The mysterious Paul in this case is my husband! And he arrived this very day in the year Star Trek debuted. I’ve mentioned him before, but I don’t expect y’all to memorize details in this blog. Anyway, he and the Super Bowl are the same age, so I never have to convert the Roman numerals into English. Or rather, I brush up on them using his age.

I’ve been out all day. Just finished talking to second graders about college and careers. Went well. Whew. Talking to my kids’ classmates always makes me feel uneasy until I explain to them that I’m deaf and have an accent. After that, it’s a smooth ride. We discussed writing as a job, so I had one child write a sentence on the board:

“My dog ate my homework.”

What a great sentence! At first glance, it didn’t need editing. However, the class worked together to make it better.

“My golden retriever scarfed down my homework.”

I hope this taught them the value of editing even when the original sentence has no grammatical errors.

Brain food…

• Free Ebook: Time Management for Writers: Thursday Bram shares unconventional tips to better manage your time so you can write a few thousand words a day.
• Lending Kindle Books: Brilliant. Now if we could check out Kindle books from the library. Maybe without having to go to the library to get it? [Link: Scott Stratten aka Unmarketing]
• How to Balance Twitter with Writing: Be mindful of your social media usage. It’s very easy to blur the lines of useful activity and just wandering ‘n tweeting.
• The case of Rob Sgobbo, and why writers cheat: Even if you know you won’t get caught, can your conscious handle it?
• Why You Should Never Search for Free WordPress Themes in Google or Anywhere Else: Yikes! That’s a problem for nonprofits.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• My Week of Eating Nothing But Candy: Reading this may make you feel better about limiting your candy intake. Robb says candy didn’t fill him up and it didn’t help with his mental stability. Would you know it? He lost four pounds on the candy diet. However, reading his experience… it does not feel good to be loaded up on sugar even with a peanut butter thrown in.
• Never said about restaurant websites: I may not eat out often, but I’ve seen more bad restaurant websites than good ones. On a recent visit, one was so bad that I immediately left the website.
• Top 10 Miniature Animals: Panda cows, foxes, tarsiers, oh my!
• 9 Breathtaking Natural Wonders: They are. [Link: Margie Kinney]
• From Brad Shorr: “S.C. man loses snowball fight: the funniest headline I’ve seen in ages.” May not be safe for work, but a great laugh!

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

Twitter chats entrenched me in conversations without losing track of the topic and reading everyone’s lips like a tennis match gone wrong. I understood every single person in the chat. I turned into the listener I’ve always wanted to be: focused and catching every word.

At the peak of my joining Twitter chats, I spent at least two hours per night on three or four evenings every week. Because I work on a computer all day and have a history of eye pain, the expected happened. Eyestrain and pain knocked me out of the chat game. After my eyes felt better, I had an “aha” moment and didn’t return to the chats.

I realized two things: the chats ate into family time and they didn’t lead to opportunities despite months of chatting, helping others and building deeper connections. One chat invited me to be a guest expert. Even though the opportunity came about because of chats, the appearance didn’t lead to anything.

Despite learning a lot and meeting talented folks, the time invested didn’t justify continuing. This taught me that social media is a great medium, but you still need to evaluate its effectiveness for you and your business. 10 minutes a day in Twitter is just as effective as one or two hours in a Twitter chat.

In those 10 minutes, I do all I can to help others and share useful resources while limiting self-promotion — typically no more than once per day.

How do add value to your business using Twitter?

Driving the "A" train to nowhere

I used to repeat the Columbus poem over and over to tease my social studies teacher in elementary school. Really, I didn’t know the rest of the poem. I thought the next line was “In 1493, he brought back something-something and tea.” But I couldn’t find anything like it.

Anyway, sometimes I wonder why we have a Columbus Day in the U.S. other than to give a day off to government works and the U.S. Postal Service. Heck, America isn’t called Columbica, is it? There’s a lot of controversy surrounding Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci.

My family went to Plano’s International Festival last weekend for the first time. (And I had been trying to get there for the past few years.) The neat event has performers, art, food and children’s activities from a variety of cultures. My sons took a greater interest in the Interurban Railroad Museum located next to the festival. And of all things to pick for a snack, they chose ice cream. Then again, ice cream was the cheapest option.

