job search notes: charge for expertise not by the hour

KNOWING WHERE TO HAMMER

A man was suffering a persistent problem with his house. The floor squeaked. No matter what he tried, nothing worked. Finally, he called a carpenter who friends said was a true craftsmen. The craftsmen walked into the room, and heard the squeak. He set down his toolbox, pulled out a hammer and nail, and pounded the nail into the floor with three blows.

The squeak was gone forever. The carpenter pulled out an invoice, on which he wrote the total of $45. Above the total were two line items:

Hammering , $2
Knowing where to hammer, $43

Charge for knowing where to hammer!

A few months ago I spent an hour with my dentists… he charged me $400 for that hour - I happily paid him because I was confident that he was going to do the right work on the right teeth. I paid him for his wisdom and his work. I paid for at least some of the time he prepared and qualified himself to do the work as well as the work that he did.

in summary… NEVER CHARGE BY THE HOUR

Charge by the expertise and experience you bring to each hour!

Read Kirk Weisler's full posting here

Robin: Mother Nesting

Robin_MotherNesting, originally uploaded by shersteve.

Managed to catch the robin with the telephoto lens settled in her nest sitting on the three eggs previously shared here.

Outside PumaCity on Fan Pier in Boston

Outside PumaCity on Fan Pier in Boston, originally uploaded by shersteve.

Seems like yesterday but it was only this morning when I was outside PumaCity to take this picture.

After some confusion with the security folks (they didn't know about the Social Media breakfast, then they said come on in, walk around, then they said you need to stay here) it turned out to be a good time.

Good folks, good discussions, and networking made up for poor start to the event.

This is more to come from the event Tuesday morning.

job search notes: building your brand

Picture the last meeting, seminar or class you took. People spoke and presented themselves and as they did, you built a picture of them, accurate or not. To you, one person might have been really smart, another funny, another shy, and another aggressive. These people, without realizing it, were presenting their personal brands to the world. Each time you go online, you present yourself in a similar fashion. You may talk about your products or your company, but you want to show more than simply your professional side and it's up to you to decide how to project the different parts of yourself.

Read more of what Ron and Julie have to say about "Finding your voice in a crowded world" PDF

Scott’s new tagline is ‘Stop Marketing, Start Engaging’ and businesses and individuals would do well to take both this daily reminder and Scott’s tagline directive to heart. While I completely accept that Twitter is open to be used by anyone in any way that they so choose, the simple fact is that the majority of twitter users would benefit from directing their gaze outwards rather than in.

Read more of what Amy Palko writes in her post on "The Outward Gaze"

Does this meet your needs? Your feedback will help!

Prime time for lion hunting!

Prime time for lion hunting! bright sun blooming easy to spot and pull!, originally uploaded by shersteve.

The bright sun makes the blooming dandelions easy to spot and pull!

I use the slender garden weeding tool. Sliding into the ground to find the main root, you can feel the tug as you push down and sever the root below ground, making the top flowers and leaves easy to pick up and move away from the lush green grass.

Crawling around on my knees is not easy but necessary. Come upon the lions quietly so they are not aware of what is about to occur! Eradication from the lawn is soon accomplished.

Alas, just for today. There'll be some more next week. Hopefully less!

Amaryllis series 4/25/09 AM

Amaryllis series 4/25/09 AM, originally uploaded by shersteve.

Only a few more good days of bloom left in these blossoms.

They stand tall and glorious with their edges folding over.

Daily robin nest - different view

Daily robin nest - different view, originally uploaded by shersteve.

The holly bush the nest is in grows next to the garage door. The mother robin leaves the nest as we open the door to leave, or when we return.

She flies to sit on a nearby tree branch and keeps a watchful eye.

Bless her so! We will keep watch and try not to disturb them.

Slide Show: East Bay Bike Path

Dolores and I enjoyed the East Bay Bike Path on Friday. The weather was picture perfect. I hope you enjoy!

East Bay Bike Path

Providence skyline at the North end of the bike way. 11 miles to go back, originally uploaded by shersteve.

The Providence skyline at the North end of the bike way. 12 miles to go back to the van at Colt St Park in Bristol.

Would have liked to have started at the North End and saved the drive down to Bristol. Will need to do more research next time to find some rest rooms at the North end. The Colt St Park facilities worked nicely.

Robin egg watch

there be eggs in the nest per Dolores they appeared yesterday, originally uploaded by shersteve.

