I Speak of Dreams - Liz Ditz

From her about me section, Liz writes:

I am a 3rd generation Californian. Some life themes:

*organizations in the start-up phases: I was in the second graduating class from The Athenian School; I started working for the Cato Institute in its first year of existence; I was an early board member of the Yosemite Foundation; my daughter was in the third graduating class from The Girls' Middle School.

*wilderness learning: I went to Outward Bound in 1967, when the only women's course available was canoing in the Boundary Waters Wilderness. I went on several National Outdoor Leadership expeditions, incluing climbing Mount McKinley (Denali) in 1973.

*not-for-profit (or public-benefit) corporations: I've served on the boards of the Athenian School; The Yosemite Fund; Filoli; and The Girls' Middle School.

*Skepticism and Education: Someone I know well has a specific learning disability (dyslexia). In the course of helping her become a reader and a scholar, I've found a great many "treatments" that have no basis in evidence. There are also fads in education, such as whole language, that damage students. I write about both.

She writes on Academic Entitlements & More Bad Parenting

She writes on Dressing Your Chid Like a Slut

 

Read more of Liz at I Speak of Dreams.

 

Technorati Tags : dreams, education, hitchhiker

Powered By Qumana

Languge Log - Group Blog

Language Log is a group blog about language nuances.

 

What do you mean nuances?

 

Well how about "I found my snowclone in Palo Alto" which gets into the play on words from the old song "I left my heart in San Francisco"

 

So, what else do they write about?

 

How about the "Vanishing Slurs" where a Cole Porter song originally had words with racial slurs and over time these have been changed to become less challenging interpretations of the same song.

 

Hey, that sounds pretty good!

 

Great, read more of the Language Log here.

 

Technorati Tags : language, use, usage, proper, blog, hitchhiker

Powered By Qumana

Kinetic Ideas: A Marketing Blog - Wendy Maynard, the Marketing Maven

From Wendy's About page:

What is a Maven? Well, the American Heritage Dictionary says a maven is: a person who has special knowledge or experience; an expert. Personally though, I prefer the definition found in the Princeton University’s WordNet: someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field.

And although I could tell you these definitions are the reasons I decided to call myself the Marketing Maven, I think what it really boils down to is my childhood dream of being Wonder Woman. Since I couldn’t very well run around as an adult calling myself by a superhero name, I picked the next best thing - a semi-adult version if you will.

She has posted recently on Online Publishers! Subscriber Response Rates

Average open rate of HTML and Text/HTML newsletters is 29.7% over the past 30 days.

Sunday generates the highest average open rate of 41.1%, followed by Saturday at 36.7% for newsletter sent date.

She has advice for Break the Feast or Famine Cycle in Your Business

Make time in your schedule for marketing. If you don’t have enough time for this important function, then learn the power of “no.” Treat your marketing time as if it were time with your customers. In other words, it is a non-negotiable aspect of your week that you keep on your calendar.

Don’t break into this time to schedule customer activities. Instead, tell a new customer, “I’m sorry I can’t fit you into my schedule this week. However, I do have time next week (or next month).”

Don’t be frightened of saying “no.” Two things will happen as a part of this approach. The first is that you begin to create demand for your services or products.You reinforce that you are offering a high value to your customers. They will be willing to wait.

Read more of Wendy here!

 

 

Technorati Tags : marketing, maven, blog, hitchhiker

Powered By Qumana

LuLu Blooker Blog

Have you heard of the LuLu Blooker Prize?

The Lulu Blooker Prize is the world's first literary prize devoted to "blooks": books based on blogs or websites.

Awarded in three categories:
Fiction • Non-Fiction • Comics

There is also a blog devoted to communications around the prize.

Try saying this three times fast! LuLu Blooker Blog

 

Technorati Tags : blog, blogging, prize, hitchhiker

Powered By Qumana

Six Sigma in the Blogosphere

If you are interested in Six Sigma, then this site might be one to check out.

 

It is a group blog with about 13 different people contributing. Seems to be quite active.

 

Recent posts include:

 

The 360 Degree Feedback Survey (in cartoon format)

 

In honor of St Patrick's Day, some green Six Sigma projects

 

and a Brave New World.

 

 

Technorati Tags : SixSigma, blog, blogging, Hitchhiker

Powered By Qumana

Success begins today - John Richardson

John Richardson writes in his About section:

Success Begins Today. An interesting concept to be sure.

This blog is dedicated to all the travelers on the journey to success.

Have a successful day… today!

Simple, concise, to the point.

In Follow the Leader, John writes:

A precept of Steven Covey came to mind as we started and stopped in the middle of nowhere. “Begin with the end in mind”, played over and over in my head. How could I be so blind as to end up in this crazy line? After all, all these thousands of people were doing the same thing! How could so many people be so blind? If I had just asked somebody where the line went I would have never got in it. I would have exited out the south entrance just like we did on Saturday.

Following the crowd can be a dangerous thing. Unless you know the destination, the crowd can lead you places that you would never go on your own. When we examine the life roads that we are on we really need to know where we are going. We need a roadmap, directions, and a guide.

In On Writing Well, John writes:

The first audio book in my MBA on the Run series is a classic listen. This is a book that every student should have in their library. Entitled “On Writing Well“, author William Zinsser takes the subject of writing and breaks it down into four simple principles. They are Clarity, Simplicity, Brevity and Humanity. If you keep those four principles in mind, your writing will shine.

Read more of John here. After all your success begins today!

 

Technorati Tags : Richardson, success, hitchhiker

Powered By Qumana

Dealing with Darwin - Geoff Moore

 

From Geoff Moore writing at his blog, Dealing with Darwin, comes this gem:

Equity is not actually currency, it is ownership rights, and although markets are willing to trade one for the other, they should not confuse the two.  eBay gave up around 4% of its ownership rights to gain Skype.  That is a good deal if Skype can change eBay’s future earnings potential by more than 4%, a bad deal if it cannot  The cash value of the transaction is a distraction in this calculation.

Read the full posting here.

