CyberMinions.net

Life With Wee People: Exercise Little Minion Style

Noah the Net Geek has been training for Track and Field (among other things) so yesterday we packed the boys up for some fun under the sun at the Special Olympic County Summer Games.

While en route to Merritt Island, Stephen the Minion Blur gave wee people orders regarding what the next Kim Harrison cartoon should look like. I'm saving that insane argument and collection of new sketches for another blog post (LOL). We're in love with the British covers so Shorty has been quite vocal about me learning the girls features and getting the hang of illustrating burning bunnies shields.

Yeah... he's into custom art (my fault entirely) and usually crayons a lot of it after we're done (to give it a personal touch - LOL). We're trying to find a cool after school sports program for the shorties to get their gym on that also caters to giving their wee people client the benefit of an individualized education program full of personal touches like the instruction provided by their current teachers who are volunteering a lot of personal time to coach 'em.

I tried talking them into an arts and crafts kind of thing but they claim that's what they have me for. I may have to set up a free class at a library since libraries are always looking for volunteers to do creative stuff. My kids would love that: Little Minions Art Classes coming to a blog post near you (but I digress - LOL).

Feel free to give me educational sporty links to Orlando, Indialantic, Cocoa, Vero Beach, Palm Bay and Melbourne people. Will keep you guys posted on what we discover as we go along. We're experimenting. There' a lot to sample in Brevard County and the Special Olympics gives the kids a chance to train for different events and hang out with really cool people who care about their development, dedication and hard work. One rule: must be hands on, interesting and fun. My kids are visual learners (LOL).

Noah did basketball the last time we participated in the Special Olympics and the fact that they quite happily discovered team sports are mad fun helps keep my kids dedicated to learning them.

This event took place at a very cool high school with tractors that made my 5 year old drool (LOL). It started out cold and gray but eventually warmed up (when it was almost time to go - Murphy's Law - LOL).

Irony is, my kids took to running up and down the bleacher steps to keep warm. Sad is the adults couldn't keep up. Mike snagged them in front of the press box and put their hoodies on (which did not last long because running amok made them "too hot" and they ditched their clothes every chance they got - LOL).

Little Dude did his Hulk Hogan poses and showed me his Ozzy Game Face, then went out and placed first in TBT and the 50 meter dash in his division heat. That's my boy!!! Shorty brought home two new blue ribbons. How cool is that? Very!

My Guy Pie loves Track & Field. Every time I turned around Little Dude was dancing in the grass. I was waiting for him to do a cartwheel but 145 photographs and several digital films later I realized I was going to be denied the flip shots. It seems he saves those for the gentle abuse of our furniture at home during The Noodle Wars.

I bet he won the TBT throw because of battling hubby with those blue bowling ball pins (LOL). Yeah... we rough house a lot in my house (happy sigh). 

He gets his victory dances from watching football. We're huge sports fanatics. ;-)

Athletics are mad fun. Anyone can enjoy participating in sports... I'm thinking while I wander around looking for cool business organizations to join I should check into how to help officially coach the wee people in a sanctioned sport. I may introduce them to boxing next and look into forming a small team of wee people warriors (LOL). There's a cool gym in Vero Beach I want to check out which doesn't have a website. Seriously? SERIOUSLY??? I could be linking to you and sending fun social media peeps your way. Just sayin... (snerk).

I'm not leaving my current gym because I love Planet Fitness but it's a fact that there isn't a speed bag, heavy bag or boxing coach there so a gal's gotta do what a gal's gotta do when she's raising active rough and tumble boys. I may have to join a boxing gym if I want to get my kids into a mainstream program (or not join and ship 'em off for coaching so I can read my fave authors in an uninterrupted bubble bath - LOL).

