Congratulations again on your blog, and enjoy the party.
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Successful = potential reached.
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Best regards,
The party is Oct. 24th! Come for the surprises! Bring a link to your success!!! 
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.
You Already Know This Stuff brings news of possibilities.
Ramblings From a Glass Half Full brings a universal question and answer.
It’s a Numeric Life brings something to look forward to.
Empathy brings hope for millions of children.
Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing brings information on how engage the mouth correctly.
The Artsy Asylum brings news of who we are in amother world.
100 Bloggers brings us the words of Edward R. Morrow.
Creative Think brings news about Roger’s balls.
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!
–ME “Liz” Strauss
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.
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, Cafe 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?
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!
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.
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!
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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
The outstanding Jason Alba got together with the successful Matthew Reinbold to organize and present the 2007 Blogging for Business (or B4B) Conference. This event is the inaugural Intermountain West Blog Event for marketing, public relations, and business professionals. It’s quite a value, and I’m delighted I was invited. It’s an honor to be a part of short list of folks who will be contributing to an incredible day.
The conference focus will be on the role of blogs and new technologies. I’ll be speaking on how to go beyond the branding conversation to make your business sticky, using principles that work for your clients’ businesses too. Other topics during the day will include Public Relations, the state of the blogosphere, corporate blogging, social media, laws that govern blogging, and online visibility. The speaker slate is quite impressive:
If you’re anywhere near Salt Lake City on Monday. It’s well-worth attending. The 2007 Blogging for Business Conference will be held at the Salt Lake City Marriott Downtown – 75 S West Temple Salt Lake City, Utah. For more information visit the official Blogging for Business conference blog.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
Does this sound familiar?
You’re working. You’re thinking, typing, planning, talking, and eating . . . all at the same time. A friend, a family member, a person you care about deeply, comes to where you are and says,
“I’ve just cut off my finger! I’m bleeding all over the carpet!”
A full-two minutes later, you actually hear what was said. You stare blankly into space as you try to process the message.
“Um. Oh. Did you just say something about the carpet?â€
The message had to fight through the traffic jam on the neuropathways of your multitasking brain.
Multitasking is on its way out for me. I’ve suspected for sometime it was a major source of what made me tired and cranky.
“What?!!! Who cares what we’re having for dinner?!!”
Every new and stressful detail made me wish I had a defragmenter for my brain.
Multitasking didn’t get any more done. I was just doing more at the same time. I knew that doing many things at once is not efficient. Somehow I got sucked into the multitasking vortex, anyway.
Soon enough I thought I was developing an attention deficit. Truth is I was just fragmenting my brain.
That’s what it’s called, Continuous Partial Attention — CPA. Keeping our eyes and ears alert to everything, always scanning the environment in case something we need might pop onto our radar — we use multiple screens. We check for multiple priorities.
Scanning is great when what we’re doing is routine. It’s disastrous when a task requires reflection, concentration, or humanity.
“Why do you interrupt?!!! You take your life too seriously.”
We scan because of anxiety . . . we can’t miss anything. Linda Stone described it in a Newsweek interview with Stephen Levy.
. . . there’s a problem in the workplace when the interruptions intrude on tasks that require real concentration or quiet reflection. And there’s an even bigger problem when our bubble of connectedness stretches to ensnare us no matter where we are. A live BlackBerry or even a switched-on mobile phone is an admission that your commitment to your current activity is as fickle as Renée Zellweger’s wedding vows. Your world turns into a never-ending cocktail party where you’re always looking over your virtual shoulder for a better conversation partner. The anxiety is contagious . . .
I read that and I decided to make a change.
I cleared the traffic on the neuropathways of my brain. I became my own defragger. I do one thing at a time, and I get more things done and with fewer errors.
I’m breathing slower and liking myself better.
And now, when someone talks to me, they often get a human answer. I’m pretty proud of that.
Do you need to defragment your brain?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
When I find myself in a conflict, it’s easy for me to see both sides — my own and the other guy’s. My natural response is to be biased to the benefit of the other side. I still seem to have this a natural instinct to want to fix things in their favor.
My mind knows that’s not a great idea. To set my own position aside for theirs is wrong for me, wrong for the other guy, and wrong for the relationship.
Still my heart says, “Have some forgiveness. Take the hit. Help the guy. You know how to make things right.”
Is that generosity, arrogance, or self-defeating behavior? I’m beginning to think it might be as simple as wanting to have the conflict quickly resolved and put away.
The problem is some folks learn to rely on that response and then, I’m caught in my own bind. Every teacher knows it’s not a good thing to reinforce bad behavior. Yet, my sense of fairness says, “Why should this person act otherwise when I’ve basically taught him or her this is who I am?”
When is the “giveness” of forgiveness too valuable to “give away”?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!