The bee found its way to this bush. It's blossoms open and inviting.
What attracts you to your work?
Do you understand what it is that gets you going easily?
Have you incorporated that into your job search?
If you would like to connect on LinkedIn, please feel free to do so and reference this blog post or other appropriate connection for us.
You can now subscribe to just the "job search notes" if you'd like. You can subscribe via this link.
"Clouds in my coffee" goes the words of one popular song. I found clouds in this puddle on the walk this morning.
Do you find good reflections in your puddles?
Or do you just go splashing in the water?
Deja bottled - the batches of beer we brewed 2 weeks ago came home last night. The empty spots in the cases shown are the ones getting cold in the frig.
The letters on the bottle caps correspond to the beer inside. S - Stunner, SA - Scotch Ale, B - Bavarian Pilsner, H - Halles Lager, F - Forest Fire Red, and R - Rye Blond.
For additional details on what we made this time and in prior trips to Deja Brew check out this link
More information about Deja Brew can be found on their website here
The reason why you need to stir the kettle deeply after putting the malt in. The steam rising distorts the picture a little but without grain in the kettle, this view shows the malt settled at the bottom. The darkness inside the ring is the malt at the bottom.
If you don't stir deeply and thoroughly, the malt can just sit at the bottom. The beer you'd end up with is not what you wanted.
Stir deeply!
Thanks to Dave @Deja Brew for pointing this out.
For other postings on the good experience at Deja Brew, check this link.
More information about Deja Brew can be found on their website here
Are you heading in the proper direction today? If not why?
I put my new rain barrel in place yesterday just in time to catch the rain overnight.
I wasn't sure how long it would take to fill but with just what we had overnight to this AM it is almost full already.
This should have been posted on Monday. Found it stuck in the outbox this morning.
Beginner, intermediate, or advanced - what’s next is on everyone’s mind, right?
If you’re wondering what’s next in social media, there’s no better place to find out than at PodCamp, regardless of whether you’re just getting started or you’re a veteran practitioner. Unlike other conferences which are just talking head affairs, PodCamp gives you the opportunity to learn, share, and grow your skills at any level, helping your community as it helps you
Podcasting and social media has gone beyond the geek set this year and many of us are engaging with businesses and corporations to educate them. At Podcamp Boston 4 lies the opportunities to teach people and companies about podcasting and social media. Learn from others who have a wealth of knowledge to share.
The peer-to-peer learning available from this event has a great return on investment (ROI). What ever you can put into it, you will get something in return.
In case you were wondering:
Diddle, diddle*, dumpling**, my son John,
Went to bed with his trousers on,
One shoe off, and one shoe on,
Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John.
Took a ride on the South County bike path on Sunday. Shorter (only 5.6 miles one way) than the East Bay ride we did a couple of weeks ago. Very pleasant.
More photos to follow.
Dear Friends,
It has been an exhilarating adventure producing Kilowatt Ours and seeing it make such a broad, positive impact in the world. I write with a heartfelt thank you to the thousands of people who have taken its message, shared it in your communities and made energy saving changes in your lives. You have become the solution, and your stories continue to inspire me! I recently learned that government data indicate a 2.3% decline in coal consumption in the electric power sector in the near term (source: EIA.DOE.gov) -- a sign that the vision portrayed in Kilowatt Ours is becoming a reality. We know that Kilowatt Ours has helped save untold millions of kilowatts. Now I ask you to help "Save Kilowatt Ours!"
This is an urgent appeal for your financial support to help us bridge a shortfall, and to reach continued greatness in changing the world. In two weeks, without your support, we are faced with the reality of cutting our staff, slashing our award-winning programs, and closing our office.
Please help us today by...
- making a donation of $5 or more at http://www.KilowattOurs.org/
SaveKilowattOurs (donations of $55 or more may choose to receive a gift copy of Nancy Sleeth's wonderful, inspiring new book "Go Green, Save Green.")- asking a friend or twelve to make a donation(s) (If you are with an organization -- please forward to your listserves as appropriate)
- thinking of people or companies that you feel will be interested in making larger financial contributions or sponsorships - please help us connect with them.
