While it’s not quite summer here in Seattle, Scott and I have already been breaking out the summer menus. This weekend that meant sangria and fish tacos. We probably eat tacos or burritos once a week all year round, actually. It’s an easy standby. Fish tacos, though, feel more like a summer meal to me. Scott used some leftover halibut we had in the freezer. I used this quick sangria recipe from Epicurious multiplied by 4 for the pitcher. Voila!

Epicurious Sangria

• 1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) brandy
• 1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) orange liqueur, such as Triple Sec
• 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 7 tablespoons (3 1/2 ounces) light-bodied red wine, such as Rioja
• 1 cup ice cubes
• 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) club soda
• 1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
• 1 apple slice
• 1 orange slice

I recently wrapped up a research paper on the marketing implications of social media. I did a ton of secondary research on the topic last quarter. Sitting down to write the paper was eye opening as to how much I have learned… Just call me a guru! I’m kidding, don’t. Social media gurus scare me.

The most important thing I learned is that social media should be approached like any traditional marketing channel. It’s about communicating value to your customers, like always, with a slight twist in that the messages are typically shorter and have the ability to evoke two-way conversations with consumers. Let’s not get too excited about it.

That said, I don’t think I can stop reading about social media. These are some things that crossed my Google Reader over the last few weeks:

• Research on 41.7 million Twitter profiles explains everything | Going Social Now -Interesting research on the behavior of people who use Twitter and what it means for marketers.
• Facebook Around the World | Brian Solis -Facebook is the #1 social network for 120 of 127 countries in this study.
• 21 Twitter Tips from Socially Savvy Companies | Fast Company – Lots of creative uses of social media.
• Web-Tracking Research Emerging from Surveys’ Shadow | Advertising Age – I might be a purist, but I don’t see social media taking over traditional market research methods any time soon. Enhancing, yes, absolutely. Replacing, no.
• Foursquare Introduces New Tools for Businesses | NY Times – Smart people at Foursquare! I’ve been noticing more promotions offered by larger business on Foursquare lately. The Starbucks in the basement of Westlake Center, for example, offers $1 off any drink for the mayor.

My study tour proposal to Sweden and Finland was accepted for Spring Break 2011! For those of you who don’t know what a “study tour” is… Students in the MBA program organize two-week long trips to far off places for 25 or so students. The trips are meant to introduce students to the culture and business practices in that country. You might remember that I went on the study tour to the Middle East this year. This is exactly the same program, but for next Spring Break. There were a whopping 12 proposals this year. Mine was one of the 4 selected. The other countries for 2011 include India, Korea and Peru.

I really shouldn’t say that this was my proposal, because I put it together with two other study tour leaders, Rob and Lacey! The story goes like this… At the beginning of the year, there was the possibility that Scott and I would move to Sweden after the MBA program. (This has changed with Scott’s new job.) So, being interested in the area, I put the call out to my classmates about putting together a tour to Scandinavia. Rob responded. He lived in Sweden for a year during his undergrad years and had been thinking of organizing a tour there as well. Another person in our program also joined us early on, but later decided that it was going to be too much work. (And it is going to be way too much work, by the way!) We spent a good amount of time throughout the school year thinking about themes for the tour and cataloging our contacts in the area. After I went on the study tour to the Middle East, it was clear just how much work it was going to be for two leaders. Lacey was on the trip with me and was truly the “camp counselor” of our group. She had everyone singing in the the bus and doing a special trip handshake. She also has some hard core large-scale event planning experience, including taking groups of people abroad for events. After a quick email exchange with Rob, Lacey was recruited to the team!

We spent a lot of time this quarter meeting and writing the 15-page proposal. I think we put together a really unique trip! The highlight is definitely going to be a trip to Lapland in Northern Sweden, where we will visit the Ice Hotel, commune with real huskies and hopefully see the Northern Lights. I’m also really excited to market the proposal to my classmates over the next year… We have envisioned Viking drinking songs at TGs, wearing our Viking hats (procured from Archie McPhees) on random occasions, and taking a group of people to the pancake breakfast at the Swedish Cultural Center in town.

By the way, a quick fun fact for you. Finland isn’t Scandinavian. I didn’t know this until we were well into writing the proposal. It is Nordic, however. And Sweden is Nordic. All Nordic countries have the Nordic cross in their flag, share a similar history and co-operate politically and economically under the Nordic Council.

I have embedded our proposal below. Or you can see it by going here.

I went to Portland this weeked to see the Rat City Rollergirls play the Portland derby team. We lost (due to horrible reffing) unfortunately! But the trip was a nice diversion and a good chance to hang out with Casey. We had brunch and went to the Sunday Market this morning. (I bought a snail and ladybug made out of glass and metal for my pots on the deck.) And now we are headed back to Seattle through a rain storm!

I’m tinkering with a new layout for my blog. It’s messy right now! But I like where it’s going. Bear with me.

I’m taking a class called “Virtual Worlds, Gaming and Communication” this quarter with the Masters in Communication in Digital Media program. (I’m able to take 4 classes outside of the MBA program, and I will be taking all 4 with the MCDM. They are great!) One of my assignments was to write a report on a video game. I chose to do “Braid” specifically because when Scott played it and finished it, he woke me up and spent a good half an hour telling me about it. That was a rare occurrence, so I figured there was something about it that I should check out.

Here’s my full report!

Braid was developed by Jonathan Blow along with artist David Hellman. The team also used character animator Edmund McMillen, effect programmer Sean Barrett, and sounds effects programmer Harry Mack for short periods of time. Blow is an independent game designer who is very active in the video game industry, and is especially interested in experimental game play. Blow regularly participates in the Indie Game Jam and writes for Game Developer Magazine.

The original version of Braid took three years to develop, funded by Blow’s personal savings. It was submitted to the Independent Games Festival in December 2005, and won that year’s IGF award for Innovative Game Design. This earned Blow a small prize of $2,500. After winning the award, Blow and his team spent another two years refining the game to be released on Xbox Live Arcade in 2008. It has subsequently also been released on the Playstation Network and as a PC game.

Braid has been very successful, especially considering its limited budget. (Although it is unclear if the team broke even on their investment.) The Xbox Live Arcade version of the game debuted with 28,500 downloads in its first three days. It has earned a 92% ranking on GameRankings.com, bringing it on par with big budget games such as Halo 2 and Legends of Zelda. Blow is quoted as saying,

I have been a proponent of indie and experimental game development for a while, but the attitude toward it always seems to be that they are interesting toys, but not real games. Well, perhaps that is changing. And perhaps some of the indie developers out there who are making cheap clones of PopCap games will realize that if, instead, they go out on a limb and do something interesting and different and important to people, their work will be recognized.

One of my coworkers was featured on a Kiro 7 piece on Washington Mutual last week, and no, I’m not talking about Kerry Killinger. It has been interesting to watch Kerry Killinger and other top leaders at WaMu testify about the bank failure though! The event seems like it happened a very long time ago, and yet, many of my coworkers are still unemployed! I’m grateful to be back in school for the time being.

Here’s a link to the video!