Successful Blog

A Song of Dots

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Connecting dots with The Idea Dude

Connecting Dots logo

A blog is a chain
Isabella inspired this week’s ponderings. She graciously translated a song and this verse opened its wings with a roar.

my song is a chain
without beginning, without an end,
and every link contains
the song of everyone else.

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A blog is an opportunity for dialogue. The blog post is merely the catalyst, the light in the window that invites us in. So is the blog not like Isabella’s song, a chain without beginning or end and every link contains the song of everyone else? A conversation with no end, with many threads leading in and leading out.

A blog is a mirror
Here’s another translation, this time, lovingly done by Bhaswati.

I saw my reflection
In your eyes.
You revealed yourself to me
By emerging from within me.

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Often we reflect upon each other’s writings and sometimes our thinking is born in the posts of others? It is a blessing, to have access a million thoughts in the hopes that one will inspire. Then while searching for one, we find ten. A cry of hope emerges and with it the epiphany that we are not alone.

As my good friend Liz says on this very blog. Sometimes I think that everything I know has been set to music somewhere.

May the dots be with you!

Vern, The Idea Dude

Thanks to Week 111 SOBs

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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.

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

I thank all 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 to me. Thie award carries a “Liz said so” guarantee, is endorsed by Kings of the Hemispheres, Martin and Michael, and is backed by my brothers, Angelo and Pasquale.

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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– A-Z Directory . Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

SOB Business Cafe 12-07-07

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SB Cafe

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 from the Past

Do you remember when these great finds were featured in Successful-Blog posts goneby . . .

seomoz.org guides our blogs with “a complete overview of many of the processes, techniques and strategies used by professional search engine optimization specialists.?

w3school.com guides us as we tweak and code.

Institute for Interactive Research guides us through a new interface. “Within this interface you won’t find any buttons. Instead you navigate the contents in a different way. . . . Prepare yourself for the new situation . . . ”

Sandy guides us a cool program for playing logos and buttons to replace typography.

vitamin guides us through C.R.A.P. design — “The four golden rules of site design. Simply follow them and watch the accolades come flooding in.”

Eyes on Design guides us through Photoshop.

Related ala carte selections include

I’m guiding you to one your might have missed.

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! See you when I’m home again!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Post Card 5: Dr. Lei, a Hypothesis, and the Mystery Is Solved

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Post Cards from the Fake Liz Strauss (written by the real one)

I figure if Dan Lyons can write the fake Steve Jobs, I can do one better . . . I’m writing these post cards before I go on the UK trip with Ann Michael. Consider it a fictional account of real people we might have met, real places we might have visited, and real things that did or didn’t happen as told by the fake myself. Some things actually might have occurred. Like I said, I’m writing this before we go. –Liz

Re: Dec. 6, 2007

Hi, Everyone!
On Thursday morning, we awoke still living under the threat of the mysterious land shark. The London Online Conference Hall was ending. Would the shark be let loose?

At noon, I had a lunch meeting with Dr. Hsien, Hsien Lei. We met in the dining room of a famous hotel.

Claridges Hotel

She put forth a scientific hypothesis about the land shark which, when we tested it, turned out to be true.

The shark was the only decent picture that the web dev guy had on his hard drive when he was building the site.

So our mystery was solved.

Ann headed back for the States this afternoon. I get to meet some cool folks at lunch today, a dinner tonight, lunch again tomorrow — and those are just the ones who blog. Then on Sunday, I get to come home.

Yours truly,

Liz's Signature

The Fake Liz Strauss

PS When I’m not catching up with folks at mealtime, I’ll be in my room ironing my clothes.

Change the World: One Pound at a Time

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Hey, Karen, How Can We Change the World?

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This guest post was contributed by friend and SOB, Karen Hanrahan. I had the joy of meeting her in October. What an inspiring and delightful person she is! Karen writes of an incredible change in her own life. –ME “Liz” Strauss

One Pound at a Time

by Karen Hanrahan

‘ Tis the season for eating!!! I can hear my indulging commentary “Oh why fight it”, isn’t the holiday season all about the food? “ I’ll be really good after the holidays” (in holiday forked tongue that really means 6 weeks of being bad) “I’ll binge now and worry later” (sort of like I’ll shove it in faster than I did before because in January I am going on a diet)

Welcome to my world. One year ago I was a whopping size 24 or XXX (not the steamy sexy kind of XXX either) It’s one thing to hit 200 lbs, it’s another to go above and beyond 200lbs. At 240 lbs how could any weight loss make a difference – 230 lbs now what? 100 lbs to go?? Forget it.

One brownie became 3 brownies simply because what difference did it make. In the bigger (ha!) picture of things – I was already big.

