Category: It IS all about me

Suggestions for photo opportunities in Vancouver?

I‘m very excited! On Monday, I’ll be hopping on a plane and heading for the left coast to speak at this social media in government conference. What fun, eh? This is similar to the conferences I’ve spoken at here in Ottawa last June and September, and I got a really great reception (and reviews!) both previous times.

This is my abstract:

Social Media Is Not One-Size-Fits-All: How To Choose The Right Tools For Your Audience, Your Message, And Your Organization’s Goals

Many government departments and agencies are considering launching their own YouTube channel or Facebook fan page. But how do you choose which tools are the right ones for your organization?

The Army News team in the Department of National Defence has posted nearly 2,000 videos to YouTube over the last three years and those videos have been viewed more than 1.6 million times. Their channel is currently ranked within the top 75 YouTube channels for Canadian news and reporting. They’re also using Twitter, iTunes, Flickr and Facebook to share information and engage Army stakeholders.

Social media is not one-size-fits-all. Not every tool is appropriate for every situation. In this session, you will learn how to choose the right tools for your audience, your message and your organization’s goals. You’ll also review some common issues to consider when using social media tools in a government environment, including:

* Tweeting in both official languages
* Managing comments – and responding when necessary
* Giving your organization an authentic “voice” and personality through social media
* Developing content that is relevant, interesting and timely
* Matching your policies to your tools
* Analyzing your audience and evaluating your tools to ensure they’re working for you and not the other way around

Danielle Donders, Web Manager, Army Multimedia

I love the topic and I love the interaction during the seminars. I’m so looking forward to it!

Of course, the other thing I’m looking forward to is the ginourmous photo opportunity that is Vancouver. I’ve been before, twice on the way to Victoria and one other time on business — but there was no down time for exploring.

Any suggestions on treks I may want to take with my camera? I’m staying right downtown on Burrard, not far from Robson Square. I don’t think I’ll bother with a car as I only really have the one day free and a couple of evenings, and it seems like there’s plenty of interesting stuff nearby. Granville Island is to the west and Gastown is to the east of where I’ll be staying; any thoughts on which one might be a better destination? I definitely want to check out the waterfront. Also not far away is Stanley Park, but a 15 km hike to cram them all in might be a little bit too much to cram in, especially since the current forecast is calling for — surprise! — rain on Monday. Any indoor suggestions are welcome, too!

All in all, I think just about anywhere you can point your camera in Vancouver, you’re going to come away with a good shot or two!

The real challenge is how I’ll manage with no laptop to process the pix as I go, as Beloved thinks his pesky work is more important than my obsessive photo habits. I know, the nerve, eh? Especially when I’m so considerately leaving all three boys here with him to keep him company!

Six years ago today: My first blog post

Six years ago today, on February 2, 2005, I wrote my very first-ever blog post:

Okay, so I’ve been reading about blogs for quite some time now. At first, the idea was quaintly geeky, which of course immediately appealed to me. But aside from generally knowing what they were, and stumbling across a few here and there, I never really realized what a universe unto themselves blogs have become.

So I started really thinking about it. To blog or not to blog? Note the insecurity in each of the questions I pondered: Am I funny enough to blog? (because if I don’t have humour then I don’t really have anything at all.) Does anyone really care what I have to say? What would I talk about? What if nobody reads my blog? What if somebody reads my blog? And the real biggie: do I have the resources to commit to a blog right now? Well, the last one is the only one I can answer right now. Since I’m back at work for the first time in a year, I can at least probably find an hour or so a week (on my lunch hour, bien sûr!) For the record, it took me about 15 alt+ combinations before I could get that û accent right.

If I could just type instead of editing and playing and getting lost in the friggin’ thesaurus I could probably do this in about half the time. If I only had an attention span…

So what would I blog about? Well, my kids of course. What else is there of significance in my universe? So does the world really need another soccer-mom wanna-be sending dispatches from suburbia, trying to strike a voice somewhere between Erma Bombeck, Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Cosby, but in the 21st century, not Jewish, not male and not black? And potentially not really funny?

Well, why the hell not?