My kids have an amazing group of friends full of energy who are mad funny (LOL). It's always a pleasure to spend some time with them, their parents, siblings, teachers and coaches. We're already cooking up our next bit of play date mischief. When it comes to occupational therapy my house is an explosion of arts an crafts projects (LOL). My keyboards take an amazing beating and everyone loves the electronic drum machine (LOL). I need a new amp (sigh) and have to replace the Sony (melodramatic eye roll) and shall take care of it soon. Right now I have other things on my mind that need my immediate attention like finding an after school sports program to tire my shorties out (silly grin). Swim team maybe? Hmm...

What ever it is I want to see more smiles like this one (happy sigh). There was a lot of giggling going on all freakin' day. We could barely keep them contained (and sort of didn't want to - LOL). Will show you guys Cocoa Beach next...

That's where we took the boys for a victory dinner on the pier after dinosaur shopping (LOL). I'd tell you more but it's time for me to go to the gym. If I don't work out before it rains I wont survive the next Noodle War (which is a serious work out in itself and is scheduled for 10AM - LOL).

When I get finished at the gym I have to shower, pack a saddle bag, grab my laptop and head down to Miami to see the fabulous Kim Harrison. I want to get my book signed and meet a few blogging buddies for some digital mischief (LOL).

Kim is on the A Perfect Blood book tour. Will post more about that after I find a cool Miami beach to haunt with my laptop. I am being treated to my first Mojito later today. This should be very interesting...

I've never been to Miami so I'll have to cover something for Localism while I'm wandering around down there. Nothing like the hunt for eye candy to keep me all perky and jogging with my Nikon (LOL). ;-)

NAPW

Melodious isn't home. I'm sitting on the floor with my laptop pouting. I want to hear about the baby being born (I'm excited and impatient - sigh). In a few weeks I'm going back to TX to see the latest bundle of joy popping into my virtual world and I have to admit the suspense is really killing me (LOL).

It's a boy and I bet he's beautiful. I can't wait to see him and enjoy the benefits of being a virtual grand-aunt without the pain of giving birth. Yeah... I love babies... they smell really good, cuddle great and melt hearts (happy sigh).

Right now I'm stalking her Facebook page and trying not to call her cell phone. One message at home is good. My fave TX family is busy and should not be distracted from the drama of a new grandkid making his debut on the world. I'm supposed to be going jogging so I'm gonna get dressed and take off in a few minutes. We all know I have to get my jog on before the kids get home from school (and our brand of insanity begins - LOL).

I'll leave in a minute but before I go run off to haunt the causeway I'm gonna leave you guys a link to the National Association of Professional Women.

I was thinking this would be a very cool organization to join (yeah - I actually got an invite - sweet). If this works out there will be functions full of business executives I can study and make friends with while I organize my brand spanking new corporation into sub-divisions.

Florida is different from New York. I have a lot to learn. I wont just be doing real estate while I'm floating around down here. The music studio has to relocate, I'm writing my a$$ off and have to publish all of my music sheets. The graphic art is staying in New York City so I'll have to go back four times a year (if not more) and the girls want to form a Private Investigation firm because they miss me doing their legal investigations for pizza.

Me? I miss retaining them for a dollar, good pizza and all that snarky banter while noshing on great food (LOL). If creating a P.I. firm will get them to come play in Florida then what the hell - I shall start range classes in Orlando immediately.

Okay - after the Kim Harrison tour and my wedding anniversary. I need to behave for that before I go run amok on my next road trip adventure to cook and start kissing beautiful babies. Will be in Miami on Sunday and Palm Beach on Monday. Tuesday is a secret (can't tell you everything - LOL). 

I found a really great range to check out in Orlando. Did you know you could rent some really cool firearms to practice with down here? Yeah... I definitely need to make new professional friends and find out what else I don't know about Brevard County. It's time to join some fun organizations and get busy. The girls are coming down for a Girlie-Girlie Day paintball marathon. I need to be ready for the invasion and have to test run a few locations with hubby and the little minions (evil grin).

