Check Out These Related Posts

• 16. August 2011 -- 5 Reasons To Get A Vizsla (3)
• 7. September 2011 -- Wordless Wednesday: Looking Out the Front Windows (0)

Related posts:

1. 5 Reasons To Get A Vizsla Back in February, we decided it was time: we were...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

But if I take one teeny sip of Dr. Pepper, then my $2 a day goes to Westboro Baptist Church, cult that does more for the forces of darkness it purports to fight than it does the “god” they supposedly follow. Everything they do goes against everything I believe God truly is. Why in the would would I do anything that would support them.

So here is an account of what I’m sure will be the three hardest days of this 14 days.

I was out of the office on all Monday and Tuesday morning, so I was swamped when I got back. It was rough, and I wanted some Dr. Pepper. Probably because it was now forbidden, I believed that Dr. Pepper would make me feel all better and less stressed magically. How do we get ourselves to believe these things? I needed something, so I got myself a Chai.

Wednesday was more of the same. Different stresses, but again, I just knew that Dr. Pepper would make me feel better. But give to Westboro? No way. On day 2, I drank lots of green tea with Truvia.

On Thursday, I was exhausted. It was the third day in a row that I was up before 7, and I didn’t get to sleep early enough to do it without caffeine. Now, I’m trying to replace my caffeine cravings with coffee, but I still prefer Dr. Pepper in the morning and coffee in the late morning to the early afternoon. But I couldn’t give in! I just couldn’t! So I drank lots of coffee, lots of water, and I had a Diet Coke with my lunch. And I made it.

Today, I was fine. No temptation. I’m hoping I’m over the hump.

A side note: I’m already thinking about what I’ll give up or aim for next. Maybe I’ll try to get 3 servings of veggies in every day for 2 weeks. Maybe I’ll give up sweets or some other food that I over-indulge in. But I’m also trying not to think about the next thing and trying to focus on this one thing. Just this one thing.

Check Out These Related Posts

• 13. February 2012 -- Willpower and The Biggest Hurdle: Dr. Pepper (3)

Related posts:

1. Willpower and The Biggest Hurdle: Dr. Pepper It’s no secret that Dr. Pepper is one of my...
2. Pamela is the Best Personal Trainer in 417 We’ve got a great regional magazine here in Springfield, 417...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

My current strategy is substitution. Coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon, sparkling water in the evening, and lots of good old fashioned tap water all day. It works well, but it’s not fool-proof because I’m weak.

But I have a new strategy. I’m well into Willpower and as I drove all over Missouri this weekend visiting family and meeting baby Will Mildren, I listened to lots of Freakonomics podcasts, one of which covered commitment devices, tactics people use to hold themselves to their goals. So I, of course, hatched a plan supported by what I read in Willpower and heard from Freakonomics.

I’ve got to focus on one thing if I want to succeed (that’s from Willpower), and I need a good carrot (to reward me if I succeed) or an inspiring stick (to convince me not to fail), and with all the thinking time on the road, I think I’ve come up with a great plan.

My carrot/stick is going to be $2 for every day I’m successful in the current period. If I’m successful, that money will go towards the Alzheimer’s Association, and if I fail, it’ll go to Westboro Baptist Church, an organization I completely despise and detest.

My first period is going to be two weeks, starting tomorrow. Then a month, then two months, then maybe I’ll be rid of this vice I’ve been trying to eliminate for a long time.

I’ll post here again on Leap Day to let you know where the $28 is going, or you can follow me on Google+ or Twitter for more frequent updates.

The Dr. Pepper logo belongs to the rightful copyright holder. It is used here in support of that brand.

Check Out These Related Posts

• 17. February 2012 -- The 14-Day No Dr. Pepper Update: Day 4 (2)

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This morning, my online world changed. Nope, not exaggerating. I discovered IfThisThenThat (IFTTT). In brief, it takes events (If This) and triggers actions (Then That). For example, you can have it email you if the forecast for tomorrow includes rain or have it save any Facebook photo you are tagged in to a Dropbox folder. Automation magic. I love it.

Something I have sought after for almost as long as I’ve been using Google+ is a way to send Google+ posts to Twitter (I’d even be happy with the reverse!), but I never found a method that worked. Until IFTTT. There is a Recipe (user-created triggers and actions), but it didn’t work. I was determined! So I Googled a bit and found exactly what I needed from Google+ user Henrik Ekenberg. I’m posting the process here so hopefully it is easier to find in the future.

Getting Started

1. Make sure that you have a Feedburner account set up.
2. Copy your Google+ ID–click on your profile, then look in the URL box and copy the long number after “plus.google.com/”

Ok, let’s do this!

Connecting Google+ to Twitter Using IfThisThenThat and Feedburner

You can follow the steps below, or just use my IFTTT Recipe here. You’ll still need to do a little setup, like creating your Google+ Nodester URL and then your Feedburner Feed, but I’ve done all the legwork for you with the Recipe.

