bc Archives - Page 662 of 959

ImageChef

June 3, 2007 by Liz

Cook Up Something Special With ImageChef!

Great Find: ImageChef

Permalink: http://www.imagechef.com/

Target Audience: Anyone interested in creating graphics quickly!

Content:

ImageChef was founded in 2003, so while it’s not a brand new graphics generator, they are always releasing new features and support. You can create custom images without special knowledge or software. Once registered you can email your creations to friends and host your images on the ImageChef site.

And there are so many choices! Below are some examples of graphics I created. This tool is on my favorites list because it is:

Easy-to-use
Free
Unique

Check it out yourself.

See you next time!

–Sandy, Purple Wren

The Art of Giving a Gift to Someone You Know

June 3, 2007 by Liz

giving gifts.

I’ve been thinking about how some folks think they are other-centered, really believe they are, when they don’t quite know how to be. It shows when they buy gifts for people they care about. The gifts don’t always work out.

I have an agreement with my closest friends about giving gifts. When we see something that so perfectly suits the other we buy it and it send it no matter when. When a birthday comes and we haven’t found it, then we don’t. We like it a lot just like that.

Giving with head and heart has a full-on view of the person who will receive it.

Why do we sometimes give gifts those we love without looking?

Companies do it. Parents do it. Husbands, and wives, and lovers do it. Children do it too. Though young children do it least.

I know you know what I mean. It’s that episode of the TV show Frazier in which they try to buy Frazier’s dad a new chair. He loves that chair duct tape and all. What sort of gift separates a guy from something he loves? Who is the gift really for?

It’s the cross pen I got one year for a gift from someone who knew me for over a decade. It was engraved with the wrong initials. It wasn’t the engraver’s mistake.

It’s the shirt, or the tie, or the dress that you would never wear — that so obviously doesn’t reflect who you are.

It’s sad, because often the receiver had no request, no need, and now sees a face filled with anticipation of a joyous response and must blend gratitude with honesty.

The art of giving a gift is accomplished so easily. I don’t understand how we miss this.

A friend said to me recently, “I knew exactly what to buy, because I know her, because I love her.” His gift for her was all about her.

That is the art of giving an unconditional gift.

We have so many gifts to share and so many ways to connect.

A gift can be a kind word, a smile, and hand on a shoulder that says, “I know you. I see you. I am aware you exist.” It’s something that shows I heard you, when you didn’t know I was listening.

How do you recognize a gift from someone who knows you?

–ME “Liz’ Strauss

Thanks to Week 84 SOBs

June 2, 2007 by Liz

Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,

and the right to call themselves
Successful Blog SOBs.

I invite them to take a badge home to display on their blogs.

They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.

I thank every one of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on.
Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.

Should anyone question this SOB button’s validity, send him or her directly to me. This award comes with a full “Liz said so” guarantee. It is endorsed by Kings of the Hemispheres, Martin and Michael, and backed by my brothers, Angelo and Pasquale.

Want to become an SOB?

If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, you can see the whole list of SOBs and learn how to be one by visiting the SOB Hall of Fame. Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Fair and Just â Do They Mean the Same Thing?

June 2, 2007 by Liz

We Didn’t Do that for Her Brother

My father retold this story shortly after my college graduation party. . . .

When I graduated from college, my dad suggested that my parents have a party. He wanted to take his best friends from the saloon out to dinner to celebrate with us. My mom pointed out that they didn’t do that when my oldest brother graduated from college 9 years before. My dad said his reply was, “When we first got married, we could only afford hamburger. Does that mean we shouldn’t eat steak now?”

Throughout my life, this was a recurring theme. My mother believed in giving the same. My father believed in adjusting for changing circumstances.

I grew to think of one as fair and one as just — both as noble and loving.

What do you think? Are fair and just the same thing?

My husband says this story is about something else entirely. See my comment.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Behind every successful business is an outstanding manager –The Perfect Virtual Manager.

A Walk in the Zen Moonlight

June 1, 2007 by Liz

The Moon and the Lake in My Mind

In a week of too many things to do, it’s easy to get lost. It’s even easier not to want to be found. I see lots of folks feeling like that. Not me, no never, never me. Wouldn’t cross my mind. Wouldn’t happen like that.

I don’t get pulled. I don’t get stretched. I can handle the rush. I can handle the push. What else is strength of purpose about? It’s tied up in my need to show up, to find out, to be alive.

Does living mean we need to be strong, noble, and inspired every minute? Sometimes I do my work and think What do I do next? What do I expect of myself?

Then when I’m lucky, I hear music playing in my head. It’s an original melody. I know its movements by now. It’s a full orchestra — brilliant and breathtaking. It also means I’ll soon be going on a Zen walk.

I mentally grab my jacket. I put my wallet and keys in my jeans. It’s a quick good-bye. “Hey, I’m going outside. . . . Yeah, I know it’s raining. That’s okay, I’ve been wet before.”

I’ve no destination beyond the elevator going down. Soon enough, I’m out the glass front doors.

I walk south three city blocks. Three people jog by me on the sidewalk. Two more stroll. An old lady in a walker chair sits in the doorway of a stately building waiting for a ride, maybe her son, to pick her up. There’s a 30-something guy with a shaved head walking his big black dog with the caramel eyes. Lots of cars pass on Lakeshore Drive.

A neighborhood is where I live. I cross under the drive and come out by the lake. All civilization is left behind. Vast space, water and sky refresh my eyes. What a relief.

Sometimes I only need to change what I see.

I lay down my stress and look up at the sky.

The Zen moon in my mind enhances the symphony playing there.

Some folks say they can tell when I write at night. I bet they can.

People get more emotional when the sun has moved on.

I don’t have research to prove that it’s a fact of life.

I don’t need proof.

I have the Zen moon shining in the night sky.

SOB Business Cafe 06-01-07

June 1, 2007 by Liz

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Seth’s Blog recommends that we choose a game plan to suit the game we’re playing.

Related ala carte selections include

Design Your Writing Life is suggesting we fess up.

“I Don’t Have Time to Write” and other Writerly Lies #2

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

Have a great weekend!