Interview with Matt from LaunchBox Digital on WGB Blog!

My interview with Matt from LaunchBox Digital is live on the WomenGrowBusiness blog. Hard to believe so few women applied to the program last year, I hope this post encourages more women to participate.

Food for Thought: Information Architecture & the Global Financial System

Image by Chadica via Flickr

Question: If information architecture is the structure and skeleton of a system, then is the financial system just a amorphous blob? Is anyone doing anything about it?

A thought occurred to me last Friday, while watching a presentation on Electronic Medical Records given by John Lambeth, CIO of Erickson Retirement Communities: The transition to electronic medical records is literally going to shape, and act as the foundational structure of, the redesigned U.S. health care system.

As Mr. Lambeth pointed out in his presentation, there is relative consensus that the current health care system is broken, and that designing and implementing a patient centered, digitally based, information architecture is a key component of fixing the system as a whole.

Which leads me to my original question: What about the financial system?

What information architecture currently underlies the global financial system? Will the smart people responsible for creating the policies that will ultimately reshape the U.S. financial system pay as much attention to the role of information infrastructure as those redesigning the health care system? Or will it remain as it appears to be now, a big mess?

I really don't know the answers, but if you have any insight, please do share in the comments section.

Interview with Buzzable.com

My first post for the MavinDigital Blog went live today. Founders of Buzzable.com Ashish and Satjot are wonderful, it was a real pleasure to feature them in this post.

What the Harvard Hall fire taught me about preparing for the unthinkable

Last night I found myself jolted awake in the middle of the night due to a major fire in my apartment building, Harvard Hall.

While standing outside and awaiting the all clear, I distracted myself from the cold by compiling a mental list of "take aways" from the ordeal, so that I (and all of you!) would be more thoroughly prepared in the future.

• The Plan: What is your rapid evacuation plan? What are the 3 or 5 steps, in sequential order, that you will take if forced to evacuate? Memorize the plan now, so that it goes on auto-pilot if the need arises. In her book, The Unthinkable, Amanda Ripley points out that such pre- planning is a central part of military preparedness training.
  

• The Alarm: Most of us know to check our own alarms, but do you know the last time your building assessed its alarm system? Perhaps one of the scariest part of the fire at Harvard Hall last night was that many of us (myself included) could not hear the alarm.
  

• The Essentials: Put together an emergency bag that includes a cloth to protect your face from smoke, weather appropriate clothing, $20, etc. Keep the bag in a very accessible, easy to remember place, such as right under the bed near the edge. I *completely* failed to prepare in this regard, and suffered dearly as a result-- standing outside in shorts, boots and my winter coat for over an hour! On this same note, try to keep your essential items (wallet, phone etc) in one easy to find, easy to grab place.
  

• The Community: Know your neighbors, and create a mental post evacuation check list! Looking out for one another we can more effectively ensure that everyone gets out safely and swiftly.
  

• The Pets: What is your contingency plans for your pets? Do you have one of those stickers on the door that alerts fire professionals that there are pets indoors?

Although I may not have been as prepared as I would have liked, I credit the extent to which I was prepared, and the calm way in which I handled the ordeal, to having read The Unthinkable and The Survivors Club. Both of those books are full of wisdom, case studies, and tips about handling the most unexpected of situations.

If you have any thoughts on, or additions to this list, please share them in the comments section!

Personal note: I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to the DCFD who handled the situation swiftly and professionally. Also, the woman whose apartment caught fire initially experienced severe burns on over 60% of her body. Please do include her among your positive thoughts and prayers. Will update everyone on her condition as time passes.

Love

Although its delivery was unremarkable, particularly after the eloquence of President Obama, I found Elizabeth Alexander's inaugural poem, striking in its message, relevance, elegance and simplicity.

This line will stay time with me for years to come:

"... What if the mightiest word is love,
love beyond marital, filial, national.
Love that casts a widening pool of light.
Love with no need to preempt grievance..."

A few more Twitter tips

For many, myself included, getting started on twitter involved a bit of a learning curve. So, when a friend told me the other day that he was going to get started on twitter, I found myself writing a long response, as if to preemptively get him over the learning curve "hump." Below are highlights from the email, just in case you too are giving Twitter a try (or another try).

For me, the value of Twitter increased as I identified what, how, and who I found most useful on Twitter.

