Posts

The Es and Ease of SoMe

-
When social media first became popular, young people mostly used it to keep up with their friends. These days, millions of people, young and old—and businesses—have found that social media is useful for many different things: getting in touch with a myriad of people, transferring information, reviewing products and businesses, promoting products and tv/radio shows, talking politics, inviting people to events, sharing pictures with family who are far away, etc. As the uses for social media morph, we adapt and go with the flow, or we risk being left behind in a socially inter-connected world that no one could have dreamed of five years ago. The value of social media for professional use is that it can take a business from a stale building that sells products to one that is virtually connected to every customer. Personal connections = increased loyalty and sales. I’m a SoMe junkie and have created strategies and written tweets for a couple of organizations. While I wouldn’t call mysel...
Post a Comment
Read more

Star Lake and Hope in June

-
Image
It's mid-June and I'm looking out over Star Lake. That's probably not its actual name, but I gave it that name because it is the "star" of the property on which I stand. Star Lake just reminds me of June, the forever-summer month, full of dreams and delightful melodies. In the words of Ray Bradbury, one of my favorite writers: "Somewhere a band is playing Oh listen, oh listen that tune! If you learn it you’ll dance on forever In June and yet June and more June. And Death will be dumb and not clever And Death will lie silent forever In June and June and more June." When I look at this particular June from a purely human stance, I should be extremely stressed. My hubby and I are still in readjustment mode from our move in January, I am "between jobs", we have moved for the second time in six months, and it's been raining every day for a week. Nevertheless, we have a hope that won't let go. We know people are praying. We have experie...
Post a Comment
Read more

Since I'm a Calculated Risk Taker ...

-
Image
Co-workers describe me as a "calculated risk taker" and a "sideways thinker" as part of their endorsements. That must be why I feel compelled to write this blog post and share the "About Me" word cloud (made using wordle.net) . Finding myself in the precarious position of job searching because I moved to Tampa, I decided to include all of my job-related contacts in an Excel spreadsheet (it's just what I do). That way, I can refer back to the exact day, company, position, recruiter, and status of all the applied positions--and I can sort and filter them any way I want. Being the Data Geek that I am, I proceeded a step further and created a PowerBI dashboard of my applications so I can look at the real numbers. Now, I can easily tell what's working and what's not, and where I need to focus. I decided in mid-March that I need to apply for at least 3 positions per day. I also opened up to more recruiters at that time (Why work with only o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Life Lessons I Learned from Watching #WorldCup2014

-
I have never been a sports fanatic. I go to an occasional game, but I cannot make small-talk with sports enthusiasts. When I married a Brazilian 16 years ago, I soon learned that, even though he is not a sports fanatic either (praise the Lord)—soccer is in a category all by itself, and all Brazilians grow up with this game firmly planted in their soul. I’m not sure all the reasons why—maybe because I’ve always wanted to use sports small talk to start conversations, or maybe it was because the #WorldCup2014 was held in my husband’s homeland—but I totally went loco for soccer this year. Of course, that kind of ended when both of my teams lost, but I learned some valuable life lessons through the experience: 1.       Soccer solidifies the fact that teamwork is vitally important to the strength and success of a group. Even the star player needs his teammates to pass him the ball. 2.       Whatever you do, do it with all your m...
Post a Comment
Read more

20:13 Verses

-
This isn't a normal post. But then, I post to my blog so infrequently that I don't know what normal is anymore. Sometimes I find myself researching out-of-the-ordinary subjects in the Bible. Since it was turning 2013, I decided to search for all verses in the Bible that are verse 20 chapter 13, just to see what they say. Some are interesting, some are promises to hold, and some would probably get me banned from certain social media. Not so many come from the New Testament, as the books are shorter. I know the stories related to some of the verses and others are obscure. I thought I would share my findings on my sadly-neglected blog (maybe that's what I should rename it). I've bolded my favorites: 20:13 Verses And when God had me wander from my father's household, I said to her, ‘This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.” ‘ ” (Genesis 20:13) “ ‘If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Peppers and Passion in a Backyard Garden

-
Image
I learn something new every year when I plant a garden. This year is no exception. This year has been extremely hot (just look at your power bill) and we had spurts of rain, but the summer was mostly dry. My favorite things to plant in my garden are tomatoes and green peppers--mostly because I love them so--but also because they are expensive at the grocery store. In my expanded garden this year, I had 9 green pepper plants and one each of yellow and red pepper plants. This year, we had one plant of each: jalapeño, cayenne, and habanero (a newcomer to our backyard). We also had 2 Anaheim pepper plants. What I learned about peppers and passion in our 2011 backyard garden: Hot peppers grow best in hot weather. My 4 hot pepper plants are still going strong and have given us probably a hundred peppers. They're so beautiful. Because of having so many hot peppers, our taste pallets have expanded this summer. We have our own version of "Heat Seekers" a few times a week...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Month of Bonhoeffer

-
During a month when we are supposed to be focused on the birth of Christ and Christmas, I have decided to spend a month reading the works of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a martyr I have admired for quite some time. I've used a devo book of his work for several years, but must admit this newfound fascination for anything Bonhoeffer was sparked by Glenn Beck's 12-3-10 program where his guest was author Eric Metaxas, who wrote Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. So, I went to the library and picked up a couple of Bonhoeffer's books and found my books by him and have decided to carry them with me to read and study as much as possible. My initial book for this project, so fittingly his last work, is Bonhoeffer's Meditating on the Word . It's amazing! We always hear about meditating on Scripture, but hardly ever do we hear someone explain exactly how to do it, or give concrete examples of what to do. Bonhoeffer is wholeheartedly filling in this gap. Having been a Christi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Garden Update

-
Image
We have already started getting cherry tomatoes out of our garden! So excited! The green pepper and hot pepper plants are doing well. The cucumber (which is a beautiful plant) is spreading out and trying to take over and attach itself to every green pepper plant in the garden. The Roma tomato plant keeps having limbs that turn yellow. I don't know if it's going to make it. On the other hand, we planted a row of radish seeds just two weeks ago and they are about 3 inches tall already. When I look at my garden, I usually start singing, "Welcome to the Jungle", as it's looking pretty wild right now. I am posting a picture. On a side note, the flowers I planted in the front yard are not coming up, but the little purple flower I planted last year has made a special appearance this year. So cute!
1 comment
Read more