Return to your homes, nothing (more) to see here…
Posted on February 3, 2010 | Posted by DM in Personal thoughts
After a great deal of thought, I’m working on closing down this blog. I will be moving some of the material I want to save over to www.janetgreen.net, and hereafter will be focusing my blogging efforts there and on my largest site, www.bikerchicknews.com.
Thanks for reading for the past couple of years, and for commenting! I am still in the blogosphere at the sites mentioned above and always welcome the opportunity to connect with you!
Volunteer at Kidsfest for CFI!
Posted on January 15, 2010 | Posted by DM in It's Not JUST About Me
Children and Families of Iowa has announced this year’s Kidsfest, taking place March 5-7 at the Varied Industries Building located at the Iowa State Fair Grounds. Kidsfest is CFI’s largest fundraiser of the year, and it takes hundreds of volunteers to make it a success. So, they are seeking volunteers to work in a variety of capacities over the three-day period.
Shifts are available Friday evening, from 8:30 am – 6 pm on Saturday, and from 9:30 am – 4 pm on Sunday. Possible duties include greeting visitors and distributing goodie bags, assisting exhibitors, helping children with games, or serving as a general event ambassador. Volunteers for Friday night must be at least 18 years old; volunteers on Saturday and Sunday must be at least 12 years old.
If you can help, contact volunteer coordinator Kara Shore at karas@cfiowa.org or 515-697-7905.
Children & Families of Iowa is a nonprofit organization that dedicates itself to the needs of children, strengthening families and restoring hope for brighter futures. The programs that are offered through Children & Families of Iowa include domestic violence services, foster care, adolescent substance abuse recovery, family counseling and adoption services. All of the proceeds from Kidsfest benefit the services of Children & Families of Iowa .
Alternative uses for Foursquare
Posted on January 12, 2010 | Posted by DM in Online Tools
I mentioned I’ve been 
using a fairly new social app called Foursquare. With Foursquare, I “check in” by texting a message to the service when I arrive at various destinations and collect points for my check-ins. (Eventually I could be appointed Mayor of a place I visit often. This is the only reason I even tried Foursquare in the first place.)
The purpose of this app is to let my friends know where I am while I’m out gallavanting around, so they can join me for a drink or a meal, and learn more (through tips) about why I like the places I patronize.
The problem is, the people I’m acquainted with who are most likely to be reading my updates are not the people who are usually wondering on a Saturday night, “Where the heck is Janet? I MUST go where Janet is and hang out!” So, this may ultimately end up being one of those situations where I finally just admit I’m not the target market, and accept defeat.
Unless I can find some valuable alternate use for Foursquare – not altogether unlikely, given that I once dismissed Twitter with a “talk to the hand” flourish, only to find that later it had morphed into an incredibly valuable business and personal connectivity tool.
So here, with a hopeful eye on the future of Foursquare, are a few alternate uses for this latest bit of “I don’t get it.”
- If you’re a professional with clients, or have friends who own businesses, you can earn brownie points by listing them as venues and then checking in. (You’re welcome, @Sambetti’s! And yes, I meant it about the onion rings.)
- Easy way to fake a day of outside sales calls when you’re really laying on a chaise lounge at home with an umbrella drink in your hand. (Aside: Foursquare needs a plug-in that lets you schedule auto-checkins to really be useful in this situation.)
- Useful tool for savvy burglars who can estimate, based on your latest check-in, how much time they have to ransack your house.
- Quick way to notify loved ones that Captain Sulley has safely landed your plane (i.e., “Just checked in @Hudson River.”)
- What, too soon?
Des Moines is 8th best mid-size city to launch a business
Posted on October 10, 2009 | Posted by DM in Business & Economy
Des Moines ranks as the 8th-best medium-sized city in the U.S. in which to launch a business, according to rankings released this week by Fortune Small Business magazine. Additionally, Dubuque ranks as the 8th-best small city; Waterloo as the 17th-best small city; and Ames as the 18th-best small city in which to launch a business.
“Location matters more than ever before,” states the print article in the November, 2009 issue. (The magazine has not yet updated its website with this article as of this writing, 10/10/09 12:15 p.m.) “The Great Recession redrew the map of America. Entire town sank in the subprime mortgage crisis; capitals of finance and manufacturing were brought to their knees. And while the headlines heralded each new disaster, a quiter but equally important phenomenon was taking place. A handful of communities… were soldiering through the recession almost unscathed.”
Of course, the Des Moines area has seen troubling lay-offs among employers large and small, but the FSB ranking is not just based on changes in employee count. It looks at other factors which influence the business climate as well, including per capita income, hourly wages, workforce quality, crime rates, taxes and foreclosures.
