March comes in like a lion

So, who decided that the phrase "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb" makes any sense?  Lions in savannas which are usually warm. 

Tonight freezing rain is expected. I can't decide if I'm happy about that or not. For it to rain, we have to be up over 32 degrees. It's been over a month since the last time it was that warm around here. Seriously.  But at least this should end soon. It's almost St. Patrick's Day and that is usually when the snow stops for the season. Usually.

When the internet breaks

Over the past six weeks my home phone has been ringing a lot at weird hours.  It appears that some bot scraped my business name, merged it with something else and promptly posted my home phone as a towing company.  With all of the snow and ice issues, there have been many calls for towing.  I'm getting tired.

So far in searching I have been unable to locate which group started this problem for me. I'm not a car enthusiast so that's not any kind of a connection.  I'm really at a loss and getting frustrated trying to search this info out. Anyone have a suggestion for a fix that doesn't involve me dumping my home phone number?

Workshop Scheduled

I am pleased to announce that I will conducting a workshop on Social Media at the Tri-State Conference in April 2015. Details are still being worked out, but I was confirmed as a presenter last night.

I am honored to be chosen and am looking forward to this opportunity.

2015

Not even sure I should be titling this a 2015 blog, but here goes.

I have decided that I am not a blogger. I love twitter, I love facebook but I don't love blogging. I think it is a few reasons:

• I'm too busy
• I am happy to share my opinion when asked, but just putting stuff out into the void seems a bit pretensious
• New tools have already supplanted the reason I relaunched this blog

So, the reasons.  I'm too busy.  I love my job at UB. I work on a computer all day long. I'm not doing a lot of generic computer work in my free time.  I have freelance jobs too, so again, when I don't have to be on a computer, I'm not being there anymore. So blogging fails the free time test.

I'm happy to share my opinion.... but not just being opinionated.  I'll share fun stuff on twitter (follow me at (@cpd623)  and hang out with my friends on facebook, but that stuff is way more personal than what I want to share on a blog. Maybe I'll change my mind again, but maybe not.  I'll keep this active, but more like monthly than weekly or daily.

New tools. I love Pinterest for my book tracking. I managed to pin 52 books last year and I've started the same goal for 2015. I don't need to blog about them anymore cause that is faster.

I'm always open to new ideas, work requests, professional contacts etc. If you'd like to work together, find me on LinkedIn. 

Wow.

Today is a wow day. It's a weird snow day in Buffalo where half the city is being blanketed and the other half has nothing.

Seriously.

This is a view down Genessee street in Cheektowaga. To the left is the storm, to the right is sun.

Tomorrow the snow band might move north, but we'll never get as much snow as the southtowns.

Also WoW, how long since I last blogged. I guess I'm not very dedicated to it. I tend to blog more when I have free time and there is very little of that in my life at this moment.   I've been blessed to be very busy lately and that is the important thing.  I have managed to read 50 books though, only two more for the goal this year. Glad I got ahead of that when I did!

Wishing for all to stay safe and warm and dry.

May was a whirlwind

So hello June. In fact I'm late on the hello part since today is June 3.

No books read since my last post. Grateful I got ahead on the year-long goal when I had the chance. Between the family funeral, getting Peter home from college, Maggie's end of SHA activities, Pete's birthday and a weekend in Richmond, VA with Matthew for the East Coast Volleyball playoffs, I lost the month. Totally.

Update on the projects... um, the dress is still not done. Have totally reworked it. I begin to understand why couture costs so much. I am literally hand stitching part of it now to fit her properly. I hope it is wearable when done but I now afraid that it will be a tortured piece of fabric when finished. I'm not sure I'm a candidate for Project Runway anytime soon.

On the plus side of that not being finished, I will have a legitimate excuse to sit in the cooler basement while working on it.

Starting to read Rebuilt and planning to read "12 Years a Slave." Looking for history recommendations. I find those easier to read in spurts and that appears to be my life for the next few weeks as we prep for two graduations this month.

May flowers

Had fun visting Mischler's Florist at the end of April to get flowers for the front yard and the diaconate luncheon. Primroses were on sale and they were gorgeous.  The rabbits have enjoyed all of the ones I planted in the front yard, so I hope they rebound OK. Daffodils are blooming so we have some color all around.