There be three eggs in the nest. Per Dolores, they appeared yesterday.

job search notes: update the database!

From Beach walks with Rox, a casual stroll along the beach in Hawaii and a discussion about updating the database.




NewBCamp, HealthCamp, LinkedIn, networking, all kinds of good things happening around. Need to stop for a moment or two to let it all sink in, update the database as Rox says, and then move on with that new knowledge in place.

Good insight!

Is it time for you to update your database?

job search notes: interactive animation

Slate has an interactive animation of the job losses seen across the country.

Click through here to view it.

Impressive!

Why post this as part of this series?
One factor in the search is knowing where how we got here.

How we get out of this is up to us individually!

job search notes: follow on Twitter

If you know what Twitter is, then you can go right through to this link and find the listing of 50 people/accounts on Twitter that are worth following for your job search efforts.

If you don't know what Twitter is, you might want to check this out first:


Twitter in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo.


Thanks to CommonCraft for the video explanation of Twitter and to ResumeBear for the folks to follow on Twitter.

dial tone vs. presence

Jeff Pulver stopped for a few minutes to give an interview at SXSW and touched upon a number of social media topics. The change in communication patterns is open for discussion.



What do you think?

Seth Godin, not broken!

If you haven't seen Seth Godin speak, do sit and view this:

This defines what is broken and hence by what is not broken, a good experience!


Seth Godin at Gel 2006 from Gel Conference on Vimeo.


This is Broken is now a Flickr group.

job search notes: be found on LinkedIn

From Sean Nelson writing on the Linked Intuition Blog

Think of your profile as an interactive billboard. The billboard has been erected but you’re waiting for traffic to drive by it. You can wait and hope that someone takes a wrong turn and sees you, or you can try to detour traffic past your billboard.

The majority of billboard owners simply wait for something to happen. Everyone has told them how great LinkedIn is and it cost nothing to put up their billboard. Periodically they link to other billboards hoping that something will happen.

When you first put up your billboard it’s on a lonely two way road out in the country. Your goal should be to move it towards a busy traffic filled interstate. That takes time and activity. If you wait for it to happen it may never do so. If you take control and determine that you will have traffic, it can be done with a little elbow grease.

Read the full posting here, Part 9 of the series on using LinkedIn

Amaryllis series 4/22/09 AM

Amaryllis series 4/22/09 AM, originally uploaded by shersteve.

job search notes: attention women!

Lesley Johnston, the organizer, describes how it came about:

Social Networking for Business Women is all about connecting business women, learning from each other and supporting each others business growth. In order to celebrate this, I had a conversation with a few members after the first Twitter Networking Event and realized that through the group, I could give them a bigger voice to showcase their talents and amazing business skills.

After another conversation with Lisa McGuire from the same Twitter Event we made the dream of having an online event go from dream to reality overnight!

The whole idea for the conference was to provide speakers who would TEACH the attendees how to apply what they were teaching to their own business so that after the event, they would be able to reap the benefits instead of just attending talks. This event needed to be more step by step instructions.

My good blogging buddy from Scotland, Joanna Young will be one of the speakers at this online event for women on June 3rd.

If you are interested, please visit her site for more information. Using the links on her site enables the affiliate revenue generation model to work well.

You can also contact Joanna to receive a discount code off the registration fee.

job search notes: New England Job Show

The Job show is a free access television program created by job seekers for job seekers. The program stems out of a not for profit vocational project for the Merrimack Valley Rotary Club in Central Massachusetts. Please follow our blog to hear about our schedule of shows and to see videos of current job seekers.

The Job Show runs a blog that can be found here

They are offering to tape your 30 second elevator pitch. Details can be found here

The Elevator Pitches are posted to a site here

HealthCamp Boston - Inside @polarwisdom

Inside @polarwisdom the topic of a really good, dense presentation. Dense because it was chock full of info, much to refer to and dig into later. Good insights on how this account/company is attempting to do business via twitter in the health space on a touchy topic as bipolar disorder.

Meet @polarwisdom

View more presentations from Jen Mccabe gorman.

Thanks to @jenmccabegorman for putting this together to share!

#hcbos #socpharm

Steve Malloy talking about the 'frugal networker' here at #newbcamp

Steve Malloy talking about the 'frugal networker' here at #newbcamp, originally uploaded by shersteve.

The learning and sharing at NewBCamp was good. I picked up two new tools (Ping.fm and Digsby) to checkout.

