Puddle Jumping in DC

The elimination communication photo I didn't use on examiner.com

Earlier this evening I happened to notice the following keywords on Google trends, meaning that were among the top 100 searched terms on Google:

* elimination communication (#1)
* baby wearing
* attachment parenting
* elimination communication potty training

Sahara eliminating
Originally uploaded by sigkyrre.

Huh? This is not the stuff of mainstream web searching on the average day.

Processing ... processing ... Ok, what celebrity just made the news about this stuff?

Answer: Mayim Bialik, former child TV star a.k.a. Blossom, now doctor of neuroscience and mom. Bialik was just named celebrity spokes mom for the Holistic Moms Network and has done a couple recent interviews on attachment parenting with celebrity baby blog.

Anyway, since I know a bit about the #1 search term, I wrote a little article on my DC Green Living Examiner page. I did not, however, use the great image I found of Sahara eliminating because I'm pretty sure it would get me flagged for inappropriate content. I prefer it, however, to the shot of Maya that I did use (What were we doing that we have so few good potty photos?).

DC Green Living Examiner post:
Elimination communication can lead to fewer diapers in landfills

Friday, August 28th, 2009
Elimination communication is popping up all over the internet since Mayim Bialik was named celebrity spokes mom for the Holistic Moms Network. Also...

Keep Reading »

Green Moms Carnival assembles impressive eco-schools resource

My Green Moms Carnival: Back to School Edition post on energy and water saving school buildings in the area was one of thirty-one (31!) posts by moms on the interwebs about how to have a more environmentally friendly back to school season. 

Whether you want to negotiate with your daycare provider to use cloth diapers, work with your school board to put solar panels on the school roof, or find truly non-toxic school supplies, you will find resources in this month's Green Moms Carnival.

About the Green Moms Carnival - We are a group of green women bloggers, united by our desire to protect and preserve Mother Earth. Once a month or so, we share our thoughts on a common theme, so that together our environmental messages are heard by more people than we could possibly ever reach on our own. You can read more about us here and you can subscribe to all our blog posts automatically through Twitter at @GreenMoms.

Green Moms Carnival: Back to School Edition

Approximately 20 percent of the U.S. population spends 6 hours of every day in a school building.  As the summer rapidly comes to a close, millions of students are preparing to go back to school.  Some of those students will attend schools with environmentally-friendly features that reduce energy costs to the school district, reduce the pollution and carbon footprint of the schools, and improve learning environments for the kids.

Greg Edmundson, the principle at Maryland’s first certified green school in Germantown, wrote that there is a “powerful culture and social climate that can be built in such a school. Human beings thrive on enthusiasm, motivation and a naturally stimulating physical space in which to work.”

In this video, Lily, a 5th grader at that school, Great Seneca Creek Elementary, talks about what it’s like to learn in a green school.

On Conference SWAG and Babies: My Take on Two Blogher Controversies

I attended my first Blogher conference over the weekend, something I've been itching to do for about three years. Like many participants, I've been struggling with what to say about it.  

Jen's complete pile of Blogher swag.
More by Flickr user Studiojmm.

Tuesday night, after reading a dozen rants (some of them very good) about selling out, offensive sponsor- and stuff-related behavior, and laudable new reviewer policies, I dug through my backpack and purse and piled up all the stuff I brought home from Blogher 09:

That's it (not including the kiwi and piece of candy that I ate and a couple of missing pens). 

I did bring home a few things (not SWAG) from Blogher that I'm really pleased with:

• a little stack of business cards of bloggers I met,
• I kid-size I-Love-Canada t-shirt and a jar of honey butter (OMG that stuff's good), a gift from my lovely roommate,
• and, a book that will be great fodder for blogging and frugal living which I was given by another blogger after we discussed my new adventure.

