We traveled with kids, and we’re A-OK
Flying with two small children, and a layover in Germany, sounds like it could be chaotic but our trip went relatively smoothly. Both boys were well-behaved and slept most of the main leg over the Atlantic. I highly, highly recommend getting a bassinet for any child under age 2 (when they typically fly free), so they can sleep undisturbed during the bulk of the flight. Just keep in mind, the bassinet is only available in special seating areas and those seats may cost the parent an extra fee.
After sprinting across two terminals in Frankfurt airport, we made our connection to Vienna, where our older son was enthralled with takeoff. We arrived safe and sound on the 24th and were delighted to see my wife’s parents’ smiling faces – just in time to celebrate Christmas Eve.
It almost goes without saying but our boys were thoroughly exhausted after a long night of travel, opening gifts and family dinner. So were we.
Merry Christmas and I hope you enjoy this wonderful time of year.
A podcast on Black Hawk Down
Remember the movie Black Hawk Down with Josh Hartnett? Those were coming-of-age times for me, when that movie came out.
It’s a true story. It’s Col. James Lechner’s story, and others’ stories too, the people who were there. The people who persevered, and suffered. The people who didn’t make it back home.
Jocko Willink recently interviewed Army Ranger Col. James Lechner and I’m 2.5 hours into it so far. I’m hooked. The fighting these soldiers endured in their mission to capture Mohamed Aideed is profound. Col. Lechner shares details about the formation of insurgent posses, the experience of fast-roping from an unknown height into a dust cloud, and communication breakdown on the battlefield. This one is intense and will have you completely engaged.
I sent a test email to a live audience
Earlier this week I was testing an email that would be sent to thousands of recipients. There are many things that need to be tested in email marketing – remember, there is no ‘edit’ option as there is with many of today’s platforms. You send it and it’s gone. So it’s important to get details right before it “goes live.”
Well in my testing a testing email was accidentally sent out to the live audience. It happens. There’s a perfect world, and then there’s the one we live in. I try to avoid terrible blunders; this wasn’t one of them. The subject line was simply “testing.”
Normally this particular audience opens emails at a rate between 20 and 25%. The test email went out and within one hour it had over a 40% open rate.
Moral of the story is, if you have a subject line that gets an audience to open more than the subject “testing,” you’re doing something right.
You and other readers of these Whatsup Wednesday emails consistently open at a rate above 60%, sometimes much higher – thanks for reading!
Clickbait: The Hornet Spitball
Guy loads a hornet into a straw and shoots it like a live, raging, stinging spitball. Watch it on Facebook: the Hornet Spitball
Like this email?