For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you probably noticed I was in New York this past weekend. It was just a quick weekend trip to visit some friends. BUT, my main reason for flying up was to see a friend, Janine DiVita, who I used to do community theater with here in Kansas City. At the time we were younger and she had hopes and dreams of “making it on Broadway”. I promised her then and reiterated over the years, the moment she made it big on Broadway — I’d be there ASAP.

She is on Broadway now.

…playing lead for the part of “Rizzo” in Grease the Musical! I’ve been to more than a handful of shows in New York — but this time around, seeing a close friend performing on Broadway — it was enough to get me all choked up. For real.

We talked about her super-duper-awesome success in great length after the show and she reiterated a life principal she personally believes in, “Embrace what you’re passionate about in life.” Janine certainly didn’t have Broadway handed to her on a plate. Heck no. She had to work hard for it. Crappy jobs, hard months of living — all waiting for her big break. It’s hard for me to say in words how proud I am, but she’s one awesome person, a heck of a performer and dear friend that has a great outlook on life.

After the show we went back stage and I was fortunate enough to video blog it! Not only did I get footage of Grease backstage, but I met Taylor Hicks (you know from ‘06 American Idol, he’s “Teen Angel” in Grease) and had a chance to interviewed him! He’s a sincere guy and really easy to talk to.

**UPDATE** Read all about Janine in the Kansas City Star, they ran an article about her journey to Broadway.

For anyone involved or around graphic design, typography or branding, you might find yourself chuckling at this “Font Conference” sketch (I know I did). Personally my current favorite font is Trajan (it changes frequently — 3 months ago it was Garamond). The fact I have a favorite font — is a CLEAR indication I’m totally a geek.

Over dinner tonight I found this snippet in Wired magazine about “What Not to Say in a Facebook Status Update”:

1. Rockin’ Freebird!
2. Rubbing cream on that thing I noticed last weekend. Doesn’t seem to be working.
3. Buying DC Universe Classics Wave 5 the Atom at Wal-Mart! Build-a-figure Metallo is complete!
4. Feeling trapped in this male body.
5. Jesus, I’m lonely.
6. D’oh! Accidentally trimmed my pickin’ nail.
7. Watching The Notebook again.
8. Quick! Does anyone know the age of consent in Kentucky?
9. Just came up with a new emoticon for sanguine [:<≠>
10. Thinking about maybe talking to someone.

On a related note, I had interesting dialogue today with a client in which I was describing the increasing importance of managing your own Personal Brand. Facebook status updates are one piece of the puzzle to building your Personal Brand. The keys to success with Facebook status updates? Be authentic, compelling (add value), be consistent, and update it frequently. You’ll be surprised the mileage you can get out of utilizing Facebook status updates when you follow those principles.

I have a lot of ideas. They’re not all that great. However, I consider myself entrepreneurial by nature and I’m lucky enough that my job and friends all help foster this type of thought on a daily basis. That being said, I have no problem sharing my ideas because I’m a firm believer that at the end of the day — it’s not the idea that counts, it’s the quality of the execution and level of thought put into the delivery. After all, Apple wasn’t the first to make a MP3 player. Feel free to rip me apart and tell me all the BAD parts of this idea below.

Facebook Application Name:
EventCast (don’t really like the name, but it’s all I got at this point)

20 word description:
Chat, socialize and interact with anyone in the world about a major scheduled event you are watching or participating in.

The 6-second “Elevator Speech”:
An EventCast is a simple basic chat ‘n share application that lets you communicate while any major event is taking place. It allows anyone to connect instantly with a group who have the same interest to be watching or participating in an event.

The “really in depth” description:
The basis of the site is just giving people a centralized place to go during the time of a major event to chat and communicate (think Super Bowl, American Idol episodes, MTV Music Awards, Greys Anatomy episodes, The Oscars, Sport Playoff Games, The Office episodes, Miss America etc). That’s all it is.

Picture this: The Super Bowl is on tonight. You are taking it easy this year and watching it with a small group. You pull out your MacBook then power up your social graph via Facebook on your laptop or cell phone. You click and jump into the official ” ‘09 Super Bowl EventCast” app and you’re instantly connected to any of your friends who are logged into Facebook. You also have the ability to bail from your own friends free to float to different rooms with other FB users.

