Harder Better Faster Stronger

This was the most beautiful day of the year so far. And for the first time in weeks, I got to get out at lunchtime. And this time, I ran the farthest I've ever run.

(I would've said furthest, but Doug would correct me again. And he'd still be right.)

Anyway, I was feeling chipper when I got back from my lunch break. Pretty proud of my three and a half miles. (Four, if you count walking to and from the track.)

Then I read about Peter's marathon training.

I tend to be the littlest bit competitive. So being reminded that, for many people, my gasping little trot is not the smallest fraction of what they would consider a difficult workout... sort of put a puncture in my balloon.



I'm not saying it should have. I know. But it did. I'm just like that.

But then I went to tae kwon do.

The thing I love about that place is that nobody ever thinks I can't do anything. The assumption is always that I can. And the thing about that is, sometimes they're wildly wrong - but only the first time. Because eventually, no matter how crazy I think they are for thinking I can, they're always right. I always can.

And tonight the class was just the way I like it. Terrifyingly, appallingly, out of my league. Two dozen black belts getting ready for their test... and me.

(I am not a black belt. Not even close. I am not going to be a black belt for years.)

But tonight, they were doing the physical requirements for the black belt test. So that's what I did. And a full class of forms (well, the ones I know, anyway) and kicks and sprints. And I learned some grappling.

It wasn't until I was nearly done that I realized that the reason I was so tired was not just because they'd all been training for years longer than me. Or because I hadn't slept much. Or because it was nine o'clock. It was because of those three and a half miles.

But I still did it. So yeah. I don't brag usually because I don't usually think I have much to brag about. But today I'm close to satisfied with myself, and that feels nice.

Now, though, I'm going to go soak my bruises.

Home Sweet Home

Growing up, our neighborhood was mostly wooded acre lots, so most neighbors weren't usually very close - geographically or emotionally.

Especially after college, but really starting in high school, I was a bit of a nomad for a while. I always had a mailing address, but I was just as often somewhere else. Apart from Wroxton, I didn't usually call anyplace home.

But now, my mortgage application is with the underwriters. The appraiser just left. I've got four painters' estimates coming. It's not official yet, and all my fingers are still crossed (well, not really, I'm typing, but you understand the metaphor) - but the point is, it's getting there.

I'm about to not just have a home, I'm about to buy a home. My home.

This is, to put it briefly, a big deal. And one that I'm sure will knock me sideways and cause repeated spells of hysterical freaking out. Because that's how I do. I know it's full of responsibilities and expenses and probably a handful of lonesomeness.

But I love that it feels like a treehouse. I love leaving the windows open all day. I love eating breakfast on the deck and watching the sun rise over the hills. I love that every now and then my neighbors and I spend a day going in and out of each other's houses barefoot with drinks in our hands and small children running around. I love how many of the stars I can see at night.

This isn't a gloat yet. It won't be real for a while. But it's very much a looking forward to. It scares me to death. But I do the things that scare me. So yeah. I'm happy.

Weekly Roundup: Quo Vadimus?

Sports Night was truly a great show. But now I'm done with the series, meaning that I have to give the box set back to Karen. (And see if anyone but Casey finds my obsession attractive, or just another line item on my list of truly dorky tendencies.)

Anyway, back to Sunday's list of links to get you through the week. And it's a long one, because I've been reading a lot and not telling you about any of it. I'm secretive like that.

Not really. Mostly it's just a massively overdue and uncategorized brain dump. But it sounds better the other way. Far more serendipitous. And duplicitous. Serenduplicitous.

Yeah, I'm done here. Happy week.

• What's Really In That Seat-Back Pocket (Ought Not to Be Read If You're Getting on a Plane Any Time Soon, I Promise You.)
  
• Can You Become a Creature of New Habits?
• The Things That Carried Him (Very Long, Desperately Sad, and Absolutely Worth Reading)
  
• Why Journalists Need PR People
• True Wife Confessions
• Get Over It: An Archive of Regrets
• Feeling Paranoid? You're Not Alone
• The Furminator (If You Think This Is a Dig at You and Your Sheddy Pet, You Are Correct)
• Zappos Tony's Guide to Twitter
• Some Darn Cute Cufflinks
• Fabulous Birth Announcements (In Honor of Brendan)
• Brainstorming Doesn't Work: Here's What Does
• Mental Detox Week
• Free WordPress Themes (Not That I Want to Get Into This, See Twitter for Details)
  
• What Happens Sometimes When You Try to Put on a Happy Face
  

And if you get through all this and you're looking for four minutes of total surrealism, go YouTube "you're not my father wtf". Trust me on this.

Saturday Afternoon Geek-Out: BuzzLogic

(Via KD Paine, via Shel Israel)

BuzzLogic is fantastically cool to me. What Biz360 and Cymphony started 5-10 years ago for media monitoring... this is the next logical step from that. Those companies went beyond "how many mentions of your term are in an article, and how many readers did that article have "to "what did the article say about your term and what did they mean". Now, this is trying to tell you not just what bloggers are saying about your topic, but how much each blogger matters in relation to the others. And therefore, which ones you need to talk to. Which is not 100% of the point of media monitoring, but pretty close.

