Much love,
Laura, John, and Strong Santa

Original artwork illustrated by John Kimball

Hi, my name is Laura and I have not blogged in three four days. And last night I composed this blog while sitting next to my mom – who doesn’t read my blog and completely missed NaBloPoMo this year – on the couch at my sister’s house in New Jersey, and there’s a baby coo-ing, laughing, and desperately needs his awesome auntie to play with him. Today, Sunday, is my nephew’s first birthday. Last year I spent the last half of NaBloPoMo writing blog posts on my sister’s couch while we waited for my nephew to arrive, and it’s kind of surreal that now, a year later, we’re here and our family has this amazing, gorgeous baby boy in our life. Wow.

So before I get back to some much needed and awesome family time, here are some informative and fun stuff that’s been floating around the Internet this week.

Four Blog posts about Facebook Trends, Millennials, Failing, and Whining

Some Observations About 2011′s Most Shared Articles On Facebook by Tac Anderson on NewCommBiz

Read this because: You’re dying to know which celebrity or famous cat dominated conversations on Facebook this past year.

Spoiler Alert: It’s neither, but you’ll feel better about visiting this website every single day.

Understanding What It Means to Be a Millennial by Mike Krass

Read this because: You can’t get enough of the conversation about how the millennials are all hipsters who dream of entrepreneurship. Mike does a great job of taking the conversation one-step further and throwing the responsibility back on us – now that we want to be entrepreneurial, what steps are we doing to make that happen?

When Death Feels Like A Good Option by Ben Huh

Read this because: The best way to learn about success is through failure, and, as Ben Huh, the founder and CEO of Cheezburger Network, says, “Failure is an option, and a real risk. Failure and risk something entrepreneurs understand well, and learn to manage. However, death isn’t an option, it’s an inevitability. And before I die, I want to take as many swings at the fence as I can.”

Great advice for entrepreneurs, pre-entrepreneurs, and anyone.

Startups Are Hard. So Work More, Cry Less, And Quit All The Whining by Michael Arrington on Uncrunched

Read this because: We all like to whine and be that person at the party who stayed up until dawn working on a great project, hasn’t taken a vacation in three years, and is working too much – but all while doing something we’re passionate about, something that’s great. Whining is a ‘badge of honor’ in some circles and we need to get over ourselves and just stop.

Bonus: This reality check may make you shut up and become a better person.

And Two More for Fun

Clothes for your nerd boyfriend – Because you want the man in your life to look like the men who shaped modern hipsterism – like Jim Henson, Gene Kelly, the crew from Spinal Tap, Frasier Crane, Bob Marley, and Mathew Broderick.

The 25 Funniest Autocorrects OF DYAC’s First Year – In case you haven’t seen this already.

Just shared this with my parents. My dad said, “I’m so glad I don’t have an iPhone.” And my mom said, “That’s good. Will you send that to me?”

Consider these two things my gift to you.

Photo Credit: jencu

P.S. The cute kid reading the paper isn’t my nephew.

So I opened up my content calendar for this month, looking for ideas, and it’s becoming very clear that I have five more posts to write until I reach the finish line of National Blog Posting Month.

But I have so many more amazing, awesome blog posts to write before November 30th that even writing a ‘cheap shot’ of a blog today seems like a waste.

28 minutes.

Shit.

[10 minutes later]

Yeah, I don’t have anything, so here’s the official trainer for The Muppets movie. John and I saw it on Wednesday and we’re about to go see it, again. Seriously, I’ve never laughed so hard at a movie in my life.

If you’re a 20-something who grew up with watching Sesame Street, idolizing Jim Henson, and thought at some point that the Muppets (and every Disney character) was real, you should go see this movie. If you like underdog stories, making dreams happen, and the Muppets, you should see this movie.

I haven’t found a really good way to describe it, but imagine if you could go up to the fictional characters you idolized as a kid and actually talk to them and ask them questions about the things they did and how awesome that would be – that’s this movie. It’s a modern interpretation of our history of growing up in the 80s and 90s (read this blog post by Jessica Malnik: 21 Signs You Grew Up in the 90s, and you’ll know what I’m trying to say).

Apparently I missed the memo that Thanksgiving weekend is National Unplug and Spend Time with Your Family weekend (as reported by multiple bloggers). I’ve written about unplugging before, and it’s definitely something that we all need in this day of electronic calendars, push notifications, and Siri, is that we need people to tell us to unplug.

