Why do girls say they deserve to be treated like a princess? Sure, it's a great idea in theory, but would you really even want to be a princess? It seems rather high-stress. Desire aside, I argue that most girls who say they deserve to be treated like royalty, really don't. Here are my 5 reasons why:

5. You don't look like a princess. If you want to be treated like a princess, you should probably be dressing with the word 'demure' in mind. Yes, this argument doesn't seem very feminist, but neither does expecting a knight in shining armor to gallop in and take care of you. 

4. You aren't learning. Pretty sure there aren't too many princesses sitting around flipping through Cosmo or talking about what the Kardashians are up to. Aim higher. Can you greet people and make small talk in multiple languages? Are you up on current events and pressing social issues? Are you a patron of the arts? If not, better start. 

3. You don't give back.  Yes, you can volunteer even if you aren't just trying to make your community service hours. Spend you time in your community and be a model citizen. When you are, never look bored and don't complain! You want to be someone others can look up to. 

2. You don't believe in privacy. Stop being an attention whore. Royalty is way too good for that. 

1.  You have no manners. Do you treat everyone else in your life like a princess? Until you do, I doubt anyone else will consider treating you that way. 

...and that's my rant for the day. 

5. If you could solve one (and only one) of the world's problems, which one would you choose?

4. I missed out on Burning Man. I'm still excited by the thought of going, but devotees talk about how much it's changed. What's going to be the next big shared experience life changing yearly event? I want in on the ground floor, please. I hope it's something involving good weather. 

3. I'm just as keen about exploring the next town over as I am traveling around the world. You don't have to sit in an ashram for three months or sail around the world to learn something new. 

2. What evokes pride in your town? In your community? I'm mostly thinking about this because I'm shocked at how little people seem to care about where they live (where I live, in Philly). What is the relationship between taking care of the community around you (be it taking part, or just not shitting all over it) and education? Arts? Access to basic necessities? What am I missing? How do you fix a problem like this?

1. Would you rather have incredible financial success and remain anonymous or become a big deal, but only make enough to get by? 

Guest post alert! This is a song and a top 5 list all in one, so I couldn't resist posting it. Some fairly keen observations from someone who is currently supposed to be spending all day studying. 

My girl parties all the time...

An oldie but a goodie. I have several thoughts about this video

1. 1980's Eddie loves the over-the-head hand-clap, and 1980's Eddie could pull that shit off.

2. Why the hell are there so many guitars being played in this video when all I hear are synths and drum machines?

3. Was more time spent filming this video or doing enough blow to make this video seem like a good career move

4. Rick James kinda looked like a young Susan Sarandon

5. Further investigation into Eddie Murphy led me to Dickipedia.org, going over-and-above for sarcastic fauxcyclepedia entry with the following: "Eddie Murphy was married to Nicole Mitchell for 13 years, divorcing in April 2006. Very, very shortly after that, it was announced that Murphy’s girlfriend, former Spice Girl Melanie B., was pregnant with his child. Very, very shortly after that, Murphy publicly questioned his paternity. Very, very shortly after that, a DNA test confirmed what everyone knew all along: Eddie Murphy is the kind of dick who actually thinks he’s still cool enough to wear skin-tight leather suits. Also, the kid was his after all."

My mother just came to visit and her stay was unexpectedly (but happily) extended by Hurricane Irene. I love having my parents around, so I'm always confused by people who can't believe I get so excited at the thought of hanging out with them. Anyway, this list doesn't really need much explanation. Your mom is in town, do this with her:

5. Put together Ikea furniture. Mothers are calming. Do frustrating tasks while they are around. My mom gives me reassuring cups of tea while I'm dropping eff bombs and vacuums the carpet where the new furniture will be going (I'm fooling no one, I would never do that, but it is so smart). 

4. Go to that art exhibit you've been meaning to see. It's hard to go indoors over the summer, no matter how great the art is. Having a mom visit is the perfect excuse to head inside and check out what's shaking in the land of art. Bonus: moms like to stop for breaks and ignore you when you get the gigles about naked people.

3. Ask all of your baking questions. I've been having a series of baking fails lately and it was really starting to bother me. I take immense pride in how good I am at making tasty treats. While I'm good, my mother is experienced. She figured out relatively quickly what my problem was. psitwasbadbakingpowderwhichislamecauseitwasnotevenold

2. Talk about every detail of your life. Your mom is practically the only person that truly loves you unconditionally (the good ones, at least). She's basically forced to care about everything you care about, or at least pretend to care long enough so that you can get it off your chest. If you've been bottling stuff up, talking to your mother is your chance to get it all out. I talk about everything from my almost daily existential thoughts to how scrubs really gross me out to stuff that I'm really not comfortable sharing with anyone else. She listens. Sometimes she responds. At the end, I feel better.

