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!

Day Two HeWeb12

So, Day 2. Much busier than day 1 if you can believe it. I blogged two sessions:

Using the Right Tools  and Web Content Strategy.

Both were great sessions and I learned a lot. By the end of the day I had 15 golden nuggets!

Tuesday afternoon I did take the lunch break to walk over to see the Bronze Fonz and the Milwaukee Public Museum. It was a beautiful but cool day and a nice walk. The museum was actually small compared to many others I've seen (I might be a museum snob) but one of the Security Guards (Darlene) and I had a great chat about the butterfly habitat and walking sticks.

I also genuinely enjoyed the "Streets of Old Milwaukee" exhibit. I love the architecture and am learning a great deal about cities younger than mine.

I made it back for the poster presentations, the end of the vendor conference, a quick run around to earn SCVNGR points and dinner.

Day One HeWeb12

WOW, Day one of HeWeb12 is over. I had a blast. Not being a newbie anymore makes a huge difference. I've kind of figured out how to navigate the sessions, find the plugs and locate the people I've followed online. The only negative spot was the loss of wifi for a few hours, but that might have been good cause it got me to focus on the presenters more. I also got published today!

Check out the link at LINK: Cloud Computing Blog on Link 

And I was in the same room as Adam Savage from Mythbusters. His talk was unexpected and thought provoking. He answered every question I had and I managed to capture some thoughts on my camera. Hoping his thoughts about art and engineering actually got captured because I think my daughter would love to hear that word for word.

HighEdWeb and Link

So, I'm plotting my sessions for the HighEdWeb conference next week when I saw the "call for bloggers" from Link, the Journal of Higher Education.

It's been a while since I wrote for a journal but I miss it. So I sent an email to the editor and got a response back almost right away. I am now scheduled to cover three of the sessions next week with a possibility of adding two more once I finalize my plans.

I am really pleased I followed up. It will be nice to connect with the "reporters" covering the conference and also be able to contribute to telling the story that evolves in Milwaukee.

Permission to write

So, I have an idea for a book. And I've toyed with it. Tried to write last November during NaNoMoWrite and just didn't have enough time or enough of the idea. That book failed completely.

But one of my characters keeps popping up in my head. So, I've been debating plotting her story but I keep thinking it's not good enough or interesting enough etc.

Last night I read something by Anna Quinden in her book "Being Perfect." She said "Once you've read Anna Karenina, Bleak House, The Sound and the Fury, To Kill A Mockingbird, and A Wrinkle in Time, you understand that there is really no reason to ever write another novel. Except that each writer brings to the table, if she will let herself, something that no one else in this history of time ever has. That is her own personality, her own voice....she may well be giving readers a new and wonderful gift. Giving it to herself, too."

So, I'm going to try again. But this time I'm going to try to outline something before November. Maybe if I have a path I can finally finish a story.

Loving my Kindle

I received a Kindle Fire as a birthday gift last year. And I've enjoyed using it. But it has really come in handy with library books. I finally figured out how to get them and I'm finally working my way through the waiting lists. Reading stuff I might not have found otherwise too. For instance Game of Thrones. Those books were too expensive for me right now but I'm able to read on the device.

But last night I had a revelation. I was reading what turned out to be a really short book. Really short. But I downloaded it from the library and returned it today.  No muss, no fuss and no gas wasted.

I think I'm going to be reading more than ever now.

Deadlines and Vacations

Yesterday I notified my freelance client that I'll be taking a few days this month to move my son back to college and to see some family members. Just a few days when I couldn't guarantee to check email or make edits to their draft site. We've been working on this project for two months but telling them I'd be gone for a few days has encouraged them to send all the materials for which I've been waiting (for weeks). Which means I can finish Phase I before my holiday. That makes me really happy. It should make the client happy too.

But I'm not sure why my absence for two days prompted this outpouring of response.

I guess I really shouldn't be surprised, after all in my whole career (Marketing, Writing, Editing and Web Content) I have consistently suffered from the Friday at 4pm curse.

So many work orders are generated Friday afternoon. It must the one day of the week with fewer meetings and so everyone goes back and cleans off their desks and sends the ideas around for new work. And just as I'm getting ready to log out for the weekend the emails start coming in. Most can wait til Monday, but it is still hard to leave work knowing there are needs to be met.

What day of the week generates the most work for you?

.

Three Words

Sending a shout out to Libdrone Books today.

I've come to know them through Empire Avenue (yes, I'm back into that again) and find their blog using three words to be a brilliant writing device. And I'm honored that my words have been used twice in recent months.

Go check them out, and if three words come to mind, share them. You might end up being featured in their blog! 

Update on Baby Birds

They fledged and flew away pretty quickly. You can see two of them below in the nest. Any clue what kind of birds? All the babies I wrote about last month are gone. Now we just have chipmunks around who steal the birdseed :)

Mission

This week I've had the privilege of helping co-chair the Mission experience at St. Gregory the Great Church in Buffalo. I can't tell you about it, only people who have participated in the program knows what happens each night, but I can tell you that it changed my life.

