It is that time of year again, you know, the one where grown men grow the elusive mustachio in an effort to raise awareness and fight mens’ cancers. What is this awesomeness you ask? One word, Movember.

For the second year in a row, I will be donating my follicaly challenged upper lip to help fight testicular and prostate cancer along with my MoBros on Team Boston, I am also being joined by the Mustache Kid (AKA Baby Espo). Each day, I’ll take a picture on my MoPage where you can track my progress or mock my foolishness.

To help make the event more fun in my fundraising I am selling the following items for the charity:

• $50 naming rights to the mustache
• $75 naming rights for the Mustache Kid’s pacifier (thanks Rebecca Denison for sending it to me)
• $100 pick the mustache style I grow for the month

Now each week I will be making an update video and the names will be referenced. Just think of t as a running gag joke that pops up each week. In all honesty I understand that times are tough and would truly appreciate any donation that you can afford from $0.25 to $100, as all the money goes to a great cause (did I also mention that I will be making an ass of myself?).

So I know you are asking youself how you can get involved, well for that, please click the giant CLICK ME link below or the Movember icon to the left.

CLICK ME TO DONATE!

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

A lot of things in life only happen once like first kiss, first tooth, first time you cried going to school, first day of working, but none of those experiences have been as special as my first Father’s Day which I am celebrating today. Here’s a quick video post of what it means to me along with some fun videos from the Pamper’s event that I attended yesterday at the New England Aquarium. Click here if you can’t view the video.

Thanks again to CC Chapman and the folks at Pamper’s for having me there.

UPDATE – CC’s Video:

Pampers First Fathers BBQ Boston from C.C. Chapman on Vimeo.

On April 12, I called out of work because my wife went into labor. Over the 13 days that followed I was out of the office

and really stepped away from my keyboard to focus on my new expanded family. Sure I Tweeted or checked in on foursquare or Facebook here or there, but for the most part, I was an inactive member of the social grid. Odd as it may seem, it wasn’t all that hard at all.

And you know what?

I didn’t miss anything aside from a cloud server going down. Sure my Klout score may have dropped a notch or two and I was attacked by a scary mom troll for a conversation I had with my friend Stephanie Wonderlin, none of this was really that impactful.

What was impactful were the visits of family and friends and well wishes that Mrs. Espo and I received for the young Espo. We truly appreciate all of the IRL and virtual love.

The time off the grid also helped me refocus on goals and priorities that I have both personally and professionally. I haven’t missed a beat in the grand scheme of things and returned to work with a new vigor and focus, despite less hours of sleep.

It also made me realize that you can take your eyes off of things every now and then. In this space we all take ourselves too seriously and sometimes we all need life to kick us in the ass or to stop and smell the roses… it’s the little things that matter.

Thirty years ago today Patricia Stefanczyk gave birth to a 10 pound bundle of joy that has grown up to give you this blog.

Looking back there were a lot of good times, but a lot more left in the tank. So bear with me as I make this my song of the day.

Last week, I had my bi-annual review at work. My boss and I discussed where I was in my development and areas that I needed to improve upon to continue my career growth. It provided a number of actionable items to do over the next six months, but it also got me thinking about growth outside of the office as well. While I want to be successful in my career, it is not everything.

I want to complete a number of things for me and my family. Some of which include:

• Not working as late, baby Espo is on his way so I want to be there and not miss the little things
• Make sure Baby Espo has everything he needs
• Write a book (cliché, but a long-standing goal from high school)
• Increase time unplugged by 20%
• Increase blog traffic by 10%
• Meet more of you during the year face to face

Sure these goals are great; I am just having a problem setting benchmarks to put up as indicators of success and how to make sure that I am on track.

Do you set personal goals? If so, how do you benchmark?

Image – Lisa Van Alstyne

Chances are somewhere along the way you’ve heard the adage about what to do when life hands you lemons – you make lemonade. While it may sound cliché, if you think about it, you’ve probably made more lemonade than a carnie at the state fair – and yes I know they serve up a bunch.

You see, life is not perfect. We are faced with challenges, hurdles and disappointments on a daily basis in both our private and professional lives. It is a fact of life that we just need to overcome and not dwell on.

During my near decade working in the PR world, fixing things and working with less than ideal situations has been common place for me. Employers and media people don’t want to hear what is holding up a project, they just want to hear the thud of the clip book hitting the table. Results are more important than excuses.

Based on conversations I’ve had with folks who manage social accounts for their companies, it seems like the lemons have rolled into that space as well. Whether it’s lack of funding, staffing, buy-in, time or something else; it seems like there are endless obstacles. Instead of whining about them, folks need to take the carnie approach and make some sweet lemonade for the masses.  So here are some quick tips to tackle some of the biggest lemons that come up in the social space.

