Lightourworld’s Blog

Calamity of errors May 15, 2009

The calamity of errors started over 7 days ago when I got in the SUV to find that someone had helped themselves to my prescription glasses, wallet and digital camera.  I am assuming that in my older age and being more forgetful than I would like to admit that I must have left the SUV unlocked.  I replaced the drivers license without too much pain and had all the plastic stopped and reissued.  The only thing left to replace other than the 23.00 in cash would be my SS card. 

 I am not sure what it was that caused me to forget to lock the truck but it transferred over to my wife as she managed o misplace all sorts of things.  This week she managed to misplace her debit card, purse and car keys.  This all happened in the last three days.  I can see losing your debit card and even the car keys but how do you forget a purse that that is big enough to hide a truck in? 

 I am off of work until next Tuesday and during this time Katy and  I will be moving all of our belongings from Goose Creek SC out to Johns Island SC.  We found a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath home about 14 minutes from my job.  It will be wonderful to add 2.5 hours back to my day and not have to drive that far just to go to work.  It will also be nice to live in a house with more space than we currently have in our townhome.  

 The timing of our move is a bit inconvenient in that the two teens are still enrolled and attending middle school and high school in Goose Creek.  My pastor and his wife graciously offered for my kids to stay with them during the week and finish out the school year where they are at.  Hopefully everyone will survive each other for the three week visit.  Once that is complete it is summer time and the kids will begin to drive their mother batty with all of their demands and being bored.  Luckily for us the kids are already scheduled to attend several summer camps which should keep them occupied. 

 We have taken three loads over to the new place and now it sounds like the storm outside has subsided a bit so I need to wrap this up and go get another load.  I will have to keep Katy out of the recliner though or I will lose her help.

Will I ever learn ? May 4, 2009

Sunday May 3rd was not very fun, especially in the morning around 9:15 am.  At that time I hopped into the SUV and started it up.  I was waiting for my teenagers to join me for our weekly trip to church.  When I looked down at my console I noticed that my brown glasses case that is normally there was gone.  I sat there and wondered if I had taken it inside and forgotten to bring them back out with me.  I then opened up the middle console that has a lid between the driver and passenger seat and noticed that my brown wallet was missing.  That is when panic set in and I hopped out of the truck to go back inside the house.  

I went inside the house and sure enough no brown glasses case or wallet anywhere to be found.  My worst fears were confirmed as I realized that these things were missing.  I would have sworn that I had locked the doors to the SUV with my keyfob that is on my key chain like I always do.   When I hit the lock button there is a audible tweet through the horn that lets me know the vehicle has responded.   Maybe I had a senior moment and left the vehicle unlocked all night long and someone was walking through the property trying car doors to see what was unlocked.

The weird thing about all of this is that I had a TomTom GPS on the windshield, a Bearcat Police Scanner and a Garmin handheld GPS in  a bag in the back that was not touched.   The Sherriffs deputy told me that the thief probably thought that the glasses case was a pair of nice sun glasses and that is why those were taken.  The wallet had a sum total of 23.00 and a bunch of other worthless items to anyone else other than myself.  

I know, I should never leave my wallet in the SUV whether it is locked or not.  For whatever reasons I have fallen victim to a feeling of false security where I live.   I personally do not believe that anyone who lives in the townhomes with my family are the ones doing the stealing.  This place caters to professionals and the rent is not cheap.   I would think that most people where I live can more than afford what they need and they dont need to steal things.   I think that what is happening is that thieves from a neighboring subdivision are walking through the property scoping things out and then they come back and steal.  

If it is not nailed down it can and will be stolen.  I learned that the hard way several weeks ago when both of our used bycycles were stolen off of our front porch.  Together the bikes probably were worth about 10.00 so it is not like it was a huge financial loss.  I guess someone needed the bikes more than we did.   The financial loss is not what really makes me mad.  What makes me mad is the inconvenience of having to go to  the DMV and get a new drivers license and having to spend hours on the phone canceling all the plastic in my wallet and having to have new cards and id’s issued.   It also irritates me that I feel so violated and that someone would have the gall to go into my SUV and steal what they wanted.  

Lesson is learned, no more valuables left in the SUV over night.  It all goes inside now.

Createsouth 2009 April 29, 2009

This last Saturday I attended Createsouth in Myrtle Beach SC which was hosted at the Horry-Georgetown Technical College campus. I was able to car pool with several of the lowcountry bloggers out of Charleston SC so the trip was pretty interesting. It was nice to rub elbows with folks that I have seen on Twitter and Facebook online. Some of these folks I had also met at a couple of the local Blogger Meetups as well.

