And you know what? I am really okay with that. So rather than going into a long rant about how much I suck at blogging, or making a promise to myself to blog more or even writing something thoughtful at all, I’m just going to tell you in a nice, neat, numbered list, what my life has looked like over the past two months.

1. I lost my happiness
2. so I quit my amazing job
3. I spent way too much time in my PJs
4. and watched too many sappy movies
5. but then I read a really amazing book about happiness
6. I started running again
7. and got organized
8. I spent a lot of time with my best friend Monica
9. which involved TONS of laughter
10. I started finding happiness all around me
11. and started wearing high heels again
12. And then out of the blue I got a wonderful job offer
13. I took it
14. and my first project was Mom2 (hooray!)
15. I changed a tire wearing a yellow dress
16. and fell in love with the Mom2 Crew all over again
17. I spent some time by a campfire
18. and did some more organizing
19. Today I woke up…
20. and discovered a peace in myself that I never knew existed

I would say that as tumultuous as they have been, the last two months have been two of the most AMAZING months of my life! And it all boiled down to figuring out how to solve my own problems… with a ton of help from my beloved friends of course.

And because this post wouldn’t be complete without it (and because it totally cracks me up every time I see it)…

Photo evidence of Jenny and I changing a tire in evening gowns. And in case there is any confusion, I totally stole this picture from Jenny’s blog. So I am Maggie and Me is Jenny… if that makes sense.

And because I think this post needs a picture of Jenny and I looking like ladies (ie, without our asses in the air), here is this one with she and I and Gwen that I love just as much as the tire-changing one.

And because why not? BANGS:

Make your own at www.merrynewsinator.com. It’s fast and fun!!

I often get asked why I decided to join the Army and I think my answer is fairly simple. I wanted to be a part of something greater than I am. I wanted to be pushed to my limits and I wanted to do something good for my country.

Let’s fast forward seven years….

I am now the Public Relations and Operations gal at a great company. I have some really amazing friends and random activities that further complete me. But all of this has not stopped be from getting worried and often second guessing myself. Do I want to be blogging? Do I tweet to much? Crowds make me nervous…. do I have to do this speaking gig? Am I really doing everything right?

I am not really sure where this fear comes from or why it even started. Maybe the societal pressure to please everyone? I have been freelance writing for Barstool Magazine for YEARS and writing there has never made me nervous at all but for some reason starting this blog was very hard for me. Maybe it is the comments section at the end that would allow people to say to my face what they really thought about my article rather than just mentioning how much it sucked while they flipped pages.

Overcoming

Recently I was reunited with of my old friends from Basic Training and while talking to him about some of these fears, he reminded me that the most important thing in life is for me to be me.

“Maggie you are passionate and strong. People love you for who you are. You don’t need to be anything else and you don’t need to be afraid. You just need to be you. “

This is the man who picked me up when I fell, who pushed me to run harder and faster and who was not surprised when our Drill Sergeants put me in charge of a platoon. He has been on tour in Iraq not once, but twice. He is one of the strongest men I know. I greatly admire him and his respect means a lot to me, so I’ve been thinking a lot about what he had to say.

Am I really being me?

The answer is irrevocably yes. There are certain things I’ve wanted with my life, goals I have set, and I have accomplished those goals and more. So where does my fear come from? Why am I second guessing myself with every blog post? It comes from an obvious lack of confidence in myself.

Starting today, I am going to do everything in my power to channel my “Inner Army Chick” again because I know she is there. I miss the Maggie that could run for hours and who had a quiet confidence that was unwavering. I miss the girl that was terrified of change but who threw all of those fears out of the window to join the Army. I want the Maggie who would charge head first through a bayonet course screaming at the top of her lungs because a Drill Sergeant told her to and who didn’t flinch when this same Drill Sergeant took away her Herbal Essence because it was too “girly.” This girl could climb any obstacle (and did) and “fear” was not a part of her vocabulary.

So which inner “you” should you channel?

My advice is this: find that inner “Confident You” to channel when you start to feel afraid and get channeling WHOMEVER that “Inner You” happens to be. Whether she is your Inner Army chick, your Inner Ninja or your Inner Goddess, I guarantee she is there. She is strong and confident and smart and just waiting for you to tap into her beauty.

I promise that from now on, I will always Channel my Inner Army Chick and I will do so unabashedly.

But what does this look like?

