a bitter cold. a bitter hate.

i hate winter. i hate being cold. i hate thinking to myself, "i need to put on another layer." i hate that i need coffee simply to not DIE. i hate brushing my car off. i hate that i even need to own an ice scraper. i hate that my car takes 20 minutes to heat up. i hate driving with other moronic michiganders in the snow who of course think going 50 in a 35 on an icy road is appropriate. i hate that i can't afford to move south. i hate that i'm shivering while typing this. i hate snowmen. i hate shovels. i hate icicles. i hate people who text and drive in the winter. i hate that i don't own more wool socks. i hate that i have to even write that sentence at all. i hate that people from miami take their weather for granted. i hate that i have to "vacation" in the winter to see the sun. i hate that i don't live on a beach. i hate snow plows. i hate michigan's lack of road salt this week. i hate you if you disagree with me whatsoever. i hate how morbid this post was. i love that i don't care.

guerilla marketing with stars, bananas and mushrooms

I don't know about you, but when I'm on a bicycle, I imagine shooting red shells at fellow riders or going invincible by tracking over a shiny yellow star.
And apparently some Nintendo-crazed, Portlandian street artists are on my wave length too — anonymously painting pictures of items from Mario Kart on N. Williams Avenue's bike lane.
According to Wikipedia, "typically, guerrilla marketing campaigns are unexpected and unconventional; potentially interactive and consumers are targeted in unexpected places."
You'd assume this wasn't done to promote Nintendo or the Wii's latest Mario Kart racing games, but hilariously enough, whoever took it upon themselves to be original like this helped the company's cause.
How many Portland residents will bust out and dust off their old N64 controllers or inquire about purchasing the system or game offCraig's List or eBay?
Unexpected and unnecessary advertising from a third-party source is sometimes the most effective. While Nintendo's sales won't skyrocket in Portland because of this, it's fun to think about how marketing can oddly — and effectively — be used.
Original story with video here.

gold jacket, green jacket, who gives a...

on saturday, eddie and i — accompanied by his dad and brother — competed in a golf scramble at the gateway in romulus representing the livonia elks, shooting 13 under par to take home first place against 25 other groups. here we are at 7 a.m., obviously, before teeing off on hole #10. we finished with 5 birdies and 4 eagles, winning 3 of 5 skins. the older gentlemen weren't exactly thrilled we were so young, but whatever, gimme the money. thank you.

My job title? Uhh ... everything?

In the digital marketing world, it's become quite evident that some sort of "specialty" or "specific job title" is a concern of the past. Things have changed — in my opinion, for the the better — in which marketing professionals must now know every trick of the trade, in at least some capacity.

A fancy, schmancy job title is something you tell a girl at the bar to impress her when she asks, "So, like, what do you do for a living?"

"I'm an associate digital marketing manager of the communication creative arts, baby."

Shut up.

There are no more business cards that simply read copy writer, designer, videographer, SEO analyst, project manager, or social media expert. In fact, if you can't dabble in them all, or make a conscience effort to, you'll be left in the dust.

The digital marketing world doesn't have time for one-dimensional individuals.

Realizing this, I've hit the ground running at Hunch Free with every opportunity that has come my way. Coming in as a strong writer, creative mind and social media guru, I knew that simply wouldn't be enough. I've looked to co-workers for help on more. Never settling. Never haulting. Keep going, going, going. I want more piled on my plate. And I'll continue to push for that.

It's the mindset you absolutely must have in today's market.

We're a full service agency that offers it all. We hit clients from all angles and if we're unsure, we have a half dozen partners that step up to the plate for us and knock it outta the park.

Here we are. Hear us roar.

Social Media Is Like Clockwork

A friend's father — a top executive for a Fortune 500 company — recently said to me, "I don't have time for social media. Too much effort involved."

Today, I've updated my Facebook status and wished seven friends “Happy Birthday,” checked in at the Hunch Free Lab on Foursquare, shared a link on Twitter using bit.ly, reconnected with three high school friends on LinkedIn, uploaded a YouTube video to my channel, posted pictures to Flickr and deleted my MySpace account for good (‘bout time!)

It's only 9:30 a.m. and I haven't even broken a sweat. It all comes second nature.

Maybe it's my generation or the technological world I grew up in, but "too much effort" makes me laugh rather hard.

Still laughing.

