Category Archives: Getting Shit Done

Late to the Game

I attended my first blogging conference last July in Chicago: the BlogHer 2013. At the end of the 3-day conference, I’ll admit: my verdict on the conference was really ho hum. I mean, yes, I loved the keynotes, especially the talks by Ree Drummond and Sheryl Sandberg, but the sessions were really kinda hit or miss. Some were super chintzy with no real content/help. Others were too general. Yet there was no denying that BlogHer, with its 5,000 conference attendees, had community and critical mass. I decided to keep BlogHer on my radar.

In early September, after I launched Giddy Go, Cowgirl, it seemed like an obvious next step to join the BlogHer Network. I hadn’t really dug around the site too deeply, but 1) BlogHer actually has an office nearby in Belmont, so somehow being local made them more appealing and 2) I couldn’t help but be impressed by its massive aggregation (one-stop shop) of blogs. There was also something attractive about women bloggers supporting other women bloggers. What would joining the network do for me? I really had no idea. As it turned out, my blog needed to be up and running for 90 days before I could even apply to join. So fine, BlogHer went under the radar again.

Then at the end of October, BlogHer 2014 was announced to be in… San Jose! Yes, practically in my backyard, so I have to go again. Where am I going with all this in and out, on and off BlogHer activity? I don’t know, but I’m taking these steps one at a time. Normally, I would adopt a very all or nothing approach. Either go full force, guns ablazin’ or don’t even bother. But I’m trying a new paradigm. For now, curiosity is enough for me to take just one step forward. So I’m registered for BlogHer 2014 in July 2014.

Incidentally, late last night, I came across a tweet calling today (November 5) the last day to join NaBloPoMo, National Blog Posting Month. What is that? Several months ago when I was taking my Uncover Your Calling class, my coach had mentioned NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month where every day participants write a part for a novel that they complete at the end of the month. It sounded interesting, but eh, novel writing isn’t really my thing. But NaBloPoMo apparently sprung from this concept: write a blog entry once a day for 30 days. I’ve been meaning to write more frequently… and I remember that Ree Drummond credited her frequent, daily blogging and photographing to dramatically improving the caliber of her content.

So I signed up NaBloPoMo too. Yeah, I’m already late to the game being that the month started five days ago, but I’ll just start it from here and go until December 5. One post a day. How hard can this be, right? Haha. Who knows, maybe my daily meditations will finally start kicking in and new material will come to me quickly! Fingers crossed.

NaBloPoMo November 2013

The Excitement Builds

Last week, I had a brief conversation with S, my riding instructor/ranch owner, about his ideas for growing the business. Earlier this month, he had expressed interest in having me help with some marketing and business development, so this was our first discussion. We were in a truck full of other people, and I wanted to mull it all over a bit, so I agreed to give it some thought and get back to him.

The following week, I was continuing with my Coursera Intro to Marketing class, and it’s kinda uncanny but the class got my juices flowing, and I started brainstorming all kinds of ideas. I emailed S a rather lengthy list of considerations unsure if it would be too intense this early on, but heck, I decided to be unabashed. This whole notion of envisioning my future and of dreaming big has got me hooked. I mean, when S first mentioned the possibility of working together, I was really taken aback. Despite what my Lean In group had been telling me, I still wasn’t expecting anything. And thinking back, I see now that, if I were my former hesitant self, I probably would have just shot down the suggestion immediately without giving it any consideration. Thankfully, this time, I’m trying to be open. I’m getting better at being comfortable with being uncomfortable, and so I’m trying hard to really believe in my heart of hearts that anything is possible.

So anyhow, the class got my brain churning, and I sent S the email. What do you know? A few days later, he replied that he was thrilled with my points. I had really impressed him (and surprised myself). Pretty damn cool. So again, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about living this “unconventional” life… by that, I guess I just mean a life kinda different from what I, my family, and my close friends currently live. Sure, I read blogs all the time about people who left their lucrative corporate jobs to start a business or to become a professional blogger… But I don’t really know people like that personally. It’s not that the stories I read aren’t truthful or credible, it’s just hard to see that situation apply to me, you know?

A few days ago, I read a tweet asserting that people who know entrepreneurs are more likely to become entrepreneurs themselves. Hmm, so this idea of exposure and of witnessing real-life examples is a powerful force. It also reminds me of another tweet I saw recently from the CEO of Evernote: Don’t bother making friends with people you can’t start a company with… It’s sounds harsh, but I think it’s so true. Being around positive, motivated, high-caliber people has a way of encouraging you to push and challenge yourself. Enthusiasm and momentum kinda stack and amplify in these surprising ways… I am feeling pretty darn optimistic and energized these days. Let’s hope this wave lasts a long while!

