I was fortunate to attend the GrowSmartBiz Conference and Trade Show at the Washington Renaissance Hotel on Friday.  The conference, hosted by the Washington Business Journal and Network Solutions, had four tracks: 1) Marketing and Innovation 2) Small Business, Government and Nonprofits 3) Technology as a Tool for Your Business and 4) Entrepreneur Bootcamp. I attended sessions focused on marketing and innovation and live tweeted some highlights.  These are collected below:

• At #growsmartbiz @tinu says instead of focusing just on keywords in on your site for SEO write content arnd keywords relevant to your site. 11/05/2010 11:45 AM
• SEO is not standalone. Many companies make that mistake. PR and social media are intertwined. #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 11:49 AM
• #growsmartbiz (@ Renaissance Hotel w/ @dceventjunkie @jillfoster) http://4sq.com/4GYCtd 11/05/2010 11:49 AM
• I’m at GrowSmartBiz 2010 w/ @shannonrenee @nakeva. http://4sq.com/cbQvcH 11/05/2010 11:51 AM
• Videos (esp. YouTube) can have more SEO juice than text. Howevr one should make sure to include a transcript and keywords. #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 11:53 AM
• Make sure to also embed those videos on your own site. Good idea to post on multiple video sites as well. #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 11:55 AM
• YOUR website is your home base not the social media sites. Use the social media sites to draw customers to YOUR site. #growsmartbiz #seo 11/05/2010 11:58 AM
• If your customers don’t use social media/technology then your company probably shouldn’t spend time there. #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 12:00 PM
• Free ebook re: creating relevant content http://www.scribd.com/LiBeckIM #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 12:04 PM
• Permalinks are important for SEO! Should contain title of blog posts and not p=25. #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 12:15 PM
• Panel recommends self hosted blogs because you don’t control your content on other platforms. #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 12:20 PM
• Don’t be afraid to outsource the technology (and even the content creation) if those are not your strong points. #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 12:22 PM
• Go out and claim your profiles on the various social networking sites to prevent others from claiming your brand. #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 12:23 PM
• Next up is “What’s the Buzz? Reinvigorating the Small Business Innovation” #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 01:42 PM
• Spotted Matthew Lesko! #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 01:44 PM
• We are all marketers. It’s just that some of us know it. #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 01:46 PM
• Content leads to conversation. The right conversations lead to affinity. What customers want to talk about is key. #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 01:49 PM
• RT @susan_w: Use questions about your brand to generate content: @firebelly #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 01:51 PM
• RT @putitaway: RT @jer979: RT @dariasteigman: Hallelujah! “Viral is the effect not the cause.” Jeremy Epstein #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 01:52 PM
• Blog with a purpose to attract search engines to drive traffic. #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 01:55 PM
• RT @Tinu: lol – panelist said the first thing you should do is make sure of is that you and your product don’t suck! #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 01:55 PM
• Allocate 10% of marketing budget on high value cust w/ low acq costs. If campgn doesn’t work 4 them won’t work for the rest. #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 02:04 PM
• Don’t start a blog if you’re not built for a marathon. #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 02:06 PM
• Everyone seems to agree that video is a good marketing tool. #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 02:13 PM
• @msrasberryinc The speaker mentioned how many blogs are in the blog graveyard of course this relates to business instead of personal. 11/05/2010 02:15 PM
• Production values of video doesn’t matter as much as the content. #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 02:16 PM
• Most businesses don’t get that Facebook is an engagement platform and not a publishing platform. #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 02:18 PM
• @tshaka_zulu This is true. #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 02:18 PM
• RT @Tinu: RT @Sisarina: Make sure to have a call to action “Schedule a free consultation” on your website to convert. #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 02:22 PM
• Sitting beside Matthew Lesko #growsmartbiz http://twitpic.com/345pag 11/05/2010 02:22 PM
• Social media is not just for acquisition of new clients but also (and probably better) for keeping existing clients. #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 02:23 PM
• RT @CathyWebSavvyPR: RT @clickwisdom From @jer979 “sales is when you go to them; marketing is when they come to you” #growsmartbiz 11/05/2010 02:55 PM
• #growsmartbiz @rohitbharbava is talking about your business having a personality using donuts as an example. 11/05/2010 03:07 PM
• #growsmartbiz @ramonray is FULL of energy! 11/05/2010 03:08 PM
• Yes “@isCool: #growsmartbiz Ramon Ray spoke like he was at an @ignitedc” 11/05/2010 03:18 PM
• Don’t try it! “@planetrussell: @koa Donuts FTW! Is @rohitbhargava suggesting this metaphor be used w/law enforcement? ;^/ #growsmartbiz” 11/05/2010 03:23 PM
• #growsmartbiz @shonali says PR is about telling stories. 11/05/2010 03:33 PM
• RT @isCool: #growsmartbiz – @Jillfoster – twitter and public speaking – how can twitter help your public speaking? Interesting. 11/05/2010 03:45 PM
• #growsmartbiz An aspect of public speaking is learning to talk to the Internet. – @jillfoster 11/05/2010 03:53 PM

