Monday, April 30, 2012

Update your LinkedIn profile

If you are looking for work, you are probably spending some time in your LinkedIn profile, connecting with folks, etc. If you are comfortable with your current position, you should still spend some time on your LinkedIn profile to update it.

I happened to stop by my profile last week and realized that as a result from some of the changes that LinkedIn had made recently, that my profile was no longer considered 100% complete!

What?

I am still not sure exactly why. LinkedIn did prompt me to confirm my current position. It also wanted me to "Update my profile" with a series of questions on each section of the profile.

I went to my Settings, turn off profile notifications, and then went to work. (Why turn off the profile notifications? If I had not, then each of the changes would have been broadcast to my connections. When I was done tweaking, I turned the notifications back on and made one last update to send the notification update once, rather than many times.)

One problem I encountered along the way is that if you do have recommendations tied to a position that you want to move to the new volunteer section, it won't allow you to re-link those recommendations. The volunteer section doesn't appear in the "positions held" drop down to align your recommendations. I did manage to replace my Franklin Matters volunteer position and reconnect the recommendations that I had received associated with my effort there. Maybe in the near future, LinkedIn will provide the capabilityand I can move this volunteer effort to the volunteer section.

My current public profile looks like this  http://www.linkedin.com/in/stephensherlock

If we are not yet connected and have met some where along the way, let's connect. Send me a personalized invite.

Either way, spend some time to freshen up your profile!


Sunday, April 29, 2012

DejaBrew: 6 kettles

The "Band of Brewers" was out to DejaBrew on Friday evening to brew six kettles. Five new beers and one repeater; Sammy's Octoberfest. This puts us at 190 total kettles with 110 unique beers.

DejaBrew - the kettles

What did we brew?


Broken Spring -  ACBBD - Light color & body, with a nice hops finish
Gene's IPA - An Imperial Style IPA, high in alcohol and high in hops
Hazelnut Brown Ale - The beer that won the Sam Adam’s Longshot competition!
Laberis Liberty Barley Wine -  A customer designed barley wine. Very hoppy!
Sammy's Octoberfest -  A slightly dark dark even keeled beer leaves a soft malty feeling on your tongue
Sweet Cream Ale - A cream ale with a mild hoppy sweet flavor.


We return in three weeks to bottle and at that time we can taste and see how well we did.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Which Social Network Makes The Most Business Sense?

The article referenced here raises good points about what social media tool you should consider spending time integrating with your business. One aspect of the discussion they do not consider is location. Yes, remember the old adage: "location, location, location"?

You do need to consider where your customers are. If your customers are on Facebook, then use it. If you customers are on LinkedIn, use it. If your customers are not on Pinterest, then don't use it unless you can find a real good reason to do so.

A couple of years ago I said the same thing in a conversation with Mary-Lynn and George on the Bigg Success podcast. You can listen and read the post here
http://biggsuccess.com/2010/05/11/social-media-and-location-location-location/



Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:


Facebook? Twitter? Google+? Pinterest? Here's how to ensure you dedicate resources to the right platforms for your business.

Add to Twitter Add to Facebook

Things you can do from here:

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Virtual Tour

Now this is a great use for the technology:


Sharing the sights and sounds with those who can't travel like that!


Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Morning shadows

The sun through the trees casts long shadows across the yard

morning shadows

When you stand in the sun, what does your shadow look like?

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

SOBCon needs a song!

SOBCon is around the corner. Watching the hashtag, you can see that folks are talking up the event. All the good networking, learning, sharing, and of course singing that will occur over the weekend.

Now, I must disclose that I am not a singer. I have been told that I can't carry a note but there is a power to music that draws me in all the time.

But I do think that SOBCon needs a song!

Let's pick a song where the music is in the public domain. Where the tune is recognizable and rewrite the lyrics for SOBCon.

As samples of what I have been crazy enough to do, I offer up the following:

(To the tune of Neil Diamond's "Solitary Man")


“Twitterholic Man”

@linda was mine
‘Til the time
That I found her

Twitterholic
tweeting Jim
retweeting him

Then @Sue came along
DM’d with me
That’s what I sought
Me and @Sue
But that died too

Don’t know that I will
But until I can find me
The girl who’ll stay
And won’t twitter behind me
I’ll be what I am
Twitterholic man
Twitterholic man

2009 Sherlock’s Foolish Music, Inc. (MADCAP Records)

One of a series of Music for a Hot August Night

And yes, this example is not a good one as the music is not yet in the public domain. There are plenty of good songs that are in the public domain. There must be one we can re-work to be the SOBCon song!

Monday, April 23, 2012

stitch in time

Among the tasks accomplished on Sunday was a few stitches taken to mend some holes in the toes of my socks.

Patching holes

They were not exactly 'in time' as the hole had already appeared but hopefully, I patched them enough to give them new life.

Why is it that holes appear in the toes anyway?

The rest of the sock is perfectly fine! What gives?

Rather than worry about how and why, I took up the needle and thread to stitch it together.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Friday, April 20, 2012

Lilac blooms

The lilac is ready to bloom. Soon its purple flowers and distinct scent will spread around.


2012-04-20_07-13-24_336

Are you ready to bloom?

What goodness can you spread today?

