Bu the favorites in Hockey East

In the Eye's of the Coaches Hockey East the Terriers earned 6 of the 10 first place votes in the annual coaches preseason poll. Boston College and Umass-Lowell (Jack Parker's vote) also each got first place votes. Umass-Lowell was picked second and followed by Boston College. New Hampshire and Vermont are tied for forth and Northeasten who last year came one point of the Terriers on the last day of the season are ranked sixth. Massachusetts was voted seventh followed by Maine, Providence, and in in last once again is Merrimack.


> Blog Changes
There is now a new question in the right hand conner. The correct answer to last week's question was D.1971.                                                                            

We're hiring!

The North Dakota State Fair is hiring a full time Marketing Assistant. Position responsibilities will include: organizing and coordinating events, marketing and promoting the All Seasons Arena and State Fair Center, updating social media applications, producing marketing/advertising materials, attracting sponsors and performing general office duties. Individuals must be detail orientated, have the ability to work on multiple projects, posses strong organizational skills, computer skills as well as excellent oral and written communication skills. Marketing or event coordination experience or related degree is preferred.

Please send resume and cover letter to:

North Dakota State Fair, Attn: Shannon Pearson, PO Box 1796, Minot, ND 58702

i ♥ movies. & my tickets collections this year.

i ♥ watching movies. on DVD or cinema, does not matter at all.
this is a common hobby that i do without realizing that doing often could caused empty wallet. lol.
some of the tickets are from Indonesia (my home country) which i went everytime i had holiday off from my university.
some are from Thailand because i went there quite sometime whenever i have short term holiday. but most of the tickets are from GSC in Penang, Malaysia because i moved here to finish my university.


the seats that took most of the time are The Twin Seat.
which most of the time costs RM24 (Rp.66rb) for both person. (i always went with my BF).
sometimes i brought along Kinder Joy Chocolate from the snack corner outside of the cinema, sometimes i also bought little snacks from the cinema food stand but ONLY sometimes.
I don't spend much money on snacks from Penang Cinema because honestly they are NOTHING interesting to buy.
In Indonesia i would have buy Nachos with Extra Cheese or in Thailand i would have buy Butter Cheese Popcorn, but in Penang there aren't anything much at all. :[


since i'm bored, i'm going to list some of the movies i have watched this year.
(in no partical order or sequences of the dates).


GSC

1. Halloween
2. Bangkok Dangerous
3. Outlander
4. Underworld 3
5. He's just not that into you
6. 21 (nice movie ^^)
7. Bedtime Stories
8. Push
9. Knowing (my BF hated it)
10. Australia
11. Ghosts of girlfriends past
12. The Final Destination 3
13. Dragonball Evolution
14. Fast & Furious 4
15. G.I Joe : Rise of the Cobra
16. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (WOW)
17. The Spirit
18. I Love You, Beth Cooper
19. Madagascar Escape 2 (i always lovee the penguins, they are the funniest!)
20. Inkheart
21. The X Files
22. Deep In The Jungle
23. Bolt
24. Quantum of Solace (YEAAHH!!)
25. My Best Friends Girlfriend
26. Drag Me To Hell (one of my fav thriller movie this year)
27. The Uninvited (best thriller movie i watched this year!)
28. Changeling (oh so touching, i wish she ever found her son back)
29. Street Fighter : Chun Li
30. The Proposal
31. The Strangers
32. Coming Soon
33. District 9 (WOW this movie is very different, me & my BF love it)
34. Up
35. Seven Pounds
36. Valkyrie
37. Imagine That
38. Public Enemies (my fav movie this year. total awesome!)
39. Eagle Eye (this could be my BF's fav movie this year)
40. Star Trek
41. Blood : The Last Vampire (plaiin & boring)
42. Max Payne (wow dominated by hot girls, i really like it)
43. Twilight (of courseeeeeeee my fav!!)
44. Ugly Truth
45. Journey to the centre of the Earth
46. Obsessed
47. 17 Again (zac efron is overrated, he's not that hot, really)
48. A Perfect Getaway
49. G-Force (i dont know, i found it boring -.-)
50. X-Men Origins
51. Tropic Thunder
52. Ong Bak 2
53. The Transporter (Jason Statham is a total hottie!)

GSC PREMIER

1. Transformer 2 (overrated.. lol)
2. Night At The Museum
3. Harry Potter 6 (of course, i'm a fan)

Cathay Cineplex, Komtar

1. The Orphan

Bintaro 21, Indonesia

1. Narnia
2. Iron Man (overrateed)
3. Get Married (lucuuu hahaa)
4. Ayat-Ayat Cinta
5. Virgin 2 (hmmm..)
6. Beowuld
7. Laskar Pelangi
8. Radit & Jani (my fav indonesians movie ever!!)

Pondok Indah 21, Indonesia

1. Speed Racer
2. National Treasures 2
3. Pantastic 4
4. Pulau Hantu

Pondok Indah XXI, Indonesia

1. Water Horse
2. Horton Hears a Who (quite funny)
3. Stardust
4. Harry Potter 5 (of coursee!)

SFX Chaengwattana, Bangkok, Thailand

1. (a thai movie.. can't type here)

Paragon Cineplex, Bangkok, Thailand

1. Day The Earth Stood Still
2. Body Lies (leonardo dicaprio is the best actor out there, he magically turn the movie to be good)

so i guess that's all the tickets i got. i actually watch more than the lists here because some of the tickets are taken by my BF & my friends. xD


poll.. what's your fav movie this year????


love.love ♥♥

Western Conference Rankings

(Updated - September 30, 2009)
The Western Conference rankings are in, and the Eastern Conference picks have been updated. I missed a calculation when I first published the East, a mistake that had overvalued the Maple Leafs and Devils, while undervaluing the Thrashers. In any case, the final results are now in for both Conferences. Again, teams are divided up into four different groups; Tier I - The Leaders, Tier II - The Contenders, Tier III - The Disruptors, and Tier IV - The Scavengers [...]

The Leaders are teams who are well balanced, have had recent success, and are poised to lead their respective divisions. The Contenders are teams who should push for the top, but may have a few question marks to satisfy before being promoted. The Disruptors are those teams who have had solid rosters, and could upset some of the higher-ranked teams, but have a lot left to prove and will need to to fight out each other to make the post-season. As for The Scavengers, they are the teams who will try to pick up wins however they can, but will likely stay out of the Playoff picture for most of the season.