Several presentations and additional materials for GrowSmartBiz can be found at  http://www.delicious.com/tag/growsmartbiz.

If you have any questions about anything here, feel free to ask in the comments.

So I’m minding my business at the Arena Stage Homecoming Grand Opening Celebration and I hear a guy get loud.  When I turned around I see this guy yelling at his girlfriend (I assume) “I’m not going to argue with you!”  She responded that she isn’t arguing as he hurriedly walked away.  She looked frustrated but continued in the opposite direction.  A good amount of time passed and I had forgotten about the situation.  Then I saw him sitting on the grass around the corner from where he had stormed off.  He was very obviously watching for his girlfriend to come around the corner.  Then he picked up the phone.  Of course, I don’t know who he called but I’m thinking he called her or perhaps someone to come pick him up.

Since it was so obvious that he was waiting for her to come around the corner, why even storm off in the first place?

I’ve been on the receiving end of these kind of tantrums before which was why I took an interest.  I think he was trying to get his way by having a tantrum.  It is really annoying when adults act like children but it must have worked for him before.

• <rant> I am so friggin tired of the beltway. These people seem to have no depth perception what so ever. 10/28/2010 20:20
• Did you not see me coming up fast in the left lane when you decided to lackadaisically get in front of me? 10/28/2010 20:21
• What are you going – 50? The speed limit is 55 and depends on who you ask the average speed on the beltway is 75. 10/28/2010 20:22
• Your response to my headlights on your bumper is to speed up to 65 or 70 then slow back down to 50 when I catch back up to you. 10/28/2010 20:23
• When I get an opening and attempt to pass, you speed up again. What exactly is your malfunction? 10/28/2010 20:24
• Then it turns out you shouldn’t have been in the left lane after all because you’re now trying to get over to the right to take an exit. 10/28/2010 20:25
• I hope you miss it. Screw you and the horse …err car.. you rode in on. </rant> 10/28/2010 20:28
• No drivers were harmed in the typing of this rant. And I’m typing this from home. 10/28/2010 20:29
• I am so over driving… 10/28/2010 20:34

I had a weird conversation via email with someone that I have to admit that I used to date (another story). He was talking about using caller id spoofing to get access to folk’s voicemail. He assured me that it works. I assured him that it is a federal crime.

Here’s the conversation:

Him: are you serious? does it violate federal wiretapping laws?

Me: http://tinyurl.com/2fdzof

(Aside: The answer is that it’s not wiretapping but unauthorized access to stored communication instead).

Him: is this what hacking is prosecuted under?

besides, you have to get caught doing this in order to be prosecuted. when you spoof your caller ID, you are non-traceable, unless your phone calls are monitored. or if someone is silly enough to forward or save the voicemail that they accessed.

besides, a person can only get up to a year in jail for this

plus, i dont think the FBI would waste their time prosecuting unless this happened repeatedly to somebody important

Me: > when you spoof your caller ID, you are non-traceable,

I doubt that this is true. There will be logs. Caller id is only what the end user of the telephone sees but there will be phone records. I’m sure under subpoena spooftel will gladly turn over their logs as well as every phone company in between. There will also be logs of you visiting that website.

