I remember lots of things about my childhood – some good & fun and others not so fun. I remember camping in a pop-up camper, riding bikes all over during summer vacation, going to church services twice every Sunday and more. I remember spending our Saturday mornings doing chores rather than watch the cartoons that only came on the TV on Saturday mornings.

What I do not remember is ever being asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. I was encouraged to try to save enough money and to have good enough grades to get into college. I was not exposed to career opportunities. Of course, I grew up in a time where most females still studied to be teachers or nurses. Yes….hard to believe that wasn’t that long ago!

I don’t think this lack of setting a career goal was through any indiffernce on my parents’ part. Rather, I firmly believe that this was due to the fact that my parents were 1st generation immigrants. While they knew how things worked or how they were expected to work in the old country, they were unfamliar with how things were over here. While to this day I do not know what my parent’s income was, while there were raising us kids I now they did their best. They put 6 kids throught private christian school, took family vacations, took trips back home to see the families they had left behind and so much more.

I never did develope a dream of what I wanted to be when I grup up…instead I fell into a waitressing job and moved up to store manager. I was very good at it. I was doing everything but the books – hiring, training, ordering, holding meetings, firing, and covering both the front and back of the house. Eventually I became pregnant with our 2nd child….and came to the conclusion that I did not want to continue working in the restaurant business…lots of 3rd shift and nearly every holiday. I decided it was time to go back to college. Yes…return. After 12 years of working it was time to go back. But, what to major in? After looking through lots of possible programs, I decided on Accounting and received my Bachelor’s Degree and still enjoy working in this field.

However, I’m not sure that I’ve grown up completely yet…there are times where I want to try something new.  Two things are holding me back.  1) we still have 1 child at home that we’re raising.  Stability is a good thing for now. 2) health care coverage.  I like having it.

What did I learn from this that I use with my kids?
- I talk to them about the great variety of jobs that exist.
- I tell them and encourage them to try things that interest them. They won’t know what they like or dislike until they’ve gotten a taste of it.
- I tell them that with hard work and the right education they can do nearly anything.
- I tell them that most people have had several careers in their lifetime – and to not expect that a job or career will last or interest you for your lifetime.
- I tell them the things they do and the decisions they make NOW will affect them in the future.
- I encourage them to think about what kind of work they enjoy and that if they work they like it won’t feel like work.

This blog post was brought in conjuction with Let’s Blog Off http://letsblogoff.com/what-did-you-want-to-be-when-you-grew-up.html

Filed under: Uncategorized ]]> http://tenminutesto.wordpress.com/2011/11/08/what-did-i-want-to-be-when-i-grew-up/feed/ 0 tenminutesto Dandelion Seed Head http://tenminutesto.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/what-term-have-you-heard-lately/ http://tenminutesto.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/what-term-have-you-heard-lately/#comments Fri, 28 Oct 2011 02:52:31 +0000 tenminutesto https://tenminutesto.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/what-term-have-you-heard-lately/ ]]> So…while on Facebook or Twitter have you come across a term that you are not familiar with? If so, take 10 minutes to search for and read a bit about it.

That way when you come across it again you’ll have that good familiar feeling about it.

However, I checked the blog last week to see that the big day is TODAY!  the Topic is “What is Home?”…

Well, immediately all sorts of song titles and proverbs and sayings come to mind.  You know you’re already thinking about them too.

home is where the heart is
this house is not a home
there’s no place like home

I work in the construction industry…yup, we build things.  And even though we aren’t a residential contractor, I know that a home builder actually builds houses, not homes.  But, I think they call it a home because of the emotion that word evokes in many of us. 

I don’t have the data to back this up, but I believe that the majority of us have had a good childhood…even if times were tough.  We were raised by people who loved us.  I know, unfortunately some were not so fortunate.  But either way, someone somewhere made an impression on you and made you feel loved.  Made you feel at home.

I think that is what home is…an emotional tie to someone or someplace.  That warm feeling of home can be triggered by the smallest thing – a scent from your childhood (burning leaves that meant a campfire with dad, that cigar smell that always clung to grandpa or the perfume mom wore).  It can be triggered by an accent spoken by a complete stranger or by an old episode of a classic tv show.

What brings you home?

I have to say that the apps on this Apple product put the Blackberry apps to shame! I love the speed & ease of downloading them and the ease of using them.

