In the Annals of Mists of Blogospheric Pre-History

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A Successful-Blog Birthday Post!

by Robert Hruzek (posted from somewhere in The Middle Zone)

It’s a birthday party for Successful Blog, eh? Two years… wow, that’s practically ancient in blogging time! (Gee, it seems weird typing “Successful Blog” without adding a link. But then, presumably you’re, you know, already there, right?)

Hmmm… (sound of scratching head) how can I adequately express my appreciation to the kindest, most understanding, and wonderful person I know in the Blogging world today? (Sound of getting whacked on the forehead – which is why I have a flat forehead.) I know – I’ll tell you a story!

Once upon a time, far, far back in the annals of mists of blogospheric pre-history (which equates to about 10 months ago in real time), I first ran across a very special person on the Internet. Well er, no, I didn’t really, um, run over her (because, you know, that would be bad); I mean I discovered Liz Strauss and Successful Blog.

Now, not knowing that much at the time about blogs and blogging in general (I had been at it for about 7 months already, but hadn’t made much of an impact – but I was learning), I didn’t really understand what I had um, stumbled upon (and that was before somebody patented the idea!). But it didn’t take long to realize that here was someone really special.

Here’s just one example.

During one of the first few times I participated in Open Mic Night (Tuesday nights - be there!), I committed a big fat hairy flub (that’s a BFHF, for you acronym fans) – right there in front of everyone. And what’s worse, I didn’t even realize it at the time! (No, Silly, I’m not going to tell you what it was! Suffice it to say That Which Shall Not Be Named was an obvious and heinous breech of blog etiquette.)

Now, as you know, putting anything out there on the Internet is like engraving it in stone. It’s there for all to see - and pretty much forever…

So anyway, instead of slicing me off at the knees (so to speak), or flaming me (hey, I didn’t know Liz back then, and didn’t know that she would never) – no, the next day she sent me a private email and just came right out and asked me: “Hey, Robert, what’s with that?”

‘Course, yours truly here (nickname: ol’ “On the Ball Bob”) responded with my usual helpfulness; if I recall, it was something brilliant like “Er, duh, wha-?”

But when I went back and looked at the offending moment (preserved, as I said, for all eternity), it was pretty clearly something I wished I hadn’t said. (Oh, that my power of foresight was as good as my power of hindsight.)

Yikes! I felt about as tall as my F12 key, and my embarrassed response was immediate. “Oops! You’re right – it does come across badly! Please erase it, and thanks for letting me see what you see.” – or words to that effect (sorry; best I can recall, since some of the ol’ grey cells have taken early retirement…)

What impressed me the most was that it was such a kind way of responding! It truly brought home to me the importance of words and their meanings, along with lots of other great stuff, like clarity, honesty, authenticity, and (especially!) forgiveness on the Net.

In fact, besides the incredible support Mrs. MZM gives me (which is a LOT, bless her!), that one incident has meant more to my writing and personal growth than any other single lesson I can think of!

Having spent the last 10 months doing my best to keep up with Liz (do you really live in my computer?) I finally gave up and settled for just contributing when I can. The conversations, the Open Mic Nights, the support, the advice (and let’s not forget SOBCon!) – it all adds up to one very special lady, and one very special place!

Happy Birthday to Successful Blog! (And of course to you, Liz - a tip o’ the hat to you!)

Robert, Middle Zone Musings

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Thank you, Robert! This story is close to my heart and I so love THAT HAT!

The party is Oct. 24th! Come for the surprises! Bring a link to your success!!!

Tags: Middle-Zone-Musings, Robert-Hruzek, Successful-Blog-Birthday

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Change the World: Choose the Ending

Filed Under Community, Guest Writer, Successful Blog | 28 Comments

Hey, Robert, How Can We Change the World?

Yesterday, Robert Hruzek’s email arrived in my inbox with a question. Do you think this might make a Change the World story? I read it though and wrote back immediately. It’s obvious that my answer was to the affirmative.

So I’m passing along this actual event from the lives of our own, Mr. Middle Zone Musings and his dear lady. The narrative offers a twist for the ending. It carries Mr. Musing’s thoughts on how the world might be.

Choose the Ending

by Robert Hruzek

You know, it’s easy to say what one would do in a certain situation, isn’t it? To paint a rosy picture that “surely” would have been, had it really happened (yes, I know – don’t call you Shirley).

