What to do with teenagers when roller skating gets old? SkyZone!

As the mother of a teenage daughter, figuring out activities that give ME a break, are nearby, don't involve computers and cell phones, and don't cost an arm and a leg can be difficult. Yes, the roller skating rink worked until she was about 13 - she and her friends would meet there and feel grown up that we parents would leave them there for a couple of hours on their own. But that faded, especially after our local roller skating rink added a bar serving alcohol, and the median age of the skaters went up dramatically. It wasn't a safe place for young girls to be anymore.

Enter SkyZone! Not only is trampoline jumping good exercise, but they have to PUT DOWN THEIR PHONES to do it. lol. Last night we attended the SkyZone Kennesaw VIP event where folks of all ages jumped, tossed dodgeballs, jumped into a giant foam pit, and shot hoops -- all while bouncing like crazy on the 34,000 square feet of trampolines. INSANELY COOL.

If you have a teenager - or if you still have a love of trampolines, i highly recommend spending some time at SkyZone.

JUMP JUMP!

Salesforce Implementation

Okay, Blog Sisters. Here is another promo just for you. For the month of January Aspiratech will be offering a special discount to anyone mentioning this blog when inquiring about a Salesforce Implementation project. The discount is a whopping 25%, so don't delay. It will apply for any project that has signed paperwork in the month of January 2013.

There was great response to our offer of free training last Fall, so we are back extending the hand to our sisters once more. There need to be more women in technology, and more women making technology decisions for their firms in whatever industry. Let's stay connected, and keep the knowledge flowing.

As a note to those of you who have no idea what a Salesforce implementation even is, it means implementing a customized CRM solution for a company or non-profit. This allows companies to maximize the relationships they have with their customers, clients, vendors, partners, and even competitors, all the way from marketing, through sales, accounting and support. Whether a one-person enterprise or a multinational corporation, most businesses can benefit from having such a centralized and user friendly database that can be accessed from any web browser, with exceptional security and levels of access controls for different staff positions.

Don't be shy to use the form on the Aspiratech website to ask questions if you would like to know more about Salesforce implementation, including if you are interested in work in the field yourself. (We also give 10% referral bonuses for all initial Salesforce.com projects, which can mean hundreds or even thousands of dollars for just an introduction with your name.)

Salesforce Training gift for you

I have been a contributing member of this site for so many years, and realized that though I've given so many free offerings to others in my community, I've never done so with you Blog Sisters. So here goes: For the next month, I will provide a free one hour Salesforce Training session to any sister who wants one. It can be either the user or the admin side, your choice. We will use a remote training app so that we can share a screen and work together.

Now is a good time to build your job skills, whether you are currently employed or not. I always love supporting women in technology, so don't be shy. If you really want to learn, August 2012 is apparently the time! Just visit the website linked above then submit the price quote request form and enter "blog sisters" in the field for how you heard about us. Happy summer, ladies.

Summer. It's a time of  complete and utter top-down disruption of my otherwise fairly routine schedule. It means I drive this one here and that one there. It means I space work in between the flow of life, like commas and semi-colons. It means I stay up too late and lose time in the morning. It means I really should be sleeping - right now. Goodnight one and all.

It's not a Sailor's Life for Me!: In 1946, Congress created the Board for Correction...

It's not a Sailor's Life for Me!: In 1946, Congress created the Board for Correction...: In 1946, Congress created the Board for Correction of Naval Records as a means for Sailors and Marines to correct injustices in their milit...

Would They do this to Tebow?

It's not a Sailor's Life for Me!: Take a Stand for what is Right!: According to The White House : The US Navy created an Enlisted Retention Board (ERB) in response to military downsizing. ERB rev...

I'm Interviewed At Poets United

I was honored to be interviewed as part of Poets United "Life of a Poet" series. It's fairly comprehensive and includes some fun photos and limericks. So if you'd like to know some of my deep, dark secrets, here it is. :)

Take a Flying Leap - Sky Zone Indoor Trampoline Park Atlanta - WEEE!

