Desert Pond

Blog

  • Meetings and Why I Hate Them

    I like to work. It’s not working that I don’t like and the biggest reason why I sometimes question the quality of my work life is meetings. Yes. Hate them. Most of them, anyway. I participate in a LOT of meetings – in person, by phone, all day meetings, staff meetings, project meetings – you name it. In fact, because I’m a number’s geek, I’ve calculated it out and I’ve attended approximately 12,000 hours of meetings in the past 10 years. I’m including only meetings where the number of attendees was more than three. Three and under, I figure, is really just a discussion. Here are, in no particular order, the top 10 reasons I hate meetings:

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  • Journal Exercises for Writers

    In my continuing journey to start writing again, I’m working through a book of daily writing exercises. The easy part, sometimes, is completing the exercise. The hard part is putting it out here on the web for anyone who might wander by to comment on or critique However, I’m hoping others who want to start writing again will feel inspired, join me, try a few exercises, and even post some of their own in the comments.

    Exercise from a few days ago: Describe my favorite stories and why I like them.

    I’m stumped right off the bat. They’re all my favorites. Like a cup of Starbucks, rarely have I met a book I didn’t like. I think it’s just being lost in something that I enjoy. Any writer could just string some words together, a popcorn chain on a Christmas tree, and I’ll follow right along chomping every morsel as it’s served.

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  • Check Out TweetBeep Twitter App

    This Twitter app has been around for awhile but I’m just starting to discover its full potential as a tool for helping me with my blog and my Squidoo lenses. TweetBeep allows you to set certain search criteria for tweets and then have all matching tweets sent to your email address. How does that help bloggers and Squidoo lensmasters? Let me count the ways.

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  • Oh! Squidoo AND a Blog…

    I swear sometimes I must be the slowest person on the planet. I know when I joined Squidoo, I read all kinds of tips on promoting your lenses and a biggie was to blog about them. What I didn’t realize was that, in return, your lenses could also help your blog. At least, I think that could be the case. I’m still new to the whole blogging thing so stick with me here while I think this through, but last night, while working away on research for a lens, I noticed something – something I hadn’t seen before.

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  • A Learning Curve or a Jagged Line?

    Anytime I’ve tackled something new or different, whether a new assignment at work or a new online project, I go through a period I can only describe as a state of confusion. What do I need to know? Where can I get the information? At some point, I may even feel completely inadequate. In business and education, they describe this period as a “learning curve”. I would disagree that it’s a curve at all.

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