Blogher Conference '07: A World of Difference

Have you ever been sitting at your computer blogging and wondered to yourself, "it would be so neat to actually meet some of my favorite bloggers"? Well hang on to your keyboards and get ready because coming July 27-28 you can have that opportunity. Blogher's A World of Difference 2007 conference will kick off in Chicago, Illinois that weekend. Events and seminars are still being planned at this time, but for now, you can visit Blogher's postings: Blogher '07: Theme, Programming Tracks and a Call for Ideas and Blogher '07: Look Out, Chicago! Location, Hotels and Buttons to read up on the seminars planned so far, hotel locations, and buttons to advertise. This is a big event for bloggers and last years conference went over very well in which Mocha Momma was an attendee and has the photos to show how much fun she had while there. To find out more about last year's conference click over to Blogher '06 Conference News to read the all of the posts of note and discover how much fun you could possibly have at this year's conference.

Tracks that have been scheduled so far include:

"Art of Life Track (2-day) Co-chairs: Kalyn Denny and Jenny Lauck

This track will be devoted to the passions about which so many of us blog...food, art, photography, crafts, knitting, writing, poetry, music and more.

Business of You Track (2-day) Co-chairs: Jan Kabili and Lena West

This track will be devoted to personal and business advancement. We expect to discuss speaker and media training, self-branding and promotion, mentoring, turning your blog into a book or a business, and perhaps even managing your time, your finances, your blogging policies and practices...the business of you.

Community Track (1-day) Co-chair: Nancy White

This track will explore the care and feeding of communities. Possible topics include building bridges between local for-profit and non-profit companies, continuing the discussion of community assistance and relief programs that was kicked off at Blogher '06, how to galvanize social change with your blogs, and wherever else the Blogher community leads us!

Identity Track (2-day) Co-chairs: Jory Des Jardins and Liz Henry

This track is about both the immutable and the dynamic aspects of our lives. Race, gender, age, sexuality, parenting, singledom, faith...many of us blog about who we are, not what we do, and this track will explore your many facets.

Politics Track (1-day) Co-chair: Lisa Stone

While Election '08 coverage and the drive to register women voters would be enough ground to cover, we're also looking to expand the Politics track beyond the U.S...should we be talking about the politics of war, about gender equity worldwide, about how different regions of the world are drawing women into the political process? You tell us.

Technical Track (2-day) Co-chairs: Barb Dybwad and Nelly Yusupova

We're calling in some gurus to help us build two days of Deeply Geeky content. Last year we covered audio, video, photography, tagging, HTML & CSS, SEO and more acronyms galore. What should we focus on this year?

In addition to the tracks above we will have some general sessions, plus some alternative spaces, like an Internet Cafe and a Collaborative Workspace. We are also considering adding an optional Sunday half-day unconference, sort of a "BlogHerCamp" and would love your feedback on that. Let us have it!"

Blogher is also asking for ideas:

The Call for Ideas

So, now is the time to start sending us your submissions. You have until March 16th.

What we're looking for:

-Session ideas. Anything from a line or two to a full session abstract or proposal will be accepted. And you can submit an idea even if you don't want to be considered as a speaker for it. -Speaker ideas. Again, we're happy to have you propose yourself, or recommend someone else.

How to submit:

Please submit via email to me and to the co-chairs for the appropriate Track. Please use [BlogHer 07 Submission_Track Name] in the subject line to help us organize.

Emails:

Every submission should go to: Elisa Camahort: elisa at blogher dot org

plus

Art of Life Co-chairs: Kalyn Denny: kalynskitchen at comcast dot net Jenny Lauck: mizzjenny at gmail dot com

Business of You Co-chairs Jan Kabili: kabili at saga2 dot com Lena West: blogher2007 at xynoMedia dot com

Community Co-chair: Nancy White: nancyw at fullcirc dot com

Identity Co-chairs: Jory Des Jardins: jory at blogher dot org Liz Henry: lizzard at bookmaniac dot net

Politics Co-chair: Lisa Stone: lisa at blogher dot org

Technical Co-chairs: Barb Dybwad: barb at weblogsinc dot com Nelly Yusupova: nelly at cgim dot com

Does it sound enticing yet? If so, start saving those greenbacks for hotel reservations (There are 3 hotel options available ranging from $27.80/night up to $209/night).

Keep an eye out on Blogher for more info as it becomes available.

