Hula your way to a good time this week
I’m lucky to have a job that not only involves learning new things and meeting new people, every day, but is also a lot of fun and allows me to feel like I’m giving back to the community.
This Thursday 6/19, my colleagues at NBC 17 and I will be working (if you can call it that…) at Mura of North Hills for their Hawaiian Luau to benefit Muscular Dystrophy Assocation (MSA). That afternoon North Hills is hosting one of their popular outdoor concerts with ZSpotlight.com. Mura will be dishing up some of their famous sushi and DJ Grant will be playing live on the outside patio beginning at 9 p.m.
With food, drinks and hula skirts flaunted in the name of charity, this event is sure to put the fun in “fundraising.” Party starts at 9pm and lasts until 2am! Come early, with tickets, if you want Sushi!If you don’t carve out some time for this tropical-themed soiree, you will be sorry in the morning.
Our Web Anchor, Page Crawford will be emceeing the event and raffling off a long list of great prizes and our team will be onsite showing folks how to share community stories, pictures and videos within our new web site http://raleigh.mync.com/. Stop by the mync.com booth to say “hello” and tell your friends!
Durham celebrates freedom and unity
Last year, I learned about a cool celebration often cited as the African American Independence Day in
Durham. I was working in public relations and a client of mine sponsored the big event. It’s a big deal. Each year, tons of people gather in NC to honor the day slaves were freed.
Juneteenth originates from Galveston, Texas, where on June 19th, 1865, the word of the Emancipation Proclamation reached the enslaved.
North Carolina will soon become the 26th state to recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday or a state holiday observance.
The 4th Annual Durham Juneteenth Celebration & Unity March to be held on Saturday, June 14, 2008 on Fayetteville Street at Hayti
Heritage
Center from 12:00pm to 6:00 pm. This educational and uplifting day begins with a march at 11:00 am, led by Honorary Chair North Carolina Central University (NCCU) Chancellor Charlie Nelms, from NCCU to Hayti with men marching with children. Shuttle buses will run from “Hayti to NCCU” to transport marchers from 9:00 am to 11:00 am. When the processional ends at Hayti
Heritage
Center, after the Opening Ceremony, the 4th Annual Durham Juneteenth Celebration will start with an Opening Ceremony that includes an appearance by 2008 Miss Black NC USA Audrey Cox.
Entertainment throughout the day will feature the 1st Lady of Neo-Soul Gospel, Cynthia Jones and Blues icon Bobby Hinton, both performing with their full bands. Other performers include rising 9th grade spoken word artist Jakayla Hart, gospel singers Johnnie Foster and Minister James Spears and 12-year-old singing sensation Nichole Rogers. Project Safe Neighborhood will conduct seminars on gang awareness and gang resistance. Vendors will sell African and African-American clothing, art and artifacts, specialty items, crafts and delicious foods. The Health Fair will include blood pressure, diabetes, body mass index and HIV screenings. The Children’s Village will have concession games, prizes and other fun, educational activities including UNC’s Destiny Bus, the Durham Police substation, Kid’s ID, McGruff and more.
I’m embarrassed to admit that I had never heard of the celebration before participating in it last year, but have since heard a lot of mention of it since Senator Obama has been leading the charge to make the yearly celebration a national holiday as part of his campaign this year. Since taking office in 2000, President George W. Bush has been urged by Congress to recognize Juneteenth Independence Day by issuing a special Presidential Proclamation.
To wait or not to wait?
As gas prices continue to rise and talks about the hurt economy continue to circulate, it’s difficult to think about vacationing during the summer months. But after 4 years of working my summers away, I am determined to find a way to enjoy other cities and visit with long-lost friends and family during the next few months without affecting my wallet.
Travel project #1: Some friends and I can get tickets for the Yankees/Red Sox game in Boston at the end of July. We have a place to stay. Challenge: getting there!
We’ve already researched tickets, but a friend recommends waiting based on searches she has conducted on http://farecast.live.com/?
I’ve never used the online airfare forcasting resource, but a few have said that the predictions tend to be dead on. Farecast.com generates its own predictions, in addition to those requested by consumers. It then checks its results against the actual price quotes generated by over 150 billion actual airfare price quotes from the past 18 months to and from over 200 major U.S. cities, Europe, Mexico, the Carribbean and Canada to come up with their prediction. As a result, they are able to figure out how accurate the fare really is and further finetune the data that tells you whether fares will go up, down or hold steady over the next week.