1. I’m going to blog, without fail, once a week. Like anything in life, to be good at something you have to practice. I love writing and I need to do more of it. I only get to flex my creative muscles so much writing about the new Houston “it” bar for barstool!
2. It’s back to a 100 books a week for me! I am a voracious reader. I have been in a bit of a slump and it’s time to get back to reading every night!
3. Army body here I come. I truly believe (and so does this guy) that your brain can only be as fit as your body. I’ve been back to running 25 miles a week for a month now and I feel great. I’m thinking really hard about doing the Peak Condition Project but we will see. I know Gwen loves it!
4. I’m going skydiving. This is where the fearless part comes in!

You know those memories that are locked away, you think maybe forever, somewhere deep in the back of your mind? Every so often you will be doing something mundane…. tying your shoe, picking up a sweater, running in a field…. and one of those memories will surface from their fuzzy dreamlike state with a clarity that is most shocking. But sadly, that intense clarity usually only lasts for a short while. These tiny accidental moments of clarity are something I have come to cherish because since my father passed away, because those are all I have left of him.

This post has been a week and a half in the making. I have turned it over 100 times in my mind and wondered if written words could even give my thoughts justice. But written words have prevailed because of how tricky memories can be. I do not want to forget Eurydice or the things that came with her to me with her tale.

Last week I was given a very special gift in the form of memory in the most unlikeliest of ways. Sitting in a dark theater, I was handed a love letter from my father.

The Play.

David’s brother Barry got us tickets to the Alley Theatre’s performance of Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice. Prior to sitting down in the theatre, I flipped through the playbill. When the lights went down I understood that this was to be a retelling of the classical tale of Orpheus and Eurydice. I also understood that Sarah Ruhl’s father had passed away and that facet of her life play a huge role in the writing of this play. This play was to be an intensely personal look into Sarah’s soul. Even knowing that, and knowing how much I do relate to this woman, I was not expecting to be rocked like I was.

Like in every classic Orpheus tale, he is the musician who plays the world’s most beautiful music and Eurydice is his starry eyed and beautiful beloved who dies on their wedding day. Orpheus then fights his way to the Underworld to bring Eurydice back. He does succeed in gaining entrance, but the God of the Underworld gives him a strict challenge to regain possession of Eurydice. Orpheus must walk out of the Underworld and allow Eurydice to follow him, without once looking back at her. If he looks back at all, Eurydice will die all over again and he will lose her forever. In all of the classic tales, Orpheus succumbs to his desire to see Eurydice and turns around before they make it out of the Underworld and the tale ends in her second death and in his grief.

But what of Eurydice? Where was she while Orpheus was beating his proverbial chest and conquering death? Just chillin’ in Hades, sitting on a rock, waiting for Orpheus? Or does she have any idea that he is even coming? Does she even care? In Sarah’s version, things are much more complicated and Eurydice is given much more control over her story. And a new character is introduced…. Eurydice’s father.

The play opens with Eurydice and Orpheus on a beach. Orpheus gives Eurydice the gifts of the birds and the sky…. their banter is easy and sweet and it is quite that obvious that Orpheus is hopelessly in love with the doe eyed Eurydice (as was I). The scene ends with his confession of love and a simple piece of string looped around a very “particular” finger. At this point I teared up only because I’m a sucker for love; especially when it is offered in such a pure and easy manner.

The moment at which I knew this play was going to have a profound effect on me was when Eurydice’s father first appears on stage and begins composing a love letter to his daughter, a love letter he cannot hope to ever hand her himself because he is a resident of the Underworld. I think this is something that every little girl craves when they say goodbye to their Daddy…. just one more word. In this other world of myth and legend, it seems there is some line of communication open (even if the service is a little faulty) because Eurydice’s Father leaves the letter on the ground for her to find.

Moments later Eurydice herself arrives and begins a poignant monologue on weddings. “Weddings are for Father’s and their Daughters” she says…. this line managed to completely undo me…. because it is something I have often thought about. After all…. it is your father who is supposed to give you away. Isn’t it? It is Daddies who pick their little girls up when they scrape their knees and who tolerate playing Barbie because a smile from their daughter is a treasure. Who else has the authority to give a little girl away to another but the man who will always love her most?

Like mine, Eurydice’s father cannot be there on her wedding day. But a mysterious man shows up while Eurydice is taking a break from the wedding party and tempts Eurydice away with the promise of a letter from her Father (wonder where he found it? Damn that faulty mail service). Eurydice ends up realizing that following the man was a mistake and in her flight from him, she ends up falling to her death. Here Eurydice reunites with her father, who has conquered the swim through the “River of Forgetfulness” and has been faithfully waiting for her at the other side.

