Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdHK_r9RXTc

The post Reggie Watts disorients you in the most entertaining way appeared first on Drew Allen (drewplaysdrums.com).

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – I found it hard to stay awake.
Contraband – Typical Mark Wahlberg, not necessarily a bad thing.
Haywire - First date with my eventual wife. Not a very good movie though.
The Grey – Amazing. Reminded me how not a real man I am.
Safe House – Really enjoyed this one. Denzel gets me every time.
Act of Valor – I’ve seen better. I cried though.
Chronicle – Unique and interesting.
Hunger Games – I expected better, but still pretty good.
21 Jump Street – I found this movie hilarious.
Cabin in the Woods Easily my favorite horror movie ever.
Pirates! – Not nearly as good as Chicken Run.
The Five Year Engagement - Not bad, Not great.
Avengers (twice) – Freakin’ sweet.
Men in Black 3 – Greatly exceeded my very low expectations.
Snow White & the Huntsman – Really made me want to work out.
Prometheus (twice) – I liked it. Better than most of the Alien movies
Brave – Good, but it’s no UP.
Spiderman - Interesting Reboot.
Moonrise Kingdom – Crazy and Unique.
Ted – Too many tears of laughter.
Total Recall – Never saw the original, but I enjoyed this.
Bourne Legacy – I think it holds up to it’s predecessors.
The Campaign – Kinda funny, not as much as I’d hoped.
Hit & Run – Tom Arnold was hysterical.
Looper – WOW. Freakin’ great.
Seven Psychopaths – Walken always delivers.
Flight – Crazy. Denzel was fantastic.
Skyfall - May be my favorite Bond film yetl
Life of Pi – SO. MUCH. BEAUTY.
Wreck it Ralph - Surprise of the year to me. Loved it!
End of Watch - Almost too realistic and gritty to enjoy.
The Hobbit (Twice) – Fantastic.
Rise of the Guardians – sort of interesting.
Django Unchained – Intense.
Les Miserables - Russel Crowe aside, incredible. I cried.
The Dark Knight Rises – My favorite film of the year, hands down.

What did YOU see in 2012? What did you like most? least? Talk about it.

The post Movies I saw in 2012, and what I thought of them. appeared first on Drew Allen (drewplaysdrums.com).

Thank. God.

I wasn’t really worried, but knowing Murphy, and my wedding being a month away, there was a pretty strong chance that the world would in fact, end.

That said,

2012 was a freakin’ amazing year.

• I lost more total weight during 2012 than I ever had. About 65 lbs.
• I had the most successful year drumming of my life.
• I read 7 books (6 more than I did in 2011).
• I gave up soda in July and haven’t looked back.
• I began the greatest adventure I can take on earth with the best woman I’ve ever known, Kori Schoonover.

Now before you think I’m making up how awesome the year was, you should know that I gained back all but 15 of the 65 lbs. I lost and I was supposed to read 12 books, not 7.

Still though, a really awesome year.

2013 is now here, and it has some amazing things on the horizon, not the least of which is the fact that I’m marrying the love of my life to kick the year off right.

But it’s not all fun and games, I tasted the sweet taste of victory that comes through discipline and my appetite is strong for more of the same this year.

My goals for 2013:

• Take on a lot more SEO projects.
• Get Married.
• Read 13 books.
• Work out 3 times a week.
• Count Calories on all weekdays (sticking to limits).
• Continue to not drink soda.
• Sleep 7 hours a night. No more. No less.
• Practice drums once a month.
• Write something every day.
• Write one thank you card a week.
• Read the book of Proverbs 12 times (once a month).
• Memorize one verse a month.

So, bring it 2013. I can’t wait.

The post Twenty Thirteen appeared first on Drew Allen (drewplaysdrums.com).

