297th Friday Blog Roundup
When I wrote the title of this post, I realized we were only three posts away from the 300th Roundup. Remember? It’s the one where we were going to show our work spaces. Are you currently saying, “oh crap! I meant to do that?” Well, you should be saying that, slackers.
Though I am just as guilty for not writing numerous reminders. And by now, I simply don’t have enough time between now and when the 299th post goes up to upload more videos if they come in (I think I have 5 in hand). The question now is do I post the paltry 5 that I have in hand (doesn’t feel like quite the milestone marker worthy of 300 posts celebrating the community)? Ask people to upload them on their own to YouTube or Vimeo and just send me the html to embed? Skip this celebration entirely or do something else?
Help.
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The Weekly What If: What if you only had 5 videos in hand for Blog Marks the Spot (hey…wait a second…this what if sounds a lot like the question she just asked above…). Would you post the paltry 5 that you have in hand (doesn’t feel like quite the milestone marker worthy of 300 posts celebrating the community)? Ask people to upload them on their own to YouTube or Vimeo and just send Melissa the html to embed? Skip this celebration entirely or do something else?
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One reason the reminders didn’t happen is that there are already too many items on my plate. I have been having a few too many 15 hour work days in a row, which is a tad stressful, but I really like being busy. It’s sort of one of those when-it-rains-it-pours moments after a dry spell.
One of the coolest things on my plate at the moment is that I’m going to be the keynote speaker at the Resolve of New England’s conference on November 6th. If you’re anywhere close to Boston (and by close, I’m counting Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine), I would love for you to come. It sounds like a wonderful conference and I’m excited to be back up in Massachusetts.
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Another thing on my plate which hasn’t gotten done is planning an exciting meetup for BlogHer. And I’ve got to be frank, I’ve been working 15 hour days and moving my parents, so…er…this is something that seems to keep getting pushed to be back burner. But the beginning of August is quickly approaching so…
I am going to propose repeating something we did last year that worked very well. BlogHer attendees can grab their lunch on Friday (the 6th) between 11:45 am–1:15 pm and bring the plate to the hotel lobby. That way, people who are not part of the conference, but live in the area, can mingle with people who are.
Not everyone can slip out of work or get down to the city on Friday, so I propose that people start brainstorming a cheap and easy place for a bunch of people to meet on Sunday morning. Coffee? The lobby of the hotel again?
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And now, the blogs…
Dear Stevie has a post about a date night that she went on with her husband. I loved the everydayness of it, but the reader is always reminded of the backdrop it rests against. She writes, “Of course you were the topic of conversation for most of the night last night, but it was a lot more of the reminiscing about the good times we had with you talks, and a lot less of the being sad and depressed about you dying talks. I liked that, a lot.” It’s beautiful and her photographs are gorgeous.
Fertility Foibles has a post about the Crinone that is lurking in her bathroom drawer. The post manages to be both funny and wistful at the same time.
Peesticks and Stones has a post about dealing with her father’s things after his death and what she learned about him through the objects as well as about her own past. There is a letter she finds on the computer, written to a woman who may be her birthmother. The writing is gorgeous, and the moments she has captured will make you hold your breath as you read the post.
So Dear and Yet So Far has a post collecting people’s emotions surrounding infertility after loss. It struck me because this is what social media can do that other mediums cannot–it can provide validation. It’s not a long post, but the question pack a punch.
Lastly, Serenity Now has a post about returning to the RE–what has changed and what is still the same. She writes, “But. I was as nervous as ever when we were waiting to see my doctor. I tried to tamp the irrational panic from choking me by breathing and pretending to be involved in work issues on my blackberry. I never wanted to go back there.” It’s that blunt honesty that makes this a wonderful post.
The roundup to the Roundup: Remember that Blog Marks the Spot celebration? Answer the Weekly What If with your suggestion of how we should mark the 300th Roundup. I’m going to be the keynote at the Resolve of New England conference. What to do about the BlogHer get together. And lots of great posts to read.
23 comments
1) Yesterday, while driving home from work–it struck me–I was supposed to do a video for sometime in July–Oh wait, it IS July!!! (Sorry, not a slacker–just sharing a plateful too!)
2) I am in the Boston area, damn it!! So, I will be there somehow!
3) Thanks for all you do! Maybe postpone the videos for another marker?
Postponing for a different marker is definitely a possibility (maybe 333?). But what do we do now?
Well, as everyone should do for any kind of celebration…we should all have cake!
uploading to YouTube and sending off links sounds like a good solution to me.
I’m TOTALLY around in November when you’re here… and taking you out to dinner in November when you’re here. I mean, if you have time and all, being a big Keynote Speaker Celebrity-type! Maybe Delenn and I will need to kidnap you.
As for videos, man I totally forgot about it to.