We have been running full-throttle for 5 years to get our message to the widest audience possible, with great success. Kilowatt Ours has now been broadcast more than 1200 times on 400+ public TV stations nationwide, reaching 75% of the public TV marketplace. Not bad for a shoestring film project produced in my basement apartment. Since all broadcasts are royalty-free, we must find other creative ways to finance our continued work, including asking all our friends, fans and collaborators, like you. We are actively seeking new grants, sponsorships, and Recovery Act dollars to broaden our work, and we foresee much prosperity moving forward. YOU can help us today by making a small contribution, and being as generous as you are able: http://www.KilowattOurs.org/SaveKilowattOurs
Are you on track to do what you need to today or did you leave a sock at the starting line?
Be prepared
Make it a good day!
The nest is empty today the robins are out into the world. Good luck!
Beginner, intermediate, or advanced - what’s next is on everyone’s mind, right?
If you’re wondering what’s next in social media, there’s no better place to find out than at PodCamp, regardless of whether you’re just getting started or you’re a veteran practitioner. Unlike other conferences which are just talking head affairs, PodCamp gives you the opportunity to learn, share, and grow your skills at any level, helping your community as it helps you
Podcasting and social media has gone beyond the geek set this year and many of us are engaging with businesses and corporations to educate them. At Podcamp Boston 4 lies the opportunities to teach people and companies about podcasting and social media. Learn from others who have a wealth of knowledge to share.
The peer-to-peer learning available from this event has a great return on investment (ROI). What ever you can put into it, you will get something in return.
Robins: the 2 are filling the nest now. It won't be long before they fly away.
That's a good motto for all of us - find someone to be successful for. Rise to their hopes and their needs. As you think about life after graduation, as you look in the mirror tonight, you may see somebody with no idea what to do with their life. But a troubled child might look at you and see a mentor. A homebound senior citizen might see a lifeline. The folks at your local homeless shelter might see a friend. None of them care how much money is in your bank account, or whether you're important at work, or famous around town - they just know that you're someone who cares, someone who makes a difference in their lives.
That is what building a body of work is all about - it's about the daily labor, the many individual acts, the choices large and small that add up to a lasting legacy. It's about not being satisfied with the latest achievement, the latest gold star - because one thing I know about a body of work is that it's never finished. It's cumulative; it deepens and expands with each day that you give your best, and give back, and contribute to the life of this nation. You may have set-backs, and you may have failures, but you're not done - not by a longshot.
His address is as applicable to those searching for their next opportunity as to those ASU graduates looking for their first.
There are many quotable moments in President Obama's commencement address to Arizona State University. This is just one of the highlights for me. Read the full text of his address here and pick one of your own.
‘ … perhaps true beauty is something that draws our attention at second glance, once the judgment of a first glance has realized it’s mistake.’Wonderful insights from a truly wonderful person, David Roche. Only 8 minutes.
'the second glance' from Nic Askew on Vimeo.
You can find some Hardy Boys books at the Franklin Library Book Sale today at the DPW on Hayward St.
I almost picked up these first four books of the Hardy Boys series. These bring back memories. One schoolmate had the series and we made sure to stay good friends to get the books as they were available.
The Tower Treasure
The House on the Cliff
The Secret of the Old Mill
The Missing Chums
Franklin W Dixon wrote the adventures of Frank and Joe Hardy as the solved mysteries around their hometown of Bayport. I recall several heated discussions amongst my brothers and others of our group when we found out that Franklin W Dixon was a pen name and not a real person. In fact, several authors contributed to the original series which first appeared in 1927 and the updated version which started in 1959. This was the series I grew up with.
There have been additional updates but by the time they came out I had moved on to other reading.
I recall my sisters getting into the Nancy Drew. Both the boys and girls got into The Happy Hollisters. Do you remember them?
What other book series did you read growing up?
Yes, that will show differences in age, but I am not concerned about that. I am more curious about the books that you grew up with.
The makings of Rye Blond in the works on this kettle, one of six kettles for the night. We'll come back in two weeks to bottle and take home the product of our effort.
