CANADIAN SING-A-LONG!

Yeah I know that you wanna be Canadian, please
Even if in winter things tend to freeze
We’ve got the world monopoly on trees
And our country’s bordered by three different seas

Yeah I know that you wanna be Canadian, please
We invented the zipper, we’ve got expertise
We made insulin to combat disease
Yeah I know that you wanna be Canadian, please

CHORUS
Brits have got the monarchy
The US has the money
But I know that you wanna be Canadian

The French have got the wine and cheese
Koalas chill with the Aussies
But I know that you wanna be Canadian

Et si ce n’était pas assez
On a deux langues officielles:
L’anglais et le français
Ooh la la

Yeah I know that you wanna be Canadian, please
Where else do you find mounted police
Or go to the hospital and not pay fees
Yeah I know that you wanna be Canadian, please

And when freshwater is in high demand
We’ve got the world’s largest supply on hand
So you know that we could make a pretty good friend
But it’s even better if you can be…

CHORUS

So you’re thinking to yourself,
“How do I live in this beautiful country?”
Well we’ve got some steps for you to follow…

STEP 1: Lose the gun
STEP 2: Buy a canoe
STEP 3: Live multiculturally
STEP 4: You’re ready, there is no more!

We got beavers, caribou and moose
We got buffalos, bears, and Canadian goose
And we’re sorry about Celine Dion
But she did do that good song for James Cameron…

CHORUS
Brits have got the monarchy
The US has the money
But I know that you wanna be Canadian

The French have got the wine and cheese
Koalas chill with the Aussies
But I know that you wanna be Canadian

The Greek chilled out with Socrates
Can’t build a wall like the Chinese
But I know that you wanna be Canadian

In Kenya they have safaris
We’ve missed lots of other countries
But I know that you wanna be Canadian

Technorati Tags: Canada, Canadian, Canadian Please, Julia Bentley, Andrew Gunadie, Erin Blaskie

Thank you SO much to Adam Haroun for writing this article and for naming me #4 on the list…  I appreciate it greatly!

Although, I must admit that it does make me feel a bit of Tweeting pressure…

For those of you who haven’t had the chance to visit Canada just yet…sure, we might have some brutally cold winters, and throw the occasional  (or not-so-occasional) “Eh” into our sentences, but one thing you may not have come to realize about Canada is that we are a land of emerging young entrepreneurs and leaders who are taking social media by storm and leaving our mark in the world!

I have been privileged to meet many brilliant young entrepreneurs and emerging leaders through social media; including many of my fellow Canucks! Through networking on Twitter, I’ve been able to get to know many dynamic, driven entrepreneurs and leaders in an array of industries, stages of business development, and of all different ages…and now I’m thrilled to have the chance to share these young movers and shakers with you and why they are great people to learn from and follow on their path to success.

If you think I’ve left anyone out of this list (or if any mistakes have been made), please leave a comment below and we will make necessary adjustments.

Read the rest of the article here.

Technorati Tags: Erin Blaskie, Adam Haroun, Twitter, Tweet, upcoming entrepreneurs, leaders, Canada

If you haven’t been following the news, you may not have seen the latest Paul Brent (CTV Ottawa) coverage on Twitter. The coolest part is, that coverage also featured yours truly when they were showing a snapshot of the most popular Ottawa based Twitterers.

If you haven’t yet heard of Twitter, you might want to come out from under that rock you’ve been living under   I kid because I love.  In all seriousness, Twitter has seen immense and rapid growth and has become a household name.  You really can’t go anywhere these days without hearing, “Follow me!” at least once and to be honest, I kinda like it.

As per the Paul Brent piece:

It’s a simple act that has captured the online world’s attention. During March alone, 19 million people visited the Twitter website.

Good thing I got in on this fight early….

I’m second behind the Prime Minister in the Ottawa, Ontario, Canada category on Twitterholic.  This has gotta change.

My sister and I set off to the Parliament Buildings after seeing Malcolm Gladwell speak at the United Way charity event and we shot our preparation video for the fight of our lives…  The fight to get more followers on Twitter than the Prime Minister of Canada.

This video features a dude walking across the entire country, my dad and I by a bonfire, a camera man, some fight club tips and a dude looking for siggy’s for his petition (I recommended he use Twitter to gain more awareness for his cause… he didn’t seem phased by it.)