So here we go. I’m so self-conscious as I type away, wondering if you are rolling your eyes at me or thinking cruel thoughts about my writing skills or (worst of all) have completely lost interest and have not even made it this far. What if I install a hit counter and I have to spend all my free time hitting refresh so it looks like somebody is reading my blog?

So, are you still reading? Should I publish this, or banish it to bad-idea heaven?

Ah, what the hell. Here we go!

I’m both charmed and, truth be told, vaguely disturbed at how little has changed. Still toe-in-the-carpet insecure, still unable to complete a thought without interrupting myself, still chasing that precious laugh.

Fast forward six years, 1,870 posts, 24,701 comments and nearly (eek!) half a million page views. I couldn’t even guess how many words I’ve plowed through, nor how many hours (days? weeks??) I’ve spent here glued to my keyboard instead of doing some *real* work like scrubbing sink grout or alphabetizing my soup cans.

And yet, I will freely admit, the blog is one of the best gifts I’ve ever given myself. If I could fly back through time and tell 2005 me of the crazy ride I was about to launch, never in a million years would I have believed me. And you, my bloggy peeps, are at the heart of it all. You make it all worthwhile!

So, are you still reading? 😉

So far, 2011 is looking pretty damn good!

It’s barely 10:00 on New Year’s Day, and (at the risk of jynxing myself) I’ve gotta say, it’s been a pretty damn good year so far.

I woke up at a spectacular 6:20 am, almost a full hour later than I’ve woken or been woken up for most of the month of December. As the light came into the day, I realized Manotick was blanketed in a heavy fog, so I slipped out with my camera and had an awesome and peaceful photo walk before most of the village was awake.

Foggy Mill

One foggy duck

When I booted up the computer, I found out that Postcards from the Mothership placed third (yay!!) in the Canadian Weblog Awards’ Humour Category. Did I mention “yay”???

2010 Canadian Weblog Awards

Then I started making one of my favourite new dishes, baked jalapeno beans with bacon, in the slow cooker for dinner tonight. Because, any day that starts with bacon and jalapenos in a pan just has to be a good day.

And now, I’m dashing this out quickly before the babysitter comes over, so Beloved and I can sneak out to catch Harry Potter in the theatres. Fog for breakfast, popcorn for lunch and jalapeno beans for dinner. Really, could a year start any better than that?

Happy new year to all of you, my sweet bloggy friends. May 2011 be filled with bliss. And laughter — cuz, I’m funny!! 😉

You think I’m funny? You think I’m FUNNY! *squeee*

Beloved will tell you, there is no living with me right now. Not since I found out that Postcards from the Mothership was shortlisted as one of the five finalists in the Humour category of the 2010 Canadian Weblog Awards.

2010 Canadian Weblog Awards

Did you catch that? The HUMOUR category.

*swoon*

Humour! I mean, I was so honoured to be nominated in the Best Written category. I love to write, and yes, I think I can string a few words together with occasional panache. And well, my raison d’être is pretty much Family and Parenting, so of course I was honoured to be nominated in that category. But to be nominated in, and then shortlisted in, the Humour category? Funny is something I aspire to, something I am never quite sure I have managed. Something I am genuinely delighted to be acknowledged for.

I’ve written before about how much I admire Schmutzie‘s efforts in putting together the Canadian Weblog Awards. She’s done a fantastic job reinventing blog awards to make them relevant, and more than just a clicky popularity contest. (Did you get that clever play on words? Clicky, like the keyboard, but cliquey, like the social thing? Cuz apparently I’m FUNNY!)(See? No living with me. Poor Beloved.)

If you haven’t had a chance, click on over and check out the finalist shortlist in all the categories. It reads like a who’s who of the Canadian blogosphere, all the blogs you should be reading if you aren’t already. I’m so happy to see blogs and bloggers I adore like Kids in the Capital and Julie and Amy and Andrea and Tanya and Annie and Kimusan and tonyphoto/drool and XUP and Thordora and Cheaty and Kate and Emma and Laura and … and ALL of them. Holy cats, there’s a lot of bloggy goodness representing here!

But wait, there’s more!

