What’s in YOUR kitchen?

It’s been an expensive month so far, but that doesn’t mean we’re not looking at making changes to our house. One of the places that may need a revamp in the near future is our kitchen, so we’ve been looking around the web, getting ideas of what we could be doing and trying to find inspiration for something we both like.

We did come across some kitchen cabinets we like at the Kitchen Cabinet Depot. They’re based in the US, so we won’t be ordering directly from them, but as far as ideas are concerned, their ranges are a source of great inspiration. I was looking at their Venetian White range for example. You can see all the different units that they produce. They are delivered as flat-packed furniture, ready for assembly, but just the sheer range of choice is staggering. You can literally design and build your own unique kitchen, just by picked out the standard bits you’re after and putting everything together yourself (a bit like Lego for your kitchen).

Here’s another cool thing about the Kitchen Cabinet Depot. They have a Green Pledge which states that for every order that gets placed with them, they will plant a tree to replenish the wood that was used in the making of the kitchen. It’s a great idea and one I’m sure their customers will back fully. Yes, when buying a kitchen, your main focus is going to be one of form or function, but it’s nice to know that a moral choice has been made and it’s a great story to tell about your kitchen.

Anyway, I’ll be looking for more ideas in the near future, as we try to decide what our new kitchen will look like. Any suggestions or recommendations, just go ahead and drop in a comment!

Third Thursday – 16th February 2012 #smc

photo credit: Sebastian Mary

Don’t you love it when Third Thursday sneaks up on you? It’s happened again this month, so it’s time to make sure that everyone else knows it’s here!

So what exactly happens on Third Thursday? Well, it’s the customary lunch date for the Isle of Man Social Media Club, a gathering for people interested in Social Media, whether it’s for work reasons, or just for fun. We meet up for lunch to share the latest stories, trade lessons and talk about emerging technologies. It’s a bit of fun, but also a great way to learn what’s going on in the world of Social Networking.

The lunch is open to anyone, whether you’re an avid Flickr user, just discovered Pinterest or if you’ve been on Facebook ever since it opened it’s doors. Come join us at Paparazzi at 12:30 on Thursday 16th February. You’re bound to meet some online friends and make some new ones.

Video Marketing on Demand

Here’s a short trailer for our upcoming documentary ‘Video Marketing On Demand’ being presented in the Isle of Man at the end of this month. The event is being presented by Glen from YourMovieCrew and is being held in association with the Chartered Institute Of Marketing Isle Of Man Branch.

Video Marketing On Demand – Documentary Trailer from Your Movie Crew on Vimeo.

The film features case studies of Manx businesses who use video in their marketing mix and also takes expert opinions from a number of Isle Of Man based specialists and has been shot, edited & animated by yourmoviecrew.com

As part of the production, they are looking for YOUR input in their video marketing survey. They will present the results in an animated infographic during the finished film. You can participate in the survey here.

Tickets for the premiere at the Palace Cinema on 29th February available here. See you there!

Have a bit of fun with your WordPress blog

Have you ever looked for a way to make your WordPress blog more interesting? We’ve all looked at different devices to attract and retain readers to our websites but today there’s a new tool in the webmaster’s arsenal. (who can resist a cute kitten right?)

Introducing the Showdown Plugin, a brand spanking new WordPress plugin that lets you create games on your blog and use your content in a new and interesting way. The plugin has two modes, a Battle mode that lets you present users with two bits of content and allows them to vote on the one they prefer, and a “Hot or Not” mode that lets users show just how much they like a piece of content. It works with pictures, videos, text and any other content type you might be hosting on your blog.

Want to see how the plugin works? Check out the Showdown demo video or check out my Joke Showdown or our Cute Kitten Showdown. Check out the demos and if you feel your site could benefit from a bit of fun, go ahead and download Showdown. It only costs a few dollars but can make a real difference to how engaging your site can be.

