2015 so far.....

I haven't been posting really at all this year. Its been busy! And yeah it only takes a few minutes to write a quick post that nobody will read but hey, that's my excuse!!

So far this year we have been through several funerals, surgery, a water heater failing, kids AC crapping out, a few sicknesses, testing, passing stones, lots of family time, great Easter celebration, a few b-day parties, friend visits, much child hurricane cooking in our kitchen, loosing teeth, zoo time, camping, baseball games and lots of prayers. 

Life is hard, or so I've heard. But when it seems like things/stuff is always happening you stop noticing as you kinda get used to it. And we use those moments of learning and growing to get bitter and depressed.....or we trust in God's plan for us realizing that we don't actually have all the control and give it up to him. 

With hardships and sadness also come family and joy. And you take pictures and selfies and videos to remember, cherish, and document those moments and memories with the ones you love. 

I take a lot of pictures. I mean a poop load but it can be really very relaxing to scroll through my OneDrive/Box/Amazon/GDrive/DropBox/Evernote/Readability/etc. accounts to remind myself of all the happiness and fun. 

I think the brokenness we are as human really strives to focus on the negative events and that's depressing. But when you have prayer and JC in your corner..things never get unlivable.

Thanks for reading and have a great Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Kirk

Google Maps map on a website

How to embed a Google Maps map on a website:

1. Open Google Maps.
2. Make sure the map or Street View image you'd like to embed shows up on the map.
3. In the top left corner, click the main menu ​.
4. Click Share or embed map.
5. At the top of the box that appears, choose the Embed map tab.
6. Choose the size you want, then copy the code and paste it into the source code of your website or blog.

Note: If you're using Maps in Lite mode, you won't be able to embed a map.

Keep in mind that traffic information and some other Maps info might not be available in the embedded map.

How to show a business' pin on the map:

1. http://www.map-embed.com/
   or
2. Open Google Maps.
1. Type the organization's address into the search box, and then hit [Enter]. Google Maps will display a pin on a map indicating the location.
2. Now follow the instructions on how to embed the map.
   

How to customize the size of the map:

1. http://www.map-embed.com/
   or
2. When you grab the map code for the iframe choose the size you would like the map to display.
   
   
   
3. 
   

How to make sure a business is on Google Maps:

1. Open Google Business “Find your business”
2. Search on https://www.google.com/maps/
3. If it’s your business or a client’s business you should follow Google’s suggestions; https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177
   

Source: https://support.google.com/maps/answer/3544418?hl=en,

Email footer statements

Please excuse the brevity and grammar of this email since generated from my iPhone/Anroid/etc.

 Ever see the above statement at the end of an email you receive? Sigh...

Why not just double check what you are writing if answering email from your phone?  Seems lazy to me.

/End Rant

Donut Row

I've heard a lot of people complaining recently about a new donut shop on 21st St. 

Dunkin' Donuts is joining donut row and frankly I'm excited. I'm not a sugar person but I do love my coffee and Dunkin' Donuts has some the best coffee in to go restaurants today. Sonic being another with good coffee. 

3 donut shops in a half mile of each other, aka donut row. 

Random Number Generator For Dynamics CRM 2013-2015

Why do I need a random number generator field in my CRM? Well, I don't have a solid reason other than, we can use it for stuff like assigning random tasks to people. Currently there is no way to randomly assign things, say sales calls to a group of people.

This way we can control the percentage of who gets what.

So we want salesperson1 to receive 30% of the calls and salesperson2 gets 70% of the calls. To do this with workflows we will need a field on new leads that populates with a random number. Then in the workflows we will say something like, when a new lead is created; if randomnumber field is equal to or less than 30 then assign to salesperson1 else assign to salesperson2.

So let’s begin!

First off you need to have admin privileges in CRM to do this.

Open the form for (LEADS in our case).

Create a new field call it Random Number as seen below.

We want the random number to be between 0 and 100 but the code we will use will generate a number that never equals zero. Place this field on your form somewhere so you can make sure it is working later, you can always hide it after that.

Ok, now we need to go to form properties and create a new script item and event handler. So go to form properties by clicking in the upper tool bar on the form page.

Under the "events" tab add a new library, click "add" then "new" on the look up window. Call it randomnumber or something like that.

Save it and it should default to the web resource you just created. This is when you put the code in:

function RandomNumber()
{
var num = Math.floor(Math.random()*102);
Xrm.Page.getAttribute("new_randomnumber").setValue(num);
}

What this code is doing is taking a variable "num" and setting it to a value. "Math.random()" returns a number between 0 and 1 but never equal to them. Multiplying it by 102 gives us a number between 0 and 102. "Math.floor" rounds the result down and will be a number between 0 and 101. It will always be greater than but no equal to zero and less than but no equal to 102.

Save and close, it should default to selecting the one you just created. If not search for "new". Make sure it is highlighted and select "add".

Now add it to the below section in "events". Decide it you want it to run onload (when the form loads) or onsave (when the form is saved). Click the "add" button to add it in to events.

Make sure to put "RandomNumber" in the function field. This is where is know what to call in the script we used for the web resource.

Now save your form and publish it.

Go to a LEAD and waaalaa, you have a random number in the field.

Thanks for reading.

A Taco Bell breakfast

I never would have imagined that a Taco Bell breakfast would be any good. But here I am drinking my Taco Bell coffee and enjoying it. 

The food was good as well. A little salty for my taste but definitely as good as sonic!!

Sonic does have better coffee.  😄

The ever misunderstood red headed stepchild of barcodes: Introducing the QR CODE!!!

 

I have always had very good success with QR codes and am quite fond of them.  You must be presenting them in the correct way and format.  And most importantly, to the proper demographic.

Their frequent misuse and chicken pox like plastering over everything for the last 3-4 years has helped to give them a bad name.  And the QR hater crowd will give you all kinds of excuses on why they are horrible and should never be used, but the fact is most of them are angry because they themselves never could get the QR code to produce merit.

Are they ugly?  Well yea they can be. 


And the follower, the marketing guy who says hey everyone else it using theses things called QR codes lets add one to our "marketing piece", this guy is going to fail epically.  And will probably come up with something like this, which is way ugly.

This is the age of marketing technologists, you better understand why and how the technology works-in with your marketing, OR do not use it until you do.


The way in which things are done in the marketing word has changed so much, even in the short 12 years I have been doing it.  I remember when everything was hand drawn until you had the "one", then it went to have a plate made and to the printer.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with hand drawn marketing art, other than the expense.  Honestly I would even say it looks better and has a more real feel to it.

But its not how things are done now anymore, everything is digital.  Digital, Digital Digital...I am by no means saying that digital is bad, matter of fact I love it!  Probably because I cant draw worth a damn. But all of a sudden I have Photoshop or Illustrator and can now manage and manipulate an image into what I see in my head.

"what about newspapers, magazines, post cards, etc. etc.?"  Those mediums are still valid, again it depends on the demographic.  I actually use post cards a lot, they are very effective with the demographic I am trying to reach, and guess what?  There is a QR code on that post card and because the old hard copy medium is also tagged with new age medium, I know about how many of the cards actually get looked at, I know how many are delivered and how many scan the QR code.  Its about 5-8%.  That is 5-8% more who may have thrown away the marketing piece to begin with.







  Did you scan the QR code in my post to get to this blog post?  If so you are awesome and really do deserve free beer!!!



https://app.qr-code-generator.com

http://marketingland.com/qr-codes-work-when-done-well-56243

http://www.marketingtechnologyinsights.com/2014/02/when-do-qr-codes-work.html

http://www.i-nigma.com/Downloadi-nigmaReader.html