But if you’re interested in what’s been keeping me busy these days while I’m not updating my blog, I’ll tell you. I’ve been doing some consulting work with a few clients while going to school full time. I’ve also rebranded my tumblr blog and opened a online store selling vintage home goods.

There are of course a bunch of other projects I always have floating around my head at any given time that I’d like to explore. Most recently I’ve been wanting to teach a skillshare class on the importance of copy in social media. But chances are before I get a chance to put a whole class together it will probably just become a blog post here.

So when the guy asked me how I got the Gowalla shirt, I was honest with him. I said “I paid for this shirt”. He looked really confused, he said “wait, you paid money for that shirt?”. My response: “Yes, I paid cash money for this shirt”.

I love the design of Gowalla, so I am willing to pay to wear their brand. However, I was not really using Gowalla at SXSW. I was not willing to check in everywhere just to get a shirt, but I was willing to pay for one. That’s the difference between loving the design and loving the service!

I love Foursquare, and the new update makes me love it even more! Foursquare bringing back the leaderboard was smart! It feels like a game again. Every check-in counts and I’m loving it.

Foursquare is also showing me more about my check-in history. Gives me extra points for hanging out with the same people, and really is helping me to explore my city.

This is going to make foursquare tips more useful. Just the other day I got a thank you on twitter for a foursquare tip I left over a year ago.

My Gowalla shirt from SXSW 2010

It’s things like this that will make me add more tips because I know they are really useful to my friends. I also think this will turn into certain friends becoming experts in the categories of places that they check-in most. Of course my friends are going to look for my tips when they are looking for a good vegetarian place to eat. Hopefully foursquare will start to reflect the expertise that your friends have. They had the data, why not use it!

Gowalla hasn’t lost me as a user yet, I just use foursquare more at this point. That is why you will see me wearing a Gowalla shirt, while checking in on Foursquare.

On May 12th, 2008, Gary appeared on the Late Show with Conan O’Brien. So he had a little party for the release of his book ’101 Wines that bring the Thunder’ and to watch the show.

Looking back on these photos I didn't even realize that AJ was there that night

When I first showed up to the small bar that the event was being held in I wasn’t sure I was in the right place. But my friend and I asked the hostess and she kindly informed us that there was a small group of people waiting for Gary in the front table.

Seeing as how we didn’t really know anyone else, we sat at another table and ordered a glass of wine. Soon more people began to show up but it wasn’t an overwhelming amount of people. After all, this was a very late event seeing as how the show aired at 12:30am.

Cheers!

Finally Gary arrived and he had brought with him cases of wine for everyone. This was still a very small event compared to other events of Gary’s that I’ve attended since but it was still very generous of him.

Before the show started Gary went around saying hello to everyone. When he came over to our table I introduced myself and Gary just looked at me and said “I know who you are”. I must have smiled from ear to ear because at the time I had only been video blogging for a few months but to think that Gary had seen my stuff was the biggest ego boost in the world (in a good way).  It really validated what I had started doing and encouraged me to keep doing it.

This is a horrible photo of me but just deal with it ok

Over these last few years Gary has been a big supporter and a huge mentor to me. I can honestly say that I wouldn’t be where I am in my career right now if it wasn’t for him. So in the spirit of his new book, I wanted to say Thank You Gary!

My role at AOL will be an ever changing one. As we all know, the internet does’t like to stay still and we constantly have to adapt to the changing landscape of this world that we live in, but we do it because we love it! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…I love the internet! And AOL is the perfect place for me right now.

Many of you know that I am still in school, so hearing about my new position confused a lot of people. Just to clarify…I’m still in school, full time. I will be working at AOL 30 hours a week as a Social Media Consultant for the Marketing team at AOL media.

Finding a company that recognizes the talent in someone that is still in school and is willing to take a chance on them is hard to find! This position at AOL does one very important thing and that is, it allows me to be myself! I finally feel like I don’t have to hide the fact that I’m still a student or the fact that I have (and have had) a great career!

I don’t think any of this would be possible without the awesomeness that is Matthew Knell! Back in 2009 I wrote about him in my Good People Day post and I can’t think of any better words to sum up how grateful I am to have him as a friend and mentor!

Matt Knell. You were the first person to ever come up to me, already knowing who I was, at a Mashable event back last summer. It was one of the most flattering moments EVER. Since then you have become a great friend and provided me with some great advice over the past year. You have never stopped believing in me and pushing me to be the best person I can be.

I’m so excited to be an AOLer and continue to build communities online.

But when you build a community, you also need to see how it reacts to changes that you make. When I started blogging about health and food, those posts never got nearly as much positive feedback from the community as the posts I would write about iPhone apps, or my geek gift guide. Just because my personal interests shifted, I can’t expect the entire community I built to be interested in it too.