There are some interesting definitions of SWAG or schwag over at Urban Dictionary, but however your spell it, it and behavior at Blogher regarding it are all over the twitter-verse and blog-o-sphere this week.

links for 2009-07-16

• The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks
  Good fun for grammar geeks.
  (tags: fun blog english humor words grammar quotationmarks punctuation)

Problems viewing columns in Firefox 3.5?

You may not be alone.  This blog is not appearing correctly in the newest Firefox browser for the Macintosh.  I've got a support request into Typepad.

links for 2009-07-08

• The Inigo Montoya Guide to 27 Commonly Misused Words
  You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. ~Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride
  (tags: blog reference tips writing language humor list online useful words english copywriting grammar)

The Cousins Descend

Most of the Mueller clan is in town this weekend (seven adults, three toddlers, one preschooler). It's pretty much mayhem of toys, tots and ratatouille from an abundance of CSA vegetables– but fun.

Folklife Festival 09 - 02, originally uploaded by Studiojmm.

More Folklife Festival Cousins

www.flickr.com

And . . . photos from Human Landscape Dance's London premiere.

www.flickr.com

Mac vs. PC Debate Ends Once and For All

Can your PC do this?

(h/t @problogger) - Don't worry about the french, mine isn't good enough to Follow the commentary either.

So, I tried to follow the url posted at the end which took me to the page in the video.  What do you think the advertisement is for?

Google Translate clumsily saved my poor neglected French on that one. It's an online alternative to sending letters at the post office (second time I've heard of this idea but first time in French; will have to investigate). Fun marketing idea, no?

Need Blogher Conference Advice

Ok, I just got off the Blogher waitlist and have a ticket!

(let's say that again "!")

But I'm traveling solo with my toddler and am weighing the value of staying for the keynote and a few minutes of cocktail party with getting the babe home into her own bed late Saturday night and spending Sunday morning with Daddy (that one is nice for me too).

testing mobile blogging features

testing mobile blogging features, originally uploaded by Studiojmm.

With this cell phone photo of Maya doing her best buddhist monk impression.

How to Lose Time

Have someone send you a link to failblog.org

see more Fail Blog

I choose to share this image because it could easily have been taken around here this week. Hopefully we'll get a good crop of tomatoes this season. Unfortunately, it seems inevitable that we get a good crop of mosquitos.

15 Books That WIll Always Stick with Me

Reading with Dad aka passing on
the obsession.
Originally uploaded by Studiojmm.

Subjecting the blogosphere to another Facebook meme: Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

1. The Cheneysville Incident by David Bradley. No relation to our recent VP.
2. The Stranger by Albert Camus. Definitely read for college not pleasure but made quite the impression.
3. O' Pioneers by Willa Cather.
4. Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow.
5. Birthing from Within by Pam England and Rob Horowitz. If you read one birth preparation book . . .
6. Marathon by Jeff Galloway. Not a particularly literary reference but that wasn't the criteria.
7. House Like a Lotus by Madeline L'Engle. This one was kind of earth shaking at thirteen with some pretty adult themes.  (Hate the cover image, btw. Artist obviously hadn't read book.) 
8. Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen. Which I read backstage during rehearsals of an Amherst community theater production of The Sound of Music (I wasn't in it).
9. The Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell.
10. The Yoga Sutras by Patanjali
11. Jacob I Have Loved by Katherine Paterson.  Apparently, I was so struck by this one that I gave it to a young friend for her birthday two years running (oops). 
12. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig.
13. Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. Unfortunately.
14. Eco-heros by Aubrey Wallace.  Given to me by my campus organizer after my sophomore year in college.
15. Native Son by Richard Wright. Read at 15 and haven't had the courage to pick up another Wright book since . . . powerful. 