NewBCamp - Today - Providence College

What:
Come to learn and share about the new technology in social media tools! Blogs, podcasting, networking, Twitter, video blogging, etc.

Where:
Providence College

When:
April 19 - 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM

More Information and registration:
Click here

Stop by and say "hi". I'll be wearing my tri-corner hat so you shouldn't miss me.

job search notes: what is your story?

If you want people to pay attention to you, the first step is to establish a compelling story. You should start telling your story when you feel like you have something important to say. I thought about it for at least two years, and when I kept waking up at night with ideas I wanted to share, I decided the time had come to start sharing.

Chris Guillebeau has continued this sharing idea. I wrote yesterday about his "World Domination" manifesto. This quote is from the link Seth Godin pointed to. As I got into this yesterday, Chris referenced the manifesto so I diverted to read that and then come back here.

What is your story?

job search notes: do it your way!

The gatekeepers aren’t in charge anymore, and if you have something of merit to bring to the table, the public can now judge it directly.

Chris Guillebeau wrote that in his "World Domination" manifesto. If you are looking for your next opportunity (like I am) or even have multiple plans (like I do), this manifesto is what you should read.

Yes, take the time. It will be worth it.

You can read the manifesto here (PDF)


Thanks to Seth Godin for the pointer

Job Search Notes: LinkedIn Intuition

Found a good blog focusing on the use of LinkedIn:

It could be argued that much of your LinkedIn experience derives from your LinkedIn strategy. Do seek to connect with pretty much anyone, like a Lion? Do you only connect with those that you know very well, like a Turtle? Or do you connect with those you know and those you would like to know, like a Hound Dog?

If you read this blog on a regular basis you’ve noticed that I keep coming back to these three strategies. There’s a reason for that. I find my self changing strategies after almost three years on LinkedIn.

Here is what I used to believe. I believed that protecting the value of your network required that you know or have plans to get to know those that you were connected to. I believed that it only made sense to add new connections as I met people within my chamber or other offline networking events. Since my prospects are in Georgia I believed that there was limited value in connecting to others outside of the state.

Here is what I believe now. I believe that opportunities are not constrained by boundaries. I believe that those in my network can benefit from connections that I do not know or have never met with or spoken to. I believe that there are opportunities out there among people that I do not know. And finally, I believe that 99% of the time a larger network will provide more value than a smaller network.

Read this full posting here and consider subscribing to LinkedIn Intuition

Updated 4/18/09: someday blogger will enable spell check for the post titles. Just noticed the transposition and resulting misspelling of "search".

job search notes: progress measures

I have said that in today's schools we have a "fact fetish." We see domains like biology or civics as a body of facts or information, when, in reality, they are composed of actions (i.e., ways to look at and intervene in the world) that use these facts as tools for problem solving. There is an interesting thing about action in any domain, whether this domain be biology, gardening, or Yu-Gi-Oh: A question always arises as to how to go on--what to do next--after one has taken an action in a domain. So, say, I have a goal and I do something in any domain. I do it and get a result (I have probed the world and the world has responded). Now what? I have to ask myself a question like "Was the result good/appropriate/adequate for achieving my goal?" This means I have to assess or evaluate or "appreciate" the response from the world, the answer to my probe, in a certain way. If I have no opinion whatsoever, then I have no idea how to go on, what to do next.

Such evaluations or judgments are made by my "appreciative system" (taking a term from Donald Schon). And where did I get that? How did I develop it? In most cases, of course, I did not invent it all by myself. I learned how to appreciate the results of my action by participating with people who knew the domain better than me--and who mentored, resourced, modeled, or otherwise helped me. This is as true of doing biology as it is of playing Yu-Gi-Oh. The best "tests," then, about where I am in my development of domain knowledge are: a) do I know how to "go on"--what to do next--based on a good appreciative system and b) am I a participant in a "community" whose appreciative system I am learning and hopefully eventually contributing to?

The BOLD was added for my emphasis. I like the simplicity of these two tests. They capture the internal analysis needed with what should be a visible way to determine status. Hesitation is okay as long as there is still movement. Movement is better than not moving.

Read more of this from James Gee here

How does this connect to the job search?
The job search is a learning experience. You target a company, network to gain information about their competition, their opportunities and leverage that info to position yourself to help them.

As much as it is a learning experience, it benefits from the sharing with others. They may have similar goals, they may have either a connection or information about that company. Both of which can help you.

