Meeting Ken Ilgunas - Author, Walden On Wheels

I had the great pleasure of meeting a young author, Ken Ilgunas, this evening. Ken's book, Walden on Wheels, has earned him considerable recognition as an adventurer, thinker and counter-culture young adult.

Tonight's intimate gathering in a local Winston-Salem home allowed me to visit with and glimpse into the life of this novel man. He is certainly on a journey and it will be very interesting to see what his unique living and the resultant societal recognition means for him and others - as time progresses.

From his own website:

Once I was a cart-pushing suburbanite from New York. But then I fell in love with Alaska and Thoreau, so now I go on adventures and write about them. 

I originally started this blog to chronicle my "vandwelling" adventure at Duke University in January 2009. When I enrolled in a graduate program at Duke, I was nearly broke because I'd just finished paying off my $32,000 undergraduate student debt. So I bought a van -- a 1994 Ford Econoline -- and I secretly lived in it on campus so I could afford tuition and not have to go back into debt. 

In May 2011, after two and a half years at Duke, I graduated debt-free, with a little over $1,000. A book about my experiences, Walden on Wheels, will be published in May 2013.

His writings will entertain you and quickly reveal an independent and resourceful spirit committed to living life differently. Click over to Ken Ilgunas' website and get to know Ken a bit and consider reading his book.

Currently he is writing his second book which will catalog his experiences of hiking the 1,700 mile route of the Keystone XL pipeline.

You GO Ken!

Stop. Look. Listen.

Before you cross the street, stop, look and listen. This advice was drilled into my head as a child. Before you cross the busy street - which for me was often traffic crammed Ocean Boulevard in the heat of the Summer tourist season in Myrtle Beach, SC - you should stop, look both ways and listen for traffic coming as well as look. Stop. Look. Listen.

One of our kids, at preschool age, learned this phrase incorrectly and would utter "Stop. Look and Licken," when we would prepare to cross a street. In loving and nurturing parental fashion, we never corrected her and soon we all had a new phrase for practicing safe crossings.

There are all kinds of crossings in life.

The saying stays with me. Stop, look and listen. My life is busy. I plan each day for a busy life. I enjoy it. Living is a lot like showing up at the Sunday buffet and having to chose what you are not going to taste. I'm not particularly good at saying no. I want the entire feast!

Last weekend I spent some time in Asheville, NC. I had two wonderful days with nothing planned. I went for a hike in the mountain woods, visited the Folk Art Center, took a long sit at a Blue Ridge Parkway overlook, and tarried for hours in a local coffee shop writing, reading and relaxing. I stopped, slowed down, looked at the world I was in and savored, listened, to the details and nuances of my living - that one day. It was a beautiful day. I think I'll do it some more.

When is the last time you followed the simple direction: Stop, look and listen?

3 Offensive Public Speaking Tips

After one of my earliest public presentations (I was, as they say, still 'wet behind the ears') ended, many people filed by and spoke words of appreciation and encouragement to me. After almost everyone else had left an elderly lady walked over to me and gave me some words of advice I have never forgotten.

“Young man,” she said, “You need a good job for a beginner. I have some advice for you, if you want it.”

I felt a little slighted, but told her I would welcome her feedback.

“Well,” she continued,” Remember these three things: 1. Stand up so they can see you. 2. Speak up so they can hear you, and 3. Once you have said what you came to say, Shut Up. You did OK on the first two, but you kept talking too long tonight. Leave us a little room for thinking”

Then she hugged me and shuffled off.

I eventually got over the injury she inflicted on my pride, but I have never gotten over her words. Time and again I have returned to those words.

1. Stand Up – there are numerous skills that the public speaker needs to master in order for our appearance to assist in our communication.  We need to be seen as  a part of the message we are communicating.
2. Speak Up – clearly spoken, well chosen words projected to the back of the room will always command attention.
3. Shut Up – Every day presentation should have a beginning, a middle and an end. The end should be as precise as the beginning and must always leave room for people to draw their own conclusions and do their own thinking.

Good advice for all of us who speak in public. What are your early lessons in public speaking?

Authoring the Book "Wishful Preaching" - Almost Done.

After about a year... Edits are done. The cover art is done. Just hours away from hitting 'send' to the publisher.

Available SOON via Amazon.

Can I get a Hell Yeah?!

Going Social - It's Your Choice

Thinking about going 'social' on someone or about something? We've all been there - bad customer service, misrepresented products, lousy experience...the list goes on. However, I subscribe to the 'think it through' approach. Going Social on a brand or product has the potential to smudge a business's reputation, or even go viral and result in major loss of brand value. Social media IS marketing, so I need to remember that this isn't just about me venting and whining. Before I let a momentary frustration ignite my Social  fuse, I like to go through a checklist:

1. Have I made the business aware of my problem?

2. Did I contact customer service or management and try to get resolution?

3. Did I use a softer "I'm less than happy" approach on Social media first?

4. Did I give the experience some time (24 hrs) after the last attempt at resolution?

If my answer is 'yes' to all 4, I might just be forced to unleash y Social wrath on them...maybe, if it's worth my effort.

