As some of you know, I work with a youth group and I get a lot of insight from my kids regarding how much importance they give to their online lives. For example, have you ever heard of “FBO”? When some of the high schoolers start dating, they get asked if it’s FBO. FBO: “Facebook Official.” So if your relationship status isn’t changed from “single” to “in a relationship” on Facebook, it’s not 100% official that you’re dating.

It’s cute in a way, that we want to announce to the world of our new relationship, but what about when the relationship ends? Do you feel the breakup pain twice? Once when you actually break up and once again when you tell the world that it’s over? And who should be the first to change that status? Is the person who changes it a bad person for doing it? Talk about adding additional stress to an already stressful situation!

Another big question, and this one I’ve seen from my youth group kids to my adult friends and, I’ll admit it, myself: why take it so personally when someone removes you from their friends on Facebook?

I’ve had falling outs with people in real life that have resulted in unfriending on Facebook. Ever been unfriended? Did it sting a little bit? Why? In real life, we juggle so many relationships and deal with so many personalities that we’re bound to clash against some of them. And in real life, we admit our differences and move on without looking back, but when unfriending occurs on Facebook, it feels like someone kicked dirt in your face. Could it be for the same reason as the relationship status? It’s public?

All in all, I’m wondering why we base so much emotion off of Facebook decisions. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

What started as a regular day turned into a pretty adventure-packed one. I left in the morning to go about my usual business, stopped at Refresh Fort Lauderdale in the evening and then headed to the movies to catch the midnight screening of Iron Man 2. With all the tweeting, texting and checking in, my phone was down to one bar of battery so I turned it off in case I needed it for an emergency.

We got out of the movies around 2:30 a.m. to deal with a stressful situation: We locked the keys in the car and the lights were on. Luckily we had two cars. We took the available car and hit the road en route to pick up the spare key. Finally, with spare key in hand, we got to the car to find that the battery was dead. We then headed to my house to pick up my jumper cables and was greeted by my frantic mother. It was 4:30 a.m. and I forgot to text her to let her know I was alive and what’s worst, I had turned my phone off to conserve its battery. She had called me hundreds of times and even called to wake up my brother to see if he knew about my whereabouts. Knowing that I’m incredibly transparent in everything I do, she decided to check my Facebook page and voila!

She finally calmed down after seeing that I checked in to the movie theater at midnight to catch the movie.

This was a whole long story only to say that FourSquare saved her a call to the police, hospital, morgue and any other horrifying place a mother thinks of calling when their child isn’t responsive.

Then, I got to thinking: With so many news stories on how the police catch suspected crooks via Facebook and Twitter, FourSquare could be used as a great tool to start tracking people who have disappeared, for example.

Worst case scenario: I went missing that night. My mother or even investigators will know where I was at what time of the day (assuming my check ins are honest – which in my case, they are) and even know who was with me. People who checked in to that location with me can probably answer some questions that can help find me.

I’m very picky about who I allow to follow me on FourSquare because in reality, there are some crazy people out there and I don’t want them knowing my every move, but I rest a little better now knowing that my checking in could possibly save me if I were faced with my worst case scenario, which I hope I never have to test.

My mother also got a lesson on how FourSquare works just in case she ever needs to know where I am.

I sent in all my paper work and a huge check (almost $700!!) on January 24 and it’s now April 8, a little less than week away from being interviewed – one of the last steps to being fully transitioned. It seems like a long time between January and April, but believe me when I say it all went by really quick. Everything happened in two-week increments – this includes letters, updates and appointments.

So here I am, studying from a booklet I was given titled “Learn About the United States: Quick Civics Lessons for the New Naturalization Test” and I’m a little nervous because to my disbelief, I tried to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and I forgot it! Therefore, I MUST study.

I’m a firm believer in repetition and redundancy being a great tool to remember facts. What better way to repeat and remember my study questions than to tweet them and have my network answer them? Not only do I write the questions and answers, but I also see the answer pop up as my friends tweet them.