News Round-up for 2009-05-19 aka Things Keeping Me Too Busy to Blog

• House Committee Begins Debate on Historic Energy Bill
  “Now is the time for bold and meaningful action on clean energy and global warming. We look forward to working with Congress to strengthen and pass the American Clean Energy and Security Act," says Federal Global Warming Program Director Emily Figdor.
  (tags: green news energy globalwarming pollution congress environment)
  
• GOP looks to expand renewables mix, stress economy during climate bill fight
  In case you are wondering, "expand renewables mix" means coal and nuclear. "'Bring a sleeping bag,' [Representative] Barton [R-TX] said yesterday after a relatively brief, three-hour session for opening statements."
  (tags: green politics globalwarming congress environment pollution)
• Cleaner Cars to Hit the Fast Lane, Obama and States Lead
  "President Obama is proving himself behind the wheel in the race to a clean energy economy. This historic action will reduce our nation’s dependence on oil, save consumers money at the pump, and cut global warming pollution. This is what leadership looks like,” said Environment America Federal Global Warming Program Director Emily Figdor.
  (tags: environment green cars global warming)
• Obama regulates tailpipe greenhouse gas | MNN - Mother Nature Network
  The Obama Administration announced May 19 tough new standards for carmakers to meet by 2016: 30 mpg for trucks and 39 mpg for cars. Why go after fuel economy when the target is climate emissions? There is virtually no other way to reduce tailpipe greenhouse gas.
  (tags: environment cars globalwarming)

Help the Earth or We Eat Your Brains

Stolen from Inspired by @lonesoph1st from her friendfeed

Zombie Letters from e-zombie.com

Ed note 4/28/09: Just noticed the April 09 Zombie theme, hence the new category.

links for 2009-04-22

• Web Designer Wall
  Design Trends and Tutorials
  (tags: webdesign css tutorials blog tutorial web)

links for 2009-04-21

• Awake At The Wheel | Blogging | Self-Improvement | Marketing
  Tagline: Tips strategies and conversations at the crossroads of life, work, entreprenuership, & play.
  (tags: blog business health culture writing career exercise communications lifehacks personal freelance self-help productivity)
• Zen Habits | Simple Productivity
  Zen Habits is one of the Top 100 blogs on the Internet, and covers: achieving goals, productivity, being organized, GTD, motivation, eliminating debt, saving, getting a flat stomach, eating healthy, simplifying, living frugal, parenting, happiness, and successfully implementing good habits.
  (tags: blog health daily inspiration finance ideas simplicity organization cool lifestyle)
• The Art of Nonconformity
  Chris Guillebeau writes about how to change the world by achieving significant, personal goals while helping others at the same time.
  (tags: blog Work travel business fun health culture career writing howto simplicity entrepreneurship personal zen lifehacks creativity)
• Seth's Blog
  business guru who started Squidoo.
  (tags: blog business technology media design culture Marketing tech web ideas entrepreneurship)
• Lifehacker, tips and downloads for getting things done
  (tags: blog Work business technology culture tech tips computer howto DIY hacks)
• Smarterware
  Gina Trapani takes notes on using your head (and great software) to get better at work and life.
  (tags: blog business technology tools tips diy computer ideas software smarterware geek)

What I'm Looking for in Tweeple

So I've been twittering for the last few weeks. Have you?  I signed up more than a year ago but didn't do much with it until a few weeks ago when I read this article on productively using twitter in 12 minutes a day. 

Since then, I've been tweeting Environment America news, re-tweeting interesting articles, and building a little twitter flock.  I'm not tying to compete with Oprah or Aston Kutcher, but sometime Friday I cracked a hundred followers, most of whom I consider to be quality tweeple (see right).

 But several times a day I get a notice that @stringofletters is following me.  A quick check of @stringofletters's profile usually reveals an avatar of a sexualized scantily-clad woman, or perhaps just her torso, and she either has issued two tweets to the effect of "get together and have fun" or lots of identical tweets in reply to specific people. I can be pretty sure she will "unfollow" me within 48 hours because I'm going to follow her back.

So what am I looking for in tweeple?