Of course, when Eurydice arrives she has no memory of her life on earth because of that fateful river swim. She mistakes her Father for a mere porter. Thus begins Eurydice’s journey with her father through the tangled webs of thoughts and memories and words from “porter” back to “Father” again…. and Eurydice remembers what it is to love. There is laughter and a house made of string and much song. There are stones and a petulant child and grief.

All the while Orpheus is searching for a way to get Eurydice back, and the stage is raining.

The Emotions.

I am loathe to give away the end of the play and there is much I haven’t written about here. But know that it is a fantastic tale. The director, Gregory Boyd, brings Sarah’s tale of Eurydice to the stage in a way that rivals the stories mythical origins. The lines between loss and laughter, fantasy and reality, and love and regret are seamlessly crossed in the Alley’s telling of Eurydice.

So much so that after the play, memories crashed through the barriers in my mind like the greatest of floods. My heart was broken open and thoughts of my Father surfaced quite unexpectedly. For the first time in almost ten years, his laughter rang through my head like the clearest of bells and his face loomed more beautifully than any painting in the world. Eurydice was the most beautiful of love letters I have ever received. I will be forever in debt to Sarah Ruhl, and for the cast of crew of Houston’s much Alley Theatre, for giving me this amazing gift.

If you are in Houston between now and March 1, I highly recommend catching Eurydice. Whether or not the play affects you as it did me, it truly is a good cleaver spin on a classic tale.

Oh…. and Daddy? Kisses your way.

Welcome readers of the Houston Chron.com!! Thanks for visiting

Secret’s out. I have an Internet crush Malcolm Gladwell. I know I already blogged about him here and here… and also tweet about him all the time, but I just saw him speak at a Greater Houston Partnership luncheon and I’ve got just a hundred a little bit more to say.

First of all. Malcolm Gladwell is a GREAT speaker. To read the man is not to hear him. I have read his books and as much as I love them, at times he can come across as pretty clinical. In person he comes across as anything but.

And second? Outliers is much more than just a book… it’s more than a case study on human nature or an expose of secrets kept for years by Sociologist. Gladwell was able to captivate me on a higher level with his prose and my thoughts on Outliers were reoriented. Today, the concepts that make up Outliers leapt off of the pages and really became a cause; they became something to believe in.

In my blog post about Outliers on the Schipul blog, I talked about how Gladwell insists that “to build a better world, we need to replace the patchwork of lucky breaks and arbitrary advantages that today determine success – the fortunate birth dates and the happy accidents in history – that provides opportunities to all.” Gladwell’s talk today was focused on the constraints that are holding us back from obtaining this better world. He does discuss these same constraints in Outliers, but hearing them out loud, punctuated by a fist in the air, turned them into a call to action and not “just” words on a page.

Okay. I’m gonna put a brake on things before I get to the constraints because I would like to explain what exactly we are being constrained from: an abundance of Social Capitalization. That missing abundance is what is keeping us from this mythical “better world” but…. What the hell does that even mean?!! Social Capitalization is the rate at which a given community takes advantage of its collective human potential. We are not taking advantage of ours.

To really understand the idea of capitalization, check out this article on Wikipedia. Yeah, it has to do with the accounting aspect of capitalization it but really helped me grasp the concept.

So. What is keeping us from an abundance of Social Capitalization? Gladwell says there are three things.

1. The Poverty Constraint: In ways we cannot even begin to appreciate, poverty affects us more profoundly than you would ever think. No matter how intelligent you are, where you com from really matters. “Poverty trumps IQ” says Gladwell.
2. The Stupidity Constraint: We think the way we have of doing things is perfect when in reality we are creating rules that get in the way of letting people realize their talents. Gladwell uses Hockey teams as an example to illustrate this constraint. “Isn’t Hockey a meritocracy? NO! We think we are choosing the best but we’re not! We’re choosing the biggest!” Hockey leagues are based on certain age cut offs. Those cut offs can mean a lot when you pit two little boys against each other…. one who was born on January 1 and the other born after Christmas.
3. The Attitude Constraint: It is a proven fact that people from Asian countries score better on their math tests. Is this because they are smarter than Americans? No. James Flynn actually proved that Caucasians have a slightly higher IQ than Asians. What’s the deal then? Turns out we Americans are just lazier. Give us a math problem and we’ll give up after an average of two minutes while Asians will toil away forever.

