Better Than Flowers for Valentine's Day - A New Gift Idea

This is a repost from the pet blog, Pet Knows, where I am a contributing blogger.  But, I am so excited about it I had to post it here....


Show Your Love with A Pet For Valentine's Day

Here is a unique take on the typical flowers and chocolates that St. Valentine is known for. The Washington Animal Rescue League, here in DC, is sponsoring a Compassion for Passion event. You can SPONSOR (or adopt) a pet in their shelter in the name of your sweetie. What a terrific idea - you can help save a pet!

For a small donation (substantially less than a dozen roses!) you can select the pet from their website and they will notify your loved one about your generous gift and give the pet extra treats and love on your loved one's behalf.

So what are you waiting for?!!? Sign-up now! You must take advantage of this by February 12 (today!!) at 4pm in order to have your sweetie notified by Valentine's Day.

I LOVE this program - enough to put my money where my mouth is. I just sponsored "Chrissie" the dog for my sweetie. Looking forward to his surprise when he gets an email from WARL alerting him that he is the proud sponsor of a dog!

The Rules of Blonde's I-View: Say It & Stand Behind It

A word to my readers - while I don't have set 'rules' about this blog or your interactions on it, here's something you should know about commenting. Stand behind your words. It's that simple. If you leave a comment, you need to leave a name or I may not publish it.

I recently had a lengthy (multiple paragraphs) comment left by "Anonymous" on my "Barack Obama is NOT African-American" post. I have chosen not to publish it. Some of its content my be considered inflammatory or at least controversial. And, I welcome that. But not if the commenter isn't willing to stand behind his or her views.

The anonymity of the internet allows for free-flowing words and opinions, but please remember that if you are too afraid to put your name behind it, then maybe you shouldn't be saying it at all.

Blondes I-REview: New Media Strategies' Relaunched Website

New Media Strategies, my current employer, has relaunched its website to commemorate 10 years as the industry leader in Word-of-Marketing and Online PR.

With the help of Jess3, the web design firm hired for this project, they have a very interesting and unique site that is a great example of how to do it "right." While there is a comprehensive press release about the relaunch, I wanted to point out a few features not often found on corporate websites:

• An interactive timeline focusing on major events in the 10 year history
• Profiles for all employees (check me out!)
• Recent & Relevant Case Studies
• A Blog with nearly all employees contributing
• A Photo Gallery hosted on Flickr, showing day-to-day office life of the employees
• Capabilities & Expertise

What do I like about this site? (Disclosure: Despite being an employee, this is the first time I have seen it, as it was just revealed today so these are my initial thoughts and reactions). What I think is most interesting about this site is how incredibly employee-focused it is. Clients don't often get to see the front lines, or for that matter, our team members who toil endlessly to produce high-quality deliverables. So much is done online and via email, these days, that the "human analysis" side of NMS (which makes us unique in the industry) is often lost in translation. Now, you can see each person, what their office space is like, and begin to envision what goes into the final product we deliver. As well, you can link to their own blogs or the blog entries they've written for the NMS blog. Through their own words, clients and others can begin to more fully understand how NMSers are thought-leaders in the industry and in their specific areas of expertise.

As a company, NMS is represented both in the written word as well as the visual manifestation of this new site as the sum of its parts (the people). There is a plethora of information on what NMS has delivered in its 10 year history - how its revolutionized the marketplace in offering services and expertise that others do not and cannot.

Overall, this site gets three out of four blondes from Blonde's I-View on how to do a corporate website right. I am biased, but never the less, it is a great example.