Bye September!

Stop a moment.

September is going, going
gone after today



What will happen tomorrow and the day after may be as unclear as the mist clouding the Knife's Edge Trail on Mt Katadin.

Hopefully your path, your direction, your drive is at least clear and you move with confidence!

To roast or not to roast?

Yes, borrowing from Hamlet's line there is a good opportunity coming my way (and hence yours) in November. Liz Strauss is coming to Boston (Waltham really but that is another story). She will be the subject of a roast to raise money for the charity Global Hope Network.

I have been fortunate to have met Liz several times at the SOBCon conferences in Chicago. She is one of the ultimate social media mavens. And she is coming to Boston.

When Terry Starbucker wrote John Haydon and I to see if we could help, it was easy to say yes. It was for Liz and it was raising money for a good charity. I could at least help to talk up the event. As for the roast part, I needed to think about that.

Am I ready to stretch that far?

This is a roast! Well, there are many ways to deal with it and I think I have come up with a good one. I won't be talking like the sample from Julia Roberts provided on the Eventbrite link. No, I am a lad from Pawtucket:

There once was a lad from Pawtucket

who now had to rhyme with suck it

but he did not dare

as he did not swear

so he found a way to duck it

So how will I duck it? You'll need to come and find out!

Register here  http://lizstraussroast.eventbrite.com/

#sobcon

Pumpkin Fest at BBC Franklin

What: Pumpkin Fest

Where: British Beer Company in Franklin

When: Saturday October 8^th

Why: Pumpkin beer tap takeover

What else: Pumpkin cocktails, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin menu specials, pumpkin painting

*Not to be confused with Pumpkin Fest in Pembroke this Saturday October 1st

Pumpkin beer: it just might be the hottest trend in the beverage industry right now. 2011 saw the release of literally dozens of new pumpkin beers enter the market – people are actually hording this stuff! From Imperials to Ales and Porters, pumpkin is the darling of the brewing world this season. So…Pumpkin Fest!  The British Beer Company in Frankin will be hosting the first ever Pumpkin Fest, anchored by a tap takeover featuring seven different pumpkin beer styles. Each of the following brewers will be represented and have put a different twist on this new fall favorite: Harpoon, Dogfish Head, Southern Tier, Smuttynose, Shipyard, Brooklyn and Saranac. 

But there's more to Pumpkin Fest than beer, the BBC will also be offering some very unique pumpkin cocktails, one day only pumpkin menu specials (including pumpkin bisque in baby pumpkins w/ toasted pumpkin bread), hot crispy pumpkin seeds for all and pumpkin painting for the kiddies. If you've got the carving skills, bring in a jack-o-lantern from home and enter a contest with the chance to win a sweet prize.

All this pumpkin goodness will start to flow as soon as the doors open at noon on Saturday October 8th. The festivities will be taking place all day, but these beers are limited so come early to try them all. 12oz and 16oz pours will be available. For those who show up later the band Chyldz Play will be performing at 10pm – never a cover charge at the BBC. 

pumpkin…Pumpkin…PUMPKIN!

British Beer Company

280 Franklin Village Drive. Franklin, MA

http://www.britishbeer.com/local/franklin

Flowery welcome

Flowers in the pots along the bridge in downtown Franklin add color to the scene. They create an impression of caring, someone does need to water and tend to them. The fact that it is volunteer based and not town provided is not shown by the flowers themselves. Those in the know understand the difference.



Some don't appreciate the difference. They just expect it.

How do you set out your welcome message?

Is your front porch accessible and inviting?

The PodCamp lens

PodCamp Boston has come and gone already, oh my.



Much like this lens, everyone you would talk with has their view on the world. Bringing these views together, around a common topic, facilitating the conversation and then watching and participating as it happens.... ah such a wonderful thing!

I will gather my thoughts to share more formally some of the insights I picked up.

PodCamp Boston

6
half dozen

Photo from 2 years ago




More photos from PodCamp

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=podcamp


What pictures will be taken today?
Stay tuned to find out!



#pcb6

5 for Friday

1 - Open road, no traffic



2 - Shadows playing

3 - It's Friday, end of another work week.
Farmer's Market open today in Franklin

4 - A lost son returned home

5 - PodCamp Boston this weekend

What are you going to do today?

Big buttons

For Dad, who is now legally blind, this big button phone helps him stay connected. We have pre-programed his frequently called numbers into the one touch dial buttons along the top.



What buttons do people have to push to get a hold of you?

How easy are you to reach?

How welcome is your front porch?

PodCamp Boston this weekend!

Time does fly when you are having fun. This will be #6 in the series of excellent PodCamp Boston events. Yes, #6.

1 - 2006 - Bunker Hill Community College
2 - 2007 - Boston Convention Center
3 - 2008 - Harvard Medical School
4 - 2009 - UMass Boston campus
5 - 2010 - Microsoft NERD
6 - 2011 - Microsoft NERD

and the first time we have repeated a site.

I'll be at the Welcome/Registration desk. Yes, an old familiar post but a great way to meet folks and have lots of conversations.

The schedule of sessions can be found here   http://podcampboston.org/

I'll see you in Cambridge on Sat/Sun!

BTW - if you want to follow the event on Twitter use this hashtag - #pcb6

Google Wallet (video)

Ah, someday my chosen credit cards will be enabled for Google Wallet!



Will you go to this kind of wallet?

time to expand the mind

Narragansett Bay

looking out from Beavertail Light on the tip of Jamestown



Water

breeze

sunlight

time to expand the mind

What are you going to do today?

sitting

Sitting can be a great exercise

in observation

thinking



where would you sit?