We actually plan to go to the Texas State Fair this year! I think the kids will enjoy it more especially with the auto show. My older son loves all things cars. I will report on this later. Keeping this short as my brain’s circuits are in slow mode today due to a bad night’s sleep. It happens.

Brain food…

• You’re Already Perfect: I love Zen Habits’ stuff. It digs deep and helps you change. While I may not have ears that hear, I know I have eyes that see and couldn’t imagine life without eyes and ears. I’m appreciating the little things about myself better than I used to. How about you?
• Missing Frank: This sad, but important post teaches the importance of depression screening. If you know someone that can’t “snap out of it,” please get help. If you don’t know how to help the person, ask someone for advice. Don’t let it go on. You’d be surprised how many amazing people you know that have depression.
• How to Backup Your Social Media Accounts: Facebook now has an export feature. Don’t fret if you can’t find it. It’s not available to everyone yet.
• How to Handle Difficult Client Situations: Eight possibilities. Eight solutions. [Link: Leslie A. Joy]

For fun because we’re allowed…

• The new mobile Twitter: So all pay phones will turn into Twitter phones? [Link: Diana Adams]
• If you do this in an email, I hate you: Another winner from The Oatmeal. Only thing I wonder about are the three social network links. Hmm… that’s my call to action. To connect at one of ‘em. [Link: DJ Waldow's What's In Your Email Signature?]
• 6 Things Your Body Does Everyday That Science Can’t Explain: (Yawn) I know why I am yawning more today. I didn’t sleep well last night.
• Favstar: Popular recent tweets.
• 200 New Species of Frogs, [ick], Mammals and More Discovered: Gold mine of a find for scientists.

Who is your favorite explorer? Why?

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Meryl Evans

Whoa, it be October! That means baseball playoffs begin and my team made it this year for the first time since 1999. That’s right — the Rangers and fans are partying like it’s 1999! I grew up playing sports and cheering on the Mavs, Texas Rangers, Cowboys, TCU and A&M. All teams have been up and down, but the Rangers rule them all in hanging around the cellar in the team standings.

I picked up my love of sports from my dad, the guy who’d have every Ranger game on. (You know baseball teams play a LOT of games… not like football.) Dad played football for his high school (James Madison) in Brooklyn, NY. I won’t bore you with this as I’ve collected lots of great links this week.

Need something fun to do and take a break from grind? Two awesome casual games have a new addition to the series! For the time management and Diner Dash fan: Cooking Dash 3: Thrills and Spills Collector’s Edition. For fans of mystery and hidden object adventures: James Patterson Women’s Murder Club Little Black Lies.

Brain food…

• Great Reminders for Writers from the Movie: The Prizewinner of Defiance Ohio: I never heard about this movie when it hit the theaters. Instead, I found it while looking for a movie to watch and it captivated me. Definitely one all writer’s should catch.
• SiteJabber: Consumer reviews of online websites and businesses.
• Manuals Online and Retrevo: Stop looking for the manual and get ‘em online. Well, some manuals aren’t available online anywhere like my Braun KF-187 Coffeemaker.
• Coordinating a book blog tour: Dotting your Rs and Crossing your… Rs: Worth saving so you can make the most out of them.
• Back to Basics: Why Am I Getting Rejected: Some of the time, it may not be you. Really. You can’t know what’s going on behind the scenes.
• How to Read Faster While Reading Well: Wish I had time to brush up on this as I’d like to read faster.
• Twitter Cheat Sheet: Excellent PDF file sorted in various categories. Not all are links to resources.