Ahem. OK…

There's a perception from some elders that social networking/media is a lot of work. Turning on your computer or mobile device, creating an account, maintaining your profile, adding contacts, etc. Don’t be an old fart! And then there's the whole, "I don't want people knowing what I'm doing or where I am" factor. Like the government is watching them or something. Do you think they actually care you're having a turkey sandwich at Quiznos and happened to check in on Foursquare? My guess is no way in hell.

My generation? We have a fat 4^th grade crush on social media. We post anything and everything because in the back of our heads we’re saying, “Look how much better my life is than yours.” It makes us uncontrollably giddy every time we log into our account and peruse our friends’ list for the newest status update, shared link or wall post. We adore it. If you’re shaking your head, it’s because you’re realizing how sadly true this is to your own life. Don’t lie. We want everyone to know where we are at all times. Privacy? What the hell is that? The only reason we block photos is so a future employer can’t see us doing a keg stand. But I work at Hunch Free, and that’s encouraged, so I’m all set.

Statistics prove businesses that better use social media are more in touch with their customers and clients — leading to better relationships and better quarterly figures. Lowering recruitment costs, employment turnaround, customer service costs, marketing and product design costs while increasing sales via customer reviews is the name of the game.

What’s your take?

Photo credit: http://www.marqui.com

#TwitterIsTheEvidenceYouNeed

Whether you love it, hate it or love to hate it, one thing is for sure — the social networking phenomenon Twitter is blowing up by the day.

And most importantly, becoming more respected by higher authorities.

Jack Dorsey's 2006 creation began as a status-update, microblogging venue which slowly turned into a digital hub for news, celeb gossip and online SMS texting, in a sense. Now with more than 100 million accounts created, tweetin' the deets has caught the eye of those involved in the legal field.

CNN.com reports a Boston man on an area transit system aided in the capturing of an alleged flasher by posting the suspect's photo on his Twitter account. After witnessing the man "fidgeting" with himself in public, Nay Khun tweeted "pervert on the 2nd car of the red line ... help me report him."

Shortly after, the man — a known offender — was recognized and arrested Friday for open and gross lewdness, stated the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority police (@MBTApoliceTPSA2).

MBTA Deputy Police Chief Joseph O'Connor told CNN.com that Khun's innovative quick thinking helped identify the suspect, leading to his arrest.

#ItsTimeToFaceReality, anti-Twitverse, this up-to-the-minute microblog is the way we're headed. It provides fast, easy messaging with endless possibilities. If you want to reach an audience — no matter how big or how small — Twitter is the way to do it.

Who are you following?

tweetin' the deets!

follow me on twitter — http://twitter.com/seanely1

warning: i tweet excessively and most of the time, nothing relevant toward society whatsoever. as a social media maven and chronic twitter junkie, i'll use any excuse to post something. you've been warned.

also, check out my company's newly-launched website, www.hunchfree.com!

a running blog is found there and my most recent contribution is here.

did you enjoy it? i know you did.

hope everyone is having a great day. cheers.

young and in love

on saturday afternoon in florence, alabama, i attended a dear friend of mine's wedding ceremony at first baptist church. it's incredible someone so close to me, in my direct group of friends since i was 15, is already married, but i could not be happier for him and his wife, lydia. the reception took place in muscle shoals at cypress lakes country club — a golf course i've played over 200 holes on since his father moved down there almost 8 years ago now. young? yes. but what kevin knows is right is the important thing.

30 done. 60 to go.

i've completed my (second) first month of p90x in a new atmosphere, going from 171.5 to 162.6 on the scale in those 30 days. tomorrow starts the beginning of week 5, as the dvds change and we do chest/shoulders/triceps and back/biceps workouts instead of just check/back and shoulders/arms. my ability to eat healthier — not just less fat, but more fruits and vegetables — has really worked to my advantage this time around. having a partner in crime with this thing truly makes all the difference.

eddie's doing great too, down to 183 from 194. the days wear on us, but in the end, it feels great to be getting rid of all the excess fat from college, becoming more agile and athletic at the same time. playing ultimate frisbee, tennis and other outdoor activities is more fun because we can tell we're faster and have much better endurance than before.

we also are recruiting a 5-person team for the detroit free press' marathon on oct. 17. we have 4, and are filling one more spot. if you read this and are interested, comment on here!

ele's race for ele's place

okemos — this weekend was especially gratifying for me because of a new face added into the running mix. it's not that chea isn't enough — it's just adding close friends feels that much better. my roommate eddie ran with us today in ele's race, benefitting ele's place in okemos, a not-for-profit organization that aids grieving children after horrific turns of events in their lives take place. i donated $30 to the cause and ran this 5k in 20:53, finishing in 78th place of more than 1,300 participants.

a cool morning that turned into a gorgeous, sunny day by the end of the race. chea finished 30 seconds ahead of her time last week and eddie completed his first-time goals as well, finishing in the top 500 and under 30 minutes without stopping once for a breather.

i'm feeling a 10k is in my near future, but first i have a couple more 5ks to do, one in farmington and another in westland.

stay tuned and thanks for keeping up with me on this thing. following me here means a lot to me. keep reading and i'll keep posting.

