Watching out for mountain cows in Whistler
June 17, 2011
Note: This post was originally published on Guardblog, where I was invited to contribute my perspective as user of Guardly, a personal security iPhone app.
As a runner who’s also a woman, personal safety and security is never far from my mind. Despite this fact, I am still a creature of habit. Even with mobile GPS and maps at my fingertips I tend to run the same routes over and over with music blaring even though I know there’s an increased security risk. For these reasons I have made Guardly one of my running companions.
While my mind generally conjures up images of crazy stalkers prowling the neighbourhood just as I’m heading out for my evening runs, a few weeks ago personal safety took on a whole new meaning when I spent the weekend in Whistler, British Columbia. There, in the Coast Mountains of BC, the concern wasn’t for stalkers or prowlers of the human kind, but rather for those of the black bear and cougar variety.
My friend, a Whistler local, warned me the bears, also known as “mountain cows,” were out in full force. And contrary to their rather innocuous slow-sounding nickname, they are actually fast runners and don’t only stay on the mountains. She also told me about the cougars, but said that if I ran into one of them it was likely already too late to do anything. Not very comforting.
Whistler is Bear Country
While I had been reassured that bears are more wary of people than we are of them and that they tend to bolt as soon as they hear someone coming, I wasn’t convinced. On the other hand, I really wanted to go for a run. Knowing I had Guardly was my tipping point.
Sure enough, as soon as I entered the trail (which wraps around a golf course, a favorite haunt for the bears) I saw the first of many warning signs, not to mention several “indicators” on the path made by the bears themselves.
Fortunately, I avoided any bears on that run (or more likely they avoided me). Although Guardly did not halt my heightened sense of awareness (verging on paranoia), it did give me peace of mind in knowing that if something went wrong, tapping Guardly would instantly connect me to my friends and family and other responders. More importantly, without it I likely would have denied myself the opportunity to enjoy one of the most breathtaking runs I’ve experienced. Check it out for yourself.
Post script: I did see a bear on the golf course later on that afternoon, but it was at a distance and from the safety of a second-storey balcony.
What’s next, a promotional mousepad?
March 4, 2011
This morning I was pleasantly surprised by the following @mention in my Twitter feed:
The reason I was so pleased by this (aside from loving @mentions in general AND having one of my tweets included as a “top story” in the newsletter) is that it shows me some real estate agents really get it when it comes to social media and marketing. These are the agents — Scott Williams, you’re one of them — I want on my side when it comes to buying or selling what is likely the biggest investment I’ll ever make.
Although this is my first blog post on the topic, it’s not my first time talking about how some real estate agents market their services.
About six weeks ago I went on a mini Twitter rant about agents in my neighbourhood being out of touch with digital. Here’s my post which resulted in number of entertaining conversations:
There have been times that I’ve received up to five promotional notepads in one week from local agents. At first I thought it was mildly humourous. I mean, do they really think people choose a real estate agent based on a personalized notepad and more importantly, why do they always look like they had their photos taken in the 1980s?!
Identifying information blocked out to protect the livelihoods of the digitally challenged
Now these notepads just make me cringe.
Here’s the bottom line when it comes to trusting someone with a potential transaction worth hundreds of thousands of my dollars:
#1 – word of mouth from people I trust is always, always, ALWAYS going to be my default, but if you can get my attention (like @low_fee_realtor did), then I’ll make an effort to seek out recommendations from others who I may not know just because I think you’re smart.
#2 – personally branded notepads, pens, calendars, fridge magnets, etc., do come in useful around the house, I’ll give you that, but unless I see your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn handles plastered all over it, I probably won’t use you as an agent because chances are you haven’t kept your marketing tactics relevant to a digital audience. And no, an email address or website is not enough.
Sugar jones
February 25, 2011
One of my worst vices is candy. I am an addict, especially for anything sour. Once I start I can’t stop, so every day (I’m not kidding) I have a mental battle with myself not to touch the candy that’s in my desk drawer. The same candy I keep putting there even though I know better.
I’ve even gone as far as asking a colleague who sits within earshot to call me out every time she hears the wrappers crumpling. Unfortunately (and probably intentionally on my part), by the time she outs me it’s too late. The candy is down the hatch.
I love candy so much I find myself day dreaming about it.
Last weekend I was so fixated after a candy conversation that I spent a considerable amount of time Googling “Dinasour Eggs.” Remember those from the 1980s? They were sour egg-shaped jaw breakers that came as one big egg in a box or as smaller eggs in a box with multiple flavours by the iconic Willy Wonka.
