Philosophical wonder woman

  I'm notoriously early to bed, early to rise these last couple years. Was more like a habit, and rhythm my body fell into. I do love the early morning hours because they are dew kissed, possibility filled, moments. Everything after that is hard. But life is struggle; whether you have mood disorders or a physical disability. Or even under "normal" circumstances I'd argue life is hard. What I need to do is unearth my optimistic, almost silly side. Where has that joy gone? Side note: doing the early bed/early rise thing doesn't guarantee healthy, wealth or wise. Or was that only applicable to men Mr. Franklin? So where has the whimsical me gone? I could argue it started hiding as soon as "grown up" issues became so important and necessary. So where is she hiding? I tried to freestyle dance (my favorite thing) the other day and I felt nothing. I could tap side to side, I could do the smallest, most basic things. (that could actually be the biproduct of anti...

 I made a commitment to blog, and so far I'm not off to a great start. My excuse was moving. 2 weeks of intense manual labor. I broke down a few times during the process... not surprising. My husband was a model of perseverance and patience. It's embarrassing to be someone who can't always contain their emotions. But hell, my anxiety and bipolar disorders are life disturbing constantly. Anyone with these conditions would know. Trouble is the folks who will never be able to understand, and therefore continue to judge, use stigma, or blatantly berate those with mood disorders. I was once told in an online comment, that I should just die because I'm too sensitive for this world.   I seem to want to blog about bipolar - so I want that to stay pure, and not indulgent. I say the above types of things a lot. What I need to do is read it 5 or so times and then not say it again. Mood disorders aside, I've been feeling better the past couple days (after moving, unpacking, get...

  It's been suggested by my hubby that blogging every day might help me get back in the swing of things. Sooooo long this pandemic has kept me inside... and now it's time to get the power of speech, ripped from dysfunction, onto this page.  It's a wild time... packing to move to our first nice house as a married couple. I hate packing. Everyone expects me to be nothing but excited... and I AM excited. There are just a couple thousand things to do before getting to the fun part. Things at the house now feel chaotic because of the process of moving. I can't get peaceful when things are in this state (unless I'm just sleeping). I try to think what I can do to speed things up. 12 days till move-in.  Just keep swimming, swimming, swim......

Google Search Rankings Are Changing 4-21! Is your website mobile-friendly? Starting April 21st, Google will change their algorithm so mobile-friendly websites appear higher in search results. It should come as no surprise to our smartphone-addicted society that 60% of internet access is mostly conducted through a mobile phone. At our office we are working on a web redesign for this very reason. A website that can't be navigated easily on a smart phone WILL lose viewers. More Info >   Google Blog Post  and  Mobile-Friendly Test Want advice on how to optimize your website? Feel free to send me a message! Have tips of your own? Comment below!

It's been a while since I read for pleasure.  I generally read mostly work-related articles until my eyes give out. But as a former English major, I need a fix... Poetry for me is not hearts and flowers. It's angst, frustration, love, passion; every raw emotion expressed in a unique perspective. I'll admit I was never a good writer of poetry, (at least by my professors' standards), but it fuels the soul. In the words of Robin Williams in "Dead Poets Society".... " We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for." "Humanity I Love You" by E E Cummings Humanity i love you because you would rather black the boots of success than enquire whose soul ...

It's entirely possible you've heard of these 3 websites. If you have, congrats! You may like or dislike them for whatever reasons; different methods for different folks. From various articles I skimmed this year, I found 3 websites that have become indispensable tools for work and personal use. These websites relate to:  • Curating images • Creating infographics and • Free website services. Hopefully by this time, bloggers realize how crucial it is to include images in their posts. Often, it can be challenging to find a quality image that is free and clear to use legally. (Unless you have a good-sized budget to spend on Shutterstock.) Even if you THINK an image is labeled for re-use (a search option available from Google), that does not mean that it IS legal for you to use. I learned this the hard way . Getty Images has a dedicated staff searching sites for unlicensed images. Not to worry, there are MANY sites where you can find good quality, free images.  Som...

Are apples the new oranges? The buzz around Ello is increasing, and the beta social network is continually being compared to Facebook.  People are speculating that many on Facebook will jump ship for the next new thing.  With Ello just now releasing a beta version to a limited number of people, the demand and intrigue increases the hype. However, Ello is something altogether new; originally created by seven people to be a private social network, mainly geared toward artists. Their network grew, so eventually creator Paul Budnitz slowly rolled out a beta public version. Ello has never promised to be a new Facebook. It's never promised games or "liking" or videos.  They really didn't promise anything except to be forever ad-free. In this interview with Carson Daly , Ello CEO & Co-Founder try to set the record straight about what their site is and isn't. If you get an invite to join Ello, here's what to expect: Mini...