Lack of time – No matter how hard you try, there are only 24 hours in a day.  Extending your work day over nine hours will only leave you burned out in the long run. So work smarter not longer. Create set times to check out social sites and stick to it. You can be Clark Kent and should only pull out the cape when you get into a crisis or super awesome campaign. If you are like me and have a tendency to get distracted by shiny things or obsess over your own personal social conversations, turn off your personal accounts during the day or only have them on during dedicated time for social.

Buy-in – Despite meteoric adoption over the past year, some folks still see social networks as a time waste. If this is the case at your company or organization, just start the effort and don’t ask for permission. If you can prove a value, it is hard to argue against it. Just know that you need to find the time to do without slipping on your other duties.

Staffing – Sure the space is blowing up, but the money is not. Unless you work for a company that has already engrained social media into their DNA, you will have to learn to work efficiently with less. It sucks but you can accomplish it by pulling in other people in your organization who are passionate about social media. While it may not be ideal in the short run, getting cross functional partnerships will help you out in the long run.

At the end of the day, obstacles are always going to be there. Overcoming them and making a success despite them is the real reward. How do you deal with obstacles?

Image – Krazy Kake Bakers

Please & Thank You

Say them often.

Use them daily.

Works in life.

Works in business.

Don’t forget to.

Rinse and repeat.

Image: Fran Tapia

Over the past few months, the popular hashtags Snoloko, Snopacalypse, and Snowmageddeon have been very popular in the social space (editors note, while I hate them, I tagged into one for a foursquare badge. I am an addict I know). The TV news has been on snow watch and schools were cancelled.

Overall you would think that it was the end of the world in the Northeastern quadrant of the United States. This white stuff that falls from the sky was ruining everything. Funny thing is that EVERYONE has missed the point.

If you live in the Northeast from New Jersey to Maine, you can expect to see snow in the winter. It is a fact of life, it is cold and it happens. Kind of like heading to the Jersey Shore and seeing meatheads coming out of the woodwork.

Sure it sucks, but it is not the end of the world.

Over the holiday weekend, my wife and I headed to New Jersey to spend time with my family. Unfortunately it also coincided with the Blizzard of 2010, also dubbed #Snowpocalypse or #Snowmageddeon. Here’s some videos of the aftermath and cleanups at my parents’ house in Saddle Brook, NJ.

Hope you survived the snow as well.

As many of you know, I grew a mustache during November as a part of Team Boston in Movember. All of the money raised went on to benefit the Prostate Cancer Foundation and LIVESTRONG. My team generated nearly $40,000 with $400 of that coming from those of you supporting me. To that I say thank you to my friends, family and online friends that I am still yet to make an IRL connection with. Please accept this video as my humble thank you to you and let me know if there is a way that I can help you in the future.

If you want to see some full mustached tomfoolery, check out the Team Boston slideshow below:

As I was sitting and starting on some blog posts and waiting for my wife’s flight land in Boston and was thumbing through the TV listings. Instead of the Saturday morning cartoons that I grew up with there was just crap that made me feel dumb watching that. I started to think about the great Saturday morning cartoons and then saw this Tweet:

So obviously I am not the only one that thought of that and decided to log into YouTube and watch some of my favorite old cartoon themes.

Here are some of my all-time favorites:

What did I miss and what was your favorite?

We’re now four days into November and I am officially not shaving the hair coming off my upper lip. Confused, don’t be. I have donated my upper lip and the hair that comes out of it to changing the face of men’s health for Movember.

What is Movember you ask?

So what does this mean to you?

Well for starters I know that you don’t like cancer and want to help me fight it. To do that, you can either join #TeamBos if you are in the Boston area or head over to http://bitly.com/MoEspo to donate to my moustache growing and see how awesome (read ridiculous) I look. Right now I am looking for the

Now I know that may not seem like much fun, so I will help make it more worthwhile for you.

• If you donate $5 I will mail you a sweet Movember pin and sticker
• If you donate $10 I will mail you a sweet Movember LiveStrong-style bracelet, sticker and pin
• If you donate $25 I will give you those and a hug
• If you donate $50 I will do all that and buy you a burrito at Boloco on any day up to December 5
• If you donate $100 I’ll buy you a case of booze and a cigar (must be 21)
• If you donate $500 I will let you choose my mustache style and will grow it until I can meet the style

What do you say? Let’s stop testicular and prostate cancer together.

I have a friend who we’ll call “Steve.”

Steve got an internship at a large online company and did a superb job.

Steve is now an experienced, highly valued employee at a start-up in Manhattan.

Steve and I got into a discussion about the “it’s who you know” argument when it comes to landing jobs, clients, internships, etc., after I found out his family friend was a higher-up at this large online company.

“Aren’t you lucky?” I said (jealously, I admit).