#1 Connection

• Do we have similar interests? either personally or professionally
  (@ecoholic, @greenandhealthy, @frankejames,  @Greenmoms, @GreenestDollar,  @mgonyeo,  @CrunchyGoddess, @tracystokes, @ecochildsplay, @MyGreenSide)
• Do I know you offline? (the ultimate connection)
• Are you local?
  (@PunditMom,  @JessicaKnows,  @meanlouise,  @jadabradley,  @ddefranza, @balmeras)
• Are you following 8000 people? How could we possibly connect through all that noise?

Basically, I've got to believe you'd want to hear what I have to say in 140 characters or less.

#2 Quality tweet content

• Do your tinyurls take me to interesting places?
• Are you funny?  @anamariecox and @jaketapper are just funny when they live tweet from the White House, especially in combination. And like hundreds of thousands of others, I'm entertained by several updates a day from a "cat" that goes by the handle @sockington
• Do I depend on you for news? I follow women and family issue activism from @MomsRising, all sorts of progressive commentary from @MOMocrats (yes there's a theme there), depressing news of newspaper layoffs from @themediaisdying, politics from @TheFix, and green news and commentary by @freshgreens, @the_daily_green, and @TreeHugger.

#3 Stylish tweets

• Do you use your 140 characters well? I'm following one person who can't fit her thoughts into a single tweet. It takes two or three to get it out.  She may not be long in my flock.
• Do you pepper all your your tweets with lots of hard to read hash tags (#subject)? Not stylish.
• Are you using the same vocabulary as when you text UR ETA 2 UR BFF?  This is not text messaging (even if some members of Congress tweet in this manner). Spelling and punctuation count in my book.

Even though I don't generally like getting tweets via facebook (topic for another time) the following may have permanently locked Mr. James into my flock:

#4 General absence of inane tweets or excessive tweeting

• Really, I'm quite busy and I prefer a low frequency twitterer. If you tweet to much . . .
• I also want you to add value to my day.  The occasional update on your health and wellness is one thing and help maintain #1 but if I regularly hear about your hangovers or your kids bodily fluids or what you think you want for dinner . . . you'd better really be making up for it attributes #2 or #3.

Now, both of these requirements are merely are personal preference.  There are some twitter users with very large followings who update their flocks every few minutes on the details of their lives. Clearly, it works for lots of people, but not for me.

#5 A glimpse into the culture at large

• I consider myself in the serious learning stage so I'm following several social media "gurus" including @problogger,  @kanter, and @HowToMakeMyBlog as well as @typeamom and @kgranju who specialize in moms online.
• I'm following a few big bloggesr: @jkottke on culture, @dooce on ....hmmm, @noimpactman on environmentalism, @jayrosen_nyu on journalism, and @aplusk because what's up with that?

What is not a requirement for getting my follow? Following me. If you meet these criteria I probably want your mirco-blogs even if you don't want (or don't know you should want) mine. I reserve the right to enjoy, retweet, and respond to what you post anyway.

If I don't follow you back and you think I should, @studiojmm me and I'll reconsider.

So what are you looking for in tweeple?

links for 2009-04-17

• "Zombie? Let Austen Flesh It Out: To Thicken Classic Plots, Simply Add the Undead" By Monica Hesse
  For example, in Austen's work, Grahame-Smith says: "There's a regiment of soldiers camped out in Meryton for apparently no reason. It's not a big leap to say that the regiment is there to burn coffins and kill zombies."
  (tags: literature books Austen zombies horror)

links for 2009-04-11

• TwitterSheep - a word cloud from the bios of @studiojmm's followers
  Think I'm hangin' with the right peeps?
  (tags: socialmedia twitter visual)
• How to Sell Your Soul on Twitter and Who's Buying - ReadWriteWeb
  Disturbing little piece on not-so-genuine posts on twitter. I'd been already a bit irked by the "Retweet this for a chance to win" tweets (of course with fewer characters) but this takes the cake: automatically generated advertisements in your tweet stream.
  (tags: twitter advertising Marketing pr socialmedia critique)
• Your Status Updates on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter: A Snapshot in Time — AriWriter
  (tags: blog socialmedia tips facebook twitter linkedin Marketing)
• what you should do if your Twitter profile is going nowhere quickly
  Guest post on These Digital Times
  (tags: blog twitter socialmedia tips Marketing)

