Pho Hoang (Main Street)

I recently had the pleasure to have Phở with my friend and colleague Liv Hung (who blogs at A Beautiful Life) as we were enjoying a relaxed Saturday afternoon. We were wondering where to eat and came across Pho Hoang (which is a very short walk from my house). We settled for a small plate of Phở as neither of us was really hungry. I chose the beef (well done) version without any meat balls (although next time I should try them). We soon discovered that at Pho Hoang, small actually means big. As far as flavor goes, it’s good Phở. I think it may not be on par with the place that is the favorite of Lorraine and Colleen (Hanoi Pho).

I certainly can see how many people can love it. Even amongst my fellow UrbanSpoon foodies there’s some disagreement. From my conversation with Liv, I think she liked it and quite frankly, so did I. Admittedly, Phở is not the kind of food I’d normally eat (only when I really, really crave noodle soup) but if I were to consume it more regularly, Pho Hoang would be the place for me.

The Main Event

I’m a big promoter of my neighbourhood, so I’m always looking for stuff that’s happening in Mount Pleasant/Main Street, particularly charity events. I am delighted to hear about The Main Event, taking place from January 18th to 24th. From their website:

“The Main Event – East meets West” 2010 will include an array of Main Street’s restaurants, offering three-course tasting menus for set prices of $25, $35 and $45. All restaurants will join the fight against hunger by donating a percentage of their food receipts from this tasty, week long event to The Greater Vancouver Food Bank

Having reviewed a huge number of restaurants in the Main Street/Mount Pleasant area, I can certainly attest to the fact that this will be a great event. It’s already started and it will be going through the week. You should definitely consider attending, particularly seeing as a portion of the proceeds is going to a very important local charity, the Vancouver Food Bank.

Social Media Club Vancouver launch

I recently attended the first organizational meeting for the new re-incarnation/launch of the Social Media Club Vancouver. Social Media Club, founded by Kristie Wells and Chris Heuer (whom I consider a good friend) is an organization (completely non-profit and volunteer-run, none of us actually makes anything out of sitting on the SMC organizing committee) that attempts to achieve the following four goals:

1. Expand Media Literacy
2. Share Lessons Learned Among Practitioners
3. Encourage Adoption of Industry Standards
4. Promote Ethical Practices through Discussion and Actions

There are several reasons why I accepted Mitch Baldwin and Eric Weaver‘s invite to be part of the organizing committee of Social Media Club Vancouver. The first one, quite obviously, is because I really like both Eric and Mitch. The second one, quite obvious as well, is that I knew I’d be joined by a bunch of very talented social media folks who work in a variety of areas.

My involvement with Social Media Clubs isn’t new. I spoke at Social Media Club Victoria in April of 2009 (almost a year ago now!) thanks to an invite by Catherine Novak and Paul Holmes (both of whom have grown to be good friends of mine). My intent was to galvanize the Victoria social media community to move and effect change, and I shared my experience of co-organizing Mental Health Camp with my dear friend Isabella Mori (my highest achievement of 2009, hands down).

For the past couple of years, I given numerous talks about social media for public policy, sustainability, marketing and non-profits. I’ve explored the use of social media in politics and public policy and in non-profit & health. But more importantly, I pride myself in having challenged my readers, the attendees of my talks and my fellow social media practitioners to think beyond the use of social media tools. To explore the high-level discussions on social media, the Internet and its impact on the composition of the social fabric we are embedded within.

I know I have asked the tough questions and I want to continue to do so. I am, after all, an academic. I’m slowly moving from educating ON social media to educating WITH/USING social media. That is precisely the reason why I am involved in the Social Media Club Vancouver. I want to continue to challenge my peers to think beyond “how do I use Twitter” or “how do we create a Facebook fan page” to questions of privacy vs publicness, of the challenges to achieving diversity in social media, to the realities of crowdsourced rules within social networking sites to the evolution of norms and etiquette in social media.

I am delighted to be joined by the talented group of people who are participating, and more importantly, I’m delighted that the group is inclusive. So if you want to change the way social media is done in Vancouver, be part of the change. Join us. Feel free to contact Eric, Mitch or even me should you want to get involved.

