By the Letter E

Well as I sit here listening to all of the illegal fireworks going off in my neighborhood and then the rain that has begun to fall...I can't help but think about all of the things that have come out of the crap that was 2012. On a personal level...This past year has been such a struggle for my family that I could not wait for the new year to arrive. The past it just that, the past. So in 2013, I look forward to promising events to take place that will propel my personal enrichment forward as well as uplift those around me to a new level of energy, love and prosperity. Being so close to the ground, one can only go up. Positive vibes, promising career options, and always love for my fellow man shall bring fantastic things in the coming year. I wish you all the best...and then some in 2013, I mean we've already all defied the predicted death of our planet right? That's one hurdle crossed...the rest should be cake. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Something as trivial as a day at school should be just that, trivial. Things should be normal.  People should wave at friends in the halls, pass notes in class, learn, and look forward to recess and lunch.  As we have seen in the tragedies in the US and across the ocean in China, sometimes days aren't so trivial.  This was truly a slaughter of the innocents. Shortly after parents dropped off their children at Sandyhook Elementary in Connecticut, an emergency page/txt went out to parents with a generic message that there had been a shooting at a school.  Parents were advised not to pick up their children, which as any good parent can attest was largely ignored.     Within hours word had spread through the US that something horrible had occurred within a small close knit town called Newtown Connecticut.  First, word that there had been a shooting arrived in fuzzy preliminary news reports.  Then as the day progressed twitter feeds and facebook posts presented information in gr

If you've ever tried to find employment at an advertising agency without any 'agency experience', you probably know how difficult it can be to even get your resume past the gatekeeper reviewing the emails much less get in to interview.  With the appearance of social media and this type of emergent media marketing ad agencies are trying to keep up.  The reason is simple, to be good at social media monitoring it involves actual interaction with the community and others online.  Creating a campaign for a client involves much more than just creating generic content to post every holiday, which is different from standard ad operations that normally send out  'holiday blast' commercial copy across all normal marketing channels for a client.  Social media requires 'interaction'.  One does NOT need a Masters degree or agency experience in order to get to know your buying public and interact with them online.  Many small businesses and even some not so small ones h

So, like many of you today in America, I exercised my right to vote in the 2012 Presidential Election. Do I find it odd that this also happens to be the year that the world is supposed to wobble our society into apocalyptic oblivion according to the Mayan big rocks?  NO, but that's an ENTIRE other kind of blog.  I'm writing today because of something I noticed while waiting in the long line at my polling place this morning.  I learned a few things this morning as I shuffled along with the rest of the lemmings.  They are..in no particular order: Some people really don't know what they're doing... Listening to the crowd around me a woman's voice stuck out so I listened to what she was saying.  She described and I quote "I sure hope they don't have the same machines as last time, and I sure hope I know how to work it, because last time I had no idea what I was doing"  That bothers me a little...shouldn't a news outlet SOMEWHERE do a story prior t

With the advent of social media, well of the internet really people have become more inclined to share everything from photos, artwork news and everything in between.  Offline, people have been sharing artwork and utilizing other forms of communication for centuries in the form of books, and the spoken word in libraries and in museums.  Only now has the sharing images and other forms of media gone online and increased viewership by the millions world-wide. The term viral is as commonplace now in discussion of online content as it was back in the days of using the term to describe actual biological medical conditions.  Why?  How do things like art or media go viral? What is the difference between now and then? The answer to all of these questions is innovative technology and YOU. LOL CAT MEMES You and everyone else on the planet that has access to technological resources like the internet, computers and smart phones.  Even those that live in places with limited resources still

In 1980 a typical school day in Central Texas consisted of reading, writing on paper, the utilization of pencils, pens, loads of construction paper and glue to get a lesson across to the students.  The days when the lesson included a trip to the AV supply room to wheel in a large television set propped up on a metal stand with the latest technological marvel, the VCR attached were added bonuses to the learning schema. These days our children are living in an advanced society that few could have imagined back then.  While most children were learning how to walk and talk back then these days one can find children easily perusing their parents' cell phones or tablets using newly refined motor skills like swipe and touch.  Never has technology given our children such an appealing opportunity to learn.  Why then are there so many educational systems in the world that are reluctant to embrace such technology in the classrooms?  Smart phones provide an outlet for personal and professional

