There's Only Ever One Bonnie

Biggest User 8-Week Challenge Begins

2012-01-28T07:45:00.003-06:00

I've blogged about OSU's Healthy Campus Initiative before. Well, they are back with another fun PR stunt. This time the goal seems to be to increase use of the various campus recreation services. The project is called Biggest User and registrants have 8 weeks to sample a number of services (most typically have a cost) for free.

Here's what we get:

2 Fitness assessments ($30 value)
Goal-Planning Session ($20 value)
3 Personal Training Sessions ($115 value)
Nutritional Counseling ($30 value)
Monthly Seminars
Outdoor Adventure Challenge Course ($23 value)
T-shirt
10% discount on follow up personal training or massage therapy appointments
Support from fellow participants
Encouragement from the staff

The catch? You must participate in both fitness assessments, a minimum of 2 fitness classes per week and at least 12 more activities during the 8-week period or you will be charge $50. I'm fine with that. I'm most interested in the goal-planning, personal training, nutritionist and fitness assessments. If I only do those activities and nothing else, $50 is a deal! (Of course, my competitive streak will force me to do my best to "win")

You might have noticed, I called this a "stunt." You know I love a good (i.e. strategic) PR stunt, and I think this qualifies. Why? Because I'm pretty sure there are a few goals at play here:

Educate the campus about the variety of services offered (I didn't know we had all this and I've been on campus 17 years)
Increase use of services (increased use=job security & funding security)
Gather data on the impact of services (remember those required fitness assessments? they are going to have a nice little study on our beginning fitness levels, the level of participation for 8 weeks, and the results)

The best part: all three of these directly tie in to our goal of being the Healthiest Campus in America. Good on you Campus Recreation.

New Year, New Food: Parsnips

2012-01-09T18:51:00.000-06:00

With one rare exception (I'm giving the hairy eyeball to you, cauliflower) I have yet to meet a vegetable I didn't like. As a picky child, turned adventurous adult diner, I was beginning to wonder if I'd tried all the vegetables out there. Surely not.

Along came Whole Foods, OKC, and now a have a new source for some "exotic" produce you don't find in a small town Walmart. Enter the parsnip. I'd never tried this root veggie, but when it was highlighted in "Vegetarian Times" and "Runners World" in the same month, I decided to track one down and eat it.

Now, what the heck to do with a parsnip? I decided to toss it into a crockpot of root veggies (just like pot roast vegetables, sans roast). Here's the cast for our dinner: mushrooms, carrots, sweet potato, pearl onions, butternut squash, and one big ole parsnip (front and center).

In the store, it looks like a mutant, albino, zombie carrot. Here it is all cleaned up.

You clean up nice, little parsnip. I chopped it up and dumped into my crock pot with the other veggies.

The verdict: The parsnip fit right in with the other root veggies and friends. It tasted like a cross between a carrot and a white potato. It softened up much more than the carrots, though, so evidently parsnips don't need to cook for hours like most of the veggies in this dish.

What's the most "exotic" veggie you've tried? Was it a winner?

New Year, New Food: Tofurky

2012-01-08T16:30:00.003-06:00

I've decided to try to liven up our menus and audition a few new foods. Today John and I tried Peppered Tofurky Deli Slices. Since we've gone 99% vegetarian, I haven't had a turkey sandwich in ages. I was eager to see how this meat substitute stacked up to my memory of the real thing.

Our lunch sandwiches had 5 slices of Tofurky, a slice of colby jack, half a packet of spicy Wholy Guacamole on whole grain sandwich rounds. John and I both gave the Tofurky a thumbs up.

It's certainly not a life-changing taste sensation, but regular ole deli meat isn't either. The texture was pretty good. If you didn't know you were eating faux meat, the texture wouldn't give it away. The color was a little odd, kind of a yellowish brown, not a pinkish white you'd expect of the real thing, but once it's in the sandwich it isn't noticeable. Taste was good. The peppery flavor was really strong which I liked. They also have oven roasted and hickory flavor, I'd liked to see how those stack up.

If you're experimenting with meat substitutes, I'd recommend it. I'm certain this will become a regular item on our Whole Foods shopping list.

What do you think? Would you dare to try Tofurky? If you're a vegetarian or semi-vegetarian, what is your favorite meat substitute?

Professor Bonnie, Doesn't Get Nerdier Than That

2011-09-23T16:27:00.000-05:00

No blog posts in two and a half months? Yeah, that's what happens when you take a second job and get cast in a theater production at the same time.

Beginning this fall, I am an adjunct lecturer in OSU's School of Media and Strategic Communications. So in addition to my normal job, I'm teaching two lectures and one writing lab each week.

It's kind of awesome and kind of terrifying a the same time. My co-teacher and I didn't have a lot of time before the semester to prep (hence the terrifying), but it is all kinds of nerdy fun to teach a college class.

Here are just a few of the totally awesome things about my new job:

Even though I told them they could call me Bonnie, some of the students call me Professor Cain-Wood. It's all I can do to not laugh at them.
I'm going to be a complete prezi.com pro by the end of the semester.
I wrote a syllabus. It was so much fun, nerdy, nerdy fun.
They are actually paying me to do this. (I would have done it for free. Shh, don't tell)
They are letting me do it again. I'm already scheduled to teach the class again next semester, and it's going to be so much easier the second time.

Pig Personality Test

2011-07-08T17:08:00.000-05:00

I've been going to a series of training for the Leadership Development Program at OSU. Sounds pretty fancy, but basically it is How to Be a Supervisor at OSU. I've learned all kinds of great stuff, mainly about how to not get sued by my employees.

I went to a session last semester on communication skills. Our presenter started out with a strange little personality test. I'd never taken this particular one before. So, I'm going to invite you to take it along with me, and I'll use my test as the example.

Start by taking out a blank piece of paper. Now, draw a pig. Yeah, weird, I know, but that is all the instructions you get. No peeking ahead! You go draw; I'll wait here.

Ready? Ok.

Here's my piggy.

Where is the pig in proportion to the page? Mine's in the top left corner.
Toward the top of the paper, you are positive and optimistic. That's me!
Toward the middle, you are a realist.
Toward the bottom, you are pessimistic, and have a tendency to behave negatively.
Which direction does your pig face? Mine is facing straight ahead.
Facing left, you believe in tradition, are friendly, and remember dates (birthdays, etc.)
Facing right, you are innovative and active, but don't have a strong sense of family, nor do you remember dates.
Facing front (looking at you), you are direct, enjoy playing devil's advocate and neither fear nor avoid discussions. Yeah, that sounds about right.
How detailed is your drawing? I guess mine is fairly detailed. He has a little house and a sun.
With many details, you are analytical, cautious, and distrustful. Yea, probably so, although this one doesn't sound so nice.
With few details, you are emotional and naive, you care little for details and are a risk-taker.
How many legs does your pig have? I tried really hard to draw my pig with just 3 legs, you know, perspective and all, but in the end it bothered me and I quickly added in the fourth leg. Because, pigs have four legs!
With less than 4 legs showing, you are insecure or are living through a period of major change.
With 4 legs showing, you are secure, stubborn, and stick to your ideals. Um, yeah, me again.
How big are the ears? Ugh, another relative question. I think my pig's ear are just the right size. Not big, not small, just average.
The size of the ears indicates how good a listener you are. The bigger the better. I guess that means I'm average.
How long is the pig's tail (if there even is one)? Seriously? it's long enough! Our presenter said if it has 3 or more curls, then it's a long tail. Ok, fine, my pig has a long tail.
The length of the tail indicates the quality of your sex life. Again more is better. Um, no comment.

Colorless and Mushy? Sounds Delish.

2011-07-07T12:06:00.001-05:00

I'm now two months into my adventure in adult orthodontia. A lot of the things that bothered me at first have subsided. I don't lisp anymore and my mouth doesn't feel like it's full of razor blades.

One thing, really the only thing, that is still really annoying about the InvisAlign is how incredibly difficult it is to snack. You're not suppose to take the trays out any "more than necessary," and you're suppose to keep them in 22 hours a day. Add in the time it takes to brush both your teeth and the trays every time you take them out and you find yourself labeling a lot of food "not worth the effort of eating."

For me this is totally bizarre. I love food. And, I am not myself when I get hungry. Seriously, you won't like me when I'm hungry.

Luckily, I can drink "cool, colorless" things. So, I've decided if it doesn't require chewing, that's the same things as drinking. I went on a quest for colorless, mushy (hopefully, yummy) snacks to help get through the next 10 months. I'm really more of a crunchy snack kind of gal, that's why it took 2 months for this idea to occur to me.

So far, I've stocked my snack cabinet with applesauce, vanilla pudding and jello. Any more ideas? Help me out! I need things that require absolutely no chewing.

Healthy Campus Initative Just Got Awesomer

2011-07-06T15:46:00.005-05:00

On and off for the last decade plus I have worked at OSU, I have shelled out for a membership at either the Colvin Center (our massive student gym) or the Wellness Center (our small employee gym). I hate choosing between the two. Both are great in different ways.

The Colvin has greater quantity and more kinds of equipment, but much bigger crowds. The Wellness is small, but very clean and rarely crowded. The Colvin has better hours, but lately the Wellness has won out because exercising with the 50+ crowd makes me feel better than exercising with all 18-year-olds.

Now, thanks to OSU's healthy campus initiative I don't have choose and even better I don't have to shell out! The Colvin and Wellness are consolidating and employees get free membership. That's two kinds of awesome.

I appreciate that OSU publicly states a mission to be the healthiest campus in the nation. More than that, I appreciate all the things they do to make that happen: being tobacco-free (well, mostly), healthy(-er) food options, free health screenings, supplemented health insurance, group exercise events. But this, free gym access, has been a long time coming.

Thanks, OSU! My tush and my wallet thank you too.

Couldn't Say It Better Myself

2011-05-04T13:52:00.003-05:00

After this week's announcement of the death of Bin Laden, I have steadily become more and more disappointed with the reactions of the American media and citizens. Although, I try to keep my blog fairly apolitical (my husband would say that's impossible because everything is political), I had decided I wanted to blog about my own reaction here.

I wasn't quite sure where to start. As I was organizing my thoughts on this topic, I came across this article. It says it perfectly. It's everything I wanted to say here.

The Psychology of Revenge: Why We Should Stop Celebrating Osama Bin Laden’s Death by Pamela Gerloff, Ed.D.

My Mixed Reaction to UK PR Stunt

2011-05-03T11:46:00.004-05:00

If the blog decides to hate this embed, you can view it via YouTube

I love a good PR stunt, a fact I occasionally document here on the blog. It's difficult to plan a good one, one that goes far enough to get attention and not be lame, but not so far that you damage your reputation by being unprofessional. To make matters more complicated, everyone draws that line in a different place.

That brings me to the mixed reaction I have over the PR stunt above. I read about this in PR Daily. Basically, PR pro, Charlotte Horsfall, posted a video to the company's YouTube channel begging a reporter to feature her client MyVoucherCodes Mobile App. The media didn't seem impressed, tweeting things such as "Clearly only one way I can respond to @charlotteyeti's plea. Video camera is out..." and "@KieranAlger Whatever you do don't feature @CharlotteYeti's client."

My initial reaction: Posting a video plea seems really unprofessional, and if you aren't getting coverage, the better tactic seems to be to ask yourself why. Then I watched the video, and maybe I was wrong about it. She is obviously poking fun at herself, it's not a serious grovel. And I'm left wondering if the fuss over her actions will actually land her client considerable coverage (I certainly opted to give them plenty of linky-love in my description).

Some are applauding the stunt, the first comment on the YouTube video suggests this is award-worthy. Still, was it worth it? When this little stunt blows over, she is going to be left trying to pitch to same the reporters who were slamming her actions on twitter. I think the real test of success lies in whether she burnt any bridges with the media she depends on to get her job done.

What do you think, thumbs up, thumbs down? Charlotte, if you're reading, I'd love to hear your personal take on it.

APR Tuesday Tip: Out puts, takes, growth and comes

2011-05-03T09:11:00.000-05:00

If today's title left you head scratching, then you're not alone. I came across the evaluation concept of outputs, outtakes, outgrowth and outcomes while I was studying for my APR. I brought it up in a study session; no one knew what I was talking about. But, because I was a total OCD PR geek when I was prepping for the test, I added it to the study cards.

And you know what? It was on the test. It was on there in that sneaky if-you-don't-know-this-then-you-don't-even-know-they-are-asking-it kind of way a lot of things are on the test.

Front: Outputs

Back: Part of the evaluation concept of out-puts, takes, growths and comes

Short-term results of a piece. Focus is on how well org. presents itself and amount of exposure. Ex: placements or impressions.

Front: Outtakes

Back: Part of the evaluation concept of out-puts, takes, growths and comes

Measure of effectiveness focusing on audiences receiving, paying attention, understanding and then retaining and recalling.

Front: Outgrowths

Back: Part of the evaluation concept of out-puts, takes, growths and comes

Culminate effect of all pieces on positioning of org. in the minds of stakeholders.

Front: Outcomes

Back: Part of the evaluation concept of out-puts, takes, growths and comes

Long-term measure of effectiveness by focusing on changing opinions, attitudes and/or behavior as a result of a campaign.

Brace Yourself

2011-04-29T15:40:00.004-05:00

After years of prodding from my dentist, months and financially planning and weeks of waiting for delivery, I finally started Invisalign braces this week. I'm so glad to be official started. The process will take a year (paying it off will take much longer), and the sooner I get started the sooner I'll be done.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, instead of traditional wire braces, you shift your teeth by using a series of clear retainer-like trays. You wear the trays 20-22 hours a day and take them out only to eat and brush. This, it turns out, is an even bigger hassle than I anticipated. I expect it'll get much easier though.

Observations so far:

Ouch. Today I almost spit out a piece of broccoli because it hurt too much to eat it. If I had been alone I probably would have. It didn't occur to me until the day before that this would probably hurt. It does, but after seeing so many friends have braces, I don't think it hurts as much as that seemed to.
Some people still need anchors, usually just couple. I got 11! I keep seeing them referred to as "buttons." Not exactly, buttons are cute. This is more like my teeth now have teeth. The upside of these is that it makes having the trays out pretty uncomfortable, so I want to put them back in as soon as I'm done eating.
I'm definitely going to lose a few pounds. See first 2 points.
I notice them, a lot. I can see them in the mirror, and I feel like I have a horrible lisp. No one else seems to notice much. Maybe they are just being nice.
From a few feet away, they really are basically invisible, which is exactly what I was going for.