Five things about Facebook that make me want to punch a kitten
Posted on April 29, 2009 | Posted by DM in These Things Keep Me Up at Night
Alright, here’s the deal: I’ve been pretty active on Facebook now for a couple of months. I’ve reconnected with childhood friends, I’ve become addicted to a couple of goofy games, I’ve taken myriad quizzes and posted photos, and I’ve even used it to drive traffic to one of my blogs. I have a nice little group of friends whom I like and care about.
But just like everything in life, Facebook’s not perfect. Some of it, in fact, is downright stupid. Or maybe it’s the people who’ve taken good features and made them stupid, I don’t know. Regardless of how they got that way, these are the features of Facebook I can do without:
Mind-numbingly Inane “fan” pages. I’m happy to become a fan of a favorite singer, or product brand, or whatever to show my loyalty. These declarations tell my friends a little about who I am. But here lately I’m seeing things like: “THE SUN – Become a Fan!” or “LAUGHING – Become a Fan!” Are you kidding me? This is like saying, “FINGERNAILS – Become a Fan!” or “INDOOR PLUMBING – Become a Fan!” We’ve obviously run out of meaningful things to “fan.”
Ads that lie. I do not believe for one minute that 7 friends have a crush on me, or that 3 friends think I’m dumb, or even that 60 percent of Hollywood uses ONE wrinkle-busting secret to look younger.
Irrelevant gift applications. I admit it, I love something called “Flair.” Flair looks like those little pinback buttons we used to have all over our jackets in the 70’s and 80’s. But why are people sending me trees for my farm, plants for my “green patch,” fishes for my “cove,” etc.? I don’t have these things, so I don’t need the flora and fauna that inhabit them. It’s just more crap I have to “click to ignore” each time I sign on.
Auto-Suggest Friends feature. I don’t mind at all if one of my friends wants to recommend someone to me for possible FB friendship. But FB itself needs to stop suggesting new friends. Here’s why this is useless: “Suggestions: Dave Smith. You and Dave both live in Des Moines, Iowa!” Wow, really? I surely know him, then, don’t I? Look: Des Moines, Iowa has a quarter-million people in it, and that’s not counting all the suburbs. I have friends from grade school who’ve lived here their whole lives and I have NEVER run into them, ANYWHERE, in 35 years. What makes FB think I’m going to know someone just because they live here? I can’t imagine how useful this feature must be for people who live in New York City.
Quizzes that insult me. I wanted to know which M*A*S*H* character I was most like, and it told me I was “most like” Frank Burns. FRANK BURNS? I can guarantee you, nobody who knows me thinks I’m anything like Frank Burns! Even the quiz didn’t try to sugar-coat it by talking about Frank’s respect for rules and authority or his unwavering commitment to the military. No, the quiz gleefully raved about how much everyone hated him and what a ferret-face he was. So thanks a lot, Quiz, you’ve made me feel SO good about myself! I’m not even going to try to find out which “Taxi” character I’m like, because you’re obviously just going to tell me LOUIE.
Victim of down-sizing? Here’s a little encouragement
Posted on February 24, 2009 | Posted by DM in Business & Economy
Des Moines received some good news recently in the form of a new economic ranking: BizJournals.com named us the 22nd best city in which to start a business, making us the highest-ranking Midwestern city on the list. (hat tip: Living in Downtown Des Moines blog.)
This is great news for those attending the “What Now” Lunch and Learn Series for recently displaced workers and entrepreneurial hopefuls, hosted by Impromptu Studio and created by LavaRow and 48Web . (This Friday’s session features Teri Woods TeBockhorst, formerly of East Village Books – truly a jaw-dropping entrepreneurial story there!)
Lest you think this is some sort of fluke, Des Moines has been ranking well in these kinds of things for a long time. Just in the past year, we’ve enjoyed the following bits of notoriety:
- Our current cost of living is 8.4 percent below the national average.
- “Top 25 Best Places to Find a Job” – CareerBuilder.com
- Second-best city (in the nation!) for affordable housing – CNNMoney.com
- Top 25 best-performing cities for job creation – Milken Institute
- Most affordable city (in the nation!) to hold a trade show – TradeShow Week (don’t snicker: conventions and trade shows are HUGE business – the more we can draw here the better!)
- Best Places for Business & Careers – Forbes Magazine
- Best Places to Raise a Family – Best Life Magazine and The Today Show
- Best Places to Live, Top 10 Best Cities (economy, jobs, cost of living, amenities) – Kiplinger Personal Finance
So you see, despite my whinings, there are positive underpinnings at least locally. (That “What Now” series is one of them – follow @ImpromptuStudio on Twitter to keep up with the details.)
If you are one of those struggling with employment issues, my heart goes out to you. My wish for you is that you will be able to see the open door of opportunity – no small feat in these challenging times, to be sure, but I can promise you: I’m with you in spirit, and so are many, many others.
