Yep, you guessed it – your friends aren’t really going anywhere. It’s just another breast cancer awareness meme that’s going around. Remember the “I like it on the [place]” or the weird bra color updates of the past? Same deal here. The place your friend is going is code for the month she was born, and the number of months they’ll be there = the date. So, “I’m going to Germany for 12 months!” just means they were born on August 12.

How exactly that raises awareness for breast cancer, I don’t know. But it’s a fun way to fool your friends and support a great cause. Below, you’ll find the key to decrypting the status updates of your suddenly travel-happy friends:

January = Mexico
February = London
March = Miami
April = Dominican Republic
May = France
June = St. Petersburg
July = Austria
August = Germany
September = New York
October = Amsterdam
November = Las Vegas
December = Columbia

UPDATE: Here’s a copy of the message that is allegedly being sent around, courtesy of Sue at Simon’s Sista Saw. She has a really interesting take on this meme, which you should read here.

Ladies, it is that time of year again! It is time to raise awareness for Breast Cancer. 
Remember the status about our bra color or where we put our purse?? It made more people aware of the problem as it went viral on FB and made the news.

Don’t tell any MEN what the status means! Copy, and resend this message to all your girl friends, let’s see if we can make it work like before, keep them guessing, let’s see if we make the news!
The idea is to use you birthdate, month and day only, no year! 
Write: “I am going to live in (see corresponding city for your BD month below) for (day of your BD) months and a happy face 

Ex. if your BD was on February 14th, then 
” I am going to live in London for 14 months!!!! 

January – Mexico 
February – London 
March – Miami 
April – Dominican Republic 
May – France 
June – St. Petersburg 
July – Austria 
August – Germany 
September – New York 
October – Amsterdam 
November – Las Vegas 
December – Colombia

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“The patient is in stable condition.” You hear it all the time. In movies. On TV. In the newspaper. During news hour on the radio. Just one problem: stable is not a condition (“condition“ used here = the medical state of a patient).

Think about it. Stable simply implies firm; not wavering; steady. It doesn’t do a good enough job of describing someone’s medical state. You can be just fine at home, asleep on your couch and be stable. You can be missing an arm, both legs and likely to die in a week and be stable. You can be dead and be stable!

Stable is not a condition. So what is? Well, that depends. Many health care organizations use the American Hospital Association’s definitions. They are:

• Undetermined - Patient is awaiting physician and/or assessment.
• Good - Vital signs are stable and within normal limits. Patient is conscious and comfortable. Indicators are excellent.
• Fair – Vital signs are stable and within normal limits. Patient is conscious, but may be uncomfortable. Indicators are favorable.
• Serious – Vital signs may be unstable and not within normal limits. Patient is acutely ill. Indicators are questionable.
• Critical – Vital signs are unstable and not within normal limits. Patient may be unconscious. Indicators are unfavorable.

Vital signs are indicators such as pulse, blood pressure, respiration and temperature. You generally want those to be stable and within normal limits, and it makes sense to use “stable” in that context. But not when describing the overall medical state of a patient.

So consider yourself educated. Stable is not a condition. Use Good, Fair, Serious or Critical. Maybe on some future date I’ll do a post on why we even use these terms to describe a patient’s condition in the first place.

Image credit: zetson

I sent out a few tweets last week, marked with the #Michiana hashtag. Curious as to who else might be sending out #Michiana tweets, I created a search stream for it in Hootsuite. I noticed that many of the twitter accounts using the #Michiana hashtag were businesses or organizations.

This made me even more curious. If it was mostly businesses that were sending out tweets using the #Michiana tag, who were the people reading those tweets? Who was listening? I decided to find out, so I asked Twitter: Who is following the #Michiana hashtag? Below is a list of those who responded, complete with bios, follower counts and Klout* scores.