APR Tuesday Tip: Steps in Crisis Management

2011-04-26T08:39:00.000-05:00

Last week, my good friend Dustin Pyeatt came to speak to the OSU PRSSA. They asked him to talk about crisis communications and I couldn't have picked a better person to present on this topic.

Crisis comm is the kind of thing you learn by doing. Talking with Dustin over the years has really helped me put my limited crisis experience in context and figure out what I learned from those crises.

Dustin and I are on the same page about one key thing: Crisis communication plans are BS. I think they are a great exercise, and I recommend writing one at least once, especially if you've never worked a crisis. But when crisis hits, that plan goes out the window. What will come in handy is a toolkit of key information and resources saved in multiple formats that you can access remotely: contact lists for key personnel and media, release templates (not the fill in the blank type, but simple masthead and boilerplate style), remote web server access and SM account passwords.

You can't anticipate the details of a crisis, that's why it is a waste of time to develop a detailed crisis plan. Very little stays the same. Today's APR Flash Card covers that little bit.

Front: Steps in Crisis Management (5)

Back:

Determine type of crisis; response depends on type and duration.

Assign priorities based on urgency and likelihood.

Draft Q&A and resolutions for possible scenarios

Focus on what to do and what to say in the first hours.

Develop strategy to contain and counteract, not react and respond.

You Can't Make This Up: Political Doggie Toys

2011-04-24T12:39:00.004-05:00

When you are married to a political scientist certain things come along with the territory, like pop quizzes on Constitutional amendments and pre-election briefings on candidates and questions. Evidently, political themed doggie toys are also included in the package.

You wouldn't think there would be such a variety, but surprisingly there is. Right now, Boogie Woogie has both a stuffed Uncle Sam and squeaky (how appropriate) lobbyist. That's right, a squeaky lobbyist. It's one of her favorites.

We got this one when John was working with the Oklahoma Ethic Commission on gift reform. He couldn't resist it and he still gets a good chuckle every time he goads Boogie to "Get the lobbyist! Get him!"

John On Camera

2011-04-20T07:54:00.003-05:00

Between attacking ethics guidelines for state government (or the lack thereof) to leading some of the most active student groups on his campus to running for city office, my darling husband John seemed to find himself on camera fairly often. That's where being married to a PR pro comes in handy for him.

We've done a number of pre- and post-interview media training. Looking at this, I can see so much improvement from his first on-camera interview years ago. The big thing I worked on with John (and that he nailed here) is knowing where they are shooting you (cut at the waist, shoulders etc.) and staying inside your "box."

John talks with his hands, so sitting this still while still seeming so natural comfortable and articulate is awesome. If you are a hand-talker (I know I'm guilty!) then just give it try. Sit on your hands and try to make a coherent point. It's hard!

Each of the Councilmen did a "Quality of Life" video. John's was the first one posted because he was the only one that needed no editing. That's my little media darling.

I'm the Weiner!

2011-04-15T17:16:00.006-05:00

This is me and Sheila, who has been my boss for the last 10 years. Because Sheila also happens to be the the Dean of Libraries, she was the one who presented me with the Outstanding Library Staff of the Year Award. Go me!

Really, go Jackie, for being so awesome and supportive and actually nominating me. (as Dean, Sheila isn't allowed to nominate). Jackie is a great friend and mentor, so it means a lot that the nomination came from her.

It was a super awards day for the Bonnie-pire too! Marissa was one of our Wise Outstanding Students Assistants, the highest honor given to a Library student employee.

And Darron received the first Wise Graduate Fellowship. For now, this is the only graduate fellowship at the Library. I may not be Darron's direct supervisor, but I want to count him as part of the Bonnie-pire just the same. He has worked in my department for 4 years and has come to me for help on school, work and extra-curricular projects. He's a super amazing talent who is totally ~~going to change the world~~ changing the world.

Blast from the Past: Years 12-15

2011-04-15T14:32:00.000-05:00

Where did ages 10-11 go? I don't know; they didn't end up on my phone. That was around the time Sarah was born. Maybe no one took a picture of me then. I was terribly neglected when Sarah was born, you know.

Age 12: My first year of Junior High. Can't tell you much about it, I've blocked it out.

Age 13: Laser background, really? What were they thinking? I guess they were thinking it's 1990.

Age 14: At the school dance with my first boyfriend, Richie. Wow, we look really really happy to be there.

Age 15: Note the Barney plate. This must be Sarah's birthday. That kid was obsessed with Barney. Look how happy I am! Of course, I am, my fat kid days are over!

Blast from the Past: Years 6-9

2011-04-14T14:24:00.000-05:00

Blast from the past continues!

Age 6: Is it just me, or do I look super ornery here?

Age 7: Convinced I was going to be a professional ballerina, I stuck with it for a decade. Until my toenails started falling off. Then it didn't seem so glamorous any more.

Age 8: Enter the Little Orphan Annie perm. Sad thing is, I loved that I loved like little orphan Annie.

Age 9: Holy Fat Kid, Batman. Here we go.

My Next Tweet

2011-04-14T09:07:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite bloggers, The Bloggess, had a hilarious post about this service called That can be my next tweet. Of course the Bloggess's next tweets were super funny, and actually sounded remarkably like things she would tweet. Mine? Well...

8:30 photo shoot on society? On my ap wish list now? OKState Comm is here. (at least it's school spirited)

Just updated United Way thermometer, $55.4K raised and very soggy softball. Go Systems Dept. (Makes no sense, but does strangely do sound like something I would tweet)

Boone Pickens Appreciation Day in disguise as greatest event I've ever seen. (I swear I did not make that up.)

Carrot/stick motivators work in less than 43 min. Totally a sell out! Debating my RSS feed. (Obviously, My Next Tweet expects me to be live tweeting somewhere)

OMG there's an attempt to stay up to buy a great time! John just calling it the gnome! (Ok, that just sound too personal to tweet)

Blast from the Past: Years 1-5

2011-04-13T17:25:00.004-05:00

Who does love a few cute baby pictures? Here's some of ME.
Age 1: This is one of my favorite pictures of me and my dad. I definitely don't remember this interaction, but I love this photo.

Age2: While this does seem to be a purposeful picture of me, this the point when my parents have told me I developed a knack for always ending up in pictures, even when I was supposed to be. Still love to get my picture taken!

Age 3: Baby fat? Maybe, or just a sneak preview of impeding fat kid fate.

Age 4: Ah, look. I'm a little farmer.

Age 5: At 5, I went to a private kindergarten. I got dropped off and picked up on mom's full-time work schedule. Once, an adult asked me "Aren't you excited about 1st grade? You'll get to go to school all day." I burst into tears and asked, "Does that mean I'll have to eat dinner there too?" I already spent 8+hour and 2 meals at kindergarten!

Laser Cats From Outer Spaaaaaace!

2011-04-13T17:05:00.004-05:00

This entry is falling under a new category I am calling "You Can't Make this Stuff Up." One of my friends suggested I start a file. I decide to go one better and blog them. Some will come from my personal life, but I think there will be quite a few blog-appropriate items from work as well.

About a year back, we got a request to design a retirement party invitation. Valerie took the request and passed it on to me. After I stopped laughing, I told her to stop pulling my leg. She insisted she was not. Then I had to laugh all over again. Laughter in the work place is good, right?

The instructions: an e-invite (sure ok), using green if possible (no problem), with cats (hum, ok it's for a librarian), cats with green eyes (do, what?), incorporating these 3 phrases (oh. come. on) and can it look kind of like the cats are saying the phrases (sorry, I don't even know what to do with that).

After a long search for creative commons images of cats with green eyes, I put together what I thought was a nice tasteful invite that met the specs. But, I always like to give more than one option, and I have to admit this request brought out the stinker in me. So I decided to give them just what they asked for: a tacky cat card.

They freaking LOVED it. It was a unanimous vote to use Space Cats as the invite. And then we laughed some more. Space Cats, you will always be a fond memory. You can't make this stuff up.

COOP Ale Works: The Tour Continued

2011-04-10T09:49:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, I blogged about out tour of COOP Ale Works Brewery in OKC. Today, as promised, I am going to tell you a little about their beers.

I was surprised how different the COOP Ale beers were, both from each other and from other beers I had tasted. Blake the brewmaster, told us that most of the flavor comes from the yeast, the type and the amount used in brewing. Most large scale breweries use one kind of yeast. COOP Ale regularly used 3 kinds.

Horny Toad 5.3% ABV

This was the first up. I'd had this one before. It's very light in color and taste, crisp and clean. If you like light beers this one was good.

Zeppelin Wheat 5.6% ABV

COOP describes this one as having "notes of clove and banana along with hints of spice." It was yummy, and if you like something not dark, but a little beer-y-er, I'd suggest trying this one.

Native Amber 6.3% ABV

So yum. This was our third taste and instantly my favorite of the batch to this point. If you like Ambers, you'll like this. At this point in the tasting, I was really hit by how different the beers were from other similar styles of beer.

DNR 10.0% ABV

This was surprisingly light in color and surprisingly sweet. Obviously, the high alcohol level makes it a big hit in the bars. It was really tasty too, though.

Gran Sport Porter 5.4% ABV

I don't usually drink porters, so I didn't quite know what to expect. Blake told us it would be "very chocolaty" and it was. It was more like drinking a chocolate drink than a beer. It was so tasty, but I don't think I could sit around sipping this during a football game. It was more of an after-dinner dessert drink, in my opinion.

F5-IPA 7.7 ABV

This one really tasted like no other beer I'd tried before. It's very tart and actually tastes a lot like grapefruit juice. This was another favorite because it was so unusual. It helps that I really like tart flavors.

Finally, we got to sample ~~a mistake~~, ~~an experiment~~, an amazing limited edition. The Farmhouse Ale started life as a batch of Zeppelin, but when they finished fermenting it wasn't quite right. Evidently, even the smallest variation in the yeast and other microbe balance can really change the beer's flavor. They call these sour beers or wild beers. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. Sometimes, brewers even do this on purpose.

They were going to dump it, but Brewmaster Blake thought the beer "had potential." He rounded up some extra barrels to age it and added tart cherries to the mix. The result is awesome. Our friend Matt said it was the best fruit-flavored beer he'd ever tasted and I agree. You really taste the cherries, but it's a tart fresh cherry kind of flavor, not a sticky sweet cherry flavor.

Farmhouse will be in a few local pubs by the end of the week, RePubLic and Drunken Fry, along with a few others, will have it. There is only one batch, though. For now, when it's gone it's gone forever. Blake has sent a sample off to the lab to try and reproduce the yeast variant that produced it. Keep your fingers crossed for him!

COOP Ale Works: Beer Made in Oklahoma, by Oklahomans for OKC and Beyond

2011-04-09T23:08:00.001-05:00

Back on the topic of public outreach activities that work. I'm a total COOP Ale Works lover now, and the transformation happened over the course of 2 hours.

Our friend Rachel won a tour for 10 of the OKC-based COOP Ale Works Brewery at a United Way fundraiser. Lucky for us, she invited me and John to come along. It was such a blast. Our guide, Blake the brewmaster, walked us through the brewing process, showed us all the ingredients and equipment and answered dozens of questions about recipes, history of beer and of COOP, industry, yeast, regulations, graphic identity and more.

Along the way, we got to sample each of the beers from COOP Ale Works including a very limited one-batch special edition. The brewery doesn't officially have a tasting room. In fact, there is warehouse space directly behind me as I took this picture. We were part of a quality control tasting. Two enthusiastic thumbs up on your quality, COOP Ale Works!

Blake taught us so much about beer and brewing and COOP, it was enough to make your head spin. I was particularly impressed with the company's sense of community and social conscience. That in and of itself was enough to make you want to buy their beers. (Speaking of the beers, I'll tell you more about those tomorrow.)

We got a pretty in-depth tour because it was part of their donation to the United Way, but you can tour the place too. They give drop in tours on select weekends, and for about $100 you can reserve the place for a private event, bring in your own catering and have guests take tours.

If you want to learn more about the company and how you can go on a tour like mine follow them on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr or online.

The Name Saga

2011-04-08T18:25:00.000-05:00

My husband was no help in making this decision, which was actually one of the things I love about him. I asked if he had an opinion. He looked at me like I was crazy and said, "It's your name." Damn Right.

Six years later, I am still settling into my decision. At first, I thought I'd use Cain-Wood personally (with friends and family) in sort of an unofficial capacity. I guess I was sort of trying it on.

When it came to the paperwork and my professional life, I'd just keep it Cain. I coasted like this for about 2 years. Even my husband couldn't keep straight what to call me when.

Problems popped up from not sharing a name with my husband, but nothing too big. Until one summer, we had 3 pretty major situations including having our passports seized and being shortly detained in Puerto Rica customs. Let me tell you, when they take your passport and suddenly stop speaking English, you get a little antsy.

So I made the legal change to Cain-Wood. Only I waited so long after the wedding (2.5 years) that it was way more complicated to change. At this point I was still trying to keep just the maiden name at work. The problem is once you change your name legally, lots of work things (insurance, payroll, taxes, logins) start to change automatically. I had to put in a personal request for IT to NOT change my email address (although the sender info automatically showed my new name).

So after another 2 years of struggling to answer the question: What name to use when? I decided I'm all in. Cain-Wood on everything, all the time. But, I still find myself being very inconsistent. It's hard to get used to saying the new name, especially when the first half is what I've been saying for so many years.

In retrospect, I wish I'd come to this conclusion from the beginning and began my married life as Cain-Wood. It's like lots of weird married-type-stuff, I had to figure it out along the way.

Clarification on Your Name

2011-04-07T10:32:00.003-05:00

This was the subject line of an email I received yesterday. I wanted to just reply "It's a long story."

When I married it took me a long time to decide what I was going to do with my name. For most people it's pretty straight forward. They don't even think about it, but for me it was complicated.

There were so many options!

The traditional drop your maiden and take your husband's. Not an option for me. In a field based on relationships, I felt like I needed my name. And besides that, Bonnie Wood sounds like a porn name.
Keep the maiden. No change means no paperwork. I thought this was the simplest option. I was wrong! First, everyone assumes your name is something it's not (your husband's). Second, there are lots of times you need to prove you are married. If your name is the same, no one even questions it. If it's not, then things get complicated (and people think you're a weirdo).
Take both. Not as simple as it sounds. Do you hyphenate? Do you have two last names? Space, or no Space? Do you make your maiden name your legal middle name? If so what happens to your middle name?