This Createsouth event was the second event in two years but my first to attend. When we arrived the weather was awesome and even though there were forest fires approximately 10 miles north of us I did not see any hints of smoke or ash in the air or sky. There were approximately 100 + people registered to show up for the event and it looked like quite a few of them had already showed up.

The first key note speaker was Tiffany Trent who is a writer and author. Tiffany spoke about the importance of creativity and being willing to do whatever it takes to pursue that creativity whether that be writing, drawing, painting etc. Tiffany handed out small sea shells to everyone in the conference and asked us to think about how we would feel if we were that sea shell. How would we stand out and what would be our best attributes.

Tiffany stated that creativity is play and that we should be passionate about our creativity and be willing to work hard at it. Tiffany encouraged us to get the book called The Artists Way which is a book about writing and tips for creative people. Tiffany said that we should be willing to engage in commitment, vision, action and networking. What is our vision? Am I willing to commit to that vision and take action? Tiffany said it is very important that we be willing to come out of our shell and network with other people who can encourage us in our creativity and to share in that creativity.

Tiffany challenged us to set goals with regards to writing such as 1000 words in the morning in the form of “morning pages”. Tiffany told us that we should be willing to make whatever sacrifices necessary to perfect our creativity. That means that our social life may have to take a hit and our friends and family may not understand why you can not participate in their social events just because you are committed to writing. Tiffany also stated that the path to publishing is different for everyone. Some folks start out writing and getting published in print first and then going on line and then some are just the opposite being published online first and then publishing in print later.

Tee Morris was the next key note speaker for Createsouth 2009 and he spoke more about the nuts and bolts of social networking. I was very interested to see that he used a notebook computer running Linux to project his multimedia presentation complete with audio. It was nice to see someone utilizing an operating system other than Microsoft Windows to get a point across. Tee Morris made us aware of the need to remember the “social” in social media. Tee also echoed something that Tiffany Trent told us and that is the importance of community. It was evident that most of the attendees of this conference were not only big on social media but they were all very in tune with technology. We were reminded that while we use technology tools such as Facebook, Twitter etc that we are connecting with a community of people who have a lot to offer.

Tee Morris reminded us that while it is ok to use social media tools like Twitter and Facebook to network and make money it is not alright to use social media tools to leverage donations. Tee Morris spoke to us about several celebrities in the news such as Oprah Winfrey who totally misrepresent social media and what it is for. In other words it is not important to see how many people you can get to be your friend. What is important is that what friends you have because of social media you are making real connections with them by being social. If you are not interacting with your community then you are doing noting more than broadcasting.

Tee Morris said that the secret to social networking is participation on a global stage. There are a lot of social media tools on the Internet and not every one of them will work for everyone. We need to learn about the tools and how to use them and see which one works best for us. Tee Morris reminded us that social networking can make us better communicators. He also said that Twitter is not just another way to promote your crap.

Tee Morris also reminded us that if we are going to use social media that we are going to have to be fearless. He reminded us of the fact that if we are willing to publish our thoughts on social media that we are not as much an introvert as we might think we are.

He encouraged us to step outside of our comfort zones and be willing to do whatever it takes to be successful.

Social media is about reaching out and connecting with your communityand sharing your talents with others. This same community in Myrtle Beach SC recognized that there are a lot of talented people in Hory County that utilize social media and have a lot to offer in that community. They banded together with a common desire to see that community grow and to share that community with other users of social media in the Carolinas. It is good to see the different people who have banded together with this vision to bring about this conference which is no small feat in itself. The conference was created for and supported by the same people who use social media.

Createsouth 2009 April 27, 2009

This weekend I attended a conference called Create South which was all about South Carolinians embracing social networking (Facebook, Twitter etc) and using it to build community both online and off line.  The key note speakers were excellent and they really helped me to understand why it is important to utilize these tools in the market today whether you are a business or a professional consultant or every day user.  

In one of the classes that was held in the community track in the afternoon I was told that Twitter gathers metrics on all of the tweets that are sent out on their network and the more tweets that are sent out by an individual or company using # (hash tags) the more likely that person or company is likely to be trended.   The bottom line is this.  If Twitter sees that you are very active on their network because of all the #(company name) hash tags showing up then your company will be highlighted. 

