This is only for today so don’t tell Spade and Diamond what we have done. We don’t want to hurt their little kitty cat feelings.
We were in Canada recently. We passed this grove of trees several times before we saw the cows and chickens gathered there. We learned these cutouts were made by the man who lives there. They are whimsical and enjoyed by many. It is interesting how we can see something without noticing the details.
Image by InAweofGod'sCreation via Flickr
Life is a series of events.
We are born. We live. We die.
It is all the in-between that gets interesting.
Back when I was in Elementary school, high tech was black and white TV and transistor radios.
In Junior high, the colored TV was getting into more homes.
In High school, I learned about the existence of computers. These were the kind that took up a whole room. This was an improvement over the ones that took up an entire building.
In the 1960′s, I learned about Sputnik and watched our first manned Spacecraft leave the earth and re-enter hours later.
I learned how to use an off-set printing press as a trade. It was replaced by a Xerox copier.
I learned how to program a Digital Equipment Computer. DEC was eventually bought out by HP.
You might be asking what is my point, well my point is that life is always changing and we need to be ready to change as well.
How do you keep up with change? How do you further your education?
Do you attend formal classes? Do you use YouTube tutorials or online training?
What is your preferred way of learning?
A falling down house in northern Maine – photos by Diane Brogan
Art inspiration, memory jogger or thought provoker?
Notice the flower growing in the window. Life staring again.
Look quick, and everything seems almost normal.
Flowers bloom as if there are still people in the house to appreciate them.
Approaching the house from this way, it looks almost normal.When you see buildings falling in upon themselves, what type of emotional reaction do you experience?
Yesterday we talked about how being yourself is being a brand to our cousin who had not heard the term. There was a second part to the conversation that we forgot about until we read Chris Brogan’s blog about All You Have. He is talking about doing all the work himself, but not really – he has other people who help him.
We used to show at craft shows. Our most popular item was wire names. Made of colored wire, Diane could write any name. This was well received because of the many different name spellings and the low price of the boxed gift. (For examples, see our Jewelry website, Brogan-Arts.com).
On occasion, someone would make a remark that Diane was doing all the work. Diane would stop and smile and then explain the way it worked. The customer always seemed to walk away with a greater appreciation of our team work.
We developed a rather simple accounting system.
X Pd Sara Pink Black
Pd Harper Purple Purple
We wrote the name followed by the wire color followed by the cord color. Pd meant the item was paid for. X meant the item was completed and ready for pickup.
Steve took the order, did the money transaction, selected the colored cord to be used, and bagged the boxed necklace. If the list of names was long, Steve helped even more. You can see that Diane did the wire, but that was only part of the job.
This story was told to our “brand yourself” cousin while Diane was creating a wire name necklace. He quickly grasped the idea that anyone could be a brand by doing their best at whatever their job may be. Every cog in the wheel makes it turn more smoothly.
Image via CrunchBase
We just kinda know about social media and accept it as part of our life and don’t think too much about it any more unless it happens to come up in conversation with someone who doesn’t know about social media.
We were talking with a cousin this weekend who operates a meat processing store in a somewhat remote section of Canada. He was telling us that he was having trouble hiring entry level employees. They all want to start work at double the entry level wage without knowing how to do the job. When we asked if he was into Social Media he said no, I don’t use computers much.
We explained branding and how your name is your brand. We told him to sell the new comers on the idea of creating themselves as a brand before asking for the big bucks. We told him that was one idea taken from social media. He was surprised. He easily accepted the idea because he is a well known brand himself. His name is well known in the area. People come great distances to do business with him because he is known as an honest man who does good work.
Social Media is Personal and we all use it a little differently. All forms require a computer. Wow, just see how much is available by glancing at the list below.
Business
Sports
Fitness
Cooking
Gardening
Travel
Etc.
Business
Personal
Instructional
Funny
Chatty
Etc.
Business
Personal
Chatty
Etc.
Business
Personal
Games
Personal
Still Growing
Business
Personal
Mom and Pop have gone to Canada to honor the memory of Aunt Patricia. That means Spade and I are at the kennel.
We are always warmly welcomed at the kennel and the staff greet us with hello Spade and hello Diamond. They know us and they like for us to come visit.
We decided to tell the other clients about our new Twitter accounts and how we are learning Google+. We told them how Pop sends Tweets for us that make Mom laugh out loud.
Surprisingly, there was not a great deal of interest in the technological wonders on the world. They just kept asking if we could program more treats for them.
Image by Road Fun via Flickr
We are not thinking of anything technical today. We are remembering the good times we had with Aunt Patricia MacKinney who has passed to the other side.
She was a great lady and will be sadly missed by all those who loved her.
Water Play - Photo by Diane Brogan
In this age of Wii’s, GameBoys, Nintendo DS, PlayStations, our grandchildren use the electronic entertainment when they come to visit us? Our boys had pong and some other games that attached to our TV’s and burnt out the phosphors on the screen. It is harder to get children to play outside like Diane and I used to do, but who can resist water play.
We had good old fashioned water play the other day. We provided them with water balloons. This is where we run into our first problem. The balloons were made of a very durable material. They would not easily burst upon impact with the human body. Even a direct hit to the head only caused pain without the baloon breaking. Ouch, it was a bit painful and not fun for either of them. The balloons would break when they hit the ground, so that became the target – aim for the feet.
Luckily, we had a lawn sprinkler attachable to a hose. They took turns running through the icy cold water. Then they found that they could pick up the sprinkler and point it, and the fun began. After an hour of water play we had them dry off in our sun room and relax … playing the Wii.
Mixing some outdoor play with indoor play was a great idea and the grandchildren seemed to enjoy it. It is good to know that the joy of water play is still as much fun today as it was when we were children.
Image via Wikipedia
Recently, two of our friends were asked to make the hardest decision of their lives. They had to decide if they would have the hospital staff do everything technically possible to keep their loved one breathing or let them go to the other side.
What would you do if the hospital staff asked you?
This may seem like a far fetched idea to you because you are young and healthy, BUT, do you know what your parents want done if they become incapacitated? What about your spouse? What about you? Have you told anyone what your wishes are?
Diane Brogan