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This is probably my last link share post this week, unless I find something else I want to share. Today's link is aimed at anyone who wants to launch a business - a business which depends largely on an online presence. Mixergy is a site dedicated to bringing entrepeneurs great interviews and videos from some of the best web biz minds working today. I know you'll find something to inspire you here!
I'm sharing some links I've been visiting lately on my quest to rethink and rejuvinate. I've posted a couple of business links this week, but I'm also looking at other spiritual perspectives, too. No, I'm not tossing my whole belief system to follow the Giant Green Lizard, just looking at other ways people express their faith. You know, you can get in a rut - especially if you've been in a denomination for a while - where everything sounds the same. Blah, blah, blah. You've heard all the buzz phrases and know the talking points. The result: you don't really listen anymore because you know where the message, teaching, lesson, devotional is going 2 sentences in. You anticipate the ending because you've traveled the path so many times before. If you find yourself in the same place, you might sign up the the daily email from New Morning. You know, I haven't learned anything new here, just enjoyed new perspectives on very familiar topics. Likewise, I've enjoyed the weekly read from Aish, also known as The Jewish Website. I have several Jewish friends, so I enjoy learning about the history and culture of this country and its people. Let me know if you have another site I should visit.
Michael Port's new book launched yesterday and I think I'll go get it. It's called The Think Big Manifesto. Yeah, he's another marketing guru but at the moment I'm intrigued by anyone who embraces the concept of thinking big. I believe that small thinking is a plague, and that "thinking like the crowd" will make you old, boring and dead way before your time. Port echoes these sentiments. He has a website, The Think Big Revolution. Check it out.
Lately, I have been feeling compelled to change. Change the way I work. Change the way I think. Change the way I react. Change my expectations. This call to change began with my IV injury 2 years ago. I grew tired of constantly feeling behind when I lost a day - or a week - to a pain storm. Sunday was one of those days. Feeling behind eventually leads to feeling defeated and I refuse to live that way. So, during the past few weeks while I was caring for Mitch, I decided to look for successful people who are unconventional thinkers.
This week, I'll be posting links to some of the "unconventional thinkers" I'm currently reading. I'm starting with Seth Godin's Blog. Okay, Seth has been around for years and I have a couple of his books, but I only though of him as a marketing guru. Lately, I'm finding Seth's daily posts helpful not only with the way I work, but with the way I approach life. If you haven't discovered Seth Godin, I encourage you to check out his blog.
One more thing: If you know an unconventional thinker I might be interested in, let me know! Hey, we're all in this together.
"When you are inspired... dormant forces, faculties, and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be."
- Pantanjali
I found a nifty little link, courtesy of Seth Godin, for all of us who are a bit paranoid about companies planting cookies in our machines so they can spy on our browsing/buying habits. I'll bet you didn't know you could opt out of these info gathering/snooping programs which, in my opinion, is a massive invasion of privacy. If they want my opinion, I wish they'd have the decency to ask for it. I didn't know you could opt out either, so I'm happy to pass this info along. Click here to visit the opt out page at Network Advertising Initiative. Here's the creepy part: glance down the list of cookie-planting companies and you'll see just how many cookies you have on your machine and who put them there. My laptop was infested. Seriously. I wanted to spray it with Raid. My desktop had about half as many cookies, but I still cleaned house anyway. Good riddence, spybots!
A few days ago, I was racing through the mall on a mission to buy some industrial strength eye cream. (A must when you're not sleeping through the night.) I love Eye Doctor by Origins; I'd buy it in 55 gallon drums if I could - and no, this is not a paid endorsement. I just love the stuff. Anyway, I'm not much of a shopper and I don't really pay attention to trends, but I began to notice skulls in every window I passed. On women's t-shirts. Jackets. Handbags. Lingerie. Jewelry. I frowned and kept walking. Then, 50 feet from the Origins counter, I was accosted by the perfume lady who squirted me with some fruity concoction.
"What do you think?" she said hopefully.
"It smells like Skittles," I said. "I'd only wear this if my tennis shoes had lights on them."
She laughed nervously. "The package is very cutting edge." She picked up the perfume box and - you guessed it - it had a skull on it.
"What's the deal with the skulls?" I said. "They're all over the mall."
"That's THE look this spring."
"Thanks for clearing that up for me," I said. I'm afraid I'll be dreadfully out of style this spring. Skulls are just so... gaunt. Is anybody else out there wearing skulls this spring? Anyone over 20, I mean?
As you know, we spent Easter Sunday at home. I was waiting on a call from the surgeon's nurse because Mitch had developed a fever during the night. It rained all day, so I kept him confined to the couch with ice packs and pain pills. About 10:30 Easter night, I heard a loud boom. Of course, I investigated but since it was dark and raining hard, I couldn't really see anything, so I decided it must be a trash truck making a pick up at McDonald's.
Fifteen minutes later, 2 men walked up our drive in the rain. One was a police officer. Seems a young man lost control of his car, jumped the curb on Lone Pine, drove through the grass, missed the dentist's office and crashed through our back fence behind the wild garden. Oh yeah. I couldn't see it because the damage was obscured by the woods. But once I put my rain coat on and walked outside, there was a car-sized hole, big as life. The damage is covered by insurance, but the hole was a big problem and Mitch was in no condition to make a temporary fix.
So, I called my brother, David, the next day. He and nephew Michael came over while Mitch was in surgery and patched the fence until the damaged sections can be rebuilt. Buddy, Sam, Mitch and I are very grateful! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
