Forward-looking statement

Magnet #889 - Believe

Another one of my word collection magnets from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Picked for a good reason today - for the past year, I've been following my friend's DOWNsized. But NEVER out. blog that she started when she was let go from her job.

She's been truly inspiring, with her blogposts from Panera, her positivity, and her firm belief that something great is waiting for her. Because it is.

Now that I'm in the same boat, I find myself trying to emulate that positive attitude, staying upbeat, and trying to soothe those left behind with stunned, shell-shocked faces. I mean, we should be used to it by now, given the year we've had saying good-byes. I'm really just another body in a long line of them.

I'm taking a page from Barb's book - I refuse to be all sad and heartsick about it. Anyone who has read joy magnetism for any length of time knows how unhappy I've been for ages - it wasn't healthy, clearly, because I was getting sick all the time, worrying about stupid things out of my control, and letting the situation control me and expressing itself in a very un-joylike attitude.

So, this is a good thing, people. While I will miss the terrific friends I've made and the brilliant colleagues and clients I've worked with, I have no regrets in my 12-year-career there. (Well, except for whomever poor soul has to deal with all the loose ends that have to be resolved.)

I do find myself looking forward to what the future brings. To quote one of the many people who have reached out (thank you), "you'll find yourself looking at what you can do, but be asking yourself what can't you do." (Wait, does that make sense the way I just said it? I dunno, but you get it.)

In the meantime, I'll be looking to Barb's blog for more inspiration on positivity, and to my friends and trusted colleagues for guidance, support and ears to the ground.

Ready. Set. Go.

Together, we're gonna find our way*

Magnet #366 - Stripes of Togetherness

They say that one blog is born every half second. Ok. I made that up.

They also say that most bloggers abandon their blogs within the first couple months of creating it. That I did not make up.

A year ago, I wasn't really sure if I'd stick it out - I mean, the other blog we started died on the vine, much like the trip itself. But joy magnetism still plugs away, mainly because my magnets are multiplying like rabbits.

But it's not been a year without growth. /pun intended

Below is a rather waxing poetical shortlist of what I've learned about the blogosphere and you guys.

- Search. I LOVE stalking my SiteMeter. I find it absolutely fascinating, the things people search online. I LOVE that I can see what people have searched to reach me. I swear, if I could rank all the searches that get you to this blog, "French word for gold" would totally be number 1. It's amazing the number of people in this world who want to know what is the French word for gold. And why, I wonder?

Oh! And good grief, there are lots of people looking for shirtless pics of people (Owain Yeoman, Russell Wong, Brendan Fraser) and end up here. Oddly, no one's searched for shirtless David Tennant.

- Global. I LOVE that the World Wide Web really is worldwide. Hi Beijing! Hi Scotland! Hi San Diego! Hi Norway! Seriously. I love that someone a world a way spent time on joy magnetism. Even better? I love that sometimes, I can link to my own page - literally, in Greek! It's so cool!

Flickfilosopher did this post last week where she showed her own SiteMeter map. Mine's nowhere near as crowded as hers, but I live for those weeks where every continent is represented! Well, ok, save for Antarctica. I am still waiting for someone in Antarctica to visit me. I realize they might be busy, but come on. Throw a girl a subzero bone, will you?

- Linking. I love it. If I could just surf the Internet to provide you with places to go for more information, and have that be my job, that'd be awesome. Yes. When I grow up, I want to be Google.

- HTML. I don't love it. I gotta tell you, it's fun to learn a new tip or trick, but sometimes, when I'm messing around with the html code for this page? You should see the havoc I've wrought. Heh. You're lucky the darn thing's in English and right side up.

- Marketing. Even though I'm really doing these magnetposts for my own fun, I figure if people don't see the pretty magnets, then what's the point. So I force myself to put this blog out there in the 'verse - on my FB status, on my FB wall, on a message board, or just forwarding to specific people that I think might find that day's magnet interesting. When I'm commenting on something fun on other blogs, my name's always hyperlinked back here; though I do try to avoid specifically linking to here in the comments of other blogs. Though, I will say that it's odd how much you start gauging your own traffic based on where you yourself have been.

- Traffic. I can't believe how much I love looking at the page view ticker at the bottom of joy magnetism, and checking out the first-time, unique and repeat visitor traffic. It's fun to see what topics get the most play (almost anything ComicCon or David Tennant and Doctor Who). And you can also start to guess who has Google alerts for which people - Thorsten Kaye or Joshua Jackson. And of course my George. Though, I get an odd tickle over seeing joy magnetism pop up in my own Thorsten Kaye, David Tennant or George Clooney Google Alert emails.

