Connectors and Their Big Black Books

Update:

Wow!  If my calculations are correct we had 224 people visit the blog yesterday.  That will make a nice little dent in the 2,961 we needed yesterday at this time.  A few more days like that (OR BETTER) and we will be on our way to reaching 5000 by April 16.  Special thanks to cspgradstudent, Cheryl, Tera, and Melanie who are actively working their network to get us one person closer to Julie A. Cole.  There are a few others working on getting us connected, but they are choosing not to post and, instead, to work behind the scenes.  I'll take the effort any way I can get it.

Onward and Upward...

Today's post will build on the concept of yesterday's.  Yesterday we touched on the premise of Six Degrees of Separation.  We noted that when the letters finally reached the designated person in Boston, Mass., a disproportionate number of them went through the hands of only a couple of people.  Today we will talk about who those people are and why they are important to YOU!!!!

  

My goal is to make this feel like a five minute workshop stuck somewhere in your day.  It's the workshop that requires no registration fee, no travel funds (I come to you), no name tag, and no power point.  Just the quick presentation of an idea that you can apply immediately after walking away from your computer.

  

The workshop-concept will work best if you have some kind of project or idea that you are trying to get more widely accepted by others, so you can follow along with me, but apply the information to your own world.  The "others" of whom I speak can be family members, workers, your neighbors, a group of friends, members of the PTA or some other group with whom you might be involved.  If you don't have something you yourself are trying to promote, feel free to follow along with me, as together we tackle the challenge of "tipping" my blog site. 

The notion of "Tipping" - discussed in the book inspiring this week's entries and titled, The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell - is simple.  Just as there is a distinct point when water freezes to ice (32 degrees Fahrenheit), there is a point at which something "tips" and becomes wildly popular - an epidemic of sorts.  This is true in the worst of circumstances, such as the spread of AIDS, but it is also true of less grave matters such as the popularity of Harry Potter (which started as a simple book club choice among a couple of women in San Francisco); the cross over of Van sneakers - once worn only by skate boarders - and then becoming popular among mainstream youth; and the resurgence of Hush Puppies a few years back.  All of these things "tipped" - that is... spread from being recognized by a few to having a an international following. 

 

Here are some examples of projects or ideas that some of our readers might try "tipping," based on who I know some of our readers to be (I'll use initials, in the event our readers are shy)....

• S.W... spreading the word about her massage business
  
• C.Y.... trying to get large scale neighborhood participation in her Halloween Festival
  
• H.S.... increasing participation in an annual campus-wide program
  
• D.O.... increasing enrollment numbers in the private school for whom she works
  
• N.A... making her invention known world-wide
  
• A.B.... the above goes for you too
  
• ME!  Attracting thousands of readers from all corners of the map to participate in the fun blog community we are together building. 
  

Today I will introduce to you the concept of CONNECTORS.  Generally speaking, connectors are people who, flat out, know a lot of people.  It is not to say they know these people well, just that they have many acquaintances.  Most often, connectors travel in multiple circles which how they come in contact with so many others.  They are essential to our ideas becoming epidemics, because the bottom line is... their address books are chock full and they have access to large quantities of people.  Truth... if we want our ideas to spread to the masses, we need access to the masses.  Connectors help us do this.  We have a few people in our readership who I think might fit into this category. 

• CSPgradstudent is a student at a university in Louisville, KY.  She is also somewhat involved in a group in northern Kentucky; has held membership in numerous student organizations; works at a child care facility; traveled abroad where she met people from all over the world; participated in a week-long institute where she met college students from all over the country; and I'm sure other involvements that I am not mentioning (we haven't even touched on electronic communities... in which she is well versed and well connected).  
  
• Cassie Y. is very involved in her neighborhood, spearheading numerous social events.  She is also a member of a gym; an official soccer mom; takes another one of her children to gymnastics; worked for a period of time at the branch campus of a university; is an active member of her church; and has recently gotten involved in local campaigning for a presidential candidate.  A few weeks ago she invited a woman she met at a presidential caucus to play Bunco with her neighborhood friends.  Also playing that night was friend from she met while living in Fort Worth... and come to think of it, me.  Cassie connected me to her group of friends shortly after I moved to Texas.  Cassie travels in multiple circles and thrives on connecting those circles of friends.  This is the sign of a connector. 