I promise I WOULD have jumped on the 36,000 Square Feet of Tramponines at Atlanta's new Sky Zone indoor trampoline park, except I was terrified I'd jack up my knee right before Christmas. Either that or I'd never be able to heft myself out of the foam pit.

There were old people like us, say over the age of 30, or 40, (or more), who dared to leap and toss dodge balls or jump and dunk basketballs.

I did the next best thing to jumping and took a friend and four teens who went NUTS with the leaping. The best part? An hour of jumping tired the kids out so that they were ALMOST quiet on the way home.

 

It's not a Sailor's Life for Me!: Welcome home Sailors of the "USS George HW Bush"!

It's not a Sailor's Life for Me!: Welcome home Sailors of the "USS George HW Bush"!: Today, nearly 6,000 members of the United States Navy who have been deployed on the USS George H W Bush for the past seven months have co...

Welcome Returning Sailors Home through Live Streaming Video

It's not a Sailor's Life for Me!: Saturday 10 November 2011 10 a.m. the USS George H...: Saturday 10 November 2011 10 a.m. the USS George H.W. Bush returns to homeport in Norfolk, VA. The Navy LiveStream Channel takes family and ...

Blogger is not a dirty word

It's not a Sailor's Life for Me!: Blogger is not a dirty word: After reading Captain Luther's message to "Families and Friends," comments were decidedly for or against one version of the truth. Fence rid...

It's not a Sailor's Life for Me!: Veteran's Day 2011

It's not a Sailor's Life for Me!: Veteran's Day 2011: As noble as it can be to honor our fallen veterans, it's also honorable to protect and speak out for those who are actively serving our coun...

It's not a Sailor's Life for Me!: Chamber Pots and the Space Age

It's not a Sailor's Life for Me!: Chamber Pots and the Space Age: When the United States Navy was first formed, hundreds of years ago, sailors did not have space-age, vacuum toilets on their ships, but this...

there once was a time...

I haven't posted here in a long time, although a decade ago, I had a strong presence on this blog. A decade ago, when Jeneane Sessum brought me in to help her get Blog Sisters rolling, there seemed to be so many societal and political issues that we couldn't wait to discuss. Just, for example, check out the posts on this blog in July of nine years ago, when we were really rolling.

Of course, blogging was relatively new then, and those of us women who jumped on that band wagon were usually ones of strong and well-versed opinion who, while we might be moms and wives, opted to share, in this blog and in our own, less of those parts or our lives and more of our more intellectually creative and adventuresome pursuits. We questioned; we challenged; we ranted.

How times have changed in so much of the blogosphere!

Except the same issues still exist to plaque us as women. Yet somehow our voices have quieted. Maybe, with Facebook and Twitter etc. etc., there's just too much noise out there with which to compete.

But the same issues still exist, and I am motivated here to share a situation and discussion going on in several blogs and even on youtube.

Beause I'm a feminist and a humanist, because I still, on occasion, rant, I invite you to start here and link backward to discover what young feminist, humanist, atheist, and skeptic Rebecca Watson has stirred up among those who still think deep, blog wide, and rant fearlessly.

We used to be thinkers here on Blog Sisters -- thinkers and critics and fearless ranters. What happened?

Germinating Memories - Social Media Hindsight

I have an interesting view of mommy blogging because I started blogging in 2001 as a mommy before there were 'mommy bloggers.' While early blogging was therapeutic, the best thing I got from the experience were a gaggle of great friends I still have today. And what I will always have from the experience are great memories.

REMEMBERING THE CAR-VAN

Back in 2007, Dodge ran a campaign to get mom bloggers into their new 2008 Dodge Grand Caravans, and I was lucky enough to be one of the few moms to plop my then-9-year-old and her friends into the coolest van on the planet for a week (she remembers it as a month) for free courtesy of Dodge and Matchstick Marketing, which named me one of Atlanta's 50 most influential women bloggers. [shut up and stop giggling; I clean up nice.]

No I am not kidding, someone actually brought me a luxury vehicle and put it in my driveway free of charge AND the next day the car started by itself (back in the day when I didn't know anyone who had a car that started by itself or who had satellite radio).

