ZKQ Blog

A Sign from Church

If you've spent any time around me or are a long-time reader of this blog, then you know I've said this more than once: "Before there was Twitter, there were church signs."

I have long been a curious fan of the messages found on church marquees and have jotted down these short, inspired messages, read them aloud into a recorder, and have even received some via email or Twitter from friends on the road.

Jeremy Hart (NRVLiving.com) sent me the tweet below that mentions Google (#1 in the list) from @randizuckerberg. Inspired, I searched a couple of hashtags and found some other keepers. Here's my list, courtesy of Keepstream:

 

Things I'm Wondering About

Friday, July 23, 2010

• How does an author autograph an e-Book?
• How hot will it get today?
• Can an e-Book become a collectible?
• What are the things I want to get done that won't get done today and what are the things I don't know about that will get done that I don't even know yet that I want to do?
• Will TV still be around 30 years from now?
• It's just past 7 a.m. I wonder what will be for dinner.

Nikki Giovanni - Always the Teacher

I am so thankful for the lack of direction and personal insecurity bestowed upon my youth that led me, at the age of 20, to quit school in 1979 during my senior year of college. Had I not done so, I would have graduated without ever having had the opportunity to study writing under Nikki Giovanni.

Nikki came to Virginia Tech in 1987 as a visiting professor. By that time, I had wised up and returned to Tech to complete my bachelor's degree in English as a part-time student, now considered an adult learner. What a difference being an adult made. I appreciated all of the opportunities the university offered me to learn, to grow, and to achieve. When I learned that Nikki Giovanni had joined the faculty, I took every class she taught during my last two years as college student. I drank in her words, nourished by her belief that I could write. I graduated in 1989, ten years later than when I was "supposed to."

I still marvel at how fate, even when you don't know it's standing right beside you, moves you along to where you're supposed to be. Several months ago, I met Nikki for coffee. She had to autograph some of her books for someone before we could talk together. I waited and watched the as she guided the black Sharpie over the inside page writing words of encouragement and love. She asked me when I would publish a book of poems. I told her I was freelancing, writing about business and marketing. She told me a writer has to follow their passion and asked me again when would I publish a book of poems. Twenty years had passed since I was a student in her classroom. Twenty years later, I find I'm still her student, only the furniture is different. 

To keep opportunity alive, Nikki has bequeathed the future copyrights along with Virginia Fowler, through the Fowler-Giovanni Fund, of her work to Virginia Tech. Here is a video honoring that gift.

Would you hire a Leo?

Earlier this week, I wrote a post for Handshake 2.0 about the value of using assessment tools during the hiring process. Jennifer Leake, founder of Assessment Pros, explained to me that tools like the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and DiSC were never intended to be used for hiring purposes, but are best used to understand behavior and for self-assessment. I appreciate her explanation. While I have used MBTI for team building, I had always wondered if it could be used during the hiring process. I understand now that there are tools better suited to that.

In the post on Handshake, I wrote that, back in the 70's, I had been turned down for a job because I was born under the zodiac sign of Leo. My would-be employer already had two Leos working for him and he did not think adding a third would make for a good mix. While I was shocked to be turned down for that reason, it was several years later that I came to understand why he felt that way.

As I moved up and took on more responsibility in the various companies I worked for, managing teams and supervising staff were included in the promotions. Just like the manager who turned me down, I found I, too, needed a good mix of employees -- a well rounded group of people and personalities who could work well together. Turns out, getting this is more difficult than one would think, but tools like the MBTI really did help me in more than one enterprise and, today I carry with me the lessons I learned from those experiences. 

According to Astrology-online, Leos are the "most dominant, spontaneously creative and extrovert of all the zodiacal characters." I share a birthday with Robyn Smith, Susan Saint James, and Magic Johnson. Other famous Leos include Andy Warhol, Benito Mussolini, Rosalyn Carter, Jacqueline Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Hmm...makes me wonder...would I hire me?

Remembering Dad

     A Jeweler's Hands

Dad's hands are thick and wide
Wide enough to palm a basketball
or so I think as I pass the ball to him

With both hands he catches it
pushes it toward the pavement
On the rebound he reaches out
his hand stiff like a paddle

He misses

He has no rhythm for dribbling
nor is he built for basketball
Tall, but not thin
Dad's build is thick and wide
like his hands

Yet I've seem him lift the
smallest springs and wheels
and cogs from a broken watch
and lay them out on felt

And with the tiniest of tweezers
replace them in proper order

He can mount the most precious
of stones in a four-prong setting
for a man and a woman in love

And with the skill of surgeon
cut the words “Love is forever”
on the inside rim
of a gold wedding band

            Z. K. Queijo, 1990

Blogging with Purpose

 The post Top Content by Top Content Creators for Handshake 2.0 lists the titles and authors of articles published in 2009 that attracted the most visitors to the site. It's exciting to see that several of the posts I wrote made the Top 10 list for the year.

Knowing this fuels my confidence as a writer and as a content creator. It makes me think that if I can create good content for Handshake 2.0, then I can do so for my own business, SmartCollegeVisit.

My writing experiences over the past year have taught me that writing just to be writing (which was the reason I launched my very first blog years ago) is just blogging. Later I figured out that creating content means blogging with a purpose. To me this means delivering useful, or perhaps insightful, information in a way that tells a compelling story.

In the month that SmartCollegeVisit has been live, I've worked to deliver content in a variety of formats ranging from the retelling of parents' stories about visiting colleges with their children to showcasing a single interesting place unique to a particular school. The post with the highest traffic thus far is Student Panel Highlight of Radford Open House. We'll have to wait 11 months to see if it holds on to its First Place title.

