yours truly (The Token).

Downsize and simplify everything

I’m slowly but surely going through the house and getting rid of stuff. We dumped the dinner table that my aunt passed down to me that I’ve had for 18 years. Instead got another Ikea shelving unit with a table attached. That significantly cut down on clutter big time. But I still have a LOT more work to do especially in my office. See earlier point about not having been able to walk to my desk.

Stop wasting time and energy on those who don’t deserve it…

Saying no is a powerful thing. I know that now.

…and spend more time and energy on those who do

Yet, it’s still hard to say YES! I’m clearing the deck as much as I can. But when everyone’s schedule is equally insane, this is getting to be a lot harder to accomplish.

One adventure a month with Brandon

January: Sycamore Mineral Springs & Avila Beach, San Luis Obispo.
February: Brandon’s first Race on the Base!
March: Seal Beach 5K.
April: WonderCon, Star Wars Celebration, and two rounds of Renaissance Faire.
May: Epcot and Kennedy Space Center, Florida
June: OC Night Market
July: We’re heading out to Brandon’s sister’s wedding in New Mexico.

So, we’re pretty much on track here adventure-wise. 🙂

Star Wars Celebration 2015
HarLeia Quinn and Jokerlorian. Live from Star Wars Celebration 2015!
2015-04-05-Wondercon-Disney-Photoshoot-10
Suit Up Disney is busy making business deals. Photo by Robert T Photography.

Read 12 books

I’ve developed a comic book habit, so this list is going to get a little more complicated. You wouldn’t think reading comic books should count as books, but when you read a series, it does take quite as much time. So, I’m just going to list everything together.

  • Currently: The Buried Giant – Kazuo Ishiguro
  • Ready Player One – Ernest Cline
  • Death of Wolverine – Charles Soule, Steve McNiven
  • Death of Wolverine: Deadpool & Captain America – Gerry Duggan
  • Ongoing – Thor (I’m on #6 and pissed about it.)
  • Ongoing – Harley Quinn New 52 (whenever it comes back)
  • Ongoing – Spider-Gwen (Well…not much longer. We’re not digging the direction of where this is going.)
  • Ongoing – Silk (…we like her more, actually.)
  • Incoming – Groot, drawn by one of my favorite people, Brian Kesinger!
  • Incoming – Mini Marvel, drawn by one of my favorite artists, Scotty Young!

I still have a bunch of classics I want to read on my shelf along with a few business books. Next on my list is finishing The American Gods before the TV series come out.

Now, back to you. What have y’all been up to these past 6 months?

Five for Social Media Explorer

I know I’ve missed a few Five for Fridays. But I was actually super busy this Friday, taking mad notes and fighting to get wi-fi connection at Social Media Explorer’s EXPLORE event (#gotoexplore).  Southern California Media Association (formerly SoCal Blog Crush) invited a handful of us to attend this 2-day event, packed full of great speakers.

The Double Trouble from TEDx OrangeCoast, Resa (@resamichelle) and I, were back together for another round of event coverage and harmless twitter-heckling. Annette (@dananner) turned our duo into a trio which I renamed the Giggle Gaggle.  But as the conference went on, the Gaggle’s online shenanigan grew to include many others. I’d Storify our antics but that will take a year to curate and will be a mile long of a story. 🙂

But even with all that joking around, I learned A LOT.  Now that I have a few days to process all the information, here are the 5 things I learned from the conference.

Creating Killer Content

The content that moves people emotionally is the key to making an impact.

Peter Kim (@peterkim) said that people expect social media to make them laugh, make them cry, and make them famous.  Joseph Heinl’s (@josephheinl1) pointed out that Boo the Dog on Facebook has 5.5 million Facebook fans, setting off the running inside joke for the rest of the event that puppies = best content.

Tim Washer (@timwasher) said that humor should be used in business communications because it evokes positive emotion, cuts through the noise, humanizes the brand, and shows authenticity. He also said this.

OakMonster.com - Tim Washer and sharks

Then came the entertainment panel where one of the panelists mentioned that if you want more Facebook “likes”, you need to show a picture of Channing Tatum shirtless.

And finally, Jason Falls (@jasonfalls) talked about creating “Holy Shit!” content. Holy shit, that was funny! Holy shit, that was gnarly! Holy shit, what the fuck was that?!  If it makes you go “Holy shit!”, it has made an impact.

Applying all that we learned through out the day, there could be only one content that rules them all.