I could go on, because there are others of you I believe fall in this category.  In the interest of time, I will stop here.

Concept applied... Ok.  If I want my blog to tip, I need to formally employ all the CONNECTORS I know to grant me access to their acquaintances.  How?  Request that they send my blog address out via their listserve; make an announcement at their next meeting; post a flier in a visible spot at the day care, gymnasium, or soccer field; leave small, business card-sized announcements in work mailboxes, etc.....  You might notice that cspgradstudent was one of the first to offer up an acquaintance she had in Nebraska who might lead us to Julie A. Cole.  This is an example of a CONNECTOR at work.  

How about you?  What are you trying to make tip and what CONNECTORS do you know?  How might you employ the connectors you know to help spread the word about your initiative?

 

And, if you consider yourself a connector... Highlowaha.com... help spread the word!!!

Signing off until tomorrow when we come one step closer to tipping our ideas.       

 

On Your Mark Get Set and Go...

From one creative person to many others.... it seems that part of the fun developing something creative is sharing it with others. Even artists - people who often work in solitude - ideally want their work to be noticed and appreciated by the public. This week's blog is going to explore some basic ideas about how YOU can spread a creative idea. The week will be based on the genius book of Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point ( a book I read 10 years ago and continue to reference at least once a week). But before we do...

Maintenance Monday Announcements:

• Helena... are you and Stanley out there? Inquiring minds want to know that he landed safely in Canada and if you are busily involved in some fun adventure. Once done, let me know and we'll get him moving along to the next destination. P.S. Others wanted to know if Stanley was "of-age" and therefore able to join you drinking, voting, driving, or seeing R rated movies. I say, "Yes." Have discretion, but have fun.
  


• I love it when I know a new reader joins us. A couple of weeks ago there was a post from Laura (actually, I think it said Laura and Geoff). If you're still out there, welcome and we'd love to hear more from you (ie. when is your b-day, so we can post your Colorstrology Profile?).
  


• Since last Friday was free birthday profiles, we didn't solicit a challenge for this week. We need one, so if you're out there and could use the collective creativity of our readers, post your challenge (anniversary present idea, promotional campaign for work, household problem, etc...). If not, we can always default to laundry... just kidding.
  


• Can we develop a highlowaha protocol? If you want to post a comment to a post that was made more than one day ago, then post it on the most recent day. For instance if I still wanted to post my birthday for a Colorstrology Profile, then I would post my request in today's comments. Often I happenstance on a comment that was posted days, even a week, earlier only to miss the window of opportunity for replying. Cristine, for example posted a great box tip under Friday's comments, but she didn't do it until sometime on Sunday. Check it out. If there is a more accepted way to do this in the "blogging world" let me know. I am a novice.
  


• Here's the good news... Highlowaha.com is yielding readers from 18 countries; 35 states; and 176 cities. The top five states are Kentucky, Texas, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. The not-so-good-news is Matthew's birthday - thus APRIL 16 - is TEN short days away. We have a goal to reach 5000 readers by that day and then I can share the reason for my blog's name.

Why this topic, this week? Because with only 10 days left and still 2,961 necessary readers, I'm going down with a fight. I know we can reach 5000 readers and if we can do it, then you can make your own idea "tip" too. It's a creative social experiment challenging us to see exactly how creative we are...not in developing ideas, but in SPREADING ideas!!!! To get us warmed up for the week, we are going to undergo the...

THE SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION CHALLENGE

Cheryl... today's creative concept ought really to peak your curiosity, as you mentioned the concept twice in Wednesday's comments. Yes, today I am going to introduce a challenge for our readership. We are going to test the premise of 6 Degrees of Separation!

You may or may not know, that this concept was based on an actual experiment. A series of envelopes were given to over 100 people in a mid-western town. The idea was for each of those people to get their envelope to one particular person who lived in Boston, Massachusetts. Ultimately what was discovered was that a disproportionate number of the 100+ original envelopes passed through only a very small number of people's hands. Point: We are connected, but in the end... it is a small number of people responsible for those connections.

So, let's see if this holds true of our Highlowaha.com readers! I will present you with a random name - a person I have never met, that lives in a city and state I have never visited. The Challenge is to see if we can reach that person (in six people or less ) and then have her (I'm picking a her, because I think a she might be more likely to participate) post a comment on our site. Confused? Here's a simple review...

And the name is... drumroll, please.....