I was able to share the daffodils with my Uncle Steve before he passed last weekend. They really did brighten up the room. We lost him on May 4, which was odd considering the Big Bang Theory episode last week about Sheldon coping with a death on Star Wars Day. I'm not really sure I want to start finding clues to my destiny in random tv episodes, but that hit awfully close to home.

With his illness and the diaconate needs, I really have had no time to read or do any other activities around the house. I really need to finish Maggie's dress too. Time is slipping away.

Three more books under the bridge though. The most fun was Red Shirts by John Scalzi. I love that concept from Star Trek and it was a brilliant take on the idea. Also read The Alloy of Law from Brandon Sanderson (a mistborn book) which was OK and the Druggist of Auschiwitz by Dieter Schelsak. It was a sad take on the "medical" side of the concentration camp.

Happy April

Spring has finally arrived in Buffalo! I've seen tons of robins and the tufted titmouse bird is back calling "peeter, peeter" over and over again. Makes me miss my son...

I managed to stay pretty healthy all winter until the weather changed and now I'm lucky my coworkers haven't tossed me on my ear with my coughing in my cube. I was not the first to get sick around here, but after years in a hospital setting I am super sensitive to making people sick because of my illness.

You would think getting laid low by a virus would help the book reading efforts but sadly no. I just keep sleeping!  The updates for this cycle are both from the diaconate weekend. We finished Mary's Song last weekend and I read Contemplative Prayer to get ready for a discussion about a theological reflection. Got some other Merton books out of the library and I am looking forward to reading them when I can stay awake.

Work has been amazing though. We had the best social media around Accepted Students Day at #ubuffalo this year. Just amazing. It felt like Christmas I was having so much fun. Plus I'm getting a bit more into marketing efforts and that feels so familiar. I love web content but sometimes it helps to step out, see the big picture and then go back in and figure out how best to tell the story in the individual areas.

Books and Work and NCAA

Update on the reading (three more done). Am tracking all of them on this Pinterest board cause I'm lousy at the running count ! It says 21 so far, so I'm well ahead of the goal. I am sure real life will stop me at some point LOL.

• 700 Sundays by Billy Crystal
• The Blessing by John Trent
• League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for Truth by ESPN reporters

I tried to read a Rex Stout mystery but just could not bring myself to sort through the old-fashioned language and sexist attitudes. I know that noir literature is like that but I just was not in the mood.

So, next I'm going to read the Divergent series. We have a rule in my house that you are not supposed to see a movie until you have read the book. As Maggie points out regularly, I have not held Matthew to that standard all the time. But he was a baby when we started reading Harry Potter and I wasn't going to stop him from enjoying those movies. However, I am enforcing that rule with the Hunger Games, Enders Game and Divergent. So, now I have to read those books!

************

Off Peak Update
I am in the process of launching some new initiatives for the Tri-State Consortium including surveys to help with their research, an experts roster and expanded LinkedIn options. I'm excited to work on their materials because it is such a great way for me to connect all of my marketing and highered experience.  Plus, it helps me to start new projects because it keeps me current. I find sometimes that we just let things ride until we are forced to change. By continuing to expand my skills, I can bring new ideas to work and vice versa. Grateful for these opportunities. 

*************

Just a note about the NCAA.  Boy, the brackets are broken. I don't recall any other tourney where there have been so many upsets. But the basketball has been amazing to watch. I love March Madness !

Another snow storm

Buffalo had another snow storm yesterday. As my friend Arlene said on facebook "You know you are from Buffalo when everyone is complaining that ONLY 14 inches of snow and 30-40 mph winds and 1/4 mile visibility is hardly a blizzard and doesn't measure up to our standards."

I have to agree that it was never a blizzard yesterday, but thundersnow was a new experience. 

Got to finish reading The Monuments Men while home and had a mini movie marathon with the kids. Watched Red 2 and Despicable Me 2. Both were Christmas gifts we have not had any time to watch. Also did a bunch of computer work and got organized to try to make a spring dress, while Pete worked on the kitchen some more. I think we need more days off like that. Totally random where you are up and moving (both Pete and I went to work) but as the city shut down we both came home at noon and were energized to get some things done. Quite a gift actually.

Have two mysteries to read and two more kindle possibilities. We'll see how I do this weekend. 

18 books finished so far in 2014.

A blur of a month

So, after the excitement of the hospital visits, I had the pleasure of sharing the flu with my kids. Well, they probably shared it with me. So, I'm a bit concerned that today is March 11 and I feel like I've missed all of March to date.

