Win your own personal bailout!

A friend of mine helps run a really cool financial Web site and I promised her several months ago that I was going to post a blog about its “personal bailout” contest. It’s an awesome opportunity, I just keep forgetting to write about it! (Sorry Robyn!)

So here it is – The Great Geezeo Bailout! The grand prize is $6,000 and you get one entry for each day that you log in and use Geezeo. By the way, Geezeo is a GREAT site to help you manage your personal finances. It has lots of neat features and a community where you can get advice, plus a blog with helpful articles posted frequently.

The contest ends on March 31, so sign up quickly if you want to take part!

Twitter: The Good and the Ugly

While quickly perusing Tweets (follow me here!), I found two very interesting things about Twitter. One is really interesting and intriguing and one is really quite pathetic (but very funny).

First, the good and intriguing: @JoelFightsBack, according to recent Tweets, is looking for programmers and web designers to help with a new Lawyering 2.0 project. This project would have Internet users vote/comment on letters that Havard Law students have written to the DOJ. If you’re interested in learning more, message @JoelFightsBack on Twitter or e-mail joelfightsback@gmail.com. And let me know what you find out.

(For those who don’t know, @JoelFightsBack is maintained by Prof. Charles Nesson and the Harvard Law students representing Joel Tenenbaum against the RIAA.)

And now for the pathetic but REALLY funny: A Congressional trip to Iraq was being kept secret for security reasons until a Twitter-happy Congressman tweeted about landing in Iraq and having Blackberry coverage. Oops. Read the full story here.

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS. And check out my column on Business Week about online scammers.

A quick look at Lost

Isn’t Lost amazing so far?! I know folks have been waiting for me to post something, so I thought I’d share a few things really quickly. I haven’t read any blog posts yet, but I will after this.

Note: Spoilers if you haven’t seen this week’s episode! Plus, a few theories that could be spoilers if I’m right. (But we all know how often that happens, lol.) So as not to spoil visitors to the blog who are behind on Lost, click “more” to see all my theories!

I have a column on BusinessWeek.com! :-)

I hope you will visit my column on BusinessWeek.com.  The link is here. For the next 24 hours, there is also a link from Business Week’s home page.

If you want, feel free to leave a comment after the column on Business Week too. I’d like to encourage some reader feedback there!

Edited to add: I was just informed that this column was submitted to Digg and went popular. Wow!

ID your blog voice with an online app

I stumbled on this in a writing forum (I’m pretty sure that’s where.) It works so well as an addendum to my previous topic that I had to share it right away!

Typealyzer is a unique online application that analyzes the personality profile of your blog.  It’s pretty neat, especially if you compare it to your regular “real life” personality. Could this help us in analyzing our “voice” perhaps? Maybe, or it might just be some fun entertainment.

My blog type was ISTP – The Mechanics. Here’s the description:

” The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.

The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters.”
Doesn’t that describe my blog really well? Interestingly, it’s not my actual personality type, which is INFJ (at least it is today according to one online test, lol.)

So… What is your blog’s personality type? If you take the test, please leave the results in a comment below!

What is your voice? Finding your personal style

I’m in the middle of a variety of writing work, applications for summer law jobs, and figuring out my new HTC Touch Pro (best phone in the world, btw.) My writing projects are for a variety of venues, which of course require different treatments and styles.

But in the midst of these, one question has been bugging me. What is my “voice”? Do you know yours? Different genres require different styles and approaches, but is it possible to keep the same “voice” within all of them?

The inquiry came to mind when I contacted a colleague for advice on writing for another country. He gave me some tips and then reminded me not to lose my distinctive writing “voice” in the process.

This, of course, sent me off to ponder exactly what *is* my distinctive voice.  After more than a decade in professional writing, you might think the answer would be easy. But I’ve learned that the older one gets, the less one knows. For those who are out of their 20s, have you discovered this to be true, also?

When I was 24, I knew exactly what my voice was. I also knew my “place in the world” and what I wanted to do with my life. I even had religion down pat and could answer any question about the Bible or God that people posed to me. (Ah, the arrogance of the 20s…)

Now that I’m nearing 34 (in March, sigh?), I’ve realized that I don’t know nearly as much as I used to. I’m still identifying my place in the world. There are places I thought I would be now but am not, and places I am that I never imagined. Oh – and I don’t have all the answers to religion, either. I look back on some things and think, “Why the heck did that happen? It did nothing to advance my life or me as a person.”

However, now at 33, I’m open to opinions. I’m interested in in-depth discussions and the exchange of ideas, not debates where you’re just yammering away. I live under the motto: “Is that a hill worth dying on?” And I’m willing to admit that I don’t know all the answers (and have little patience for people who think they do.)

I think I’m re-developing my writing voice. I can identify aspects of it. I have a sarcastic tone at times, in others I lean toward comedically tragic, sometimes introspective, sometimes casual, elegant…  But I can’t quite put my finger on exactly what it is…

What about you? If you’re a writer or even if you write as a hobby, do you know your personal style, your writing “voice”? This can apply to other professions, also. Photographers certainly have a style to their work. I’ve heard that programmers can have a “style” to their projects, a telltale signature left behind in the coding. Has your style changed over the years?

