July 10, 2007
The Mic Is On: We’re at the Beach!
ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 7:00 pm
It’s Like Open Mic Only Different
Here’s how it works.
It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME.
The rules are simple — be nice.
There are always first timers and new things to talk about. It’s sort of half “Cheers” part “Friends” and part video game. You don’t know how much fun it is until you try it.
Come On!
There’s plenty to talk about. Here’s a few ideas to get us started:
- Where we love to go
- Whether we prefer sand or rocks
- Would we like it warm or cool, sunny or cloudy
- Who will go with us
- What will we take
And, whatever else comes up, including THE EVER POPULAR, Basil the code-writing donkey.
Oh, and bring links about the beach to share!
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?
Filed under Comments, Community, Links, Marketing, Outside the Box, SOB Business, Successful Blog |
C'mon. Let's talk!
99 Comments to “The Mic Is On: We’re at the Beach!”
Search
SOBCon - 2010! Register NOW!!
The Videos
The Podcast
What Liz Does
- I help businesses, universities, and service professionals . . .
increase ROI and attract fiercely loyal fans . . .
by communicating with customers as people.
Buy These!! by Liz and friends
Blog Syndication
Get the blog in your reader or via email
Get the Successful-Blog Weekly Digest
- Updates once a week to you inbox and a free chapter from Liz's ebook!
Subscribe to SOBCon Newsletter
- Keep up with SOBCon News and Events!
Find Liz AT:
Liz Writes For
Chicago Time
Library
- About Liz
- Work with Liz!!
- Tues. OPEN COMMENT Night
- About Successful-Blog
- POPULAR POSTS
- SUCCESSFUL SERIES
- NEW BLOGGER PAGE
- LINK LEAK VIRUS
- 1800+ Directory Links
- Library of Outstanding Articles
SOB Pages
- What IS an SOB?!
- SOB A-Z Directory
- SOB Hall of Fame A-H
- SOB Hall of Fame I-Q
- SOB Hall of Fame R-Z
- . . . a B.A.D. Blogger?
Liz Links
The Liz Manifesto
- I am a writer who uses the language to paint and to play word music, places my heart and head in the spaces, and writes in the hope that one person is better for having read what I wrote.
Chgoland Meetups & Events
- Know about Chgoland meetups!
Get info or broadcast your event!
Category
- 121 Conversation (15)
- Analysis (45)
- Audience (56)
- B.A.D. Blogger (55)
- Basics (97)
- Blog Review (26)
- Bloggy Questions (126)
- Branding (211)
- Business Book (81)
- Business Life (646)
- Checklists (33)
- Comments (270)
- Community (832)
- Connecting Dots (28)
- Content (89)
- Customer Think (91)
- Design (85)
- Great Finds (321)
- Guest Writer (128)
- Idea Bank (33)
- Inside-Out Thinking (65)
- Interviews (85)
- Links (207)
- Liz Also Writes (3)
- Liz Talks Corporate (2)
- Marketing (645)
- Motivation/Inspiration (588)
- One Way to CC It (28)
- Outside the Box (188)
- Perfect Virtual Manager (54)
- Productivity (91)
- SEO (63)
- SOB Business (1050)
- Songs of Life (1)
- Strategy (167)
- Successful Blog (3843)
- Survival Kit (56)
- Tech/Stats (97)
- Technorati (24)
- The Big Idea (46)
- Tips (59)
- Tools (87)
- Trends (292)
- Writing (246)
- ZZZ-FUN (172)
ME Strauss said
That’s me right there in the picture. I’m doing just fine with some time to myself at the beach.
Connie Reece said
Hi, just arrived. Do we have a section of beach for those who refuse to be seen in swimwear? LOL
ME Strauss said
hi Connie!
Are you talking about a naked beach?
Connie Reece said
I mean, fully clothed — just not wanting to show off these pale white bat-wing arms and thunder thighs! LOL
ME Strauss said
Ah, You and I would be a pair.
I look like a hairless, featherless albino chicken.
