Posts for category ‘Twitter’

Whew! Huge apologies to everybunny. I had looked at the calendar this morning and realized that I have not blogged for some time when I meant to do so each week. There have been a lot of events, some crazy some just plain fun, but all have been adventurous. I will do my best to provide a quick summary…

December 31st:
While my friend Jessica (@bumbl_be) and I were eating the pints of Jeni’s Ice Creams that just arrived, Richie calls me on my iPhone. He asks what I was doing, and I told him about Jessica and Jeni’s. His response, “Hmm… Maybe I’ll have some today.” I had a whirring thought that he ordered some, and conversed about some other topics. He then said, “Maybe I should have some Jeni’s NOW.” I stopped mid-sentence. I asked, “Where ARE you?” He responded, “In your parking lot.”
That cheeky bugger!! Of course with his visit, we ended up missing the Juniper Moon Farm’s Open House on New Year’s Day. At least we saw the Hokies spank the Volunteers (Let’s go TECH!!) and drove up to Mountain Lake to see the snowed in hotel where the movie “Dirty Dancing” was filmed.

January 8th:
I had a fabulous belated Christmas celebration with my parents and sister’s family. The handknit presents were a hit, except for the hat that was too small for my brother-in-law. That’s more than okay; his Mom, the wonderful Edith, took it off his hands. My niece loved her Twinkle scarf, my sister loves her Pretty Thing, and my Mother loves both her red dress hat and Little Parade. My Daddy’s Koolhaas was quickly snatched by my Mother. Note to self: Make Ma lots of hats!

I had lunch with my BFF Anita and her son Aidan in Kelly’s Tavern at Pembroke Mall. Afterwards we visited my friend Brett at Artistic Creations Gallery. It was a nice time catching up with them!

January 13th:
Now that my darts are back (they were in my Civic), I popped into The London Underground Pub to see if I can challenge Ron (@ronaldb) to a game of Cricket. He was not there, but Sara his teammate was. Twisting my arm, she talked me into participating in “Luck of the Draw” on that Saturday. Little did I know how darts would change my social life in Blacksburg! I met so many folks since then, my time is a whirlwind.

January 21st:
Since I have joined two darts leagues, I decided to practice one day after work. Doing so, I met the delightful Patsy and Eva, part of the Martinettes. These women are in a group that welcomes lady newcomers to the New River Valley area. I attended my first meeting that Saturday (the 23rd) and am awed by their cheerfulness and excitement with life. Already I have been asked to display some of my fibery goods and to teach a workshop on knitting. I love these daring ladies! They refuse to keep still and take life by the horns.

Another cool bit? During my usual Friday night stop at Lefty’s on the 22nd, I met some of the fun and intelligent folks behind “The Plaid Avenger” of John and Katie Pritchard. John created the Plaid Avenger to keep folks abreast of what is going on with the world’s society. He teaches various geography classes at VA Tech. The one that caught my ear was his “Wines of the World” class. Boy, that would be fun to participate in those tastings discussions!

January 26th:
Today I start a fun adventure. I get to chat about STITCHES on my blog “On the Road to STITCHES” at Knitting Universe’s KniTalk Community!! The topics I will be discussing would be what knitterly items I want to make and wear for the trip, the classes I will be taking, the events I am lining up to see, and of course all the goodies that the Market is offering! As for Bigsock, no worries! I will be there too, so make sure you find some time to help the attempt on breaking the current Guinness Book World record for the largest handknit sock!!

If wondering about the Boys, they are alive and well. Caesar is as hungry as ever, and Julius is as mischievous. I have learned that if Julius is in my bedroom in the morning, I best get out of bed ASAP. Why? If I do not, he (ahem) will use my laundry basket as a litterbox. Crazy bunnies!! =:8

If there is something that made me sad upon leaving New England, especially the Boston area, it was missing the amount of meetups for social networking. Since PodCamp opened my eyes, I became more active in the non-knitting realm and was eager for increasing my connections to interesting folks. Now that I have been living in Southwest Virginia for a month, I think folks in New England might not realize how lucky they are in being more advanced both in the technology and the fiber realms.

