Archive for May, 2009
Blog Update
May 20th
Last week I went to a seminar in Nashville called Lifework 2.0 (www.lifeworkseminar.com) that is about Web/Blog design, Seach Engine Optimization (SEO), and Social Marketing (facebook and twitter). It was led by Spence Smith (www.spencesmith.com & @spencesmith) and Randy Elrod (www.randyelrod.typepad.com & @recreate). Learned a lot, and am experimenting with what I learned on this blog.
To start, I moved it from Blogger to WordPress (www.wordpress.org) hosted by Bluehost (www.bluehost.com). I will also be moving my other two websites (www.bellpaintingandremodeling.com and www.myaccuratebookkeeping.com) to blog-based websites as they come up for renewal.
I learned about SEO and how and why to implement it. My head was spinning by the end of the day. It is really difficult to cover all of the information that Randy and Spence could spit out and absorb it all. Fortunately, they provided us with many links that will help us keep doing what they taught us to do.
If web work is something that drives you, interests you, or your are simply curious, I would encourage you to attend this seminar.
Got Perspective? – The Noticer by Andy Andrews
May 19th
Monday, April 27, 2009
1. The state of one’s ideas, the facts known to one, etc., in having a meaningful interrelationship
2. The faculty of seeing all the relevant data in a meaningful relationship
The Noticer: Sometimes, all a person needs is a little perspective by Andy Andrews soon to be published by Thomas Nelson is a quick read that packs a powerful punch. I had not heard of or read anything else by Andy Andrews, but it will not be long before I read more of his books.
A quiet ocean town is visited on and off through the years by a man named Jones who seems to know details of the lives of those he comes in contact with, but nobody seems to know much about Jones. Jones however, seems to knows exactly the right words to say to each person that he chooses to give the bigger view of perspective. To the homeless, young kid, the couple about to divorce, to the woman who thinks that her usefulness on this earth is done, and many others that Jones helps out with a strong dose of straight talk, humor, and . . . perspective. Jones teaches them to look outside of their limited view to look at their situations and problems with a bigger picture in mind.
I would highly recommend reading this book. It is a quick easy read that will impact your life. Who in your life has impacted you, and how?
Delays
May 19th
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
I have been feeling a pull to do some writing, which is very unusual because I consider myself a reader, not a writer. However, I am willing to give this some effort to see where it leads. I struggle with this mostly because I consider my life pretty boring. I am a bookkeeper (a numbers nerd according to my daughter) who enjoys journal entries and bank reconciliations. I like things to be in balance and to be accurate. I am a mom to two teenagers (currently 17 & 15) and that is a daily challenge. My daughter is involved in basketball and softball which keeps us busy 10 months a year. My son is trying different things, sound and tech, auto mechanics, learning to play guitar. I have been married for almost 23 years and while it is always a work in progress (as any relationship is), it is always interesting.
So, be looking for more frequent postings, and for me to stretch myself in this area of writing.
Rest – a review
May 19th
Monday, December 1, 2008
Gloomy Saturday
May 19th
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Kinda matches my mood. Trying hard to get motivated to do anything. Content to sit and record shows from the DVR to DVD’s.
Looking forward to the service tonight. New series called When God Whispers. Looks really good. Missed church last weekend because of a softball tournament, so really feeling the need to go.
Have a great weekend
Vacation ???
May 19th
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Really, I haven’t been on a long extended vacation (don’t I wish). My computer took over 2 weeks to get back and have been playing catch up since then (along with 2 clients having audits, ugg).
Today is election day. I hope everyone votes. It is really important. I was taking my daughter to basketball at 5:40 AM! and there was a line of at least 10 people at my polling place.
Softball is now over for a month. Abby just participated in 2 college exposure tournaments and we have a couple of colleges that are expressing interest. Should be fun (and a learning experience) over the next year or so.
We did a college visit to SIU-Edwardsville on our way to St. Louis. Beautiful campus, lots of creative ideas. Really liked it.
Have a good one everyone, will be back to posting regularly again.
Computer Issues
May 19th
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Well this week has been interesting and a bit frustrating. Monday, I was sitting down to work on my computer about noon to get ready for a Tuesday meeting. Started up the computer, started to download my email, walked away for about 5 minutes, came back and my screen saver was frozen.
Wiggled the mouse, wiggled it again . . . nothing. Ctrl-Alt-Delete . . . nothing. Turned off the computer by pulling the battery. Started it back up, sounded normal, but nothing came back up on the monitor.
Got online with HP (on another computer), tried the suggestions they gave me . . . nothing. Early stages of panic. How do I get the info off my hard drive? Apparently, you can buy a special cable to get your info off your hard drive. Only drawback, the closest place I could find that cable was 25 miles away. So, off for a road trip. Got it, came back home. Took the hard drive out of my computer. Cables didn’t fit (or so I thought), got back online with HP. Discovered a part on the hard drive that pulled out. Found the right slots.
Plugged an external hard drive to my kitchen computer, plugged in my hard drive from my laptop, computer found them both. Copied data from laptop hard drive to external hard drive.
Whew. So fortunately, was able to be up and running by about noon Tuesday. Only lost a day, but have been feeling behind all week. I should have my computer back in about a week. It has already been shipped to the repair place. They should have it turned back around in about 5 business days. Good thing I bought the 3 year warranty, so this little episode at least won’t cost me anything.
1 week to go . . .
May 19th
Monday, August 25, 2008
1 week to go! The kids go back to school! They are getting mopey about it, but I am very excited. We have bought the school supplies, packed them in the backpacks, have the schedules. Caleb has Freshman Orientation on Friday, and we have parent orientation on Thursday night. I am trying to get them up earlier this week to start adjusting their body clocks back toward normal time, not night owl time that they have been on all summer.
Both of them have been re-doing their rooms. Abby has painted hers (raspberry pink and bright orange – I know, doesn’t sound good, but it looks terrific) and Caleb is contemplating lime green and a bright blue. I have had them go through and shovel out their rooms, and they have done a great job of sorting through 7 years of stuff. Cleaned out old clothes that got stuck in the back of the closet, broken toys and games, etc.
The weather has been perfect, really it is hard to believe that it is August in Illinois. Very few days of heat and high humidity. Overall, the summer has been great weatherwise.
Anybody got a great book they have read lately? I am in the middle of one that is making me think. After I finish it, I will post about it.
Air & Water Show
May 19th
Monday, August 18, 2008
Yesterday we went to the Chicago Air and Water Show for the first time ever. Tom really wanted to go, so we convinced the kids that it would be something different and fun to do, and it was.
Since the big crowd thing really isn’t for us, we decided to go to Navy Pier to watch. We got there early, grabbed a bench and sat in the shade of the grand ballroom. It was a perfect day, weather wise.
Being so far from the beach, some of the acts really didn’t visualize well (parachuters, helicopters), but the fighter planes were fantastic. Amazing acrobatics. Daring. Stomach in your throat type of stuff. And the Blue Angels . . . I really don’t know how they fly so close to each other. It looks like they are almost touching, they must have nerves of steel. They fly so fast, so high, that you lose them in the sky and then they appear out of nowhere. Very cool.
If you ever have the opportunity, go see the event. You will not regret it.