My boss asked me if I was okay this morning. I guess my general lack of energy has made an impression.
It’s been a tough month.
I need some time off to regroup and catch my breath. Maybe after that I can come back to my professional life with energy and enthusiasm. The way I feel right now is not productive.
Caffeine is not enough. Listlessness is not solved by caffeine.
I know myself. I just need some “me” time to get back into the groove of things.
I’m sure that in a few days I’ll be back to normal.
Health
From the Downtown Happenings email provided by Houston Downtown:
The fifth annual Edward James Olmos Houston Latino Book & Family Festival will be at the George R. Brown Convention Center on Saturday, September 29 and Sunday, September 30. More than 40 authors and workshops are part of the lineup, which will feature established names as well as new talent. Don’t miss literary sensation Junot Díaz who will be unveiling his long-awaited new novel.
General
From the Downtown Happenings email provided by Houston Downtown:
Don’t miss the Life & Family Tour at the George R. Brown Convention Center this weekend. The show, which will be there Saturday, September 29 and Sunday, September 30, offers a cutting-edge consumer experience. The Life & Family Tour has exhibitions that will introduce attendees to the hottest new products and coolest services on the market.
General
From the Downtown Happenings email provided by Houston Downtown:
Every day people around the world, often women and children, are displaced by war and violence. Learn firsthand how these 33 million refugees struggle to meet their most basic needs when Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières creates its outdoor interactive educational exhibit in Houston’s center.
A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City will be set up on Fish Plaza in front of the Wortham Theater Center starting Thursday, October 4 through Sunday, October 7. In addition, KHOU-Channel 11 anchor Greg Hurst will lead an insightful discussion in the Grand Foyer of Wortham Center on Thursday, October 4 at 7 p.m.
Led by experienced aid workers, visitors to the 8,000-square-foot exhibit will be asked to imagine that they are among the millions of people fleeing violence and persecution in countries such as Afghanistan, Colombia and Sudan.
The exhibit, which is free and open to the public from 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily, is made up of materials used by MSF in its emergency medical work around the world, including refugee housing, a food distribution tent, water pump, health clinic, vaccination tent, therapeutic feeding center and a cholera treatment center.
Guides will share their personal experiences while explaining the challenges of building shelter, finding food and clean water and handling waste disposal – the basic elements of survival for those who have lost everything.
“Tens of millions of people throughout the world today are uprooted from their homes, on the run, fleeing violence, living under the most grueling conditions,” said Nicolas de Torrenté, executive director of Doctors Without Borders-USA. “By presenting some of the daily challenges faced by displaced people – how they get clean water, enough food, adequate shelter, and basic medical care, often in a climate of fear and uncertainty about their future, we hope the exhibit will raise public awareness and action.”
General
The Houston Chronicle reports that Amazon has started to sell non DRM MP3s. “Although DRM helps stem illegal copying, it can frustrate consumers by limiting the type of device or number of computers on which they can listen to music. Copy-protected songs sold through iTunes generally won’t play on devices other than the iPod, and iPods won’t play DRM-enabled songs bought at rival music stores,” they report. Several friends have already checked this out. It has potential, definite potential.
Steve Rubel has two great posts on how to Turn Gmail Into Your Personal Nerve Center and how to Turn Gmail (or any E-mail Account) Into a Social Network Hub. I’m not a big fan of Gmail, but can see how using it as central point makes sense, especially with these tips.
Web Worker Daily gives bloggers a way to incorporate David Allen’s principles of Getting Things Done in GTD for Bloggers: The Art of Stress-free Blogging. “It tailors the system to fit the needs of bloggers — and incidentally, can be used in the same way by almost any web worker.” I failed miserably at GTD, because I kept failing to follow through.
I know absolutely nothing about OpenID, but the nice people at Lifehacker do: “Decentralized online identification system OpenID can log you into thousands of social networking sites (and counting) using a single username and password. OpenID
asserts who you are by proving you own a URL—not an email address, not
a password, not your mother’s maiden name, just a URL that must be
confirmed by both the accepting site and OpenID host.” Um…. okay. Still don’t know anything.
Rohit Bhargava is a fan of Twitter, and its uses for communications. His post 8 Unique Reasons People Like Twitter (And Why Microblogging Matters) makes a lot of sense (especially to a fellow Twitter fan).
Want to make friends and influence people? O’Reilly Radar gives us a primer on Social Networking Invitation Etiquette to help decipher how to “friend” people online.
Are you a Geek Marketer? I aspire to the title. Do you?
Resources
- Turn Gmail Into Your Personal Nerve Center, at Micro Persuasion
- Turn Gmail (or any E-mail Account) Into a Social Network Hub, at Micro Persuasion
- GTD for Bloggers: The Art of Stress-free Blogging, by the Web Worker Daily
- Amazon.com offers music without copy protection, by the Houston Chronicle
- One OpenID to Rule Them All…or Not?, by Lifehacker
- 8 Unique Reasons People Like Twitter (And Why Microblogging Matters), from the Influential Marketing Blog
- Friend People Who Might Not Know You Online, from Lifehacker
- Social Networking Invitation Etiquette, at O’Reilly Radar
- As Technology Develops, So Does Role of Geek Marketers, by Beth’s Blog
General
I am tired of reading these kinds of stories. I’m in a bad mood:
So why am I sharing them? So you can be in a bad mood with me.
General
My two favorite daily podcasts:
I play these on my computer throughout the day. They’ve been very helpful and incredibly informative.
General
My doctor put me on new medication, which is supposed to help take care of my migraines. Today I have a blinding headache that has all the symptoms of becoming a migraine. I guess the meds aren’t working.
I’ve turned off the lights in the office (the only thing on is this computer), which also took care of the humming coming off the overheads.
I hope I feel better. Otherwise I need to go home, take something heavy duty and pull the covers over me.
Health
I just got this from the Houston Public Library:
ScreamWorld Offers Free Entry To Houston Public Library Power Card Holders
–Opening weekend offer takes the fear out of library card registration drive–
HOUSTON (September 18, 2007) … ScreamWorld Halloween Scream Park and the Houston Public Library (HPL) have partnered for the “Don’t Be Afraid of the Library” program which provides free admission to HPL Power Card holders opening weekend, Friday through Sunday, September 21st through 23rd at ScreamWorld Halloween Scream Park. Customers who present their HPL Power Card at ScreamWorld receive one free entry (good Sept. 21, 22, and 23 only) to ScreamWorld valued at $22. ScreamWorld is located at 2225 N. Sam Houston Parkway (Beltway 8), between Ella and T.C. Jester, 1.5 miles west of I-45.
The promotion is part of HPL’s Library Card Sign-Up Month, a campaign held by libraries across the country each September to encourage library card sign-up for children and teens just after the new school year begins. HPL expects to sign up an estimated 15,000 new cardholders in September as part of the month-long campaign.
To assist in ongoing HPL Power Card sign-up efforts, ScreamWorld will continue to distribute library card applications to its patrons through the Halloween season. To learn more about becoming a Power Card holder and FREE HPL services, visit us online at www.houstonlibrary.org or call 832.393.1313.
[snip]
General
According to Wikipedia:
[snip]
Today “Public Relations is a set of management, supervisory, and
technical functions that foster an organization’s ability to
strategically listen to, appreciate, and respond to those persons whose
mutually beneficial relationships with the organization are necessary
if it is to achieve its missions and values.” (Robert L. Heath,
Encyclopedia of Public Relations).
[snip]
The very first thing under the definition is the fact that PR & Marketing are separate. That’s something many people don’t understand… or care to understand.
General