So even though this is my personal blog, I feel that the content has lost direction and I would really like to re-focus it. I will continue to write about technology, geeky things, and online communities here on Random Sarah.

However, writing about food, health and my diet is something that I have a growing interest in and while I won’t write about it here on Random Sarah anymore, I am pleased to announce that I am started a food blog called Eat Raw. I wanted to start from scratch and build a community there that is interested in learning more about raw foods, and health in general. I have different goals for Eat Raw now then goals I had when I started Random Sarah. Some of my goals are the become a featured publisher on FoodBuzz, to grow a community that is interested in Raw Foods, and possibly attend a Raw Foods culinary school and see where that takes me.

These are all things that I would love to happen, but it will take hard work and dedication to the community for it to grow. But I wanted to let all of my Random Sarah readers know about my new endeavor into the world of food blogging and to let you know that I will continue to bring you the same Random Sarah content here that you are used to.

Thank you again for supporting me and reading Random Sarah.

1. Number one on my gift guide is something that’s also at the top of my wish list. The iPad (I know, Oprah and I agree on something). I was going to wait for version 2, but so many people I know say that it has changed their everyday experience that I don’t see a reason to wait. If you want one, or know someone that wants one..it’s the perfect holiday gift.

There are so many reasons I want an iPad, but I won’t bore you with all of them. The main reason is I think it’s a great device for consuming content, and it continues to get better every day. The apps that have been developed for the iPad are simply amazing. I look forward to seeing what this device can do.

2. If you know someone who is just sick of smartphones, I know the perfect gift for them. John’s Phone. John’s Phone is billed as the “worlds simplest cell phone”. The phone has no screen on the front, it doesn’t send text messages, you can’t play games on it, it just makes phone calls. The buttons are big and easy to read, and it has a simple display on top so that you can see the number of the person who is calling (similar to a beeper display). It’s a unlocked phone and it will take any kind of SIM card. Another cool retro feature is that it has a paper address book on the back and it comes with a little pen-stylist.

Just think about how funny it will be when everyone is pulling out their latest device, and your friend pulls out a John’s Phone. It’s the perfect anti-smartphone!

Now we move on to accessories for all those gadgets that the geek in your life has.

3. The Glif. Glif is a tripod mount & stand for your iPhone 4. I found out about the Glif when the creators started a project on Kickstarter. They ended up raising $137,417 which was 1378% of their goal! Most of that funding was because people wanted to buy the Glif. If you pledged $20 or more you were essentially placing a pre-order for a Glif.

The Glif will allow you to mount an iPhone 4 onto any standard tripod mount, as well as act as a simple stand for the phone. Check out the video below which shows you some of the amazing uses for the Glif!

4. Moleskine cases for the iPad and iPhone. I love Moleskine notebooks, so when I saw that they made official cases for the iPad and iPhone I was super excited! The downside is, right now they only have a case for the iPhone 3G and not the iPhone 4. I also am not sure if I’d want my phone in such a bulky notebook case, but the iPad case looks pretty sweet!

Each cover is combined with blank notebook pages. They are designed to make using the device easier, by combining analog and digital functionality.

5. iPad foot. Similar to the Glif, the iPad foot is designed to make it easier to use your iPad by propping it up at and angle.

I love how simple this product is. I’ve seen a few iPad stands, but they usually are pretty big. This is a tiny product that does a big job and does it beautifully. But what I love most about this product is the price. It’s only $25! It comes in white, black, green and red.

Now we move on to a few stocking stuffers.

6. I have two USB keys to show you. The first is the Clé USB. It’s a more feminine design. I love how simple and beautiful it is. I wouldn’t hesitate to wear it around my neck as a necklace!

It has a 2GB capacity and it costs $50. I know it’s a little pricy for a USB stick, but I still think it makes a great gift!

The second USB key has amore neutral design. The LaCie iamaKey USB Flash Drive is an 8 GB flash drive and it’s only $27.21 on Amazon!

What I love most about it is that you can actually fit it on a key ring, and it blends right in. It’s also much thinner than a traditional flash drive.

If you are looking for a more personal gift to give I have a few suggestions.

7. The first is a very personal gift that is one of a kind, an original piece of artwork. My good friend Brandon Friend was recently commissioned to make this portrait of a little girl. He really enjoyed creating something special and personal for someone else and thought, what better gift for the holiday season. If you are interested in giving the gift of art this holiday and want to turn a digital photo into a timeless object you can contact him at brandonfriend(at)gmail(dot)com.

8. Lastly, if you are shopping for a geek in your life chances are they might have already made it easy for you to find out what they want. Check to see if they have a wish list on Amazon, or maybe they have a Svpply account where they share the things they want.