Make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear? To borrow a phrase: yes, you can – especially in Des Moines.
A little cheese, please, to go with my whine
Posted on February 23, 2009 | Posted by DM in Endless Navel-Gazing
I’ll keep this short and sweet, because there’s some good stuff to report (separate post coming) and I don’t want this little “moment of negativity” to get in the way of reporting it. But, just let me say that overall, it’s been a downer of a winter. I am normally an optimistic person, but I’m having a lot of trouble remaining that way on most fronts these days – I’m completely frustrated politically, sick of the cold, and sick of the construction going on across the street from our house that has blocked easy access to our driveway and torn up my front yard not once, but three times in the last three months.
On the plus side, there have been some high points at work lately including our recent Annual Dinner in which we honored some of the East Side’s best and brightest business, civic and volunteer leaders, and a huge challenge as far as finding creative ways to engage members and raise revenue to support the organization. And, my recent period of delving deeper into Facebook has resulted in some wonderful friendships from long ago being re-energized.
When I look within, I can always find something to feel positive about. For some reason, this year I’ve been less able beat back the negatives. All I can say is, I’m trying.
Wait… you mean everyone’s not addicted to the Internet?
Posted on February 5, 2009 | Posted by DM in I Need A Lint Roller for These Warm Fuzzies
This week I’ve been on a little odyssey that started innocently enough on Facebook – I found there were groups for my old middle and high schools (Merrill and Roosevelt in Des Moines), so I started friending several people I knew from that time. One had posted pages out of the 10th grade yearbook to his profile, and I spent a chunk of time clicking through, remembering the faces and getting quite a laugh over how young we all looked.
All of that led me to try to find a few individuals who, turns out, not only were not on Facebook or MySpace, they didn’t seem to be anywhere on the Internet! (Or at least, if they are, they’re buried in search results and not easily found.)
So, just a shout-out because you didn’t turn up in my latest (admittedly shallow) round of Googling:
(James) Steve Kennedy – a fun and funny kid who once dragged me into a hidden room at Merrill to play his favorite comedy album for me. I don’t think he has any idea how obsessed I became with Tom Lehrer’s “The Elements.”
Mike Barberio – brilliant and true friend starting in about fourth grade, inventor of some kind of clock that used little green lights for the minutes, red for the hours… also made these cool disco light boxes, one of which I bought for my basement… and made me a coffin for my dead cat. (Twisted, yes, but we understood each other.) He moved to Washington in 10th grade and later worked for IBM or MIT or someplace engineering/computer-related.
If you guys ever Google yourselves, maybe this post will come up. If that happens, send me an email! I hope life is good, and would love to say hello. (Maybe you can teach me that whole “ignore the Internet” thing…?)
2009, let’s think positive shall we?
Posted on January 7, 2009 | Posted by DM in Endless Navel-Gazing
Do New Year’s Resolutions tick you off? I mean really, what’s there to like about a weepy, nagging list of impossible must-do’s that force you to focus on your absolute worst qualities?
“Lose weight.”
“Stop (bad habit)-ing.”
“Stick to a budget.”
Blecch. Sounds like a lot of pointless self-loathing to me, so I refuse to participate. Instead, I’ve compiled a list of things I really like to do do – and therefore, will be doing more of in 2009, just because they make me happy:
Writing – blogging, novelling, etc.
Singing – specifically, perfecting my “signature set” in karaoke.
Riding – my motorcycle. Far too little of this in the year just past.
Appreciating – my home and family, especially marveling at the person that is my daughter.
Most importantly, though, in 2009 I’ll be looking for ways to pay forward just a fraction of the kindnesses shown to my family and I in 2008. A little Kevin Spacey, a little “My Name is Earl,” perhaps, but it sounds like a wonderful year.
What could possibly go wrong?
2008, please don’t let the door hit you on the way out
Posted on January 5, 2009 | Posted by DM in Endless Navel-Gazing
You might think, after the year I’ve had, that I’d be reluctant to post a “year in review.” Although I did recently vote 2008 my Least Favorite Year in Over a Decade, there were a few good things that came out of it. So in the spirit of putting a positive spin on a truly horrible year, here are the good things that happened to me in the year just past:
I started a new job that I really like.
We bought a very nice new house. (Bonus: I got to experience the whole house-hunting/buying process for the first time ever.)
I was given, once again, the opportunity to purge my earthly belongings and redefine the type of “stuff” that’s important to me.
I learned a new craft/creative skill: digital scrapbooking.
I was reminded of who my true friends are.
I was given the opportunity to realize how well-liked and widely known my father was.
We had a lovely holiday season in our new house, with plenty of room for visitors and the amazing feeling of no longer being the largest object in any room.
How about you? In spite of whatever troubles you faced, were there positives that came out of them? Share them here!