Musings on the turning of the year

The season of Winter Solstice through New Year’s Day is an interesting time for the human spirit. It’s the opportunity to reflect on the closing year and look forward to the new one.

How was your year?

For many, many people, 2010 was rather an awful year, on a personal, local and global scale. The economy remained troubled, bad news assaulted us from every angle and we grew more and more distant from one another as technology permitted us to communicate more but connect less. Read the rest of this entry »


2011 is a prime number

As usual, a recent message from Chris Brogan got me thinking, this time by way of his Human Business Works newsletter. The topic, appropriately enough, was on preparing for 2011.

Things SheTech intends to do in 2011Many people make resolutions (“I’ll go to the gym, lose weight, eat less, swear less, spend less, etc.”) that pretty much fly out the window by mid-February at the latest (just ask your favorite trainer how long his or her clients actually stick with the plan). Along with Lent, it generally involves some sort of martyrdom-like sacrifice which always looks and feels daunting if not outright impossible… so we’re pretty much setting ourselves up for failure. Like Lent, however, you can choose to give something instead of giving up something. It feels better, so it works better. Read the rest of this entry »


the power of grateful

In the Americas, especially the US and Canada, today is Thanksgiving: the day to look back at the hardships we have endured and to count the blessings we enjoy, especially having gotten through those hardships.

The food is part of it, the family gatherings, the football (I remember the men all gathering around to watch the Army-Navy game when I was a child–big Navy family), and if we remember to do it, we look around at one another and realize how lucky we really are.

Yes, even in the midst of the aforementioned hardships, we’re still lucky. Blessed, if you will.

And now, in these uncertain years, we would do well to remember it. While yet we breathe, we still have phenomenal opportunity to get it right, or make it right, whatever “it” happens to be: the chance to forgive a loved one, even if you can’t do it to his or her face; the chance to change a bad habit or change your heart or recognize hurt or love and do something about it.

This past year, I spent most of my time in New York, working on a contract that turned out to be a great opportunity for learning, even while I struggled with my own demons and my own body’s reaction (not good) to living in Manhattan. As much as I love New York, as I like to say, New York doesn’t love me so much.

In the end, though, I came away with vast new knowledge, new affiliations, new experience and a much better understanding of my own abilities–and perhaps more importantly, my own limitations.

I came home.

To East Tennessee.

Yep, I can now call it home, because it is. I was greeted by friends who had missed me, warts and all; greeted by one of the most gently beautiful landscapes in the world; greeted by my humble home, of which I am now so proud, because it’s my humble home.

So this year, I’m grateful for my home, my family, all of whom I love; grateful for my friends, to whom I can now give my whole heart and not hold part of it back for greener pastures; grateful for the experiences, good and bad, that make me who I am today; grateful for surviving my difficult life and continuing to learn from it.

There’s so much more, because I’m certain as I’m sitting here that there are a zillion more blessings of which I’m not aware.

And I’m grateful because I had a truly lovely day today, and tomorrow is another day, another chance to get something right, do something good, choose something beautiful.

And always to love.


the power of community service

Yesterday was a significant day for me in in interesting way: I took part in a webinar for LEAPS.TV (http://leaps.tv) around the topic of domestic violence 911 call handling. We had a panel of experts from local E911, two different police forces and Haven House, a local domestic violence shelter and advocacy service.

This webinar was wildly successful from the standpoint of attendance alone, and certainly from the information being exchanged between panel members and the audience.

Being the moderator, I had my hands full juggling technical issues (inevitable in a program as complex as this one was), fielding questions and keeping the conversation fluid. Much more than this, the topic is of great personal interest to me, and it was extremely important to me that the information itself be passed around and shared so that every participant benefited, and came away with new ideas.

It worked.

The response so far has been tremendous; so much so that we’re already planning follow-up sessions.

Domestic violence is an epidemic. Over half of the calls that come into an E911 service have to do with domestic violence, and thousands upon thousands of cases occur each year. It represents among the riskiest calls a responding officer can take (remember what happened in Pittsburgh), and getting the right information, at the right time, to the right people, can literally be a matter of life and death.

In the course of working with Haven House and the members of the LEAPS.TV panel, I have learned a great deal and shared a great deal.

I firmly believe everyone–everyone–should participate in community action of some kind. My cause need not be your cause, nor yours be mine. But service to our neighbors is a giant part of how this country came to be built. Reach out. Help. Be part of your community.


the power of service

This weekend, SheTech is on the road. More accurately, SheTech is in airports. I’m traveling for client meetings and encountered some interesting examples of both outstanding and abysmal customer service–from the same airline!

You may or may not be aware that United‘s regional shuttle service is operated by a number of smaller carriers, depending on where you are. At my home airport, Knoxville’s McGhee-Tyson Regional Airport (TYS), Comair runs it. You may have heard rumors about how Comair runs its service (or lack thereof), and I can attest to those rumors. Okay, I’ll just say it: Comair Read the rest of this entry »


the power of place

Over the past week, if you have been following me on (most of) the social media platforms (Facebook, mySpace, Twitter, etc), you have seen lots of activity around a move to a new office space. SheTech and Company has been growing and changing over the past two years, and I decided that it was finally time to graduate from a home office to a real live commercial space.

Read the rest of this entry »


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