JULIE A. COLE from LINCOLN, NEBRASKA. The only other piece of information I'll provide is that I found her name somewhere on the Girl Scouts web site.

1. Look at name, city, and state of person I have selected.
2. Determine who you know that can get you one step closer to JULIE A. COLE. You might be tempted to simply pick up a phone book and call her on your own, but this would be cheating. This is only a game, so need to compromise your integrity. 
3. If you don't know anyone directly, ask others you know about their network.
4. Contact your lead and ask him/her who he/she knows that can help you get one step closer to JULIE A. COLE.
5. Repeat until JULIE A. COLE has been reached.
6. Ask JULIE A. COLE to post on our blog 
7. If it's going to happen, chances are it will be in the next couple of weeks. I'll use April 21 as the date to officially put the challenge to rest
8. If you have a lead, post an update in the comment section, so we know progress is being made.
9. If you have questions, post them and I - or someone else - will provide an answer.

Embrace this experiment as a test of what we are truly capable of. Think of it... if this modest group of loyal readers can make this harmless activity fly, what else can we do as a group?!?!

On your mark, get set go...

Yankee Seeking Yummy, Not Yucky, Yellow Things You Yearn

Good Saturday morning.  Today is the tail end of another fun and creative week of blogging. Thanks for making it a great week of idea sharing.

I deliberated long and hard about how to finish out the week.  I can't say any of my ideas were GREAT, but there were a few with some possibilities.  I wrapped yesterday up by saying we would explore yummy, not yucky yellow things.  There were possibilities, but I wasn't totally committed.  Heather suggested "Yard" tips; Cassie suggested Yippee things that keep you youthful, and my mother in-law suggested I celebrate God's perfect creation of the banana. 

 

Here's the thing...My thumb is whatever color sits OPPOSITE green on the color chart, so I have absolutely NO business offering up anything creative about yard tips, except maybe... well, I can't think of anything.  As for "yippee youthful" tips.  I'm in my early 40s with a three year old and a one year old.  I'm not sure if it keeps me youthful or yawning.  That canceled out Cassie's idea.  I like Toni's idea of the banana.  They're yummy, not yucky and they are a perfect specimen of something yellow.  Thing is, when I think of bananas I automatically go to banana splits and I've covered ice cream one too many times.

Then we went to my mother in-laws house for a family dinner.  My youngest son disappeared into one of the bathrooms.  I followed after him, finding him sticking his hands in the toilet bowl water.  I quickly picked him up and then, as mother's instinct would have it, turned on the bathroom light only to find the toilet filled with bright yellow pee!  "YUCKY Yellow Things" was definitely covered. 

Now I was committed to the original plan of Yummy, not Yucky Yellow Things.  Lemons immediately came to mind, along with a great lemon bar recipe I received from a friend years ago in graduate school.  The thing is, the recipe still sits on the same card it was originally written on (19 years ago to be exact) and years have faded her writing.  So, Stacey if you're out there... feel free to fill in any ingredients I might have missed or any inaccuracies. 

Here goes:

I cup butter melted

2 cups flour  + four tablespoons flour

1 cup confectioners sugar

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

6 tablespoons lemon juice

Additional confectioners sugar for dusting the squares

Combine butter, 2 cups flour and 1 cup confectioners' sugar with wooden spoon.  Pat with floured hands into buttered 13 x 9' pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  While crust is cooling, beat together eggs, sugar, baking powder, remaining flour, and lemon juice.  Pour over baked crust and bake for an additional 30 minutes.  Cool then sprinkle lightly with confectioner's sugar.  Cut in squares.

And to assure we have the creative element covered.... Do you know someone having a run of bad luck? or down in the dumps?  How about sending a batch of yummy yellow lemon bars with a fun note encouraging her to turn lemons into lemonade... or lemon bars, as the case may be.  Wrapped in cellophane with bright yellow crinkle and tissue paper.... This has the potential to be a cute pick-me-up.

Have a yummy yellow Saturday.  Signing off until Monday...

P.S.  I'm from New York which is where the "Yankee" piece comes in.

   

"U" are Unique

T.G.I.F. everyone. We have lots of ground to cover today, so we'll get right on it. First item of business is being closure to the challenge posted by Tera last week. Tera lamented about the small amount of storage space in the on-campus apartment where she lives. She was seeking storage solutions for the spacially challenged. Cassie, Heather, Anonymous, and cspgradstudent all offered up some helpful tips.