Who’s Following #Michiana? We are:

AMA Michiana - @amamichiana
Helping Marketing Professionals in the Michiana area learn, network, and grow in their profession. Tweets by @Jillianmk & @missystanisz.
219 followers, 29 Klout. http://amamichiana.com/

Troy Cadotte - @michiana360
I think Michiana is a great area and it’s about time someone did something to show everyone why.. LIVE.SHOP.LOCAL in Michiana.
204 followers, 33 Klout. http://www.michiana360.com

Andrea Cook - @andreacook
Building brands-n-buzz through a mix of old-n-new marketing and social media. Gold maker at The Midas Center and iHEART Green Media.
1,263 followers, 56 Klout. http://themidascenter.com

Jennifer Crutchfield - @jencrutch
Mom, Wife, Book-Geek, Organizer-Geek, Travel-Geek, Crafter-Geek.
2,007 followers, 59 Klout. http://www.jencrutchfield.blogspot.com/

Edgar Diaz - @diptoe (yes, I counted myself)
Dipping a toe into social media & healthcare; opinions expressed are my own, not my employer’s; I love word games, jazz, ballroom dance, cooking & pistachios.
531 followers, 44 Klout. http://www.edgarjd.com/

Andy Fuller - @andy_fuller
PR guy. Recovering journo, politico. Coffee snob. Foodie. Reader. Writer. Part-time runner.
1,280 followers, 52 Klout. http://feelingfuller.com

Laura Gekeler - @lgekeler
Connecting thoughts on learning, education, technology, Sakai, Blackboard, higher ed, and the future. The 21st century. When everything changes.
393 followers, 34 Klout. http://www.lauragekeler.com

Doug Hill - @dugrhill
Ex Air Traffic Controller turned software developer (Code Monkey) for the FAA. Into programming in .NET and fitness with P90X. And I like cigars.
642 followers, 39 Klout. http://about.me/douglashill

Derek Hoffer – @derekhoffer
Proud Sigma Chi! Sports Junkie, Music Lover, Parrotthead, Gadgets, Family Man – Beer drinker.
289 followers, 47 Klout.

Kelly Knutson – @kellyjknutson
Marketing Strategist/ Founded Launch LLC as a result of my passion for creative marketing.
66 followers, 26 Klout. http://www.launch-llc.com

Edward Koczan – @edwardlife
I am several things: Jesus Follower. Dad. Ex-Law Enforcer. Sales Mgr. Web Designer. Runner. Drummer. Pro ND/Cubs. Social Media Ninja. Aspiring Book Author.
401 followers, 45 Klout. http://edwardlife.info

Jillian Koeneman - @jillianmk
Gets juiced about social media. Founder of @freshlimemktg. Connector. MSU Alum. Detroit native. VP Comm of @AMAMichiana. Online Editor @TAILSmagazines.
1,264 followers, 51 Klout. http://www.freshlimemarketing.com

Tracy Kulwiki - @bernice770
Wife, Mother, Jesus lover, Advocare Independent Distributor. Trying to find the right path to bring some good to the world.
142 followers, 15 Klout. http://bernice770.wordpress.com/

Andy Lehman - @xpunkx
I am a dad | husband | geocacher | podcaster | videographer | Tea drinker.
675 followers, 37 Klout. http://www.lehmancreations.com

Mattern’s Meats – @matternsmeats
Located in the heart of downtown Goshen, Indiana we are an old school butcher shop with a modern twist.
202 followers, 33 Klout. http://www.matternsmeatsanddeli.com/

Mindy - @mindlee
I like reading and writing. Since I’m a minimalist, twitter is perfect for me.
236 followers, 31 Klout.

Dave Woodson - @davewoodson
Speaker, Local Internet Marketing Consultant, Real Estate & Mortgage Consultant Cigar Enthusiast, Husband & Dad.
16,979 followers, 63 Klout. http://davewoodson.com

So there you have it. An amazing and diverse mix of people. Hard hitters. Entrepreneurs. Influencers. All of them – us. We are #Michiana.