1) What style of updates I find most useful:

People use Twitter in a variety of ways. Some (such as DC Concierge) offer a blend of personal and "informational" tweets, whereas others, say politico or Washingtonian, send out solely informational tweets. On both accounts, its a matter of taste and what type of info you enjoy consuming. I love people watching, so I enjoy the more personal updates as well informational ones.

2) How best to receive updates:

Twitter can be used as just a web based platform, or you can have upates sent direclty to your phone. In my opinion, Twitter is relatively useless and overwhelming if you use it just on its own platform, but web based gadgets like Twitter Gadget, or desktop software like tweetdeck and twhirl help make twitter useful, if the idea of more crap on your phone scares you ;-)

3) Finding and following the right folks:

Like the two points above, this is an iterative process, an definitely a matter of personal taste. Here are some of my personal favorites:

• Fred Wilson: Fred is my favorite VC and blogger. I find him incredibly forward thinking, compassionate, and with his finger on the pulse of trends in tech and finance. He blogs at www.avc.com

Local DCers:

• Washingtonian
• DC Concierge
• Peter Corbett
  
• Technotheory
• Matt Stempeck
  

Tech Mavens:

• Loic Le Muer
• Tech Crunch
  
• Venture Beat
• JeanLucr
• Guy Kawasaki
• mavindigital
  

Finance:

• Mark Reiboldt
• Howard Lindzon (founder of stocktwits, an example of a very cool use of twitter!)
  

Raw Foodism/ general wisdom:

• Dhrumil

Finally, a few random notes:

1) Twitter has its own language that takes some getting used to # is an aggregator, @username is how you refer to other users (so that they are tagged in the tweet), d username is how you send a message directly to a user, and rt or retweet is how you can forward along tweets of others you find interesting.

2) I recomend using bit.ly or tinyurl, so that you can refer to links in your tweets

3) Check out twitdom for a database of twitter related applications

4) For further resources, check out:

• a quick blog post I wrote on twitter (includes some useful links)
  
• TwitTip (highly recommend)

Do you have any other tips or guidance for new twitter users? Who are your favorite folks to follow?

Decandence for around a dollar

A few weeks ago I discovered young coconuts, an absolutely decadent treat that had been under my nose all along! Young coconuts are available in the DC area at Whole Foods, for just $2.50 each.

Here are some of my favorite uses so far. The best part is, just one coconut will yield all three!

Coconut Water: Coconut water is slightly sweet, deliriously fragrant and full of nutrients and electrolytes. With all due respect to Harvest Bay (and other makers of boxed coconut water), there is *nothing* like drinking the water straight out of the coconut (nature's box, if you will ;). I was also amazed at how much water each young coconut contained. I giggle with joy each time I thwack one open!

In addition to drinking straight, try blending with a touch of coconut meat, the juice from 1/4 lime, a touch of cayenne and a splash of sweetener (I use agave).

Exfoliating scrub: Blend together one part coconut meat with one part water. After its thoroughly blended, add in Epsom salt (which is known for is detoxing properties) til you have a grainy consistency. Voila!

Coconut meat pudding: Blend together one part coconut meat, one part water, one part chocolate (use organic syrup if you are feeling lazy ;) half part sweetener (I like agave), and a splash of vanilla. Blend until it has a pudding like consistency. Insanely good!

I would be remisc if I wrote a note about coconuts without mentioning how to open them. Believe me, its MUCH easier than you think! Essentially, thwack off the pointy part with a heavy knife or meat cleaver. Thats it! (But if you want a more thorough description, visit this play-by-play or watch this video)

For more information on young coconuts, check out these articles and blog posts:

• Young Coconuts by Priscilla at Foodielicious.com
• Health Benefits of Coconut Water
• Certified Organic young coconuts
• Several recipes, articles, etc at the Give it to me Raw community

Do you have any tips, tricks or recipes with young coconuts? And... any ideas on what to do with those shells (I have a growing collection!)? Leave 'em in the comments!

Ins and Outs

I decided 2009 was a good year to leave some gunk behind. This list practically wrote itself!

OUT	IN
Blame	Responsibility
Limited	Limitless
Saying No	Saying Yes
Perfection	Failure
Control	Ready
Regiment	Routines
Guilt	Gratitude
Binging	Savoring
Fear	Love
React	Observe
Avoid	Acknowledge
Debt	Abundance
Fitting In	Thriving among
Planning	Preparing
Dogma	Dharma
Obligation	Sincerity
Expectation	Gratitude
Lattes	Tea
ManiPedi's	SPAvecados
Buying	Bartering

What is on your Outs and Ins list?