How did I get to be so darn BIG? Some of it was circumstance (car accident — 2 years of pain), some of it was chosen sedentary-ness (if I didn’t move then it wouldn’t hurt) and most of it became utter and pathetic apathy (it’s just too darn hard.)

For those of us who have been of size, there are details to being fat that are never discussed. Those of thinness take for granted the horrors we of girth endure.

In my minds eye, meaning without ever looking in the mirror, I was skinny. My true self (or the person I could seemingly relate to) would walk down the street see the reflection in the glass window and completely ignore who she saw. What I don’t acknowledge won’t hurt me

I could never sit neatly in my chair. Those of thinness kindly observe that when you sit in a chair, volumes of you don’t roll over the side. I affectionately called it sitting in the round.

After a recent 60 lbs of weight loss, I got on a plane and buckled my seatbelt – without even thinking I sat in the middle seat, something I could never do as a woman of size. I burst into tears when I realized that my thighs were not invading someone’s personal space. Nothing worse than sharing thunder thighs with a stranger. (I then had to explain to 2 strangers why the heck I was crying.)

Ever go in the Woman’s Plus Department? See anything hip you’d care to wear? See any natural fabrics? Can you say S-T-R-E-T-C-H, synthetic land? Can you see that the #1 color choice is black? Can you imagine the feeling of black synthetic stretchy fabric on a balmy humid summer afternoon? Thunder thighs wrapped in plastic. Lovely huh?

I once had to walk through a crowd. A young man in front of me – a thin young man pushed his way through the crowd shouting “WIDE LOAD coming through”
WIDE LOAD. I thought I would simply die.

How bad does it have to get to shift from hefty to healthy? How horrible did it have to be?

For me, I got scared. I also got embarrassed. I looked in the mirror. I faced my skepticism, took on some products that helped the process, but mostly I allowed myself room for being real. What monster had I created and was I willing to look at that creep face to face.

5 things made a difference for me

  • water –- the only beverage of choice
  • snacks –- in this order; protein, vegetables, fruit, carbs
  • movement –- like get up and just walk – forget the gym membership – save that for later when you’ll actually go
  • immediate success –- seeing some weight come off was truly inspirational
  • habits –- notice them –- boy, I didn’t even know the bad habits I had created. Do something about them.

Not rocket science and not something that everyone doesn’t already know.

I had 2 immediate goals. Kick the 200 lb mark, and get out of the plus department.

I celebrate today my size 16 – ness. (not age 16 goof, SIZE 16!) and officially I am so out of the plus department!

In the world of thin-ness and ultimate BMI I have about 30 lbs to go. I lost 60 lbs in 12 months – slowly and steadily. No up and down yo-yo stuff, and the best part is I feel really swell.

Do we hear weight success stories all the time? Sure. Perhaps you see a bit of yourself in mine. More than anything perhaps you find a bit of inspiration to give yourself that kick in the size ah-hem pants and get on the path to health. Best yet if we all took on weight loss, we’d alter a frightening epidemic issue. One lb at a time.

— Karen Hanrahan

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Thanks, Karen! You’re an inspiration.

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

Post Card 4: The Taxi Ride

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Post Cards from the Fake Liz Strauss (written by the real one)

I figure if Dan Lyons can write the fake Steve Jobs, I can do one better . . . I’m writing these post cards before I go on the UK trip with Ann Michael. Consider it a fictional account of real people we might have met, real places we might have visited, and real things that did or didn’t happen as told by the fake myself. Some things actually might have occurred. Like I said, I’m writing this before we go. –Liz

Re: Dec. 5, 2007

Hi, Everyone!
Tuesday night, at the blogger movie premiere we had close call with the bloggerrazzi. Luckily, no one was hurt or went to jail. It seems they wanted pix of Ann and I for the tabblogs, but we pulled out our sunglasses, head scarves, and superhero invisibility capes. We lost track of them in no time at all.

We spent hours on Wed. at the London Online Conference Hall. The only hint of a shark we saw was some spilled water on the floor. It was time to pull in some serious help.

We turned first to a London taxi driver. They seem to know everything.

Sherlock Holmes Museum Baker Street photo by Kjetil Bjørnsrud

We asked our driver about the mystery of the land shark and told him of our concerns. He gave us his philosophy of life and a complete tour of the city. We saw sights that even Londoners will never know — places our driver suggested that land sharks might hang out. We asked question after question about land shark sightings. He made up the answers as he drove until we tired him out.

Then he delivered us to Baker St. He said to ask for a guy named Holmes.

The Holmes guy told us to make an appt. with a guy named Watson. We made a reservation for dinner instead.

Yours truly,

Liz's Signature

The Fake Liz Strauss

PS That night we needed refueling so we took Kevin up his offer to meet other bloggers at a pub. Maybe they would have information from the underground about a land shark invasion related to the London Online conference.