For fun because we’re allowed…

• How to Grow a Rainbow Colored Rose: Beautiful.
• Could have been love story: Facebook chat. Love the moral…
• Chewbacca’s First Day of School: That’s a keeper for his mom
• Rainbow Houses: 30 Pics: If I’d lived there, I’d need shades 16/7 (-8 to sleep).
• 10 Hilarious Looking Owls: Hoo knew they come in so many different looks? [Link: Paul Steele]
• Amazing Etch-a-Sketch Drawings: And all I can do is draw a box and weird shaped stick figures. [Link: Flipbooks]
• Carmen Sandiego IRL Win: “Years on the run have not been kind to her,” better half says. I LOVED playing “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” and watching the game show hosted by the awesome Lynne Thigpen. I have the theme song in my music player. Oh, and I was not a kid through all this. (Showing my age, aren’t I?) Well, actually, I was a teen in the first few game releases.
• Poet Venn Diagram: Brilliant. [Link: Guy L. Gonzalez]

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Meryl Evans

Travel. Love it. Hate it. I dream of going to London, Paris, Greece, Italy and other places. But then I think about all the work it takes to do overseas travel and the desire goes away… for a little while. Maybe it will be easier to do overseas travel when my life calms down — after the kids are grown. So I’m in no hurry.

Going nine years without going someplace new is a bit much. (The last few trips have been to … Austin… Austin… San Antonio slash Austin… Not a big deal when you live in Texas and they were all for events, conferences and even a volleyball tournament.) It’s not that I put off travel for when a better time comes. Life worked out that way.

I do the best I can to enjoy the moment and appreciate my life every day of every year. Working in a home office makes that possible. Some days — rainy or freezing days for one — I don’t care to walk my dog. Other days I appreciate that I can do this activity and it forces me to take a break from the computer that I might not take except to exercise.

Early this year, I got an invitation to a family event in Savannah, Georgia. Well, hey, I haven’t been to Savannah (I’ve been to Atlanta) and I love these cousins. We tried to go, but the unreasonable airfare didn’t work for us. It turned out to be a good thing because I received a surprise award that same weekend.

Another invitation arrived for a family event in Nashua, NH. The cousins are not just family, but dear friends. At one point, we lived within 30 minutes of each other and got together a few times. I’ve been to Nashua, so the location didn’t excite me. After researching, I find out the best airfare meant flying into Boston and making a road trip to Nashua instead of flying straight to NH.

Boston. I’ve never been there. When I lived in Washington, DC, I managed to visit Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York. Never made it to Massachusetts.

****IDEA****

Since I have to fly to Boston, why not go a couple of days earlier and take a mini-vacation in Boston? That’s exactly what I’m doing. I did my research and managed to get a place in the North End near a lot of the action including the Freedom Trail. So I hope to squeeze it all in two days. It may be short, but it’ll be powerful to discover a spot in the U.S. that I’ve never visited and one with a rich history.

By the time this post goes live that I’ve had a grand time in Boston and I’ll be on my way to Nashua, NH. I hope I have lots to great stuff to report in the next link post. In the meantime, I hope you had a great week and you enjoy the little moments. Despite the hectic week before my trip, I took a breath and did my marching band routine to celebrate back to school week!

Here’s a funny sign fail from right here in Boston!

Brain food…

• Cold Calling and Receiving Call Backs: Cold calling works. It’s not the only option, but it works.
• TweetPsych: Creates a psychological profile of any public Twitter account and compares it to the thousands already in the database. [Link: Top 10 Exciting Things to Do on Twitter]
• Three Keys to Being a Subject Matter Expert on Twitter: Sometimes we need to be more than just aggregators.
• 10 Rules for Negotiating Contract Work: Not a fun topic, but important for freelancers. [Link: bkmacdaddy]
• How to Develop a Case Study: A good way to market B2B services.
• 14 Resources for Free Fonts and Premium Fonts: I love fonts — just not Comic Sans.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Howdy Fail: Sure hope this sign wasn’t found in Texas, y’all.
• Comprehensive Gaming Console History Video: Geeks, prepare for memories to come flooding… they did for me.
• 15 Funny Engrish T-Shirts: Warning: A lot of cuss words.
• 10 Signs You’re in a Bad Niche: I suggest not working for peanuts especially the literal kind.
• Netflix Origami: Now you know what to do with the Netflix flaps besides throw them in the recycle bin. And a Netflix fail.

What was the last new place you traveled to? Share your experience.

Photo by flickr user The U.S. Army

Thank you to all who served in the military especially those who died while serving.