Inspired by Robert Fulghum (yes, take the time to follow the link, you'll be glad you did!)

On the edge

Do you live on the edge?

Have you peeked over the ledge?




Do you go to the dock of the bay, or end of the rocks to fish?

What do you notice?

What draws your attention?



The focal point of a photo should direct your attention somewhere but when you are having a conversation or reading something, what gets your attention?

Rosa Say has a good post on noticing here

Jamestown - Beavertail Lighthouse

Dolores and some of her family gathered for brunch at the Bay Voyage Inn on Sunday to help celebrate her mother's birthday. The weather was glorious, not much different from the last time we did brunch and visited Beavertail Light (here and here).

How close is tomorrow?

Distance in time is negative. This might be hard to view before you are fully awake but the closing is key and only a minute away!

<iframe width="400" height="255" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/s5S-hA9uKEM?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Are you ready for today?

Circle of Friends Coffeehouse: Ellis Paul

The Circle of Friends Coffeehouse presents Ellis Paul, singer, songwriter, poet and troubadour, with special guests Lori Diamond and Fred Abatelli on Saturday, Sept. 17, 8:00 PM 

Admission is $25.

The line up this season is a great one. Angel Band, Lori McKenna, Peter Yarrow, and Peter Mulvey are among those slated to appear. Check out the full schedule here http://www.circlefolk.org/sched.html

The Circle of Friends Coffeehouse is an acoustically great place for a concert. The dessert selection is awesome and decadent!

In September 2001 the coffeehouse moved to the First Universalist Society meetinghouse, 262 Chestnut St, Franklin. Doors open at 7:30 PM and all concerts start at 8:00 PM unless otherwise noted. All concerts are non-smoking and alcohol free.

View Larger Map


This was cross posted to Franklin Matters

Something is lacking

One of the signs added to the Franklin Community Gardens:



While it makes sense to say this to help ensure that the time and effort of those caring for the gardens is indeed enjoyed by them, I feel it is lacking.

What does it lack?

It lacks the encouragement to build community. To foster the conversation that can occur over this plant or that arrangement. The kind of conversation that I was fortunate to have on the recent walk about with Chris Clay.

What do you think? Any suggestions for re-wording this message?

Share your job search story

If you want to do more to explore social media tools, there is an opportunity to blog!

In the session on "Exploring Social Media Tools", the discussion was lively and wide ranging. Blogs provide an opportunity to position yourself with content creation. Twitter provides a link for Google with only 140 characters. LinkedIn is for professional networking. Facebook is used more for family and friends. Google+ is the new kid on the block with opportunities to make an impact. This is a quick summary that does not do full justice to the discussion. It does provide an indication of the give and take. Most in the room participated in one or more of the tools mentioned.

This site serves a dual purpose. One it provides a publication vehicle for my 'job search notes'. Two, it provides a central base point for the Job Search Jam Session events.

To further your own exploration of social media, if you want to do a guest post on your job search efforts, to share a tip or two on what you have found, this is one place you can do so. You can dip your toe into the water and see if you like it. The site is already established, you won't have to worry about setting it up or anything related to getting started. You can focus on creating the post.

Your point of view is just as important as the next person's. Being ready and able to state your case is one of the key factors for long term success.



Send me an email expressing your interest and we can take it from there. If the guest post works well for you, you can consider becoming a regular contributor here, or going off and establishing your own site. Either way, I'll be able to provide support and help.

So do you want to share your story?


This was originally posted to the Job Search Jam Sessions website

I'm on LinkedIn - now what?

The presentation document for one of my sessions at the recent Job Search Jam Sessions is posted to the event website.

I also did a session answering questions about how to do this and that with LinkedIn. For that session, I brought up the LinkedIn site and we moved page to page talking about the questions and features available.

Do you have a question about using LinkedIn? Feel free to ask!

Shrinking

There has been much written on the quiet price increase implemented through a reduction in package sizes. Tropicana re-did their bottles not long ago and are introducing a new shaped bottle now. Both the recent one and this one are only 59 oz. 5 oz shorter than the long time standard 64 oz.



Have you checked the size of the item you purchase recently? Has it shrunk from what it used to be?

Deficit reduction

On this Labor Day, where the gap between the haves and have-nots gets larger, Jon Stewart provides his insights into the problem.



Enjoy!



Thanks to Ronni Bennett for the link

Another successful event

Many were not sure what they were getting into. What is an unconference? How come the schedule is not complete? How will we know what there is?

Those who came and were willing to let things happen found out how good it was. They ended up with choices of good sessions to participate in. If they had a tough choice, and wanted a session repeated, in many cases it was.

We started the day with about 9 sessions already filled in on the board with others ready to go depending upon the wants and needs of the group. At the end of the Job Search Jam Sessions 3, this is what the schedule board looked like. We had provided 22 sessions over the course of the five time slots providing choices for each time slot and repeating many of the sessions.




(Yes, the sticky notes didn't want to stay on the shiny white board and even with masking tape, they had trouble staying in place.)

How many people came? 49 people participated, 31 of the 35 who pre-registered showed up along with 18 walk-ins.

A great big thank you to the other organizers and speakers who made this event possible.

Happy eggplants

These eggplant are happy. They have good soil. Some one tends to the weeds, provides water. They can just hang out and grow. Are you taking care of yourself? Do you feed your brain good stuff?

Be yourself!

Via CC Chapman who shared it on Google+






Go be yourself, everyone else is taken!