Also, another speaking event
Aug 19, 2008 Blogging, work work work
I’d love to hit that drupal one but that’s my dad’s 70th birthday so we’ll be busy that day. Courtesy of the Fuse Factory!
Workshop 1: Introduction to Marketing Yourself on the Web
Instructor: Alison Colman
Date: Wed., Sept. 10
Time: 11:30am - 1:00pm
Location: GCAC conference room
Fee: Free
Workshop 2: Intro to Web 2.0: Building a Better Blog
Instructor: Dawn Friedman
Date: Saturday, Sept. 13
Time: 1:00pm - 4:00pm
Location: Junctionview Studios
Fee: $15
Workshop 3: Intro to Drupal
Instructor: Jennifer Deafenbaugh
Date: Saturday, Sept. 20
Time: 1:00 - 4:00pm
Location: The Vault (this will be part of the Independent’s Day festivities - visit http://independentsday.nu/ for more details!)
Fee: $15
Workshop 4: Intro to Flash
Instructor: Phong Nguyen
Date: Saturday, October 4 (Phong, plz let me know ASAP if you think this workshop warrants two sessions! This can be scheduled for both the 4th and the 11th)
Time: 1:00pm - 4:00pm
Location: Junctionview Studios
Fee: $25
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Tags: blog, drupal, Junctionview, marketing, my dad, Workshop
All shook up
Aug 18, 2008 The Story of My Life, work work work
Seems like I’m living in a snowglobe minus the snow. I’m discombobulated and every time I think I’ve got my footing again — shake shake shake — I’m knocked off balance.
Good news: Let go of a timesuck client that people have been telling me to let go of for months.
(shake shake shake)
Bad news: Client still hasn’t paid me for last month of work.
(shake shake shake)
Good news: I think working around Brett’s schedule is more than do-able because the kids are older, I’m better organized and teleivion is a magical baby sitter.
(shake shake shake)
Bad news: Brett isn’t loving the job.
It’s kinda like that only it’s everything. Every. Little. Thing. So that’s how my mood is, too.
Good news!
(shake shake shake)
Bad news!
(shake shake shake)
Ad infinitum.
I am neither happy nor sad about this or that or the other thing but I am interested — sorta like a bystander in denial that the shake-ups are actually happening to me. I find this to be a sanity-saver since I’m pretending not to nice the way I’m being buffeted by whichever rotten kid is messing with my personal snowglobe.
(shake shake shake)
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Tags: client, denial, job, kids, schedule, snowglobe, work, working
Noah is not awesome at reviews (so giggly!)
Aug 16, 2008 Blogging, work work work
But he’s on Kids Know Stuff any old way. I think they let him in because he’s kinda cute.
Today I’m taking him to WOSU’s Digital Days at COSI to help me sit and talk about blogging to any interested passerbys. See, I figure one of the advantages of working from home is that you get to involve the kids and give them an understanding of the ins and outs of the work-a-day world. I’ve noticed that Noah is much more willing to watch Madison when he gets that I do this work, I send this invoice and then (theoretically) I get paid. He comes and looks over my shoulder a lot and he at least feigns some interest in my portfolio.
I figure all of this is homeschooling, too, being involved with our work stuff.
Lately we’ve been talking to him a lot about budgeting explaining to him what we would have done differently at the start of this freelance gig with what we know now and talking to him about the long-range plans and why Brett’s at work now. He’s clearly feeling more ownership in how our family does and feeling more integral to our success. I know he’ll have his less than stellar days but this past week he’s been extremely helpful in getting the house going, Madison settled, etc. so I can finish a project or get lunch started before I have to field a call from a client. He’s very “we’re all in this together.”
Anyway. He’s a nice kid if giggly. He can’t help it. Those Lena and Liberty girls are funny — what’s a boy to do?