 

Geoff writes in his one line Bio:

I am an author, consultant, and venture capital partner, with a background in English literature and a wonderful family life.

In Value-based Performance and Performance-based values

Values-based performance characterizes collaboration cultures who commit to altruistic ideals, live these values in their work, and earn thereby the trust of customers and partners .  Performance-based values characterize competition cultures who continually hold themselves accountable to objective metrics of success, regardless of who gets uncomfortable.  The two cultures tend to repel each other, creating nice guys who finish last and jerks who drive Porsches.  But sustainable, good-to-great companies have to combine both.

Read more of Geoff

 

 

Technorati Tags : Darwin, Moore, hitchhiker

Powered By Qumana

A Study in Sherlock - Douglas Johnston

Hey, finding a blog set up to delve into one with whom I can't get away from an association with, is a sure thing to announce to the world that the Hitchhiker Team has found it.

 

Yes, there is A Study in Sherlock, as in Sherlock Holmes. Elementary, my dear!

 

So if you ever had an inkling to know more about the great detective, this is one place to put on your listing. Well done, Watson!

 

Douglas Johnston writes in the About section:

My other sites, a million monkeys typing and DIYPlanner.com (home to my free printable kit, the D*I*Y Planner), are more concerned with technological, productivity and creativity issues, but A Study in Sherlock is the home of my passion. Whether you’re a teenage newcomer or an elderly scholar (or a teenage scholar or an elderly newcomer), I hope you’ll find something to enjoy in these pages.

The game is afoot. Do not delay! Go to A Study in Sherlock!

 

Technorati Tags : Sherlock+Holmes, hitchhiker

Powered By Qumana

Orange Politics - Ruby Sinreich

Ruby Sinreich writes (with others) at orangepolitics.org. The About section goes into more details:

Although the title sounds definitive, this web site is most decidedly not. Everything here is explicitly biased toward the authors' and editors' points of view. Take that as you like. The purpose of this website is to encourage residents of Orange County, NC to get involved in their community by offering education and perspectives on local and regional issues. We also hope to enable productive dialog about local issues, to better understand each other and our community.

Ruby also writes her personal blog at lotusmedia

You get a two-for-one deal today!

Happy reading.

Living the Luxe Life - Stacy

Stacy is a voluptuary and writes at Living the Luxe Life.

What is a voluptuary?

The dictionary tells us that it’s a person given to the pursuit of luxury, and pleasures of the senses. For me, it goes beyond that, to embracing everything that's good in the world and that allows me to live a wonderful life.

For many people, that level of enjoyment seems best left to the wealthy, or reserved for special occasions. But what I know for certain is that that’s just not true. Luxury is all around us, all the time. And it’s not expensive (necessarily!) to bring luxury into our lives. Luxury, to me, is simplicity, perfectly executed. To me, it’s an everyday thing, and in part, a mindset.

I enjoy the small and large, the free, the inexpensive and the obscenely expensive yummies our world offers us all. If it's comforting or comfortable, I want to know about, and preferably experience it. I look for it all the time, surround myself with what I love, and most importantly, am grateful for every bit of it, always.

She writes on Discomfort, Lavender Vanilla Snow,
and Technology: It's great when it works! amongst her more recent posts.

You should read more of Stacy here.

The Practice of Leadership - George Ambler

George writes in his About section:

Basically, I experience blogging as Thinking! On this journey through life we all need a place to collect our thoughts, a place to reflect and learn from life’s experiences. This is why I blog, to think and shape my thoughts. Additionally, my blog keeps me motivated and committed to the practice of leadership, to keep inspired, to continue learning, exploring and connecting with people. This keeps me more conscious and aware of my journey through life and its possibilities.

He has a nice write up on SMART goals.

His tagline is:

It’s only in the practice of leadership that we influence our world…

How true!

Read more of George here.

/Message - Stowe Boyd

Stowe Boyd has a new blog and new endeavor. He is writing now at /Message and his goal is to get into the Technorati 100 in 90 days.

Now, I hesitated to do this posting. The Hitchhiker goal is to focus on the long tail. Stowe is not long tail. Sure, his new blog started out on the bottom... but he is not the average Joe just starting out a blog. When writing at Get Real for Corante, he was 1448.

What won me over is that if there is a game to play to get into the Top 1000, I'd like to know what it is. I may still not play but at least that is my choice. And you may be interested!

Besides Stowe does post on a variety of interesting stuff.

Starting from zero; Day 60

eTech Wrap up, the 3 Threes

Doc Searls on the Intention Economy


Read Stowe!


Updated 3/14/06 - changed 100 to 1000 as the target based upon a correction from Stowe. I had dropped the zero accidently.

Powered By Qumana

Mentor Audio

Are you into podcasts?

Would you like a 1 minute or 10 minute message from a mentor?

On topics like Courage, or Destiny, or Problems

You can subscribe via RSS to the podcast feed or to the feed and comments, for the 1 minute messages or for the 10 minute messages.

Check it out!

Antonella Pavese

From Antonella's About page:

I've always been an hopeful pessimist. I can see that the glass is half empty, but I cannot stop looking for ways to add just a little bit more water (or wine). I am always restless and seeking, because deep inside myself I know that I can be happier, that the world can be a much better place, that we can build much more usable interfaces, and that we can create better and more compassionate user experiences.

From When shopping online becomes a personal experience:

People add value to things. The sushi candle kit looks and smells better because a person made it, put it in a box, and wrote a personal note to me. I feel as I know Nikola. A picture of her and her two children, B.B. and Ritzy, is posted on the Sticky Wicket Crafts website. I know that she lives in Seattle and if I happen to go there, I can find her at the Pike Place Market.

Suddenly, shopping online is not anonymous anymore. It's about real people living in real places. Forget the mysterious vendors hiding behind E-bay nicknames. Forget electronic devices shipped directly from Shanghai to your home and made by some unknown worker in white clean suits.

