My friend Brian is probably one of the funniest people I know, both on camera and off. In this video, he does an excellent job of showing us how to practice in flight safety on Alaska Airlines. Make sure to watch through the 2 minute mark, and see his excellent improvisation of the Alaska Airlines Visa sign-up. Love the wonderfully funemployed at Seattle SM Profiles for providing this video!!!

I was doing some “research” – actually I was surfing YouTube and got the genius idea of seeing if any of the half-baked games (this thing where you come up with crazy product pitch ideas and try to get people to vote on yours) were on video.  Imagine my surprise, when I found myself in the second result.  Mostly posting this here for myself (it’s got hardly any views).

The idea was that you could blow up your engagement ring to as many carats as you needed.  We abused pretty much every “don’t do this in a pitch” rule we could, including having a skit AND having a child in it.  Yeah, fun.

March 2009 was a very good month for daniellemorrill.com, in fact it was the best month ever.  After a little experimental SEO “whoring” (yes, I said it) back in October I decided that I would work hard to drive traffic solely on being interesting and consistent about publishing content.  Well, it took me 5 months to surpass October’s volume but I finally did it.

March 2009

• 970 unique visits
• 1,692 pageviews
• 1.74 pages per visit

Most Popular Content of All Time

• Naughty America Direct in Beta
• Is Landmark Forum a Cult?
• Am I An Entpreneur?
• Is This Narcissism or What?
• Danielle Morrill is Getting Naked

So far, this conference has been great. I’ve met a really diverse crowd of people (and not just geeks either) and I’m pretty blown away by the level of really human connection. The audience has remained engaged, and the enthusiastic and passionate speakers are a great mix.

How can you keep up with all that’s going on at Gnomedex?

Gnomedex Schedule: http://www.gnomedex.com/schedule/

Live streaming video: http://chris.pirillo.com/live/

Chat: http://widget.meebo.com/mcr.swf?id=QanRtCQrXr

Meet my son, a sweet and slightly neurotic 5 month old chocolate lab. He’s my companion whenever I’m in the downstairs of our house writing, reading, cooking, cleaning, and whatever else I do around here when I’m actually home (which hasn’t been that often lately).

In this picture he’s just finished chewing up a huge poster mailing tube and seems surprised that I’ve discovered him.

This morning I did something I’ve been needing to do for over a week now, I spent a solid two hours with my dog. Spending time with Rafe (who is four months old now) consists of cleaning up after him, scolding him for gnawing on my hands and arms, coaxing him to walk on a leash, protecting my coffee and face from slobbery kisses, and wrestling with him in the grass over a toy. I woke up to one of those rare mornings in the Pacific Northwest where the early morning sunshine is coming through the window in delicious golden beams, just beckoning me to get outdoors.

Spending time with my dog reminds me to slow down the pace of life sometimes, even on a weekday morning, and put my life and things that generate stress for me into perspective. It used to amaze me that much of a dog’s life is spent anticipating the return of its master, but as I steal peeks at Rafe when he doesn’t see me watching I actually noticed that he isn’t waiting for me – he’s doing dog things all by himself like sniffing, playing, and peeing. Ah, the life of a dog.

What an exciting day it has been for us here at Pelago, as the Apple app store launches on iTunes and people begin to discover Whrrl on their iPhones. I am personally excited because, as some of you already know, I have been without a phone for a couple of months and I will be ditching Verizon tonight and getting myself a brand-spanking-new iPhone 2.0

Come check out Whrrl and friend me! Even if you don’t have an iPhone there are lots of other ways to take advantage of Whrrl. Whrrl supports a lot of phones, and if you navigate to m.whrrl.com in your mobile browser you can find out which version to download for yours (it will detect what kind of phone you have). Another option, if you’re into texting, is to use SMS with Whrrl. And then there’s the “old skool” approach, to use the website.

One reason I love the website (over the mobile and iPhone app) is that it really takes advantage of the screen real estate a larger monitor presents, and gives you a gorgeous map loaded with icons that are relevant to you.

For all the different ways to use Whrrl, I think the filter is just so powerful. The filter I like most is the ability to say “only show me places that are open in 1 hour” so I can make sure a place is still going to be open by the time I get there if I leave shortly, but I don’t have to set a certain range of hours. I work on content acquisition so I’m damn proud of the fact that our ability to collect accurate business hours and happy hours is being exposed through this feature. The data team rocks! (just sayin’)

And about privacy, because of course people have been talking about stalkers. There is a combination of rational concern about privacy, but also a fair amount of fear mongering and anti-technology talk out there that I have a hard time understanding. In response to the rational concerns, there are robust privacy features that work. Period. To the other people, I don’t know what to tell them; I think a good first step is to take a good look at the Whrrl privacy policy and the security settings, because a lot of thought has gone into them. You will find that you completely control who sees your location in Whrrl.

The way I use the privacy settings in Whrrl is pretty simple: I only show my location to people I’d be willing to invite over to my house, and for my “internet friends” I just don’t share. It’s nice because it basically shows my friends all my other activities (reviews, meetups, notes and stuff) but it just leaves my checkins off their Whrrld feed. As I get to know people better, I can add them to the list of people who can see my location – and my goal is to get more and more people on that list because that means I’m making more and more real world friends. And, for me anyway, that’s what this is ultimately about – reconnecting with the real world with the help of technology. That integration between being tech savvy and also having a social life, that seems so elusive sometimes.

* Lil Disclaimer: This isn’t the official Whrrl blog or Pelago blog, this is just Danielle Morrill and all the opinions expressed herein are my own. I work for Pelago, the company bringing Whrrl to people everywhere, so I am biased. *

“You attract what you are.” – Warren Buffet

The first time I heard this quote was a couple years ago, in a lecture about Warren Buffet. It struck me as salient and I contemplated it, and since then it has come back to me over and over again in different forms, and has come to make much more sense to me than it originally did. There are many things I can say about it, but today’s reflection has to do with relationships.

I think the people you love (date, marry, family, friends) are mirrors to your own soul, to the extent that you are close to them. They help you see yourself clearly, as a kind of sanity check to your own introspection, because they are close enough to you and your daily life to see you fully for who you truly are. If they are selfish (which most people are, at least to some extent) then it is in their own interest to see you objectively, and to help you to achieve the character you wish to possess. To the extent that they are selfish, and wish to be with someone they can admire, they will be more and more objective, and through (kind) feedback can help you shape your life and self to your design.

To some, this probably sounds really strange. You might not realize it, but you are shaping yourself every day. Why are self-help books so popular? Why do we read beauty magazines, or take classes, or exercise, or solicit feedback from coaches, mentors, and peers? We want to become something, someone, and we aren’t there yet. In fact, we probably never “get there” – the people I know are always looking to improve their lives in some way. This aspiration to become more is a huge motivating factor in our lives. Sometimes I wonder if it is possible to go on living, or at least remain sane, without it.

What this all boils down to is that the purpose of our relationships is to find people who we admire, who help us to see ourselves clearly, and love what they see in us. My husband, immediate family, and closest friends do this for me – and I think it is the most powerful outside influence on my personal growth and ongoing endeavor to become more ME.