The beauty of the program is how each participant gets what they need from it. I am amazed every year at how differently people experience the events of the week. How I see them or how I feel can be completely different than the person across the aisle.

This retreat is also different in that it is 7 consecutive nights. By Friday we'll all be exhausted together, but I think that adds to the experience. It is part of the sharing. Next summer my husband and I will be the leaders of the retreat. It will interesting and humbling to hold that position. I hope next year goes as well as this one is doing.

Keynote for HighEdWeb

Today the HighEdWeb team announced the keynote for the conference: Adam Savage from Mythbusters.

This will be very, very cool. Love that show and find their promotion of the scientific method, the never-give-up mentality and the overall positive nature of the show to be wonderful ways to sneakily teach my kids new things. Looking forward to what I'll get to learn.

HigherEd Web

Looking forward to this trip and the October conference. I had the chance to go to Austin last year and it was an amazing experience. Learned so much, I actually came back with about 20 take-aways and tried them all. Implemented about half into my day to day job. Hoping to do the same and possibly figure out a presentation for when it comes to BUFFALO.

My fav photos from Austin:







My movie about the bats at the Congress Bridge:

Driving Test

Yesterday I took my daughter for her driving test. We pulled up to a LONG line of cars. Spotted a co-worker waiting for his son to finish his test (he passed). Found out there was at least an hour delay. Settled in for the wait. Finally it was her turn. She was pretty nervous by the time it was going to start.

I got out of the car and showed my license to the examiner who got into the car. As I turned away, an older man on a motorcycle pulled up and yelled my daughter's name and gave her two thumbs up. She smiled but couldn't talk. I walked over and asked who he is. He is her afternoon bus driver.

What are the odds that while I am standing in the middle of the street, in a neighborhood I've only visited three times in my life (my test, my older son's test and yesterday) that my daughter's bus driver would be there too and able to shout words of encouragement? Struck me as odd, but it actually calmed her down and she passed.

Lesson learned: We end up where we are needed. He made a wrong turn and look what happened. A wonderfully positive experience.

Driving thru Ohio

So, I've spent a lot of time on the road in the past year and my most frequent destination was Cincinnati, OH. It's actually a really nice ride through Ohio and I have a few mental checkmarks as to how I am doing on my ride.  My two favorite road signs are these:

Where will you spend enternity?

Hell is Real (sorry blurry)



On the return trip a non-Catholic version of the 10 commandments are painted on the signs. Can't miss them and maybe they make people think for a minute. Might even keep drivers safe if they decide to be cautious after seeing them.

Baby Birds!

The eggs hatched :) Now both parents are flying all over. When they start to fly this should get more interesting!

Outside the House

My daughter said she "didn't know we'd have a nature preserve at this house" yesterday when we were discussing how to stop upsetting a mama bird living by our front door. Now that the dog is getting older (see previous post) it seems we have multiple critters moving onto the property. Here are just some:

Baby rabbits (on side of the house)



The eggs in the nest (where we keep upsetting mama)



Why we keep upsetting her, she's is my hanging basket by the door above the mailbox! You can see her if you look closely.



Toady



Butterflies (from last year, my neighbor collects, hatches and releases back in the yard, we babysat)








We caught one of the caterpillars going into the pupa stage. Check this video out!

My pets

I wanted to be a vet. I read the James Herriot books when I was younger and fell in love with the profession. Worked at a vet's office and the zoo and volunteered with horses for years. Cornell waitlisted me and I realized I didn't need to go into that much debt for a degree. Went into medical writing/journalism and higher ed instead. Happy I made the choice.

My years of being pre-professional though, has made me a "cheap" pet owner. I only rescue SPCA animals (except for fish LOL) and I rarely do all the tests when my pets get sick. I just nurse them back to health. So here they are:

Shadow (currently 15, the oldest pet I've ever had)



Nugget (our newest member of the family, probably about 18 months)


The fish, where the red mollies just had babies!


Bandit (our first cat who died of a stroke in January, miss her)

Roswell Thoughts

Another Ride for Roswell is over. It is always my anniversary weekend and I've been involved I think in all 17 of the events. I used to work for the Alliance Foundation as a freelancer (started late 1993) and joined the Institute as a medical writer in 1998. Stayed for almost 11 years before heading over to UB. Since UB hosts the event, I still help out the event creating social media updates and telling stories. It is a major part of my life and maybe someday I'll actually get on a bike and ride!



This photo sums up a lot for me. Everyone involved has a story to tell. My story, aside from having been a member of the team, is that my Mom was a nurse at Roswell Park, my son volunteered there and my mother-in-law died of breast cancer. We are all touched by cancer and need to remember that every day is precious.

Flickr

So, I finally hit my 200 photo max on Flickr. Not surprising when I uploaded 125 photos on Saturday from the Ride for Roswell!

