Twitter: Get Well Cards 2.0
So, I spent last night in the hospital, where I found out I have a UTI (don’t get any ideas, it isn’t from what you’re thinking) and a kidney infection in my left kidney.
When I tweeted this last night, I had no idea I would receive such an outpouring of kindness, concern and get-well wishes from my friends and followers. Waking up in the middle of the night and seeing your messages made me feel almost as good as the Percocet did. Really, it was heartwarming. There is no way I could ever properly thank you all.
Last night and today, Twitter was my mailbag of get well cards, minus the cheesy artwork and envelopes. And the best part about these “cards” is that they’ll never get lost or thrown out. I was really blown away by how many people reached out just to say they were thinking of me. Below is just a smattering of goodness (edited together very poorly) from some of the wonderful, caring people in my Twitter network:
To everyone who tweeted and sent DMs, you helped me so much when I was feeling terrible. I can’t thank you enough: @skalik, @caseysoftware, @britrock, @pamelump, @dmitrigunn, @jdeverter, @nathansnell, @whojaybe, @rondean, @beckymccray, @ariedana, @taxman45, @etesla, @bruno1378, @jentaro, @jpostman, @cechastain, @conniereece, @susanreynolds, @profr, @timcoyne, @davedelaney, @theburbblog, @dougmeacham, @nazgul, @lisaa123, @ikitty, @tibbon, @alexa, @sbspalding, @jackhodgson, @bigtc, @mattjmcd, @sarahwurrey, @robertcollins, @ialbert, @podcastmama, @vanhoosear, @repcor, @albertmaruggi, @jyarmis, @techpickles, @mobasoft, @bpolensky, @dartagnan373, @disruptive, @strutting, @amyyen, @gregverdino, @hooeyspewer, @travis9to5, @cspenn, @jaffejuice, @uberrob, @jayberkowitz, @chelpixie, @spiver and @tdefren.
If You Give Amanda a Tweetup…
Remember those children’s books If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and If You Give a Moose a Muffin? The little characters get all excited and keep wanting more, more, more. I’m like that with Tweetups. Taking my online friendships offline is always interesting, and with the crew who attended this weekend’s Blogstring Presents: Boston Pubcrawl Tweetup, there’s never a dull moment.
Seeing the lovely miss Julia Roy was a breath of fresh air–it had been far too long, sister. And I absolutely adore the time I spend with Pam Seiple, aka @pamelump. This was her very first Tweetup, so I’m glad she had a great time with us crazy kids. As always, seeing Sarah Wurrey and Nate Burke was A+ all around. Sarah did some sweet Pat Benatar karaoke and Nate wore the greatest shirt ever made. Denton and Paull were silly, of course. Love seeing those boys. Also in attendance: Dmitri Gunn, who I met last week at the SOURCE Boston Tweetup; Bryan Maleszyk, who I don’t think I’ve seen since October 2007; Abe Estrada, who I met on Australia Day in NYC; Sandy Kalik and her boyfriend Nate, who are two seriously awesome kids; Steve Garfield and his wife Carol, who are obviously amazing; and Josh Nichols, aka @techpickles, who I met for the first time last night.
Being part of this growing group of friends is so much fun. I get to have awesome conversations about social media, careers and life. We’re sharing and laughing for hours–we’re a comfy bunch. Like I said–never a dull moment. Some people are skeptical of relationships that form online, thinking that legitimate friends are only formed face-to-face. But I’ve made some really excellent friends from Twitter! Tweetups: quite possibly the key to my heart. Join us sometime.
If you haven’t been tempted by any of the links above, you can see all my photos from the night here, and Sarah Wurrey’s photos (along with a choice moment from Halloween 2007) here.
Coming soon: Blogger Social and Podcamp NYC!
A PR Girl Gets Ink(ed), or Amanda Goes to the Tattoo Parlor
As you may have seen on Twitter or heard on Utterz, I got a tattoo today. Behold:
Since people had been wrinkling noses at and asking questions about my tat before I got it, I wanted to take this opportunity to explain what it means to me. My first one (the letter A on my left foot) never required a lengthy explanation, but this one seems to baffle people. And honestly, I don’t want to have to explain the meaning of my tattoo a billion times, so if you ask me about it in real life, I’ll probably just direct you to this post instead of actually telling you. Sah-reez, yo.
Let’s discuss.
