Its not THAT big a deal

Project 300sixtyfive

2008-08-16T20:45:00.002-04:00

Nothing breaks my heart more than seeing how little we realize the gift that is every day and every person. We wait till a funeral to say nice things, we wait till we are "old" to regret what we never said or did. We wish we didn't work so much. We lament what we have lost. Why don't we learn?

So here we go - Ali's Project 365. 365 days of appreciating people. There are a few rules...there's no order in how I present folks to you, I may know some better than others, identifying characteristics may or may not be included - the goal here is to really look at the good in each and every person and let THAT person know that they are loved - NOW.

I'll try to stay day to day but I can tell you now there will be catch up times...this is just my little attempt to put a little something positive out there, every day, and perhaps, in the process get some more positive energy out there in the world.

The separation of my personalities...

2008-08-16T09:30:00.002-04:00

Its be a while...and long story short, I've come to the realization that I may have to do something I never thought I would - maintain multiple blogs to maintain some focus. (or I'm not clever enough to figure out how to mesh musings, knitting stories, running and technobabble all in the same place). I'll still be here...but this blog will meander about my brain more on the technology end of things I think.

There's been another project, ruminating in my mind for a while that its time to start. I'm starting to feel old and I'm starting to feel like there are some things I'm learning - and not to go all Oprah on you, but life is too short for a lot of the crap that goes down. So I'm doing a take on a project 365 that will be very personal and important, at least to me. I'm gonna try and set it up today but I'll keep you posted....as soon as I have a new link it'll be here.

CHEERS!

Off the Grid

2008-07-10T07:16:00.002-04:00

I have a few trips scheduled in upcoming days...first I am going to Nashville, and then next week I head to my in-laws for our annual visit and then to NYC for my cousins wedding. These things would be of no consequence but for two big factors - 1) my nashville trip coincides with the release of the iPhone 2.0 and then 2) the visit to the in-Laws is to a lovely town called Hawley PA (seen The Office? See the epi when then went to Lake Waullenpaupack for a retreat? that's where they are)

No biggie right? But my dear hubby is going to go stand in line for my iPhone (he's getting one too) but that will get activated some time Friday...I'm not home till late Saturday night, thus no phone access for me. Then during our trip to PA there's no wi-fi, barely even dial up and in fact, the concept of a life online doesn't really exist other than downloading music and perhaps using email once and a while.

Sum total - I'm going off the grid - somewhat by choice, somewhat by necessity...and...I'm really anxious about it! I know this will be fine - good for me even, perspective and all that - but it only shows me how connected I've become. Too much? Possibly. But when I think about the real pull that I feel its the people - its the social connections, its the relationships...and those? They will remain...

So I will miss you all...I didn't leave you, I'm just living away from the interwebs for a while.

p.s. Friend Feed. I get it - conceptually. I get it - factually but I don't get it - usably. I'm a loser - is there a good site on how to use this darn thing? I can read it but can't figure out the interaction for anything.

PodCamp Ohio - Podcasting for Corporate America

2008-06-30T09:42:00.003-04:00

There are still many thoughts in my head regarding podcampohio but one of the more compelling sessions I attended was "Internal Corporate Podcasts" by Robin Maiden. Robin is a pilot with Delta and involved in many different podcasts...but his session focused on bringing the power of the podcast as a communication medium to corporate america.

The session really spoke to me since my "real job" has me doing strategic and operational consulting 90% of the time...most of the clients I work with are moving towards a workforce that is spread across the country and employing technology to get their job done. The challenge these organizations start to face, as Robin articulated, is that since their work focuses them everywhere but "the company" we need to work effectively to keep the right amount of communication (and thus relationship) "inward" towards the company. This obviously offers support at the ground level needs of training, operational updates, etc. but it can also be extended into brand loyalty, strategic growth, and relationship building within an organization.

Robin's comments continue to churn in my brain as I think on how to mobilize this as a value add for some of my clients - one client in particular is considering iPhones for employees...I am embarrassed to say that it never even entered my mind to not only pre-load these phones with "data" (contacts/ dates etc) but also with audio content...my clients are usually tech saavy and this is a no brainer...(and is serves as a soft intro into new media as well!)

