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May 2006 Archive

Blog Book in Hand

posted by DL Byron on May 30, 2006

And there it was. An unassuming, plain package from Fedex on my door step. Opened it and up and I had Publish & Prosper: Blogging for Your Business in my hand. I immediately noticed how the cover looked great (it was in debate for a while) and how thin the book is. It’s supposed to be thin, a quick read on a plane, but geez it felt like we wrote a tome in Word.

An interesting experience — exhilarating, a let down from all the stress, and then how it just arrived.

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Meet me at the Morgan Library

posted by DL Byron on May 26, 2006

I arrived early for dinner with Jeffrey and Carrie. I checked that I was at the right restaurant, confirmed it, and then walked a block further arriving at the Morgan Library. It was closed, so I sat on a garden wall and watched the endless motion of New York City. Moments later Jeffrey stepped into my view as he rolled Ava’s baby carriage to a stop. He looked, paused, and not much was said at first. We were just two old friends picking up the conversation from the last time we met. He talked about the book he just finished and I talked about my book that’s just starting to sell. I noticed Ava’s boo boo and he told me all about it. Ava’s an angel and now a mischievous, active, smart angel.

Before we left to eat with Carrie who arrived later, Jeffrey impressed me with his historical and architectural knowledge of a robber baron who built himself a greek temple full of books.

And I also noticed how goucho pants in every sort and flavor are in style this year. Worn with pumps, boots, flats, and strappy sandals, girls are getting their gouchos out.

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The Din

posted by DL Byron on May 26, 2006

It’s the din of the city, the background noise, all the activity, and motion that reminds me of how vital NYC is. And I always leave wondering what it would be like to live here and not just gawk at the buildings, nearly get ran over by a bus, or always ask for directions. I also feel like I need to see London, Paris, and more.

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Help Heath Row's Ears

posted by DL Byron on May 26, 2006

Heath Row is sick and tired of the American Idol culture and music choicues and has requested a music swap from abroad. He’s interested in French Pop, German Hip Hop, Japanese Rock, and whatever else you got.

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Everywhere and Nowhere

posted by DL Byron on May 25, 2006

I recognized faces in the airport today. It must be all the non stop travel. I don’t know these people and they don’t know me. Maybe they’ll read my book and I’ll see them again at the next airport. Regardless, I’ll be in NYC in five hours. More faces, flights, hotels, and lectures.

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Blogging for Business Seminar in NYC

posted by DL Byron on May 22, 2006

I’ll be in NYC later this week to speak at Six Apart’s Blogging for Business Seminar. I’ll talk about practical business blogging, how businesses shouldn’t fear the blogosphere, and that the book is on sale! Yep, that’s right, Publish & Prosper goes on sale this week and starts shipping this week. Somewhere, a semi of books is making deliveries to book stores.

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I heart Portland

posted by DL Byron on May 22, 2006

Love that town, Portland, with cyclists everywhere, bike paths, friendly drivers, and a vibrant race scene. Pam and I raced Swan Island, both did well, and had a great time.

We stayed at the Vintage Plaza and rode the Eastbank Esplanade & Springwater Corridor trail on a warm, sunny, and friendly Saturday night.

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The Launch Snap Contest

posted by DL Byron on May 20, 2006

Snap.com has launched and is promoting a contest of user-submitted ideas via their new blog. The person that comes up with the best launch idea gets 5K and so does the blog that referred them.

Snap wants to collaborate on the future of search and use participatory media to get there. The most popular idea so far is a search and win contest; and as noted, that’s an old idea.

So, how would you launch a new website? Got something better than a click contest? Tell Snap and win.

Jason Fields, a colleague and Clip-n-Seal fan, spent much time working on Snap and the blog. Nice work and good to see it out there.

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My Man Crush

posted by DL Byron on May 20, 2006

I’ll have to admit my man crush for Jan Ullrich was wavering. His form was off due to a troubling knee problem and he had no races in his legs yet this season, but I held out hope. I still debated his potential to be a tour contender with my team mates, just with less enthusiasm.

Yesterday, on the way to a client meeting, I checked the Giro results and saw he won the Time Trial! Now, of course, those Jan haters will downplay that win, cite the winds, that it was a perfect course for him, or that he’ll get dropped in the mountains. A win is a win and we’ll see what happens in the tour. Even if he doesn’t podium, he’ll be there to compete and the good thing is that my man crush is back to full on.

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Cascade Commuter

posted by DL Byron on May 19, 2006

Members of the Cascade Cycling Club are blogging on the Seattle PI’s Cascade Commuter blog.

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Best Bike to Work Ever

posted by DL Byron on May 19, 2006

Check the Google News on Bike to Work and there are record turns outs everywhere.

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Business in China

posted by DL Byron on May 17, 2006

An event I missed today, while in Portland, was the MIT Enterprise Forum on China. I heard about blogging in China during Anil’s presentation tonight to the Internet Strategy Forum and just read Todd’s Beijing trip report where he went to source Stokemonkey parts.

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Bike to Work Month

posted by DL Byron on May 17, 2006

Midway through Bike to Work month, the Seattle PI reports a record numbers of riders. I work from home so I don’t commute, but during my training rides I’ve seen an amazing numbers of dedicated cyclists riding to and from work.

I hope at least a fraction of them continue next month. The PI cites high fuel costs, the challenge, and that commuting by bike is an environmentally friendly thing to do. It’s also about health, less stress, and getting out of traffic. Rebel against our dominant car culture; be different, ride your bike.

And to the point of “just riding your bike,” we’ve got a blog for the cycling enthusiast coming soon.

