Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Aha Moments - Tweets Ahoy!

I just had one of those Aha Moments similar to the one I had when I learned to read. I distinctly remember that burst of energy that hit my brain when I started to put together letters into words and how the words formed stories and how the stories could be written down. Thus began my love affair with words.

I had a similar burst when I used the web for the first time. I thought my head was going to explode with the possibilities. I couldn't sleep for days because my head was spinning with the leaps that we, as a society, could make. I think it was almost as if not as revolutionary as the printing press.

The most recent aha moment is about Twitter and how we communicate with our customers and vendors. It started because I sent a tweet about loving Salesforce.com and suddenly, they were following my twitters. I went to their recent updates and found a link to an article "How to Get Customer Service via Twitter". What an idea! Now we are connected via the web, via our phones, (i-phones for those who can have them - sorry Nancy & Dave), IM - what's next?

So I know I'm behind the times and slow to adopt this Web 2.0 stuff, but my god! Now that I'm there, I'm bowled over! I think my brain might explode.

If you find pieces of my brain laying around, please scrape it up and send back to me. I need all I can get. Things are moving so fast that if I don't have it all, I might not keep up.

Monday, April 7, 2008

It's all about Pink

So - to go with my pink helmet, Donna got me a pink bell for my bike (it says "I love my bike" on it) and has a beautiful ting! ting! sound.

But best of all - she got me pink socks that say "Cancer Sucks!" on them. I love them! I'm going to wear them to work out in today. They are a beautiful shade of pink and they fit my attitude exactly. For your very own Cancer Sucks items, visit http://www.cancersucks.com/.

Another site that I love is http://www.crazysexycancer.com/. If you didn't see the documentary of the same name, I highly recommend it. It's a really inspiring to see someone fighting back with the humor and determination Kris Carr has. I revisit her blog and book (which I own - also courtesy of Donna) every so often to keep me from feeling sorry for myself.

Another site that I spend a lot of time on is http://www.cancerschmancer.com. Fran Drescher founded this group as a political action group to help push an agenda of early detection for women's cancers. Fran was mis-diagnosed and mis-treated for peri-menopause when she actually had Uterine Cancer. She is driving to create an environment that diagnoses all gynecological cancers in stage 1 when they are the most curable as well as pushing for an improvement in women's health care nationwide.

An organization that I would encourage everyone to look at and contribute to if possible is the Healthlinks Clinic in Boulder. Director Trudy Turvey is an amazing person that understands that treating the whole person is the most important part of survivorship. Their mission is to help survivors cope with the physical and emotional sides of surviving a frightening diagnoses. I can't say enough about how much working with HealthLinks has meant to me as a survivor.

While I feel so fortunate that I was diagnosed as early as I was even if it was a complete fluke, cancer has defined my life in a way I never expected. I sometimes wonder if there really was a "before" for me as even though it hasn't even been quite a year, it feels like it's been my life forever. Like a sonata (you all knew you would get an link to the blog name eventually - right?), this movement of my life is in a very contrasted key and theme.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Like Riding a Bike

I went for a ride tonight - it was fantastic. Of course, I'm in horrible shape, but it felt great. I haven't ridden in 20 years or more, but it was just like, um, riding a bike. It was completely natural.

I rode around Old Town Longmont. Gardens are starting to come to life and are making me realize that I need to start working on mine. No more excuses.

What I like about bike-rides:
  • The Freedom
  • The Wind in my face
  • Feeling the burn in my legs

What I don't like about bike-rides:

  • Cars
  • The seat on my bike
  • Asthma

Bicyle


I bought a bike! I'm so excited about it. I haven't ridden a bike in about 20 years. I had so much fun - I had forgotten how freeing it is to pedal away.

My helmet is pink. In case you wondered.