I'm not in the mood to Twitter...I've got a headache!

Many months ago I succumbed to the pressure of TV and radio shows who persistently said to follow them on Twitter. It seemed pretty easy to do so I signed up for it. I logged on and started to (er...attempted to) navigate around Twitter. I was immediately discouraged so I signed off and then played around with Facebook. This discouraged feeling is no stranger. When Facebook first starting picking up momentum, I fiercely clung to that other social networking site...what's it called...Oh yeah, myspace. See it's not even important enough anymore to get the appropriate capitalization.

I admit that it was not love at first site with Facebook but I eventually warmed up to it and now it's pure bliss. Facebook in the morning, in the afternoon, during meetings, and sometimes I do it all day long. It's one of the first things I look at in the morning and we always enjoy a bowl of high fiber cereal whilst we catch up on the past 8 hours we've been apart. I could not be happier. But ever since applying for my dream job at Murphy-Goode winery, I've been trying to catch up with the times and become an upstanding twitterer of the twitosphere. That's Twitterspeak for those still holding on to your precious Facebook and have yet to jump on the bandwagon. Because of Murphy-Goode, I've dusted off the ol' Twitter account and dove right into the newest social networking pool. Did I mention I jumped into the deep end and I was wearing 10lb weights on all my appendages, and I don't know how to swim?

My days were spent logged on to Twitter searching for people I know, people I don't know, groups I feign interest in, and anyone else that might find me the least bit interesting to deem me worthy of being followed. It's really all about how many friends you have, right? So my whopping two followers turned into 33 in a matter of weeks. I told you this was hardcore Twitter action going on. That's like a 93% increase (I think, although I'm not a mathematician nor admit to learning anything useful in any math class I've taken and I'm currently under the influence of beer that has a 'best by date' of 16 November 2007). But if I were a business, I'd be doing better than GM. Way better.

But after a few grueling weeks, I'm exhausted and still confused. I feel like I've given it the ol' college try but I just don't get it. I just don't f-ing get it. Twitter is for people with ADD, the unemployed, or those with just very, very limited vocabulary. Twitter is like dating that really young, early 20-something that goes out every Thursday, Friday, & Saturday night and stays out til 4 am. I just can't keep up. So Twitter, this has been fun, and I've had a great time with you but this isn't for me. This gal needs beauty sleep (and lots of it)!


And if you're one of the millions of Americans that have experienced similar resistance to social media change, or are wanting to learn new things (that's the true secret to staying young), there's a genius guy named Pete Cashmore who created www.mashable.com that is basically a 'Social Media For Dummies' site. Great resource for learning everything and everything about Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, blogging, and of course Twitter. My apologies for any spelling or grammatical errors on this blog, I'm still drinking expired beer.

Web Schmeb 2.0 & My Plot To Take Over The Wine World

So the whole purpose of this Murphy-Goode job promo is to open the channels of communication and basically light a fire under the wine industry's presence on social networking media - Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, blogs, etc. And for the most part, Murphy-Goode is doing a pretty decent job of getting the word out there, inspiring hundreds of hopeful lifestyle correspondents to go out and buy bottles of M-G for their videos. Then those lifestyle correspondent hopefuls send emails, tweets, facebook messages to everyone they know asking that they vote for their video, which will most likely (hopefully) inspire them to seek out Murphy-Goode the next time they are at the wine store. The ripple effect is pretty awesome. I am curious to see the actual effect social networking will have on the wine industry. Will people rely on tweets or Facebook recommendations for wine and if so, how much will social networking influence them? Or will people just defer to their local wine store for a recommendation? I know in the wine shop I work at, we bring in a lot of hard to find boutique wines. Our small size limits how many wines we can carry and our decision is ultimately based upon what our customers request. Most times the customers that do request wines are the over 40 crowd and may not have a Facebook or Twitter account, and often times have more expendable income. As soon as people figure out how to use Twitter and Twitter figures out it wants to be used, I think there will be potential.

So I want to hear from you (yes, you) my ten blog followers. Okay, nine blog followers (I'm actually following my own blog...don't ask.) Let me know what you think. How do you want to see social networking involved in your wine purchases? Or is this something that you just don't really care about?

Oh, and as far as my plot to take over the wine world, I could use your help. If you haven't already sold your kidney for votes(...or was that just me?) please take a sec to send me some love and vote for my video, no matter how obnoxious you may think it is. Thanks!