Grub (Main Street)

I was on one of my usual (and delightful) walks with the lovely Emme Rogers when we happened to stumble upon Grub, a relatively new (2009) wine bar/restaurant that I had been wanting to try for a long while. When I first viewed the room (late in 2009) I figured it was another version of Gudrun’s or Salt Tasting Room. I have to admit that it’s probably a combination of both, although the food (from what we heard from the women who were our neighbours at the next table) is apparently excellent and the prices for mains ($ 18-19 apiece) sound in the range of a middle-to-high-end restaurant.

Emme and I ordered rather different drinks. I ordered a Tommy Collins, a refreshing, tall-glass drink with gin, cucumber and muddled sugar, whereas she ordered an Autumne Gatsby, a cocktail with lots of ginger flavors, cinnamon and gin. I found the service at Grub very good and incredibly friendly. I think the prices for drinks and food are reasonable and I look forward to coming back here for actual dinner. We had a chance to glance (and drool over) the plates that the women in the table right beside us were eating (halibut in one case, cod in another case), they said it was really good, on par to Les Faux Burgeoises.

I inquired about possibly having Valentine’s Day dinner here as I know that downtown Vancouver will be crazy. I’ll report back once I know more about the actual event. One thing I can tell you – it’s a great place for drinks. Not too noisy and far away enough from downtown that it’s not too mainstream.

Ads on my personal blog

I know a lot of people are going to say “SELLOUT!” when I say that I’m considering adding ads to my blog. In the past, I have written sponsored posts (which were in fact sponsored posts FOR CHARITY), but this is the first time I’ve considered adding ad space to my site. The way I have thought about it would include shifting my theme to an ad-friendly theme (I’ve used this customization for a long time now, and I’m kind of used to it, but I’ve also been thinking about changing the theme lately).

Ads on this space (e.g. ads on Hummingbird604.com) would have to come from companies I trust/believe in, who do stuff that I think is not only relevant but also of value to my readers. So, for example, I’d consider adding ad space say, for a month, for a company in Vancouver who donates a certain amount of money to Haiti reconstruction efforts. Or a company that is doing socially responsible stuff.

I haven’t fully formulated this yet in my head, so I am just putting the thought out there. Remember, I write on this blog for fun, not for the money. But on the other hand, I don’t see why can’t I give exposure to companies that are relevant. Since I’m all the time talking about, you know, authenticity in social media, transparency and disclosure, I think the best thing I can do is to be transparent and disclose that I am considering adding ad space on my site.

Have at it in the comments section.

No more late nights for me

photo credit: randystoreyphotography

I used to be a night owl. I used to stay up late at night catching up on work, my social media, blogging, and the like. My research has been usually the activity that I’ve reserved for when I have quiet time for myself and when I have room to breathe from the insanely hectic schedule I usually have. But since I switched around my schedule, I’ve realized how important it is to really get at the very least 7 hours of solid sleep.

I try to go to bed relatively early on a daily basis. Admittedly, a couple of times in the past week or so I’ve felt compelled to hang out with friends simply because I knew that I hadn’t seen them in a while and I didn’t want to miss the chance. This, of course, led to staying up a tad late. On the other hand, I’ve become much stricter about where/when I go out. If I’m invited out for a drink, I normally request that said drink be on my side of town, and preferably within 10 blocks or so from my apartment.

I made a decision earlier today that will change that, substantially. I signed up for swimming. Yes, everyone. I’m coming back to swimming 3-5 days a week (depending on whether I like the idea of going to UBC for my swim practise). You’ll see… if I come back to volleyball without aerobic training and cardiovascular resistance, chances are that I won’t be able to run and track balls down. So, the easiest way to transition again into competitive volleyball is to swim.

That decision of mine (which I have to admit, I’m applauding myself for doing it), my friends, has also reduced my opportunities to hang out with the night crowd during the week and, for that matter, to be invited to do anything that requires me to be outside of my bed after 9.30pm. Since I have to swim before my morning class, I need to ensure that I’m at the pool on the UBC campus by 7:00am. So, that means, if you were planning to invite me to anything even remotely late at night during the week, I might as well graciously decline the invite starting now.

