OMG - The Feeds
Michael | September 24, 2007
Opps…
As I transition from TheMarketersReport.com to MichaelValiant.com I seem to have run into some problems with my feeds.
First of all, I initially forgot to update my feed URL and have been displaying the old sites feed here on michaelvaliant.com. I’ve now fixed that, and added a feed for my comments, so moving forward everything should be saavy!
The problem comes when I try and figure out what to do about everyone subscribed to my old feed. It’s really asking a lot of your readers to take time out of their busy day and subscribe to a NEW RSS feed because you don’t want to use the old one anymore. But it looks like I’ll have to do just that.
That’s ONE of the reasons I like Feedburner actually. It’s portable. If I want to switch my blogs at some point in the future, I don’t have to lose everyone who is subscribed to my feed. BUT, this process falls down when you lose your login information (something I Never do - until now anyway).
Which brings me to a current bone of contention. Feedburner doesn’t have a decent way for me to start a conversation with them. Their only contact point (that I’ve found) is a form with only three fields - feed URL, username, email -. It doesn’t allow me to explain what happened. It doesn’t allow me to ask for a solution. I know, how very Web 1.0… 
All I really need is to know what email address I used to set up the feed as I’m pretty sure I can answer the skill testing question needed to reset the password once I get that far. Honestly I’m a little confused that I haven’t been able to figure it out myself (I only have sooo many email addresses!) but this one has me stumped.
I wish I could simply ask them which email address I have attached to that feedburner feed. It doesn’t seem like a lot to ask. But my hands seem to be tied.
I am heading to be frustrated over this potential loss of subscribers, but somewhat placated knowing I should be okay moving forward.
(BTW. If YOU are one of those people who preeviously was subscribed to my old feed and have taken the time to come subscribe here… I want to thank you very much for your time!)
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Signs the World is Moving On…
Michael | September 23, 2007
When was the last time you saw or heard something that stopped you mid-stride?!?
I had a ‘moment’ this past weekend while in Toronto.
This story starts (okay, so it’s already started, but bear with me!) when I took my family to the city for a couple of days so I could take my wife to see Cirque Du Soleil (Happy Birthday Mrs. Valiant!)
We stayed at the Sheraton hotel, which, if you can afford it, I highly recommend; but with rooms starting at $350 per night (plus $40 a day for parking, valet and porter tips etc) I probably won’t be taking my family back soon
Our last night in town I was up late and couldn’t sleep, so I decided to leave the hotel and troll around the streets and alleyways of the city for a couple of hours to wear myself out. Unfortunately I forgot my camera. (What’s the #1 rule of photography? “Never go out without a camera, SIR!”)
As I walked down Queen street, coming up to Bay I passed by what I thought was a starbucks as I started to cross the road; it looked like a starbucks, starbucks sign front and center, trendy glass building etc. Of course, it wasn’t open and even if it were the last thing I needed at 1 am was an over-caffinated starbucks grande something-or-another, so I walked by without more than a glance as I started to cross the street.
When I reached the other side I glanced back and, with my improved view of the glass building, stopped dead in my tracks.
The small building indeed housed a Starbucks, but shared it’s glass enclosure with a TD Canada Trust - a popular bank, for any non-Canadian readers -
Maybe it was just my mood, or thoughts at the time but the site of these two disparate companies sharing such tight quarters inside a glass cube really dropped my jaw.
I’m not sure which of my two initial thoughts shocked me more, but the combination was a 1-2 punch that left me standing agape in front of old city hall.
First, the marketing guy inside me couldn’t help but to try and picture marketing genius who initially thought of this corporate pairing and the subsequent pitch to TWO different corporate boards!
Second was the realization that we have become so secure in our society that someone in this banks heirarchy decided trendy outweighed security and built a bank, complete with vault and everything, in a glass cube on a busy street corner.
And I’m not talking ‘glass building’ like the typical modern day big city skyscrapers. This building is pretty much 4 see through glass walls and a roof.
I searched a long time and could only find one picture to share. It’s not a great shot (actually, it IS a good picture, I just mean it doesn’t show the whole building) but you can see what I’m talking about anyway.
(*I want to mention too that this picture is an all rights reserved image which I grabbed anyway because I couldn’t find another anywhere. I highly recommend you visit this Toronto photographers website and check out his work. He’s got a lot of great work in there and you can get a great glimpse of some Canadian cities!)
I recently watched Inside Man with Denzel Washington and Clive Owen and as I stood there on Queen Street I couldn’t help thinking that Clive Owen could have saved himself a lot of time and effort by simply fhying to Toronto and Renting a Really Big Truck.
And now that our dollar has reached parity with the US greenback, it woul have even been worth his time!
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Topics: Errant Thoughts | Comments
My Daily Twitter - 2007-09-21
| September 21, 2007
- Had the worst dinner at a 5-star restaurant tonight… I hate paying for a bad meal, I REALLY hate paying a LOT for a bad meal… #
- should be sleeping… but have been wandering the streets watching the city tick… #
- @billslawski better you than me Bill, but I appreciate reading what you find #
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My Daily Twitter - 2007-09-20
| September 20, 2007
- Off for a Cirque du Soleil show this aft… and a night in the 2nd most expensive hotel in Toronto Better be a nice room! #
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Facebook Grant Money Available
Michael | September 20, 2007
Short and sweet, ’cause I’ve gotta run.
Took a couple days off to head down to the big smoke. Taking my wife to a new Cirque du Soleil show (Kooza?). I bought the tickets in May, didn’t get them until August (4 days before her birthday,which is when I told her the news).
