Last night I taught a class originally titled “Facebook and Families: Keeping Peace in the Statusphere.”

What qualifies me to teach a Facebook and parenting training class?
I am a mom blogger, have two teenagers, a twenty year old and an extended family in real life and on Facebook.

And, earlier this year NBC5 interviewed me as Facebook for students, families and schools expert.

Handed this Facebook and parenting teaching assignment by the College of DuPage Continuing Education Department, I set …

Image: Natalie Martinez of NBC 5 Chicago and me after my interview about Facebook and freedom of speech. Yesterday, I made my TV debut as a spokesperson for Social Media Club [SMC] Chicago. Thanks to Natalie for tracking down Social Media Club on Facebook and leaving a message with Kristie Wells, SMC’s co-founder. Kristie sent me an email and I met up with Natalie in Greektown for an interview sparked by a local student whose Facebook activities resulted in a …

“This one is going to really interesting to watch . . . hmmmm . . . . ”

When I made the appointment we had a choice, but I picked the doctor in the practice we like best. Well, we like them all, but we like this one best because he kind of wanders off and philosophizes while he’s with us. Conversations become streams from his consciousness and wander off into places like where we’ll be in a year or two …

On Friday, the first day of spring!, I’ll be presenting this 20 minute social media mashup to the National Speakers Association’s Illinois Chapter. My inspiration comes from a play our family saw called “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: Abridged.” On our family trip out west a few years back our daughter – who was into Shakespeare and theater at the time, insisted that we see this play on the last night of our trip.

We had many reasons to say …

To my husband, vacation is a virtue. To me, it’s a venue. He has to get away. I have to see something. And our kids? They’ll go [almost] anywhere as long as we’re paying for it.

Tomorrow morning, we’ll leave our house in a stretch limo – nothing else will hold our 9 suitcases and 5 passengers – and cruise on over to Midway to set off for what may be our last long family adventure for awhile. When we …

Update 05.07.07, original post follows

The search is over . . . after visiting 6 colleges and grilling communications professors – with my daughter’s encouragement,  we have a winner. She will be attending the college that, in the end, sent the best communications all along. 

As longtime members of the University of Illinois Alumni Association, we always thought all three of our kids would wear orange and blue. So, it was hard for us to consider another state school, especially one as close as …

Originally posted on November 28, 2006 . . . the preferred game system in our house now is the PS3, sorry Wii.
Editor’s Note: Welcome gamers and curiosity seekers! We’re glad you’re here . . . this is a marketing/PR blog that just happens to have a few fun stories. . . here’s one now . . .

This post is for all of our Marketing Transformations Network ezine readers who are wondering what happened with the Nintendo Wii . . .

A …

5000 unique visitors in 8 hours. Links to 260 blogs. That was 2 days ago. Judging by the depth and character of his blog/post, Thomas Baekdal’s Viral Marketing Tricks will be one that sets records. Why? Because it’s viral marketing at its best. The videos demonstrate Baekdal’s ideas as they entertain. Somehow, his Denmark accent comes through in his writing. Now, if he just added some audio of him reading the content . . . that would make the post even more infectious.   

To add a pinch …

Tonight the Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus gave away a most precious gift – a private concert just for the parents.

I’ve lost track of how many parent orientations and open houses we’ve been to in September. [I can tell you that going to every soccer game this week easily ate up 10 hours or so.]

Altogether, we’ve sat through over 20 teacher presentations and at least 5 club orientations. What did we learn?

[I'm just reporting on the more amusing comments - ...