The first commercial comes on — the chat room is blowing up. It’s another hilarious Bud Light commercial that everyone will be talking about tomorrow at work or school. Your buddy from college makes a funny joke about the chimp in the commercial. You then have the ability to digg vote up (thumbs up icon) on any comment or chat messages people send within your room. If it scores enough of a majority “a really complex algorithm” sends the message as a global message imported to other rooms chat feeds in your network — and if it is voted up there it’s placed globally to all the EventCast rooms on FB.

The idea really is simple. A place to hangout with your friends (who live on Facebook already) when you can’t physically hangout — and it’s all centered around major events you’re likely to be watching anyways. It can also serve as a reminder tool for you as a user so you don’t miss things you might be interested in like the The Olympics or The Presidential Debates. The application could send reminders and invitations asking to see if you want to participate. It could text you minutes before its about to start to make sure you don’t miss out.

There are other things you could do like…

• Make an iPhone app that would stream the chat so you could even be at a park, at a bar, in a airport or sitting on your couch and still participate “on the go”.
• Get corporate sponsors to place advertisements throughout the event on the web application itself.
• Have moderators provide “interactive” components/links in real-time to view more detail of any given topic. For example, you can click-through on the e-Trade website to find out more information on the AD they just aired as a commercial. Companies can choose to advertise their event is “being EventCast’ed” LIVE and to log-in for an “interactive experience.”
• Guest chat hosts could also interact with users — for example, sport broadcasters or designated bloggers can give their real-time feedback on their experience on what it’s like to be there. Users can ask direct questions to the people at the event.

So is it stupid? Does it already exist? (if it does, is it executed well?) Is it a decent idea with a lack of focus? One of these days I’ll actually build out one of my ideas. I hope someone beats me to this one…
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So like the rest of America, I went to see the new Batman movie this weekend anxiously anticipating “the hype” of the Oscar winning performance given by Maggie Gyllenhaal Heath Ledger.

Do yourself a favor and go see it.

While a highly critical person like myself could find minor flaws and make arguments against it, it’s an impressive motion picture that holistically is a masterpiece. Period. No matter what I do to describe the movie, regardless of your expectations and knowledge prior to seeing the movie — it will pale in comparison with what The Dark Knight is prepared to deliver. It’s full of surprises you don’t see coming.

Most comic book action movies are shallow at delivering substance. Why? Because most action movie story lines and acting suck. This movie brings a deeper dimension not only to the Batman series, but for action movies in general.

After you watch the movie consider this; the poetic delivery of the theme “evil” and “darkness” throughout the movie is ambivalent. I personally found myself drawn in to Ledgers’ morbid visceral creepy performance of the Joker so brilliant it was hard to swallow the fact I was falling in love with the villain of the movie — not the superhero.  Here’s a video comparing the performances of both Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger.  Who do you think was is better?

• Did you know… the orchestral score of the movie was done by Hans Zimmer and James Howard. Zimmer and Howard gave the director an iPod filled with 10 hours of music cues based on just the script, which Zimmer contends the director memorized on flights to and from Hong Kong.

• Did you know… IMAX technology was used to shoot some of the action scenes.

• Did you know… the caterers on the film provided intricately thought-out fruit plates for Christian Bale that were a bit more composed and deliberate, whereas the food for Heath Ledger was arranged in a more frazzled, chaotic, Joker-like fashion.

My favorite shot/scene from the entire movie is actually only a 5-second clip — the part with the Joker, when he has his head out of the cop car. What a beautiful shot.

Today the domain extension .me went for sale exclusively on GoDaddy.com. Like women at a 6 AM Bloomingdales wedding dress sale, utter organized chaos was unleashed on GoDaddy.com as users scrambled to pick-up .me domains (likely to cash in on a resale). Of course when the dust settled (after 5 PM) was when I had my first chance to take a crack at .me domain names. Which ones did I try to register? Well I tried…

ramsey.me
mini.me
aweso.me
gim.me
upti.me
screw.me
lunchti.me

At one point, I even used a Scrabble tool to find suggestions of things ending with .me. With the exception of ramsey.me, each domain name I tried was taken. [sigh], so much for making it rich with a clever domain name. In hindsight, when the .mobi extension was released — everyone (and I do mean everyone) thought it was going to be the HOT domain to have. Fast forward to present day and now the .mobi address is almost never used. More so, even a geek like me can’t name but one or two .mobi domains from memory. Inevitably what happened is most companies are using sub-domains to accommodate for mobile visitors (e.g. http://m.facebook.com, http://m.cnn.com, http://mobile.espn.com).