Game Discount: Get 30% off any game priced at $6.99 during Memorial Day Weekend. Sign up for the Daily Game Splash Newsletter BY Saturday, May 29th for daily deals and the day’s new game. Sign up for either the PC version or Mac version. After you sign up for the newsletter, you’ll receive a coupon code to use during Memorial Day Weekend (May 29th through May 31st). Enjoy!

Brain food…

• Reclaim Facebook Privacy: Great easy to use tool to help you deal with Facebook’s privacy annoyances.
• Books for graduates setting out on that next big adventure: Great idea and list! More books… If only I can get some ideas for teachers…
• Lessons from LOST: Get a little LOST fix and some great insights for writers.
• How to write a presentation title that gets people flocking to your session: Tips applicable to writing, too!
• Copy Editing – Why It Works: What copy editing is, when you need it, who should do it and how it benefits.
• Pay day procedures from freelance journalists: Excellent advice on asking about payment, rates, invoicing and prevention. Pam provides a couple of resources for Australian residents — however, much of the advice is universal.

For fun because we’re allowed…

• Cross Panel Comics: Brilliant way to incorporate comics into a crossword. Love it! More Cross Panel Comics…
• Put Google’s Pac Man Game on Your Web Site: One of my fave Google logos ever. Think I’d like this on a tee. [Link: Alan K'necht and Barry Schwartz] Oh, and apparently, good ol’ Pac’y ate up a lot of folks’ time at work. P.S. You can still play Google Pac-Man.
• #Artwalk: Brilliant! “Global community of art makers and art lovers who get together once a month on Twitter and Facebook for a worldwide virtual art crawl.” It occurs on the last Tuesday of the month, but you can catch the goodness by searching #artwalk on Twitter.
• I’m Deaf: Rockin’ video by Sean Forbes. I rarely discover new songs or artists — Count me in as a fan.
• Star Wars Lego Chess Board: I’d love to get this for my husband and the aforementioned son who loves Star Wars Legos and likes to play chess. Alas, it’s the brainchild of a genius not associated with Lego.
• 

  Photo by Picasa user wastrel

  “The MLB nickname ‘Dodgers’ referenced the pedestrians who dodged the trolleys that ran through the streets of Brooklyn.” Fun Fact from Mental Floss in honor of my Dad who hailed from Brooklyn and loved dem bums AND made me a Brooklyn Dodgers fan. (Not LA. Brooklyn.) I also had a beagle named B. Dodger (pronounced “Bee Dodger”).

© Copyright Paul O'Farrell and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons License

My family doesn’t have a drop of Irishness in our blood — that we know of, anyway. But that never stopped my dad and me from wearing green on March 17th. Dad went the extra mile by wearing a dark green suit to work with some silly button like, “Kiss me, I’m Irish.” Obviously, he liked to have fun and I am sure some folks today would say the button is harassment. No matter, count on my wearing green.

Brain food…

• 8 Must-Have Twitter and Facebook Add-Ons: Oh yes, add-ons go beyond browsers and blog apps. The article forgot to point to the scripts (all use Greasemonkey), which can you find by searching userscripts.org. Facebook Purity explains how to install scripts for other browsers.
• Synopsis Tips for Writers: Excellent short post. [Link: BubbleCow]
• 10 Turnsoffs Keeping Readers from My Blog: These are the unwritten rules I tend to follow… at least, I hope I am.
• 10 Amazing Life Lessons You Can Learn from Albert Einstein: Not a single one has anything to do with relativity.
• 33 Writing Terms You Should Know: When WIP on an ms, be sure to stick to DL while following GL [Link: BubbleCow -- awesome resource... follow @bubblecow!]
• Research Tip: Finding Crutch Words: Do you keep using some words repeatedly? I try not to, but with all that I write… it can be tough. Current challenge is to avoid that and which. Not easy! [Link: @elizabethscraig]
• Top 100 Sites on the Internet: Very cool interactive graphic. [Link: @kirstinbutler]

