Today I have been remembering how worried you were in ninth grade that you did not know what career you wanted.  Interesting that it had not been invented yet.  Nor would be until you finished your education.  Just some random thoughts.  Loving it.

- Mom (my mom, @TX_Cathie)

At the start of 2011 I hadn’t yet decided to participate in the Belron Triathlon, nor was I yet back to being a member of the gym. Now, 12 months later, here I am writing about my gym sessions like a dork and have a open water swim race under my belt.

I remember when going to the gym was just something I did, daily. Maybe more than once, like eating. As a competitive swimmer, waking up, burning 1000 calories and then starting my day was normal. I didn’t think about it, I just did it.

When you have the momentum, it’s easy to keep it going. It’s when you lose that momentum, when the cycle stops, that’s where it gets difficult.

My momentum stopped in 1997, maybe it was 1996. My first injury. Only someone like me could start a sentence with ‘my first’! I tore two ligaments in my ankle right before my sophomore year in high school. This meant I wasn’t able to try out for the Swim Team and I spent a semester riding a stationary bike and freezing my ankle off in an Ice bath.

From there I decided to join cross country to stay in shape – I was over swimming after 13 years of it. If you know me, I’m not a runner. That lasted a semester, 6 miles a day – 2 miles at 6:00 every morning and then 4-5 after school. I actually hated it so much that I didn’t want to go to sleep at night because I had to wake up & run. I did it though. Every day.

Off to university I go – gym included in tuition. Win. Pool – meh. So to the gym as I felt like it – decided to try the pool second semester. Joined the Swimming Club – great group of friends, great work out, fell in love with the coach – ahhh… fell out with the coach; stopped swimming – back to the gym.

Around 2000 I went to the Voodoo Festival in New Orleans, LA. So much fun. Ended the evening by crowd surfing to 311 – did such a decent job on my first try – that I got near the stage and dropped about 6ft onto dirt ground that had been stomped on all day – felt like cement. Injury number 2: Separated shoulder, cracked my shoulder bone & fractured my shoulder blade… Ahhhhh…

Needless to say, once I got out of the sling months later and did physical therapy I had lost all the muscle in my shoulder & arm I had built up over the years.

What is my point and why am I going on about all this?! Well, I’m making excuses – or am I? Ankle, shoulder in 3 places, 2 spinal surgeries… Getting fit again is hard! Injuries never fully heal and new injuries shake up old injuries. It is a pain in the ass.

So with my injuries, scar tissue, asthma, crooked knee caps and whatever the hell the pain is shooting down my hip and I look back and think (in fact have to remind myself a few times a day) – considering everything – I’m doing a pretty damn good job.

… so what I didn’t go to the gym all of December – nor have I swam since the triathlon

Sept – Dec 2011 Gym sessions 

*Notes for Gym workouts – machine definitions:

Upper:
#20 – lat pulldown (lays & biceps)
#23 – chest press (shoulders, pecks & triceps)
#14 – abs
#19: Seated Row (lats – upper & lower, biceps & shoulders)
#6: lower back: settings #2 on both

Lower:
#18: squat (glutes & hamstrings)
#22: seated leg curl (hamstrings)
#21: seated leg extension (quads)
#4: Lying down squat machine (glutes, Hamstrings, Quads)

*photo via Courtesy- http://www.mdeals.in

There is an oxymoron of absurdity and beauty about the idea that because a date changes, you get a clean slate to start over. The beauty lies in the psychology behind how a simple date change can convince our minds that we can actually have this fresh start. It’s a new year or even tomorrow’s another day.

To not scupper tradition, I am too joining in the millions around the world who are looking for 2012 to indeed be a New Year, on many levels.

My resolutions are simple, and therefore I hope achievable. If you set yourself unobtainable or unrealistic goals, you are really just setting yourself up for a fall or failure – and then you’ll end up having to take three steps back.

Resolution 1:
I did well in getting back into working out last year, training for the triathlon relay, and while I’ve had injury issues along the way, I was doing a pretty good job at getting back into shape. Therefore, now that I’ve taken a month (maybe more…) off, I plan on continuing to go to the gym, therefore I won’t make that a resolution. However, I do need to take better care of myself in other ways, such as drinking less, caring more about what I put into my body, stress etc. Also, seeing the right people to ensure my shoulder/neck/back issues aren’t long-term.