Do you have the right support around you?
Do you have people you can talk with?
Do you know how to take the next step?

If you answer "no" to any of these questions, you will need to make a change to create a successful job search.

If you need some help in making that change, let's talk.

I am a student of learning and very willing to share and collaborate!

5 for Friday

Helping to catch up on somethings I found this week, here is a 5 for Friday round up

1 - Can't get to SOBCON09 in Chicago? Consider getting to Cambridge, MA.

At NML's May 2nd conference, we will share our new web-based learning environment, the Learning Library, and host a series of conversations and workshops about the integration and implementation of the new media literacies across disciplines. Workshops include "The Complexities of Copyright: Shepard Fairey v. the AP," "Mapping in Participatory Culture: Boundaries," "Using Wikipedia in the Classroom" and many others. Henry Jenkins' closing remarks will address the future of NML and participatory democracy.

Additional info on Henry Jenkins' page here

2 - Social networking's biggest effect may be from the future looking back.

While most of the discussion around social networking sites revolves around privacy, the transparency of social networking sites could play a role for historians. This came to mind while reading about Classical Greek philosophers. Figuring out who, when and where events happened, let alone why, are often based on a few historical documents or the writing of others which often are either unreliable, conflicting or both. The openness and transparency that comes with Blogs, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter could be used to recreate a picture of an event that historians aren't clear on or be used to figure out the life events of people who weren't recognized for their talents until after their passing.

Food for thought on this full posting here

3 - While some folks are all a-twitter about when Twitter will be profitable, others are too busy just using it. Like writing a book. Posting it live. In tweets.

So what’s a Twitter-book you may be asking? It’s a book written using Twitter as platform and distribution channel. Social Media Marketing GPS #smgps is the first business book to experiment with this format.

This Twitter-book is structured as a “real” business book and includes: a foreword, introduction and chapters. Each chapter will have a 1 question interview with people knowledgeable about the topic. All posts will be hash-tagged #smgps.

read more on Nancy White's blog here

4 - Twitpoem is also a project underway this April.

Here are the guidelines that I’ll be using for my Twitter poems. You can write a poem on Twitter any way you like. But I’m using this method as a means of efficiency and so that there is consistency throughout the month. Whenever you see a Twitter poem it will look like this:

• Every line will end with /
• Stanzas will end with a double / - just like this //
• Poems will appear as one line with the above symbols to represent line and stanza breaks
• At the end of each poem you’ll see #twitpoem

Read the full posting here

You may be aware of my own April daily sherku effort. I started tweeting in this format this morning.

5 - and finally continuing the Twitter theme we kind of walked ourselves into this morning, a explanation of hashtags

Readers of ReadWriteWeb no doubt appreciated the hashtag refresher contained in Sarah Perez’ post, “What Does that Hashtag Mean? Tagalus Tells You.” As growth in Twitter has exploded, conversations, interest and confusion over #hashtags have spiked as well. How could they not? The problem is that for all of those new users, the # signs inserted into Tweets make no sense. David Pogue helped a lot of them when he tweeted a link to hashtag.org, where hashtags are defined as “a community-driven convention for adding additional context and metadata to your tweets. They’re like tags on Flickr, only added inline to your post. Tagalus, the service Perez blogged about in her hashtag post, is a Web service that defines hashtags. Think of it as a hashtag dictionary.

Read the full link-rich posting here

job search notes: going viral

From Patti Digh writing at 37Days comes this wonderful video of a crowd in a train station dancing to Do-Ri-Me:





Was this staged?
It seems to have "just happened" until the last couple of dance moves which are so coordinated it must have been "staged".

Was it effective?
I would judge by the faces of the bystanders. Most of whom really were enjoying the performance, taking pictures, etc.

Will this be viral like the Susan Boyle video?
Time will tell. You can help by spreading the word.
If it is good enough, it will be viral. If it is not good enough to go viral, it will still be good.

Amaryllis series 4/14/09 PM

Amaryllis series 4/14/09 the plant moved to Oak St kindergarten and BLOOMED!, originally uploaded by shersteve.

Dolores took the plant to her Oak St kindergarten room for her friends to witness the blossom. Well, over the weekend, it really did BLOOM!

I stopped by to help them with gluing some wood pieces into various constructions and managed to capture this before leaving.