With my arrival to Blacksburg full of rose-tinted visions, I looked in advance for groups to associate myself. Unfortunately the one group I found on LinkedIn had required membership (as in dues and such) stipulations. I am fine with the requirements, but wish that information was listed up front to avoid confusion. Slowly I found folks to follow on Twitter when on November 20th Dr. Vittorio Bonomo and I attended Modea’s Social Media Marketing Question and Answer Session in the Pamplin School of Business at Virginia Tech. The presentation was targeted towards those who either taught or attended the college, but there were some other interested folks who were just outside that circle. From that day I had met both Gary Cope and Michael Kiser along with the trio from Modea: Aaron Herrington, Mansi Trivedi, and Mike Cox. That afternoon I met Joseph Rooks, and knew this Twitter group was just the beginning of better things to come.

Because of their tweets, I had discovered a Tweetup on December 1st for Handshake 2.0 by Anne Giles Clelland. Excited about the event, I started Tweeting even more so. (begin /tangent) To explain, a few months back I joined Foursquare. Since Richmond is my currently adopted city, I have been Tweeting about all the places I have been from Blacksburg to Virginia Beach. It seems that I *ahem* have been Tweeting about a LOT of places. According to Foursquare, I am mayor at over 40 venues… (end /tangent)

The evening of Handshake 2.0’s Tweetup at Bull and Bones Brewhaus was to promote its new video. All I can say is that president Anne’s energy is contagious. In her business, she is promoting various folks including the New River Valley Triathlon scheduled for July 2010. While there I met Cameron Nouri, Evangelist of Rackspace and the team of Beth and Corey from The NewVA Corridor Technology Council. Later, dinner for me was the duck wrap and an cold glass of St. Maeve’s stout. I consider the lilting conversation as my dessert. Knowing that I will see many of these folks again, I left a hoppy bunny.

The next night was even more adventurous because Rackspace’s Software division was hosting (please excuse the pun) a Wine/Cheese party for its anniversary. I saw Cameron, met with Stuart Mease from their HR department, and was delighted to chat with other members of the company like co-founder Pat Matthews. His presentation answered a lot of questions that folks in the community have probably wondered like the number of “Rackers” who were employed, the growth of the company, etc. From the night before, I ran into both Beth and Ronald, and I think we all are looking forward to Rackspace’s next celebration.

My lesson learned from these weeks has been this one: If you are just pining for networking, you cannot sit at home on the computer and Tweet. You have to go out and meet folks to be real. I am determined to do just that in the Southwestern Virginia corridor! =:8

For many weeks, I have been biting my tongue whenever I remembered the crime scene. I had walked into the Natick Mall Sears to participate in what I expected would be a busy 3-ring circus. Why the expectation? Lands End was hosting two of the knitting world’s rockstars, Kate Jacobs and Vickie Howell, in an event to knit hats for the homeless. Since the e-mail I received about this event was very last minute, I was worried that I would be lost in the crowd of fans. Instead I was in a front row seat to witness Lands End’s failure to reach a highly sought audience for their targeted goal of 250000 knitted hats.

With today’s fluctuating economy, savvy businesses utilize social media tools to increase their customer base. Being active in the realm of weblogs, podcasts, and online networks have enabled these businesses to advertise their products and services. For specific niche markets, narrowing the target to reach a solid customer base is a must to reaping high ROI. Lands End’s charity drive stop in Massachusetts is an example of how not to use social media.