You might be surprised at how much you forgot from all those Civics classes and exams we took in school. Think you remember it all? Follow me on Twitter and test yourself! I’ll be periodically tweeting questions from today until Monday – Tuesday morning is my exam.

I bet whoever created this exam never thought we’d be using Social Media to study for it!

I’ve been thinking a lot about how important networking is now that more people are looking for work. But more importantly than finding a potential job, networking helps you fine tune… well, yourself.

When you’re networking, you talk about yourself. You might say something you’re not too sold on so by the next time you network, you may change up your description of yourself. This doesn’t happen over night and by a few weeks or months of networking, you have your description of yourself down packed and your confidence is through the roof.

You also learn to ask questions. At first, your questions may be simple and obvious, but as you network more, you learn to really listen to the person you’re speaking with and learn to ask more probing questions. Questions that will provide you with more answers.

You will also learn to read people. The more you talk to random strangers, the more you pick up on certain signals that they send – they can be excited to hear what you have to say, bored, or just waiting for you to finish talking so they can talk about themselves.

Networking offers a plethora of exposure to opportunities and I’ve found that the most beneficial opportunity it offers is learning the lessons listed above.

You can be out trying to land a new client or interviewing for a new job when you notice these skills kicking in:

• You’ll find yourself very comfortable in a situation where most people work up a sweat in, but because you spend so much time networking, you’re comfortable around strangers,
• You know how to listen to others and ask the right questions,
• You’ve also perfected your pitch – who you are and what makes you valuable,
• Most importantly, you know how to read the person you’re meeting with. If their facial expressions and/or body language aren’t the ones you’re hoping to get, you can guide the conversation to where you want it.

Networking is very important and you’ll always get something out of it, so make sure to get out and meet as many people as possible. If you’re feeling adventurous, go to an event with an organization you’ve never gone to where you won’t know anyone at all.

I grabbed the mic and quickly thought about my own networking process, what I do that’s effective and what I do that leaves me standing in a corner, alone.

Here are my tips:

Smile

Remember that you’re more approachable when you’re smiling. Even if you had a horrible day, smile; not only will smiling make you feel happier, but you’ll find yourself talking to so many people about all sorts of topics that you’ll quickly forget about your bad day.

Limit your drinking

I know alcohol is a great social lubricant, but keep in mind that people can smell it on your breath and it can be a bit of a turn off – take it from the person who’s always sober at networkers. If you must drink, control your intake. You don’t want to go overboard and start slurring when you speak.

Dare yourself to meet new people

This can be a bit intimidating at first, but a great approach is to find a circle of people who are talking and walk up to them. Once they see you, they will open up a space for you and as soon as their current conversation ends, they will all look at you for your introduction. Just like you want to meet them, they want to meet you, so say hi and what you do.

Listen and ask questions

When speaking with someone, listen to what they’re talking about. If they’re in an industry you know nothing about, that’s perfect. Don’t be afraid of admitting that you know nothing about their work. Ask them questions – people love talking about themselves and what they do, so this is a great conversation starter. If the person is an industry that you know, ask questions about specific facets about what they do. If you have an opinion about something in their industry, share it.

Carry business cards

Always make sure to be stocked up and remember to take a business card from the people you meet. If you don’t have any, go to Office Depot and have some simple ones made: just your name, phone number and email address.

Follow up

Make sure to follow up with everyone you’ve met within 24 hours. I usually look them up on LinkedIn and send them a message saying “Great meeting you at XXX.” Make sure to let them know where you met – everyone’s memories are different.

Happy networking!

The event was, essentially, WorstPizza.com taking their famous Pizza TweetUps to the next level by teaming up with a local Chevy dealership. 20 people were selected to ride in five brand new Chevy’s to various pizza restaurants, eat pizza, drive the cars and critique both.