It’s quite a challenge for me. The busier I get, the less time I get to do a lot of things, including blogging and tweetups. And I do ponder whether it will mean that the traffic that my blog will get will be reduced and whether I’ll be invited to less events. But, as I promised myself, 2010 is my year, it’s a year where I’ll be thinking about how to better myself and where the decision-making process will place me right at the center and everything/everyone else in the periphery.

As I write this blog post, I feel guilty. I worry that people will judge me and tag me as snobbish. But the truth is, I do have a Calendar posted and it clearly states where I’m going to show up and for what events (be it attending a presentation by a guest speaker or be it one of my own speaking engagements). So I hope my friends and readers and followers take that opportunity and attend those events. I’m even seriously considering having guest-bloggers post on my site and represent me at a number of events. All in the name of keeping good fresh on this site for the people who grace me with their readership.

But, long story made short – there will be no more late nights for me. Sorry. I’m working hard to think a way to compensate for the lack of my physical presence at night online and at social events. When I find a way (or if you have any suggestions – please let me know) I’ll post here some thoughts.

Donations (Canada) for earthquake relief in Haiti

photo credit: UNDP Global

On September 19th of 1985, I woke up at 7:00am dizzy and wondering whether it was the excitement of celebrating my birthday or what was going on. Then I saw the chandeliers in my parents’ room swiveling. I realized we had just experienced an earthquake. Considered one of the most devastating earthquakes in the Americas, its damage is now very much eclipsed by the disaster in Haiti.

I can’t even begin to think about the amount of pain that is being felt and suffered there. So in addition to donating, I’m doing my bit by linking to those causes that I know will be useful. From my very limited experience with earthquakes (the Mexico City one), I *know* that two of the organizations best positioned to help right now are the Red Cross and Doctors without Borders. The link to donate to the Canadian Red Cross is here. The link to donate to Doctors without Borders is here.

If you know of other means/methods and/or local causes, please drop a note on this post. I’ll try to monitor the comments so that they are published in a speedy manner. Thank you.

UPDATE – My good friend Gillian Shaw has a post on her blog Digital Life (Vancouver Sun) on how you can donate money via text using Rogers, Fido and Bell. I’ve linked to her post here too.

Quiz – Do you need structure in your life

You Need Structure in Your Life

You take comfort in your routine, and any deviation from it makes you feel quite nervous. You like things to be structured and decided. You want to know what’s going to happen. The unknown makes you very nervous. If you know something is going to happen, at least you can prepare for it. You like to have a plan A, a plan B, and if possible, plans C and D. Even if you can’t plan for everything, you try!

How Much Structure Do You Need?

Blogthings: Take a Quiz. Annoy Your Friends.

January 14th, 2010 in blogthings | No Comments

Innovations in tech applications to higher education

photo credit: keepitsurreal

Being back on the university campus after so many innovations in how technology is used in higher education have taken place at UBC has made for a strange yet very smooth transition. I didn’t take any short courses on how to use UBC’s Vista framework (a re-named, re-designed, updated version of Blackboard, which I have used before to teach at the undergraduate level). Thankfully I feel way more comfortable using IT.

Using social media has really enabled me, I have to admit. It took me a very short time to adapt to the new teaching conditions, including the use of the classroom and the e-learning framework. I also have to tip my hat to talented educators from whom I have learned a lot and whom I consider friends – Nancy White, Scott Leslie, Alec Couros. I also belong to the Social Media Club Education network, spearheaded by another friend, Chris Heuer. Finally, I should also thank my friend Andre Malan, who is both studying at UBC and a very passionate advocate for applications of tech to education.

I have decided to implement some of the innovations that Andre suggested, and the one that has actually made itself really useful and valuable this early in the semester is the use of wikis. Currently, my students are using wikis to share data and collaborate on a comparative policy analysis.

I am, however, more than curious to know which other innovations can be implemented in my teaching. So I’m opening the floor to suggestions. Andre gave me a few great ideas, which I plan to implement, but I’m also open to others. Thoughts? Please do remember that I use tech to teach public policy and environmental politics. I don’t actually teach tech (well, I sometimes teach social media but I mostly teach how to use social media). So I’m looking for thoughts on that area.