My favorite use is the podcasts!!!!! More on those another time.

Thanks for stopping by!

Harriet

I wish I had a “record” button on my person.  I could just hit that whenever an idea hits.  Then I’d also need a “transcribe” button to move it from the thought form to the written word form.  Hmmm… I wonder if there’s an app for that?  Well, an app to move the spoken word directly to a blog post…

 What is your passion? Do you get crazy over football? A new recipe? Bargain shopping? Have you ever tried to explain the rush you get to someone who just doesn’t have the same interest you have? It’s pretty hard to get them excited about it, isn’t it?

I think Twitter is like this. And I understand this…if you try to get me interested in something I believe is uninteresting…it’s just not going to happen. Unless. Unless you can somehow relate the benefits in terms I can understand and make it something I desire. Take a recipe for example. Want me to get interested in a new recipe you’ve tried? Tell me how much you love it and I may be a little bit interested, especially if I know we like the same kinds of foods. Make me understand that’s it’s not hard to make, doesn’t require me to buy ingredients I’ll never use again, the flavor is great and it’s got great health benefits, I’m more interested. Bring me a sample to taste, and I will probably be hooked on it too.

Twitter is like this. I can tell you how much I love it. Depending on how well you know me and how well you respect my opinion, you may be a little bit interested. If I explain to you how easy it can be to use and explain some of the terminology to remove the mystery you might be a bit more interested. However, if I show you the set of Dr. Seuss books I won by retweeting @Meijer; or if I show you the great deal I found on a laptop by following @dealsplus; or if I tell you bout the job lead I found on Twitter, all of a sudden you start thinking… “I want that too!” And you’re on your way to being hooked.

Honestly, when I started on Twitter, I didn’t really ‘get’ it either. We are a 1 computer household with kids…who all compete for the coveted computer time. And honestly, until you find some interesting (and I mean those Twitter users who you find interesting) people to follow, you probably won’t get it either. BUT…when I got my smart phone and downloaded an app for Twitter…and then was able to check in a bit more often I found it more interesting. I wonder if I the comparison can be made to watching a soap opera…if you tune in for 10 minutes twice a month, you will have no idea what’s going on. If you watch several times a week, you know what’s going on.

Ok…homework: 1) read (or at least skim over) the following links. 2) Set up a Twitter account. Feel free to come back here and tell me your twitter name so I can follow you! 3) find at least a dozen people to follow. Don’t know who to follow? Follow me (thatissocute) and then tell me your interests and ask for suggestions of people to follow. Or you can take a look at who I follow and see if any of those Tweets look like someone you want to follow. I have a wide variety of folks I follow: friends, family, co-workers, local businesses, local personalities, politicians, comedians, TV personalities, TV shows and much much more!

Links:

http://shegeeks.net/twitter-101-clarifying-the-rules-for-newbies/

http://twittercism.com/twitter-101/

http://twittercism.com/newbie-twitter-tips/ read this if you want 5 easy steps to get started on Twitter.

Thanks for reading!

Harriet

P.S. This post is later than I had intended…I had a hard time keeping it short & simple. But I didn’t want to scare anyone off by writing too much.

P. P. S. Please post any questions you have and I’ll do my best to answer or point you towards an answer.

Profile
Friend
Post
Status update
Wall
Poke
Page
Group
Fan
Like
News feed
Apps or applications
Farmville
Mafia Wars

Do you have any idea what these mean?

Let’s start with the most basic.  To begin on Facebook you first need to register and start your own personal profile page. This is the area that tells your friends about you – you can put a profile picture of yourself, education information, list things you like and much more.  You can enter as much (pictures, family, education, work history, etc) or as little as you feel comfortable with.   Once you’ve created your profile, you can now start looking for people you know (think scanning your address book for emails) and asking to be friends with them.  When they accept your friend request, you are now virtual friends on Facebook.  The main way to communicate with your friends is to post status updates on your profile.  This then appears on the walls of your friends.  They can see what is going on with you and can “like” and/or comment on your status.  You will see status updates from your friends on your wall.  Please take a look at these occasionally and comment on ones you find interest. You can also “poke” your friends.  Don’t worry – this doesn’t hurt!  But they will probably poke you back.  Hope you aren’t ticklish. 

