Archive for 'As the Web Turns'
It Takes a Village
Posted on 13. Sep, 2009 by Deb.
These businesses know their customers, often on a first name basis. Their customer relationships, like every real relationship, encounter the occasional rough spot. Being small and human means making plenty of mistakes.
But when these businesses mess up, unlike AT&T or Microsoft, their customers often love them more.
This entire article really spoke to me in two ways: as a business owner and as a consumer.
I’ve been a consultant since 2003 and I treat my clients like they are friends. I find that even after a project is complete, I continue to have contact with a past client. We telephone and email (or text). Share a meal. Converse about how business is going and how the family is getting along. Sometimes, I’m able to introduce past clients to each other and they are able to form a business relationship to fill a need. It increases the strength and size of my village. Some of the work was truly a one-time thing and I may never work with a particular client again; but we keep in touch because we’ve become close enough to care.
In regards to being a consumer, I’ll be the first to admit I like to spend my money with businesses that treat me like an old friend. Some businesses have learned the knack of creating a small community of consumers. I mourned the closure of my closest Starbucks because I missed not only the employees, but the other customers I have shared a hello and a how are you with for ten years. I go to Bagel Boyz rather than Subway because the guy behind the counter remembers that I’m likely going to get tuna, even though he’ll try to persuade me that his chicken salad is just as tasty. And I prefer to stay at the Hotel Monaco in downtown DC because the staff members treat me like a long lost relative instead of treating me as just a hotel guest.
In times like these, when the economy is tight, these businesses who operate like a village are going to continue to thrive while the big boys are going to flounder. I think it’s because we see theses businesses like we see our friends: we love them and we want them to be successful.
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Loss of Mystique?
Posted on 19. Jul, 2009 by Deb.
“The first thing I did when I walked into the arena to work on the set I said, ‘It’s 2009 and there’s a million iPhones with a million opportunities to take a picture of our show and ruin Christmas.’
“I’m so over the Internet, Twitter is ridiculous and there’s too much info out there. Celebrities, movie stars and rock stars are losing their mystique.”
I certainly understand his feelings. I love the instancy of communication and the huge amount of information at my fingertips. But I also mourn the days where there was mystique about a person, when we had privacy. When someone protests their privacy, I always wonder if they have something to hide or are simply wanting things to be the way they were twenty years ago. Maybe it’s just a desire to keep a few things to ourselves and those who really love us.
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American Moments with Walter Cronkite
Posted on 18. Jul, 2009 by Deb.
Walter Cronkite escorted America through the 1960s and 1970s every night, from his boyish, awestruck enthusiasm for the wonders of space to Vietnam, assassinations and a nuclear scare. See the videos below:
via Speakeasy – WSJ.
For those of you too young to remember, The Wall Street Journal has gathered a set of six Walter Cronkite Videos. Click on the link….
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Korean Taco War?
Posted on 18. Jul, 2009 by Deb.
Baja Fresh filed for trademark protection for the term “kogi” on May 8th, Mr. Rink says. Kogi filed its trademark paperwork for “kogi” on December 4th of last year, but only for narrow use, just on mobile food carts. Baja Fresh is seeking protection for the use of Kogi with everything from tacos and burritos to promotional toys. Kogi co-founder Caroline Shin-Manguera says a steep “learning curve” when starting the business accounts for the wording on the trademark application.
via Kogi and Baja Fresh in a Korean Taco War? – Speakeasy – WSJ.
To me, this is an example of Big Business capitalizing on what a small, independent business has done. It will be interesting to see how it all comes out.
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Teeny Twitter Diet
Posted on 15. May, 2009 by Deb.
I love Twitter.
Twitter has kept me connected with old friends, helped me make new ones, kept me informed on the latest news, and allowed me to read the snarkiest thoughts of my children. It is a fabulous piece of technology and networking that allows me to instantly be aware of the world around me. Some days, however, especially on days when I am already stretching to maintain my focus, Twitter has become a distraction. I have discussed this with other creative folks and many say the same thing: Twitter is reducing their productivity, especially on creative projects such as writing.
