Category Archives: blogging

Reminiscing

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I came across these two posts randomly as I sifted through our organization’s official Twitter account. Some of the people the account follows retweeted these updates.

They’re both good reminders of Who I belong to.

 

Have you come across anything that’s lifted your spirit lately?

Psyllium, Water, and Ditches

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It’s been a week since this year’s Global Leadership Summit from Willow Creek Association and I’ve been doing a lot of thinking on three fronts: career, health, spirit. My unexpected hospital stay couldn’t have been more perfectly timed. Spending a birthday in the hospital because of an emergency allowed me to rethink my life.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not about to wax poetic over my “wake-up call.” I will confess though that turning forty-two with a disease that’s common for people in their sixties did prove sobering. And it didn’t help that when I let myself wander over to Facebook, photos of my high school classmates looking better than they did when we were fourteen to sixteen year olds, added to my lucid, harsh realization that neglecting my body has taken its toll.

By neglect I mean, unhealthy food choices, working twelve to fourteen hour days juggling three jobs, sitting on my butt day in and day out. Every excess came crashing down in one micro-perforation in my large intestine.

I lay flat on my back—literally—for twelve hours on a twelve-inch wide cot in the ER and I let myself fall into God’s arms. I had no more excuses. “I have updates to post!”; “I have three audiobook summaries to record!”; “Emails need to be answered!” I was done, fully spent, and just grateful I didn’t need surgery.

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The One With My Birthday in the Hospital

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I spent my birthday at a hospital in Orlando, the city we left in 2009 in exchange for a better job for me in Nashville. The reason of our return to Central Florida was for work with a little bit of pleasure at our organization’s North American Conference at Disney World. I say “we” because Kyera also happens to work at the same office with me but in a different department.

The conference was from Tuesday, July 26, to Friday, July 29, so I flew south on Monday morning to do what I do best: communicate to the world everything that was happening at all the sessions and seminars through our official social networking channels.

I had it all planned out in my head, you see. I used to do remote broadcasts when I worked in radio. These “remotes” involved a small crew of technicians at a long table set with a mixing board and a microphone and an announcer. (We didn’t have a fancy OB van!) Said announcer basically painted a picture with words to get people to come to said location for goodies and treats and possible celebrity sightings. (The very first remote I did was for a fashion show in 1989. Will never forget it.) Now that I don’t have a microphone, I primarily do the same thing, but through Twitter and Facebook: live electronic updates. That was my plan.

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We’re On Again

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It’s funny how I drift in and out of my blog always with the threat of staying for good. Like a volatile relationship, I scream I’ll stay if my blog were only prettier, smarter, funnier. It refuses to budge, giving me another excuse to break up with it. Only to come back again, chastised and repentant and inspired to do my half of our relationship better. For now, we’re on again.

As I get older, I’m learning more and more that nothing will ever be perfect and that good enough really is the key to making things happen. I’m glad I came across this post from my Twitter friend, The Laptop Mom, Nika Stewart. It reminded me to stop aiming for perfect. I have no further to look than at my old posts over on Exits and Entrances or on Nashville Mom to confirm this idea. Did the blogosphere notice when my blogs met their untimely deaths? No. Seriously. Have I learned more about myself because of them? Yes, and it makes me cringe. And sigh. Mostly cringe. Will my space here on WordPress be the final destination of my words? Doubtful.

But had I not at least started blogging, I never would have come to where I am now: A little more comfortable in my own skin, and hopefully on my way to actually turning this space into a landing platform for a potential small business.

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Thelma Bowlen S O C I A L

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Logo for Thelma Bowlen S O C I A L

Creating a social voice for nonprofits and small business owners

I’ve been puttering around how best to spiffy up ye olde blog. I bought Darren Rowse’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog and after writing a post on my Day 1 efforts, I changed my mind and rewrote 95% of what you’re now reading.

Why? Because I realized that at this point, I don’t plan on making money off of my blogging. Or giving it a clear cut definition. It would require a commitment that I’m not quite ready to give. More than the time commitment though, is that I don’t really have an agenda to push other than the one I have at my full-time job, which is to find better ways to communicate. This space is a hybrid of sorts where I talk about life in the Third Culture, being a single mom, and faith in a big God. And once in a blue moon, a tale from my life on FM radio in Manila.

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And so I’m back from outerspace

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Yes. This is one of those proverbial flog-me-for-neglecting-my-blog posts. What excuse do I have this time? I’m not even going to begin to bore you with the details of my crazy schedule.

You like my new theme? Poke around and let me know what you think.

I need to start practicing what I preach so it was inevitable that this poor, widdle, neglected blog would be gettin’ some attention from me sooner than later. It’s finally happened. Sooner.

Before I go any further, let’s get one thing out of the way. Especially if you’re a Filipino reader. (Non-Filipino readers: Filipinos tend to be blunt about a person’s weight and socio-economic status, among other things.) I’m fat. There, I said it. I. Am. Fat.

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My 2010 in Review

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The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

Featured image

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 6,100 times in 2010. That’s about 15 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 13 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 59 posts. There were 23 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 20mb. That’s about 2 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was November 7th with 714 views. The most popular post that day was Saying Good Bye a Second Time on NU107.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, stumbleupon.com, twitter.com, adventuresofabeautyqueen.com, and thelmabowlen.blogspot.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for zach and joey in the morning, thelma bowlen, zach and joey, claire miranda, and nu 107 goodbye.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Saying Good Bye a Second Time on NU107 November 2010
16 comments and 3 Likes on WordPress.com

2

Life as Joey October 2009
3 comments

3

Zach and Joey were in the Morning April 2007
13 comments

4

About The Pseudo Expat March 2007
14 comments

5

Published Writing October 2009

Falling in love and finding my bliss

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With work that is. Not that I wasn’t to begin with. But nowadays, it all just feels so. . .  effortless. My real life personal passion for social media has spilled over to work and taken a life of its own.

As a former broadcaster, I’m an information junkie, so posting updates and disseminating broadcasts is organic to me, only now, I don’t have a microphone or an FM frequency. I have corporate social media accounts as my channels.

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Welcome back, WordPress!

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Actually, it’s more of a welcoming back myself to WP. It was this list of blog reviews that made me rethink how I’ve been using my many blogs. I know, I know. I’m “one of those” people who spread themselves thin online and end up with dead sites. But in my defense, Multiply has gotten lame—and it doesn’t really strike me as a blogging service—so I’ve stopped posting there; my Vox is in need of a “content lift”; and Blogger doesn’t really offer much template customization.

So after seeing that WP is number one on the list I figured I’d move.

Now to learn me some CSS and tinker with some of the code and I should be set. Or maybe I’ll have the daughter do it for me. Or hire someone.