31 Days of Lessons Learned: SongPop is Addicting

31 Days of Lessons Learned:  Day Ten

SongPop is Addicting

If my wife were writing this blog, she would probably say that I didn’t need another reason to use my iPhone, but she introduced me to a little app called SongPop a week or so ago and I can’t stop playing it.  It’s gotten to the point that I have been deleting games with my friends because they don’t respond quick enough and start playing random users in their place.  I’ve downloaded a couple song lists and am seriously contemplating forking over the $1.99 to go premium.

What is it, you ask?  Well – it’s a mobile and Facebook game that allows you to essentially play “Name That Tune” with your friends.  I love music so much that it’s the perfect game for me.  I’m not as good with the modern categories or Indie Rock – so use those against me if you ever play me.

Personally, I think it’s more fun than Draw Something, which lost its novelty months ago for me.

I could continue to gush on and on about the game, but I won’t because my phone just chimed signalling that it’s my turn on another game.

SongPop – addictive, fun, and brings up memories of songs you may not have thought about for years.  I love it and you will too.

*I am not an employee of SongPop and they did not ask for my endorsement, but now that they have it, they’re more than welcome to give me a free premium account*

Borrowed from another blog…

31 Days of Lessons Learned: Celebrate the Little Victories

31 Days of Lessons Learned:  Day Eight

Celebrate the Little Victories

 

Since yesterday’s lesson was a little “woe is me,” today’s lesson is this:  Celebrate the Little Victories

When you’re down in the dumps or feeling discouraged with how things are going, remember it’s not all bad.

In the spirit of celebrating little victories, here are a few of my little victories today.

 

–  I lost another pound today.

–  I had another great class from the MHealthy Department.

–  My wife and I made a tasty frittata for dinner tonight.

–  Even though I had to tell her it was an egg pie,  my picky two-year-old loved it.

–  I listened to the new Big D & the Kid’s Table album.

–  I got to watch The Voice with my wife.  It’s a show that makes us both feel great when we watch it.

–  My wife and I got a little bit more of the house cleaned up.

The more you focus on your little victories, the easier the bigger victories became…and when they do come (because they will), you’ll feel that much more amazing.

So, I told you mine and now it’s your turn.

What were your little victories today?

31 Days of Lessons Learned: Shut up and start writing

31 Days of Lessons Learned:  Day Seven

Shut up and start writing!

My name is Dane Jackson and I’m a writer who doesn’t write.  Sure, I blog here about what’s on my mind from time to time.  I write movie reviews and features about the movie world.  I even write about social media, pop culture and the literary world.  I love doing all of these things and I want to continue doing all of them, but that writing is just distracting me from my real passion – writing fiction.

The fiction bug hit me in grade school where I would write science fiction action stories starring my two cats:  Zoot and Adventure Cat.  With a name like Adventure Cat, how could she not be a super hero?  I even wrote fake tabloid newspapers about my fellow classmates in second grade (but I stopped doing that after two issues – it got me in a bit of trouble).  My writing took a turn for the spooky once I discovered Stephen King and I guess you could say it’s all been downhill from there.

I continued writing short stories mainly through college…even took a couple creative writing classes.  My Bachelor’s Degree is a Literature, Language, and Writing Degree and I got a job working for my dream company – Borders.  I’ve been guiding myself along the path of author since I was a kid and here I sit on a Sunday night with nothing to show for it except this blog, an honorary mention for a short story I wrote, one complete NaNoWriMo manuscript, and lots of feature articles and reviews.  I’m not bitter and I’m blessed to have the opportunities that I’ve had in terms of all the bands I’ve interviewed, authors I’ve met, etc.

I’m self-sabotaging my passion.  If it’s not one excuse, it’s the other.  I’m just finding distractions to keep myself from reading and to keep myself from writing.  I’ve noticed, these excuses have increased since Borders closed, but blaming the closing of my favorite bookstore is just another excuse to add to the pile.  If I’m not using that excuse, then I’m using the excuse that the book industry is changed…

When it all boils down with it, I think I’m just scared to fail, so I’m not even trying.

That isn’t like me.