Chasin’ Them Cowgirl Dreams

Last week, I reunited with the ladies from the book club/career coaching class I’d taken at the end of August. Over a period of six weeks, the four of us had met weekly to discuss Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In and to share our insights and personal experiences. The class talked a lot about dreams and what we envision for our futures. As with my earlier “Uncover your Calling” class, I struggled a lot with the concept of starting with a big, standalone dream and not having ANY of the details on how to build towards it. I remember feeling frustrated when the class wrapped in September: I didn’t seem to have any more clarity than before. I grew discouraged and impatient: I was reading all these books, doing all these exercises, taking all these classes, and when? When was the answer going to appear? I started to wonder if maybe I was just being unrealistic, impractical, immature, naive. Maybe I needed to just go back to job hunting: tech project management, social media, web editing, whatever.

John is someone who avoids all this contemplative, wishy washy, touchy feely stuff for himself, but oddly enough, he actually “gets” all of this (more than I do even!), and he has this uncanny, amazing way of zoning in to the the essence of everything. Seriously. When I told him about all these doubts creeping back, he reminded me that it’s normal to feel uneasy and uncertain, but he encouraged me to not give up. I’d left a comfortable, secure, and stable job for a reason, and we had planned for this opportunity. We had given up other things in order to create this freedom of choice for ourselves– this chance to take risks and to seek something different for our life together. And so I tried to let go of the guilt and of the feeling that I wasn’t worthy of this liberty and luxury. And then I took that 2-week travel sabbatical. 😉

So when I met the ladies for lunch, I was still a little skeptical. The coach hosted us at her amazing beach home on the coastal bluffs, and she shared with us her dream board from four years ago. I won’t go into her personal details, but long story short, back when she created her dream board, the transition or path from her life four years ago to the life depicted in her dream board was nearly unfathomable. And yet, four years later, she and her husband achieved that dream. The lesson is this: when you envision a dream for yourself, no matter how off-the-wall or impossible or imaginary it seems, when you remind yourself about the dream, somehow– consciously or subconsciously– your mind works to figure out a way to get you there.

Last week, I couldn’t see this process working for me, but I decided to just try to be more open. You see, one of my dreams is to live on a nice ranch with horses and dogs. I want to have a flexible work arrangement, where I work (often remotely) with people I respect, people who are also my dear friends, and we use technology to get shit done smartly and efficiently. On the side, I want to write and blog– like professionally. Oh and I want to be a rockstar– figuratively.

So I had left that luncheon feeling open to new possibilities. Then, a few days later, I returned to the ranch for my horseback riding lessons. My instructor asked why I had been away for so long. I explained that I had left my job. And then, he said he wanted me to help him with marketing/web work to grow the business. Whaaa?? So it’s early yet. We are to discuss the details, but the point is, wow. This is an opportunity to integrate things I love to do: horseback riding, project management, communications, problem solving, and web. Is the universe responding to my positive thoughts and my new state of openness?? Kinda weird, right?

Back in Action!

Now that I’m all renewed and refreshed following my travel sabbatical, I’m getting back down to business. Right now, my plan is to formally apply for work by the end of November. In the meantime, I’m continuing with info interviews to narrow down my areas of interest and compile an employer target list. I’m kinda toying with a few ideas:

* communications work for a foundation
* project management for a start up
* my own web consulting biz
* communications/web work for ranches or horse-related businesses and orgs

I had a really helpful meeting last week with a lady who does communications work at the Hewlett Foundation. The Foundation funds a ton of projects in the areas of environment, education, women’s health, and performing arts (all my big causes!) She really enjoys the work and loves the culture, so I’m going to explore this further by talking with some other peeps at other foundations in the area.

In the personal growth arena, I’m trying to incorporate some new daily habits: I have been hot tubbing and  meditating every morning for the last 10 days. I’m hoping that one of these days the meditation will just click, and I’ll feel the magic. Also, I’ve been continuing with my cooking. That’s actually going surprisingly well. I’m even seeing a difference in my kitchen and seasoning skills, and my friends say my beef strogonaff is the best they’ve eaten!

Oh, and I started a new course on Coursera: Intro to Marketing by some profs at UPenn. I am learning SO much. I cannot say enough about Coursera: after suffering years of learning burnout from school and formal education, learning is fun again.

Nose to the Grindstone

Holy crap, I have had a jam packed week! First, I’ve been trying to make up for lost time in my Social Psych class. Sure, I started the class a little late to the game, but three weeks behind? I dunno what the hell happened. Consequently, I have been on a video lecture binge the last several days. And I still have like half the course to go! Oh well, despite my slacker-ass state, I cannot stop gushing about Coursera. Amazing quality, not to mention awesome access (and free!).