Minutes passed. Finally Maha Ghosananda stood up slowly. I could see his advanced age then and was even more impressed that this man had withstood the evils of the Pol Pot regime.
"If you move through the world with only your intellect," he said in a direct and clear voice, "then you walk on only one leg." With his hands held in prayer, he lifted one leg and slowly and deliberately hopped three times. With the same deliberation and pace, he restored his foot to the floor. After a long breath he began again.
"If you move through the world with only your compassion," he said, lifting his other leg, "then you walk on only one leg." Again he hopped three times.
"But if you move through the world with both intellect and compassion, then you have wisdom." He walked slowly and gracefully, taking three long, slow strides. At the end he bowed his head again and then resumed his seat on the cushion in front of me.
"Thank you," I said to him bowing again.
He smiled gently. There was nothing left to say.
It takes one night a month for a few years in order to be incredibly well connected. This will bring you many friends with like interests, jobs that no one hears about, board opportunities that no one knows about, and all of the wonderful things that a network can do for you (support, contacts, etc.). But you have to take that first step and go. Once you make the connections, put a “tickler” on your calendar to call them at least twice a year. Relationships need to be cultivated and managed to bear fruit.Read the full posting from John Kogan at Professional Sourcing
I managed to catch these during feeding time yesterday. I did not have the luck or the patience to wait long enough for the mother to actually bring the food back to the nest. I suspect she knew I was watching. She kept up a chatter all the time.
Chatter to her babies to be patient
or
chatter to me to go away and leave them in peace
I left.
Our most frequent topic of conversation had to do with community, what it meant, how to foster and build it. John (Gardner) believed humans thrive in relationships to each other and that communities in which each individual feels a sense of belonging and of accountability are key to our individual and societal success.
I walked home alone from Nyamirambo that evening, covered in paint, feeling tired, elated, and also perplexed that I had tried so hard to listen and still ended up choosing the wrong color. On the one hand, I hadn't wanted to wait for months until the women made a decision. On the other, I began to understand that I could have listened better, for listening is not just having the patience to wait, it is also learning how to ask the questions themselves. People who've always been dependent on others for some kind of charity or goodwill often have a hard time saying what they really want because no one usually asks them. And if they are asked, the poor often think no one really wants to hear the truth.From The Blue Sweater by Jacqueline Novogratz
Not quite rockin' yet
They are getting bigger
And filling the nest
The remaining egg
May get squeezed out
Was Dolores' mother a little surprised by the gift they received for Mother's Day?
You might say so!
... Constance became a great storyteller for our new organization, helping wealthy and poor alike understand the power of giving each individual the tools of credit so she would have the potential to change her own life. "We are not giving out gifts," she would say, "but are bringing forth the gifts inside the people themselves."From The Blue Sweater by Jacqueline Novogratz
"Yes, LinkedWorking works. From my experience, that is what I have concluded. It takes some work, as there is no magic here. Nevertheless, if you are willing to consistently put in some effort on LinkedIn and follow what we have set forth in this book, you will conclude the same, and you will generate opportunities, contacts and success in the process."
Current rules, including those requiring people to give up unemployment benefits when they have stopped looking for work, run counter to their long-term solution: finding not just another job, but a better one, according to the president."Now is the time to change unemployment from a period of 'wait and see' to a chance for our workers to train and to seek the next opportunity," the president said in a morning address. When a new and better day arrives, he said, individuals and the nation as a whole would then be "ready to make the most of it."
What we're doing
Inspire Me Today Founder Gail Lynne Goodwin and her husband Darryl will take off in a small prop plane from Colorado to circumnavigate the globe and literally hug the world. The tour will stop in 45 locations over a period of five months.
On a personal mission to make a difference, they will be:
- Delivering an estimated $1,000,000 to important causes throughout the tour raised through grassroots contributions from people like you
- Giving at least 2,000 hugs in each location to literally wrap the world in 100,000 hugs
- Gathering great wisdom, inspiration and brilliance from leaders and luminaries in the far reaches of the globe to bring back and share on InspireMeToday.com
Why we're doing it
In this time of doom and gloom when it seems the whole world is struggling, we choose to change that focus by inspiring humanity to trust in what is good and what is possible. We believe in a message of hope, change, responsibility, and commitment to others.