On the plus side, the weather is still super cold so I don't think I'm missing much LOL.

Book update. I've started a Pinterest Board to help me track my books and I did manage to read a few while under the weather.

I read The Sports Gene by David Epstein. He quoted Outliers quite a bit so that was interesting. Peter brought it home over break and I swiped it for a few days.

I also skimmed Hunters of Dune and all of Sandworms of Dune so I'm calling that one book to be honest. Very repetitive at the start but I did like the ending a lot.

Read through the Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks. World War Z was much more interesting, but his ideas are creative.

Total count for year is 17 complete in week 11. Doing pretty well so far!

On deck are: The Monuments Men, 700 Sundays and League of Denial. I also have a few mysteries to read but I'm not sure I'm interested in those right now. We'll see.

February Break

Not the week/ month I expected to have but a couple of days sitting as a hospital visitor really boosted my reading.

Last entry I had finished 7 books. Since then 7 more (Blink, Altered Carbon, I will fear no evil, Stranger in a Strange Land, Starship Troopers (last 3 by Heinlein) Fever Dream and Cold Vengeance by Preston/Child)

I hit the library and picked up two mysteries, two of the newer Dune books and downloaded 2 more to my kindle. We'll see how many I finish now that things are "back to normal."

Reading update

So at least I'm going to blog about the books :)

Managed to read around/during the volleyball tournament this weekend. The last time I blogged I was reading Kenobi by John Miller and Necromancer by William Gibson. Yesterday I finished Tipping Point and started David and Goliath.

Total count for the year is 7 completed (still on track for a book a week)

As I only skimmed The River of Doubt, I'm not including it in my count for the year.  I was disappointed with that book. I ended up reading the beginning, part of the middle and the end. Nothing made me want to read every page.

On deck is Altered Carbon (recommended by co-worker Mike Conroy, I will fear no evil by Heinlein and Blink by Malcom Gladwell (totally working my way through his books on my kindle!


Of course, the Olympics are going on in Sochi, I have to do the taxes, I have a lot of work to do for Off Peak and the kids have winter breaks coming up. But I can always find time to read :)

PS: Watched World War Z. Disappointing after the book although I did see some pieces that were similar. I just don't understand why they had to change it SO MUCH! 

Reading in 2014

My life flies. Totally on full speed in this phase of my life between working, kids, family needs and sports.  But, at the same time, I can always have a book tucked in my purse for five minutes of downtime. I'm going to keep track of the books I read this year in this blog. Perhaps it will get me to blog more often :)

Since January 1, I have read:

World War Z by Max Brooks
2 b r 0 2 b (short story by Kurt Vonnegut)
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell
War Wives by Helen Bryan

Am currently reading:
Kenobi by John Miller
Necromancer by William Gibson

On deck:
The River of Doubt (Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey) by Candice Miller
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell

And as long as I was reviewing my Kindle to check out the author names, I took at look back at 2013. I think the Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis was one of my favorite books last year. Freakonomics was also pretty interesting. And I'm pretty happy I'm on track for at least one book a week in 2014.

Prepping for a meeting

And just completely cleaned off my desk at work. That almost never happens, but finally all the pieces spread out across the desk came together. Kind of amazed actually. I think I like my piles better.

Resolutions

So every year on December 31 I sit down and create a list of resolutions for the new year that I then fold up and put into my checkbook. This is a 25+ year tradition for me and last year I was remarkably successful with my 11 goals for the year. Three were completed, four were started (and were in good order by December) and two were changed for good reasons. There was only one item that really didn't get touched and it had to do with my writing, but as I came up with a good idea for a story I think it wasn't a complete loss.

Most of the time my goals are financial. I'm a Capricorn and that rings very true for me. Many of my money goals feel like pipe dreams when I put them on the paper but I think that was part of my happiness on Tuesday.... for the first time I actually crossed off the majority of those goals in a calendar year. Either I'm getting more realistic as I age or I'm honestly doing better tightening my belt.

I'm not prepared to share my list of 12 goals for 2014, they are pretty detailed and personal, but Rachel Reuben shared some of her goals today (http://rachelreuben.com/things-ill-be-working-on-in-2014/) and she gave a shout-out to Chris Brogan's technique of three words (http://www.chrisbrogan.com/my-3-words-2014/) which I will try.