I think it’s worthwhile to maybe put it off until 333 (that’s a good lucky number, right? Three threes?). Maybe celebrate 300 with people posting cake for you (use the McLinky widget!) and a virtual lushary?
Clearly I’m not very creative with these sorts of things. But I’ll bet you someone can come up with an idea of something that’s low maintenance for you and celebrates the idea that 300 posts ago, you decided to help create a COMMUNITY.
xxx
Uploading our own videos is easy, but if you want 300, postponing might make sense.
For 300, I like the cake idea, because I like cake. We could do a cake Show and Tell with photos of the cake we’re eating in honor of the Roundup.
I can’t come to BlogHer on Friday since I will still be driving in, but I’ve blocked out Sunday for the ALI meetup. I’ll go wherever, but as a non-New Yorker I don’t have any good suggestions for locations.
One question that came up when I was discussing it with Dora: babies included or excluded? Mine can stay with my husband while I’m with everyone, but some people don’t have another caregiver available.
can’t wait to see some of you on the 6th…..I am sooooo excited!!!
No suggestion about the videos. I’m having trouble getting anything extra done these days.
But cake? Mmmmmm! 🙂
Re the NYC gathering, if it’s not raining or horribly hot, the hotel is not far from Central Park. Thanks BabySmiling, for mentioning the babies included or excluded issue. As an SMC, my daughter is with me except when I go to work. But of course, I would not want anyone to be hurt by her presence.
I was just thinking about this last night and wondering when the videos were due (oops) and hoping for a reminder/update today. I agree that postponing the videos for 333 sounds best to me. And I was going to suggest cake/dessert posts. Great minds and all that.
Man, our trip back home (CT/NYC & Boston) is scheduled for October. Otherwise, I’d love to meet up. Can’t wait for the pictures and stories.
I’m celebrating by having a drink! Just because I can.
By the way, Melissa, you should check out my latest post on my blog. It’s a Harry Potter debate. I’d love to hear your opinion since my husband hasn’t read the books!
No, actually, I was thinking “it’s about time that Mel reminded me of what I was supposed to do!” I’ll be happy to YouTube it and send it to you to embed. That’s a piece of cake anyway.
Oy, good idea? The only downfall to having everyone upload themselves that I could see was if they didn’t have a YouTube account. What if we opened a stirrup queens one and put the password up here for people to upload to? (We’d have to find some way of avoiding the spammers, but it seems like a reasonably good shortcut.)
Well, I’m guilty of not reading thoroughly enough. When I read it the first time I thought “I can’t do that; I have no way to record a video.” But you seemed to have covered that with the photograph option, and now it’s a bit too late and I don’t think my work space is very fun anyway. I did think about it the other day and meant to look back to find the info, but alas, I did not.
I would be interested in the cake idea. Love a reason to bake and it’d be fun to do something creative in honor of the milestone.
@Serenity–I am in on the kidnappin’ !
Post whatever videos you have (those 5 will appreciate it!) and the post additional links periodically.
And cake. A Virtual Cake-ary to go with the Lushary.
So excited for the people in New England who get to hear you keynote at Resolve.
I don’t have a very exciting workspace, and it changes all the time, and I am still a little leery of posting pictures online. But I sure do love cake. Especially the virtual kind that has zero calories!
I’ve always wondered how you do it all! I thought once that you must have a team of mini-Mel’s who keep the Stir-up Queen blog and all of the awesome projects running smoothly. I would be happy to fill in as a mini-Mel to upload the LFCA (I could commit to one day per week or one week per month.)
Congrats on being the keynote speaker at the Resolve meeting! Any chance that video could be posted for the rest of us to see and celebrate?
does it need to be videos???
I started using this linky system (free, easy, seriously) with photo friday’s and if you were interested in PHOTOS of workspaces it would be easy!!!
seriously!!
Oh crap! I forgot about the work space thing. As well.
What should you do? Well, someone said cake… and that sounded good… is there something we can do with cake?
Bea
ok so Im still trying to learn how to use blog systems but how do I follow your blog so that I can put it on my page? All other blogs have the option to follow at the top but this site doesnt…thanks:)
I vote for having people upload their videos and/or pictures and sending you the embed html for the videos and the link for the pictures.
As for Sunday after BlogHer, I think Central Park with a back up plan of a nearby coffee shop would be a great idea.
I am with Lori Lavendar Luz on this one. You could make it a stationary post, and videos could get added to it between the 300th to the 333rd RoundUp, and then the list would close. That would possibly also give some critical mass.
But I remember that you also wanted to play a game with the videos/pics…that of the commenters to guess which workspace was who’s? I am not sure if that would be feasible in this mode. I would say just postpone it to the big 333! Or just draw it till then.
Cake? I am not sure.
…oops…Lavender!
Oooh! Virtual cakery! An excuse to eat (cup)cake sounds awesome! Easy way to celebrate. Although I still love the video idea but have been slacking. Postponement on video sounds optimal at this point.