After writing this post and wallowing in my own self-pity, today’s lesson is clear – SHUT UP AND START WRITING!

borrowed from justinlang.info

31 Days of Lessons Learned: People Want Free Sesame Street Elmo Pumpkin Stencils

31 Days of Lessons Learned:  Day Six

People Want Free Sesame Street Elmo Pumpkin Stencils

Based on the my site’s traffic and keyword searched, it’s clear most of my readers have one thing on their mind – carving pumpkins!  ‘Tis the season I suppose, and like Marie Antoinette before me, if my follower wants free stencils, then I say “Let them have stencils!”

First things first, last year I offered up several links for pumpkin stencils, so I’m just going to post them all here for ease.  You’ll find free Elmo stencils, free Batman stencils, free Detroit Tigers stencils, and a few more…

Free Elmo Pumpkin Stencil, plus free Batman, Joker, Spider-Man, The Hulk, Disney, and Jack Nicholson pumpkin stencils – Only Elmo is shown, but click on the picture and you’ll get access to 28 other stencils.

Free Detroit Tigers pumpkin stencils – Also, since the Tigers are playing Oakland right now, here’s the link to the Oakland A’s free pumpkin stencils.  Here’s a pro-tip – every major league baseball team is offering free pumpkin stencils on their respective websites – go check them out!

Free Batman:  The Animated Series pumpkin stencil – This link also includes other Batman – related pumpkin stencils.

Here are some new links for free pumpkin templates.

More Free Sesame Street-related pumpkin stencils.

Links to a wide variety of free pumpkin stencils of varying difficulty level.

100 Free pumpkin stencils ranging from Cookie Monster and Curious George to Harry Potter and Mickey Mouse. – Seriously, there are lots of awesome stencils here related to music, movies, cartoons, horror, and pop culture.  This is a MUST check out.

Let’s not end it here.  If you have a fun pumpkin stencil you want to share, link it in the comments below.  Let us all learn from each other.  Happy Halloween!

31 Days of Lessons Learned: It Can’t Rain all the Time

31 Days of Lessons Learned:  Day Five

It Can’t Rain all the Time

Today was one of those days where I got pretty upset about the idea of lost friendships – upset enough to even create a HULK SMASH playlist.  I got to thinking about Borders today and the friendships I made there.  The reason I was upset is because I started thinking that the company has been gone for a little over a year now and I slowly seeing those friendships drifting away.  Sure, I’m Facebook friends with a lot of my old colleagues, but in general, I feel like those relationships just aren’t the same.  It’s a sad thing to realize you’re potentially not important enough to maintain a relationship with.  I guess it’s a two-way street though.  I really need to step up too I suppose.

So, sometime during my woe is me pity party today, my wife kindly reminded me that a majority of my core group of friends are friends I made at Borders.  Those are folks who would probably do just about anything for me, and I think my wife and I would do the same thing.  Sure, we may not talk as often as we used to, but the friendships I’ve gained and kept through Borders are amazing.  As the great philosophers Blink 182 once said, “I guess this is growing up.”

Time to put my big boy pants on and man up.

The HULK SMASH playlist is now gone and I’m filled with memories of how great my friendships really are.

As Eric Draven said in The Crow, “It Can’t Rain all the Time.”

I do still miss the book world though..

31 Days of Lessons Learned: KitchenAid teaches us how NOT to use twitter

31 Days of Lessons Learned: Day Four

KitchenAid teaches us how NOT to use twitter

 

Something happened in the twitterverse during last night’s Presidential Debate that highlights a very important issue brands, retailers, and businesses need to be aware of and that is the issue of being aware of what you tweet out to the public.  Your twitter account is a public representation of your brand and if you make social media gaffe like the one made by KitchenAid, you will be tried in the court of public opinion and found guilty.

In case you’re not aware of what happened, here’s a brief synopsis.  During the debate, an employee of KitchenAid tweeted out a derogatory comment about President Obama’s dead grandmother.  He meant to tweet it out with his personal account, but he was mistakenly signed into the KitchenAid account.  Even though the tweet was deleted almost immediately, it was still seen by the public and pictures and screenshots were taken.  KitchenAid even had to make a public apology.  While this may not tarnish their brand long-term, you hear about these large social media gaffes by big companies often enough that it needs to be used as a learning opportunity for everyone.  KitchenAid now joins the ranks of companies like Chrysler, Kenneth Cole, American Red Cross, and Marc Jacobs (and more unfortunately) who have all had major issues based on what they presented on twitter.  In this connected age we live in, nothing is permanently deleted.  Remember this the next time you post on twitter (or any social media outlet for that matter).

