My Doctoral Thesis: Cartooney Voices Are Not Cool Unless...

I really have no plans of pursuing a doctoral degree, but for some reason I always think about what my thesis would be if I were. *NOTE TO UNIVERSITIES: Will Blog 4 School;) My most recent thesis idea poses the question "Why do English speaking people feel it's necessary to mask plain English with strange affectations?" For example: Last week I drove through an ATM that was voice activated. The dazzling BRITISH voice asked me all the right questions so that I could redeem my prize...er, ummm...withdraw my money. I want to meet the dude who chose that voice - I'm serious! I want to know why. We have plenty of very talented voice over artists in the US with lovely, lilting voices. Why did you pick the British voice?

A few weeks ago I was watching the movie Clash of the Titans, which came out in 1981. If you've never seen it before, it is a kitschy movie about Greek mythology. I'm like a moth to a flame with this movie - total train wreck, but have to watch it. About halfway through I realize that all of the characters were speaking as if they were at a Renaissance festival instead of galavanting around Greece. Why don't they have Greek accents?

Today my baby boy had a fever and what I thought was belabored breathing. He was so miserable and since I was down with pneumonia last week I was really nervous about him catching whatever bug I had. So I took him to the ER. (He is fine by the way)My Husband, who is an EMT happened to be stationed at the same hospital and met us there. The Dr we met apparently was not thrilled with my over-cautiousness. He started speaking in a weird cartooney voice that was completely unbecoming of a 40+ yr. old man. He also was NOT comforting to my son - he didn't even try to communicate with him. I think he was trying to show up my husband - so he started throwing out medical terms that I could not understand...It was like he was trying to speak the language of dolphins with a Porky Pig voice. It was very uncomfortable. Why did he use that voice? Did he think a cartooney voice would mask his condescendance?

I won't carry on with more examples, but let it marinate for a while. If you hear more examples as you're out and about, let me know. I may need them for my thesis someday - If a full scholarship with generous stipend were to drop in my lap.

Forget about the swine flu – how about a shot of integrity?

I am dually annoyed. Once for having pneumonia – and I'm not a good sick person. I hate being cooped up and not able to play with my kids or work at full speed (or at all). Twice for noticing that no one seems to care about integrity anymore.

Friday, October 9th it was announced that President Obama was the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Seriously? Like, don't you have to do something to encourage peace? Well, lets see what the committee says:

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

OOOOHHH Now I know why so many people say they are “visionaries” on Linkedin. I get it – so you can win the peace prize for your vision. Ever heard the phrase ideas are a dime a dozen?I'm not going to go on a political diatribe about the 1001 reasons this is so ridiculous – but I am going to point out that for me the integrity of the prize is completely obliterated. Seriously – past Nobel Peace Prize Laureates include Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King and the 14th Dali Lama. These people devoted their LIVES to peace. They changed the world. Yes, they had a vision for change, the difference is, they implemented change.

In personal experience I have a very close “friend” who helped out a gallery by promoting a charity event and exhibition via twitter. The event organizer asked all of his connections to tweet about the event and they could win a new Ipod Touch...my friend was happy to pay it forward without the prize, however, it was a pretty cool incentive. My friend tweeted his/her little heart out and in the end won the prize! In twitter vernacular, WOOT! But alas...the prize was never shipped. To make matters worse the organizer ignored several attempts by my friend to get the low down. Why would the organizer ruin his integrity over something so trivial? Is it because integrity just isn't that important any more?

In another personal experience, my husband and I purchased a bedroom set and kitchen table from Ashley Furniture. We found out as we were paying for our purchases that we were going to receive $500 in free groceries in the form of $25 gift cards that we would receive in the mail monthly. We were pretty happy about that – until we figured out all of the hoops we had to jump thru to get the cards. But I did it. I logged in to the specified website, mailed in the required forms, printed out the required coupons, saved my grocery reciepts, mailed them in, etc, etc. We waited patiently month after month for the cards to arrive – but alas, they never did. Then one day they local news reported consumers were angry because the promotion was a scam. I thought for sure that Ashley would take a stand, admit their mistake and go above and beyond rectifying their mistake – but they did not. They sent a lame letter saying they were sorry and they now have partnered with a new promotion company. All we had to do was go to this website, type in a code, find the form, print the form, mail the form with $10 and then we would get our $10 back and in 2 months we'll start getting cards. WHAT??? How infuriating. I'm not paying you to make this situation right! Here was the perfect opportunity for Ashley to really lift up their reputation by showing they had integrity. Instead, they just partnered with another shady operation and called it a day. As an added note, the quality of the furniture is pretty bad.

