I’ve written a few pieces on managing email in the past and it’s something I love thinking about and discussing. Email is just so disruptive and too many people use it in ways that kill productivity. In case you didn’t know, I recently went back to work full time and one of the cool things we do at the office is that every so often everyone is assigned a teaching assignment. Everyone picks a topic and then gets to teach it for 15 or so minutes. Almost everyone keeps their email client open all day long and use email to send things that really didn’t need sending. As a general rule, every email you send generates two replies!

I volunteered to each first and my day is Monday. I’ve got pretty much everything together (I’ll share it here too) but I wanted to get some feedback. What are some of your favorite tricks for managing email? What’s working or not working in your office?

So yesterday I posted about Good People Day and I hope you took the time to check out Gary’s video blog. I love this idea and I don’t even know where to begin. There are so many good people in my life and in my circle of friends that I couldn’t possibly recount them all. Instead, I’d like to share a story about two very special friends who I will never be able to repay for their kindness.

In March 2005 my wife Aeryn was diagnosed with cervical cancer. In fact, tomorrow is the 3 year anniversary of that horrible day. The original plan was that Aeryn would get a full hysterectomy and then have some chemo to make sure all the cancer was taken care of. But when they started the operation they found the cancer had spread to her bladder and other areas. They couldn’t proceed, instead an aggressive radiation treatment and chemo regiment would be prescribed. She had external and internal radiation and chemotherapy. Her chemotherapy took nearly 8 hours a day and she had to stay sitting there during the entire thing. I, of course, sat with her the entire time.

Two friends who I met online back in the bbs days found out and decided to get Aeryn a get well gift. We got home one day and a package was waiting on us. Inside was a brand new Sony PSP and some games to help her pass the time. This is when the PSP had just came out. This was an amazing gift and meant so much to Aeryn and me. It was an important moment in my life and a very trying time and my friends reached out in a very real way to help out. I can never thank Andy or Justin enough for their friendship and kindness. They aren’t just good people, they are great people and I’m better for having them in my life. So many others stepped up too and helped us and supported us, but this particular gift was just so far above and beyond… just, thank you guys.

Aeryn has been in remission for about a year and a half now and I know we wouldn’t be where we are without the support of great friends. Thank you all. Thank you so much. I hope you have Good People in your life too, today and every day!

Technorati Tags: GPD08

I’ve been watching Gary Vaynerchuk for a few months now. Someone had posted a link to his show talking about how good it was and while I don’t really drink much wine (I’m trying!), Gary’s just got charisma and energy to spare. He’s also started blogging about the whole web biz, personal branding and those sorts of things, which are right up my ally. Best part? Gary’s got to be the nicest guy and he gets it. I wish I knew he was at SXSW, would have loved to say hi.

So today he posted a video asking people to take part in Good People Day tomorrow. It’s a great idea, the gist of which is to highlight the “Good People”. Love it. I’m already working on my entry for tomorrow. Check out the video. Pass it on!

Technorati Tags: GPD08

So I’ve been back working a regular job for two days now and it’s been pretty good so far. Yesterday I had the pleasure of consulting with Karina from Hispanic.com, which is a fantastic domain name. Karina has a great sense of humor and I think she’s going to do a great job with the site. Meeting people like her is one of the best parts of working back in the office.

Being around people again is going to be interesting and mostly in a good way. I’m sure there will be some rough patches here and there. You can’t spend eight hours or so a day with people in close proximity and not rub each other the wrong way sometimes, but having people around to collaborate with and cut up with is good for the soul. I can already feel the creative energy building up and just the buzz of doing something new.

Once I’ve been there a little bit longer I’ll go deeper into what all is going on, what I’m doing and the good and bad bits about returning to work.