Amazing

Props to these inmates. I have no rhythm compared to them.

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Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?- My musings

I just finished Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godin. This book talks about being the Linchpin (The pin that holds things together). If you are a Linchpin you become indispensable because you are that factor that keeps things going, growing, gripping in your job or life. You become an artist who gives gifts because you are self-less and have that certain je ne sais quoi. Seth Gives numerous examples of real-life Linchpins and goes so far to say there are two kinds of workers- The Cog (a worker who does simple tasks with direction) and the The Business Owner (who wants people to be cogs so they can make the most profit). Do I want to be Indispensable- YES, ABSOLUTELY. I let my previous jobs go and didn't have the passion anymore to keep everything together (therefore dispensable). This is an eye-opening book- I related to the sections about the resistance, how the lizard brain takes over and the disconnect I had to my previous job (lack of passion- lack of being that artist). Because of reading this book: I plan to throw out my resume, I maybe proficient in those things on my resume but most of it is not who I am. I have been all over the map throughout my adult life because I wasn't mapping, I was just following paths that were given. Now is the time to sit and map out my own life. I am not going to map out what makes the most money or what is a quick fix today. I need to map out what will stick with me in the long run, do what I love to do, become happy with life again, give selflessly and without expecting something in return and become fearless. Things that will make me a Linchpin AKA Indispensable. Time for me to go to work now. Read this book and you know what I am talking about. Keys: More Cowbell, destroy your Lizard Brain, defy resistance.

Changing Your Twitter Name

I decided to change my Twitter name (AKA Twitter handle) from @jboydsandiego to @JenBoydSD. I did this because I thought it was time. I want people to identify me by Jen or Jennifer not just J, also I wanted to cut a few characters off my twitter name (you only have 140 characters to compose your message). Word out there is that some obsolete names will be re-released to Twitterville, so there may be a slew of new name changes coming. 

Here are some steps you should take after you change your Twitter name:

• Remember your name- say it a least 5 x to yourself, so you avoid identity crisis (like I had this morning).
• DM your closer friends your new name.
• Announce it to Twitterville (but remember to type in the right handle, I went type happy and combined my old and new with the wrong name altogether). So I had to announce it again.
• Change all your information in your blogs, Facebook accounts, website wherever you have your old twitter handle mentioned. 
• Be aware of all the collateral pieces your Twitter name is on- Business Cards, Pamphlets, etc. Those pieces will become obsolete (Luckily, I only have a few business cards left).
• Create a search column for your old name so you don't miss @ mentions. You do this just in-case someone identifies you by your old twitter name.

Other things to know: 

• Lists you are on will automatically change your name so you don't have to worry about having to create again or being left off someone else's list. 
• If someone tries to DM you using old twitter handle- it will not go through it will bounce back on their end.

If I am missing something, please leave a comment.  AND I promise I won't change my name again for a while.

Posted via email from Jennifer's epiphanies

Another way to donate to #Haiti

Paste Magazine has set up a donation site called "Songs of Haiti", upon donation they will let you access a library of songs to download, some of the artists are: Ludacris, Switchfoot, Kevin Barnes (from Of Montreal), Andrew Bird, Marco Benevento, Sarah Borges, Bruce Cockburn, Jason Isbell, Bill Mallonee, Mugison, Sila and the Afrofunk Experience, Wovenhand, Xiu Xiu, Arrested Development, Ben Folds, Bob Mould, Cee Lo Green, Cowboy Junkies, Emmylou Harris, Indigo Girls, Josh Ritter, Marc Broussard, Mark Kozelek, The Greencards, Matthew Sweet, Of Montreal, Passion Pit, Patterson Hood, She & Him, The Avett Brothers, Dan Dyer, The Decemberists, The Jayhawks, The Minus 5, The Low Anthem, Wovenhand, Willard Grant Conspiracy, Jill Andrews and The String Cheese Incident. (Note: Some of these songs are from the “Save Paste” campaign.)

To donate, go to http://www.pastemagazine.com/songsforhaiti. 100% of money contributed through “Songs for Haiti” will be spread among three charities active in Haiti: Doctors Without Borders, Red Cross, and Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund.