I was thinking today about the old Tylenol case study. In the fall of 1982 a malicious person or persons placed cyanide tainted capsules into Tylenol Extra Strength bottles, resealed the packaging and as a result 7 unsuspecting people were murdered. Johnson & Johnson took immediate action by forming a 7 person team to first determine “how to protect the people” and second “how do we save the product”. You can read more about the case here. In the end, Johnson & Johnson retained their integrity by doing the right thing. Responding quickly and smartly to a bad situation. Apologizing in a meaningful way – and then implementing their recovery plan. They acted with integrity and made improvements that would protect consumers from future acts of terrorism.

For me, social media is a giant bright white canvas that I can paint over and over to develop a layered landscape of integrity. The company I work for, Automation Service, is a remanufacturer. Remanufactured products (in our industry) automatically have a stigma of being second best, or not as good as the original equipment. It is my number one priority to develop a culture of integrity surrounding Automation Service's brand, and social media has become one of the most important and effective ways of carrying out that mission. I guess what angers me is the realization that perhaps integrity is not as important to others as it is to me. If that is true, then I will remain the outsider ~ because I will not put the paint brush down!

As an added bonus for making it this far down the blog post, here are some folks who I deem as having integrity and are worth a follow or search on twitter:

@zappos and @southwestair have both been doing it right for a long time. They are social media pioneers and consumer advocates

@Dloesh is a Mom, blogger, tweeter and radio host extraordinaire. Her blog is mammalogues, and she is blazing trails for conservatism in St. Louis. She tells it like it is, no holds barred.

A really fun follow is @rizzotees. He's a small business owner who is great at engaging his customers on Facebook and Twitter.

And now I leave you [dramatically] with the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

If you want to be important WONDERFUL.
If you want to be recogninized WONDERFUL.
If you want to be great WONDERFUL.
But recognize that he who is greatest among you
shall be your servant.
That's the new definition of greatness.

5 Great Links For Creative Inspiration

Although I mostly work out of an office I am still largely isolated and sometimes just need that little extra zazz to get the creative juices flowing. For me it always seems like the oddest, most random thing gives me the spark I need to make an ok project GREAT. Here are 5 great links that I recommend to get YOUR creative ON.

1. Hey! Play with your food!! Here is a link to some amazing sandwiches that are sure to inspire!
2. We all could learn from spaghetti sauce. No – this is not advice from my Sicilian Grandfather – but a nice TED talk by Malcolm Gladwell.
3. Who knew coffee mugs could be so inspiring? Here are a few that are sure to make your morning more interesting. My personal fav is the dunk mug.
4. Here is a beautiful list of websites that use texture to their advantage – just gorgeous work!
5. I’m a big fan of Adobe Kuler – colourlovers is taking it to the next level by adding characters to the color schemes! Fun Stuff! WARNING: The first one is called buttstache - If you have an 8 year old they may not let that one go!

There you go! I hope you find some inspiration today!

A Wild Time at the Finn Inn: A Rant About Kid-Haters

Our 18 month old son is our little comedian. He is bright, full of life, curious, strong and WILD! If there is one thing that I adore about parenting it is watching my children experience the world with such zest for life. Sundays at our house are “fairy” day, as my 4 year old daughter calls it. I call it Family day, but she misunderstood me and since fairy day is much more fun, we’re going with it. This week we decided to take a drive up to Grafton, IL along the Great River Road. We had a great time checking out the local shops, exploring down by the river and, of course, eating. We decided to take the kids to the Finn Inn – an interesting little place that has aquariums with fresh water fish at each table. The dining area is set up like a maze to maximize the number of tables that have a view of the fish, resulting in quaint little alcoves. We thought we were lucky because we landed in one of the little alcoves with only 3 tables, which meant we could let our kids have some fun.

Now, let me explain our idea of “fun”: 1. Of course we do our best to teach table manners to our kids, but they are 4 and 1 – and that is a challenge for any parent. 2. If my kids want to get excited over breadsticks and squeal with joy – ROCK ON kids…I love that they love food. 3. I let them pick what they want to eat – and as you know, sometimes it takes a 4 year old some time to make a decision. Patience is a virtue.