In a previous blog post, I stated that each entry should have a compelling image to catch attention. THIS IS STILL TRUE. However, I suggested using Google Image search and filtering the results by "labeled for reuse."  Technically speaking, this should have been a quick solution when needing images on the fly. You can usually tell if an image is copyrighted. HOWEVER, this isn't always the case as I found out the hard way after receiving a fine for using a Getty image (unknowingly). Obviously I had not paid for the licensed image, so as a result, I was charged a 470$ fine. OUCH. In retrospect, I know I was taking the lazy approach.  But when you need to do one or two blog posts a day, it can be tough to find a relevant image for each of them. So let me provide a great link with a collection of MANY free image sites (and this post will act as a bookmark for myself as well) 53+ Free Image Sources For Your Blog and Social Media Posts And remember, just be...

There are A LOT of self-named "gurus" of social media on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc. (Take your pick.)  Let me say first off, I think calling yourself a guru is a wee bit narcissistic... But technically it's a LEADER in the field. If you're a leader in the field, your Twitter followers should have a "K" behind the number. If you're trying to make it as a marketing and/or social media professional, like me, you will read everything you possibly can on strategies, content, tone, branding, which platform to use... Not everyone can be right. And you know what? There is no right! There are only ideas, floating around like code bits in the matrix. Here is my ever-growing and changing Twitter list of Marketing and Social Media folks I follow.  I read what they have to say... Some of it I've heard before, some I disagree with, some of it I've tried and implement, and some advice is a little golden treasure I had not discovered. Each soci...

At the request of my good friend @NerdAlertNews , fellow obsessive fan-girl of Supernatural, I am blogging my rant about how I shifted from Team Dean, to Team Sam.   It's crazy to me that I can be so invested in these fictional characters. All of the SPN fans are, and that's really a credit to the writers and the actors.  For those who have not seen the end of Season 9, *spoilers* - and what is wrong with you?? I always thought Sam was too whiny, and Dean was the funny, beautiful one. Therefore, I identified as "Team Dean." I mean for a LONG time... Team Dean all the way. But as we have watched them live through their "river of crap that would send most people howling to the nuthouse," I had an epiphany that slowly started the beginning of Season 9 and crashed into a wall by the finale. Dean definitely loves Sam in his own way. We all know that. As a child, poor Dean had the burden of trying to be tough and do what his dad told him and protect Sam...

No, not a mental conception of your overall blog; literally your blog needs an image with each post. There is a consensus in the social media and marketing expert community that the best way to get attention to a blog post is to have some type of visual along with it. However, it can be difficult to find an eye-catching image to use for free without violating copyright. Your other choices are then to create your own images or purchase stock photos. One is time consuming, and the other pricey for a small business or self-employed blogger. Google Images has been a helpful source for visual search, but it wasn't always clear without some effort to find which images were available for reuse. There is an option now to refine the search by clicking "Search Tools" after typing in your image name (such as Super Bowl for this example). Underneath is a drop-down for Usage Rights options, and there you can choose from: labeled for reuse labeled for comm...

So interesting... I went to Yahoo.com to get the skinny on getting your website fully indexed in the Yahoo search engine.  I typed "submit your website" into the yahoo.com search box.  Wouldn't you think that one of the top search results in the yahoo.com search would be how to submit your site to Yahoo? Yeah... no.  NO mention of Yahoo on the first page of results.  Google AdWords, other services, Google webmaster tools, BING.  These results dominated Yahoo's search results. Is Yahoo trying to be self defeating?  Don't they have programmers working to ensure their web presence?  Yeah, their free email service is still OK, though they always seem to change their format based on Gmail services.  However, Yahoo needs extra ads on their pages to compensate for the revenue they're not generating; which slows down load time and is inconvenient for the user. Yahoo doesn't have its own social media platform like Google does (which inciden...

I wrote this for a specific project - but for anyone curious about the basics of cloud computing, this entry might be helpful to you. “…the ability to experiment with more ideas can set a competitive advantage for the organization and deliver products and services that more rapidly create revenue.” Phil Garland Cloud computing isn't going away.  It took off in 2010 and soon business and service apps will be as easy to use as most social media apps.  Simply put: internet speeds will increase, therefore computing service needs rise; so the cloud will continue to grow. Yet many CEO's are still hesitant to make the switch over to the cloud innovation.  This gives smaller companies the opportunity to grab new resources that weren't readily available for them, before traditional large companies begin to take over. The benefits of cloud-based solutions in business boil down to three things:  1. Fast resources 2. Less costs and  3. Low mainte...