I need an interesting list of stuff to join. I'm starting with a library card and working my way up to who knows what. Will keep you guys posted (LOL). ;-)

http://www.webpronews.com/facebook-incident-launches-first-amendment-fight-2012-02

I wouldn't ever want someone forcing me to post anything on my blog or other social media accounts... Reading this made me realize just how much I enjoy having the freedom to speak. If the court said delete it I'd go Okay. If the court said write your own apology I'd say Okay.

Putting words in someone's mouth to write the apology for them or go to jail if you don't publish someone else's apology on your behalf that gives up your personal court business during a custody battle - what a very scary thought...

It opens the door to a whole bunch of monkey business by litigants... The HE SAID SHE SAID during a marriage never ends. Everyone has an opinion, even their stupid opinion... I think I've vented enough in cyberspace to understand how horrific this really is on a personal and professional level. 

Just saying yall might want to pay attention to what you guys are posting on Facebook. Never know if a stray comment is going to come back and bite you in the a$$ after falling out with someone...

Pssst... Realtors, this also means you and how some of you trash your competitors/clients. A few of you are so busy trying to boost your "follow me" numbers you have no idea who your subscribers really are and what they're doing lurking on your social media pages. My girlfriend got dragged to another state to give a deposition for having a conversation with a relative that the soon to be ex-wife didn't like. Cost her a substantial amount of money to comply with the court order because she needed to hire her own attorney, travel, lodge, then get back to New York City.

I bet my gal pal would not have enjoyed having a court order shoved down her throat regarding forcibly apologizing on Facebook for having the nerve to comment on a negative experience for anything personal. 

Neither would I...

Ines Hegedus-Garcia - @ines @jb140 there's a fine line bet prostituting your posts & getting quality readership - @chris_smth @phxreguy @tcar @jimmymackin

This was a tweet I received this morning from my friend Ines in reply to a conversation we were having this morning on Twitter about a recent post on HubSpot about 25 Marketing Stats for 2012.  The post to me seemed a little thin on content provided as it was basically just a list of statistics.  That however is not the purpose of this post.

The conversation started this morning when Chris, Jimmy, Jay, & Todd were discussing the completely annoying use of a Tweet This! link on every single stat on their post.  25 orange Tweet This! links in addition to the regular Twitter plugin seemed a little obsessive to me. My thoughts on the post were that they were only concerned about me sharing it out with others on Twitter. They could care less if I learned from the post, if I commented, or did anything else.

What is interesting though is that while the post is chock full of very interesting statistics that all of those mentioned above would love and share out on Twitter, (It's what we all kinda do for a living, so interesting stats that back up our points are always valuable and helpful)  the conversation turned from great stats, to poor promotion of the post by pimping it out too much.

I wish I could say this is the only example I've seen the past few days, but there are more.  Just before following the conversation above I watched a video from Gary Vaynerchuk on how poorly the Oprah Winfrey Network was promoting through social media.  Here's his rant:

Don't get me wrong, social media is a great tool to promote your products and services.  I use is solely to build and market my business. But, it has to be done in moderation.  If you try using a social network for just promoting you will get nowhere.  Some may listen for a little while, but before long, you become just noise they ignore.

Crossing the Line

What is the line where you go from successful promotion to prostitution?  That's a difficult question to answer.  I believe it varies.  Some businesses can do more promotion than others and get away with it.  Others, the slightest bit can turn off your consumers.  I think instead of trying to use a formula you need to just pay attention to your sphere.  If people are interacting with you less, your traffic is declining, and things seem to be on a downward slope, then maybe it's time to change.

I know in my business I've tested this on numerous times and have found that the minute I seem to be doing more promotion of me, my business and not others everything slows.

The Magic Formula

So, what is the magic formula to promoting things effectively?  How can I get all my stats going in the right direction?  Well, the answer is actually pretty simple.  Spend more time promoting others than yourself.  People pay attention to those who help them more than those who try to sell them something.  You can build a powerful online community by simply talking more about others good things than how great you are.  In return, you are building relationships and trust with that community of followers.  Then, when you promote something of your own, you are more likely to receive better results.