In chatting with Kate, Vickie, and the woman who represented Lands End’s charity drive, I discovered a few keys affecting the low turnout of knitters (about a dozen at most) who appeared:

- The lack of utilizing Ravelry – a worldwide social network for knitters, crocheters, and weavers.
It seems that a particular publishing company dislikes its knitting authors to be on Ravelry. This publishing company feels that the authors would be wasting time and should be writing books, even if there is a group dedicated to specific authors. Because of this break in communication between the author and the readers, the author has no way of announcing appearances or news. Lands End had also contacted the owners of Ravelry to promote their charity. Unfortunately, it would not be feasible nor fair to the hundreds of charities that other Ravelry members promote themselves (mine happens to be Sweet Binks Rabbit Rescue). If protocol were followed, the suggestion that Lands End sign up for a Ravelry account would have been made so as a member, Lands End could easily promote themselves by creating their own group or contacting the local groups where their charity drives would be visiting. From my last check, Lands End did not follow that suggestion.

- Publicizing to a group located nowhere near the scheduled events.
Where the events were located is over an hour’s drive from the group base. The Greater Boston Knitting Guild meets in Boston. The events were at Burlington, MA and Natick, MA. Both areas require a long bit of driving, and do not allow easy public transportation. Since only that Boston guild was contacted, only one other guild was shared that news, the MetroWest Guild of which I am a member. How I had learned of the events was through a last-minute e-mail sent a couple of nights before the scheduled dates. It was sent as an “FYI, in case you are interested” type of feel. There was no “Wow! Come help Kate and Vickie knit hats for charity”" excitement. The small amount of notice made it difficult for many to plan on attending. Another note is that Lands End stated they had sent newsletters to its customers asking of any of them knitted to come and participate in the events. I quizzed a number of Massachusetts residents afterwards and not one received such news. Many of them were unhappy at missing the opportunity.

- Ignoring the power of local popular figures and specialty shops to promote the events.
Every town and city has their own respected community rockstars. They are many in New England, particularly Massachusetts, for the knitting world. Designer Kristin Nicholas, Julia Farwell-Clay of Twist Collective, Pam Allen of Classic Elite, Kathy and Steve Elkins of WEBS, Guido Stein of “It’s a Purl, Man” – these folks are just the tip of the iceberg. With the location of the scheduled events, it would have been more lucrative to include nearby New Hampshire and Rhode Island. This fibery network of community rockstars do connect with one another, and could have helped Lands End promote the charity events. By not including the local yarn shops and stores, Lands End failed to spread the word effectively, particularly in the locations where the events were scheduled.

I sometimes find myself reflecting on that Saturday when I met the small quiet crowd who came to the event. I always end up shaking my head in disbelief on the lack of the numbers that could have been. Since that day, I noticed that Kate is now on Twitter (another network she was told not to participate), and I wonder if it is really her or her publisher. (Update 2009-11-19: I was informed that it definitely is not her publisher, but I still think that the Tweets sound like hollow marketing.) I am just glad that Vickie is the real deal online, and that contacting her results in genuine responses. =:8

It has been some time since I wrote from the heart. My thoughts and feelings have been hidden for a reason, but now is the time to share some of them with everybunny. Many big changes have been occurring, and finally a decision has been made.

Though it has been almost two months, I deeply feel that Podcamp Boston helped this decision. That weekend taught me how to communicate my views more succinctly to those who were not in the same business. It taught me that consumers prefer to buy from a person of trust, rather than one with cheaply discounted goods. The various sessions and presentations which brought out different personalities had one goal: to share information freely and without judgment of other folks’ opinions. I realized that most of what I learned at Podcamp I had already done in the knitting world, and I wanted to transition that knowledge into the world of ITIL.

During the whole process of being let go in January, I promised myself that if I did not find a job by my 40th birthday in November, I would move to Blacksburg and go back to school. After a good kick in the pants from a former friend’s harsh words, my sense of being was awakened by embarrassment. His words brought out a realization: There may also be a hidden reason why I have not been able to find work in New England and the Midwest. My inner vibrations were not allowing me to sway from the true desire in my heart.

