Archive - May 2011
May 21st
Rapture Road Trip Diary - ShakeDown BBQ
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 05/21/2011 - 11:01As we started our trip to Virginia yesterday, we listened to various tunes appropriate for a pre-rapture road trip. First up was Freebird, “If I leave here tomorrow, will you still remember me.” At various points along the trip, we listened to other songs that fit the trip. Somewhere in Pennsylvania, we pulled over to switch drivers so Kim could search on the cellphone for restaurants while I drove. The restaurants we had chosen before we left didn’t seem as promising as we had thought. One was about fifteen minutes of the interstate and had mixed reviews. The other was in the middle of a college town that is having graduation today.
Kim spent some time using Yelp’s app, and we finally got off the road in Grantville, PA. There were three choices. One was a hotel restaurant that got good reviews. However, the hotel had some crowd in it and the idea of eating in a hotel restaurant didn’t really fit the bill. The second choice was a dive bar that sounded promising, but perhaps not with Fiona. We ended up using the GPS to find our way to ShakeDown BBQ. It was really good, with a nice smoker and pile of wood out back. We need to go out and give it some good reviews, especially for people heading down I-81. Afterwards, Kim asked what the implications of location based restaurant review sites for national food chains might be.
Why do people stop at McDonald’s or Waffle House? They know what they are going to get. Stopping at The Farmer’s Wife’s Country Kitchen could provide something really good, or something really disappointing. As more people start using location based restaurant reviews, we could see a return to the local mom and pop restaurants that serve up great food the way we used to see before the branding and malling of America.
Of course, a lot of people don’t use location based restaurant reviews on their smartphones yet, so we may not see it as a disrupting technology all that soon, but in my mind, the sooner the better. Oh, and if you’re ever traveling on I-81 around Grantville, PA and looking for some really good food, be sure to checkout ShakeDown BBQ, but check in on your smartphone so you can find it and be sure that they’re open when you are passing by. And yes, they take plastic.
May 20th
#ff
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 05/20/2011 - 12:27@CACHCA_RCACCS @CHIGAMIK @HealthJusticeCT @CHCConnecticut @AmeriCorps @CommHealthCorps @CHCHealthCorps @AmeriCorpsWeek
This week’s Follow Friday post is based on whose messages I have been retweeting recently. The first two, @CACHCA_RCACCS and @CHIGAMIK are regular participants of the Thursday afternoon #chcchat. I’ve met a lot of interesting people on these tweet chats and we regularly retweet one another.
Coming up next is @HealthJusticeCT. They sent me a direct message at my work account, asking that I retweet a message they had posted about a survey they are doing. I retweeted it from both my personal account and on behalf of @CHCConnecticut where I work.
One of the great things about @CHCConnecticut is that we have a wonderful group of @AmeriCorps members. AmeriCorps members at health centers are part of @CommHealthCorps and those at CHC tweet as @CHCHealthCorps. This week is @AmeriCorpsWeek and our AmeriCorp members have been crossing the State of Connecticut doing great community service projects.
There are so many great people on Twitter that I’ve been retweeting, I could go on and on, but this is a pretty good list for now. So, who are you following? Who are you retweeting?
May 19th
Another Random Day
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 05/19/2011 - 20:45At work, the AmeriCorps members are biking across Connecticut as part of their service week. Today, the arrived in Middletown. Check out the Facebook page for more details.
I’ve also been working on getting our CRM up and running and sharing ideas with others about CRMs. Do you use a CRM? I’m especially interested in talking with people about nontraditional uses of CRM.
I had a very interesting discussion this evening about the use of QR codes in real estate and on badges after someone contacted me about QR codes because of a previous blog post I wrote. We did some brainstorming about interesting things to do with QR codes. More interesting stuff to write about.
Meanwhile, I’m preparing for my trip to Virginia and trying to avoid getting to wet from all the rain we’ve been having. More later....
May 18th
Mental Health Month Blog Party
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 05/18/2011 - 18:02So, today was the APA’s Mental Health Month Blog Party. I wrote about it on my work blog, and shared information about it on the APA’s Facebook Page.
I’ve had a pretty busy day, so I haven’t had a chance to check out many of the other blog posts. It looks like they managed to break 100 blogs participating in the blog party by 5:30. There is still time to join in, so, go out and read some of the other blogs about mental health, and consider adding your own. If you do, let me know.
May 17th