Third Thursday – January 2012

photo credit: su-lin

Looks like Third Thursday is upon us once again! For those who have never come across it, it’s an opportunity for people interested in Social Media to get together, have a bite to eat and share thoughts and ideas about established and emerging Social Networking websites, capabilities and services.

It’s usually a pretty varied group around the table and conversations range from benefits and risks of Social Media, all the way to designing efficient algorithms for minifying Javascript. Yes, there are geeks among us, but there are also those who just want to learn more about Facebook, Twitter and Youtube and how they can be used in their daily or professional lives.

So please come and join us. It’s an open invitation, anyone can come and if you’re a regular try and bring along a friend too. This month will be slightly different as Glen from YourWebVideo will be hunting around for people’s opinions on the use of video online and we’ll get a chance to watch him in action. It’s bound to be fun!

As usual, we’ll be down at Paparazzi in Douglas at 12:30. There’s all the Wifi you can eat and we’ll grab some food while we’re there too. See you on the 19th!

Evening Tweet-up in Douglas – Friday 13th January #fb

photo credit: Thomas Hawk

Nathan’s organising a tweetup this Friday evening, which we’re hoping to make; and I wanted to post about it, just to get the word out in case some of you hadn’t heard. The plan for the evening is pretty simple:

This month we’re planning on having a bit of a bite at The Velvet Lobster on Friday 13th January. It’s their Jolly Time, which means cocktails are cheaper (and they are very good, made from fresh ingredients). After food, we’re hoping to grab a taxi down to the new Crescent Nightclub which has just re-opened for some frivolity, music and dancing.

Looks like it could be a great night out. If you interested in joining, check out the details (and who’s coming) down at his website.

How a few drinks got us into this financial crisis ..

Image via Wikipedia

I came across a great “Derivatives Primer” today. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did:

Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Detroit. She realizes that virtually all of her customers are unemployed alcoholics and, as such, can no longer afford to patronize her bar. To solve this problem, she comes up with a new marketing plan that allows her customers to drink now, but pay later.

Heidi keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers’ loans). Word gets around about Heidi’s “drink now, pay later” marketing strategy and, as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Heidi’s bar. Soon she has the largest sales volume for any bar in Detroit.

By providing her customers freedom from immediate payment demands, Heidi gets no resistance when, at regular intervals, she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages. Consequently, Heidi’s gross sales volume increases massively.

A young and dynamic vice-president at the local bank recognizes that these customer debts constitute valuable future assets and increases Heidi’s borrowing limit. He sees no reason for any undue concern, since he has the debts of the unemployed alcoholics as collateral.

At the bank’s corporate headquarters, expert traders figure a way to make huge commissions, and transform these customer loans into DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS. These securities then are bundled and traded on international securities markets.
Naive investors don’t really understand that the securities being sold to them as AAA secured bonds really are debts of unemployed alcoholics. Nevertheless, the bond prices continuously climb, and the securities soon become the hottest-selling items for some of the nation’s leading brokerage houses.

One day, even though the bond prices still are climbing, a risk manager at the original local bank decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Heidi’s bar. He so informs Heidi.

Heidi then demands payment from her alcoholic patrons, but being unemployed alcoholics they cannot pay back their drinking debts. Since Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations she is forced into bankruptcy. The bar closes and Heidi’s 11 employees lose their jobs.

Overnight, DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS prices drop by 90%. The collapsed bond asset value destroys the bank’s liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans, thus freezing credit and economic activity in the community.The suppliers of Heidi’s bar had granted her generous payment extensions and had invested their firms’ pension funds in the various BOND securities. They find they are now faced with having to write off her bad debt and with losing over 90% of the presumed value of the bonds. Her wine supplier also claims bankruptcy, closing the doors on a family business that had endured for three generations, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 150 workers.

Fortunately though, the bank, the brokerage houses and their respective executives are saved and bailed out by a multibillion dollar no-strings attached cash infusion from their cronies in government. The funds required for this bailout are obtained by new taxes levied on employed, middle-class, non-drinkers who have never been in Heidi’s bar.

Now do you understand?