So, watch it.  Tweet it.  Share it.  Digg it.  Send it.  Talk about it. Let’s show the Prime Minister of Canada that SOCIAL media is far better than any press coverage you get when running an entire country.  Let’s do eet.

P.S. – Thanks   I wouldn’t be making this vid if it weren’t for you all following me! xoxo

Technorati Tags: Erin Blaskie, Twitter, Stephen Harper, Prime Minister, Canada, Ottawa, Malcolm Gladwell, United Way, Paul Brent, CTV Ottawa, CTV, Follow Me, Tweet, Parliament Buildings, Digg, YouTube, Erin vs Prime Minister, twitter fight

Technorati Tags: Erin Blaskie, Malcolm Gladwell, National Arts Centre, Blink, The Tipping Point, The Outliers, United Way

The speaker’s brilliant presentations (even through some really tough critics using the #wcchicago hash tag!) and for the underlying theme that was: be social, get out from behind your blog and utilize the tools that exist. Some people thought some of the ideas were too basic yet I’d challenge them to look at their existing site to see where they are or are not excelling themselves.

Meeting Matt Mullenweg, the creator and genius behind WordPress. This was a total highlight for me because I’ve secretly (well, not so secretly) had a professional crush on this guy for years. He is genius, humble and completely laid back – very cool to meet him.

Meeting Brian Gardner & Cory Miller. Both of these guys have created amazing WordPress themes that I have loved for years and pushed to all of my clients (although, the themes don’t need much pushing to be honest!) and it was cool to finally put a real face to their name and Twitter profile pics.

Meeting all the other cool peeps. I loved seeing some familiar faces, meeting some new people and getting to chat with some of my clients that I have never been able to meet in person. What a great, social and interactive day. It was also great for everyone to get to meet my h-band who came along as well. It was his first business conference with me so it was awesome to share that experience with him and for him to see what these events are all about.

All in all, it was a great day filled with great speakers, great food and most of all, just the ability to meet people that I hadn’t had a chance to before. The other cool thing is that I got asked to speak at a WordCamp on the East Coast next year so I’ll definitely be making my rounds! That and I’ll also be purchasing my tickets for WordCamp Montreal!

Oh, and check out my slides on Slide Share!

Technorati Tags: WordCamp, WordCamp Chicago, WordCamp Montreal, Brian Gardner, Cory Miller, Matt Mullenweg, Rebecca Zwar, Debbie Saro, Larry Null, Erin Blaskie, WordPress, WP, blog, blogs, blogging, blogger

Woohoo! It’s arrived… The night before my h-band and I leave for Chicago for WordCamp Chicago 2009.

Now, we’re not going directly there and, as with most things, we’re taking a bit of an indirect route.  We’ll be leaving our home tonight at 2am (once my sister arrives to watch our puppies for the next four days) and then we’ll be driving straight to Cleveland, Ohio.  We’ve never been to Cleveland or to Ohio so I am looking forward to that.  Why are we going there you ask?  Well, we’re heading to the infamous Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame.  It’s been on our “must-see” list for some time so we’re just going to do it!

After spending tomorrow night in downtown Cleveland, we’ll be waking up to head to Chicago.  Friday, we’re going to see a baseball game and then get some rest as Saturday is the BIG day…  WordCamp Chicago kicks off and I speak at the conference — just after lunch.  I am receiving the honor of sharing the stage with Matt Mullenweg (creator of WordPress), Liz Strauss (the epic blogger) and soooooooo many other amazing speakers.  Check out the website for full details.  Lisa (one of the coordinators of WordCamp Chicago) also featured me on the blog which you can check out here.

I’ll be blogging our adventures down and posting them to my Erin Blaskie YouTube channel and then Steve (h-band) will also be filming my presentation so I can post that to YouTube as well afterward.  Watch for that after the event.

I’ve got my camera ready so I can take tons of photos with my idols and I’ll post those to the blog after the event.  Iiiiieeee… to say I am excited is an understatement.

So, watch the blog and I’ll try to post from the road although I will be driving an ENORMOUS amount of miles (or kilometers, whatever you prefer) over the next four days so I’m sure I’ll be exhausted!  I’ll see you all on Monday.

E.