From The girl made of glass:

I am still reading Necessary Dreams (and yes, you should read it too. You should read it if you are a woman; you should read it if you are a teacher; you should read it if you are a manager; you should read it if you still believe that women are "less ambitious" and care less about their careers than men do; you should read it if you feel overwhelmed and ready to give up.). Anna Fels unveils the many subtle and less subtle biases that have the net effect of providing less social recognition to women, which translate in a greater fragility of women's ambition. She tells me that if I feel overwhelmed and inadequate it's probably because I don't have enough support and recognition in my work environment, not necessarily because I am bad and faulty; and that this is true of everybody, not just of me.

Read Antonella!

The blogosphere trail is open

Troy posted:

The blogosphere is a giant time capsule that offers a panoramic view of our world. It is a collection of personal expressions that represent virtually every human perspective of our times. It is filled with millions of personal accounts, diaries, essays, stories and photos. It is filled with art. It is filled with emotion. It is filled with thought. It is our collective conscience. Better than any collection of books or articles, the blogosphere will capture the story of our existence.


I posted:

We still have lots of snow on the ground here in New England
but I look forward to getting to a trail and hike in the spring.

You get a water bottle, a snack, your good comfy boots,
your camera, etc. together in our day pack
and arrive at the trail head.

You sign in on the trail log.
Check the sign out comments, usually some good info there.
Almost a real time update that the guide book can not provide.

And start walking.

Similar to what Troy and I are starting here.
You can consider this a trail head.

We are both hiking in the blogosphere.

We have our individual likes and dislikes, our passions
and a common desire to share the experience with fellow hikers.

As we find a blogger voice that sounds like something you might be interested in we'll post it here.

We are dependent upon your feedback to let us know how we are doing.
So come back often. We hope you'll find some good things here.



Originally posted 3/3/2005

Yes, the hiking has been underway for one full year!

blogher helps today

Partly 'cause I am lazy today

Partly 'cause Alanna Kellogg already has a great round up

Partly 'cause I'm hungry

 

and

Partly 'cause it provides more links than I was going to do with one posting

 

You get to follow this link to find a good bunch of blogs from around the world

 

Enjoy!

 

Technorati Tags : blogher

Powered By Qumana

Paul Stamatiou

Paul Stamatiou writes at Paul Stamatiou.com. He is

... a 19 year old student at the Georgia Institute of Technology majoring in Computational Media. This is his blog where he talks about tech news, reviews and guides.

He is 57th on the Technorati Favorites listing so he does not need my help in providing exposure. But you might need him.

 

He writes about Apple

 

He writes about the Flock browser.

 

If these items interest you, you might need to read Paul here.

 

 

Powered By Qumana

Anne 2.0 - Anne Zelenka

Anne writes:

I'm going to take another self-indulgent moment as I continue to populate the Who Is Anne list in my sidebar. Doing it this way, by making a Blogger post, means that my bio area will always be formatted just like the rest of the site. This is the beauty of content management, a beauty I didn't recognize until Blogger ate my first template.

I'm a computer programmer, and I have been since I was maybe 13. That's when my dad bought our family an Apple II and I drew horses out of big blocks on the screen using BASIC. I didn't think to major in computer science when I attended Stanford as an undergrad. I was too fascinated by other subjects and the CS students seemed very geeky. I hadn't gotten in touch with my inner geek at that point.

She also writes at The Barely Attentive Mother so if you choose, you can add two blogs to your reader today!

Skip on! - Kim

I believe that the world will be a much happier place when skipping becomes a more acceptable thing for adults to do.

This blog is about my (and others') efforts to make the world a happier place one skip a time.

I am in agreement. I run and usually begin my running with some warm up exercises and as part of that, I love to skip. It is part of the fun in running.

To find this site on skipping, well, I am almost in heaven.

Read the blog on skipping!

Patti Digh

Patti Digh has tossed out a real good challenge.

If you follow her writing, she carefully crafts a post per week. I visualized her posting process like this.

For the next 37 days, however, she is going to just wing it.
Do shorter posts, less complete, more single thought and potentially reuse them later for the longer posts.

You will find these shorter posts here.

Extreme Teaching - Dan Steinberg

When tragedy strikes, it creates a host of feelings. Out of those feelings can come goodness. Via Kathy Sierra at Creating Passionate Users, I learned of the sudden death of Dan Steinberg's daughter Elena.

With two daughters myself, one away at college, the other preparing to go, partings are always fraught with angst.

Dan had already started a blog about a new book he was working on. Now he has another one to write about how he is dealing with the death of Elena.

Read Dan!

One Pot Meal

In how to make friends with robots he writes:

The first time the robots came they surprised me, and were able to make off with most of my stuff.

But the second time I was expecting them, and not only did I get back my own stuff but I was also able to take some of the robots’ stuff.

You'll need to click through to complete the story, it is too good to spoil the ending!

In Job Interview, he writes:

I dreamt I went to a job interview at what I though was a paper supply company (too much Dunder Mifflin, perhaps?); I don’t know what job I had applied for, but apparently it involved an office and a tie. The interview began with the company’s owner and his wife asking me about my favorite books, and a discussion of Peter Carey. The questions got a little bit stranger—Who’s your favorite writer from Greenland? Do you speak Inuktitut?—but I thought, Hey, this isn’t so bad—questions about literature and the Arctic? This is the job for me!

It will take some more detective work (i.e. reading) to find out more about this writer but he posts as Steve (not a bad name) and knows about the Charliecard so he must be in the Boston area somewhere.

It will be worth reading to find out more about him!

Mike

In Blogging Meta - Revised, Mike Warot writes:

There is a subtle yet profound difference between blogs and previous methods of communicating on the net. Blogs are anchored to a location, which requires ownership. This difference is the major factor which lead to it's current popularity. Unlike email, you can't forge entries from a blog. This allows trusted relationships. When you read a blog for the first time, you're deciding if you like the author or not. This uses our natural instincts for deciding who we want to build relationships with. It grows over time. You'll develop a set of favorites that you read over time.