Posted via email from Jennifer's epiphanies

I want one of these

I want  a Chumby

photo credit: chumby.com

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Marketing 101

So what makes a business succeed? Text books usually say to start by using Marketing 101 Principles to make a business prosper. We learn in Marketing 101 about the 4 P's- Combination of Product, Price, Place and Promotion. But they forget the most important P of all People. What they say is true- You must have the 4P's to become a viable player in your industry. But in order to sustain your market share you must create the relationship, as well as knowing the product, price, place and promotion. If you are lucky enough to be the front-runner or one of the leaders in your business, here are some tips: be respectful, be humble and know your place because it is easy to slide and fall to the wayside. Customer service, promptness, showing that you care are human traits that add to the purchasing experience. It adds that extra touch and shows that your business cares. So what are people waiting for? Create a great People experience.

This or That

I am looking for a job. Yes, it is time. I need that responsibility in my life, that human interaction, knowing I still have skills. The question that I have been getting way to often- where do you eventually see yourself? Or where do you see yourself in 5 years? I guess I never fully looked into this other than I hope I win the lottery and sit on an island sipping margaritas all day. So really, what do I want to do? Do I want to have a career where I am successful, am well known in my field, have some meaning to what I do? Or do I want to just fidget and make widgets? I guess I will need to really answer this sooner than later. It is a burning question for them and I guess now for me. Also, I have the pocketbook and the family to think about in a more serious manner. My husband just got a pay cut, along with me not working, this is no bueno. I have to admit, before we did spend on necessities that were not needed. I spent $4 a day on a white mocha. Now I drink the instant stuff and it isn't as good but it is something. That is about $1 vs. $4 a day. I have cooked practically every single day in 2010. I think my signature dish is fried rice, and it probably costs me about $3 in ingredients to feed the whole family. My kids and hubs love it, I am ok with it. When I was too busy to cook, I would spend upwards to $30 on one meal (take-out). By all means we are not in the red yet. We didn't get that pool that we wanted before the economy went to crap or upgrade to our dream house when we both had full-time jobs. These decisions would of put us up sh*t creek. I am reading this book on living simply, practicing this philosophy on life means staying away from the malls/stores, itunes, Amazon and my choice money drainer Target. Having a list of basics of food/staples and sticking to it. I am still being social and going out to select things. I still belong to the MCASD so I get invites to their receptions and belong to my twitter/social media groups. But this year, unfortunately, you won't see me tweeting about delicious dinners at fancy restaurants or buying new technologies (I really want a web-based phone someday). But really, I am ok with that. I am grateful with what I have and am enjoying my family life in the process. Hopefully, I will be able to share our family vacation (generous mother-in-law x-mas gift) to Mexico in the beginning of March. But that is my This or That choice. The cruise is booked but I need to get on with life. If things happen, things happen. It is this or that.

Month of Changing

January is the start of my little life changes. 2010 will definitely be the year of change.

-I started watching my movie a day project for 2010. I have learned to watch a movie and think about what I thought about it and record my movie and thoughts via blogging on amovieaday2010.wordpress.com. This blog is still a learning process because I still don't know technical terms for movies. It has been cool watching a movie I may or may have not watched otherwise.

-I have been eating better. No fast food, cooking more, going to farmers markets for some of my food. I do feel a difference, hopefully, this makes for a better life in 2010.

-I still am doing Toastmasters. It is a love/hate thing. I need those motivators to help me improve public speaking. Yes, I still dread getting in front of people and speaking. A fear that goes back to grade-school. I rather have my pet hamster bite me 20 times than do a speech sometimes. It is that bad, but I am getting there. I am actually getting more comfortable so I am glad I spend my Saturday mornings there.

Still Improving

-Still need to be social. Haven't been to a social gathering in 2010. I plan to start this upcoming week and go to a few things. I even signed up for a trapeze lesson to learn something new with 9 others of course.

-Continuing to spend more time with my family. Lots of trips to the dog park. Will also try to go on bike rides, I just need to make that helmet purchase.

