Category Archives: People Watch

Gurus and Evangelists – 6 Creative People to Watch in 2010

Posted on 09/04/2009 by Ileane | 13 comments

[tweetmeme source=”ileane” style=”compact”]I’ve known about blogging since it became a cyberspace phenomena over a decade ago, yet this is my first blog. I figured out that what I needed was an internet guru or an evangelists to inspire me.

Web Analytics

Before you start thinking that this is a religious post let me give you some examples. One of my favorite bloggers is the self-proclaimed Web Analytics Evangelist for Google Avinash Kaushik. Avinash has lots of great video tutorials that explain why you need web analytics in the first place and how you can get the most out of using it. I realize that his video presentations are what initially captured my attention. I must be a visual learner, because I won’t even subscribe to a podcast unless it’s a video podcasts. I’m also fond of Avinash because he turned his blog into a book and all of the proceeds are donated to charity.

When it comes to gurus I have four that I watch faithfully every week.

Mr. Excel

One is Bill Jelen Mr. Excel. He stands head and shoulders above the rest because he will explain any and every feature available in Excel that you could possibly imagine and if you go to his website you can download his books for free. That is something so rare that it cannot go without mention.

The other three gurus are all rolled up into one funky, little podcast called Photoshop User TV. The Photoshop guys are very talented and you can watch the podcast just for laughs.

Photoshop User TV

They give step-by-step instructions to help you manipulate images on a whole different level then what you might expect. But in contrast to Mr. Excel they don’t give many books away for free. Don’t get me wrong, they have a contest or two every week and the winner gets a free magazine or a subscription but their book sales punctuate every podcast.

Yesterday Word Press gave me a glimpse of the blogosphere guru I’ve been longing for Timothy Ferriss. I watched this awesome video Blogging Without Killing Yourself that gave me insights and a fresh approach to blogging.

Tim Ferriss

I might end up finding some other blog evangelists in the coming weeks, but I’ll never forget Tim because he was my first. I also found out that he has a talk on www.TED.com called Smash Fear, Learn Anything and I now I’m truly hooked. Tim is author of bestseller The 4-Hour Workweek, he’s credited with coining the phrase lifestyle design, has over 57,000 tweeps, and he is on the list of 20 People That Started as Bloggers, Who Are Now So Much More.

I’ll blog more about www.TED.com Ideas Worth Spreading, in a future post because I think you’ve had more than enough of gurus and evangelists for today.

Smooches!

13 Comments

Posted in People Watch

Tagged Avinash Kaushik, Avinash Kaushik book, Bill Jelen, Four Hour Work Week, Google Analytics, Mr. Excel, Mr. Excel free ebook, Mr. Excel Podcast, Occam's Razor, Photoshop User TV, podcast, TED, Tim Ferriss blog, Timothy Ferriss, Web analytics

Shout out to the “Come over Brotha” – 5 Ways To Spot A Loser

Posted on 08/30/2009 by Ileane | 25 comments

My tagline reads “Insights on love, music, money and lifestyle design”. Yet I must admit, that I haven’t blogged about love much, so this post is overdue.

Long time ago, my friend and I came up with a term to describe some of the men we were dating back in the day. We call them “Come over brothas”. Well we didn’t exactly use the word “brotha” but you get the point…I’ll be nicer now than we were back then.

Don't tell him to "come over"!

Here’s a typical scenario: You meet a nice guy and you decide to invite him into your home. The first time he shows up he is truly on his best behavior. He says the nicest things and behaves like a complete gentleman, “You have such a lovely home, thank you for inviting me over”. You ask him if he cares for a glass of wine (but you really want to know if he is a drinker or not) and he says, “No thank you, can I just have a glass of water if you don’t mind?”. The evening goes well and now you’re thinking “hmm, this might work out”.

The next time he calls and asks if he can “come over” you are a little excited and with out thinking you say “Sure, come over tonight.” When he arrives he’s a little hungry. You make him a sandwich and this time he agrees to have a small glass of wine to wash it down. Once again, you have a delightful evening and possibly one or two more before you figure it out. By the fifth visit, the “come over brotha” rears his ugly head.

He comes by without calling, not only is he hungry but he’s funky and thirsty from playing ball, he heads straight for your refrigerator, opens it without asking and says “How come you ain’t got no beer in here? What’s up wit dat?” He grabs your remote, changes the channel from the program you were watching, and just then his cell phone rings and he leaves the room so that you can hear the TV.

Read How To Spot Him

25 Comments

Posted in People Watch

Tagged Beer, Brotha, Dating, Don't tell him to come over, Loser, Love, Men, Momma, People Watch, Playing Ball, Relationship advice, Remote Control, Smooches, Water, Wine

Eternal Brochures

Posted on 07/30/2009 by Ileane | 7 comments

I often ponder the meaning of life. Well at least the meaning of my life. I guess I think about it most often whenever someone I know passes away.

I am amazed by the multitude of traditions that various cultures observe to honor those that have “left us”. One tradition that I’m very familiar with is the printed obituary that is handed out during the service. For those of y’all that don’t know what I am talking about, the obituary has a picture of the deceased, a short bio, the order of service, and poems or dedications from the next of kin.

Now, I’m not a self-centered person, yet when I’m reading an obituary of the dearly departed I can’t help wonder what my obituary will be like when the time comes. Come on now, the thought has crossed your mind too. The obituary says a lot about a person. It tells their story. I mean you can find out things you never knew about someone, like where they went to school, where they worked (or if they ever worked), how many siblings they had, any note-worthy accomplishments and just how old they really were. If you are like me and you’re not able to attend the service you will ask a friend or relative to pick up an extra one for you. Grandmoms obit

Bottom line, it’s more than a lifestream, an obituary is like the eternal brochure of your life.

Did you ever attend a going-home service and there was no obituary? Through-out the ceremony you have to keep reminding yourself not to be annoyed because they didn’t distribute any. The first time that happened to me (I was much younger then) I thought that they only printed a few and had run out before I got mine.

My eternal brochure should be full color, printed on nice glossy paper – very polished and professional looking. Featuring tons of pictures of me in my finest hours surrounded by smiling, happy friends and adoring, loving family – oh and plenty of the pictures that I took too!

Wait, just hold on second. Let me rethink this. I’m hearing a song. It’s Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. Imagine Teddy crooning: If You Don’t Know Me By Now, You Will Never, Never, Never Know Me.

Yeah, I changed my mind. Just play that song, for those that missed the real “brochure”. Cause it’s their loss.

Smooches!