I am taking a quick holiday to Kelowna, BC for a week of golfing, wake-boarding and of course water-skiing (in case I have not mentioned this in a while, water-skiing is one of my favorite pastimes).

It’s also something of a work project, as while we’re there playing three Golf BC courses, we’ll be compiling footage and audio for GuysOnGolf.com, my beloved side project that I started along with my brother and friends Jeff Leyland and Ryan Sullivan of The Team1040 sports radio station here in Vancouver.

We’re still just getting started, but there are already some videos, podcasts and a number of BC course reviews over at the site.

While I’m gone, I’ll be trying to upload a few posts, pics and maybe even some raw chunks of video, so keep an eye out for that (if you’re a golfer, that is).

We’d love to have you in our new Facebook group, too.

Several months back, I signed up to be one of 100 authors to write a new book titled “The Age of Conversation.”

The project was the brainchild of Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton, who did it on a dare, and used just a few blog posts and several emails to compile the group and the submissions, before the real work started. The book itself launched two days ago. It is available as an e-book, in paperback and as a hard cover, starting at just $9.99 USD.

All proceeds from the book go to Variety, The Children’s Charity, so do yourself a favor and feel that good feeling that comes with helping the kids while discovering a great book penned by a grand total of 103 authors. My paper-back copy is still en route, and I can’t wait to read it all.

Authors were asked to submit 400 words or less on the topic of conversation. In such a large group of terrific bloggers and thinkers, I chose to hone in on web content, and how when it is done right, it can start a conversation.

Here’s an excerpt from my “chapter:”

A good web presence starts with your website; your base of operations. The words you use to represent yourself are incredibly important; even visual learners need to know that there is some substance behind the pretty pictures. The copy on your website should tell a story about you, even though it’s not actually about you. It’s about your visitors, and you should speak to them accordingly.

A rather short snippet, but when the whole chapter is just 400 words, that’s a relatively good sample size. I would be remiss if I didn’t give a nod to my fellow authors, so they hear they are:

Gavin Heaton
Drew McLellan
CK
Valeria Maltoni
Emily Reed
Katie Chatfield
Greg Verdino
Mack Collier
Lewis Green
Sacrum
Ann Handley
Mike Sansone
Paul McEnany
Roger von Oech
Anna Farmery
David Armano
Bob Glaza
Mark Goren
Matt Dickman
Scott Monty
Richard Huntington
Cam Beck
David Reich
Luc Debaisieux
Sean Howard
Tim Jackson
Patrick Schaber
Roberta Rosenberg
Uwe Hook
Tony D. Clark
Todd Andrlik
Toby Bloomberg
Steve Woodruff
Steve Bannister
Steve Roesler
Stanley Johnson
Spike Jones
Nathan Snell
Simon Payn
Ryan Rasmussen
Ron Shevlin
Roger Anderson
Robert Hruzek
Rishi Desai
Phil Gerbyshak
Peter Corbett
Pete Deutschman
Nick Rice
Nick Wright
Michael Morton
Mark Earls
Mark Blair
Mario Vellandi
Lori Magno
Kristin Gorski
Kris Hoet
G.Kofi Annan
Kimberly Dawn Wells
Karl Long
Julie Fleischer
Jordan Behan
John La Grou
Joe Raasch
Jim Kukral
Jessica Hagy
Janet Green
Jamey Shiels
Dr. Graham Hill
Gia Facchini
Geert Desager
Gaurav Mishra
Gary Schoeniger
Gareth Kay
Faris Yakob
Emily Clasper
Ed Cotton
Dustin Jacobsen
Tom Clifford
David Polinchock
David Koopmans
David Brazeal
David Berkowitz
Carolyn Manning
Craig Wilson
Cord Silverstein
Connie Reece
Colin McKay
Chris Newlan
Chris Corrigan
Cedric Giorgi
Brian Reich
Becky Carroll
Arun Rajagopal
Andy Nulman
Amy Jussel
AJ James
Kim Klaver
Sandy Renshaw
Susan Bird
Ryan Barrett
Troy Worman
S. Neil Vineberg

It was tremendous pleasure being a part of this, and I am proud to be among such a great collaboration that was made possible through the conversations we have online everyday. It has already been featured by Fast Company, Business Week and many, many others.

Go. Buy your copy. Now.

That’s the question.

As a sweet Monday morning treat, check out this catchy little music video (presumably from the Netherlands); a playful look at blogging.

I love the typewriter keys as an instrument. Great stuff.

Hat tip to Erno Hannink for emailing me the link.

His timing is excellent, because over the past few days I have asked by several small business bloggers about how to make their blog a better business tool.

And who better to impart that kind of wisdom than Mack Collier of the Viral Garden. Better still, you can read Mack’s condensed version of “Eight Easy Ways to Grow Your Blog” on his own site, or read the full monty over at Marketing Profs (freebie article).

A quick excerpt:

#4 - Showcase readers who make special contributions. Do everything you can to make sure that readers that frequently comment, or link to your blog, know that you appreciate them. It’s just common courtesy, and when you have a reader that’s going out of their way to be a faithful community member, you cannot do enough to encourage and reward that behavior.

I for one can attest to the fact that Mack certainly practices what he’s preaching there. Great post Mack, and a great one-stop resource for business bloggers, all.

Or at least I hope it is. Today is 7/7/7, a (triple-digit) phenomenon I suppose we see come about every year now; each time one year, one month and one day later than the last.

I happened to notice this time though, as today I turn 31. We’re having dinner at 7, just to be cheeky.

The episode of The Lab that we taped last month will air on August 7 on G4Tech TV (news about the Google Video “release date” coming soon), and I have been invited back to tape another segment on July 12, on the subject of using social media to promote your business.

So, in the true spirit of community, I’m polling everyone (rather informally, just use the comment form below) to find out what social networking sites you like, and how you use them to promote yourself (or your company, where applicable).

I’ve already drafted some notes on:

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Virb
• Flickr
• and Bebo (which I actually know very little about. Erno? Can you help?)

Any tips or hints you want to share? Any others that deserve top billing in a lightning-fast, six minute talk on social networks? Linda, I’m counting on your input here.

I welcome any and all comments and suggestions.

Or rather, in this case, back in my comfy office chair in front of my window, typing away on my desktop PC.

To bring you up to speed, well over a week ago I experienced a system meltdown, and it seemed as though all was lost. In fact, I even got a call originally from Garry Wagner at Computer Troubleshooters saying that the error wasn’t familiar to him, and that a pricey data recovery (by a third party) might be necessary, and still offer no guarantees.

But then Garry called back on Friday with better news; he had found the glitch (attempting to re-create the actual technical jargon would just expose me for the non-techie that I am) and that all was going to be right with the world.

Garry was extremely helpful, picking up and delivering my system right to my door, and he did it all within the budget of his original quote. Can’t find fault with that kind of service, now can you?
Thanks Garry, you saved me. Now I promise to back-up my data often, and never to take my system for granted again.