Next time you use the #Michiana tag, pay attention to your audience. There’s a good chance that at least one of us will see it. If one of us retweets you, you’ll reach a mean average of 1,576 people with 41 Klout; the median average is 401 people and 39 Klout. Use this information wisely. Spammed hashtags quickly become useless (guilty as charged).

On another note – did I miss someone? Are you following #Michiana?

*Yes, I know that Klout scores are controversial. Take them with a grain of salt. Or several grains. Also, if you don’t want your name on the ‘following #Michiana’ list (since I didn’t ask), just tweet me.

Goshen MMA created a Foursquare profile using their business name. Then they took over the mayorships of some of Goshen and Elkhart’s most popular venues – multiple locations at the Elkhart County 4H Fair, First Fridays, Linway Cinema, the Goshen Theater, popular restaurants, stores and other well-trafficked locations.

Then, they left tips and photos at the locations that advertised Goshen MMA’s services. One tip at a Walmart tells people to “Buy some fight shorts then train @ goshenmma.com.” Some of the photos were simple JPEG versions of their ads. They did all of this in a timely manner, too, launching just before the Elkhart County Fair started. There’s a good chance that anyone who checked in at the event, which draws more than 300,000 people over nine days, saw the photo ads and tips.

I’ve never met the person behind Goshen MMA, and I’m not that interested in Mixed Martial Arts. But their marketing techniques impressed me, even if I lost a couple of mayorships in the process (goodbye, my lovely theater mayorship). They definitely raised awareness of their business, and, if you’re a Foursquare user, it’s not that hard to find their location – just look for the location of their number one mayorship.

Do you know of anyone using social media in a unique way?

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — Facebook will soon allow users to make their profiles look like previous versions of the popular social networking site, according to an anonymous source inside Facebook, but that change will come with a price.

The site, which receives a large number of complaints with each new iteration, is making the change in response to user feedback. “We found that a large number of users were unhappy with some of our recent updates,” our source told us, “so we decided to give them the tools to make Facebook look the way they want it to.”

Source: Wikipedia

Users will be able to make their profile look like any previous version of the site, including the original profile from 2004 when the site was still called “Thefacebook” (pictured, at right). Users can make the change for a small fee, effectively making Facebook the latest online company to embrace the freemium model – one where users can access basic services for free, but must pay for premium features such as older profiles.

This change hints at a shift in one of Facebook’s core philosophies. The company previously said that it would never charge for its service. According to our source, that shift has not happened. “The thing to remember is that the newest and best that Facebook has to offer will always be free,” reported the unnamed Facebook employee. “We will never charge anyone who wants to use the newest, most updated version of our site.”

The source did not mention that some previous versions of Facebook do not allow ads to be displayed, which is one way the site generates revenue. It remains to be seen exactly how the older versions will be implemented on user profiles, and our source was not clear about how or what amount Facebook planned to charge for them. We’ve reached out to Facebook for more information, but so far they’ve declined to comment.

We are completely humbled and thankful for the support and generosity of our many friends and family that contributed their time and resources to making our wedding day a success. I’m at a loss for words to express any more than just “thanks.”

We hope to have pictures back soon, at which point I’ll post a few here. Our photography was done by Ashley Dru Photography at ashleydru.com. Many of you asked about the introductory video that played at the beginning of the ceremony – that was done by Ashley’s husband, the videographer and video editor extraordinaire, Jordan Swartzendruber. Some of you asked for copies – we’ll have to get back to you on those. In the meantime, contact me however you can and I’ll add your name to the list.

Speaking of the video – yes, we really did wait until that moment at the altar to have our first kiss. Was it hard to wait? At first. We got used to it after a while. Was it worth it? Totally. If you want to know more about why we chose to wait, or about how you can do the same, just ask. Waiting *is* possible, even if popular culture and peer pressure says otherwise.

Thanks again to all of you for your support. Your continued encouragement is appreciated as we learn to become one. I’ve been told that marriage is the hardest job out there, other than raising kids. Your help, advice and love will make our journey easier. We love hearing from and sharing with others, especially over dinner, coffee or tea. Drop us a line sometime!