Does Technology or the Internet Make People LESS Connected?
I was recently witness to a debate at a local gathering that began when one man angrily claimed that people who live on their cell phones and laptops are “selfish” and “not connected with people”. His statement turned into a long discussion with people as young as a woman in her early 20′s to a gentleman in his 70′s speaking their opinions. Interestingly, the youngest one in the bunch was the most reasonable. She agreed that many behaviors are impolite....
Read MoreCre8tive Human Journal Launch
I’ve launched my own online magazine, called The Cre8tive Human Journal. The material I’m targeting is a blending of my passion for people, computers, Internet and creative living. There are several search engine marketing and usability online magazines already and I don’t want to encroach upon them or get into their space. I subscribe to many of them myself. Each one, uses Paper.Li for their CMS. This allows customization that makes each magazine unique to the...
Read MoreMore of Me to Spread Around
Still working on slowing down my traditional hectic pace (why does it take work to slow me down?) I finally had to call a halt to new client work until sometime around Thanksgiving. My father-in-law has been trying to get us to travel to the Florida Keys where they have a house the entire family shares for “escapes”. I’ve never seen it. A few days ago he inquired (again) about why. I told him that although hubby and I took no time off, no vacation, no holiday weekend off...
Read MoreA College Course called “LOST”
I was one of the millions of folks glued to the TV last night watching the wrap-up of LOST; the only die-hard in our house to stick with it, season after season. I love to be teased. Twitter would typically explode on LOST nights as people would “tweet back” to the show as if it could possibly hear them. “NO JACK, you stupid idiot. Don’t go in THERE!” was under 140 characters. I always had my laptop going during the shows and during commercials I’d catch...
Read MoreThe Impact of Battling SEO Spam
A couple weeks ago I lashed out at people, places and things pretty much everywhere I went. I was so angry and later, depressed, without understanding why. Giving Tree Most everyday I get to look at trees out my windows because I live among them and working from home gives me this gift. I consider every tree to be a Giving Tree. When I want to be strong and centered, I visualize being Grandmother Willow, only younger and without gray hair. I want to be tall, graceful, and grounded in the...
Read MoreThe Evolving Web and 16 Lessons It Taught Me So Far
Somebody asked on Twitter the other day how to explain what a blog is to a client. I replied with something like, “Online diary or journal. Easy way to put up a web site.” You get 140 characters to “talk” in Twitter. So I had to be brief. She thought her client would most understand the web site part. I agree. This is what blogs have become thanks to the ease of the software they’re based on. Daily thoughts are now found in Twitter and Facebook statuses. We...
Read MoreThe Truth About My Legs
Tomorrow I go to the hospital for a Medial Branch Rrhizotomy. For the past year I have been a patient of a progressive Spine Pain Center. They’ve been trying to figure out why it’s so hard for me to walk. They still don’t know. Of course there are theories. I rode horses growing up and at night my legs felt like the circulation had stopped. It was unbelievable pain. My mother called it “growing pains”. This Christmas she and I talked about those days and she...
Read MoreShe Has Something to Do With Web Sites
This year my family went out in all directions for Thanksgiving. My husband, Eric, and I went to my Mom and Dad’s for dinner. Not 5 minutes into the meal, Dad asks, “What is it. Again. That you do again?” My sister, her son and my mom also had “some idea”. Eric took a stab at it. After his elevator speech, my Dad pauses from his turkey to say, “You call it Usability. What is that, exactly.” So I went into my elevator speech that included search...
Read MoreTeetering on the Blogger’s Ledge
As a consultant on Search Engine Marketing and Web Site Usability, one of the suggestions I often make to companies who want to establish their online presence is to create a blog. Is this still a good idea? The seeds of blogging began in the late 1980′s when early adopters of the Internet used bulletin boards to find people and talk with them. Chat rooms and topic focused email lists came next, followed by “groups”, forums and now, blogging and social networking sites. The...
Read MoreThe Internet and Social Networking Fail To Help Create Peace
When I was in the first grade, one of my classmates was a witch and I had no reason not to believe her. Every day on the playground I would swing on the swings and watch her cast spells on the little kids during recess. She never cast one on me. It was a very scary time in my life for many reasons. One was having been forced to moved to Troy, Michigan from Pennsylvania, where all my Sunday school and Kindergarten friends were. I didn’t know anybody in Troy. This was in the early...
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