For those that know me well, you know about my best pal Jenny Barbie aka. Jenny Beaker. Well, today is her dirty thirty birthday so please join me in wishing her all the best! Love ya girl!

Bargainsta tagged me today about revealing my *cough* beauty secrets...so here goes. (Hope you make-up companies are reading or following these memes. I am super low maintenance so this should be a quick one.

My Foundation: none

My Mascara: L'Oreal Voluminous - using since I was a teen (will not state when that was)

My Blush: Since my best friend Renita introduced me to the wonders of brush (truly wonders!), I have quite the stock of them. On rotation - Nars, Smashbox and Clinique

My Eye Shadow: none

My Day Cream: Kiehl's Ultra Facial Moisturizer
My Lipstick: none, unless you consider lip balm lipstick?

My Beauty Product Brand: Kiehl's

My Essential Beauty Product: Eyelash curler!

My Favorite Makeup Product: Eyelash curler!

My Perfume: Allergic.

My Nails: Same as Bargainista - salon uses Essie and OPI products. Right now the colour is 'thigh high'

My Feet: none

My Hands: Khiel's hand cream.

Three Products to bring on a deserted island: If you haven't already guessed: Kiehl's lip balm, my eye lash curler - and because it is a sunny island - some Kiehl's sunscreen

Women I admire for their beauty: where do I begin? Pretty much every women I see!

Woman with the Best Sense of Style: To each there own - if you can pull it off - do it!

My Ultimate Dream (but I do not believe in selling my soul to the devil for it): ?

How Do I Define Womanhood: If you feel like a woman, then you are one.

My Favorite Fashion Publication: Vogue

Who has some explainin' to do? Non-blog:
Renita Applebaum
Jenny Barbie
Hola Barbie

I expect a lot when a company I interact with online, asks me to do something that is out of the ordinary.

I want the user experience to be:
1. Simple
2. Fast
3. Convenient

When I received an email from Future Photo, Future Shop's Online and offline store, that they will be closing - BUT, had partnered with Kodak Gallery - I expected an easy transition - particularly from two great online e-commerce sites.

1. Simple

Yes, their email was clear and the buy-in for the partnership was easy with a clear benefit of giving me 100 Free 4x6 prints when I transfer my account over.

2. Fast

It was very fast. I filled out my login details, confirmed the details on the new site - and I was in. It took about 30 seconds for the entire procedure.

3. Convenient

Um, not so much. After I transfered my account details over - I got this pop-up message after the fact:

"If you have requested that your photos be transferred to Kodakgallery.ca you will receive an email when your transfer is complete. You may login to your Kodakgallery.ca account while photos are being transferred.

April 16, 2008 update: Due to the volume of photos being transferred this process may take up to a few weeks."

What they could have done to alleviate the bad user experience? Manage my expectations by telling me prior to the account transfer that it would take a few weeks to transfer the photo's over.

Customer, member, client expectations - if you can manage them, be upfront and straightforward - you can save yourself a lot of heartache - and your base will appreciate you for it.

I don't know who Michael Ho is - but I got an email from him today regarding the BETA version of Techdirt Insight Community.

Typically, I delete these messages but the email was simple and to the point. He explained what Techdirt was easily and the CTA was straightforward - signup.

"Techdirt matches up knowledgeable and insightful professionals with companies that are looking for advice. We just act as the marketplace that brings them together. Based on your experience with Internet marketing strategies, we have a match for your expertise."

When I logged into the site, I was really engaged. Although in BETA, the site has 5 Challenge Cases - all intriguing and actually...inspiring (bet, you didn't think that!). The best part is, if they like your insights, you will be rewarded. Right now, cash rewards range from $100 to $12,000.

Why else do I think this community will work?

As a case study:
- You are getting insights from marketing professionals from all industry sectors and are not exclusive to your 1 or 2 agencies that your company may or typically look to.
- You set the cost.

As a participant:
- You can get inspiration
- Get insight on how others are relooking at their strategies
- Get money for your hard working brains
- Keep you brain moving outside of your industry

Apparently high amounts of stress can cause your jaws to snap, crack and lock and you can also suffer hearing loss. Who knew?

I found this out today. I am clenching so hard that my jaw muscles are sore, a pain I thought would only happen if I chewed on a tough piece of steak. Muscles are so sore, that they are moving against the ear, causing on and off again hearing loss (Heck, I just thought I was congested).

Before taking the plunge to the dentist, I did the obvious. I googled my problem. Stress, jaw pain, ear infection, etc. I went on forums, yahoo answers and ping'd pals who are in the field (kinda). So prior to today's dentist visit - I kinda already knew.

And my self diagnosis was right.

So, what does this mean?
1. Should I do this all the time, and if the diagnosis isn't too bad - not go see a specialist?
2. Always see a specialist no matter what?

Time for some painkillers.