SquidRoad

Focus, focus

Being down this week with a mysterious crud that hijacked my voice has left me, to say the least, feeling a bit discombobulated. (That is a big word that took numerous re-writes just now.)

So while I've been trying not to get more sick, I've also been trying to keep up with work. It was exhausting physically, but it forced me to be out of the office a few days.

And that was a very good thing.

Distance does wonders for perspective, for figuring out the state of things and being able to see the big picture as a road map of sorts for where you need to go next.

My reading/research time is so disjointed these days, I haven't had much time to assimilate things I learn into discreet ideas. And life just isn't the same w/o my NetNewsWire. I simply don't read or absorb as many new ideas as I used to. Aaarggh! I thrive on ideas, so it's like a part of me is missing.

In any case, I may have to try to patch it all together here. Reader, beware: UNDER CONSTRUCTION. :)

NaNoWriMo, here I come (again)

Makes my heart race just thinking about it.

I mean, why on earth do these crazy people push aspiring writers everywhere to write 1500 words every day during the month of November?

Most do it to crank out a novel. If I'm even a wee bit lucky, I'll get a couple of short stories out of that 30-day mad dash. But heck if I'm not going to try (again). Need the outlet, in any case.

So much to write about, so little time! This year, I'm doing a little planning to collect and compile content ahead of time. On the docket:

• "That's Not My Mother--That's My Niece!" A story of how falling out of a car, on your head, can get you easily confused with someone four times your age
• A memorial about my incredible dad, whom I have missed for the past 22 years
• A bio on my mom, one of the most brilliant people I know, who has but a 6th grade education
• A fascinating piece on how my great-grandfather was gunned down in cold blood (well, let's hope it's fascinating when I'm done with it)

So I guess it's mostly family stuff. Will I get in trouble if I land on something like Julia Alvarez's Yo! ? Because that's exactly where things could go. And that's why I'd wish I'd taken a fiction or creative writing class. I'm a copywriter by trade, so it's hard to make up a story of my own. Write around someone else's story? Much easier.

Ok, so there's my commitment--a few short stories, max. That's as much as I can take, and already it feels like I've signed my life away! Heck, I can hardly accept a dinner invite a week out, much less tell you what I'm going to be writing about in a few weeks. Heh.

Good news? My new Twitter friend, Elianne (great site, ¿no?) says she's going in, too. Accountability. That's good...right?

Late adopter? You just might slip off

...the tech curve--completely!

What an interesting couple of weeks this has been. I'd always been on the cutting edge of tech stuff, especially social media tools. Used to blog all the time. Ck the archives.

Then I traveled--a whole bunch, for a couple of years. Couldn't keep track of my time zone, much less what I was reading. Result? No writing.

And now, that growing list of blog feeds is being managed by GoogleReader--not excited about that. Try going from a nice, neat little desktop app to a flash-based tool that may not really be all that flashy, much less functional.

Not only have I not figured out an efficient way to even browse the 350+ blogs I follow, I'm turning completely to Twitter (oy!) for my sources. That's not entirely bad. But this is where my early-adoption of tech changed to late-adoption.

Back when Facebook experienced its boomer/GenX onslaught a couple years ago, my brother told me I should join Twitter. I thought, no way--I'm not updating even more frequently than FB! And I avoided it, until earlier this year I realized that, heck, even if I can't blog like I used to, I can micro-blog using this quick little tool.

I love to read lots of info and share it w/others who can benefit from it. Would love to say I'm an info-sponge, but I'm more like a pipe. A leaky one.

Anyway, I've been making up for lost time ever since. Now I'm figuring out what my objectives really are w/social media, whether I'll ever blog again (decided I will, both here and kind of 'flash-blogging' at Posterous) and what it all looks like when other priorities compete for my very short attention span.

Excited to have a go at it again, but I won't lie: I got the jitters about keeping it all up. For now, I'm back in the game and looking forward to it.

It's time to get regular again

And I don't mean with Activia.

