From the desk (and BlackBerry) of Keith Parnell

2009 brought many new social media interaction options and technology advances. So it was only inevitable that Santa would hop onboard.

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Listening to Havanna Moonlight by Spyro Gyra.

Thanks Brian and Jen for hosting this year’s Ugly Christmas Sweater Party!

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Listening to Burning Down the House by Talking Heads.

Nicole and I visited the Williamsburg Winery this weekend for their annual Christmas Holiday Open House. Providing the proper mix of pleasure and business to your life allows your creative mind and ideas to regnerate themselves. Let’s all make a concerted effort during this holiday season to let your family know you love them, do an extra thing for yourself, and take an extra moment away from business to refresh your mind.

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Related information:
http://www.history.org
http://keithparnell.com
http://williamsburgwinery.com

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Listening to Praise You in This Storm by Casting Crowns.

photo credit: flickr.com/photos/madebygirl

I agree with Chris. Don’t take the holidays off from creating content for your blog.

Many companies do scale back on a lot of tasks during the Thanksgiving-to-Christmas-to-New Year holiday period. This is our opportunity to shine.

I equate this time period to the efforts we have preached about during this tough economic downturn in our country. While advertising dollars are scarce, be creative, come up with cool inbound marketing tactics to generate leads. Be smart and build your online marketing presence while your competitors are doing nothing.

What do you think? Have you increased your internet marketing activities? Have you increased your blogging?

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Listening to Boys of Summer by Don Henley.

I’m very excited about the queued reading I have on my plate right now.

I’m in the middle of David Meerman Scott’s The New Rules of Marketing & PR. Rosemary Thornton (a JASE client) personally delivered copies of The Houses That Sears Built and The Ugly Woman’s Guide to Internet Dating to us yesterday. Now with the amazon.com delivery today of Chris Brogan’s & Julien Smith’s Trust Agents and Brian Halligan’s & Dharmesh Shah’s Inbound Marketing books, I’m in reading heaven. I’ll be up for air by Christmas.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Contact Nicole for more details.

Please join The Junior League of Norfolk-Virginia Beach for an exciting shopping event. This is the perfect opportunity to get some Christmas shopping done before the holiday season starts. Merrytime Market: Pre-Holiday Shopping Bazaar formerly Silver Bells and Sea Shells, will be held Saturday, October 31st & Sunday, November 1st at the Virginia Beach Convention Center . The event will be Saturday from 10-5 and Sunday 10-4. Tickets will be $5 each.

Contact Nicole for more details.

2009 Advertising Apple BlackBerry blog Brand CEO Christ Christmas CIO Coffee with the CEO commercial economy email Facebook God Google IT JASE JASE Group JASE Marketing JASEzone Javelin Jesus Keith Parnell Linux Lord Marketing Microsoft Norfolk Pearl RSS small business social community Social Media social network T-mobile Technology tv Twitter VA Video Windows Wireless YouTube

God is good!

Matthew 1:18 - 2:18

Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son

    ¹⁸ This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

    ²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

    ²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

    ²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵ But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

The Magi Visit the Messiah

     ¹ After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

    ³ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴ When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

    ⁶ ” ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
       are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
       for out of you will come a ruler
       who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

    ⁷ Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

    ⁹ After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

The Escape to Egypt

    ¹³ When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

    ¹⁴ So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, ¹⁵ where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

    ¹⁶ When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. ¹⁷ Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

    ¹⁸ “A voice is heard in Ramah,
       weeping and great mourning,
       Rachel weeping for her children
       and refusing to be comforted,
       because they are no more.”

Our church, Tabernacle Church of Norfolk, is holding a Christmas Eve service on Wednesday at 7:00 PM. Come celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ with us.

O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. (Psalms 34:3)

Tabernacle Church of Norfolk
7000 Granby Street, Norfolk, VA 23505
Phone 757.440.8224
Click here for directions to Tab Church.

I know most of you may have off a few days next week for the Christmas holiday and tomorrow may be your last day at work. So I wanted to send you a sincere, joyful holiday wish before you skate out to be with your family.

During today’s trying economic times it is often tough to be the rock for your family and children and to hold your faith in God unwavering. But he will guide us through these tough days. I pray for all of us to be successful and have the opportunities to achieve our goals in 2009.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family from the Parnells.

We have a big weekend on tap starting this afternoon. Nicole’s work holiday party, then a good friend’s birthday dinner at Catch 31 at the oceanfront in Virginia Beach.

Saturday morning (9:00 AM, ugh) is Jennifer’s graduation ceremony from Old Dominion University at the Ted Constant Convocation Center. Did I mention she got engaged this week?! Saturday evening is our (extended) family celebration for her educational accomplishments.

With Sunday comes morning church services at Tabernacle Church of Norfolk, lunch at Mom’s in Newport News and cheesecake (Nicole’s favorite!) for Nicole’s birthday with the family. Sunday evening we are attending a Christmas choral presentation at Mom’s church, Menchville Baptist.

I think by that time we’ll be beat. But looking through these plans makes me think how lucky I am. I have a loving family and cherished friends and I have Jesus in my life. I am truly blessed to be who I am. God is good!

Matthew 1:18-25 (NIV)

¹⁸This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

²⁰But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

²²All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” — which means, “God with us.”

²⁴When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.