The car future - no oil

If we want to change, change needs to be able to be adopted by users. Users tend to adopt in increments and not in wholes. This is one of the most realistic approaches to a no oil future that includes automobile transportation.

Forget about the hybrid auto -- Shai Agassi says it's electric cars or bust if we want to impact emissions. His company, Better Place, has a radical plan to take entire countries oil-free by 2020. (Recorded at TED2009, February 2009, in Long Beach, California. Duration: 18:06.)

What do you think of this?

NewBCamp - Providence College - Apr 19

What:
Come to learn and share about the new technology in social media tools! Blogs, podcasting, networking, Twitter, video blogging, etc.

Where:
Providence College

When:
April 19 - 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM

More Information and registration:
Click here

Easter: Edible display

Easter: Edible display, originally uploaded by shersteve.

Not much was left of this yesterday. Amazingly the chocolate covered pieces were! We get to enjoy them later.

Thanks to Meghan's family for providing this delight. (Carolyn's roommate at Northeastern).

Easter family dinner

Easter family dinner, originally uploaded by shersteve.

Full table for dinner on Easter. Those not in attendance were thought of.

spring cleaning challenge

I issued a spring cleaning challenge at the Joyful Jubilant Learning blog today. It includes 7 new sherku created while dusting around the house on Saturday.

Enjoy!

job search notes: be ready

When your opportunity to shine comes, will you be ready?

Susan Boyle was ready!

Enjoy!



Hat tip to @JeffPulver for the link

Happy Easter

daily sherku

You can get your dose of a daily sherku all month of April by clicking over to ready my writing at quiet poet.

What is a sherku?

NewBCamp - Providence College - Apr 19

What:
Come to learn and share about the new technology in social media tools! Blogs, podcasting, networking, Twitter, video blogging, etc.

Where:
Providence College

When:
April 19 - 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM

More Information and registration:
Click here

Kings Firecrackers

For some fun on a Friday, here is quite an athletic performance by the Kings Firecrackers, a group of 4th through 8th grade girls that do some amazing things with jump ropes. They are from the Kings Local School District in Ohio. This group is a lot of fun!




Who knew jumping rope could be so exciting?

Thanks to Doug B for sharing this video!

job search notes: possibilities of today

Are you open and shining for the possibilities of today?, originally uploaded by shersteve.

Are you open and shining for the possibilities of today?

Forsythia blooms today

Forsythia blooms today, originally uploaded by shersteve.

"academics have been too slow to adopt social media"

Mr. McLeod argues that professors have been too slow to adopt Twitter. Academic discussions online often take place on closed e-mail lists, he says, when they should be happening in public forums like Twitter, so that a diverse group of outsiders can join in. "I think academics are actually missing a lot by not being involved in more of these social tools," he told me. "There are a lot of academics who think, 'If it's not coming from some other academic it's not worth a damn,' and that's not right."

He admits that some of the messages on Twitter are banal, such as people describing what they had for lunch that day, but he said such notes are part of what makes Twitter such a powerful way to feel connected to far-flung colleagues. "It's like those daily interactions you have with your neighbor — sometimes they're highbrow and sometimes they're lowbrow, but after a while you really get to know the person."

Mr McLeod is Scott McLeod, who I have quoted frequently here and elsewhere.

Read the full posting on his blog "Dangerously Irrelevant" here.

"LEGOs: Different parts fit in different places"

How do we bring together different people, ideas, cultures, values, into a cohesive whole?

Off the top of my mind I have seven answers, surely an incomplete list - but here are some ways to conceive of joining disparate parts.

Continue reading Mark Hurst's 7 models of community here

Discloure Statement

• This blog doesn't accept ads or sponsorships.
• I don't own stock or accept royalties from any company or product mentioned on this blog.
• I don't serve on the board of any company.
• If the occasion were to come up, I would consider accepting samples of stuff with a nominal value (under $20 or so).
• I will tell you that there is no correlation between mentioning stuff and whether or not someone sent it to me.
• I write about what I find interesting and I think will interest you as a reader.

My goal in maintaining this blog is to share my ideas and hopefully create a conversation that will generate something more than we each started with.

My success will be determined by your readership and comments (or lack thereof).

I consider myself an amateur writer, a professional learner.

Specifically with regards to the Franklin override votes that occurred previously on May 22, 2007, and June 10, 2008:

You should be aware that my wife is a kindergarten teacher in Franklin. My two daughters are recent (2004, 2006) graduates of Franklin High School and both are doing well. One has completed college and is now out in the working world. The other is in the middle of her college years.