Also, I do want to make a concerted effort to ride my new bike more.

Resolution 2:
Focus more on my personal life and self and less on  being married to job. I do live to work and maybe I’m not balancing it as well as I should. This will include many things, but some are: more ‘me’ time to do what I love doing and seem to never have time for; spending time with my other half and family, learning new things.

Resolution 3:
Learning new things! I want to take my new camera and get back into photography, including creating all the creative photo plans I’ve had in the past, as well as using the 1080p camera and Final Cut Express to actually get more involved in video editing. Just need a muse now! Might be Chase Kitteh at first…

I’ve also signed up for the Code Academy – so maybe I’ll learn to code a bit as well.

Lastly, get back into using WordPress.org more, maybe use some of the coding to improve this blog through the back-end.

Okay – so not much to get on with then! Better get started…

Happy 2012 to you all and may it be a great one!

Lists. I love lists. I love lists and I love Twitter. What this means is that, you guessed it – I love Twitter Lists.

There are a few types of lists. The kind where you write down what you want to achieve and then have the amazingly simple satisfaction of ‘marking one off’ once you’ve accomplished it.

There are several online versions for ‘to do’ lists, which I find less satisfying than pen & paper, however, that’s for a separate blog post. Maybe a guest post from iamjohnstok.com…

Twitter lists. Twitter lists are what I want to call a best kept secret, but they aren’t secret. They are there, begging to be used, however from recent experiences explaining them to others, it’s not as straightforward as one might believe.

This has inspired me to (finally!) write an overview of Twitter lists – the basics, top tips and how to use them effectively through a series of Q&A.

Do I have to be following the person to add them to a list?
Nope! This is one of the great aspects of Twitter Lists. You can add people to a list that you don’t want filling your normal feed. For example: Clients, contacts, competitors or even someone you might just fancy. Now if you have an entire list dedicated to, as one friend used to say ‘prospects’ (sexual or romantic), then I might worry.

Can I DM people I follow on a list?
No. You give up this privilege when you simply add someone to a list. But remember – if they follow YOU, you can still DM them.

I follow too many people!
There is always one reason or another thought that you can’t ‘unfollow’ some people. My advice here, and what I actively do, is create a ‘Private’ list, called something like ‘Core’. Then move your key tweeps to this list. I following about 1500 people. I have a core list that is maybe 250 people. Does that mean I ignore everyone else no, but if I’m in a rush, I can skim the list and hopefully pick up key tweets. However, any other time, I do read my full list – especially when I’m using my phone or sitting in front of the tv.

I need help organising my followers, like Google Circles.
The best way to organise your followers is to create multiple lists and add them to accordingly. Then use an app such as Tweetdeck (my preferred app at the moment) to  follow them.

Go to your Twitter profile, click on Lists – then choose ‘create a list’. From here you can add anyone you wish, weather you follow them or not. Simply title your list – something like ‘Colleagues’ or your company name if you want others to be able to follow the list. Then write a brief description about what the list is for and save. You can now easily click on each list and follow what the people on that particular list are up to.

I want to be added to someone’s list.
Just tweet them & ask to be added!

How do I create a list?
As previously stated, just sign into Twitter,  go to your profile, click ‘lists’ at the top of the Twitter stream and then choose ‘create a list’.

If I follow a list will other people be able to see it?
If you follow someone else’s list, yes other people will be able to see it. At the moment, you aren’t able to share private lists with other people (this, in my opinion, would be very useful especially for the workplace).

Can my list be private, so people don’t know they’re on it?
Yes. If you want to follow people and for any reason, you don’t want others to know the list exists – you can keep the list as private. When you create the new list, simply tick the private box.

This might be because you are following loads of celebrities and you’re embarrassed; you could be stalking competitors or even have a list of clients or potential clients and you don’t want others to see – however you want to keep an eye on their feed or make sure you’re up to date with them.

