Megan-Cash.com

Ridiculous Names (from Urchin customers & beyond)

• Dong Wang
• Ho Lee
• Txesco Montalt Matas
• Mal Jester (translation: "Evil Clown")
• Bhamidipati Anirudha
• Iacovos Zachariades
• Tomer Peer
• Macon Gravlee
• Bhagirath Gopinath
• Capdeville Philippe
• Arie Slob
• Nicholas Nafpliotis
• Stratton Cherouny
• Ionut Ana
• Swadesh Malhotra
• Loucas Gatzoulis
• Ezra Tingler
• Chucrallah Tabid
• Buck Bundhund
• Halvar Flake
• Tulga Erarslan
• Bun Tang
• Babak Pazooki
• Beat Mauron
• Beat Baehler (pronounced "Bay-ler")
• Herwig Swerts
• Mullaguru Naidu
• Klerk de Klerk
• Cock vant Hoog
• Quintus Snapper
• Joe Kerr
• Grillor Candemor
• Max Spankie
• Dudu Eluz
• Shella Macadangdang
• Dick McNutt
• Chris Evilsizer
• Titus Suck
• Roy La Cock
• Dakota Dux

Salty Men

I like salty people, especially salty men.  I'm often asked, "What is a 'salty' man'?"

My buddy Aaron who runs UrbanDictionary.com encouraged me to write an entry about it, so I'll share:   

Salty = Salt of the Earth  --   A seasoned man, wise beyond his years, who is earthy, witty, pungent with manliness (salty if licked) and able to kick some ass should the situation renders itself necessary (like a drunken sailor).         

Think: Lenny Kravitz, Bono, Benicio del Toro, Goran Visnjic, Michael Madsen, Diego Luna, Harvey Keitel

Do not think: Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Daemon, Ben Afleck

Salty Women include:  Madonna, Cher, Mae West, Joan Jet, Queen Latifa, Angela Bassett

 

Google Speak

Here at Google, there is a subtle underlying corporate communication pattern that I like to call "Google Speak".  I've documented certain words, catch phrases, and sentence fragments that pertain to this unique Googler dialect. 

I first noticed this speaking pattern in the interview process during my job at Google.  See, I was with Urchin Software for five years before we were acquired, so I communicated with the same co-workers day in and day out, intimately aware of their speach external pattern.  Then it all changed.  It started with a handful of folks who, upon being acquired by Google, travelled up to the Googleplex to prepare for our arrival.  They were the canaries in the coal mine who would return to our quaint little San Diego office to disclose their observations and pepper us with their new catch phrases. 

During an interview with a Googler, I specifically remember asking a question that would normally be a "yes" or "no" question, but the "no" came across with a pre-emptive rebuttal, beginning with "sooo....".   Then, approaching my CEO with the same question, he also started his sentence with a "sooo..." which, upon asking one of the coal mine canaries where we should go to lunch, he too started his sentence with, "soo... I was thinking we should go to Mona Lisa".  And that was it, everyone had lost it to Google Speak.  If you weren't doing it, you weren't hip.

More examples:  I asked a Googler if we would be able to stay in corporate housing for more than a month.  A blunt answer in plain english would be, "No, but we can make exceptions in rare circumstances."  What I got was, "Soooo.... [softens the blow] we really encourage our new hires to find a place within a MONTH and we think this enables enough time to..."  and so on.  In short, the "soooo..." strategically starts the sentence and implied a negative response with a softened blow.  There is no "yes" or "no" sentence constructors, everything begins with "soo..."

I assumed I would be immune, but funny enough, upon Day 1 here, I started to adopt a new vocabulary, too.  Certain phrases or buzz words started to drop into conversations, too.  Google Speak is often heavily acronym related, so when a co-worker looked me in the eye and asked for the Ts&Cs, I started to laugh out loud.   I quickly realized the buzz words my co-workers started using and immediately compiled a list.  Funny enough, peer pressure rules... now when we speak (a year after our acquisition), I find that I, too, have transformed my communication pattern into Google Speak.  My mother, the austere English major, isn't "buying into" it.  She calls me out on it every time I begin a sentence with, "Sooo..."

Here is my list below of phrases that even I am guilty of throwing around on a regular basis to seem smarter and savvier than the average Joe (because we all secretly know this is the real motivation for talking this way).  If you're a Googler, feel free to email me with more:

"Soo..."
"Can you drive that?"
"Can you own that?"
"Will they have buy in?"

Key take aways
Recommended deliverables
Actionables
Deliverables
Action items
Launch pads
Ts&Cs
Decks
Strategic conversations
Conduits of information
task force
Kits
Verticalize
Templatize
Asset Management
Value Proposition

Business Plans

Best thing to do is to find a sample plan that is similar to your industry and then build a customized version for your focus.

http://www.bplans.com/sp/
http://wsj.miniplan.com/

Languages of the Techiest Techies...

ASP
C
C++
C#
CGI
CSS
DirectX
EJB
Flash
HTML
J2EE
JMS
JNI
JSP
Matlab
OpenGL
Perl
PHP
Python
Lisp/Sche
Servlets
SQL
Tcl/TK
UNIX/Linux
Win32
Windows
XML

Suze Orman Article

1)	Memorize your Social Security Number and the Social Security Number of your spouse and any minor children.

2)	Take pictures & make a list of everything you own.

Open every drawer and closet because you will forget what you have. Also take pictures in attic, garage. Take pictures of trees, fences and exteriors of car and home. Having an up-to-date home inventory will help you:

a.) Purchase enough insurance to replace the things you own.
b.) Get your insurance claims settled faster.
c.) Substantiate losses for your income tax return.