1. Paste your Google+ ID to the Google+ Nodester service URL: http://googleplusrss.nodester.com/ Example: http://googleplusrss.nodester.com/105740003646614855373
2. Copy the entire URL created in step 1, then paste it into the “Burn a feed right this instant” box in Feedburner. Optional: Change the Feed Address to something short, sweet, and memorable. I made mine “linden-google-plus”. Click “Next.”
   
3. Head over to IFTTT and create a Task.
4. For This: Click the orange Feed icon
5. Choose New Feed Item if you want every Public Google+ post to go to Twitter. You cannot send Google+ posts that are limited to certain circles to Twitter, only Public ones. Choose New Feed Item Matches if you would like only certain Public Google+ posts to go to Twitter. You might include a hashtag (maybe #twt) so that only those Public Google+ posts containing “#twt” are sent to Twitter.
6. Paste your Feedburner RSS feed URL into the text box and Create Trigger.
7. For That: Click Twitter as your Action Channel.
8. Click Post a New Tweet.
9. Click Create Action, give your task a name, then Create Task.

Voila! All of your Public Google+ posts will now be sent to Twitter. The only drawback of this (and it’s minor for me) is that IFTTT only scans Triggers every 15 minutes, so there is a delay between your Google+ post and the resulting tweet.

What cool things are you automating with IfThisThenThat? Share your best ideas in the comments!

Check Out These Related Posts

• 1. December 2011 -- How to Get Started with Google+ (2)
• 28. May 2009 -- Twitter Q&A: Hashtags (6)
• 5. May 2009 -- Trying to Figure out Twitter? Try Our Free eBook! (3)

Related posts:

1. How to Get Started with Google+ Google+ is the latest entry to the social networking race....
2. 2 Great Services for Monitoring Twitter Follows and Unfollows If you’re a stats person* like me, you’ll love these...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

How Does Google+ Work?

Google+ is an interesting mix of Facebook and Twitter. Like Twitter, there are no mutual follows required. You can add someone to a circle (more about that new bit of terminology in a little) and they will receive a notification, but they don’t have to add you back.

However, like Facebook, no one can see your posts unless you let them. You can either make your posts Public so anyone can see them, or they are only visible to people you have added to a circle.

So that’s it: add people you want to follow to your circles. When people follow you, add them to a circle or ignore the notification.

One final word about how Google+ works: each time you post, you can choose–among the other requisite options, like adding an image or location–in a couple clicks, which circles you want to share each status update with. It’s very easy.

How to Start with Google+

The circle is the main social unit in Google+. I started off haphazardly creating circles, but then it got too wild. I had to stop, re-think how I would be sharing, and change my circles around. So before you get dive into Google+, take a few minutes and list the groups of people you want to share  things with. Try to think generally at this point. Here’s what I did, for inspiration.

• Following: these are people who post really interesting updates, famous people, influential people. I want to get their updates, but I probably won’t share a lot with them.
• Family: I think this one is self-explanatory. I have all of my family in one circle right now, but as more of them join, I will consider splitting family into family groups.
• Outer Circle: Everyone I follow that isn’t in the Following circle is either in this group or the Inner Circle group. This is for people I want to share things with, but not personal things. These are definitely people I know.
• Inner Circle: I think this one is pretty self-explanatory too, but there are often posts that I want to share only with people I’m close to, so I have this circle.

I have several other circles, too, like for the Springfield Bloggers Association members and students, but to cut down on how many circles I need to select each time I post a status update, every one I add on Google+ goes into either my Following circle, my Outer Circle , or my Inner Circle. Putting your connections into too many circles quickly becomes overwhelming, trust me.

How does Instant Upload work, and why is it better?

For Android phones, Google+ makes it about as easy as it can be to share pictures. All of the other apps make you leave their app to select pictures. And if you want to upload pictures that you took on your phone when you’re on the computer, too bad, go find your phone. But Google+ will, if you allow it, upload pictures you take on your phone to your Google account so that you can upload pictures from anywhere.

Dead simple photo sharing. I love it.

What is a Hangout?

This is a really cool feature of Google+! A hangout is a voice and video chat with anyone on Google+, as many people as you want! I haven’t actually had a Hangout yet… anyone want to play around with Hangouts with me?

I think that’s enough to get you started. Go, explore Google+ and add me to one of your circles! If you have questions, post them in the comments and maybe you’ll inspire a future post!

Check Out These Related Posts

• 27. December 2011 -- How to Send Posts from Google+ to Twitter (1)

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Who.Unfollowed.Me

This is a free service with a $4.99 Pro version that tells you who you’re following that doesn’t follow you back, who is following you but you do not follow, and it let’s you follow/unfollow from within the service (Pro). After playing around with Who.Unfollowed.Me Lite, I was impressed enough to pay the 5 bucks to support the developer and get some extra features. You should try this service out if you suddenly suspect that someone you thought would follow you through thick and thin might have stopped following you. If you want to maintain a good following/follower ratio**, then you’ve gotta try this, and then you’ll probably want to spring for the Pro account.

DoesFollow

The only big difference between DoesFollow and Who.Unfollowed.Me is that DoesFollow will check if one specific person is following another specific person or not. You can use this to check if someone is following you without wading through their following list, or you can check to see if your niece is following Justin Bieber.

