My day started as usual.  I got up at 6 am, showered, put on my suit and went into the kitchen to make lunch for my son.  In between that, I tried getting my son to wake up, but nothing worked.  So, I took his blanket off  and got him to sit up.  He finally woke up.

After he got dressed, I drove him to school and headed to my Westbury office to check in and take care of pending stuff before leaving.  At 11 am, I headed out to the Islip Airport to get on a Southwest Airline to Louisville, KY.

At around 5:30 pm, I landed in Louisville and made my way to baggage, where I saw my friend, Biggs Tabler.  (I met Biggs about 10 years ago through the Long Island Capital Alliance.  At that time, I was organizing the capital forums and Biggs was in attendance.  We hit it off and remained friends through the years.)  Biggs greeted me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

When we got into his car, he drove me to the Louisville Art Center where the Social Media Club of Louisville was meeting.  I was greeted by some of my Facebook and Twitter friends, which was really nice.

I presented a few case studies but my goal was to get the audience talking to me and to each other, which I accomplished.  It was a lot of fun talking about my favorite topic, social media!  Every time I speak in public, I feel like I learn so much from the audience.  It’s a wonderful sharing experience!

When it was over, I got to meet the most amazing people.  But not only that, one of the audience members presented me with a bag of wet yeast.  He said if I go on his web site, I can get the recipe for this Amish bread.  He also gave me samples of the bread.  Wow, I thought, that was a first!  All I kept thinking was, how am I going to get this through security at the airport?

Could you imagine what it would be like to have a mechanical bull at your next corporate event?

My staff and I went to Johnny Utah’s in NYC.  Johnny Utah’s is a burger place with a mechanical bull.  We sat around, ate some chips and dip and yummy burgers.  I dared my staff to ride the mechanical bull.  I said whoever rides it will get $100 bonus.  Only one person took me up on the offer and she did a pretty good job staying on!

So when my friend, Marty Greenstein, told me that he is now renting mechanical bulls for corporate parties, I told him I would write a blog post about it.  I just think that would be the coolest party ever.

Imagine walking into a catering hall that is totally transformed to a western style with a big mechanical bull in the center of the room?

That would impress me and would also make me remember the party!

Marty told me that he creates the whole  Western theme.  Here’s some examples of what he create….

•    The Western Corral
•    A Western Saloon Façade
•    A small western town with 4 stores to go with the saloon
•    A wells Fargo Stage coach façade
•    A Conestoga wagon
•    Cactus
•    And lots more.

Pretty cool stuff… huh?  Here’s Marty’s information in case you decide to rent the bull – 631-467-6628.

In addition to writing for this blog, I also write for New York Enterprise Report’s Blog and Blogcritics.org.  Blogcritics is an online magazine, affiliated with Technorati, which has product and entertainment reviews, news coverage and opinions.

As a reporter for Blogcritics, I get dozens and dozens of press releases every day.  When I first started, I tried to read every release to see if the product, television show, Broadway show or movie, struck a cord.  But I was getting inundated with emails.  Most of the time, I deleted the emails, but sometimes when I needed story ideas, I would pour through the emails and read them.

I used to hear reporters complain about how PR people wrote and it would make me angry.  Now, I understand what they are saying!  Most of these pitches are so long, so badly written and so boring!  I’m not intrigued at all.  And yet, it makes me think about traditional reporters and what would pique their interest.

With the introduction of Twitter, reporters and bloggers are now looking for a pitch in 140 characters or less.  I know if something catches my attention, I will go to the link for more information.

Remember, traditional and online reporters are busy and have very little time to review your materials.  Therefore, try the following tips to get your product or service reviewed:

• Keep the information succinct and clear.
• Use the 140 Character Rule.
• Add a link.  If a reporter is interested, he/she will click on the link and get more information.
• Think of something that will capture the editor or reporter’s attention.
• Use active words to paint a picture.
• A pitch could be a question, statement or quotation.
• Change it up.  Don’t always use the same style pitch for every product or service you represent.
• Remember that dozens or maybe even hundreds of pitches are coming across someone’s email every day, don’t just send the information once.  Follow up with subsequent pitches that are creative and clever, but are not the same pitch that you started with.

Now that I have been on both sides of the fence, I understand where reporters and editors are coming from.  Make sure that your material is clear and easy to read.  Don’t leave room for questions and keep thinking Tweet, Tweet, Tweet…

Meet Jack Galvani (Kristie’s son).  More than 6 weeks old, Jack will be coming to work with Kristie one morning a week for the next few weeks.  Please join me in welcoming Baby Jack to our office!

P.S.  Wait until you see him… My staff and I agree  he’s cute enough to be on commercials!

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The weather last weekend was just horrible!  The 75 mile an hour wind, knocked me down a couple of times and the sheets of rain were horrendous!  I was totally soaked.  (This past week,  I’ve been seeing the remnants of the storm throughout the area, including: uprooted trees, major highway signs down and damage to homes.)

Last Saturday night, my husband and I drove into the city and saw more accidents on the road than I ever saw before.  It was simply a big mess.

When we got home, we found that our cable was out.  We didn’t have television, phones or Internet access.  I guess we were lucky.  One of the women in my office told me that her electricity was out and she had to sleep at a friend’s house.

The thing about Cablevision is, you can’t get anyone on the phone.  There’s no customer service!  They have a hold on our market area and without competition, they can get away with it.

The cable was out on Sunday too.  When my family and I woke up, we decided to take a ride to Queens to the new Rego Park Center where Century 21, TJ Maxx and Kohl’s just opened.

Beside it being a total madhouse with wall to wall people, it was an interesting place.  Situated on three floors, I was impressed with the architecture. It was pretty cool standing on the ground floor while escalators, elevators and stairs went up, up, up.

But the best part, Century 21 had some very cool stuff! The store was huge!  Of course, I bought a lot of stuff I didn’t need like silverware, a new tea pot, a blazer and more…

If you get a chance to go to Queens, check out the new Century 21… It’s right off the highway… And the best time to go is — when the lights or cablevision are out!