Comments on: 2007 Goals

By: Episteme

Episteme — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 20:58:23 +0000

Meeting Cool People

The best thing about conferences, as I have said, is meeting cool people. I was walking back into the Speed Geeking room after my previous post about Beansec, and I almost ran into a woman. I looked down at her name tag, and it said Anne.

Of course,

By: Anne

Anne — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 21:23:30 +0000

Brenda: I **love** Tufte… I got Beautiful Evidence for Christmas. I went to one of his seminars maybe ten years ago, would be good to have a refresher. Maybe Arlington, VA in May? or SF in July?

By: brenda michelson

brenda michelson — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 21:05:37 +0000

Anne, I’m looking forward to meeting in person. Of course tracking you down in Boston at Mashup Camp makes the most sense, but I’m actively trying to win a contract that would make that impossible. Gotta keep the dogs fed Perhaps I can entice you to meet at a Tufte seminar? Here’s the schedule for the first half of 2007.

By: Dave Conrey

Dave Conrey — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 20:49:19 +0000

Anne, I totally feel you on the overindulgent aspect of posting personal stuff. My blog is mostly personal and I don’t have a lot of readership yet, so not a lot of comments, which gets me thinking that maybe people could care less about the stuff I’m posting. However, getting someone to say that they appreciate what you’re saying is really uplifting, as much as reading something inspiring like this post of yours. So you keep doing what you’re doing and I’ll do the same and hopefully we’ll all flourish from here.

By: Anne

Anne — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 19:49:18 +0000

Amie, that would be great to meet up!

I’m so glad you found this list inspiring. Even though I made an explicit decision to put more personal posts here since moving my web worker blogging to WWD and my tech blogging to redmonk, it still feels weird. This was a post I thought might be overly self-indulgent but I’m glad it resonates with people. Another cool thing about it is that by saying goals out loud, you get help with them–like Tim giving me tips on learning guitar and people giving me advice about speaking and writing opportunities.

By: Amie Gillingham

Amie Gillingham — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 15:01:22 +0000

I followed you “home” from WWD and I have to say, I found this list very inspiring. Among similarities we share on our lists–although I haven’t committed it to blog yet–is a desire to meet a lot of inspirational bloggers, including Tara Hunt, which actually seems very possible since she and Chris graciously offered their space at Citizen Agency for a future art exhibit for my organization. If we can hash out the details, it will be cool on so many levels. Hey–if you came, too, I could meet you both and we could both meet Tara
And given how my toddler is now trying to swing from the drapes, the au pair idea doesn’t sound bad, either!

By: Anne

Anne — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 14:18:48 +0000

Thanks for the toastmasters suggestion James and Tim–I had already found one that was convenient but forgot about it in all my recent busyness. That’s definitely a good idea. I’ll start in the new year.

James, you are writing a book with Duane? How cool. I certainly wouldn’t turn down an opportunity like that without hearing more…

Kathy, wow! Great! You are definitely going to be hearing from me.

By: james governor

james governor — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 11:07:08 +0000

hey anne- me and duane are working on a book. so if you want to participate that would likely be cool - though of course i cant speak for duane. but perhaps you want to be The author, rather than An author…

of course learning from kathy would be a lot more fun, and you’d get a better deal, but other than that…

meanwhile 4 and 5 would like nicely. start a band and make a video!

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 04:09:31 +0000

I’m with James on Toastmasters, too. Basically, any opportunity you can get to stand up in front of a room and get constructive feedback on how you did is both rare and a Good Thing.

By: Kathy Sierra

Kathy Sierra — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 20:24:49 +0000

Anne, ‘barfing’ is a highly-underrated approach to weight loss, so, you know, there’s that.

Hey, there’s a side business idea… public speaking barf bags with little positive motivational quotes printed on the outside like, “One day, you’ll look back on this and ask…”WTF was I thinking??!”

: )

Please talk to me offline about the book contract, too. For however I later failed to live up to it, Tim O’Reilly still claims my original Head First proposal belongs in the book proposal hall of fame. I’m pretty sure it was because I was clueless, and I’ll be happy to share my inadvertently useful tips.

Good luck and I hope you’re digging out from the blizzard this morning as I am.