Images from Virginia Police Work Dog Tribute

 


  

 
  All photos taken using Olympus Stylus Tough 6000 on loan to me by Olympus.

 

Honoring Virginia Police Dogs

At the reception to honor Virginia Police Work Dogs, hosted by the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech, I sat with friend and sculptor, Larry Bechtel following the unveiling of the state's first-ever tribute of this kind. Larry was the artist chosen to create the sculpture to honor fallen police dogs.

I watched in respectful silence as officer after officer stopped by to shake Larry's hand and thank him for creating the exquisite statue of the German Shepherd who stands with his right paw lifted in salute. The names of the 12 dogs who have died in the line of duty are inscribed on the base of the statue.

One officer from Albemarle County stayed for a while telling the story of how Ingo, his K-9 partner took a bullet that saved the officer's life. It had been six years since Ingo's death, yet the pain and sadness of the loss remains sharp. "I spent more time with Ingo than I did with my family," said the officer. "My kids still have their dad because of Ingo. We still have his collar." Ingo died on October 24, 2004.

The tribute drew K-9 units from all over the state. The dogs and their handlers stationed themselves in a semi-circle at the back of the sculpture. Uniformed officers, all of them tall and strong, impressive in their dark-colored uniforms of black, blue or brown, carried a single, white, long-stemmed rose and placed it atop the base of the statue as the name of their fallen K-9 partner was read aloud by Virginia's Attorney General William C. Mims.

I don't know what it's like to lose a partner--someone you've trained with, trust, and respect--someone who is with you day-in and day-out and understands you with a single nod of your head or movement of your hand, but I witnessed the strength of this unique bond among the officers and their K-9 partners. Together they honored their fellow officers at a place where toughness and tenderness meet.

Related articles can be found on Handshake 2.0: Virginia Police Work Dogs To Be Honored and Virginia Police Work Dogs: "So that you may live, my life is yours."

Additional media coverage by WSLS: Memorial at Virginia Tech honors police dogs killed on duty | WSLS 10 http://bit.ly/4pDcHb

All photos taken using Olympus Stylus Tough 6000 on loan to me by Olympus.

A Year in Freelance

Today, October 6, 2009, marks the one year anniversary of my life as a freelance writer. While I've had many periods of my life where freelance writing was on-going, this past year was the first time when freelancing was the only job I held. I'm really proud of all the work accomplished and grateful for all that I learned during the process. What follows are a few of the lessons learned and observations made along the way.

10.06.08 Fly, Click or Drive: How will you get to your next meeting? was my first published article, written for the Blue Ridge Business Journal. In it, I provided an overview of online meeting software tools and how some local companies are using these tools in lieu of on-site travel to save money and, in most cases, work more efficiently with their clients. I can't provide a link to that article because it is no longer available online. That was one of the downsides to writing for a publication whose revenue model is driven solely by print advertising--either my article was not published on the journal's web site or, after a site crash, was not reinstated due to a format change.

The new format that emerged was an online page-turner publication which is about as effective as appearing only in print since none of the content is indexed on the web, meaning the content can't be found by search engines. It made me sad that my good work could not be found and read by the larger audience elsewhere on the world wide web. 

That was the downside. The upside was that I worked with really good editors and I was challenged to push myself to "get the story" and to write about topics that were totally outside my realm of first-hand knowledge. That was, perhaps, the best thing that happened to me while writing for the BRBJ. I covered a diverse range of topics related to business, technologies, and education. I met innovators, entrepreneurs and people driven by their passions, something I plan to continue to do throughout my life.

A little over a week ago, I notified the editor of the BRBJ that I was withdrawing my name from the pool of regular contributors due to my own entrepreneurial ventures. Yesterday, I learned that the BRBJ had laid off my editor due to reorganization by the parent company, The Roanoke Times. I was also told that most of the writing would be done in-house which, of course, means that there are now several really good freelancers and an editor looking for work.

During my time there, I met and interviewed the amazing researchers, teachers, and entrepreneurs that make our region rich with knowledge. There's always a good story worth telling in the Roanoke and New River Valley regions and now there are more writers ready to do so.

As for me, I continue to freelance for other online publications and my own blogs while working toward the launch of a new business. So, keep reading. There's more to come.

Ikea Heights Sparks Childhood Memories

Last Friday, when Matt Singley tweeted about the Ikea Heights web video series on Vimeo, I just had to click and, immediately, I was hooked. It wasn't the acting or the storyline that drew me in, it was the idea of living in a furniture store. I used to have that fantasy and, for a some portion of my childhood, it was a reality.

When I was a young child, my mother was a saleswoman for a home furnishings store. She used to bring me to work with her and let me play in the store. There were rows and rows and cushy sofas and chairs, stools that swiveled, and beds to lay on. It was a furniture fantasy land, and, just like the folks in Ikea Heights, I acted out various scenes based on the furnishings that surrounded me, the only exception was that I had to play every character or imagine them (and, of course, there was no camera crew). Still, it was a blast.

Today, when I watch Ikea Heights, I'm looking beyond the faces of the actors. I identify with the furniture settings, how the actors have used what Ikea provided in their displays as props for their story. I look at the shoppers trying not to notice anything unusual going on around them. I remember trying to be cool and nonchalant as if it was perfectly normal for a five year-old to be sitting at a desk pretending to write or sitting at a dining room table in the middle of a furniture store waiting for the dinner party to begin. 

So, hats off to Dave Seger and Paul Bartunek and the rest of the Ikea Heights cast! Thanks for the fun and for the memories.

IKEA Heights from DaveAOK on Vimeo.