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Spring planting

Peter D's is located on King St here in Franklin. After the Christmas trees and wreaths are sold, it buttons up shop until now. Spring time bring new plants, new colors, new growth to the area.

Franklin, MA: Peter's D's spring stock 1

Are you planting something new in your yard this year?

Earth Day is coming up this Saturday. You can help do some spring cleaning around Franklin or help at the Community Garden, or plant and clean up your own yard. Seems like the weather will be good for that this weekend!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

morning sunshine

In the morning sunshine, there are many shades of green

morning sunshine


Walk around today, take a moment or two to see how many shades of green you can find.

Do they all have a name?

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Caine's Arcade

School's out here in Franklin this week. Hopefully, there is some time for imaginations to play. Will someone create a Caine's Arcade? No, it has already been done.




But with your imagination you can do anything else!


Found here http://creatinglifelonglearners.com/?p=1055

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Quick recap


Dolores and I had a nice bike ride along the Blackstone River Bike Path on Saturday, went to watch the NE Revolution play (and lose) to DC United and then closed out the day with a singalong concert at the Circle of Friends Coffeehouse with Peter Yarrow. The later was a special treat. How often can you get about 300 folks singing together in harmony?

Friday, April 13, 2012

"recommended dietary allowance"

On Friday the 13th, let's do a little video. No, not the slasher kind. Too bloody. Let's go the other end of the spectrum and watch as Billy Collins gives us our "recommended dietary allowance of poetry". After all, this is April and April is National Poetry Month.




The Mass Poetry Festival will be held in Salem and more info can be found here
http://masspoetry2012.crowdvine.com/


Note: Billy Collins was part of the inspiration to develop sherku, my own form of haiku. The story of sherku is here and the verse I wrote can be found here http://www.quietpoet.com/


This was cross posted to Franklin Matters
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/04/recommended-dietary-allowance.html

Thursday, April 12, 2012

SOBCon 2012

SOBCon is more than a conference, for me, it is a key entry in my personal learning network. This is my prime event each year to connect with new folks, reconnect with folks from prior years, learn and share. "Taking the blog off the blog" as Phil Gerbyshak is fond of saying. "Where the virtual meets concrete" is the tagline for the event and appropriately so.

Will I see you in Chicago?

The SOBCon event schedule, speakers and registration info can be found here  http://www.sobevent.com/








Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Cub Scouts want your usable shoes!


Got shoes in your closet that you don't use? Here is a group that recycles those shoes to put them on the feet of those folks who need them!



The 5 Cub Scout packs in Franklin are working together to collect shoes on successive Saturday's Apr 14 through May 20th. Additional details on the shoe collection points can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/04/cub-scouts-want-your-usable-shoes.html

or on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/events/205378376232310/


ReRun Shoes is based in Holyoke, MA
http://www.rerunshoes.com/

Soles4Souls is also working with the Cub Scouts
http://www.soles4souls.org/



Monday, April 09, 2012

Sticky buns

A key component of most Proulx holiday meals are the sticky buns!

Sticky buns

Folks have been known to bypass the major meal items to have an extra bun or two. They are good!

Once upon a time, Allison and Carolyn went to visit their grandmother to learn how to make them from scratch. See the sticky buns have an ingredient that the Proulx daughters don't work with - yeast.

Come to think of it, have we had a sample of what they learned yet? I don't think so.

Sunday, April 08, 2012

New game, same result

Saturday brings time and good weather to grill some turkey tenders for dinner.

Grilling turkey tenders

The girls were home this weekend for the holiday. We took advantage of the time to play a game of cards. A new game, actually a twist on an old game, but the results were the same; Dolores won. Not sure how she does it so consistently but I consider myself lucky to have her on my side. She is a winner!

Last hand



Friday, April 06, 2012

Morning colors

The signs of spring are here!

Spring colors!

Red, white and blue line up along the driveway

Have you stopped to see the colors around you today?


Thursday, April 05, 2012

Loss and sense of life


"when you are born with a loss, you grow from it. But when you experience a loss later in life, you grow toward it"
This quote struck me and has stuck with me since I heard it earlier this week. I was catching up to Krista Tippett's OnBeing podcast and the segment with Kevin Kling found Kevin saying this.

Think about it.

Spend some time with this.

If you want, please go to the full transcript here
http://being.publicradio.org/programs/2012/losses-and-laughter/transcript.shtml

or the video of the full interview here
http://being.publicradio.org/programs/2012/losses-and-laughter/video-kling_interview.shtml

I think it will be worth it!


Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Seth Godin: Stop Stealing Dreams


Seth Godin always asks provocative questions. He has an ebook/essay on education reform that I just found here

http://www.squidoo.com/stop-stealing-dreams

Have you read this yet?

What do you think?


Note this was cross posted to Franklin Matters. I hadn't intended to but it happened.

Monday, April 02, 2012

Sunday dinner

I combined a couple of recipes to put together a lasagna for our Sunday dinner. I added some steamed vegetables to a standard meat and cheese recipe.


It looks good and did come out tasting very well! There will be left overs so we'll eat well more than once this week.

What did you have for Sunday dinner?


Sunday, April 01, 2012

Sunlight

Without light we would have no shadows. And likely a bunch of other things some more important than the others.

Make some time each day to observe.

What do you see? What is hidden by shadows?

How does this change your view of the world?