First of all, you’ll be delighted to hear that I am not about to recruit you into a clickfest of voting for me. Because there is no voting with the Canadian Weblog Awards. Isn’t that awesome? The whole thing is juried. I love that! There are so many contests I bypass on the Interwebs, because I truly hate the “vote for me” things. I know, I know, I’ve schmoozed you into doing it for me many times over the years, but I’ve always felt vaguely icky about it. So I’m doubly honoured to be shortlisted based on merit, however subjective and ethereal that might be, rather than by how many votes I can mobilize.

So now there’s a second round of juried review, and the first, second and third place finalists will be revealed on January 1. Um, wait a minute. Does that mean I have to be funny for the entire month of December? The insane month of December, rife as it is with school concerts, holiday parties and mould remediation? Yikes. That may just be the stress that tips me over into the abyss.

Then again, humour has always been my coping mechanism of choice. As long as the Universe keeps up with its antics, there should be plenty of “might as well laugh as weep” moments in the coming weeks!

A love letter to Mark’s

Dear Mark’s (formerly known as Work Wearhouse),

You couldn’t have known when you invited me and a handful of other bloggers and journalists for an amazing makeover day just how badly I needed the break. In fact, my schedule lately has been so insane that I first missed the deadline to reply to your offer, then almost canceled, and then begged at the last minute for you to reschedule me to an earlier time slot so I could run home after my makeover to clean the house for back-to-back showings of the House That Will Not Sell. (Because maybe my bad hair was the reason the house was not selling?) And when I had asked if I could bring a friend, you graciously said yes, and then I had to cancel that when the friend I had in mind was my only available child care for the day. (Editorial aside: Thanks, Mom, I really owe you one for that.)

All that to say, I was rather stressed when I arrived at my appointed time, sandwiching my makeover between a twice-previously-canceled dental hygiene appointment and a date with a vacuum cleaner, and I was breathlessly flustered with no idea what to expect.

I had a chance to chat with one of your managers from Toronto, who took me on a quick tour of the store. Since my background is in corporate communications, I was interested in what she said about the the rebranding exercise that the company has recently undertaken, from Mark’s Work Wearhouse to Mark’s: Clothes That Work. Wow, have you ever updated your look and your product lines! I admit, I’ve always thought of Mark’s Work Wearhouse as a place to get basics like plain Ts, khaki pants and winter gear . But you’ve really reinvented your women’s fashion lines and I’m curious to try some of your innovations like Perfectly Pressed shirts (no ironing!) and the 50-Wash t-shirts.

She convinced me to try on a T-Max winter coat and step into your winter-simulation chamber to see whether it would hold up to a real Ottawa winter with -40C wind-chill, and I was highly impressed with both the simulation and the warmth of the coat. I was also reminded why I don’t wear high-heeled sandals and capri pants in the typical Ottawa winter — the coat I tried on needed a footie compartment for my poor frozen toes! 😉

So that was cool (well, actually, that was friggin’ freezing, except for the parts that stayed nice and toasty under the coat!) but the attention from your makeover staff was amazing. I ran into my bloggy friends Lara and Andrea while I had my hair and makeup professionally done, and had a great time admiring their new looks. I love love love what your stylists did for me — they totally understood me when I said I preferred a simple and straightforward look, but would like to add an extra touch of style.

And then I was placed in the competent hands my own personal stylist. Did you read all those blog posts I wrote lamenting my need for my own personal Clinton and Stacy? Yeah. Really? Thank you! He picked out a stunning outfit from me, and I couldn’t help but look at your new Ispiri fashion line and think, “Wow, this is so not what I expected to see here.” Now, I won’t even attempt to pretend that I know one thing about fashion, but as the old saying goes, I know what I like and I liked your Ispiri line. Sharp, colourful and — be still my heart! — comfortable clothes that look as good on me as they do on the hanger.

See????

Lookit me, I'm a fashion model! (2 of 3)

Don’t I look awesome in your most excellent Ispiri leather bomber? OMG, I can’t tell you how long I have coveted something like this — and it’s a perfect match with that adorable Ispiri little black blouse.