Holy shit! It’s shirtless Channing Tatum, holding a puppy while riding a shark!

OakMonster.com - Shirtless Channing Tatum holding a puppy riding a shark

You’re welcome, internet.

They Ask. You Answer.

Marcus Sheridan (@thesaleslion) should’ve been our post-lunch speaker. Dude is one can shy of a 6-pack of Monster, full of energy…and win. He shared his success story and a very simple guide to market by.

They ask. You answer.

People go to the internet to find solutions to their problems. If the people can’t find what they want on your website, they would not stick around.  To make sure people find you and stay put, you need to answer ALL of their questions, not only just the one YOU think they should know but the questions THEY would ask when they do their research.

Marcus cited an example of how he put together a list of the best businesses in the area without even mentioning his own company. People do search for Company A vs. Company B, after all.  And when they do, they land on his post.  At some point, his post gets even higher ranking than his competitors!  Oh yes, counterprogramming works here too.

Larry Rosin of Edison Research (@edisonresearch) pointed out that there is an emerging trend that people who seek a company’s help on social media want to be answered almost immediately.  (See full study PDF here.) Not only do you have to answer the question, now you have to answer it very quickly.  Businesses should commit to the expectation of immediacy or cease operations, he said.

They ask. You answer….and do it NOW.  It’s going to be an interesting journey for everyone going forward.

Find Your Cheerleaders

Courtney Seiter (@RavenCourtney), Tamsen Webster (@Tamadear), and Rob Fuggetta (@robfugetta) all touched on cultivating your brand’s champions.

You need to LISTEN.  Stop “talking” for a second and find your real fans. Engage them. Listen to their conversation about your brand–not just mentions. Reach out in a personal manner.  Reward the behaviors you’d like them to repeat and amplify their interaction with you to others.  Make it easy for people to say nice things about your product and share with your friends.

From my experience as a Fresh & Easy uber fan and Starry Kitchen loyal, I can tell you that when they make me feel like a friend, not just another customer, that’s when they get all of my attention.

During the fireside chat, Kred’s Andrew Grill (@andrewgrill) pointed out that people don’t listen to ads when it comes to making their purchase decision. They listen to their friends–online and off.  Andrew and Jason introduced the concept of “dark social”, the influence on social media activity by someone who is not on social media. For example, how Andrew’s wife informed him of a social media promotion she saw on the television.  You have to think about everyone, not just who’s plugged in.

“Dark social” also illicit a quiet maniacal laugh from me, Frau Blucher style, that sent Resa into a fit of giggles. I just can’t help myself…

Social Media is a Layer

Larry Rosin also said that social media is not a channel but a layer–it sits on top of all other media.

You can see the proof of that in everything nowadays.  I’m looking at my soda cup from a fast food chain, and there’s a QR code on it. Magazine ads have links to twitter and Facebook. Television shows have a hashtag in the corner. You can find extra content can be found on YouTube and share with your friends.

And of course, there’s also the “dark social”.

(Sorry. But it must be done.)

Social Media Pros Are Not All Nerds

I don’t know why I would assume that social media professionals would also be sci-fi/tech/pop culture nerd like me.  They were clearly not and it was made abundantly clear through out the conference as Annette, Resa, and I would laugh, hoot and holler, and squee at things that nobody else seemed to understand.

Like when Robert Rose (@Robert_Rose) mentioned the Kobayashi Maru.

Like when Tim Washer showed this Cisco Valentine’s video which is funny over all. But it is particularly funny to some of us who are married to tech guys because this could actually happen. Annette concurred.

And like when Jason was citing contest by this tool shed company as a case study. The Gaggle were just whispering among ourselves that it would be so awesome if the TARDIS shows up. Not a moment later…

OakMonster.com - TARDIS tool shed
Hello, sweetie!

Naturally and delightfully, we squealed.  Pièce de résistance, Jason thought we were cheering on for “this cool police box”.

*sigh* Muggles… 😉

But you know, it takes ALL KINDS in this social media field. That is what make being in it so exciting.

EXPLORE is going to Portland next. I highly recommend it. These guys know what they’re talking about.

ETA: I will continue to add recaps from a more trustworthy source than myself below.

Five for Friday: New Things I Learned This Week

Of course, I’ve been stuck on a writer’s block lately despite having all the time on my hand. So, I thought writing about 5 new things I’ve learned or am learning during the week would be cool.

15 minutes a day to a clean house

Know your meme. This is from Hyperbole And A Half.