- Historical record. I love that everything I've written on joy magnetism is there for me to go back to. Blogger.com and photobucket.com, please never lose your servers or my content. Ever. But even more so, I love that I can go back and see how I felt about a particular something on a particular day. It's almost better than a diary. Though I'll admit, I stopped keeping a diary the day my grandmother read that I hated her in mine. I was 11, going on 91, with as much of a know-it-all I was then (and now, really). Anyway, moving on.

- Dialogue. Blogging is a two-way street. The best blogs are the ones where people comment and the blogger responds. It becomes a conversation. I love that. That's how you find out where peacocks come from, or that your commenter had a completely different take on something than you did. Nothing upsets me more than seeing a blog where the blogger writes a post, multiple people respond to it, and the blogger can't be bothered to talk back. Talk back to me, bloggers. If I want a one-way street, that's what I have Google for.

- Commenting. I am a commenting freak. It's addictive. I never used to. Now, especially if it's a blog I love or have on my Google Reader and follow religiously, I always feel like sharing. But really? Oftentimes, the funnier stuff happens in the comments. Mind you, my traffic isn't so crazy that you have to wade through dozens of repartee, but I've got some funny commenters here. Thanks, guys!

Well, it's been a fun year together, and a really fun learning process. I hope to keep trying to find my way in the blogosphere, and I can't wait to see how this next year plays out.

Happy magneting!

Lord. I just made up another word.

*From the theme song for Silver Spoons, which I will now be singing all the way down to Tampa today.

eta:
Thanks, Gordon, for today's and yesterday's magnets!

joy magnetism's first blogiversary extravaganza of knowledge weekend

Magnet #365 - Circles of joy

So, about a year ago, I started this thing because I was about to create a spreadsheet to catalog my magnet collection, because I was about to go on a big trip around the US and was afraid I'd repeat a magnet in my collection.

And, when I realized how dorky that sounded, I figured, well, what could be dorkier: A blog to share my magnet collection with the world!

Well, I never went on that roadtrip, but, joy magnetism has truly grown into a fun little project for me - both personally and professionally.

Personally, I've been able to share fond memories, odd opinions, half-a-fact facts for the fact fans, and the occasional random thought and/or rant. Professionally, it's given me more interactive insight in a year, than I've learned in the past five, since we became a more digitally-focused agency.

Today, I thought I'd share just a random (but by no means exhaustive) list of what I've learned:

- Writing. People have always asked me if I was ever going to write a romance novel of my own. I guess it was a natural thing to ask an avid romance reader and a romance editor back in the day. My pat answer was usually, "Are you kidding me? No way, man." Writing tends to come easily to me, always has...but I've never been tempted to write long form. Well, not quite true, there were a couple of attempted script sides for General Hospital in 7th grade and maybe a YA novel started here and there, but nothing as an "adult." But, I've enjoyed writing my little magnetposts. And editing them. And rewriting them. And going back to old ones to correct things. It's great fun. (And way better than those sides I mailed to ABC.)

- Time consuming. My goodness. I do one magnetpost a day. That's hard. Generally, it's the last thing I do before I hit the lights and let the tv lull me to sleep. So, it's no biggie to jot down a quick story for a fun magnet. But man, whenever I find a topic that interests me - I have to research it. At least a little. Or sometimes I go hardcore. Just so I can share. I can't even imagine multiposting during the day with a regular job to hold down. Hats off to ya, though.

- Networking. Well, I'll be. Blogging as a social networking tool apparently works! Whether it's the rather nomadic Goldengait over at The GoldenGait Bridge, Scotsman Cameron over at Stuff on TV, Jace over at Televisionary over on the west coast, they're all bloggers that I've run across online and interact with...here, on their blogs and on Facebook as well. Is that weird? Maybe a little. But, it's great fun discussing shows that some folks I know IRL haven't even heard of.

I really love that joy magnetism has also introduced me to a little community of folks in town who care about the same NYC stuff that I do. I didn't even know they existed. Ephemeral NY tells me about my adopted city's past, while Lost City and EV Grieve show me places we're about to lose. Scouting NY and Greenwich Village Daily Photo shows me fun things I've never seen before, right here in town. Thanks!