PodcampOhio content from ALL the sessions is to be posted shortly, but in the mean time some points from Robin's talk:

- sell your concept to corporate leadership in business terms (not just technical) like ROI, opportunity cost, opportunity as a management tool

- Find a mentor for the project in company leadership

- involve everyone - we all know too well the bureaucracy that lives in corporate america

- manage expectations with management and interviewees

- for production, have a white board to help guide the conversation

- "mess up" intentionally at the beginning to put the interviewee at ease

- call your time together a "conversation" not an "interview"

- allow for reviews by everyone (and request that comments come with a time marker for any changes)

- Casts can be public and private based on content

- use inexpensive EASY to use MP3 players to help spread the word and distribute content

- track your results and present them back to management

- build your system so that its not dependent on YOU - let this be a tool that can become part of corporate communication and managed by others.

At the end of our discussion, we really focused on the fact that we know we are all early adopters, and the concept of podcast as corporate communication tool isn't a standard. But doesn't that make this the time to get involved? We hear every day that the iPod is becoming ubiquitous, so let's put them to use in different ways! for Consider the impact on your customer - be it employee, client, or management...this is leading edge technology so you get the "cool factor" along with the true business value. As Robin said, we'll start to see more and more people thinking about this....and then, what do i get from Chris Brogan today? THIS. Love it! Remember when it was "cool" to have your business card as a CD or DVD? I like to see this becoming the next big thing...

I have HOW MANY Logins?

2008-06-28T22:19:00.003-04:00

So i'm home from my first podcamp experience today...podcampohio was really fun. There's always something rewarding about learning - particularly when you are passionate about the subject. You come away with that sweet feeling of being tired, but utterly motivated. It was also beyond cool to meet, (and hug) so many people that I've come to consider friends but whom I've never met in person...it really completes the friendship circle I think...physical substance on top of emotional, intellectual and spiritual substance before.

Anyway - as a result of this fun I find my brain churning and my fingers flying away as I sign up for more social media tools/ outlets/ burners/ catchers/ consolidators/ distributors/ integrators to get all my media channels together. When I found that I was having to alter my now famous (tho not entirely creative) handle not only was I irked but I also realized it was time to create a list of all my new media outlets and user id's and passwords to make sense of the madness (and prevent trying to log into flickr 8 times with the wrong info). I'm not even halfway done inventory-ing these sites and I already have 23 items. 23 ITEMS?!?!?

Is this the best way to present in the new media/ social media space? I know I know, if you use things enough, you should know your ID's, but I don't...between work and social I have too many logins to remember and sometimes my brain just fails me. So here is my point...that was so saavily raised in piece parts by two people I greatly respect, @AnnOhio and @KathleenKD and that is, are we getting too caught up in the "next new software" or just the geekiness of the software/ hardware/shareware discussion to forget the SOCIAL? I find myself being in too many places and not being 100% present in any of them. I'm all for exploring, learning, discovering, but in the fun of all this, let's remember - for each of us - why we have joined in this new media world and put in place the tools WE each need to make that a reality. For me, its learning, sharing but most importantly creating relationships (and yes I remember when I used to hear others say that and it sounded like hooey). As I really digg (ha ha, I'm so funny) into social media I want it to be meaningful with the various audiences I entertain...my summer goal is to really work with the tools I have now and find those that truly suit me and discard those that don't. Life is just too darn short for 5,634 different logins....

Thanks to all who made my podcamp experience a joy!!!

p.s. it is the ultimate treat to be with a group of people who share "the geek in me" and create a place where you can let your geek flag fly...I heard the ultimate comeback to the teasing we've all invariably gotten for having friends we met online, or via a podcast etc...(and we all know we've been teased by our friends who think we're freaks)..."Like you know the guy you met at a bar better?" Just made me smile...

2008-06-18T15:46:00.001-04:00

whoa...just became totally exhausted. nap time

2008-06-18T12:51:00.001-04:00

craving something sweet...

2008-06-18T10:29:00.001-04:00

Asking folks to be hosts for a philanthropic event this fall...please people be nice to me :)

2008-06-18T09:55:00.001-04:00

Listening to GNI #31...and the memories come flooding back...LMAO

2008-06-15T20:56:00.001-04:00

Tiger Woods is an Uber beast...amazing.

2008-06-15T13:04:00.001-04:00

Happy fathers day to every father!!

2008-06-13T11:58:00.001-04:00

feverishly working on wedding gift for cousin. Why do I always think its a better idea to make something??!?!?

2008-06-13T10:55:00.001-04:00

real or rumor? You can call an apple or At&t store to reserve one of the new iPhones?