Image from jimbowen0306 / CC BY 2.0

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 10 Coolest Foosball Tables: Aww… My husband just has an ordinary table.
• 70+ Examples Of Beautiful Night Photography: Breathtaking… [Link: Ruhani Rabin]
• 40 Outstanding Mascot Designs: I’d love to have one… but not sure it would fit this site’s brand. Or what. My favorite mascot: Fort Worth’s TCU Horned Frogs. I found many horned toads in my backyard while growing up. [Link: bkmacdaddy]
• Junkyard steampunk Yoda: Serious, I am.
• 5 Browsers and the Modes of Transportation They Resemble: Pretty darn accurate.
• Top 10 Japanese Etiquette Mistakes: I love reading about cultures and etiquette even though I never get to try them (or avoid them). I learned about #2 from my husband and I have used it.
• Friday Funnies: Words Shape Your Existence: Great way to kick off weekend (and Spring Break for some of us). [Link: @alexkaris]

Google has already apologized for some of the problems with Google Buzz. One of those being Buzz automatically followed some users, a big no-no. The company may have said it was limited to people you emailed frequently, but that wasn’t the case for most of us.

Aside from that, Buzz has mixed reviews and a long list of things that need changing. I’ve listened. I’ve participated. I’ve complained. Yet, Buzz still has my attention. Like an infant, it has cute moments and messy ones. It still needs nourishing before determining what it will be when it grows up.

Using Buzz

Because I always have Gmail open, the growing number of new Buzz is distracting as it grows much faster than email even in spite of my being very selective about who I follow. I’m organized when it comes to my email and maintain inbox zero. It’s easy to see why the new Buzz messages annoy and frustrate people especially when the number climbed to 100.

It took a week to get used to that in the same way I let my newsletters and alerts labels sit with over 100 new messages. Those two labels have hundreds of new messages because those messages are “as needed” messages. So I applied the concept to Buzz and the annoyance factor dropped. Or I click “Buzz” and the number starts over.

Although some folks said they turned off Buzz soon after trying it out, I haven’t written it off because it’s new and evolving. First, I want to understand it better and figure out how to use it efficiently should it find its way. Twitter wasn’t a smash hit in the beginning. Neither were blogs. Facebook was limited to college students. Second, I’m stricter about the people I follow in Buzz than I am in Twitter. If I find someone I follow is Buzzing a lot of useless content, then I stop following without regret.

I haven’t decided if it’s a good idea to funnel my tweets into Buzz. I don’t blog daily, so tweets keep me out there. I’ve created new Buzz a couple of times and comment on Buzzworthy items. I haven’t tried using Buzz for any articles I write.

One-way Interaction

Buzz can import your blog entries, tweets and other content. However, if you reply to any of these, they stay right in Buzz. Well, when I see a tweet from Twitter in Buzz, I go in Twitter and reply there instead of within Buzz. Google lost an opportunity here. What if Google adds a checkbox that asks if I want the reply to go to the original source. Hence, if the source is from Twitter, the reply shows up in Twitter.

Google likely did it this way on purpose to keep people in Buzz. But some will go around it like I did. I hardly think I’m the only one to think of this.

Yes, Facebook lets you import the same information and keeps replies right inside Facebook. I just expect more from Google because many of Facebook’s users don’t use other social media applications.

Twitter Fail Whale = Buzzportunity

Recently, Twitter experienced serious fail whaling. People asked if Twitter was failing in Facebook and Google Buzz. Buzz was a better place to find out than Facebook. Again, so many people in Facebook don’t touch Twitter or any other social media. Those of us in conversation mode buzzed about other things knowing Twitter whaled out.

Multi-communication Integration

I don’t think Google, Facebook and Microsoft are onto anything in combining status/buzz with email. (Facebook is trying to build up email to become a powerhouse like Gmail.) When I want Twitter updates, I go receive them and nothing else. Not email. Not trivia. Not games. Nothing. Just short status updates and direct messages (DM). Of course, I could be wrong about this.

Buzz integration with email doesn’t work for many. It creates more noise and people haven’t come to the point where they want multi-communication opportunities thrown at them. They would rather have a choice, but a choice that goes beyond turning off Buzz. Perhaps, a way  to access Buzz outside of Gmail.

I remember when Newsgator would deliver feeds as Outlook email. I never liked that idea. When I tried it briefly, it overwhelmed me more than Buzz because it took more effort to delete those messages.

Social Media Expert: Is There Such a Thing?