In between the corporate and the academic life

I survived first week of back-to-university-teaching.

This past week I had a taste of what my life is like when I have just about everything going my way. I have been doing a lot of teaching (I teach 2 university-level and 2 college-level courses), research (although this has been a bit stalled thanks to the fact that I’ve been feeling a tad overwhelmed and under the weather), consulting (which is going really well) and I still had some time to do social media stuff, although as I mentioned before, my blogging has suffered as I haven’t really had the time to write as much as I usually would do (up to 3 posts a day). On the flip side, I’m just recovering from three weeks of pretty bad sleep. I spent most of this past weekend having naps.

I was on the 99 B-Line today and it occurred to me that this kind of life is one I actually enjoy a lot. I love having days when I am fully immersed in the university/academic experience (like most of Monday, Wednesday and Friday). However, I also really enjoy my Tuesdays and Thursdays, when I do mostly client work (although I teach on Thursday afternoons too). I do research later during the day and in the evening, and I’ve been slowly gearing towards dancing and volleyball again.

Both worlds (the corporate and the academic) appeal to me, and I enjoy them both enormously. This is the kind of stuff that excites me – shaping people’s minds with my teaching, doing sound scholarly research and providing solutions to my clients. A year ago or so, I might have lamented not having done the whole tenure-track assistant professor life. But, right now? There’s not a single thing I have any right to complain about. Things are going extremely well.

Except, of course, for that pesky rain 😉

The UBC Student Leadership Conference #SLC2010 LiveTweetage

As many of you know, I’m teaching two courses at UBC and I’m always willing to help bright people. Nathan Tippe and Andre Malan are two UBC students I met through the Vancouver entrepreneurial community. I am helping Nathan capture the SLC tweets, so just tag your tweets with #SLC2010 and they’ll be captured. Follow along!

Happy birthday Rebecca Bollwitt @miss604

Once upon a time, more than three years ago or so (good heavens, was it that long ago!?) I started blogging (yes, actually it was more than 3.5 years ago). I did it because it was sort of the one thing that kept me sane from being entirely immersed in academic life. At this point, and more than 40 months later, I blog because it gives me an outlet to express my thoughts, and because it’s a lot of fun.

photo credit: jenniferlstoddart

There is one person in the Vancouver social media/tech scene who has been extremely influential in my own development and growth as a blogger. Someone who taught me A LOT about blogging (you can read pretty much a summary of what she taught me the first year we became friends in my recap of her talk at Third Tuesday). It’s been well over two years that I’ve known my good friend Rebecca Bollwitt ( Miss604).

Every time I hang out with Rebecca again it feels as though we’ve been friends for decades. While we became really good friends in 2008, this past year (2009) saw the both of us get incredibly busy. Both of our businesses flourished (Rebecca’s company which she co-founded with her husband and also good friend of mine John Bollwitt, Sixty4Media, has grown a lot, as has my own consultancy), we got busy, attended many events and we ended up not having as much time as we used to in 2008.

But even if we don’t spend as much time offline hanging out, as we used to, Rebecca always supports my efforts. She wrote about Mental Health Camp Vancouver 2009, helped connect me with sponsors for the social media release, and in general, gave me a hand whenever I have needed it.

Rebecca, as I have told you in private many a time, during the good (and the sometimes bad), our friendship is one I treasure and value. To me, your success is one that I’m happy to share and relish on, and I know you are happy about mine. More importantly, as I have said to you before, your friendship to me is way more important than the blogosphere. It is irrelevant to me that you are the popular, uber-blogger Miss604. It’s MUCH more important to me that you are my friend Rebecca.

Credit: Miss604 on Flickr (this is the first photo we took of the two of us)

The great thing is that blogging what brought us together, and we’ve kept the friendship alive and well. Today, and every day, and in particular as you enter your 30s, I want to wish you a very, very, very happy birthday. And I look forward to having an opportunity to celebrate with you.