Tier I - The Leaders
Detroit Red Wings
Vancouver Canucks
San Jose Sharks

Tier II - The Contenders
Chicago Blackhawks
St. Louis Blues
Anaheim Ducks
Calgary Flames

Tier III - The Disruptors
Columbus Blue Jackets
Minnesota Wild
Dallas Stars
Nashville Predators

Tier IV - The Scavengers
Los Angeles Kings
Edmonton Oilers
Phoenix Coyotes
Colorado Avalanche

Again, let me have it in the comments section if you disagree. I'll be reviewing each Division in-depth soon, and I'll also post up some general trends to watch for during the year. I will release updated power rankings for both Conferences at the quarter points throughout the season. Remember - you can send me fantasy questions through the contact form on the sidebar, and follow LindHockeyFile on Twitter for quick updates!

- Josh Lind

All My Snarky Friends Are Coming Over Tonight

Let’s get the actual game stuff out of the way in the form of questions:

- Did Tony Romo do better? No interceptions. Helluva job! (Sort of)

- Why didn’t Roy Williams hang onto that throw on 2nd and goal that seemed like a helluva catchable touchdown pass?

- Why did Tony Romo then decide to throw it to Martellus Bennett on 3rd and goal? Helluva bad decision.

- Why is Terrance Newman scared of touching people to tackle them? And should his interception for a touchdown make up for that? (No)

- Why is Jay Ratliff so awesome?

- Who did the Damageplan-esque guttural scream-grunt right before the snap when the Cowboys had the ball in the 3rd quarter?

- Is there anything funnier than hearing the intro to “Crazy Train” reverberating around the new stadium when the Cowboys are on their own 15 yard line on 3rd and 19?

- Why does Tony Romo think he can run the ball for 20+ yards to get a first down?

- Should we have beaten the Carolina F’ing Panthers by a larger margin? (Almost certainly yes)

- Why is Tashard Choice so awesome?

- Why is Jason Garret retarded?

- Does Wade Phillips know that the game happened last night? He looked confused, sad and lost. I expect to see one of those Old People Amber Alerts issued for him on the drive home this afternoon. And I pray the vehicle he was last seen driving was this:




Now on to the less important but far more amusing parts of last night’s game…

Probably not a good time to be named John Phillips. You might have made a decent play last night but it didn’t stop me from making a comment about sleeping with your daughter.



Cheyenne: “Our color guard is....different.”




Chad on the Brinks Home Security System commercial: “Oh no! Hit the panic button! Dave Attell is breaking into our house!”



The Hank Williams Jr. intro was insane. If I remember it correctly, it climaxed with two golden football playing men becoming electrocuted in a Hill Valley 1985/save the clock tower moment where they collide violently after a current surges through them which then causes their helmets (and perhaps their heads) to become detached from their bodies and rocket out of the atmosphere and into space (almost taking out a satellite which would have then made us all unable to see the game) before hurtling back down to earth and into the roof of the new stadium and finally colliding in Mutual Assured Helmet Destruction.

Also, this guy is a hot mess:



Chad - "Oh this movie Zombieland looks awesome. I wanna go see it."
Me - "Me too!"
Philip - "Meh, I don't know. I'm not sold yet."
Me - "They just showed Woody Harrelson riding a roller coaster with a shotgun."
Philip - "Yeahhhhh, I'm just not convinced yet."




Towards the end of the game, they showed the Carolina Panthers owner. He seemed to be draped in some sort of FDR-in-Warm-Springs polio leg blanket. Danny thinks he looks like Ted Kennedy wearing a Snuggie.



Chad on the commercial for the 3 disc Vietnam War DVD set being sold after the game was over: "Do you want to feel like you're really 'in the shit'? FINALLY a war documentary for me!!!!"




MNF doesn’t mean Monday Night Football to me. It looks like the antonym for MILF. Mother (I’d Rather) Not…



Dear Jon Gruden, Please Stop Sitting on Stools in a Way to Maximize Camera Time for Your Junk. Below is the “frame 224 of the Zapruder film” of Monday Night Football. This is the only known still photograph of Jon Gruden sitting on a chair of any kind and covering his junk.

Ole and Lena

In honor of Host Fest starting tonight it only seems fitting for a few Ole and Lena jokes!

• When Ole and Lena were young and in love they would got to their favorite spot to park. One night while hugging and kissing Ole asks Lena, "Lena how would you like to go in the back?" "No," she replies. So they hug and kiss some more. Again, Ole asks Lena to go in the back. Lena replies, "Ole, why are you always asking me to go in the back, I want to stay in front with you!"

• Little Ole was sitting at the kitchen table doing his homework. He had a puzzled look on his face at he considered the assignment that was due--writing an essay about his origin. He turned to question his mother. "Mama, vere did Grandma come from?" he asked. "Da stork brought her," answered mama Lena. "And vere did yew come from?" asked Little Ole. "Da stork brought me," his mother answered. "And vere did I come from?" Little Ole inquired. "Vell, son, da stork brought yew, tew," mama Lena replied. With a scowl on his face, Little Ole picked up his pencil, turned to his school tablet, and began writing his essay: "Dere have been no natural births in our family for t'ree yenerations."

Thanks to Visit Minnesota for these jokes!

Here they Come

In the first of the major preseason polls the terriers are ranked #3 overall in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll. This put the Terriers behind the Red Hawks of Miami and the Denver Pioneers. But this dose put BU ahead of Michigan and Notre Dame. The Terriers will see both in early October.  

>Looking Back
Chris Bourque is has earned a spot on the Capitols opening day roster and he is expected to play vs the home town Bruins Thursday
 

He May Not Be a Helluva Quarterback but…

I have a deep, dark, dirty, festering secret. Like the lure of heroin to those in chronic pain, my willpower is failing me. I can’t help it. It’s like a tractor beam and I have been sucked in. I’m struggling, however pointlessly, against it. But then I saw this video and, well, I felt my muscles go limp. Whether I just gave in because I was tired of fighting it or I actually willingly decided to let myself be pulled away, I’ll never know.