What do you do Darcie?
I’ve pretty much explained it so far, but basically I love lists. I have created lists for various reasons, such as the Edinburgh Coffee Morning: #EdCM. This way all (up to 150) attendee’s can  follow a list and easily have conversations with one another. This helps meet new people, find those who you have met, but maybe didn’t catch their name/Twitter handle – or keep up with the Twitterati of Edinburgh.

I also have lists created to make sure I can see what my colleagues are up to – what interesting industry news they tweet or their own blog posts etc. I have a strong view on people in the work place communicating on Twitter and how it probably helps strengthen relationships amongst employees and colleagues – but that’s for another post!

I keep a ‘Core’ list, for when I’m on the go. this is the main list in my Tweetdeck set up. I have the the ‘Core List, followed by a column of all the people I follow, then @replies, then those I follow through @DarcieT, then @replies to that account, followed by DM’s, then the LBi/Bigmouthmedia list and my EdCM list.

I hope that covered most of the questions surrounding Twitter lists – if you have anything specific you are curious about, just ask in the comments below!

The benefit of death, he said, is you know not to waste life living someone else’s choices.

“Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”

- Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, 1955 – 2011

For reasons that range from losing several close people in my life, and my own personal experiences, this resonates with me the most of everything I’ve read.

Life’s too short to try and make everyone happy.

Some similar thoughts from Alec Baldwin I wrote about a couple years ago.

Well Steve, you’ve been a massive part of my life since the age of 5 – and probably the same for most 5 year olds today. RIP.

You may have heard the term social search and you may have seen more new buttons than you care to, appear on all your favourite blog posts and websites. Welcome to the dawn of ‘social sharing’. Below are my practices and some basic top tips on making sure your sharing options are as successful as possible.

My Style

I am a big fan of aggregation and simplicity. I have been on a computer since birth, my attention span is non-existent and I want to do things in a s few clicks as possible. More than 3, you lose me. My current set up consists of Chrome browser with the following plug-ins:

• Send to Read It Later
• Add to Delicious
• Tweet this
• Digg
• Stumble

On my iPhone, I have Read It Later connected to most apps.

I like to share anything I’m at with the click of a button. You may have notice Facebook is missing from this list, as well as Google Plus.

Well, I don’t generally share the same type of information on Facebook as I do on my other social channels. The vibe for me there is different. It’s a large amount of family & friends/strangers from high school and uni. They don’t want to be bombarded by my techie side, nor do I care to share it with them. I don’t have my Twitter account linked to my Facebook, or vice vera. I tend to leave my Facebook URL off platforms, as it’s not part of my public social persona.

What I don’t do – and get quite annoyed by others who do it – is share the same piece of information to multiple platforms, simultaneously and repeatedly. Everyone has their own idea about this, but I don’t recommend it and I try to veer clients away from doing it.

Google Plus, well, they just haven’t offered an official plug-in yet and I have to say I am torn what to share there. It’s a place I would share the same content as Twitter (which goes against my internal feelings), but at the same extent, it allows for me to have a more contained conversation around the piece of content I’m sharing. I’m looking forward to seeing how this grows.

Recommendations

Now, if you’re a blogger or web site creator there are a few key elements to the sharing tools that you need to bear in mind:

• Don’t try to add them all. If you would like for the user to choose from a wide range – then use a tool such as ShareThis.com or AddThis.com. Two free & easy tools to add to your blog or site.
• If you are on WordPress.com there are some popular options in the dashboard –> sharing section – just drag, drop and voîla.
• WordPress.org offers an abundance of plug-ins – the ones below are are called “Sexy Bookmarks” – ooh lala!
• If you have the above buttons installed, please make sure your share text is not only gramatically correct, but also offers the most useful pre populated information as possible – if I go to tweet something and have to search for Twitter handles and rewrite it, sometimes I just give up.

The Triathlon happened. It was amazing and while I was thinking during the end “I’m never doing this again…”, every time I think back I think I want to do it again!

I really need to dedicate an entire post to how it made me feel, the emotions and how I feel it brought me full circle and I could and should actually be proud of myself.