We all met up at Maroone Chevrolet to get our t-shirts, sign some waivers and dig through our Chevy Pizza Crawl Survival Kits, fully equipped with pizza cutters, floss, hand sanitizer, tissues, whoopee cushions, a compass, breath mints, gum, whistles and much more fun stuff!

Rachel (@PRDivaRach)

We then went outside to meet our escorts for the day: a Tahoe, a Malibu, an Equinox, a Corvette (convertible) and a Camaro.

Jarret, Alina, Leah and I piled into the Camaro and immediately named her Roxy. That car is just as sexy on the inside as it is on the outside. We had to test the OnStar feature on every car so we called OnStar, asked the operator for directions to our destination and the car was suddenly speaking to us, telling us where to go.

Jarret (@Jarret23) and Alina (@TheAlina)

Jarret showed off his driving skills as he quickly got us on the highway – naturally, everyone driving wanted to test the cars’ potential once we were on I-95. Here’s a tip: while the Camaro is an amazing car, even from the the backseat, tweeting, taking pictures and video taping everyone’s reactions can get a little nauseating. I had to put all the electronic devices down and breath for a little bit or I’d be the first person to throw up… even before eating all the pizza! Regardless of that little set back, I’m in love with the car.

We got to our first destination, Zuccarelli’s Italian Kitchen, where the pizza was ok. It good enough to gobble up, but not enough to ask for seconds. It had a thin crust and was crunchy – not my type, but still tasty.

Next adventure: I was up to drive the Equinox! Jarret, Stephanie, Alina and Angie came along with me.

Me (@AgustinaP)

I called OnStar to get directions and the operator told me that my car wasn’t equipped with their directions feature. I felt left out in the cold and driving blind! She asked if I wanted to upgrade to that feature for $9.95… uh, no thanks, but at least now I know that the feature is cheap! I had no choice but to follow the Camaro. Bad move. I floored that little sporty-looking SUV and still couldn’t keep up. Even Stephanie asked if I was flooring it. I think I made it up to 60 MPH – way too slow for my liking.

A really cool feature about the car though: when I put the car in reverse and looked in the rear view mirror, not only was I glancing behind me, but at a little video camera that turned on to show me what I was backing in to. I was torn! Do I believe my eyes in the mirror that said I was about to hit the car behind me, or the camera that showed I still had about two feet of space?!

We arrived at our second destination, Palm Springs Pizza & Restaurant, where everyone gave the pizza a thumbs down. I didn’t mind it because it took me back to my childhood – I thought it tasted the same as Chuck E Cheese pizza. My only flaw with it is that I can’t stand when pizza is cut into squares and not slices.

Stephanie (@MidTownChica) and Angie (@AngieDi)

I called shotgun for the Malibu and had to listen to Alisha grill me for convincing her to drive that car when she wanted to drive the Corvette – oops Jarret, Angie and Joel came along for the slow, but fun ride. Alisha took advantage of an unhappy situation and asked the OnStar operator for some “rolls of hundreds.”

Alisha (@AlishaVera)

We drove, slowly, very slowly, to our third destination, Dom & Louie’s Pizza where the pizza was finger-licking good, but a little too hot. Their Godfather Pizza is huge!

Mike (@MikeLaMonica)

Filled to rim with pizza, I went back into the Camaro. Mike drove with Dori co-piloting and Angie and I held on for dear life in the back seat as Mike decided to race Johnny in his Equinox down I-95. I wonder what other drivers might have been thinking to see those two, oddly-paired cars race each other. I was in dire need of a barf bag and highly recommend Chevy to include one in their Survival Kit for the next time. While I managed to hold my food down, I decided to not eat anymore pizza for the day.

Johnny (@JohnnyBond86) and Willie (@MoreWillie)

I had to go back on my word as soon as we got to our fourth stop, Augy’s Italian Restaurant & Pizza. Their pizza was super doughy and loaded with cheese! I took one bite just to satisfy my taste buds and called it quits, but wow, was that one bite the best I had all day!

