Work

I Need an Intervention

3 Comments / Daily Dose, Money Talks, Work /

I am employed by BlogHer, Inc as the Community Manager at BlogHer.com. The opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of BlogHer, Inc or its employees. I was not asked to write this post. I received no compensation for writing this post. Heck, nobody even knows I’m writing this post except RJ who is reading over my shoulder as I type…

I have the best job in the world. I know, I know – you’re tired of hearing me say this because you do not have the best job in the world. Sorry. Can’t help it. Gotta say it. I do have the best job in the whole wide world. But… every now and then the best job in the world causes a few little problems. Or problems large enough that I start telling TW that I need an intervention. One of the things I do every day at BlogHer.com is help solve problems that members of the community have. One of the ways I help members solve problems is by editing comments that don’t display image or video code properly. Or by deleting duplicate (or quadruplicate) copies of posts. No big deal, this happens all of the time and I’m happy to help. Or it wouldn’t be a big deal if we weren’t running an awesome HomeGoods campaign right now. But we are.

Dozens of people stop by every day to talk about what they’d like to buy at HomeGoods, who they’d like to buy gifts for, and to tell us what they’ve recently purchased with their $25 HomeGoods gift card. They even leave photos (and videos) of things that they’ve bought from HomeGoods with this gift card. Reading those comments every day (sometimes in quadruplicate) caused me to get the itch to go to HomeGoods.


This is scary. While I like HomeGoods, I do NOT like to shop. I really do not like to shop when I’ve already spent about 10K on Christmas and there isn’t a single person in my family who needs anything else. And did I mention TW is kind of under-employed? Yet here I sat… dying to go to HomeGoods. I told TW about the problem. She looked at me like she’d never seen me before. Yea. And then she said, “Well if we went to HomeGoods, we could go to…” and I shut her out. I did not want to hear whatever she was going to say. That is NOT an intervention.


The day passed. I worked, I worked some more, I did laundry and cleaned up the cold room. I tried to nap but the dog barked. I got up and said, “We need to go to the libray.” So we got dressed and went… afterwards, I asked TW if we needed to do anything else… and she said, “Well you wanted to go to HomeGoods… and we need vegan chocolate chips, vegan Worcestershire sauce, and a part for the snow thrower.”


I thought about it and sure enough, it seemed like the smartest place to go was to the Willow Rd shopping center where Lowes, Whole Foods and… HomeGoods live. As I drove, I thought I’d just go straight to Lowes and then to Whole Foods and then we’d go home. I DID NOT NEED TO GO TO HOMEGOODS.

But guess where we went first… HomeGoods.


And I spent $19.58 on this:

homegoods 001

Everyone else was spending a $25 gift card… I think this means I should go back again next week and spend another $5.42, don’t you?

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

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Poorly Chosen Vacation Days

2 Comments / Daily Dose, Kid Talk, Work /

When Diane nicely emailed me last month to remind me that I have a zillion hours of PTO and that I really needed to begin to use some of those hours, I laughed because I’d just been thinking about that very thing. After clarifying with her that I really don’t have a zillion hours and I only have about a trillion, I decided I’d take a few days off early in November in order to catch up on some stuff that I haven’t had time to do.

I looked at the calendar, nothing jumped out at me as the perfect days to take some time off. I asked TW if she had any preferences, she did not provide any input. I looked at the calendar again.

I decided on Thursday and Friday because the little kids would be here and I could help TW with the driving to school and stuff. And I chose Monday because I knew we were going to have an especially busy weekend with our circus adventure on Sunday. There’s nothing worse than waking up Monday morning and feeling like you didn’t have any “weekend” time.

Smart choices, right?

All of this made even more sense once I found out that on top of the normal kid busy-ness and the circus, we would be driving RJ to hell and back all weekend long for her high school play. Thank goodness I took Monday off, right? Right!

Thursday was a most excellent day off and I was feeling pretty darn good about my PTO — until this morning.

5am and RJ is barreling down the stairs (which are right outside of our bedroom.)  I did manage to fall back asleep but the alarm went off at 6am. I groaned and thought about going back to sleep – TW could just take the kids to school and I could enjoy my vacation by sleeping in. Hah. That doesn’t work because both RJ and the Prince use the shower in my bathroom. I sighed. Got out of bed. Made my way blearily to the bathroom. Threw on some clothes. Stumbled to the door and there was RJ tapping her foot waiting to get in to my bathroom.