I may have typed one or two (or half dozen) negative things about Tony Romo in the past few years. A week ago, after his interceptions lead directly to the Cowboys losing to the New York Giants, I wished a cavalcade of painful, puss-filled diseases to strike him simultaneously. I really couldn’t even think or type or speak about the Cowboys for a few days after last Sunday night’s game. What’s funny is that I made a shorthand list of things I wanted to write about once the searing pain of the loss became just a dull throb. Then I crossed them off for each time I heard one of the points being made for the 10th time by a local writer, sports talk guy or blog commenter. The list:

1. Flozell Adams – roundhouse kicked Justin Tuck?
2. Tony Romo – fuck him
3. Defense – fuck them
4. Terrance Newman – you suck at football
5. Wade – nevermind about them demoting him to D. Coordinator. He’s now gunning for Assistant Manager of Section 302 concessions
6. DeMarcus Ware – where? (minus 1 for pun)
7. Jay Ratliff – GOOD JOB
8. Two chances at catching a touchdown – Terrance Newman, you suck at everything
9. If Flozell Adams can roundhouse kick someone, I expect crane kicks from Ware unless he remember how to sack someone


But there’s no reason to dwell on the mess that was the game against the Giants. Unless the Cowboys lose tonight against the Panthers, then I am going to burn down the new stadium myself. What I was desperately searching for all week and through this weekend was a reason to believe again. Well, it was more like I needed a reason not to hate my own team and specifically my quarterback. I searched and searched. And then I found that video. And dammit, I like the dude. I’m not really convinced he will ever win a playoff game. But there’s just something about him that makes me unable to outright hate him. And trust me, every fiber in my being is screaming to hate him.

I’ve watched the video over and over again (partly just to figure out if McGee really is as dumb as he seems or if it is just that he’s a rookie) and I laugh more each time. Comparing the silly pirate cannons in Tampa Bay to the gunfire you grew up dodging on the mean streets of Burlington, Wisconsin? Dammit, I can’t hate you. Trying to get a laugh, a smile or a pulse out of Jason Garrett? Awesome. Alternately, Jason Garrett apparently missed his calling as a palace guard. But what really sold me on this video is Tony Romo’s liberal and almost Tourrette’s-like use of the phrase “helluva job!” to encourage his teammates.

Maybe this is just a frenzied forage around the cold, barren soils of Cowboys football in a desperate attempt to find something redeeming about the leader of the team. Maybe I just need to find something to get my hopes up for tonight’s game. Maybe I’m doing that thing where once a certain number of people agree on something and jump on the pile (Ed Hardy sucks, Saturday Night Live isn’t funny, Apple sucks, “I want to throw this can away, where’s your recycling?”) and so I have to try to be ahead of the curve by believing the opposite to be true. So in conclusion, look for me and my football gang to be watching the game tonight with a renewed sense of Cowboys pride. Alternately, look for me in the crowd. I’ll be the one wearing a t-shirt with a bedazzled tiger on it, doing my impressions of the Church Lady during commercials and texting “Tony Romo rulez” on my iPhone to everyone I know while actively NOT recycling. Down is up, black is white, cold is hot and, most shocking of all, I don’t hate Tony Romo like I thought I did.

Uffda! That's a lot of Entertainment!

The 2009 Norsk Host Fest is over flowing with top entertainment! Which explains why they've even had to add another building for an additional stage! If you can't make it to the big concerts featuring Reba, Clint Black, George Jones, Frankie Valli or Ray Stevens, make sure to check out the free entertainment that takes place constantly! Acts this year include: Oak Ridge Boys, Church Basement Ladies, Adbacadabra - the Ultimate ABBA concert, Monroe Crossing, Tom Netherton, Williams & Ree, JoAnn Castle, The Peking Acrobats, Bjoro Halland, The Peking Acrobats, Ringling 5, The Western Senators, Leah Durelle, Memphis, Kerry Christensen - Master Yodeler, The Putnam Guitar Duo, The Korsliens, Radio Stars, Kentucky Riders, Chmielewski Fun Time Band,Zelda Nera, Kathy Bender, Taylor Dayne Falcon, Tom Patton as Elvis, elevenAM Gospel Band, Bunad Show, Bussi, Parade of Flags Skalmusik, Norsk Hostfest Accordion Club Band and Gordy Lindquist! That's ALOT of action!

Game 3 (27Sep09)

4 on 5 seems to be the magic numberBlack 12 - Jimmy, George, Edwin, Imran, Pete K (Goalie - bleacher side)White 6 - Dave G, Claudio, Ahsan, Rocky, Mauro, Chris S (Goalie - wall side)In another poorly attended game, Team Black led by the offensive power of George and Jimmy squashed Team White. Blacks got off to an early lop-sided lead (8-1 at one point), before team White tried to make a game of

Featured Freshman

Bu freshman Alex Chaisson was feacherd on espn.com about being drafted 34th over all by the Dallas Stars earlyer this yaer. He also comented about how the seniors would have to laed the team if they wanted to repeat (as chapmions).

"The juniors and seniors take care of us kind of like parents. They're great examples for us."

BU hockey freshman Alex Chiasson, on adjusting to his new team.
espn.com

The Burger King Must Be Stopped!

D Magazine’s FrontBurner blog is allowing comments again and just in time. You see, we all almost died. Bet you didn’t even know until you heard about it on the news yesterday evening, huh? As a disclaimer: no, I don’t think terrorists or mass killings or even one killing or maiming or slight inconveniencing for your cause is noble or anything other than really really stupid and cowardly. I also am not a “truther”, as I was accused of being on FrontBurner. In fact, I went to a screening of Alex Jones’s documentary about what he thinks was the US government’s involvement in 9/11. I left thinking, “Well, that was weak.”

So in case you don’t live in Dallas or your converter box coupon hasn’t come in the mail yet, the big news story yesterday was that the FBI arrested a 19 year old Jordanian who was here illegally for trying to blow up a big office building downtown. They also arrested a man in Illinois named Michael Finton, who choose quite possibly the most unoriginal Islamic name to go by….Talib Islam. Kind of like changing your name to Joe Name or something. Not too creative. Then again, when you take a look-see around his Myspace page, you will find not a hardened jihadist but a guy who has a picture of himself wearing the paper Burger King crown and exclaiming that he IS the REAL king! I’m assuming he 86’ed the bacon on his Whopper Deluxe.

Why am I acting so flippant about this? Because the whole thing stinks of TERRORISM PANIC!!!!!!!!!!!! Like, “Hey, you guys started to live your lives with only a modicum of fear of strangers so let’s rattle your cage a little bit and remind you that EVERYONE IS OUT TO BLOW YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN UP!” I wrote a thing about how the two big stories that sell tabloid daily papers in the UK is either a story about a suspected terrorist sleeper cell or about how fat Britons are getting because of American fast food chains. Anything to do with terrorism is always put people back on edge. Do I think that people should be apathetic if they see some dude lighting a stick of dynamite on the DART green line? No. But this seems to smell pungently of sensationalism.

