SOMEWHAT FRANK

A SOMEWHAT (Bearded) FRANK Christmas 2008

With temperatures going below zero the past week in Chicago I decided to start growing a beard to stay warm as I traveled from the Nation's Capital to the Midwest to visit family for the holidays. I spent Christmas with my family in the snowy Chicagoland. Now everyone celebrates Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or Festivus differently so I just wanted to share a few videos from my holiday experience. Sharing is caring.

Merry Christmas 2007

It has been a great year for Somewhat Frank, thank you to everyone from my regular readers to just the occasional lurker - you all keep me posting everyday. To be totally frank, I have been enjoying a wonderful holiday season with friends and family and decided to make today's post a light one. Happy holidays to all!

Nudo: Give The Gift Of An Olive Tree

I love olives and just about any product made from olives. If you know someone like me you might be interested in getting them a gift that keeps on giving - adopt them an olive tree. Nudo is a Le Marche, Italy-based company offers the opportunity to adopt an olive tree online and will send you products from your tree all year long.

Imagini For Last Minute Holiday Gift Ideas

If you have not made a wish list yet your time is growing short but don't fret. Imagini, not mentioned previously in my wish list round-up, might be able to help you both create personal wish lists in a flash as well as help you come up with gift giving ideas for others.

Mallicious Shares Shopping Deals & Coupons

With the holiday shopping season upon us, do you want to save some money on your holiday shopping? If so, you might want to check out Mallicious. Mallicious not to be confused with 'malicious' offers a social deals site to find and share all the latest deals and coupons.

Mix-Mas: A Virtual World For Sending Customized Holiday Greetings

With the holidays upon us hopefully you have sent your holiday wishes to all your family and friends. However, if you have not and you are still looking to send a holiday greeting you could send them a dancing elf greeting or you could give something a little more interactive a try. I recently was sent a greeting via Mix-Mas, a product created by Mantis, which brings holiday greeting customization and social interactivity to a new level. Mix-Mas is a flash-based web service that lets you send holiday greeting that all live together in a holiday greeting virtual world.

With Mix-Mas you can create a custom avatar to represent you in your greeting. The avatar will live in the Mix-Mas virtual holiday greeting world. While creating your avatar you can select from a number of options very similar to WeeWorld. A screen-shot of the creation screen can be seen above. After creating your avatar messenger you can send the greeting to anyone. I have created one here. Upon recieving the greeting you are directed to it in the Mix-Mas virtual world as shown below.

You will notice a number of other avatars which carry the messages as well. If you click on any avatar they will display their holiday message adding a web 2.0 social hook to the holiday greeting product. You can see my holiday greeting here or search Mix-mas by avatar name (i.e. Frank Gruber). If you still need more details check out this Mix-Mas video demo or by clicking the video below.

Bottom-line: Mix-Mas is a fun new way to send online holiday greetings. Create a custom avatar and send a holiday greeting today. Happy holidays!