He goes on to describe the manual process of creating blogrolls and inherently trusting them versus selecting a search engine to provide data via an RSS feed and having to shift through the chaff to find the wheat.

Read the full posting here.

With this one post, I already found something that should graduate Mike's blog to my own blogroll.

Check in on Mike and maybe you'll find something to keep coming back as well!

Oblivio - Michael Barrish

Borrowing liberally from the About section:

Michael Barrish is a writer and freelance web developer. He lives in Brooklyn. Previously he did other things in other places. He has a bag and a mantra.

What is Oblivio?

Oblivio is Latin. Often translated as “forgetfulness,” it suggests a profound lostness, something akin to the English word oblivion but more oblivious.

He pays homage to Whitman with his "Song of My Professional Self":

I celebrate myself, and sing myself. I develop and maintain smart, standards-compliant websites. I collaborate with design shops needing expert XHTML/CSS coding. Clear and sweet is my soul.

So add this site to your reader and enjoy the journey!

Blogaholics - Arieanna & Ianiv

In the About section, they write:

We created this blog so we could talk about and share all the things that interest us. We both share interests in great food, great taste, and new technology. These are the things we want to share, be it news, reviews, or recipes. We have been a couple for more than 4 years now and have taken up a joint interest in several things, from hiking to coffee to blogging. We both work downtown, live in Kitsilano, and have 2 cats named Nala and Guinness.

They want to get into CoComment.

They write on the Olympics.

They are making wedding plans.

Add them to your blogroll, or bloglines, or RSS reader to keep up with this couple of Blogaholics!

Adam Richardson

design.business.technology.culture

thus reads the tag line of Adam's blog home page.

In "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" you can find this wonderful curve:


In Understanding the User Experience/Expectation gap, he writes:

... few companies have the resources, expertise, budget or time to develop every element themselves - interfaces, controls, web applications, operating systems, retail integration, etc. So you have to make decisions about what you're going to do custom, and what you're going to get off-the-shelf.

These decisions have major impacts on not just how customers will perceive you, but also your future flexibility and growth path as a company. They also have a dramatic effect on profit margins.

User experiences go through lifecycles of improvement. Understanding the lifecycle for your industry is critical to smart development choices.

This is an excellent analysis. Another set of charts is used convincingly to explain the situation. If you wondered about this, wonder no more, follow the link to understand it.

Read more of Adam here.

The Wisdom of Improv - Patricia Ryan Madson

Tom Peter's new Cool Friend is Patricia Ryan Madson, author of Improv Wisdom; Don't Prepare, Just Show Up.

You can read her interview with Cathy Mosca at TomPeters here.

You can check out her own blog here.

Being highlighted on Tom's page will give her plenty of exposure.

Showing her here simply means I agree with Tom's exposure.

What she says is worth reading and talking about.

Google Maps Mania

By now, you are familiar with Google Maps but are you aware of the many ways these maps are being used?

If not, but you are interested, then this blog is the one for you: Google Maps Mania highlights the new stuff being done in this area.

For example, I found mapmyrun.com and then heard about two other route mapping tools using Google maps. On this site both are listed, and guess what, they are not alone. There are more! Favorite Run Walk, Jog, Run

Maybe you are a fan of 24. Would you like to see where Jack moves from and to during the hour? Try the jack-tracker.

Maybe you need a pizza in NYC, try this.

Or maybe you just need an idea, come to Google Map Mania and feast your senses.

Powered By Qumana

Compact

From the headline of this group blog:

1) to go beyond recycling in trying to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of U.S. consumer culture, to resist global corporatism, and to support local businesses, farms, etc. -- a step, we hope, inherits the revolutionary impulse of the Mayflower Compact; 2) to reduce clutter and waste in our homes (as in trash Compact-er); 3) to simplify our lives (as in Calm-pact)

From their principles:

First principle - don't buy new products of any kind (from stores, web sites, etc.)

Second principle - borrow or buy used.

Could you follow these principles? (These are just the first two.)

I think I'll follow this group blog and see how it goes.

That will be a first step. Check out Compact!

Powered By Qumana

MOMster - Irene

Irene writes in her profile section:

... I am an almost thirty, neat freak, writer, wife and mother of two.

my parents are a first generation Koreans. They immigrated to France soon after they got married in 1975. I was born and grew up in France. I graduated from a film school, married my soul mate, and after working for several film and advertising companies, I've decided to stay home to take care of my twin boys, Sean and Will, born in 2002.

we live in Paris with our dog, a Maltese named Finn.

I love knitting, chai tea latte, good writing, CSI: Vegas, art and Jamie Cullum. I am a pretty good an unpredictable driver, I make a mean carrot cake, I can't wear thongs underwear or walk in heels. I know how to edit a movie, the old-fashioned way. I have a weakness for super heroes. And I really love food.

In Self-portrait Tuesday - all of me, she writes:

and my husband says I'm not funny.

ah the path to self-acceptance.

PS - you need to see the picture to make sense of this... click through here. You'll be glad you did!

Susan's Blog

She writes in her About Me section:

Through my essays, articles, and book, I am trying to make sense of autism and find a way to my oldest son, and help others with this challenge of autism at the same time. This diagnosis does not mean the end of the world, but it is the end of some things. It is also the beginning of a very long road. If you can accept that this person is different, but a person nonetheless, you are halfway there. For the rest of the way, you need a few great friends, a lot of information, and a sense of humor. As Ned Batchelder, my husband of 21 years, says, “Learn to declare victory and get the hell out!” Throw away expectation, and you may be pleasantly surprised.

In Idiot Wind she writes:

No, this is not a post about the President's State of the Union Address or strange false alarm in Los Angeles, his denial of being tied to Jack Abramoff, or his godawful budget proposal. It could be, but it is not.

This is about nothing. My own Idiot Wind. The wintry weather, which I hate, has inspired a blank, cold breeze blowing around in my head. I've run out of things to do with myself, I feel stuck indoors and stuck in time.