Much love as always from the Padawan 😉

Rapid transit to UBC on Broadway

photo credit: CanadaPenguin

This semester I’m teaching two undergraduate-level courses at UBC. When I was a graduate student, it was easy to live, study and do work at UBC. Even if I didn’t live exactly on campus (which I did, both at Green College and at St. John’s College, as well as Fairview Residences) I was still able to get to campus on time (because when I lived near Broadway and Granville, I could take the then-10 UBC, the 9 UBC AND the 99 B-Line).

Admittedly, moving to East Vancouver (in the Mount Pleasant/Main Street area) has been one of the best decisions I’ve taken. I live close enough to downtown that I can get to my office at The Network Hub quickly, and from there, the college where I teach on Thursdays is pretty close by. So, no complaints on my side. Mount Pleasant has everything I need within walking distance (or even within Canada Line/Skytrain distance). I walk almost everywhere and I also take the public transit system, so it makes my life easy. I can even walk to the Canada Line and/or Skytrain stations within a reasonable 30 minute walk.

Today, I was a bit late to get to the university Point Grey campus (I normally strive to leave my house by 6:00am so I can have a full 2 hours to feel prepared for my first class at 9:00am at UBC) and I saw 4 (yes, you read right, four) 99 B-Line buses pass me by, fully packed. I took a 9 UBC (one of the slowest buses I have to say) expecting to make it to campus close to 9:00am, but luckily I saw a 99 B-Line and jumped on it (it was still packed, but I got to sit around Granville Street).

This got me thinking – there is not a chance in hell that Translink is going to provide adequate level of service during the 2010 Winter Olympics. I was about to post a very sweet entry on the great things I’ve seen Translink do (articulated buses with more capacity for the 8 Fraser, more frequent bus service to downtown, etc.) But this wait for the 99 B-Line really frustrated me.

On Twitter, many people responded to my tweets mentioning the need for an alternative to Skytrain (e.g. light rail or street cars). I am all for an efficient transportation system that is (a) fast and (b) inexpensive, because, taxpayer’s dollars (mine included) are going to go to that. Arguably, and in this I can’t deny it, it’s really important to do the Evergreen line to Coquitlam and the Tri-Cities if we are going to really get serious on greenhouse reduction, so that people can leave their cars behind.

So, since I haven’t had the time to respond to everyone on Twitter, I’m opening my blog to continue the conversation. What should we do with the rapid transit lines, both to UBC and to the Tri-Cities area and the suburbs? Have at it on the comments section.

Win tickets to Scorched @TheatreInconnu

Through my friend Janis LaCouvee, Casey from Theatre Inconnu invited me to their upcoming play (Scorched), a co-production with ITSAZOO Productions. It’s a really interesting theatrical play as it explores themes of immigration and refugees. I am teaching The Comparative Politics of Public Policy this semester and my students will be exploring these topics in the course so this play is actually quite timely.

From their email release, here is some more information about the play.

This 2007 Dora Award winning play explores themes growing out of the immigrant / refugee experience. It has proven itself one of the most powerfully engaging dramatic works to be produced in this country during the past three years. Civil war in the Middle East forms the backdrop for much of the play’s action as Mouawad explores with profound insight the concepts of love, loyalty, and betrayal.

The plot revolves around a brother and sister’s quest to unearth the history – and mystery – of their deceased immigrant mother. As their journey takes them to the Middle East, they enter into a process of coming to terms with their own sense of loss and emptiness, while learning to understand the legacy of suffering left in the wake of conflict.

Casey has kindly offered a pair of tickets to give away on my site, so I’ll draw a winner on Thursday January 14th at 12pm. To enter, just drop a comment on this post. I’m hoping I’ll be able to go to opening night so I can review the play. Thanks to Theatre Inconnu for sponsoring this ticket giveaway! You can follow them on Twitter too.

Scorched takes place from January 19th to 31st, 2010 at Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island, and tickets are really affordable, $18 regular and $15 for students/underemployed, etc. You can enjoy this play Tuesday – Saturday at 8pm and matinees Saturday & Sunday at 2pm.