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Tags: Blogging, Friends, kids, kids know stuff, Noah, reviews, work, working from home
Two productivity tools I use
Aug 15, 2008 work work work
Billed as your personal email assistant, Sandy does lots of stuff that I’ve never even bothered to learn. Because my head is already full of niggling details, which is why I wanted her help in the first place. Basically I use Sandy to remind me about stuff. Like if I get an email asking me to do something on such-and-such a day, I’ll email it to Sandy and tell her to remind me. On the set day, I get Sandy’s email reminding me. This is very useful for things like when a person signs up for Blog Action Day and doesn’t want to forget to blog on Blog Action Day. I just emailed my welcome letter with the link code I need to Sandy and she’ll email me the day before to remind me to blog it. Very helpful.
Jott is a way to send yourself messages through your cell phone. You call your number and a kind automated woman (probably Sandy) answers. She says, “Who do you want to Jott?” I say “myself” or “Brett” and then she tells me to send my message and I say, “Remember to call Jane Doe when you get home” or “Don’t you dare eat all the ice cream, Brett!” And Jott emails the message to me or to Brett. (It can also text you but we have text turned off of our phones because we kept getting spam text and our plan isn’t unlimited.)
I’m sure you can do other things with both programs. I hear you can twitter and blog and stuff like that from Jott but I don’t need it for that. I need it to keep details from falling clean out of my overstuffed head.
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Tags: gtd, productivity, to do lists, work, working
Yesterday was TERRIBLE and a good book
Aug 13, 2008 work work work
I can’t even tell you; it was just that bad. Today is better. It started off by getting a new client, it continued with a great phone call from one of my mentors, it went on with a well-deserved apology from my stressed but that’s no excuse husband, and right now it’s glowing with the quiet contentment of my two kids. Even though my childcare canceled (Gram Pam has a rotten stomach bug — send well wishes her way!), my late checks still aren’t showing up and I have this Great Big Hairy assignment due soon, I’m feeling a little more stable than yesterday.
Life is not easy, darn it, even when I wish it were.
There are things that make it easier. Things like friends on twitter who catch a grouchy tweet and lob it back with an offer of help. And things like friends via email who just so happen to ask how you’re doing when you really want to let loose. And another is commenters such as Cinnamon who may not like Columbus but who make great bags and turned me onto a really terrific, much needed book (The Boss of You). I wish I had this book a year and a half ago when I was just getting started!
What I love about The Boss of You is that it doesn’t assume that you’re in it to get rich, to make infromercials or to one day speak in title case To Show the World That You Are Here to Seize Control. In other words, it’s a business book for punk rockers, former and current riot grrls, crunchy granola earthmamas, feminists in sensible shoes and other women like us.
One of the biggest challenges I’ve had (and am still having to be honest) is moving around in the work-a-day world trying to grok the people who wear business clothes and speak in a language that doesn’t always make sense to me. (Although I was recently in a research study for seventy-five bucks and I said to the researcher, “I think this campaign is likely to go viral” and then “this ad copy doesn’t seem as sticky to me” so I must be picking it up somewhere.) Like all the people in marketing? They’re totally really fit. Like serious runners — marathoners, triatheletes. They have shiny eyes and friendly intensity. In fact, they make me want to have a bowl of ice cream and take a nap. I’m undone by such unbridled enthusiasm and intimidated by neatly pressed wardrobes. I’m not saying that I’m a slob but I’ve been known (as blog readers are aware) to use a stapler to fix a drooping hem and I’m prone to put off getting haircuts — the expense! — because I’d rather save that money for a rainy day.
In other words, I haven’t felt this out of place since about middle school.
Happily the people I’m meeting are much nicer than my peers in middle school so it’s not about that — it’s about learning to operate in a world that doesn’t necessarily share my values. Not like my values are all fired-up awesome or anything but they’re mine and I’m fond of them. Figuring out how to be me yet still communicate with people who are not much like me has been hard. And I don’t always do it right. Sometimes I think that’ll be the ruin of me but then books like this crop up and make it easier.
Once I was crying to Chris about this and I wailed, “But I don’t want to be a business woman!” and she shot back, “That’s because you have some crazy idea about what that means!” pointing out that maybe my prejudices were at issue and holding me back. It’s true, too, because I keep thinking I have to be my dad to be successful and while my dad has many things to teach me, I have to keep reminding myself that I can do it my own way. (I think. Yikes.)
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Tags: books, business, feminist, Friends, haircuts, marketing, mentors, my dad, success, work