I love Cliff Z Bars

I won't lie-- normally bars scare me! Most are overly processed, high in sugar, fat and calories, and chock full of impossible to pronounce ingredients. However, in a moment of rabid hunger a few weeks ago I found the blissful exception: Cliff Z- Bars for kids!

Its rare to find a prepackaged snack that is delicious, inexpensive and nutritious, but these yummy bars are all three:

• Delicious: The chocolate brownie bars are rich, and taste very chocolaty (notice I said chocolaty, not chalky). They even have little chocolate chips in 'em! They are sweet, but not overly sweet like many Luna bars, and have a great cake-like texture.

• Inexpensive: Trader Joe's sells Z bars for .69 cents a pop! Cant beat that! (Actually... you can also buy packs of 6 at Target for $3 or so).

• Nutritious: Aside from the taste, what most impressed me about Z- Bars is their nutritional content. Most importantly, the ingredients are all readable and identifiable. With a few exceptions, you can find every ingredient at the grocery store.
  

Also, they pack great nutritional bang for the buck. Each bar (which is pretty substantial in size) contains 3 grams of fat and 120 calories, but is high in fiber and protein, and all sorts of vitamins and minerals.

Finally, while on the topic of bars: I recently came across You Bars, which allows you to customize your own bars. Of course, as primarily a raw foodist I sort of make random stuff like this all the time-- but still, a neat concept!

On Twitter, briefly

I enjoy using twitter an awful lot, and many of you have asked me why.

Here are a few reasons: I enjoy the sense of connectedness, and getting unique glimpses into the lives, tastes, and insights of friends, contacts, and people I admire. I loved experiencing the 2008 election cycle through twitter, and liked sending out "tweets" from the Net Impact CSR/ Change management workshop today, knowing that we were giving those who could not attend a glimpse of what was discussed, in real time.

Below are a few blog posts that elaborate on various uses of twitter:

• 10 everyday ways to use twitter for work
  
• How Twitter is a Communications game changer (web worker daily)
• Tim Ferris' "Twittiquette" rules (scroll down about half way)

Do you use twitter? Any unique uses? Like any social platform, the value of this one grows exponentially to the number of people who use it. So sign up, and then come find me!

****

Ps. Huge congrats to Jared Goralnick and SetConsulting on the official launch of AwayFind (an email expectations management tool). I set up an account tonight-- it took 2 minutes and was very intuitive (and the basic plan is free!) I'm looking forward to using it.

Kaihea

When Abby changed her status to "... will miss Kaihea very much," on facebook tonight, my heart grew heavy."

I immediately tried to think optimistically, not wanting to allow that a friend for whom I have tremendous appreciation, admiration and respect, was rapidly losing her ongoing battle with cancer.

In this beautiful and loving update to the community who cared so much about her, her partner said:

"If you pray, now is the time to pray not for a miracle but for a peaceful and painless end"

And so, I ask that if you pray, or offer energy, or take a moment of silence... would you take a moment for Kaihea?

Eat Yer Greens: A simpl(y) delicious kale salad!

Perhaps you've never tried Kale before... or, perhaps you are like me and would *like* to eat kale, but sometimes find it a bit hard to swallow. Either way, this super simple recipe makes kale worth (another) try:

Toss the following together:

• Finally chopped kale
• 1- 2 tablespoons of EVOO
• Juice of half a lemon (or so)
• Teaspoon of chili poder
• One Half teaspoon of salt

(inspired by a recipe in Rawsome!)

New and Creative Ways to Earn a Bit More

Times are tight, but you all are creative! Here are a few blog posts I've collected over the past year on passive income, web based income, freelancing and more that will most definitely spark some ideas!

1. 10 New Ways to Make Money Online and 10 More New Ways to Make Money Online are great resources from Web Worker Daily
   
2. 20 Hot Client Industries that Hire Freelancers, via Freelance Switch
   
3. 16 Types of Websites you can Create for Profit. I found this DoshDosh post to be fascinating, in that it highlighted uses for the web that I rarely consider.
4. The Key to Making Money Online: Diversification, Baby! This post has lots of little ideas on making extra money here and there, through things like writing for about.com, and others.
   
5. How to Create Multiple Income Streams is another awesome post from Freelance Switch. It has suggestions for putting your talent to use, on and off line.
   

Got experience with any of these? Going to give one a shot? Do share!