1. Stock up on hugs. My mom is so huggable! When she is far away, I look at a photo of her hugging someone with a huge smile on her face and it makes me feel better. That's the power of the mom hug. She says that people are fragile and sometimes you just need someone to help you hold all those fragile bits together. When you hug someone, you are physcially holding them all together. I like that analogy. I like mom hugs. 

I went to BlogHer for the first time this summer and I really had no idea what to expect. I’d heard it compared to Spring Break for Moms and read posts about how BlogHer has changed women’s lives…or at least their careers. While neither of these things endeared the event to me, I do love learning.  When Ford offered up the opportunity to go, I jumped at it. I’m so happy I did. Here are a few things that stayed with me:

5. You should be sponsored. I’ve never been to a conference before where so many people were sponsored to attend. It really has me thinking about the next event I organize. I’d love to connect attendees directly with sponsors to build some long term relationships. I also really need to work harder at getting some stuff like I know smart people sponsored. Alas, there are only so many hours in a day. ps I was sponsored by Ford Canada. Yes, they deserve serious love for their pumped up social media outreach.

4. Working 9 to 5 is so last year. I didn’t meet a single person who answered “what do you do?” by spewing out a job title. BlogHer is an international convention for over-achievers. Everyone seemed to have several projects on the go, at least one book published and an overwhelming amount of adorable photos of their children. I couldn’t help but feel like I should be accomplishing a great deal more as I have zero children and nothing but time on my hands.

3. Don’t assume you know everything. This is a jerk thing to say, but I know you are thinking it too: What can a bunch of mommy bloggers teach *me* about the Internet? Big mistake. I use blogging, community building and social outreach as tools to promote businesses and organizations. For these women, those things are the business. It seems like a small difference, but hearing how they use, present and take advantage of each tool was really valuable.

2. Work harder than the person next to you. So obvious it hurts, right? Don’t just send out a pitch, include research on previous campaigns the company has run to show you know what you are talking about. Don’t just build a community online; get people to come together in real life. Think about next year right now. Write, publish, write, publish, write, publish. Spell check often.

1. You don’t have to be a bitch to make it to the top. Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo’s CEO taught us about the 5 Cs of a successful leader: Competency, Courage & Confidence, Communication Skills, Consistency and Compass (integrity is critical). You’ll notice which C word she didn’t list in there. Listening to someone in such a powerful position seamlessly go back and forth between talking about her passion for business and her love for her family was inspiring. It’s a good reminder that you don’t have to choose between the two.

Bonus: Indra Nooyi shared with everyone that she drinks a can of regular Pepsi every day and her favourite snack are Kettle Chips warmed in the microwave for 15 seconds. Snack tips from CEOs (if that isn’t a website already, the Internet is doing something wrong).

I read a great post by +SchneiderMike today on The Next Generation of Customer Loyalty. It got me thinking about all of the times when I've been checking into places and feeling like the business I was checking into was missing a huge opportunity. Here are some of the campaigns I'd like to see in location based marketing that would make it worthwhile for me to keep letting the world know where I am at any given time:

5. The neighbour. If you check in somewhere, wouldn't it be great to find out what's close by? For example, check in at the shoe store, get a discount on summer dresses from the shop across the street. Check in at the butcher, find out what deals they have on at the liquor store (What? My mind went straight to grilled streaks and red wine!). Supporting local is easier when you know where to go and programs like this will help customers connect the dots.

4. The world traveler. There are places I go to no matter where in the world I am. For example, I love Top Shop, but there aren't any near me. I will never be the mayor of Top Shop, but I have been to Top Shops in crazy places. If I check in to chains in different cities, doesn't that make me a loyal customer? In this example, I'm always ready to drop some serious coin, because there isn't a store near me. How do brands take advantage of that? How do brands take advantage of the person who checks into Starbucks every weekday, even if it is in a different city each time?

3. The connector. Make your friends loyal customers. Are you the friend that always knows the best places to eat, drink and shop? I think you should be rewarded for introducing hotspots to your crew. I'd like to see a loyalty program that involves you checking in with a friend (tag them in your check in?). The next time your friend checks in to that location, you get some type of discount/prize/free something. Smart, right?

2. The zealot. Do you travel across town for your favorite espresso? How many coffee shops do you pass to get there? Going next door for cheap diner coffee is less loyal than passing 3 Starbucks and a handful of convenience stores. How can we reward customers for this type of behaviour without employing creepy big brother type tactics. I'm not sure, but I hope the coffee shop I go to across town figures this one out. 

1. The achiever. If I check in to the gym ten days in a row, I do not want to be rewarded with a free day at the gym. I want to be rewarded with a frozen yogurt, or a cookie or maybe even a personal training session. Don't reward me with something I will already be doing, reward me with something I might like, or something I might be willing to pay for in the future if I see value in it. Also, if I check in to the gym ten days in a row, I think that's an achievement, even if it's nowhere near the juice monkey mayor of the gym. That guy is annoying and nobody likes him. 