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Internet Strategy Forum

posted by DL Byron on May 17, 2006

Heading down to Portland to talk to the Internet Strategy Forum today about business blogging, then meeting with clients, Scott, and back home.

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Lactic Acid is Fuel

posted by DL Byron on May 16, 2006

The NYTimes reports today that Lactic Acid Is Not Muscles’ Foe, It’s Fuel. The theory about lactic acid and human performance was based one of the classic mistakes in the history of science and Dr. Brooks has devoted himself to proving it wrong.

My coach told me about these studies months ago, as well as a cycling buddy and physical therapist. What they’ve both concluded is that basic fitness principles have been around since the 50s and the next wave of progress is with breathing and getting oxygen to the muscles. It’s also not a matter of how much lactic acid you produce (I’ve been tested), but how fast you clear it out.

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Start reading Publish and Prosper now

posted by DL Byron on May 15, 2006

If you want to get to work and start blogging, you can download the Rough Cut version of Publish & Prosper: Blogging for Your Business now. Peachpit’s Rough Cuts offers unlimited online access, PDFs, and an option for the printed book!

We advise our clients to start blogging now and you can do that with our fully indexed, searchable, online version of the book.

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Web Smart: Boeing Blogs

posted by DL Byron on May 15, 2006

Following up their article on Boeing’s Blogs, BusinessWeek launches their new Web Smart podcast with Stanley Holmes talking about Boeing and the, “dialogue with the public, customers, and employees”

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Inland Empire Century Ride

posted by DL Byron on May 14, 2006

We didn’t plan on it, but met up with the Tri-City Bicycle Club and the Inland Empire Century Ride on Saturday. It was great day for a ride: 78 degrees, a cool breeze, and fellow cyclists. I brought my old Hed Alps with me and “rolled” in the sidewinds, across the desert. Spring and the Fall are the best times to ride in the Tri-Cities, when it’s colorful and cool.

Also, for a while, I was very disorientated by all the changes to the roads, neighborhoods, and growth in the Tri-Cities. They’ve got traffic circles now!

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Riding Dirty with Chamillionaire in the Tri-Cities

posted by DL Byron on May 13, 2006

Here with the family in the Tri-Cities (where I grew up) to visit Mom and noticed Chamillionaire’s bus and entourage in the parking lot of the Silver Cloud. Now, I’d never heard of Chamilly, but did wonder if he’s all a millionaire, why he’d be staying at economy hotels. There’s also a girls basketball team here and they were giddy with the prospect of seeing the rap star and like his hit song, “riding dirty.”

Update

The children saw Chamillionaire’s bus again, later with the grandparents, at IHOP! Jewel-encrusted flap jacks for all entourage members!

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BusinessWeek on Boeing's Blogs

posted by DL Byron on May 11, 2006

Stanley Holmes’ writes about Boeing’s Blogs for BusinessWeek, including Randy’s Journal, Flight Test Journal, and an internal blog for Integrated Defense Systems. It’s great to see Boeing get coverage for their efforts and Textura Design is proud to have consulted with them. It’s a great article and appreciated. All that we learned about working with Boeing and business blogging is in our book and Boeing deserves thanks for that as well.

My dad is now out looking on the newstands for all the copies of BusinessWeek he can find!

And mom! Happy Mother’s Day.

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Apple's Secrets and Stale Chips

posted by DL Byron on May 11, 2006

AppleInsider posts a research note about Apple from PiperJaffray and it includes these nuggets

Apple management focuses on the problems consumers are facing and tries to focus product development on ways to solve those problems within the constraints of the supply chain

… to continue to pursue devices with one primary feature and not focus on multiple functions in one device

create the best products and selling them at an “appropriate” price

So that’s why the iPod is so successful and iLife just works — find a problem and solve it the best way you can.

On a much, much smaller scale, when we set out to design a better bag clip, our designer analyzed the problem with current clips, studied all sorts of them, and decided the rod and clamp was the best solution.

We’ll never be as successful as Apple (that’s just a dream), but it feels good to know we created something that works well.

I forgot about that for a time while writing the book, building business blogs for clients, and lecturing. But that’s where this all started — trying to solve the problem of stale chips.

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A Really Big Bike

posted by DL Byron on May 08, 2006

The devil built himself a really big bike and stay tuned until the end when he actually rides it.

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Baby Season

posted by DL Byron on May 06, 2006

Mie is expecting, looking beautiful and artistic. Harper Ford Reese is all shiny, new, and making the grandparents happy.

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Further evidence of how unhealthy the USA is

posted by DL Byron on May 03, 2006

A new study shows just how fat and out of shape america is. Maybe it’s our gas-guzzling, car culture or all the crap we eat — probably both. Study after study shows our children are fat and now so are our seniors. I mean, this is a country that makes up diseases like Restless Leg Syndrome or has a wonderful commecial for Ambien that makes me want to try it, just cause I want to have a neon butterfly float over my head in a blissful dream.

We’ve been teaching our kids about healthy habits, eating right, and last night Oprah had a great show on about eating right with Dr. Oz and his book YOU: The Owner’s Manual

To get in shape for the bicycle racing season this year, I lost weight over the winter and I can say that once you stop eating all that processed crap, you no longer crave it. I’d have a Pepsi everday, right after lunch. Once I stopped, after about a week, no more cravings for it and all that sugar. The take away form the Oprah show for the kids and us, was to eat for life and think about what you put in your body.

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Beer Bath -- heavenly

posted by DL Byron on May 02, 2006

For a beer drinker, a vacation to a resort that features beer baths is just, well, heavenly. Ya know, I have been feeling burned out and that maybe just what I need.

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