There are a few other good reasons for me to be writing about this issue. I will continue to elaborate on them here.

One last matter: a number of folks have asked me from time to time, if I would consider running for a local office (either Town Council or School Committee).

The answer has been “No”.

I expect that the answer will not change anytime soon. Especially now, while I am looking for work, I can not commit to something like running for a town position when I don't know what my work commitment will be. I also feel that I am providing a valuable public service in the writing and sharing of the information that I currently provide here on Steve's 2 Cents (or Franklin Matters).

I do this as my hobby. I was fully employed and did my blogging/writing, etc. in my "off hours".

I expect to be fully employed again. Until that time, I will be working and networking to identify that opportunity.


Updated 9/28/09 - I have accepted a short-term contract position with Veritude working at Fidelity Investments. I will continue to explore a longer-term option.


Updated 2/1/2010 - the contract position has been completed, I am now resuming my search efforts.


Updated 9/9/10 - I have taken a contract position with Modis working on a project at Citizens Bank in East Providence, RI.




Disclosure Announcement 8/25/10
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/08/disclosure-announcement.html


If anything changes with what I have said here, I will let you know.

I promise.


Note: this replaces the disclosure statement I did in 2005.

job search notes: awken possibility

"My job is to awaken possibility in other people... If the eyes are shining, you know you are doing it. If you are not doing it, the question to ask is: Who am I being that their eyes are not shining?"

Benjamin Zander from his TED talk in 2008:



Yes, this works for the job search just as well as for classical music or as it does for the parent/child relationship.

Who are being that the interviewer's eyes aren't shining? You may be talking about something other than the "you" that is passionate about what you do and how you can make that company successful?

Live into the possibility!


Thanks for the tip to Jeff Roy on the Franklin School Committee blog

Chris Abani - Dodge Poetry 2008

I have written frequently here and elsewhere of the great experience that the bi-annual Dodge Poetry Festival is. Alas, it will not be held in 2010. Maybe it will come back for 2012.

In the meantime, we can step back into time with the video clips from prior poets and prior sessions of the Festival.





It also reminds me that I did not complete my write up of Dodge 2008. I got swept up into work upon the return and it was OBE (yes, overcome by events).

Don't forget to check in on quiet poet to see the daily sherku underway for National Poetry Month.

doer or talker?

The system is set up to reward those who have mastered the art of the exclamation point. It's easy for raises to go to those who ask for them, and for credit to go to those who repeat their accomplishments over and over. There's nothing wrong with this per se, if the talkers are deserving. But how can we make sure we're rewarding those who quietly produce results as well? What do you do to pull out the hidden gems in your organization and make sure they see the light of day? Must everyone be taught how to "talk"?

Read the full post here

Are you a "doer" or a "talker"?

forsythia captured indoors

forsythia captured indoors, originally uploaded by shersteve.

just buds beginning to open

not quite a wasteland

I was going to do "history of Pete's listening over the years" or some such nonsense. This would mean musicians you probably all know about and would include in your own histories. I was born and bred in Australia so I've decided to include only Australian music this time.

Follow the link to catch the remainder of Pete's walk through the past with Australian pop bands. Wonderful reminders of times gone by!

NewBCamp - Providence College - Apr 19

What:
Come to learn and share about the new technology in social media tools! Blogs, podcasting, networking, Twitter, video blogging, etc.

Where:
Providence College

When:
April 19 - 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM

More Information and registration:
Click here

The scarves were give aways at the gate

The scarves were give aways at the gate last night and needed to stay warm!, originally uploaded by shersteve.

Saturday night. They were needed to stay warm!

It helped that the NE Revs won 2-1.

Grammar Girl

Struggle with grammar? Not sure when to use effect or affect?

Grammar Girl comes to the rescue. Her weekly five minute podcast is found on iTunes. Here is a behind the scenes view of Grammar Girl:




Enjoy!

Crocus time!

Crocus time!, originally uploaded by shersteve.

Before it really got blustery and wet, I managed to clean out some of last year's old growth to make way for the new.

Welcome crocus!

the sand is all that is left of the snow pile

the sand is all thst is left of the snow pile, originally uploaded by shersteve.

Caught this photo while out shopping Friday.

Seth says, "first, ten"

This, in two words, is the secret of the new marketing.

Find ten people. Ten people who trust you/respect you/need you/listen to you...