2008-06-12T22:20:00.001-04:00

Swingtown is officially 'good tv' in my book=20

2008-06-12T21:18:00.001-04:00

Twitterific coming for the iPhone - SA-WEET! http://tinyurl.com/4ufvs8

2008-06-12T13:21:00.001-04:00

Oh and did I mention how great it was that Stephanie won Top Chef? yay!

2008-06-12T13:13:00.001-04:00

trying to get through all this as fast as I can so that I can GO HOME

2008-06-11T14:14:00.001-04:00

existing iPhone users can trade up http://tinyurl.com/63m7we

2008-06-11T12:03:00.001-04:00

I am cooked...going to lunch, hoping to hit the reset button on this mood....

2008-06-11T11:56:00.001-04:00

I can't take this - if you ask me to do something, and even pay me to do it, please at least pretend to respect the work that went into it

2008-06-10T17:09:00.001-04:00

Eyes have glazed over...and still work to do...

I ♥ My Friends

2008-05-30T19:44:00.002-04:00

Life is crazy, stuff "HAS" to get done, stuff gets in the way, people get busy, people don't live close anymore, we mistake busy for happy and productive for good. I'd just like to say that the joy of making new friends is not lost on me...after the crazy high-livin' lifestyle of the 90's (those of you who know the stories..shhh!!) I'd prefer just to have good friends - real people who are interesting, funny, kind, caring and "just there".

If you are my friend, I hope you know, I am not good at saying these things or always being a great friend, but you are very valuable to me and I care very much about you. (And for those of you who've had to put up with my phone calls, you KNOW i'm indebted to you...forever!)

2008 Race for the Cure - We did it

2008-05-18T10:31:00.003-04:00

2008 Komen Columbus Race for the Cure

the "Survivor Express"

Coverage from the Columbus Dispatch

Perception of Value

2008-05-04T13:47:00.001-04:00

a VERY worthwhile read

Thanks Jim - you rock!

Because its funny

2008-04-30T20:19:00.004-04:00

And because if you know anything about my family you know EXACTLY why this is so funny...

Its the leaving thats hard...

2008-04-26T20:48:00.002-04:00

I've been fortunate to always have an ending followed by a new beginning. Its made the endings positive, because its a landmark, an event, a celebration, a relief, an exit (!) to behold. There was also always that "something next". But now that "something next" needs to be defined, and that's the hard part...how do you know when it right to leave when the only other option is the unknown....

When Twitter Attacks

2008-04-21T14:24:00.002-04:00

Some of you may also have been participants/ bystanders/ latecomers to a small flareup on twitter this past weekend...it started Thursday PM and bled all the way into Sunday the last I checked...to explain, no let me sum up, one tweeter uses an account to share updates/ information on a project they work on to support a group of people (lets call this person April) ; another tweeter caught wind of this and was diametrically opposed to this mission (lets call this person May).

A virtual dodgeball game ensued. Everytime I thought it was game - set - match, it flared again. It culminated for me at least on Saturday night, when, while preparing a rather adventurous dinner for hubby and me i received DM's about blocking one party by the other to result in the banning of said user from Twitter for abuse...there were accusations launched. I looked, and while fully knowing I can't see what DMs folks send back and forth I didn't see much more than had happened during the initial knock down drag out...in fact, May really only resulted in looking a bit overzealous and not focused on truly making any point - I found this to speak far louder than the actual content that was being tweeted.

Anyway - it got me to think, how much are we encroaching on freedom of speech now. Twitter had seemed so nice thus far, no flaming I had seen (tho I know it has happened), but I had only seen intelligent debate (that sometimes got heated but was always respectful). On Twitter you get to pick and choose those you want to interact with and those you don't - you don't. I've found twitter to be a cool thing that has introduced me to some truly wonderful people I never would have met otherwise. But, now I feel confused...are we to pick and choose sides on some of these things? How much does loyalty play into some of these more casual twitter relationships? by calling attention to these 'battles' don't we often give the instigator exactly what they wanted? And, are we always to be so hasty to judge one another? I mean, I started following @foulbastard purely due to his wrongly being blocked from twitter altogether.

I dunno - we're trying to create communities here, we find ourselves sometimes facing the same issues that exist in all relationships...and I am pondering them still....

Where I used to live...

2008-04-16T23:06:00.005-04:00

So some of the best times of my life were when I was in my early twenties living in DC...about this time of year the Cherry Blossoms are out, and it means Spring is coming. Every year still, tho I love it in Ohio, my body still craves the arrival of Spring right now now, and its so not like Cherry Blossom weather here....can you believe we took these photos in our friend's back yard? Here's to all my good friends still living in DC who I miss and to the Spring that they are already enjoying...miss you guys!