Ugh! With only a 7-month engagement, it was all just too big of a decision to make before the wedding.

I told you it was a long story! I finish it tomorrow.

Engaging Events: Red Coyote

2011-04-06T17:16:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, I talked about events from one of my favorite non-profits, the OKC Zoo. Today, I want to look at one of my new favorite businesses, Red Coyote.

I actually first learned about Red Coyote because they sponsored an event I was involved with. I likely would have never heard about a small boutique running store in shopping center of specialty shops and cafes. I certainly wouldn't have made the 35 minute drive from my house to a part of OKC I never visit in order to try it out if it hadn't been for the glowing thanks the race director of the Moore War Run gave.

Red Coyote sponsors a number of runs in the Metro area. That makes great sense for them. Who goes to 5Ks? Runners. Who is going to visit small boutique running stores? Runners. Lately, Red Coyote is kicking up a notch by hosting on-site registration (where you can pick up your packet and shirt as soon as you sign up) and early packet pick up. It's a great way to get people into the store.

Recently, they hosted a seminar and clinic on running form. They brought in a speaker, provided free drinks and appetizers and even gave out swag. Attendance was over the top. They had to move to an unfinished store front across from the store. They were expecting 30-45, they had 160.

I think it is because they participate in events that build community around their business, and they were offering something very niche that had a perfect tie-in with their customer base. Definitely and example of a strategic event.

Engaging Events: OKC Zoo

2011-04-05T16:48:00.004-05:00

I plan a number of events for work. Many people hate event planning, and it's easy to understand how one could feel that way. Events are work, lots and lots of work. I don't mind the work, and I even get really excited about it when the events are strategic.

"It'll be fun!" is not a strategic reason to host an event. "I would want to go..." is not a strategic reason to have an event. "We always do it," is not a strategic reason to have an event. But when the reason is right, it is great to be on both the planning side and the participant side.

I see so many places get it right. I thought I'd highlight a few on the blog. Today: OKC Zoo.

John and I have been ZooFriends for a few years. We don't visit the Zoo that often, but I support it because my fond memories of Zoo make it special to me. I think we attend more special Zoo events than just regular-old-day-at-the-Zoo visits.

I love the Zoo events because

They make sense for a Zoo, they aren't random
Events like the the Bowling for Rhinos, Party for the Planet, Round Up for Conservation Kick-Off and "Ape"ril Dinner all have a tie back to the conservation mission of the Zoo.
They make me feel connected and engaged with the Zoo
Most of the events take place at the Zoo, which awesome because that's when we end up doing most of our visits. Many events allow you to participate in the Zoo's operations, like decorating for fall during haunt the Zoo, or submitting photos for the annual calendar.
They make me feel appreciated as a donor
ZooFriends does a great job of letting the donors know about all their cool events. We get a quarterly magazine and monthly emails. I have dates saved for Zoo events months in advance. They also have member discounts on all event tickets, always a nice bonus. And, lots of the events give you exclusive access to things not everyone sees. The best is the "Apr"il dinner. You actually go behind the scenes of the Ape enclosure and see the areas where the zookeepers interact with the animals.

Holy Everlasting Manicure

2011-04-04T23:58:00.000-05:00

The Sally Hanson Salon Effects fulfilled the box's promise of up to 10 day and are still going. We're on day 15 now.

Fainting Kittens? What Will SYSK Teach Me About Next

2011-04-03T17:57:00.002-05:00

I have a 40 minute commute to work and that adds up to a lot of time in the car. One way I have found to make that time entertaining and, for lack of a better word, productive is podcasts.

It took me a bit of trial and error to find some podcasts that were worth listening to, but the How Stuff Works iTunes channel came to my rescue. Their first, and still best, podcast is Stuff You Should Know.

This week I listened to an episode about "Fainting Goats." Evidentially, they don't actually faint. It's an abnormal fight or flight reaction. And, super cute factor, it can happen to kittens.

Yoga Weekend

2011-04-02T17:30:00.006-05:00

As I write this, I am 3/5 through my weekend yoga workshop. So far we have done something called Ashtanga Primary Series, a challenging series of repeating poses including attempts at some pretty wild contortions, Improvisational Vinyasa, a modified style similar to the first workshop with a focus on twisting, and Breath, Bandhas, Backbending & Thai Yoga.

The last has been my favorite. We did lots of step by step instruction on leaping into poses and lots of partner poses.

It's been a long time since I've packed this much yoga into one week (much less one weekend). Luckily, my years of on again off again practice has left me with the right attitude to enjoy something like this weekend. I've practiced yoga for 14 years. At my most dedicated I did at least 5 hours per week for 3 years straight. At my least active, I might go 6 months without even doing 15 minutes of practice.

Currently, I'm practicing sporadically a few times a month. I may not be particularly bendy right now, but I have internalized a few key lessons. I think learning these kind of things are why some people claim yoga changes their lives.
Things yoga teaches you...

Challenge yourself and you might be surprised at the results: I saw a lot of new stuff this weekend, and several times my first reaction was "Oh, no. I'm too out practice. My body won't do that." But, I tried, and I was surprised at the results.

Don't compare yourself to other people: For some reason this is often the hardest for people to accept. I know I've had so much more fun this weekend because I can look over at the girl with her feet behind her ears and think "Good for you. Now back to trying to touch my toes."

Be patient: In many sports you get better by powering through and pushing past your limits. Yoga doesn't work that way. You have to be tenacious, but over long sustained periods of time. You can't make it go faster, it goes at it's own pace.

Not me, obviously, but this is one of the new poses I surprised myself with today.

Here's what another surprise move looked like. I was the liftee, not the lifter.

April Fool's

2011-04-01T14:25:00.004-05:00

April Fool's Day snook up on me, as does every notable event that occurs on the first of the month. I have to admit, once I realized it was April Fool's Day, I was kind of hoping to see a prank, even if I had to be the target.

Our office is fairly casual, at least as far as administrative offices go. A practical joke here and there, especially on April Fool's, isn't unheard of. I've seen offices filled with Styrofoam peanuts and office supplies gift wrapped. But today was pretty uneventful.

Then Linked in came through for me.
Aw, thanks guys. I feel loved now.

Did you see any good April Fool's gags? If so, were they at work and what do you think is an appropriate at work gag? Is there such a thing?

Team Player

2011-03-31T23:32:00.004-05:00

Why am I, a self-proclaimed early to bed-er, dragging in the door at 11:30 pm? Because I was a super duper team player today!

The Edmon Low Downs had a placement game tonight. On a work night. At 9:30 pm. Insane, but I was there. Playing a 9:30 game means I stay in Stillwater, typically in the office, until 8:45 then head to the field, then play for an hour, then drag my half-conscience self home.

Tonight wasn't as bad because my wonderful husband drove the 40 minutes from home to come have dinner with me and watch the game. And, of course, take photos.

I'd completely forgotten we put nicknames on our shirts. This made me smile when I pulled it out of the drawer this morning.

Hello, I'm... Wait Let Me Check

2011-03-30T17:48:00.003-05:00

If you've ever seen me speak in public, you probably saw a completely scripted well-rehearsed presentation, whether you knew it or not.

I rarely get up in front of a group to speak for any amount of time--60 second or 3 hours--without completely scripting my remarks. Right down to "Hello, I'm Bonnie..." It calms me down. It's how I cope with the jitters of public speaking. I try to not let my audience notice, but usually I'll have the script, in its entirely, very close at hand.

I discovered this trick in Toastmasters. Something about the safety net of the script relaxes me to the point that I don't need it. I seldom read from the script. If things are really rolling, I barely glance at it. But I like knowing I could if I have to.

I'm good at delivering scripts and I'm good at memorizing scripts. Part of it is practice, and part of it is just a knack for sounding natural while I'm actually reading something. So, having the script on hand takes the worst case scenario from "freezing, forgetting everything and having to just go sit down" to "freezing, forgetting everything and having to read it off the script."

This is on my mind today, because I just returned from speaking at the Oklahoma Libraries Association Annual Conference. I was on a panel and gave a short presentation on social media and libraries. Of course, my script sat right by the laptop as I talked. I gave it a quick scan once to make sure I'd hit all my points for a particular slide, and I used it when I was sharing a direct quote. For the rest of the time it just sat there as my little private lifeline.

The best part: at the end of the day, a participant told me, "I'd go to any training session you did. You were such a great presenter." Well, gosh. If that isn't a public speaking morale boost, I don't know what is.

Movies, a Top Ten

2011-03-29T13:47:00.003-05:00

My post about subtitles got me thinking about a top 10 list of favorite movies. It was really hard to narrow it down. I love movies, and John and I watch a ton. With a little help from my Netflix queue, I managed to whittle the list down to a top ten.

What do you think? What's missing? What's your favorite?

Maybe I should have left it at a top 20. My top ten mostly seem pretty dark. Here they are in no particular order.

Fight Club
Dogma
Across the Universe
Pan's Labyrinth
District 9
Inglourious Basterds
Life Is Beautiful
12 Monkeys
American History X
The Departed
Children of Men

You Realize That Has Subtitles...

2011-03-28T20:06:00.002-05:00

I caught this movie again on the Independent Film Channel the other day. It reminded me of when John and I saw it in the theater.

We showed up and bought our tickets in-person. But, we were surprised/confused by the odd conversation we had at ticket counter.

Me: Two for Pan's Labyrinth.

Clerk: You realize that has subtitles.

Me: Oh, I didn't realize that.

Clerk: ...blink... blink... You know subtitles means it's not in English.

Me: Yep.

Clerk: You're going to have to read it.

Me: Uh, huh.

Clerk: I'm supposed to tell you that.

Me: Um... Ok..

Clerk: So what movie do you want to see.

Me: Ah, two for Pan's Labyrinth.

It wasn't until we were walking in that it dawned on me, people had probably seen two sentences of subtitles and stormed out demanding their money back. That's a shame on so many levels, not the least of which is this movie is awesome. It was one of the best movies of 2006 (it had 6 Oscar noms) and it's definitely on my top ten list.

For the close minded folks who never gave it a chance, I don't feel too bad. But I can't help wondering if the attitude that the movie wasn't worth "reading" turned away any viewers who would have been just as wowed as I was.

The Time When I Die of Excitement...

2011-03-27T10:00:00.003-05:00

Each summer, John and I take a "trip of a lifetime." Yes, it's funny to say we do this annually, but really we didn't give it that name. We just thought it was funny that ever trip we take get dubbed this by others.

We alternate who picks. Trip of a lifetime take 1 was a cruise to Mexico, Grand Cayman and Bahama. Trip of a Lifetime take 2 was the whirlwind 7 islands in 7 days cruise. Take 3 was Ireland, my pick. Take 4 was Egypt, John's pick.

So I'm up again, and I think I landed a good one. John is super stoked too, so I feel like I did a really good job picking. This summer we are cruising the Mediterranean. We hit Barcelona, Monaco, Tuscany, Florence, Rome, Naples, Sicily, Palma De Mallorca and Marsellies.

We are just about 2 months out. This is the point where I typically lose my mind with excitement. I cope with this by spending a week or two obsessively planning. I love to plan and it helps me channel some of the nervous energy.

Of course, the great thing about a cruise is everything is taken care of. So, there's not nearly as much planning required. So I guess I'll have to busy myself with selecting side trips, making a packing list, and learning a few key phrases from the Library's newest product, Mango.

Potresti aiutarmi? Sto cercando John.

You Need to Cross the Road with Urgency...

2011-03-26T21:47:00.000-05:00

I work on a college campus. Every day I want to pull a oblivious student aside and have this discussion. Check that, on a good day I want to have this discussion. On a bad day, I want to put them in an "unenviable position."

College students don't do anything with urgency.

Side note, I love this commercial series. They will make you laugh: possum, crab, hamster, lobster, pig, unicorn, mole, penguin, platypus, burro, fish, rat, pigeon, rabbit, parrot, turtle, kangaroo, goat, blue-footed booby and pointer

This Week I Heart: Sally Hansen Salon Effects

2011-03-25T10:21:00.004-05:00

I had seen the latest Sally Hansen product in magazines for a couple months, so when I found some on the shelf at Walmart, I couldn't resist ~~trying it out~~ performing an adoption theory experiment.

NOTE: If you aren't a total PR nerd like me, just ignore the side comments and look at the pictures of my pretty nails.

I love having "done" nails (look! compatibility), but I'm so hard on a manicure that it never lasts long. If I plunk down the $15-35 for a professional mani, I can keep it looking nice for 3 or 4 days. If I do it myself, forget it. It'll be chipped by the end of the next day.

The box claims this will last up to 10 days. We'll see about that. I put them on Sunday afternoon (there's my trial-ability). It took a little getting used to, but it was really pretty easy and I'm typically a mess with nail polish (aaaand, there the complexity). It took about 20 minutes, but I was also watching tv.

The best part is no messy cuticles and no drying (relative advantage!). Half the time I've smudged it up before I'm completely dry and I didn't have to worry about that.

Moment of truth: washing my hair Monday morning. Something about the hot water and scrubbing usually does in a fresh at-home mani. My Salon Effects still looked perfect afterward. Two more shampoos later and it doesn't seem to have an effect on these (more relative advantage!).

The first tiny chips showed up Tuesday evening (can you even see them above?). That is about what I'd expect from a professional mani. But since then, they have stayed in great shape. It's Friday now, and I'd say my nails are still event ready.

At $8.50 per set, I won't be wearing these non-stop. These will, however, certainly be a go-to for special events, vacations and any time I need low-maintenance fancy nails for a week. I'm interested to see if they make it the whole 10 days, but I'm already thrilled they made it this long.

Rave Reviews

2011-03-24T18:50:00.000-05:00

Part of the reason my blog sat idle prior to the 30 Day Blogging Challenge was because I was starring in the Town and Gown's production of The Odd Couple, Female Version.

It was an awesome experience. I think the best theater experience I have ever had (and that is saying something). It was a super cast, especially my co-star Dawn. There is no way I could have developed my character, maintained the script's high energy and channeled Flo (the female counterpart to Felix Unger) every night if she hadn't been there giving it right back with 100% intensity 100% of the time.