So, back in November, Chris Brogan tagged me at Jeff Pulver’s Boston Real-time Social Networking party with a tiny sticker on my shoulder. I looked down, and it said “The Future” on it. I remember thinking, “Wow, that is not only the coolest compliment I’ve ever received, but it’s a really excellent perspective-framing concept.” Sure, it was just a couple of words on a sticker, but the more I thought about it, the more it struck me in a few different ways and influenced the tattoo I got today:
We spend so much time quick-sanding in our past and swamped in our present–we don’t dream enough. We don’t imagine ourselves, our lives, the world around us how we really hope things will be in the future. We don’t have time for that crap, right? Well, since 2008 began, I’ve been trying to take that step back so I can look forward and visualize things the way I want them to be. That’s half the battle anyway. I don’t think of myself as all that optimistic or Pollyanna in my general outlook, but taking a few minutes each day or a couple times a week to remind myself that there is a future that’s going to happen so I better do what I can to make it look the way I want, is really good for me. I recommend trying it. My tattoo is a reminder to acknowledge that the future is inevitably and continually about to happen, so I should prepare for and influence it as best I can to achieve the outcomes I desire of it.
I’m not gonna lie–I like to think of myself as the future. I’m young, so I’m still allowed to believe that I’m going to have a great life and do some good things along the way. My peers and I have been called the “entitlement generation” and it’s often said that we’re overconfident and expect too much. Of course I’m biased, but I think our drive and unwillingness to settle make us poised to turn the future into a pretty awesome place. (And please don’t forget that we learned our behaviors and perspectives from our parents, teachers and other socializing agents when we were young. We aren’t pulling our uncompromising views out of nowhere–the adults who molded us as children helped form these traits that drive us toward our respective futures.) So, say what you will about me and my generation, but I really am the future. My tattoo is a reminder to demand and create the future I hope for and expect in myself and the world around me.
Part of incorporating the perspective frame of “the future” into my identity is the sense that it’s not just about me. In my idea of the future, there are a lot of other people with me who need to get from this point A to that point B, too. Part of my “job” as an agent for future-shaping is helping the people around me to achieve their goals and wants as well. Life would be less rich if the people I know and love weren’t part of my future with me. My tattoo is a reminder to help others along the way as we each move toward our own futures that are undeniably strengthened by our collective, connected success.
As my Grade-A new friend Alexa Scordato pointed out today, “The placement of your tattoo is perfect. It shows that your feet are always headed in the right direction… the future.” So, come to the future with me. It’ll be good.
Thank you to Stingray Body Art in Boston for putting up with my squeamish tendencies and for creating this tattoo for me. Extra special thanks to my artist Nate Stevens for being completely adorable and talented, and to Brenda Wynne for being hilarious and making my friend’s tattoo beautiful.
Also, Mom and Dad, you probably thought I was kidding and/or I wouldn’t get this tattoo after Mom called me a dope, but I hope that after reading this you don’t mind too much. You’re part of my future too. Love you.
What’s That? Oh, Nothing…
A little creativity presented in the right way really rocks my socks. While so many of us are trying to figure out how to leverage Twitter as a business tool or how to add measurable value to the tweetversation, Dave Delaney and Tim Coyne are taking it in a different direction.
I’ve listened to the hilarity on the Nothing Show before, so when I found out I was being included in an episode (with Veronica Belmont, no less!), I was hopelessly excited. What’s the Nothing Show? Dave and Tim each choose a Twitterer to portray and then pick random tweets to turn into a silly conversation that essentially is about nothing.
Twitter is obviously a useful tool for a lot of us, but it can be a source of humor and light-hearted fun, too. Thanks to Dave and Tim for including me in the Nothing Show–so flattered and still giggling.
Jay Hathaway is the Illest
Maybe you noticed the cool new graphic in the Social Honeycomb header. I personally think it’s really sweet. And I have Jay Hathaway (non-evil version) to thank for it.
I wanted to take a second to thank Jay, who, besides being awesome while writing for Suicide Girls, Download Squad and his personal blog fysigunkus, is a wonderful friend. If you don’t know Jay, you should. He’s a cool cat. And he made Social Honeycomb look way cool.
Below, please see Jay and fellow social media troublemaker Michael “Giannii” Calvert in action. Thanks again, Jay! Deez b mah boyz, yo. Enjoy.
Jedi Duel from Giannii on Vimeo.
Slowly Figuring Out My MBP
Wanted to share my first, feeble attempt at using iMovie. I get geekier by the day. Le sigh…
Music: “Let the Drummer Kick” by Citizen Cope
Amanda Gravel: Meme Killer
So, PR superstar and friend Sandy Kalik recently tagged me with the “8 Random Things” meme. I saw it flying around in tons of blogs lately and honestly expected it to die before I got tagged, but here we are, memin’ it up.