After a heart-to-heart talk with my friend Jan Anderson on September 24th, I realized that as passionate I was about knitting (particularly of knitted fabric as a structural material), those emotions began when I worked at The Corporation with their products of 3-phase electrical power. It was only when I was denied the ability to release that passion into my job that I directed those feelings into my hobby.

As a result of listening my inner vibrations, I shall be back in Virginia Tech for school. On the morning of November 1st, I am coming home to Blacksburg with 2 of the bunnies, Caesar and Julius. I shall be doing what I can to find work and also to establish residency in my home state.

Ten years ago, I would have never found the moxie to pick up and move. I was always terrified of being abandoned and alone. The past few years have proven differently. Because of the friends and ties that I made from knitting (maybe I should have used “joins” or “knots” instead of ties?) and the internet, I will never be alone again. Not only am I grateful for everybunny I have met, but I always will appreciate each message, each RAK, and each hug I receive.

I take this time now to thank everybunny for all of the support given to me. Even if I may be late on my posts, I will be here to share my crazy life’s adventures. Here is the quote that I have been following since my awakening in January 2009: “Live one day at a time and make it a masterpiece.” Why? Because in my humble opinion, nothing beats having passion for our short lives. =:8

Recently the LinkedIn and Facebook pages of the “Providence Geek Dinner for Wednesday, September 23rd” caught my eye. After attending social media events in Boston, it was high time for me to check out what was in Rhode Island. Curious, I reviewed the attendees and recognized some friendly names. Hmmm… I thought, “What the heck, why not go? Maybe I could find a connection to a job.” Not sure what to expect, I dressed comfortably in “office” attire. Knowing that first impressions last forever, I wanted to look polished, but not stiff. Taking deep breaths, I drove downtown to Trinity Brewhouse to see what awaited.

After popping into Trinity, I quickly spotted my friend Sara Streeter. This social media savvy guru and I met during Podcamp Boston last August. Of course I was pleased to discover that she is also a fellow knitter. If I failed to recognize anybunny else, I apologize. The downstairs area of Trinity Brewhouse is quite dark, and if folks did not approach me, I obviously was not able to converse if I could not see them.

The company featured in that night’s presentation was Simulia. This software company specializes in third dimensional graphics, and I was smitten with their work. All I kept asking in my head was what did I need to do to work for them. Their ties into industrial engineering kept me mesmerized, that is, until my stomach reminded me to get food into my body.

Note, I love bacon cheeseburgers, particularly those with only lettuce, tomato, mustard and ketchup. For the cheese, cheddar is my preference, but I love smoked Gouda too. From seeing the photo above, Trinity Brewhouse has a nicely sized option. Seated at the bar, I was gobbling down that and one of their heavier beers, the Russian Imperial Stout, when I recognized the man standing on my immediate right. “Hello, Mr. Cicilline,” I greeted the Mayor of Providence, “How are you? I had no idea you were into the Providence Geek Dinners. Are you into technology?” We ended up chatting for a bit, and I shared how I was in IT and QA. I had figured that attending the evening’s event was a good way to find a job. We later closed our conversation, and I felt it was a comfortable one. Minutes later, I saw him again, but this time with another gentleman. “Kimberly, I would like to introduce to you James. James, this is Kimberly. Kimberly is looking for a job.” Thanks to the mayor, I met the recruitment team of Bridge Technical Solutions. Now, I still do not have a job, but at least that is a start.

So moral of the story? If one is given a chance to network, do so because whoever one meets there can help. If one’s stomach tells you it is time to eat, do it because look what happened to mine! =:8

There is something about the term “knitting rockstar” that can make those who love yarn swoon. The idea that somebunny who is admired for his/her talent and foresight will be in the area, and that meeting him/her is possible? I am pretty much resolved to do so.

When I received an email from the MetroWest Guild that both Kate Jacobs of “The Friday Night Knitting Club” book and Vickie Howell of the “Knitty Gritty” television series were offering a chance to hang out and knit with them, I made the firm decision to do so on Saturday. To my great surprise, not many folks appeared, but at least I did get some awesome photos of both Kate and Vickie.