I have said this before and I will say it again. I’m a freedom-loving American who adores her ability to blog about something like this without impunity or the threat of incarceration. That being said, I don’t think the average fear-rattled American realizes how tight our security has been and how lucky we have been to have avoided terrorist attacks like we have. I remember the first time I ever went to Britain. This was after the IRA had almost completely shuttered their radical front. There was no active war in which they were involved. And yet, when I stepped off the plane at Gatwick, I saw that some of the security officers at the airport were armed. With machine guns. And were wearing fatigues. It was shocking to me because I had never seen that before. Then my teenage brain put it together that Britain realized that certain people (the IRA, any number of countries that they had colonized in the centuries before, Islamic radicals who hated their relationship with Israel) did not like them and were actively trying to attack them.

America has a long exhaustive list of enemies. Gone are the days when America was hailed as the liberators of death camps and the innocent victims of Pearl Harbor. America has made enemies. Just like how our country grew on a foundation of capitalism, we have made enemies similar to how a booming corporation makes enemies by undercutting the competition or running them out of business. It’s the price you pay for being a superpower of the Western world.

But these arrests were not the infiltration and ambush of a powerful group of sleeper cells. These arrests were the result of the FBI finding disgruntled people who wished to commit violent and deadly acts. It should come as no surprise to anyone that these people were found on the internet (slogan: “Come for the porn, stay for the extremism and false sense of camaraderie!”). Just as the FBI could have found a message board for disenfranchised youth who idolized the Columbine killers or extreme environmentalists who worshipped the Unabomber and wanted to carry out similar attacks to the ones orchestrated by their heroes, they found two young men who were Islamic and looked up to the 9/11 bombers. And just like how the FBI could have gathered enough evidence to arrest the kid who wants to blow up his high school by posing as sympathizers and like-minded extremists, they sent in a team of agents posing as Islamic radicals who could help these young men carry out their dream attacks.

Do I think for a hot second that either of these idiotic kids would have gotten any further than the computer in their mom’s basement with these “plans” without any outside assistance? Not really. But I’m willing to bet that these kids were lonely, socially outcast morons wanting to prove just how vigilant and committed they were to their particular pet cause. These kids were out to prove something, though I don’t believe that their hatred of the US was the biggest point they were trying to make. Their approach was amateurish and filled with poorly-veiled braggadocio.

But I don’t think the FBI was wrong in their approach at all. I actually support the FBI in this but hate the way it’s being reported and the reactions that it is garnering. What I took out of the whole thing was that, while Al-Qaeda would like you to believe that they have thousands upon thousands of well-trained and incredibly adept terrorists-in-waiting hiding out all over America, this shows me that is not the case. These kids are the online equivalent of the boy in school who tells everyone about how he “totally killed a cat in the woods the other day” to make people think he’s far out and freaky and dangerous. These were not men who were training in flight simulators and studying chemistry to develop explosives that can evade airport security detection. If anything, these were the William H. Macy and the two hitmen from Fargo.

What I think we should take from this whole incident are the following facts:

a) the internet is rife with dumb kids filled with angst over girls or fantasies of unrestrained hooker murder like they play in Grand Theft Auto daily
b) they will respond to encouragement of these activities with gusto
c) the FBI has sent a message to actual terrorist cells that they cannot know for sure that the “jihadNow69” that they have been chatting to about their “death to America” platform is who he says he is. Could be an FBI agent. That’s a very good thing.

So before I am rounded up, McCarthy-style, and put before the UnAmerican Activities Committee: Part II (“This time it’s personal!”), stop for a second and ask yourself how close you think these kids would have ever come to blowing up a park bench much less a huge office building without any outside help? Or do you, like me, think that this was a case of cocky kids with big mouths digging themselves into an awfully big hole? I just don’t see the Burger King of Springfield carrying out anything grander than a large Meat Lover’s pizza with two orders of breadsticks for a big night of playing Halo in his bedroom at his mom’s house.

Platforms 4 Uniting Entrepreneurs & Investors

Two months ago fellow Dutch entrepreneurs Bart Beukers and Ivan Roth toured the world to meet many entrepreneurs, investors, business leaders and government officials. They even spent a couple of days in my hometown Sydney. The goal of their roadshow was to get interest and buy-in for their new Lava People platform: unite entrepreneurs and investors around the globe. This week they released the first version of their compelling new platform! It bridges one of the biggest gaps between entrepreneurs and (angel)investors, so this platform promises to be a big win for the global entrepreneurs community. Hear, hear!

On the Lava People platform emerging entrepreneurs, established entrepreneurs and angel investors can all unite, collaborate and build a global community to help each other succeed! The platform offers all kind of handy and easy to use tools for meeting new people, group interaction and collaboration on a global scale. Check it out: www.lavapeople.com

An other platform which is focused on bringing entrepreneurs and investors together is The E.Factor. Founded by two other fellow Dutchies; Adrie & Roeland Reinders (father & son). Their platform and services are focused on helping you build and improve a business. Check it out: www.efactor.com

On the Road Again (and Again, and Again)

My ridiculously busy fall convention schedule (four shows in five weeks!) kicks off this weekend at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland. It'll be my eleventh time there, I think...I've been every year since 1997, and it's always the best. I'll be at table H-1, right near the front entrance. Look for my giant new Atom-Bomb Bikini banner...you can't miss it!

Helping People To Follow Up On Chance Meetings

Cool new web application: blinka!

We’ve all experienced the frustration of meeting someone we’d like to see again—romantic or otherwise—but not knowing how to find them later. Now, for all those occasions there's blinka.me, which aims to give users a second chance to reconnect.

Currently in beta, New Zealand-based blinka.me offers a way to find those we've met just fleetingly at a bar, airport, conference or event, even if we don't know their phone number, email or name. Working on the basis of what it calls "moments"—specific times and places in which a meeting took place—blinka.me uses patent-pending technology to match up the people who met. Users begin by entering the details of their moment, including what happened and something about them and the person they'd like to reconnect with—"you tried to buy me a drink," for example. It's up to them whether to make the moment private or share it with other users, friends and followers to help get a match. Either way, if the other person involved enters the moment as well, both parties get an email notification. The two can then have a safe, private chat through blinka.me and decide if they want to pursue it further, including sharing profiles and personal contact information.

The site's founders explain: "We can see a language and culture developing around this—for instance, you see an old colleague at the airport but are rushing to get to your gate so you say, 'hey, blinka me and we can connect and catch up.' It works because you’ve run out of cards and you don’t remember his name! At a bar you see the girl of your dreams but you're too nervous ask for her number so instead you just say, 'hey, blinka me and maybe we can catch up later'."

blinka.me's challenge, of course, will be creating enough awareness of the site to make it likely that both parties in an encounter will enter the moment. Toward that end, the site's five-person team is currently seeking others interested in working on the project. One to get involved in early...? Check it out: www.blinka.me

Still Camping

>Matt Gillroy looks to be on the fast track to making the New York Rangers opening day squad. On Wednesday he talked with the New York media about his first pro training camp.

