Reinventing myself, my blog

I'm trying to put together a side business which could grow into a full time one someday.

Communications, Marketing, PR, whatever a small business or non-profit needs in order to reach more customers, enlist more members, grow...get its point across.

I've started a Twitter account, which is still eclectic, noting everything from nifty websites (how I love those!) to deals and bargains. I tend to follow a few distinct camps on Twitter--radio personalities, idea makers, writing and design people, bargainistas and people who know where the deals are, and a helpful PR service, as well as the only client I've had so far (and who says he'll be using more of my services--I hope so).

I've also begun speaking. Well, I presented at a regional conference for Proposal Management Professionals. My topic was online resources, and it was so well received that I've been invited to present it again to another region, this time virtually. Very exciting. I so love to research useful websites, and this presentation is essentially a collection of them, each one an asset to Proposal Managers (as well as writers, editors, graphic designers, and more). My attitude is always, "Why reinvent the wheel?" First, find out what's been done already. My only concern is that I cannot distinguish between the well-known and lesser known sites or even identify the gaps in my knowledge, as my sleuthing is self-directed. But again, seasoned Proposal Managers told me they learned something from my session. Very encouraging.

I found a Life Coach on LinkedIn who is needs hours with people to satisfy certification requirements, and so, I don't have to pay. He's helping me crystallize what steps I need to take to make this thing--my own business--happen. Paramount for me is to be able to do it while still working full time. I cannot be without the security of a paycheck and the benefits.

And yes, money is tight, and will get tighter. And so I'm looking to earn on the side. Whether it's a single client or digital dollars, it doesn't matter. e-rewards.com allows me to answer surveys and earn dollars redeemable for magazine subscriptions, Blockbuster movies and Delta Skymiles. Using the swagbucks.com search tool earns me dollars for gift cards and other stuff too. FrugalFreebiesandDeals.com throws me an occasional freebie lead. YouData.com allows me to look at online ads and earn actual money into my PayPal account. and there are others. (In fact, I want to check out what these articles have to say: http://www.moneymakingmommy.com/earnonline/index.html and http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/homebasedbusiness/a/makemoneyonline.htm). But I don't want this to take the place of developing my own business. And so I need to organize my time to ensure I make progress on all fronts every day. Actually, that was part of my homework assignment for my Life Coach--creating a schedule.

A few more nifty websites (next time I'll give an update on life)

Very useful: http://chronicle.com/article/TuitionFees-2009-10/48879 First register, and then you can compare costs of different colleges (tuition & fees OR tuition, feels, room & board). Very useful in Georgia, where if kids graduate HS with a B average, they get a HOPE scholarship, which pays for tuition and most fees at any public school. So one number - the other= out-of-pocket expenses for college.

So much fun! http://www.oddcast.com/demos/tts/tts_tran_example.php a Translator speaks via an avatar. Type in a sentence in one language and he or she will say it in another.

It's been too long

So...the last few weeks have been an emotional rollercoaster for me. Lots of stuff going on, at work, at home. The boys are well, and that's most important. In fact, the oldest suddenly got a decent grade on an AP Physics test :-) and tomorrow night I plan on taking him to a college fair.

Will get back to the habit of writing more regularly, once it's okay to do so...

A few nifty websites

www.freeconferencepro.com allows you to hold free conference calls. Useful for small businesses, volunteer organizations, or neighbors planning a block party! :-)

www.volunteermatch.org allows you to find volunteer opportunities for you, your kids, groups you are involved with who are looking for good deeds to do. Virtual opportunities are available in addition to onews near your location, and I actually decided to brush up on my editing skills and volunteered to edit some pieces for the Caffeine Awareness Association (www.caffeineawareness.org). Turns out that the pieces will be included in a book coming out next year, and I will receive an acknowledgement in the book. Nice. Makes me think what a great thing this website is, not only for kids looking for mitzvah projects or beta clubs at schools, but for jobhunters wishing to keep their skills sharp, their resume populated, and their network growing. By the same token, people involved with non-profits might want to list open projects; they may attract volunteers.

www.halfoffdepot.com exists in a few cities, includidng Atlanta, and is growing. It's a great way to purchase gift cards at half price. Subscribe to their newsletter and follow them on twitter for more deals.

Update

So...son #1 participated in the GA Tech Summer Career Discovery Program I mentioned in my last post (yes, I know, over a month ago). Even though he didn't come back each day over enthused, I think it was a good thing to do. My purpose was to expose him to a possible career choice (and a possible college). In another week or so, he leaves for another one of the programs listed, a Materials Science camp in Ohio. That one is actually free, and will expose him to lab-based work. During the other weeks of the summer, he is working as a counselor in our synagogue preschool's camp. Last week he was a buddy to one of the campers, a special needs girls. On Friday, I went inside to pick him up and was told by the director and another counselor how great he is and loved by the kids. On Shabbat, I went to shul with my youngest, and the parents of the girl told me how much she just adored him.