We also had a fantastic crew who managed our dramatic set changes and numerous props. And, best of all was a wonderful, wonderful director. I had never been directed by Paul before, but he was fun, creative, sweet and supportive. Everything you want from your director.

We enjoyed ourselves every night. It must have showed because we actually got reviewed! And they were good!!

It's hard to link to small town newspapers (they don't put all their content online), so here are the highlights--you know, the parts about me!

"Cain-Wood's portrayal of the squeaky clean, overly obsessive, emotional Florence was very enjoyable. The back and forth fighting and conversations between Cain-Wood and Wilson are spot on..." Chase Rheam of the Stillwater Newspress

"Bonnie Ann Cain-Wood, as Florence, proves adept at broad, physical comedy in portrayal of the twitchy high-strung, perfectionist. Her Florence is the neurotic love child of Desperate Housewives character Bree Van de Kamp and Lucille Ball. The voice (that voice!) defines her character and helps the audience understand how Olive could find allowing Florence to cook, clean and generally take excellent care of her to be an imposition." Michelle Charles of the Perkins Journal

My First Marathon, Ok Half Marathon, Ok So I Just Watched...

2011-03-23T18:27:00.000-05:00

...But, I was part of a runner support team, so I was still kind of sort of a participant.

If you read this blog regularly, or if you know me for-reals-like, then you know that I got a wild hair about 7 months ago and started running. My husband, John, is an amazing athlete and has been coaching and encouraging me as I take on running.

I was trying to come up with a special treat to thank John for basically being the best husband in the world. I saw one of his friends was entering the Austin Marathon. John is currently training for a marathon, so I offered up a quick trip to Austin, so he could enter the Half and test his progress. John was totally on board.

If you look closely, you'll see the entire Congress St. Bridge filled with runners. The "pack" was never-ending and, well, packed.

The race was huge, more than 20,000 runners! There was 5K piggy-backing on the event, but I decided to skip it. This weekend was all about John and with a physical challenge like this, you really do need a support team. So, I planned, mapped, drove, carried, photographed, cheered, fed, hydrated and filled tubs with ice.

These are the leaders passing 2 miles. You can tell the 2 in the front are Half-Marathoners because their bib numbers are white. Marathoners were black.

Then the pack came by, and came by, and came by. High fives all around! It really was fun to watch. I was using the Austin Marathon ap to track John's progress, but there were so many runners, I never saw him at the 2 mile mark.

You could tell a lot of runners didn't take themselves too seriously and were there to have fun. Here are the duck hat ladies.

And, this guy who was making a video of the crowd as he ran, and encourage us to cheer and ham up for him.

And, the guys with no pants.

And, OMG, is that Santa! Looks like running has been good to him!

I used the pace runners (this group is running fast enough to finish the full marathon 3:20, the half in 1:40) and the ap, but I missed John again at the 8.5 mile mark. Sigh, so I booked it to the finish line via a short cut and crossed my fingers that I'd see him at least once.

And I did! The ap said I was 15 minutes early, but as soon as I edged up to the finish line shute, I saw John come around the corner! There he is, in the blue, making a strong finish.

I've never seen John so wiped out after a run. He really pushed himself. He will disagree, but he did GREAT. His goal was to finish somewhere between 1:50 (the best he was hoping for) and 2 hours (the slowest he'd be happy with). He finished in 1:55:47.

What he didn't realize when he set these goals is that Austin is a really, really tough marathon and half. It's super hilly. So hilly, in fact, that when we drove it the day before, I nearly stalled out the car a couple times.

This was John's first Half Marathon, so (for now, at least) this time is his lifetime personal record. It's one, I think he should be proud of.

See more Austin Marathon pics on my Flickr photostream.

Austin: I Can't Quit You

2011-03-22T15:55:00.000-05:00

I've blogged about our visits to Austin before. While, I always seem to tell people how unimpressed I am with Austin, somehow we keep coming back for more.

Our first trip to Austin was a rare anniversary in the states. We decided to experience train travel (it'll be just like the Hogwarts Express!) and Austin was a convenient end of the line. Our second trip was a conference John attended on my birthday. He made it up to me by bringing me along and letting me have a spa day at the Four Seasons.

On these trips we stayed downtown (the Driskill and then the Four Seasons) walked most of the time, and enjoyed the Congress Bridge bats and the various restaurants, bars and museums nearby.

At the Lady Bird Wild Flower Center.

Here's the thing with Austin. It has a reputation for being cool, and everyone (meaning everyone from Austin) knows it. The place so freaking pretentious, you just want to punch them in the face. Don't get me wrong we had a good time. Bats, awesome. Food, awesome. Museums, awesome. People, get over yourself, you are ruining this for me.

So when I decided to give John a special treat with a last minute trip to the Austin Marathon, I wasn't expecting a great time. But thanks to some great tips from friends, we saw a new side to Austin.

This was a last minute, on the cheap, trip to Austin during a jam-packed weekend. We couldn't get a hotel downtown if we had wanted. We drove more than ever. Traffic was a nightmare, but it freed us up to see some things we wouldn't have bothered with otherwise.

We took a shopping excursion and purchased a "bed picnic" at the Whole Foods (thanks, Dustin and Karee). The next day we "hiked" to the top of Mount Bonnell. It was definitely a highlight of Austin (thanks, Caitlin!).

On top of Mount Bonnell, the Austin skyline at our backs.

The Austin Marathon, well, that was great, too. It deserves it own post. I'll get back to you on that.

30 Day Blogging Challenge is Off!

2011-03-21T20:57:00.003-05:00

We have so many 30 Day Blogger this time! It's going to be awesome. If you like the nifty badge in the corner of my blog (thanks Ruth!) and want one for your blog, just click it to grab the code to add it.

Here's the updated list of bloggers. Whether you are participating or just lurking, I hope you'll follow along and provide a little comment-y encouragement for everyone.

And.... we're off!

There's Only Ever One Bonnie by Bonnie
Naked Wife by Valerie
Clear as Mud by Ruth
Honestly Cassie by Cassie
WillowBee Hive by Andrew
Dust on the Mirror by Richard
Seoul Searching by Garrett
To Be Determined by Marissa
CK by Caitlin
Awesome Takes Practice by Rachel

I Knew What I was Getting Into

2011-03-21T10:34:00.000-05:00

This is me and John in 2004 when we were dating.

As you are getting to know a new person, you discover a lot about them. Over the years, I've learned a lot about my husband, and I like to think that now I know him better than anyone else. I will always remember the first time I felt like I had a real "this is who he is" moment.

We'd been dating for about 5 weeks at the time. We were having an at-home date, homemade dinner and a rental movie. It was actually the most romantic thing we had done. John came up with the idea; he asked me to "teach him how to cook something."

I picked a recipe, we shopped together then swung by Hastings and picked out a movie. We chopped and sauted and laughed. We sat on the couch and ate while we watched I-don't-remember-what. John was taking our plates to kitchen when it happened.

I was watching as he walked directly and deliberately into the trash can. And, I saw it coming. As he was going, I thought, "He going to walk into the trash can, he is going to walk right into it." And then he did.

As he picked up the spilled trash and put everything right again, I realized this was not the first time I'd seen something like this in our short time together. It dawned on me that it would always be like this, and I needed to decide right then if this was annoying or if this was endearing.

As I watched him clean up my kitchen, I couldn't help thinking, "Well, he is awfully cute."

Seven years, I still come home to things like this:

Yes, that is a large hole in the toilet tank. He doesn't know how it happened. It just did. And he's still pretty cute.

30 Blogs, 30 Days

2011-03-14T11:12:00.003-05:00

The return of the 30 Day Blogging Challenge is right around the corner, and I hope all my blogging friends will join me! If you're not already blogger, but kind of sort of wanted to start this is a great time to do it.

Here's how the blogging challenge works. 30 days, 30 blog posts. Yep, just that simple. We are starting on Monday, March 21 (the day after spring break for many). The last day of the challenge is April 19.

Of course, you can take part in secrecy, not telling anyone about the challenge. You could sneak under the radar and hope no one reads your blog posts. But, that really defeats the purpose of blogging. What makes this extra fun is that all of the challengers are in it together. We're all struggling to come up with a new, fresh, interesting post every day. And we are all rooting each other on as we go.

So why bother? Here are a few good reasons:

Deep down, you wish you were a better blogger. Guess what, you get better at things by practicing them.

If you tell everyone you are joining the challenge, they will read your blog and they will comment. Comments are awesome!

Visiting your blog every day for a month usually leads to refreshing some images, updating the profile, adding some new widgets. With all that clean up and all that content, you'll finish the challenge with a blog you are really proud of!

Searching for daily content will lead you to trying out new blog "tricks," photo essays, video posts, polls, etc.

Blogging daily will show you what your blog is really about. Sometimes we think we know what our blog's theme is, but it might not be what you think it is. Once you figure out what the theme really is, blogging gets easier.

You will blog more when the challenge is over. You'll get in the swing of it. Blogging becomes part of a routine and you'll see potential content everywhere.

So who's in? So far

Valerie at Naked Wife

Ruth at Clear as Mud

Cassie at Honestly Cassie

Marissa at TBD

Caitlin at TBD

Garrett at TBD

And there are a few others, I'm really hoping join in.

I Have Come to Network! Now What?

2011-03-09T17:34:00.004-06:00

The OSU Media and Strategic Communications School presented a networking expo today. When we heard there were lots of professionals there recruiting interns, we decided we had to turn out too. We didn't want someone else snatching up all the good ones!

I slapped some QR codes & links to our internship posting on the back of my business card (felt like a total genius) and headed out with my team in tow.

Then we just had to network. At its best, networking is something even the most outgoing have to work at. At its worst, it is awkward, embarrassing and even agonizing. So how do you do it?

Take a wing man. Garrett was my wing man today. It makes the lulls between table hopping less awkward, because you're never alone. And, if you are a little on the shy side, having a buddy can bolster confidence and help keep the conversation going.

Work the room. Sure when you first arrive, you have to get the lay of the land, but then it's time to beat feet. You can't assume people will come to you. Scope out a small group or someone standing solo and go introduce yourself.

Have some questions ready. Today, we had an agenda: recruit interns. So I looked for students, then asked about their graduation date and major. If they were fit, I asked if they were looking for internships and then gave them my card and explained the link and QR code.

Get in and get out. The point of a networking expo is to meet lots of people. Obviously, you want to spend enough time with each person to feel like you have really met them, but you don't want to spend half the event with same group. The hard part is often how to end the conversation. Something like "It was nice to meet you," or "Good luck with your job/candidate search," can be nice polite ways to say "Ok, thanks, I'm done talking to you now."

That said...

Be respectful. If someone takes the time to talk to you, take some time to actually listen. Even if they aren't exactly who you are hoping to meet (sophomores and juniors majoring in PR seeking fall internships) they might still be a great connection to the person you are looking for. That's why it's called NETworking. I often see people pinging around like squirrels, dropping conversations in mid-sentence to dash off to another person. This doesn't make you a good networker, it just makes you rude.

Egypt: Would You Do It Again?

2011-02-06T10:01:00.005-06:00

If you haven't heard there's little something something going on the Egypt right now, I'm surprised you're reading this. You must get excellent WiFi under your particular rock. Last summer, Egypt was our "big trip," and since the recent hubub I've been getting quite few questions about our trip and how I feel seeing what could have just as easily happened while we were there a few months earlier.

So let's tackle a few of those questions.

Is it scary to watch the coverage since you were just there?

Ah, no. I'm here now. I do wonder and worry about some of the great people I met there, though. And I really hope that they and their families are safe. The people in Egypt were wonderful. We found them to be friendly, hard working and very welcoming. They seemed to have so much love for their country and their culture and were pleased to see foreigners there to experience it.

Would you go back, now that this happened?

It's hard to say now what the next leadership will bring to the nation. Egypt is a muslin country and part of the Middle East, but it is the most Western-accepting country in the region. Hopefully it stays that way and other non-Egyptian can have the amazing experience we had there.

Obviously, we wouldn't go right now, and probably not for at least a year. But if the country retains its foreigner-friendly attitude, then I'd definitely still recommend it. (And really I think they have to. Egypt depends too strongly on its tourism to throw that away.) We don't tend to repeat countries, because there is still so much of the world to see, but Egypt is without a doubt the most exciting, adventurous, breathtaking and delicious trip we've ever been on.

Did you know something like this could happen when you went?

You can't really prepare for something like mass revolution, and if you think it can't happen anywhere, you are kidding yourself. That said, I do think we knew what we were getting ourselves into when we went and we prepare (as much as possible) accordingly. Egypt was probably one of the more dangerous places (for an American) that we've been. If you want to see the world, there is a certain level of risk involved. Knowing that helps to keep you safe.

So how do you prep for potential political unrest? First, you research, research, research. Know the laws and your rights (if any) as a foreigner. Beyond the laws, know the customs, and be respectful of them. Egypt was far more accepting of Western behavior and dress than I had expected, and John and I probably dressed and acted more conservatively than we HAD to, but not more than we SHOULD have. I saw several American women (including one in my tour) who seemed to be going out of their way to dress inappropriately. It's disrespectful to the people you are visiting and makes all Americans look bad.

Next, register your trip with the State Department. They will provide you with contact information for your Embassies in the country, information about health and safety concerns specific to the area and they will begin sending updates if there is activity in the region you should be aware of. Registering your trip also means while you are there, the State department will be aware of your general location. If for any reason, they decide to evacuate Americans (like they did recently in Egypt), you'll be on their list to contact.

Finally, leave a friend or family member with as detailed an itinerary as possible. Note where you are staying when, contact information, and all your travel details. Make sure you know how to contact home and the local authorities if needed. Dialing abroad can be confusing and most cellphones turn into paperweights once you leave North America.

You can see all our pictures from Egypt here. Maybe it will inspire you to visit too... Once it settles down.

Little Things That Mean A Lot

2010-12-01T17:04:00.009-06:00

Last night, I had the chance to speak to the OSU chapter of PRSSA It's probably my favorite group to speak to. They were an awesome audience with lots of questions when we finished.

I discussed making a good first impression, specifically during a job interview (since that is on the mind of most of the students). Here are some highlights.

Be prepared

If you're job hunting, have a interview suit ready to go, and keep it dry cleaned.

Research the organization, so you can give specific answers to questions. Everyone knows they should do this, but lots of people skip this step. Use it as an opportunity to set yourself apart.

You had me at hello...