- Real-life Friends. I love sharing fun stories of trips and people, and knowing that those friends will get the same giggles remembering fun times. But, I have to admit, I wasn't at all prepared for how annoyed I get when actual friends ask me what's new in my life...when it's pretty much plastered all over joy magnetism. Oh, I am totally getting over myself, because I know that's such an all about me conceit. But, think about it. I've got people I've never met before reading my magnetposts, but there are people I've known for years who don't. It's weird.

- Cursing. Not everyone likes to see shit, damn or the other one in print. Cotter put it well in this blogpost about his stance on profanity - he writes like he speaks. I tend to do the same. It's my blog, and I'll curse if I want to. That being said, after a concerned phone call from mom, from one of her patients complaining that I curse a lot here (I totally don't, btw), I did acquiesce to putting a parental note for those parents who aren't monitoring what their kids are reading online...before they read it. It's a magnet blog, folks. I know it looks like Disneyworld up in here, but just cuz it's pretty, don't mean it's pristine.

- Reactions. While it's awesome that they're reading my blog, people get mad when you shoot your mouth off. To wit: Check out this Anonymous comment about my SAG strike rant. It was a rant, written just when I found out that SAG was thinking of putting it to a vote. NO, I didn't do all of my research on how it effects your industry. Because it was a RANT. Who researches a RANT. And P.S., SnarkyAnon, stupid cocktail waitresses aside, George Clooney walks on water. Don't mess with him. And P.P.S., SnarkyAnon, I hoping to respond to your comment, but was waiting to see what the outcome would be, re: a real strike, but looks like that they still can't get it together. But thanks for reading. Mwah!

And speaking of thanks for reading...thank you for dropping by to read about a magnet or two. I really do appreciate your visits, your comments, your fellowship (hm, when did fellowship get such a religious connotation), and the insight you guys have given me - insight to me (which is what the above mostly was) and insight to you (which some of which tomorrow's magnetpost will reveal).

Attention, Motorists! New England is closed.

Magnet #337 - Vermont State Capitol

So even though I just got back from London last month, I'm finding myself living vicariously through Goldengait's London blogposts. Yesterday, she started out with a plan, and was thwarted at every turn.

Ya'll know that I like to travel. With an itinerary. A fully packed, fully researched itinerary. And maps. Lots of maps.

Sometimes, even those don't help. But, always, when the wind takes you down the road, that's when the fun begins.

Take, for example, the New England weekender my roadtrip buddies and I did. That's how we found out that Montpelier, VT, is quite possibly the cutest state capital in the country. Seriously. We fell in love with this town. From the Corner Café with the old timers out front, to the used bookstore down the street, and the family maple syrup farm up the mountain to the sweetest capitol building ever.

It's seriously as cute as Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls. And I've been there, so I know from cute. It was one of the highlights of our trip.

Of course, it didn't hurt that every other attraction we drove to...was CLOSED.

No joke. It became the running theme of the trip - everywhere we went, places were closed for the winter season. Dudes. We went in April!

And it wasn't just the attractions. We were navigating secondary roads, until we made the wrong turn, and the road ran out. The bridge was out - frozen over. Freaky.

A recap list of our trip. Of course, you'll be revisiting some of these sites in magnet form. Well, not the ones that were CLOSED.

Thursday (NY)

• New York State Capitol: Missed Tour
  
• Empire State Plaza
• New York State Museum
• Adirondacks
• Martin Van Buren Historic Site: Missed Tour

Friday (NY/VT)

• Lake Placid
• Where’d You Get That Hat? hat shop
• Winter Olympic Museum
• Verizon Sports Complex
• John Brown Historic Site: CLOSED
• Ferry over Lake Champlain
• Lake Champlain Chocolates
• Shelburne Museum: CLOSED
• Vermont Teddy Bear Company
• Ethan Allan Homestead: CLOSED
• Church Street Marketplace

Saturday (VT)

• Montpelier
• Corner Café
• Vermont State House: Missed Tour
• Vermont Historical Society
• Walking Tours
• Ben & Jerry’s
• Rock of Ages Quarry
• Floating Bridge: CLOSED
• Maple Trees
• Joseph Smith Memorial
• Calvin Coolidge Historical Site: CLOSED
• Bennington Monument

Sunday (MA)

• Edith Wharton Estate: CLOSED
• Norman Rockwell Museum
• Holstein Gallery
• Olana: Missed Tour

Heaven's in the details

Magnet #321 - Sony/AT&T Tower

Someone asked me the other day what my favorite building in New York was. I hadn't thought about it before, but then, I never like picking favorite anythings.