> John McCarthy (15) who was at the San Jose Sharks camp has bean moved to a place near home with the Sharks affiliate the Worcester Sharks.

> One other former Terrier Sean Sulivan has returned to the Coyotes AHL club, The San Antonio Rampage. He played there last season.

> Jason Lawrence (21) is on the Providence Bruins. This also his first bid at Pro hockey. Former Terrier Brian McGuirk is also on the the roster. McGuirk was on the Blue Jackets affiliate the Syracuse Crunch.



Blog Changes
There is a new question in the top right hand corner. The answer to last week's  was selection A 1971,1972,1995,2009

Letters from the DL

I had every intention of blogging about the Cowboys impecunious performance on Sunday night. But as you can tell by my use of a word that I didn’t know a week ago, I’ve been sidelined for the past three days. With an affliction so debilitating, so demoralizing and so life-changing that I pondered my own mortality over the past anguish-filled 72 hours. That’s right, I have pink eye. This has been crippling for me in many respects. The first being that this is my first real foray into the world of pink eye. As a child, I adeptly sidestepped the Curse of the Eye of Pink many times and attributed other children’s acquisition of it to be a direct result of their love of putting their own or other people’s fecal matter into their eyes. I wasn’t into that type of thing and therefore, I never had to experience the shame of pink eye.

Nothing has changed about my refusal to let human or mammalian waste of any kind anywhere near my face, let alone my eyeballs. I haven’t had some sort of late 20’s meltdown wherein I question what I want to do in life and search for the answers in the bottom of pile of poo. I cannot reiterate again how absolutely sure I am that there have been no particles of solid waste anywhere near my eyes in the past 28 years. So let me serve as a warning to you. Contrary to popular belief, one does not have to smear dung all over one’s face to get pink eye. In fact, the only crime I am guilty of is having allergies. Basically, I have been rubbing my eyes because of allergies for the past week or so. I wear contacts in which pollen and other allergens can embed themselves. The rubbing caused tiny, microscopic tears and cuts in my eyes. Into those, any bacteria can take the express train to Infection Town. Which they did. So that explains about 90% of the reasoning for me wearing this eye patch.

Lesson number two that I want to share with you through my one good eye is: make sure that you buy glasses every decade or so. Not because of changes in prescription, because my prescription has not changed since the first time I got glasses and contacts when I was 15 years old. But therein lies the problem. Let’s review the tape on what I was like when I was 15. I listened to The Smiths, I sulked a lot and I was an avid reader. My favorite author at the time was Truman Capote. No harm there. Or was there? Yes, there was. When I was told that I needed to get my very first pair of glasses, I walked into Eyemasters and declared that I wanted the most Truman Capote frames they carried. The lady that worked there tried, in vain, to discourage me from this pursuit. But it was of no use. I got exactly what I wanted. I got Truman Capote glasses. Let’s put it this way: it wasn’t like it was going to put a real dent on my dating life since such a thing did not exist for me in high school really.

I could chalk this all up to the life lessons that one picks up in those oh-so-awkward teenage years. Only when it was discovered that I had pink eye, I was told that I could not wear my contacts again until the problem cleared up. I also could not get a new pair of glasses because my prescription was expired and I would need to take a new eye exam once the Peepers Plague of ’09 had been cured. So the only options I had were to a) cocoon myself into a blurry world of calling in sick to work with “blindness” or to b) dig out the only pair of glasses that I have ever owned (AKA “the Capotes”). I found them. Oh dear, did I find them. These were never okay to wear. I don’t care if I loved the works of Truman Capote or if the ghost of Truman Capote saved my childhood dog from being hit by a car or whatever, these are unforgiveable.

And I know because I have been wearing them for three days and must continue to wear them until my follow-up appointment on Monday. I might also mention that they sit slightly crooked on my face from 13 years of being at the bottom of various boxes in various states and countries. I have learned that I would rather risk walking face first into walls or into open elevator shafts than to have to wear these glasses for anything other than driving and being able to do my job at work. In fact, I’ve been almost pressing my face to my computer screen just to avoid having to wear these things on my face.

This is not a slight against eyeglasses or the wearers thereof. I assume most people do not pick their eyeglasses out based on the preference of tortured, alcoholic author but by how the frames suit their face. That would have been an invaluable lesson that I could have learned at 15 but instead, I stubbornly insisted that I knew what I was doing. On Tuesday, my first day of wearing the Capotes, I even thought that I might be able to pull it off in a hipster, “ugly is the new pretty” sort of way. I did not. These things are hideous. So unless you are planning some sort of get together which requires no eyesight whatsoever (like maybe being a Defensive Coordinator to Wade Philips?), I’ll be staying in and laying low this weekend.

How Excitement Sabotages Success

“Get excited and enthusiastic about your own dream. This excitement is like a forest fire - you can smell it, taste it, and see it from a mile away!” - Denis Waitley

By Sasha Crouch
Most of us think excitement is a positive emotion, right? Excitement feels like such a yummy emotion, it creates a sense of drive, pleasure, and possibility. However, just because an emotion feels good, doesn't mean it is good for us. Pleasure does not equate with what is best for us long term. There are lots of things that feel good that are not in alignment with our long-term, higher good.

Let me explain: Excitement may feel good at the time as it floods our body and fuels us into action. However, when we're excited by an idea, all too often, our blinkers shoot up. We stop seeing the big picture and hone in on the immediate pleasure of the opportunity in front of us. Swept away in our excitement we convince ourselves all will be ok and fail to check in with what is actually required. As a result we make commitments we can't keep or later regret or we jump in head first on a project without first doing the ground work.

Excitement can trigger an onset of obsession - being unable to slow down and stop, breaking other commitments to family or our health because we have become swept away with yet another idea, project or task.
Excitement can also induce sleepless nights and an inability to switch off and be present with the ones we love, as our mind races about where we're heading and all we have to do to 'get there'. Overwhelm is another common by-product as our excitement induces urgency and impatience to get the end result. We see lists of things we need to get through to bring the idea to life and overwhelm ourselves out of taking even the first small steps.

Don't get me wrong, excitement is not the enemy! The goal isn't to squash excitement out of your life. Rather, it's about recognising the impact of excitement left unchecked and ensuring you don't let it carry you away to somewhere other than where you truly desire to be.

Where in your life and work do you allow excitement to sabotage your success? Let's discover how to turn this around so you can enjoy excitement without it damaging your results and life.

