koalateagirl – Page 8

Making sense of the senseless

December 14, 2012 by koalateagirl

I woke up this morning, a little bleary eyed but happy. I went to babysit a friend’s 6 month old while she volunteered at her daughter’s preschool. Nothing out of the ordinary. This afternoon I sat looking at my BlackBerry in disbelief as I read the stories out of Newtown Connecticut. I spent the better part of an hour just staring at my twitter feed on my BlackBerry as if my doing that would somehow change the news. I wanted this to be a tragic mistake, that somehow, through some kind of Christmas miracle, those children and adults wouldn’t be dead. I cried a bucket full of tears. It put everything in perspective – yeah the job hunt isn’t going great right now but I’ve got a supportive family and a great network of friends. It could be so much worse.

I just don’t understand what has to be going on in someone’s mind for them to take a semi automatic rifle into a school full of children. Yes there is something to be said for gun control but there is also something to be said for the identification and treatment of mental illness with which the shooter was clearly suffering. With the gunman amongst the dead, we will never know his true motivations. What I do know is that there are 26 people, 20 of them children who won’t get to celebrate Christmas. That is a national tragedy.

Please: Go hug your kids, your neighbour’s kids, a friend’s kids. Tell your family how much you love them and how mich they mean to you. Try and make something good come out of this truly senseless tragedy.

Poppies

October 31, 2012 by koalateagirl

I have a thing for Poppies. I love them. I love what they symbolize, I love that I can grow them, and I think that they’re one of the prettiest flowers out there. I also love how they blossom on the lapels of Canadians for 2 weeks before Remembrance Day. With Remembrance day being less than 2 weeks away, I thought I’d post some fun facts and figures about our symbol of Remembrance (Source: Legion.ca)

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Remember

October 26, 2012 by koalateagirl

Remember verb ri-ˈmem-bər

1. To retain in the memory; keep in mind; remain aware of.

2. To recall to the mind by an act or effort of memory; think of again.

(Source: Dictionary.com)

Today is the last Friday in October, which means that it’s the start of Poppy Campaign by the local branches of the Royal Canadian Legion. I have worn the same poppy for the past three years but I always make a donation into the box whenever I see a volunteer giving out poppies. It’s a common misconception that poppies are for sale. Poppies are not for sale, rather they are freely given away. You can choose to make a donation but it is not mandatory. According to the website of the Royal Canadian Legion, “During the Poppy Campaign some 18 million poppies and 70,000 wreaths, crosses and sprays are distributed across Canada and overseas annually”. 18 million poppies. The number is staggering. When you make a donation to the Legion through the annual Poppy Campaign, the money is used to help veterans and the families of veterans. The main purpose of the Poppy Campaign, though, isn’t to raise money but to remind Canadians of the sacrifices made by over 117,000 Canadians who died in service to their country.

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She’s Connected and my BlackBerry

October 24, 2012 by koalateagirl

You know what I absolutely love hearing when showing off my Bold 9900? “Wow, I didn’t know a BlackBerry could do THAT“. I heard that a lot this weekend at the She’s Connected Conference in Toronto. Mostly it was the simple things like the fact that managing multiple accounts in the Native Twitter Application is so easy. Or that I could remote control my PlayBook from my Bold 9900 (to be honest, that was me showing off because I had the bluetooth keyboard for the PlayBook and was perfectly capable of typing on that but I like the wow factor of the remote control). I loved meeting so many fellow BlackBerry devotees and being able to help them use their devices more easily. It’s not rocket science but there are tips and tricks that will enhance your experience as a member of Team BlackBerry.

Bold 9900 - BlackBerry Bold - TARDIS berry — My BlackBerry Bold 9900

The one question everyone seemed to ask me was if I was excited about the upcoming release of the BlackBerry 10 devices and operating system. The answer to that was an unequivocal YES! I am very excited about BlackBerry 10 and can’t wait until it is released! I still don’t know how I’m going to get a BlackBerry 10 device into my hot little hands but rest assured, it will be done. I have friends who are developers for BlackBerry and their excitement at what the BB10 OS can do has rubbed off on me. I truly believe that there is a core market of BlackBerry users who may have switched to another platform who are waiting for an excuse to come back to the BlackBerry fold. I believe that the BlackBerry 10 Operating System will be the thing to bring them back. I spoke to quite a few people who either had been BlackBerry users in the past or who were simply curious about the new product launch. A number of them were at the end of their cell phone contracts and were eligible for a new device, either now or at the beginning of the year. After chatting with me, many of them are waiting to see what BlackBerry 10 has to offer before deciding what phone to get. I wasn’t out to strong arm people into becoming members of Team BlackBerry but I wanted people to give it a chance.

