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Sorry if you get tired of the Twitters. It's just so damned convenient to Twitter.
Work
My business seems to be doing okay. It's in flux. I'm trying, desperately, to move out of Technical writing and into Web 2.0 consulting and training. In March, I trained a group of folks in Tennessee on Web 2.0, and that was fantastic. I want to do more of that. I wrote the course (therefore I OWN the course) and delivered it. I loved every minute - from the writing of the training to the delivery.
I'm currently working with a local marketing guy that I met on Twitter. He sells a lot of blogs to his clients, and even has a fantastic deal with Compendium, which is a corporate blogging platform. He wants me to offer a one-hour webinar and a 4 hour live class on Becoming a Blogger. I'm going to write that next week, I think.
These things are happening slowly, and aren't bringing in a lot of money yet. To change that, I'm trying to speak at more conferences. I've submitted to four conferences in the last month. 3 of them are learning/instructional design centric conferences and 1 is focused on blogging. My hope is that I can get into at least 1 of these (watch, I'll get all 4 and there's no way I can attend all 4). The more conferences I present at, the more I'll have name, and brand, recognition.
I'm also now blogging "professionally" for Brian Solis's bub.blicio.us. That means he is paying me to write two technology posts per day. It's time-consuming, but it's fun. And because each post starts with "By Michelle Lentz" it ups the Google juice, and the name/brand recognition.
I'm speaking next Tuesday night to the local ASTD chapter (and anyone else who wants to attend) on Personal Branding using FaceBook and LinkedIn. If you're local, you should come, although it's all the way out in Mason. I wish we had a more central (middle of everything) location, like Hyde Park/Norwood.
I've been given a regular column in Taste Magazine Cincinnati - the Wine Academy. So it's cool to be a "regular columnist." Once I get my first column published in the Fall issue, I'm going to start nagging the Cincinnati Enquirer/CinWeekly/CityBeat to let me write a wine column for them.
I'm contemplating buying a new MacBook Pro (15.4", 2.5 GHz) and making the switch from my tablet PC. I'd keep the tablet though - it's always good to have a PC handy. Plus, I have one client for which I'll continue to do technical documentation. The Windows Help software and the documented software both run on Windows and while I could probably run them both in Parallels, I'd rather just keep the PC around for that purpose. I'll buy the Mac as soon as one of my other clients gets around to paying me.
Krystal
We made $11000 with the last Krystal benefit - the big one. That's a fantastic start - I never imagined we'd bring in that much. We haven't worked as hard on the next one - it's Saturday at Top Shelf in Hebron. (Why are these always in Ky? Again, with the more central location.) 12-6 pm. You can learn all about it here. For some reason, I'm not as gung-ho on this event. I'm much more excited about the next two - a Max & Erma's no-brainer event and a Wine Tasting.
I seem to be back to myself. It took roughly 6.5 months from when Krystal died for me to really start living again and enjoying things. I still shouldn't drink wine and watch a movie like "We Are Marshall," but really, that would have made me cry even without thinking of Krystal. My work is improving and picking up partially because I've returned to the living, I think. I haven't put it behind me by any means (do you ever?), but I seem to be accepting things better.
However, I haven't accepted my family better. In fact, in the last 6 months, I've been so baffled by their own process of healing that I've sort of pushed away from them. I know that's terrible, but it's true. My healing took a completely different path and we don't understand each other's choices and feelings on that. I get that much. What I don't get is how to deal with them. I'm uncomfortable just being around them without my cousin around - she normalizes things for me. So that's something I still need to work through, but hey, I've got time, right?
Weight
I'm still trying to lose weight. But there have been issues. I wanted to jump back into working out full speed ahead. But I was having so much back pain, I couldn't. I had worried that I'd have to have surgery again, which is something I didn't want at all. Instead, my personal trainer and my dance teacher have been working at getting me back into alignment. My internal balance is off, due to relying heavily on my left side since injury to my right side 8 years ago. I'm 8 years worth of out-of-whack.
That means that I'm not allowed to do much at the gym just yet, because it has to build slow so that I re-train my body correctly. This is SO frustrating I can't even express it. I really want to do more at the gym, but I understand that I shouldn't. It looks like I may be taking up swimming as my cardio activity - the water supports my weight and it's the ulimate in low-impact.
I've dropped 2-4 pounds in the last 3 weeks. It's not much and it seems to swing back and forth. I'm eating better - that's a fact. Dessert has been dropped from my life in exchange for wine/beer. I decided I can't have both. I eat more salads (dressing on the side), fruit, and other low-fat, high-fiber healthy foods than ever before - without treading into icky vegetables though.
Without the constant workout I had hoped for, losing weight may take longer than the 6 months I planned. This could be a year to drop 20 or so pounds. But at least I'm strengthening my back and retraining my muscles in the process.
Email the Bunny
Michael Pollan: In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
Actually, I don't own it yet. But I intend to own it very soon.
Stephan Pastis: The Crass Menagerie: A Pearls Before Swine Treasury
Arriving at the beginning of March