Do a little research, they may already be telling you what the perfect gift is.

I hope you enjoyed this years Geek Gift Guide. I’d love to know what’s on your wish list this year, and what you are planning on getting for all the geeks in your life!

So I’ve decided that I want to finish a documentary photo project I started a few years ago by getting the work gallery ready and putting on a gallery exhibition. It will take a lot of work so I will be starting a kickstarter project to help me fund it.

Please watch the video above for more details and I will keep you posted as the process goes on.

Last week was Internet Week here in NYC, and in the few days since I have had a lot of time to reflect on this past year of me being a part of this amazing community. I have been spending the majority of my time lately looking for a full time job, and that has put a lot of my passion projects on hold.

I got into this “new media” space because I was passionate about online video and I stumbled upon Social Media by accident. I was perfectly happy going on facebook and reading apple rumor sites. I had almost no desire to be on twitter, to be a blogger or a podcast creator. Then I started watching video podcasts and I realized that I wanted to create content as well.

As much as it seams like I’m busy, I know that it is not an excuse for letting my passion for online video fall off. What’s it All About has hit a few bumps in the road, and I feel as if I am back to square one with the project. However, instead of being discouraged I have decided to modify what I was doing.

Very often people will ask me questions, either on twitter, or via email. For example, the other day someone asked my about #followfriday best practices. I get asked questions about social media all the time. So, I am just going to start answering them on video, here in my room. For right now I am thinking that I will just put these videos up here on Random Sarah because I am not really sure that they are part of the What’s it All About brand, and I’m not really sure what that brand is anymore.

You can ask me questions on twitter or shoot me and email

I would love your feedback since you have all been an amazing part of this journey.

p.s. I am still working on the user generated “I am a geek” video, but so far I only have 5 submissions so keep them coming!

A “tweetup” is a local meeting of Twitter users, usually announced ahead of time. Tweetups can take place any time or any place, and usually everyone in the area is invited. It helps give social networking a more palpable environment and allows local Twitter users to meet each other in person.

So why would you do this? Why would you want to publicly announce on twitter that you were going to be somewhere and that you wanted complete strangers to come meet you there?

A tweetup usually starts as a desire for twitter users to meet IRL (in real life). Sometimes it’s a group of friends, sometimes it’s just a random group of people.

The tweetup I attended the other night started out simply because my friend Tim (@tspatz) wanted to see his friend @newscred, who was in NYC from out of town, and Tim wanted some of his friends to meet him.

So Tim DM’d some of his friends on twitter with the time and place. This quickly turned into a tweetup when the conversation went public on twitter.

Everyone that had been invited was tweeting about the tweetup and the result was really interesting.

Just like anything else on twitter, tweetups spread in an interesting way. I like to call it the re-tweet effect. (it’s kind of like a game of telephone)

If I tweet something it has the potential to reach the 1,800 people that are following me. However, my friend can re-tweet it and then all of his followers will see it as well.

So at this tweetup we had a few different groups of people that had formed organically based on how the tweets about the tweetup went out.

The tweet I sent out looked like this:

sarahcooley: RT @WaltRibeiro: TONIGHT Lunasa NY 1st ave b/t 7th and 8th St. @ 7pm! Let’s do it! #tweetup #nyc I’m on my way there now!

But some re-tweets looked like this:

jerrylore: RT @newscred: Entrepreneur/hacker #tweetup tonight atLunasa in the East Village #nyc , 6pm. Free beers on NewsCred if you come early!

So here are my favorite links, photos, and videos from my Tumblr blog this week:

The Cult of Done Manifesto

1. There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.
2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
3. There is no editing stage.
4. Pretending you know what you’re doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you’re doing even if you don’t and do it.
5. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.
6. The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.
7. Once you’re done you can throw it away.
8. Laugh at perfection. It’s boring and keeps you from being done.
9. People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.
10. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.
11. Destruction is a variant of done.
12. If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done.
13. Done is the engine of more.

Preparing for Chaos – the Life of a Startup

“Startups are inherently chaos. As a founder you need to prepare yourself to think creatively and independently, because more often than not, conditions on the ground will change so rapidly that the original well-thought-out business plan becomes irrelevant. If you can’t manage chaos and uncertainty, if you can’t bias yourself for action and if you wait around for someone else to tell you what to do, then your investors and competitors will make your decisions for you and you will run out of money and your company will die. Therefore the best way to keep your company alive is to instill in every employee a decisive mindset that can quickly separate the crucial from the irrelevant, synthesize the output, and use this intelligence to create islands of order in the all-out chaos of a startup.”

Real Life Twitter

Screen-shot from the NFL Draft (this was done by me)