So, here we are at this crazy place with giant fish swimming around at our table – my kids were in heaven!!! We knew from the beginning there was NO way Grady was going to stand for being trapped in a high chair with tankfulls of fish just within reach. This was evident after we placed him in said highchair and he flung a spoon past the table next to us nearly hitting the woman I will heretofore call sourpuss. Of course, my husband and I were horrified and apologized profusely. I think sourpuss grunted in response and her husband whimpered something too. My husband and I exchanged glances knowing that this has set the tone for dinner…we were now next to a kid-hating table and we were doomed.

I try not to care, and let Grady sit next to me in the booth. He was so excited and we had a hard time keeping him off the table so he could get a closer look at the fish. The table next to us was barely speaking. They were a dark cloud hanging over our sunshiney day. One of the gentlemen behind us had a t-shirt that said “If YouTube Myspace I’ll Google Your Yahoo” – and as if the t-shirt weren’t ludicrous enough, it also was adorned with a giant puppy dog in the middle. Grady, eyes the puppy dog and patted its head and saying Puppy…Puppy. We regularly shout “good job” and applause when he correctly identifies a picture, so he was just doing what we have trained him to do (be smart). Anyway, the guy was visibly unhappy with the petting…once again I apologized profusely only to get a mumble in return and the dark cloud became lower and darker.
Then came the pièce de résistance – the breadsticks came and my kids booth shouted “oooohhhh Coooool” “YAY YAY YAY” “BREAD”. I know what you’re thinking - Yes- we feed them regularly. They just get SUPER excited about food. Anyway…the black cloud harrumphed and gnawed…then started growling about how THEY try to keep THEIR family away from that GREASE…and stick to grilled tilapia and rice. (NEWSFLASH: YOUR TILAPIA SUCKS – AND IT HAS ½ LB. OF BUTTER ON IT SOURPUSS).
So, we all get our lunch and enjoy it...no food was thrown, everyone was happy – life was good again. After dinner I could still feel the dark cloud looming over us and Grady was getting antsy, so I took him outside to wait. After we left my husband reported that the black cloud convo suddenly became lively as they proclaimed: “That is why WE never had children” “Well at least I can KEEP CONTROL of my children”.

REALLY???? REALLY Mother Superior???? Let me just tell YOU something: The world is a better place because of my two gorgeous, bright, curious, smart, loud, wild children. I will NEVER apologize again for their glee, happiness and zeal for life. If you don’t like it, then YOU get out of OUR way. And for the couple who was proud that they had never had children – GOOD. Thank GOD for not breeding more haters. Life is for the living - let us be happy!

Parents, please share your restaurant war stories as well as tips on how to keep your meals sane. Thanks for reading my RANT. I feel much better now!

Get your kids cooking with this fun contest!

Snafood is running a great giveaway contest thru October 17th. You could win great prizes by Curious Chef. The Curious Chef product line includes child-size utensils, party kits, and build-a-kitchen kits. It's an innovative line that is worth checking out.

A New Look for Fall

Hey - The View from 5ft2 just got a little more sweet! What do you think about it? I want to give credit to all the fun template and widget makers who helped me out. The blog template is made by Deluxe Templates. The tag cloud widget was found on compender - which has a lot of great tips & tricks for blogger. And last, but not least, AddThis provided the social media widget.

This Is Only A Test

I'm testing out different blog template designs...please ignore the mess! Should be up and running again by Monday.

Is Your Social Media Strategy Showing Up Other Corporate Strategies?

I had an interesting interaction yesterday with my local cable and internet provider, Charter Communications.  The company is infamous for poor customer service and has recently made great strides in trying to boost their corporate image.  In general, they have a great product.  In my experience their High Speed internet blows DSL out of the water, and their Cable products are also excellent.  The problem is, their customer service is terrible - and I mean TERRIBLE.  After a month of issues with our cable and 2 days of issues with internet, and countless hours on the phone with CSRs we were fed up - and I tweeted about it.  In less than 5 minutes a CSR tweeted back saying they were sorry about the troubles, and asked what they could do to keep my business.

I have to say, I was impressed by the speed and by the cordial, helpful demeanor of the CSR.  Had we called in (again) we would have spent at least an hour on the phone...plugging and unplugging - booting and re-booting and most likely the problem would not have been solved.

I thought it was interesting that I could get the issues solved quickly and painlessly via social media, yet their larger and most used customer service operation is completely deficient and still tarnishing the image of Charter Communications.  In one interaction, @UMatter2Charter2 helped me solve our issues and, more importantly they were able to retain a customer - and not just any customer, one who tweets & blogs about it!