This site has a nice short cut. You can type doesfollow.com/user1/user2 into the navigation bar and load the result without loading the page first. You’ll want to make sure you fill in the blanks this way to see who is following who: “Does USER1 follow USER2?” I got the order wrong the first time I used it, but there is a “swap” option to see the reverse relationship with a single click.

What tools do you use to make the most of your Twitter? Share them in the comments.

Notes

* By “stats person,” I mean that I enjoy knowing things about stuff. I don’t know much about standard deviation or… or… well, “standard deviation” is the only Stats phrase I know, so I think that makes my point clear.
** Following lots of people without having many of them follow you back looks spammy, and it might also make Twitter think you’re gaming the system. As to the perfect ratio? You should have more followers than people you are following, ideally. Here are two good article on the Twitter Golden Ratio and a great, simple explanation of this concept.

No related posts. Check out these random posts.

• 7. January 2009 -- Top 10 Songs of 2008 (8)
• 20. February 2008 -- Linden’s Pensieve Top 10s (3)
• 20. August 2011 -- 3 Jazz Albums You’ve Got To Listen To (0)

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Monday

Typical first day. I got trained on answering phones and finding answers for the most common questions. Then, in the afternoon, I alphabetized name tags. Bor-ing! But I’d rmust ather do something productive like this than sit around doing nothing, that’s for sure! And hey, I got some quiet time to myself too; no phones or walk-ins to disrupt me. Not a bad first day at all.

Tuesday

I took the morning off to maintain some previous responsibilities, then spent the afternoon learning QuickBooks and making sure Jean had what she needed for a meeting that evening.

Wednesday

Attended my first board meeting and helped Jean take minutes. Very interesting discussion in this meeting about an issue plaguing Springfield! I can’t say more than that, but I can tell you that I am excited about the prospect of learning more about what is going on in Springfield and what the leaders of various sectors are doing to solve those problems in a smart way.

Thursday

I learned more about QuickBooks and the ins and outs of another club’s special organizational idiosyncrasies. Then I attended their board meeting. More inspiration about the good stuff going on in my little neck of the woods. I’m proud of how this particular organization is working to shield the ones it was formed to support from the ups and downs of the economy.

Friday

Quiet day, but productive. Our office is typically closed on Fridays, but I was hired to help with that. So I manned the office and even managed to help a few people who called and stopped by. Imagine that, at the end of my first week! Felt pretty good.

So here’s a few things I did this week that I either have never done or haven’t done on a regular basis in a long time.

1. I wore make up. Every day.
2. I was up before 7:45 am every day.
3. I walked to work on Monday, and loved it. Unfortunately, it aggravated my knee and caused my ankle to swell up. Didn’t love that.
4. I took short lunch breaks to go home and play with Rowdy.
5. I have started making some new habits to go with this new schedule and routine. I’m trying to incorporate FlyLady cleaning routines with the healthy eating habits I started while working with Pamela. They aren’t prefect yet, but I’ll keep at it. And I will succeed.

…so what’s new in your life?

No related posts. Check out these random posts.

• 6. March 2011 -- What Are Your Top Android App Must-Haves? (4)
• 11. February 2010 -- Guest Post on Ozarks Bazaar: 7 Things I Love–and Hate–about Google Buzz (0)
• 11. April 2008 -- May Day is a Big Day This Year (0)

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

But you know what? I ended this experiment down 13.4 pounds and 2.5% body fat. I lost 3 inches from my waist and 1 from my hips. I actually made progress. I didn’t think I would do anywhere near that well. I think I had stopped believing in my ability to work out and control my eating. Now I know that I can! I’m still a little scared, but I think I can do this, I think I can meet the goals Pamela and I set. I’ll keep you posted…

Check Out These Related Posts

• 31. October 2011 -- The Great Fitness Blogging Experiment: Week 10 (0)
• 26. October 2011 -- The Great Fitness Blogging Experiment: Weeks 7, 8, and 9 (0)
• 3. October 2011 -- The Great Fitness Blogging Experiment: Week 6 (0)

Related posts:

1. The Great Fitness Blogging Experiment: Week 3 In this week’s Great Fitness Blogging Experiment post, I share...
2. The Great Fitness Blogging Experiment: Week 2 Oh man. My second post on Pamela’s Thrive Personal Fitness...
3. Tuesdays with Linden’s Favorite Links | 23-Aug-2011 I’m beginning a new leg on my fitness journey, so...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Check Out These Related Posts

• 5. November 2011 -- The Great Fitness Blogging Experiment: Week 11 (0)
• 26. October 2011 -- The Great Fitness Blogging Experiment: Weeks 7, 8, and 9 (0)
• 3. October 2011 -- The Great Fitness Blogging Experiment: Week 6 (0)

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

No related posts. Check out these random posts.

• 7. October 2011 -- Race Tomorrow, Running Mind Tonight (1)
• 2. October 2008 -- Berlin Marathon Race Report: Finish Area + Reflection (Pt. 3) (2)
• 6. November 2007 -- Monday Good Thing/Bad Thing (1)

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.