C’mon, admit it; we all like to think the best of ourselves. And you know what? We should have a positive self-talk and self-image; that’s just good mental health. But what’s the reality?

Allow me to paint a scene for you.

The other day Mrs. MZM and I had lunch at one of our favorite beaneries, Café Express. It’s one of those (relatively) new kinds of restaurants where you place your order, wait for your pager to buzz, and then pick the food up yourself. Condiments are over here, drinks are over there; help yourself, and thank you very much. (Hey, I’m not complaining; I happen to like it.)

We decided to eat outside on the patio so we could enjoy the beautiful weather we were having; a nice little umbrella-covered table in the corner was perfect. We had just barely gotten settled when the little flat wireless-radio-controlled-butt-massage-thingy (I always put it in a back pocket – it provides a cheap thrill!) went off, so off I went to collect our food.

And finally, to complete the scene, there was a bus boy cleaning the table next to ours.

OK, got the picture? So here we go…

As I returned and approached our table, I was still a few feet away when we heard a medium-loud “pop” (sort of like a “quiet” firecracker). We both looked around to see what made the unusual noise, but nothing was obvious – no cars passing by (there was a street right next to us), no pedestrians within reasonable distance, and no one sitting nearby seemed to notice – there was nothin’.

Oh, well. I sat down and we prepared to eat – and then I noticed a tiny white dot on Mrs. MZM’s left cheek! I looked again, and there were more white dots on her face – along with several in her hair, on her blouse, the pants she had on… Finally, as our eyes followed the trail of white dots down to the ground, we saw what had made the sound.

It was a mayonnaise packet.

Yep, that’s right, ladies and gentlemen; yours truly had sprayed mayonnaise (and with explosive force, no less) all over Mrs. MZM when I had stepped on a packet inadvertently dropped by the bus boy. In fact, we found even more of the white stuff all over my shoe, the table, the chair I had already sat in, and judging from the spray pattern, no doubt the buildings across the street!

Sheesh! Now what?

Possible Ending #1

Mrs. MZM jumped up with an angry exclamation and attempted to dab the offending condiment off her clothes, her hair, and her glasses. Her frustration was obvious to the neighboring tables as she did her best to recover with some sort of dignity. Alas, it was a losing proposition.

There was nothing that could be done about the prominent stains on her clothes, though. Well *sigh* at least it had started out as a beautiful day…

Possible Ending #2

Once we realized what had happened – Mrs. MZM burst out laughing!

We then spent a hilarious few minutes checking each other over for tiny white dots (the folks at the table next to us probably thought we were inventing a new dance step), just to make sure we got them all.

Finally, we sat down again and munched happily on our burgers, enjoying the rest of the beautiful day.

The Power to Choose

So lemme ask ya…

If you had the power to choose, then which one of these endings would you have picked?

OK, got it? All those who chose # 1, raise your hand. Fine, now all those who went for #2? Hmmm… seems kinda lopsided to me. Amazing how we all seemed to choose the happy ending.

But here’s the real money question:
If this had happened to you, which ending would have ACTUALLY happened?

Extra Special Super Duper Bonus Points:
To make it really fun, ask a friend to answer the question for you!
____________________
So what really happened, you ask? Well, it was exactly as presented above, with ending #2, of course! Ah, Mrs. MZM - ya gotta love her!

Lucky for me it didn’t spray all over some big bruiser suffering from hemorrhoids and bristling with a bad attitude because his favorite team had just lost a key game - I might have been hurt!
–Robert Hruzek, Middle Zone Musings

We can change the world — just like that. Thank you, Robert!
–ME “Liz” Strauss

______________
If you’re ready to change the world, send me your thoughts in a guest post. Feel free to take the gorgeous Change the World image up there that Sandy designed back to your blog. Or help yourself to this one.

Email me about what you’re doing or what we might do. Let’s change the world one bit at a time together. Together it can’t take forever.

Tags: Change-the-World, Middle-Zone-Musings, Robert-Hruzek

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Change the World: Take a Challenge

Filed Under Guest Writer, Motivation/Inspiration, Successful Blog, The Big Idea | 8 Comments

Robert Hruzek of Middle Zone Musings sent out an email to a few close friends about a series he writes monthly.