In my experience, the newness and novelty of social media is hard for some to process.  It is easy to keep it in it's own little cage where it can go wild and not mix with the other animals.  The lesson we have learned from Charter is to pay attention to the successes of social media and apply those concepts to other areas of our businesses. 

UPDATE: Our charter problems were solved expediently this morning by a tech.  There was a filter outside that was impeding our On Demand & Internet services.  We are happy for now...let's see what the future holds.

Should you be my friend?

YES. You should be my friend - unless you are selling acai berry products, porn or MLM schemes. Otherwise, I have found tremendous value in expanding my networks on Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter.

I manage networking on each of the 3 social media slightly differently:

Facebook is primarily for friends, family and acquaintances. I try to keep my status updates on less business oriented, however, I have created a corporate fanpage for Automation Service that is maintained by my Marketing Coordinator. Our goal for the fanpage is to maintain a very clean, customer-centric fan base that we can use as an outlet to carry on a more casual dialog with our customers.

I manage two Twitter accounts; @missy5ft2 and @reman_controls. @missy5ft2 is my personal account and I focus on tweeting about personal interests which include Automation Service , remanufacturing, the process controls industry, marketing, social media, hobbies and special interests. @reman_controls is Automation Service's corporate presence which is more focused on industry related news, process manufacturing, and interests of our customers which include hunting, fishing, sports, and food. We do follow the 80/20 rule that most social media experts suggest - 80% posting about your audience's interests, including retweets and 20% posts related directly to company promotion.

My networking theory on Linkedin is basically as I stated before: Please connect with me, unless you are selling acai, some crazy MLM or work-from-home scheme or are in the porn industry. I work diligently on expanding myLinkedin network, primarily by joining groups that match my interests and pursuits. I have also started my own group - The Process Automation Social Media Club - geared toward those who are in the process automation industry who use social media. I find linkedin to be a tremendous asset, and am now networked with people that I would normally not be able to reach due to time or lack of access.

How Twitter is like Purgatory (Dante's Inferno - style)

Back in the ole college days I read Dante's Inferno and since then I have had a very clear image in my mind of purgatory. Thousands of souls ~ with the face of Edvard Munch's The Scream looking up out of a red, foggy, boiling pit...moaning and moaning for attention and release. Sometimes that's what twitter feels like to me. Bits upon bits of information looking up out of a pit moaning for my attention, and ultimately release via the click through. My vision of purgatory has slightly changed recently with the addition of the souls holding Blackberrys, but I digress.

So how do you wade through the lost souls and get to content that is meaningful to you or your company? Here are the 2 methods I find most helpful:

1. Third party tools: If you're reading this blog, chances are you're an information junkie like me. I am constantly struggling to control my urge to read EVERYTHING. New third party tools are born everyday, but the twitter tool that I have been using for a couple of months is hootsuite. Hootsuite (@hootsuite on twitter) allows you to organize your searches with intuitive tab-based columns. Some of mine are process controls industry related info, Hobbies & Interests, Mentions and DM's, and competitive research.

2. The game plan: This is a critical step for me. I absolutely must work "social media" time into my daily plan, otherwise it can easily take over. I'm pretty old-school about my game plan - I still write it down in a notebook. You can use your smart phone, outlook, or your company's calendar or any scheduling program...whatever works for you. As long as you stick to your daily game plan you won't be sucked into twitter purgatory.

OMG - I'm a Blog Slacker

Holy Cow - I haven't posted anything since July 11th! What a slacker. Well today I am inspired (actually I'm always inspired) by Kimberly Hahn and her blog mymammamadeit. She is so creative and has great style. If you like to sew, check out some of her amazing tutorials. Also she is organizing a fun "gift exchange"...If you're a crafter - check it out!

I also read this morning that Tom DeLay, "the chairman" from Iron Chef America, and Mixed Martial Arts star Chuck Lidell are going to be on dancing with the stars. Why does this make me so excited? I can feel my brain cells popping one by one...I try to tell myself, don't feel guilty - it's pop culture. lol...

Baby Booties & Quiet Book

So many babies, so little time! I came across some really cute ideas for baby gifts. I absolutely love Heather Bailey, and she is kind enough to post a really cute pattern for baby booties on her website.