We as a society need to throw the magic dust out the window. The issue in this country is NOT that we are by nature untalented. The issue is that we are squandering our talent. Outliers calls us to fix that.

**Two other things that have NOTHING to do with changing the world but are sort-of Malcolm related:

1. David mashed this picture of Malcolm and Bob together and it is HILARIOUS.
2. Malcolm Gladwell looks really great in skinny jeans.

Gladwell’s insight into into “success” is mystifying and staggering and humbling all at once. With Outliers, Gladwell irrevocably proves that there is no magical kool aid you drink to become successful. Success is about hard work (10,000 hours of it!), some special circumstance and a dash of luck.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my personal success since I finished the book and have spent a lot of time comparing myself to the “successful” people Gladwell talks about. What have I learned from this exercise? Comparing yourself to Bill Gates is extremely intimidating. To be honest, comparing yourself to any of the “characters” in Gladwell’s book is intimidating! My thoughts went something like this: “I wasn’t born in Canada in 1983 AND I didn’t have access to a computer at the beginning time or motherboards AND I’ve never done ANYTHING for 10,000 hours… will I EVER be a twittering beauty queen who can fly planes?”

Kidding. Sort of.

After my big think following Outliers, I realized something really important. I am never going to be Bill Gates, but you know what? That is not what I WANT to be. So I decided to outline my goals and measure my personal success based on those goals as opposed to the goals of people who came before me.

So what does Maggie want to be when she grows up?

I want to teach. I want to help people understand the magic I feel at my fingertips as I type. I don’t want people to be scared of Facebook or think Twitter is a dirty word. I want people to look at the internet as a tool they can use instead of an evil set of tubes. I want to explain things to people in a way that they understand and I don’t ever want anyone to feel stupid when I tell them something. I want to be a Public Relations Geek but I don’t ever want to be a know-it-all. I want to celebrate my small successes, and I want everyone I know to celebrate theirs.

I graduated with a Public Relations degree from the University of Houston. I ADORE people and can talk to anyone for hours. You are a radish farmer? Let’s talk about it!!!! I didn’t really count this love of people and the countless hours I’ve spent talking as “practice” though. Everyone talks, right? After sitting with my boss and brooding about my intimidation of the magical “10,000 hours” he asked me if I thought I’d done anything at all for 10,000 hours. My response? “Reading, Breathing…. Talking.”

So clearly ya ain’t Bill Gates sweet pea. You’re something a little different…. something a little “louder” I’d say.

For a PR Major, 10,000 hours of human interaction is a pretty beneficial thing don’t you think? But it is also a pretty common thing for people in my field because “people-people” gravitate towards Communication careers. So how will I differentiate myself from the rest of the people in my field? Luckily, I have a level of curiosity rivaled only by my cat. I started digging around on the interwebs 6 months ago and fell hopelessly in love. That is how I’m going to be little different than PR pros. So why am I intimidated? I know that my goal is to be a PR Geek and to help people; what is stopping me?

I’m not even CLOSE to being an expert, on anything internet related and that is half of my goal. 10,000 hours is A LOT OF HOURS. When I finished Outliers, it looked to me like an insurmountable mountain of CSS, HTML and Internet Speak. Where was I to begin?? It took me a little while, but I finally realized: If I am standing still staring at the mountain, I have not begun anything. To “begin” I realized I had to start celebrating the small successes that will get me to 10,000 hours.

So when did your climb begin??

When I first started working at Schipul, I thought a DNS cloud was that white fluffy thing that rolls over your house before a big storm. Who knew DNS had to do with the name of a server where a website lives?!? I looked around at my coworkers and they were all like Bill Gates to me. I had no idea what ANYONE was talking about half of the day! So what did I decide to do? Start the Schipul blog. By myself. WHICH MAKES PERFECT SENSE RIGHT? To me it did. How was I going to learn if I didn’t get down and dirty with it. God bless our IT Director’s patience. I think he could have set up the Schipul blog in 29 seconds or less but he answered countless questions and put up with me for the bajillion 4 or 5 hours it of Maggie-time it actually took.

To be a fly on the wall during one of our discourses would have been highly entertaining.