Last week, I spent three days in Dearborn, Michigan alongside almost 200 other bloggers, journalists and social media advocates for Forward with Ford. I was pleasantly surprised at how much value I got out of a Ford branded conference (what me? I don’t write about cars!). At times, it seemed as though the biggest story was the conference itself. I’m not the only to think this, Josh Cable, of Industry Week, shares this feeling in his article, “Have you blogged about Ford recently?” I'll be posting about some of what I learned in various places, but here's the not-so-tech stuff I learned:

5. I need more high-tech tools for my morning routine. When watching how Ford uses a variety of programs to design cars, it struck me that I need some of those tools for getting ready each day. Can you imagine how much better my makeup would be if I could see how different reflections and lighting conditions would affect it? I’m also betting it would make wardrobe decisions a snap. Look at an outfit from all angles and then decide whether or not those pants make yer butt look big.

4. There is a lab for everything thing you can think of at Ford. While I normally don’t spend any time thinking of how much effort goes into designing and building a car, I know I could not have guessed how much thought actually does go into it. There’s a guy that spends his entire day thinking about seats. I met three lovely women who test every material in your car under every climate condition you can think of for smells. The goal of the odor labs at Ford? “We try not to be offensive.” I aim for that myself.

3. The only people who love free food more than journalists are bloggers. You think I’m kidding? That’s pretty much why I agreed to go to Dearborn, Michigan. I heard the same thing over and over again, “I came for the free food, but I am enjoying the entire thing.” I assumed incorrectly that most of the content wouldn’t be interesting, but Ford did a great job of combining smart, relevant content with their here’s-why-we-think-Ford-is-awesome message.

2. You meet the coolest people in the most unexpected places. Part one of my personal mantra is “let’s just see where this goes,” so you know I’ve never been one to turn down an invite. Leading up to the conference, the buzz on the Internets had a distinctly pet-blogger feel to it. This did not inspire very much hope in me. However, the conference was attended by some fascinating people. Everyone one from tech bloggers (like myself and yes, we’re all fascinating) to travel writers to storytellers and videographers. Stay tuned, as some of them will show up on I know smart people in the very near future.

1. Ford is doing some awesome stuff. Yes, my trip was entirely funded by Ford. I’m not just saying they are awesome because of that though, they really do have amazing things on the horizon. I approve of the way they are integrating technology (more of that to come on TechVibes.com) and how they are planning for the future. Did you know that you have to look 3 – 4 years out when designing a car? I guess that’s why white, black and silver are still the most popular car colours…

I think the biggest difference between someone that does a good job and someone that does an excellent job is how they handle the bad times. On the Internet, it’s only a matter of time before you have to deal with really negative stuff. Whether it’s real, perceived or total baloney, it has to be managed and the art of managing it is what separates the men from the boys. Here are a couple of tips I’ve learned from being a community manager:

5. Pleasing Unhappy Members – People join communities for a reason. If they are unhappy, it’s because that reason is not being met. Find out why they joined and why they are currently unhappy. Were they expecting more handholding? Are they confused by what to do? Do they feel overwhelmed by options or underwhelmed by activity? It isn’t your job to bend to every wish members have. However, if you find out what those wishes are, you can either explain to them how to achieve it, or better explain why the community isn’t able to help them at that point in time.

4. Giving Great Customer Service – People join communities to interact, learn and feel empowered. With every new member and with everything you do, if you keep this in mind, you’d be hard pressed to do a better job. Talk to everyone, teach them something new, give them ideas on how they share their knowledge with others and connect members with each other. It is as simple as that, but it is hard work. That’s why someone is paying you to do it!

3. Banishing Trolls – My mother has taught me the most useful things I know. One of my favourite mom expressions is, “He’s not crying, he’s just expressing himself.” True enough, when you encounter a troll, they are usually just trying to be heard. So listen. Send them a personal message asking them how they are doing, what they’d like to get out of the community and how you can help. Often times, people are excited about participating, but are confused as to what is appropriate. Sometimes, people are upset about feeling slighted. You can help fix this. I’ve found that trolls often turn out to be your biggest fan if you give them a chance. Make that your goal and see how far you get.

2. Entertaining during Downtime – There’s not much you can do when your site goes down, but you can communicate what the problem is, how long you expect it to be before it’s fixed and suggest things for people to do in the meantime. Be honest, update your community often and don’t lose your sense of humour. After the situation is resolved, be sure to follow up and explain what measures you’re taking so it doesn’t happen again.