ME Strauss said
Was it as hot in Austin as it was in Chicago?
Man, it was humid one today. Whew! Kids were selling bottles of water on the corners.
Connie Reece said
Passed some kids selling lemonade in their front yard this afternoon. We finally got past 45 consecutive days of rain, which cooled things off. Now we’re back to hot but with the added humidity from all the rain. It’s been crazy!
ME Strauss said
I miss Austin. I want to come down to see you.
Connie Reece said
I would love to feel a cool ocean breeze right now. Watch the sunset over water that just goes on and on and on … going to the Gulf Coast tomorrow but it’s a business trip and probably will barely get to see the ocean!
ME Strauss said
Hey Connie,
I’ve got one right here for you!
http://lettingmebe.blogspot.com/2005/12/gulf-coast-sunrise.html
Connie Reece said
Come soon!!!! Would absolutely love to see you. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t remember how much fun we had a SOBCon. I keep remembering because I try to keep in touch with fellow SOB’s by reading blogs and sometimes stopping to comment. Just can’t keep up with it all.
Glenda Watson Hyatt said
is there room for this red-head albino to spread out her towel??
ME Strauss said
Hi Glenda!
This is the albino section of the beach!
Connie Reece said
Ahhhh … beautiful sunset on the Coast.
Glenda Watson Hyatt said
awesome. As long as there is a cool breeze cuz I’m melting here.
ME Strauss said
Connie!
I had a SOBCon08 conversation today with the guys from Kellogg today. It was exciting!! They have some great ideas. . . . They were making some suggestions. AND they like the grand plans that I was proposing. a LOT!!
Connie Reece said
“The sweet, slow sound of the water stilled my mind and distilled my priorities. My heart was being held in my father’s hands for safekeeping.”
Sitting with you on that pier. I can feel the stillness and hear that slow slapping of the water against the wooden pilings.
Connie Reece said
You know I’m in for SOBCon08 — count me as part of the advance team for the next one!
ME Strauss said
So Connie have you met Glenda?
Connie Reece said
Hi, Glenda. Fellow red-head here. We have to be careful in the sun with our fair, pale-as-moonbeams skin!
ME Strauss said
That’s cool about the SOBCon thing. We need a great pR person. I bet you know one.
Glenda wrote a great book. You should ask her about it.
Connie Reece said
I’m all over the PR … and the social media newsroom.
So Glenda, tell me about your book!
Glenda Watson Hyatt said
hi Connie. I’ll Do It Myself is my autobiography, about living with cerebral palsy. More info on my blog at http://www.doitmyselfblog.com
ME Strauss said
Glenda,
Get Connie to get folks to vote for you.
Connie Reece said
I’ll check it out, Glenda. And what’s this about voting? (Liz knows my curiosity and loves to taunt me with openings like that. LOL)
ME Strauss said
I just thought my blog was down. It turns out I was getting the duplicate comment screen. Duh!! I saw WordPress and didn’t look any closer . . .
Connie Reece said
Sure is taking a long time for my comments to post! **tapping my foot impatiently** LOL
Glenda Watson Hyatt said
check out http://blogforayear.com/profiles/glenda-watson-hyatt - I’m trying to get paid to blog for a year. All votes welcomed!
Robert Hruzek said
What’s this? Over an hour late and only 28 comments? Where is everyone?
Howdy Liz, Connie, Glenda! I’m waving at y’all from Joliet, Illinois this week. Not a beach in sight!
Connie Reece said
Glenda, I’ll definitely go give you a vote. I’m always doing that kind of thing, and getting paid to blog for a year sounds cool!
Glenda Watson Hyatt said
hi Robert.
Robert Hruzek said
Since we’re talkin’ beaches tonight, this photo is one of the best sunsets I’ve ever had the privilege of witnessing - from the western shore of Aruba.
Glenda Watson Hyatt said
Thanks Connie, much appreciated. The trick is to vote every day, please.
Glenda Watson Hyatt said
that is glorious, Robert!
Connie Reece said
Hey, Robert! Good to “see” you. How are things in the Middle Zone?
