Friday, April 27, 2007

A further test in post dating blog posts

Ok, here is another try. I am writing this at 10:50 am but I am hoping to post it at 5pm my time. One thing I noticed about Emailschedule is that the time is East Coast time. I wonder if I can change that? Here goes!

Taking advantage of Web 2.0

I am trying to make the blogging experience as easy as possible for myself. In order to do that, and to keep my commitment to posting at least once per week, I am trying to gather tool which can simplify the experience. Two things that I am doing are 1) starting up my mobile blogging ability and 2) adding a way to postpone blogs. I am using a service called Emailschedule, which can be used to send a blog post whenever you want it to. I tried to do this with blogger directly but it wouldn't let me. I am going to use it on this post. I am writing this on April 27th but I am going to set it to post on April 28th. If you notice that it works, post a comment! I am also trying to put use a little html so we shall see what happens!

Monday, April 23, 2007

Don't go back to sleep

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.

You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep.

People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.

The door is round and open.
Don't go back to sleep.

-Jelaluddin Rumi

I heard this poem recently at a conference and haven't been able to get it out of my head. I do love sleep but sometimes what I really need are the secrets that the breeze at dawn has to tell me. What about you?

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Permalink

I learned something new that I wanted to share. I learned how to link to a particular post on someone's blog. There are two ways that I learned how to do this. One is to click on the "permalink" button at the bottom of someone's post. This is how I linked to my man's post in my last blog entry. You may notice that my blog doesn't have a "permalink" button. What do you do then? Well, you can click on the time stamp at the end of each of my blog postings. That will bring up the post as a stand alone page. Then you can link to it! And you know, it is all about the linking...

Monday, April 16, 2007

Blogging lessons

My last post did not make much sense. I was trying to get my weekly post published and I rushed it. I wasn't thinking about the fact that I could "save as draft" and go back to it later! It is as hard to find time to blog as it is to find something interesting enough to blog about. Luckily, my man just posted on this topic: "Seven ways to find the time to blog".

I really like what he says in number 3 "get creative". I don't have to be in front of a computer to write a blog post (I just need to get in front of one to publish the blog post). I personally favor plain, blank index cards for jotting down notes. I got my man some fancy index cards personalized with his name and email address on them.

And it is my intention to go back and make some sense of my last blog post. I just need some time to think it through. I suspect there will be several "save as draft" events!

Monday, April 9, 2007

Web 2.0

My brain is about to implode. Ok, not really. But there is a whole lot going on up there and it has to do with virtual reality, artificial intelligence and the Singularity. Ever since I read Accelerando by Charles Stross, which I really enjoyed, I have been trying to wrap my brain around what is coming next. My impetus to blog more came from watching this cool video on Web 2.0. There were also some recent articles in Wired magazine, tangentially related to this topic, which are making my head spin. Anyone else out there thinking about this stuff?

Sugar Snap Pea Tee Pee

Here is a great thing about my marriage. I will say something like, "I really want to create a bamboo tee pee for the kids where we grow sugar snap peas up the bamboo." And voila! Here it is:

It is very well designed. W just has the skills to makes things happen! We got the bamboo free from our next door neighbor whom is "bamboo rich" (thanks Colleen!). The whole family participated in making the soil ready for planting, planting the sugar snap peas and watering. I cannot wait until we can hide away inside. I think the whole family will fit...we shall find out this summer!

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Business Innovation for Sustainability

Last week I didn't post because I was attending a conference in Atlanta, GA hosted by the Society of Organizational Learning. Peter Senge, of The Fifth Discipline fame, is one of the founders not only of the Society of Organizational Learning but also of its sustainability aspect. I have heard Dr. Senge speak at a variety of different conferences and it was a pleasure to hear him speak again. He is incredibly inspiring and I am aways struck by the intensity with which he conveys his thoughts and feelings. He is an amazing storyteller. The conference was entitled Business Innovation for Sustainability. One tool that was used during the conference was the World Cafe process which is a "process for leading collaborative dialogue and knowledge-sharing" per their website. Highlights were Dr. Senge's talks, Janine Benyus' talk on Biomimicry in Action, and Jeffrey Brown's storytelling.

I came away from the conference with a few action items of my own. First, I want to share some of my learnings with my bosses and colleagues. Second, I want to host a neighborhood Low Carbon Diet discussion group. Third, I want to rewrite all my notes so that I can capture all the ideas I collected while I was attending the conference.