Category Archives: work

I’m Leaving on a Jet Plane…

And while I know when I’ll be back again, I might not remember everything. Ah…wine country! Should be a blast and most definitely needed.

Here it is, shortly after midnight and yes, we did indeed just finish packing. Mind you, I had things pretty much pre-packed (and I was packed) I was just waiting on the hubby to put in his two cents. I have no desire to be *that* kind of wife that packs for my husband. Instead, I pre-pack and then nag until he finishes. Much better, right?

I might be stopping by with the occasional post or picture, but I can’t make any promises. I mean, if I can walk away from my website for a week, I shouldn’t have to feel obligated to keep up with a blog with a whole 9 or so readers, right?

Now if only I could pull the hubby away from his computer. Yes, it’s the eve of our vacation and he’ll be up late again working. The good news, the first two nights he’ll won’t have internet access outside of what his crackberry might pick up. So maybe he’ll relax after all.

Cheers!

For These Things I Am Grateful…

I just thought that I’d take a moment and focus on some of the many, many things that I am so happy and grateful for…

* we’ll start with the obvious, yet very important…my health, wealth, happiness, joy, work, love, home, family, friends, husband and boys!

* my upcoming haircut, brow wax and pedicure!!

* my current batch of chick-lit – I’m so loving reading the breezy stuff!

* the fact that we’re off on a vacation full of good friends, good food and good wine in just over a week!

* that I’m going on that vacation 20 or so pounds lighter than when we went last year – and it shows!

* my clean car – I should show my gratitude and appreciation for it now since it might rain tomorrow!

* that while today may have been a tad chilly and overcast, the weather as a whole has been just lovely and perfect for our evening walks!

* and so, so much more!

Edited to add: the reason I even started this was to express my gratitude for our new toilet!!! No more wondering if it’s going to flush. No more non-stop running through the night. Ah…the joys of a new toilet!

Help Save Internet Radio & NPR

SaveNetRadio.org

About the Issue

On March 2, 2007 the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), which oversees sound recording royalties paid by Internet radio services, increased Internet radio’s royalty burden between 300 and 1200 percent and thereby jeopardized the industry’s future.   

At the request of the Recording Industry Association of America, the CRB ignored the fact that Internet radio royalties were already double what satellite radio pays, and multiplied the royalties even further.  The 2005 royalty rate was 7/100 of a penny per song streamed; the 2010 rate will be 19/100 of a penny per song streamed.  And for small webcasters that were able to calculate royalties as a percentage of revenue in 2005 – that option was quashed by the CRB, so small webcasters’ royalties will grow exponentially!

Before this ruling was handed down, the vast majority of webcasters were barely making ends meet as Internet radio advertising revenue is just beginning to develop.  Without a doubt most Internet radio services will go bankrupt and cease webcasting if this royalty rate is not reversed by the Congress, and webcasters’ demise will mean a great loss of creative and diverse radio.  Surviving webcasters will need sweetheart licenses that major record labels will be only too happy to offer, so long as the webcaster permits the major label to control the programming and playlist.  Is that the Internet radio you care to hear?  

As you know, the wonderful diversity of Internet radio is enjoyed by tens of millions of Americans and provides promotional and royalty opportunities to independent labels and artists that are not available to them on broadcast radio.  What you may not know is that in just the last year Internet radio listening jumped dramatically, from 45 million listeners per month to 72 million listeners each month.  Internet radio is already popular and it is already benefiting thousands of artists who are finding new fans online every day.

Action must be taken to stop this faulty ruling from destroying the future of Internet radio that so many millions of listeners depend on each day.  Instead of relying on lawyers filing appeals in the CRB and the courts, the SaveNetRadio Coalition has been formed to represent every webcaster, every Net Radio listener, and every artist who enjoys and benefits from this medium.  Please join our fight for the preservation of Internet radio.

CALL YOUR SENATORS AND YOUR REPRESENTATIVE NOW TO ASK THEM TO CO-SPONSOR THE INTERNET RADIO EQUALITY ACT, S. 1353 IN THE SENATE AND H.R. 2060 IN THE HOUSE!
 

The future of Internet radio is in immediate danger!

Royalty rates for webcasters have been drastically increased by a recent ruling and are due to go into effect on July 15 (retroactive to Jan 1, 2006!). If the increased rates remain unchanged, the majority of webcasters will go bankrupt and silent on this date. Internet radio needs your help!