Since I’m a brat, I’m breaking the rules. I used to get those silly chain letter emails that were like, “Scroll down to see if your crush will fall in love with you!” And then you’d scroll down for like, 20 minutes and get to the bottom where you were slapped with some ominous message that if you didn’t send this on to 10 people, no one would ever love you. I don’t think I ever passed one on, and I didn’t become some social pariah with no friends or boyfriends.
Meme gods, I laugh at you. Honestly, though, I’ll tell you eight random things about me, but I’m not tagging eight more people to do the same. I don’t think anyone will really mind. Right? I am Amanda Gravel: Meme Killer.
Maybe you didn’t know:
1. I hate soda. Despise it. No Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, Dr. Pepper, Orange, Grape, Cherry, whatever. It’s all disgusting and the bubbles hurt my mouth.
2. Scary movies legitimately give me nightmares. When I was 16-17, I had a night-light in my bedroom because I had been so scared of the movie Red Dragon. Thanks, Ralph Fiennes.
3. I have my license, but haven’t driven a car in about 2.5 years.
4. I went to an all-girls Catholic high school and graduated in a class with 78 other chicks in 2004. We had no uniforms–sorry.
5. I will never order a steak in public. Ever. The thought of it gives me anxiety. I eat meat and like steak, but I just cannot order it in public. Don’t try to make me, because I won’t do it.
6. When I was in the 6th grade, I didn’t watch TV for a year in exchange for $365. My parents made a bet with me, and it was all or nothing–if I watched TV on the last day, I would have gotten $0. It was so hard! I actually made it the whole year, too. I guess $365 seems like a lot of money when you’re 12.
7. I have a thing with numbers. I heart even numbers and dislike most odd numbers, other than 5. I like 5 because it divides 0-10 in half and I visualize 5 as creating two halves. Prime numbers are the worst, because nothing goes into them–they’re mathematical rejects in my eyes. Odd numbers that are squares, like 9, 27 or 49 aren’t as bad as other non-square odds, because I can visualize the number as a four-sided shape, thus giving it some evenness… I maintain that I’m not crazy.
8. When I was little, my dad told me that adults grew wings at night and flew around whenever they wanted. I believed him and couldn’t wait to grow up.
Did you learn anything new about me?
RIP 8 Things Meme.
Yay for Career-Starting
I can haz jobs?
All My Yum-Yums in One Place: How I Use Del.icio.us
So, I’ve met a bunch of people lately who don’t use del.icio.us. This sort of surprised me, because I find del.icio.us to be a really useful tool. My guess is that people use del.icio.us as a place to store sites and posts they want to revisit. In lieu of a bookmarks or favorites within their browser or something. But most people who want to find their favorite stuff easily already use an RSS feed of some sort to aggregate Web content, so why spend time updating a del.icio.us account too?
I use my del.icio.us account as a Web portfolio–a place where an interested follower, client, friend or employer can easily see what I do on the Web in an easy, one-stop-shop format. I save and tag my social profiles and some of my favorite blog posts from this blog and On the PRowl, as well as content my peers have created about me. I write a few sentences in each description to give a taste of what I tagged and why the link is meaningful to who I am on the Web. I also make sure that every tag I use is bundled. So, if you want to check out what I’ve done with my own content, you can look in the MyContent bundle, and if you want to see what my friends have to say about me, you can explore what’s in the WebFriends bundle, and so on. Maybe I’m just making it easier for people to stalk me, but I think that for young people especially, having a place to showcase what you’ve been working to build is very useful. Gotta show all the rockstars we look up to what we’re capable of and why we’re awesome.
As you build your career and your reputation, I recommend creating a purpose-built personal del.icio.us page as a public portfolio of who you are on the Web. But your own content alone doesn’t fully capture who you are socially–including what other people say about you gives a clearer picture of your personality, so potential employers, new friends and content consumers can see who you are on the Social Web. I tell my peers to be themselves in their various social profiles and to create content they can be proud of, but I also encourage students and young professionals to make it easy for the established rockstars out there to check us out and see all the great things we do on the Web.
How is del.icio.us useful for you? What do you think of using del.icio.us as a portfolio for your social presence?
Loving
All you Mac people were right. I’m falling. P.S. I don’t know why I blink like that either.
I love… from AmandaGravel on Vimeo