-Living more economically. I am reading this book called The Simple Living Guide: A Sourcebook for Less Stressful, More Joyful Living by Janet Luhrs. It has been an eye opening experience. I picked the book yesterday off my shelf (I've had for over a yr. but never really read it). This is a book I should of read/practiced a long time ago. By all means I am not about to go live out of a motor home to save money or grow my own food like some people have in this book. My goal is to stop and think about my purchase patterns in the past and improve upon them. I don't need my $4 Starbucks each day instead I make my coffee during the week and have a mocha as a treat once or twice a week. Instead of going to Barnes and Noble or buying a book on Amazon, I have been checking out books from the library. I can't do this for every single book but for many it has been working and saving me shelf space in the process. I still need to work on the shopping thing some more, but I think what will work is not to go to browse at all. The temptation is still there for me. Purging things, I recently cleaned out over 10 years worth of clothes/purses(mostly career clothes) and gave them away to AmVets. We also shut off our HBO and SHO for the moment. No Big Love for me (will catch up later). I am still reading the career choice portion of this book and still working on my life passion. I am still contemplating all my choices. I know in a few months I will decide and get there. The book also says to travel more to experience life (Not the Four Seasons way unfortunately). I like this chapter and will definitely practice this more(putting what I save from not eating out and coffee towards this).

So these are little/big changes in my life. Progression is the key and I think I am getting there.

Dreams of CES

This is awesome, everything will be smaller, thinner, compact, faster, smarter and in 3-D. Watching CES from the sidelines. Good to see this new technology coming out for 2010!

Posted via email from Jennifer's epiphanies

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish

A bit of "zen fun"

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Busy 2010 so Far

I still have Sunday. I wanna go to the Hillcrest Farmers Market and go to my first yoga class of the year. So far I have done these things:

-I saw Nine at the theatres. I liked it, I need to compare to original musical- just couldn't get Daniel Day-Lewis as an Italian but I can get past that. If anyone should of been on the posters it should of been Fergie, her musical number/character was kick ass. -Friday nt. saw Transformers, Revenge of the Fallen on Blue Ray, stupid movie but was entertaining. -Of course, Saturday morning was spent at Toastmasters, I even created @satsavants twitter acct. (New VP of PR there) -After Toastmasters, I went to monthly book sale at Library scored some books for family (Hitchhikers trilogy, 2 Dan Brown Novels and some beginning readers). I checked out three books/cd for myself: Book on Interior design in Paris, The Lovely Bones and a french phrasebook cd for ipod. -Took dogs to dog park, to roam for about an hour. -Cooked chinese food for family- fried rice, potatoes and chicken dish (like my mom made for me) and white rice. -Folded a mound of clothes while watching 'One Crazy Summer' on TV

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My Sort-of-Resolutions

I am not sure if resolutions work so I will make some sort-of-resolutions. Not total promises but just some thoughts to put in front of my mind for 2010.

1. Run One 5K- Already signed up for this in April. Something to look forward to.

2. Start going to gym when I drop of kids to school, I need that extra motivation not to return home from dropping them off. It is usually a mile and a half 3-4 times a week.

3. Pursue my amovieaday.wordpress.com project. One movie a day for 365 days, I did 2 movies today. So I guess I can bank "Transformers, Revenge of the Fallen". Crappy Movie with Special Effects.

4. Eat healthier, try to hit the farmers market more. Cook more

5. Try to use coupons if possible. I don't bother to collect or look for them. Maybe, I can save money to travel more.

6. Think about buying stuff. Do I really need that shirt, trinket, stationery, cute on sale thing at Anthropologie/Urban Outfitters? Where will it be in six months? I know this may work for some things but not others.

7. Go to the dog park more. Dogs need exercise too...
8. Go out once a week with friends/or have them come to me

9. Clean off desk once a week so it doesn't build up and I won't become one of those people on Hoarders.

10. Time Management- Read, Watch, Internet, Learn.

11. Enjoy Life- don't obsess about having to find a job that I will dislike... accept my life as a consultant, Stay-at-Home Mom, Volunteer.

Ring in 2010!

New Decade, New Year, New Outlook...
2010 will be for learning

2010 will be for having fun

2010 will be for interaction

2010 will be improving on myself and being myself

2010 will be for NOT feeling sorry for myself

2010 will be for planning and doing

2010 will be for giving