But when you add on the Denver Hayes modern-fit black dress pants (seriously, who knew Denver Hayes pants could look so glam?) and these to-die-for kicky little ankle boots, also by Denver Hayes, that are so comfortable and so awesome that I will wear them every single day, even with my shorts if summer ever comes back even though they are fully winterized and even salt resistant? *squeeeee!*

MarksAfternoonFinal025

I still can’t believe that’s me in that picture. Me, whose fashion signature runs to unflattering striped turtlenecks, in a FASHION SHOOT! And looking, in my very humble opinion, AWESOME!

So really, thank you, friends at Mark’s. And thanks to Rayanne and Andrea of Highroad Communications, who demonstrated an excellent understanding of how to manage a successful social media campaign, and perhaps more importantly, how to wrangle one distracted but eternally grateful blogger out of her insane life for a couple of perfect hours.

Now, could we please arrange to have your makeup artist, hair stylist and personal shopper show up at my house every morning at around 6:10? Because this is a lifestyle to which I would like to become accustomed, please. 🙂

Gratefully,
DaniGirl

Photo credit: David Kawai

Five things I’ve learned while selling this house

There’s barely been time to tweet lately, let alone blog. Although the craziness of back-to-school week has subsided, there is no end yet on the horizon for the craziness that is selling this house. It’s been two weeks since it was listed and we’ve had a dozen appointments so far to see it, but we’ve still got nothing. I’m digging deep, deep into my psyche to find a wellspring of patience and zen about this whole experience.

In fact, it’s been a huge learning experience for all of us. Here’s five things I’ve learned so far:

1. I have attained the age of 41 years without ever properly learning how to make a bed.

To be fair, bed-making is not a skill I value. I frankly don’t care whether the beds get made or not in the mornings, and love crawling into my bed at the end of the day just as much when it’s taughtly drawn as when it’s a disheveled mess, but the stager said the beds must be made to “hotel perfection” for each showing. Hotel perfection is something we’ve yet to achieve, although we’ve now progressed beyond haphazardly tossed comforters and sheets hanging down. Barely.

By the way, Mom, don’t take this one personally. You imbued me with many other important life skills that have come in far more valuable than bed-making. Why am I so challenged at this? It seems to me the beds were made every day when I was growing up — obviously not by me, though!

2. I am a lousy housekeeper.

I’m sure I have put in more hours cleaning the house in the past two weeks than I have collectively over the past year *cough-orthree-cough* and have become obsessive about keeping the place clean. No mess will rest on my watch, and seeing mess in other places that are not my house for sale is beginning to stress me out. After the first weekend of showings, I went in to work on Monday and was horrified at the state of my desk.

I have, however, learned how to vacuum myself backwards out of a room so I don’t leave footprints in the pile — excellent for later when you come home and try to extrapolate viewer satisfaction based on the number and size and patterns of the footprints in the carpet.

3. I will never, ever ask to view a house unless I am 98 per cent sure I want to buy it.

I will absolutely never ask to view a house just on a lark. Honest to god, if I’m going to spend half the day cleaning the place for you, you damn well better be thinking about putting in an offer. And, as a corollary to this point:

4. There is a special place in hell for people who make appointments and do not show up.

After spending four hours cleaning this morning and making special arrangements to drop the dog off at my parents place, we returned after the designated hour to find that nobody had bothered to show up. One entire perfect autumn Saturday wasted, for no reason whatsoever. That’s just cruel.


5. Children do not understand the concept of preparing a house for show, no matter how carefully (or shriekily) you explain it to them.

One fine day Beloved was working until just before the showing, so I had to prep the place myself. With 20 minutes left and the main floor left to vacuum and polish, I came up from the basement to find Lucas holding one of the stair rail spindles, complete with rusty nail pointing out of the end. Exactly two minutes after fixing that, I accidentally vacuumed up the Nintendo DS charger cord that was plugged in to a power bar under the television set. When I yanked the vacuum back in a panic, not only did I yank the entire power bar out from under the TV, but I yanked the Wii, the cable box and the DVD player that had ALSO been plugged into the power bar off the back of the TV cabinet and onto the floor. With 10 minutes left before the people arrived. And I found myself saying to the children, “I know it doesn’t make any sense, but please — for the love of your mother, just go and sit over there by the front door and do not touch ANYTHING for the next ten minutes. Really, please? Just. sit. there.”

