Ali Bytes: Bullet-sized strategies for modern living

As hard as it is to find original gifts, it’s harder to find ideas for original lists around the holidays. What is usually just popular to take to the grocery store becomes everyone’s favorite marketing technique. Last year, I did Top 10 from TIME’s 50 Top 10 lists. But this year, I got stopped in my tracks. I’ve been outdone by a guy named Rex Sorgatz on his site Fimoculous.

What’s better than a blog of lists? Why a list of lists of course! My colleague Amy sent this site to me in an email with the subject line “Happy Listmas!” If it were kosher to make a list of one, I would feature Fimoculous alone, but instead I’ll highlight some of the interesting lists from this brilliant list of lists. Sorry, for this Dr. Seuss-like writing style.

1. 10 Worst Employees of 2008, CareerBuilder.com
2. 14 Awesomely Addictive Candy, CandyAddict.com
3. Top 10 iPhone Apps, TIME Magazine
4. Top 20 Most Annoyingly Catchy Songs of 2008, NowPublic.com
5. 21 Dumbest Moments in Business 2008, CNN Money
6. Top 10 Searches for 2008, Yahoo
7. Top 10 Bushisms of 2008, About.com
8. Top 10 Late Night Gags, TIME Magazine

I work with nonprofits every day but recently, while searching for one, I discovered a few I’ve never heard of - and got a little carried away.  There is apparently an American Association for everything.

1. American Farrier’s Association: “It’s simple to find hoofcare information, but difficult to find information you can trust.”
2. American Tinnitus Association: An organization that “exists to cure tinnitus, the perception of sound in the ears or head where no external source is present. Some call it ‘ringing in the ears’ or ‘head noise.’”
3. American Tilapia Association: “Welcome to the World Wide Web site for information regarding the American Tilapia Association. This Web page provides access to information about the fish which is the fastest growing aquaculture crop in the United States and around the world.” Similar to the American Cichlid Association dedicated to the knowledge and enjoyment of cichlid fishes.
4. American Go Association: “Beyond being merely a game, go can take on other meanings to enthusiasts: an analogy with life, an intense meditation, a mirror of one’s personality, an exercise in abstract reasoning, or, when played well, a beautiful art in which Black and White dance across the board in delicate balance.”
5. American Topical Association: “Organized in 1949, the ATA has over 56 years of service to its members. It is the best source of information, fellowship and authority in the topical stamp collecting field.”
6. American Restroom Association:”America’s advocate for the availability of clean, safe, well designed public restrooms”
7. American Orff-Schulwerk Association: “An organization “united by our belief that music and movement – to speak, sing and play; to listen and understand; to move and create – should be an active and joyful experience.”
8. American Breweriana Association: “Advance the public knowledge of brewing and breweriana; to serve historians and collectors, and dedicated to the preservation of the memories and artifacts of America’s historic breweries!”
9. American Quaternary Association: “A professional organization of North American scientists devoted to studying all aspects of the Quaternary Period, about the last 2 million years of Earth history.”

Ali Bytes launched on December 14, 2007 with 3 things that make Paul Kittredge unique. One year later, with 233 posts under my belt (and 291 comments), it’s time to reflect back on the ride. While I’ve slowed down a bit in the last couple months, I  plan to ramp up again in 2009 with business school behind me.  Below are my personal favorites for 2008. Which one did you like best?

1. 4 things to know about RSS (and why you should care), January 2nd
2. 7 pieces of advice for young professionals, January 3rd
3. 8 pictures from Bombay, India (part one), January 7th (the most commented post of all)
4. 8 ugly sweaters from the Delhi airport, January 10th
5. 4 things I’m really good at, January 25th
6. 8 awards for Superbowl commercials, February 3rd
7. 7 Sky Mall Valentine’s Day gifts, February 5th
8. 14 “Tweets” about Twitter, February 11th
9. 15 career anchors (or what motivates people to work), March 4th
10. (More than) 15 useful and creative Google mashups, March 6th
11. 8 lessons from stand up comedy, March 9th
12. 7 useful communication skills, March 27th
13. 4 volunteer organizations, March 30th
14. 7 ways to make money on the side, April 3rd
15. 8 ways to boost your productivity, May 7th
16. 5 lessons about consumer behavior, May 15th
17. 4 marriage rights most gay people don’t have, May 19th
18. 5 engaging TED talks, May 28th
19. 11 inspiring graduation speech snippets, June 2nd
20. 9 reasons to visit DC in the summer, July 2nd
21. 6 reasons I’m hooked on del.icio.us, July 13th
22. 7 practices of successful organizations, July 27th
23. 4 things you should know about the Grameen Bank, August 2nd
24. 8 questions to ask yourself before starting a business, August 15th
25. 15 haikus about McCain/Palin, September 30th
26. 6 brainstorming principles from Ideo, November 11th

You’re probably done with holiday gift giving* but maybe you’re looking for a way to spend the cash you got from your grandmother. Here are four custom gifts ideas for yourself or a loved one.

1. Tastebook: A personalized cookbook you can easily make online. Start by browsing, searching or importing your own recipes and then gather all your favorites in folders in Mac style (i.e. drag and drop). Design it with photos and a custom title and for $34.95 you will have yourself a custom hard cover binder complete with 100 recipes sorted by 10 tabbed chapters. If this is too much work, you can choose from a selection of starter Tastebooks like “cooking light” or “party recipes” which you can also customize. Seems like a pretty good value.
2. Rugby Shirts: These were cool in the mid 90s, but like so many other things (like slap bracelets) they’re posed for a major comeback. At Ralph Lauren you can build your own. In addition to size, of course, you can pick your style, color, front and back badges and embroidery, including your initials if you want. Hat tip to Eric Kuhn who told me about this.
3. Labels: I know they don’t sound too sexy do they? Well at MyOwnLabels.com you can make labels for almost anything: CDs, wine and beer bottles, coasters, stationary, food products, etc. Incredible selection of label designs too. This type of thing is a great idea for big parties like weddings or milestone birthdays and for gifts for people that have everything. The only thing is that they’re not cheap ($7 for 6-14 wine labels) and adding photos, changing the font or color add cost.
4. Keds: Like Rugby shirts and slap bracelets, Keds are totally cool again. Well to me they were never not cool. As customization goes, Keds takes it to the max: I could put my photo on the shoe if I really wanted to. The only limitation, again, is cost. $60 for a pair of sneakers that probably won’t last more than one season.

* Mostly because I’m being a cheat and back dating this post! New Years Resolution #1: stop being a slacker on Ali Bytes.