I have a few postings on Craigslist that I thought I'd also share here. DRAGON A year ago I bought a cute, fuzzy, red dragon at the Renaissance Faire and still have not used it, so I think it's time the little fella found a better place to play than in my closet.  He'll hang out on your shoulder and look around at all the people. Here is the Craigslist posting for more info: http://denver.craigslist.org/tag/3873941889.html Belly Dance Bra / Belt Sets (Cabaret style) Eventually, a girl's just gotta move on from past costumes... 1 - Pale blue sequins - $60 Craigslist posting: http://denver.craigslist.org/clo/3873941091.html 2 - Turquoise sequins - 75$ Craigslist posting: http://denver.craigslist.org/clo/3879290850.html India-style Belly dance embroidered crop top - $15 Craigslist posting: http://denver.craigslist.org/clo/3881313247.html Check out the Craigslist links for all the details.  Considering the dragon's...

" It is NOT important to me what you think about me, and i don't take what you think personally.... I dont have the need to be accepted. I dont have the need to have someone tell me, " Miguel you are GREAT"... What ever YOU think, whatever YOU feel is YOUR problem not MY problem. " "PERSONAL IMPORTANCE or taking things personally, is an expression of SELFISHNESS because we make the assumption that everything is about ME!! NOTHING PEOPLE DO IS BECAUSE OF YOU!! IT'S BECAUSE OF THEMSELVES!!" Don Miguel Ruiz

It's so easy to get caught up in our every day lives... things that seem important but when compared to the people we love and dramatic world tragedies - just seem ridiculously unnecessary. With Memorial Day just passed - I am also reminded of recent tragedies. There was a very dear friend my age who I never expected to die so young who passed May 4th.  Even though he had health problems and quite often was in and out of the hospital... it's still hard to believe.  I'm grateful he's at peace and will no longer suffer... But I am trying to let go of the regret I have from not spending time with him the last couple times I had a chance. Another family friend very suddenly died leaving a devastated family.  A truly tragic accident that no one ever could expect... it's a reminder of just how fragile our bodies can be and how we never really know how long we have on this earth. Of course we are always reminded when there is a massive tragedy such as in Oklahoma, ...

This is a good time for the release and letting go of unwanted emotions; worry, angst, self-consciousness and anything else that holds one back.  I don't know about you, but I want to be my genuine self, working daily to transcend darkness and find the path that's rewarding and purposeful. Here is my list of the numerous worries I want released and to be free from.  They are all immensely difficult and thus why I am writing this, so I will reference and remember the things I feel hold me back in life.  I am not lecturing you... I am basically talking to myself.  :-)  1.  Stop worrying about money.  Despite unemployment and all the hard times, you have always gotten by and been completely blessed by supportive family and unexpected financial blessings from others as well.  You will never starve or be out on the streets.  (Grateful) 2.  Let go of the bitterness, anger, frustration and shame of losing jobs.  You know that yo...

I want you to know that wherever you are today, a bigger life awaits you. Here are the things I learned that may support you in "defying gravity": 1. Always dream bigger than you think you can achieve at this moment 2. See the vision of your bigger life in your mind and embrace the possibility of it happening 3. Research and study so that you gain skills in the area of your dreams 4. Ask the universe to support you beyond your wildest imaginings 5. Say "yes" when opportunities arise. You may not be great at something but the universe will give you chances to learn and grow 6. Model people who do what you want to do 7. Expect Miracles and when they come celebrate Please affirm with me: Today, I boldly step into the amazing adventure of my life. I defy the odds of limitation and create a life of endless and enduring possibilities.

Let's face it, most movies about dancing pretty much stink. The plot is predictable, the dialogue is cheesy...  We all know the plot. There's the misunderstood person whose passion is to dance and they struggle, struggle, till finally there's an ending breakthrough dance & they hear from a parent or authority figure, "oh I was so wrong! I see now dancing is who you are and what you have to do!" Or the protagonist has poverty or some kind of tragedy to overcome, couldn't dance & then re-discoveres it.  Get a new plot already. Yet true dance fans endure that for those few moments of dance number bliss. I wish dance movies could be told entirely through dance, like ballets are in the theatre. Since I enjoy all types of dancing, I used to own You Got Served & would just fast forward through the talking parts... Until I realized I was mostly just fast forwarding. I used to be a big fan of Dirty Dancing... Until I really got into other genres of dancing ...

I really don't know the legality of writing in detail about a ticketed event at a convention... but I just had to share the fun that was Ben Browder for my fellow Farscape fans.  He is also know for Stargate (which I didn't really watch but just might now!) and was also on a recent episode of Arrow. But my heart will always beat for John Crichton of Farscape .  Thanks to my AZ BFF Alisha, I was introduced to the most creative sci-fi show I've ever seen.  Working with the Muppet studios and fantastical make-up creations, the show TRULY felt like another universe that would be phenomenally confusing to any human.  And that is part of the humor in it for me... I don't want to spoiler anyone who plans to watch the show, but poor John is a brilliant astronaut who is accidentally sucked into another universe, fumbling his way through, perpetually confused and mocked mercilessly for it. I'd been kind of disappointed in certain sci-fi shows in the past in t...