The thing I really love about this, though, is that they're working with the realization that the most influential people on one topic are not necessarily influencers on any other issue.

This is super obvious to anyone who reads blogs. You're not going to go to Perez for tech news, and you're not going to Gizmodo to see what's up with celebrities. (Oooh, happy birthday, David! But I digress....)

So it's intuitive, but in terms of how media measurement has always functioned, it's groundbreaking. Because if you took an old-school approach, all you'd be able to do is compare two sets of numbers - site statistics - which represented reader populations that had absolutely nothing to do with each other. It wouldn't tell you which people were important to reach at all. Useless.

But here, you see which people are the influencers. That's pretty huge.

Publicis is using them - no surprise there - and I must admit I'm jealous. The drawback of working for a small agency is not having access to fancy megabucks vendors. But we've figured out how to do Biz360 work on a shoestring in-house. We'll just have to figure out how to approximate this, too.

Freecycle

Holy sweet Moses, I love the internet.

I'm in the process of buying my father's condo. He's in the process of moving out. Between us we have the detritus of a combined 86 years of life in over a dozen homes.

Thing is, I'm the opposite of a pack rat. I am a purger. A seller, a donor, a declutterer. (Heh. I was going to say "a tosser.") I'm big on simplicity and organization. So this house full of stuff has been making me insane.

And then I discovered the magic of Freecycle.

The concept: "to build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources and eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community."

That's it. No buying and selling and posting photos and writing up descriptions and bargaining and bidding and negotiating. Just giving stuff to people who need it and come and get it.

There are over five million people participating in Freecycle worldwide. Just on my local one, there are 2,600 people and over a thousand posts a month. It's a truly amazing hidden network.

And because my town is close to a city with its share of poverty, it feels nice that things I don't need can go be helpful to other people. Maybe that's Pollyannaish, or maybe it's even condescending. I'm not sure. And no, I'm not only giving stuff away for free; I'm selling plenty of it. But, like tonight, giving a bed and a couple of bookcases to a family who comes and takes it away for their kid? Yeah, I'll take the nice feeling.

So thanks, internet, for the warm fuzzies - and the newly cleared space.

Be More Social!

It hit me today that the word "social" is not often used in a positive context.

Seems like it's either used to yell at you for being quiet... "Come be social!"

Or to yell at you for having more to do than the speaker does... "Well, aren't you just the social butterfly." "You and your social calendar."

So maybe that's why I've taken to disliking the term "social media".

I'll tell you one thing, it's a bitch on my tagging, because "new media" stopped being "new" and got all declasse, and now "social media" is ticking me off. "Emerging media" sounds better to me, but pretentious because it's not very widespread. And "SoMe" is still a little eye-roll-worthy.

But seriously. Social media? Think about that. Isn't it kind of the most redundant phrase in the world? Media is communication. Communication is between people. Of course it's social.

Anyway, I wish I could get comfy with a term for what all this is called.

As Tracy and I were leaving work today, she said she'd read that that if she wasn't on Twitter, she should get out of PR. So I went home all riled up about Jeremy Pepper discounting her career because she hasn't joined what is still, whatever we Twitterers want to think, a niche social network. (Maybe there are a million people on Twitter, maybe even 12 million, but there are over 70 million Facebook users.)

Except then I found his post, read it, (wondered why he hasn't updated in over a month,) and totally agreed with him.

Part of his post is on the J&J mommyblogger debacle I've mentioned. But overall he's talking about an issue that I think I see slightly differently. He seems to see an overall attitude toward social media by PR people that includes management apathy, staff incredulity, underfunding, underresourcing, and deliberate attempts to undermine social media structures.

I don't disagree that those things exist, but I think I'm more optimistic about it. Or maybe I just like the solution.

In my company, and in my industry - small agency, pharmaceutical clients - the learning curve is long. But people are learning. And the only way they're going to, is if people who have something to teach, teach. Explain why the old way doesn't work, and what the purpose of the new way is. Use baby steps and easy examples. And don't stop. If you love this stuff, it's easy. If it's fun to talk about new ways to connect with people, and better ways to make things happen, you're exactly who should be teaching.

And then maybe nobody will need to write grouchy blog posts about it.
(I still don't like that it's called "social media," though.)

Signs of the Apocalypse: Musical Edition

I am in love, this week, with two things that I NEVER thought I would be.

One: the latest Coldplay song. "Violet Hill" is amazing.



Two: a cover of "Beat It". By Fall Out Boy.



If these things come in threes, I can't wait to see what the third thing I fall for will be.

And Now for Something Completely Different

There is a lot of unhappiness and worry in the air tonight.

So here's 66 seconds of silly.

Count the ones you know... and when you are sad, just think of Lobster Judi Dench.