Well, I just woke...

from a lovely 3 hour nap. Rainy weather like today makes for good napping and that is what I just did. We are getting our fair share of rain since it's been going on since morning. I'm not complaining though. I've had enough of winter and those temps in the 50's this past week was wonderful. I'm eager for spring to get here.

Talk about surprises. The wardens at work have decided to be generous now and let us work on Monday. People are talking that maybe we will get 40 hours this week. Hah. I say you wait. They'll post it about Thursday that we won't work Friday. This getting less than 40 hours on my paycheck really bites. Especially since now I've got that bankruptcy garnish coming out every week.

I've got something interesting tidbits to blog about (or they're interesting to me at least) later so look for some posts coming up.

Later

This week has been...

kind of hectic for us. Tuesday mom woke me early to let me know that CR was having ear pain. He had been dealing with a sore throat over the weekend. I woke Wyrm so he could get dressed, and we headed out to Multicare. This was at 7:30 AM. Luckily at that hour the waiting area was kind of empty so we were seen to rather quickly. The doctor said that his ears weren't red, but they did have fluid in behind them. His sore throat was red but didn't look infected. All she gave us was some samples of an antihistamine to dry up his sinuses. After getting home his other ear started hurting. Both ears are fine now, but his sinuses are still stopped up and he can hardly hear. He just went back to school yesterday. With President's Day on Monday, he has a 3-day weekend to rest up.

On Monday I had called my lawyer to let him know that my employer has cut back on our hours so I'm not bringing home a 40 hour paycheck. My lawyer had told me before that if there were any changes in my finances or if I am behind on bills to let him know. Well that's what I did, and the receptionist clearly said that she would leave him a note. I received a call later that afternoon informing me to stop by and pick up some papers. I thought that it was some type of paperwork to fill out to reassess my financial situation. Wednesday was when I was able to stop by his office. The papers that I was supposed to pick up wasn't what I thought they were. Instead I was picking up my checkstubs, bills, and tax returns that my lawyer needed. When I asked about my phone call that I had made and explained my situation, at first I was told there was nothing that could be done, but when I said I was doing exactly what my lawyer told me to do, this lady changed her tune and proceeded to tell me a bunch of crap. To make this long story short, I explicitly gave my opinion and walked out. Man was I mad! Since I am off, yet again, on Monday, I am planning on calling my lawyer again only this time I'm going to insist on talking to him directly.

For Wednesday, Wyrm and I had both signed up to take the TABE test. The downside to this was we had to be there at 8:30 AM. Of all nights to toss and turn, I went in to take the test on only 4 hours of sleep. Ugh. I left feeling confident over the reading, mathematics, and language sections. The applied mathematics section was a different story. I was sure that I had done terrible. At one point I threw down my pencil and was just going to give up, but Wyrm encouraged me to finish. We left from there and went on into work. Oh, did I say that I had only 4 hours of sleep the night before? I was really tired by the time Wyrm and I got home. I had no trouble falling asleep that night.

For Thursday, I had an appointment to get my prescription for my Zoloft. The doctor that I was seeing previously went to another area. After using up the refills I had left on her slip, I then had to get busy and find someone else that would fill my prescription. After that visit, Wyrm and I left to pick up our test scores. I was thrilled to see that I had done very well. I even did okay with the section that I thought I did terrible on. Even Wyrm did well on his test.

There were no appointments scheduled for Friday so I got to sleep a little longer, and I plan on catching up on sleep this weekend.

That's my week in a nutshell

Later

Here's a quick rundown...

of how things have went this past week. Wyrm and I finally got over being sick and returned to work on Thursday just to find the posting that our shift would not be working on Monday. Makes for a sucky paycheck. Right now I'm having to juggle bills since they've started garnishing my check for my bankruptcy. Ironic how everything wants to just hit me all at once.

Right now I believe that Wyrm is looking into a management position at another plant near where we live. I've typed up his resume for him and we're working on getting the phone numbers and addresses of some people that we think would be good references. We also have scheduled to take the TABE test that they require on Wednesday. Bad thing is that we have to be there at 8:30 AM. Ugh. Not good time for testing, but what can we do when that is all that's available to us.

Have an appointment to pick up my meds today at 11:15 AM before we head into work. We are going to be two tired individuals for two days.