Technorati Tags: WordCamp Chicago, WordCamp, WordPress, conference, YouTube, Erin Blaskie, Matt Mullenweg, Liz Strauss, Cleveland, Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, blogger, blogging, blogs, blog

You may have heard of Google from your friends on the interwebs (slang for Internet / the World Wide Web).  Google is a reasonably popular search engine used by at least one hundred people per day. [Citation needed.]

We hope that this tutorial helps ease your frustrations with using Google’s popular search functionality.

Step One: Visiting Google

First, open your Internet browser (ie: Opera, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Netscape or any other browser used to access the Internet).

Then, in the address bar (the box located near the very top) you want to type in http://www.google.com.

We’ve included a screenshot to show you where to type the URL in.

Step Two: Typing Your Search Term Into Google

In the blank box located around the center of your screen, you’ll want to enter the search term (aka what you are looking for) into the search box.

You can do this by following the screenshot below.  For this example, we’re searching for “Lukas Bott”.

Step Three: Pressing Enter

This step is fairly simple compared to the other two.  After typing in your search term, press the Enter button on your keyboard OR you can press Google Search.

Don’t worry about the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button.  That is reserved for advanced users only.

Step Four: Congratulations!

After pressing enter, you will be presented with all of your search items!  From here, you can navigate to the sites that Google deemed most relevant to your search criteria.

I hope this tutorial has been helpful for you.  Now that you have mastered Google, why not try and find this post in Google (hint: type in Erin Blaskie)!

Technorati Tags: Erin Blaskie, Lukas Bott, Google, tutorial, how-to, how to, Internet, Interwebs, Safari, Opera, Internet Explorer, business tips

Good to remind yourself if ever you find yourself asking vendors for various things at discounts, special rates, etc. or if you find yourself asking for all the details and information to do things yourself.

None the less, it’s FUNNY! Comment and let me know if you have ever experienced business like this.

Technorati Tags: Vendor client relationship, vendor requests, client requests, vendor client, vendor / client, relationship, business, discounts, YouTube, Erin Blaskie

What iPhone apps do you use?

Technorati Tags: iPhone, iPhone apps, business apps, Erin Blaskie, productivity, LinkedIn, Facebook, Tweetie, MySpace, Urban Spoon, Outpost, Bump, Diggnation, Ustream, Fring, Dictionary

This is what I have to keep telling myself!!  Sharing a stage with the creator of WordPress is only slightly intimidating   I’ll be there speaking on the subject of, “Using Blogs & Social Media to Become an Internet Celebrity” where I use a very specific and proven case study to show what I was able to accomplish with my “alter ego” in less than four months.

I’m SO excited about this event it’s not even funny.  Here’s why:

1. I’ve realized that the place I feel most at home is in the midst of other techno-geeks and lovers of all things Internet. These conferences, Wordcamps, attract exactly that crowd and I heart them to the end of this world.
2. I get to speak at the same conference as Matt Mullenweg (creator of WordPress), Liz Strauss (epic blogger), Doug Hanna, Jeremy Wright, Micah Baldwin, David Dalka, Kevin Palmer, Jim Turner and Tim Frick.  See the full list of speakers here.
3. This is the first conference that my hubbalicious is attending with me! In fact, other than peeking in during my virtual events that I run from my home office, he’s never actually seen me in “action”… I can’t wait for him to see my speak live!

So, if you’re anywhere in the Chicago area, you NEED to get tickets and come!! I’d love to meet you and I promise you, after attending and speaking at Wordcamp Toronto, these events ROCK!!  The best part is the ticket price is unbelievable — it’s like thirty bucks or so!!  They only have about 67 tickets left so you really have to hurry….  See who else is attending here!

I actually just noticed that a few people that I know through the online world will be there — YAY!  I can’t wait to meet you in person…

Ok, go and register NOW and I’ll see you there

Here’s another snapshot from WordCamp Toronto to get you excited!

Technorati Tags: Doug Hanna, Jeremy Wright, Micah Baldwin, David Dalka, Kevin Palmer, Jim Turner, Tim Frick, Brian Gardner, Wordcamp Chicago, WC Chicago, Matt Mullenweg, Liz Strauss, Wordcamp Toronto, Erin Blaskie, becoming an internet celebrity using blogs and social media