I guess you wouldn’t mind doing a year in federal prison. There are other crimes associated with it as well like stalking.

For your information, there was a woman in the middle of a divorce and her husband accessed her email account repeatedly. He didn’t tell her and she wasn’t monitoring her account but he knew things he should not have known. She reported it so they found what he was doing via the logs. There are always logs. He’s going to jail.

Hacking is prosecuted under 18 U.S.C. 1030.

Him: even if the person finds out how you accessed their voicemail, spoofcard is in canada…they would have to cooperate with US authorities .

as for stalking, the police usually call you and tell you to stop doing whatever you are doing first. it really takes a lot to get them to pursue the matter

(Aside: This is scary!)

Me: Canada is NOT a country that doesn’t cooperate with the US.

Him: i’m not saying that they wouldnt cooperate because they are in canada. but it seems like they would go after the big fish, instead of some willy nilly prankster, occasionally spoofing his caller ID.

you make it sound like i’m out to commit widescale harrassment or massive fraud or something (smile)

Me: Spoken like a true criminal.

Him: So you wouldn’t be curious in checking the voicemail or email who u are dating, where there might be trust issues?

Me: If there are trust issues I don’t date that person. Simple.

Him: it’s not that clear cut. what if you have an inkling, but you arent 100% sure? what if something doesnt quite add up, but you dont want to jump the gun? that is the easiest way to settle your curiosity

Me: What about honesty? If I feel I have to snoop to find out things, I simply won’t do it. I don’t do drama.

Him: Sure, in an ideal world, everybody would be honest. But in reality, people hide things. And technology makes being dishonest easier. When you were married, would you feel comfortable giving your ex-husband your email password? Back in the days before cell phones and email, we didnt have to worry about things like that.

I sure wish I would have known about checking voicemails before my divorce was finalized. I could have had ammunition to fight my ex. Then I wouldnt have had to pay her 60k.

Me: We had each other’s passwords and I never snooped. As far as I know, he never snooped in mine either.

People who are dishonest are going to be dishonest no matter what – technology or not. It’s not my job to make a dishonest person honest. It’s not going to happen and it’s a waste time and energy.

There are some scary statements in here. I made you read all of that to see what you think of this. I think he has stalker tendencies but some might think this is normal. Do you know people like this? Are you dating someone like this? Is this you? Is it really worth it to snoop or stalk?

Flickr photo by mr. toaster

I’ve been saying all year that it seems that everyone wants to pick on Black women. The latest is Jawn Murray’s comment about ” militant-nappy headed #angryblack women”.  If I were in his presence and he said it, I’d probably just pull out a mirror.  Look at the way he wears his own hair. If Black hair in it’s natural state were truly offensive to him, wouldn’t he seek out another way to wear his hair?  Perhaps it’s just offensive on women?

I think I am done with “nappy headed” as an insult all together. All my life I’ve seen folks use nappy as some form of pejorative. But if we accept that the texture of our hair is what it is, we shouldn’t have problems with the term nappy.  When I was young calling someone “dark skinned” was an insult too.  The present day me would probably ask “Now tell me why I’m supposed to be offended.”  I think the strong reaction to the word nappy is associated with the fact that for many nappy (as well as dark skin) equates to bad.  People need to accept that nappy is simply nappy and is not bad. We are all nappy headed.

Does not nappy come from the word nap? Dictionary.com defines nap as “the short fuzzy ends of fibers on the surface of cloth, drawn up in napping.” Other definitions on the site are “the raised fibres of velvet or similar cloth” and “tuft of wool”.   I can live with the comparison.

Why was the dustup about “nappy headed” and not about militant and angry black women?  I’m tired of black women being labeled as angry all the time.

Murray went on to tell people who responded to his first comment to get a perm . He decided to step in it some more. It seems that to offend a black woman one has to mention one of these stigmas for which society frowns on us. “Get a perm”, “That’s why you’re not married” and “You are an angry black woman” are all loaded phrases that get thrown at us.

