The People Problem: Are there too many of us?

I’m working with local film-maker, Jane Turville, to support her latest venture: The People Problem: Are There Too Many of Us?” So far the film is in it’s early stage – Jane has mapped out who will be interviewed and the topics to be covered in what will be an epic 4-hour long documentary on the subject – one I’ve been thinking and writing about for the past 17 years. It makes perfect sense for me to be supporting this effort with my social media and email marketing talents and I look forward to sharing more about this as we move forward. Currently, the film is seeking funding to pay for the film crew to travel around for interviews. If you feel this is a good question to be asking, feel free to donate!

City Repair: The village building convergence 2013 – #vbc13

One of the most interesting things about Portland is all of the effort that’s gone into making this place welcoming to pedestrians. When people think about Portland, they often remark about what a pedestrian and bike-friendly city we are. A big part of why that is has to do with an organization called City Repair which I was attracted to when I moved here 11 years ago. City Repair is a mostly volunteer-driven organization full of amazingly talented people who give their all to build: community; cob benches; intersection repairs; and other infrastructure throughout Portland. If you find something interesting here to look at there’s a good chance that it was either created or inspired by something or someone involved in City Repair.

The biggest event that City Repair has been doing in recent years is called The Village Building Convergence.

Two of the main instigators for City Repair approached me recently and asked for my support in the publicity department and I happily agreed to participate in that way. I’m working on getting the word out about the #vbc13 and helping organize others who are interested in photo-journalism; telling stories about the event; and outreach to local and national and international media. The Village Building Convergence is a week-long event – there is place-building during the day and speakers; great food and discussions in the evenings. With over 30 sites it’s probably one of the biggest community-building events in Portland – touching thousands of lives and teaching people new skills. Here’s a short video which gives a little taste of what a VBC project can look like. But really, the joy of the event is being a part of it – if volunteering for this sounds interesting, please come and get your hands dirty with us! Your social life will improve, your health will improve and the City will look and feel better due to your efforts!

Lastly,  - I’m working on encouraging people to vote NO this May on a vote in Portland.  We are voting on whether or not to fluoridate Portland’s water. I love the fresh, pure water that we have here in Portland and do not want it fluoridated for about 100 reasons. Here’s a song I sing – River, by Bill Staines – encouraging people to think about all of the rivers – the Willamette, the Columbia and many others that will be affected by this decision.

So, that’s a little update – I hope you’re having a great Earth Day! Thanks for any efforts you make to protect the planet for all species to thrive.

On Facebook:

The People Problem: Are there Too Many of Us?
City Repair’s Village Building Convergence 2013
Clean Water Portland: Vote No on 26-151

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Yes, another Friends of Trees tree planting. This time Irvington, Sabin, Grant Park, Hollywood and Alameda neighborhoods. 131 trees – sunshine, great food provided by so many – Whole Foods, Helen Barnhard Bakery, Caffe D’arte, Peet’s, and so many neighbors helping – with food, planting, driving their pick-up trucks, and being great sports. Our hosts – the Halliday Church of God – invited their members to join us and 15 did. I believe there were 170 volunteers! To top it all off – the great help of the Friends of Trees staff – Jesse Batty, Eric Trimm and many more – and the Ten Spiders who played music while we at lunch.

All in all a fantastic day full of old friends, new friends, learning, teaching, sunshine and adding new trees to the urban canopy.

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Careline Home Safety Telephone System

We’re all aging, it’s how life works. Aging in place is all the rage.  And this phone system may be for you or your parents or their parents. To me, even thinking of ever needing something like this for myself is pretty scary. But perhaps that’s part of being an adult – you face the scary stuff, sit with it, reflect on it and in my case, report back to my readers.  In the case of the Careline system, it’s not something that I’ll personally be using for a while, but I can easily think of many family and friends who might benefit from using it.