Idiot Wind is one of my alltime favorite Bob Dylan songs, a paean of pain about a love whom he now hates (apparently his wife of eight years, Sara). I'm been playing it on my guitar quite a bit, having found a site that gives you the lyrics and the chords to just about any song you want.

In Island in my Storm she writes:

Then he surprised me: he reached up and wrapped my hair around his hands, very gently, and pulled it to his nose, breathing deeply. Breathing me in.

"Natty, do you like that? You like my hair like that, in your face?"
"Yes," he said, a big grin stretching across his face.
"I didn't know, Honey." I felt a quick stab of pain as I realized that here was something easy I could have been doing with him for all this time, some happy thing I could have given to him so easily had I known. Had I tried sooner.

I sighed, and looked at his long fingers, clutching at my hair so gently but also so definitely. He wanted me. He still loved me, I was still Mommy. The wonder of it spread through me, soothing my heart.

This is a challenged life written well, poignant, intelligent, and worthwhile!

Read more of Susan's Blog.

If not now, when?

As the Hitchhiker Team continues to travel the world, we arrive today in Italy to meet Viaggiatore and learn from her profile that:

You probably already know this, but I'm passionate, opinionated, resourceful, determined ... fed up with stupid people, anguished with bureaucracy, on a bit of a soul search or rather, just a readjustment of what I've always known about myself. A gypsy spirit (in the positive connotation of the word) and a bit of a child-of-the-world, willing to take a swing at whatever pitch comes my way.

In So Close, and yet so far she writes:

It's the same reason that I watched Katie Couric's 'pre-Olympic tour', broadcasting from my newly-adopted Firenze, through slightly teary eyes - missing being there, as I sat in a hotel room bed in Louisville, Kentucky.

I really hope that GiaGina and Laurie and all my other new friends from Torino are having an amazing Olympic experience. But I'm on the road, sadly far from Italy and the Olympic spirit.

Because sitting in the sun drinking Chianti doesn't pay the bills, baby. And work means travel this time of year.

And you will be delighted by her Ode to Peperoncino.

Read more of Viaggiatore here.

Kat's Paws

Kat writes in her one line Bio:

29 year old artist, training to be a massage therapist, living with my boyfriend and our four cats near Boston.

She is part of the group Blogging the Artist's Way:

To all creative souls (we are all creative souls): I invite you to journey along with a group of people connected by the wild world of the internet. This journey is a twelve week process following Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way. I will be posting about the process along the way with advice, suggestions, and comments on my own experience. As a participant, I encourage your comments here on this blog and if you desire, in posts on your blog (if you have one.) The first week of January will be a week of preparation, during which you should read the introductory chapters up to week 1. And then Saturday, January 7th we will jump in. I encourage you to give it your all (you'll get out of it what you put in), but this will be a no pressure environment. The list of participants is below and if you'd like you can save the logo above and post it on your blog. For more details check out these posts. Here are the Sacred Circle Rules.

Kat writes:

Week 6 is all about recovering a sense of abundance, looking at a dreaded topic for many: money, but it's also about looking at what it means to feel abundance in our lives, what does luxury mean, what brings you true joy?

Read more of Kat here!

maigh

Yes, this is another find in the wonderful blogosphere world we partake in.

Well, you must otherwise you wouldn't be reading this.

I followed a link from Jennifer, Inc. to read about her sister.
Had I ever been to Atlanta, I'd wonder how I missed her.

Hey now, don't get too cute just 'cause she bares all doesn't mean you can go rhyming.

Maigh writes:

Needless to say half of the Things You Must Do To Make Me Happy pad by Knock Knock will live at the office (I plan to mark "Acknowledge I'm right" and "Stop saying um" immediately and hang it in a prominent place) and half will travel with me everywhere I go.

and writes:

Question: why do women with who run with ponytails seem to do everything possible to make it swing back and forth, tempting me to pull over and chase after them with the pruning sheers I keep next to the drivers seat in the Jeep? Don't ask why they're there, just answer the question.

and writes:

For giggles (and to get my feet wet) yesterday I was looking at jobs in Ireland. After flipping through a couple of ads I decided I'd send my resume in response to one of them, but I kept stalling out on what to say in the cover letter - not only because it's been a few years since I had to play that game, but also because of the whole "American" misconception.

Half joking, I solicited my friend "Codie the party boy" for help and the results are freaking hi-lar-i-ous. I added a picture I had laying around and now I think I might actually hurt myself. This morning I was literally laughing so hard tears were streaming and my face is sore. Of course the downside is I'm stuck wondering what my eulogy might sound like.

Moving on...edited lightly, this is what he came up with:

You'll need to read the rest here.

And then go back often to find out what Maigh is up to!

anoniblog - anonymous blogging wiki

Across the globe, countries that discourage free speech have followed their citizens into the blogosphere. According to one count, in the last two years at least 30 bloggers (and there are no doubt more) have been interrogated, arrested, tortured and sentenced to long prison terms for the "crime" of speaking critically about their governments. Regardless of your culture, your country, your politics or religion, we believe you deserve to speak your mind without falling afoul of state power. Unfortunately, what you deserve and what you get are not always the same thing. So, for those of you who wish to speak out on your blogs, but who do not wish to risk imprisonment or worse for doing so, we have prepared guides that will help you to blog more safely by blogging more anonymously.

But please note: Blogging can never be completely anonymous. With enough time, resources and political will, a group or government can discover who you are. We cannot guarantee that even if you follow the instructions on these guides to the letter that you will run no risk. You always take a chance when you speak your mind to people who cannot tolerate dissent. But we hope that these guides will enable you to minimize those risks, or at least be more aware of them.

This is an important site to be aware of.

Moving at the Speed of Creativity - Wesley Fryer

In the About section, Wesley writes:

Wesley Fryer is an educator, author, digital storyteller, technology integration pioneer, husband and father. He serves as an international and national presenter and speaker, addressing a range of topics related to education, technology integration, distance learning, and twenty-first century literacy.

Need a recommendation on anti-virus software?

Need an inspiration?

Need info on the $100 laptop project?