Below are some of my suggestions, based on tips I've heard and read over time. As you can imagine, there are no silver bullets. Organizing "stuff" is a learned discipline. That makes suggestion number one predictable. The more disciplined you are about what comes in your home, the less stuff you will have to find space for. If I can't imagine where I will put it or how it will get stored, then I try to resist the urge.

• Many people have items they no longer use, but that carry some sentimental value (maybe a relative gave it to you, your first boyfriend won it for you at a fair, it conjures up fond memories of when you wore a size 4, etc...). Suggestion... create a "Give away box." When the right person for the item visits or comes to mind, you can give the item away. People love surprises and, in the meantime, it isn't cluttering your living space and you won't feel as guilty about getting rid of it.


• Most things we store can be put into three categories... Active, Seasonal, or Dead. Pack and store accordingly. Active items are things we use multiple times a week (pots and pans are a great example). They get stored in such a way that is easy to access. Seasonal are things we use occasionally (decorations, etc...). They should be stored in such a way that retrieving them is not impossible. I won't dwell on this. We talked about it at length last week. Dead item are things you are storing with no real idea of when you will pull them out again (a wedding dress, family photos, etc...). Obviously, they can be tucked away in the most remote of spaces. Maybe even off-site storage. Maybe the three categories give you a new framework, though the concept is not rocket science.


• Hang things from the ceiling. In our Louisville house, we hung our pots from a ceiling rack and baskets hung from hooks in the basement ceiling. Space freed up in one location creates new space for something else. There's a ripple affect to creatively utilizing space.


• Use a shoe bag on the back of a door to store little items. Using one in an office could free up space by creating new homes for things such as paper clips, tape, glue sticks, thumb tacks, post it notes, etc....


• Use space underneath shelves. Picture this.... Baby jar lids screwed to the underside of a shelf. In the jars you could store all sorts of office supplies or, if you're like me with lots of random crafts supplies, you could store rhinestones, beads, and buttons. The jars are clear so you know exactly what is in them and they won't actually take up shelf space!


• Similarly, attach shoulder hooks to the wall and hang crates from them. Crates are deep enough to hold bigger heavier things (folds of tissue paper, spools of ribbon, or cartons of foam cut-outs).
  
• Tera, if you really want to get elaborate and space permits... create a temporary closet. Identify a corner of your apartment for craft supplies. Secure two pieces of lumber to the ceiling (can be removed when you move out). Then staple gun fun material to the lumber. It will create a small nook in your apartment, allowing you to disguise your craft center and holiday items.


• Cover Pringles cans in fun contact paper. They are tall and narrow, making them great storage space for pens, markers, etc... The less counter space they assume, the more space you have for something else.


• If all else fails and you hate everything I've suggested, then might I recommend this book title, "Living Large in Small Spaces: Expressing Personal Style in 100 to 1,000 Square Feet," by Melissa Bartolucci. The book has GREAT photos of beautifully decorated New York City apartments. New Yorkers know maximizing space!
  

One final note on storage space... I used this challenge as an opportunity to pay homage to one of my favorite stores... The Container Store. If you've never been to one... put it on your Bucket List. If you have, then you know what I am talking about. Their solutions were similar to what we have already heard... use the backs of doors, the ceiling, store things in long and vertical ways. While there, Tera, I saw an irresistible item for storing things such as markers,pens, tape, note cards, glue, even a small hot glue gun (an essential for anyone serious about creativity). Made of sturdy canvas, it hangs vertically in your closet and actually has drawers. Consider it an early wedding present (tell Trey he can have five of the ten drawers). It's on the way to you.

Now onto Free For All Friday. Funny about that title.. it can go two ways... Free for all Friday or Free for all, Friday. See, by adding the comma I can take the title and give it another meaning. That's important for today because today... the day of U are Unique... I am making a free offer for all. So, it's not that today is a "free for all," but instead it is "free for all."

A few years ago my sister (not the one who just visited) mailed me a book that I have referenced many times for fun and creative gift ideas, as well as for fun ways to break the ice with people visiting my office. The book is "Colorstrology: What Your Birthday Color Says About You." The premise is, that based on the day we were born, we each have a color for which we possess an affinity (even if it's subconscious). My color, for instance is Languid Lavender - a color to which I am actually drawn. I'm not suggesting there is an ounce of science behind the book, but it is fun to flip through and read.