I watched a TED talk recently that talked about a life strategy of reducing the risk in one’s life so that our lives can continue with as few tragic developments as possible. In the speaker’s talk the example was sleeping under trees in the New Guinea forests and how one would want to avoid that as they tend to fall down and kill people.  In the case of Careline what they’re doing is providing a service for older people to turn something where minutes count (such as a heart attack or fall) into an event with a more positive outcome. Even though we’re more and more connected these days, this doesn’t always mean that the people we’re connected to know when something happens to us.  Careline’s system aims to increase the odds that when something happens it’s easy for the injured to reach out and alert others.

From the VTech press release:

“Studies show a strong correlation between staying connected to others and the health of older adults. A Harvard University report said odds of mental decline doubled for seniors with no social ties compared to those who had frequent contact with relatives and friends or participated in social activities. Researchers in another study found individuals with a rich social network lived at least 1.6 years longer than their peers. CareLine is designed to support the need to stay connected, linking seniors with the people they can trust to help them age in place independently.”

So, will this device help you or someone you know prevent a tragedy from happening? Probably like any tool it will help once the user knows how to operate it and has some practice with it.  As we baby-boomers continue to age I’m happy to know that companies are thinking more and more about our generation and how to improve our life experiences.

Staying connected with others seems to be of key importance in helping us live longer and thrive while doing so. I watch constantly as I see older people struggling to stay connected. One of the issues is that their friends die off. But there are great ways to stay connected these days that didn’t exist in the past – one example is the Facebook events feed = instant social life. If all of the tools at our disposal are used perhaps we can make aging a more fun and enjoyable time for folks rather than a period of isolation and challenge.  If you’re thinking about an elder, please learn about this tool and others and report back when you find something that works!  Thanks!

Here’s a video that explains how the system works.

I wrote this blog post while participating in a campaign by the BOOMbox Network on behalf VTech Communications, Inc. and received payment for my participation. All opinions stated within are my own.

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I’m filling out my intake questionnaire for my animal communication class, and one of the questions is: name three people you admire, and why.

You are one of the three people I picked, and I thought I’d share with you what I wrote. Enjoy:

Albert, I first met in 1999 at Breitenbush’s Summer Solstice Healing Retreat. He’s done so much to better the lives of people, to make them aware of their impact on the environment, and of the environment’s impact on them. We got to be good friends after he moved to Portland, maybe in 2002 or so. He’s an amazing connector of people and resources, and I couldn’t begin to list all the projects he’s created or been involved with. He’s got a lot of Loki energy too – always messing with people to challenge their minds. He’s involved with the BRCPO (Black Rock City Post Office) which is an interactive theme camp at Burning Man that makes fun of the bureaucracy of the Post Office, yet is also an actual post office. He gets people involved, by asking them questions or challenging them to do something in the here and now. He’s created a project called Farm My Yard, he’s been doing classes on how to make the best use of social media tools for personal or business, he’s part of the DePaving project, created a Birthday Garden in Portland (his birthday wish a few years ago, a community garden). He puts out a newsletter called the Eleven, sharing ideas with people about how we can make the world a better place in this, the eleventh hour. I can’t say enough about Albert – I really look up to him because he just dives in and gets things done, gets people engaged, is fully present, open and compassionate, and even though he may get discouraged about how the world is today, he’s a shining light that’s contagious, and that gives me hope for the world.

Thanks for all you do – - Kristi

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Here are important updates about how I communicate with you, what I’m offering and a change in my rates.

First off, since I’m a Constant Contact (email marketing) business partner – I am going to start sending my emails to you: someone who has taken my classes, and those who have expressed interest in my work – via Constant Contact. This will mean sharper – hopefully richer emails for you the next time you hear from me. If this does not interest you, just let me know.

2. I will offer a one-hour free consultation to anyone (anywhere) who uses my affiliate link to sign up for a Constant Contact trial account. See the attachment for advantages to using email marketing. The first 2 months of the trial are free (you have to stay at a low contact count..) It’s a good way to see if email marketing/newsletters are a good idea for your business.  They also offer free accounts to non-profits or organizations that work with children.

