As has been true for the past few years, the football was more interesting than the commercials during this year's Super Bowl. Nevertheless, I, like many, sat down eager to watch both the game and the ads.

A good friend is someone who will call you out on your stuff - kindly, lovingly and, most of all, honestly. A good friend did this for me the other day. She pointed out that I seem to be overthinking and that it was leading me to inertia. Inertia is a fancy word for being stuck.

Welcome to Marketing 101! This is the first in a series of about some of the basics of marketing. The series is designed for everyone – whether you’re already a social media smartypants or you’re working on building your blog, your brand, or your business; whether you need to know more about all the marketers approaching you about your blog, or you’re just curious about the marketing jargon flying around the internet and the stories behind those crazy companies who try to sell you stuff.

I graduated from college into a recession and, unable to find work, I turned to temping. My first assignment was two weeks of filing. When I finished the task in two-and-a-half days my boss said, "Maria, you're wicked smart" and he set about to find a way to keep me on.

What do you want to do before you die? This is the question posed by four young men from Canada in a purple bus nicknamed "Penelope" and a project called The Buried Life (named after an 1852 poem by Matthew Arnold) which has been turned into a TV series. Collectively they've made their own list of 100 things they would like to accomplish and they are working on crossing each item off.