Resourceful: Useful Tech Resources for Everyday Living

OK, we all could stand to loose a few pounds. “Some of us more than others,” I say to myself as I drop a few M&Ms in my mouth. If it weren’t for the fact that my friend, Doug Karr, read the ebook A Pound A Day, I probably wouldn’t give it a second look. But Doug read it and has lost a bit of weight recently, so I’m open to giving it a chance. Besides, it’s just $17 and comes with a money back guarantee.

Hmmm, now where are those potato chips?

This post is an entry for the $1,000 Giveaway at The Marketing Technology Blog.

If you have a college-bound student in the family, be sure to visit GoCollege. The site helps with locating financial aid, preparing to attend college and how to survive on campus.

This post is an entry for the $1,000 Giveaway at The Marketing Technology Blog.

One of the ways I keep up with great online resources is to bookmark them. I’m sure you’ve clicked that “bookmark” or “favorites” button in your web browser a few times, too. Over time though, my collection grew unwieldy and I could never find an easy way to keep up with them across the various computers I use. I tried del.ico.us and a couple of other social bookmarking sites but they didn’t really meet my needs. I wasn’t necessarily looking for a way to share my bookmarks with others as much as I needed a way to access them from anywhere.

A couple of weeks ago I added the Google Bookmark widget to my iGoogle page. That’s the ticket! It’s simple, easy to organize and available anywhere by logging in to my iGoogle page. I’ve taken the time to actually visit most of the bookmarks in my collection. It’s been fun rediscovering a lot of terrific resourceful sites. Good thing I bookmarked them. Now I can share them with you. Stay tuned!

OK, I know I’m off to a rocky start with this blogging thing! I’ve already broken one of the cardinal rules of blogging by not posting for a loooong time. Well, life takes strange turns sometimes and that’s what happened to me recently.

I’ve been fortunate to work with Marty Bird, a fantastic boss, mentor and friend for the past nine years. A few weeks back, Marty announced that he would be leaving Wild Birds Unlimited to join a local start-up, Compendium Software. Suddenly, it all made sense! Marty was the one who challenged me to start a blog in the first place. Little did I know at the time that he was about to go to work for a company whose tools help organizations create, manage, and search-optimize multiple blogs.

Besides being very happy for Marty, his departure from the company sent me into a “resource-less” panic. You never realize how much you rely on a person you spend 8 hours a day with until he isn’t right across the hall ready to brainstorm at a moment’s notice.

For now, I’m learning to get input from other co-workers when thinking through work situations. They’re a set of resources I knew existed but haven’t used to their full potential until now. I think it’s going to be a good thing.

So, dear readers, I’m back at it. I’ll try to add new resourceful tips on a regular basis from now on.

Oh yeah…and I still haven’t purchased an iPhone!

I’ve been tagged by Marty of Technology, Marketing & Birds to share my Eight Random Facts.

Here are the rules for Eight Random Facts:

1. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

And here are the eight random facts:

1. As a child I was terrified of Sammy Terry, a local host of horror movies on late-night TV. (Shivers, I just clicked on the link to his site and I think I still am!)
2. I started riding motorcycles at the age of 5.
3. I was the first-ever female editor-in-chief of my high school’s newspaper.
4. I spent the summer before my senior year of high school studying and living with a wonderful family in Mexico as a participant in the IU Honors Program in Foreign Language.
5. I’m kind of a picky eater.
6. My parents recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Mom & Dad, you rock!
7. I recently joined eHarmony.com but I’m too scared to respond to any of my matches. (Sheeesh!)
8. I believe that everything in life comes down to three things; love, respect and responsibility. If you have those three things for yourself and for those around you, you can work through anything.

I’ll have to think of other bloggers to tag.

Well, I’m finally doing it. I’m starting a blog!

I’ve been a big fan of blogging (and podcasting) for a while now. I like the idea of people connecting with each other in conversation. All kinds of conversations. Some passionate, some mundane. All personal. Anyone with Internet access and an opinion can join in. Pretty cool, indeed.

So, why didn’t I do it before now? After all, I’m a communicator by profession. Mostly, because I couldn’t pick a topic. It had to be something people would want to read. And something I would want to write. Something useful. But I have a wide variety of interests and couldn’t pick just one. Then, it hit me! Find a common thread and weave that through the many topics that interest me. I firmly believe that regardless of the topic, knowing all about it isn’t the important thing; knowing how to figure it out is the key. So, resourcefulness emerged as my common thread.

I spend my work days helping the fine people who own and operate Wild Birds Unlimited retail stores. In my role as communications manager at the franchise headquarters, I spend a lot of time helping people locate and use resources. I do a lot of that in my personal life as well. I’ll use this blog as a place to share my favorite resources, tips and tricks on topics that interest me. I hope you’ll find what you read here useful and that it helps you learn to be resourceful!