Robert’s been thinking, and he’s decided to make a challenge. He said he wouldn’t mind if I shared that challenge with you. So, here’s an excerpt from that email.

Over the last couple of days I’ve posted a two-part series at Middle Zone Musings on the subject of change, and got so inspired it prompted me to do something crazy (I mean, more than usual). So, go ahead and call me crazy if you like, but here it is: I’ve decided to change the world!

OK, I can hear it now; a chorus of, “Well, that’s just crazy!” (See; told ya!) But I don’t mind; I’m still goin’ for it! But, I really need your help (sound of stampede to the door).

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always been inspired by Liz Strauss’s Change The World series of posts. It always amazed me to realize just how much a single person can change the world, given the right circumstances. So I said to myself, “Self, why don’t you change the world?” Amazingly enough, me, myself and I agreed to quit talking about it and actually do something! (After all, it’s so rare that we all agree on something! I mean, besides ice cream; ice cream is always good.)

With that audacious goal in mind, I’ve just kicked off a Special Edition of our usual monthly What I Learned From… writing project with a two part post (yesterday’s and today’s) on the topic of Change. Yes, I know it’s a bit early - usually it starts on the first Monday of every month, but this time we’re going to need a few more days.

Please do me a favor and drop by the Zone, read these posts, and consider the challenge. Then, if you’d like to change the world with me, then by all means, let’s do it!

So, what do you think? Are you up to a challenge?

Will you change the world?

You, me, Robert . . . we can change the world, just like that.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Email me about what you’re doing or what we might do. Let’s change the world one bit at a time together. Together it can’t take forever.

Tags: bestof, Change-the-World, Liz-Strauss, Robert-Hruzek, The Big Idea

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David Armano Was Drawing Conclusions Yesterday

Filed Under Analysis, Marketing, Successful Blog | 12 Comments

Look what David Armano has noticed something about business and blogging. Click his logo to take a look at what he said yesterday.

I agree.

In fact, as a web publisher who blogs, I inviteyou to consider this question posed by Robert Hruzek: How Has Blogging Changed You?

I’ll start. My answer’s in the comments.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

Tags: blogging, David-Armano, Logic+Emotion, MiddleZoneMusings, Robert-Hruzek

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Change the World: Try One More Time

Filed Under Guest Writer, Motivation/Inspiration, Successful Blog | 2 Comments

Hey, Robert, How Can We Change the World?

One nice thing about writing here is that I have so many writer friends. This week I had a conversation with Robert Hruzek via email. He related a simple true story as an example of how we can change the world one person at a time.

It’s a story worth sharing. Here it is.

Try One More Time

Guest Writer: Robert Hruzek

OK, how would you like to change the world? Seems like a somewhat daunting challenge, don’t you think? Just how do you go about making a difference in people’s lives?

Well, perhaps the best approach is… one person at a time.

In church the other day, my wife was sitting next to a teen-age girl that exhibited all the signs of NOT wanting to be there. I have no idea what the back story was, but she was definitely doing her best to appear as sullen and rebellious as possible, even going so far as to pretend to be asleep during the sermon.

There’s always a point in our Sunday service when folks are invited to stand and greet one another, and I wondered what would happen when my wife tried to say few words of greeting to her. Alas, the girl would have no part of it, choosing to simply stay seated with her arms crossed. Ah, well, I suppose it was worth a try.

That’s probably where I would have given up and moved on.

But my wife, who is not one to be put off, did the most amazing thing. After the service had ended, she went back over to the girl and told her, “You know, you have the most beautiful hair!”

I’m telling you, it was like the sunrise on a clear morning! The young woman looked up at her in surprise, then suddenly got a huge smile on her face. In fact, her countenance changed so much she literally looked like a different person.

Isn’t it amazing what a difference a few kind words can make? You can change the world… one person at a time.

by Robert Hruzek

Thank you, Robert, for a simple story on how to start.

We can change the world — just like that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

Email me about what you’re doing or what we might do. Let’s change the world one bit at a time together. Together it can’t take forever.

Tags: MiddleZoneMusings, Robert-Hruzek

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In the Annals of Mists of Blogospheric Pre-History

A Successful-Blog Birthday Post!

by Robert Hruzek (posted from somewhere in The Middle Zone)

Change the World: Choose the Ending

Hey, Robert, How Can We Change the World?

Choose the Ending