Later

Ugh. Wyrm and I...

have had a rough weekend. It began Thursday night on the way home from work. Wyrm was having to run to the bathroom and it only go much worse when we got home. Luckily for some strange reason work decided to let our shift off for Friday so Wyrm spent the biggest part of that day in the bathroom on the toilet and hugging the trash can. By Saturday he was starting to feel somewhat better but was still kind of drained. Late Saturday night I started feeling weird and by around 6:00 Sunday morning I knew what I was in for. I spent the biggest part of Sunday sicker than a dog until late that evening. Monday Wyrm decided that it may be best for us to visit Multicare and get documentation that we were off that day. As I got up to get ready I discovered that CR was still home instead of at school. Apparently he started the bathroom visits early that morning. So the three of us headed out to Multicare for an approximate 2 hour wait before we were called back. This ick is really going around. Basically it's a virus just as I had thought. The doctor wrote us off till Wednesday to give us time to rest up and hopefully get back into eating.

Today I spent resting. I am so tired it feels as if my legs don't want to hold me up. Tomorrow I will be home for a doctor's appointment so that will give me another day to get my strength back. So far we are all back into eating. Just nothing really greasy or fried. Hope your weekend was much better than mine.

Later

There is one question in my life...

that I have contemplated over and over and still do not have an answer. What is my life path or purpose in life? Do you ever think about this question? I have thought about it off and on over the years but have really been thinking hard these past few. I have the book The Purpose Driven Life and started reading it but never finished. I have a bad habit of that. You know the "starting something and then not finish it". It's a constant rumbling in the back of my brain that doesn't let up, "what am I supposed to be doing?" I don't believe that my life goal was to be working at a dead end job paying off a bankruptcy for the next five years. In fact I know that's not what I should be doing. Deep down in my soul I know that there is something that I am supposed to be doing with my life, but I just can't seem to figure it out.

They say that usually you should do something that interests you. Well, writing, reading, playing around on the computer and Internet, video games, and photography are what interests me. Now what could I possibly turn into a career with those interests. I've tried studying photography under the NYIP courses, but alas never finished. The same with web design under Penn Foster Career School. I blame my work for not having the motivation. It's extremely hard for me to concentrate with the hours that I keep. My brain usually stays clouded and exhausted which causes me to have problems concentrating. I enjoyed both courses very much. I actually enjoyed the web design course more so. That is one thing that I had thought of. I would very much love to go back to school and study web design. With my working hours though that is just not possible.

I love to write. Words often dance in my head and I must put those "steps" down on paper. It's normally in the form of poetry although I have tried writing stories. Again everything falls under the "I start something but don't ever finish it". It would be interesting to try something freelance, but I don't know exactly what that would be or even where to look. I've toyed with the idea of trying to come up with my own online magazine about blogging. Wow two interests that I love doing. I also feel that this could be something that I would feel passionate about. My lack of confidence in myself holds me back on this one. It would seem a daunting task for me to take on by myself and I could ask people if they would want to jump on the magazine bandwagon with me, but I don't have the funds to pay said people for their time and service. Also, what would I write about, how would I come up with the design, etc, etc, etc. Doubts surround me enough that I would not attempt this.

So what's left for me to do? Do I stay working at a dead end job that leaves me wanting so much more for myself? I don't know. I'm hoping that maybe the thing that I am supposed to be doing with my life will somehow just fall from the sky right into my lap, and if that happens I plan to grow me a money tree right in my back yard. So now I pose the question to you. Do you ever wonder what your life path or purpose in life is to be?

Later

Have you ever read something...

knowing that it would probably be in your best interest if you didn't click on a link but curiosity got the better of you and you just clicked anyway? Well while blogwalking the other night, I stopped at Caffeinated Librarian's to read what she had been up to. I read her entry on "The Freaky Side of Harry Potter" and just had to see what the deal was with those photos on Mugglenet (Click at your own discretion. Nearly nude photos of Dan Radcliffe) Ack! I will never be able to watch another Harry Potter movie or read another Harry Potter book without those images being embedded in my brain.

Speaking of Harry Potter. I am happy to hear that July 21 is the release date of Book 7 in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. I have been eagerly waiting for the next book to read what happens. I'm also slightly disappointed. Once I am through reading the book I will be finished as this is the last book in the series. I've come to adore the characters that J. K. Rowling has created and will miss reading about their adventures.

Later