Guiding Vision

Quick note of thanks to those who have already sent email birthday wishes and notes on my Facebook page.  Today I’ve been fairly lazy… I ate cookies left over from last night for breakfast and lunch, watched the first two episodes of Torchwood from the first season DVD Troy gave me.

Speaking of cookies…

“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.”

~ Alexander Graham Bell

Thanks to Jay Stockwell for including this quote in today’s Associate Programs newsletter. Photo credit: Dave Gough

The theme for the Photohunt given on Saturday, September 27th was “view.” So today I’m posting a view out the window of our 6th floor office space.  We just moved in about a month ago.  Here’s the little city park that’s across the street from us:

Then I actually went to the park to get a ground level close up of the horse sculptures.  These are part of a city wide project sponsored by Leadership Wichita Falls.

Here’s the other side of the pony.  This painting shows many of the recognizable buildings in our downtown area, including the big blue “skyscraper” near the top center.  That’s our building.

I wrote about my first impressions of Blog World while still at the event  It’s been non-stop busy since then, so I’m working on catching up with work, blogging and my sleep.

One session that was standing room only was called “Creating Customer Loyalty” and featured one of my favorite business leaders, Tony Hsieh (pronounced “Shay”) CEO of Zappos.com. The panelists talked about how companies are using online tools such as blogs and twitter to interact with customers.  Here are some of the notable quotes from that seminar:

“Being involved in the internet is the only way to retain customers.” ~ Frank Eliason, Comcast

[The internet and social media] “are changing expectations, changing the whole service model.” ~ Brian Solis

“Some companies say they care, we really do.” ~  Tony Hsieh, Zappos

There were many other good points to this seminar… though I was using the old fashioned paper and pen to take notes as my laptop had died by the last session of the day.

Southwest Airlines, who had a big booth at the conference, has been well known for years for its focus on the customer experience.  I’ve only flown Southwest a couple of times but now that we’re as close to Oklahoma City as DFW, I’ll have to try to book with them in the future.  At least they won’t charge me $15 per bag like American.

Anyway, on Sunday afternoon they showed some videos that their “blog-o-spondents” created over the weekend.  I just saw Abigail’s video (which was great) before I realized that I was missing the free snacks in the back of the hall.  They had scheduled sessions from 11-12 and 12:15-1:15 so by the time you got out it was starvation mode.  Unlike PubCon, which Tracie and I went to last year, Blog World did not include lunches with your conference registration.  On Saturday there was nothing at all, except overpriced pizza at the deli which I declined.  At least on Sunday there was lots of free Jones Soda to go with the chips ‘n dip.  I also met some neat people hanging out waiting for the next sessions to start.  So overall it was a great afternoon.

When I jump on the computer in the morning I often crank up the music.  I have tons of songs that I’ve ripped from my CD’s or downloaded from eMusic.  I use Windows Media Player or when I’m on the go I’ve got my Sansa Clip.  (iPods are overpriced and overrated IMO).  Back in the day we had “jam boxes.” Yes I’m a child of the ’80s.

Speaking of which the soundtrack for today began with Prince.  Since I’m now not just on my own but actually in a real office I put on headphones.  Of course that does not stop me from dancing or occasionally singing along… to the amusement of my office mates.

What’s the soundtrack of your day?