Bacon-Wrapped IT Certifications Tucked in a Snuggie, For the Zombie in You

As an internet marketer, it is difficult not to notice trends and various memes take hold with rapid speed.

Today I saw an article on Time's Blog made it official declaring 2009 the year of the Zombie, also noting their replacement of Vampires as the otherworldly creature du jour. I've been chanting "Must Eat Brainz" around the office for months now and Left 4 Dead is on constant play on our Xbox, so I already knew this to be true, and it reeked of SEO wizardry. Besides, zombies and vampires are quite the cultural metaphor for the economic crisis.

Time editors: We are Time and our Page Rank stinks! Let's talk to the blogging team and see what they have up their sleeves... Bloggers: Zombies are hot! Editor: Zombies, really?!? Blogger: Yes! Zombies! Let's write an article on our blog about zombies! You know, Diablo Cody is doing a Zombie Movie now? Editor: Who's that? Ok, never mind. Blogger: Hey, I know! We'll throw vampires in their for good measure, maybe we can play off the popularity of the True Blood/ Twilight thing too! Editor: Ok, whatever you say, internet magicians.

I work for a developer of IT Certification Training. How can I make these latest (and soon to disappear) trends work for our advantage? I've got it! Let's offer Bacon-Wrapped IT Certifications Tucked in Snuggies as Zombie-Bait!

When A Dollar Really Counts

Yesterday on my commute home, I noticed a homeless man standing next to my car holding a small cardboard sign "Please help." He caught my eye and held the sign up to my attention, and I was drawn to fish in my empty wallet. Receipts were not going to help this guy. I suddenly remembered a stash of a couple "emergency toll dollars," grabbed one, unrolled my window, and handed it to him.

The response to my handing a man a single dollar so was overwhelming, and I wished I had given more. I think he would have hugged me if he could have reached in my car. Instead, I received the prerequisite "terrorist fist jab" three times during our conversation, which spanned one very long red light.

"You never know where your angels are going to come from." "That's true," I told him. I rolled up my window. He started talking again, and I unrolled it. "You know who you look like, that Annie Frank, I've never read the book though, have you, is it really true?" "Anne Frank? Yes, that's a true story."

Christmas having just passed and having just paid for an upcoming vacation/wedding in February, we are broke. However, I am well aware that "broke" these days with two jobs, a house and two cars, is, quite frankly, lucky. I wished I thought to give the lovely man on the street the leftover apple that was sitting in my lunchbox as I drove home. As I listened to the news on the radio, staggeringly depressing global wars, economic doom and sadness, I took heart and came to the conclusion that the only thing we can do is act, locally, each in our own way. A single, tiny random act of kindness won't fix all our problems-- but millions just might.