Hopefully next time, Land’s End will be able contact more of the local community and host their next “Knit with Rockstars for charity” in the city. I look forward to the possibility of doing so again! =:8

This past weekend, I was supposed to be at the first ever Sock Summit in Portland, OR. Sadly, due to poor timing and limited funds on my part, I missed my chance of buying the plane tickets to Seattle. While wallowing in the misery of not going to the biggest sock-knitting bash ever (IMHO) and not seeing my cousin’s family in Sunriver, my friend Guido Stein of the “It’s a Purl, Man” fame contacted me on Thursday. He suggested that I attend the Podcamp Boston conference which was the same weekend at the University of Massachusett’s Boston campus. I blew off his words at first, and checked my calendar for the weekend. Hmm… Looks like there is the Spa-like event WOOL… But then driving up north was not appealing to my tired knitting mojo and brain-dead blog.

“Podcamp? I am not a podcaster. Why on earth should I go?” Those thoughts rang in my head until I scanned the notes of what Podcamp entailed. It was not only podcasts which were discussed, but also the various types of social networking and how all can be used in marketing, distributing, and sharing information. Reflecting on the fact that I would have to be up early to commute to Boston, which meant Rich would be have to be up early to take me, I decided to embed myself into the conference by staying over both Friday and Saturday nights at the recommended Doubletree Hotel. Using cousin Tess’ trick of Priceline, I scored a room for both nights. In my suitcase, I packed up my “Little Parade” shawl project and favorite notepad in case my crestfallen heart stumbled across my lost knitting and blogging mojo.

Taking the commuter rail into Boston’s South Station, I reviewed what was in store for me, and decided to treat the experience as one of discovery. The topics covered in the conference schedule ranged from Guido’s “How Do you Start This Podcasting Thing?” to Renee Hopkins’ “What’s the Value of Social Media for B2B Companies?” Impromptu sessions were also encouraged, and the “Law of Two Feet” was firmly implanted. To explain in a nutshell, the “Law of Two Feet” allows a person who is not getting the most of a session to walk out of it. So if the session one popped into turned out the opposite of what was expected, it is more than okay to leave for answers elsewhere.

Saturday brought some awesome insight to why I was here. Though when I arrived, Guido asked if I could help by downloading an application on my iPhone. Wanting to help, I downloaded Moby, and notified him when it was done. Guido’s response? “Great!! We need you to walk up to folks and take their photograph. The pictures will be posted up on the #PCB4 wall.” I replied, “Sure thing Guido!” but in my head I was thinking, “Am I going MAD? I have no idea who these people are!!” Of course I did as asked and managed to grab some folks as guinea pigs. Later, the sessions kind of distracted me from my assigned task… Oops!

During my years of blogging in the knitting and house rabbit genres, I had thought about doing the same in my fields of datacenter and software QA knowledge, but was unsure of my approach. By applying the suggestions from “How Do you Craft a Compelling Story through Podcasting?” by Jeremy Meyers, I saw that my own blog-writing could be tweaked and primed to reach audiences besides my fellow knitters and house rabbit lovers. Guido’s session of “How Do you Start this Podcasting Thing?” brought up ideas that I had not thought of in my writing style. I do not want to drone about further details on Podcamp, but will sum it up as this:

Podcamp (#pcb4) made me realize that social media is a communication tool in which wielded correctly, is a very powerful sword that cuts through old-fashioned minds with “out of the box” thinking. Podcamp also showed me how intertwined I was in the Ravelry social network, that there are many other networks with just as dedicated followers, and how our experiences should be shared so that other groups could learn from the community of online knitters/crafters.