On a lighter note, here's a infographic that might help you with your Social Media posting via BreakingCopy.

LinkedIn Troubles - I am not a Woman... part 2

So, I share An Open Letter to LinkedIn below via my Social network and then I get this.

CLICK to enlarge

That's just wrong in so many ways.

An Open Letter to LinkedIn

Dear LinkedIn:

I do adore you, honestly. You are an almost perfect tool to assist my networking efforts. However, please refrain from offering me ads that are...well...a disconnect. My name may be Kim, but my gender is no secret. You know that. I am not, nor have I ever been, a woman. Honest.

Thanks.

Work Contest - I Must Rule

So, today a contest was announced at work and the challenge is to get as many new followers to follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook and Connect with us on LinkedIn. By using special URLs they can track who sends people to the pages.

Here's what I need you to do (PLEASE). Click on each of the links below. Like, Follow or Connect as the destination page allows. That's it.

AND - If you leave me a comment with your Social links, I promise to return the favor. Deal?

Pretty please with sugar on top...

Click NOW!
LinkedIn: http://bem.bz/SQmSxv

Facebook: http://bem.bz/OljYMm

Twitter: http://bem.bz/MSmhqK


Besides...we get PIZZA!

JustSaying

Sometimes the appropriate response to reality is to go insane. - Philip K. Dick

TO DO List

I have no idea where this originated, but I had to share it.

Happy Birthday to Kim Williams!

May 2, 1958! Old Guys Rule!

Sunday Coffee Cup - Tallahassee

A few years back, while searching out possible retirement locations, my wife (bless her heart) and I were considering Tallahassee, Florida. Not anymore.

Florida, the often selected retirement destination for northerners who woke up one day from a Winter slumber and realized, “Hey – snow, ice, heating bills and fast paced talking is optional,” was never high on my list of retirement destinations. I’ve enjoyed visiting the glass bottom boats, reptiles shows, Flipper aquariums and sipping “all the orange juice you can drink for a dime,” but always felt that Florida was – well, not really the South.  Let’s face it, you can throw a case of darts in Miami and the closest thing to a Southern you’ll hit is a South American. Don’t get me wrong, I like diversity, but I prefer the slow drawl and sweet tea of a Southern lifestyle.

Enter my wife. Although she’s not a Southerner, she married me and that makes her – well, smart and acceptable. She also grew up (read 'went through adolescence') in Florida (read 'Fort Lauderdale') and to college at Florida State University – which is in Tallahassee – which isn’t really in Florida even though it is the capital of the state. Tallahassee is located in the Florida panhandle and is very close to Georgia and Alabama. My wife suggested that it was a possible retirement location, in Florida, in the South. Today’s Sunday Coffee Cup is a souvenir of our Tallahassee considerations.

Here is what I learned about Tallahassee:

1. It is a great city with lots to do – including worshiping regularly at the Florida State University shrine of Bobby Bowden.
2. Once you leave the city – there is really nothing else. Pine and palm forests, humidity you can bath in, heat that only makes you sweat more, an abundance of biting and stinging insects and pencil thin ‘beaches’ and ocean that looks like the froth of a day old latté.
3. Hiking consists of walking across level ground for miles, dodging spider webs and large spiders between pine trees.
4. The tea isn’t sweet enough.
5. You can’t get anywhere from Tallahassee. You have to go somewhere else first (read off the beaten track).
6. There are some very nice people who live there.

So, I don’t think we will be moving to Tallahassee for retirement. You know the old saying “It’s a great place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.” Well, the latter is true.

Go Seminoles! Heh.

Delta Scared Me - Clockwork Orange Style

I flew Delta this past week and now I'm afraid of Lincoln , esurance and Fairfield. Here's how it happened.

Delta Airlines Flight Safety Video

During the take-off taxi, we were shown 3 advertisements prior to the safety video - Lincoln, esurance and Fairfield Inn. I get that. Airlines aren't able to make enough money on the ticket prices, so a little advertising revenue here and there is necessary. Then, right after take-off, but before the "you may now use your portable electronic devices" announcement, the video screens fired up again and showed us the same three ads. I tried to turn off the screen glaring at me from the headrest of the seat in front of me, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOO, I was a captive audience. Then it occurred to me - I was living a "Clockwork Orange" moment (if you are too young to know the movie reference, leave this post now and go watch the film. It's historically significant... well to my history, anyway.)

1971 A Clockwork Orange

Here's the rub, take-off is one of the most tense moments in the flying experience. Anyone who has given any thought to the process knows that if something goes wrong during those first few minutes of take-off - it is bad (we're talking THE END bad). So, if you want to program me to associate stress with your product or brand, show it to me when I'm at one of the most stressful moments of my travels. I had this same experience on my return flight as, well. Same timing. Same brands.

Thanks Delta. Thanks Lincoln, esurance and Fairfield. I now can't drive a Lincoln, insured by esurance to my meeting at the Fairfield without a nagging feeling that I might crash and die.

*Note - the limo that took me from the airport to the resort and back was - you guessed it - a Lincoln. I'm scarred for life.