links for 2009-04-08

• To participate in the real economy
  A lovely guest post on No Impact Man on the value of thrift in an economy that only values spending. "As we sorted through each of our worldly possessions, the same questions kept popping up: What to keep, what to throw away? Do we need this thing to be happy? The answer was usually no."
  (tags: sustainability economics blog green frugality culture environment consumer counterculture)

links for 2009-04-03

• Catherine Newman Wondertime Blog | Dalai Mama
  The author maintains an entertaining personal blog as well at http://benandbirdy.blogspot.com This Wondertime column may be moving as the magazine is folding.
  (tags: blog recipes food parenting)

If wind were an awkward guy from Germany.

“I think I was always misunderstood. People didn’t seem to like me.”  This entertaining and timely commercial was nominated for a D&AD award in creative communications. via Thingamababy, thanks.

links for 2009-03-30

• repurposeful
  tips for reusing and repurposing
  (tags: blog environment green frugality)

links for 2009-03-29

• Top 20 Ways to Share a Great Blog Post
  (tags: blog socialmedia tips publishing writing)
• TodaysMama
  . . . personal, professional, and parenting resources designed to foster a greater sense of identity, empowerment, and connection for women and mothers everywhere. Just launched a new feature called Connect to give Twitter a run for its money (is there money involved, must be) when it comes to moms.
  (tags: parenting socialmedia women web2.0 moms connect)
• Kelby Carr
  More interesting ideas in social media from a women not at all afraid of self-promotion.
  (tags: blog socialmedia business web2.0)
• Community Marketing Blog
  Interesting suggestions on managing twitter accounts and other social media.
  (tags: Marketing socialmedia web2.0)

links for 2009-03-26

• Shutter Sisters
  collaborative photo blog that welcomes all women with a passion for photography from experts to amateurs alike
  (tags: blog photography inspiration women design photos photo)

links for 2009-03-25

• Scrabble and Other Games Have Overvalued Points - WSJ.com
  Scrabble and a number of other games -- on boards, fields, courts and ice -- have overvalued points, leading to calls for rule changes.
  (tags: news fun culture language scrabble games words competition)
• Home/Work
  A working mom embraces life with four busy kids and a continually buzzing Blackberry.
  (tags: blog mom parenting attachmentparenting teens)

25 Random Things About Me :: A Facebook Meme

I was tagged for this meme on facebook. Since I'm still struggling with new years resolutions, I thought I'd cross post it.

1.) I cannot wink my right eye. When I was a kid, my sister thought it was really funny to ask me to try in front of other people. I try; nothing happens.

2.) Two years ago (almost), I signed up for a nine month intensive yoga program and got pregnant, basically in the same week. (Maya came a little early so she got to attend the final weekend on the outside.)

3.) I've seen a great deal of dance and know an inordinate amount of dance vocabulary for a non-dancer.

Stairs at Emei Shan
Originally uploaded by Studiojmm

4.) I like to go places and then climb things (on foot, no special equipment). In China, we climbed Emei Shan (峨嵋山;) it took two days.

5.) I like the semi-colon but try not to overuse it.

6.) I regret letting my French language skills atrophy and not sticking with the violin when I was a kid.

7.) I don't regret turning down more than one job opportunity early in my career that would have taken me away from Mac. You make choices.

8.) I run pretty slowly so have trouble finding running partners, but I can go a long way. I've finished the Marine Corps Marathon twice. Both times, I signed up with the AIDS Marathon Training Program (which I don't think does DC anymore) after a disappointing national election.