Here goes: Create ~ Nurture ~ Support

Create: I want to be more crafty, I want to write, I want to garden, I want to find news ways to make things last so I can be more thrifty. At work I want to generate new content and make more people connect.  I think this word is a strong action word (with many meanings) for my personal and professional goals.

Nurture: I want to be able to nurture relationships to celebrate good things and for when things get tough. I also want to figure out how to keep nurturing our financial life. I need to keep nurturing myself so that I have resources when things get tough.

Support: I need to learn how to lean on others for support as well as determine how to best balance the fact that I am the major support for several people. I want to strengthen old and new friendships so that the online network I've developed can become more "in real life."  I am consistently amazed at the new ideas I learn each day and I have to be better at migrating those ideas into real sustainable supports for myself and my family.

End of 2013

I love odd years and feel a sense of dread as an even year approaches. I'm not sure when I made that connection... but some how odd years are less bumpy. I mean bad things happen and good things happen all the time... but some how in the odd years those negative situations are never as bad. I have a very good friend who has synesthesia and she tells me that odd years are more calm when she views those dates. I believe her.

So, as 2014 approaches... I prepare myself for a roller coaster of a year. I hope this one isn't going to be hectic but I know in my heart that there are sick relatives and broken cars and lost dogs ahead and I hope for happy endings. Perhaps this will be the year that changes my mind about even ones.

Happy New Year!

Connecting my Tumblr account

I'm new to Tumblr. Wanted to connect a few things and discovered that they no longer connect rss feeds. I am using IFTTT to create a work around for this problem. I love IFTTT, you create recipes and they respond for you.

So, if this works, this post will automatically go there. And I'll be one step closer to solving as issue at work.

Connecting Pinterest

So, I'm slowing connecting all my social media channels together. Today I'm focused on Pinterest. I enjoy spending time on the site, so I'm going to start adding new content there. I have some creative moments (when I have time) and I've gotten fun ideas from the site that I've used.

If you're on Pinterest, let's connect. http://www.pinterest.com/cpd623/  My most recent board features my birthday cakes. I will slowly upload all my photos from over the years.

Christmas Ice Breaker

I was asked to come up with an activity for a holiday party at work. There were going to be around a dozen people in attendance.  So the 12 Days of Christmas seems like a logical solution. Here are the questions I developed (I work at UB which is why there are a few work related questions included):

• On the first day…. Tell us about any memorable first day…. Of work, of school, at UB? 
• On the second day…. What is your favorite duo? Batman & Robin, PB&J? 
• On the third day…. Since “tri” means 3, tell us your favorite food or place to eat and why we should “tri” it. 
• On the fourth day…. Imagine it’s the 4th of July. Where are the best fireworks? 
• On the fifth day…. What’s your favorite memory of a golden summer day? 
• On the sixth day… There are 6 foreign campuses affiliated with UB (Singapore, Japan, Canada, Poland, China and India). Which one would you want to visit? 
• On the seventh day…. What’s a perfect weekend like? 
• On the eighth day … 8 looks like infinity…. If you had all the free time in the world where/what would you do with it? 
• On the ninth day… The niners are in San Francisco. How far west have you traveled in the US? 
• On the tenth day… Remember 5&10 stores? What’s your favorite candy? 
• On the eleventh day… Honors (and hobbits) enjoy elevenses…. Are you a coffee or tea drinker (and if tea what kind)? 
• On the twelfth day … What is your favorite part of December and why? 

Here is how I presented the questions:

 

I wrote the questions in the font Harrington, printed them to be the size of the holiday themed tape, taped the question around a candy cane and added the number. We went in the order of how they were selected. It sparked a lot of conversation among staff ranging from their teens to adults with over 30 years experience at UB.

I thought it went well anyway :)

If you decide to use this idea, please let me know. I'd love to know if it got used someday!

2013 end approaching

I love odd years. They are the ones that just seem to go more smooth. Bad things happen all around, but somehow in the odd years I can handle the bumps in the road. 

Sad to see 2013 speeding to an ending. Been a good one. Didn't cross everything quite off my list, but I moved along in a positive way. I think I've got at least 5 more years of time insanity with the kids growing and my elders aging.

I mean the last time I wrote here was May when I was starting my summer reading list. I managed to read quite a few books but then school started and life took off and bam, here it is Thanksgiving. I didn't manage to even hit 5000 words in NaNoWrMo this year. But I have a new idea.

I only managed to knit scarves again this year, but I made four and can give them away.