I spoke with a ton of folks over the weekend, and I hope to learn more by following them in their respective mediums of communication:
@GuidoS, @shersteve @johnblue, @gradontripp, @DougH, @WayneNH, @jeffhinz, @chelpixie, @cspenn, @LDpodcast, @TheMarketingGuy, @SarahPrevette, @erin_bury, @MichaelCantone, @johnhaydon, @lexiconsystems, @chrisabraham, @mickdarling, @JimPeake, @AnnKingman, @GenniK, @saranicole, @stacyreck, @LisaJohnson, @janbabson, and @HPak to start…

Many thanks to all that I met. The time and money spent during this weekend was worth every second and minute. My mojo is back in full swing, and I have become inspired once again to knit and write. The warmed chocolate chip cookies did not hurt either. I hope to be discussing in a future Podcamp the topic of niche social networks and how their hierarchy functions – maybe in October at Philadelphia or New Hampshire? Time will tell! Until then, feel free to check out the names I listed above, and the photos that I posted on Flickr with the “pcb4” and “podcamp” tags. =:8

I have been dwelling on what topics to discuss for months, and how to write out the thoughts that appear in my head. Sure I could report on the woolly gatherings and adventures, yet sometimes I want to write something from the heart. Recently a friend had forwarded a quote to me by Abraham-Hicks Publications. Intrigued, I immediately signed up for the daily quote which is e-mailed. The following quote is from Abraham during a workshop held in Spokane, WA on Wednesday, July 7th, 1999. Its words beautifully state what I have been feeling inside for quite some time:

“Inspiration comes forth from within. It’s what the light burning within you is about, as opposed to motivation, which is doing it because if you don’t do it, there will be negative repercussions. Motivation is making myself do something that I don’t really want to do. Inspiration is having the clear picture of what I am wanting — and letting Universal forces come into play to get the outcome.”

There have been incidents which affected my decisions of what I needed and wanted. I had been so stressed out, that in order to relieve the pain I bought close to a ton of yarn and various other things. I did not always want the items presented. Rather, I needed to purchase them because I felt like buying said objects would make me feel better. The need to purchase created a greed for certain items. Before long, my acquiring was out of control and a new stress came about on how I was going to store my “pretties” that I needed around myself to feel mentally better. I had no desire to maintain my home or myself. I ended up with half-done tasks, high cholesterol, and Type 2 diabetes.

The news of my health results on February 5th this year kicked me in the pants. I made the decision that I did not want to be diabetic and that I was going to beat the disease. The want and desire not to be dependent on medication drove me to change my diet radically — no white sugar, white flour, or white pasta; no milk, butter, or eggs. I finally joined a gym, but am not working out like I should. However, by changing my diet, I dropped from that initial A1C of 11.9 to 8.0 and I am proud of that.

Then a light bulb switched in my head about the rest of my acquisitions and behavior. The questions “Do I really WANT all of this yarn? Do I really WANT all of these tools and books? Do I really WANT all of these clothes and shoes?” plugged at me. Finally the real questions, “Why am I holding on to these items? Why do I think I need them? Why can I not do the tasks I set myself to do?” I realized that I had to let go of the items that presented negative energy to my well-being.

I began by purging various items beginning with the 260 groups that I was part of in Ravelry. I asked myself if I was in those groups “just to have” or was I going to participate fully. After removing myself from over 100 groups (hey now, I am still working on that purge!), I looked into the yarn stash and I was stunned. I had never seriously considered how much yarn was in my possession. There was no way I could ever knit all of that delicious fibery goodness before I died. I started a set of destashes, and I felt incredible. In fact purging the yarn bought because I was unhappy was like a release of tension — the rubber band that was drawn tightly to the point of being broken is slowly coming back to its original relaxed shape.

Happy with these latest findings, I began wanting to work in my flower bed again. I also have bought yarn, but now the pretties are items that I truly want to use — not just because I am feeling sad and need a “fix” to feel better. I travel and see friends when I can, and no longer drone about being a lifeless homebody. The feeling of self-improvement continues to grow, and I want more of it! Here is hoping that by late November (my 40th birthday) that I get my wants and desires. =:8