In order to get results from readers and your online community you have to first give something to them.  If not, it comes across really clear that you are just out to pimp your own products/services/things and could care less about others.

I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.  When do you feel promotion turns to prostitution?

Originally Posted at: 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors

Please Be a Helpful Person....

Feng Shui Long Island and Manhattan Team In Training asks for your help.....

Feng Shui Long Island, Inc. and Feng Shui Manhattan, Inc. have always been involved with community projects and volunteering when able to. The love for motivating and inspiring others is a core key element to Feng Shui. This past year I have been consulting and personal training with many clients that have been recovering or going through treatments for Leukemia and Lymphoma. To honor them and their family members I have recently teamed up with The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Team In Training for the Grand Canyon Hike for a cure in May of 2012.

I have a mission-to help find cures and more effective treatments for blood cancers. To accomplish that mission, I’m participating in a sports endurance event as a member of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Team In Training. Like the other members of TNT, I will be raising funds to help find cures and better treatments for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma. I’m improving the quality of my life by participating and with your support; I can help improve the quality of life for patients and their families as well.

At no set amount, Ms. Cerrano asks for your help and if you can please make a donation in support of her efforts with Team In Training and help advance the research for cures. You can donate $10, $15, $20 or up, it's what you feel comfortable with.

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Team in Training asks to please have all donation in by March 28th, 2012.

*All Donations are tax deductible* If you would like to make a donation please click on: Feng Shui Team in Training with Laura Cerrano

It will only take a moment of your time to make help transform a life

Thank you and many Blessings,

Laura Cerrano

Feng Shui Long Island, Inc

Feng Shui Manhattan, Inc.

 Feng Shui LI

*Carole Provenzale has been a Certified Feng Shui Consultant since graduating from the Country's very first School for Feng Shui Studies that was licensed and accredited in 1997. Carole provides on site Feng Shui Consultations Long Island NY, Queens New York and New York City -Hamptons NY.

New York City Feng Shui Manhattan

New York Feng Shui Manhattan New York City Manhattan NYC Consultant Laura Cerrano is a Second Generation Certified Feng Shui Consultant who has trained with Feng Shui Long Island and Masters from across the Country including Shamans to incorporate Native American beliefs and Space Clearings into her Feng Shui Consulting Firm, Feng Shui Manhattan New York City NY. After co-consulting on site for many years Laura began her own business in 2000 and has a strong client base in New York City, New York, Long Island NY, Queens, Brooklyn, New Jersey and the rest of the New York Tri-State area.

Copyright © 2012 Feng Shui LI and Feng Shui Manhattan, All Rights Reserved

Life With Wee People: Push - Pull the fat off...

My 10 year old is Autistic and my 5 year old sufferes from PDD-NOS. This means I have to get very creative in explaining things to them. They are both visual learners and have taken an interest in my obsession with going to the gym in the wee hours of the morning. Whenever the shorties see me get my Praying Mantis - Tai Chi - Wing Chun warm ups going they like to get in on the act because Kung Fu usually leads to the Noodle Wars. 

We do not have a pool but we do have pool noodles. Two huge red and purple ones. We gleefully wreck the house playfully beating each other with them while learning to kick and block accurately (silly grin). Stephen has taken to staff fighting with the pool noodles while Noah usually wields them like a sword. Me? I usually get my a$$ kicked at some point because hubby likes to pretend write our names on the bottom of the oversized inflatable bowling pins and arc them through the air like guilded missles (which can be a huge distraction requiring very creative retribution - sly little grin).

This is me telling you You Are Your Own Gym (and yes, I am a Mark Lauren fan) so you should have mad fun incorporating play into your exercise routines.