Yesterday, I stumbled upon “Adult Attention Disorder: The Splintering of Communications“. I clicked to read the article, thinking it was about ADD. Instead, it was more about the perceived need to divide our attention between the many avenues of communication. Tom Steinert-Threlkeld consulted with Dr. David W. Goodman, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University.
What is happening with the splittering of communications instead is an overload of distractions, on individual plates.
This puts strain, instead, on what Dr. Goodman calls the “executive functioning” of the brain.
Some people are able to intuitively and naturally organize and prioritize endless streams of inputs and respond accordingly, rapidly.
Others, though, succumb to the distractions and can’t get out from under them. The barrage of communications and trying to figure out what to do with their contents – and the emotion that goes with some of it – “disrupts the ability to accurately prioritize” what to do. Or not to do.
I understood exactly what the article was talking about. Some of us, in order to be more productive, require more structure. I am always disciplined when it comes to work for my clients; I need to be more disciplined when it comes to making progress on some creative projects. As part of that need to be more disciplined, I decided that I would put myself on a Twitter Diet.
Like any diet, the same one doesn’t work for all of us. For me, my Twitter diet will consist of not keeping TweetDeck open all the time, catching up on all my Twitter friends three or four times a day, and restraining myself from sharing so many thoughts that I irritate my own friends. I’m not abandoning Twitter, just cutting back a bit. Like any diet, I will re-evaluate as time passes and make adjustments as I need. I hope you will stick around and continue to “follow” me, but I understand if you don’t.
I welcome your thoughts and comments on my diet, as well as how Twitter has affected your productivity and creativity.
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Less Moo
Posted on 11. May, 2009 by Deb.
For years, my parents filled the freezer by splitting a cow with my aunt and uncle. Yes, you read that right: half a side of beef. I’m Texan and beef was the staple of my childhood meals. As an adult responsible for cooking, I tended to mimic my upbringing, until recently when I began eating more consciously. I now substitute more chicken, turkey and more beans. There were many reasons, some health related, some spiritual. In the past, Chili would have been made with lots of ground beef (or worse, out of a can). Tonight, I altered a recipe from Cook Yourself Thin; alterations were made to match what was in the pantry and the spices were increased for taste.
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound ground turkey
- Salt
- Pepper
- 4 teaspoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- dash ground cinnamon
- 1/2 white onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 carrots, roughly chopped
- 1 14-ounce can chopped whole tomatoes, with juice
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 2 14-ounce–15-ounce cans dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
Instructions: Put olive oil, salt, pepper and turkey in pan. Brown turkey. Add onion, chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, oregano, paprika, and garlic. Simmer for 5 minutes, covered. Add carrots, tomatoes, cocoa powder and kidney beans. simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. I topped the chili with grated cheese (2% Cheddar) and served with Blue Corn & Flax Seed Tortilla Chips (Archer Farms brand from Target).
I was unsure of the cocoa, but then I thought about Mole and was thrilled with the results. When cooking with turkey, I’m finding I need a little bit more spice. Otherwise, it’s been a very easy switch from beef.
I’m curious: have you cut back on beef? Are you substituting ground turkey or chicken in a favorite recipe?
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Help Others.
Posted on 08. May, 2009 by Deb.
It’s simple.
Leave non-perishables next to your mailbox tomorrow, Saturday, May 9th, and your mail carrier will pick it up – and take it to a local food bank.
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For the Love of the Cookbook
Posted on 03. May, 2009 by Deb.
I found it fascinating that, according to this article in the Wall Street Journal, there is a rise in the sale of cookbooks. By the numbers, books in the entertainment/cooking category is up by 4% (while adult nonfiction overall is down 9%). The author pointed out that people are cooking at home more as part of the factor, however, many of the cookbooks out there these days are impractical.