90 days. all over again.

jan 1, 2010 was a monumental day of my life. it was the start of my journey down the pathway of p90x, a home fitness complete body transformation regimen that redefined the way i looked at both food and exercise. weeks of research leading up to the start date alongside an utter overhaul of my refrigerator's contents led me to a new lifestyle — counting calories, reading nutrition facts, consuming complex carbs and "good" fats, muscle confusion workout plans and all sorts of new ideas to keep my mind fresh. i weighed 185 lbs. and at 5'10'', that's not exactly overweight, but i was never happy with my body type since i gained the freshman 15 (or was it 30?) as the years spanned throughout college.

gumby's pizza, chipotle, mcdonalds drive thru, ramen noodles, pasta roni, rice kitchen and bar food were a norm, probably consuming 2,800-4,000 calories in a day without breaking a sweat. i've always been a fan club president for the entire concept of food but it was time to start learning about what was going into my body. and when i did, i nearly fainted to the floor.

then a friend, colleen, told me to check out p90x as she saw friends who had decent results with it.

90 days later, i weighed 159 lbs and couldn't fit into any of my old polos, button ups or dress pants. the overhaul had happened. i started the diet out with some help but as the weeks pressed on, i realized i was going to have to dig deep, because i was then dieting by myself and pressing play on the DVD player alone everyday after work. it was up to me to make it to day 90. finish the program. that was my goal.

as march 31 rolled on by (day 90), i started taking it easier on myself to recover, running 4 days a week and lifting twice as opposed to a 7-day deal i was so used to. my body loved the breaks and i started to eat a bit unhealthy again. i'm not a big snack food eater, i just find it necessary to smash 3 menna's joint dubs in one sitting to impress those in my booth. i don't know why food can take over my mind, but it does at times.

i went from 159 back to 170 from april 1 to july 6, a normal thing to happen when you stop following a strict diet. the workouts started to fade here and there, but i knew as soon as i moved into a place with eddie — my current roommate — we'd get on p90x together, two people pushing each other to get stronger and faster.

2 weeks into it, and i couldn't be happier. dieting isn't dieting anymore, it's eating smart. i have developed a passionate love for stir fry vegetables with every meal, i consume 5-6 protein servings a day and i smash fresh fruit like a garbage disposal. i feel alert and fresh morning, noon and night. the workouts drain me, as they always did, but the satisfaction of it all is there.

i've run multiple 5K races in the past month and will continue to do so not just because it's exercise, but for the real reason — the cause it's being put on for. the community surrounding these events is like nothing i've ever seen. everyone slapping hands and supporting one another for the good of the event. runners are a good people.

my goals this time around, as p90x will span july 7 to october 7, is to weigh 158 with less than 10% body fat and more definition in my arms. you set goals so you have something to shoot for, right? well here we go.

fighting hunger with my legs

on sunday, chea and i ran in the fight hunger 5k in meridian, just outside east lansing in the city of okemos. we both placed second in our age groups, receiving silver medals out of the 175+ individuals who took part in the event at 9 a.m. i finished in 22:06 and was presented the shiny award in front of everyone, a real confidence booster. running is becoming more and more an escape from everything, not that i have much to scamper away from — i love this life — but it puts my mind in a nice nothing else can. i've enjoyed the rush of the 5k scene and will be running in ele's race in okemos this upcoming sunday with chea again. i look forward to it very much.

check out the pics chea tweeted pre- and post-race. we had a blast! there was even a jamaican band, for some reason or another? too fun.

enjoy!

i've got friends in south pacific places!

my longest and closest friend, we're talkin' since we were 5, has joined the peace corps and shipped off to the fijian islands to live for 27+ months. he's currently teaching a PE class at a local school with limited resources while sleeping on a thin cushion at night. he's serving his country and making this world we live in a better place. one of the smartest and best people out there, he's started and is maintaining a blog as he goes. check it out with me!

http://jvbowling.blogspot.com/

enjoy! miss you jeffrey!