Glenda Watson Hyatt said
sorry folks, I need to cut this short. We have a special strata meeting in a bit. I may be back before the sun sets on the left coast.
Kirk M said
If you happen to see a rather thin older dude running around in circles and flapping his arms, it’s just me…trying to get a tan.
(If anyone is confused by the above sentance just recall that old skinny joke: “He’s so thin, he has to run around in the shower to get wet”…get it now?)
Hi all.
Robert Hruzek said
Thanks Glenda! I spent over an hour that evening just watching the scene change… waiting until all the stars came out. It really was glorious!
Connie, the Middle Zone is right where I left it! (Which is pretty much wherever I happen to be, actually)
ME Strauss said
Hi Robert!
I just got caught up in my telephone. Three phone calls in a row.
ME Strauss said
Hi Kirk!
Skinny guy running around to catch a few sunrays are you? Ha!
Connie Reece said
Robert, the Aruba sunset was spectacular!
Kirk — KIRK! Slow down, man. You’re making me dizzy. LOL
ME Strauss said
Connie, just push Kirk backward. He’ll fall into that chair.
Anyone want a Klondike bar? It’s awfully hot out here. OR we could roast marshmellows over a bonfire.
Connie Reece said
Ooooh, Klondike bars! No bonfires, please. I might have a hot flash! LOL
ME Strauss said
Here’s a Reese’s flavor. [Liz tosses one to Connie.]
Anyone else? Want one?
Robert Hruzek said
There’s a beach on Aruba called Baby Beach. It’s on the eastern tip of the island away from all the hotels. I lived there near the refinery.
My wife and I loved walking along that beach in the late evenings when it was pretty much deserted. The sand is so coarse it almost hurts!
One day I bent down to really look at the sand and discovered it was millions of teeny tiny shells - not sand at all! Some of the shells were hardly bigger than the period at the end of this sentence! And yet every single one of them was perfectly formed, like the larger ones we’re used to seeing.
It was a stunning reminder of the details God put into His creation. Awesome!
ME Strauss said
This old blog is driving me crazy. What’s going on with the server? Grrrr.
Connie Reece said
You’re so bad — feeding my sweet tooth!
ME Strauss said
You are good, putting up with my blog this evening. I’m getting tired of waiting for it. I think I’ll lay back on the beach to see whether it will behave after I leave it alone for a while. :_
gp said
Howdy all from big sky country. While we did do a stint near Dana Point, complete with office a stone’s throw from the beach, my heart has always been in the mountains. Loved those summer vacations, smelling jeffrey pines.
so camping it was… And of course your intreprid innkeeper would be remiss if she didnt leave her list of camping concoctions and recipe for those crisp mountain mornings.
http://fishcreekhouse.blogspot.com/2007/06/camping-concoctions.html
John Benage said
Beach — what a word! Worldwide, it describes so many different places.
In California, I loved going to Zuma Beach during high school — others too, but mostly Zuma.
In southeast Asia, and maybe worldwide, there is nothing more romantic than watching the sunrise over the beach in Penang, Malaysia. Or, how about learning to water ski in the gulf of Siam off the beaches at Pataya, Thailand where schools of flying fish threaten your every start!
The Texas gulfcoast has beaches as well but not for real surfers; just folks who like mostly small saltwater waves and maybe some redfish and seatrout.
Then there’s the Jersey shore where my wife grew up. Cool weather compared to sunny California, southeast Asia and the gulfcoast of Texas but, still a nice place to relax and enjoy the sun, if it is out.
I have omitted certain beaches under the “be nice” rule.
Best to all,
John
Robert Hruzek said
Y’all, I’m going to have to call it a night - had a long day, and I’m suffering from a sinus thing… or something.
See y’all on the beach!
Connie Reece said
Getting kind of drowsy myself. Maybe we’ve just worn it plumb out tonight. Poor blog!
Enjoyed it … talk to you soon.