Vote here: http://www.areallygoodejob.com/video-view.aspx?vid=v5zgJ88-lVM

Ks

The Man Behind the Hype

This past Tuesday I had the great pleasure to meet Dave Ready, Jr., the winemaker at Murphy-Goode Winery, during his whirlwind tour of stops in the US to promote his Really Goode Job. I have to admit, meeting Dave Ready in person makes me love Murphy-Goode wines even more. I walk into Il Fornaio in the Denver Tech Center, where the wine meet & greet is being held, I am looking around and examining the schwag when Dave, whilst speaking with others, extends his hand out, introduces himself to me. Immediately, I'm pulled into the circle of conversation and a server immediately asks me which wine I would like to drink, the Fume or Liar's Dice Zin. The hour flew by quickly with countless questions by various inquiring fans. I asked Dave what he wanted to get out of this promotion, besides just an increase in sales. His reply was that he wanted to open up the communication with wine drinkers, to get them more informed of the process that goes into drinking a glass of Murphy-Goode wine. That makes sense. It's kinda like the difference between heating up a frozen pizza and making one from scratch. I don't know if anyone shares this opinion, but when I know it's homemade I feel like it automatically tastes better. All in all, Dave Ready has all the characteristics I would want in a friend - down to earth, passionate, and a sense of humor. Plus, he was in a band and had super long hair. How cool/funny is that?!?

Besides meeting Dave, I met some other cool people at the wine meet & greet, such as Bridgett, who runs Highlands Wineseller in Highlands Ranch, Sheryl who runs an internet business selling wine paraphernalia, and Rick Backas, another areallygoodejob applicant, who is just as cool in person as he is in his video. Check him out at rickbakas.com or vote for him for areallygoodejob here.

My Video is Officially Posted

After some deliberation, I decided to change my video a bit. You can see that video (and vote if you so choose to) at http://www.areallygoodejob.com/video-view.aspx?vid=v5zgJ88-lVM

But I must warn you, not voting for me does not give you free pass to visit me in Sonoma, should I get the job. I do get a list of everyone who has voted for me so just keep that in mind! Haha! Just kidding....Or am I?

I thought once I posted my video that I would feel a tremendous amount of relief but I think I'm feeling a little more nervous. Now that my video is actually posted, I'm nervous whether people will like it. I know that, realistically, there's not much I can do at this point. I just need to tell myself to trust that I did what I could, and if my message is in line with Murphy-Goode's, then that's how it should be. But in the meantime, I'm going to drink me some Murphy-Goode Liar's Dice Zinfandel to calm the nerves. I opened this bottle yesterday and it's amazing how it holds the aromas and flavors. Smelling it, I get a lot of the red fruit but there's also a refreshing component to it, as if I were breathing in deep the mountain air.

This gal is off to bed!

Cheers!

The Video is Complete...I think

So I've spent a great deal of today working on this video. I woke up today feeling as though I had plenty of quality material to sort through but once I started editing, more ideas started to flow about how to set up this video. It's definitely a bit frustrating. I'm my own worst enemy. I want this video to look good and to convey my passion and qualifications. So there's one part of me that wants to shoot more scenes, take more pictures and tweak the script a bit. But there's also a part of me that feels that if I keep editing and making changes that I'll never feel satisfied to post a video. And that's just something I need to live with. I know I'm not a director. I'm just someone that has an extreme passion for wine. So with that said, here's my video:

No video could exist without it's counterpart: Outtakes & Bloopers

I would like to thank everyone who came by and supported me while I filmed this, especially Jennifer Lathan for driving around Denver looking for places to take pictures and imbibing in a few glasses of wine with me. And to Meredith for helping me process. Thank You. Filming this has been such a blast!

A Goode Saturday

Yesterday I shot many-o-scenes for the video. Thanks to everyone who helped in the production, came over for support, and/or drank all they could of Murphy-Goode wine. And a special thanks to Mike for wearing a suit from the waist up! I think I've got lots of great video and will be spending the rest of this afternoon editing. Video(s) will be posted here once I've finished them just to give my fans (you) a chance to view them and post comments on your favorite one before I post one of them on the Murphy-Goode website.

And on to other Goode news...the winemaker, David Ready Jr., from Murphy-Goode will be at Il Fornaio in the Tech Center on Tuesday May 19th to conduct interviews. Goode timing, right? I see it as a wink from the wine gods that this job will be mine. All mine! Muaahahaha!

Okay, enough of my shameless use of "goode". Time to edit.

My mad video skillz

Okay, so by "mad" I mean "horrible" and by "skillz" I mean "skills" (who am I trying to kid here? I'm 28, I can't get away with that type of slang anymore!). To be more accurate, my title should read: "My horrible video skills" but it doesn't sound nearly as inviting as "My mad video skillz", right? It has been quite some time since I've played around with creating/editing video so I recorded a test video just to see if I still had it in me.

If all goes well, I'm hoping to shoot the video, edit it, and have it posted on Murphy-Goode's website by the end of the weekend. Let me know if you're interested in helping out in the production of the video or if you just want to sit around, drink some wonderful Murphy-Goode wine, and laugh at me...I mean, laugh with me. And at the very least, definitely check back to see how things progress!

***Disclaimer***
This video and its content is not at all what I intend on saying/doing in my real video.