The kitchen reno went really well (now we need to finish before 2014 starts) and I think overall this year was good. One more month to wrap things up and then cocoon myself as best I can til 2015 rolls around.

Hoping not to be gone for so long next time.

American Lit

So, I got into a discussion on twitter about American Lit (note, I work in higher ed, so intellectual discussions are possible 140 characters at a time). I hated American Lit in high school, managed to talk my teacher into letting me read War & Peace instead. Yes, Russian fiction in lieu of three American lit novels. The page count was greater and she was excited to be able to tell people one of her students read that book. I was excited to skip the whiny novels.

So, as an adult, when I could not contribute to the discussion about which American authors are better, I asked for suggestions of what to read. I was told these novels:

Invisible Man (already read)
Angle of Repose
Sound and Fury
Absalom, Absalom
Death Comes for the Archbishop
Slaughterhouse Five (already read)

My dad's favorite book of all time is the Old Man and the Sea (already read). Another suggestion outside of twitter was Of Mice and Men (already read).

Since the twitter exchange I have read two of the books (Angle of Repose and Death Comes for the Archbishop) and I discussed Slaughterhouse Five with my son.

I went and looked for a list of great American Novels, I've read 25 of them. Was surprised to have so many. 

I will go get the Faulkner novels from the library and attempt them. But I'll be honest. As beautiful as some of the descriptions of the wild west, I still find these novels whiny. My issue with American Lit 30 years ago and still today is that we don't have enough history here to claim any understanding of the world. We are only a few generations removed from people who believed in miracles and came here. The disappointment these authors report is inevitable. Reality is always harsh. I find that these characters are so busy being disappointed in their lives that they miss the beauty being described around them. And I want to shake them.

Do you feel differently about American Lit? Why? Help me see the other side. 

Books

I've noticed people commenting about how many  books they've read or how many books people read in a year. I'm not sure I could ever count how many I've read. If left alone I could probably read a book a day. With three kids, work and a new puppy I am lucky to finish one book a week. My kindle got me back to this average... it is easier to carry that around with me and I can read a few pages when picking up from sports etc. I remember summers reading a book a day and spending every allowance to buy new books. Conservatively I have probably read over 1200 books, assuming an average of 30 books a year times 40 years (been reading since before Kindergarten but only counting since then). If you think that number is high, I'd like to point out that I won the reading contest in 4th grade for the month of October (how many mysteries can you read?) with 31 accepted books. I read more but the teacher would only credit me with one a day and my mother had to write a note that yes I really did come home from school everyday and sit down and read. Plus more than half of those books came from the school library and the librarian had to attest that I did check out a different book everyday and could answer questions about each one.

My kids don't read nearly as much. Aside from their overall increase in homework, they have activities I never could do (my Mom didn't drive) and they have multi-media entertainment to consume. They all do read, but not nearly as voraciously as me. The sad part is that they watch a movie and think they understand a book... and yet Hollywood uses book titles and themes with no regard for the real material. Even when they are motivated to stay true to the material, ie, Harry Potter, they still change things just because (the 7th movie with Snape, Harry and then Harry with the elder wand). No reason to change it but they did.

I have a new rule with my kids that they cannot see a movie without reading the book first. That way they have their own vision in their minds eye and can compare as opposed to a two hour synopsis that may or may not be right and then to get frustrated when the book is different. This helped our family enjoy the Hunger Games and I hope the future ones as well.

Leaving Empire Avenue

So, I just deleted my Empire Avenue Account. I decided that with the recent changes to the tool that there was nothing more I could glean from it. I did send a note to them, but I don't think it matters, I am sure that they have reasons for what they are doing and I'm not the target audience.

I decided to delete the account so that all my investors would get the max eaves possible. I peaked today at 123+ which is higher than I ever thought possible. I maxed out everyone I could today too so that they would benefit from my purchases. I am hoping I left the best way possible. I met some interesting people on EA and will continue to follow them on twitter and on G+, but the time needed to participate was growing and with less and less ROI for me.

If you read this and ever were a shareholder, thank you. I learned a lot from you and appreciated your willingness to invest in me.

Happy 2013

Yep, so I dropped off the blogging bandwagon again.

After the conference I came home to a ton of things going on... and then the holidays... and all the birthdays... and relatives in the hospital.... and a new puppy.... and on and on.

Since this is one of those activities where I don't get paid.... this one doesn't happen regularly. But I know I should do better.  Will try again :)

Here's the puppy: Morgan!