1. Tiny waiting room in direct sunlight, putting the room temperature well over 80 degrees. Could they keep those floor-to-ceiling blinds closed and drop the temperature by about ten degrees? Yep. But that would be logical and efficient, and those values are not allowed.In addition, their AC is desperately trying (and failing) to fight direct sunlight by running non-stop, and I shudder to think how much extra taxpayer money per year could be saved by shutting those blinds. But again, it’s clear that sensible decisions to increase the efficiency of the operation are very unwelcome.

2. They are only open during office hours M-F. So the only options for people who work 9-5 are to take a vacation day, or lose money in order to sit in the DMV for hours. An effective system wouldn’t require several hours to renew my license, etc. A smaller amount of efficiency would be to take note that your process takes hours and make that process available at at least some time outside of standard office hours. That would be even marginally considerate and as such is against DMV policy.

3. They do not take appointments, nor could I renew my license online. No further explanation needed here. Absolutely illogical and inefficient.

4. They do not take Visa. So after procuring half a dozen pieces confirming my identification, driving across town and waiting outside for the line to move inside, you can finally find out that your trip was pointless. Why would someone NOT take Visa? I can think of one reason only: Because to take visa would provide a small modicum of convenience and efficiency to the end user, and that is unacceptable.

5. The staff seems blissfully ignorant of the whole system’s ineptitude. This is probably the worst part. They seem like nice people. And they have their little ways of doing things down pat. But on the whole they seem completely content to be a part of a system that is blatant in its almost intentional obfuscation and inconvenience. Perhaps there is a cash bonus system for increasing average wait times and # of return visits for the same issue. I can’t imagine that would be true, but hearing the front desk lady proudly snipe down person after person in the line to send them storming out of the office definitely begs the question.

Some of you are no doubt wondering, “why bother blogging about it?” There are a couple of reasons.

1. This has all been written while sitting at the DMV, sweating and waiting. It’s been a great way to pass the time.

2. Everyone always complains about things but then just accepts them as facts of life. I really hate that idea. I don’t know what I could possibly do to fix it, but actually publishing something about the problems seemed like at least one step closer to action than simply complaining about it. If anyone has good ideas of who to contact or how to formally say something about it, let me know.

The post The Gainesville FL DMV is really bad. appeared first on Drew Allen (drewplaysdrums.com).

On SEO.

I truly love learning about Inbound Marketing and all it entails. From On-site optimization to to Social Media, to (in a meta way) blogging, I’m learning a ton of techniques, and more importantly, paradigms to push for in this arena.

The bad news is that my current situation isn’t the ideal learning environment. The good news is that it is pushing me to take on more freelance side work to be able to explore and grow my skillset in real situations.

On Love (falling in and choosing to)

The last 9 months or so have not only been some of the most satisfying ones I’ve had, but also been lesson after lesson about what it means to love a woman and hopefully exemplify Christ’s love in doing so.

For those who may care to know, we had a very healthy transition from the “mushy infatuation” stage to the “reality” phase, but that was never really a negative experience. It’s been a deeply stirring journey to really expose more of your soul and its scars to another person, have them do the same, and in doing so, move into a stance to stay more in their corner and learn how to best support them.

Kori, you’re amazing. I love you.

On Community

I can’t WAIT for Season Four!

On Community (not the show)

I’ve been very lucky/blessed for God to have moved men into my life who can really be there for me and who yearn for the same kind of honor I do. Equally awesome is to watch friends and brothers of mine move into similar postures of life as I have. I can’t tell you how great it feels to have a band of brothers alongside me in this season of life.

At the same time, I find myself having to try harder and harder to prioritize some of my friendships. I need to work on this, and I’m starting to improve this.

On Gator Football

After last week, I have higher hopes for Driskel’s continued growth, and our ability to defensively man up and shut a team down.

I’m hoping for 9-3 this year.

On Fantasy Football

Wow, what an interesting endeavor this has been. I have ended up in two leagues. One Yahoo! league “Bumper Bowling” for a few of us total n00bs to test the waters. The other is actually ESPN’s Fantasy for Beginners league, though I doubt the beginner level of many of the teams.