All that said — competition still remains “hot” for domain names. On my way to work it’s practically religious ritual that I listen to NPR on my 20-minute commute (music doesn’t go well with me early in the morning). Last month there was a great segment regarding, “Though the economy may be in decline, the market for Web site domain names is on the rise.” It’s an interesting report, and you can listen to it here.
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If you’re in the web business, an entrepreneur, or just a plain geek at heart — you’ll get a good laugh at this video (below).

A co-work of mine asked today if I was camping for the Batman “Dark Knight” movie. He figured if I camped for the biggest phone release of the year, why not the biggest movie release of the year too?

The answer is no, I’m not. But I am really looking forward to seeing this movie. I will also mention, if you’re a fan of orchestral scores, you’ve got to buy the soundtrack to this movie… it might just win best score, it’s that awesome (Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard).

Back in 2007, Steve Jobs described a feature released on the original iPhone called Starbucks Select:

“You walk into a Starbucks. Order your latté. While you wait, you hear a song wafting from the loudspeakers. You love it. So you get out your iPhone and buy it over Wi-Fi. Just like that. The iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store on iPhone tells you what’s playing in select Starbucks and lets you buy it along with other featured Starbucks content.”

Back in ‘07, I remember thinking this was the beginning of a great business model that could grow outside of just purchasing a song at Starbucks. But Apple has not moved forward with it.

Think about it… why draw the line at just selling Starbucks music? Why not something in more functional everyday commerce areas like retail stores, concerts, festivals or any event.

• What if… if you were at a concert and you had the ability to pull your phone out and order the album that’s being played on stage? Why not give people the ability to order the t-shirt and have it shipped to their house so they don’t have to carry it around? Let them order the album of the opening act or make a donation on-the-spot to the artist’s favorite charity.

• What if… while watching the Super Bowl you were able to get real-time updates pushed to your iPhone as commercials aired allowing you to bookmark for more information later or buy the product right away?

• What if… while watching American Idol you can purchase the shirt David Cook is wearing on stage? This would of course be done through an American Idol iPhone Application — in which you could vote for contestants and watch previous performances.

• What if… [insert more great ideas I haven't thought of yet here]

While I’m unfamiliar with the technical requirements it takes to setup a wi-fi base that once connected you’re iPhone would load a “Store Application”. I’m assuming with the launch of the App Store and it’s API, this in theory, could be relatively simple for the folks at Apple. Another alternative I’d offer: instead requiring developers to code a “Store Application” from scratch — is Apple could offer an application that resides in the next firmware update (universal user interface, few customizations here and there, standardized checkout — essentially give developers places to slot graphics, products, prices and descriptions). This would allow developers to then utilize an API to setup their own custom settings within using the web service. There could even be a per transaction fee Apple can mandate in order to monetize the Application.

Is my idea that far fetched? I’m sure critics would argue not enough users have an iPhone for this to be worth the investment on either Apple or the businesses. To which I would point out one million people purchased a 3G iPhone during is launch weekend. Is that enough users?

These are just thoughts, sparks, ideas… what are you waiting for Apple?
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**UPDATE** This post was featured on !  How cool is that?  Check out the article that mentions this blog post.

While I totally thought at first John Mayer was a chump for stealing “Dave Matthews’ sound” when he first came onto the music scene — I would argue that he has very much broke that stereo type. In fact, I would say he has carved his own established reputation as a quintessential performer as an acoustic songwriter, electric guitar slinger, bluesman and vocalist.

(No really.  He’s good at what he does.)

While most live albums suck because most artists really can’t sing — John Mayer live is where he shines best.  I’ve been fortunate to catch the blues side of John in concert here in KC (the John Mayer Trio) and he’s legit when it comes to playing the blues.  This album is a double CD set with both the Trio and Mayer’s full band (his original old sound).  This CD is a must have for blues fans or Mayer originals.

