Last weekend, my family traveled to the Mountain View Grand, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. While we were there, we visited Santa’s Village, a small amusement park for little kids. After spending much of the day there (and, keep in mind that we were at Walt Disney World less than a month earlier), we left, before hitting the “Yule Log Ride” -a flume-type water ride that wasn’t operating due to the cooler weather. My kids were upset, and pouted all the way to the car.
Angry, I explained to them that some kids never went to the park at all, and here we were, on our second vacation of the month. I told them they needed to be grateful for what they had. And, then I realized that I am guilty of the exact same thing.
I always get hurt when I’m passed over for something. Wonder “why not me” when I hear of something someone else has. But today, I’m vowing to be happy with my life – because I have a LOT. And I’m lucky. Very lucky.
Here are a few pictures from the first road trip in our #mfstravel10 series for this summer (destinations include the White Mountains, Martha’s Vineyard, and Vermont).
I haven’t run in over a month.
(hanging head in shame)
I am not going to be ready to run that half-marathon I’d planned to run on June 27th. At this point, I probably couldn’t even run a 5k.
So, why did I “give up”? Not because of an injury. It was more a lack of time. I didn’t have time to do my long runs. Then, I stopped doing my short runs because I wasn’t doing my long runs.
The first weekend, I didn’t run because I walked the MS Walk RI with my family.
The next weekend, I was at the Taj Boston Hotel doing a review.
Then we went to Walt Disney World over two weekends.
Then I gave up.
I’m still exercising daily, and I’m still on a diet. I’ve lost about five pounds, which is great. I’ve got another ten or so to go, but it’s a wonderful start.
I’m going to start running again. Maybe this week 
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to co-host the Boston Hebrew National Better than a Picnic Picnic with Christy from Quirky Fusion, Audrey from Mom Generations, and Christine from Boston Mamas (along with Emily from The Motherhood).
We had an absolutely beautiful day, with an amazing turnout. Honestly, we couldn’t have asked for anything more.
We had a mechanical bull…
We had hot dogs…
We had two amazing service projects for the Women’s Lunch Place and Operation Gratitude….
Watching the children make cards for soldiers almost made me weep. So cute and sweet!
Most importantly, it was a great gathering of friends!
Photo courtesy of Emily McKhann
A huge thanks to Hebrew National and The Motherhood!
Disclosure: I was given a stipend to co-host the picnic, but all opinions are mine.
Bubbly. Lively. Outgoing. Extroverted. Shy. Quiet. Introverted.
All of these words have been used to describe me. Yet, I really don’t think I’ve changed much in my 36 years. I’ve always found it very easy to be outgoing in certain social situations, and very difficult in others. And, I’m not sure I really know why.
Years ago, when I was working full-time, my coworkers and I completed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Personality Inventory, and we were all guessing each others’ type. Everyone agreed on the last three letters for me (STJ – sensing, thinking, judging – pretty standard for a finance type like me). Yet, there was a discussion about the first letter – E (extroverted) or I (introverted). That should be the easy part, right?
My coworker suggested that I was an E – a very, very, high E. My boss, who was way more perceptive than I knew at the time, suggested that I was an I – a slight I that really worked hard at being more of an E (but was really an I at heart). They were both wrong. I’m an E, but just barely.
I sometimes find it hard to make friends. Even though I stay at home, I work sometimes, and find myself stuck inside working instead of hanging out outside. So, I don’t know many of my neighbors, even though I’ve lived in this neighborhood since 2001. That makes me feel bad, especially when I see some of them hanging around together.
Sometimes at conferences, I am outgoing, but other times, I just sit back and observe, unable to find a good point to jump in to the conversation.
So, what’s your opinion? Do you think I’m an E? Or an I?
We’ve been reviewing products on MFS for years, from when we had a baby page rank 0 site to now, when our page rank is 5. Back in the beginning, no one asked for specific anchor text, and we didn’t offer it. We just generally wrote “click here” and linked to the site.
As I started learning more and more about anchor text and SEO, I started to understand the value of it. But, as much as I wanted to help those businesses (especially small businesses) that were coming to us for reviews, I didn’t want to hurt our site. Since we have tons of reviews on our site, all with outgoing links, it was recommended to me via the Google Webmaster forums that I should make sure Google knows these aren’t paid links, by no following and by avoiding anchor text.
That was a few years ago. Since then, we’ve no followed only the links on the home page (the ones on the individual post pages are followed), and have not offered anchor text. Even though it’s clearly written in our editorial policy, I get loads of requests for anchor text weekly. And every time I refuse. Sometimes the companies decide not to send us review products, but most of the time, they still want a review.
Now, with the FCC rules, I feel it’s even more important. If a company tells you which words to use (even just for a link), isn’t that an ad? It’s certainly not fully editorial, right?
I would love to know what others think? If I’m wrong, I’d love to know it! And, if others are granting text ads with reviews, do I have to?
I woke up this morning, as I always do – wiping dust from my eyes as I clumsily fumble for a cup of coffee. Briefly, I remembered that my iPhone was completely uncharged, so I grabbed my charger, and started to plug it in in one of our kitchen outlets. An outlet that happens to be near our jar filled with large cooking utensils.
In a perfect (electrical) storm, the plug and a ladle and the outlet all happened to touch each other and POP! Sparks!
In the end, the outlet, ladle, and plug all were burned, and the circuit had tripped. Luckily, I didn’t happen to have the iPhone plugged into the power cord – I have no idea what would have happened.