Well, here’s me, the girl who will be offline and online over the next five days due to her commitment to blogging once a day saying, don’t.

Don’t unplug. Don’t get offline. Don’t respect your friends and family that you only see once a year for the holidays by abandoning Facebook, Twitter, and (gasp!) Google+.

Be that annoying grandkid who texts throughout dinner. Channel that angst that you got over when you graduated from high school and sulk. Check in, obnoxiously, from your mother’s kitchen, the kiddie table, and your grandmother’s punch bowl. Claim the mayorship of Second Thanksgiving. And – for the love of the Internet – tweet.

And when you’re done with your third helping of mashed potatoes and have reached the point of no return after your second dose of pie, poke someone on Facebook.

Now go get that turkey coma on.

Happy Thanksgiving!

P.S. Since you’re online, here’s some Thanksgiving fin from The Oatmeal: Thanksgiving as a kid VS Thanksgiving as an adult. Enjoy ☺

Photo Credit: Pam’s Pics-

Since personal branding was the hot topic yesterday and flowcharts simplify the decision-making process for everyone and are always a ton of fun, I want to share with you this flowchart that has been floating around the Internet for awhile.

So here’s a handy reference tool so you never have to answer what status to post on which social network and why.

You’re welcome

This flowchart was created by Daryl Lang of Breaking Copy.

Ira Glass said this at some point and since I’m writing about writing a lot lately, it’s too relevant not to be shared.

Random fact: Did you know that I met and worked with Ira Glass during year two of Wordstock? Yep, I’m just that good.

In other bits of trivia – Scott Berkun wrote a response to my blog post from last week, 500 Words or Less, which was actually inspired by him. (Is your head spinning yet?) And in this post, he explains the difference between an essay and a blog…sort of.

You should read it.

New development: Did you know that lamiki.com is on Facebook?  You should like me over there, because we all know that you can’t get enough lamiki in your life.

Come on, toss a girl a like.

Oh, and I have big news to share tomorrow. Really, really BIG news.

But you’ll have to wait. ☺

For now, rock the rest of your Thursday.

Want to know the best part? I had no idea that this song and that dance was created to save the singers from the Zombie Apocalypse until this weekend. This song and that dance is definitely one that we should all learn, for our own safety and that of our loved ones.

So, because I love each and every one of you in a non-creepy, deeply platonic way, I’d like to bestow on you the gift of shufflin’ so you may survive the apocalypse as well.

‪How To – Shuffle Routine in Party Rock Anthem Music Video (Part 1)‬

‪How To – Shuffle Routine in Party Rock Anthem Music Video (Part 2)‬

Phew, now we’re all safe.

But I have a good reason why – John and I spent the evening at a friends house helping them choose their signature cocktail for their wedding this spring.

And while I could have chosen a paleo-friendly drink recipe, what good would my taste buds have been if I didn’t taste all the other cocktails and vote for my favorite? And then, what kind of friend would I have been?

That’s right, I cheated last night because I was being a good friend. And when we came home past the stroke of midnight, I was in no place to be blogging.

Mojito Mixology

Earlier this year, I decided to make homemade mojitos for the annual BBQ we host for our CrossFit friends. What I didn’t know was how impressive this skill would be until I posted a photo from the ‘dress rehearsal’ on Facebook and received a ton of comments about how hard it was to make a mojito at home and awe that I took on such a challenge.

I’ll let you in on a little secret – all I did was crack open a bar book that I received as a gift for my 21st birthday and choose the mojito recipe that was the easiest to make. I bought key lime and mint from the corner produce market, a gallon of Bicardi Rum at the liquor store, and everything else at the grocery store. Turns out that the key limes were key in making the drink sweet and not sour (which would have been the case if I used regular limes).

The recipe (parenthetic commentary are my own)…

Mojito

1 ounce fresh lime juice (fresh squeezed from key limes is best)
1 tablespoon superfine sugar
6 to 8 fresh mint leaves (roll each mint leaf in your fingers before dropping into the glass)
2 ounces light rum
3 to 4 ounces chilled club soda
Fresh mint sprig

Shaken, not stirred – Shake the lime juice, sugar, mint leaves, and rum vigorously with ice. Without straining, pour the entire contents of the shaker into a highball glass flamingo glass, and top with club soda. Garnish with the mint sprig. Complete with a straw.

