Shortmail.com

Before email, communications teams printed memos to leave on desks or post on bulletin boards. Hard to imagine, right?

In the not-so-distant future, we’re going to explain to the new kids that we sent & read long emails (novellas, really) to communicate w each other.

Here's a baby step: Shortmail.com. It’s Twitter meets email. In fact, if you have a Twitter acct, you have an email acct waiting for you to claim. (I'm hedcon@shortmail.com.)

Imagine if everyone in the company kept their messages to <500 characters. Would we save time? Communicate better? Try it & let me know how it goes.

Alternative uses for a smoker

So today I won a meat smoker at work. Me. The girl who hasn't had a single bite of beef or pork since 2003.* And the same girl who lives in a 600-square-foot apartment. 

Regardless of these facts, I was SO excited because I actually won something. That never happens! So since I really don't have the space or need to use a smoker, I tried to come up with a few alternative uses:

• Nightstand or side table -- imagine a lamp, a few coffee table books
• Bookshelf -- you could fit a ton of books in and on it
• File cabinet -- never lose your important documents again
• Race car -- turn it on its side, add wheels, you're good to go
• Kegerator -- not sure how that will work, but I can make it happen
• Gift wrap station -- you could put spools of ribbon on the wire racks
• Cat house -- just need a cat 
• Terrarium -- add a glass top and you're in business

Do you have any good ideas? 

*well, except that one time at oktoberfest

What are you doing for Memorial Day weekend?

I like turtles. 







(It really doesn't get old.)

How Ke$ha ruined my workout

If you could tell your 20-year-old self anything, what would it be?

Stay away from that guy? Floss?

How about, put on some deoderant and stop farting in public?

Now that the school year is over, my local gym is overrun with girls who are home from college for the summer. There are some women who envy these girls, with their fresh faces and sun-taned skin. (That's a whole other issue. I really hope it's spray tan for their sake.)

But I think it's great. And I smile at them and I think their sorority T-shirts are cute and I wonder what their majors are and if they're dating nice boys.

But something has changed.

The soririty T-shirts are big ugly tank tops that would look better on Hulk Hogan.
Their hair is a mess instead of nicely pulled back in a pony tail.
And they fart. Like constantly.

I'm in my kickboxing class, and these nice young girls look like a mess. And they smell like a mess. And they completely ruined my class because instead of gasping for air because of the extreme cardio, I was gasping for fresh air because of all the flatulence in the air.

And as the smell hit me, so did this: Ke$ha did this!

While I'm a fan of her music (concert in August! Yay!), she's dirty and gross. She brushes her teeth with a bottle of Jack for goodness sake. And she's ruined both America's youth, and my workout. Thanks a lot, Ke$ha.

Science lesson

The major components of the flatus, which are odorless, by percentage are:

• Nitrogen: 20–90%
• Hydrogen: 0–50%
• Carbon dioxide: 10–30%
• Oxygen: 0–10%
• Methane: 0–10%

Palm test prevents facepalms

Anyone can write a blog. Not everyone can write for the Web. 

But there's an easy, at-home test you can apply to your writing to make it Web-a-fied. It's called the "Palm Test." Here's how:

Hold your open palm up to the screen. Yes, you. Don't feel silly -- just do it. 

Look at what's behind your hand. If all that's behind your palm is solid text, nobody is reading. That doesn't mean your content is intelligent, well-written or interesting. Just means nobody is reading your intelligent, well-written and interesting copy. 

So now what? Faceplam? 

No! Just break up your text to make it scan-able and engage readers. 

There are lots of ways to do it:

• Add bold lead ins
• Embed hyperlinks
• Break up lists/thoughts of two or more into bullets 
• Add subheads 

Want more? Check out Ann Wylie's 5 Ways to Improve Your Copy on PRSA.

In writing, sometimes less is more

Short messages can be powerful messages. Just see SMITH magazine's Six Words.

On the site, users submit stories. Only they are in six words. Topics vary, but check these out:

• Six Word Memoirs
• Six Words on the Food Life
• Six Words on the Green Life
• Six Words on the Digital Life

The site has some powerful storytelling. It's a good reminder for writers. In writing, less is sometimes more.

Thesaurus for techies

Astonishing. Brilliant. Phenomenal.

There are lots of word we can use in place of "awesome." But if you're like me, you send to over-use that word when describing new technology and cool stuff.

You could just use a thesaurus to find a new word, but if you're tech-savvy, how about an "awesome button"?

Check out how Matt Richardson of Make Magazine made an Awesome Button to help him avoid overusing the word in his writing.