This is the kind of information you can find here when you keep up with Wesley who is Moving at the Speed of Creativity!

Paul Graham

In the Bio section we find out that:

Paul Graham is an essayist, programmer, and programming language designer. In 1995 he developed with Robert Morris the first web-based application, Viaweb, which was acquired by Yahoo in 1998. In 2002 he described a simple Bayesian spam filter that inspired most current filters. He's currently working on a new programming language called Arc, a new book (probably) for O'Reilly, and is one of the partners in Y Combinator.

His essays are well thought out and well written.

Check out:
How to Do What You Love
What I Did This Summer
What You'll Wish You had Known

and then keep an eye out for Paul's next essay. It will be a good read!

3 Blogs for one choice - The Partain's

Ken writes in the About section:

My name is Ken Partain (learn more about me and my services here) and I am here to learn to be prosperous and to teach others the same. This site is dedicated to all of the people who strive daily to increase their knowledge and prosperity.

There are many ways to be prosperous. You can have good health, good relationships, enjoy life, enjoy work and earn a good living. Whatever your goals, you can achieve them. Through this site I will pass along bits of information and lessons that have been a benefit to me. I am putting this site together with the hopes of creating a community of like-minded people, those who want to learn and share their experiences.

My mentor taught me that the wise people learn from their own experiences, and the super-wise learn from the experiences of others. With this in mind, we would like to create an atmosphere where we can exchange ideas.

You can choose amongst the following:

Daily Choices (Ken)

Happiness Now (Ann)

Prosperity for You (Ken)

You just hit the jackpot! Three for one!

Richard's Notes - Richard

In the About page, Richard has this to say:

This site is an ongoing experiment in the collection, organization and sharing of a growing list of things that are of interest to me. As such you could and probably should call it a weblog or “blog” (ugh, I hate that word).

I’m an advanced beginner at web design and almost everything I do for that matter, but I love the process of learning and improving so keep plodding on. Hopefully whatever it is I’m doing will be useful and/or enjoyable to you.

You get pictures of grandchildren.

You get pictures of see through buildings.

You get a link to Searching for the Holy Grail of web designs

Read more of Richard's Notes!

In and out of confidence - Tamarika

Tamarika writes on The ties that bind

All of the day as I lectured and talked with students and colleagues the love of my family accompanied me. I felt strong and solid in a way that I cannot remember feeling many times before. Those dynamic, interesting, vibrant, passionate, emotional, struggling women who follow their hearts and souls. They accept the mess and chaos of life with humor and tears, insecurity and enormous vulnerability. They were right there within me, an integral part of who I am.

Read the full post here.

She writes on And now I am found

I realize that now I cherish my time alone. I seek it out and look forward to it. Alone time has become my greatest friend where I gather myself inward and sigh with relief.

Imagine. I have been running away from it all my life. Through relationships, work, and just, well, other stuff. And now I am found. Deep inside. It is solid and safe, joyous and reflective. Even those recurring moments of haunting sadness are welcome.

Read the full posting here.

If this suits your fancy for good writing, reflecting on the fullness of life, then read more of Tamarika!

 

 

Powered By Qumana

my topography - Christina Rosalie

Christina writes in Tomorrow, 28

This year I became a mother, and as a result, began to see my mother in an entirely different way. Since my father died, my mother and I have been navigating new terrain in our relationship, and it has not been without land mines. So much lies buried in the geography of our shared lives. So much love and wonder and hurt in our souls is brought to the surface when we talk, and sometimes stumbling upon each other’s every weakness—clumsily, hurtfully, without grace. But gradually we are learning to keep some things: to keep safety, to keep openness, to keep love steadfast even when we come up against these jagged edges.

Happy Birthday, Christina!

Visit Christina at my topography, you'll be delighted you did.

Powered By Qumana

Who has time for this? - David Cowan

David writes in Practicing the Art of Pitchcraft:

I know it sounds a little crazy, but indeed I’ve come to agree that a clear, compelling elevator pitch is essential to growing a business. (And I’ve paid dearly for the evidence.) So after attending a board meeting yesterday in which the management team struggled to succinctly describe their business, I resolved to blog my agreement with Sridharan. Just in time, too, because Nivi’s been bugging me to answer the question: What makes for a good elevator pitch?

He writes in A Stroll down Wisteria Lane

I first saw Desperate Housewives while watching GoTV, the Bessemer-funded mobile video network sold through Sprint and other wireless carriers. As a fan of the series, I accepted a friend's invitation onto the set yesterday to observe the filming. The experience stirred in me a newfound respect for Thespians of the Small Screen.

Most striking was the herculean effort exerted by the crew to produce each minute of footage. Five days a week they work from 10am to at least midnight in tight, dark, cluttered spaces, mostly waiting their turns (sometime hours) to contribute one step of a strictly serial process--a light meter reading, a dress fitting, snacks, transport to and from the outdoor set, landscaping, script re-prints, shopping for props, or a walk-by (for background activity)... The celebrity housewives show up only for their scenes, but most of the crew stand by 14+ hours a day with surprisingly good cheer. Clearly, these people enjoy their work, and it shows.

If this is enticing, read more of David Cowan at Who has time for this?

 

 

Technorati Tags : ventures, advice

Powered By Qumana

The Eminem Blog - Isabelle Esling

Isabelle writes:

My name is Isabelle Esling. I live in Metz, France. I teach English and German at public schools. I am also an Eminem biographer and a freelance music journalist. I’m a single mom of two kids.
I have a real passion for rap music and foreign languages.
Black music and black culture have influenced me for a large part.

My long term goals are:
-to meet Marshall Mathers and thank him personaly for he has changed my life positively
- getting my book published- possibly with Eminem’s authorization
- emigrating to an English speaking country
- getting a deal with a rap magazine as a freelance music journalist
Thanks to all the people who support me.

 

Isn't music a universal language? If it was not thought to be, here is a good case for it!

Go Isabelle!

Technorati Tags : music

Powered By Qumana

Tales of a Showgirl - Ariana Rosario

Life has its ups and downs especially in show business, but the show must always go on.

