Jim Beatty spent the Thanksgiving holiday engaging in what his personal trainer calls "self hate behavior" by indulging in a balanced holiday diet of sweet potato casserole and Lifetime movies. He still found time to sop up some sweet internet marketing goodness, though!

His fave:

I'm a man, sure, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy thepioneerwoman.com! This site is perhaps the highest expression of the commercial blog concept. A semi-magazine in format, it seamlessly blends elegant design, great writing and knock-out photography with tasteful — even interesting! —advertising and promotion. For as long as it's been out there, I don't think anyone has equalled it for its sophistication. It's a gem and clearly takes a lot of hard work.

Today we welcome Ashley Baker, our famed Senorita Margarita, to the blogging stage. Granted, Ashley has been known to forget names occasionally (not just anyone's name, mind you...her fellow employees' names). But, make no mistake - she's a top-of-the-line, energy-efficient CurrentMarketing bulb.

Her entry:

My favorite marketing site is Media Week.  I enjoy the trend and strategy articles, although my favorite aspect is the market profiles.  While we buy over 15 markets, I think it is interesting to "pre-game" on the markets that we may buy in the future.

Our sweet Traffic Pixie, Laura Griffie, almost hesitated to give us this blog entry since it seems so obvious what site she loves the most. Never let certainty get in the way of vocal commitment, Laura!

Laura loves our traffic system:

Surprise - my favorite website is CurrentTrack! If we didn't have it, traffic would be very difficult and outdated here at CurrentMarketing. I love it!

Pork chili verde king, Rick Schardein, lends his special seasoning to the blog chowder today. If you can't find Rick anywhere else, check our digital lounge because it's probably most likely he's discovered, and is researching or testing, some as-yet-unheard-of technology or application we will all inevitably have in our little paws after he spends an hour or two vetting it.

His site:

My favorite is DrudgeReport. Really basic, nothing fancy, but first with information most times.  In fact, one could avoid most nightly newscasts and get a more accurate picture of the day's news with a quick daily perusal.  Try it and see for yourself!

Donovan Sears' deep, dark secret is that he doesn't actually know how to use the internet. He's totally boss at the NDesign, but if you ask him to look up something on the web, he goes all Mad Max and starts bouncing around the office like he's tethered to the ceiling with a giant rubber band. It's a good thing he's so talented...

Nonetheless, he was able to ask around about this internet thing and give us this site:

Smashing Magazine
A GREAT resource for front-end web designers and those interested in user interface design, in general. Top-notch content delivered daily. Follow them on twitter: @smashingmag

A significant contributor to the cacophony that saturates the Account Service office, Meredith Will brings it! She and Allison Gibson are planning a good, old fashioned 'No Holds Bar Holler Off' at some point in 2010. Stay tuned to the blog for that date.

In the mean time, behold Meredith's picks:

Marketing Profs
This site is a great resource for information regarding our industry, the changes going on in it, and how to advertise/market better.

Also, this.

You may ask yourself, "WWJD?" We can help with that. Wait...you meant, "What would Jewell do?", right? Yeah, that's what we meant too.

Here's what she does:

My go-to favorite for industry news is good old Advertising Age.   It's a great one-stop spot for staying current.   Another spot I like to check out on occasion is Marketing Magazine.  It is a Canadian site, but still pertinent for us Americans!

Even our nifty intern wanted in on this blog action - Kelly Allday jumped in the ring with her guns a'smokin'!

Here's her fave:

Creattica
This site, formerly known as faveup.com, features inspiring examples of logos, 3d images, websites, and much more. It is an excellent resource for designers when doing research, looking for inspiration, or just finding some really great design. You can also rate others designs as well as submit your own. Overall, this site is an excellent resource for graphic and web designers and developers.

Mustache cultivator extraordinaire, Rob Womack, took a break from waxing and trimming to bring us our tenth blog entry. You ladies may think you have him pegged, but think again...this quiet storm churns a continuous rumbling of thunder just below the surface. All he needs is a cold front to bring it on.

His sites:

Two years ago, I could've given a few favorite websites. Now, my exposure to the web is filtered through the lens of my Gmail Reader, Google's RSS feed aggregator. Through Reader, I get to keep up with the geeky stuff (Slashdot, Lifehacker, Epicenter), the highbrow stuff (Arts & Letters Daily), and the video stuff (PVC, AE Portal News, Mograph), plus some friends blogs.

I also use Tweetdeck to keep up with what's going on in the post-production world as filtered through Twitter. With the changes to my internet usage, brought about by the rise of social networking, individual websites have become kinda irrelevant for me as a user.

Dateline November 13, 2009

CurrentMarketing, Louisville's leading interactive marketing and advertising agency, will resurrect its tacky Christmas sweater blog series for the 2009 holiday season. Following on the wild success of the 2008 blog series, this year's entries promise to bring even more scrumptious and charming trinkets of visual provocation.

"We have no idea what sort of funny business we're gonna pull this year. I mean, seriously, did you see last year's sweaters? Goodwill will never be the same," said President, Rick Schardein.

Stay tuned - the sweater movement commences on December 1st!