Seems the shorties want me to do my Hulk Hogan poses before they get on the school bus. Why? I have a temporary Rachel Morgan tattoo Stephen the Minion Blur wants to apply to my arm except he thinks my arms "need more work. I'm not Hulk Hogan enough. A really cool tattoo requires a really cool arm."

Even though I can bench press my own body weight he thinks I'm not working out enough. We're on the floor flipping through the pictures of our copy of You Are Your Own Gym so he can select our next push - pull objective. This book is photo rich so my 5 year old doesn't have to read, he simply looks at the pictures and gets busy with his Mama in tow (LOL).

Since Stephen and I are both April babies we've decided we want one of these for our birthdays so we can get our hit - kick on. It will make a stellar addition to The Man Cave. Hubby knows it's on my things to do list (and if he EVER wants to ever see me in a bikini he should give in - hint - hint - evil grin).

I'm jogging on the causeway later. I'll show you some cool water views of Melbourne when I get back and let you guys in on just how effective doing a split military work out really is. Best part? I still eat what ever the heck I want (in moderation) and am making wonderful progress. :-)

Life With Wee People: Pot Gardens

Turns out my kids are into gardening and enjoy being able to nibble on the organics as we go along. We already know where we want to put the patio and deck so we're fooling around expanding our pot garden one plant at a time. In January those grape vines were just a bunch of dry twigs. Stephen, the Minion Blur has been watering them religiously (and drowned the raspberry and blackberry vines - LOL). The Strawberries are coming up lovely. So are the Serrano peppers and celery. We've a bunch of stuff growing so I guess I'll save that bit of info for another post.

I think the thing I love the most is how much the birds and butterflies have been hanging around. My kids are thrilled to watch their antics and I find that painting outside is very relaxing when they're chilling checking out the wild life. I just discovered that when birds fly south for the winter they take over Florida yards (LOL). The kids put a bowl out to accommodate them and we get tiny visitors all the time.

Noah and Stephen love the Blue Jays. I kind of get a kick out of them as well. I'm thinking a few bird sketches would be nice. They certainly pose enough for me to start banging them out (silly grin). If all goes well with the shorties (and they don't steal all the art supplies) I'm going to be hanging out in the pot garden creating some cool Kim Harrison art with Noah the Net Geek.

Seems we're having a spirited debate about the next Kim Harrison cartoon. Tonight we're spoofing on Dead Witch Walking. Stephen wanted Ivy off the bike but now Noah wants Ivy on the bike. Translated: more drawings (LOL). Turns out they both want me to re-draw the Burning Bunnies shield and make the first illustration larger so I'm on the floor with a 16x20 canvas pad about to "fix" my 12x16 illustrations (head thunks on table - melodramatic eye roll - silly grin), then it's off to the pot garden to sketch and watch the sun go down on my backyard and maybe feed the birds (happy sigh). After, the shorties and I are going to make some noise (evil grin). I am recording a new track. We're doing monster drums tonight (LOL). ;-)

Life With Wee People: Kim Harrison Cartoons

It's been a while since I planted one of these in the Kim-Stream so I'm gonna hang out on the bed with the kids and draw a bunch of cartoons. We're doing Tamwood and Morgan tonight. I'm hoping for a quiet evening where I get bossed around by my 5 and 10 year olds (LOL). The best sketch gets to go to Deviant Art so I have to at least draw ten of 'em. Will give you guys a sneak peek tomorrow... if they survive the wee people... they have crayons ( we're sharing a sketch pad - LOL). ;-)

P.S. Composed something really cool for a fave writer. I'm trying to figure out the graphics for the next book club review. We are soooo talking about A Perfect Blood when I get finished playing with my pens and electronic drums (evil grin). ;-)

KimHarrison.net

Kim Harrison is @BurningBunnies on Twitter

Kim Harrison on Amazon

Kim Harrison on Facebook

I've been locked away for an entire month editing my book. Obsessively focused on the task at hand means I've been in all work no play mode. It freaked a lot of people out because I'm a Google Whore and Social Media Butterfly so going off-line cold turkey forced a lot of peeps to face their Internet addiction to my blog (and inadvertently generated a massive amount of e-mail regarding what's going on in my backyard - LOL).