I remember liking the blue “singles” the best and racing to the store with my weekly allowance so I could buy a box or two. It’s crazy how vivid this memory is for me and just goes to show how long this sugar addition of mine has held me in its grasp.
Apparently I’m not the only one with fond memories of these prehistoric treats. A Google search for Dinasour Eggs returns no less than 83,000 results–including a neat blog called Sugar Hi, by JoAnn from Detroit, MI where she posted the following photo taken from grickily’s flickr page.
Wonka Dinasour Egg Box
Unfortunately, there’s a dark side to candy. It really is an addiction. According Dr. Jeffrey Rossman, Ph.D., Rodale.com in his article, 10 Tactics for Overcoming Sugar Addiction on MSN Lifestyle, sugar meets all the criteria for an addictive substance.
I suppose there are much worse things one could be addicted to, but after reading Rossman’s article and then feeling helplessly compelled to polish off a tub of sour keys along with a bag of Sour Cherry Blasters, I’m also acutely aware of sugar’s power over me…*sigh.*
Running’s an uphill battle
February 17, 2011
I’ve been a runner for 12 years. There have been stretches of time where I’ve fallen off the wagon — sometimes for more than a year — but running and I always have a way of finding each other again and diving right back into our love-to-hate relationship.
People who don’t run often ask why or how I can spend so many hours pounding the pavement. Some are in awe. Others just think it’s crazy.
Before I moved to BC in the summer of 2008 and for several months following, I was knee-deep in my longest stretch of downtime since before I became a runner. In 2007 I had experienced my second stress fracture in two years (one of the third metatarsal bones on my right foot). Although it had long since healed I was still feeling very uninspired and even a bit sorry for myself.
The great thing about running is that once we find each other again I tend to jump back on the band wagon almost immediately. More accurately, I tend to jump back on with so much exuberance that I often ignore my body, discount significant aches and pains and almost always ramp up too quickly — hence the two stress fractures.
I rekindled the relationship this time following a neighbour’s housewarming party where I met another lapsed runner. Tina, bless her soul, held me to my drunken word when I said I’d be happy to go for a run with her the following week. I’m so grateful she did.
That was a year and a half ago and I’m still running injury-free (with the exception of a short, but nasty bout of plantar fasciitis about five months in). I even started getting back into races.
In 2010, I ran San Francisco’s Bay-to-Breakers 12K. This race is famous for the 80,000 runners, walkers and all-round loopy characters, often in sparse costumes or without clothes altogether, that participate in the event each year (30 thousand of which are race crashers who don’t pay to officially participate).
Front: Funka & Delic at Bay to Breakers 2010
Back: Funka & Delic at Bay to Breakers 2010
I also completed the Vancouver Fall Classic in November 2010 — my first half-marathon in over five years.
So with two races under my belt and running on average 35K each week, one might be temped to think it would be easy for me to get myself out the door for a run. That I’d be so grateful for this gift — this ability to run long distances — that I wouldn’t complain and groan every time I pull on my running clothes and lace up my shoes. Unfortunately, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Almost every run is an uphill battle — from the moment I decide I’m going to do it to the last step I take at the end of my route. A common misconception about running by non-runners is that runners must love (or at least like) to run.
Alright, so there may in fact be a small handful of runners who do love to run, but I’m sure as heck not one of them. I run because it’s a challenge both mentally and physically. I run because it keeps my weight down. I run because I like being able to say I ran 10K, 15K or even 21.1K on Facebook and Twitter. I run because I like the endorphin rush I get afterward. I run because I love finding new tunes to run to and buying new running gear once in a while. But I don’t run because I love the actual act of running itself.
For every 10 runs I typically only experience one or two that I can honestly say I didn’t hate, or where I didn’t feel like my legs were made of lead.
What’s the point of this story?
Other than to clear up any misconceptions about what running is to me, I suppose it’s to let all those wannabe runners out there know that it’s rarely physically or mentally easy. It’s almost always an internal struggle — to go or not to go, that is the question.
But if you can get passed those road blocks, it’s quite possibly the most rewarding activity you’ll ever do. And one where any regular-joe-non-serious-runner can enter a race and know they’re very likely participating in the same event as a professional athlete or even an Olympian. Though you’ll likely never see them because they finished the race while you were still at the first water station. Still, it’s a great feeling to know you’re all there participating together.
