St. Paul parks, businesses partner for free ‘Fitness in the Parks’ program

St. Paul is now bringing fitness to a park near you – and it won’t cost you a dime. Fitness in the Parks is a brand new program that offers free exercise classes taught in St. Paul’s parks.

The classes are a partnership between the city of St. Paul and a number of local businesses.

Sarah Moran, owner of Sarah Zen Yoga, one of the businesses participating in the free fitness program, told KARE 11 she think it’s important to “build community through fitness.”

Fitness coordinator Gregory Dodd told the station the program will continue to grow as area businesses volunteer their expertise.

While many of the businesses are yoga-focused, there will also be classes for tai chi, kickboxing, pilates, dance and more.

There are five to ten classes scheduled each week, but expect more to be added as the summer continues. The class schedules can be found on the St. Paul website.

Classes are open to all fitness levels with no registration required. All ages are welcome.
Other Summer Activities

St. Paul is also offering free music and movies throughout the season. Concertgoers can expect genres like folk, jazz, blues, pop, electronic, pop and more. Movies will be shown July through September at St. Paul parks and recreation centers.

The schedule for music and movies is available on the city’s website.

Minneapolis has its own host of summer park activities available.

One of the main attractions is Music and Movies in the Parks. The event allows participants to enjoy free movies and concerts at the city’s public parks.

The concert schedule includes over 200 outdoor concerts. Genres include classical, jazz, Latin, rock, folk, swing and bluegrass.

The Movies in the Parks Series began in 2007 and allows moviegoers to view films from multiple genres starting at sundown. The 2014 film themes include Animals, Cult Classics, Family Favorites, Minnesota Made, Movies that Inspire, and New Releases.

The Film Society of Minneapolis-St.Paul will show films from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival Minnesota Made category. The Twin Cities Black Film Festival is also showing selections.

In addition, there will be movie and music combo nights throughout the summer. Live on the Drive will take place the second Thursday of each month. The event will showcase back-to-back movies and musical performances. The month of August brings Vita.MN Music and Movies series, featuring national artists followed by a movie for four consecutive Fridays at Lake Harriet Band Shell. Father Hennepin Bluffs Park will have both music and movies every Tuesday, as well as Food Truck Tuesdays.

So gather up your lawn chairs, sneakers, and bug spray and see what the Twin Cities’ parks have to offer this summer.

Source: http://bringmethenews.com

Credit Card Security

We have all heard the news concerning the theft of credit card information from 70 million customers of a large retailer.  This is not the first time this has happened, other companies have been compromised.  It won’t be the last either.  The bad guys are very good at what they do and they won’t stop.  So what can you do to protect yourself? Under Federal law a company must notify its customers when it learns of a credit card security breach and the extent.  Many companies will provide free credit monitoring for a certain period of time if you have been compromised.  If you have been notified that your credit or debit card has been stolen you should immediately call your credit card company or bank and ask them cancel that card and issue another one.  Then you should set up your credit monitoring and check it often. Above is an example of massive theft, but you should also be aware of day to day ways that your credit or debit card information can be stolen.

    Gas stations-“skimmers” are used to steel your credit or debit card numbers
    Restaurants-when your server takes your card for payment they will usually go somewhere outside of your sight
    ATMs-skimmers are also used along with someone who will visually try and get pin number

Those are just a few ways to get you thinking.  If your card is stolen, the bad guys can go on to compromise your identity “Identify Theft”, which is very serious.  With your card, they have your name, they can go to social media and find out where you live, your address and all kinds of other information. Shopping on-line is actually safer, because you card is never out of your control, you never give it to someone, and all your card information is encrypted from your computer to the card processor.  You should also consider using a credit card instead of a debit card when shopping on line.  With a debit card the merchant has your money from your account, in most cases, before you even get the product.  If there is a problem you can contest it, but it might be a while before you see that money in your account again.  With a credit card if you put something into dispute you don’t pay that bill until the credit card company investigates. If you feel that your ID has been stolen you should consider putting a “Credit Freeze” on your credit with all three credit agencies.  You can find information on their web sites.

Source: http://lockingsystems.com

Is Sharing Link Bait a Huge Mistake?

You've probably done it too. Shared an article you didn't fully read or absorb because the headline grabbed your attention. If you're guilty as charged—don't feel too bad as there is a legitimate reason we sometimes do this. As I've said many times before, content is currency and it's human nature to want to share things that resonate with us and we know will resonate with others.

I did this recently with a Business Insider article titled:

"We Got A Look Inside The 45 Day Planning Process That Goes Into Creating A Single Corporate Tweet"

So here's what I did; I read the headline and visually skimmed the article. Note that I said "visually skimmed"—which means a few key phrases popped out, but I didn't read or digest it. But I did share it along with snarky quip that read:

"Cue the beginning of the end of social media marketing"

So do I really think it's the end of social media marketing? No, but the headline got me thinking that if it takes so long to craft and perfect a single tweet—we need to examine what we are all trying to do here. The only problem is that when you read the article in full—while it does technically make the case that a tweet was planned well in advance, the context illustrates that it was part of a pre planned content calendar—a common practice in marketing.

It was a colleague's comments on the subject that got me thinking about thinking twice in regards to how we share, as well as operating within the reality that attention grabbing headlines are likely not going away. I have two take-aways from this:

1. Content Is Currency—Spend It Wisely
Would I have shared the same article? Yes—it's of interest to myself and my peers. What I would have done differently is bookmarked it for a time where I could have read and thought about the content before sharing it with a snarky take away. I would have probably shared it posing a question like "can planned content be less time consuming" or asking others if they have had similar experiences.

2. Be Ready For Anything
The agency featured in the piece (Huge) didn't just sit around letting the headline of the piece speak for them—they spoke up.

Net net, it's on us as individuals to think through what and how we share to ensure the maximum value of the currency of content and it's on all brands and organizations to be responsive in any scenario, or be defined by the narrative others draft for you.

Source: http://darmano.typepad.com/