“one thing i don’t need is any more apologies”  - Ntozake Shange

I don’t care about apologies for what things people say. It’s normally not exactly what they said that is the real problem but the thought process behind it. He sought to offend and that’s what he did.

Going back to the original message Murray wanted to convey – that he thought Tyler Perry had done a good job with “For Colored Girls”. All he had to say was exactly that. He could have added “despite the naysayers” instead of his chosen ” militant-nappy headed #angryblack women” but who am I to tell a grown man what to say. Personally based on Tyler Perry’s body of work, I can see why one might be concerned with his interpretation of Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf. Hell, even Shange was concerned.  (I’d also like to add here that my first experience with Shange’s work was her collection of poetry called nappy edges.)

So in the end instead of advocating for Tyler Perry, Murray ended up offending a significant portion of Black women who might have wanted to see the movie in the first place.  Good job! (Oh, that was sarcasm.)

I’ve been faithfully exercising on my treadmill at least four times per week (goal is five) for the past three months or so.  The sad thing is that I have owned this treadmill for at least 5 years and for approximately 3.5 of those years, it has sat there unused by me.  My reasons for starting up again were several: 1) to reduce stress specifically stress caused by unemployment, 2) to be healthy and 3) to look better.

My new found motivation is good to get me on the treadmill but I need a distraction to keep me on it for any length of time.  I used to listen to music but honestly I don’t feel like putting together upbeat playlists that last for the 45-50 minutes that I’m on the treadmill.  I would have to create new playlists to rotate daily so I wouldn’t be bored with the same songs.

What I have found that works is watching an “hour-long” show on Hulu.com; I watch these on my netbook which is the perfect size and shape for my treadmill.  With the ads on Hulu and without all the commercials that accompany the shows when they air on TV the shows are approximately 45 minutes long which is just perfect.  I especially like to use Hulu Desktop as it is easier to navigate while I am running or walking than the website.

Some of my favorite shows to watch while on the treadmill have been:

• 24
• Flash Forward
• Fringe
• Legend of the Seeker
• Ugly Betty
• The Wanda Sykes Show
• Glee
• Burn Notice
• Psych

Several of these series have ended or are ending this season.  Also the season has ended for others so I need some new shows to watch.  I’ve recently subscribed to Stargate Universe but I need other weekly hour-long shows to make time time pass quickly while on the treadmill. I saw that Burn Notice is going to begin a new season (I don’t understand the various TV seasons different shows use.)  Hopefully, there will be some new Psych episodes as well.  With those three shows, I still need two to have something to watch for five days.  I will likely have to incorporate shows that aren’t on Hulu which is fine.

So what should I watch?

1992: My boyfriend (at the time) and I were driving 200 miles from Washington, DC, to our hometown Chesapeake, Virginia, in the dead of winter.  He didn’t have heat in his car so we stopped in Lightfoot, Virginia, for coffee to warm up.  While we’re in a 7-Eleven, a white man came in and asked the cashier “Where’d them niggers come from?”  The boyfriend and I looked at each other, not sure of what he had just heard.  Being that we were in Lightfoot, Virginia, we finished adding our cream and sugar, paid for the coffee and got the heck out of there as fast as we could.  In the car, we confirmed that we had heard the same thing.

Fast forward to 2010: Four black women (including myself) are in the historic U Street neighborhood in Washington, DC.  We’re at Cafe Saint Ex‘s downstairs nightclub for a drink after a Tweetup.  The DJ was all over the place with his music selections.  He played Ray Charles’ “I Got A Woman”; that led into Kanye West and Jamie Foxx’s Gold Digger, the explicit version.  The group of us looked at each other cringing at what was about to happen.  We were sitting there in a club full of mostly white Gen X’ers yelling “But she ain’t messin’ wit’ no broke niggas.”  Um, okay.

Shannon went to talk to the DJ (who had already seen us there and he started bleeping out that N-word.  By that time, however, Danielle was already being kicked out of the club for her method of protest.  The rest of us finished our drinks and left.

Here’s what I want to know:

• What would you do in both situations mentioned above?
• Are these situations different?
• Does the fact that Kanye West is black make it okay for people to play/sing along?