Other than the mint sprigs, measure out each of the ingredients to keep the ratio (and taste) perfect.

Recipe adapted from the The Ultimate Bar Book: The Comprehensive Guide to Over 1,000 Cocktails (link to recipe).

The Secret to Impressing Your Friends

The thing that surprised me the most about serving about a gallon’s worth of mojitos at my party was how much people are in awe of special skills like cooking or following a recipe. I experience this whenever I bring a homemade pie to a dinner party.

From what some of my friends tell me, it’s like this – people who can follow a recipe usually can because someone showed them how to at one point in their life. And as I’ve learned from making pies and now cocktails from scratch, if you want to learn how to do something, all you need to do is find the directions and learn how to do it.

Violà! Instant party trick!

What’s the best cocktail you’ve mixed at home? And what’s the recipe?

Am I what I tweet? @Jolkona vs. @lamiki

To test this out, I thought I’d compare the two personalities that I manage on Twitter, @Jolkona, the nonprofit I work for, and @lamiki, yours truly in my most natural form.

Note: I didn’t customize @Jolkona’s avatar in the infographic, but I did customize myself.

First of all, I am a little disappointed that Jolkona is the “rock star” while lamiki is a workaholic. Though, it makes sense as I do tend to tweet about working from @lamiki and share more “woo hoo”/good news stuff from @Jolkona. But still, I’m feeling slightly bummed that lamiki isn’t has “fun” as Jolkona seems to be. (Mental note: change that).

I also have no idea why lamiki gets caught being obsessed with shopping while Jolkona is stuck sipping coffee either…I think the jury is still out on that one.

The ‘Tweets Seen per Day’ statistic is the most interesting statistic, especially when you compare how many followers @Jolkona vs. @lamiki has compared to who sees them. In the conversation of what makes a person influential or not, this statistic is very important and gives me a benchmark for where to improve.

The topics is the weakest part of this infographic because it’s only pulling words and content that I talked about and shared during the past two weeks when both @Jolkona and @lamiki were promoting Jolkona’s Groupon campaign like crazy. I wish that visual.ly was able to pull more historic tweets for this information, but I’m sure it’s a limitation of Twitter’s search.

What does your Twitter infographic look like?

To continue the fun, I created a second infographic comparing the co-founders of Jolkona, Adnan Mahmud (@adnanmahmud) and Nadia Mahmud (@nadiamahmud), needless to say, it’s quite fun.

Even more fun, here’s a comparison of me and my husband using his racing handle — @lamiki vs. @jkimballracing.

If you have five minutes free, feed your ego, create an infographic for yourself, and share your link with me. And let me know if your ‘likely obsession’ is true or not.

This post was semi-inspired by this post written by Grace Boyle on Small Hands, Big Ideas.

Infographics are sexy and fun. They marry hard-core information in a visual way that is more fun and easy to digest. They help us understand data that we may not have cared about in a way that makes us care about it. And they definitely serve a purpose in this big, scary world of content overload. For example, I’m currently obsessed with this infographic that shows the power of asking friends for money when fundraising.

Flowcharts are quite boring by definition. Think about it, Wikipedia describes a flowchart as “a type of diagram that represents an algorithm or process, showing the steps as boxes of various kinds, and their order by connecting these with arrows.”

How boring. Seriously, for someone like me who doesn’t need algorithms mapped out, I don’t need them. Unless they help me solve a problem in a fun and functional way like one of the following:

Should I work for free?

Should I work for free? by Jessica Hische. This is probably one of the most useful flowcharts I’ve seen. Seriously, download or bookmark it and definitely reference it when you need it.

How can I more effectively procrastinate?

Click on the image to view the full chart and all its glory. I’m still trying to figure out if this will help me get over my procrastination or hone my mad procrastinator skills. Jury is still out on that one.

(Thanks, Tom, for bringing this chart to my attention.)

And, what is the point of this song?

How can you not love this flowchart by Jeannie Harrell?

If you have no idea about the function of this flowchart, check it out juxtaposed against Bonnie Tyler’s video for Total Eclipse of the Heart on FlowingData.

What are your favorite flowcharts?