On Friday, January 13th, Ariana writes:

I'm here in Vegas for the final time as a choreographer. The only thing that sucks about this trip is that I'll be here for a week and will be without Fynn until next Friday night. I mean, we still have our cell phones to call each other. So, we'll still have contact. But I guess I enjoy physical contact much more, like having him next to me in bed and his arm is draped over me. Or snuggling up on the couch and making out with him. Well, then there's the other physical contact that we both love. *grins*

On Sunday, January 15th, Ariana writes:

I just got off the phone with Darian. He told me that I needed to get back to L.A. immediately. Dad was rushed to Cedars-Sinai. He had a heart attack. I'm at the airport now on my laptop writing this.

Fynn - I should be home within the next two hours. Is it okay if I leave Marley with you until I know what else is going on with my dad? I love you and I'll call you later on with details.

Tune in to read Tales of a Showgirl.


life
showtime

Life begins... - Catherine

From Catherine in Ontario, Canada comes this blog:

This is a journal of my sorrow, loss and grief. Are you are strong enough to join me? Are you unafraid to feel deeply? Or to shed a few tears? Then I welcome you on this dark journey of self-expression...

I think life begins when you wake each day.

Join with Catherine on her journey

PS - Catherine also writes at 100Bloggers


100bloggers
life

runlikeagrrl - Andrea Hill

Not every grrl would take the Goofy Challenge; yes, run a half marathon and come back the next day to run a marathon. But she did. Congratulation to you for doing so!

Congratulations also for letting us all read about it at runlikeagrrl

So if you are a runner, or like running, read this

PS - She's coming to Boston in April.


run
running

Mixed Masala

Welcome to my table. Mixed Masala is an expression of my life-long passion for luscious, savory, spicy foods, my unyielding fascination with uncommon recipes and the chefs who create them, my interest in food photography and my desire to one day master the art of cooking well. A place to share my experiences of cooking, dining and living ... out loud!

We all need to eat to survive.

How many of us love to eat? (Confession, I do)

How many love to cook? (Confession, I do)

Pull up your chair and appetite, get ready to enjoy Mixed Masala


passion
food

Fitzgerald's Poetry Blog - Group

"A poem a day keeps the doldrums away."

Yes, it does.

If you don't happen to have a book shelf that spans 6 full feet and stands almost 8 foot tall, at least 1/3 of the contents of which are books of poetry from which I could select easily any one to do a poem a day (should I choose to do so), then you might consider putting this in your RSS reader.

Certainly takes up less space.

Leaves room for the mind to wander amongst the words of the poem.



writing
poetry

Douglas Girls in the Disapora

From Put it in Park, babs writes:

It’s 13 degrees. I’ve never heard the boiler run so often. The bathroom window is frozen shut. The dog’s hoohaa is frostbitten from piddling on the go in the snow. Fleece is not worth anything in this temp. Back to wool and animal parts to retain heat whilst outside. Leaving the car doors ajar at night. Definitely not licking anything metal.

But I digress.

I was just proving my Alaskan-ness. I have spent 30+ years of my life in The Great Land. I have a blue tarp (or two) in my yard, I have lead line and cork line in my driveway, I smoke salmon at all hours of the night, I let my kid run naked in the summer and I potty trained her outside, but I DO NOT PARK IN THE YARD!

Read the full post.

What is it like to be cold in Alaska?

It’s 9:23 am, and sunrise is just happening. The lake is frozen and the dog and I have an important date of walking the entire perimeter this morning.

C. calls this morning. She and J. woke up to the turkeys gobbling and flying to the ridgeline of the cabin. Buck goat going nuts in the pasture. J. gets up in time to see brown bear number one go by the bathroom window; “hey bear, hey bear” he shouts as he’s trying to find pants, flashlights, and a gun. C. gets into the car to race to the other side of the pasture to chase off brown bear number two. 5 year old is bundled in blankies in the car. All before breakfast on a school day.

Of course, being the town girl in this friendship,my days are more sedate. No large ursines in my yard. Just the neighbor man going by with a blowtorch to open his frozen mailbox.

So somewhere in the middle of that space between Japan and England is the northern land of Alaska and now you can find out what the view point is from those who are there!


alaska

Coaching - Rolf Erikson

Rolf writes:

Most people pay everyone else first — taxman, landlord, credit-card company, and so on. They try and budget every week, month, and year hoping that if they’re careful they’ll have some money left over.

David Bach says this in his post the other day. “Pay yourself first” means just what it says: When you earn a dollar, the first person you pay is you. Sounds simple, but most people don’t do it., he continues.

But he is right, isn´t he?

Read the full post.

In To be Patient, Rolf writes:

Patience is one of the most important qualities to develop if you care about personal growth. It’s also one of the most difficult.

Wouldn’t it be nice if after you identified a change you’d like to make, you could just snap your fingers, and the change would occur instantly? Unfortunately, it’s rarely so easy as that, despite what marketers tell you.

For more coaching advice, add Rolf to your listing.

coaching

About Women - Barbara Ashton

Barbara writes in her welcome message:

A blog about marketing to women, and all the different faces of women in today's marketplace.

Baby boomer, working mom, at home mom, business woman, business owner, traveller, wonder woman, retiree, divorcee, caretaker, mature student ...

Some days it's about the brilliant ways companies find to market to women, the kind of marketing that makes women ache to have their products or services, and clamor about (or blog) to all their friends.

Some days it's about me, boomer gal, weather vane for what works and what doesn't work when marketing to women in the 40+ age group.

Enjoy. Comment. Share with your friends.

From It's Great to be Me, Barbara writes:

What is going on in our world? Men kill women in Afghanistan for making eye contact or for getting an education, while women in North America kill themselves for men. For what? While testosterone driven media rams standards of unattainable physical perfection down our throats, we women respond by starving to death, and putting our fingers down our own throats? Whoa.

From The Sweet Spot, she writes:

I do love what Laura Hnatow of Imago Creative recently said in her article about marketing to women in the 40+ range, what she calls “the sweet spot”.