As noted earlier, I have used the book to pick out birthday presents for others, including in the package - of course - a copy of their personal profile. For instance, the sister who gave me the book was born on November 7. Her color is Chili Pepper Red (red was always her proclaimed favorite color as a child). For her birthday last year, I filled a box with great, fun, red items and chili pepper lights. One of items was an InspiRED shirt from the Gap (I love that campaign).

Other fun ways I have considered using the information... allow each of my kids to paint something in their room their assigned color (Ricky (1/20) = Light Mahogany; Matthew (4/16) = Virtual Pink; and Jack (3/6) = Pastel Lavender). Or, what about one piece of furniture in the family room painted to contain all five of our colors (add now me 10/7 = Languid Lavender and Richard 6/29 = Forest Shade).

So today, FREE FOR ALL... your unique and personal color, along with the corresponding profile. You post your birthday and I'll post the description. Here's the first example... in honor of a reader I know and love, but who I know is shy about posting.

June 19: Golden Ochre (a pretty shade of golden yellow): Lively, Verbal, Tenacious; If you were born on this day: You have a natural brilliance and are usually a step ahead of everyone else. Your mind is quick and alert. You have a youthful quality and even when you are older, you will always have a twinkle in your eye that belies your age. It can be difficult for you to relax. Compatible birthdays: May 23, October 27, November 25

I might say that anyone who knows this woman is smiling at how accurate this description is.

Signing off until tomorrow when this... yankee seeks yummy, not yucky, yellow (or golden ochre) things you yearn.

"O" is for Oracle

Oh, it would have been way to predictable to simply draw on words like organize, original, ornament, orange, or our beloved... Oprah for today's entry.  Instead, I want to leave today's creative idea to complete chance - letting it unravel in real time.  

This is going to be fun, fun, fun.  No matter where you are sitting while reading this you will want to get up and participate.  For today's entry I will follow my oracle.  To create an oracle, we need three things...

First, we need a question we want to address.  My question.  Around what topic should today's creative idea be centered?  Now, what's your question?  What should you make for dinner? Where should you and your colleagues go to lunch?  What should Friday's Fun-in-the-box-Friday activity be?  What, once and for all, should Cristine use as party favors for her husband's golf tournament?  Stop now and decide on a question.  Go ahead.  It will be fun.  Incidentally, if you work, you will be the hit of your next meeting when you bring this idea along.

Second.  We need a way to generate a random piece of information.  The operative word here is RANDOM.  After all, if you and your family, your staff, or your colleagues employ similar decision making techniques with each situation then you are bound to come up with similar solutions.  One way to unleash your creativity is to employ different approaches to decision-making.

Ok, we're going to take a time out here to actually help you acquire your random piece of information.  I used this activity once when training college students to think more creatively about program development and promotion.  We were sitting in a large auditorium.  I happen to be sitting in Starbucks right this moment.  Wherever you are it will work.  Ready?...

Stand up and take (insert a number 1-10) steps to your (appoint a direction... forward, backward, north, south, left, right).  Touch the item closest to you.  Identify the first letter of the item you touched.  Determine which number - 1-26 - of the alphabet your letter is.  Point to that number of objects in the room you are sitting. Determine the first letter of the last thing to which you pointed.  What letter does it start with?  Pick up the book closest to you.  Open to any random page and a word starting with that letter.  THAT IS YOUR ORACLE!  Needless to say, I made up the prompts.  They could be anything and in any order.  Think MadLibs.

 

Here's how mine played out...  Stand up and take 3 steps forward.  Touch the newspaper.  The first letter of newspaper is "N" - the 19th letter of the alphabet.  I pointed to a chair, table, picture, magazine holder, bulletin board, apron, bottle of syrup, espresso machine, barrista, pastry, CD for sale, Starbuck's logo, sugar packet, stirrer, mug, woman writing letters, computer, bag of coffee beans, and door. The first letter of the 19th item is "D."  I opened up my book and (Free Prize Inside by Seth Godin) and DOOM is the first word I saw starting with the letter "D." So... "Doom" is my oracle (Oh, how I wish I could cheat and pick a different one, but that wouldn't be fun and it wouldn't help illustrate the usefulness of trusting an oracle).  P.S. There are two "o"s in the word, so I think it was fated.