I've gone back and cleaned up the "bad" photos and got myself back down to 199 images. I'm going to blog about the sets over the next few weeks. Flickr claims that if an image has a link that people will be able to see it. So, I'm going to test that theory. Get ready for a bunch of posts with photos :)

Deja Vu

{EAV:41ab1939ba9630d4}

So last year I tried Empire Avenue, changed some privacy settings on facebook and deleted my account with them. #fail on their part, I never got a notice but all my work was gone. So I quit.

The last month, I decided to check out Empire Avenue again. Very different, much better. Have connected with some interesting people and my shares are pretty good. (e)cpd623

Anyway, yesterday I reconnected my blog there. And this string {EAV:41ab1939ba9630d4} has to be in it to prove the blog is mine. So, here I am :)

Back in the saddle

So last week I met with a potential client, wrote a pitch, mailed it off and got a yes.

It's been a while since that happened and so I'm thrilled. I'll be helping to redevelop a website from scratch.

It was nice to get a YES as many of the clients I used to help have closed or moved away. So, finding this job really has reinvigorated me. I'm excited to have some new things to try outside of work and am always glad to expand my skill set.

When we launch the site, I'll share.

Got approved to attend and just booked my airline travel. Very happy I can attend the HighEdWeb conference again this year.

Freelance Gig

And as predicted, as soon as I mentally said goodbye to my freelance business, I got an email asking if I was interested in helping on a new project. I said yes.

So, I changed my LinkedIn profile, mentally jumped back into the notion and am currently awaiting details. Glad to know it's not over. I kinda liked having the flexibility to try new projects out and learn new skills outside the office.

World Through Other Eyes

A few things in the news recently have made me realize that I don't see the world the way other people do. And I'm glad for that and sad that they don't see all the beauty I see. I am scared for how the world will change (or not change) for my kids (and grandkids) because some of these issues really should be dead to us by now. I hope we can evolve.

The Hunger Games. I read all three books when my daughter got them as gifts. Similar in nature to the Uglies-Pretties-Specials series. A teen dystopian story. About kids killing kids while the adults use them to control other adults. How fear rules us. How eventually you have to step up and fight tyranny. I don't quite know what I would do in those circumstances but it is good to think about them. Then the movie came out last month. And instead of talking about these large issues, a whole bunch of idiots got upset that some of the characters in the movie were black. After the author described them as being dark-skinned. REALLY??? That is ridiculous and sad. Skin color has nothing to do with the larger issues in the book. And that is what made the news.

A new app called Girls around You. A group of programmers figured out a way to make an app that could pull info from twitter, facebook and foursquare and tell you where girls were around you if you checked into their app. The app got pulled after people called it creepy. It is creepy. But is it creepy for everyone. And scary that so many young people don't realize how much info they post online for the world to read. BUT, it is just as creepy for young men to be stalked. Or older people to be stalked. And if they called the app find new friends around you, no one would have commented. And the news today is how the women are at fault for posting their personal info. Kinda like how women dress impacts the attention they get. NO one should be hurt for being stupid. I try to teach my kids how not to be victims... post after an event.. don't tell where going online... but if they make a mistake then what? When will our world stop applauding predatory behavior? I fully expect that app to be launched again.. with more caveats about how they are not the problem. And they are not. People not paying attention is the issue. But why can't we protect one another rather than using this new open world to hurt one another?

Social media is a wonderful thing. We can be connected immediately. And help one another quickly. But we can just as quickly hurt one another with these words. We have to do better. The world is a beautiful place.

Bye Bye OPP

So, last week I had to make up my mind if my freelance business was going to attempt another year.

It will not.

It was sad to see some of my clients close (medical publications are not what they were) and to realize that I've moved on from some of the other things I used to do "on the side."

So, while I'm still interested in doing new things... I'm perfectly happy where I am and what I am doing. I'm not going to waste energy for a few bucks here and there. If an opportunity strikes, I know what I need to do to take it, but right now I'm going to focus on the kids (time to start thinking about colleges for the middle child) and cheer on their sports.

Which means that I'll probably get offered some new freelance opportunity next month. Karma has a sense of humor :)

Year of the Dragon

So, seven weeks since I last blogged. Here's why:

1. Work got busy, really busy and I love that.

2. Holidays. College son came home for three weeks, all other family made it safely in for the festivities. We had a lot of fun.

3. 2012 started.

The last point might look a bit odd, but then again it is an even year. Not my fav. It started with my dad falling on New Year's Day, followed by an MRI on the 4th, followed shortly by emergency surgery. All this happened while I was sick and unable to visit him cause of an infection. Then the cat suffered a major stroke and had to be put down. Luckily my oldest was still home and able to do the running around for me, but he did have to go back to school!

Thus while the end of 2011 was a fun, busy blast that kept me from blogging, the start of 2012 was a major turnaround that has tied up every free moment available. The last three weeks have been nuts.

So, why blog today? Today is the start of the Chinese New Year. My youngest is a dragon. This should be a good year. And I'm hoping that this New Year celebration will start something better in my house, cause the Gregorian calendar event was a minor disaster :)