My Life is Waffle House?!

It is very interesting what one can learn from listening.

Photo via Old Shoe Woman

I treated my appetite and ignored my need for low a cholesterol diet (shhhh! If you don’t tell my doctor, it doesn’t count), and had breakfast at WaffleHouse recently.

Karen is in her mid thirties, has two children and hates it when her kids stay home for snow days. She drives an older Nissan. She has a small space between her two front teeth that she tries to hide by rolling her lip over them when she is laughing. It doesn’t work.

The cook, an all but kid in his twenties, plans to get his GED this year and then study at the community college, or maybe join the Navy. He likes his job, and doesn’t cook rubber eggs. I think that is considered an accomplishment. I know my eggs were very tasty. I think his name is Mack, or Mick. He didn’t have on a name tag.

Betty is clearly the matriarch of the group. She smiles as she listens to the banter of the ‘younger’ staff. She moves effortlessly from one task to the next, often working ahead of the others. She greets regulars by their first name, or with a knowing nod. Her under the cuff comments to the others often brings a smile or a giggle. Betty is, and wants to be the Queen of the WaffleHouse.

As I sat at the counter, eating my cheese eggs, grits and butter soaked raisin toast, gazing at the laminated menu pictures of the many heart-stopping, artery clogging, cholesterol enhanced foods, this thought crossed my mind: Is there really a difference between any of our lives, other than the package that our life might reside in?

Sunday Coffee Cup - Old and Royal

Before the days of Starbucks, when cell phones came with shoulder straps and discount compact disks could be ordered from a foreign land known as Columbia – fine coffee came mail order from Gevalia.

Gevalia (not unlike its beefy cousin Omaha Steaks) was the market leading - direct to your home  -brand for fine coffee. Gevalia’s coffee could be had as a subscription, delivered directly to your door via the convenience and speed of the US postal service. All one had to do was fill out the paper order form, stamp it and mail it in (no pesky internet back in those days) and for those lucky customers who watched the limited special offerings, one could grab a free coffee maker or drink ware set.

Today’s Sunday Coffee Cup is the lone survivor of our Gevalia period. At some point we acquired a set of “limited edition imported fine porcelain mugs.” This one fossil remains, a remnant of Swedish descent bearing the gold seal and commission “”By Appointment to His Majesty The King of Sweden.”

Thus I hoist the standard of the royal coffee of old and hereby proclaim, “Dang! I’m getting old.”

(note: Gevalia appears to still be in the business of delivering coffee and stuff, only now via the web.)

Textus Interuptus

Have you ever thought about how text conversations just stop in random places for hours or days, and we're totally ok with that?

Sunday Coffee Cup - My 'Thoughtful' Brother

My family is loving, supportive and deeply interested in my work as a writer and blogger. Case in point.

My brother obviously reads diligently my Sunday Coffee Cup post each week. He is, no doubt, humored, touched and deeply affected by the artistic creativity and intellectual prowess exhibited in each carefully crafted post. I know this, because when we visited this weekend (the first time we have seen each other since before Christmas), he presented me with a gift that is today's Sunday Coffee Cup.

He said he thought I needed it since I was so interested in cups.

Family.

Return of the Phone - Whoa! POP Phone

I was checking out of a local retail store and saw this. It's an accessory for your cell phone (see iPhone pictured) that connects an 'old style' phone hand set to your cell phone. Huh??!!

Happy Facebook Monday!

Image via Jim Hunt
https://www.facebook.com/huntcartoons?sk=wall

What Our Tweets REALLY Mean

After a few years of using Twitter, I think I’ve discovered a secret code. What Our Tweets REALLY Say!

The Tweet We Send	What We REALLY Mean
@lesseraccount Thanks for the RT!	“Your suck-up has been duly noted. Get back in line”
@godlyaccount Thanks for the RT!	“OMG! You noticed me… please, please do it again. Please!”
@newaccount Thanks for the follow	“Yes. I know you worship me. Get back in line”
@Celebrity Thanks for the follow	“LOOK AT ME!!! I’m somebody now!”
RT @you @somebody2 @somebody3 @afriend #FF people	“I do this for you, but I better get some followers and you owe me”
#FF @godlyaccount because they are the bomb, funny and can walk on water	“Yes. I’m sucking up. Getting back in line now.”
#FF @lesseraccount because they are new to twitter, cute and funny	“Ok. Charity done. I pray that they will remember this tweet if they become @godlyaccount”
“A clever, touching, cute quote” – Famous Person	“I can’t really be bothered to think for myself at this moment, but see how smart I am to find good quotes? Follow me now!”
RT @someone “A clever, touching cute quote” – Famous Person	"I can’t even be bothered to source by own quotes, much less create something original. I’m in line."
Current Blog title with LINK	"I've written something and I’m begging you to read it…heck you don’t have to read it just RT it or click on the link. Come on little statistics grow!"
RT of a RT of your Tweet	"Look! Somebody thought I was clever. I’m so clever! What a clever one am I!"
@someone LOOK! This is amazing w/ LINK to something you’re selling	"I’m a SPAMMER"