After one week, I have lost both league’s matchups, one of them to Kori. Thanks a ton, Eli.

Unfortunately, my early observation, is that the draft is about 90% of the determining factor for how well you will do. Which I could have done better on both of mine. Oh well. I’m more excited to watch football, so that’s been fun.

On Drums

I have decided that I need to get drum lessons. From a real drummer. Who is good. Who can school me on the basics that, as a self-taught drummer, I never really took the time to master. Rudiments, Exercises, Tuning. I really need to develop these.

Any drummers reading this want to help?
That about sums it up for now.
Coming soon to this blog:

•  On Turning 30
•  The Resurrection of #TEAMDREW
•  30 Years, 30 Songs
•  Holy Amaze-balls, Benji is on #TheVoice

The post SEO, Love, Community, Football, and Drums appeared first on Drew Allen (drewplaysdrums.com).

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Basically, here’ s the situation.

A client’s company has always been to an extent, “faceless.” No personal accounts of real people have ever been involved with company sites or company social media profiles. It’s always been the company’s policy to not have any faces and names associated. I’m not completely sure why other than the ease of dealing with shifting staff and turnover.

Obviously, having a real face and name associated with a company can really help brand strength, domain trust, CTR, conversion rate, etc.

Problem is, as I see it, Google is really upping the game with Google+.

We had made a personal profile (for this client) on Google+ with a real-sounding name and gmail address. This profile created the company’s Google+ business page.

Within a few months Google had suspended the page for suspicious activity. Nothing suspicious was done on the page, just +1-ing content from those in its circles and sharing its own blog posts.

Looking around online I was able to find tales of other companies whose Pages had been shut down because Google could see by the lack of email use and the lack of personal profile use, that this wasn’t a real person.

So, now my client’s Google+ page is gone, the loss of which is clearly bad for any local SEO efforts.

But how do I (as their marketing consultant) and they as a company committed to no faces and no names, move forward into this newer world of needing to have both?

The post An Open Question about Google+ and the Personality of Business appeared first on Drew Allen (drewplaysdrums.com).

My sincere apologies to those offended.

“If they’re not squishy I can’t put them in my mouth” – Lindsay Lucado

“She’s probably a cutter, did you see her makeup?” – Zac

“My girlfriend loves me because I’m domesticated” – Zac

“Don’t be so optimistic.” – My mom, to me, on finding love

“When my wife is ovulating I can tell: she’s a horny-angry-happy-crazy b***h; and I hate-love it.” – Matt Green

“If only I grew money as fast as pubes.” – Anonymous 1

“Take a long look at this d**k.” – Anonymous 2

“I have no tolerance for old people anymore.” – Jon Tony

“I do like to cheat; I’m not gon’ lie.” – Steve Adams, on card games and honesty

“I’m not tryin to tap that, so I’m not stalking you.” – Kyla

“I am the Patz.” -Mike Patz

“Have you ever met someone who actually stutters, it’s hard ta-ta-ta…” – Murphy

“Do you know what an O face is?” -Kristi

“Did you see that guys thighs, though?” – Josh Evans, impressed/attracted

“I got saved 2011 years ago.” – Zac

“I’d prefer it if guys had boobs and vaginas.” – Anonymous 3

“Women be shoppin’” – Shane

“Dude, imagine you’re sittin’ there on the beach, and this giant bird comes down, and it’s totally DTF!” – Matt Green *WINNER, 2011 Quote of the Year.

“What the girls DIDN’T know was there were about a dozen guys waiting at their back door– wait that sounds bad– not their pooper, the back door of their house!” – Andrew

“Hi, I’m Stephen Colbert. Kids, don’t use the “R” word. It is totally gay.” – Stephen Colbert

“I COULD go full retard.” – Matt Green, one-upping Robert Downey, Jr.