a royal oak resident

i am officially moved into my new place near downtown royal oak. we kicked it off with a nice fourth of july weekend, alongside a dozen of our closest friends. it was perfect. then the next weekend everyone came down to royal oak again. the bar scene is fun. it feels incredible to have my own place. it's much different than east lansing.

sleep deprived insomniginger

why is it that i can stay up till 3:45 a.m. and still pop up somewhat fresh by 8:30 a.m. ready to start the day? i've always been a night owl and loved being the last person i know to go to bed, but when does it catch up to me? will it ever? when it does, i'm in for a rouuuugh transition to the real world. i work better when it's late and much worse in the morning. i hope i can keep this up till i'm 40.

a 5k for 5

i — along with four friends — ran in max's race on saturday, a 5k raising money for cancer. brian and i ran the 3.1-mile stint in roughly 24 minutes, dedicated to break 21 minutes at our next challenge in meredian on july 18. we'll start ahead of the pack instead of behind everyone, being chased rather than playing the chasers. i love running and i love running for good causes so expect a lot of 5k updates as the months press on. i hope to run a 10k by september. my goal is 45 minutes for that one. updated goals to come. the feeling after completing a 5k is indescribable but the freshness is something i can get used to. time to keep running. i love you chea, danielle, britt and brian for partaking in it with me. see you all july 18!

cheeseburger in a margaritaville paradise

time to cross off another item from my bucket list. i had the pleasure of attending my first (and hopefully not last) jimmy buffett concert tuesday with two of my best friends ang & coll. a legend who i've idolized since i could walk, jimmy puts on one hell of a show. dte is my favorite venue to see concerts and for something like jb, it only makes sense to see him on a sunny day on the lawn next to two people who cherish him like i do. i grew up bouncing around my backyard to "gravity storm," "off to see the lizard" and "cheeseburger in paradise." after years of trying to make the detroit show, my wish finally came true, buying tickets the second they went on sale on ticketmaster. you'd never know jb was 60-something — he'll rock you just as hard as the young guns, in his own style. thanks for a dream come true, jb.

forever missed, forever remembered

there are plenty of reasons to start a blog, but for me at this moment, it's a massive combination of reasons coming together to the point where my head — physically — cannot handle the pain of holding them in any longer. with a new job starting, an old job ending, a new house and city being moved into, an old house and city being moved out of and a new found appreciation for life, it only makes sense i start writing down my thoughts again. it's healthy. not to mention, i love writing. and thinking. and just letting words and thoughts flow. i've successfully maintained blogs then unsuccessfully kept my readers/viewers informed when things got hectic.

no more of that. this is an off-the-cuff blog, no energy being spent on capitalizing letters or worrying about grammar much at all. it's centered around thoughts and conversations between those i come in contact with as well as things that simply dance throughout my brain as the hours pass. from tiny one sentence posts to pages of nonsense babble. it'll have it all. read if you want or X it out forever. whatever you want.

one of the main reasons i reintroduced myself to the blogosphere was the death of a dear high school friend of mine, sparking the necessity of a blank canvas to just write. i think we all need that sometimes. dom, a four-year teammate of mine on our football team, took his own life sunday evening after a rough patch and a battle with being bipolar. someone who never stopped smiling, never stopped improving himself, never stopped caring for others, who never stopped loving life, is now gone. i haven't spoken to him much in the last year, but i know our friendship was something he cherished. we were buddies during the good days and when we're reunited again after i leave this life, we'll continue that relationship.

horrific moments like this only make you stronger. maybe not at first, as images flash across my dark eyelids as i blink my damp eyes, but in the long run, they help you understand life is short. this isn't something to take lightly. it's cliche, sure, to say live every second like it's your last — something we stuck to as a theme at our high school — but when reality really kicks in, it's time to find out who's strong and who's weak. while some say taking your own life is selfish, i think it's unfair to say that. the human mind is a complicated entity and it doesn't always say the "logical" thing to the rest of your body. dom will forever be remembered as a rock in my eyes. this is sad and mortifying, but it's something that bursts adrenaline through my veins. dom, you've made me stronger. i want to live the rest of my life for you, because you couldn't. i miss your smile. i miss your drive. i know things changed over the years, but you are an incredible person. i love you, bro.

a new life, in a sense, begins this weekend in my new home in royal oak. with a fresh start in a new home, new job and new setting, i will never forget the morals i've learned through my schooling and religious experiences. keep smiling and keep pushing. good things do happen.