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Are We Losing a Free Internet?

Have you heard the bit about how the telco/cable companies want Congress to give them the keys to the Internet so they can decide who gets top billing on which sites load fastest? 

OK, this might not be what it's about at all.  I couldn't begin to tell you because I don't have the hours and hours it would take to study the issue and figure out just exactly what's going on. 

What I DO know is that I really don't want the telephone or cable companies having any more of a hand in what happens to MY Internet than they already have and that may actually be more than I want them to have.  There may be tons of good reasons for them to have control.  There may be tons of good reasons for them not to have control.  In the final analysis, I don't care about how many good reasons there are one way or the other.  I care that the Internet is supposed to be a place where I get to have as much of a chance to be noticed as anyone else and that the playing field is totally level. 

Sure the big companies can have very flashy sites and mine is pretty basic but no one gets to tell me what I can put on my site.  Oh, I can feel the cranky comments coming already--do I really like porn?  do I really want children to be able to access instructions on bomb building? do I really like sites promoting sexual exploitation?  No, of course I don't.  What I DO like is the right to boycott those sites for myself rather than have someone else choose which sites I can and can't see. 

Might I feel differently about this if I had a teenager living in my house?  Maybe but I still think I'd rather figure out ways to monitor and/or discuss Internet content with a teen rather than have big business dictate what I see or when I see it.

Now that I've gone on and on (as I am wont to do), check out this post and then the whole blog letting us know what is going on so that if we really do want to spend hours and hours figuring out what's up we can.  Personally, I would just rather go for the broad brush strokes and tell Congress to keep big business out of MY Internet. 

Until next time...

Living With Intention

One of the greatest joys I have in life is my work as a Virtual Assistant.  True, some of the work I do is tedious, even boring, but there are incredible rewards that outweigh every minute of those tasks.  The greatest of these rewards include working with clients who mirror my beliefs and who appreciate my work.

This leads me to the introduction of a new blog, Living With Intention.  Deanna Davis, author of the blog and the book of the same title, is my client.  She has allowed me to hone my blogging skills by setting up her blog for her.  I had more fun with her blog than mine (as is evident in how much better hers looks) and I'm still working on it but it's definitely worth a look. 

Deanna has written a book that everyone needs to read.  Check out her site for the special launch date so we can all help her make it to the best-seller list on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  Just click on the graphic of the book to see her web site.  I'm very excited about both Deanna's great blogs (she writes those--I just designed the site) and her book, not to mention all the great free gifts Deanna is offering for purchasing the book.

Until next time...

Life's Mission

A while back I told you about Win-Win Web written by EM Sky.  Well, this week EM started a new series of blogs on Discovering your life's mission.   I'm looking forward to hearing what she has to say because it's one of the things I've always wondered about.

A few years ago I finally figured out what work I want to do in my life but I'm still working on the whole Life's Mission thing.  I suspect part of it has to do with writing but that's about as far as I've gotten with it. 

I'll keep you updated on EM's blogs but check her out if you haven't already done so.  She's always got something interesting to say.

Until next time...

Out of Time

As I’ve browsed through blogs about blogs, articles about blogs, books about blogs, and e-zines about blogs, I’ve discovered there are a variety of opinions about what should be written in them.  Seth Godin believes we should be succinct, pithy, and on-topic.  Suzanne Falter-Barns is of the opinion we need to spend more time baring our souls.  I know I’ve read more opinions but these two stick out in my memory as being sensible and diametrically opposed.

Perhaps I should have decided my philosophical blogging beliefs before venturing forth but I didn’t.  I just dove in, head first, with a general idea of what I wanted to say and to whom I wanted to say it.  I figured no one was going to be reading what I wrote for a month or two anyway so that would give me time to hone my skills and figure out the little details.  I mean, really, I haven’t even written my bio yet.   

Now, suddenly, I have a new client who needs me to help her build a blog and another client coming on in a couple of weeks who will need the same thing.  Well, so much for having time to figure all this out.

My focus for the rest of this month will be figuring out how to make all of this work well.  I’ll keep you updated as I figure it out.  Tonight I’m trying out Permalinks.  If it works, I’ll tell you how I did it.  If it doesn’t, well, back to the drawing board.

Until next time…

Win-Win Webs is a Winner!

EM Sky writes Win-Win Web talking about how to live in a win-win world.  How exciting is that? 

I received my Virtual Assistant (VA) training through AssistU.  One of the things we read, talked, and wrote about was the attraction principle.  One of the most exciting things I learned about the attraction principles is they don't include win-lose living. 

My life, to that point, had been lived wondering why we all couldn't just get along.  Suddenly, here was a whole philosophy of being in the world that had the same belief.  It was pretty darned exciting.  For the first time in my career not only did I not consider other Virtual Assistants my competition, they felt the same about me.  Those of us who received our training through AssistU knew there were more than enough clients for all of us.  We knew the perfect clients would naturally be attracted to us and we would be attracted to them.  It was nearly intoxicating.

So, here I was, looking at blog after blog after blog telling me all about how I had to go out there and "beat" the competition, how I had to tell potential clients how much better I was than other VAs, on and on and on.  Oh, sure, I found some interesting blogs and you'll be hearing about them as we continue our journey together, but Win-Win Web stated my beliefs so clearly I cheered. 

Treat yourself and read what EM Sky has to say about how to live a wonderful, rewarding life based on living with a win-win philosophy.