“These women are not a niche market for a specific industry – they are THE MARKET for industries savvy enough to understand their needs and perceptions, their life transitions and their deep-seated hopes and fears.”

If marketing to women is anywhere near your alley of interest, please keep Barbara in mind!

marketing to women
marketing

Better Than Fudge - Josh Horowitz

From the Why Better than Fudge, Josh? comes this writing:

The better question would be to ask all other websites…why not Better Than Fudge?

Looking for something more? OK, how about this … in these confusing times when we can agree to disagree on just about everything, fudge stands for something I think we can all get behind.

Fudge is rich and decadent and oh so sweet. It’s the treat among treats. It’s the confection cotton candy probably looks at and goes, “damn, that’s tasty stuff.”

Put another way, fudge is simply great. When I say something is better than fudge (and I won’t throw that phrase around lightly, that’s my promise to you) it will mean something. It will be something worthy of examination, respect, maybe even love.

So there it is…BetterThanFudge.com

So you might think this is all about chocolate. Well, guess again!

Josh Horowitz is a writer and television producer. His TV work includes producing for “Charlie Rose” on PBS and talk shows on CNBC and the Fox News Channel. He has contributed to numerous magazines and websites including Entertainment Weekly, Interview, Moviepoopshoot.com, and US Weekly. He lives in New York City.

For the scoop, or rather inside slice on movies, TV, etc. check out Josh!


writing

Catherine Daly's Blog

Catherine is an author of two books of poetry and a regular blogger.

If you are in the Los Angeles area and interested in poetry, then you should keep in touch with Cathrine's blog. For example:

Tuesday, January 17 at 7:30pm
Poetry Coffeehouse at Grace Church
Featuring poets Catherine Daly, Yvette Neisser, and Kathleen O'Toole Enjoy free dessert and free Starbucks coffee together with wonderful poetry.

Catherine Daly, author of two volumes of poetry, Locket and DaDaDa, has worked as a technical architect, officer in a Wall Street investment bank, engineer supporting the space shuttle orbiter, software developer ...

Check out the full posting.

For example:

As you all may know, Jerome Rothenberg is working on a vast Romantics anthology of 19th century poetry to g with the giant 20th century anthologies he just did with Pierre Joris.

It is international in scope, and while I was visiting him a few months ago, he was talking with Jesse Glass (Diane and I were there of course, also) about various south Asian female poets, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Chinese, their various merits, but the difficulty of including them, even though they were 19th century poets of some repute, since they didn't really fit under the rubric "romantic." ...

Read the full posting.

Add Catherine to your reader to stay current with the LA poetry scene!


writing
poetry

Flickr - Last 7 Days

They say that every picture tells a story. Well, if you are ever in need of a story to tell, check out the Last 7 Days at Flickr.

The pictures are outstanding.

The opportunity for you to tell (yes, create) a story from it is there.

Dare you take the opportunity?

I hope some of you do!


Thanks to Rosa for the inspiration!

Pure Land Mountain - Robert Brady

We provided a view from England before, so let's go in the other direction and get a view from Japan by Robert Brady.

This year is Red fire, dog year

Robert writes about the leap second:

Yes, Virginia, believe it or not, there is an International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service. How do I know this? I know this because the astronomers and the clock community are at each other's throats again. Some modern things just never change. Sorry Virginia, I don't really know what the "clock community" is, though it seems to include everyone who isn't an astronomer.

Robert writes haiku

slow arrows
cedar trees
pierce the falling snow

Robert writes on the growing Japanese population:

Don't look now, but at any minute, for the first time in a century, fewer people in Japan are being born than are dying. These days there just seems to be less general interest in those two types of experience. Which brings us to the aging society, with Japan once again the world's canary in a coal mine, entering a new realm before anyone else, and with yours truly pretty much up there in the local silver vanguard, looking for the champagne bar.

Read more of Robert here.

Sherry Chandler

Sherry Chandler has written Dance the Black-Eyed Girl (nominated for the Kentucky Literary Award in poetry) and writes regularly on her blog.

In New Directions to point your mouse in 2006, she does a Kentucky version of this Hitchhikers Guide.

In First Footers, she writes

And when midnight struck, you wanted the first person over your threshold, the First Footer, to be the darkest person you knew. A dark first footer brought luck for the new year.

Be sure to read the full post on this tradition!

Add Sherry to your RSS Reader, Bloglines, or whatever tool you use and then tune in frequently to see what she has to say!

2 Cents Worth - David Warlick

David Warlick writes at 2 Cents Worth and it turns out that we have much in common.

1) We both started in education: He stayed there while I have moved into other business forms of education.

2) We have an equal appreciation for the value of our thoughts as both of us share our 2 cents worth: David at 2 Cents Worth and I at Steve's 2 Cents.

3) We share an interest in literacy, understanding what is required to make our way in the world. David writes In Defense of Wikipedia:

Being able to function, contribute, and prosper in this new information environment — more conversation than library — requires full literacy, the ability to interact within that information environment in a way that adds value. It means expanding our notions of literacy beyond reading the text on the paper in front of you.

Read more of David here!



2 cents
warlick

Doing the Right Thing - Marianne Powers

Marianne Powers has written Doing the Right Thing, has her homepage at Marianne Powers and has her blog at Doing the Right Thing. That may sound a little repetitive but believe me when I say it is not.

She writes of Seth Godin:

Probably the most popular blogger on all things business is Seth Godin, Agent of Change. Reading him is a little like taking a ride in a sports car with the top down. Of course, his popularity is undoubtedly also due to good looks.

She writes of Adrian Savage:

One of my favorite blogs this year has been Adrian Savage's The Coyote Within. Sometimes, it's Adrian's voice that we hear and sometimes Coyote speaks directly. I especially love it when Adrian goes after something that has been giving me grief for years -- like multi-tasking, budgets, and annual reviews. He's an animal.

So what will she write about next? The Hitchhiker Team?

Ah, you'll have to read her to find out!