Maggie: So. I think Webfaction is possessed by the devil.* I can’t get the domain to shoot the right way and the nav makes no sense and their helpfiles are WORTHLESS.
IT Director: Are you sure you’re pointing the DNS to the right server?
Maggie: I think so. I wrote them support ticket.
IT Director: Yeah. I saw it.
Maggie: Did it make sense?
IT Director: (silence)
Maggie: No? Okay. I’m going to rewrite it. Be right back!
IT Director: (puts head on desk)

Poor guy. When it was all said and done, I gave him a big hug but he probably deserved something more akin to an entire keg of Bud Light and a bottle of tequila a case of beer. We got through it though, right?

And you know what I did when it was all said and done? I CELEBRATED! Why did I forget about all these little mountains I’d climbed when I completed Outliers? Because I let myself be intimidated. And I forgot for a second just how much I’d celebrated the “little” stuff just a few months prior.

The biggest most important but most often forgotten lesson in Outliers?

You did not get where you are by yourself. People and circumstances helped you out a long the way. You got a few lucky breaks and did some amazing things with them. No matter what your job is, no matter who you are, you’ve got a chance to be successful. You just have to walk through the door when it opens.

When you get to the other side, you may not be Bill Gates…. But you climbed a mountain and became your own sort of expert. Which I think is better than standing still any day of the week.

*Webfaction is great and not really possessed by the devil. I just didn’t get it six months ago

1. I hate mushrooms. They are a fungus. Don’t you realize you are eating fungus people?!?
2. When I sleep alone, I sleep with a night light on. My house burned down when I was 16 so I have an intense fear of waking up in the middle of the night to that burning smell and not being able to see anything. I’m extremely clumsy and it is multiplied ten fold in the dark.
3. My favorite author when I was a little girl was Mary Higgins Clark but I would read whatever my father put in front of me. This included an array of literature spanning from Reader’s Digest to The Stephen King Dark Tower series. I think this has contributed to my fantastic imagination and belief that everything is a mystery. Give me a book and it will be consumed in two days flat.
4. I have been 25 for three days and it totally weirds me out. But I don’t really know why?
5. I took the Myers Briggs test last week and just finished with my consultation. I am an ENFP which means my “preferences” are extroversion, intuition, feeling and perceiving. My life goal is discovering my identity.
6. I am one of those freaky people that LOVE LOVE LOVE and adore their jobs.
7. My little sister and my mother are my best friends in the entire universe. MommyMac is an audiologist for a non-profit and AliMac is in vet school. They are some of the most brilliant and funny women I know. I thank God daily that they are in my life. Especially when Ali leaves me 45 minute voicemails in an entirely British accent or when my Mom emails me her daily “You are loved” forwards. You know the ones. They feature a slide show of puppies or babies with a Celine Dion song for background music.
8. I had to add some random cheese because I HATE odd numbers. Do you know if you turn the volume in your car up to an odd number you are at risk of getting into a fiery crash? True story. Even if David doesn’t believe me.

Yes. I totally cheated. I changed the name to the Meme and added a extra “weird” fact. So for the Eight people I tag, just know you only have to come up with seven wacky little known facts about yourself and you only have to tag seven people.

I am passing the Weird and Wacky torch to:

1. David Stagg, because he rides with the top down.*
2. Monica Danna, because she is interesting as hell.
3. Gwen Bell, because she is amazing.
4. Katie Laird, because she is happy.
5. Fayza Elmostehi, because she is a monkey.
6. Kathleen Forbes, because she is inspirational.
7. Jenni Rebecca Stephenson, because she is an artist with words.
8. Princess Mia, because she is cuddly.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it?

• Link your original tagger(s), and list these rules on your blog.
• Share seven facts about yourself in the post – some random, some weird.
• Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
• Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter.

*Hm. David is the only dude I tagged and the least likely to do the meme. Coincidence?

That being said, I have never blogged about Nintendo or even my Wii before. Tweet about ‘em? Sure. But dedicate an entire blog post to the thing? Never thought it would happen. My second run-in with a real life Nintendo Enthusiast and the events that transpired last night proved me wrong.

Let me backtrack a little. I first heard the term “Nintendo Enthusiast ” from an Enthusiast herself, Gwen Bell. She kicked off her reign with a Nintendo DS party in Boulder that she invited HappyKatie and me to attend. Sadly, we did not get to go to Boulder, but we got a second chance at Nintendo-Party-Dom when Nintendo dubbed Katie herself an Enthusiast.