Another great idea is the quiet book. I found this great tutorial and fell in love with the cupcake and stove pages and the mailbox pages. I have already created my own cupcake page and am now working on the stove. My daughter already loves the cupcakes! This will be a family fave for sure!

Funny T-Shirts - Win One for Free!

@tojosan posted a contest on his blog to win a fantastically funny tee from Rizzo Tees. My favorite is the Dalai Lama with the BILF coming in close second. The contest runs through July 31st. Get the details at The Broad Brush blog.

Images not showing in blog + wall art, craft blog

I don't know what my problem is but I can't get images to show up in blogger. If anyone out there has figured out this issue, please let me know! It's so frustrating!

I found a great article on the readymade blog today....quick and easy silhouette art for your wall.
Simply find a photo of something, cut it out, trace onto paper, cut out the shape, glue to a contrasting sheet of paper and voila! Instant wall art.

Fun log pillows

Craftzine featured the coolest log pillows today. You can pick up kits to make them here.
Wouldn't fire pillows be cool to go with them?

I am the moon

You are The Moon

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Moon is a card of magic and mystery - when prominent you know that nothing is as it seems, particularly when it concerns relationships. All logic is thrown out the window.

The Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. This is a card that has to do with sleep, and so with both dreams and nightmares. It is a scary card in that it warns that there might be hidden enemies, tricks and falsehoods. But it should also be remembered that this is a card of great creativity, of powerful magic, primal feelings and intuition. You may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial; if you have any past mental problems, you must be vigilant in taking your medication but avoid drugs or alcohol, as abuse of either will cause them irreparable damage. This time however, can also result in great creativity, psychic powers, visions and insight. You can and should trust your intuition.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Beehives & Zombies

God I wish it wasn't rude to just take random pictures of people in public places...is it rude? Well, I didn't. But I can say 2 things for a fact at the close of this day. 1. I'm pretty sure zombies do exist and they live in Caruthersville, MO 2. I have completely eliminated Caruthersville from my list of places I would like to live. It's possible that I may be jumping to conclusions after only visiting the McDonald's and the Old-School Walmart...but I doubt it.

I love the drive from Memphis thru Mississippi down 55. It's really beautiful, it is nice to drive and just see trees without gaudy billboards studding the landscape.

Note to self: Look up the genius who decided to make the Lambert's (home of throwed rolls) billboard upside down.

I'm a sucker for fonts...

I could look at fonts for hours...I'm kind of obsessive-compulsive that way. I can't help it. Once I get an idea like "I need a cheap resource for japanese fabrics" or "I need a western font" I'll search for hours and hours until I find what I need...I suppose if you're going to have an obsessive compulsive disorder, this is one of the better ones. Anyway, I thought I would post some of my favorite resources for free fonts.

Free Font Sites:
Urban Fonts
Dafont.com
Dinc Type
Font Diner

Letterpress in Sao Paulo

this is a pretty amazing operation...good to know the craft is still alive. An old friend of mine who owns Firecracker press in St. Louis, MO is also keeping the tradition alive...a gorgeous blend of old and new technologies work together to create marketing materials that have personality, are artful, and that get noticed.

The social networking movement has created a paradigm shift in the worlds of advertising and marketing. The focus is no longer on the masses - or groups of "masses". Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other networking and group sites have changed the face of the internet from a nameless, faceless being to a personalized experience.

I hope we will see more old traditions resurfacing...the one-stop-shop, prepackaged world we live in is exhausting.

Danger and Duality

My daughter loves to "craft". We both share the same trait of obsessing over something for hours and hours...These bugs will be a great project for a rainy day. I think I'll stick them to some magnets to make the fridge happy.

Speaking of OCD - check this out....Saatchi and Saatchi are too cool for school. I once drilled over 7000 holes in a baseball bat and glued matches into the holes. It's still one of my most favorite projects. You can get lost making it, holding it and looking at it. I ended up having a big BBQ party and burning the match bat - It took about a minute to incinerate the fruits of my labor but it was so worth it.

The match bat was inspired by Brazilian artist Cildo Meireles, whom I had the pleasure of meeting in the summer of 1995 when I worked at Laumeier Sculpture Park. He created an installation with a giant tree trunk that came through the wall of the gallery. The base of the tree trunk had thousands of matches that he had drilled and glued individually. I was working in the gift shop but he let me help him drill holes for an afternoon. He was extremely nice, patient and insightful.

As I am writing this I am watching my one year old stick his finger in our ridiculously giant return air vent. Danger & Duality - that's my life.

