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I have been absolutely slammed lately with meetings, and in desperate need to find a solution keeping me organized on the go!  My IT guy turned me on to Google Sync for my iPhone.  I was looking for a solution that would allow me to access my calendar from anywhere and then also keep everything coordinated from my iPhone.  I have been super impressed with the technology … anything I punch into my iPhone syncs OVER THE AIR with Google Calendar and visa versa.  It really is a complete solution.  The only problem is it does wipe out all your contacts during the installation process, so just make sure you back up your data ahead of time.  I unfortunately did not, and lost a lot of data.  I actually did follow the directions online, so I’m not quite sure what went wrong.  Definitely a "gotcha" to look out for.  Take extra precautions if you can not live without your current contact information and calendar data.

Another fantastic tid bit Gmail just added, is the ability to access your mail while offline.  These two features together definitely give GMail the ability to compete with other more robust messaging solutions (ahem … Microsoft). 

Over the weekend Kobe had a lovely little run-in with monsieur skunk.  It was the first time in his (almost) 9 years of life that he’s gotten sprayed, and you have to imagine that we were quite surprised living in the city that this could happen here.  That being said, we do live in this funky little burrow that is rampant with wild life such as raccoons, hawks, birds, and squirrels.  Anyway, as soon as he walked in from his pre-bedtime outing, the odor was overwhelming.  We immediately threw him into the tub and scoured the house for tomato juice to pour over him.  Instead of tomato juice, all I could find was New England’s Best Bloody Mary Mix, homemade marinara sauce, and Ragu Traditional Old World Style spaghetti sauce.  Not really the ideal trinity of deodorizing products.  We dumped what we could onto his coat, but that skunk odor is just terrible to alleviate.  Not to mention suffocating when you are trapped in a small bathroom, with a wet dog, and hot, steamy, skunky water.

Someone recommended a product called "Skunk-Off", but I wasn’t sure where to get it, as I didn’t have any luck finding it at Petco or Target.  Thank goodness RUNmyERRAND Runner Nicholas M. was up for the task!  Fingers crossed that this will do the trick!

RUNmyERRAND has generally been laying low over the past month, but we did pop up in the press a couple times last week.  An article in Xconomy entitled, As Unemployment Rises, “Service Networking” Startups Find Niche Matching Workers With Odd Jobs, did a great job of describing this up and coming service networking trend. 

RunMyErrand founder and CEO Leah Busque has an apt term for the new phenomenon: “service networking.”  Even five years ago the technology wasn’t really available to build what we wanted, but with social networking being so popular now, and mobile applications, and all these different ways to facilitate connections, we felt we were on to something—this new standard that we began calling service networking, says Busque.

Another nice little story came out in the South End Times, announcing RUNmyERRAND’s ongoing partnership with Polka Dog Bakery.  The Press Room page on RUNmyERRAND.com has updated so that you can keep up with all of our exciting news! 

For a few weeks now, we’ve been mulling over the idea of a name change for RUNmyERRAND.  There are a couple of reasons behind this, the first being that it can be a little long and cumbersome to say with its 4 syllables, and secondly, and most important, is that the word "errand" can sometime mislead people on how they can use the site.  Sure about 80% of the things posted on RUNmyERRAND.com are errands, but that other 20% lends itself to some very interesting and creative postings.  For instance snow removal, dog walking, or organization around the house doesn’t really fit under the errand umbrella, but people have come to RUNmyERRAND.com with these requests happily met. 

Now on the other hand, the name RUNmyERRAND is so easy to remember, it is descriptive, and people know immediately the general concept of the site.  Do we really want to create a barrier to entry for new users by challenging them to remember and go to a site with a shorter, and less descriptive name?  We’ve also done a lot of neat branding already, that I am a big fan of. 

So there is a big decision to be made, with many pros and cons that support either route.  A wise man told me that it doesn’t really matter what you name the company … its all in the "delivery".  Since we do offer delivery services, I would have to agree.

With RUNmyERRAND cranking away, it feels like a great time to take a step back and enjoy the 10,000 foot view of where we are now.  From the moment this idea was born on a cold winter evening almost 1 year ago (YES – 1 year ago!), the idea has been to use technology to make life more convenient.  We are solving an age old problem, that I’m certain even the cavemen experienced … think about all those berries and fire wood that needed to be gathered!  Even 5 years ago, the technology was not robust enough, not nearly utilized enough, to drive what we have built today.  Its about building a trusted service network.  Service networking … a phrase that I coined from day 1 is what is driving this model.  Sure its about outsourcing mini jobs and tasks on the web, but what we are actually doing is harnessing the power of a community.  A community that exists both on and offline.  Social networking has obviously become quite popular in recent years, and capturing this essence and leveraging it to get real things done in people’s every day life is some pretty exciting stuff!  I feel a surge of energy in my blood just writing about it.  It is the next evolution of the web 2.0 / social networking space.  Service networking is where is it at, and RUNmyERRAND is pioneering this new standard.

We’ve really established a personality along the way.  Its funny how a website, a company, can do that as it lives and breathes on its own.  Mini coopers are fun to drive, right?  Built well.  Convenient.  Efficient.  Trusted.  You can park anywhere and navigate around quickly.  RUNmyERRAND is like driving that hip, slick, ultra cool, mini cooper.  You get all the fun, without the large list price that goes along with it!  Unless of course you are a Zipster and car share the mini cooper in your neighborhood.  In that case, you know exactly what I am talking about!!

As the last line in the RUNmyERRAND in 90 Seconds video states ….  "Welcome to the new phase of social networking, its service networking, its RUNmyERRAND.com".  And that’s the 10,000 foot view.