I could write a whole post on the futility of trying to get through to the Cirque support staff… but this post is not about that. Actually, they were great ONCE I got through, but it took me months (literally) to figure out how to access them… really. visit their site and just TRY to navigate the twisted web that is their domain.
Anyway, like I said, this post is not about Cirque.
Yesterday I found out about the VC fund that Facebook is putting together for people to start ‘Facebook Businesses’. I don’t have the time to get into the details now, but Google it and I’m sure you’ll be able to find the details.
It’s a great move on the part of Facebook, sowing the seeds of a long term Facebook economy.
It’s really a great opportunity for anyone out there who was thinking about writing their own Facebook app. I was shaking my head as I told a cooworker about it yesterday, imagine trying to tell someone about what was around the corner only 20 years ago, they would have thought you were nuts.
Anyway, I am heading to Toronto with thoughts of Facebook in my head… What makes a good app. Why do some go viral so fast. Why do some, that look good on the surface, find no traction?
Which are your favourite Facebook apps and why?
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My Daily Twitter - 2007-09-19
| September 19, 2007
- @sooz Would you happen to have any invites to yahoo Mash available? I’d appreciate one mvaliant@gmail.com , thanks if possible! #
- Looks like TechCrunch40 Crunched Mint.com… #
- @fairminder wow! that’s a great link, thanks! Just gotta figure out how to get the DB back into the new domain now… #
- @ChrisBrogan I’ve changed my Twitter username 3 times now experimenting. The only downside is SEO loss (if you care about that) #
- Anyone have a Yahoo Mash invite they can share? appreciate it! mvaliant @ gmail.com #
- Mint.com looks nice, but no good for a Canadian #
- ‘Gratz @asbjornRiedel! #
- FYI, while talking like a pirate today, ye scurvy dogs, a good scowl is essential… Arrrrr… #
- Nice! If you don’t know how to post like a Pirate, this site’s fer you: http://www.postlikeapirate.com/index.php Arrrr… #
- Just read about the Facebook app VC fund. whoa! #
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My Daily Twitter - 2007-09-18
| September 18, 2007
- @shariV thanks for the link, there was some helpful info there. Looks like I’m going to have to redirect every blog post individually!
# - @shariv I have to change the directory structure, so it will take me a bit Fortunately it’s not an old blog, so only a few dozen posts! #
- You think your gig’s hard? Watch this short vid of @GlendaWH http://tinyurl.com/28buhq That’s Canadian grit! #
- Okay, time for a 301 session… ack. #
- lol nice! I wish I could say my French was better than it is… I can WTF with my eyes closed though #
- Whoa, creating 301’s to new domain (http://michaelvaliant.com) and someone stumbled me. Thanks for the love and resulting traffic typhoon! #
- Somehow I’ve gone and lost my Feedburner login info… Frustrating!! #
- Going to bike to work tomorrow. route picked through google maps I’m such a geek. Well, a geek who can bike 5.7 km to work anyway. #
- G’nite from Canada Twitter’ites #
- If you try to say too much, you say nothing at all, so this morning I have only 1 question; How can I help you succeed today? #
- Anyone tried out: http://twitternotes.com Wondering if it’s worth the trouble… #
- @fairminder Unfortunately I’m a business/SEO kind of geek and not an IT/dev kind of geek. I know how to export my db, but then I’m stuck! #
- Hi Chris’ Brother! @ChrisD #
- lol @Pistachio my 2 year old loves the blue back-lit button that turns my computer off… and often ends my workday early #
- Mint.com opened up to the public, but looks like their sign-up process is down must have been a lot of people waiting to get in #
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One Thing to Say…
Michael | September 18, 2007
If you try to say too much, you say nothing at all, so this morning I have only 1 question:
How can I help you succeed today?
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Topics: Errant Thoughts | Comments
How to Win in a Social Economy
Michael | September 18, 2007
We live in this new Social economy and I watch a lot of people trying to figure out how to get ahead. The funny thing is, there isn’t much difference between this new economy and any old one…
If you want to succeed, participate.
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Topics: Errant Thoughts | Comments
Notice something funny here?
Michael | September 18, 2007
I’m currently in the process of moving out of my previous home at TheMarketersReport.com (TMR) in favour of MichaelValiant.com.
This is a fairly labour intensive job and will likely take me a couple of days to complete.
I’m copying all the posts from TMR and reposting them here at MichaelValiant.com. Then 301′ing to the new posts to help my search engine love.
I’m also doing most of this by hand… one post at a time.
My only saving grace is the fact that I have only been using the current incarnation of TMR for about 40 days and there are only about 130 posts, half of which I will leave for fallow (I’m only bringing the good stuff… at least the ‘better’ stuff).
Besides feeling a little pretentious about hiding behind my own name now, I think I will be happier in my new digs. I bought TMR years ago for one purpose or another and have been sitting on it ever since. When the Thirty Day Challenge cropped up this year I dusted off TMR for the sake of expediency. Now that I have signed on to moderate the Thirty Day Challenge forum on a more permanent basis, I thought I should make a more permanent home.
So I am going to listen to Chris Brogan’s advice and ‘Be the Brand’ (I don’t know if Chris has actually worded it quite like that…) and I now find myself squarely on… well, myself at www.MichaelValiant.com. Ironically (in a completely sideways direction of the conversation), Chris is having some duplicate domain issues of his own right now.
Well, I’ve got to get back to moving some posts over, creating 301 redirects, moving more posts over… creating more 301 redirects.
I just wanted to touch base with everyone and try to explain the short term madness!
Cheers!
(image source: ejdmoo)
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Topics: About Michael | Comments