I've struggled lately with whether to start writing again...really writing or blogging, not just microblogging. But my brain just doesn't hold it. I'm an ideas person, and these days my head is vomiting this stuff up. It's really not all that cool. It's more like torture. It seriously limits my attention span.

Ask my husband: I'm obsessed with Twitter. 

You see, I get a little OCD with technology. Typically an early adopter (read: "geek"), I held off on Twitter for, what, two years? Went running straight into the iPhone's AT&T hell, however. Love the phone, hate the service. Bang head on wall. Fall down with bloody head. Get back up. Repeat.

It's just that, Twitter's different. I'm an information hound, and I love to share what I read and learn. I like to connect dots between things. For me, Facebook is a little too up-close and personal. Honestly, as a pastor's kid, my life was lived in front of scorecards. People always had something to say about what I was doing, wearing, eating, who I was dating. I really don't miss it that much, and I don't need to remanufacture it on Facebook.

I guess what it comes down to is this: Facebook is for friends; Twitter is for strangers. 

Better put: Facebook is for people you met before 'friending' them online. Twitter is for people you probably have never met until following them or being followed by them online.

Guess that means I prefer strangers. (My MBTI profile suggests I have "friends on the side." Go figure.)

A picture can tell 1,000 words; sound tells more

I'm sitting in my second day of the Nieman Narrative Conference on Journalism @ Harvard. It's also my second time here in Boston for this event, which is definitely an in-the-trenches look at increasing forms of narrative storytelling.

The difference this year from the one in 2004 is that a new track on digital storytelling has exploded w/lots of topics, interest and participants. It's evident to me how traditional print media still is, with a very late adoption of technology.

My biggest takeaway so far is that you can use any kind of media you bring back from field reporting, and make something even better from it. Just depends on the strength of story from the different types of media gathered.

Is your sound better than images? Use it in a podcast. Is the sound OK, but images better? Mash 'em up and produce an audio slideshow. If they're both strong and add value you can run a web story, inserting audio as a standalone component in one spot, photos in another.

The example at left is a great way to use all the media you have for a project--well, ok, the best portions of it--and putting the strongest components where they will make the greatest impact.

Fun stuff that confirms for me that where we're headed at my work is right on track for where content is going in terms of being maximized.

Ahhhh....I can go home now.

A time to learn

There's a time for everything, including a time for soaking up new ideas.

A huge curiosity has awakened in me during recent months, and I have not been quite sure what to do with it. Connecting with my heritage has always been important to me, especially after taking an elective history class at University of Houston about Mexican Americans in the U.S.

That led to extensive genealogical research of the Cabello surname--my father's family name. (It's easy to procrastinate on researching my mom's family name, Garcia...similar in its common-ness to "Jones" or "Smith.") Which in turn led to the launch of a bilingual greeting card business my brother and I started (long story), and that meant learning how to function at Latin events. So salsa dancing was next. And...and...and...

With my work, I've traveled a bit to Latin America, and my reading on it has added to a fresh desire to learn more about and explore my heritage. Now, it's time to look into all the options and discover what's next. Here's hoping it becomes clear before long!

Ballsy Bush attends church in Beijing

I know I usually stay away from most politics in this blog, but this item is so close to my heart, and it's less about politics than about what is happening in the world today and what that means for people of faith, including me. (Warning: self-preaching goin' on here.)

OK, so did you see the looks on the faces of the choir members of the church Bush visited today in Beijing? Did the news network you watch even show it?

Folks, this is no small potatoes for Christians in a country where our brothers and sisters are routinely persecuted for their faith. I'm praying this is a breakthrough in religious freedom for China, or at least the beginning of the end of persecution of Christians there and in so many other places.

Today marks the end of a weeklong time of prayer called International Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians (IDOP). I'm reminded how prayer by Christians worldwide literally holds up the spirits and strength of those who are beaten, tortured and even killed for sharing the gospel or even identifying with Christ. But it's their faith that ultimately wins over the hearts of others who are starving for a relationship with God.

The faith of "Silas"
This will teach me to feel sorry less (and believe more) for the people of God. Take a look at this brief story about a Vietnamese pastor known as "Silas." I can't help but lash out at myself: When will I believe God is who He says He is?