Sure, I have all the time in the world now that I’m going on the 17th month of being mostly unemployed. But cleaning is still not my favorite thing to do.  Pinterest proves to be a useful and inspiring time suck as I found a few tips to help me get on top of this whole cleaning the house business.

Instead of taking most of the day to clean everything, these tips suggest that the chores are broken into small chunks so you spend less than an hour to work on something everyday. Like this one and this one.  I set mine up like this.

  • Monday: Dusting. Bathroom counters and mirrors. Windows.
  • Tuesday: Laundry. Toilets, tubs, and sinks.
  • Wednesday: Mop. (I don’t have a lot of floor space to mop. Kitchen and 2 bathrooms are simple enough with one bucket!) Clean the piano.
  • Thursday: Vacuum floor, sofa, and fans. Spot clean carpet.
  • Friday: Clean the kitchen, dining room table, and the pantry area.

So far, so good. I have stuck with the schedule except that I forgot Wednesday altogether. LOL  Give me a little break though, it’s my first week! I’m going to catch up with that today.

Pinterest Lab Successes: Clothing and Carpet Stain Removers

Not all things on Pinterest actually work. So I have been experimenting with a few “recipe” here on my Pinterest Lab board.

First, the clothing stain remover. It’s essentially homemade Oxyclean in a liquid/gel form. Mix fresh to use 2 parts hydrogen peroxide and 1 part each baking soda and Dawn dish soap. (People swore by the original blue. I use clear so I don’t run the risk of turning anything blue.)  Rub this onto gnarly yellow arm pit stain on white clothing or the stubborn grease stain on dark clothing. Scrub with a brush if you have if. Then wash with everything else. Voila! Clean clothes!  Because this mixture bubbles up, you just have to mix per use.

Second, the carpet stain remover. I didn’t do the whole procedure. I just mix the solution in a squirt bottle, dribble a little on and rub with paper towel, then again with clean water, and blot dry. Works like a charm!

Learning to Run…kind of

For those of you who’ve known me a while, you’d also know that I’m not sporty one bit. You would also know that I have tried and failed at distant running at least once a year. Most of the time, I failed spectacularly mostly because two reasons. One, I wuss out because of my ankle injury or the weather getting too cold. Two, as a former sprinter, I ran myself out of the long race.

Let me put it this way. What I did earlier this week with “walk half a block then run half a block” method, I did it with Adele on my playlist. That’s right. Adele. I was training to slow ballad in attempt to slow my ass down when I get to my half-block of run.  I still found myself sprinting after a few steps anyway.

I walked half a block and ran half a block for 3 blocks, damn near passed out, and was pretty much out of breath all the way walking home. I’m pathetic.

Maybe long distance running isn’t for me after all. Who says I need to run for miles and miles, right? I mean, what really matters in a zombie apocalypse is that few blocks. If you’re not faster than the zombies…or the other guy…in a few blocks, you’re dead anyway.

New Favorite Wine: Erath Winery Pinot Noir

I’m a part of Thirsty Girl twitter tasting crew. They occasionally sent wine to me to taste along with many others online and review them. (Check us out on #TGTaste!) This month, I was set  Erath Winery from Oregon pinot noir and pinot gris. I’m not big on dry white wine but I adore the pinot noir. Lightly chilled, the pinot noir is absolutely lovely on hot summer days like these.

OakMonster - TGTaste - Erath

Sarah Barelles’s Gravity

Back on the piano! Seriously, I need to do this more.

This song so simple to play on the piano yet so difficult to get right. So far my neighbors haven’t  reported any “cat being murdered” noise to the police yet so I must sound alright. Either that or they’re really polite folks. I’m betting they’re really, REALLY polite folks…

What about you? What have you been up to this week?

OakMonster Rises

I’ve been keeping busy since we last discussed about how my creativity has been stoked. I’ve played with Instagram a lot now that it’s available for Android. And I’ve been making some fun stuff. Kind of like found object art in a way. Whatever image strikes my fancy or something someone just said, I just whipped up something.

My Tumblr account hasn’t seen this much activities in months! And guess what? I’m having so much fun it’s ridiculous. 🙂

Pin away, interweb. Pin away!

bacon lover mantra

99 Darth Balloons

From the set of Star Trek 2 Spock in Space

eeyore and pinterest

george takei birthday

 

Social Media Purists Are Unicorns

Recently, I found myself cursing at how corporate social media playing field has become. Folks are talking brands, driving sales, being all business-like. Nobody is actually interacting any more.

