Change in Progress

How do you handle it when your viritual and real world collide?

So on the Internet we can bear our soul and let our hair down because no one knows us righ?.  But wait, we are suppose to use it as a business networking tool as well. So people well known in the 'Net world begin to follow you on Twitter and FF, or maybe comment on your post.  I could not afford to this year but next year I hope to attend Blogging While Brown and BlogHer. Then what if you mess around and your co-workers find you on Linkedin. Suddenly you are not this unknown blimp on the information superhighway.

So I find myself in such a quandry - I want to say hey how do I handle XYZ?  But I do not want to look like an idiot in front of the the corner of the Net world I hang out in.  Besides I don't want my co-workers to stumble upon it and figure the who and the what of my frustration, or know that I feel like a failure.

The other reason why I am struggling with this is because I work at a non-profit organization and they are venturing into social media. I am psyched because who knows maybe I could turn what little bit I know now and what I can research into a different role in the organization.  But then I think wait if I walk into the VP office and say you can do this and that - and login to my accounts to show them, then while on it is on the screen what else will pop up.  and what if someone on the team decides to "follow" me. 

A perfect example of this - yesterday there was a, let's say "customer" example that they sent a message out about and said - someone should post this and then someone should "stumble upon".  Well I logged in to do it and then thought whoa where am I going to put it on FF and give someone the opportunity to "follow me" [come on I am not the only one that add followers like water] or on my blog ---- where they will certainly learn a great deal on how I think politically?

Over th last week I thought about creating a new ID but darn I cannot muster up the energy to establish and monitor another set of friends, etc.

But tell me folks - is that what you do in order to maintain some privacy on the Net?

Yeah I know - clearly I am a legend in my own mind.  That is a problem I don't mind confessing before you.

A wonderful essay on black love. Black Snob shares beautiful photos from her family's history and discusses the role the black men have held in her family and how it shapes her search for a soulmate. It speaks to the heart of how many of us single sistas feel. Don't miss this elegant essay.

read more | digg story

NAACP - Missed Opportunity?

The NAACP 64 member Board appointed Benjamin Todd Jealous as the new CEO & President of the legendary civil rights organization.  Mr. Jealous' resume as a human rights activist includes three years as director of Amnesty International's U.S. Human Rights Program and executive director of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, an organization comprised of about 200 Black owned community hospitals, the North Dallas Gazette is a member.  Jealous is leaving his position as president of the San Francisco-based Rosenberg Foundation.  The foundation's website describes their current priorities as:

Rosenberg Foundation currently has two program priorities: Changing Population of California and Economic Security of Working Families. Within each of these programs, the issues addressed and program strategies are reviewed and adjusted annually to accommodate changes in the public policy environment, changes in community needs, and emerging opportunities for significant and lasting social improvement.

His ties to Baltimore, where the NAACP, were highly touted, in a Baltimore Sun article Jealous discusses his family's history with civil rights and Baltimore:

Jealous' mother, who is black, was among the first students to desegregate Western High School in 1955, he said. His father, who is white, took part in sit-ins to desegregate Baltimore lunch counters, Jealous said.

I presume Jealous is the first bi-racial leader, which should provide a unique and relevant perspecitive, but at 35 he will certainly the youngest leader of the 99 year old civil rights organization.  He is a graduate of Columbia University and a Rhodes Scholar.

On paper, and that is all most of America knows about Jealous at this point, he seems qualified to lead an esteemed non-profit organization.  The question though - how esteemed is the NAACP by anyone under the age of 50?  Merely being young does not mean he can relate well and increase the profile or the organization with the younger members of the community.

Continually 

Save Money in the Garden

So again my mind is on saving money.  I have a fantasy of having a wonderful garden, in Dallas with the heat that will last about two weeks - see I have an aversion to heat.  Yet each year, hope springs eternal, and I tell myself OK this will be the year I will not allow my new plants to wither away.  I have three beautiful rose bushes - they thrive despite me.  I mean that too - there have been years where I have done almost nothing to them, allowing the blooms to fade away without deadheading them.

Anyway, Naturemoms [nope not a mom] that provides excellent ideas about saving money in your garden.  when you consider that tomatoes are rising to $3 a pound, planting one does not seem like such a far fetched idea anymore.  A few of the interesting suggestions include:

2. Don’t buy peat pots when you can use your leftover toilet paper rolls, eggshells, or newspapers for free.

8. Use a plastic garbage can to collect rain water by putting it under a drainage pipe. Then just scoop out water as needed instead of reaching for the hose to water plants.

9. Use kitchen scraps to make your own compost and put banana peels under your roses to give them a potassium boost.

13. Line your pots or containers with 6-8 sheets of newspaper to help them retain moisture so they won’t need to be watered as much.

Also earlier today I read a suggestion of taking a strawberry pot and growing various herbs in it instead.

Looking for a new job in this economy?

Consumer Commentary offers a list of career choices that should be relatively recession proof.  I think you should be able to add teachers to the list - at least one would hope!

Gas Saving Tips

So while I drove around trying to figure out why gas has spiked to $3.20 in Dallas - I am at the point where anything will help now.  Then I found these tips on possible ways to save money on your gas purchases.  Maybe they work, maybe they don't but at least the writer provided intersting info.

Wordless Wednesday

So they are disappointed violations are down...

I heard in passing on the news last week that Dallas was considering rotating turning off the cameras at traffic stops because of cost problems.  Tonight I read that the reason is that maybe the problem is the cameras are too effective in their job.  Imagine this - they actually encourage drivers to obey the law and thus lead to less violations, so they are not producing the violations expected.

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/03/cities-removing.html#more

Put the jokes aside, this is at it's core sad...

The news that a woman lived for two years sitting on the toilet at her boyfriend's home has blanketed the radio and water cooler conversations for a few days.  It will likely be fodder for a lot of comedians, it puzzles many of us - but when it is all said and done it is very sad.

Where was her family, did she not have a job, friends ----- how could she essentially disappear for two years and no one seem to have missed her.  Clearly she is suffering from some sort of mental illness - but what about the boyfriend.  I do not want to condemn him - but how do you provide a person with food and water for two years that is living in your bathroom?  Why did he not get help for her sooner?  What was his motivation for letting this go on for so long.  What happened this week that caused him to finally reach out for officials. 

The Sheriff is recommending charges against the boyfriend.  The boyfriend said the girlfriend had a phobia.

Brief Check In

Well I took yesterday off from blogging in honor of Leap Year.  So last night with a group I attended an Irish pub and resturant in Okla otherwise known as Frisco, TX.  Enjoyed my first shepherd's pie.  Tonight with a group that included some of the same folks I ate at Bravian Grill in Plano.  Would never have imagined that a beef wrapped around bacon, onions and a PICKLE spear would be so good.