Michael (@TheWaffle), Joel (@JoelKodner), Seth (@BocaToyStore) and Robert (@Krow272)

I then jumped into the super sexy Corvette with Alina and zoomed towards our final stop. Our zooming was quickly slowed down when we realized that OnStar took us in the wrong direction and we had no idea how to get to where everyone else was. It was also impossible to hear OnStar’s directions while having the convertible top down.

Alina (@TheAlina)

Eventually, we made it to Tucci’s Fire N Coal where all I ingested was water.

We all survived the Chevy Pizza Crawl and were kicking back with some beer, water, a few more slices of pizza and recaps of the day.

Craig then gave out prizes for the day: Joel won funniest tweet, I won for honesty, Jarret won for funniest picture, Willie won the raffle and Johnny won for craziest driver.

Angie (@AngieDi), Joel (@JoelKodner), Craig (@Lapp), Stephanie (@MidTownChica), Me (@AgustinaP), Jarret (@Jarret23), Willie (@MoreWillie) and Johnny (JohnnyBond23)

It was a fun-filled day with friends, pizza and cars. What better way is there to spend your Saturday?

My review of the cars:

I didn’t go in the Tahoe because I’m just not SUV person and didn’t care to test it out.

The Malibu and Equinox are clearly family cars. Their inability to go over 60 MPH also makes me believe they’re perfect for a first time teenage driver and if my kids are anything like me as drivers, they’re definitely getting a Malibu or Equinox.

The Corvette is nice, but I don’t like two-seated cars or cars with long noses.

The Camaro is hands-down my favorite car. My VW lease is up in two months and I plan on checking out the Camaro soon

Thank you Chevy and Worst Pizza for a great day and experience!

I received tickets to Monster Jam courtesy of rbb Public Relations.

Since I was a kid, I’ve always wanted to go to Monster Jam but never asked my parents because I didn’t think they’d take me. I’ve always liked cars and destruction – this show is a perfect combination.

On Saturday, February 20, I arrived at Sun Life Stadium before the show to check out the Pit Party. I tried the BBQ Nachos – I’m sorry, I didn’t try them, I annihilated them! A basket of nachos loaded with cheese and pulled BBQ pork, gone within five minutes.

I walked around the pit and admired the monstrous trucks. There were immense lines of people beside each truck waiting to get an autograph from the driver. I didn’t care much for an autograph because I didn’t know the drivers, but if I had gone to the Pit Party after the show, I would’ve been the first in line for El Toro Loco.

El Toro Loco quickly became my favorite as I watched the giant, orange, horned beast in awe… from my ninth row seat! I can’t thank my best friend enough for giving me ear plugs before the show because my naive self didn’t think twice about the amount of noise the show would create.

The first part of the show where the trucks raced each other was OK. Then came the freestyle motocross daredevils whose tricks made me hold my breath. The next spectacle was by far one of my favorite shows and one that left me wishing I’d grow up to be one of those drivers: the demolition derby.

About eight cars raced each other while driving around the track with no rules whatsoever. With an everything-goes mentality, these drivers crashed into each other pushing each other off the track and doing anything they can to get ahead in the race. How much fun would it be to be a demolition derby driver?! I think I’d win

The grand finale of the show featured the massive trucks ramming into anything in their way and pulling off as many tricks as possible within an allotted time frame. Some trucks took it to the max and ended up popping off tires, flipping over and just causing flat out destruction. What an amazing show!

I’m now a fan and will be first in line for El Toro Loco next year! Thanks Natalie and rbb!!

Today, I took a look at the confirmation email and noticed that the expected delivery date is Friday, February 26 – that’s four days from my purchase date!!

I became more frustrated when it took me a good 14 minutes to find a phone number on Amazon.com. They pretty much tell the consumer to contact them via other mediums BUT a phone call. I don’t want to send Amazon an email. I want to speak to a human on the phone and get my issue resolved immediately.

