I have watched Iconoclasts on several occasions and absolutely love the show. Last night they paired Paul Simon and Lorne Michaels - it was a fabulous look into the similarities and differences of their personal and professional lives.

A while back, I caught the episode that paired Eddie Vedder and Laird Hamilton. That was fantastic. The new season is about to begin and I’m really looking forward to the pairing of Mike Myers and Deepak Chopra. The only drawback is that I’d love to see them do more pairings of people in the business world.

I’ve been toying with an idea for a while. I have been wondering if there is a way for both a personal and professional blog to co-exist. Is there a way to successfully create a personal “brand” that embodies your personality, abilities, thoughts and other qualities? So, we’ll see.

I recently attended BarCamp Nashville where Mitch Joel (Six Pixels of Separation) gave a fantastic presentation on participating in the online culture. So, I posed the question to him:

Mitch,

We met here in Nashville and I meant to ask you a question. Is there a model for having both a personal and a professional blog that coexist on one site. I’m currently running two blogs - my personal blog at www.dylogy.com and my professional blog at www.conversion-funnel.com. Can I/should I consolidate them? Or should they be separate?

Thanks again for the great presentation at BarCamp Nashville. I appreciate any feedback and insight you might have.

All the Best,
Chip Gallent

To which he responded:

Say on one, how many Blogs do you want?

You see… no rules. Your call.

Mitch Joel

Yes, that is the perfect response and I guess you could call it the mantra of participating in the online world … no rules. So - here it goes. Beginning now, I’m switching over to ChipGallent.com from now on. Everything will be there.

This is hilarious!

Here are 9 responses women use in conversations with men. You must know this stuff because you are getting set up.

1. Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.
2. Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.
3. Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.
4. Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don’t Do It!
5. Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to #3 for the meaning of nothing.)
6. That’s Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That’s okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.
7. Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you’re welcome.
8. Whatever: Is a women’s way of saying its useless.
9. Don’t worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking “What’s wrong” For the woman’s response refer to #3.

Any more? Drop a comment.

I’m speaking today at BarCamp Nashiville. Catch me at 5:00pm a the Exit/In.

There’s one thing that I really hate that been enabled by the Internet. I mean this really gets me boiling. It’s this new breed of passive-aggressive people who don’t have the cojones to look someone in the eye and tell them what they think.

Just read what Wikipedia says about this plague: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive-aggressive_behavior.

It’s all over the ‘net. You can look at message boards and the ascension of eventual moderators who tell everyone what not to do and “flame” those that get out of line. At the end of the day, is that really necessary?

To me, the most blatant symptom of this plague is how it manifests itself within emails. Check out www.passiveaggressivenotes.com and you’ll see what I mean.

In my opinion this is all about non-confrontational individuals who now have a non face-to-face method of getting out their anger and their need to control a situation. Just pick up the phone or have a conversation in person. Is that too hard to ask?