BlackBerry isn’t for everyone. If you want a smartphone to game on, then this isn’t the right solution for you. However, if you want your phone to work FOR you, and WITH you then you need to consider BlackBerry. I primarily use my BlackBerry for social media, emails, as a gps, as a camera, and *gasp* to make and receive phone calls Yes I have a number of very entertaining apps and games, but they’re not the reason I chose my BlackBerry. I have far more games on my 64 gb PlayBook.

BlackBerry PlayBook - Bluetooth Keyboard - PlayBook - BlackBerry — My PlayBook

Not once all conference did i wish I had a different phone. My Bold 9900 had no issues connecting to the wifi, releasing the cached wifi info page so I could log in again on the second day, or with maintaining a battery charge throughout the conference. I don’t want to have to carry around a charger for my phone because it won’t last 10 hours. I was having too much fun trying to meet up with twitter friends to be hunting for somewhere to plug in my phone.

Thoughts on She’s Connected 2012

October 24, 2012 by koalateagirl

In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been blogging over at my other blog Adventures with my BlackBerry for the last few months. I’m going to have another wrap up there but from the technological side of things – how my BlackBerry helped me make connections and made my conference experience more enjoyable. This is more about the experience I had at She’s Connected (or SCCTO which was the twitter hashtag for the event), what I learned, and the great people I met.

Overall, I had a great time at She’s Connected. The getting up at the crack of dawn wasn’t something I was looking forward to but I had great carpool with Courtney and Jacki and not only did we get to the hotel an hour before the conference breakfast was supposed to start, the fabulous people at the Renaissance Hotel were able to check us into our room super early (at 7am) so that we didn’t have to come back later and check in or try to do it after the conference when we were tired etc. I have to say that the Renaissance is a fabulous hotel, and I wish I’d spent more than just one night there! I’d go back for Grey Cup in the blink of an eye but it’s definitely out of my price range!

I learned a lot about myself at the conference. I learned I can be funny and witty in real life even with strangers and when I’m scared to death that I’ll say something stupid and they will write me off as a moron. I learned that mink eyelashes are pretty cool and very dramatic but take a long time to get used to. I learned that having a professional do a blow out on my hair leads to the same result as me doing one – flat hair in less than an hour! Not that the stylist from Blo wasn’t really good, but my hair is stupid that way. It looked fabulous for the hour, but then it was just messy and full of product. I learned that I really get a kick out of people complementing me on my business cards (which were super fabulous thanks to Lindsay from Grace Announcements).

The sessions were amazing. It’s impossible to pick just one to single out as the best. One of the best part of the sessions was that the panelists and speakers were more than willing to meet and speak with the attendees after the panels. There were 2 time slots in which I couldn’t find a session that I really wanted to attend, one on Friday and one on Saturday. This worked out pretty well because it gave me a chance to hang out in the McCafe lounge and get my nails painted and enjoy a chair massage. On Friday I got to hang out in the Molson 67 lounge and learn about pairing Beer and Cheese. This was really awesome and I’m never going back to wine and cheese again.

SCCTO - Molson 67 - Beer - Cheese - Tasting - — Beer and cheese = nature’s perfect pairing.

I learned a lot about trying to find a niche in the overcrowded world of online writing, editing and social media. I got some awesome advice from awesome people. I got to meet people with whom I’ve been tweeting and BBMing for over a year (I’m looking at you Christy and Christine). I learned that if I love blogging (and I do) I should keep doing it. That getting a chance at a community manager position isn’t as impossible a dream as I thought it would be and that some brands and agencies are okay with paying bloggers.

I missed the Friday ’80s Party because I wanted to go watch the ~~Argos Lose~~ Argo game and play with the Argonotes. I love playing with the best band in the CFL. Even when the team loses, we get to go out and entertain thousands of people. I did, however, stick around for the Shades of Grey party on Saturday night. There’s not a lot to say about that Party other than wow. I got gel nail polish put on – it’s supposed to last 2 weeks and so far it’s lasted through me digging in sand and typing so I’m impressed. The food was delicious! It’s A Cake Thing made some of the best cookies and cupcakes that I’ve ever had! They looked as good as they tasted.

Cupcakes - shades of grey - SCCTO - — The Shades of Grey Cupcakes

All in all it was a great 2 days. I’m glad it was only 2 days because I was exhausted at the end of the party. I know I’ve missed some wonderful people and things in this wrap up but the point is, it was a great experience and I can’t wait to go again next year.

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