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You'll find me in the December issue railing on about the ways small business can benefit from online social networking.

If you read the piece, please let me know what you think.

Don

I've been home since last Friday but I'm not quite back from Berlin just yet. The busy holiday weekend made it tough to get my feet back on the ground, not to mention the trip itself...

The Hotel de Rome was almost perfect. If they hadn't closed their pool down at 10:00 pm I would have given them all my stars.

In any case, I would recommend the place to everyone I know. You just can't go wrong.

…and you can run into movie stars there.

Berlin's personality will depend on the visitor.

For me, a child of the sixties raised under the constant threat of nuclear annihilation and communism, visiting places like The Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie were like some surreal historic carnival; sights to be seen, for sure, but heartache and human suffering echoes throughout. (even though I'm smiling my ass off in every pic!)

Berlin's best assets are its architecture and museums.

Everywhere you look one architect has tried to outdo another, and the few remaining historical structures not taken by the war are as impressive as anything I've seen in Europe.

The Pergamon Museum is amazing, housing the reconstructed remains of the Pergamon Altar, the Market Gate of Miletus, and the Ishtar Gate from Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon.

Hollins Road this afternoon...

A Snapshot of Last Year's Festivities

Mike's July Writer's Salon is a Hit

Here's a summary of topics we covered at the Writer's Salon hosted by Mike this past Tuesday.

First, we'd all like to thank Blaze Kelly Coyle, actress, journalist and playwright, for arranging the meeting spot. The Miracle Bar & Grill in the Village was a perfect spot - excellent food, attentive staff and plenty of room to spread out. They enjoyed having us and we're all looking forward to meeting back there in August.

~ *** ~

After introductions and giving everyone the opportunity to describe their experience and current projects, Mike talked about his own career path and the tactics that worked for him over the years.

We brainstormed about potential markets for our work and shared solid advice for approaching new potential opportunities to grow as writers and sell more. This included a debate on the value of querying versus cold calling editors and each of our successes with both.

Mike shared his knowledge on paying markets and building platform in order to climb the ladder to better and better writing paydays. We discussed the philosophy of pursuing larger projects with bigger paydays, contracts, and the occasional nightmare of collecting payment for your work.

We spent quite a bit of time discussing the art of self marketing for writers and some of the more affordable methods of getting your name out there once you do get a paying byline. We only scratched the surface of this topic so I'm sure we'll go into more detail next time.

The one and a half hour time slot stretched into more than three hours and it flew by, leaving a lot more to cover when we meet again.

Thanks to Mike for arranging the salon, and again to Blaze for finding a great spot.

Last May my dad and I spent an impromptu day at the Italian Market in South Philly. On the occasion of Father's day I'd like to remember that afternoon by giving my friends a little photo tour of the day entitiled...

How Pete & Donny beat the rain by drinking too much wine out of plastic cups, beer our of paper bags and gorging on roast pork sandwiches and cannoli.

I hope you can smell it. Enjoy.

Ahhh the Procession of Saints. After all, that's what it's all about, right?

That pig'll never bob for apples in South Philly again.

Dad posing with his hero on the wall in the background, champion of criminal rights and Philadelphia icon, Frank Rizzo.

Let's play 'Name That Saint!'

Yo Hombres!

Mo poke.

Necessities of South Philly living.

The Local "Committeeman" ;-)

This is why we went...and the pork too...

T.O. Sighting?

Dad chatting it up with legendary butcher Sonny D'Angelo in his 9th street shop.

No introduction required...

...and across the street...

South Philly Rock-a-billy

Dad brazenly defies public drinking laws by calmly brown baggin' a Heinie...

Plenty to eat...

Say Cheese, Italian Stallion

Gus Isgro of famous Isgro's Italian Bakery

The Sorrento Cheese Stage

Philadelphia's Phinest keepin' the peace.

T.O. sporting his short, bald white dude costume to keep from being drawn & quartered by the Birds faithful.

The bouquet of dad's fine dago red appears to overcome the plastic drinking vessel.

Dad doesn't notice the mozzarella stick sweet talking the woman in red.

Until next year, Frank...

Unfortunately this May I was in the boondocks of Doumen China during the Festival of Saints. Luckily for me, everything you see here is available every day here in South Philly.

if you're ever in Philly and want the local's tour, let me know.

Look for my article  Should MySpace be Part of Your Internet Strategy?: Make This Online Community Part of Your E-Strategy in the May/June 2007 issue of  

Home Business Magazine

Look for my article Tips for the Rookie Coach in the April 2007 issue of

Curious Parents

Setting Up Your MySpace

Choose your MySpace content with the objective of conveying the appropriate message about you and your business. Remember, there is nothing traditional about the MySpace environment, so go in with an open mind, and this list of basic materials.

Digital pictures: You'll need at least one picture – this will be the one everyone sees when they visit your MySpace page, whenever you send an email through your MySpace account, or make a Comment on someone else's MySpace. Every profile has a gallery section where additional pictures can be uploaded. Individual picture files are limited to 600 K in size and must be in GIF or JPG format.

 

Headline: This is a phrase that will appear next to the default picture on your page.

 

About Me: This is where you tell the MySpace community who you are and why you're there. This is your pitch, so it's best to have this tightly written and proofread before you take your MySpace public.

 

I'd like to Meet: This section provides a different vehicle for telling the visitor something about you in the form of the people you'd like to meet. Remember, think outside the box here. There's nothing wrong with saying you'd like to meet Benjamin Franklin, Bill Gates or Jeff Gordon if it says something about you or your business that resonates with your public.

Additional sections allow you to list your interests, favorite movies, music, television programs, books, and heroes.

In the "Edit" mode, you'll find a series of links across the top of the page. Here you can choose to provide standard details about yourself or your business. Some of the categories or choices may not apply; you can leave these blank or unchecked.

            The "Networking" link will take you to a screen where you can choose three detailed business categories. These will come into play when others are searching the MySpace community for networking purposes. You may not necessarily find your particular business concern in this section, so choose three that come as close as possible and leave it at that.