Here are a few tips to help you avoid making a big mistake and getting egg all over your company’s face.

1)      NEVER link a business account with a personal e-mail address.  You’re just asking for trouble if you do.

2)      If you use a social media management tool like HootSuite, don’t mix your personal accounts with professional accounts.  One wrong click of the mouse and you’re broadcasting your opinion on your company’s social media pages.

3)      Just to be safe, stay away from politics or any other hot-button issues.  If it’s something that you think can be taken the wrong way, it probably will be.

4)      Make sure you have someone you trust managing your company’s social media offerings.

5)      If something does fall through the cracks and something offensive is produced, delete and apologize immediately.  Take responsibility as a representative of your company and don’t pass the buck.  Your customers will respect you more if you take those actions.

I’m sure KitchenAid learned a lot from their slip up.  Hopefully, you can also learn from their mistakes.

31 Days of Lessons Learned: I make a good Halloween-inspired music playlist

31 Days of Lessons Learned: Day Two

I make a good Halloween-inspired music playlist

Based on my site traffic, I’m getting a lot of folks checking out all the free pumpkin stencils I posted last year.  I don’t blame them…it is that time of year after all (in fact, I plan on discussing pumpkins and Halloween later this month as it pertains to a lesson I learned).  Seeing all the excitement over last year’s Halloween posts (and because Halloween is awesome), I’ve been starting to get the bug myself.  My daughter and I have already decided what we’re being this year (monkeys); I’m going to start reading a really scary book; and I’m going to start watching some scary movies.  If there’s any month that you should purposely scare yourself during, it’s October.

All this Halloween buzz also got me thinking about music (just about anything gets me thinking about music though, so that’s no surprise).  So, I set out to make a playlist that can get me in the spooky mood.  I think I did a pretty good job of it actually.  Take a listen and tell me what you think.  Be warned, there is a bit of rap on there, and the rap songs are definitely NSFW.  I had over 50 songs on this mix at one time, but I pared it down to the following 33 tracks (And before you get on my case about the lack of “Monster Mash” on this mix, I didn’t forget it.  In fact, I deliberately avoided it at all costs.  It’s a cute song and all, but doesn’t really fit the theme of this mix.

Take a listen and let me know if I really did learn that I make a mean playlist.  Comment below with your thoughts and let me know if I forgot anything!

31 Days of Lessons Learned: Getting a good night’s sleep is important

31 Days of Lessons Learned:  Day One:

Getting a good night’s sleep is important

I’m going to ease myself into this year’s blog challenge.  Last year, I blogged about Halloween all month, which is extremely easy for me given the fact that I’m such a huge fan of the Halloween season.  This year though, I’m going to be a bit more introspective.  Sure, my blog site traffic may not be as high this time, but I’ll be giving you some quality content.

Before I get into the really deep lessons, I’m going to start off with a lesson I learned today actually.

As part of my ongoing work on weight loss and improving myself, I just started taking a 12 week class from the University of Michigan’s MHealthy Department.  I’m in their Weight Management Program that breaks classes down between nutrition, fitness, and psychology.  It’s an amazing course so far and I would recommend it to anyone in the Ann Arbor area who wants to work on these issues.

So, tonight we spoke about several things, but the one thing that stood out to me the most involved sleep and its affect on gaining weight.

Cooper and I sleeping back in his puppy years.

Since college, I’ve maintained that as long as I get four hours of sleep all night, I’d be just fine…and for the most part I have been.  That mantra has given me twenty hours of awake time a day, which allows me some “me” time after everyone goes to sleep, which I use to either watch movies that only I care about, play video games, play on the computer, or read.  Sometimes, I actually even get some writing done.

These late nights helped in college because of my heavy course load and it helped when Cooper was a puppy because we had a lot of issues with him when he was younger that required us to let him out multiple times a night.  Now, with a Toddler running around, it gives me some decompression time.

From day one though, my wife hasn’t been a fan of my late nights and kept telling me that it was bad for me and that it was going to affect me.  Still, I resisted.  That “me” time is important to me.  I think it’s part of my only-childness.

Well, tonight in my MHealthy class, I learned the negative affects getting four or less hours of sleep a night can have on you…especially as they relate to weight gain.  As it turns out, if you are in that group of people who have that kind of sleep schedule, you are most likely to gain weight, most likely to have the hardest time keeping weight off, and most likely to carry all your weight in your abdominal area (plus a whole bunch of other bummer mental, physical, and physiological things too).

