Sunday, September 25, 2011

Catching Up...

It has been a busy few weeks and I've been remiss with blogging at times. I've been writing more by hand lately, and it seems I write less at the keyboard when I'm doing that. I write by hand whenever I have something I need to figure out. I do all my "mental sorting" with pen and paper. When I come to the keyboard I've generally already thought about whatever I'm writing about - with or without pen in hand. Or, it's something that I can just dash off by keyboard.



The other day I went to Wichita to meet with a new friend, Deb, who gifted me with all these wonderful pins. You may know of my decades long obsession with old costume jewelry pins - generally the more sparkly and gaudy, the better. Deb made a bouquet for her recent wedding with some pins and used others on the favors. These were some that weren't pressed into service and she asked if I'd like them. Of course, I love them! I've already worn the little heart with flowers - so sweet.

Deb is someone I connected with on Facebook. We had common friends and connected there, but this is the first time we had met in real life. I really like her. Hopefully we'll get together again soon. She's very smart and very fun - a wonderful combination.

After lunch I went to the Museum of World Treasures, to visit the Egyptian exhibit. I bought a membership earlier this year so I could do that whenever possible. There is something about ancient Egypt that speaks to my soul in a way I can't describe in words.



That evening I had dinner with Martha at one of my favorite restaurants in Wichita. There are times you connect with a friend when it seems you both are coming to it in a way that results in an amazing experience. That's how it was for us the other night. Sometimes you're called on to bring with you all you've been up to that moment, because your horizons are expanding before your eyes. It was one of those kinds of conversations. Really extraordinary. Blessed.

I left with things I'm still thinking about.



The other night, on a spur of the moment decision, Greg and I went to see Roseanne Cash at the Orpheum in Wichita. She was magnificent. I'm not a huge music fan, but I'm starting to get excited when I arrive somewhere and see a guitar, a microphone and a stool, and not much else. This seems to indicate the person in question can actually sing and play. Roseanne Cash and her husband perform together, with him playing guitar. Sometimes she plays as well as sings. She was really amazing. And it was the first time I'd been in the Orpheum. It's a beautiful old place.

I think I posted my 140conf presentation, but I'm not sure I explained much about it. The 140conf explores how real time media, like twitter and facebook, affect our lives. This was the second ever "smalltown" one. I was flattered to have my presentation topic accepted. Thanks to Jennifer Keller for taking the photo of me on stage.



It was a really terrific day. I love to connect with other people who are interested in these things. We can share our stories of being misunderstood, and find comfort in that. Kevin Honeycutt told a story of live blogging a conference, talking about how smart the speaker was, when the speaker came over and closed his laptop, telling him to not check his email during the presentation. I felt his pain. He was "accused" - and wrongly so. Besides, what difference would it make if he were checking his email? Kevin is an incredibly capable person who can do more than one thing at a time.

It's curious no one ever complains about someone rummaging around in their bag to get materials to take notes with pen and paper, and rustling around throughout a meeting, but silently pull out your iPad - not making a single noise - and watch the visual daggers fly. It was a joy for me to go upstairs at one point and look down and see multiple screens glowing as people wrote online about what was happening at the Fox Theatre in Hutchinson, Kansas.



It's also great to meet new people - like Kerwin in the photo above - who I might not ever meet any other way. You automatically know you have a lot in common when you meet at an event like this. 

I think I don't realize how much I miss making connection with people who are like me in that way until I'm with them and then they're gone and I miss them again. Fortunately, our social media group locally seems to be growing, which is nice.



I don't think I ever got around to sharing photos on the blog of the various performers at the Kansas State Fair. I think I put up photos of Kool and the Gang and Kenny Rogers and then didn't do the others. So, I'll pop a few up here of Darius Rucker, Daughtry, and REO Speedwagon. You can see more on my Facebook page if you want at facebook.com/patsy.



Those are some highlights of the last few weeks. Mark was here the week of the fair and it was good to visit with him. It seems there's something interesting happening every day. I get behind in chronicling it sometimes.

This week I'm teaching some Facebook classes, which should be interesting given the changes they've made in the last few days and the ones planned for the coming week. I was once teaching a Facebook class and it changed during the class. I hope that's not the case this week.

Thursday night I'm giving a presentation about Food Traditions, which should be fun. I just need to figure out how to make all of these things lucrative!

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