At that point I wondered what in the hell I was thinking when I scheduled vacation during a kid weekend – a kid weekend when the kids have to go to school. There’s nothing worse than being on vacation and having RJ wake you up at 5am, barrel past you into your bathroom for a shower, and obsessing about how late she’s going to be when you pull up in front of her school more than a half hour before the first damn bell.

That is not relaxing. That is not the stuff vacations are supposed to be made of.

Someone remind me of this when I prepare to take my PTO hours in February, ok?

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

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BlogHer Food 10 – Sessions

Daily Dose, Foodie, Work /

Sassymonkey mentioned recently that she needed to start thinking about which sessions she was going to attend at BlogHer Food 10. Huh. People actually plan their sessions – I’d kind of forgotten that. So, I decided I’d give it a try and see what happens.

Here’s what I think I’m attending:

Day 1:

Vocation – New to Food Blogging? How Do You Stand Out In a Crowded Food Blogosphere?

Values – Blogger Ethics: What are your rights and responsibilities, especially in a post-FTC Guidelines world?

Day 2:

Voice – Food Diplomats and Cuisine Ambassadors

Voice – The Value of Building Community

I’m looking forward to it the entire event.

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

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I went to California and forgot to Loopt…

Travel Log, Work /

Not really. I Loopt quite a bit of my trip, you just didn’t see my Loopt updates because I’m nuts. During a conversation about online security in the Digital Reality Check group, I decided I should change a bunch of my passwords. So I did. Unfortunately, two of the passwords I changed were my Twitter and Facebook passwords… and then I forgot to tell Loopt that I changed them.

So I was Loopting away and the only people who were seeing those were … TW. And maybe Michelle, but probably not since she got a new phone and I somehow doubt she reinstalled Loopt.

I’ve got good stuff in Loopt so I thought I’d do a mini blog update, showing you the photos from the trip.

This was my first trip to the new and improved (they have a kitchen!) BlogHer offices and besides the kitchen, I was loving Liz Henry’s office decor.

california 005

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The Holiday Inn Express, on El Camino Real, is the hotel I always stay in when I go to RW City. I was a wee bit disappointed that I did not get a free bottle of wine on check in (no I don’t drink) but all was forgiven when my morning newspaper was delivered in a cute little reusable smiely bag.








california 006








Good to know that Kinkos in Palo Alto are the same as they are in Gainesville and in Glenview… pretty run-down and dirty.








california 001








Fascinated to learn about Lisa Stone’s obsession with the power stapler. Who knew?








california 002








I spent the day in a cool office with a cool video conferencing hookup. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the view that our NYC staff had. Here’s ours:








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I enjoyed sodas with Jenny and Jenifer and Lisa but as great as that was, it wasn’t nearly as fabulous as having breakfast with Liz at the spot the bad mamas coffee is held… I have always wanted to go to bad mamas coffee.








california 007








I got to fondle Liz’s new book.








california 008








You’re jealous, aren’t you?

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My personal highlights from BlogHer 08

13 Comments / Daily Dose, Women, Work /

In the order in which they pop into my head, which means pretty much nothing, these are the moments that stand out as highlights from my attendance of BlogHer 08….

1) Seeing Whymommy in the elevator. I didn’t really see her anywhere else, just there. And it was so damn good to see her there. It’s hard to explain, it’s just how I felt.

2) Having the opportunity to declare my love and respect for Shannon at rocks in my dryer in person.

3) Being at the right place at the right time to help a friend who was struggling. I just wish I’d had some kleenex for her.

4) “Crashing” the midlifebloggers ROYO and talking to the midlifers in person, rather than on the forums or in comments. Hi Byjane!

5) The women without children panel. I loved it. Really loved it. In some weird irrational way that makes sense only to the people who know me really really well – like TW and my kids.

6) Screaming in the lobby of the St Francis (and I do mean screaming) “Big Yellow Houseeeeee”. and making Chris Jordan blush and cringe at the same time. Awesome.

7) Kissing Badger! hahahaha and every other woman at the conference, at least it seems that way.

8) Listening to TW gush about Kaboodle.

9) Kristy Sammis. I can’t really pinpoint one thing about her. It’s everything about her. Even when something is going terribly wrong or on the verge of going terribly wrong – she’s calm, cool, collected and fixes it all. Or when she’s not calm, cool and collected – she’s funny as hell. Oh wait, she’s funny as hell all of the time. I cannot imagine what BlogHerCon would be without Kirsty. I don’t want to think about it. Nightmare. Actually, I don’t want to think about a world without Kristy, so let’s move on, ‘k?