“You have an epic body.” – Zac, to me.

“I’m not white! I’m a child of God!” – DumpTruck

“Wouldn’t it be awesome if we found that there were no dinosaurs ever and those were all demon bones?” – Zac *Runner-up for 2011 Quote of the Year

“I love my Church, and I’m a Catholic who was raised by intellectuals, who were very devout. I was raised to believe that you could question the Church and still be a Catholic. What is worthy of satire is the misuse of religion for destructive or political gains. That’s totally different from the Word, the blood, the body and the Christ. His kingdom is not of this earth.” – Stephen Colbert

“I’ve gotten really good at putting condoms on confused males.” – Nicole Blattler, Nurse

“I’m actually licking myself and that’s not necessary for this maneuver.” – Hannah Harber

“When did all these girls get the idea that guys wanted to be friends?” – Britt Daniel

“I’m tellin ya man, mustaches are a dangerous thing.” – Richard Jackson.

“Why do women care so much about respect? I don’t respect myself at all!” – DumpTruck

“I’m not actually turned on by the American flag.” – Zac

“Nice Bible. Let’s f**k.” – Anonymous 4, demonstrating reformed christian pickup lines

The post The 2011 Quotes appeared first on Drew Allen (drewplaysdrums.com).

Film of the Year

The Muppets

It’s Retro. Fun. Feel Good. Clean. Classic. Possibly saw it 3 times in the theater.

Runner up: Drive

Album of the Year

Young Love | Mat Kearney

One of those albums you can just listen and sing along straight through.

Runner up: Soul Searching | Ricky Kendall

Song of the Year

Ali in the Jungle | The Hours

This song is the catalyst for how I came out of one of the darker seasons of my life.

Runner up: Betelgeuse | Joywave

New Artist of the Year

The Revels

Nagasaki! Nuff Said.

Runner up: Joywave

TV Show of the Year

Dexter

No spoilers, I’m just starting season 4. Amazing.

Runner up: Parks & Rec

Book of the Year

The American | Martin Booth

SO rich. and classic. Perfect pacing. Reflective. Thoughtful.

Runner up: Fire in the Belly | Sam Keen

Author of the Year

Sam Keen

Best writing about Manhood I’ve ever read.

Runner up: Martin Booth

Business of the Year

Patticakes

Best thing to happen to Haile Village since I got a job there.

Runner up: SEOmoz

Man of the Year

Zac Colley

One of my absolute best friends, Zac grew a lot in 2011. He’s also the only man to with the Earle for Man of the year twice.

Runner up: Britt Daniel

Woman of the Year

Kori Schoonover

Years from now this award category will look a bit routine, but I don’t care at all. Also, I’m biased.

Lifetime Legacy Award

Matt Green

I can’t say enough awesome things about this guy, so I won’t bother trying. Suffice it to say, he’s awesome. David & Jonathan. Est. 1999.

That’s all for this year. Any categories you want to see added next year? Let me know.

The post The 2011 Earle Awards appeared first on Drew Allen (drewplaysdrums.com).

1. Fire in the Belly

by Sam Keen.
Finished in January. Amazing book.

2. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Finished in time to catch the movie premiere! Awesome as well.

3. The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield.

Finished a few days ago. Life-changing. Thank you Jordan Rippy.

4. Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger.

About a hundred pages in. Whiny and narcissistic so far.


5. The Money Answers Book by Dave Ramsey.
6. Crazy Love by Francis Chan.
7. Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster.
8. All The King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren.
9. Subversive Orthodoxy by  Robert Inchausti.
10. Father Fiction by Donald Miller.
11. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
12. Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey.

This is a re-read for me. Gotta keep the focus on getting out of debt.

How is your progress on your 2012 reading? Get on it! I’ve gotten so much out of sticking to my reading so far this year.

But you don’t have to take MY word for it!

The post The 2012 Book List appeared first on Drew Allen (drewplaysdrums.com).