By the standard Webster dictionary definition the internet is; In ter net  |ˈintərˌnet| an international computer network providing e-mail and information from computers in educational institutions, government agencies, and industry, accessible to the general public via modem links. By reading this I began to think and wonder about just what the internet is and if this definition is correct.  Is the internet a physical thing?  Can we see it somehow?  I know that we cannot really see the data transfer between networks, or modems but is there a physical thing that we can see that will enable us to realize just how vast our modern internet expands across the globe?  In searching answers for this topic I stumbled across a TED talk by author Andrew Blum.  In it he tries to answer just what the internet is and does an excellent job of depicting the physicality of it as it extends it's reach around the world.  I hope you enjoy... You can check out more of Andrew Blum's work in his

Few things can hold my attention these days.  In a society where attention is becoming a valuable commodity, an online presence is extremely important.  So, in an online environment where the world is literally at your fingertips, how does one come to learn about what is really out there for the surfing?  Well one could technically start at the letter a and work your way through the alphabet making up words and adding the .com at the end to see what comes up.  You could do a google search and hope for the best OR you could log in to a site called StumbleUpon .  StumbleUpon allows the user to select a list of interests and customize the 'stumble'.  When you click on the Stumble button the website then sends a billion little feelers out and pulls back several different options for you to view.  As websites open up onto your screen you have the option to 'like' them or not.  If you like them, they are saved to your profile for future use if you do not (and here's the b

Twitter. We all use it or have at least ventured to the website once or twice to see what the hoopla is all about. Some left and never returned because they didn't see the big deal in the utilization of twitter. Some, like me left then returned to give it another go. Now I utilize twitter every day to keep me in the loop with various events in my community and in my current state, to look for a job. That is how I fell in love with Twitter. Then I realized I was getting rather bored with the people that I was following. (no offense) They were posting witty tweets and information but it just wasn't enough. I discovered that I needed new content and new people to follow but I didn't have all day to sit and browse through the jillions of (yes I said jillions) of folks on the twitter site. Enter TWELLOW.com . My saving grace. It's a site that allows you to browse categorically the people that you might want to follow. So if I'm looking to follow the latest t

The past week has been wrought with a wave of emotions from the Austin community. On Friday April 6, 2012 "Good" Friday, one of Austin's finest was gunned down by a senseless act of violence when he tried to subdue a subject in a local Walmart. This father of two beautiful little girls died there, and set off a chain of events in my community that has renewed my faith in man. Jaime Padron was a seasoned veteran of the San Angelo Police department and had only been with Austin PD for about three years before he was killed. Before he died Officer Padron was able to put out one more call for help. While his fellow brothers in blue rushed to his aid, two brave Walmart employees tackled and secured the shooter but were unable to save Jaime. Even though he was wearing a kevlar vest for protection the shooter realized his shot was ineffective and aimed for his neck with his second shot. But this is not where this story ends. Over the next week we learned about Jaime Pad

Being without a job is no fun. Regardless of your age, sex, or location in the world not having a job can be one of the most frustrating times for anyone. I think if there is any consolation during this bleak period it is the small pin point of light that comes to the dark in the form of job fairs. I like them. They are a one stop shop of varying employers willing to hire people on the spot, or connect with them and exchange information to be in touch at a later date. This year I had the pleasure of attending the Tech Career Expo at Austin, Tx South by Southwest event. This event was held this year at the Austin Music Hall in the center of downtown Austin. Even with the day starting out rainy and cold, the turnout for the event was still non-stop. The good people with Dice.com were manning the doors getting every participant who entered to 'connect' with them on Twitter at #DiceConnect. This enabled real time tweets to and from potential employers and job fair participa

I was saddened today when I discovered that an Austin icon had passed away early this morning. Any visitor to my home town of Austin, TX would have seen him as he frequented the downtown area that was such a tourist destination. Many people came from everywhere just to see HIM. You couldn't miss him, as he was the only dude with pink hair and a scruffy beard wearing a tiara, a tutu, or 'booty' shorts and stripper heels. He was truly one of a kind and I think many may have secretly envied him because of his ability to express himself so freely simply because he could. He often touted that people often have a tendency to take themselves too seriously and life is a dance and should be enjoyed. He dared to enjoy his life, the world, and the people around him. Always willing to stop and take photos with tourists, and always able to talk your ear off. I encountered Leslie when I was in college and I had to use the city bus system to get through campus because parking was

Who hasn't been to a blog or received an email from someone that has used the wrong form of "it's" or "they're" a time or two hundred? Well the good folks at copyblogger.com have put together a nice little infographic to help weed out some of the common mistakes and errors that we sometimes make that can have a huge affect "effect" :) on the way that you communicate online. Enjoy and feel free to share...especially to those two hundred. Like this infographic? Get more copywriting tips from Copyblogger . This re-post was brought to you today by the Letter E... blog on. ~Elaine