I can’t think of too many competitive sports that present the same opportunity, can you?
Happy running.
A run in Banff. I'm only smiling on the outside.
Why I’ll never eat crow
February 12, 2011
One thing you’ll learn about me if you continue to read this blog is that when I get excited about something I need to share it. Moreover, I need to get people on board with sharing in my excitement. If you’ve ever been around me when I get attached to a particular subject, opinion or belief, it can be quite a waring experience (or so I’ve been told).
It’s that way for me with crows…or more specifically, The Nature of Things documentary, A Murder of Crows.
I had no idea crows are such intelligent creatures — even smarter than apes. This is probably because crows, like humans, spend a long time educating and nurturing their young — up to five years.
Crows also make and use quite sophisticated tools. Not only that, they use tools to make other tools (would that be meta tool use?!). Crows can remember individual human faces for years and can pass this identifying information to their young. Crows have different dialects for different crow social groups. A crow’s brain size in proportion to its body size is similar to that of a human or a primate. Crows can read your mind.
Okay, so I made up the last one. But seriously, this is one documentary worth watching.
Photo of crow taken in Banff by Jon Wiersma
Zipring the one you love
February 10, 2011
To celebrate its recent launch and increase awareness, my client Zipring has created a fun website that allows people to make free phone calls to almost anywhere in the world this Valentine’s Day at: www.FreeValentinesCall.com.
All you have to do is visit the site between Feb. 11 and Feb. 16 (in case you’re forgetful); enter your phone number and the phone number of the person you want to speak to and voilà. Zipring’s Internet call-back technology dials your number, then your Valentine’s number and connects you for free.
Zipring is an integrated Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service based on open standards that works with any phone or mobile device — it even turns an iTouch or a laptop into a mobile phone.
Anyone who knows me may recall I have a soft spot for Vonage — a client in a previous life — and I’m in no hurry to give up my 416 number (you can take the girl out of Toronto but you can’t take Toronto out of the girl). But what’s cool about Zipring for me personally is the iPhone app.
For $5 a month I’m able to have a California-based telephone number (yes, that’s my 925 Zipring number below so if you call it, don’t be surprised if I answer). For pennies on top of that I am able to make (and receive) calls and texts worldwide using my iPhone from anywhere without paying roaming charges as long as I’m on wi-fi.
It looks and acts in every way just like a regular mobile phone. It has voicemail, recordable greetings, integrates my iPhone contacts, call forwarding and a lot more.
I may be making this sound more complicated than it really is. Basically I can cross the border and still make and receive calls and texts on my cell phone without paying roaming charges for less than one Starbucks venti latte a month. If I hadn’t used Zipring over the holidays when I was in Seattle, I would have paid at least $75 in phone calls and SMS — and that’s being conservative.
If you’re looking for an easy, inexpensive way to make phone calls, Zipring is pretty much a no brainer.
Disclaimer: Yes, Zipring is a client, which is why I said so up front. But my blog is my own and if I didn’t think it rocked, I wouldn’t have written this post.
Belle’s Bones
February 8, 2011
It was only a matter of time before Belle was injected into this blog. She’s my dog after all, and the best golden retriever on the planet (okay, maybe I’m slightly biased), but she does teach me new things about myself all the time.
Take, for example, my recent trip to South Burnaby Vet Hospital to pick up glucosamine and a new Burnaby dog license. As if the $80 spent on the supplements and a tag weren’t enough, the moment I saw the basket of what I now know are called Smoochers, I might as well have had a target on my back with the words: “marketer’s dream” written on it.
As a marketer myself, it never ceases to amaze me how easily I’m sucked in to almost any sort of dog paraphernalia being “marketed” to me — from toys to treats. I use the word marketed loosely because I’m not sure a basket containing a haphazard mix of dog toys, sitting on the windowsill in the vet’s office really counts as a strategic marketing initiative.
In any case, I quite happily forked over another $6.99 — because after spending $80 on banal but necessary things like pills and dog tags, seven bucks is a bargain. I then raced home to give it to Belle so I could watch with great joy as she proceeded to pull the hair off the Smoochers’ head in a flurry of destructive golden excitement.
There is nothing particularly novel about this situation. The pet industry represents a $50 billion dollar market in the U.S. alone. But it did make me acutely aware of just how important it is to have your product or service exposed to the right audience.
What’s more, when I saw the Smoochers in the basket and got excited, it had an immediate effect on everyone else in the room (two staff and another client). We all started laughing about these silly toys, and what do you know? The other client went over and picked one out to buy for his dog too. The power of word of mouth.
