Scrapbooking meet the QR Code

Everyday at work I get to apply my craft as a digital marketer. My main responsibilities include managing our marketing automation campaigns in an effort to generate new leads and to nurture the existing ones. One new tool that we started introducing to our online/mobile marketing efforts in 2011 was the QR code.

I can't help but bring home some of the ideas that float around my head. One time when my wife, the Crafty Cucumber, asked for my opinion about a scrapbook page she was working on it occurred to me that QR codes could be used in scrapbooking. After explaining to my wife that QR stood for Quick Response and that the concept is that you could scan the code with a smart phone and get directed to anything online you would like. She politely smiled and continued asking for my thoughts on the page she was working on.

So the idea is to simply help enhance what was being beautifully communicated with paper with a little help from something digital. The example I have is a scrapbook page that she made of my youngest daughter's first birthday. I had taken a few videos of the day, specifically when she was devouring her cake, and proceeded to post them on YouTube. It was simple creating a QR code using the Google URL shortner tool; you create it, save the QR code image, and then print it out on scrapbook paper and add to your project.

What will it take for me to buy a cell phone?

I will first start off this posting letting you know that I love technology and the ways that it can advance and improve our social and work lives.

I last had a cellphone eleven years ago and back then it was just voice service. It was for those emergencies that never seemed to happen; not that I am complaining. I don't think my wife has never had a phone outside of using anything for work related purposes, and again it would have been just voice service. So the closest my family has come to a modern smart phone is my 3rd generation iPod Touch (the one without the camera).

Here are the reasons I don't have one currently.

1) Cost - They don't come cheap. Be it the phone purchase or the addition of a data plan. I don't see the value in it.

2) Accessibility - I work in an office and I sit beside a phone, if someone calls me, there is a really good chance I'll be there.

3) Necessity - I've gotten by the last eleven years without one, and I'm not sure what would change that.

Which leads me back to the question of this post, What will it take for me to buy a cell phone?

Blogger: Pages versus Posts

I am slowly but surely getting this blog/website to look and feel the way I want it to. Blogger is the tool I am using to manage the website and I've chosen the free NewsMagazine template from Deluxe Templates as my look and feel. I specifically loved the 'Featured Post' ability; that I hope doesn't get annoying. (please let me know)

I've recently added two tabs at the top of my navigation: Web Marketing and About Me. For a very frustrating day I thought I had to do this via the (Design > Edit HTML) section by editing the code so I could indicate the specific page. I turns out I add items to my navigation in the (Posting >Edit Pages) section. Although it wasn't what I expected.

What I wanted the 'Web Marketing' tab to show you was this 'Web Marketing' - which is showing you all the postings I have written about, you guessed it, web marketing. Instead what the Blogger Pages section creates is static pages. This is great for About Me type information, something that you can write once and occasionally update. I wish the Blogger help section was more clear on this.

So in Blogger, Posts will always show up in the main page. You can't move them into one of your pages. Pages are great for information like your personal bio, a static picture gallery, and any other information you need to only write/share once.

So with this new understanding I need to find a new way to allow people to navigate to certain types of posts. While I might find posts of my kids cute, those just looking for information about web design and social media might find it distracting.

Does anyone know how to create a custom navigation?

Chicken Alfredo Dinner

Chicken alfredo served on one of the kids IKEA plates.

To help out from time to time I will prepare a meal for our family. It is a job I should take on more often but then we'd be eating chicken and rice all the time.

I decided to make a simple pasta dish for the four of us as my most recent contribution.

Ingredients used:

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 roma tomatoes
• 1 green onion
• Alfredo sauce mix or from a jar
• Skim milk
• Olive oil
• Pasta noodles

Preparation:

Scissors made quick work of the onions.

The chicken was slightly frozen which I find easier for chopping despite the cold hands. I cut them into small pieces in the hopes that they might go unnoticed by my youngest daughter who takes the prize when it comes to being a picky-eater. (She comes by it naturally.)

Follow the instructions on your pasta noodles and start boiling the water. We used penne instead of fettuccine noodles since it is easier for the girls to pick up on their forks.