Many people confess to reading cookbooks “like novels,” that is, cover-to-cover, usually in bed and often with no real intention of preparing the dishes the author describes. The late, beloved food writer Laurie Colwin once wrote, “You want comfort; you want security; you want food; you want not to be hungry; and not only do you want those basic things fixed, you want it done in a really nice, gentle way that makes you feel loved….Cookbooks say to the person who’s reading them, ‘If you will read me, you will be able to do this for yourself and for others. You will make everybody feel better.’”
I certainly understand. Food is a comfort. When I am happy – or stressed – food comes into play. When I want to show others that I care about them, I long to feed them. Sometimes I find comfort in reading the food-words of others. I think it’s why so many talk about what they have eaten in blog posts, where the old joke was “I had a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch.” It isn’t that we have nothing else to say, it’s that we want to share with the nameless faces out there a part of our comfort.
For Christmas 2007, I purchased myself one item: Mario Batali’s Molto Italiano. And it resides, not in my kitchen where most cookbooks live, but among the books in my bedroom. I have yet to make a single item from this lovely book, but I have read it, like the article suggested, cover to cover like a novel. One day, I will make a special meal from these pages. In the meantime I have enjoyed the reading of it, savoring the words and imagining the ingredients in my hands as I prepare them to nourish the ones that I love.
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Catching Up for All Things Girl
Posted on 27. Apr, 2009 by Deb.
This evening has been about catching up on all my backlogged email for All Things Girl. The next issue is due out at the end of the week, and I feel behind. I prefer to feel ahead. It will get there, though. It always does. I have yet to write my column, mainly because I don’t quite know what to write about. I like my columns to be a reflection of my growth and progress as a person and the changes in myself are so vast that it is hard to put into words some days. That’s a very good thing, actually. But as a writer, it gives me pause.
The editor for this upcoming issue for Arts seems to be AWOL, so I’ve been reviewing submissions for Arts, and am feeling very inspired by the wonderful images. In the early days of the zine, I had submissions in the Arts section often, but as the quality of digital photography has grown, fewer of my images make their way into our digital pages. We made a decision at the last redesign to treat each of the editors like anyone else: we submit to the issue through the editor of the section just like anyone. I’m giving my photos a quick glance-through, though!
A new redesign is in progress, and one of the things we have decided to do is close the reviews section and move all the reviews into the blog. We’ve been without a reviews editor for four issues now, so it’s a group effort. And to be honest, it’s almost as if we are competing with ourselves by putting reviews in both sections. We need reliable reviewers, though, as we are offered books to review all the time but just don’t have enough time – or people – to actually do the reviews.
Today is one of those thinking out loud days.
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On The Side
Posted on 15. Apr, 2009 by Deb.
When I went to dinner tonight, I ordered my salad like I tend to always do: with the dressing on the side. I like the taste of the salad and the dressing truly is just a little flavor enhancer. Besides, the drenching of a salad with dressing can add hundreds of additional calories. I’ve dropped twenty pounds since January, and closely watching what I add to foods has been a great help with that.
As I was enjoying the salad with tiny dips of the fork tines into the dressing before spearing a bit of the crisp iceberg or fresh tomatoes, I began to chuckle to myself about the preference of having sauces and dressings and the like served on the side. It made me think about the movie When Harry Met Sally and Sally’s complex way of ordering:
When Harry Met Sally is one of those movies that I can watch anytime it comes on. There is the whole discussion of “can men and women be friends” / “low maintenance vs high maintenance women” as well as the underlying lesson of the movie that the best lasting relationships between men and women are those who have a basis of friendship and simply enjoy each other’s company as friends. In the final scene of the movie, Harry tells Sally what he loves about her, which is all about reveling in her imperfections because, in his eyes, that is what makes her perfect.
.
You see, he just likes her. When you get down to it, when it comes to choosing a life mate, isn’t the ability to like someone as much as you love them pretty darned special?