9.) I gave birth in my living room - on purpose. (password required for details)

10.) I learned how to spackle walls well by doing it badly the first time around. (Did you know that spackle is a proper name? My spell check really wants me to capitalize it.)

11.) I have trouble prioritizing.

12.) Several years ago, I made a list of five things titled: what I want. It helps.

13.) I spent all four years of college working technical theater (three as a student supervisor) and took a class in lighting design. These are not skills that currently get a lot of use.

14.) I don't watch much TV and have never seen the Daily Show (not even on YouTube), which makes me wonder if I'm in the wrong line of work.

15.) On February 18th, I probably won't get broadcast television anymore.

16.) When I was 16, I was planning to be a French teacher.

17.) I've been to China, Sri Lanka, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, England, Italy, the Caribbean, and most of the United States. I'll finally get to France this spring.

18.) I spent a lot of my childhood on a boat but never really became a competent sailor. I married a guy who gets seasick so that probably won't change.

19.) I never made a very good actor because I have trouble getting out of my own head. Yoga helps with that but I didn't start that until decades after I gave up theatre.

20.) I don't have a head for lyrics but I remember details and trivia.

21.) I once lived in a three-bedroom apartment with four people, two parakeets, two gerbils, three guinea pigs, several tropical fish tanks, a ferret, and a cat. They were not all mine but they were among the reasons that Mac, who's desperately allergic to all things furry, thought we'd never get together.

22.) Another reason was that early in Mac's attempt to woo me, I spent not quite an entire evening telling him how I'd resolved not to date at all for a while. I might have said a year. I was 19.

23.) Sometime in the late 1980's, my father accidentally disabled our computer (for those it means something to: he deleted the DOS autoexec.bat). Luckily, a wiser friend was able to come over with operating system disks and set things right again. I decided then that I would know enough about computers so that wouldn't happen to me again. In my first week as office manager at U.S.PIRG (10+ years later), I disabled one of the shared computers (I accidentally deleted the command.com). I did manage to fix it myself but, between bad operating disks and a malfunctioning CD drive, it took me several days.

24.) I've been drinking coffee regularly since about the time of the autoexec.bat incident, but occasionally give it up for years at a time or switch to only decaf. Right now, I get about half a cup of regular a day because more than that messes with Maya's sleep.

25.) I need more excuses to do stuff like this.

**********

Were you fooled yesterday?

Gotta love the orchids bit.  Learn more at www.takebackthetap.org.

I missed feet week

You probably did too.  It's not a national holiday or even one of those official-sounding observance months that I wonder who decides about.  One of the bloggers that I read alerted me to feet week. "Cool," I thought. I've been know to take photos of feet.

But at the moment, that poses a special challenge.

Feet?, originally uploaded by Studiojmm.

It wouldn't really be accurate to say that I don't see a lot of my feet these days. 

Yoga keeps you in touch with your feet . . . even if you have to spread your legs pretty wide to reach down there. But, I do have to lean forward a bit to photograph them. 

Feet, originally uploaded by Studiojmm.

Hi, baby.  Where did you hide my feet?

P.S. Welcome to 3rd trimester insomnia.  I've got apple cranberry bread in the oven (Sorry about the smoke detector guys. I really can't figure out why it's going off since there's nothing burning that I can find.) and am writing a blog entry when I should be sleeping.

What We Call The News

Monday News, Book & Blog Roundup

On the day the Chicago Tribune announced likely major layoffs, I thought it appropriate to link to a new Jib Jab cartoon lamenting the state of the news media.

What We Call the News |Funny Jokes at JibJab

It's not just television news that's been dumbed down and pulp-a-fied. The Wonkette has been watchdogging the news magazines as well. Seems Newsweek and Time don't think American's are interested in real news stories about Afghanistan or global warming, unlike their readers overseas:

March 2007: World readers get a hard hitting story about the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan. American's get "Why we should teach the bible in public school."

October 2006:  World readers get a story about species vanishing all over the world due to climate change.  American's get a pedophile Congressman.