Know the interview starts the moment you talk to anyone from the organization (30 minutes before the interview or 30 days before the interview).
Be nice to the front office staff, they can make or break it for you.

You can't predict the future... or can you?

Obviously, you won’t be able to guess every question they are going to ask you. But you can guess a few. Regardless of whether you script answers or basically wing it, there are a few standard questions you will want to moll over beforehand.

The standards include "What is your greatest strength?" "What’s your greatest weakness?" and "Why are you interested in this position?"

Time to turn the tables

You’re going to be given the opportunity to ask questions. If you want to impress the interview you need to prepare something more think-y than "Do you have a dental plan?"

Ask questions that will help you decide if this job is right for you. Just because they offer you a job doesn’t mean you have to take it. You are interviewing them just as much as they are interviewing you. Ask questions about the culture, the job, and goals and strategy of the organization.

Put your best foot, and hand, Forward

The last thing we covered was how to give a good handshake, a key to making a good impression.

DO stand up and move out from behind any desk, table or chair.
DON'T be afraid to initiate the handshake.
DO keep your drink in your left hand so your shake isn't cold and clammy.
DO grasp thumb webbing to thumb webbing, DON'T shake with just your fingers or the front of your hand.
DON'T give the "crusher." Press palm to back of hand instead of top to bottom to ensure your shake is firm, but not painful.
DON'T give the two-handed shake to anyone you wouldn't hug. It's too intimate.
DON'T give the palm-down handshake, it's domineering.

Make that 5 Weeks!

2010-10-03T10:10:00.008-05:00

The 20 minute jog went awesome. Around minute 14, John and I started joking that every step was new personal record. Personal record for distance run, personal record for time run.

You had me at "jog skirt." This is what I look like after running 20 minutes. (I'm probably a bit cuter at the starting line.) How could I not love a sport I can do in a mini-skirt. This skirt is big, BIG part of my motivation.

Special thanks goes to my EVO for the combo of the C25K app and the distracting tunes that helped keep me going (thanks for the tip, Rachel!)

Victory time! I get a high-five from Boogie on my A for effort, then I dash to the L-store in full workout gear.

Including my Buff (a new piece of runner-ly gear, that keeps hair out of my face and breeze out of my dainty ears all while not making me more sweaty). I'm sure the owners thought I was a bit weird, but they are teetotalers who own a liquor store. Who's the weirdo now?

I just couldn't let this momentous victory pass without a champagne toast. To Personal Records!

Four Weeks and Counting!

2010-10-02T10:35:00.003-05:00

A month ago, I started a pool: How far into the Couch to 5K workout could I make it and how long will it take me. My bet was "giving up at Week 2, but taking a month to get there."

Well, it looks like I've already lost my own pool, because I have now completed 4 2/3 weeks of the program on track. My record for the most running in my whole life is now 2 8-minute intervals with a 5-minute walk break.

Today I am slated to run 20 minutes straight. If I'm successful (so far, so good!), I will have completed Week 5 in 5 weeks. So, freakin, awesome. Already, I've done so much better than I ever thought possible, and it's been easier and more fun than I expected.

I plan to employ some of the mind games I have learned over the last month to get myself through it. Here are some of the things I tell myself as I'm running.

I am a runner
My head feels fine, my neck feels fine, my shoulders feel fine, my arms feel fine...
Shut up calves! I am in charge of you!
By the time I reach that tree I'll be done
I look so cute, I look so cute...
1 (step, step, step), 2 (step, step, step), 3...
Halfway there, one more minute, 20 more seconds...
Ring, you mother cussing bell, RING!!

I'm Starting a Pool...

2010-08-31T07:11:00.003-05:00

I've never been a runner. Dancer, yes; rock climber, yes; mountain biker, yes (although not a very good one); annoying girl at the front of aerobics class who can keep up the whole time, yes. But a runner? Never.

Once every 9 months or so, I see the girls in their cute little running clothes jogging down the road and something inside me clicks on. I think "I have cute little running clothes! I could put them on and run! I could be her!" This is a lie I tell myself.

I put on my cute little running clothes and head out. About 4 blocks later, I head home, dejected and wanting to die. I am not a runner, never have been.

This time, I can't blame the cute little running girls, but a perfect storm of other motivators (not the least of which is my former-runner of a husband deciding to run again) have inspired me to give it a real go.

I wanted to blog this this morning, before we officially get started. (So, you can see how ~~pathetic~~ realistic my optimistic stage is) John and I are starting Couch 2 5K tonight. I am going to try really really hard, honest I am. I totally expect fail miserably. I may keel over and die tonight. And, it will most likely take me 2 weeks of 3 workouts/week to complete the week 1 workout.

Here's where the pool comes in. C25K is a 9-week program. In the comments, weigh in as to how far you think I'll get in the program and how many weeks it will take me to get there. I know I have several lurking friends and family members (Daddy I am looking at you). So everyone chime in.

Will I finish Week 2 in 4 weeks? Maybe, stall out at Week 5 after 2 months? Will I complete the 9 Weeks in 3 months, but never run an entire 5K? Or, can I pull out a personal workout miracle and complete the program in 3 months, and run my first 5K?

Seriously, you won't hurt my feelings. I, personally, am going with giving up at Week 2, but taking a month to get there. I promise to do my best, and really shoot for the goal of running a 5K in 3 months. I may even scrounge up a prize for pool's winner. So make your best guess!

Bad Day to Be Boogie (and Bonnie)

2010-08-21T21:25:00.004-05:00

I was startled awake at 4:30 a.m. by Boogie crying and spinning in circles at my bedside. Before I was even conscience enough to comprehend the ruckus and the strange burnt chemical smell in the air, John called it. Boogie got skunked.

We both popped out of bed, but what the heck do you do with a skunked dog? Commonsense would say don't let her run circles through the house and periodically drop to the ground and writhe around like she's been maced. Too late there.

Should you find yourself in a similar situation here's how to handle it with poise and dignity.

1. Feel like a total scumbag as you refuse to cuddle and comfort your traumatized animal who wants nothing more than to cower at your feet.

2. Chase said animal through the house as she ping pongs out of control. Finally, baby gate her in the kitchen.

3. Googled how to de-skunk a dog.

4. Sink into despair as you realize you do not have tomato juice or peroxide and they won't unroll the sidewalks in your small town for another 2 hours and oh-my-god-that dog-smells.

5. Snap into action and attempt de-skunking step one: blot dog with paper towels to remove excess skunk oil pre-bath.

6. Try to cheer yourself when you realize there is no excess oil; your dog must have received an indirect hit (perhaps through the fence?) albeit an indirect hit straight in the face. Despite now feeling like you yourself have been maced, this could be worse!

7. Sink back into skunk fume induced despair as you convince yourself (curse you new Google knowledge!) that your dog could be blind from this face on hit.

8. Go to the living room and call the emergency vet line.

9. Clear head in time to tell answering service to NOT wake the vet at 4:30 in the morning, and settle for just checking the opening time.

10. Snap back into action, and strip down naked (Google told me to!)

11. Whisk the dog into the bath where you scrub her down twice, as if that's not bad enough convince dog she is being drowned as you ~~water-board~~ attempt to wash her face.

12. Open all the windows in the house and try to go back to bed. Fail miserably because your house now reeks of skunk. Tell yourself it could have been worse.

13. Wake up 2 hours later, tell yourself the dog and house don't smell that bad and head to the vet.

14. Pick up the vet approved de-skunk miracle recipe. Sink into despair when the tech explains that you won't be able to get enough of it on her face to de-skunk that area.

15. Stop at 2 different stores to pick up supplies. Return home to resume puppy torture.

16. Realize you were wrong about the house not smelling too bad.

17. Wash the dog again in Head and Shoulders, let soak 5-10 minutes. Dip dog in icy cold mixture of 1 quart peroxide, 1/2 cup baking soda, 1 tablespoon dish soap.

18. Feel like a complete scumbag as your dog loses all faith in humanity and begins crying non-stop.

19. Congratulate yourself when you realize that except for her muzzle the dog smells pretty ok.

20. Spend the next 12 hours sweating it out with every window open as you scrub floors, cover every soft surface in Frebreeze and burn more incense and candles than a Wiccan on Halloween because evidently, that's all you CAN do.

EVO: First Impressions

2010-08-07T07:11:00.005-05:00

This week I upgraded my beloved blackberry to the new Sprint EVO. I've only had it for a few days, so I'm still figuring a few things out. Here's a quick run down of the pros and cons I've found as a first-time user.

Thumbs Up:

Seven home screens mean I have tons of room to load and organize shortcuts. Apps are pretty easy to get to without a shortcut, but I'm using the screens to organize similar often-used apps.
Apps, duh. The Sprint saleman told me "Any goofy weird thing you want your phone to do, just search the app store, you'll find something." So far, he was right on. An app review deserves it's own post.
Dual-facing camera lets you see and shoot towards yourself. You can even use it as a mirror. I haven't fiddled with the video and camera much, but I'm looking forward to it.
The video is awesome. Not only is the screen huge by mobile device standards, but everything loads super quick and the video is so so crisp and clear.
My phone is as cool as yours and I don't have to use AT&T. I'm doing an excellent job of holding a decade plus grudge-fuled boycott of AT&T, and there's no way I'm backing down for a stupid iPhone.
My phone is as cool as yours and I didn't have to buy an Apple. I'm a PC. I heart Google, Adobe, and I heart my PC. The Android hearts them too.
While my Blackberry total changed the way I thought about and used the internet, in comparison, the mobile experience on the EVO is like angels singing. So freaking awesome. See above, I heart Google. If you like Chrome and iGoogle, I think you'll like Android internet.

Thumbs Down:

Touch keypad is kind of hard to use. I am getting better after just a few days, but texting is a little hard and impossible while you're driving. Um, what? I didn't say that.
Voice to text, while awesome in concept, is working about 75% of the time for me. Maybe it's my twang. Other voice apps work great for me, but 1 out of 4 voice texts pops up gobblity-gook. The longer the phrase, the more likely this is to happen. But, hey, I have voice text. Sweet!
I haven't figured out how to delete music in the player. I listen to a ton of podcasts, and I delete them after listening. On the Blackberry this is easily done in the player. For now, I downloaded a file manager app, and I have to exit the player, remember which file I heard, navigate back to it, and delete. There must be a better way! But this is a first-time user review, and this is one of my first-time user problems.

Well, as you can see the pros are definitely outnumbering the cons at this point. I'm pretty happy with my new device.

What kind of mobile device are you using now, and what your favorite thing about it?

Lopped for Locks of Love

2010-07-28T20:33:00.004-05:00

A few years ago, my sister Sarah chopped off about a foot of hair and sent it off to Locks of Love. I was intrigued. We're used to giving money and giving time, but this was a new way to give. I decided I would do the same thing.

It wasn't hard work, but I certainly invested more time in this particular gift than I have in anything else I've ever donated. If I hadn't been waiting for my ponytail to hit 10" (the minimum donation for hair to be used in a Locks of Love hairpiece) there is no way I would have put up with it for so long. I'd forgotten what a hassle long hair was!

I was so excited to chop it off in one long ponytail. How often do you get to do that? (about once every 3 years!) I felt instantly lighter. Here's what it looks like after you whack a ponytail off the back of your head. Well, what it looks like when a very talented hairdresser ties it up, then whacks a ponytail off. Don't try this at home! Jeanie has the magic touch.

TaDa! I'm pretty pleased with the final product and I'm excited to have my short hair back. Jeanie even left me room to go shorter next time. (She likes her clients to take a couple cuts to get to a change this dramatic).

You can see here, it's pretty short in the back. Hopefully this ponytail will help a little kid feel as beautiful as I feel today.

It's Vacation Week... Oh, Shiney!

2010-06-22T08:47:00.003-05:00

The countdown until vacation is in the single digits, and I'm just not sure I'll be able to keep a thought in my head for more than a moment until I am in the airport. My brain is a jumble of unrelated (mostly vacation-focused) randomness.

Can I make it 11 days with no internet, no phone, no GPS, no email? Sure, I can.
Will it cause a panic attack at some point. Likely, but it will probably be as I board in Houston, then I'll be fine.
Will we be able to see the oil spill from the plane? We depart the USA from Houston, but I'm not sure of the exact path of the plane. I find the possibility simultaneously fascinating and heartbreaking.
Even if we do our dead set best to NOT DRINK the water, will we still get sick? I give myself even odds, John's odds probably aren't as good.
Will we like the rest of tour group? Will they be fun? Will we be the only non-AARP members? Hopefully, fingers crossed, and quite likely.
Will the dog miss us? Will she even care if she's at my mom's house? Which is sadder?
Can we really pack for an 11 day trip in a carry-on suitcase each?
Will doing laundry from the road suck the fun on a daily basis?
Will we get the whole Egyptian tipping thing down? Seriously, a tip for opening a door or pushing the elevator button? Geeze. How many 5 cent bills am I going to have to carry around?
That's right a nickle bill. Man, if euros were confusing at times, this is going to be downright ridiculous.

Egypt Here We Come

2010-06-12T13:05:00.003-05:00

Last year when we visited Ireland, we heard over and over again, "That's the trip of a lifetime!" Well, we've decided that we should take a "trip of a lifetime" every year. This year it's Egypt, and we're finally getting close enough that it's starting to feel real.

I've been planning for months, but I've been disappointed in the amount of information on modern day Egypt. This trip is sure to be filled with surprises. There are tons about ancient Egypt, but just not that much (comparatively) for today's traveler. I guess not too many people actually go there. You'd think it would be more popular. I mean, it's Egypt! Who wouldn't want to go? Sure, it's part of the middle east and it's hot enough to kill you, but they have pyramids. We're talking the real deal. John and I are going to see the last standing wonder of the world.

If we thought Ireland was a culture shock, this is going to be a full-on culture stroke. I can't wait. Bring on the strange food, signs I can't read, baffling customs, marketplace bartering, and neck-to-toe cover ups in 120' heat. My world view is ready for it's next adjustment.

How a Politician Gives You the Bird

2010-06-10T19:56:00.010-05:00

A few weeks ago, a candidate for House District 31 stopped by the house. She missed us, but left a handbill with a handwritten personalize sticky note. "{phone} {email}Beautiful orange door! Sorry I missed you. AJ Jones."

I'm impressed. We are more politically active than your average family (not hard!), and John and I know firsthand how hard it is to walk the ward much less the district. So I take a look to learn more.

