Happy Birthday to me! (And thanks to Randeep for drawing this photo of me!)

It’s hard to believe another year has past and i’ve added a “+1″ to my age as well. I’m blaming the content of this post on the fact that I spent 3 hours on Monday updating my scrapbook. Is that corny? #nah

Since my 25th birthday one year ago, I have (a few highlights):

• Moved to a new city (NYC!)
• Moved in with my boyfriend
• SOLD MY AUDI :( but kept her in the family
• Worked at a social media agency, then quit for a new job :)
• Started a new job at a mobile company (just down the street from the social media agency!)
• Watched my brother graduate college
• Bought my first pair of louboutins (amongst other shopping adventures in nyc)
• Made some wonderful new friends here in nyc

it’s been a great year, and CHEERS to 26 being the best ever.

Presenting on New Media & Millennials in Atlanta, GA

I’m a big fan of blogging.

Maybe that’s why I am currently leading a New Media Team while at my day job.

Or maybe it’s that reading mashable is one of my daily routines.

However you look at it, I like to call myself the CBO: Chief Blogging Officer. [Techyness note: I totally made this title up and the team makes fun of me for it.]

Each week, the team comes together to discuss what’s “going on” in the new media scene, and also to collaborate on our team projects.

A few weeks ago, our meeting was scheduled for shortly after Apple’s Macbook annoucement.We had to take “breaks” to check what the blogs were posting on the subject.

Calls like this one make me think back one year ago – our Blog v1.0 – the predecessor to the blog as you see it now. It was the day when our Facebook page was new, the Wikipedia entry had just launched, and we were the first (and only!) leadership program with a blog.

It’s interesting to work on blogs both personal in nature (techyness) and professional (imlp blog).  But on the techyness, I’m the solo blogger an operator. But working on a blog with a dedicated team while at work has led me to increase my knowledge on blogging, social media and how to manage a team… by just listening to my coworkers.

It’s important to understand the differences between the two – as they have different audiences and “goals” (yes blogs have goals too..)

Excerpts via GE IMLP BLOG

I can’t believe I’ve gone years tracking my purchases via your standard sites – fedex, ups, usps – where the output is completely text-based (and therefore boring… get with the times shipping companies!)

So, while anxiously awaiting the arrival of a special package, I found a new friend- BoxOh. Boxoh not only finds what carrier your tracking number matches up to (because you know how sometimes the carrier name isn’t given) but overlays the information on a google maps interface.

What’s interesting is that boxoh displays more up-to-date and detailed information than what I could find on the fedex site- just another reason to use it!

Powered by iSnoop.net, the developers also have some fun side stuff- like the magnetic fridge magnets, and check out their blog for more information on projects.

Celebrating 23 Years of Alana

Is it weird that one of the first things that crossed my mind on Sunday (My 23rd birthday) is the fact that I had to update my blog? Not just that a truly remarkable post needed to be written, but also that I needed to update that little bit of text on the right side of the page (go ahead, look) that said “I am a 22 23 year old …”

Well, now that I’ve updated that, it’s time for a little bit of techyness insight into the world of being 23. I kinda feel the same, but now I just have to remind myself to say “23″ instead of “22″ – and I think that being further away from 21 makes people take me more seriously.

Anyway, people have been asking me- “What did you do for your birthday? How did you figure out what to do”

Well, readers of the techyness, I leveraged pre-existing resources to determine my birthday agenda.

Birthday Dinner at Bacchanalia (L:R, Momma, Alana (Me), Lauren

Food. Since the mom was in for the weekend, she said “pick the restaurant.” That was probably a mistake, mom, as I looked up the #1 restaurant in atlanta using Yelp and OpenTable. And in true web 2.0 style, I reviewed it afterwards.

And it doesn’t hurt that I was wearing the same dress featured in Vogue / that Sheryl Crow wore to the Inauguration concert-

Events. Luckily GE had a “Family Day” event scheduled for my birthday at Atlanta’s High Museum, where mom & I checked out the Terracotta Warriors Exhibit- amazing! This Wikipedia article has more info- over 8,000 terracotta soldiers were recently found in 3 pits!

Presents. It’s kindof Techy… My mom traveled down to hotlanta with a (swedish made) sewing machine! Oh and I got a chest of drawers (not quite so techy)

Other (Girly Events). HAD to see confessions of a shopaholic with the atl girly group. Loved it. Especially that custom ring tone… and the fact we have the same speck hard case for our macs (mine’s clear and I have a pro, but basically the same thing, right?)

So what I am going to work on while being 23? Continuing to write for the techyness, of course! And maybe planning a few blogger events in Albany ? Oh and moving every 6 months for work (but more to come on that soon).

Jobs in IT hold strong!

I’m always willing to help out a fellow ‘cuse student- so when I received a friendly e-mail from a writer at SU’s student paper, The Daily Orange, I was more than willing to help. The DO gave me a chance as a writer even though I didn’t have any journalism experience… so giving back felt more than appropriate.

The student who contacted me told me that she was writing an article about my alma mater (the iSchool) and how graduates in IT are able to find jobs post-graduation.

Check out her article on the subject here, via The Daily Orange.

“The School of Information Studies has the highest reported starting salaries among all 2008 SU undergraduate alumni, with an average of $53,400 and nearly a 100 percent job placement rate, according to iSchool officials.”

Finding headphones is a little frustrating.

The only comparison I can make between the number of headphones/earbuds I have been through is to boyfriends. Some relationships ended with an upgrade at the end, and others ended a bit more tragically (take for example the death of my SkullCandy TI’s on Friday).

As of late, the boyfriend side is going well (2/14 update), but the headphone side is lacking. Hopefully the past doesn’t dictate the future…

Therefore, I’ve been updating all of my communications outlets, looking for advice, as well as searching through bestseller lists and reviews on Amazon. It’s really frustrating, because where can you really “test drive” headphones (bose doesn’t count in this category).

Seriously though, I’ve been having trouble in this aspect of my techy life (see chart.)

Why is it that the cheapest pair of headphones are the only ones surviving!?

So, what I’m really looking for is some help. I’m evaluating Shure’s headphone options, but can’t seem to decide on anything yet. So, this mission, should (I) choose to accept it, is to find a pair of headphones.