Besides the online class, I also scored a one-week pass for free yoga at a local studio (September is National Yoga Month). Because I am insanely motivated/driven by discounts and deals, I ended up doing seven straight days of hot yoga. Yup, I used that pass every damn day it was valid. Of course the classes kicked my ass, but I just convinced myself I was moving one step closer to achieving Linda Hamilton’s T2 body. Haha, yeah right.

What else. Acting class last week was lame again. More ridiculous, silly games and the one commercial exercise we did was of a couple sampling some high-fiber yogurt at Costco. The dialog was just super lame– the couple was unrealistically indecisive and the dialog was just plain stupid. I mean, I still went with the flow, but I would have enjoyed the activity a lot more if we had used an intelligent script. Oh well. Final class is tomorrow.

Other than that, I’ve been blowing a shitload of hours on travel planning. Yup, a few weeks ago, we finally bit the bullet and decided to make this Italy trip happen. It’s been on the list for YEARS, and it almost got nixed again this fall… But John’s kinda in need of another vacation pronto. And since Italy has been on his wishlist forever, it’s go time!

So I went to the library to grab all the guide books. I quickly realized that this was not really a trip to plan in two weeks. Oh no. Most travel books advise that lodging be secured 6-12 months in advance. Eek! Needless to say, a lot of hotels under $200/night were booked already. So then I went to AirBnb. Kinda sketch and/or gross selections. Then I tried Priceline. After two solid days of full-on research, I finally got lodging settled. Whew, what a pain. Why is Italy so fucking pricey??

In other news, my home office makeover is coming along. Before, the smallest bedroom was just a junky, random space that stored my office desk, a pathetic-looking air mattress, laundry racks, and the vacuum. A few months ago, T helped me recover more storage space in the closet and that allowed me to de-clutter the room and hide more of the junk. Now, this room has really transformed it into a practical, organized office AND a legit guest room. (Yeah, no more monster, half-inflated air mattress!) I got a CB2 daybed in July; we put up some Ikea wall shelves in August; I cleaned out my hutch/drawers, removed the hutch, put up some art, got T to inject more design magic, and bam! Whadaya know, I am actually in my office every damn day now getting my shit done! You know what they say: the home is your sanctuary and every room has the potential to promote mental calm and  boost creativity and productivity. Believe in the process, baby!

So last week, I started looking for wall art to fill the large, empty wall in my office. After spending an inordinate amount of time surfing online, I came across a site with really vibrant cowgirl-themed prints. Yup, I dropped some dough on wall art this week. The prints arrive next week, and I cannot wait. The room is gonna pop! Stay tuned.

Getting What I Want

Every year, Neil Young hosts this Bridge School benefit concert at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View. John and I went with G&J last year, and this time we were planning to take his sis S and her beau. So as with nearly all my Ticketmaster purchases, I got everything ready (multiple browser windows open) before the sale commenced at 10a. For some fucking reason, this year I could not get the middle tier seats! It was either bid/auction for orchestra seats or buy lawn seats. So I went through the prompts a gazillion times, switching up the parameters selecting  “best available” then trying specific seat types. So odd, but nothing came up except lawn seats. So fine, whatever. I wasn’t shelling out $200 pp for a lineup I barely even know. I got four lawn seats, and that was that.

Well later, I realized that Shoreline does this 4-pack deal on lawn seats, and the savings is about $60 per pack! So studying the user interface again, I saw that in the drop down menu, instead of selecting “best available” and being offered the lawn seats, I was supposed to select “4-pk”. There was no special promo code or whatever. I mean, shouldn’t the program automatically see that I am purchasing 4 lawn tickets and just bill me the package price? Blah, blah, I discover on further research that Ticketmaster has this 3-day return policy for certain venues… I figure I’ll put this in my back pocket just in case.

So I call customer service. First, I read my order number like three times, and the guy still can’t pull it up in the system. Finally, he gets it via last name. So I explain the situation, and he gives me this canned reply: unfortunately, we can’t retroactively apply a discount code. Um, it wasn’t a code, and the system should have just told me I qualified for the package. Back and forth a few times where he repeats his line, and I rephrase but basically reiterate my talking points. No movement. So then I say, ok well if you can’t issue a credit, let’s just process a refund and then I’ll re-buy. Again, he says all sales are final. A blatant lie. So then I say that I read the online policy, and for Shoreline, there’s a 3-day refund. Then he says he can’t guarantee that I’ll get the same seats… Uh dude. Lawn seats = shitty seats = first come, first serve. That doesn’t apply in this case. Finally, he processes the return, the whole time telling me it’s a goodwill, one-time gesture. Blah, blah. Lie. I mean, here’s the deal. Ticketmaster policies should be consistently applied, and the people who work in customer service should fucking KNOW the policy. Wth, I dunno if he was lying intentionally or if he was ignorant. Either way, thankfully, I did my homework before the call… Who are these people? In the end, I got what I wanted but hell, something is fishy, right? The lesson? You gotta give push back, big time!