AJ bills herself as a "Common Sense Conservative." Um, what does that mean? Are you a democrat or a republican? In Oklahoma "Common Sense Conservative" could mean either. I keep reading.

On the next page, there is a typo that is so bad I honestly didn't understand the sentence. And the kicker: the longest bullet on the entire handbill describes her husband. Evidently, he is proof of her "values." All this tells me is that she values her husband's qualifications over her own.

Ok, so I'll go the website to see more about her. Only, there is no website. The first day I checked, there was only a hosting page that stated the domain was purchased. A week later a "Coming Soon" splash image appeared. As of this writing, the page is still coming soon.

Then this shows up downtown:

Are you kidding me? This billboard is in the historic district! I soon learned I wasn't the only one annoyed by this. I explained this to AJ in an email on May 31.

AJ,
People in Guthrie are talking, but I doubt it's in a way you hoped. Everyone is intrigued by your campaign. You've been out in the neighborhoods--I know you stopped by my home--signs are starting to go up, and I've even heard Chuck introduced you to some folks at the coffee shop.

The only problem is the very, very large sign--more of a billboard, really--right smack dab in the historic district. I'm not the only person upset by this. One of our civic leaders has already spoken to the city attorney about this. It seems since you are political candidate, your sign is somehow exempt from our historic preservation regulations. So no one will force you to remove the sign on the White Rock Cafe. That is until the sign ordinance our city council has been working on for more than a year passes this summer.

Our beautiful Victorian downtown is our number one attraction and we are heading into tourism season. If you would like to impress the people of Guthrie, please have some respect for the integrity of our historic regulations and the community itself.

Bonnie Ann Cain, APR (registered Republican)

I received no automated response. The next day, nothing. The next week, nothing. Maybe Team AJ is as good at checking email as they are at updating the website. But, today I got a surprise. She wrote back. Here was her response:

Dear Ms. Cain:
Thank you so much for your thoughtful concern about our beautiful town. I too love our Victorian downtown. I apologize for not responding to your e-mail sooner, but I was researching and conversing with some people regarding your concern about my campaign sign. I have made every effort to ensure that the sign is only temporary. It will be removed after the July 27 primary. In making the decision to use the sign, I sought several people's opinions. They assured me that since we are in the political season, the temporary sign would not be offensive. They pointed out several other signs which are larger and have permanent placement. Again, thank you for your concern. Please do not hesitate to phone me or e-mail if you wish further information.
AJ Jones

Now that is how you give someone the bird. At least she's got one thing down.

I'm not sure who these people she talked to were. I'm guessing it wasn't the code enforcement office, or any downtown business owner who has struggled to remain in compliance, or the economic development office. And I thought I'd made it pretty clear the people I've talked to do find the sign offensive. As for taking the sign down after July 27, I'm hoping she won't have a need to campaign after that day.

And what are these larger permanent signs? Is she talking about these?

These couldn't be it. These are actually adding to the historic district. But these were the only other billboards I saw in downtown. Maybe I'm just so used to these other larger permanent signs I've tuned them out.

APR Flash Card: 5 Stages of Adoption

2010-03-16T12:51:00.004-05:00

The second of three flash cards on Adoption Theory.

Category: Theory
Front: 5 Stages of Adoption

Back:

Awareness-general knowledge exists, but lacks details.
(You've heard of the hoozeewhatsit, but you don't really know how it works or how it might fit into your life. )
Interest-information gathering.
(You start seeing ads for the hoozeewhatsit, and some friends are talking about it. You get a better sense of its value.)
Evaluation-mental trial.
(You begin thinking about how you might use it, what it might replace, how it could make things easier.)
Trial-experimental use.
(You take a hoozeewhatsit for a test drive, maybe borrow one from a friend. You may even go ahead and get one of your own if it's free or not cost-prohibitive. But you're not completely sold just yet.)
Adoption-continued use.
(The hoozeewhatsit has stood the test of time. You are fully on board and loving your newest innovation adoption.)

Try thinking back to when you first used Twitter. You had heard people talking about it. Maybe you were annoyed by all the buzz, or maybe you were intrigued. Either way you were in stage one awareness.

Stage 2, your friends on Twitter start to tell you more. They berate you over coffee, preaching the wonders of Twitter. You see Twitter feeds on a few sites, maybe on the news.

Your mental trial begins when you find yourself wondering what you might tweet about, or if the twitterverse could help with this question from work or maybe a dinner recommendation.

So you pull up the site and create an account. Why not, its free. You follow a few news outlets and the handful of friends you can find in the search. You're in the trial stage.

After a few weeks, you get over the initial fear of what to say, you have a small network in place and you can finally see the value. How did live without this? You've hit the adoption stage.

If you're not a Twitter user which stage did you reach before you decided it wasn't for you?

Friday's Orange Letter Day: OSUF Launches a Campaign for OSU

2010-02-24T06:41:00.000-06:00

The entire OSU family is invited to tune in this Friday as the OSU Foundation hosts the launch of the campaign for Oklahoma State University. I've been looking forward to this event for a while (although not as long as my friends at OSUF). It's going to be so exciting!

The main event will be on the Stillwater campus in the Student Union at 11 am, but each of our branches is hosting a watch party as well. If you can't make it to one of our campuses, you can watch it live at www.witnessOSUhistory.com.

As an event planner myself, I love the opportunity to sneak a peek at other people's parties. This one is sure to be packed with fun ideas. There will be a big unveil of the campaign theme and logo (very top secret until then!), and our campaign fundraising goal (game changing! dare we say "audacious" Burns did). There will be a major gift announcement. I'm so excited about this one, I might just bust. It is so inspiring, so generous, just so wow. And, the OSUF will be announcing the winners of the OSUccess.com contest.

I was super honored to be called in as a last-minute preliminary judge for the OKC and Tulsa text entries. And just as exciting, I'll be pushing out the social media content on behalf of the Foundation on Friday. If you are looking for tweets, twitpics and Facebook updates from me during the event, you'll find them on the Foundation's account. Better yet, as you are watching live, run a twitter search for #okstate, so you can see what everyone has to say about it.

APR Flash Card: Characteristics Promoting Adoption

2010-02-23T18:22:00.004-06:00

In grad school, I was fascinated with adoption theory. It's really interesting (no really!), and you can read more about it here. It also makes an appearance on the APR exam. Here's the first of three flash cards on adoption.

Category: Theory
Front: 5 Characteristics Promoting Adoption

Back:

Relative Advantage-does this innovation do something better than what I am already using?
Compatibility-does it fit in with my current activities/needs/life
Trial-ability-is it easy to experiment with it? Can I try it out?
Observability-can I see other people use it? How does it work for them?
Complexity-how hard is it to understand/learn/implement?

Think about the latest gadget or activity you really bought into. Maybe it was a different cell phone or a fancy kitchen gizmo. Chances are, several of these characteristics had to come together before you really adopted whatever it was.

For me personally, I find relative advantage and trial-ability are often the most important. Does it work better than what I already have, and is it easy to test it out before I commit.

Which of these characteristics is most important to you?

APR Flash Card: 10 Components of a Plan

2010-02-16T14:12:00.001-06:00

There are 10 key components to a comprehensive PR plan. I've found everyone nestles these in a slightly different order within the 4-step process. And, most of us combine/collapse a few because really there is quite a bit of overlap. But for the purposes of the exam you need to know all 10.

Category: Planning
Front: 10 Components of a Plan

Back:
1. Goals-desired end results
2. Audience-groups with whom you communicate
3. Objectives-phrased in terms of audience, outcome, attainment level, and time frame
4. Strategies-how in concept objectives will be achieved
5. Tactics-how to use resources to carryout strategies
6. Activities-specific actions to perform tactics
7. Evaluation-how you know if you achieved an objective
8. Budgeted Items-out-of-pocket expenses
9. Materials-what will be produced or purchased
10. Time Table & Task List-who does what when

If you're wondering about my choice of order, I list them this way because I use the phrase "Great Aunt Olga sometimes tells Alice 'Eat more buttered toast!'" Silly, yes. But 10 items is a lot to remember come test time.

APR Flash Card: Audience

2010-02-09T14:01:00.000-06:00

We talk a lot about "audience" but your PR plan needs to define what exact you mean by that.

Category: Planning

Front: Audience

Back: Groups or sub-groups with whom you need to communicate

Consider

who need to know and/or understand
who needs to be involved
whose advice and/or support is needed
who will be impacted

This Week I Heart: OSU Foundation's OSUccess.com

2010-02-05T12:25:00.004-06:00

My friends over that the OSU Foundation are full of interesting ways to secure donations and then pass those dollars on to students. This newest project is so fun, I'm kind of a little obsessed with it.

OSUccess.com (see already how clever it's title is?) began last week and runs until Feb 20. Students enter for 10 chances to win a $1,000 scholarship. Students answer a question "How do you define success at OSU?" with a 300 word blog entry, a 30 second video or a high-resolution photo.

Easy, right? Where were these kind of scholarship applications when I was in school?

Winners will be announced on Feb. 26 (more about this special orange-letter day, later), and they receive the scholarship that day. So, even graduating seniors can enter. The best-of for each category will be selected (3), then one randomly drawn entry from each campus (4), then the remainder are drawn randomly from all entries (3).

Here where the obsession comes in. You can watch the entries as they are submitted via a live feed. Too fun.

Photo Feed

Video Feed

Polish Your Presence with the PRSA-SW Student Post-con

2010-02-03T14:16:00.002-06:00

The PRSA-SW District Conference is coming to OKC in 2010. This is typically a great conference full of wonderful speakers, networking and events. I may be a bit bias (I'm on the planning committee) but this year is going to be especially fantastic.

The conference is April 15-17, just in time for graduating seniors to network their little hearts out. And obviously, all PR students are going to want to take advantage of the extra low student registration rate. But wait there's more!

There will be a special post-conference session on Friday designed just for students. Polish your presence with a luncheon session designed to help you make the best of your first impression. Then learn from both your peers and the pros during small resume breakouts led by seasoned OKC-area professionals. Bring 8 or more copies of your resume and see what sets you apart from the crowd. Each post-conference attendee will also receive a packet of exclusive content on the job hunt process.

The 2 1/2 hour post conference is $50 for PRSSA members and $65 for non-members and includes your lunch at the Bricktown Brewery. If you can't make it to the full conference you can still register for the post-conference. Registration opens soon, so mark your calendars and plan to be there!

APR Flash Card: Strategy vs. Tactic

2010-02-02T14:11:00.000-06:00

Strategies and tactics are probably the two most often confused terms in PR. Many people use them interchangeably. While they are very similar, they aren't the same thing.

Front: Strategy

Back: How in concept an objective will be achieved; how you will approach a challenge; devices you will employ; core messages

Front: Tactics

Back: Specific activities that put strategies into operation; how you will use resources to carry out a strategy. There may be multiple tactics per strategy.

Example:

Strategy-Utilize outposts to drive traffic to the blog

Tactics-

Install RSS application on Facebook page
Post blog entries in Twitter update
Post blog entry in Facebook update
Post career, APR, giving, and PR posts in Linked in profile.
Link back to One Bonnie in comments on other blogs

APR Flash Card: Goals vs. Objectives

2010-01-26T13:20:00.002-06:00

There is very little that I can say for sure will be on your APR exam. But I'm willing to go out on limb and say there will be questions asking you to identify a statement as a goal or an objective. There will also be questions asking you identify strategies versus tactics, but I'll get to that next week.

It can be difficult at first to write measurable objectives, I think if you understand the difference, it's quite easy to identify goals vs. objectives on the exam

Category: Planning

Front: Goals

Back: In general terms, what you hope to accomplish.

(Chris Brogan has a post here about setting SMART goals. Simple, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely)

Front: Objective

Back: Desired end results stated in terms of audience, outcomes, attainment level and time frame. There may be multiple objectives for each goal.

Example:

Goal

Increase reader interaction on There's Only Ever One Bonnie

Objectives

I will post at least three entries per week in 2010.
I will utilize at least two outposts for each entry in 2010.
I will comment on at least 2 other blog each week in 2010.
Readers will visit the to the blog 10% more in 2010.
Readers will comment on the blog 25% more in 2010.
I will respond to all comments within 24 hours of posting.

Be bold in your goal setting. I think too often we hold back out of fear of failure.

Pet Pics Can Win Prizes

2010-01-20T07:00:00.000-06:00

Think you have the cutest pup or kitty? Snap a picture and you could win $100.

FOGAS (Friends of the Guthrie Animals) is hosting a Cool Cats, Dashing Dogs Photo Contest this spring. The contest is open now and the deadline is April 15. (That should be an easy deadline to remember, I think something else is due that day...)

It's $5 per entry; enter as many times as you like. The extra money goes to support FOGAS's low-cost spay and neuter program.

John and I plan to enter a couple times. You should, too. If you think your pet can beat out that cute face above.

APR Flash Card: 4 Steps of the Planning Process

2010-01-19T13:06:00.001-06:00

This flash card is really the basis of everything we do in PR. It all comes down to the 4 steps. I've heard many students try to smush these into some awkward acronyms, that really just end up confusing what the steps actually mean. There's only 4 of them. Even though I'm a huge fan of the memory tricks, I'd recommend just remembering these as is.

Category: Planning

Front:

4 Steps in a Planning Process

Back:

Research-what's the problem, how do we know, do we need more facts
Planning-who is the audience, what do we want to accomplish
Execution-the "to do"
Evaluation- did it work, why or why not, how well, what would we change

APR Flash Card: "Mutual Adjustment" Era

2010-01-05T12:37:00.001-06:00

This is the final flash card on the eras of PR (for now). The "Mutual Adjustment" era is what most people agree to be the era the industry is in currently.

Category: Trends
Front: "Mutual Adjustment" Era

Back: ~1950 on

Post-war era, 1945-65: We moved from a war-oriented economy to a postindustrial service-orientated economy. PR became an accepted and professional organization.
Global Information Society, 1965 on: Multiple technology communication channels are developed. We shift from a national economy to a world economy. PR focuses on mediating conflict and building mutual adjustment.

How to Create Facebook Ads That Work

2010-01-02T15:50:00.003-06:00

Bet you thought I was going to share some great Facebooking secret with you here. Nope, I'm just going to turn you on to this free Webinar.