Strike One.

Strike Two.

Strike Three.

My wife doesn’t hear it very often, but I am officially admitting I was wrong and she was right.  While I’m not going to change overnight and I may still have the occasional late night, today I learned I need to pay more attention to my sleep schedule.

Lily takes a shoulder snooze.

31 Days of Lessons Learned

It’s that time of year again.  That’s right, I’m joining up with everyone over at The Nesting Place for the 31 Day Blog.  Last year, I posted 31 blogs about Halloween (which is coincidentally my favorite time of year as well).
This year, I’m going to be a bit more introspective and reflective.  This year, the theme of my 31 Day Blog Challenge is – 31 Days of Lessons Learned.  Don’t worry though, not all of my lessons will be serious in nature.  For instance, what’s to stop me from using one day to say that I learned to never whiz on an electric fence from Ren & Stimpy?  It could happen…

This is the main hub for all 31 days.  After I post each blog, I’ll also post a link to the individual blog here.  Feel free to use my fancy 31 Days logo on your blog and link up with me.  🙂

I’m pretty excited about this!  Thanks for all your support folks!

Day One:  Getting a good night’s sleep is important

Day Two:  I make a good Halloween-inspired music playlist

Day Three:  Fools Rush In

Day Four:  KitchenAid teaches us how NOT to use twitter

Day Five:  It Can’t Rain all the Time

Day Six:  People Want Free Sesame Street Elmo Pumpkin Stencils

Day Seven:  Shut up and start writing

Day Eight:  Celebrate the Little Victories

Day Nine:  SongPop is Addicting

Day Ten:  What Goes Around Comes Around

Day Eleven:  October Baseball is the Best Baseball

Day Twelve:  Take Some Time to Smile

Day Thirteen:  Find a Fun Way to Donate to Charity

Day Fourteen:  I Made a (free) Batman Pumpkin Stencil

Day Fifteen:  Mean People Suck – What we can learn from Amanda Todd’s death

Day Sixteen:  Memories come in all shapes and sizes

Day Seventeen:  American Girl Dolls are expensive!

Day Eighteen:  You Haven’t Learned Your Lesson if it Keeps Getting Repeated to You

Day Nineteen:  If your dog is ripping a tennis ball apart, try harder to get it from him

Day Twenty:  Have a date night from time to time

Day Twenty One:  Sometimes you pay for it on Monday

Day Twenty Two:  I Can Run a Mile!

Day Twenty Three:  There’s a Fine Line Between Classic and Dated

Day Twenty Four:  Overconfidence can jump up and bite you

Day Twenty Five:  Take Advantage of Interlibrary Loans

Day Twenty Six:  Don’t Stifle Your Child’s Creativity and Decision-Making (Girls Can be Batman too) 

Day Twenty Seven:  It’s Hard Being a Tigers Fan Lately

Day Twenty Eight:  I Was Lost in Love Until I Found Rachel

Day Twenty Nine:  We are but Pawns in Nature’s Game of Chess

Day Thirty:  One Small Idea Can Change Your Course

Day Thirty One:  My Wife is One Supportive Lady

31 Days of Halloween Hijinks: What’s Next?

Day Thirty One: What’s Next?

Well, this was a successful Halloween if you ask me.  It’s almost ten o’clock and my daughter is still awake from all the excitement (no candy tonight though…seriously) and my wife and I are mellowing out in front of the TV before we get ready for bed.  In case you don’t remember, my daughter and I went with the themed costume this year.  In fact, I’m going to dress up with her every year until she gets sick of me.  So, here’s Poppa and his little monkey.

Lily Monkey is hungry!!

 

I can’t believe 31 days are already over.  Things just flew by this past month.  Thanks so much to all of you for sharing your time with me this month.  I really hope you continue to come to the blog regularly because I plan to keep on going.

So, what’s next you ask you ask?

Well, you can definitely expect to get a healthy dose of pop culture, movie, music, and books on the blog.  I’ll also throw in some other content (contests perhaps?) and guest posts from time to time.  Plus, personal stuff and recipes and writing will also make appearances…stick around why don’t you?

No matter what happens next, Halloween Hijinks may be over for this year, but the regular hijinks continues!