Five Steps to Tame Excitement so it Fuels Your Success:

1. Recognition - start to notice when you go into a feeling of excitement. Don't try to push it down, or hide it, simply notice it and remind yourself how easy it is to get carried away in a moment of excitement.
2. Slow it down - excitement induces a feeling of urgency. Find a way to tame this urgency by meditating, taking a brisk walk, deep breathing, or stillness. Decide not to make any decisions until you feel more centred and have checked in properly with the steps involved.
3. Check in with yourself - get in touch with your long-term visions and goals. What is important to you long-term? Is this thing you're excited about in alignment with what you really want in life, will it lead to the achievement of your goals or is it a detour or distraction? Have you found out what is specifically involved in the project, task or decision or is excitement clouding your 'reality check'?
4. Play devil's advocate - when excited it's hard to see the 'down sides' of a decision, or a repetitive pattern. Ask someone to play devil's advocate with you to face the realities beyond your excitement.
5. Create a small step plan - in order to avoid overwhelm and throwing out your priorities, create a plan of the first few steps and priorities these steps against all the other priorities in your life and work. Take an objective stance and ask yourself how much time you are willing to give to this new project and when - despite your immediate desire to throw yourself into it.

Enjoy the pleasure of excitement and allow it to delight and inspire you! However, don't allow excitement to rule your decision making and cloud your judgement. Your intuition and inner knowing sit at a more centred place than excitement, they sit at a place of peace and calm. Find this space to make your decisions, and if the lights are green, place one foot in front of the other and enjoy the ride!

“Nothing is so aggravating than calmness!” - Oscar Wilde

Shadow Lass

Long live the LSH! So many characters, so many great uniforms...This is (hopefully) the first in a series.

12 Surprising Facts About Entrepreneurs

"Nobody talks of entrepreneurship as survival, but that's exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking." - Anita Roddick

By Dharmesh Shah
I have a picture in my head of what the average entrepreneur is like. I’d guess pretty young (think Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.) living the red beans and rice lifestyle and working 80+ hours a week and sleeping under their desk. On some parts, I’m probably right — but on many, I’m flat-out wrong. This is demonstrated by a recent report from the Kauffman foundation for entrepreneurship. The report is titled “The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur”. It’s based on a survey of 549 company founders across a variety of industries (that’s my first mistake, as it turns out entrepreneurs start companies other than Internet software companies - who knew?).

In any case, here are some of the points from the report that I found the most interesting.

1. The average and median age of company founders when they started their current companies was 40.
2. 95.1 percent of respondents themselves had earned bachelor’s degrees, and 47 percent had more advanced degrees.
3. Less than 1 percent came from extremely rich or extremely poor backgrounds
4. 15.2% of founders had a sibling that previously started a business.
   
5. 69.9 percent of respondents indicated they were married when they launched their first business. An additional 5.2 percent were divorced, separated, or widowed.
6. 59.7 percent of respondents indicated they had at least one child when they launched their first business, and 43.5 percent had two or more children.
7. The majority of the entrepreneurs in the sample were serial entrepreneurs. The average number of businesses launched by respondents was approximately 2.3.
8. 74.8 percent indicated desire to build wealth as an important motivation in becoming an entrepreneur.
9. Only 4.5 percent said the inability to find traditional employment was an important factor in starting a business.
10. Entrepreneurs are usually better educated than their parents.
11. Entrepreneurship doesn’t always run in the family. More than half (51.9 percent) of respondents were the first in their families to launch a business.
12. The majority of respondents (75.4 percent) had worked as employees at other companies for more than six years before launching their own companies.

Which of the above surprises you the most and alters your mental model of what entrepreneurs are like?

"The entrepreneur in us sees opportunities everywhere we look, but many people see only problems everywhere they look. The entrepreneur in us is more concerned with discriminating between opportunities than he or she is with failing to see the opportunities." - Michael Gerber

Tough Enough to Wear Pink Parties

Haven't made it to one of the Minot Y's Men's Tough Enough to Wear Pink parties yet? You're running out of time!!!! Stop by one of the following events to show your support and while you're there you can pick up this year's TETWP products!

Wednesday, September 23 – Trinity Skywalk, 11-1pm

􀂾 Thursday, September 24 – Minot Family YMCA, 5-7pm

􀂾 Saturday, September 26 – Y’s Men’s Ticket Booth at Dakota Square, 10-Noon

􀂾 Saturday, September 26 – MSU Homecoming Parade, 10:30am

􀂾 Monday, September 28 – Behm’s Truck Stop, 4-6pm

􀂾 Tuesday, September 29 – Town & Country Credit Union, 11-1pm

􀂾 Thursday, October 1 – Cenex of Stanley, 11-1pm

􀂾 Tuesday, October 6 – TR’s Bar & Grill, 5-7pm ??? TBA

􀂾 Wednesday, October 7 – Y’s Men’s Business After Hours at Atrium of ND State Fair Center, 5:30-7:30pm

􀂾 Friday, October 9 – Tough Enough to Wear Pink Rodeo Performance at NDSFC, 6:30pm

Game 2 (20Sep09)

Not ready for the onslaught! Part IIWhite 12 - Dave P, George, Edwin, Jordano, Pete K (Goalie - wall side)Black 6 - Jimmy, Mike, Leo, Rocky, Mauro, Chris S (Goalie - bleacher side)For some of the Blacks (Mike, Rocky, Mauro), this was their "debut game" of the season, and they showed some signs of summer rust. However, that was clearly not the only reason Black got demolished in this one.The shots

♥ AIDIL FITRI, Indonesia & Award!

heyyaa i am at home sweet home in INDONESIA. :]
yippie yayyee~
i landed a couple of hours ago, break the last day of fasting on magrib time at home (huhuu it's the last day of Ramadhan in 2009. i hope i can do soo much better on the next Ramadhan. AMIN RAKBAL ALAMIN.), & now i am chilling with my siblings & i thought i'd post a quick greetings for the bloggers. :]


i hope everybody is having fun on holiday. & hope everybody having a safe trip while 'mudik'.
oh how nice is it to be home on Aidil Fitri to gather with beloved family & be forgiven on the holy day.
Aidil Fitri is not until tomorrow, but i'd like to say from the deepeest of my heart..


Happy Aidil Fitri.
May ALLAH accept the good deeds from me & you.
May ALLAH forgive all of our mistakes & sins.
AMIN RAKBAL ALAMIN.
I hope to be forgiven from all what I did wrong intentionally or unintentionally.
Please forgive me. :]
May we have a blessed life, full of rizki, & I wish you all the best. AMIN.
Let's keep the love around in eternity.