Though I don’t have a particular goal now, such as a mega event, I have continued to track my workouts – trying to stick with at least two a week – surprisingly thought, I haven’t swam since the event…

How’s that going? Well I’m still between 8.8 – 9 stone – which I’m happy with. I’m focusing a lot on toning in some areas over muscle build. I’m having difficulty concentrating, which means I often need to switch activities every 20 minutes, but I’m working on building up stamina and power on the cardio machines. My workouts consist of 30-40 minutes of cardio followed by 20 mins of muscle focus.

There is definitely a difference in my tone, which is good and I’m getting compliments, which is great – I just have to keep at it because it takes only a few days of doing nothing to start seeing negative results and a couple of weeks to get back into shape! My goal is to not take any backwards steps.

Upper:*Notes for Gym workouts – machine definitions:

#20 – lat pulldown (lays & biceps)
#23 – chest press (shoulders, pecks & triceps)
#14 – abs
#19: Seated Row (lats – upper & lower, biceps & shoulders)
#6: lower back: settings #2 on both

Lower:
#18: squat (glutes & hamstrings)
#22: seated leg curl (hamstrings)
#21: seated leg extension (quads)
#4: Lying down squat machine (glutes, Hamstrings, Quads)

Opening my emails generally provides itself with a few interesting things, new friends and the opportunity to cull my email subscriptions.

When I opened my email this morning, this was all the same and there was an email from Meetup.com with the subject line “9/11 & Us”. As the 10 year anniversary of a day that changed the world forever – and mostly in not so good ways – there are a lot of people writing about the event and some not so nice people using it to tie anything to their brand. So I take the 9/11 phrase with a grain of salt. However, in this instance, the subject line wasn’t full of marketing slang, trying to trigger my senses into opening and following a call to action, but instead a blunt: 911 & Us.

So I opened the email to see what Meetup.com had to say and I’m glad I did. What was inside was an email from the founder, Scott Heiferman, explaining how his experience living near the towers and of community during 9/11 spurred him to begin Meetup.com. It’s inspiring and honest and shows that good things can come from horrible experiences and people do really care about community – on or offline.

Meetuppers,

I don’t write to our whole community often, but this week is
special because it’s the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and many
people don’t know that Meetup is a 9/11 baby.

Let me tell you the Meetup story. I was living a couple miles
from the Twin Towers, and I was the kind of person who thought
local community doesn’t matter much if we’ve got the internet
and tv. The only time I thought about my neighbors was when I
hoped they wouldn’t bother me.

When the towers fell, I found myself talking to more neighbors
in the days after 9/11 than ever before. People said hello to
neighbors (next-door and across the city) who they’d normally
ignore. People were looking after each other, helping each
other, and meeting up with each other. You know, being
neighborly.

A lot of people were thinking that maybe 9/11 could bring
people together in a lasting way. So the idea for Meetup was
born: Could we use the internet to get off the internet — and
grow local communities?

We didn’t know if it would work. Most people thought it was a
crazy idea — especially because terrorism is designed to make
people distrust one another.

A small team came together, and we launched Meetup 9 months
after 9/11.

Today, almost 10 years and 10 million Meetuppers later, it’s
working. Every day, thousands of Meetups happen. Moms Meetups,
Small Business Meetups, Fitness Meetups… a wild variety of
100,000 Meetup Groups with not much in common — except one
thing.

Every Meetup starts with people simply saying hello to
neighbors. And what often happens next is still amazing to me.
They grow businesses and bands together, they teach and
motivate each other, they babysit each other’s kids and find
other ways to work together. They have fun and find solace
together. They make friends and form powerful community. It’s
powerful stuff.

It’s a wonderful revolution in local community, and it’s thanks
to everyone who shows up.

Meetups aren’t about 9/11, but they may not be happening if it
weren’t for 9/11.

9/11 didn’t make us too scared to go outside or talk to
strangers. 9/11 didn’t rip us apart. No, we’re building new
community together!!!!

The towers fell, but we rise up. And we’re just getting started
with these Meetups.

Scott Heiferman (on behalf of 80 people at Meetup HQ)
Co-Founder & CEO, Meetup
New York City
September 2011