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Category Archives: books

MMXII

Posted on Posted in 2012, blog, books, Facebook .

It’s that time of year again. As I mentioned in my last update, you should be feeling guilty about what wasn’t accomplished in the previous year. But with the first week of January well underway, there’s an opportunity for new beginnings. Fresh starts! Expect that January is simply a month that ends in Y… does it really have to be the only time of year to set goals, ridicule our failures and set unreasonable expectations?!

So in proper hypocritical fashion, I’ve decided to give myself a few goals (read: resolutions… I just don’t want to call them resolutions). Goals can be measurable and there will be clear evidence as to whether or not I meet these goals.

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Worlds of Me

Posted on Posted in 2010, books, Bull Pond, Knitting .

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I’ve written before about my parents’ summer home, but it’s not something you can cover once in just a few lines.

We’re here again on the weekend and you can feel the weather changing. It’s not as warm as it was a few weeks ago and the wind has a dampness that hints of the approaching winter months. It’s even quieter down by the water because the weather isn’t ideal for the noisy boats and disruptive SeaDos that dominate summer weekends.

But when swimming and sun do not matter and you just want to get away and go somewhere to relax, then here is where you want to be.

Yeasterday, Matt and I went to a wedding where the groom is someone I know from high school. He’s a professional photographer and in the highest level of Murphy’s Law, his own wedding’s photographer cancelled at the last minute. As a Plan B, he asked myself and another friend if we would take photos while using his camera gear and following his guidance and instructions. It was an interesting experience, but I’m definitely not planning a career move any time soon (read: EVER).

Today, it’s all about me and a need to relax. While I don’t mind spreading lime or digging holes to build on the landscaping of our second home, I’ve decided to take it easy after a busy week at work and a very full day yesterday.

Question: can you tell when enough is enough and you’re in need of some “me” time?

Since last night, I’ve accomplished a lot. I managed to finish off (including sewing in the ends) the green basket weave baby blanket I started a few months ago. Two friends have already tried to claim dibs on it and we’ve all agreed it goes to the first baby. On Friday I started a lovely seed stitch cowl (there was a debate amongst friends on whether it was really a “neck tube” or a dickie instead of a cowl) and finished it off last night. And today I started another cowl that was from some local yarn made up of multiple fashion yarns.

Yarn for both cowls were bought on Friday from A Good Yarn, a local knitting store in downtown St. John’s that’s simply fabulous!  More about that later though as I’m long overdue a decent knitting update here.

For the first time ever, I find myself somewhere and I’ve run out of yarn/projects in the near vicinity… how shall I ever cope????By reading more pages of The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club by Gil McNeil. I’m only 80 pages out of 404 in, but love it so far.

When life starts to feel ragged at the edges or you just need to recharge your batteries, what’s your strategy?

Is Your Cow Purple?

Posted on Posted in 2010, books, communication, Marketing, PR .

I’m finally finding time to read Seth Godin’s Purple Cow. I’m about a third of the way through and really enjoying it.

Hoping it can inspire me to think of new ways of marketing and communicating the exciting things happening in our faculty.

Some learnings thus far:

  • The reason it’s so hard to follow the leader is this: The leader is the leader because he did something remarkable. And that remarkable thing is now taken – it’s no longer remarkable when you do it. In other words – if someone else has done it, it doesn’t matter if you have lots of money to promote it and advertise… you’ll never have that same original and unique feel as the one who came first. You have to make sure what you offer is different in a significant and better way (a game changer).
  • Instead of investing in a dying product, take profits and reinvest them in building something new. This speaks for itself…
  • Ideas that spread are more likely to succeed than those that don’t. I call ideas that spread, ideaviruses. LOVE this concept! Also love his analagy that the people who help spread your ideavirus are called sneezers.

That’s all for now until I read more. So what are YOUreading right now? Anything on your bookshelf or on a wish list you’ve been meaning to get started on?