I came up with two buildings - the Philip Johnson (formerly AT&T) Sony Tower and the Roche-Dinkeloo Ford Foundation Building.

You'll see on this magnet the broken pediments at the top of the Sony building that I just love, love, love. Some people deride the building as a little too Chippendale, but wherever I am in the city, whenever I see this building top, I think of home. It looks like a lot of the furniture I grew up with.

It's fairly boring down the rest of the building, but the building base is quite breathtaking, with its daunting seven-story entry archways and giant lobby. Great building. And a far cry from the other building that Johnson completed in 1984 - PPG Place, one of my faves in Pittsburgh.

As far as the Ford Foundation building on 42nd Street - well, you'd never know it from the outside, but it's probably one of the most peaceful places in town. If you go during a workday, you can often find yourself alone in a gorgeous garden, complete with lily pond. My favorite part is looking up at the sunlight to see the steel girders and glass walls, but also seeing all the Foundation folks going about their workday behind the glass. It must be fab to work there, able to open their windows into the 12-story atrium.

There's one other building that I am in complete love with - the Sloan & Robertson Fred F. French building, also in Midtown. I discovered this one from the observation deck at Top of the Rock. You would not believe how cool this thing looks from up there. The level of detailing 38 stories up is superb. Simply gorgeous. I would love to get into an upper floor conference room in one of the neighboring buildings, just to see those allegorical panels up close. I'm convinced that those allegorical themes are really some sort of ritualistic thing, perhaps a secret NYC coven or ancient underground society. Mark my words.

Anyway, none of these buildings are on the 1001 Buildings list (I'm not sure that's the same list as the actual book, btw), but because of their unique details, they're definitely three great NYC buildings in my book. (I keep visiting all three of them, it's weird, I know. But, fun pix.)

Which leads to the other reason I picked this magnet. I want to share one of my new fave blogs - Scouting NY, written by a location scout here in town. The About Me blurb mentions something about New Yorkers never noticing the little details of our surroundings. How true.

But, since I live for those details, I've enjoyed reading the various buildings and details that he's discovered on his scouting jaunts around the boroughs. A must for the ole Google Reader.

Paying it forward

Magnet #244 - Half & Half Bottlecap

I'm relatively new to this blogging thing. It started as a lark, a way to catalog all my magnets. Then it became an exploration into the blogger mindset and WOM marketing practices.

Now, it's become a daily ritual: perusing my collection, picking out the magnet of the day, and figuring out what to talk about - a half & half mishmash of part silliness, part serious content. (Psst, how awesome is it that I had a perfectly pink [for NBCAM] magnet for today's meme-alicious topic?)

Since one of my favorite bloggers Televisionary tagged me in this round-robin of viral marketing, I'm paying it forward with my own list of favorite founts of information.

The Rules: I'm to share seven facts about me (like I haven't shared more than seven in the last 243 magnets, heh), and then tag seven other bloggers.

And away we go, short and sweet:

1. I used to be a romance editor. Still am, on a freelance basis. Now I'm hopefully a much kinder and not as skeevy Pete Campbell, having been in advertising for a decade now.
   
2. I was born in Chicago, raised in North Carolina, and live in New York City. Which means I have an accent that flows with the company I keep or my level of sobriety, middle-American values with a hard-ass New York attitude and just a tetch of country.
3. I was almost a kidnapping victim. Yes. There will be a magnet on that.
   
4. In any given week, I watch at least 30 hourlongs of scripted television. Which means I value television more than sleep. Yes. I know. There's something wrong with that.
   
5. I am a giant among my people. I'm 5'4" (and a half - every bit counts), and for Filipinos, that can be pretty tall, dammit.
6. I cheat regularly on my boyfriend, George Clooney. No. He doesn't mind. David Tennant and Joshua Jackson might, though. Or not.
   
7. When I'm not feeling apathetic toward my job that doesn't save the world, I'm a workaholic. Except during Fall TV and Sweeps. Oh, and when my DVR is at dangerous levels of full. Nothing worse than coming home to find your shows didn't tape.
   

And, below are seven of my most visited noncorporate (except Dezeen) blogs. Obvi, there are a ton more on my Google Reader, but these, and the ones along the right-hand column, are where I hang.

1. Dezeen
2. Ephemeral New York
3. The GoldenGait Bridge
4. It's Nepalese to Me
5. Jeremiah's Vanishing New York
6. Stuff I've Seen on TV
7. What's Alan Watching?