This quilt rocks!

What a great way to use your worn-out, but full-of-memories concert t-shirts. I know we have plenty around here that we just can't give up. This seems like an easy quilt to make, even for those who don't know how to sew with "real" directions (a.k.a.-me).

And the fact that this one features Wilco, The Pixies and Elvis Costello makes it even better. Speaking of Wilco, the Ashes of American Flags DVD is out tomorrow! I'm excited to see if the last show of the tour - St. Louis - is on there. What a great show.

DIY Topsy Turvy Planters!!!

Woo Hoo...So exciting! These will be great in the funky garden in my head that will hopefully become a reality over the next month or so.

The best piece of furniture in the history of man-kind.

I am SO jealous. This desk.....sigh.....is so me. I originally found it on dudecraft, which I love - even though I'm not a dude. I agree with Paul - "you're killin' me Jenny Kompolt!

I can tell junkmarketstyle.com is going to be my new favorite site.....there's some dreamy stuff on there folks! Like this sweet button tray, or this feature on great crates. I'm going junkn' on Sunday for sure! The great Pevely Flea Market...here I come.

Speaking of the great Pevely Flea Market...This is a place where childhood memories are born. It's a drive-in theatre -turned-Flea-Market. My Mom and Dad used to drag us out of bed at 7am to walk and walk and walk the dusty gravel pathways of the flea market. Oh how I hated those days. All I wanted was a beautiful feather (roach) clip for my hair...sigh...innocence lost. You could also stock up on your chinese stars & $3 sunglasses there.

Now - it's go time. Get your knee-highs and oxygen tanks ready....the bargains await!

P.S. kudos to the custom feather roach clip maker! The diagram of choices is classic, man.

Crafters share the love...

I'm dreaming of my very own Emily Peacock pillow kit....ahhhh. So fun! Craft magazine's blog featured the kits earlier this week. Excellent work! What makes me especially happy is how willing and enthusiastic indie crafters are with each other.

Another craft site

I love all of the creative crafting that is going on these days...I need to get to work asap!!! I just found this site that has instructions on how to make organza flowers...so beautiful for spring! http://whipup.net/2009/03/07/organza-flower-tutorial/

Painterly Effect in Photoshop

Whoa...this is cool.

Twitter & LinkedIn for Small Business

Nice article on benefits of twitter & LinkedIn for small business owners.

Pharm Companies & Social Media?

I was reading this article about the FDA giving a thumbs up for pharmaceutical companies to start using social media as a marketing tool. As a marketer I think social media is amazing ~ it's really historical if you think about it. Social media has completely changed the game. As a consumer, and a mom, I find it disturbing to think about the messages that will be generated by the pharm companies. A quote from the article:

Asked about original promotional material posted to a social site that might be subsequently altered by users, Kang said the agency takes into account third-party involvement in social media. A key consideration would be whether the marketer, or any companies working with it, had any role in prompting user-made changes.

Yikes!

Polls for your website

After EXHAUSTIVE research trying to find a way to add a live poll into my constant contact emails, that would then show the results on a website that is built with dnn, I finally found Polldaddy.com ~F*A*B*U*L*O*U*S~ hopefully it works as it says it does...will report soon!

Twitter backgrounds

Found this blog with some pointers on designing your twitter background.
I'm now officially twittering twice...

Missy5ft2 and reman_controls

Blog reprise

OK...now I'm going to make a concerted effort to keep on top of this blog. I want to keep some sort of journal of my life to keep track of notes, process, interesting info, anything & everything. I'm processing so much information these days, I just feel like I need to maintain some sort of order.

I'm way deep in trying to incorporate a plan for social networking and word of mouth marketing for Automation Service. Yesterday I spent some time looking over the panel discussions at the recent sxsw interactive conference - man I wish I would have been there! Maybe next year.

So much great info to process - like how to manage successful community boards and this discussion with facebook's Dave Morin about a more social web. I also want to check out the podcast called "Tips on making ideas happen".

I am my own greatest enemy - my head incessantly spins with ideas, images, lists, fears, what-if's...it's really non-stop. While reading through all the sxsw info I linked to this blog post where I found my new favorite quote - I even added it to my facebook acct:

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.“
-Robert Heinlen

The quote made me feel better because sometimes I think it's really bad that I gather so much information instead of focusing on being good at one thing.

And Now I have a meeting with yet another printer....exhausting.