One of the blogs I have bookmarked on my RSS reader for comedic relief is called indexed. Essentially, the author (Jessica), posts a random index card with either a chart, graph or ven diagram. It’s completely random in subject matter, but follows the common theme of “make fun of some things and sense of others.” Maybe it’s the corporate presentation and context of “charts and graphs” that help, but I find her sense of humor hilarious. This was one of my favorites of her most recent posts:

This past weekend on Saturday I DJ’ed a wedding downtown Kansas City. It’s only a weekend side job that I’ve kept because it’s good money, I still have the equipment — most of all it’s easy. However, I was going through an internal debate in my head: At what point does my personal time become more valuable than the money I get paid for DJ’ing? When I DJ’ed in college, it was fun and easy.  The “fun” part is starting to slip (with the exception of DJ’ing for friends). Well, the answer for now is “not yet”. I wonder when that will change?  Will it ever?

While there was some frustration, camping out for my 3G Apple iPhone was a great experience. I met some great people and got the phone I’ve been waiting over a year for

When I showed up at 10:40′ish PM on Thursday night excitement was in the air. The night was filled with 10 hours of waiting in line, a 1 hour nap on a concrete sidewalk, a Starbucks donut and Frap, lectures from the shopping mall security force and quality entertainment from a “New Jersey” dude that heckled everyone at will (it was hilarious).

Watch the video of my interview on Fox 4 News here.

NBC quoted me in this article and click the video in the top right, I’m featured in an interview!

I also video blogged and audio blogged my entire experience which you can watch below:

There’s a lyric/quote I was reminded of today:

” I’ve heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we must learn. We are led to those who help us most to grow, if we let them and we help them in return. “

Yeah, yeah — I’m sure you’re thinking Ramsey is getting all “emotional on us” here. But for real, it’s a great quote and a principal I adopted a long time again. Hearing this lyric was a rude slap to the face that made me step back and think and thank of all the people within the recent weeks that have surprised me. I’m a firm believer of the “pay it forward” and “do the right thing attitude”, and when I think back through the past few weeks, I’ve been pleasantly served with random acts of kindness (strangers, friends, family).

In the end, it’s these little things in life (as my friend Cara would say) that makes life good. Maybe it’s the uncomfortable summer camp bunk bed heat thats getting to everyone? Whatever it is — thank you.
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So unless you live in a cave, you know the iPhone 3G is coming out this Friday at 8:00 AM.  I’ve been waiting for this moment for over a year <– super geek out moment! Who knows how many wasted hours of my life I’ve spent reading details regarding articles regarding this 3G version of the iPhone (disclaimer: I am NOT a Apple fanboy). All I know, is it’s finally here. I’ve patiently waited to purchase the iPhone (I currently have a Motorola Q) since my life revolves around Outlook and it’s sync to my calendar and email. I must have it. I literally schedule everything on my calendar.  Really super important things like:

• Do your laundry

• Play golf

• Client meetings

• Buy groceries cause nothing is in the fridge

• Call your mom

That being said, if you’re here in Kansas City, you’ll likely see me camping out at one of the local stores late on Thursday night. While I really don’t think there will be a shortage of supply, I’ll be the first to admit, the experience of “camping out” for a launch is half the fun. I’ve camped out for other geeky things like the Wii, Halo 2, Halo 3 and Hannah Montana tickets (OK, maybe not the last one).

The other thing that’s interesting about “camp outs” is the type of people you meet. It’s literally it’s own sub-culture of people who do this. Think about it. To be dedicated and passionate enough to camp out overnight? It’s completely idiotic and wonderful in every respect. I can’t wait!

I read a great article that gives a good inside look on the powerful effects of social media — specifically how the Barack Obama’s campaign staff has successfully utilized grasped leveraged new-media. Here are few things I didn’t know about www.My.BarakObama.com:

• One of the four founders of Facebook created/manages his online presence (Chris Hughes).

• Obama has raised over $2 million dollars online.

• MyBarakObama.com has over 900k members.

• The campaign has spent over $3 million in online advertising.

The growth strategy was positioned on a simple concept; “keep it real, and keep it local”. Similar to Facebook, his website is built around the concept of establishing “local networks” to make connections to other users. Supporters are more receptive because they are meaningful connections that literally “hit them at home” with familiar people they may or may not already know in their community.

In my own opinion, the big takeaway is the execution and strategy. Understanding how to market online in a “web 2.0″ world is no longer optional — it’s something you must address. Why should you care about social media and having a strategy? Well, five of the Top Ten most traffic’ed websites are social networking websites. YouTube is over 10% of all Internet traffic. Over 100 million blogs exist.

There’s more than a few reasons to care.