The Internet Radio Equality Act has recently been introduced in both the House and Senate to save the Internet radio industry. Please call your senators and your representative to ask them to co-sponsor the Internet Radio Equality Act.

 

I’ll Keep This Brief…

I finally got my Secret book! It was on backorder almost any where I looked and it finally arrived yesterday. Of course, I’m in the middle of like three other books right now, so I probably won’t start it for a couple of days now.

Sorry for not being around. I’ve had some challenges over on my site regarding an April 1st joke that seemed to have gone awry. It seemed to have morphed into someone’s personal battle zone and rather than get sucked down to that level, I’d decided to lay low for a while and catch up on some movies!!

Once things die down a bit more I’ll be sure to write it up. Without a doubt, there’s an interesting lesson in everything that went down. The short version…it’s confirmed that life is all about how you react to what comes your way. Lemons or lemonade…the choice is all yours!

Focus Baby, Focus.

Wow, it’s day 34 of the 100 Day Challenge! Time has been flying by! I’ve met some really cool people while I was in Austin at South by Southwest. Who knew that an interactive/music/film festival would give me some of the very insight and focus I was craving.

I know I’ve mentioned last week how I kept hearing about the E-Myth and Michael Gerber (I love his story about how he found his calling). I’m really learning a lot and luckily, he has a great writing style that makes it read more like he’s talking to you than some business book.

While there I also met some other great folks such as Tim Ferriss (more about him later), Jenny Hart, Vickie Howell, two other really cool people that use the law of attraction to help attract your ideal client.

So yeah, things are really coming into focus…

* I am so happy and grateful now that our business is doing so well and earning $3000+ a month through multiple sources of revenue.

* I am so happy and grateful now that money comes to me in increasing quantities through multiple sources of on a continuous basis, for the good of all involved.

Live from SXSW Interactive!

It’s day 27 in my 100 Day Challenge and I’m currently hanging out in Austin at the South by South West Interactive Conference. And while this has nothing in particularly to do directly with the Challenge itself, I’m learning SO much and really receiving a ton of good information that I’m certain is a direct result of the energy I’ve been putting out. And the best part, since I seem to have left my power cord at my friend’s house in Dallas, I’m forced to conserve my computer time and focus on the actual people and events, going with the flow instead of hanging out in my own head.

Quick parting words…I got the message at least twice to check out The E Myth by Michael H. Gerber that I actually drove out to the local bookstore on my lunch break to pick it up (and score some YUMMY Amy’s Mexican Vanilla ice cream!). It’s really shaping up to be EXACTLY the sort of book I needed to help me to clarify my business success goals. So talk about needing to be open to what messages the Universe sends your way.

And now, I have a party (with a free drink or two!) to get too. I’ll post more after I either get back to Dallas or get back to LA.

100 Day Challenge – Day 21

I received the most interesting phone call the other day. Out of the blue I received a phone call about a job. Now that might not seem like a big deal, but I haven’t worked out of the home (not on my website, that is) for just over two years.

I haven’t even been looking for work for nearly two years now. I still have no idea how she found me, or even why she thought to give me a call (considering the caller herself said that I was over-qualified).

Since one of my focuses during this challenge right now is to bring in additional income from multiple sources and since I’m open to whatever the Universe might provide, I’m not the least bit surprised. In particular, I’m considering leaning towards doing some non-profit sort of work.

So again, I’m just loving this challenge and all the many things that are showing up in my life. Too cool!

* I am so happy and grateful now that our business is doing so well and earning $3000+ a month through multiple sources of revenue.

* I am so happy and grateful now that money comes to me in increasing quantities through multiple sources on a continuous basis, for the good of all involved.

100 Day Challenge – Day 11

I haven’t been around much the past couple of days, but that doesn’t mean that things aren’t humming along just as expected. In fact, I had a bit of an epiphany this past weekend (at least that’s what I’m choosing to call it since it sounds SO much better than breakdown – LOL).

I think, for the most part, it was a time for purging and cleansing, both in the relationship department and the work department. For the first time, in a long time, the hubby and I had a real, heart to heart about stuff that was going on in our lives. This not only brought us closer as a couple (hello, smoochie smoochies!) but also helped us to clarify some of the bigger picture items

One of the bigger issues that we talked about was my job. As I’ve mentioned briefly in passing, I’m an administrator of a women’s online community. The interesting part, is that I kind of just fell into this. There was an opportunity, the hubby jumped on it, and wham-o, I’m an administrator. It turned out to be a wonderful thing, in so many ways, since just a month or so before (or after, I’m really not so sure) I had lost my job and shortly after that it turned out that I was the primary caregiver for my father-in-law. So everything really does happen for a reason.

