E-mail Newsletter Sign-up: You're Doing it Right

I've recently fallen in love with William Fitzsimmons. If you haven't heard of him yet, go check him out. Now.

His music is hauntingly gorgeous. True words, just soul touching and beautiful music. Interested in learning more I went to his website. Unfortunately he's in town the 16th of July at Highline and I can't make it.

That said, I am still interested for when he (hopefully) comes back to play New York. I signed up for his e-mail updates. A quick form of first, last name and my e-mail and zip code. A quick confirmation e-mail brought me to the above landing page where I was offered a FREE song from his recording session. Thank you!

Done well. Well done.

My favorite William song: After Afterall

Testing to see if Disqus is working again

Yes? Please?

Dining Cycle 2.0

Deciding on a place to eat in New York can be difficult. First you have to decide what type of food you want, what neighborhood you want to eat in, indoor/outdoor, quiet/noisy, good cocktails/nothing crazy. Then add in how much you want to spend, the amount of people joining you---it's not an easy task sometimes.

This week I knew I was going for dinner with a friend Wednesday. I wanted to eat somewhere close to my office so I didn't have to travel (read: I'm lazy) and then head home after. I checked out Yelp for ideas, used the UrbanDaddy app as a suggestion tool to support my findings and decided on Belcourt. It's easy, around the corner and perfect for the evening.

IMed my friend. Said here's where we are going. Done and done.

10 minutes later I get my Daily Yipit email. Yipit, if you don't know, aggregates and recommends local daily deals. They pull in sites like Groupon, Living Social and also use your foursquare checkin data to serve up suggestions based on where you hang out. It's kind of awesome (and I'm not just saying this because I'm friends with Vinny and Jim who started it)

The Yipit deal of the day from Living Social:

$15 for $30 to Spend on Food and Drink at Belcourt

HEY NOW.

While I'm almost positive that Vinny and Jim aren't monitoring my im conversations (although Vinny did send THIS when we asked if he was :) ) to serve up the deals, I do expect this exact type of targeting to happen in the future. Soon will be the apps that scrape data off Twitter/Facebook when I say that I'm "looking for a fun place to go this Saturday with my friends in the West Village" and then get served up specials at Alta or the new Mermaid Inn Oyster Bar.

I won't mind it. If it makes my life that much easier, and serves me up deals that I want, bring it on. That's why I like Yipit and why I think they'll be around for a lot longer because they take in not only the deals from the services, but look at other data supporting my behavior. Give them a bit more time with the back end and I'm sure what I mentioned above will be a reality.

Photo: Belcourt, New York Magazine

Relax

Only 53% of working Americans say they come back feeling rested and rejuvenated after vacation, and 30% say they have trouble coping with work stress while they're away, according to an Expedia.com survey of 1,530. Some try to cram in so much activity that they come back more exhausted than when they left. Others stay so plugged on BlackBerrys and cellphones that colleagues and clients don't even suspect they're away. -The Wall Street Journal

This could not be more sure, especially for me. The photo above shows the last time I visited my best friend in LA. A visit meant to relax, she made a sign with her daughter that read: "Welcome to California Mavs, please hand over any Internet Devices and Barbie Dolls in your possession." They obviously know me and my need to check email, Twitter, you name it. They wanted to make sure I relaxed properly and turned off my addiction to my email. (Alexis, the 3 year old, also wanted to make sure she got that Barbie I promised her ;) )

I'm getting surgery done next week where I'll be out of the office with little movement in my right arm (all is fine, I promise you) I'm going home to my parents to relax and not check my email per my doctor's orders to not stress myself out and let my arm relax.

I have a feeling my mom may hide my iPhone on me.

What do you think? When you take vacations, do you sign off? Or, do you secretly check your Blackberry in the bathroom?

Integration I'd Like to See: Weight Watchers & Foursquare

Naveen came in to Attention on Wednesday to talk about foursquare and the learnings they've seen from users. The emails mentioning how people have shaped their lifestyle with the social service driving them to accomplish new goals.

One in particular: fitness. People yearning to get the coveted Gym Rat badge (still haven't gotten mine) A point in his slide even showed someone say that they started going to the gym to get the badge.

An obvious partnership in my mind is Weight Watchers. So here's a free idea, although I wouldn't be surprised if this has crossed the desks of the Weight Watchers communications team.

Imagine checking in to a restaurant with your friends like you always do. You're trying to be good and mindful of your diet. You just joined Weight Watchers because it a)works-I'm getting back on it, I did it last year and lost pounds and b)JENNIFER HUDSON. Have you seen her lately? She looks amazing after using the easy to use plan.

Going out is hard enough. The options are crazy and there's so much amazing food around here to make you want to try everything. But what if at that very moment when you checked in, an alert popped up allowing you to view the points associated with the restaurant you're at to help you guide your choices. Or, a few select choices on the menu that are in "low point range" with some tips to help. That would be: AWESOME.

Simple reminders are the key to weight loss in general. If you can seamlessly integrate it into your daily life when you're out eating (and the place you're most likely to slip up your plan) then why not?

So, who's going to make it happen? Happy to beta test :)

Weight Watchers on Twitter and Facebook.