Some fields of writing lend themselves more to personal style than others. Magazine articles of any topic, columns, blogs, screenwriting, books – these all hinge on an author’s voice. But what about technical writing or legal memos? I just started writing legal memos, and these definitely don’t require much personal style. In fact, since they revolve around the law, it’s best not to put “personal style” in them.

And my last question… Would you change your voice if a job required it? Would you dilute it if the assignment made it necessary? Have you ever done so?

Interesting questions to ponder… I’m still answering mine.

Web coding advice needed: In search of a feature content gallery for my website

I’m working on redesigning my Web site, but I’ve run into a small roadblock. I’m searching for a “feature content gallery” that I can add to my home page, but have yet to find anything that isn’t designed specifically for WordPress.

What I want is a feature gallery that looks just like the one on this Revolution Demo. It shows nice, crisp photos that “slide” from one to the next. Each photo has a caption description and an HTML link to a specific page on your site. The only problem is that this works only with WordPress.org.

So far, all I’ve been able to find is a feature called Featurific.  It’s free and it looks like it will do exactly what I want. But I’m looking at other options, too. So if you know of a plug-in or widget that has the same feature, please let me know!

Late night and baby kittens

So it’s the wee hours of the morning and my wonderfully sweet neighbors are keeping me wide awake. How? Well, they are skateboarding and yelling right outside my window (teens). And another set of neighbors are playing very loud music with a bass that is reaching my ears from across the street.

Hopefully they all go to sleep sometime before dawn…

Since the lovely, fun time is preventing me from sleeping, I thought I would update you on the baby kittens my parents have been raising. Update: They are even more adorable now!

We’ve named them. The black-and-white kitten is Biscuit. Biscuit – the one from the video that was walking over the other kittens – is still an adventurer. He likes to climb tall trees in search of birds.

The grey-and-white tabby is Boots. He’s a sweetheart! Whenever he sees me, he flops down and rolls onto his back with a little “meow.” Such a sweetie.

The orange kitten is Tex. He’s very shy, like his mom. He doesn’t usually let me pet him. But if I reach my hand out to him, he will very lightly bat my hand with one paw. Aww!

Their mom is doing great. She still won’t let anyone pet her, but good meals and medicine have made her coat shiny and pretty. Meanwhile, my parents’ dog (Sandi – very cute!) is learning to tolerate the cats. She no longer lunges at them or barks at them through windows.

To complete this late-night post, here are a couple updated pictures of our baby kittens.

BusinessWeek Again!

Hey everyone! I’m on Business Week’s home page again with a quote about LinkedIn (and a picture of me!) So much fun! Check it out – I’m on the lower right side of the home page: Business Week.

How do you know an idea is worth pursuing?

If you’re like me, you have countless ideas. In fact, I’ve lost track of the number of ideas I’ve had for businesses, articles, books, screenplays (mostly sci-fi)… But how do you determine which ideas are worthy of  pursuing?

Nothing worth having in life comes easily. Just take finding a job as a great example. Very few people will be able to pick one perfect job, apply for it, get it, and never have to look anywhere else. Most people will have to apply for many jobs – perhaps even hundreds – before finding the one that “clicks.” It’s the same for scholarships if you’re in school. If you apply for just one, well, good luck. Apply for 300 and you’re likely to get one. It’s a numbers game.

Ideas work the same way. Every idea you have isn’t going to pan out. But if you pursue enough of them, one or two will. However, this is not a perfect metaphor. For every idea you choose to follow and pour energy and creativity into, there are other ideas that must be delayed or denied.

So here’s my question… How do you, personally, judge if an idea is “good enough” to warrant a dedicated pursuit that might preclude following other ideas with the same fervor? How do you decide which one is best?

For me, it’s a combination of things. First, paying jobs always get top billing when I’m choosing between a random idea and a project with a client. But when I’m choosing among different ideas that I’ve had – none of which guarantee pay – then it’s a little tougher. Which one stands the greater chance of success? Which one is more in line with my passions? And for that matter, what are my passions?

Larger companies approach this problem systematically. They will host focus groups and surveys to determine if their target audience is ready for their new product. Sometimes, despite all the pre-production research, a new idea still bombs. For an interesting look at this phenomenon, check out this article about the failure of New Coke.

There’s a good quote in the New Coke article that caught my eye:

“When you’re convinced you’re right, you tend to … push on regardless. If it’s a bad idea, it doesn’t take long for the verdict to be reached…”

Most of us don’t have the money to finance fancy focus groups and product testing. So how do you decide if an idea is worth pursuing? How do you look at your moments of inspiration with objectivity?

The “New Coke” article mentions that, despite the utter failure of its product, Coca Cola pushed forward and introduced new variations of Coke in latter years. The company turned its huge, blundering mistake into a lesson and used that lesson to diversify and gain an even greater market share.

Maybe that’s the trick: don’t be worried about bad ideas. Yes, do your research and think carefully before jumping into something new. But if you research an idea thoroughly, think it’s great, and it still bombs… Move on. Take lessons from the experience and apply them to the next idea. Some of us will be better at identifying a bad idea than others, but all of us – no matter how good or how poor our “idea gauge” may be – can learn from the negatives and keep moving forward.

What do you think?