Selamat Hari Raya Idul Fitri.
Semoga ALLAH SWT menerima semua pahala kita.
Semoga ALLAH SWT memaafkan kesalahan kita & dihapuskan dosa2 kita.
AMIN RAKBAL ALAMIN.
Risya mohon maaf yang setulus-tulus'nya atas semua kesalahan yang disengaja maupun yang tidak disengaja.
Semoga dimaafkan. :]
Semoga selalu berbahagia, dilimpahkan rezeki, & semua yang baik2. AMIN.
Pertahankan ketulusan hati abadi.
SELAMAT LEBARAN SEMUAA. NIKMATILAH KETUPAT MAMA MASING2. :]


aandd, i got an award from miss Ditty. thank youu, such a sweet thing of you!

the rules:

1. banner gambar tidak boleh diubah; baik tulisan, warna atau signaturenya tapi kalau resize gambar boleh
2. tuliskan siapa yang kasih award dan urlnya
3. pilih 10 female blogger yang kamu kenal dan belum menerima award ini, dan sebutkan alasan kenapa kamu pikir mereka pantas menerima award ini!

i'd like to tagg EVERY GIRLS on my blogroll, friends list, & followers.
you all are such an amazing bloggers, & i'm glad i get to know you even just a little bit.
please, take it. it's my privileage. xD

love.love ♥♥

Wilson's Turn

Last night the number 7th pick in the 2008 NHL entry draft showed why he should be in Nashville and not with the Terriers this season. Wilson finished the night with three points a goal, and a penalty in the Predators 5-0 blanking of the Atlanta Thrashers.  He also eared first star honers. Colin had the assist on the first and fourth goals and scored the 5th and final goal of the blanking.

> Pred's coach commented after the game.
"Some guys, they can't adjust their games or their game doesn't translate to the next level,'' "(Wilson has) got power, he's got some smarts. I thought Wilson was really good up front. He’s a really good talent, I’m glad we drafted him.”
-Barry Trotz 

Kiss My Blackout Ass

A lot of people are getting crazypants about the fact that, if the Cowboys do not (or did not) sell a couple hundred more seats for Sunday night’s game, there could be the first Cowboys blackout since 1990. They are, in fact, retarded to do so. First off, I’m pretty sure any given office or combination of offices in the metroplex would have a whip round to ensure that those seats get bought if for no other reason than facing the terrifying possiblity of having to talk to their families on Sunday night instead of watching the game. Also, could it not be a brilliant streak of marketing from Team Jones to make sure that every seat is filled and he gets his attendance record for the home opener at the new stadium? Granted, this is the same guy who bought a metaphorical bridge and/or swampland in Florida (I’m feeling incredibly pro-choice today) in the form of a video board that no other team would buy for fear that it could actually be hit with a punted football. But in an economic climate as not-awesome as the one we are in now, how better to sell the last few stupid expensive seats by telling the Cowboy fan that they might have to miss the game or, even worse, listen to 105.3 The Fan?

The part that amuses me about the whole thing is that this marketing scheme would be a secondary one for me. You want to really make sure those seats sell out every game? Why not capitalize on the time-honored tradition of rich people big timing the poor little people? You see, most people (well, Deadspin) assume that those seats aren’t selling because people are going to buy the $29 Party Passes then do the old Confuse-The-Usher sneak into the empty seats. In fact, it’s not the first time that Deadspin has become kind of like the guy who prints his own newspaper about a CIA gunman in the bushes on the Grassy Knoll and sells them in Dealy Plaza with this conspiracy theory of theirs. For the sake of argument, let’s say it’s true.

Well there’s your answer of how to get people with some coin to plunk down for $200 seats. You can finally feel the warm flush of imperialism as you rightly claim your Section 201, Row F, Seats 3 and 4 thrones from the impoverished, malnourished and unwashed shivering, bundled masses. With the help of an usher, of course. Seriously, in a city where people lease German luxury automobiles that cost more than twice what they make in a year, how better to flaunt your supposed wealth than evicting poor people? Even if it’s only from a stadium seat and it’s only for one day, imagine the power you could feel from watching a father and daughter from Garland go pale as they are asked to show their tickets. Hell, you could really impress a date by buying an extra seat for her purse just to show her that you are a better human than the pitiable creatures who would have otherwise enjoyed the game from that spot.

Let’s even take it a step further. Like how some people enjoy period-costumed murder mystery steamboat trips or how others enjoy paying people to make them wear rubber underwear and be belittled and spanked, let’s go all out with this. Have the Party Pass (or Plebeians Pass, as it will know be known) people dress up as Ellis Island immigrants replete with tattered suitcases and water-damaged birth documents. Or maybe the week that they play the Redskins, have the plebs dress as Native Americans and rename the aisles leading back to the plazas the “Trail of Beers” or something. Income-based water fountains? Or make anyone who has scraped together enough money to purchase something from the Fan Shop carry their purchase out not in a shopping bag but in a hobo bundle tied to the end of a broken broomstick? The possibilities really are endless.

I know this sounds insensitive and snarky but if there is one thing that I have learned in my years of living in Dallas (other than the fact that everyone with money will tell you that they are either in “real estate” or “marketing” despite how shadowy both of those terms are) is that people really like to feel richer/thinner/hotter/more powerful than everyone else in their vicinity, since that is what determines your Win/Loss record in life. So why not, pulling out my own vague knowledge from a few years in marketing here, monetize this and capitalize on the growth trend? Why not win-win on the visibility front with a little bit of brandstorming in the form of opportunistic Dollarization of the downtrending human spirit?*

* I hope your soul died a little like mine did after reading that list. Also, as a side note, I am clearly too immature to ever really dive head-first into marketing and I base this solely on my initial response to the phrases “Employee Surfboarding”, “Long-tail”, “Waste Identification” and “Re-skilling” which I mis-read as “Re-skulling.”

How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Grudgingly Kinda Respect the Romo

I fully intended on writing, at length, about the first regular season Cowboys game. I was going to write about how, on a refreshments run at halftime, my friend and I acted as if the Cowboys were down by 40. They were, in fact, up 13-7 over the Bucs. You really wouldn’t have been able to tell though from our maudlin predictions of doom and gloom. The phrase, “we look horrible out there” was uttered more than a half dozen times. And remember, we Cowboys fans haven’t seen so much as a little bit of Conference championship action, much less anything ending in the word “Bowl”, in well over a decade. So it’s not like we were being spoilt Victorian children about it. No matter how many reminders I was given that Tony Romo was maybe a little rusty and that this is Martellus Bennett’s first go at the whole two tight ends deal, I was never comfortable. Until the margin of our lead was in the 20’s, I was convinced that the Cowboys were going to lose and the whole season was a pointless waste of football time.