More importantly, “being everywhere” in which users visit on a daily basis is key. No longer can you just live in your own www.domain. Two way communication must occur across multiple touch points (online and offline).

MyBarakObama.com did does a good job of building a community and carrying the consistent “Change We Can Believe In” brand message — but what it really does well is provide tools to its supporters by leveraging the viral benefits of social media. Obama’s staff understands how to plan, build, evolve, and execute a communication strategy online that adds value to its supporters. This has resulted in a tightly nit loyal community online that wants to use it and finds it exciting.

While I’ve noted his site as a great case study of reference for my own clients, he does serve specifically as a political social media “road map” for several new campaigns to come.
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I made the trip down to Lake of the Ozarks this 4th of July weekend with a group of friends (checkout the video below). We had a full weekend of events and activities planned (golf, skiing, boating, eating, drinking — you know, typical holiday weekend stuff). One of the most exciting parts of the trip was just bringing my new camera down (Canon 40D) to take photos. While I definitely do not claim to be a photographer, I’m what I would call “in training”. It was a blast and I took over 1,000 photos! As always, you can view them on my flickr page.

Anyways, it’s good to be back home — and hard to accept that I won’t be waking up tomorrow to a boat ride or grabbing brunch at a restaurant on the lake. Instead, it’ll likely be in my florescent lighted A/C cooled cubical. What a total bummer.

Have a Happy 4th of July Weekend everyone!
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Someone dropped this link in my inbox today — and it made me laugh out loud. While it’s totally a viral campaign for Converse, it’s either genius or just plain stupid. I’m erring on the side of ridiculously creepy funny.

Check it out @www.kissingwithross.com

Today I was talking to Cara, a co-worker, who constantly suffers from “email hell” every morning. I fear she is constantly victim to G.N.D. syndrome (Getting Nothing Done). In the midst of her pain, I was reminded of a helpful presentation I wanted to share by Merlin Mann. His take? You should never dread opening your inbox. Email is just a medium. Email can do amazing things for you.

In the past two months, I’ve really started to grasp the flow after watching “Inbox Zero” and it’s amazing. No really. This video is pertinent to everyone, even if you don’t receive high volume email. DISCLAIMER; the video alone won’t change your life. It’s the mindset you have to adopt. Do that and then you’ll then see positive change (and be sure to thank me).

» Watch the full video here

As a web consultant, I lead and manage the design of web projects.   So naturally anything that brings “sparks” in regards to strategy interest me. I came across an awesome snippet of in regards to corporate website design.  A simple question was posed on the blog Web Strategy, “What is the future of Corporate Websites in 5 years?” This answer from Chris Smith rocked my world when I read it — so many thoughts came to my mind in regards to user-experience:

“I actually believe in 5 years the “corporate website” as we now it will no longer exist. Gone will be the days of the static brochure site, supported by a “dynamic” sub-branded social community. There will no longer be the “self-service” document download centers, or the video case study hiding the infomercial inside.

I see the corporate website as hub of individuals that become your first point of contact, and guide you through your search for products, service or support. Consider the example of the Apple Retail Store experience and extend that to the web. You are going to the corporate site for a reason. Even casual browsers to a corporate site have a passive agenda. Virtual corporate ambassadors will assist you in your interaction with the company, blurring the lines of sales, CRM, and support, with the use of chat, video feed, guided browsing, VoIP… the list goes on.”

Chris’s insight is right inline with the trend of user-focused web sites that utilize social media to “engage in the conversation“.  Furthermore, this concept is it really isn’t as far off as it may seem.  The web is already integrated as a utilitarian function for our daily lives, why keep the medium passive?  The technology is there can be there.  We’ve all seen “sprinkles” of this on web sites today, like Sprint.com — they ask you if you would like to “begin a live chat” to answer any questions.

This snippet of insight from Chris takes the concept to a new level.  I love it.
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“Girl Talk” is the name of a DJ, which originally is from a saying alluded to in a Jim Morrison poem. This hip-hop genre DJ is awesome. He’s a considered a mashup mix DJ — so you’ll hear things like a nirvana beat with Jay-Z on top of it (like DJ AM).

The whole CD mixes together and has over 1,000+ samples in 17 tracks. Pretty awesome if you’re in to mashups and hip-hop. One of my favs to listen to right now. Must have.

» To download the album, you “name your own” price (like the Radiohead release), so you can choose to pay $0, $15, or $whatever the heck you want.