Lopped for Locks of Love

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!

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

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

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

The second of three flash cards on Adoption Theory.

Category: Theory
Front: 5 Stages of Adoption

Back:

1. 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. )
   
2. 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.)
   
3. Evaluation-mental trial.
   (You begin thinking about how you might use it, what it might replace, how it could make things easier.)
   
4. 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.)
   
5. 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

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

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?