We LOVED having that van. I blogged the experience not because they told me to or required it, but because it was so much fun taking preteen girls around town as they sat at the table in the back and squeeled with delight that I had to write about it.

I am laughing out loud just now remembering how Jenna kept pronouncing it as "car-van" instead of Carivan.

SO WHAT DID DODGE GET OUT OF IT?

In using our experience for their early social media marketing efforts, Dodge didn't convert a sale; they didn't gain a spokesperson. Nor did they make me famous or give me money.

They did something way smarter - they gave my family a memory.

They gave an ordinary mom a cape and made her a super hero and she didn't forget.

They gave an ordinary kid a ride through time she never forgot.

And they made that 9-year-old a fan before she even knew enough about cars to care.

CUT TO 2011...

Even though the video is still on YouTube, it was four years ago. Next year she-who-loved-the-car-van-most-of-all will be driving.

This passage of time is most interesting of all because:

1) I am still driving my same old car I was then. It's turning 10 years old.

2) I am looking to buy a car next week.

3) After scouring car lot after car lot, sitting in Infinities and Flexes and Sequoias and Explorers and Elements and more, I still hadn't found "the" car as of yesterday.

4) Jenna came car shopping with me yesterday, saw the Grand Caravan from a distance among hundreds of other cars, and ran to it like an old lost favorite blankie -- she peered in the tinted windows and yelled: THIS IS IT! THIS IS THE 2008 DODGE CARAVAN WE DROVE FOR A MONTH!

5) I said, no, a week, not a month. She said, YES it was a MONTH, and according to her imaginary wish clock it was. And she was sure it might even be the same van, even though I'm pretty sure it wasn't.

7) I am going to test-drive it (re-test-drive-it?). I half expect to see old McDonalds fries she left under the seat.

8) I am really considering buying it.

DECONSTRUCTING SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTION

I have learned several things:

It felt great to be valued.

It felt even better to be shown value.

Mommy bloggers, they never really wanted you - they came for your babies.

If you want a customer later, make a memory with them now.

We really did win.

Jak is a rockstar - here's the proof!

Jak's first EVER "concert" - not bad after four lessons!!

they are growing up too fast!! and Jak is a rockstar!

Here are the three terrors at the Natural history museum in Oxford during February half term.

India is trying to outscream the dinosaurs!!

India won....

and Jak gave his first ever guitar performance two days ago!!!

they ae growing up so fast! and Jak, the budding rockstar!

Here are the three terrors at the Natural history museum in Oxford during February half term.

India is trying to outscream the dinosaurs!!

India won....

and Jak gave his first ever guitar performance two days ago!!!

What to tell your kid about dying, when you don't believe in heaven.

(cross-posted at Kalilily Time)

Your eight-year old can't go to sleep because he's crying so hard. He's crying so hard because, he says, he doesn't want to ever die and he doesn't want anyone he knows to ever die because he doesn't want to be alone.

You don't really believe in "God," and don't believe in heaven. You're not religious, and the Golden Rule is about the closest you come to embracing any doctrine, although you try to pass along a moral and ethical code that you hope he understands and continues to live by.

But what about "after?" What about after this life? What do you tell your eight-year old that will calm his fears without outright lying?

What you do is write a book that explains who and what we are in a way that will address his fears yet still be in the realm of what might actually and scientifically happen. ( After all, Carl Sagan thought so.)

And you call this book Spark.



Go over online and read through Spark -- and see if it's the answer you're looking for.

Puzzle Pieces of Social Media: Twitter, FB, Blogging

When I started blogging back in 2002, there were still many people who would say, "You do WHAT?!" when I said the the word "blog." I remember driving to work one day and hearing someone in 2003 say the word "blog" on the radio and knowing it was the first time I'd heard someone in the mainstream media talk about it. Of course, back then most of the people in "MSM" were making fun of blogging and bloggers, or saying derisive things. The 2004 elections pushed blogging out there to the forefront, but still, even then there were so few bloggers compared to now.