We believe through opening our hearts and celebrating our global connectivity, bridges and understanding can be built between us. By connecting Hug Sponsors with the exact hug recipients, we will create opportunities to connect people from all walks of life, from different religions, cultures, ethnicities, and create friendships that extend from one continent to another. By raising money with people like you, we will be making a tangible difference in the world and supporting important causes together. We welcome your participation and look forward to working with you!
Do you believe in a message of hope, change, responsibility, and commitment to others?
For more information on their world tour, and to contribute if you can, please visit their website here
Sure, it's a hell of a lot easier to make marketing decisions based upon what influences you, layouts, copy, media measurement, creative execution, etc. but that's not what is important. What really matters is what looks and feels good to them. And in an age of hype, spin, and desperation, what looks good to them is increasingly a personally relevant experience that they can wrap their minds and hearts around. An experience that reveals the vision and intention behind the brand. An experience that conveys look, feel, and, especially, meaning in a no spin, passionate way. An experience that allows people to alter their own attitudes of mind, without a hint of external persuasion. And when that happens, they’ll happily alter their lives (and hopefully, yours as well).Read his full article here (PDF). Bold for my emphasis.
Editor’s Note: this is a guessay, a portmanteau of the words “guess” and “essay”, which means that I’m officially making this stuff up.I remember it very clearly. Four of us were getting together for breakfast last year at SXSW. We were waiting for a cab, and we started sharing our Twitter stories.
Each of us had one…mine was that I had used Twitter to find a room to share. Someone else had used it to find a ride from Dallas to Austin. Yet someone else had used Twitter to plan this very breakfast. We had used Twitter in ways that it was never imagined to be used, getting real value from it.
It was at that point that I started to think about Twitter as something other than a fun little SMS tool. It had real use, and the ability to shoot messages out to a larger audience was extremely valuable. I also started to wonder if Twitter might be the game-changer that finally put some heat on Google…the favorite conjecture of recent times is “Who is the next Google killer?”.
Well, I think I figured out how Google will be “killed”. Or, more precisely, their dominance will be eroded by Twitter and Facebook.
Read the remainder of this guessay at Joshua's blog here
There I was in Web Guy's office.
I told him what I learned many years ago. It's a fundamental truth that has served me (and my coaching clients) immensely. It is this:
You teach people how to treat you.
His eyes lit up. He couldn't believe it was that simple. And the more we talked, the more excited he got. (I refrained from calling him Grasshopper.)
So, what does it mean?
It means that it all comes back to YOU. It's up to you to allow or not allow certain treatment. It also means that you have to get clear about how you want to be treated. It means that you have to take responsibility for writing your own Owner's Manual, and hold yourself accountable for living by it.
Here are four steps for teaching people how to treat you.
1 - Start by Knowing What You Want (and What You Don't Want)
Pick an area of your life where you want to be treated differently. Describe how you'd like to be treated. Or, write about what you don't want.
For instance, when I first began to apply this work to my performances, I knew that I no longer wanted to stay in hotels that scared me. (Promoters often lodge musicians in dives.) I had to start there because I didn't yet know how to ask for what I wanted.
You'll probably have some obvious beginning points. For instance, if you're tired of people wasting your time with latest office drama, you might decide, "I don't allow people to gossip in my presence."
Simple? Yes. But it's amazing how many of us allow these kinds of interactions without ever making necessary changes.
2 - Learn from your Current Situation
Ask yourself how you've allowed certain behaviors from others.
Choose one situation where you feel mistreated. Ask yourself how you allowed this to happen. You'll be amazed to see that often you choose to ignore your own needs or desires.
This process can show you where you get triggered. For instance, you might be tempted to say, "Well, I don't have a choice! He makes me feel guilty if I don't do it his way!"
Bingo! There's your trigger. Guilt!