Does that mean that one single individual person at one location needs to sit at their desk and constantly tweet this or that with the #(company name) hash tag?  No, absolutely not.  What it does mean is that every single location that has a marketing person assigned to BUILD COMMUNITY within the Twitter/Facebook communities should be using the #(company name) hash tag so that Twitter will begin to build metrics on our activity.   I guess this is sort of like the way Meta tags work on web pages.  I am assuming that meta tags are still be used to build metrics on web pages.  

I was also reminded of a tool that is being used online to build community.  This tool is called Meetup.com.  Meetup is used to bring people together in real life in a face to face meeting who have common interests. For instance there is a Meetup for Photographers and bloggers in Charleston.  How can you use that for you or your company?  How about searching Meetup for people who are interested in a specific aspect of your business or hobby?  

Another tool that is used for building online community is Podcasting.   Podcasting is where you create a 5 or 10 minute video snippet about your business or whatever and post it to your website for others to view.  You also can have folks download the podcast to their iPhone or iPod touch or whatever.  There are podcasts on almost any topic you can think of.  

No matter what tools you use or how you use them the key element of using them is to BUILD COMMUNITY.   To make personal connections with other people and businesses who can help you network your talents and what you are trying to sell or share with others. 

Createsouth Conference 2009 in progress April 25, 2009

I am sitting here at the Createsouth conference in Horry County Technical College.  The event has not started yet but I think folks are actually still getting set up.  There are approximately 50 folks here with more people going through the registration process.   I rode up to Myrtle Beach with Caanan, Eyebee, Imabug, CarolinaDreamz which was slightly entertaining.  I went to bed around 12:30 am so I am a bit tired.  One of the things I have noticed is that most folks are somewhat younger than me and there are a lot of digital cameras in use not to mention TV quality cameras set up for video streaming.  I guess you could say this conference is populated with lots of technical type folks.  I brought a digital camera with me but I did not want to stand out in the crowd so I managed to ask one of my car pool buddies to use my camera to take some pictures.  I am very thankful for that indeed.

Domestic Terrorists defined by Homeland Security April 19, 2009

It was brought to my attention this week that Homeland Security has defined domestic terrorists as those persons who are engaged in the act of protesting at Tea Parties nationwide , being Pro Life advocates and veterans who are coming home from Afghanistan.

Opposition to abortion. —–>   YES I AM
Opposition to illegal immigration.——–> YES I AM
Learning to fight in the military
Opposition to an African American President
Having your house foreclosed
Inability to get credit
Being critical of outsourcing jobs ——–> YES I AM
Perceiving threats to the US by foreign powers
Opposition to bigger social programs ———–>  YES I AM
Criticism of government infringement of civil rights ————> YES I AM

I find this news disturbing because I have been a participant at peaceful demonstrations at abortion clinics.  It has been many years ago but I did and I am not ashamed of it.  I did not participate in any of the Tea Party demonstrations but that is because I was not aware that they were happening until it was too late and the event was over.  If there is one held again here in the lowcountry I can garuntee you that I will be there with my family.  Practicing freedom of speech in a peaceful manner is considered as being a threat to the point that we are labled as domestic terrorists makes my blood boil.   As citizens we have the right and privelege as Americans to peacefully protest and here our voices heard.  It is apparent to me that our government has become painfully deaf and despondent to what the American people are trying to say.  If it were up to me EVERYONE at capital hill would get a pink slip and would be reintroduced back into our society as normal working class people.   I think EVERYONE in the upper eschelons of our government have forgotten what it is to live down here with the little people who have to pay taxes and balance a family budget.  If you do not believe what I am saying just use Google and type in “Domestic Terrorists” and you will see a lot of articles that are attempting to explain all about who the new Domestic Terrorists are.

I wonder how many of us Americans are just in survival mode trying to keep our families fed and the bills paid and have a roof over their heads.  I wonder if it is more convenient for us to be ignorant of what is really going on all around us and pretend that it is not happening.  Are we fearful that we really do not have a say in Washington and that there is nothing that can be done?  I am not sure where I heard this from first however the saying goes like this.  For evil or injustice to continue all that has to happen is for good people to sit idly by.  I have always said that if enough people were to stand up and take a stand against what is going on (you fill in the blanks) then change can happen.  If no one is willing to count the cost and do whatever it takes to effect change then nothing will happen and events will continue to unfold as they are.  No, violence is certainly not the answer.  We do not need another civil war, or do we?  Hopefully that is not what will need to happen because that is very extreme.  I do not have all the answers but I do know that we need to sit up and take notice and educate ourselves about what is going on and try to be an active part of the solution.