Tomatoes and green onions

Add some olive oil to a skillet or frying pan and cook the cubed chicken on medium heat. While the chicken is going it is time to start cutting up the vegetables. I used kitchen scissors to cut up the onions and a paring knife to dice up the tomatoes. Place in a container while you wait for the chicken to finish up.

Once the chicken is no longer pink I added the veggies into the frying pan to help soften them up. Turn down the heat at this point.

The result of not stirring.

Now it is time to start the sauce. It is very important that you follow the instructions on the packaging. I didn't faithfully stir it continually and had to scrub the pot for close to an hour afterwards to get it clean.

Once the sauce is done, the pasta has been drained and rinsed, you're ready to mix it all together and share with your family.

What I found was that I should have used less chicken, even though that goes against my general thinking. I enjoyed the meal as well as my wife, the kids weren't as enthused. It did little to impress my picky-eater, she was happy to have her noodles plain.

Does anyone have a suggestion to improve my pasta dish?

Send me a tweet @steveccoleman

Other photos:

The house smelt great while cooking.

Multitasking on the cook-top. Notice I'm not stirring.

My Online Marketing Resources - Twitter

A coworker's daughter recently started a new job in online marketing. Some of our responsibilities overlapped so I decided that I would share some of the online resources that I occasionally use for ideas and inspiration. I'm going to break it out into sections based on the medium the information comes from to help keep it organized.

Twitter Resources I Follow

You don't need Twitter to visit these resources but it doesn't hurt. Make sure others at work understand that you're on there for business reasons and not reading about celebrity gossip.

Webdesign @codrops Marketing Automation @Eloqua @marketo

Online Marketing @b2bsalesandmrkt @EmailDirect @BtoBSocialMedia @KISSmetrics @EmailonAcid

When setting up your Twitter account or editing your existing one, it helps to mention your interest in online marketing in your description. That way others can see your shared interest and potentially follow you as well.

Who else is a great resource on Twitter for Online Marketing information?

For all that money just lying around

I had previously written about how I'm saving money in the short term by shaving my head in the new year. But I am also thinking about how I can save some money in the long term as well, one of those ways is making additional payments to the principle of my mortgage. It is really scary how much money we're all paying in interest charges to own our homes, so anything we can do to reduce that amount of interest is welcome advice.

Here is an example. Let say the mortgage is $250,000 and the interest rate is at 5% on a 25 year term. Your monthly payment towards the principal and interest is around $1462. Over the life of the mortgage, you'll be paying $188,443 in interest. Yikes!!!

Now here is the awesome part, if you make just one additional payment of $1462 at the beginning of each year you have the mortgage, you will save yourself $29,590.26 in interest charges. Plus you'll have it all paid off over 3 years earlier.

Alternatively if you make a monthly payment of $122 ($1462/12), you can save $30,021.21 and have it paid off 3 and a half years earlier.

Note: I do not work for a bank nor do I have a degree in accounting, I just know how to do math and fill out a spreadsheet.
Another thing to keep in mind that some banks might charge you for making extra payments and that there is usually a limit of how much you can pay straight to the principal. But I am willing to bet that even if you have to pay a bank fee, that you'll be saving thousands of dollars in the long term.

Don't believe me. Let your numbers and the math do the talking!!

"Cutting" back on spending

In a moment of cheapness, I drove out of the hair salon parking lot refusing to pay $30 dollars for a haircut. Instead I make a short journey and found myself in the men's hair care product aisle in Wal-Mart.

For the same price as the haircut I purchased a hair-clipper set and after setting myself up in the garage I proceeded to shave my head. It felt like such a victory; I was still out $30, but it was on my terms.

I share this memory as it relates to one of my New Year’s resolutions - to save and make some extra money in 2012. If a hair cut costs between $25-30 dollars and I get one every two months, that adds up to saving $150-180 dollars on the haircuts alone.

There are also the residual savings as well. I won't be needing to purchase any hair products like gel or hair spray. My usage of shampoo and conditioner will been reduced so we won't be replacing those items as quickly.

Plus the best part, since I'm Canadian, it works like Velcro and helps keep my winter hat on.

What are your new year’s resolutions?
Have you done anything strange to save a few dollars?