Summer is in full swing and I could not be happier! What an awesome time of the year. Thursday is upon us again and that means it is time for the rundown.

Guilty Pleasure – As it is National Candy Month, I thought it would be appropriate to start with this. For the past year I have turned more and more to Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites. If you go to the bins in front of the checkout aisles at Wal-Mart, you can buy a box for a buck. It is a very low quality candy with stale cookie dough but for whatever reason it doesn’t deter me from eating it. Believe it or not, sprinkling them on ice cream or pouring them on your tub of popcorn at the movies is not a bad idea either. Do know that if you don’t sneak a box in at the theater you won’t be paying the $1 Wal-Mart price…most movie houses sell the exact same box for around $4.

My favorite candy sits on my kitchen counter.

A Boatful – Last week I had the opportunity to celebrate the 6th birthday of Sidney’s niece, Russell. It was a joyous affair where we hopped on the family boat and cruised down the Intracoastal Waterway to a fabulous seafood restaurant for dinner. Filling up the family boat was, well…family. The photo, posted by Sid’s sister (AKA Russell’s mom), generated a lot of social media engagement. My good friend Ellen Seder posted a comment suggesting that I blog about the photo. Great idea, Ellen! Consider it done.

It was a full and happy boat. Sid and I are way in the back!

Periscope Debut – I absolutely love Periscope. This live streaming social media service is incredible and I am already having a ball fooling around with it for personal use. However, I will write about that in a whole separate blog post. Today I used it the first time for work. I introduced the app by taking our #CCUSocialMedia audience on a tour of Brooks Stadium. Of course the focal point was showcasing the teal turf. For about 20 minutes I gave 88 people a live look at the stadium. I went to every vantage point in the venue so our audience could see the teal turf in all its glory. I had a splendid time answering questions and providing a service that not many universities are utilizing.

A screen shot from our Periscope live stream broadcast of the teal turf tour. As you can see, someone is asking a question in this instance.

The Social Circle – We released our latest episode of “Coastal Now” this week. During my Social Circle segment, I talked about how we utilized social media to make the big announcements about our new residence halls. It might be worth a watch to you (probably not though). Click here to be taken directly to my segment.

Another cool professional development happened today. Terminal Four, a gigantic content management company headquartered in Ireland, randomly published a blog post on how Coastal is going above and beyond with its summer social media efforts. I was completely caught off guard with the flattery but of course pleasantly surprised. To read the post, click here.

I talked about how we revealed our new residence halls in my latest “Social Circle” segment.

Another Blunder – Earlier this week when I wrote about the times I had messed up in my blog over the course of the past four years, I missed something. A loyal reader reminded me about an especially embarrassing mistake I made not too long ago. One word: TWINS.

I wholeheartedly believed that this commercial made for my blog featured twins. It took one quick look from by girlfriend for her to tell me that I was crazy. When I asked all of you for a second opinion, you also yelled back at me that I was nuts. Chalk that up as another moment of stupidity.

So I guess this is really just one girl instead of twins.

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Enjoy the first game of the NBA Finals tonight. Hopefully we will witness domination by the Golden State Warriors. I have been completely outspoken, I hope Lebron and the Cavs get swept. I don’t bow down to King James. Don’t Blink.