Third step.  We need an attitude open to interpreting the resulting random piece of information.  Why would I have landed on the word doom?  Am I doomed?  Is my blog doomed?  Doomed makes me think of gloom.  Is that because it's raining outside or because I've been in a funky mood lately?  Hmmmm... mood is doom spelled backwards....

That's it. Today's idea will be about creative (substance-free) ways to improve your mood!  My sister shared with me when she was in town this past weekend that she gets herself out of a funk by changing one small thing in her routine.  It could be something as simple as reversing the order in which she gets dressed.  I've been thinking about her strategy since she left, so maybe this was meant to be.  Some things that I try are...

• Wake up thinking about the one thing I am most looking forward to doing that day (mailing a package, meeting someone for lunch, reading the next chapter in a book, trying a new recipe).
  
• Slip off to a bookstore and pull a random book off the shelf looking for some meaning behind why I selected it (or it selected me, as the case may be).
  
• Buy a favorite magazine and make a date with Ben and Jerry to curl up and read it page by glorious page.
  
• My friend Melissa insists on embracing her bad mood by assigning whole days as f#@! days. The goal... use the "f" word at the beginning of every sentence.
  
• How about you?  What do you do?
  

I'm dying to know what questions you posed and what your oracles turned out to be.  If willing, I'd love you to post them.

Signing off until tomorrow when I use "u" to uncover the uniqueness of "U'... 

Inexpensive and Innovative Island Invitations

Introducing.... Whack-i Wednesday with an interesting twist. Involve or incorporate "i" in as many instances imaginable. Ok... I'm done. That's way too much work.

Today we'll do two things. First, since I happen to be working on Matthew's birthday invitations yesterday and invitation starts with the letter "i", we'll briefly touch on that. Then, we'll stay on his birthday theme and see if we can apply today's Whack on the Side of the Head to planning his party. I love it... built in party consultants.

A little background. My in-laws have a beach house in Key Largo. Each year all the boys in the family plan an annual "Guys Weekend in the Keys." As a side note, I LOVE this idea. As a woman "boy-trapped" in her own home, a guys weekend in the Keys means a week of solitude in Dallas. The rule, however, is you are not invited until you are fully potty trained. Matthew missed it by the skin of his teeth last year, so he has spent the year day dreaming and obsessing over going to Florida. In January he announced that he wanted to spend his birthday in Florida. Our schedules don't allow for a trip in April, so instead the idea for his party is to bring Florida to Matthew. Thus his party will be Florida-beach-themed.

I thought about recreating airplane boarding tickets, but I thought that would escape most of the four year old children invited. Instead, I decided on messages in a bottle. I love mailing irregularly shaped items in the mail - simply because most people don't. From a child's perspective, it's a thrill to get anything in the mail... never mind something 3-D. It also made involving Matthew in the project much easier. All I needed... old water bottles, stickers, sea shells, a little bit of yellow shred, construction paper, and of course - the ever essential - hot glue gun. We wrote out the invitations and then Matthew decorated them with beach-themed stickers. Once done, we rolled up the invitations, put them in the bottles with a little bit of shred and some sea shells, sealed it up with a cork and a hot glue gun, and made cut-out shapes for address labels. One final treatment of stickers on the outside of the bottle and we're off to the post office.

Incidentally... because I like to send 3-D mail, I have been the recipient of some great and interesting mail myself... a coconut from Hawaii, a plastic barrel of fun filled with treats, a American Airlines barf bag, empty but with a handwritten letter, and a painted piece of wood with a letter on the back... to name a few. Try it. See what the whackiest thing is you can send through the mail.

Now onto the business of whacking ourselves on the side of the head. Today's card was picked only because it was the card with the title containing the most "i"s. Imagine You're the Idea. Imagine that you're a parking meter. How does it feel when coins are inserted in you? What is it like when you're "expired." how could you be easier to use? Imagine that you're a box of cereal on a grocery shelf. How can you be more attractive? What can you do to force the grocer to give you more shelf space? How would you feel if you were the idea you're developing?