Beacon of Hope

2008-04-14T18:06:00.003-04:00

As you may know, I've been the volunteer Race Chair for the columbus affiliate of Susan G Komen for the Cure and the Race for the Cure...more on that later, but the kick off within the community is the lighting of the LeVeque tower. We light it pink - the color of breast cancer awareness - to remind people to take care of themselves and loved ones and to remind them that the Race is coming! If you don't live around here, here's your virtual view of the tower! :)

The Power of Context

2008-04-14T14:01:00.002-04:00

So, this started as a tweet and then there was simply no way it was going to fit in 140 characters so we end up here.

I was listening today to one of the many debates going on about Barack Obama's comments about those who live in small midwestern towns, I'd post a link, but at present its near impossible to find an accurate source...which is my point. The reason this debate caught my ear was that the moderator made a particular effort to read the entire paragraph before and after Mr. Obama's quote that is now being used to bash him about the head and shoulders.

Let me preface all of this - I'm not registered with any political party, and at present don't really plan to ever espouse my political views in terms of total support for one candidate over the other, not a Hillary fan, not an obama fan, not a McCain fan... (wasn't our government supposed to allow for the best people to be elected so they could mesh ideas together to come up with the best solutions? but I digress).

ANYWAY - more than I care for, I'm seeing people leverage just a few words of someone's speech, writing or whatever to their own gain. Is this an off-shoot of the "mtv" society where everything is in snippets and 5 second blurbs? What happened to understanding the MESSAGE in addition to just a few words. I mean, that's what book jackets do, they give you some words to compel you to want to know more (sometimes the promise is upheld, other times, not so much.)

Think about it, if you had to agonize and agonize over everything you said to ensure it was perfect before you put it out there, how much would you say? I guess its just that I am fan of good conversation and debate. I believe that people should be able to put ideas out there and we should be able to, constructively, pick at them, comment, build off of them to improve them altogether. What happened to cooperation and collaboration?

One may offer that this is the nature of politics today - but its happening everywhere...

How much farther could we ALL get if we would follow the mantra "seek first to understand, then to be understood"?

Who is my avatar?

2008-04-14T13:02:00.003-04:00

since my hubby and I don't have kids yet, we have a puppy who is convinced she is a child...this is Nittany when we first got her...

I've been dating New Media...

2008-04-10T19:16:00.004-04:00

So...how did I end up here and how did it end up being, what, 6 months since my last post? Well I had been a technophile all my days but suprisingly, while I was (supposedly) keeping up with all things technology, I found i had veered more towards the non-organic kind: business enablers, entertainment, the internet as the biggest encyclopedia around, you know the drill.

All of the sudden, I really got on board with some podcasts (my ultimate fav's even to this day? the entire family of podcasts from GSPN and then the rock'n'roll girls at Girls Night In.) And now I find that there's this whole genre of "new" media and "social" media and I felt totally out of the loop.

Convinced I would stay true to my shy roots, I just enjoyed these folks for their wit and entertainment and kept on with my normal stuff, but I found myself on something called "Twitter" and navigating blog to blog and soon I was telling people all the stuff I had dismissed as craziness mere months before "Oh you MUST join twitter" "we could SOOO use a blog for this" "heard of a wiki? It'd be perfect here..." I even MADE, yes, forced wouldn't be too far off, my one good friend start a blog to document her preparation for a 3 day, 60 mile walk to benefit breast cancer.

And while I felt so rewarded by all the great people I was meeting from literally all over the world and all walks of life, I still never put anything of myself out there that wasn't in a form on twitter where I knew who was seeing it (control freak? anyone? anyone?) until today...someone I consider a friend, who I have of course, only known through all things new media posted something today that captured what has rolled through my brain everytime I thought to post, and, as social media is known to do, I suddenly realized I wasn't alone and I should just get on with it. So here I am. I'm back...hopefully you will be too...and we'll figure this whole thing out together. I'm hoping for a long term, significant relationship! Wanna see my inspiration? check this out

So - this is what a blog feels like

2007-09-24T21:21:00.000-04:00

So my friend Amy (or ANY depending on who you are asking) is laughing her head off right now to see that I now have my very own, albeit basic, blog. So here goes nothing...we'll what happens in this space. Seeing as how anytime anyone asks me what I've been doing, I respond with one of the many variants of "not much" "nothing" "same as usual" this could get really good, or really bad REALLY fast! :)