It’s been, overall, a wonderful day. I hope that your day has given you some bright spots as well as
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Generational Music
Posted on 08. Apr, 2009 by Deb.
The kids, overall, are not too fond of my music. It isn’t that my tastes are narrow, it’s that I’m not adventurous on my own. I willingly listen to anything friends or kids suggest, often enjoying, appreciating and sometimes loving what I hear. The kids, especially the youngest, do occasionally find a song on my IPod that they want to sing along with. Michael Buble’s songs are included in that…with their big-band sound. This cycled through today…once again showing me that the shuffle feature brings to songs that are perfect for my day….
Happy Wednesday.
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I *Heart* This Little Song
Posted on 04. Apr, 2009 by Deb.
I loved the album that Jessica Harp and Michelle Branch put together as they formed the country/folk duo “The Wreckers”. Stand Still, Look Pretty, in it’s entirety, is one on almost every play list my little IPod has. It’s funny, there are usually songs on an album that you tend to skip, but not this one – I can sing along to all of it.
Jessica has now gone from blonde to her natural brunette (much prettier) and has begun started her solo career. I just love this little song, her first single, and the VIDEO is simply too precious for words. I like the lyrics as well as the beat, the joyfulness of the song and the playfulness of the video as she happily belts to the world that she has finally found a boy like her. So much of Country Music is on a sadder tone, so this is a breath of fresh air. Enjoy!
I have had such a joyous weekend so far. I am in a very girlie kind of mood and am longing for floral printed dresses and little sandals, so a trip to the mall is certainly in my future today. I am planning to go with Miss O to the special exhibit “Art & Love in Renaissance Italy” at the Kimball Art Museum sometime in the next week or so, and a springy feminine dress seems like just the thing to wear.
Life is truly better than it’s ever been. I hope you are having a wonderful weekend! Happy Saturday 
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All Things Girl: Wilderness
Posted on 03. Mar, 2009 by Deb.
If you haven’t seen it yet, the latest issue of All Things Girl: Wilderness is now live. :
To see where I am on my 2009 focus, you can find my column in the Everything Girl section. Happy Reading!
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Week Eight of 52 Stories: Into the Woods
Posted on 25. Feb, 2009 by Deb.
This is for the 52 Stories group on Flickr where we take one picture a week and write a story. This is mine for Week Eight.
On our walk at the park today, Greta and I took veered off of the paved trails and onto a narrow dirt path carved along the creek. This is the creek where, as a child, I fished for crawdads with a piece of bacon tied to the end of a string. But here I was, at almost 41, with my perfectly polished nails, yoga pants, and New Balance sneakers and all I could see was the gap-toothed, freckled face 10-year old I had been. Then, I wore shorts and tees, Keds tennis shoes, and always had skinned up knees. I don’t think the skinned knees (or elbows) healed from the time I was five and learned to ride that Pink Schwinn with the banana seat until I was entering junior high.
I amused my father and exasperated my poor mother. I would leave the house to go play and come back covered in red earth, courtesy of the Texas red clay that made up the land around my home. I was a lucky girl. Our neighborhood was bordered by a creek and dense woods and every waking moment of the summer, I explored. It didn’t matter if I was alone or with other neighbor kids. The woods were a fascinating wonderland where I could walk, run, or ride my bike. I found trails that led from near my home to almost a mile a way, where my Aunt Nita lived. I discovered wild berries and rabbit families, and the ability to find peace by being a part of nature. I was fearless, as long as my mother didn’t catch me in my reckless moments.
My parents are of an older generation than most of my immediate peers. They were both born during the depression. My sister was seven years older than me. I was self-conscious in an elementary world where everyone wanted the prettiest mom and the most athletic dad. My mother had graying hair and wore a beehive (she still does to this day) and my father was already going bald. During a time when you most want to fit into a crowd, I felt the generation gap of depression-era parents as compared to the post-war parents of my friends as well as the gap of close siblings that played Barbie’s together whereas my sister was dating. I was a goat in the world of sheep.