Here’s the link:

http://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp?pn=albertkaufman

If you want to share this link I won’t stop you!  Also, if you find Constant Contact is not for you, I have links to all of their competitors @ http://albertideation.com – take your pick!

Due to the changes that Facebook has made = limiting Facebook fan/biz pages ability to organically (ie, free) reach their audiences the importance of using email marketing has increased in my opinion.  Here is an article detailing some predictions for this area.

http://blogs.constantcontact.com/product-blogs/email-marketing/email-marketing-predictions/

That being said, I still think that social media is important when we think about small business marketing.

On another note, in the area of Groupon-like services, Constant Contact offers something called SaveLocal. I’ve watched one client have quite a high success rate with this. SaveLocal offers go out via email and their charge for organizing your coupons/offers is very low.  For more on SaveLocal feel free to ask me more or check out

http://www.constantcontact.com/savelocal/index.jsp?pn=albertkaufman

I have raised my rates. Social Media classes are now $30 (last year they ranged from $11-$30)  I will continue to work with established clients one-on-one @ $50/hr. New clients who work with me for the first time = $60/hr.  If you’ve worked with me in the past, I hope that you agree that this is a very good deal – I pack a lot into an hour – combining teaching as well as making actual changes to clients’ online presence which are valuable. I have also started to work with clients via Skype and GoogleHangouts. If you haven’t tried this yet – it’s a great way to meet sans commute time!  Via sharing screens just about everything except me serving you tea can take place!  Also, I offer a more complete package of running small businesses’ social media/email marketing/Wordpress sites on a monthly basis – get in touch if this sounds appealing.

I’d like to ask you a favor.  One way that future clients decide to work with me is via recommendations on Facebook, Yelp! Or LinkedIn.  If you would be willing, please visit http://facebook.com/albertideation and create a recommendation. I would be very grateful.  Also, if we have worked together in the past and you’d like to see your name/business name on my client list below, please respond with information about your business and I’ll add you! The more websites that link to your website the better your search engine optimization (SEO) is. = a good thing

I hope 2013 is treating you well so far. Let me know if there is any way I can help you thrive this year. I’m a huge networker – even if it’s not on a topic you’d typically think to turn to me, you’re always welcome to throw me a question and I’ll answer to the best of my ability.

With Gratitude,

Albert Kaufman
albertkaufman@gmail.com

I can help you get your social media and email marketing into cruise mode!

Constant Contact Affiliate link: http://pdx.be/cc-ak

Sign up for my monthly e-letter, The Eleven @ http://tinyurl.com/signupforthe-eleven

Client List: http://albertideation.com/clients/

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I’ve been taking an idea I had to be supporting people on various social media platforms – and RUNNING with it. Let me know what you think Like those pages you’re drawn to

Pinterest
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pinterest-Support/526181607416843

Google+
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Google-Support/278288848959856?ref=hl

email marketing
https://www.facebook.com/emailmarketingguru?ref=hl

Social Media Support – General
https://www.facebook.com/socialmediasupport4U?ref=hl

Twitter Support
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Twitter-Support/435206796504634?ref=hl

LinkedIn Support
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Linkedin-Support/570391482976677?ref=hl

Instagram Support
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Instagram-Support/264689853659746?ref=hl

Facebook Support
https://www.facebook.com/pages/FB-Guru-Portland-Oregon/352502254816927?ref=hl

Mac Support
https://www.facebook.com/pages/TheMonsterMac/124965157649973?ref=hl

Albertideation – My main fan page!
https://www.facebook.com/albertideation?ref=hl

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And, some wise words from sage, Mark Morford.

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Yep, that’s what I look like these days! I’m on a kick to lose some weight and lower my cholesterol – so far, it’s working  I’ve purchased an urban rebounder (one of those mini trampolines) and I’m bouncing on it every day while I watch inspiring TED Talks sent to me by friends. I welcome your submissions! My main New Year’s resolution for 2013 is to be outside more – so, if you ever want to take a walk or do other exercise together outside (The Birthday Garden is a great place to work up a sweat): walking, biking, throwing a frisbee, please let me know.