I have to take Son #1 to a GI doctor after he returns from Ohio. Routine bloodwork came back off. Cholesterol was high, which has happened in the past. Usually strictly watching what he eats is enough to bring it back down. But this time, his calcium and ALT were high too. So we did more blood work, checking a whole bunch of other things. Lipid profile and VAP for a better look at the cholesterol. Phosphorous, ionized calcium, and PHT (or is it PTH?) to see if the reason the calcium was high had to do with his parahyperthyroid. Iron profile too. And a liver ultrasound.

Calcium numbers are fine. But iron was high and liver is fatty. So, next stop the GI doctor.


p.s. if you want, you can follow me on twitter: @wendybritt

Great summer programs for high schoolers, some free

Natural Resources Conservation Workshop Camp takes place at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, GA during June 7 - 11, 2009. Registration Deadline is May 15, 2009 (THIS FRIDAY) and is for high school students entering the 10th, 11th or 12th grade in the Fall 2009. At the end of the week, there are quizzes, and based on them, they give out $16,000 in scholarships. (I wish my son was interested in the great outdoors...)

The application is at http://www.abac.edu/psbo/nrcw/2009%20NRCW%20Application.pdf. It costs $150, but local Natural Resource Conservation offices usually pay the fee. And there's a bus to bring the kids and taken them back afterwards. Links to the local NRC office (I think its representative needs to sign the application, not sure), what to bring, history of the program (they've been doing this for 41 years), etc. are at the first link, above. The program is a mix of outdoors field trips, classroom learning, meeting with people in the fields, and recreation time...and scholarships.

Career Discovery Program in Architecture at GA Tech's School of Architecture (probably too late for this year) http://www.coa.gatech.edu/news/event.php?id=3992 $600 for two weeks, non-residential. Seems other arhcitecture schools aroudn the country offer similar ones.

Materials Science Camp for Students, offered in different locations. http://asmcommunity.asminternational.org/portal/site/www/Foundation/Students/Camps/ Free (must be accepted). Residential ones are offered at NC State, Penn State, Missouri University of Science and Technology, and at the headquarters of ASMI in Ohio (that's where my son will be attending). Materials science is a kind of engineering. (Science teachers should be told about it too--they also offer camps for teachers, I think free too.)

Many more at http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/summer-programs/614543-free-excellent-scholarship-summer-programs-2.html, including some at the CDC and a Marie Walsh Sharpe Seminar in colorado--for art. These are free. I so want my son to apply to the Marie Walsh Sharpe Seminar next summer...

http://www.suekayton.com/summerprograms.htm

http://smysp.stanford.edu/family/summerPrograms.html

http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/programs/descriptions/All_Alpha_prt.htm

http://www.dedicatedengineers.org/Resources/summer_programs.htm this one has a very comprehensive list

Great website and quick update

Great website http://www.glassdoor.com/ Go there and plug in your current salary or past one, as well as a review, and the door will open for a year, giving you access to others' info. I can see what others at my company make or think and I can see how others at different companies do/feel in similar lines of work.

Quick update
Not good. I'm getting near the point where the bad may outweigh the good in the marriage. What was Obama's slogan about time for change? Well, it's NOW! Work, too, is frustrating. I am beginning to see it's a job, not a career. No room for advancement and too many decisions made regarding the daily processes my department goes through -- without our input. The message is clear: we are admins, nothing more, nothing less. Given the economy, it's a crappy time to be dissatisfied.

Getting back into the groove

It's been too longed since I've blogged. Everything we choose to do (or not do) is a matter of priority, and I guess blogging has slipped. I've let Facebook, LinkedIn, real life (work, kids, etc.) take over.

It's also not a hopeful time, so I haven't been "in the mood" to write to the world (okay, my world of next to nobody).

Work is cutting costs. Luckily no widespread firings, but pensions have been frozen, 401Ks will no longer be matched through the end of the year, and no raises in 2009. Dividends to shareholders remain uncut and the company is doing relatively well; they say they want to keep it that way. I think that cutting dividends would send a message of concern to the shareholders and they don't want to do that...especially since all the top executives hold quite a bit of shares themselves, and so keeping share value is one of their priorities. (Am I getting cynical?)

Bonuses were first distributed before the steps were announced (well, we'll ge thtem in the next paycheck), but now they're "retention payments" and if someone voluntarily leaves before three years go by, he or she has to return the pro-rated amount. Bonuses for lower level employees like myself (and I've got to face it, that's what I am) were relatively low (although mine was the same as last year). With a new rating system in place, some people were eligible to only receive half of what they'd received last year, so I count myself lucky. Ont he other hand, others in my office received bonuses larger than my annual salary (and stocks)!