Life in a post-smart phone era

It’s been about a month since I received my iPhone (courtesy of Mike Yurechko, who gave me an early Christmas present). During this past month, despite my promise to myself that I would fully disconnect from the world, I managed to stay in touch and on top of many things (particularly, Mental Health Camp – which is a cause that I definitely needed to be monitoring – and a request for an interview asking for my expert opinion on environmental policy by CBC On The Coast).

The really funny thing to me now is that, despite the fact that I am now almost 99% of the time connected (I don’t have a data plan, so I download my email, FB updates, sync my calendar and download my tweets using the connect-to-wireless properties of my phone), I don’t see it as an annoyance for the most part. Having the iPhone has given me the opportunity to read and compose responses to important emails while I commute. Read interesting tweets while I am on the Canada Line or the Skytrain on my way to the office. Had I not had my iPhone, holiday shopping in Calgary while trying to coordinate with my Mom, cousin and sister-in-law would have been a nightmare (given that my cousin was sending me emails to update me where she was, using her BlackBerry).

But there is something that made me stop on my tracks and reflect on the ubiquitous nature of iPhones. At many of the social gatherings I have attended in recent weeks (already armed with my iPhones), we seem to be taking the approach of “photo or it didn’t happen“. We TwitPic what’s happening. We tweet about what we do, on site. We check-in on FourSquare or GoWalla. My question to you is – does this detract from the experience?

I have found that for the most part, having an iPhone and being able to have online tools all the time (without having to schlep my laptop around) is useful. When I organized the most recent Preventable bloggers event, I sent out a lot of tweets and YFrog photos documenting the event. It was extremely useful to have my iPhone. But, in other social settings, doesn’t being always online detract from the experience?

What do YOU think?

Sleep, perchance to dream…

photo credit: Steve.Maw

In the past year, I became even more disciplined and decided to switch around my late-night-owl to early-morning-person schedule. The problem I have had in the past few weeks is that I haven’t gotten enough sleep. In keeping with my 2010 manifesto and the first and foremost goal of focusing on my own growth (which also requires getting enough sleep), I am going to bed. Leaving behind all the stuff I need to deal with for tomorrow morning.

Sleep, perchance to dream…

Collate the notes from your 2009 logbook

photo credit: Robert Higgins

If you are like me, you probably have tonnes of little “Post-It” stickers where you have scribbled notes, thoughts and ideas. Since I am a bit of an organization nerd, I usually stick those Post-It’s in the pages of my logbook, wherever they may fit and whichever project these notes may be associated with. I had four work-related meetings before ringing the New Year.

While sitting in one of these work meetings, I realized that I had brought my 2009 project logbook along with me, while I started making notes in the 2010 project logbook. I realized that, while I like the idea, it’s rather impractical to be bringing along two logbooks with me to every meeting in January. So that made me devise the next-best idea (and a productivity tip I wanted to share). Collating the notes from the previous year’s logbook.

My 2010 logbook has already been started, but what I have done is divide my 2010 logbook in the following categories:

2010
– New Projects (Proposals)
– New Projects (Ideas)
– New Clients (Prospects)
– New Students
– 2009 Summary
* Current Research Projects
* Current Consulting Projects (and Clients)
* Current Coaching Clients
* Current Teaching Assignments

As you can see, I have devoted one of the sections of my 2010 logbook to present an overview/summary of the 2009 projects (consulting, coaching, students who need to be graduated, students who are graduating, students whom I’m still mentoring, research projects I’m working on, grant proposals that need to be finished, etc.) – I have broken it down into the different sub-areas that I work in so that I know exactly what needs to happen in the following months.

I share this tip with you in hopes it will be of use for you as we launch this wonderful 2010. All the best!

