ambling alps - yeasayer

not the kid – communist daughter

the latter, being the inspiration for this post, is a loaded “thing” to believe in as there are so many unique aspects latent and hidden in the word. from the greek technología, the literal meaning can be a the study (logia) of an art or craft (tekhno) – which doesn’t really narrow the scope of its interpretation but is meaningful to me. for example, i’ve been thinking a lot recently about the study of sport is a technology. there is arguably an art and craft to being a [successful] athlete or coach – and as one that studies those groups – i am a technologist and i like that label more than i like any other labels that have been thrown upon me other the years. kinesiologist, journalist, or sociologist never fit quite right and i was always itching when wearing those brands. technology, anyway, was always the common thread  in all of those ensembles.

within the many meanings of technology and the phrase i used above “the power of technology”, social media lives. and the power of social media has been debated both here, there, and pretty much everywhere. there are benefits and drawbacks just like there are in most technologies – and i do not have the time nor inclination to wax about all of them. what i do what to promote today is how social media is powerful and EASY to us to get free and reduced goods and services. also, these examples just go to show that i am both a huge nerd and incredibly lucky – which is a great combination!

collective couponing - groupon and livingsocial have changed my life.  everyday, for many north american cities/locales, a deal is presented – usually at least 50% of a goods or service – and if a certain number of people buy the deal (on groupon this is called the “tipping point”), the coupon is valid. i used my first groupon on friday night at joe’s garage – where we got $40 worth of food and drink for $20. groupon even has an iPhone app, so you can just show them the codes. saving money and saving paper, what could be better?

needtobreathe from first avenue's staircase; view from a vip table

twitter contests – there are a lot of reasons to join twitter – but the one i want to note here is winning free stuff on this petite-blogging platform. just this week, i won two SWEET contests, totally nearly $200 in free-ness (and awesomeness for that matter).

a) first avenue, the iconic music venue featured in prince’s purple rain, runs a trivia contest called #tweettable prior to most of its shows. the premise is so simple – they tweet a question and then you tweet the [correct] answer back. if you are the first to do so AND you already have tickets to the show that night, you are upgraded to a VIP sightline seating table. stephen kellogg & the sixers and needtobreathe would have been quite the show from any vantage point, but were spectacular from the roped-off balcony.

b) in contrast to first ave’s tweet tables, the second contest i won this week was completely and utterly by chance. i follow a lot of minneapolis-based entities (companies, blogs, groups etc) and on thursday, TCFoodFinds tweeted the following:

it is just unadulterated luck that i saw this update and used my super google powers to find out the answer and just like that kate and i will be dining at OM on wednesday night for a six-course meal featuring steltzner vineyards.