You can always simply make a list in a notebook and save receipts and photos in a file. The Insurance Information Institute has a FREE “Home Inventory … Know Your Stuff” software program that you can download to make this process of taking a home inventory as easy and complete as possible. To download the Insurance Information Institute Home Inventory software program click here.

3)	Check on the terms of your debit card.

 

Make sure you have a debit card that allows you, even if you are in a territory outside of the United States, to access your money.

Also have the following items in case of emergency:

• an emergency credit card that you do not use that allows you to take out cash advances
• $200-300 emergency cash
• traveler's checks
• extra checks

4)	Gather important documents and make copies to send to friend/relative out of area.

• Wills
• Trusts
• Advanced Directive & Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care (If you don’t have this essential document please click here.)
• Birth Certificates (Can't find your birth certificate, click here to order a copy).
• Adoption Certificates
• Death Certificates (Can't find your loved one's death certificate, click here to order a copy).
• Military Records (Can't find your military records, click here to order a copy).
• Divorce Decree (Can't find your divorce decree, click here to order a copy).
• Marriage Certificate (Can't find your marriage certificate, click here to order a copy).
• Social Security Cards (Can't find your card, click here to order a replacement card).
• Driver’s Licenses
• Green Card or Citizenship papers (Can't find your document or card, click here to order a replacement card).
• Insurance Policies & Cards (life, health, home, auto, long term care, medicare)
• Medical Records
• Copies of prescriptions
• Credit Cards (copy both the front & back of each card)
• Bank Statements
• Passports (Can't find your passport, click here to order a replacement or renew).
• Emergency Contact List

5)	Spare set of keys for home, cars, boats, recreational vehicles, and safe deposit boxes.

 

6)	Put everything into a waterproof/fireproof box.

Time to Conversion/_utmSetVar

Analytics doesn't information on 'time to goal conversion', however if your
customer can implement transaction tracking on any important conversion
pages it can be tracked in the e-commerce reports with these two reports:

Time to Transaction and Visits to Transaction (E-Commerce Analysis > Loyalty
& Latency > Time to Transaction/Visits to Transaction)

As for determining which page the visitor entered on, no, that's not
automatically provided in the reports.  However, one could do so with the
custom visitor segmentation.  Specifically, one might implement this on
landing pages:

<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
  _uacct="UA-xxxxxx-x";
  urchinTracker();
  if(document.cookie.indexOf("__utmv") == -1) {
    __utmSetVar(document.location);
  }
</script>

This will automatically tag visitors with their initial landing page, and
the modification would be included on every page in the site.
Then, the User-Defined report (Marketing Optimization > Visitor Segment
Performance > User-Defined) will display the G1/Visit, G2/Visit, T/Visits,
$/Visits information for each landing page on the site.  Note that
implementing this is not something we can provide support for, it's a bit of
a hack.

AdSense Info

Taken from a PRWeb release...
The Anatomy of Adsense” Report answers the following questions:

• Why is Google AdSense so important?
• Does it Matter Where I Put the Ads?
• How Should My Ads Look?
• Which Ad Sizes are the Most Successful?
• How Many Ad Blocks Should I Have?
• How Can I Attract Higher-Paying Ads?

The second free report, “Don’t Get Kicked by Google AdSense” is a simple, easy-to-read report that cuts through the legalese in the Google Adsense Program Policies. The report provides clear answers to what one can and can’t do with Adsense.

To get both free reports, visit http://adsense.myamazinginfo.com.
Contact Information
Paul Richards
http://adsense.myamazinginfo.com
415-264-2478

Financial Advice

I was speaking to a girlfriend of mine today and she asked about some top sources of financial advice to help get started with investing. 

Books:
Suze Orman - start with Nine Steps to Financial Freedom
Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Financial Websites: (I have these RSS feeds on Google's personalized homepage)
MotleyFool.com
Fortune.com
Equifax.com to get the 3-in-one+Score Power (3 credit reports plus your FICO score)

Aubrey Sabala's Financial Advisor: 
Amy Blair Lawson, MBA
Lawson Financial Group, Inc.
7815 Falcon Rest Circle
Raleigh, NC  27615
919.846.8209  phone
866.264.2544  fax
lawsonfinancial@nc.rr.com

 

Music I've been in the mood to hear...

Prelude Songs:
Beautiful Day - U2
Wonderful - Adam Ant
Wanna Get Next to You - Rose Royce
Stand By My Woman - Lenny Kravitz
In My Life - Johnny Cash (Beatles)
Come Away With Me - Norah Jones
This Old House - CSN&Y
If You Could Only See - Tonic

Hubba Hubba songs:
Hurt - Johnny Cash
Sexual Healing - Marvin Gaye
No Woman No Cry - Bob Marley
Mother - Sophie B. Hawkins
International Lover - Prince
Do me baby - Prince

Random:
Ace of Base - I saw the sign
Ace of Base- all that she wants (is another lover)
Kelly Clarkson - since you've been gone
Hey Ya - Outkast
Mother - John Lennon
Bye Bye Ms American Pie
Life is a Highway - Tom Cochrane
Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve
I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)  The Proclaimers
Sex and Candy - Marcy Playground
Steal My Sunshine - Len
Mother Mother - Tracy Bonham
Two Princes - Spin Doctors
I Got a Girl - Tripping Daisy
Fade Into You - Mazzy Star
I Kissed a Girl - Jill Sobule
Last Nite - The Strokes
Closer to Fine - Indigo Girls
Least Complicated - Indigo Girls
Romeo and Juliet - Indigo Girls
Curtis Blow - Lynard Skynard
Simple Man - Lynard Skynard
Jigsaw Puzzle - Stones
Wild Horses- Stones
Angie - Stones
Beast of Burden - Stones
Waiting On A Friend - Stones
Happy - Stones
Dead Flowers - Stones
Start Me Up - Stones
Brown Sugar - Stones
Sister Morphene - Stones