Support: I have a lot of interesting projects going on at all times, and I know others who do. I’m pretty well-connected and love to network – try me  If you have any extra time or an inclination to support what I do in the world, please get in touch. I’d love to be collaborating more and having a bigger impact.

May there be peace in the world

Have a great Hanukkah, Solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Years and Merry Megglemoose!

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From the Beloved Music and Art Festival – Teaching the next generation

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge fan of sound. I grew up in a musical household – one that featured many instruments and much music making. We’d often have people pass through offering house concerts – something I continue to promote and host as an adult. And, if we weren’t playing music ourselves my home had a huge record collection that I listened to as a young person, teenager and then young adult. The music was mostly folk music but there was some Allman Brothers and blues in there, too. At 15 I started playing the guitar, continued listening to recorded music and eventually found my way to large-scale concerts featuring people like Bruce Springsteen, the Grateful Dead, and others.  These were some mighty large and LOUD shows and after the music ended my ears would continue to ring long into the night. At around this age I first became aware of the issue of people losing their hearing.

This attraction to large-scale concerts, music festivals and music, in general, eventually led me to Burning Man where the music is pretty much non-stop – comes from stationary “sound camps” and roams the playa (as the Black Rock Desert is known) via art cars pretty much 24-7.  I’ve been to Burning Man 12 times – and each time the “music” seems to get a little louder – sometimes to the point of shaking the ground even when it’s happening a mile away. Though the Burning Man organization has created some rules to limit the deafening levels of sound at the event, it still seems that the experience is marred by the abundance of loud music – usually playing over other loud music – repeat and stir.

Now I love attending Burning Man and other events. But when there is so little attempt to treat sound as a possibly harmful element, one has to wonder whether  a safe environment is being created or thought about.  Knowing that hearing loss is a growing problem in the world which affects our quality of life, I do what I can to comment back to event organizers that I have a concern about the issue.

This is also an issue affecting folks who travel to more mainstream events such as professional sports. The other night I attended a Portland Trailblazers game with a friend and was surprised to see earplugs being sold for $1 a pair at stands outside of the main hall.  I didn’t have to wonder why this might be the case long because as the game began I listened as the DJ used the sound system to bludgeon both the audience and the teams playing with ultra-loud announcements and encouragement for us all to cheer.  This went on throughout the night and I wondered to myself what the effect of this might be on the players who play the game night after night. I suspect their game is also interrupted by the intensity of the sound system, but that’s just another bad side effect of music/commentary being turned up too high.

As much as I worry about my own hearing loss, I’ve been saddened over the years by relatives’ loss of hearing. You may struggle as I do with a relative who’s lost all or some of their hearing. Many people use hearing aids, but many don’t – and it’s challenging to figure out how to help. One way is to suggest that your friend or relative find an audiologist.  Here’s a website that can provide that information.

I hope I never lose my hearing and I’m taking more and more precautions with time to protect myself and those who I know from this and other environmental effects (leaf-blowers, car alarms, lawn-mowers) that exist in our modern world.  If you agree with me that sometimes the music/noise at an event is too loud, please feel free to speak up. Often DJs who are spinning their music have been doing it so long that they are a bit hard of hearing, too – and thus, don’t really have a sense of just how loud things are. I know that often this turns up as a way too loud bass thrumming sound. Please say something!

Things won’t change unless we stand up and speak out.  Thanks for caring enough to take a stand on hearing loss issues.

Here‘s a great, short PSA video about Hearing Loss. And, feel free to share this posting with friends and family – hopefully, it will lead someone to get the help they need.

Click here to find an audiologist

I wrote this blog post while participating in a campaign by BOOMboxNetwork.com on behalf ASHA.org and received payment for my participation. All opinions stated within are my own. Truley

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