I’m thinking of creating a category for these posts called “misadventures in real estate” but I’m hoping that the experience won’t last long enough to merit one.

One hell of a weekend

Friday morning when I woke up, I was expecting an ordinary day leading into an ordinary weekend with absolutely nothing on the go — a nice break from looping around the country to just take it easy for a change.

Despite the best laid (non) plans, after a short-notice appointment to see a house on Friday after work, I spent an absolutely breathless and insane weekend taking a crash course in well and septic systems, bridge financing, real estate commissions and daycare in Manotick.

!!!

Yep, it looks like we found ourselves a house. *barely repressed squee* So now we’re going in 17 different directions at once: there’s decluttering and painting and repairing to be done, financing to be secured, inspections to be arranged, and the whole hell that is selling and packing and moving.

Did I mention “!!!!!”?

It’s all very exciting. Never in my wildest imaginings did I picture us living in Manotick. Then again, I also said I’d never work for DND, so I really ought to learn to stop starting sentences with the words “I will never…” Or, perhaps I should walk around chanting “I will never win a million dollars.” Or at least, “I will never have Jessica Beil’s body.”

There are a LOT of details to work out before I’m comfortable sharing any of them. The offer hasn’t even been tabled yet, but that’s pending, and so is a lot of the first-stage stuff like inspections and financing and then (whimper) on to the listing and selling our place.

I’d be very, very grateful for your insight on the two things that are currently keeping me awake nights: well and septic systems, and real estate agents. I’m getting comfortable with the idea of the former, pending a full inspection of the 40-year-old system. The five per cent commission to the latter makes me actually nauseous to think about, but the thought of negotiating the sale myself is far worse. If you know of an agent you trust with your life, I’m taking recommendations.

What I *should* be taking is a valium… can’t we just fast-forward through this part and start unpacking the boxes in my new house tomorrow???

(Oh, how I’m dying to tell you about this house!!!)

Saving the best for last: Photography Q&A at Canadian Family

I was a little stumped as to how to wrap up my week of guest posts over at the Family Jewels blog on Canadian Family’s site. I’d managed on each of the previous four posts to stay more or less on theme with a particular facet of photography, but had so much left to say that I was overwhelmed as to how to sum it all up coherently. Then, inspiration struck.

You had been feeding me some excellent questions and ideas throughout the week, so I turned to the comment box and found my Muse. Thanks to Joy, Melissa, Shannon, Dawn and Carrie for your excellent questions, which I addressed in my final guest post at Canadian Family, called Photography Q&A.

Phew, that was a lot of work, but a lot of fun too! I had started a Family Photographer category here last year, but it kind of petered out on me. Obviously, I need to take Rebecca’s suggestion and pick up the thread again here. 🙂

And now for the freebies — everybody loves the freebies, right? Congratulations to today’s winner of a one-year subscription to Canadian Family magazine: Johanne!

I really enjoyed reading all of your comments about which photos you love and why. Photography is so personal, and whenever I’m invited into someone’s personal space (office, home, even blog or social media account) I’m always fascinated by which pictures they prominently feature. Thank you for that, and for your support and encouragement throughout the Family Photographer series.

Finally, here’s the last subscription giveaway. If you have already entered your name for the giveaway this week, you’re already entered for today’s draw. If you entered four times, you’ve already got four ballots. You can get one more by leaving a comment either here or on today’s post on the Family Jewels blog (or two if you do both!). You can comment on any topic you choose — offer some constructive criticism, give me some feedback for the next post on Family Photography (cuz you know there’s going to be more now!), tell me what you had for lunch, or just leave a little happy face. It’s up to you!