So maybe I didn’t learn anything new in this trip to the vet’s office, but some basic concepts were reinforced.
While those of us in marketing and PR are often tempted to cast a much broader net to act as a catchment for the few eyeballs that really care, it’s a wasted effort — and may even have damaging results. Targeting the right audience is critical. Also, word of mouth endorsement, even by a stranger, can compel others to take action. If you are trying to market something, whether it be a product or service, look to your existing customers to help. And when you find one that’s as excited by what you’re selling as you are, embrace them (figuratively, not literally unless you know them well) and ask them for an endorsement — whether it’s on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or their company website.
In this age of social media, the opportunities are almost endless and you might be surprised at how eager they are to support you. All you have to do is ask.
Zipring the one you love
February 7, 2011
As a member of the Board of Directors for CanWIT BC, an advocacy group for women in technology, I’ve had the good fortune of meeting many smart, skilled and passionate tech-minded women in BC. One such woman is Melissa McCrae, Executive Director, Graduate Programs, Simon Fraser University.
In fact, it was in large part because of Melissa that I started this blog. Two weeks ago she facilitated a CanWIT Breakfast Workshop on Strengths-Based Leadership. It was here that I was introduced to Gallup’s test and StrengthFinder 2.0 written by Tom Rath. It was by far one of the most inspiring, informative and valuable exercises I’ve done.
Gallup’s findings are based on more than two million interviews-worth of research and the premise that people who focus on developing their strengths have far more success than those who focus on their shortcomings. The first line of the book reads:
“At its fundamentally flawed core, the aim of almost any learning program is to help us become what we are not.”
Gallup, on the other hand, suggests that if we learn to develop the strengths we were born with; the ones that come naturally, we are much more likely to experience phenomenal growth.
“When we’re able to put most of our energy into developing our natural talents, extraordinary room for growth exists.”
Developing my strengths and doing damage control for my weaknesses seems logical enough to me. I mean really, I know I’m not good at math and likely never will be. I’m not terrible at it either, but I find numbers and spreadsheets tedious and boring, so rather than wasting my finite number of years trying to be a better number cruncher, I’d much rather spend my time doing something I’m good at — something creative, like writing this blog.
Available at Chapters for $20, the book includes a code for a 35-minute online test that takes you through a series of statements where you must select the one you feel most accurately describes you. Each question times out after 20 seconds, so it forces you to choose based on instinct rather than giving it too much thought. Upon completion, your top five strengths (a.k.a. themes), out of a possible 34, are identified with detailed descriptions.
Once you get past the initial excitement (and shock) at how eerily accurate the test is at nailing your personality — where it gets even more interesting — is in looking at how to best work with others who have different strengths and in understanding what makes them tick.
As someone who’s striving to be a better leader and manager, one of the key takeaways for me was this: there is no singular set of strengths that best describes a great leader. Great leaders are often not very balanced in their strengths. However, the one thing every great leader has is a balanced team.
In my case, the fact that an unbalanced person strength-wise can still be a great leader gives me much hope. When it comes to my strengths, I tend to be quite heavy in the Influencer category (good thing I’m in PR, eh?), which includes four of my five themes: Activator, Command, Communication and Significance. My fifth theme (though my second strongest one) is Ideation and it falls under the Strategic Thinking category. All four categories and their corresponding strenghts are shown below.
I will delve further on this topic in a later post including the multiple oh, now it all makes sense moments I had when Jon, my boyfriend, took the test too. In the meantime, I highly encourage everyone to buy the book and take this test. As one with influencer traits, I am compelled to get as many people as possible on board. It is my passion and excitement about things that drives me to inspire others. It is also the reason I started this blog.
Are my words having any affect? Will you take the test too after reading this blog? Have you already taken the test and want to discuss your results? You tell me.
Hello World
February 5, 2011
The bare bones. A bone to pick. No bones about it. Bone up. Bone head.
This is how things begin for me. A half-baked idea for a blog based on a name that has so many possibilities. Not entirely sure where this will go. Maybe nowhere. Maybe everywhere. All I know is that in some parallel StrengthsFinder 2.0 universe I was better fitted to be a writer, have my soapbox, a place to put down all that advice I like to dish out. Maybe inspire someone to take action or simply express my opinions.
So we shall see what this becomes. What this tech-loving girl who runs in a PR skin can create.