California Gifts
Review of Frugal and Focused Tweeting:
How-To Tweak Your Tweets and Integrate Your Online Presence
By Carolyn Howard-Johnson
ISBN: 9781451546149
Available on Amazon: http://budurl.com/Tweeting4Retailers
Reviewed by Michelle Dunn
With Social Media dominating every aspect of business especially marketing, Carolyn Howard Johnson is sharing practical marketing practices using social media that anyone can use. While businesses everywhere cut their marketing budget due to the economy, the handful that keep marketing and using Carolyn's books to help them be successful will be the last ones standing.
It is obvious Carolyn loves what she does and is good at it, lucky for us she is willing to share her tips and techniques in her book subtitled How to Tweak your Tweets and Integrate your Online Presence so that we can share in that success.
If you know nothing about Twitter but want to learn how you to can use it as a successful marketing tool pick up this book. It is the only book on Twitter marketing that you will need.
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Reviewer Michelle Dunn is an internationally known credit & debt collection expert. Michelle she is the award winning author of 13 books, a columnist ,and marketing expert. She has been featured on CNN, Forbes, Smart Money magazine and is often quoted in the Wall Street Journal. Learn more at
http://www.michelledunn.com/.
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson's FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques launched at the National Stationery Show at Javits Center. Because she is the author of the multi award-winning how-to books for writers,The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success, retailers will also find essentials of writing for blogs, Web sites, and newsletters on this blog. She is the author of an award-winning novel, This Is the Place; and other fiction and poetry. She blogs on better writing at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog. Find her tweeting for retailers at @frugalretailing . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use this little green widget to let them know about it:
Our day started off with a whimper, as Aaron and Brandon slightly overslept and we were generally slow getting going. Bob made us a great breakfast, though - eggs, toast, bacon, fruit...the whole shebang. Sherree dropped us off in Downtown Berkeley a little after 11 and we started to walk around.
We hit a Jamba Juice and suffered through epic brain-freezes (well worth it, though) and also did a little loop of the Cal campus, all the major library buildings, student union, The Campanile, etc...and then walked back out to Telegraph. We saw, as expected, all kinds of hobos, beggars and vagabonds, all of the very innocuous sort, totally omnipresent. There were all kinds of cool/funky shops that we wandered into, and, eventually, we started to feel hungry again.
Brandon's cousin Alan had (earlier) recommended a deli called "Cheese N Stuff" as a good spot to grab a bite. He was totally spot on. We had great sandwiches (Brandon had a panini), and the most expensive one was $3.95, a welcome sight.
We were pretty much done with Berkeley soon afterwards, we walked back down Telegraph, and Sherree picked us up (generously) and took us back to Casa Lucas/Rose. We packed our bags, made final Internet checks, and generally took too long to get going again, which resulted in us catching a later-than-wanted BART to San Francisco.
We finally got to Powell Street station a little after 3, and, armed with new Muni knowledge, took the 30 bus to the Caltrain Station. Since it was only 6$ for us to ride to Palo Alto, we decided against taking the more complicated bus.
Brandon saved our bacon when he realized we had accidentally read the Weekday schedule instead of the Weekend one, and so our train left a few minutes later then we thought it would. This was, sadly, a pattern of the day.
We got off a three separate Palo Alto stops, so my tale diverges from that of the other two bros here.
RHYS
I got off at the University Ave. station and Alex Freeman met me there with Alex Voet (who I'm sure you remember, Mom). We drove around Palo Alto for awhile, passing by 1102 Channing, Pardee Park, and some other memorable locales.
I got back to the Freeman house eventually, and received a warm welcome from Hillary, Nellis, and Alex's grandma, all of whom seemed quite happy to see me. Their friends Harlan and Rebecca were there as well. Many questions were asked about my mom and dad (side note: Mom, Hillary had me give her your e-mail and phone #, which she had lost. That "nuevaschool" one you have for her actually is correct, so you can talk with her whenever you'd like). There were 8 people for dinner at the Freeman's, and we ate pork chops, chicken, zucchini, asparagus, salad, and ice cream with jam for dessert. They (Hillary, her friend Rebecca, and the grandma) had been intensively involved in making a variety of delicious jams (golden plum, red plum, guava, and raspberry) when I arrived, so that's where the jam came from. It was absolutely delicious, and I'm going to try to get some for you guys, they made lots.
I played some Guitar Hero (terribly) and screwed around with Alex, Alex, and their friend Josh (who we don't know) as the night went on. It was fun to talk with them, but I definitely feel a little out of place. Hopefully, that will wear off, but, then again, maybe it won't. I'm going to the University Club tomorrow, and am still working out a plan for Aaron and Brandon to come with, if they so desire. Also, the plan to go the the Giants game with Ben, Andrew and Stuart on Monday is a definite go.
BRANDON
Brandon here, coming to you from the Adams' house. Here's what happened when we all broke up...
Of the three of us, I got off at the last stop. At first, Tyler was nowhere to be seen, but then I heard him yelling from across the parking lot. Lo and behold, he was sitting in a BMW Z3 Roadster. Now I really knew I was in California. We cruised home and unpacked my stuff, sat around and caught up with each other. I gave them a box of chocolates, and it turned out Tyler had some interesting gifts for me from Japan. Then we got hungry and went to eat Mongolian Barbecue. I had never tried it before, but I loved it. You take some raw noodles, meat, veggies, and sauce and give it to the chef, who cooks it on a large flat grill right in front of you. It's delicious, it's all you can eat, and it's $10. 'Nuff said. And who could end a meal in Palo Alto without some pearl milk tea? I decided to be ambitious and tried hazelnut-flavored tea, which was stunning. We drove home (still in the hot convertible) and are now chilling. I'm going to meet up with a friend from Camp Awosting and then go to Santa Cruz tomorrow. Good night!
Tyler:
Sup' Brandon's in the bathroom so I figured hey, I'll contribute a little.
So here's the story from my perspective. Found Brandon. He had suitcase. Almost didn't fit. Went home. Exchanged gifts. Talked. Got food. Tyler failed at finishing even a second plate of Mongolian BBQ. He was sad. Got PMT (Brandon was lame and got hazelnut) and saw hot girls. Came back. Exchanged interwebs videos and music. Brandon figured out how to use his gift. Decided to go to Santa Cruz tomorrow. Bye.