I've always wanted to move ahead, but haven't been sure the best way how. Thinking education might be the way, I began looking at obtaining a professional designation, but was told last year that the company won't pay for it if it's not relevant to my job. And it's not; I'm not a broker. Then I found out how an upper level person is having his MBA paid for--and it's not necessary for his job, or he wouldn't be in that job already, no?

Frustrating. I want to stay at the company I'm at, progress, move ahead. But my position is really dead-end and while the company speaks of "career development," I think they are giving lip service to the idea when it pertains to anyone other than brokers. I just don't think that I want to become a broker.

Given the economy, this is not the time to be frustrated, but to go to work, do my job well and just shut up.

Changing topics, let's talk about health. My mother is doing better, although adjusting to a life of Coumadin hasn't been easy, especially since she needed vascular surgery due to the way the hospital didn't put the IV in properly when she was there and she's had recurrent bloody noses and cauterizations. Over two months since the open heart surgery, and she still needs frequent Coumadin testing. Very frustrating for her too...

I need to go in and have a procedure done in a few weeks. Nothing major (outpatient), but still general anesthesia. Before then, though, I have to deal with Passover. We're up to 25 people altogether and I have a lot of cleaning and cooking to do. Can't wait until the family is all here, but not looking forward to getting everything done first!

I've scheduled a half-day spa day for my mother and me the day after the first seder. There is a school for these services which I discovered a few years back, and they charge far less than spas do, since it's students providing the services (with supervision). We did this a few years ago and it was great. My mother so loves these kinds of mother-daughter things, and I like to see her enjoying herself.

Well, after so long, I've about done it for now. Good night!

Update on my life, my mother's health

This Thursday is my mother's heart surgery; it will take about six hours. Today I read up on what to expect afterwards--what's allowed and not. I called my mother to tell her that for six weeks she cannot drive a car, but can be a passenger. Even more importantly, I told her, she cannot ride a bicycle or a motorcycle. We laughed. She can't do either of those things now, and certainly has no interest in getting on a Harley!

For the last few weeks, I've been stuffed up a bit, and have even felt a heavines in my chest the last week or so, affecting my breathing. I mentioned it on my facebook status, and quite a few people guessed that I was having an anxiety attack. Nope. It's bronchitis, and I'm now on antibiotics and steroids. It's wonderful discovering that things that I'm afraid might be in my head aren't.

Like a few weeks ago, I went to a University's Eye Center since for the last year my eyes have not been working together well, especially when I read. When I was young, I suffered from lazy eye in both eyes, and this was similar, I guess, although I don't remember ever having focussing issues. I went to an opthamologist a number of months back, and he told me I was getting old and need reading glasses, but to put off if I could. Then I went to my optometrist, thinking maybe my contacts weren't settling properly in my eyes when I shifted from looking at soemthing far to something closer, and we really spent almost two months trying out different lenses. But within a few weeks, it was happening again. So, off to the University.

I was diagnosed with Convergence Insufficiency. It means my eyes don't come together. The problem isn't with the eyes, but the muscles around them. I now do computer-based exercises. And if they don't work, I will need surgery. What thrills me about this, is that they may serve as an explanation for the headaches I've been having for the last few years. Not migraines. Not iron-deficient-anemia related (although my iron is low again). But muscle strain. And this means they will go away when my eyes are fixed.

It's not in my head.

So...Wednesday I leave for New York, and my husband will watch the boys for the ten days I am gone. I just hope they all get along well and that everything goes smoothly.

Well, I must go do my exercises tonight, before heading off to never never land.

A ray of light on the horizon

We're beginning to work on a compromise, and an understanding, but we're not all the way there yet.

New Year already at an all-time low

I'm afraid it's all over. And what kills me is that it didn't have to be this way.

I so don't want to put the kids through this again. They've already weathered one divorce and being uprooted and brought to an unknown place. And the truth is, that they've done an admirable job of adapting and even flourishing. It wouldn't be fair to subject them to any of that again.

Without someone to talk to, it's all bottled up inside. It would be nice to be able to speak to him about everything, but conversations aren't productive and snowball into ugly all too often. Much as I want to be able to unload, I cannot speak to anyone close to either one of us, as I don't want to permanently darken anyone's opinion, should we be able to work this out. And so I keep it inside.

The thought crossed my mind of being able to use this blog. Isn't that what it's for? But much as I aim to not reveal identifying details, those who know of this blog through me outnumber any other kind of reader, I imagine. And so, I would give too much away.

I'm about to cry again, and don't want to--not in front of the kids who are playing Guitar Hero in the very same room (one son bought it for another, for his birthday--I am so glad they like each other and enjoy each other's company so much...). Let me go check on the third, who's in another room...

Happy New Year.