The idea I'm developing is Matthew's birthday party. I'm hoping by doing this I can make his "trip" to Florida more authentic. How would I feel if I was Florida? What can I do to make party-goers feel like they have left Texas and arrived in the Sunshine State for a couple of hours? If I was Florida, I would be sunny and warm. I would be relaxing with the sound of waves in the background. Oranges would be plentiful, sand would gently move through my toes, and their would be a yummy drink in my hand. Tourists would be enjoying themselves while fishing, swimming, and cruising the ocean on boats. Beaches would be filled with beach umbrellas, suntan lotion, bright beach towels and chairs. Young children would be looking for sea shells or building sand castles; older children would be combing the sand for metal treasures or playing Frisbee; and adults would be sunbathing while reading a book or magazine.

I have to go, Micky... I mean Ricky is calling me. You take a turn. How would you feel if you were Florida?

Signing off until tomorrow when we'll ooze "o" in order to develop an original, or otherwise outrageously obscure and overboard idea...worthy of an ovation!.. OK?

Erika's Easter Egg Event

Some housekeeping before I start...

For reasons I won't fully explain... this week will have to mark the end of my blog.

Second.  A small caveat...  blogs, like every other form of written communication, can be easily misunderstood if you (1) don't know the reader and therefore understand his/her sense of wit (or lack there of as the case may be for me) or (2) if you can't see the reader and his/her expression. So Anon.. if you thought I was taking a stab at you, I apologize.  My intent was to be witty when talking about insight into the way my mind works (which for anyone who does know me makes sense - as it can be a mystery).  As for welcoming another perspective, it is one of the reasons I have enjoyed hosting this platform.  Therefore, I will accept that the comment about isolation serving as my motivator for constructing meaning in every moment was not intended to be an insult, but instead was intended to present another perspective on why I might do the things I do. If I may, let me respectfully assure my concerned readers, I have a healthy - not robust, but healthy - social life.  I genuinely think I do the things I do, simply because it occupies my mental and physical energy in a way that satisfies me.  Thank you for caring, though.  Enough said about that... 

 

Now onto today's entry - the real reason we've gathered.

Even though Easter is over, I thought it was worth sharing this short story because it underscores a motivator for starting this blog.  The experiences we create for our children and families can, in many cases, become the memories that help define their childhood.  In short, looking for ways to bring wonder into the lives of our children is time well spent.  If Erika is any indication, our children do remember and appreciate our efforts.  I know it is true of me. As mentioned yesterday, Erika generously shared her Easter tradition with me.  You can't always time when a good idea is going to come your way, so if you like this.. tuck it away until next year.

Erika explained that every Easter she and her sister go to her parent's house.  After breakfast they gather for an Easter egg hunt.  First, her parents hide eggs for she and her sister and then once that is over, she and her sister hide eggs for their parents!!!!  I love the twist for a couple of reasons.  In some small way, it teaches kids from an early age the importance of being a giver as well as receiver and it provides another opportunity for kids to see their parents as playful and interested in similar activities.

  

Knowing the dialogue we shared about interesting items to include in Easter eggs, I immediately asked what kinds of things they included in their eggs.  Without skipping a beat, Erika replied, "nothing."  She explained that for the most part they only hide the empty plastic eggs and sometimes they hide hard boiled eggs.  My interest was heightened because it said to me that even at the age of 29, spending fun and recreational time with her family was more important than any piece of candy, number of quarters, tattoos, or other chatchka.  It was truly about gathering and laughing as a family.  If the point wasn't already crystal clear, it became clear when Erika -with a bright smile and glimmer in her eye - imitated her father who, during the Easter egg hunt, made sounds pretending to be an ailing old man who couldn't bend down to retrieve his eggs.

Quick additional Easter note... Erika's does receive a small Easter basket each year containing favorite candies and some small plastic eggs.  This year one of her plastic eggs contained a strip of paper sending her to a closet.  An egg in the closet sent her to the oven and the note in the oven sent her to the garage.  In the end, Erika was presented with a modest patio table and two chairs for she and her roommate to share.  Also, a good idea I thought.  There's more where that came from.  If my haircut lasted forty minutes, she filled a good portion of the time sharing inspiring stories of thoughtful things her family does for one another.  Over time, and with her permission, maybe I'll share a few more.

Before we close out today...  Happy April Fool's Day!  Yes, I will be back next week and the week after and on and on, for at least a year.  It was my attempt to join in the fun... electronically.  For better - much better - April Fool's pranks check out museumofhoaxes.com.  They have the top 100 of all time.

Signing off until tomorrow when I investigate innovative ideas i(e)mploying "i"...