I think I’ve pretty much gone full circle on my social media usage. I’ve been blogging in one form or another since 2003, and my blog has evolved from stories about the Happy Pitbulls to random findings from the web and now lately it’s a collection of random scenes from my travels through Woodland and beyond. I was an “early adopter” on Twitter too. I’ve got close to 8,000 tweets logged over the past 3 or so years, and I’m followed by more than 1,000 people (most of whom are probably fraudulent porny accounts, but I’m not sure). I’m not getting the same value I used to. I used to actually connect with people there, but somehow, it’s devolved into a collection of links and posts and retweets, breaking news updates, and a bunch of other nonsense.
When I was dedicated to building our social media program at work, I refocused my social media activity to be specific to work-type topics: Government 2.0, User experience design, etc. I started to censor myself and then I really cut back on my Twitter activity altogether. My personal connection started happening on Facebook. But even there, I have 400+ friends (some from high school, some from college, some from work, some virtual friends that I’ve worked with on committees). It’s getting less and less personal and social and more just a distraction. And by distraction, I mean I keep checking to see if there’s something new or personal directed to me, and there’s not.
Over the past year, I’ve really cut down on a lot of activities that were just not fitting into my schedule. I killed my Farmville Farm and my Mafia Wars accounts, much to the chagrin of my neighbors and fellow mobsters. I stopped watching as much TV (with the exception of watching the entire 6-season series of Lost over the course of 5 weeks).
And a recent shift of my responsibilities at work removed social media from my job function. While I’m still interested in what’s going on in Government 2.0, I feel like it’s time for me to go back to my roots and personal connections with my social media usage. I’m not a brand or commodity. I’m a silly geek girl with a couple of goofy aging pitbulls. Time to get back to that at the core.
It’s time to put my social media in check. Stay tuned for the great de-following of 2010. Time to simplify.
I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions, so I typically avoid them. Except last year, where I resolved to stop reading Sacramento Bee article comments that bashed State of California workerbees because I take them too personally. Well, that didn’t work.
This year, since I’m following my path to some new kind of life, I am doing something more like goal setting. It’s got less to do with resolve than it does to do with transformation.
Simple things, you’d think. But this is what I’m willing to take on this year. You’re welcome to come along for the ride.
Shine again in 2010.**
* Thanks to Sparkpeople.com for this article: 14 Tips for Starting and Sticking With It
** Thanks to the wisdom of the Oracle for that beauty!
Commitment. That’s a tough one. When you commit to something, there’s a lot of emotional stuff that comes along with it. Personal stuff. Historical baggage. Fears. This is probably going to be one of the most personal posts I have done on this blog in quite some time.
I am on a journey right now, and it’s one I have been on quite openly in some of my social circles — with my family and with some of my co-workers.
In August, I got some tough love from my doctors when I went for all my check ups for Blinky (my lovely pituitary tumor), my first mammogram (yeah, a few years later than it should have been), all that other lovely lady stuff, and coming off the recovery from my second ankle surgery. Between the two ankle surgeries, I had gained 30 pounds. And since starting my current crazy job (which can be a tad bit stressful at times), I gained 50. Come on — 50 pounds? Fuck! How does that happen?
I had to really think about how that could happens. Stress cycles, anti-depressants, a sense of responsibility for my dad who at times is no picnic, the aging process…the cards can appear to be stacked against me. If you’ve been following my journey, I even did a bunch of half marathons. I couldn’t figure out that even while training for half-marathons and doing all this fitness stuff, I could still gain weight. I asked my endocrinologist if it was possible that the pituitary tumor was the culprit, or the anti-depressants, or my birth control pills, or a number of other things. I asked him to check my thyroid, and he told me I just eat too much. Wow! Thanks! Insightful.
So, frustrated by that response, I went to my regular doctor and asked her if she could help. She referred me to this place, Obesity Treatment Center in Davis and Sacramento. I was horrified. That’s so extreme! Imagine how horrible it would be to walk through that door. I did a ton of research, talked to Mike, and did some thinking about it and decided to give it a whirl.
First of all, the door said “OTC Medical Group”, which actually made me feel a bit more at ease. I started on this program in August, initially doing a full liquid fast. It’s a VLCD – Very Low Calorie Diet – which puts me at 600-800 calories a day. In September, I decided to switch to a program that’s mostly liquid supplements, but I get one meal a day now, which makes it a little more palatable, and easier to deal with social situations. However: no alcohol, no carbs (well, the good ones, like pasta, potatoes, and bread). I do get my fill of good stuff though, and it’s really made me think very differently about food.
Since August, I have lost about 40 pounds. It’s been easy in a lot of ways. I let people know what I was going to do, I rallied my support team, and I just went for it. But in some ways, it’s been hard. I am losing weight slower than the norm. I see people in my classes losing at a much faster rate. I tell myself they have more weight to lose than me, and I’m constantly seeking approval from the doctors and behaviorist in the program, which is a little kooky, but that’s how I am. One of the things I did find out that I do have issues with my thyroid. The doctors at OTC checked it in the beginning and then 8 weeks out and determined I was hypothyroid, so I have been on a synthetic thyroid hormone to help with that for the past 4 weeks. They say it takes about 6 weeks to kick in, so I haven’t seen much of a change in terms of rate of loss yet. But I am glad I was persistent about getting that checked. No comment from the endocrinologist, other than “oh, yeah, that’s low.” Again, thanks!
So writing about this on my blog is horrifying. I always thought it was a secret between me and my Wii Fit that I was obese (can you get behind a game that insists that you get on the scale every day and then says, “Oh, that’s OBESE!” Nice.
I’m needing more support, and I want people to know what I am doing. Right now, I’m running out of clothes. All of my clothes are too big for me, so I am going through what we call the “dead clothes room” where the smaller sizes of days gone by live. Some of those are starting to fit, some are actually too big. The changes are happening fast now, so I don’t want to spend money to buy new stuff right now, since I still have about another 45 pounds to go.
So what’s the point? A few things:
So, there you have it. I’ve got some challenges ahead of me, but some great rewards. And I’m committed!
I’ve always wanted to see KISS, and missed the opportunity last night to see them in Sacramento at Arco Arena. I think I’m too old for concerts like that. Maybe not. Anyhow, I got an email from my pal Lisa who described it just as I imagined it!
I had never been to one of their shows and always wanted to see what it’s all about. Honestly, I only know their big radio hits….but that didn’t matter because I wanted to see the flames, fireworks and theatrics. They are great performers. KISS really knows how to put on a live show. They let it all out. Loved it. That’s what I wanted. Flying across the arena, striking poses, confetti, and monologues about how great Sacramento is. They so know how to work a crowd. There were hoochies. Drunk dads with their kids. Lots of painted faces. And a KISS family. Oh, and the air guitar dude. Total awesomeness.
Doesn’t that sound amazing? Hoochies, drunk dads and a KISS family? Sounds just like an episode of Family Guy!
Posted via email from @marlinex = geek girl
I was in a class this evening (let me reiterate, this was not a work meeting — really!). There were about 10 people in the class, and it was structured as a formal discussion with a facilitator. There was someone there that kept their bluetooth handsfree headset in the whole entire time. Don’t ask me why, but that just bugs me. Unfortunately, you know what they say about first impressions…
