From Your Slacker Blogger

Heather Heather Heather, how is it that you used to write semi-regularly, and now you're the slackest blogger on the planet? What in the world has happened?

Well, to start with, I bought a better car. It's a used Toyota Yaris sedan and I love it for the following reasons:
1. It's an automatic. (Stop and go Nashville traffic is murder on your ankles, not to mention the clutch.)
2. It has cruise control. (YAY!)
3. It gets outrageously good gas mileage compared to my last car.
4. My last car kept falling apart and this one is going to run for a very very very long time.
5. Insurance is cheaper.
6. Tires will be cheaper.
7. It is soooooooo much fun to drive.

So I had to do a lot of research on this particular car before I bought it, and that took a lot of time. Consumer Reports, cartalk.com, carmax, carfax, you name it. I did tons of reading. The only other car I would consider was the Honda Fit but I can't afford that one yet. When this car dies in about 10 years I'll think about it....

After I got the car, I got really really sick. Some sort of stomach bug or food poisoning, I'm still not sure which. It started Friday night and I didn't really feel good enough to do anything other than lay on the couch and watch terrible television between trips to the bathroom until Tuesday. My appetite is just finally starting to get back to normal. The worst part was that I was sick over a weekend! And it was a really beautiful weekend too!

At work we've started some really interesting projects around the corporate world's latest buzzword: Innovation. And it is taking a lot of my time. It's nice to see that the head honchos at work are actually putting some real money and commitments into this, and it will be VERY interesting to see where it leads. I work for a huge company so we're a little behind the times in terms of open-mindedness and new ideas. But if this takes off it's going to be very interesting to see where my career is in 10 years (heck, even 5 years).

During one of these conversations at work, an older associate brought up the idea that she thinks there will be a huge backlash against all of this social media stuff. She doesn't think it will be as important in the future and that maybe it isn't REALLY worth investing so much time and energy into it. Which left me dumbfounded. I use so much social media on a daily basis that I can't imagine life without it. I regularly catch up with elementary, high school, and college friends on Facebook. I get information about traffic conditions for my commute and weather warnings on Twitter. I text. I blog. I research products on all kinds of websites before I buy them. My sister does a ton of social media outreach for her job. And there are all sorts of lectures about open-source products and how they're being used right now on TED.com. Social media and other technologies are merging in new ways we would not have imagined even 5 years ago.

All of this is just me trying to say: There's a lot going on and a lot to think about. And I need to figure out where I'm going to fit in so that I can stay relevant because my job is going to depend on it. And it will probably make everyday life more fun too.

So that's where I've been! Hopefully as things wind down some towards the end of the year I will have more time to blog. Even so, I will make an effort to be more consistent. (Do I say that in every single post now??)