One last time, here’s the fine print:

  1. Today’s giveaway is for one one-year subscription to Canadian Family magazine.
  2. To enter, leave a comment on this post.
  3. To earn a second entry, leave a comment on the Photography Q&A post on the Family Jewels blog.
  4. Any previous entries you have submitted for giveaways this week will also count as additional entries into today’s giveaway. Previous winners are not eligible.
  5. I may need to take off my socks and shoes to tally up all the ballots for this draw.
  6. Entries must be received by 8 pm on Saturday 17 July 2010.
  7. Winners will be chosen using the random number generator at random.org from eligible entries on Sunday 18 July 2010.
  8. You must leave a valid e-mail address and allow me to share your contact information with Canadian Family magazine to arrange for the subscription delivery.
  9. The winner will be contacted via e-mail and posted here.

Thank you to Megan and the staff at Canadian Family, and thank you to all of you. This has been a busy but fun week, and I’m all charged up and heading off into three weeks of vacation (yay!!!) ready to take a million pictures and spam you with every one of them!

Breaking news: *Another* guest post and *another* Canadian Family giveaway!

I really like today’s guest post over at Canadian Family’s Family Jewels blog. It’s more relaxed and less technical than my “elements of composition” posts and has tips and tricks on practical things like how to get a good group picture at a family gathering and how to get your kids to smile without looking like they just swallowed a cold chicken gizzard.

You know what else I like? Giving stuff away! Congratulations to Krista, yesterday’s winner of the Canadian Family magazine subscription. Yay!

I still have two subscriptions to give away, one for today and one for tomorrow. Tomorrow, I’m going to re-enter everyone who has been eligible for the giveaways so far this week, so you’ve still got a fresh chance even if you didn’t win so far!

If you would like an entry into today’s draw for a subscription to Canadian Family, leave me a comment describing a photograph that’s meaningful to you and why. Did you take it? Is it of you or someone you know? Why is it meaningful? I think this is important because we can get really wrapped up in details like white balance and saturation and megapixels and forget the real reason we value photographs — because of how they make us feel and because they help us capture a fleeting moment in time.

Once again, here’s the fine print:

  1. Today’s giveaway is for one one-year subscription to Canadian Family magazine.
  2. To enter, leave a comment on this post describing a photograph that is meaningful to you.
  3. Entries must be received by 3 pm on Friday 16 July 2010.
  4. Winners will be chosen using the random number generator at random.org from eligible entries on Thursday 16 July 2010.
  5. You must leave a valid e-mail address and allow me to share your contact information with Canadian Family magazine to arrange for the subscription delivery.
  6. The winner will be contacted via e-mail and posted here.

I’m looking forward to reading your answers to this one! (And, now I know why I don’t have more than one blog. As much fun as this has been, getting two blog posts out every day has been a bit of a challenge!!)

Wheeee! Another winner, another guest post and another Canadian Family subscription to give away!

It’s day three of my week of guest posts at Canadian Family, and today I put up the most technical post of my Family Photographer series over on the Family Jewels blog: 10 key elements of composition.

And yay, we have another winner of a subscription to Canadian Family magazine! Congratulations to AnnBac9!

Would you like to win a subscription to Canadian Family magazine? Here’s the deal for today. Click over to my guest post on Canadian Family, then leave me a comment below naming one of the ten elements of composition that I described. (Ha! Found a way to make you read them! *wink*) And!! Get a bonus entry if you leave a comment of any sort (even “Hi, DaniGirl sent me!”) on my post on the Family Jewels blog.

Here’s the fine print:

  1. Today’s giveaway is for one one-year subscription to Canadian Family magazine.
  2. To enter, visit my guest blog post on the Family Jewels blog, then come back here and leave a comment naming one of the ten elements of composition I described.
  3. Earn a bonus entry by leaving a comment on the Family Jewels blog post itself!
  4. Entries must be received by 3 pm on Thursday 15 July 2010.
  5. Winners will be chosen using the random number generator at random.org from eligible entries on Thursday 15 July 2010.
  6. You must leave a valid e-mail address and allow me to share your contact information with Canadian Family magazine to arrange for the subscription delivery.
  7. The winner will be contacted via e-mail and posted here.

Thanks again to everyone who is playing along, and especially to the great peeps at Canadian Family!