How to create a Facebook ad that works!
Kim Hodgson Account Manager/Social Media Consultant
Schipul - The Web Marketing Company
Tuesday 5-Jan-10 1:30 PM to Tuesday 5-Jan-10 2:30 PM

It's from Schipul, so you know it's going to be awesome. Kim is going to talk about

Facebook ads vs. Google ads
Designing your ad to convert
Targeting your ad
When keywords are good and when they are bad
Testing your ads
Tweaking your ad campaign and pricing

Revenge of the Xmas Cards

2009-12-30T12:23:00.002-06:00

Card #1 arrived in the usual fashion, a week or two before Christmas with the enclosed annual family letter. This year, John and I responded in a different way. We distributed our annual "Christmas Card" via the internet. We sent it to friends and family via Facebook and email.

It was a nice little experiment. It was by far the most eco-friendly card we could have produced, it had loads of pictures, and I enjoyed the interactivity of it as friends commented back about the content. Little did we know at the time, that we would call down the wrath of the Christmas Card Gods.

We arrived home one evening to a huge stack of Christmas cards in our box. As John started to sort through, he told me we got a card from Elaine Bryant. Yea, Aunt Elaine.

Um, wait. Another card from Elaine Bryant. And another, and another. John delicately asked, "How old is Aunt Elaine?"

Aunt Elaine is not old, so what the heck is going on? I begin opening cards. Here's an exact transcript of what we found. (messages placed in proper order for clarity. We did not open them in order which added to the confusion/hilarity)

Card #2 2009

Dear Bonnie and John,

You don't get away with the e-card! I'm sending you all my extra cards to keep your Aunt Anna employed and my mother's pensions intact. MWAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

Card 3-2009

Matt shares his mother's madness but won't commit in writing! MWAHAHA!

Card 4-2009

Love,

Elaine & Mike

Card 5-2009

Suitable for framing!

And More Christmas Cards for the mantle. That's why I save mine to make sure I cards to display!

Love,

Elaine

Card 6-2009

Just saw the 1991 Keeping Up Appearances Christmas show. Hyacinth was up to 112 cards (most sent by Hyacinth to herself).

Cards Rule!

Love,

E & M

Card 7-2009

Love,

Elaine & Mike

Card 8-2009

Love,

E, M & M & M

Card 9-2009

Your card has been printed and hung from the mantle! Loved the Ireland pics.

Love,

E, M, M & M

Card 10-2009

Buy stamps & Burn them in the fireplace.

Love,

E, M, M & M

Card 11-2009

Megan's a smart woman - I know she will support me - she's the third M.

Love,

E & M

M & M

APR Flash Card: "Mutual Understanding" Era

2009-12-29T12:25:00.002-06:00

Our industry trends began with the "Public Be Damned" era and the "Public Be Informed" era. As we enter the "Mutual Understanding" era, we start to see a shift to a two-way communication model.

Category: Trends
Front: "Mutual Understanding" Era

Back: post-WWI

WWI period, 1917-19: focused on promoting patriotism
Booming 20s, 1919-29: shift to promoting products, change, politics and charities
Roosevelt and WWII, 1930-45: dominated by Roosevelt and his counselor Louis McHenry House

Bonus: Louis McHenry Howe is an important figure in the history of PR. He was Roosevelt's adviser until 1936. He realized that mutually beneficial public relationships could be built only by coupling responsible performance with persuasive publicity.

APR Flash Card: "Public Be Informed" Era

2009-12-22T12:19:00.001-06:00

The APR Flash Cards continue with more history of the industry. I don't have a lot of explanation or commentary on this one. It was a relatively brief time frame in the history of PR, but the industry turned a corner here and began morphing into the more information-based industry we have today.

Category: Trends
Front: "Public Be Informed" Era

Back: a.k.a. "Seedbed Era"
1900-1917

This era is characterized by muckraking journalism countered by defensive publicity.

You Can Be a Microlender, Who Knew?

2009-12-16T12:05:00.000-06:00

This week, John and I joined Kiva.org and made our first "microloan." I learned about Kiva from Stuff You Should Know.

Kiva is an online community that connects individuals willing to back small loans with entrepreneurs around the world (mostly in third-world countries). A Kiva Field Partner (the financial institution administering the loan) pre-distributes the money, then Kiva members backfill the loan. The entrepreneur pays back the loan, and the Field Partner pays back the Kiva members.

If that's not cool enough for you, you get to pick your businessperson. You can search by gender, industry and region of the world. You can see a short bio and description of the loan need. You can also see the other Kiva members financing the loan.

Loans start at $25. It doesn't seem like much, but a dozen or more members come together on each loan. John and I contributed $25 toward a $1200 loan to tailor in Lebanon who needs to buy a new sewing machine to meet the growing demand of her business. Her repayment starts in February, so I'll let you know how it goes.

Here, Josh and Chuck (my favorite Stuff podcasters) taunt the Cobert Report. Whose Kiva will make it to $100,000 in loans first?

APR Flash Card: "Public Be Damned" Era

2009-12-15T12:13:00.001-06:00

Part of understanding where PR is today requires understanding where we came from. Some of the industry's historic roots are the source of its not-so shiny reputation today.

Category: Trends
Front: "Public Be Damned" Era

Back: Post Civil War to 1900

This era is characterized by early attempts to manipulate public opinion.

Examples: Samuel Adams, the Federalist Papers, B.T. Barnum "There is a sucker born every minute."

Bonus: Samuel Adams is an excellent example of early American PR. In the late-1700s, he used variety of tools to manipulate public opinion. His organizations included Sons of Liberty and the Committees of Correspondence. He excelled at employing symbols, slogans and staged events.

Pros & Cons of Being a Lifer

2009-12-14T14:34:00.003-06:00

At the Library, I'm considered a "lifer." It's not that I plan to work here the rest of my, it just seems (to me and to everyone else) that I've already been here a lifetime.

I've been at the Library for more than 14 years. Most of my friends have worked several places by now, so it's a little strange to have such a track record at my age. Sticking with the same organization for this long has its benefits and its drawbacks.

3 Benefits of Being a Long Term Employee

People Trust You.
It can be difficult to earn widespread trust in an organization. If you stick it out, you'll find often your internal years of service count for more than the same amount of experience somewhere else.

You Can Work the System.
It can take years to figure out the corporate culture at a new place. Once you have it down, you can really get things done. You know exactly who to talk to, when to ask for things, and who you need on board to push through new ideas.

You're More Insightful.
When you really know a place, it gives so much context to the way you think about your job. Intimate knowledge of the organizational history means your ideas are developed within the landscape they will be executed.

3 Drawbacks of Being a Long Term Employee

You Get Comfortable in the Box.
When you are new, it's easy to "think outside the box" because you don't know where that box is yet. After a decade of nos, it's easy to start pitching yes ideas instead of the best ideas.

You Become One of Them.
How quickly you go from one of us to one of them. If you stay long enough, eventually you will realize you've become "the man" whatever that means for your organization. It's kind of creepy at first. You get over it, or you leave.

One Word: Burnout.
I've suffered more than one bout of burnout in my 14-year career. The outcome is not always a bad thing (burnout has pushed me to earn my APR, be involved in my professional organization, give presentations and ask for a promotion), but it makes for a sucky couple months while you work through it.

One Christmas Down Four to Go

2009-12-12T21:48:00.001-06:00

Today was our first official Christmas dinner of the year. I'm blogging this from a very foggy Turnpike in southern Oklahoma.

This year, John and I have four family Christmas dinners to attend. Some folks might think this sounds horrible, but I love it. Of all the stressors the holidays bring, I don't count the actual family gatherings among them.

Family dinner is the best part, and this year, I get four times the fun.

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Planning, Planning, Planning, Regional Conference Planning, Rawhide!

2009-12-11T19:58:00.002-06:00

In the midst of my Christmas prep day off I swung by OKC for the 2010 PRSA-SW Conference planning committee. I have to admit, I'm getting a bit excited about this conference. Too bad I'll be missing half of it for a Library fundraiser, but you should mark your calendar for April 15-17.

The conference is going to be jam-packed with content. We had so many speaker proposals that we added another time slot for break out sessions, and we still won't be able to fit in all the great speakers. It'll be fun, too. We're kicking off with a dine around town, and there are some pretty great sounding receptions in the works.

I can't wait to see the website (thanks Sam) and the blog (ala Valerie) launch in January.

This Week I Heart: Mittens

2009-12-10T19:10:00.005-06:00

If you are living in Oklahoma then you too have been subjected to some ridiculously cold weather lately. That is why, this week, I heart Mittens!

I am probably the only person over the age of 7 who regularly wears mittens, but I assure you they are far superior to gloves. I'm sure someone has scientifically proven this; I pretty sure I read that somewhere.

I'm cold on a regular day. What most people consider room temperature, I consider chilly. If I had my way, no office building, restaurant or movie theater would be set below 78'. So you can imagine how I have suffered this week when every morning tops out around 9'. I mean, seriously! The wind chill yesterday was zero! It just isn't right.

While, my tushy may have froze on the 5 minute walk from the car, my fingers were snug as bug, encapsulated in their thinsulate mittens. In fact, my hands were actually sweaty by the time I got into the office. At least one little part of me was warm.

From the APR Flash Cards: 8 Types of Crisis

2009-12-09T19:08:00.000-06:00

While I was studying for the Accreditation in Public Relations exam, I made extensive and detailed flash cards for key concepts, definitions, theories, trends etc. Here's your APR study tip of the day.

Category: Crisis
Front: 8 Types of Crisis

Back:

Natural-Acts of god, fire, flood, earthquake, etc.

Technological-Can range from breakdowns to technological attacks

Confrontational-Based in discontent, examples include picketing, boycotts, sit-ins

Malevolence-Criminal or extreme methods are used to express anger, such as product tampering, kidnapping, or terrorism

Skewed Management Values-Most often, this means management get greedy and stakeholders suffer

Deception-Information is concealed or misrepresented

Management Misconduct-The illegal or unethical behavior of management impacts the organization, examples are sexual harassment or embezzlement.

Business and Economic-Financial or business factors damage the organization's reputation, such as bankruptcy, layoffs, product shortages, etc.

Baby Elephant Recipe: One Trip to T-Town, Bake for 22 Months

2009-12-08T16:16:00.003-06:00

Holy cow, how cute is that?!

Two of the lady-elephants from the OKC Zoo have been on an extended date in Tulsa, and it appears love is in the air because Asha is now pregnant.

The OKC Zoo is using the time Asha and her sister Chandra are spending up north to renovate their elephant digs for the new arrival. The girls will return to their new home in August 2010, and baby should be here the following spring.

Yes, that's right, spring 2011. Evidently, elephants need to bake for 22 months before they are ready to be born. Geeze. I suppose that gives the PR crew at the OKC Zoo plenty of time to plan a birthday bash. I'm looking forward to it already.

Go to Bed, Annual Report

2009-12-07T20:58:00.002-06:00

Once again, the OSU Library's fiscal year 2009 annual report reared its head and ate a small portion of my day.

This report is a project that refuses to be put to bed. I've tucked it in, sung it a lullaby, brought it a cookie, and read it a story. The dern thing won't hush up and leave me alone.

Today, I prepped a report of all the ways we are telling people to go read our awesome annual report about how awesome we've been in the last year. You should go ~~read,~~ ~~skim,~~ at least click on the link too, because my team and I spent 100s of hours on it. When you see it, you'll know why it took so long.

Christmas is in the Bag

2009-12-05T20:56:00.002-06:00

In the shopping bag that is.

Today's mission: Christmas shopping. It was a complete success. Not that we have all our presents for everyone, but we took a serious chunk out of the shopping list. As a shopping team, John and I only have 4 more gifts to buy.

I'm feeling pretty good about it because typically I'm a last minute Christmas shopper. In fact, one year I did all my shopping on Christmas Eve. In my defense, I had all four impacted wisdom teeth removed on the first day of break. So, I spent most of the week and a half leading up to Christmas in a pain killer stupor.

Surprisingly, if you hit the mall first thing on Christmas Eve, it is dead. I guess if you wait that long to do your shopping, you're likely not a hop out bed and hit the ground running type.

But there will be none of that for me this year. Out of town gifts are shipped, online orders are placed, John's "big present" is tucked away. Preen.

APR Flash Card: Benefits of PR

2009-12-04T20:02:00.002-06:00

It's been a while since I've posted an APR flash card. I decided it was time to bring them back.

Category: Trends
Front: Benefits of PR

Back:
To Management

develop and maintain relationships with audience
anticipate and respond to shifts in public perceptions and opinions

To Society

make information available
mediate conflict and build consensus
help complex society make decisions

I think often we focus too much on the value of PR to management. As I point out in some of my posts on ethics, PR at its root is a public service. The public is just as much a client as the organization paying us, and we have benefits to both parties.

Ancient Pictures of Aliens Carved in Rocks

2009-12-03T19:37:00.005-06:00

Last week I posted a pretty undescriptive post about how I was on my way to Petroglyth National Monument. John and I stopped on our way to AZ and spent an hour or so on one of the dog-friendly hiking trails through the monument. Here are the pics.

Rocks are everywhere, we're on the lookout for petroglyths. What will they look like?

Boogie loved hiking through the desert. She especially liked to smell the sage.

Some of the carvings were just geometric patterns. I wondered what they were meant to be.

But then there were faces too. You can totally tell what that is!

Um, yeah. And then there were the aliens. I mean seriously! That is totally an alien. Awesome.

Because Glee Makes You Happy

2009-12-02T20:13:00.000-06:00

PRSA-OKC Looks to the Future

2009-12-01T21:37:00.003-06:00

Today I joined 20 other local PR professionals as we gathered to plan for the future of PRSA-OKC.

It's an exciting time for our organization. Our chapter is growing. With just 10 more members, we'll receive another assembly delegate and OKC-area professionals will have a little more say in how our industry is run on the national level. We spent a lot of time discussing how we will recruit those 10 new members.

If you are a PR professional or in a related field, here are a few reasons you should consider being one of our new members in 2010.

Professional Education. The foundation of every chapter meeting is professional development and your membership provides discounts on the great workshops and teleseminars offered by nationals.
Commitment to Ethics. Each member commits to abide by the code of ethics, but it doesn't stop there. By regularly interacting with other professionals who work to embrace ethical practice, you learn to not only apply the code to your day to day work, but also how to discuss our code of ethics with others.
Camaraderie. Many people will say "networking," but I find a lot of value in simply meeting people who have jobs like mine and understand the rewards and the challenges I'm faced with.