Our farecast.com search tells us to wait. Unfortunately, it doesn’t tell us exactly how long to wait or how much lower the fares will be once we do buy. I went ahead and signed up for the The Farecast Fare Alert which allows you to specify a price threshold for a trip. If the price is at or below the specified amount, they can automatically send an e-mail which will allow booking of the trip.
I have 2 other trips that I am determined to make before the fall — My family in Florida and a friend in San Diego. Keeping my eyes and ears open for ways to save dollars and still enjoy a weekend away.
Operation holiday weekend.
While the majority of my friends are reliving college spring break 1998, I have taken the weekend to catch up on some sleep, personal reading, good food and to visit with family and close friends. I will feel much better when the work week rolls around, but this morning as I began mentally preparing for the week ahead I realized that I had not taken a minute to given thanks for the ultimate reason that I am able to enjoy my freedom to enjoy all of these gifts over the long weekend — our armed forces.
While we heat up our grills, dewinterize our boats and sip on our cold beverages amongst friends and family in the sun we should also take a moment to remember our armed forces and their predecessors who along with their families serve by losing precious days together to protect our country and our freedoms.
Social Media Rules
After my recent involvement in the Blog Carolinas Social Media conference, I have been thinking about our use of social media tools a lot more. I blog. I IM. I use my telephone to get online, to text message and to email.I begun using these methods of communication more, sometimes to avoid being distracted by another person’s physical presence. But are these communication tools as effective or even as appropriate as face-to-face communication?We should use these tools with care. Be smart. We should be careful to be conscious of when and where personal and impersonal communication is appropriate.In a society where people fear rejection, text messaging and e-mailing may seem like an easy way to ease the damage. Cancelling a date or an appointment through a few words in a text is simpler than calling and hearing the disappointment in a person’s voice. Using SMS language in a professional email may be a faster way to get the message across, but is it appropriate? The fact that we increasingly find nothing wrong with this impersonal way of communicating important and personal messages is a sign of the changing times.
To help you avoid SMS and text-message mistakes, TheFeature.com composed a top 10 list of texting guidelines. Take note smart readers:
- Common courtesy still rules. Contrary to popular belief, composing an SMS while you’re in a face-to-face conversation with someone is just about as rude as taking a voice call.
- Remember that SMS is informal. SMS shouldn’t be used for formal invitations or to dump your girlfriend or boyfriend. The casualness of SMS diminishes the strength and meaning of the message.
- Don’t get upset if you don’t get a reply. Before you text someone and get frustrated at the lack of a response, be sure that they’re familiar with how to use the service, and that their carrier will accept messages from yours.
- Be aware of your tone. It is extremely difficult to discern tone in text messages, just as in e-mail. What seems to you to be a completely innocuous message may be grossly misinterpreted by the recipient, causing certain discomfort if not irreparable harm.
- Don’t SMS while you’re driving. Talking on the phone is bad enough. You won’t know what hit you - or what you hit - if you are pounding out a message on your keyboard.
- Leave the slang to the kids. Don’t expect your stodgy superiors at work to be hip to the lingo of the SMS streets. And don’t expect to win points with your kids by trying to be cool, either.
- Remember that SMS can be traced. Anonymous messages - if you must send them -are still best sent from Web sites.
- Be conscientious of others’ schedules. Don’t assume that because you are awake, working, not busy, or sober that the person you’re texting is as well. Many a pleasant slumber have been interrupted by recurring “beep-beep…beep-beeps” of messages.
- If it’s immediate, make a voice call. If you can’t get through and your text message is ignored, there’s probably a good reason. There are still some times when people don’t even have a thumb free to respond.
- Remember that your phone does have an off button. There are very, very few things in the world that absolutely cannot wait.
