Did Twitter help?

So we had really bad storms in Chicago this past week. The power went out in my neighborhood, and we got no information from our service provider, ComEd, about when it would be restored. There was no information on their web site, and the people on the phone did not know.  My husband and I saved as much as we could from the fridge and freezer, but ended up having to dump a lot of expensive meat (we could only eat so much!). On Wednesday night, I thought about tweeting things about ComEd to get their attention. Lo and behold, within five minutes someone from ComEd was direct messaging with me. They asked the neighborhood where I lived, and commented about the crews in the area. First they said the power would not be restored until Friday night (it went out Tuesday night). However, it actually came back on overnight on Wednesday - after I exchanged twitter messages with the person at ComEd.

Did it help? I don't know but I would say it didn't hurt, and it made me feel like I contributed! Not too bad, all in all.

A most amazing week!

This has been a most amazing week! We held our customer conference, and it was awesome. Our management team was at its peak, our customers experienced great educational sessions and had a lot of fun, and our suppliers experienced a lot of good engagement all around.we had great parties, and Journey was awesome! Vision 2011 was an event that will be remembered for years to come.

Spring in Chicago

The woods are dull and brown,
The air is damp and chilled,
A robin sings,
It is spring in Chicago.

Vote early

I voted early in the Chicago election - we voted last Saturday. It is always interesting to think about the options......about who will win and who will lose. Who cares most about Chicago and who will help the city the most? Vote early!

Good luck to Egypt's people!

It is true that the souls in people yearn for freedom. What happened in Egypt this week is more than extraordinary. It shook up a lot of people and energized even more. The U.S. must support the people's efforts for democracy - I hope they will let us help. The fact that demographic changes played such an important role is amazing. Most of the protestors were younger than 30, and had known no other leader except Mubarak. The images of happiness, tears of joy, and the determination on the faces of the people have been seen around the world. It made me wonder what would have happened here in the U.S. if the Revolutionary war was influenced by immediate communication such as Facebook and Twitter. The fact that news traveled slowly then worked both to advantage and disadvantage for sure. Good luck to the people of Egypt. What a proud time for you,

Snow in Austin!

I'm writing this from the Red Cheetah Coalition Conference in Austin, Texas. This is a place where entrepreneurs from the business products industry get together to talk about the technology they use. It is a dynamic group of people and I really enjoy talking with the attendees. My team and I barely made it here due to the record-breaking snowfall in Chicago. We managed to get out of O'Hare somehow though. Now, however, it has snowed here in Texas. We are hoping it will all be gone before we have to get back to Chicago tomorrow. This group is so eager to get information and I delivered a keynote to them this morning on the value of adaptive marketing. They were thoughtful and asked great questions. It is good to get out of the office and talk to customers regularly. Sometimes I think I don't do it enough - that is a goal for the new year!

The Tourist

I saw The Tourist last month and while beautifully shot (hard to make Italy look bad) the movie was pretty dull. The acting was wooden and I was surprised at how flat Johnny Depp came across. Angelina Jolie was pretty and her clothes were gorgeous but she is so thin that it is distracting. You want someone to give her a sandwich or something. If you like these actors, I would wait until it comes out on DVD or HBO to see it.