“It’s all about who you know,” he replied.

“No it’s not…” I hold firm to this belief and will find it near impossible to ever let go.

My mother worked in education and my father works in engineering. No matter how we might try, those worlds never just so happen to collide into my profession: public relations.

I have held three internships, and two jobs all on my own merit. Did I network and use the tools available to me? Yes! (I actually was first introduced to my new job via Twitter.) I networked and put myself out there. But I never got a job because I knew someone on the inside.

Is that to say anyone who does land a job because he or she does know someone on the inside isn’t deserving? Absolutely not. What I’d prefer to stress is that for those of you job searching who don’t “know” anyone, it is OK. You will find something fitting on your own merit. You just can’t be afraid to network, network, network!

How do you feel about this topic? Have you gotten a job without knowing anyone at the company? Or did you know someone? What has your experience been like?

This post was written by Kate Ottavio a PR professional working in Manhattan. You can find her at twitter.com/kottavio.

*This blog post is based on my own views and do not reflect those of my clients or employer.

Show of hands: How many of you have a smart phone glued to your hand? iPod? Laptop? The list goes on and on.  I am a self proclaimed

technology addict.  My phone is always in my hand and I love every second of it.  I love being connected, seeing what’s happened, and having the ability to connect with someone new.  My “in real life” or “IRL” experiences are put aside for a lifestyle focused on technology.

A few weeks ago Jeff reached out to me to write a post while he was disconnecting and going on vacation with his family.  DISCONNECTING.  Really?  Do people still do that?  At that time, I wasn’t sure I knew how to do that.  So when he approached me, the first thing that came to my mind was writing about being a millennial that hangs up and goes back to real life.  I am not going to lie to you, this is foreign to me and I may or may not have written this post several different times to even wrap my mind around this.

Around the same time Jeff asked me to write this post, I met someone who literally takes my phone from me and forces me into real life. Shook me up a bit, and slowly but surely I am getting there.  Now that I am on this journey to learning how to hang up and experience real life in that moment, I thought I could share some tips and open up some discussion on why we should experience real life.

Why should I?

I have been plugged in for years.  In high school I always had my phone; in college I always had my laptop; now as a profession, well you know how it goes.  So why would I want to hang up. I didn’t see the harm in always being on Facebook, Twitter, and having access to what’s going on.  When my phone was taken away from me and I was forced to disconnect, it was really jarring.  Why?  What is it that makes me “need” to be connected all the time?

I love it.  I love being able to tweet out experience, connect with new people, see what others are experiencing and being able to reach out to new people.  What’s that all about?  I realized that I was taking away from IRL experiences by focusing on what’s happening online.  Silly really.

Put it away

That’s right.  Do it!  Realize the IRL is important and should never take a back seat to Twitter, Facebook or whatever app you just had to have.  Easier said than done right?  I am currently going through this journey and teaching myself to hang up (when appropriate).  I wanted to share the top 5 things that I do to try to hang up:

1. Leave your phone away when out of groups – restaurants, drinks, coffee, etc.
2. Take 30 minutes after work to decompress – put it all away and do something for yourself – read, go for a walk, listen to some music, etc.
3. Don’t feel like you need to check-in every second – life is short; you may miss something online but the IRL experience is irreplaceable
4. Create a calendar or timeline and stick to it – be online but know when you need to check back into the real word
5. Go away – be like Jeff and make time to hang up.

So now that you know why we love being connected, why we should disconnect, and have some of my tips on how to do it, we want to hear from you.  If Jeff can hang up and leave his blog to some crazy people like myself, why can’t you?  Share some thoughts, tips, and critiques.  Let’s hear it.

Teresa Cantwell is the marketing and community manager at EXPO Communications, Inc. Teresa spends her days getting to know the EXPO community and helping provide a platform for consumers to voice their unbiased opinions through a variety of programs.

It has been a while, but Mrs. Espo and I have decided to take our first real vacation in over two years now. We really like fall in New England, but it would be nice to get some sun and beach time in before we head into the frozen season.

Instead of letting the content on this blog go stale, I have reached out to some of my best friends in the online space to pen some guest posts that I am sure you’ll enjoy. Here is the schedule of the upcoming pieces and a link back to their sites and Twitter handles so you can check ‘em out (you can also follow all of them here):

Kate Ottavio (Twitter) – 10/12 & 10/22

Keith Trivitt (Twitter) – 10/13

Rebecca Denison (Twitter) – 10/15

Mike Schaffer (Twitter) – 10/18

Teresa Cantwell (Twitter) – 10/20

I’ll be automating some tweets to get these posts out there under the hashtag #vacatweet and checking in now and then. If I miss you, I’ll surely get back to you when I get back from my bottomless drink with my feet in the sand.