Blog Carolinas a Success
On Friday, I attended the Blog Carolinas Social Media conference in Research Triangle Park. There were over 100 RSVP’s for the event, but only a portion of those showed up. I was pleased to have gotten some more insight into the social media world, which seems to continue evolving among the diverse range of individuals, organizations and businesses that are applying it to their daily routines. Many of those present were there to learn to promote their online presence by using social media tools. It was fun to meet and hear from local experts who have been successfully working with Social Media for years and who engaged all of us in their conversations. The ”unconference” atmosphere gave everyone an opportunity to speak without intimidation. Anything could happen in this environment. No matter what the experience level, we were all colleagues at this event. All on the same level. Due to the no shows at the event there was lots of lunch leftover which Lee White (the organizer and lunch sponsor) generously donated and volunteer, Lisa Bledsoe offered to drive to The Raleigh Rescue Mission and Love Wins. Always. in downtown Raleigh. I met lots of great folks. The Blog Carolinas crew continued their conversations at Trali Irish Pub and Restaurant in Raleigh following the conference. I wasn’t able to stay for the happy hour because I had to move on to participate in the Latin American Women’s Club’s Women in Excellence Awards ceremony later that afternoon. I do hope to continue to follow my new Blog Carolinas friends in the blogosphere in the future.
Triangle’s Social Media Gurus Unite this Friday - You can come too!
My colleague Wayne Sutton has given me the important task of coordinating volunteers for the upcoming “BlogCarolinas: A Conversation about Social Media in the Enterprise“ event. What’s Social Media, you ask? While the definitions are constantly evolving, many see it about blogging, vlogging, twittering or having a My Space or Facebook account. Unlike other more established media, social media is something that everyone can do with the chosen amount of effort. Everyone is invited to the party. Here is your invitation…
On Friday, May 9th from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. social media experts and those who may wish to learn a bit more about online community building with gather at the Sigma Xi headquarters in RTP to:
- Network and meet experts in the field of Online reputation, Search Engine Optimization, Web 2.0 technology and Online community building
- See how social impacts marketing and communications strategies
- How online communities can serve as a model to improve organizational productivity
- Experience cool stuff!
Protect your vote today…
I was just listening to the radio and learned about a Hotline specifically for Indiana and North Carolina primary voter questions today. They are called The National Campaign for Fair Elections - Election Protection. Apparently, during the primaries in February, March and April Election Protection got over 6000 calls! If you have any questions or encounter any problems at the polls today call 1-866-OUR-VOTE. Trained volunteers will be staffing the hotline to provide voters with free live assistance if they encounter any problems at the polls. They say that no question is too simple or too complex. Additionally, mobile legal volunteers will be at monitoring targeted polling places in both states, and Election Protection will be in contact with election officials to solve problems as they happen.
Today. Another excuse for a celebration.
Today and throughout the end of this week, many will make plans to dance to mariachi music, eat chips and salsa and sip on Margaritas at Cinco de Mayo (May 5th) events throughout the Triangle. But why? Do we know the significance behind the festivities? The holiday of Cinco De Mayo, The 5th Of May, commemorates the victory of the Mexican militia over the French army at The Battle Of Puebla in 1862. It is primarily a regional holiday celebrated in the Mexican state capital city of Puebla and throughout the state of Puebla, with some limited recognition in other parts of Mexico, but is especially celebrated in U.S. cities with a significant Mexican population. It is not, as many people think, Mexico’s Independence Day, which is actually September 16, 1810 (nearly 50 years difference). North Carolina’s Hispanic population totaled 600,913, or 7 percent of the state’s total population, in 2004. Only a fraction of those are of Mexican descent and an even smaller fraction of those from the city of Puebla in Mexico. That’s why it’s important to know that when you say “Happy Cinco de Mayo” to your Latino friend, it may be like hearing “Merry Christmas” in April. All in all, the celebration of diversity enriches our lives, which is why it’s important to understand why your raising your margarita glasses this week.
I voted early! Have you?
I realize that voting is a privelage, so I wanted to take the time out to cast my ballot early, since I never know what may come up on voting day. I early! I was already registered, so it literally took me 20 minutes to vote. I was surprised that there weren’t more campaign volunteers standing outside with literature to share, so close to the end of the early voting period. I guess they will turn out on Election Day next Tuesday, May 6th. You can vote early too! But only until this Saturday, May 3rd. The Board of Elections has made it easy on us, offering several early voting sites throughout the Triangle. Haven’t registered? No problem. N.C. allows residents to register and vote during the one-stop early voting period. My boss likes to wait until the primary election day, because she likes to enjoy the tradition of it all. That’s ok too. As long as you get out and vote! Remember, you don’t have a say in our country’s future.