Acknowledge that you allowed the situation so that you could avoid feeling guilty. Then, recognize that guilt is a trigger that will tempt you to ignore your own Owner's Manual. This is a valuable awareness to have.
Back to my hotel room example:
I had allowed years of unacceptable treatment on the road because I had a fear of being called a "diva," and of losing gigs. Once, when I told a promoter I wanted a different hotel, she retorted, "Everyone stays there! No one has ever complained before!" I felt myself shrink. "But all the kids are doing it!" is a trigger. I saw the trigger, and I was able to honor my needs in that situation.
3 - Honor It and Practice It
This is a process, not an event.
It's not a one-time thing. When you've taught people how to treat you one way, it can take some time to change that pattern.
One reason people struggle with this is that they wait until they're triggered before they attempt to set boundaries. Try not to communicate when you're in a highly charged emotional state. Most likely, you're not teaching people how to treat you. You're probably blaming them and making yourself into the victim.
Instead, wait until you get calm, then start with Step #2. Take the necessary course of action to right the situation.
4 - Teach YOU How to Treat You When That's the Only Choice
Not everyone is going to honor your requests or your clarity. Sometimes it'll have to be YOU who treats you well.
In my hotel room example, there were times where contractually, I couldn't ask for a better room. So, I opted instead to pay for my own room and move myself to a better hotel. "I don't stay in hotel rooms that scare me," means that I don't allow it. Period. If I don't honor that, then I won't feel safe with me.
You must include yourself in your equation. If you've told your clients that you don't take business calls on weekends, then don't make business calls on weekends.
Honor yourself. This is the best way to teach people how to treat you!
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE?
Please do! Just be sure to include this complete blurb with it:
Performer, songwriter, and creativity consultant Christine Kane publishes her 'LiveCreative' weekly ezine with more than 4,000 subscribers. If you want to be the artist of your life and create authentic and lasting success, you can sign up for a FRE*E subscription to LiveCreative at www.christinekane.com.
WANT TO SEE HUNDREDS MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE? Stop and smell the roses is good advice.
I don't have roses (yet) but I do have some lilacs.
Back to the yardwork!
My raw notes from this wonderful session on accessibility. The more thoughtful recap will come later.
41 million, over 15% have accessibility issues
disability folks find only 40% sites found easy to use
non-disabled 7 of 10 sites
1 - all content is perceivable
2 – operable or navigable by multiple devices
3 – understandable (content)
4 – robust
how to improve the posts to accessibility
1 - provide text alt for all images
2 - expand acronyms the first time they are used
3 – make hyperlinks distinct and distinguishable
My brief and raw notes from this session. The thoughtful recap will come later.
writing for the web
inside, outside
key words, keyword phrases
assume that branding and positioning has already been figured out
My raw notes from this session, the thoughtful recap will come later.
Barack 2.0
used snagit to capture screen shots from the campaign over 1100 artifacts
strategy
tactics
actions
result
track
blog post, podcast, tag
made a book stuck it up on Lulu
publishing is a trip
free does not get me paid
we can show yo because we have done it
that helps when you compete against Internet expert marketing
socialmediaconnection.com
video
this model is a duplicating model, I am not going around the country to tell this
My raw notes from this session, the thoughtful recap will come later.
Make your own rules (those who do have succeeded on the web)
it's all about standing out
being one of us; membership has it's privileges
outsiders do not influence insiders
insiders influence each other
the Archimedes principle
the ultimate leverage engine
don't do work twice, leverage
be helpful, be humble, share
human artist
don't be “that guy”, empathy
know when to be visible and when to ghost
reputation comes from empowering others
build an army, the power of many
from craft to craftsperson
from craftsperson to cottage
Over 125 folks gathered to talk about the ROI of relationships here at SOBCon in Chicago.
Men in hats at SOBCon.
says:Please feel free to chime in.
In Midway Airport, following the arrows to the Orange line to heading into the city of Chicago for #SOBCon Biz School for Bloggers Conference this weekend.
Kicked off with good sessions today. Full day scheduled on Saturday. And an interesting morning on Sunday before heading back home.
I'll be posting updates as I can.
Enjoy the weekend!