Yes, I missed you guys madly (and will do a blog answering most of your Life With Wee People e-mails). I lurked silently when I cheated from the self-imposed ban because this I wanna be a author thing is a serious goal requiring an amazing amount of concentration. I love my virtual home but in order for me to meet my deadlines I had to stay away from Club Chaos long enough to keep my writing team happy. Now I have to please my beta readers and editor... (happy sigh)

I formed a brand new corporation with one million shares. What we're going to do with them has kept me busy (and a wee bit stressed - silly grin). Luckily for me I earned my break from writing/organize, then run a new corporation-hell and am starting my vacation so I can enjoy the 16 city Kim Harrison book tour for A Perfect Blood.

If you want to know what all the Kimaholic excitement is about read the first five chapters of A Perfect Blood here.  By the time you finish them you'll be stalking Amazon waiting for the book to download because the 9AM wait for Barnes & Noble will just be too damn painful (LOL). I have a four pack of Starbucks to keep me wired and awake for tonight's amazing speed read. Yup. There will be a Book Club Bookie review when I'm done. I'm staring at my Kindle app waiting for my Android to load. I have no control when the damn thing will release so I'm a bookaholic twitching in electronic withdrawal drooling in anticipation for the wild ride to come. ;-)

If you want the A Perfect Blood wallpper click here. It is very cool. :-)

The best part about being a die hard Kim Harrison fan? Chicka never disappoints when it comes to blowing your paranormal loving mind and she keeps getting better... Check out Pale Demon while you wait for your electronic pre-order to materialize. If you want to be in Hardcover Heaven The Hollow Insider and Blood Work are simply gorgeous... If you're serious about discovering the wonderful world of The Hollows you should start at the beginning and read them in order. I've read them all multiple times because each time I make a run through I learn something new about the way her mind works. She's bloody brilliant regarding plotting and pacing. It's a fun series to read and I'm soooo into irony and snarky dialog by kick a$$ sexy characters. I'm a very happy Kim Harrison addict (and finally figured out how to draw pixies - oh joy! - new cartoons coming to a blog post near you - LOL). She's not just a great writer, Kim is also a good sport when it comes to letting fans play in The Kim-Stream.

P.S. Hi Jesse! Hi Laura! I will call you two tomorrow. If you see a 321 area code that would be me. Pick up (LOL). Time to go log into Facebook and freak 'em out (evil grin). Feels good to be home. ;-)

My entire life I wanted to be a singer. Not so much a professional singer, as just a person who could sing.  Carrying a tune is not one of my strong points and I am admonished by my family son Max all of the time for singing.  My mother's admonishment comes in the form of her turning down her hearing aide.  Can you imagine being told not to sing?  "Don't sing when my friends are in the car".  "Mom, I can't hear the TV, please stop singing".  I am constantly reminded of a quote I read long ago that said something like if the only birds in the forest that could sing well were the only birds singing, the forest would be a very quiet place.  I'm sure I've written about this before but it's still not out of my system so I am equally sure I will be writing about it again.  And again.  

My second passion in life is words.  Some writers have such a way of stringing words together that I take the time to reread the sentence just to savor the quality of the sentence.  I'm reading (or rereading as the case may be) a book by Richard Russo called Straight Man.  Mr. Russo is a very funny man and some sentences are laugh out loud funny.  The human condition is something we all have in common and to have someone put something you've been thinking into far better words that you could have imagined is an exciting thing to me.

Today I am thankful for the gift of words.  Because I may not write as well as some or sing as well as most, I am thankful for the gifts that are given to those who do it so well.  

Carpe Diem!