 Pages and Groups are usually for things other than people (think Coke, Pepsi, your high school graduation class and nearly anything else you can think of).  You can even start a page of your own for an interest you have.  Recently you would be come a fan of those pages you enjoyed.  Facebook recently changed this so now you only get to like those pages.  However, you can’t “unlike” or “dislike” a page.  That’s probably a good thing, right? There are tons of apps you can use to spice up your profile.  Some of these apps let you play games.  Some let you add fun stuff to your profile.  When you try to use something along these lines, it will ask if you want to give permission to the app (usually provided by a party other than Facebook). If you don’t give permission, you can’t use it.  A couple of the most popular apps are Farmville and Mafia Wars.  These are games.  If a friend of yours is playing one of these, you will see lots of notices about the games.  If you don’t play these games, you will probably find it irritating to continually see these posts on your wall.  You CAN remove these from your feed.  Go to one of these messages and to the upper right corner, you should see “remove”.  Click on this and you get several options.  You can block all posts from the person or from the application.  Click on the application.  Woo Hoo – no more Mafia War posts filling up your wall!

If you need more help while you’re on Facebook, just click on “Account” (upper right hand corner) and then click on “Help Center”.

Here are a couple of links to read more:

The complete Wikipedia entry for

Facebook:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook/

Farmville: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FarmVille

Mafia Wars: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_wars

Harriet

 I’ve heard it said that a person should spend about 10 minutes a day on social networking.  I know for many (myself included) that this is not nearly enough.  But for many others, hearing this is enough to keep them from attempting to start any kind of online social networking. So I thought why not suggest to folks who feel that way that they spend 10 minutes a week to read and learn more about social media.  Then, even if they don’t want to be a part of the online social networking, they have learned something about it and are aware of it.  If something I write about sounds interesting, then perhaps they’ll be willing to give one of the many options a try.  I hope this blog will be a good resource for them and will help them get started. 

 I wish to start by explaining my goal in beginning this, my 3rd personal blog.  I am enjoying my personal quest into learning more about the various social networking/media platforms available to day:  Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.  I am by no means an expert on any of these nor am I an expert on marketing.  What I am good at is reading lots of headlines & Tweets, reading the articles that interest me and then passing along tidbits & links to other who might be interested.  Or not. My goal is to share the interesting articles and facts I’ve read to those who want to learn a little bit more about social networking.  I don’t expect the readers of this blog to be avid social media users…I just want them to be more aware and hopefully, interested enough to try something new out.

 I find my self eager to share my knowledge with friends & family.  Someone might tell me “I don’t get Twitter” and I’ll ask how they’re using it.  Depending on their answer, I’ll have suggestion for them to improve their Twitter experience.  For example, a friend of mine is on Twitter…but isn’t getting anything out of it.  After talking to her about how she is using it, I find that she is using an app on Facebook that automatically feeds her Facebook page’s status updates to Twitter.  (I hope I haven’t lost you yet!)  In my opinion, this doesn’t translate into a good experience for her (or anyone) on Twitter…nor is it the purpose of Twitter…or should I say this is not the best use of such a powerful tool as Twitter?  If one of her followers on Twitter were to try to get a conversation started by replying to her Tweet, she wouldn’t see it.  That conversation would come to a quick end.  The social part of social networking requires interaction!!

 So, this is my intention: to help those with a social media phobia to learn enough to feel comfortable and knowledgeable and open minded about social media.

 My plans (which are apt to change at will) are to do 1 post a week.  Content will be a combination of vocabulary, definitions and links to articles.  I hope that it will take about 10 minutes to read in total.  I may add a suggestion or two for those ready to try more (homework?).  I may even have some quizzes for you to test your new knowledge.     

 So, what would you like to learn about first? 

 Please leave comments (moderated of course) on this blog; suggest links of your own or ask questions.

 Thanks!

 Harriet

Follow me on Twitter thatissocute

 PS I think that social networking is like any relationship – it is a back & forth relationship; it is a conversation with the other person.  If all you do is post status updates on Facebook, Tweet on Twitter and never interact with others, you will be on a lonely unsatisfactory journey.  You won’t have a successful social networking relationship unless there is interaction.

My goal is to write a weekly blog post that will only take you 10 minutes to read.  I’ll begin by educating my readers about social media.  I may define a few words, I’ll probably include a link or two to interesting articles.  I may assign some “homework” for those who are ready to start something new.

Please leave comments, questions and links of your own.

Harriet