“Woo-Hoo!” I thought when I got the Wii Fit Party Evite from Katie. “This party is going to be a blast!”

And it was.

Five sweet Wii Fit girls took over Katie’s house and plied the guests with healthy fare from Whole Foods and white wine sangria, while they walked us through various activities using the Wii Fit Board. It was truly one of the most enjoyable evenings I had in a long time. I went home quite sated and VERY sore. The icing on the cake? I also went home with my very own Wii Fit Board, Wii Yoga Mat and Wii Yoga outfit compliments of Nintendo!!!! How sweet is that?

It is only today that I realize no matter how much I got out of last night’s party, Nintendo probably got more because they have truly tapped into the Social Media groundswell. Clearly they understand that the groundswell matters. You put ten chicks in a room that are addicted to Twitter, and you are going generate buzz and content online.

What I think the most important thing to note about the whole party was that we were tweeting about Nintendo before the party even started and long before we got our unexpected gifts. No one forced us to tweet. No one held us down and said, “You can’t have any more white wine sangria until you tweet!” We just did it out of our own volition. And I would venture to guess it was mostly because we were all just so darn happy!

I mean, how could I NOT be happy listening to Monica talk smack about her balancing abilities or while I’m laughing and poking Fayza while she’s attempting the tree pose.  I watched in awe as the Wii Gamer Chicks racked up 900 rotations in the Hula Hoop game and I talked David’s ear off about it all when the party was over. Nintendo racked up a lot of Karma Points with me last night. That is why I’m talking about them today.

Crazily enough, I think there are lots of ways for organizations to mirror what Nintendo is doing, even without spending the big bucks. Why? It is all about garnering good will!

How can your organization use Social Media to make your peeps happy? Here are a few ideas:

1. If you’re having an event for your organization and you’re charging for drinks, offer everyone in your Facebook group a free one. This means you’ve gotta start a Facebook group first!
2. Broadcast discount codes on Twitter.  Then your followers benefit and feel the love. This will also boost the number of people who follow you, because you will be posting content that people actually want!
3. Send out newsletters that include tips and tricks for whatever industry your subscribers are in. Don’t make your newsletter all about you! These helpful tips will make your subscribers more likely to forward your newsletter on (Jeffrey Gitomer’s is a great example of a helpful newsletter).

The thing to keep in mind with Social Media is this:  BE good people, and good people will talk about you!

* I gave the Wii to David as a gift so it is not technically “mine” but whatever.

** Now I know you were dying to ask about my Guitar Hero skillz, so I will just go ahead and tell you the answer: I totally kicked Satan’s ass playing “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” on GH3…. I’m just not going to tell you how many tries it took

Let’s put the brakes on this post so I can quickly explain what personal branding is. Personal branding is a concept that says you YOURSELF are just as marketable and brand-able as say… Target. The example I like to use is George Foreman. Ever heard of the George Foreman Grill? I bet you have. The man slapped his name on a grill originally marketed using middle of the night infomercials and now he and his grills are this crazy international brand with like six different “lines” of grills. I didn’t even know you could have more than one line of grills… much less six! I digress…

I am really trying to understand every facet of this personal branding thing. Really, I am! But sometimes the whole thing gets extremely daunting; I get really unsure of what direction to take. I have found a perfect solution to this sensation though… When I start to get overwhelmed I put on my headphones, turn my music WAY up, and turn to the blogosphere. I always find I feel much much better after my trip.

Well the whole point of starting this blog was to help others learn through my stumblings. At work yesterday I was talking to our awesome new hire, Alexis, about some of the things I’ve learned and a few of the places I go on the interwebs for inspiration… and realized I’m past due on a post on this very topic. It defeats the purpose of this blog if I’m not sharing the things I find! And I don’t want to be one of those posters who just posts to have another post.

Below are some AWESOME blogs that have really helped me out in my search for answers; some of them are extremely Social Media related while others are a bit more personal. If you are a newbie like me, I hope they  save you some time in your search… but more importantly, I hope they inspire you as well.