Eventually, I found their customer service number and my call was answered within two minutes of calling – obviously, my calling resulted in a quicker response.

I told the representative about my paying for one day shipping and finding out I had to wait an extra three days and how unacceptable that was. He pointed me to a sentence beside the product image that read, in green, “In stock but may require an extra 1-2 days to process.” Ok, where did that sentence come from? Why is it green and not red? Why is it next to the product image and not in the section where I choose my method of shipping?

I was very upset and told the representative that I have no choice but to wait to receive my camera, but that camera would be the last purchase I make with the company. He then went on to pitch other in-stock cameras to me! I don’t need to be pitched on something that’s not what I want.

He put me on hold to speak to his supervisor and came back with a solution: they would refund me the amount I paid for one day shipping, but they couldn’t expedite the actual delivery of the camera. I accepted their offer. It only seems fair that I not pay for what I’m not getting. Regardless, I’m going to have to wait to receive my camera.

While I’m not 100% happy with the phone call, I’m glad they took my frustration into consideration and offered some kind of solution.

Amazon, I know how revolutionary you’ve been with your check out process, but it baffles me that you wouldn’t put messages such as “In stock but may require an extra 1-2 days to process” within your “Choose your shipping options” page. I understand that as a consumer I should read everything on the page before purchasing, but a little help from you in repeating an important message like that would be extremely helpful. Also, if it’s important, maybe using red as opposed to green as your font color would be more attention-grabbing.

As friends, we tend to listen to each other and support one another in times of need. Some of those needy times are when we’re stressed and need to vent. What if the venting is work-related? How would hearing so much negativity from someone on the “inside” affect our perception of their employer?

A company’s biggest asset is their employees.

After reading each comment from last weeks’ post, I tried to imagine the opposite effect:

“Employees are arguably the BEST brand ambassadors for any company,” wrote Cristina Sotolongo. Imagine if these brand ambassadors are unhappy and complaining about their boss, the company and the way things are run.

“This goes back to the need for ‘authenticity,’” wrote Brian Breslin. Being that our brand ambassadors are our friends, we’ll believe them and more than likely take their side and look down on the company that makes them so unhappy.

“Even if we aren’t altogether familiar with a company or how it works, I think we have a tendency to give it a chance if people we trust are working in its behalf,” wrote Eileen Spiegler. Again, if the people we trust aren’t happy, we’ll more than likely put the blame on the company.

“Thanks for wanting a front row seat to our new ventures!” wrote Mallory Colliflower. If our friends are happy and are excited to work at a company, we’ll get excited to hear about new developments and become loyal fans, but if they’re not happy, we probably won’t give that company any thought.

We’re always hearing about Word of Mouth and its power. In my opinion, negative Word of Mouth is much more powerful and spreads quicker because people find it juicy.

All in all, companies need to be very careful, more so nowadays with Social Media, to ensure their employees are happy. I know you can’t always please everyone, but employers need to make a conscious effort to listen to their employees. There are several cases where companies have noticed their employees complaining about their job via Social Media and fired them. Then there are the companies that see these complaints and take the necessary measures to make the disgruntled employee happy – those are the companies I admire.

Several friends of mine have gotten some really great jobs in the past few months at big-name companies. For example, Cristina Sotolongo now works for the Miami Science Museum, Lori Marie Todd now works for John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Mallory Colliflower now works for AutoNation.

I’ve known about these companies well before my friends started working there, but it wasn’t until they were hired that I felt compelled to hit that “Become a Fan” or “Follow” button. I wonder how many people react the same way I do. I can think of a few reasons for taking action once they’re hired:

1. I want to support them and the company they now work with.

2. I know the greatness they’re capable of and want a front row seat to all their projects.

3. I now feel a more personal connection to the company or organization.

That personal connection feeling is what I find very interesting. In all honesty, I can’t really analyze that feeling and was hoping for some other perspectives. What are your thoughts?