Mental Post-Its

Thoughts, Notes, and General Mental Mayhem

Monthly Archives: July 2013


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My 2013-2014 Conference Schedule

162056140I love conferences. I mean it. I LOVE conferences. I must, right? I work on one year-round.

I would never have the patience or determination to go back to school like many of my friends have done, but to me, conferences are like little crash courses without the tuition. And there are no electives or basic courses to waste your time on. Just focused attention to whatever I’m most interested in. Best of all, optional homework.

I can also attended conferences on a variety of topics. I mean, who just has one interest? There are many subjects I want to know more about, and luckily, there’s a conference for every one of them. And I should know—I’ve attended quite a few!

My upcoming conference schedule is mostly centered around 1) my day job in PR/marketing for Orange, 2) personal growth, and 3) my passion for the abolitionist movement and volunteer work with Not For Sale Georgia and Solomon House/Out of Darkness.

Locked in:

Fingers crossed:

Based on my company’s marketing budget, ONE of these may happen.

That’s a lot of learnin’—I’m excited! It’s going to be a fun and educational few months.

What about you? What’s on your schedule? And please let me know if there’s something I should put on my schedule.


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2013: The Halfway Point

simplify

Ok, so it’s technically it’s a little past the halfway point of 2013, but I should get credit for the update anyway.

For those of you following along at home, you’ll remember that my word for the year was SIMPLIFY. Just in case you’ve recently started reading, you can read all about it right here. The gist of having a word for the year is that you use a theme to look forward at the year, thinking about what you want it to be. This is the reverse of looking back at the year to see what happened. It’s a more proactive approach. My decision to use the word SIMPLIFY was to have a cleansing effect on me in several different ways. I want to live more simply. I have more than I need. I have more things and thoughts to occupy my time than I feel like I should, from items in my home to emails in my inbox to preoccupations and more.

A few of the items I originally listed include getting rid of things in my home, removing myself from email lists, working on my budget and paying down debt.

Some of the things I’ve done so far this year are:

  • Reinforcing the concepts through books, articles and conversations.
  • Donating and selling things in my house.
  • Getting off some email lists.
  • Paying down some debt.
  • Taking a look or two or three at my budget.
  • Not committing to events or people I didn’t feel would be best for me at this time.
  • Using eMeals.com to prepare meals.
  • Following a chronological Bible reading list.
  • Focusing on only a couple of volunteer activities.

Honestly, these are still all ongoing. I can still make improvements during 2013, and intend to. It may seem like a pretty good list, but some items are further along than others. None are probably as far along as I’d like them to be, but they are in a much better place than they were seven months ago and that’s important to remember.

I definitely need to listen to my theme song and read by theme verse more throughout the year. They’ll help keep me motivated. But I am proud to say I have done a little hell-gate prevailing, though again, there’s still much more to be done. And that’s the really fun stuff. 😉

So, there you go. I’m checking in, and keeping accountable right here. And I’ll definitely let you know how this year shaped up in a few more months. Fingers crossed, I’ll be able to report more progress. Scratch that: I WILL be able to report more progress!

If you’re doing something similar, please let me know how your 2013 is going. I’d love to hear!


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What to Watch on TV Right Now

tvI seem to have had a lot of these discussions lately with friends, so I thought I’d throw my thoughts out to you as well. Here are a few lists of shows that I’ve enjoyed in the past, present, and even hope to in the future. These are in no particular order, but my favorites are marked with an asterisk.

Premiering/premiered this summer:

  • The Goodwin Games
  • Motive
  • Under the Dome
  • The Bridge
  • Graceland
  • Crossing Lines
  • Ray Donovan (Haven’t seen yet, but excited to.)

Here’s a guide to a bunch of summer premiers if you’re looking for new content.

Ongoing:

  • Doctor Who*
  • Bones*
  • Castle*
  • The Mindy Project*
  • New Girl (Though I must say, I’m moving to the fence with this one.)
  • Warehouse 13
  • Scandal*
  • Covert Affairs
  • White Collar*
  • Grimm*
  • Nikita
  • Revenge
  • Revolution
  • Downton Abbey
  • Parenthood
  • Once Upon A Time (Also moving to the fence here.)
  • Modern Family*
  • Psych*
  • Prisoners of War
  • Community
  • Longmire (Haven’t seen yet, but excited to.)
  • Continuum (Haven’t seen yet, but excited to.)
  • How To Live With Your Parents For The Rest of Your Life
  • Justified*
  • The Walking Dead
  • Sherlock*
  • The Newsroom
  • The Good Wife
  • Homeland*
  • Person of Interest
  • Falling Skies
  • Hawaii Five-O*
  • Leverage
  • Elementary

Rewatch:

  • Lost*
  • Alias*
  • Veronica Mars* (Excited for the movie!)
  • Fringe
  • Lie to Me
  • The West Wing*
  • Arrested Development*
  • Chuck*
  • 30 Rock
  • 24*
  • Prison Break*
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer
  • Firefly*
  • Freaks and Geeks
  • Life
  • Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip*
  • Eli Stone*
  • Pushing Daisies
  • FlashForward
  • Alphas

Besides anything in the reality category, which I don’t watch, what did I miss?

PS—Most of these I don’t watch at any one time, but rotate them in intervals through services like Netflix, Hulu and Aereo. The last one just came to ATL, and is spreading big time throughout the coming year across the country. I’m looking forward to giving it a go!