Drumroll please

1. CosmoPolitician: Monica has somehow managed to become this crazy force in Houston and it seems that everything she blogs about turns to gold. A must read for info on Houston events, travel and random stories about ghastley surgeries appendicitis. (And come on. You knew she was going to be number one on my list.)
2. Gwen Bell dot Com: Gwen’s blog is an inspiration to anyone getting started in Social Media. She touts balance in every aspect of your life and warns against getting so caught up in the interwebs that you merely count the number of friends or followers you have instead of focusing on the gifts you have to share. Gwen was voted one of the 50 most powerful +influential Woman in Social Media but even so, she is lesson in humility.
3. GoingStagg: David writes fearlessly about whatever topic he happens to find interesting on a given day; be it design, sports or energy drinks. His blog has shown me that there is no such thing as being timid online. Why not say what you want and write what you know?
4. Oat.org: Matthew Inman is an awesome graphic designer who has built an amazing personal brand on the foundation of his pretty pictures and even prettier code. He has kicked off several successful projects, including the free dating site Mingle2… and let’s be honest; the boys blog looks GOOD!
5. crowdSPRING: The company was created to help creatives from around the world mash up with people seeking those creatives. Their blog houses tons of amazing Social Media posts but my favorite is a weekly post where Angeline does a recap of all the cool links she tweeted the prior week. This wrap up post is where I have found some of my other favorite blogs!
6. Chris Brogan: This guy posts A LOT. I don’t like all of his articles, but the majority of his posts contain nuggets of Social Media gold.
7. The Personal Branding Blog: Dan Schawbel has dubbed himself “the leading personal branding expert for Gen-Y” and while I’m not sure if he is the “leading expert” I do really like his blog. He understands that jobs and job searches are changing and that a personal brand can be a a job applicant’s most important asset!
8. Web Strategy by Jeremiah: Jeremiah is a Senior Analyst for Forrestor research, a company devoted to providing their clients with insight into what THEIR clients want to know. Forrester research is also the company that my favorite Social Media books, Groundswell, sprang from.
9. Web Ink Now: This is one of my favs. Don’t really know why, maybe because it’s one of the first quote un-quote Social Media blogs to populate my Google reader? Anyway, David Meerman Scott is the author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR and his blog is a great resource for both personal branding AND Social Media ideas. He also provides great insight into what practices you should be avoiding.
10. and of course, Fayza. I’m not really going to go into a lot of description here. Fayza makes fun of Britney. People love her. People know her. And she’s not just sitting at home behind her computer plotting how she will take over the internet.

So those are my top 10 blogs! There are many other great GREAT blogs out there, but these are the ones I personally favor. I hope you find yourself inspired by at least one of them!

<whispering> I also love Perez but I already blogged about him once and you all know how I feel his Social Media/Personal Branding prowess. </whispering>

First of all… what is the groundswell?  Li and Bernoff define the groundswell as “a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations.”  Social Media!!!!

Since two of my big questions about Social Media involve numbers and hang out spots on the web, I’m really excited to tell ya’ll about the Social Technographics Profile, a cool little gadget Forrester uses that can tell your company where your people are hanging out in the groundswell and what percentage of them hang out where.  You know what is coolest about it?  You can use it yourself for FREE at the Groundswell Site!

Basically Li and Bernoff admit it’s impossible for you to be everywhere on the internet at once; but besides being impossible, it’s also pointless.  Why expend all your efforts and hang out somewhere your people aren’t?

The Social Technographics Profile divides internet users into six groups (keep in mind you can be a member in multiple groups) and gives you a really indication of where your company should start making noise first:

1. Creators are those happykatie’s out there; the ones always posting something online, be it a blog, a video on youtube, or a podcast.
2. Critics react to things online.  They are the ones reviewing things on eBay and Amazon and commenting on site after site.
3. Collectors adore RSS Feeds.  They like to tag things online and organize their internet life just-so.
4. Joiners are those social network junkies.  If a social network relates to them in any way, they are bound to create a profile.
5. Spectators read blogs and watch videos but they don’t really say a whole lot.
6. Inactives are just that… inactive in the groundswell.

Here is a quick profile I just built for women, age 25-34 who live in United States, using the The Social Technographics Profile tool.

This is in no relation to my blog, but if you were trying to reach women in this demographic, you can see that of the women in this age group, 56 percent are spectators… a really active subset!  You won’t reach ALL women this way, but it’s a good tool to see where you should start.  These women will read you blog, so why don’t you have one yet??

The Social Technographics Profile is just the icing on the groundswell cake.  There is a wealth of other information, from strategies you can use in the groundswell to how you can use it to get your employees involved and motivated…. all really cool stuff!

If you are a social media baby like me, I definitely recomend this book. (Although I kind of feel like I’m staring in a episode of Reading Rainbow right now!)