Out with the old, in with the new

photo credit: Timm Suess

Before leaving for my holidays, I hired a cleaner to have my place swept, cleaned, floors washed, every stain removed. I wanted to come home to a clean environment and to ensure that I started my 2010 with a bang. Honestly, even though I’m on a tight budget, and will continue to be for 2010, I decided that I couldn’t give myself any better end-of-the-year reward than having my apartment thoroughly cleaned. I’ve been wanting to spend more time at home and it’s hard to do whenever my place is messy. So I thought I had to go “out with the old, in with the new” and start with a freshly cleaned home. I’ve been preparing for 2010 with a main objective, to focus on my own personal growth before I worry about helping others to grow. To become again an integrated person

As readers of my site may know, I am planning to go back to dancing and playing competitive volleyball. This will definitely cut into the time I will have available to do a lot of other things, and that’s why I wanted to start with a clean slate for everything. My list of friends has been pruned, I’ve made conscious decisions on who I will be spending time with, a lot of my clothes have been recycled and donated to charities, I’ve already started with my 2010 project logbook, and will spend some time collating the notes from my 2009 logbook and transferring summaries to the 2010 one.

I have also begun reconnecting with my old blogging friends (and by old, I mean those that I met the earliest and who still hold a dear place in my heart), something I should have done in 2009, but I’m not late in 2010. I’ve already received three offers to teach me Scrabble, will be teaching four courses (2 university level, 2 college level), will keep coaching three clients (though I might be taking one more), exploring partnerships with esteemed colleagues from both the social media and environmental spheres.

But more importantly, despite the substantially reduced schedule of appearances I will make in the social media event world, I do plan to stay in touch with everyone as much as I can. I’ve thrown a lot of the baggage, time to welcome the 2010.

Happy New Year!

Happy birthday @ChrisWalts

Credit: Jules Morgan

Chris is someone that really cares for the community in the social media world in Vancouver. He is also extremely generous with his time, contributing to worthy causes as Global Agents of Change and Education Generation. And he is a dear friend of mine. I am so sorry I missed his birthday party but hey, here I am celebrating his birthday in the geekiest form of them all, and one he will definitely appreciate – writing him a blog post for his birthday.

Many hugs, much love and all the best my friend. Here’s to many more!

Happy New Year – To a wonderful 2010

I was writing a Year In Review blog post. On top of having four work meetings, sending a project proposal, talk to my family and do a heck of a lot of other stuff. Didn’t happen. So I am just bailing on my Year In Review post and leaving it to tomorrow afternoon(ish) and will now just publish a “Happy New Year”.

Thank you everyone who read my blog, talked to me on Twitter, joined me at social media events and in general, everyone with whom I have interacted. Everyone who supported my efforts and have walked the walk along with me.

Here’s to a wonderful 2010.

What college or university are you?

Most of you know that I obtained my PhD from The University of British Columbia. Very few of you know, though, that I did apply (and get accepted) to both Harvard and M.I.T. for my PhD. I chose UBC because of a variety of personal factors, mostly the fact that I already had obtained a graduate degree (MBA/MEng) from UBC. So, I wasn’t surprised when I did this Blogthings quiz and I got MIT (Massachussets Institute of Technology). I have applied to be a tenure-track faculty member at MIT in the past, and I probably would enjoy doing at least a visiting scholar programme there.

You Are MIT

You are the type of person who’s always the smartest one in the room. You don’t just study hard, you truly love learning. You love to engross yourself in subjects. You tend to get bored easily. You need to be continually challenged. You need to be inspired by and to learn from other smart people. Otherwise, you’re just being held back!

Scrapbooking is enjoyable

I remember that when I was getting to know my sister-in-law (at the time when she was dating my brother) I asked the kind of things she enjoyed the most. She said that she was a very big fan of scrapbooking. It wasn’t until she and my brother put us all to work (my cousin, my Mom, and I – along with the both of them) that I realized really how much work it is (and how much fun it is).

The process began with selecting the photos and choosing a theme for the album. The photos were chronologically chosen by my sister in law, who also did the story planning and the master planning of the whole exercise.

My sister in law also established the order of things, who would do what, etc. We took out all the supplies and laid them out on the table. My brother was in charge of cutting the photos in the groups order my sister-in-law gave him, and cropped them to highlight the main subject and get rid of unnecessary background. My sister in law created the layout from the cropped photos, along with Mom

Mom also chose background paper – although she also created some borders/frames. I added most of the adhesives to the back of of the photos and added a few sticker embellishments here and there. Finally, my cousin did the journaling. Each station got the opportunity to add his/her own creative personal touch to the project. While the early stages of the project were a bit slower as we were going through the learning curve, the final product was beautiful and we all enjoyed it. Having now realized that it’s such a fun activity, I’m looking forward to doing some scrapbooking. I actually want to learn how to use digital scrapbooking software.