Then they pointed out that Sunday’s game set a new personal record for Tony Romo. Throwing for 353 yards. Really? When they said that, everyone in the room chimed in with an astonished “Wha? When?” Tony Romo’s shakiness was the root of all my distrust. How could he have just set a new career record in a game that never fully convinced me that we weren’t destined to be the Detroit Lions of ’09-10? I still don’t get it. I mean, I can mentally wrap my neurons around the concept that Tony Romo threw for more than 350 yards and 3 touchdowns. I get that part. I guess my question is…when? When did he cut the risky gunslinger crap and gain enough stability to accomplish this? Was there some secret Freemason’s-only broadcast of the previously unknown 5th quarter that I was not privy to?

I don’t want to focus all my “WTF” just on Tony Romo. In fact, let’s do this by process of elimination. If your name doesn’t start with “Jason” and end in “Witten”, you made me nervous on Sunday. Again, I will chalk it up to rustiness. The one area that, going into the Bucs game, I didn’t seem to be sweating as much as others was the state of our receivers. I think Roy Williams, despite Aikman/Emmitt/Irvin all taking turns in an elaborate game of “Yo Mama” at his expense, is really good. Maybe some have built their expectations of Roy Williams up to Hadrian’s Wall levels that he can never match. But between him, Austin and Cray-Cray (™Chad), I think we have plenty of able hands into which Tony Romo can lob the pigskin. As a little aside, that might be the grossest sentence I have ever typed.

But it’s cool to be a hater, as the kids would say. It’s cool to be a Cowboys fan who almost roots against the Cowboys. It’s fun to go into the season with a doom and gloom outlook on the rest of the season. In fact, all my Cowboys friends seem to be basking in the glory of suck-dom. They’re convinced that Romo is going to injure himself and leave us with a season full of Kitna fumbles and that the possibility of the simultaneous spontaneous combustion of three running backs is not so improbable. My friend Josh chastised us for celebrating the Cowboys victory by cracking open an $80 bottle of champagne because the victory on Sunday was against, after all, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. My friend Danny refers to this Sunday’s game as an opportunity to “watch the Cowboys get killed by the Giants.” Everyone wants to see Wade Philips fail once again, if only to ensure that this is his last season as head coach. I’m sort of surprised that no one had charged onto the field of JerryDome in a Jeff Gillooly fashion and crowbar-ed Marion Barber’s shins yet.

Then came the ray of sunshine that was my friend Manny. No Cowboys apologist, he simply forwarded this link to some of us today. And that was all I needed. I started to remember what I heard one sports talk show guy say yesterday about Romo and his missing sense of humor this season. You see, the one thing I could always give Tony Romo credit for was his sense of humor and his ability to poke fun at the whole thing. The whole circus that surrounds the Cowboys or pro-athletes in general. So when I heard interviews with him this preseason, I was disappointed by his “by the book” standard issue athlete answers he was giving. Could he really have lost the one thing that endeared me to him? No. As Sports Talk Guy pointed out, it’s his way of subtlety showing everyone that the whole ill-advised, “If never winning a championship is the worst thing that happens to me, I’ve lived a pretty good life” statement was a mistake. He does, at least if you’re going by his drier-than-Betty White’s-lady-area quotes, care. He’s not just laughing off the potential that he could go down in the books as a quarterback fail and take the Cowboys with him.

So just let me bask in this Week One victory. Sure, Danny could be right and the Cowboys could become prison shower rape dolls for the Giants come Sunday night. Maybe an easy victory over an abysmal team which fired their offensive coordinator only a few weeks before the game against the Cowboys is not anything on which one should hang their hat. But let me have it. Let me savor it. I still don’t have the supremely blissful optimism that I had last season. But maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe I have gotten over my spoilt child ways and come back down to earth. Maybe I just like the fact that a win is, in fact, a win.

How To Improve Your Writing Skills

"The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say!" - Anaïs Nin

By Allan Hoffman

As more business communications are conducted through email, instant messaging, PowerPoint presentations and other written forms, writing ability can help today's professionals set themselves apart. The ability to write clearly in reports or white papers is necessary to advance.

"Rightly or wrongly, people judge their colleagues based on their writing ability," says R. Craig Hogan, director of the Business Writing Center and author of Explicit Business Writing. "Those who write poorly are viewed as less intelligent, less educated and less competent. Those who are articulate are seen as intelligent, educated and capable!" In fact, business professionals may not realize how much poor writing skills can impede their careers. "It's a silent killer!" Hogan says.

Why Writing Matters

A College Board survey of business leaders found widespread concern about employees' writing ability. Consider these findings:

• About half the companies surveyed said writing ability is considered when promoting employees.
• Nearly all companies said they would hold poorly written job application materials against candidates.
• American companies spend more than $3.1 billion each year to remedy writing deficiencies.

The fast-paced, technology-driven world in which we work further complicates matters. New communication mediums, such as text, instant messages and Twitter, lead many of us to use their abbreviated style in more traditional communications. "They're transferring that shorthand to general business correspondence," says Salvatore J. Iacone, who developed the American Management Association's "Effective Technical Writing" course and is author of the book 'Write to the Point'.

Tips for Better Business Writing

Writing instructors and authors of the College Board report agree: Good writing is a skill developed and honed over years, not with quick fixes. Even so, these tips can help improve your writing:

• Determine Your Writing's Objective or Goal: Are you seeking a consensus on a project plan? Asking a client to clarify a concern? Knowing your goal will help you determine how to approach a piece of writing.
• Identify Your Audience: Is this for your leader/manager/boss? A colleague? Or, as sometimes happens, colleagues with both technical and non-technical backgrounds? Your tone and message will likely differ depending on your audience, and you may need to revise your writing to address specific audiences. Iacone recommends crafting different summaries for different readers.
• Spell Out Words: Shorthand may be appropriate when IM-ing a colleague, but it's not in a client email.
• Edit: Read and reread your messages, especially those to managers/leaders, business partners and clients.
• Define Technical Terms in the Document: Placing definitions in parentheses, rather than in a separate glossary, will help maintain your document's flow.
• Use Headings, Subheads and Bulleted Lists: These help you organize your writing and guide readers.
• Get Help: Professional associations may offer writing courses, while community colleges and universities often provide business-writing classes suitable as well. And business writing references can help you learn the basics of syntax, grammar and good business writing.

Finally, when putting pen to paper, remember this adage, Iacone says: "If the writer doesn't sweat, the reader will"!

"And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt!" - Sylvia Plath