ME Strauss said
Hi GP,
Thanks for stopping in. The beach has a lot of traffic tonight. It’s really quite depressing sitting her waiting. But the sun is shining and the breeze is blowing so I can’t really complain too much.
I used to live fiarly close to where you’re talking about in California.
ME Strauss said
bye Robert and Connie.
I don’t blame you. You have a great rest of the evening!
Timothy Johnson said
Hi everybody… sorry I’m late
ME Strauss said
Hi Tim,
As you can see, it’s pretty relaxed around here.
Rick Cockrum said
Hello Tim, Liz, John, gp! It looks like the heat wave is slowing a lot of us down tonight. This sunset in Venice, FL may help us cool off.
Timothy Johnson said
So it is… so it is… everyone must be at the beach.
ME Strauss said
Hi Rick
Welcome!
The heat sure has slowed down this old blog. We’re all feeling that too I think.
Timothy Johnson said
Well… I actually just popped in to say howdy. My daughter and I are having a daddy-daughter sleep-over in the sunroom/cabin/manroom.
ME Strauss said
Here Tim,
Have some water. [Liz pour a bucket of cold water over Tim's head.]
Feeling any cooler?
Rick Cockrum said
Now you have to explain to your daughter why your head is all wet, Tim.
Rick Cockrum said
I don’t know that I’ve ever had a true vacation that lasted more than two or three days. When I do go, I’ll opt for just about any place with water.
Timothy Johnson said
[Sputtering, wet, and frustrated]
Gee, thanks, Liz… whatever happened to being nice? What’s next, kicking sand in my eyes.
Actually, Rick, that’s part of the joy of the shaved head… I’m both aerodynamic and water repellant
ME Strauss said
I bet his daughter has seen him all wet before.
Rick, me either. No vacations. Even when we were kids.
ME Strauss said
Aw Tim,I was just being playful. You looked all hot from the sun and tired.
Mike said
I wish Liz and Rick could have gone with me when I was a lad, and I rode throughout most of North America with my grandparents in a travel trailer. My grandfather had 40 years with the phone company and each summer took a 3-6 week trip. In keeping with the beach theme, I remember digging for clams at the beach in Corvallis OR.
Mike
Timothy Johnson said
It’s OK, Liz. I don’t mind changing the sheets.
Well, I gotta go… my daughter wants me to show her “the princess blog” (Claire Celsi’s Public Relations Princess).
Rick Cockrum said
Tim -
That was the nice thing about living in Florida - 20 minutes and I was at the beach. Of course, on the bad days I found the beach in my house if it flooded enough.
When I had more stamina than someone 20 years older than me, hiking through the forest was one of the most relaxing things I found to do. Now my idea of hiking is to find a nice rock or patch of grass in the shade.
ME Strauss said
Mike,
that sounds wonderful. I bet you got to know some cool things about your grandparents that way. A travel trailer! That is so cool!
ME Strauss said
Rick,
The beach nearby. Maybe had I grown up where you did, I would have learned to swim properly.
Timothy Johnson said
Rick - great comment… how cool would that be?
Liz and company, good night and adieu. Wish I could stay longer.
Carpe Factum, y’all!!!
Rick Cockrum said
That does sound fun, Mike.
My dad raised dogs when I was young. Almost every weekend during the summer we went somewhere in Illinois, Iowas, Indiana, or Ohio. I was basically allowed to do what I want as long as I turned up before dark and didn’t do anything my parents would here about. I spent a lot of time exploring the woods.
Rick Cockrum said
Fare well, Tim. Have fun with your daughter.
I was in my 20s when I lived in Florida, Liz. I grew up in Rockford. The only beach there is at Rock Cut State Park, and they built it after I moved away.
Mike said
Hi Rick,
My dad ran a grocery store, and we never went out of state as a family. Luckily, my grandparents came of age in the Depression and my grandfather spent two years riding a long-distance truck with a friend, and caught the wanderlust bug.
Mike
ME Strauss said
My story is much the same, Mike. A family business kept us home. Only in my case, my grandfathers were already dead before I was born and my grandmothers were very old women.