Any recommendations?

Visualizing success

photo credit: alter1fo

Despite my online persona (the Hummingbird604), my measure of success is completely different from what people seem to think I would consider successful. When I told my brother how many people followed me on Twitter and how many people read my blog (in terms of unique hits), he went “WOW”. You would think I would see myself as a blogging/social media success story.

And the truth is, my measure of success is substantially different from the statistics (despite widespread perception otherwise). Those who really know me well know that the way I quantify (and qualify) my success is quite multi-layered and complex. One thing I can tell you – it’s taken me A LONG TIME to get where I am. And one of the tips I thought I would give my readers (because it’s one of the things that actually has propelled me forward) is visualize your success.

I’m not kidding. I’ve spent the past few decades seeing myself as a successful individual. Counting the years by friends and not by number of hours spent at the office. Ensuring that I take care of the people I love the most, and that I take care of myself. Making sure that I believe in my multiple talents and abilities. Realizing that I am very blessed with what I have and that I really, really don’t need much more.

photo credit: keepitsurreal

Do I live in a modest apartment? Yes, I do. Do I have to live within budgetary constraints (thanks, largely, to my overly lengthy stay in graduate school because, you know, I wanted 2 Masters and 1 PhD). Yes, I do. Do I have to work really long hours? Yes, I do. Do I feel sometimes overwhelmed, overstretched and over committed? Yes, I do. But more importantly, do I trust my talent and abilities to take me where I want to be, my heart, mind and soul to be key elements in the way people assess what I can contribute to their lives (in terms of education – my students; in terms of online community building – my readers and followers; in terms of love, my friends)? YES, BY ALL MEANS, I DO.

I *am* very successful. No, I’m not boasting. I really am. I’ve succeeded in many professional, personal, sports and human fields. But two key elements have been foundations of my success. First, I have given it my all. EVERY. THING. I. DO. I put my heart and soul in it. And second, I have *always* visualized me as a success story.

So, whether other people see me as successful is really NOT my measure of success. I am my own barometer. And those who love me and care for me know that. I would suggest that one key tool for personal growth (at least for mine) has been visualizing myself as successful. And I can tell you RIGHT NOW… I firmly believe 2010 is going to be great for me. I honestly hope it will be so for you too.

Keeping a project journal/logbook

photo credit: Markus Rödder

My brother is a civil engineer and a certified project manager professional (PMP), and we both took a Masters-level course in Project Management while I did my MBA and he did his MEng. I have done project management in the past, and to this day, I continue to do some, but not in the engineering field (as I used to). However, I do firmly believe that keeping accurate notes of every project I undertake is good.

I don’t keep notes because the Project Management Institute or any of the certifying organizations (I’m an engineer, so if I conducted any engineering projects, the APEG of BC would probably be asking me for my Professional Engineer designation) will actually ask me to read it, but just because it allows me to keep track of the milestones and progress of each and every project I am carrying out.

The great thing about my 2009 logbook is that it has kept notes from various projects, including my interactions with coaching clients, meeting notes with consulting clients, handwritten scribbles of thoughts for our research projects, and a few musings about my students (current and graduating). In hindsight, having a look back at my 2009 logbook will give me a broad overview of what I have worked on without having to delve deeply into other registries.

Do you keep a logbook of your projects? I suggest that, in 2010, you should!

The New Year resolutions

photo credit: Green_Mamba

You know how people make New Year resolutions all the time, and more often than not, they end up not complying with them? I read somewhere that a common piece of advice to most people is to NOT set New Year’s resolutions. Others suggest to start in February, rather than in January.

In my case, I have taken the past month to make my New Year resolutions, and I’ve spent a substantial amount of time talking with friends and colleagues alike to ensure that they know what pathway I am in. Mostly, as I have mentioned before, 2010 will be ALL about me. With a healthy dose of “you”, of course.

I’m curious to hear – what are YOUR New Year resolutions?