Buzz demonstrates exactly why no one can be an expert in social media. Social media evolves and fast. New things pop up. You can’t become an expert on what works and doesn’t work as soon as it comes out. You have to see how people respond to it as they learn their way around.

Nonetheless, Google has accomplished one thing for itself — Buzz keeps people in Gmail longer as several have admitted this.

What do you think lies ahead for Google Buzz and unborn social media?

Related articles

• 10 Things You Should Know About Google Buzz (eweek.com)
• 30+ Google Buzz How Tos, Tools and other Resources (SEOptimize.com)
• Google Buzz No Facebook , No Twitter Killer, Google Exec Says (eweek.com)

Congratulations to George Angus for winning Laura Cross’ book tour contest! Y’all can still win a book from Elisa Lorello. Interesting that it’s President’s Day week. My 5th grade son has to do a report on Gerald Ford.

Brain food!

• Wordnik: Make word lists, comment on and tag words, record pronunciations, etc. [Link: Michael C. Cordell]
• Value of School Visits: Enjoyed reading this author’s story about visiting schools. This is one reason why I wish I’ve authored a children’s book. I think it’d make the visit more entertaining for the kids when I speak to them about people with differences. Several school visits have made a big difference in how the kids view people who sound different from them. Apparently, after I spoke to my son’s first grade class, they treated him like a king. That’s why I do it. For my kids. To avoid the second grade incident with my daughter.
• Why Google Buzz Is Brilliant and Deadly to Social Media 1.0: Incredible insight I had not considered.
• How to Write Effectively for Twitter and the Social Web: Collection of resources sorted by categories.
• The BS Litmus Test: My first priority is to always keep my current clients happy because really — the easiest and best clients are the ones you already have. I’ve already weeded out the ones where I didn’t enjoy the work. It’s also easier to keep the current clients than go looking for new ones that may not be a good match. I know what my current clients like and don’t like. It takes time to figure that out with every new client.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 100 Cupcakes Game: Guess what game each cupcake represents. Brilliant. And great artistry.
• Slightly off-color joke: An author passes a bookstore…
• 20 Funny Examples of Graffiti and 10 Funny Pie Charts [Links: Jason Pollock]
• 12 Most Controversial Video Games: These are NOT the kind of games I cover.
• A Brief History of Pretty Much Everything: Hope they recycled all that paper.
• How Those Famous Websites Have Evolved Throughout the Years: I found Amazon in 1995, I believe (when it was just a bookstore). The screen shot is definitely not the oldest. [Link: bkmacdaddy]

I’m “terribly temper tantrum” mad. OK, I’m not really that mad, but I’ve always wanted to write that after reading Art Spiegelman’s Open Me… I’m a Dog. The book’s words sung to me and stuck with me all these years since I first read it to my oldest when she was younger — shes’ now 16-years-old. Nonetheless, I’m frustrated. Before going further, please know this isn’t a complaining post. Instead, it’s about adapting when things get in the way of your writing or work like my thumb injury.

I’m also not looking for a cure. It’s most likely a side effect of medicine that is helping me get over bad allergies and an infection. I have faith all will be fine soon enough.

My eyes ache. They’ve been aching for a few weeks, and I could get through the day without any problems. I stopped using the computer in the evenings — sacrificing Twitter chat time — and it helped the eyes. Everything stayed under control and I completed my work.

Then last week, the eyes hurt almost all day. It’s no problem to write this post without looking at the screen. It doesn’t call for researching, reading resources or anything else. But much of my work does.

To adapt, I write my articles without looking at the screen and fill in the gaps later so I’m not staring at the screen for too long. I take more breaks that take me away from the computer.

You’d think a career in writing would not encounter barriers that keep you from writing other than illnesses like the flu or severe vertigo, which I had after my cochlear implant surgery. (I couldn’t even handle watching TV.) I can work through a cold — just in shorter sittings. Writing is not a physically demanding job beyond the frequent use of our digits and eyes.

Good news: I took the entire weekend off from the computer plus most of Thursday and Friday due to the snow, yet my eyes still hurt. This tells me it’s not a problem related to the monitors.

How did you adapt to a situation that interfered with your daily activities?