Angus Snack Wraps: Mmmmm

At the Cheese-Burg-Her party at BlogHer '10, I got to try the new McDonald's Angus Snack Wraps, which are based on the Angus Burgers.

Husband and I really enjoy the Angus burgers -- well, we did, before we found out he can only have beef like, once a month due to his gout -- especially the Deluxe. So I was psyched to try the Angus wraps, and they did not disappoint. I especially liked the Mushroom & Swiss.

I also had a traditional Cheeseburger at CheeseburgHer; how could I not? Consequently I was a little full. But, I digress. Or, more precisely, I do not get to my point.

Which is FREE Angus Wrap coupons!! I have 5 (five) to give away, courtesy of Mickey D's, and I strongly encourage you to enter my giveaway before I run to McDonald's and use them myself which I said I wouldn't do. (It actually was an option on the survey.)

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Giveaway Details:

To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment (yes, Sisagain, that means you, too, otherwise it's not fair...) telling me your most memorable McDonald's moment or your favorite McDonald's food item. Leave your comment or comments (as many as you like -- tell me the faves or McD's moments of family members, too) by 11:59 pm EST Sunday, September 5th, 2010, and I'll use random.org to pick the winners on or around Monday, September 6th. [Dates edited on August 26.]

Be sure I have, or can get, your email address!

I'll pick 5 comments ... and if some of the coupons go to the same person, that's OK with me. (Because, um, the 2 of you that I know read this blog, I know you can use more than one coupon.)

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Here are my stories (no, I'm not entering my own contest -- just sharing). I've told both these stories (plus the Banana Splits story, which is tangential at best) to DuckyBoy, so now they're immortalized here.

My most memorable McDonald's moment was actually not AT a McDonald's. It's also kind of a non-moment ...

Back in Erie when I was little, they had a local Ronald TV program on once a week or once a month, and if you sent in your name and birthday they'd read it on the air during that week/month. (It's all kind of a blur.)

So, late February rolled around, we'd sent in my name, and I was awaiting. Watched the whole episode, and they'd read the names at the end. I waited. And waited. You know how things always take longer when you're waiting for them?? Well. For those of you who don't know, it's coooold in Erie in February. I was only wearing a slip. (Remember those? The things you'd wear under a dress?)

I wanted to run upstairs and get my dress. (Or I was in my underwear and wanted to get the slip. Something about the slip.)

Long story short: yep, I missed my name. *Le sigh.*

Interestingly, I still liked Ronald and the restaurant -- unlike my other favorite TV show's fall from grace, which occurred when The Banana Splits sent me a super-cheesey fan packet instead of whatever deluxe stuff I was eagerly anticipating, expecting, and otherwise daily running to the mailbox for. (I remember getting that envelope, tearing it open and, with bitter tears of disappointment, running upstairs and vowing to never, ever watch the show again.)

My favorite McD's food was, for decades, their French fries; in fact, my family swears it was the first solid food I ate.

Now that I've spent time on Atkins and the like, and have read Women, Food and God, I can actually get a meal for DuckyBoy and leave his fries alone. My favorite item now is the McGriddle... mmm, sweetness plus sausage ... with the Angus Mushroom & Swiss.

Colgate Wisp

Check my post about DuckyBoy's first day of school for my reasons for loving the new Colgate Wisp mini toothbrushes.

My thanks to someone at BlogHer's BowlHer party who put freebies in the ladies' room, so I got to try them for free -- because honestly, at 50 cents (on sale) a brush, I might not have tried them otherwise.

I mean, in theory it's a ridiculous concept. I have so many toothbrushes for this kid that I could practically use them as disposables; once I bought a dozen, yes a dozen, of a style he liked. We still have most of them, because we can Never.Throw.One.Away -- they have a face, you see. So they're not just a worn-out brush, they're a friend.

But now? We have a saying around here: "Luxuries, once sampled, become necessities."

These fit. DB loves the flavor, I love they're small and disposable and require no water. And he lets me throw them away.

McDonald's Angus Third Pounder

One of my BlogHer goodies was a coupon (I ended up with 2, actually -- probably Sara's) good for a free Angus Third Pounder.

Now, I'd be all over anything free from McDonald's, since I'm there oh, once a week or so anyway. But I've been wondering about these new burgers and was happy to give them a chance.

Husband and I agree: Yum! We both went for the deluxe, and were really happy with it. I thought it was diner worthy; Husband liked that it didn't seem skimpy, whereas sometimes fast food burgesr seem like they're trying to give the minimum for the minimum. Lots of cheese, lettuce, good tomato, and Husband said he's heard of a special spice added. Whatever was on there, it was good.

Husband said what I was thinking in that we probably wouldn't have tried it without the freebie -- we tend to stick with our usuals at places like McDonalds and take our food risks at higher-end places or cooking at home -- but now have a new favorite.

Pantene Pro-V Moisture Renewal Shampoo and Conditioner

Pantene was supposed to be at BlogHer this weekend, so a month or so ago I'd signed up, via commenting, to be considered for a makeover at their booth.