Those ten people need what you have to sell, or want it. And if they love it, you win. If they love it, they'll each find you ten more people (or a hundred or a thousand or, perhaps, just three). Repeat.

If they don't love it, you need a new product. Start over.

Simple. Accurate. Hard to do. Necessary.

Read his full posting here

doctor gobbledgook

From Verna Wilder writing at Out of the Cube

When I was married, my husband went to law school, and when he was about to graduate (after 4 years of study), his professors told him that now he would go out in the world and learn law. Studying is a wonderful thing, and I have always loved being a student, but study has nothing on practice. Study is fun; practice sucks. Study is reading and discussing and exchanging ideas; practice is falling and failing and flailing over and over again.

And it is the only way to live. I mean this: being in the muddy huddle of life, down in the stink of it and the muck of it and the hurling humility of it is really the best thing in the whole wide world. After my little hissy fit, Dad sat in his chair and I propped myself up on pillows on the bed and we talked. Yes, he still bites off his words in anger and frustration, but he also laughs. And when I can shut up and listen with my heart, turn off my frenetic brain's stories, I get to hear Dad's stories.

I feel so darned lucky I can hardly stand it.

Read her full posting here

"You'll go, where ever you go today"

A little fun for Friday. This takes less than 4 minutes. It is creative, enchanting and great stuff.

Enjoy!


Mykonos from Grandchildren on Vimeo.

Thanks to Ze Frank for sharing this from Sean Pecknold.

job search notes: working with a recruiter

Great summary from Tim Tyrell-Smith writing at Spin Strategy

The Recruiter is Not the Villain

Let's be honest. It's easy to look for a bad guy/gal in this scenario. Let's say you do everything right in your approach (most don't). You are respectful. You came recommended. You provided all the right information in an easy-to-review format. You were reasonably qualified for the job.

So what gives. Still no call?

Read the full posting here to find out all the reasons on why there was no call.

Entertainment overtook function

Great quote from Chris Brogan in his recent posting on the problem with advertising:

"Entertainment overtook function"

Read his full posting here

hurrah, daffydilly time!

hurrah daffydilly time!, originally uploaded by shersteve.

The rain drops were still on the petals when I came back from my run early this afternoon.

First internet-induced disorder identified

As a follow up to my book review about Nature-Deficit Disorder, I find there is now one caused by the Internet

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

First internet-induced disorder identified

via acleareye.com by Tom Asacker on 4/1/09

The American Psychiatric Association is adding a new psychiatric disorder to the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). It's referred to as I.A.D.D., or Internet-induced Attention Dependence Disorder. You can read more about it at this link.

Things you can do from here:

• Subscribe to acleareye.com using Google Reader
• Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites

job search notes: encouragement 2

I should have included this yesterday's posting on encouragement. Patti Digh is truly a wonderful person. Her book, "Life is a Verb" is well worth getting and reading. It is not one you need to do cover to cover. You can cruise through picking a chapter at a time and still get great value from it. Each essay stands on its own.

She has just started a 37 days challenge, the first is here:
http://37days.typepad.com/37days/2009/03/if-today-is-day-zero-then-tomorrow-must-be-day-one.html

For more background on Patti, including an audio interview I did with her last year, you can check here:
http://steves2cents.blogspot.com/2008/09/this-week-with-patti-digh-life-is-verb.html

job search notes: Great LinkedIn Tips

At the recent PodCamp Western Mass (#PCWM), I made a bunch of new connections. One of the new ones is Christine Pilch. We only had time for a brief conversation then but I know the next time we will have a longer conversation.

Christine has two articles with some valuable LinkedIn tips:

Top 10 mistakes people make on LinkedIn

and

7 more things to avoid on LinkedIn

Is there anything else you would add to Christine's listings?

job search notes: encouragement

There is always time for encouragement. There is no need to debate whether the best time is when you really need it, or if it comes in unexpectedly. Encouragement helps anytime it arrives!

While you are looking for your new opportunity, there is a lot of soul-searching going on. Internal dialog. Back and forth. Is this the best way? Should I really do this?

Now more than ever, you could use some encouragement. There are a number of valid and worthwhile sources available for FREE. A subscription via email will drop it into your Inbox daily.

The best email ones I have found are:

Kirk Weisler's Thought 4 the Day (T3D)
subscribe here

TUT - Notes from the Universe
subscribe here

Do you have one to share?