Waaah, waaah, waaah
Last week, I had at work what I consider a "tough" week. Not because anything went particularly wrong, but because I totally panicked in the face of all the stuff I had to do--much of it for the first time since starting my new job. I did the lazy thing and got all worked up about it. To the point of waking up one morning with a massive crick in my neck (couldn't turn my head too far left or right), getting a fever blister over my lip and still being miserable over my stupid foot, which hinders my tennis game (sounds piddly, I know, but it keeps me sane).

Seven days without prayer makes one weak
Now, a big reason I write is to sort out my thoughts and understand how my life and can be useful in the grand scheme of things. So bear with me as I examine my "weak spots," because I think I'm onto something here, finally (read: I am a remedial learner).

Being new in my job makes me "weak"--I'm "green" and inexperienced in my new responsibilities. Establishing boundaries for new working relationships could be viewed as a weakness. Navigating the very open but complex information system where I work puts me in something of an underdog position.

BUT (And it's a BIG but) ...

In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul says, "If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness."

Oh great--this is just like the nightmare where you're giving a speech and suddenly realize the crowd is pointing and laughing at you because you're wearing no underwear. Right on--talk it up out there!

Getting over myself--just for a minute
If I'd just step back from my self-absorption for a moment, I'll see that it's when I'm weak that God shows up to do His thing. And He's been trying to show me this, I think, over the last week. When will I learn?? If I could do it all, He wouldn't have put me where I am.

I need to get a new perspective. This seems a good place to start. Again, from the apostle Paul:

⁹But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. ¹⁰That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

Long time no blog

And I can feel it.

A bunch of words all piled up inside me like magnetic poetry pieces waiting to be let out of their plastic box. Maybe that's at the root of my persistent state of goofiness. I keep bumping into things, tripping over my feet several times daily. I nearly crashed at least twice yesterday on the court during team practice...and I haven't even gotten over my last fall's scars yet!

Anyway, I can't think of any vacation Mikey and I have taken that doesn't have at least one interesting story attached to it. Our trip to Santa Fe over the weekend was no different. More later.

I hope to one day soon be a more productive blogger.

Sometimes a girl's gotta be alone

For being a (slight) extrovert, I sure do enjoy being alone a lot. I've had an extra-long weekend, with my hubby gone on (another) fishing trip. He said they caught a huge redfish, and he's bringing home some shark. We've never eaten shark, so it'll be a first. Hope it makes good sushi!

Unusually quiet for nearly a week on my own. I've played tennis three times, did not hit a salsa club once (too tired), had sushi once, spent time talking with and listening to God, did some writing and research. Oh. And I've been doing laundry all day.

This is what I call a good girl's weekend: nice and easy.

The irony of flying standby

It's one thing to fly on miles and feel good about flying free, but flying standby (which is not free, contrary to popular belief) is different in that it's hard not to feel second-class since there's only a chance you'll get on the flight.

When you do get on a flight however, and fly first class instead of economy, life is good.

For most of this trip, life was good. But it did cost, in the end, an 8-hr wait at DFW. It was a long day, but an end to a fantastic trip.

Let's see...There was the traveling well, then the actual reason I went--for Sandra Cisneros' workshop. Oh yeah. And on one of my flights, I met a well known journalist from a major news network. Talked the entire flight (all 38 minutes of it) and had (I thought) a great time. It helps that we're both hispanic and had a lot to talk about, just on that topic alone.

If I'm anywhere near a Latin population, I need to find a place to get a salsa (dancing) fix. My friend's and my first attempt was a strikeout (possibly related to the private party they'd just hosted), but the second one, Arjon's, was a hit. Crowded place (too smoky for me, really) with plenty of good dancers. That evening capped off the trip, so it's no wonder I returned home tired.

I came home with a novel idea: Let's move back to San Antonio! Now... how to sell the idea to my husband? Gotta get him on the train. Just need a strategy. If you have any grand ideas, I'm open...e-me. I'm talking big, big bribes.