1. Dealing with Bad Press – I’m pretty sure this is why smart phones were really invented. Time is of the essence. The faster you can speak to the author, the better. If the information is false, do not give up until you get the author to retract or correct the article. If it is online, insist corrections or retractions go in the same article, even if the author is planning on posting something else. If the information written is true, ask the author to post an interview from your point of view. In addition, post something to every social media network you use and plan on explaining the situation in a clear, concise (and honest) manner. If it will be an ongoing situation, explain that you will update the blog as often as possible. People want reassurance that you are aware of what is going on. Give it to them.

Is it always bad? No, but when it is, it’s usually pretty bad. It can feel like you go for days saying the same things over and over again. Stay the course and keep repeating your message. Responding to everyone that says something nice about you is great, but responding to everyone that says something horrible about you is imperative.

I wanted to do a top 5 list of my favorite summery songs, but it turns out, there's too many. I've split it up into two - a list of my fave songs that have Summer in the title and a list of my fave songs that remind me of summer. You know what's not on this list? Summer Nights from Grease. You know why? Because it's lame. 

5. Summer Breeze - Seals and Crofts

Everytime I see Summer Peas at the grocery store, I sing this song in my head. It makes me feel fine. 

Buy this song on iTunes - http://cpwr.me/jAowC6 

4. Cruel Summer - Bananarama

Huge debate, do you prefer the original Bananarama version or Ace of Base's cover of it?

Buy this song on iTunes - http://cpwr.me/iv5olT 

3. Summer Love - Justin Timberlake

Who else thinks JT should stick to singing/dancing and forget about acting? Seriously, I need to see some music videos with dance moves. 

Buy this song on iTunes - http://cpwr.me/ikNqBP 

2. Summertime - DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince

You love this song too, everyone does. Also, I needed to give a shout out to Philly!

Buy this song on iTunes - http://cpwr.me/kXYg3x 

1. Summertime - Sarah Vaughn (UFO remix)

This song sounds like a hot, sticky summer night to me. The best version I've heard.

Buy this song on iTunes - http://cpwr.me/jegUNl 

Got some summer tracks that I've missed? Please share 'em below. Let's get this pool party/backyard bbq started!

Beijing is one crazy city. I'd have more to say about this, but right now, Mike and I are both a little ill. Translation, we're grumpy. The thought of getting pushed around on the bus, or having to eat some type of deep fried animal cartiledge isn't at all appealing right now. Neither is being offered tea when you really want some drugs. I am a big fan of western medicine. If you cut through my whining, everything is still cool. It's neat to be in a place where everything people do is different. We've had several long conversations about how and why we do the things we do. Chalk everything up to "cultural differences."

5. If you are faced with someone that doesn't speak the same language as you, there are several things you can do. You can perhaps try some charades style acting, or maybe use some helpful hand gestures. What won't work at all is to stand complete still, while speaking faster in a language the other person doesn't understand. Whenever someone does this to me, I've taken to replying with, "It all sounds Greek to me!" and smiling.

4. Mike's friend told us that if your friend invites you for dinner, your friend orders and pays. If you are still able to walk when you leave, it must mean your friend doesn't like you very much. I think this definitely accounts for the four checkstops we went through on our way home from a night out. I think it maybe accounts for all of the public vomiting we've seen. Although, I'm not quite sure about that as you see people tossing their cookies at all times of the day. Why are so many people vomiting in public? It is possibly the biggest mystery of Beijing.

3. Toddlers wear special pants here. They're kind of like regular pants, with the seam of the crotch left open. When they gotta go, they either squat and go in the middle of the street, or their parents will hold them with their legs open and they will go in the middle of the street. I can see how this is environmentally friendly. It must cut back on thousands of diapers. However, it means I will not be sporting open toed footwear while I am here. 

2. On every sidewalk, there is a row of tiles with weird bumps on them. Mike and I had several theories as to why those tiles are there, but none of them really made sense. When we finally found out it was for blind people, I think we both felt a little foolish we hadn't thought of that. Even worse, when Mike's friend said, 'What do you do in your country for blind people?" and we had to answer, "um...nothing?" we felt like foolish jerks. Sorry, blind people of North America

1. Chairman Mao once said that you are not a true man unless you've climbed the Great Wall of China. Actually, he might have said you cannot be a hero unless you've climbed it, we're a little sketchy on the translation. Either way, Mike and I are now poised to be true men/heroes as we've checked that off the to-do list. The Wall really is amazing. I love imagining how it all came to be, I mean, picture a bunch of dudes sitting around deciding that building a wall was a great idea. How did it get built? Did everyone in the country take a week or two off work and each build up a little section? Did a work force devote their entire lives to it?

Note: I thought very hard about a tactful way to include not feeling well coupled with the different kinds of toilets they have here. There is no way this can be done. Just know that when you're faced with this yourself, all you can do is laugh + never wear open toed shoes here.