What if you could eavesdrop on a conversation between a number of industry leaders as they join together to talk about where they’ve been and where they’re headed? I’ve invited a number of leaders in the VA field to have a conversation here, with each other and with YOU. Ask questions, share your own wisdom, [...]

I used to love (and be good at) gardening. After too many years of fighting our snails, grasshoppers, javelinas, and earwigs, I finally faced some serious truths and personal limitations. Raising my own food here in northern Arizona is competing with too many other personal interests AND I’m not that great at it. Add it [...]

Social Media sites have been heralded as the latest and best way to network and establish your brand. When you’re your own boss, your time is your own and without someone peering over your shoulder, you can Tweet/Plurk/Flickr/Facebook/LinkedIn your day away if you like. Just how many minutes a day can you justify without cutting [...]

Successful and Outstanding Blogger, that is! Liz Strauss, the original SOB is hosting her blog’s 3rd birthday party tomorrow, October 28, 2008. A year ago I joined the SOB ranks when Liz conferred the title on Loosely Speaking, allowing me to proudly display her badge here. If you have been paying attention, you may have [...]

Every girl needs a pair of bell-bottomed yoga pants. Here is a little outfit for Avery Elizabeth Pogue, newborn daughter of Eric and Sierra. Yarn details: The main color is a very soft, machine-washable lavender which I found waiting for this project, buried deep in my yarn stash. Originally used for my granddaughter Tessa’s first [...]

Frenetic. That describes my recent approach to handcrafts. Started two new sewing projects and three knitted items within the past two weeks. Usually I knit for pure kinesthetic pleasure of fiber in my hands and the miracle of seeing the project take form. When I go into overdrive, however, my toil acquires a manic quality [...]

Whether on- or off-topic for your blog, there are times when participation in a group blog project just feels right. Blog Action Day is one of those for me. Plus, any topic that lets us pause in our obsession with our American Presidential Campaign feels like a healthy use of brain waves. You can read [...]

As a participant in Blog Action Day 2008, I asked everyone I know for information on programs (actual or planned) which combat poverty. Since distributing that appeal for information in August, the numbers of those facing impoverishment may have risen due to economic woes confronting the world. It’s a confusing time when some of those [...]

My DH had his first-ever no work day in 35 years as a Land Surveyor. Not that he has never taken a day off. This is the first day ever when there just are no jobs to go out to. He knew it the night before and was feeling understandably weird thinking about it. Should [...]

Like many small developers, I built a number of websites between 1998 and 2002 using the then standard approach of hand-coded HTML and, later, a web editing program. Then, there were a number of sites created between 2002 and 2005, built on amassed HTML knowledge and reflecting my earliest flirtation with with Cascading Style Sheets [...]