Lesson – no metal near the outlet. None.
by Jodi on May 22, 2010[edit]
I’m thrilled to be co-hosting the Boston Hebrew National Better Than a Picnic Picnic along with fab bloggers Christy Matte, Christine Koh, and Audrey McClelland! Bring the entire family for loads of fun, and hot dogs, fruit, and beverages (feel free to also bring along your own food if you’d like).
Where: Artesani Park, 1234 Soldiers Field Road, Boston
Date: May 31, 2010 (Memorial Day!)
Time: 11:30am – 3:30pm
Cost: FREE!
As part of the picnic, we are also working on some charitable efforts that we’d love your help with.
- We are collecting in-kind donations for Women’s Lunch Place, a Boston-based organization that serves homeless women and children. Top priority items include travel sized toiletry items, gently used books & magazines, and office supplies including paper, pens, envelopes, and stamps.
- Donations will also be collected for Room to Grow. Top priority items include children’s books and toddler clothing.
- We will also be creating cards for servicemembers serving abroad, and working on a project for the Women’s Lunch Place.
RSVP not required, although you can RSVP through this Facebook event.
I’m one of the newest members of the Yahoo! Motherboard, and this month, the blogger topic is volunteerism. Is there an “Obama Effect” where, like in the Kennedy Administration, citizens are following a call to action to volunteer?
I do believe there’s a rise in volunteerism – You may have heard that Walt Disney World offered a wonderful volunteer promotion to guests – the Give a Day, Get a Disney Day program. Disney wanted to inspired one million people to volunteer, and guess what? The program was full by mid-March!
For those who want to give back but don’t know how, there’s a new trend in volunteering, called skilled-based volunteering – where nonprofits with specific needs are helped by highly skilled volunteers – in their specific skill. So, a nonprofit in need of a new Web site is matched with a technology professional who actually designs Web sites professionally. It’s a fabulous concept, and I’m honored to have worked for a company that’s a leader in this area in Boston. I hope more companies follow this lead and work with their employees to work on skill-based volunteer projects.
Do you volunteer? If so, where?
Wow, it’s been a banner week for pitches!
I got a great pitch this week – it was personalized, it was targeted, and it was brief, and to the point. If I wanted to review the product, I just had to click a link and fill out a “quick form” to have the product sent to me. Assuming it was a simple form asking for my address, I clicked over.
The “quick form” was 20 questions. Some of them were reasonable, like name, address, town, phone number.
The rest? Wow. An agreement to sign the blog with integrity pledge. An agreement to disclose that the product was free. An agreement to let the company know if there’s any problem with the product before posting anything negative. An agreement that the disclosure is on the front page of the blog and will be listed on the post. An agreement that I’ll change the post if I post anything considered “untrue”. An agreement to complete a review within 30 days and to email the company the link. An agreement to post about the company’s Facebook page, Twitter URL, Facebook quiz, and newsletter. An agreement to be added to the company’s newsletter.
Seriously?
A few months ago, I wrote about working for free, and since then I’ve had a lot more thoughts about it. For me, it seems that there are several areas where this becomes an issue.
Writing
Many, many, many Web sites and blogs do not pay for blog posts, but instead offer back other incentives, such as promotion, links back, and access to review products. I’ve written loads of articles with no compensation, and to be honest, it doesn’t usually work out in my favor. The key thing is knowing when to stop – how long do you continue before you give up? I’m not sure.
In my experience, it’s easier to write for free when I can choose the content and publish on my own schedule. The more restrictions, the harder it is to fit into my busy schedule.
“Ambassadorships”
In my last blog post on this topic, I said that a badge and a hashtag do NOT EQUAL VALUE…
I still very much agree with that.
When you agree to be an ambassador, you really have to think about what you are doing. You are putting your good name out there as an advocate of the product. Lots of bloggers love to collect these badges, but I’d rather keep my name undiluted.
Reviews
I require samples to write a review. In most cases, I write a review but sometimes, I just don’t like the product and won’t review it. Simple as that. Sometimes, I love the product so much I use it in one of my TV segments.
Last week, I got an email asking for my blog stats. While I generally don’t mind sharing, I do think that PR and marketing pros should do their homework before contacting a blogger, as tools like Compete.com and Alexa do give some public stats that can at least give you an idea of traffic.
I responded with my traffic (about 10,000-12,000 unique visitors per month) and got the following response back “Thanks Jodi – We prefer to only do give-aways with folks who over 30K monthly visitors. One possibility is to do a post before the giveaway, and if it is successful in driving traffic, we can then send over some products for further reviews…
How does that sound?”
Wwwwwhat???
Really?
So what do I get out of this exactly?
Sigh.
That last post probably had you thinking that I didn’t have a great vacation. But that actually couldn’t be further from the truth – we had a fabulous time! Here are a few highlights:
- NO DIAPERS!!!!! This was our first family vacation with no one in diapers. And it felt great!
- 40 inches baby! Both kids are now over that all-important height barrier, which means more rides for everyone.
- Mini-Jodi in the making. My daughter is rapidly morphing into a little mini-me, and so now I have a thrill ride and shopping buddy. She did get bit scared on the Tower of Terror, but loved some of the other rides.
- Moms Panel cast members who are now great friends – Laura and Leanne! It was so great to see both of them.
- Gary!! My kids, like all of the other Moms Panel kids, are now GaryJerry fans for life!
- Stormalong Bay – the BEST part of staying at the Beach Club. Kids (and us) loved just hanging out at the pool in the afternoon.
Photo credit: Jen DeCesari