Rick Cockrum said
Did your dad have a penny candy counter, Mike? I would have loved that part of it.
Both my grandfathers were dead before I was born, too, Liz. My grandmothers lived in Alabama. On my dad’s vacations we went there to connect with family again. That’s generally what I do now when I go anywhere, since my family is in Illinois and I’m in Pennsylvania.
ME Strauss said
A penny candy counter . . . oh yeah, Rick. The red and black jaw breakers that got too hot to keep in your mouth were my favorites.
We did a trip or two to Arkansas to see my grandmother. They were nighttime drives at Christmas time. I loved radio theater.
Glenda Watson Hyatt said
just back from the meeting. HI Mike, hi Rick. Mike, glad to see you’re back. I won’t be the only left coaster to put out the fire tonight.
Rick Cockrum said
We still have a neighborhood store about a block and a half from my block, Gallagher’s. There penny candy counter still does a strong business. When the kids were little 50 cents kept them happy all day.
I was partial to the little wax bottles of coke, pixie sticks, and the wax lips.
I’ve probably been on some of the main roads you took to Arkansas. If they wouldn’t be for the faint of heart in the winter. I used to visit my folks at Christmas, but that stopped after the year I had to stay ahead of a snowstorm on the way home.
Most of the songs I know all the words to - not that there are that many - are old Southern Gospel songs my mom and dad sang on our trips.
Hi Glenda! :waves:
Rick Cockrum said
And welcome to the land of eyeglass wearers.
Glenda Watson Hyatt said
thx Rick. I’m not overly impressed with needing glasses, on top of everything else.
Rick Cockrum said
I can imagine not. I’ve had to wear them since I got my first eye exam when I was six. The first two or three pairs “accidently” broke. I would feel naked without them now.
Rick Cockrum said
It’s midnight here, and I’m off to meet my pillow.Good luck with the glasses, Glenda. Thank you, Liz. Anyone else around, take care!
Glenda Watson Hyatt said
accidentally broke? Uh-huh. Your parents bought that story?
ME Strauss said
Hi
I liked the part about laying on the back seat of the car and looking up at the moon while the radio was plying. That was the best. It was the one thing I regretted most when the seat belt laws came in.
Glenda Watson Hyatt said
nite Rick, nice chatting with you
Rick Cockrum said
Looking back, I doubt it, but as a six year old, all I knew was I caught heck for breaking them and I got another pair of glasses, so it didn’t do much good. Then I realized I could actually read clearly, and see Mighty Mouse without sitting right by the tv. The glasses stayed after that.
ME Strauss said
Nite Glenda!
Glenda Watson Hyatt said
Have a g’night, Liz. Is Mike still around or shall I put out the fire?
ME Strauss said
I’ll put out the fire, no worries.
Glenda Watson Hyatt said
Easton Ellsworth said
The last few coals still stubbornly glow … good night to all, and especially to Liz.
Kirk M said
Yaaawwn (stretch),
Hey…it’s morning! What happened?…and who pushed me into this chair?
Comfortable though. I haven’t slept on the beach in years. All that running around must have wore me out.
Beautiful morning, maybe I’ll just snooze a bit morezzzzzzz….
ME Strauss said
Hi Easton!
Thanks for stopping by to check in all of us. That’s so like you to care.
ME Strauss said
Hey Kirk,
How you feeling. You were going round and round the world last night. Did you discover any new territories? some uncharted islands? Gilligan?
Kirk M said
Tripping across the astroplanes and all that. In fact I just woke up from that morning snooze. Must have been tired. It had top be all that sea air at the beach. I do miss the ocean.
Thanks for checking up to make sure I was still breathing.
ME Strauss said
That ocean air sure will knock the wind right out of a guy, won’t it? I bet you slept like a baby.
Do It Myself Blog » Announcing Readers’ Café: A Place to Gather and Share said
[...] Café will work very much like Liz Strauss’ Open Mic Night. Join the conversation by simply posting comments. You are welcome to stay for the whole evening or [...]