Today I stumbled into my neighborhood Ulta cosmetics store because my curling iron bit the dust and I needed a new one.  As I wandered through the store to get to the curling irons a display showcasing the latest magnetic nail polish fad caught my attention. I don't know if there are other brands on the market, but the one I decided to use is by a company called LAYLA and the color is #08 Velvet Groove.  Groovy name for a nail polish I guess.  I snagged the bottle for like 15.99 or so.  Quite a bit more than what I'm used to spending on a bottle of nail polish, but anything for experimentation.  :)  It comes in various colors from metallic silver to purple 'velvet groove', blues and greens. Ok fast forward to this evening, when I actually had time to paint my nails. (rare) I followed the instructions on the bottle and painted one nail at a time and after I coated the nail with a liberal amount of polish I closed the bottle and applied the magnetic close to the nail wi

This isn't much of an 'informative' blog this morning...just a little piece of whimsy I happened to stumble upon... On my morning drive today I reached a point where I was stopped in a line of traffic along a busy street.  So as I waited for the light to turn green I sat and people watched for a few minutes.  One woman stood out among the others because she was walking away carrying a newspaper in one hand and a cup of coffee in a red cup in the other. She wore a dark blue 'suit' of sweatpants and a jacket of the same blue color.  Around her neck she had a small shiny key on a lanyard that swung side to side as she walked.  She wasn't very attractive per se...but the way she carried herself made her more appealing I suppose.  She looked like someone that needed that coffee in order to function properly throughout the day. She had that groggy puffy eyed look to her as if last night had not been too friendly to her but I still couldn't look away.    So I sat

Searching for a job can be a daunting task for someone who has not been in the workforce for quite some time, has been out of work for awhile, OR if you have been in one position so long that you don't really know where to start once the 'end' has come.  I find myself in the initial category of having been out of work for awhile.  I allowed my spouse to do all of the working and the bringing home of the bacon so to speak.  This situation has it's good and it's bad points.  The good being you don't have to pay for child care if you have children, you save money on gas and other work expenses and you can concentrate on other pursuits like furthering your education.  The bad (and I'm going REALLY bad here), if your spouse loses his/her job, dies or decides to dissolve your union and you are unprepared without a job or insurance YOU are left with a huge mess.  Many people think it is easy to acquire a job and will give you the whole 'oh things will get bette

The past couple of weeks I have been indulging in my two passions.  Photography, and the internet.  I was sent an invitation by one of my Facebook friends to try Pinterest.  Not knowing much about the app except what I had read about on other sites my curiosity piqued.  So I accepted the invitation and moseyed on over to check it out.  I discovered that Pinterest is an online scrap book of different things that interest you and others on the web and all bundled into a pretty visual package.  It allows you to click on an image uploaded by another user or to load your own.  You can add a link to the images that directs to any webpage.  For example, yesterday I 'repinned' an image of Thai Coconut Curry soup, but clicking on the image itself took me back to the web page where I found the recipe.  Can't wait to try it.   So after exploring for the past couple of weeks I have found that I enjoy this site immensely.  It brings people and photos together in an eclectic mix of inte

Working is never an easy task when you have children. It's almost as if everything you do requires double the effort to get things done. So why I decided to take on not only my five kids, finishing college, learning all I can about social media, and looking for a job is beyond anything that a normal person might consider sane. I manage the delicate balance well...and by well I mean "Well... Some days are better than others". Now when a potential employer looks at my resume the first thing they usually notice is the gaps in between jobs. There are quite a few of them and they have all happened for various reasons but all have been an opportunity for me to learn something new.  I haven't been stagnant by any means.  So here's a quick run down of what I've learned and discovered during those 'gaps'. 1. I've discovered that there are more people at mother's day out with high level degrees that have admitted to wasting their parent's money on

I learned a new skill today.  Well not new per se, but new perhaps to my technical capabilities since I haven't had to use it until today. I had my first online job interview utilizing the Skype platform.  I have used the face time app on my iphone before so it's not like this type of communication is completely foreign to me, however today was the first time that I had an actual...er..virtual face to face meeting with a recruiter.  As a kid I used to watch episodes of star trek or cartoons where people communicated face to face via their watch communicators or computer screens.  I think it's amazing that that technology is now here and is quickly becoming the normal more convenient way of doing business.  It was a quick conversation about the details of my resume, with the occasional blip in reception but over all it was a decent conversation using the technology.  I'm looking forward to calling everyone now, although I may want to take a few minutes to 'freshen up