A few days later, I was a dumbass, and I forgot to take off my FitBit before my horseback riding lesson. I had a rockin’ lesson, but shit, we did a lot of cantering. At some point during the ride, I remembered feeling a hard knob on my inner thigh where it touched the saddle. I was going fast, so I couldn’t look down, but I thought maybe the reins got stuck funny in my saddle. Well, after feeling all triumphant post lesson, I realized FitBit was gone! Shit!! And there was no way I was going to recover it from a monster, dirty, dusty arena.

To be honest, the device had already started losing luster with me months ago, so I figured this was a good excuse to escape the FitBit burden. But then I got home, and well, you know me. I was all bummed about losing this $60 device and having to cancel my account. So I researched online. A bunch of people said they lost their device and when they asked to close their account, the company gave them a replacement. Huh, really? So I did just that: I emailed them that I lost it while riding, and what’s involved with closing the account.

Well this morning, I got a reply that basically said, sorry you lost it. We’ll close your account once you confirm your email. Uh… what?? So here’s the thing. I always want to give the vendor an option to take the “right” path. I mean, sure I lost it. It was my fault, BUT at the same time, I wore the device the way it was instructed to be worn. And I know a bunch of people who have lost the device just in normal day-to-day activity. It’s not like I created some jimmied version of wearing it. I had it clipped to my bra, and while it was bumpy ride on the horse, was it THAT bumpy that a clip should fall completely off? Needless to say, I was a little disappointed by the inconsistent customer service. So I wrote back, explaining that I had heard in some instances that a replacement is offered. I attached a receipt and added that I have purchased five devices for our family (my dad, his dad, and also our niece). Whattdya know, she offered me a replacement in the next email.

The thing is, why do these people have to be prodded? I mean, in both cases, the situation ultimately worked out fine, but I’m a bit annoyed with the arbitrary nature of this. Like had John written the email and they said no, he would have just left it. Ah well. I guess persistence pays off. 🙂

Interestingly, John explained that from FitBit’s perspective, replacement is actually the smarter way to go. Because it’s such a small device, it’s bound to get lost, and are people really going to keep shelling out the dough to replace? No, so once the device is lost, they are lost forever as a customer. Ah, why didn’t I think of that angle?

Hyper Mode

The aliens boarded their spaceship on Tuesday afternoon. All and all, a good visit, but I was pretty wiped from being in the company of other people 24-7. On Tuesday night, I had class 2 of 4 for my acting class. This session went better than the last: maybe I eased up a bit on the games. Yeah, they are still totally silly, but who cares? I might as well just go with the flow; we have one older dude in the class who is so goddamn uptight. He’s a total buzzkill. Next week, we’re supposed to get into some line reading and commercials. Yeah, baby. I’m gonna Elizabeth Dole that shit. Don’t worry, I’m not Republican. I just use her name as a verb to mean uber intense preparation for a public speaking activity. Remember when Bob ran for president many moons ago? Well, ED spoke at the RNC. Her speech was pretty damn flawless. I remember my parents would not stop cooing about it. But the back story was that she prepped it to the t– down to every movement and every gesture. So now, whenever I have to do a presentation, I “Elizabeth Dole” that shit. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse: in the shower, cleaning the house, walking the dogs, doing the laundry… seriously, by the day of any major presentation, even John knows the first several sentences of my talk. I’m intense!! Haha. We’ll see what next week’s class brings.

In other news, I’ve been stalking (er researching) people and companies on LinkedIn. Anything that’s remotely interesting, I write down the required skills and research who might know what. You know how research is: that shit can be never ending. So I have a gabillion lists– lists of companies to check out, people to contact, skills to learn, jobs to consider… And I’m really digging this online schooling, man. Coursera is awesome. I’m hoping to finish the social psych class on there soon. I also just discovered Udemy (a competitor), where I’m checking out their Spanish videos. Then my Lean In (book club/career coaching class) wraps on Monday.

Today I’m hoping to slap on that second coat of paint for my Adirondack chair (I am sooo ridiculously slow with home tasks), go grocery shopping, and try a new recipe for dinner. Damn, it’s past noon already. I need to get going. Draggin’ ass.

Oh, I almost forgot: John and I attended a business’ 10th anniversary party yesterday where the company rented out the Virgin America suite at AT&T Park. I’m not really in to sports, so I’ve actually never been to the stadium, but it was a cool experience. I mean, no game going on, but still a nice venue. We went on a tour and got to go down to the field and inside the visiting team dugout and locker room. I was surprised to see that the new Yahoo! logo was up on the billboard. We also went into the press box. The whole place just really gave off an Americana feel. So weird how a place can do that.

K, off to attack my to dos!

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