10) Passing out vibrators (thank you Maria and good vibes.)

11) Watching Macy’s employees cringe with a smile every time a wine glass hit the floor in the handbag department.

12) The community keynote.

13) Watching the expressions on faces the first time they were exposed to The Bloggess.

14) Dodging the roombas in the cafe.

15) Being able to thank people for a lot of things, in person. Being able to answer a lot of questions, from a lot of people, in person. I’m quick with email and my customer service is pretty damn good but being able to touch bases in person with someone I’ve helped in email is really nice.

I could actually go on and on and before long have highlighted the entire darn conference… these are just a few of the small things and a few of the big things that will stick with me.

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The biggest lesson learned from BlogHer ’08

10 Comments / Books in Bed, Daily Dose, Health and Wellness, Non-Fiction, Women, Women, Work /

I’m not sure it’s really a lesson learned, more like a very big reminder of something I already knew. A very big reminder of something I already knew and should be doing but probably won’t.

I should blog more often.

That’s it. That’s the big lesson. The big reminder. It’s not anything new, I say it all of the time. I need more time to blog. I don’t have time to blog. I missed my own damn deadline (no CEs are reading this, right?)

I’m not blogging much and while I miss it, I don’t really spend a lot of time thinking about it or trying to juggle my schedule or my energy so I can do it. It’s not a big deal, nobody is reading my blog anymore anyway. And, I keep contracting great writers on BlogHer so I’m not missed there either.

Except, that damn community keynote on Friday reminded me that I actually have been known to write posts that are important.

When we were reading the zillion entries for the community keynote and I saw Y’s post about body image was one of the submissions, I cringed. I cringed because I knew I’d get all weepy if I read it again. I had a hard time writing my post about Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters. I had a hard time reading Y’s post when she published it and I was right, I had a horrible time reading it again during the selection process. And then listening to her read that post…during the keynote… ack.

That damn keynote.

Emotional subject matter with a little something else thrown in – the reminder that I really should blog more often because I do occasionally write stuff that other people appreciate reading.

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BlogHer 08 or is it BlogHerCon 08?

1 Comment / Daily Dose, Work /

For me, it’s BlogHerCon 08 because I like to differentiate between the site and the conference and the ad network. They’re three pieces of a really nice puzzle (with more pieces coming…), but what I’m really blogging about is what I’ll be doing at the conference. Because people keep asking me. And I keep saying I have no idea.

It’s true. I don’t. I’ll be honest and say that I’m not really sure what the sessions ARE this year. I know some speakers because I’ve seen them float through the admin panel or I read their blogs or their tweets. But I don’t know exactly what their panels are. I just haven’t had the time to obsess over the schedule the way I usually do.

Until this moment, the only things I know for sure that I’ll be doing are these:

Thursday pre-conference, the CE/Speaker cocktail party and the newbie mixer.
Saturday at 3:15, I host the Queer BOF.
Saturday at 4:00, I’ll attend the Chicago Bloggers Room of Your Own.

And that’s it. I suspect you will find me “hiding” in the Cafe/Book Sale room quite a bit. It’s not really hiding because there will be people there but it’s not organized attendance – and I feel a distinct need to avoid organized attendance because I’m feeling incredibly unorganized. Moving across the country will do that to you. Changing your life this way will do that to you.

But, then again, after last year’s BlogHerCon I felt like I had missed so much because I spent so much time in the Cafe/Book Sale room and I vowed to NOT miss so many panels next time. So, I’m looking at the schedule while I’m typing this post and I’m choosing panels. I’m not going to “force” myself to attend them all. I’m going to give myself permission to skip out if I feel the need to just chill or if I find someone I want to just hang out with or if I bump into a CE who wants to talk.

Here goes – for those who want to know where to find me, this is what I think I’ll be attending:

Friday:

Is Mommyblogging still a radical act?
Race & Gender (but I may duck out and attend a ROYO with the Mid-Life bloggers.
Progressives & Conservatives (but I may duck out and sneak into the Mirrors session.

Saturday:

Women without children. (ducking out at 11:30 for the Obama/McCain ROYO.)
BOF with BlogHims
Queer BOF and Chicago ROYO (Really wish I could attend taking back naked blogging, though.)

There you have it…. track me down in those places and if you don’t find me there, check the Cafe.

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