According to this particular Flickr mosaic meme, this image below represents me.

The rules:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food? 
3. What high school did you go to? 
4. What is your favorite color? 
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink? 
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up? 
10. What do you love most in life? 
11. One Word to describe you. 
12. Your flickr name.

I threw in an extra image to balance out the mosaic.

Attribution: 1. Gabbra woman – Kenya, 2. Mango, 3. Deep Creek, 4. green & turquoise, 5. The Haitian, 6. macro water drop, 7. Santorini – Oia – Greece, 8. Cinnamon Ice Cream & Raspberry Sorbet, 9. Don’t Worry Be Happy, 10. My Wild River loves you!!! )), 11. unsure…, 12. The Road Home, 13. BONUS • HITOP

Today is Blog Action Day but I was already thinking of doing this post when I saw one of my Facebook friends ask why more Christians aren’t involved in the green movement. This might be a controversial post or it may not be. Sometimes we create controversy where none actually exist. I am a Christian AND a scientist. And such a combination is not as rare as many would have you believe. I believe that science explains how things work but not why while my Bible goes more into why by not the specifics of how. They are not mutually exclusive.

I can’t look at something in nature like Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina (pictured below) and not know that there’s something bigger than us mere humans. At the same time, I know that science can explain how glaciers are formed and why they are melting at an alarming rate.

While science tells us that we must take action to take care of our planet, the Bible does as well. Obviously, it’s not clearly spelled out but the groundwork is there. While Genesis establishes that mankind rules over all the earth, the concept of stewardship is pervasive. Are we not mere stewards whose job is to take care of all the natural resources that God has created? We certainly don’t own them and certainly can’t take them with us when we leave this earth.

Choices we make everyday are having a drastic effect on our planet now. The consequences could prove catastrophic if we don’t do something to prevent further damage. Climate change is not a political issue and politicians alone should not be expected to fix it. It is the responsibility of every individual on this planet. Are you onboard? Read Scientific American’s 10 Solutions for Climate Change now to see what you can do.

Photo credit: me

See more glacier photos here.

Many are no doubt wondering why I watermark many of the photos I post online. The most obvious reason is that I want to generate traffic for my blogs and other websites. However, this is not the only reason. Almost all of my photos on Flickr (except those with people) have a Creative Commons License 3.0 which allows the end user to 1) to copy, distribute and transmit the work and 2) to adapt the work provided 1) the work is attributed in a manner specified by the author or licensor (me), 2) the work is not used for commercial purposes, and 3) if the work is altered, transformed, or built upon, the resulting work is distributed only under the same or similar license to this one.

Many seem to grasp the meaning of the license while many do not. I have seen my images show up on blogs and even in a presentation from MIT. These were fine as they were not commercial uses. Where I start to have a problem is when images are used for commercial purposes without my express permission. There seems to be some debate as to what commercial means. For me if your site intends to make money (either through direct sales of products, through advertisement, or whatever) your usage is commercial.

I have had pleasant experiences with people asking for permission to use my images and I’ve had not-so-pleasant experiences. One woman (I presume) asks for permission to use one of my images for some jewelry she was creating. I asked for her website URL and photos of similar jewelry she has made before. She refused saying that it was only courtesy that she was asking for permission because my Creative Commons license entitled her to use the image anyway. Another bad experience was this image lifted from Webshots. Webshots used to have a copyright message but replaced it with “uploaded by [username]“. At the time I was not marking my images. While the photo is properly attributed to me, they have watermarked the image themselves and the site is obviously commercial. I contacted the owner of the site and never received a response. Unfortunately, I don’t have much recourse since the site is operated in the Netherlands. I’m especially upset since I stuck my hand practically in the bush where that cayman thought it was hiding to get that photo.

The fact of the matter is that no matter what you try to do to protect your images, everything online is fair game. If this is going to happen anyway, I can watermark the images to 1) better identify my original images and 2) get some attribution. I’ve been experimenting in ways to watermark images internally which would make them more identifiable when searching online. (Of course, that will do nothing to identify print publications.) Once I perfect my method I may talk about it on my GDGT GRL blog.