Whatever happened to the SOCIAL part of “social media”?

I believe in the SOCIAL in “social media”. I believe in connecting with people and sharing my ideas online. I believe in building relationships that lasts and engaging people in what I do and/or am interested in.

I’m a Social Media Purist. There, I said it.

However, today it seems the real relationship is being eaten up by companies and individuals faking one so they can sell their wares. Actually, some companies don’t even fake it. They just use social media as just another broadcast medium.

As a social media early adopter—well, hell, I’ve been working on “virtual community” when it was all just message boards!–the slow death of interactive medium at the hands of “The Man” pains me. I’m sitting on my internet porch, yelling at these Social Media “Professionals” to get off my goddamn lawn.

But this is where the social media is today. That’s a fact. Sadly.  Social media is more of a miracle cash cow and sales generator than a virtual playground and relationship connector it started out as.

By not focusing solely on driving results or generating sales, Social Media Purists are viewed as digital hippies, kumbaya’ing about starting a conversation, building a community, and sharing ideas but not bringing in any money. We are the undesirables.

My philosophy is still of a Purist, but I’m not so naïve to think that social media is never going to evolve into a moneymaker.

Social Media Pragmatists are born out of this evolutionary step.

I am a Social Media Pragmatist professionally. I still believe in making the connection, but I am flexible and adaptable enough to work my relationship building magic in the corporate environment.  As a matter of fact, I believe most Purists have turned into Pragmatists now. It really is the only way to survive in the business world where everything is going toward social.

As the Purists slowly dies off or morphs into the Pragmatists, there seems to be a disturbing surge of people I called Social Media Poser-fessionals.

These are folks who are in social media purely for business. Strategists and consultants who make a living in social media but don’t really live a social media life. They have all of these accounts because they need to know how they all work but they don’t really participate in any of it. And suddenly, not having the passion for social media or any relationships with the community may not be a problem anymore as long as the sales are going up and up.

And that pisses me off to no end.

I came across Jason Falls’ article from 2009 which served as a wake-up call to the Purists.  While he still believes in the Purist philosophy, he wants to point out that if you’re not sales driven, your Purist ass in on the line.  And he’s absolutely right about that.  Social media is now all about the bottom line; it’s no country for Purists.

That brings me back to the title of this post. Piqued your interest, didn’t it? According to this part of the infographic on how to create compelling content (which does have some great tips), it is a great strategy to lure readers to your post.

I just reader bait to be ironic. This (and strategy #12-#17) is exactly something us Purists would roll our eyes at.  As a matter of fact, it’s what launched me into this rant. But then, I realized it actually isn’t all that ironic at all.

As I ranted on, it dawned on me that Social Media Purists *are* really becoming the proverbial unicorns. The Purists live only in a fantasy land full of magic of how social media brings people together and dreams of sharing experiences and connections.

Deep down, I am one of these Purists/unicorns. I’m keeping the magic alive on my own time.

My blog is not really monetized. Making money was never really my goal.  I have Google Ads for years just in case I get lucky, but I never once received a check.  And so it goes that my blog is not written with SEO keywords in mind. My posts are not designed to be reader bait just to have a glut of people stopping by for fabulous-looking stats.

Heck, I barely look at my stats!

My blog is not a showcase of my professional expertise or a crazy project to launch my future career as a local expert, or an online anthology of my future book.  While I have 2 other topic-specific blogs (Food.OakMonster and Temple of Fresh&Easy), I’m a generalist blogger with a fangirl slant. Just out here, yapping about whatever strikes my fancy.

I’ve long ago stopped paying attention to my Twitter followers count or how many posts I have.  I’m more worried if I go a day without striking up ANY conversation with anyone. My Twitter isn’t all about my awesome social media skills or how I can help your business.  It’s me spouting off about everything I’m interested in and it’s not always PC.

Yes, I have a personal brand. But that wasn’t something I cooked up recently so I can make my blog famous.  It has always been the one and only OakMonster. Being me *is* my personal brand since college. Ask anyone.

The Pragmatists probably think I’m silly for not taking advantage of my social presence.  But this is me, staying true to my social media unicorn self.  I’m in it for the spirit of sharing and relationship building. I’m in it for the Social.

ETA 3/6/12: Seth Godin also is not in it for the SEO. Hooray for another unicorn!

What about you? Why are you in social media?