GO AWAY!

Okay. Don't literally go away. Just go to my new site. This is the old blog. Hosted by Blogger. A fine service but I've switched to Wordpress.

It's a new look and feel but same old theme: me.

Check it out at www.allthingsfadra.com

Follow me, friend me, whatever you want. Just stay in touch, okay?

Tech Tuesday: Eat Your Own Dogfood

Back in the day, I used to play Buzzword Bingo with my marketing colleagues. Every time someone mentioned a "straw man" or "nailing jello to the wall," we would silently giggle at our bingo cards. It didn't matter if we actually won. It was simply confirmation that buzzwords are definitely overused. Believe it or not, a lot of the same marketing buzzwords from 10 years ago are still around today. And we can add to that list. You'll hear things like "getting plugged in," "Web 2.0," "social networking," Yes, they are legitimate terms but we start to hear them so much that we tune them out and they lose their meaning.

As I was sitting down to write my initial Tech Tuesday post, I was reminded of one of the many buzzwords used by my former employer. "We have to eat our own dog food." Normally, that phrase would have resulted in some eye rolling and the standard "haven't we heard this before" routine. Recently, I embarked on business venture created to help small to medium businesses establish and improve their web presence. What better test case than myself?

It's a new company. It's an unknown company. With no previous clients. I'd like to let the world know about it. So I will be eating my own dog food. I will be establishing and continuously improving my own web presence. When I talk about helping people with web solutions, you will know that I have at least one success under our belt -- my own. You might even smell dog food on my breath.

Stay tuned...

For those of you that don't know, I have spent the last 10 years in the technology and marketing sector. I've stepped out of the corporate world and I'm finally learning to have fun with all of this stuff. Maybe I can even make some money doing it.

The blogger's life for me

I don't really consider myself a blogger. Sure, I have a blog. Sure, I post to it. But I'm not sure if I really get the whole blogging thing.

Here's my deal. I like to think about things. And then overthink them. Then reflect on them. Then provide commentary on them. Sometimes I skip the thinking part and just go right to the commentary. Those usually aren't my best moments. Regardless of all of that, what I enjoy the most about this process is writing about it. I can't believe after 16 years of schooling (I went to college. I didn't fail 4 times if that's what you were thinking) that I actually enjoy writing. I even like reading what I have written.

So as some of you know, I started this blog as a bit of a creative release. And maybe even a little portfolio building (it's nice to be able to refer to your own blog when someone asks you for writing samples). But I'm getting ready to cross the line and enter the REAL blogging world. And I have to tell you, I'm a little unsure of what to expect.

At the suggestion of my darling friend, Sue of Motherhood and Me, who I seem to promote every week, I signed up to attend Bloggy Boot Camp in Baltimore on Saturday, 3/6. It's a blogging and social media workshop for women. I'm kind of excited to learn more. But at the same time, I'm not sure what to do with that knowledge.

It seems like most women going are full-on, go-get-em bloggers who have a purpose. Raising twins! Crafts! Cooking! Mommies! I just like to write. And I'm not even consistent with that. I anticipate some of the things I probably don't do "right":

• I don't post frequently and certainly not consistently
• I don't have a theme throughout my blog
• I still use my blogspot URL (at least I have a forward set up on www.allthingsfadra.com!)
• I don't have a customized template
• I don't have advertisement
• I don't highly promote my blog (usually just a quick Twitter and Facebook share)

Just so I wouldn't have to hang my head in shame in comparison to all the other bloggers, I thought I would write a new post. This is it. I also slightly customized my blog template (got rid of some annoying text tags) and I added bling! This is more or less a badge telling everyone I am going to Bloggy Boot Camp. And I signed up for Google Adsense so that you can click on things that interested you and I will make .0003 cents or something like that. I'm a little impressed with myself.

I don't really know what to expect on Saturday. Right now, I envision a lot of enthusiastic women, a lot of pink, and a lot of hugging. None of those are really me. What I hope is that I will come back pleasantly surprised, a lot more knowledgeable, and maybe even with a few more friends.

So at the suggestion of Evolving Mommy (oops, I called you Mama in the video), I put together an intro video about myself for my fellow bloggers and for my loyal followers (all 3 of you?) to learn some fun facts about Fadra.