Dear Philip Pullman, I Believe I Like You Very Very Much

2009-11-30T19:59:00.004-06:00

I have found a new author that I am very much in like with. The author is Philip Pullman and you should run now, quick like a bunny, and read something he has written.

Sometimes, I develop this sort of obsession for a particular author. I go on a jag where I read absolutely everything they have written. This can go pretty quickly for new authors (like Joshilyn Jackson, whom I love, love, love) or it can take years, like the first author I did this with waaaaay back in elementary (Christopher Pike, whom I have long since outgrown, but still holds a dear place in my book-loving heart).

My newest author kick is Philip Pullman, and he is awesome with a side of kick-ass. My Pullman obsession started with the Golden Compass series (which the movie does no justice). On our recent road trip, John and I listened to a short story called "Once Upon a Time in the North" and now I'm wrapping up the first in his Sally Lockheart series.

On his website, Philip (he and I should be on a first name basis, right?) says,
"As a passionate believer in the democracy of reading, I don't think it's the task of the author of a book to tell the reader what it means."

He sounds like a pretty cool guy to me. I can't wait to read all his books and figure out what they mean to me.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

2009-11-29T18:25:00.011-06:00

For weeks, I've been planning that today would be the day I decorated for Christmas. John documented the entire process. I, literally, rolled out of bed and got started. So, even through I'm still recovering from yesterday's 17 hour car ride and look like complete poo, I'm sharing the pics here with you, loyal reader. (Imagine if you were married to me, you too could be treated to this sight each morning.)

A trip to the attic yields all my accumulated Christmas booty. Yea, decorations! John said we have too much. I disagree. Only 2 medium tubs, 1 large tub and 2 trees. Not enough if you ask me.

First things first, I switch out my fall wreath for my winter one.

Hey, look! Non-frog decorations! I have a few of those.

The giant frog tree goes up, next. Hoppy Holidays!

Then we take a break to dance.

The OSU tree is crazier than ever this year, thanks to a Crazy Days sale at the Alumni Center.

I headed out into the cold and wet on my own to hang lights on the house. John was "working" something about a book deadline, blah blah. So you won't see any pics of me on the roof.

It got incredibly cold as the day went on, so we called it quits after 10 strands, but the front of the house looks pretty awesome if you ask me. (blame a very slow low light shutter speed for the blurriness.)

5 Ways to Procrastinate

2009-11-28T15:05:00.000-06:00

A work-related writing assignment that I really was not feeling inspired this post.

Go for walk. At work it seems I always need to jump up to check on something when I not into whatever task is at hand. Of course, I may just notice it more when I'm procrastinating. In general I tend to pace around a lot as I work.
Do something else that really needs to be done. Because as long as you are being productive, it doesn't count as procrastinating, right?
Clean. Does anyone else do this? It's like I'm punishing myself for not doing the task at hand.
Be genuinely distracted and forget what you're doing. Oh, shiny!
Blog! and speaking of blogging this is part of the second go-around of the 30-day blogging challenge.

100th Post!

2009-11-27T17:34:00.003-06:00

Happy 100th post to me. To celebrate here are 100 things about me.
1. My favorite color is yellow.
2. Orange is a very close second favorite.
3. I love the Harry Potter books.
4. I've worked as a grocery checker
5. I've worked as a nursery attendant
6. I've worked as a camp counselor
7. I've worked at a library for the last 14 years
8. I've worked in PR for 10 years
9. I'm accredited in PR
10. I am often accused of being perky
11. I'm a natural redhead
12. I enjoy being the center of attention
13. I don't enjoy spending extended periods of time with other people who need to be the center of attention.
14. I have two sisters who look just like me.
15. I've been happily married for 4 years, 4 months and some change.
16. I have a bachelor's degree in environmental science
17. I have a master's degree in mass communications
18. My master's thesis was a discussion of PR ethics in government communications.
19. I think it sounds more impressive than it is.
20. I'm a home owner
21. I named my house "Little Blue" the day I saw it.
22. I was born in Germany.
23. Next summer I'm visiting Egypt.
24. I would not even consider eating a pickle for $500,000.
25. My husband thinks I'm an excellent cook.
26. I'm growing my hair out for locks for love.
27. I have a dog named Boogie Woogie.
28. I almost always have my toes painted.
29.I took ballet lessons for over 10 years.
30. I took belly dancing lessons for almost 2 years.
31. I graduated from Westmoore High School in 1995.
32. I'm now on the WHS Alumni Association Board.
33. My husband calls me "Boo"
34. I love gummi anything
35. I've send the Red Hot Chili Peppers in concert 3 times
36. The next concert I'll see is Billy Joel/Eton John
37. I have season tickets for Cowboy Wrestling
38. I came in 3rd in an Iron Kids Triathlon when I was 12.
39. I collect all things frog
40. I have an entire xmas tree decorated in frogs
41. I wear mascara every single day.
42. I once went 2 and a half months without shaving my legs.
43. I still shaved my armpits, though, because that's just gross.
44. I'm a certified Irish Whiskey Taster.
45. My husband keeps me in fresh flowers.
46. Coming up with 100 things takes a long time.
47. Maybe I was just kidding about the whole 100 things.
48. Does anyone really want to read 100 things anyway?
49. No probably not.
50. How about 50 things to celebrate my 100th post. Yeah, I think that sound good.

This Week I Love: Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T14:45:00.000-06:00

Need I say more? While Thanksgiving is not my absolute favorite holiday, it's pretty darn good. I means what not to love about a holiday that is basically food-based. I think every holiday should have a food component.

My favorite Thanksgiving dish is green bean casserole. As my sister Sarah said as a toddler, "Bean Beans!!"

What's your Thanksgiving fave?

Internship Best Practices

2009-11-25T15:05:00.003-06:00

Over at the PRSSA blog they summarized the newly released PRSA Internship Guidelines. I can't wait to read through the complete report. (How dorky is that?)

Based on the summary PRSSA provided, it looks like really good stuff. From my own personal experience, I think these are some of the most important things to get from an internship. We'll see if my thoughts line up with the PRSA report.

1. Build a mentoring relationship. You should leave an internship with at least one relationship that will continue to foster your professional development after the internship is over. This means you have someone you can call for advice as well as a reference.

2. Do real work. I hear what I consider horror stories about interns doing noting but fetching coffee and filing. An internship is certainly going to be a time to pay some dues, but you should be doing professional-level work as well. Yes, you'll run errands and wash some dishes, but you'll also participate in planning meetings and write stories for the annual report.

3. Be treated like a professional to learn how to be a professional. When you are held to professional standards, you learn to meet those standards. So even though you probably are the lowest paid employee in the office, you should be treated like everyone else. This can mean you get some pretty critical feedback. You'll prove you're a professional, if you learn from it.

The Time I Met Neil deGrasse Tyson

2009-11-24T15:33:00.000-06:00

Neil deGrasse Tyson of NOVA/Origins fame was our 2009 speaker for the Cobb dinner. One of the perks of my job is when we bring in these "super famous" people, I get to act as the media escort. When they are nice and fun and motivated to fulfill their contracts, this is a really fun job. When they are rude, stuck up and generally don't seem to care if they get the other half of the speaking fee I'm holding onto until after the event, this can make for a miserable evening.

In case you're wondering, Neil probably falls somewhere in the middle for me. Not the best (I love you Ken Burns!), but certainly no where near the worst.

Emily and Dad got to come this year! I was so excited for my family to get to see one of the biggest events I coordinate each year.

I like when the authors come prepared for the book signing. I always have backup pens ready for them, but I'm impressed when they bring their own. Neil had an arsenal of various colors and inks.

Here I'm trying to explain to Neil why he needs to follow people on Twitter. I don't think he was impressed with my explaination of two-way commincation tools.

Here's my awesome team that worked hundreds of hours (yes, really) to make sure this was a great night for our 232 guests.

At the end of the night, Neil took us outside for a private tour of the night sky. There was a very impressive laser involved, but it's hard to explain without sounding dirty.

Petroglyph National Monument, Here I Come

2009-11-23T10:15:00.004-06:00

Holidays Begin... Now!

2009-11-22T16:32:00.004-06:00

It's officially Thanksgiving week and I've spent the last 30 hours getting my house ready to start holiday season. This is such fun time of year; there is so much to look forward to! Here are some of the things I'm most looking forward to in the next 6 weeks.

Lights on houses, especially my house
Holiday blockbusters
Yummy "holiday" flavors at Braums, Starbucks, etc.
Office parties
Seeing family that I only get to see once a year
Seeing family that I see all the time
Snow tubing at the ballpark
Ice skating at the Civic Center
The nutcracker (even if I don't get tickets, it makes me happy just knowing it's there)
Presents!
Stuffing, it is prime stuffing-eating season
Santa Claus
Mistletoe
Pets get snuggly because it so cold outside
My frog Christmas tree
Road trips, to go see some of those family members from #5
Cajun-fried turkey, I really hope I get some at some point
The Christmas Story, it's good no matter how many times you see it.
Time off of work
Our annual John and Bonnie Drinks and Treats!

Hello, Vacation!

2009-11-21T17:23:00.002-06:00

Today is the first day of my nine day vacation. It feels wonderful!

No matter how much you may love your job, there are always times when it gets to be a bit a much. And that's what vacation leave is for! One of the best parts of my job is the very generous leave allocation. In fact, I get so much vacation time I'm often in peril of losing it. And, I'm a firm believer that you can't be a good employee if you don't take care of yourself first.

This week I'm taking care of myself and my husband and some family too. It's a bit over due.

Today, I launched a full fledged attack on the mess that has become my house. John was in full support and has been right there with me as we wage war on dust and clutter.

I consider it the start of Christmas decorating. Because you can put up all the glitterly light-up clutter until you clear out the dusty, dirty, where-the-heck-did-this-come-from clutter.

How Quickly I Become One of Them

2009-11-20T11:49:00.003-06:00

So yesterday I complained about OSU sports, and today I get to put on my Posse hat. John and I are starting the weekend with the Cowboy Wrestling opener.

We've been season ticket holders for three years now, which officially makes us Posse members. But we are nowhere near the level that we would get to kick someone out of their parking space. Moot point anyway since they would never rearrange campus for a wrestling match.

Which is completely backwards! Because our wrestling team is awesome, and our football team is, well, you know.

So cross your fingers for the Cowboys! They take on Arizona State at 7 pm tonight!

OSU Wants You to Know They Care...

2009-11-19T13:58:00.003-06:00

...about football, and posse members, and television schedules, and donors who support ~~our mission~~, ~~students~~, ~~research~~, ~~academics~~, football.

If you work or go to school at OSU then today you lost your parking spot (which you paid for) to Posse Parking and were relocated to overflow lots along the perimeter of campus. I was "lucky." As a staff member I was able to park in a new parking garage on the north edge of campus and only had to walk 5 blocks to get to my building. One of my interns parked over a mile away and will still need to be out of the lot by 3:30 pm.

What's Your Favorite Car Game?

2009-11-18T16:07:00.003-06:00

The holidays are here and that means we'll be driving here, there, everywhere. Sometimes short drives and sometimes looooooong ones. Like any planning planner, I'm looking for some cheap and easy ways to entertain in the car.

Maybe I have it easy (or maybe actually I have it harder) because the folks I need to entertain in the car are only me and John. No kids for us, a puppy perhaps, but no kids.

On the agenda are

Books on CD, whatever I can find at the public library the day I stop by.
Podcasts, whatever I've managed to save up on my MP3 player. Stuff You Should Know and This American Life are good for road trips.
Who Am I? Guessing game much like 20 questions, but we don't play with a limit.
The Alphabet Game, locate the entire alphabet in order on any item outside the car.
Slug Bug. Need I say more.
Trivia Pursuit, minus the board.

So what's your favorite car game?

My Dog Has a House Key

2009-11-17T10:17:00.003-06:00

It seems everyday John and I treat the dog more and more like a real kid. Yesterday we gave her a key to the house.

Not the kind of key you're probably thinking, but an infrared key to her dog door. Boogie's dog door (the purchase and installment of which was a saga worthy of several blog entries) is very fancy and it allows us to lock, unlock or limit access.

The limited access means only an animal wearing a programed key can open the door. It's designed to keep out vermin. We use it to keep the vermin in, namely the bad cat, Mr. Mojo.

It took a bit of training to get Boogie comfortable with the door. At first she was afraid of it, then she'd sit and wait to use it until we gave her permission to use it, but finally she comes and goes as she pleases. So, we decided it was time to start using the key.

We'd put off this part because the locking mechanism makes a noise and there is a slight delay in the unlocking all of which were hindering our doggie-door-training efforts.

Boogie's first attempt at unlocking the door went a little something like this: I take out a treat and ask her go outside. In her enthusiasm to be treated she charges at the door and totally wipes out cartoon-style as she slams into the locked door. After a dazed moment, it unlocks and she pops right through. Surprisingly, her first rough encounter with the limited access door hasn't fazed her, and she's only unlocked the door for the cat once.

Christmas Train is Coming to Guthrie

2009-11-16T14:42:00.005-06:00

The Christmas Train is coming, the Christmas Train is coming! I love riding the train, and soon it will be coming to my hometown, Guthrie.

The Guthrie Chamber of Commerce has been working with ODOT and Amtrak to set up a special visit to Guthrie by the Heartland Flyer. The Heartland Flyer is scheduled to arrive in Guthrie December 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th: the first weekend of the Territorial Walk.

If this year's Christmas Train is successful, there is a chance we could have train service for all of Guthrie Festivals. Amtrak has agreed to provide this year's service for at no charge to the city and use it as a pilot for future endeavors.

The train holds 200 passengers. It will leave from OKC, Thursday December 10 at 9:35 p.m. and arrive in Guthrie at 10:55 p.m. Passengers can expect an after-hours reception before they take a walk through town for a little late night shopping. There are plenty of hotels or B&Bs where you can stay over. You be able to get around town via the trolley or rental car, or weather permitting, even a horse drawn carriage.

Amtrak tickets are currently $7 per person for one way, the price could go up to $11 the longer you wait! For Tickets Call: 1-800-USA- rail or visit www.amtrak.com (use the code GUT to bring up the Guthrie Christmas Train).

What a great way to have some holiday fun and do your part to show the powers-that-be that Oklahomans want and will use a light rail system.