Only catch…it’s not something I ever had any desire to do. Lucky for me, I enjoy it, I just sometimes have some challenges in finding focus or motivation regarding the site. So in my epiphany moment (thanks to my loving husband), we’ve talked about maybe turning the site into a non-profit sort of thing and spreading out further to helping other women create a web-based presence – roughly speaking. It’s still in the beginning stages.

So while I’m away at SXSWi I’ll be keeping my eyes and ears open to the opportunities that I’m certain will be presenting themselves. I haven’t given it a whole lot of thought just yet, but I really feel that this will be right for me (for us) and that it came into my life at this appropriate and perfect time. I love when it all works out this way.

And as a neat “look, here’s another example of how the Universe works!” event…after putting a new home on my affirmation list, we kind of just bumped into a perfectly suited home this weekend while out walking the boy. I believe it has everything we were looking for on the list and believe or not. Even the price was pretty right. I don’t believe that this one is The One, but I just love seeing how the Universe brings forth what you ask for.

So go baby, go! And just think, we’re only on Day 11!!

100 Day Challenge – Day 5

While this entry isn’t specifically about my focus and the challenge itself, it is about what sort of things the Universe brings your way, and what lessons might be in it for you.

Friends have always been a very important part of my life. I like to think of friends as the family we choose to have in our lives. And while I’ve never had what some might consider a lot of friends, I’ve always been happy with the friendships that I have. I’m the type that would do anything for a friend.

Now the Lounge here isn’t my first and only blog. I also keep a pretty regular journal where I have developed some deep, online friendships. I don’t really mix the two and that’s mostly due to my job. As a website administrator in a women’s community, my life is a pretty open book and all of my journal friends, are part of that community (and therefore, my work environment). The Lounge, on the other hand is more for me and not so much about a community.

Well, as one would expect of a journal, I spend quite a bit of my time in there discussing the minutia of my day – work, errands, friends, family, vacations, what have you. And yesterday was no different. So there I was commenting on someone’s behavior (and more importantly, their reaction to a reprimand) on my site. I didn’t name names, nor did I get into specifics, which is how I typically do things. Yet somehow, what I said wound up being repeated in a friend’s journal (in a private – not for my eyes – post).

Interestingly, it was by the very same woman that took something I said once before and repeated it around my community trying to cause some drama. Thing is, when I seem to snark (as we tend to call it) about a situation or a member, it’s not something I haven’t already said to that very member through email or PMs. So basically, I own it. But somehow, I just felt so hurt.

To have this very same individual take something out of my safe zone and repeat it, and then lock me out of it, so basically, it’s all going on behind my back, left me a little shocked. Yet surprisingly, not really bothered. I mean, I had already forgiven this friend the first time around and let her continue to be a part of my journal and my life (never blocking her out to begin with, even after it all went down). This time, I was able to just send her an email to let her know that she hurt my feelings and move on.

This to me is pretty big. Normally I can perseverate on something like this for quite some time, ranting and raving about being violated and disappointed, playing the victim role perfectly. This time around, I just naturally and instinctively chose to handle it all from a higher place and move on. Heck, in my email with her I even wished her well in her future endeavors (she’s been looking for work).

So for me, this is just kind of proof that changing your focus and letting things go, is a much less stressful way of life. I really feel that this is all part of my plan, working in action. Did I not say just the other day that I am so happy and grateful now that I am a complete, confident and beautifully, fabulous woman.

I am grateful for this experience and acknowledgment today. I welcome this confidence with open arms. Thank you Spirit!!

100 Day Challenge – Day 4

Today and everyday I am grateful for…

* my husband
* the unconditional love and warmth of my boys
* my home
* my friends
* my job (or my ability to call what it is that I do, my job)
* my yummy cheeseburger lunch – while not so WW-friendly, it sure was tasty!
* my car
* the weather – while most of the US has been having non-stop snow and freezing temps, here in SoCal it’s been downright beautiful!
* my new Bobbi Brown lipstick (hey, 5+ hours at the mall with a girlfriend and it’s ALL I bought – or even wanted to buy)
* my faith and my ability to see the positive and share that faith with my friends

Ten. Not such a bad number, if I do say so myself!