My father, as I said, was amused. I had no brothers. I was the one who went with him to Western Auto, tagged along on the Golf Course, or went to Montgomery Wards when any of the cars needed new tires. He understood my wanderlust into the woods and didn’t fault me for my sunburns, increasing amount of freckles or my skinned knees. He grew up on a farm and the family’s existence depended upon him helping my grandfather get the crops of maize or cotton picked. He also knew that, when necessary, I would behave as my mother expected. I was in ballet and wore dresses to church on Sundays.
My mother however was of a different culture. She grew up in the city, the daughter of a blue collar worker and a seamstress. Her grandfather was a Baptist Minister and appearances to the outside were critical. She expected me to wear dresses every day and shiny patent leather Mary Janes. Patent leather scratches in the brambles I would become entangled with at times, and couldn’t be tossed into the washing machine like the Keds. I think her biggest horror was the time she found wood ticks on me. Which, I admit was gross, but it was just one of the consequences of climbing trees.
The first time I kissed a boy, we were sitting on the side of Red Bluff, looking over that creek. I guess that was when I stopped being such a tomboy and let my skinned knees heal. That first kiss. That was when I bent to the wills of my mother and sister and began to act like a little lady.
So much of that has stuck with me. Though it isn’t the fashion, I am a wearer of pantyhose. I prefer conservative pumps, black as the base of my wardrobe, and conservative pearls and silver hoops. As my mother, and grandmother, would have it, I present the appearance of seeing to be poised and collected. Inside, a part of me is still that wild tomboy with the freckles and skinned knees. I’m happy to report though that I’ve been tick-free for at least 30 years.
And sometimes, if you look closely, you will see I am still a goat among the sheep. At almost 41, I’m delighted to have learned that it’s wonderful to not be just a nother face in the crowd.
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Week Six of 52 Stories: Lovers in the Spring
Posted on 14. Feb, 2009 by Deb.
This is for the 52 Stories group on Flickr where we take one picture a week and write a story. This is mine for Week Six.
People watching is certainly a pastime of which I see as one of those guilty pleasures in life. People are fascinating as they go about their lives, often oblivious to the surrounding world. I am always wondering about the person’s story. At times, it’s suitable to engage in conversation the people around you, and many of the stories you will see from me in this project will reflect just that: a tiny piece of a life, captured in conversations with a stranger. There are situations, however, that are best left unexplored, albeit for a safety factor (both emotional safety and physical safety) or an due to the inappropriateness of an approach during a moment of grief or passion.
As an observer of life, there is something especially delicious about the opportunity to watch lovers. Body language gives you the glimpses inside their story, though you will never be privileged enough to know all the twists and turns their lives took to become this intertwined pair. An elderly couple holding hands can show the affection that has continued beyond youth and you can sometimes see the spark between a couple if you hold the look for more than ten seconds. The rare opportunity to unobtrusively snap a photo gives you the opportunity to look at more. The tilt of the head as she listens to him speak, the leaning into each other for just an smidgen of closeness in a public space, or the possessiveness of an arm that shows he sees her as his property. Sometimes, it is obvious that one party is more interested than the other.
As I walked around the curve of the Jefferson Memorial to snag a photo of The Tidal Basin awash in Cherry Blossoms, I happened upon this couple leaning in to snap their own personal snapshot of the moment. At one of the busiest locations during the Cherry Blossom Festival, they have managed to find complete privacy. She is trying to get a photo, for the memory of their trip or perhaps to show her Facebook friends their visit to DC. He is obliging her the photo, but he seems more interested in leaning in to whisper in her ear and take in the scent of her.
I’ve been woolgathering for days about this couple, imagining the behind the scenes of their relationship. I am a writer of fact more than fiction these days. My words of prose were inadequate to do justice to her smile and his lean.