Quick Note on why I LOVE technology...

I am currently working on a case study for a finance class that involves quantifying the network effect, as well as viral growth and user retention for Facebook. With a plethora of sources on the internet, I was not concerned about whether I would find the metrics I was looking for... but admittedly, was a bit worried about how long it would take me to narrow it down!

So, what arrives on my cell phone a few hours ago? A tweet from Tim Ferris (@tferris)pointing out an article by RedEye VC on quantifying virality and engagement. Now, I'm well on my way...

This is just one example of why I am so passionate about technology and the potential it has augment our lives, regardless of profession, industry, or anything else.

On that note, I HIGHLY recomend checking out Girls in Tech, an enterprise equally passionate about illustrating how tech augments the lives of women (as supporting women entreprenuers, particularly in tech. I know I have shared articles by them before, but I just wanted to highlight them one more time.

NPR Gets Krunk... and my Favorite Recipe of the Fall!

I just have to share this adorable clip of roadfood columnists Jane and Michael Stern (pictured here) sharing their most recent find on the Splendid Table: "The Crunkest fish in Nashville"

And yes, they do indeed define Crunk for those NPR listeners not yet familiar.

Also: The Raw Epicurean is featuring one of my favorite recipes, Cranberry Walnut Squash, this week! Its simple to make and super delicious. You can even buy the squash pre-cut at Trader Joes.

Game Theory (and other useful lessons)

I'm sure it does not come as a surprise to anyone who knows me that I absolutely LOVE Open Courseware. All of that knowledge, by some of the sharpest minds in their field, available on demand, for free... swoon!

Normally, I just listen to courses about math and science topics I don't understand at all, but am utterly fascinated by... Recently, however, I came across a course on a topic that I had been wanting to take for some time: Game Theory!!! Yale University just made an introductory course on Game Theory available. According to one of my favorite professors, it change the way you look at everything.

On a side note, there is a comprehensive open course list available through Open Culture (which is fabulous resource for all knowledge media on the web).

Have you "taken" any other open courses? What did you think? Any recommendations?

On being raw

As many of you know, I consider myself a raw foodist. But, you also know that I'm not dogmatic, and sometimes I eat cooked foods (mmmmm cereal!). I eat what I love. I eat the food that excites me. I eat beautiful food, because eating beautiful food makes me feel more beautiful. 9 out of 10 times, that means that I'm eating food that has not been cooked.

It turns out that this is a very common sentiment among raw foodists (which isn't suprising, if you think about it!). Here are two great blog posts on "being 100%" that really reflect my own thoughts on "being 100% raw":

• We Like it Raw: The trap of 100%
  
• Raw Food, right now: Reaction to the 100% Trap

A LOT of friends and acquiantances as me for guidance on going raw, and I would like to reiterate: Going raw is about adding, not taking away. Add more beautiful, fresh delicious, living, non- cooked food to your diet, and little by little the other stuff will go away.

DJ Raeo

I walked into Robin's house to pick up Billie, and he was in the middle of a video shoot. Light streamed into the bedroom, and Matt was in full camouflage, hiding his identity from the camera that was capturing his artwork as it was created.

What struck me most was the music... I heard it first in my gut, my body picking up on it before my ears... Turns out they were listening to a friend of Matt's named DJ Raeo, and his April 2006 mix. This mix is phenomenal... keeps moving at just the right pace, yet isn't intrusive, and then certain moments crescendo, or drop deep, either way, you are just sort of left with your mouth open like "noooo way.. that was siiiiick"

I actually can't wait to dance to it. and do yoga to it.

Check out DJ Raeo's April 2006 mix, and several of his other mixes, for free at: http://raeo.net/

For fab freelancing friends: a few super helpful resources!

I get warm fuzzies when I think about the incredibly creative folks I am lucky enough to know, each of whom are at various stages of their freelancing/ consulting career.

Below are a few blogs/ websites that I find particularly useful for freelancers, particularly those in the visual arts and multimedia:

• DoshDosh
• Life Dev
• Freelance switch
  
• Chris Brogan

Freelance switch is particularly resourceful if you are looking for tools, Dosh Dosh for portfolio and creative career management, Chris Brogan for self promotion and Life Dev is just general useful.

Am I missing any? If so, include in the comments section!

On Sale: beautiful, bountiful basil plants at Trader Joes

Trader Joe's (at least the one near georgetown) is selling basil plants for $2.99 each. They have an abundance of them, I already picked up 3!