You are here: Home / Archives for Meta / BTW

Just A Walk In The Park

May 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

We kept driving up, up and up some more.  As we finally reached the summit where the lodge was located we were at our destination.  Then we headed to the trail head where we went down, down, down and more down until we saw the most breathtaking drop off and steep canyon walls you can have without a helicopter ride. 

"Stay away from the edge," I heard a few times as I thought to myself that seemed obvious.  Obvious until I kept wanting to see the bottom, but we were so high that might have been tough.   The views were difficult to get focused in a camera as the depth perception was a tough thing to capture.

The dirt was a dark brown and reddish color where we get the idea of the "Original Dirt Shirt" color from in the shops where you can buy t-shirts, and it was ash and gravel mix.  The best part was getting to eat a flower as I walked on the trail and see some of the vegetation.  But by far the coup de grace was of course the waterfalls.  Our guide was pleasant and had lots of information and in fact I wanted to go on other tours that they offer like Kayaking on the Ocean and some of the other hiking things but that is probably for another trip.  You can see the lodge where we were and get a chance to see the "Hawaiian Emus" that watched us eat lunch.  Yes, Hawaiian Emus, that is for my hiking companion Melissa.

Filed Under: Advertising, Bloggers and Blogs, BTW

Tropic Thunder Blogger Style

May 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

We hopped into the back of an army person ell carrier and like soldiers heading off to battle we had our gear, harnesses and helmets.  The wet weather was welcome because it kept us cool and hydrated as the anticipation sucked the water from our system making us swallow hard.  This would normally be the description from a military blogger, but this describes the scene as we headed off to our zipline adventure.

I wasn’t really nervous about being dangled over the jungle until they told us a few of the details.  The highest line was 250 feet above the ground and the longest line was more than 3 football fields at 941 feet.  They had what they referred to as the "bunny line" taking it from the idea of a bunny slope in a ski area, and then the next 6 lines were for the professional zipliner.

One of my fellow travelers and I both knew we were in trouble when we thought it would be cool to do a video of us zipping through the jungle on our lines, and they indicated that if we dropped our flip cameras they would be gone forever.  Yes that is a long time.  I was hoping at this point that we would not drop ourselves and be gone forever.  The thing is this adventure is probably more safe than any other excursion I was doing while here in Hawaii. 

After our safety discussion we put our helmets on and went into battle.  Not the battle you would normally associate with war, but we had to battle the thrill and excitement of dealing with a rush of adrenaline and fun that went with this excursion.  I highly recommend this type of adventure to those of you that love the thrill of letting go and giving up control of nature.  Gravity works to your advantage sometimes and you can gather in the beauty and feel a rush all at the same time.  Thanks to the folks at Kauai Backcountry Tours for making our time there safe and enjoyable.

I gave the a little advice while I was there.  They need to be able to upload video or photos to family and friends back home.  So they need that router to be installed for Internet access.  I’m kidding of course, but to be able to have a sign waving behind the last guide that says thank you and come again might be a great way to have people upload that picture to Flickr!

80% of the movie Tropic Thunder was filmed on this property!

Photos: (My feet 250 feet above the jungle and @ChefMark)

Tags: HawaiiHTA, , , BackCountry Tours

Filed Under: Advertising, Blog Consulting, Bloggers and Blogs, BTW, Business Blogging

A New Color Blue

May 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I stood on the bow of the catamaran and the wind and salt cleansed my face of stress and renewed my belief that you can truly feel the tension leaving your body. I was quiet except for the sea and the beauty before me.   I cannot begin to describe the surroundings and the feeling, so I will let you come and experience it yourself.

Raiders of the Lost Ark, King Kong, South Pacific, Six Days Seven Nights, and Jurassic Park, this is but a small list of the movies that have been filmed here in the beauty of Kauai.  I stood in my spot looking up to the cliffs and then waterfalls and the foam being formed by the waves crashing against the rocks and could see why the big screen wants this awe to be portrayed. I wanted to describe one more thing.  The water.

I had a hard time figuring out what color the water was here.  I had the opinion of others, a Navy Commander, a man from New Mexico and my other fellow travelers. They all said soe sort of blue, but I had to have a name of it. It was dark, but bright and had with it an awesomeness.  I could not think of the blue that I saw, then the Captain said a word.  A Hawaiian  word that triggered a response in my head.  It has nothing to d with color and in fact means "ginger" in the local language but if I had to put a crayon in  a box and put acolor on its side that emulates that color or blue, I had found he description–Awapuhi Blue.  With due respect to the local people and to Paul Mitchell, I had come up with a description and a catchy nam for my blue. Whenver i describe this blue, my own mind will drift to that colora dn then I will forever have it etched in my database.  Thank you Hawaii and to the land island of Kauai for this memory.

Tags: HawaiiHTA, , , , So Much More Hawaii

Filed Under: Blogs and PR, BTW, Conferences/Trade Shows, Marketing, Media, Services, Social Media

Going Home

August 10, 2008 By 1 Comment

I was talking to one of my bloggers recently about getting back to my roots and getting back to what made me the blogger I am today. I talked about rediscovering the talents that I developed long ago when I was a Daddy blogger talking about the little things in life that as I discovered recently are actually the big things. He said something remarkable that immediately caused me to think of this post, he said “It’s like going home.”goinghome.jpg

I have had that in my mind and can’t get the thought out of my head. I like the sound of “going home.” The thought of going home has many emotions and memories, even smells and other senses and thoughts of better days. I think of all of the times I actually went home when it brought with it the safety of youth and the feeling of protection and notion of being where I belonged.

What does this have to do with social media consulting or anything business related? I believe we all need to sometimes take a moment to stop and go home. We need to get an idea of what brought us to where we are and what started us on the journey to begin with and to see if we are still on that path. Many times we have changed paths without ever knowing and we need to refocus our efforts to get back on the proper path.

For me, getting back to what the true nature of blogging is and was for me is essential to being able to teach and mentor others. It allows me to explain to companies needing my services with the passion I first had for blogging and how it changed my life and the can change their company. As a business owner can you remember where your home is? Perhaps you are working for a company and can think of the time when you first decided that you believed in your company and its message or mission. If not perhaps a short trip back home is in order.

[photo courtesy of sanjoyg]

Filed Under: Blog Consulting, BTW, Business Blogging, Companies Needing Blogs, Marketing, Professional Blogging, Services, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , ,
Newer Posts »