For some reason, they're not going to be at the event, but when they pulled out they emailed everyone who'd commented and offered to send product if I'd provide my snail mail address.

Now, I love swag as much as the next blogger, so I promptly (ok, it wasn't so prompt) emailed back to get my freebies, with no particular intention of writing a review.

But I like the product so much I have to talk about it.

They sent me a full-size bottle apiece of the Pro-V Moisture Renewal Shampoo and the Pro-V Moisture Renewal Conditioner.

I have alternately been using drugstore-brand dandruff shampoo and V05, which do OK. Just OK. I can't really tell shampoos part very well. I do see that the Pantene does foam up nicer and seems to give me more coverage more easily. How about that -- maybe spending an extra couple of bucks makes a difference!

For conditioner I have some of the purple-bottle Aussie stuff that doesn't work so well now that my hair is long AND regularly colored. I've mostly been using two Moroccan Oil products that Benny my hairdresser (ok, he's a barber but he's good) recommended; I mix together the oil and the cream and my hair comes out really, really soft. But it's expensive and a bit of a pain to mix together things from an open jar and a glass bottle in a shower.

The Pantene conditioner works as good as the Moroccan Oil products, maybe better --not even factoring in the hassle factor. My hair is less flyaway, dries smooth and sleek.

Can you tell how happy I am?

Always Thin Flexi-style Pantiliners

These are a great concept, not-so-hot execution. They stick to my arse much better than they stick to my underwear!!

I am not so happy to have just found that out on the FIRST liner of a 100-pack box. *Sigh.*

Boomerang Presentations: How to Give a Workshops

On March 30th we took a workshop by Lily Iatridis of Boomerang Presentations on 6 simple strategies to share your message with any audience.

The timing was perfect, as Husband and I had just been offered the chance to give a workshop to the members of ICF-NYC on Internet marketing, specifically, "Everything You Always Wanted To Know About the Web But Didn't Have Anybody To Ask." Interestingly, we've been asked to do it even though the group is already offering a webinar this month on Internet marketing. And someone is giving a presentation in June on Linked In.

Frankly, they're smart -- there's just so much to know, why not hear everybody on the topic.

Our goal is to help people who have want to use the Internet as a business tool cut through the clutter and #1, know what action they want the person who finds them on the Web to take; #2, choose the tools that will work for them and #3, know how best to use them.

So, that brings me back to Lily and her workshop. I wouldn't have known those goals without her asserting that the first thing to do when planning a workshop is to figure out the "mastery learning objective." (I feel so professional using such a big phrase!)

She also stated that each goal should be given about half an hour. So, for our four-hour workshop, minus breaks, we can reasonably expect no more than 8 -- I'd say 6. Oh, and that's how many the workshop offered! Ok, so I'll stick with the pro. (Meanwhile our initial brain dump has yielded a list of, like, 12 Internet strategies to talk about. Need some further thinking on that!)

The next advice Lily had for us was to organize our workshop via "Say-Do." So for everything you teach the participants, give them a way to work on it, do it, think about it, talk about it. And I had no idea this was this important, but she said that 2/3 of the time should be spent on the "Do." Wow!

Frankly, that makes me feel less nervous about filling the time. (And it fits with one of the revelations I got today from Sesame Street; link about that coming soon once I get another blog up and running). This advice is also going to keep us from overwhelming our participants -- Husband and I tend to want to cram as much info as possible into everything we offer, in part because we simply know so much and also because we want to offer a lot of value.

The rest of the workshop was about how to build a relationship with our audience, how to be relaxed and natural, and dealing with troublesome audience members (which she also goes into on of her newly posted video clips from her recent Lifecoach TV appearance). I was really impressed with her experience and advice in this little-talked about area. And I would have not anticipated any of the issues raised unless I'd heard them discussed here, and now I not only know they could happen but also have a way to deal with them! Yay.

Finally, Lily went over how to talk about your other products and services during your workshop. She rightly emphasized the need to point out the benefits to the listener, and I liked that she stressed conveying "the cost of NOT working with you." And given the number of hangups we got at the end of one of our preview calls awhile back, her advice to promote throughout the presentation, instead of saving it for the end, made total sense.

I liked that she gave us stumper questions to think about (she lives by her own "say-do" approach!). Like this one (I'm paraphrasing): There's a fire drill right when you're about to start your culminating, bring-it-all-together final activity. When you all get settled again, there's time for that OR your sales pitch. Which do you do?

If you want the answer, you'll have to ask Lily! Her email is info@BoomerangPresentations.com.

All in all, I'd give her workshop an A. Thanks, Lily!

I Love DVR

I'm not sure whether we watch more tv or just enjoy it more since we've had DVR (digital video recording) service, but I'm really happy with it.

DuckyBoy loves being able to call up the show he wants to watch at any give time -- it's hard to believe I give him "when I was a kid" stories involving not being able to see things like the Charlie Brown Christmas special but once a year.

Husband and I also like being able to space out the shows we like throughout the week, though sometimes we "gorge" on a few in a night and then have a span with nothing (which is when those Netflix DVDs that are lying around come in handy).

Speaking of Netflix, we use the service a lot less now that we can DVR everything.