TWITTERIFIC!

I have just changed my profile on Twitter. Firstly, because I was stupid and miss-typed Kaleidoscope which made it very difficult for all those that like to tweet me. Secondly, because I wanted to align my profile with everything I do - ie YouTube channel (WomenCan), GodTube channel (WomenCan), etc.  

The interesting part is that I was really bummed that I had done so much hard work to inspire a group of followers.  In 3 months I had about 110 and I thought that was hard going.  So I set up the new profile and just popped in there and clicked on the follow buttons for all those that were following me and within a short time they were hopping across.

Seeing the success of this technique I decided to look for other "followers" who were following people I knew and respected.  So I ended up clicking on about 700 followers links.  Within less than 24 hours I have 210 followers!  Unbelievable.

So I just thought I'd share this little piece of information for all you readers of this blog.  You can build a list really quickly in Twitter.  It's not so much about who you are following but about who is following you.  Be an influencer.  Leader from the front. 

The best part is that I am now having wonderful conversations with those new found friends where as before it was all a little bit dead!

Enjoy.

I saw him and I cried

Okay, so I am an emotional mess!  I confess I cry at movies and reunions with family you haven't see for years!

Yes, that's right.  I watched "Sex in the City" on my Qantas Australia flight to Qld to visit my sister for her 40th and I cried.  Actually, it was on the way home.  Seeing Carry's face when she belts him with the flowers did something to me on a deep level. In that moment as I sat in my window seat on the plane, trying to discretely hide the tears and the sniffels, I was every woman ever jilted!  And yes, I also cried when the couple were reunited on the bridge. Who wouldn't it was pure Hollywood magic!

But I cried more when I was embraced by my younger brother who I had literally not seen since the funeral of my mother over 19 years ago.  One look at his face and my sunny smile became a watery wonderland.  It was so lovely to be with him again and to know that someone I loved deeply was back in my life.

I don't know how you feel, but to me family is really special and precious and often neglected!

I have a photo of the three of us to prove it...brother, sister and I, sharing the moment together!  It is a memory I will have for life, because I don't know how long it will be before we can all be together again.

It just showed me how important family really are to our hearts, if not our minds.

I'm now looking forward to getting some weight off, as the years have been way too kind to me!!!

Women Speak Out Forum - Discover your Passion!

We are rapidly approaching the big day, 13 September 2008!  Why is that day so important?  That is the day that Perth will host it's best women event ever - the Women Speak Out Forum!

What will the day hold for women?  The opportunity to discover, rediscover or connect with your passion and be inspired by others who are already pursuing their passions, a silent auction, inspiring motivational speakers, networking, community and business booths and passion focused break out groups.

All women aged 18 years and over will gather from all over Perth at the Arena Joondalup at 9:30am.

I envisage that they will spend the day going, "Oh...oo....ahhh..." as they journey through the exhibitions, hear the speakers and join in the discussions.  We may even have a Bollywood dance demo to get them involved in a bit of fun.

It's going to be a fabulous day of fun.  Want to come?

Adventurous Women!

Find more photos like this on Adventurous Women
I met a fabulous woman, Sue, who has become a member of Women Can International Inc. She has a business called Adventurous Women and she organises travel expeditions specifically for women. You don't have to be single or a specific age. She's got a trip to Egypt planned for March 2009 if anyone is interested in going with a group of ladies to see the Nile, the pyramids and the wonderful Middle East. Just thought I'd share her site with you all, as the photos are just exquisite from her adventures. She has trekked Mt Everest and the Himalays and made it to the base camp where she could see the peak but had to turn back due to altitude sickness. She's a gutsy woman and full of interesting stories, so feel free to pop over to her site and join up.

How amazing is Apple Mac?

I can't believe I made it all the way to almost 42 years of age without knowing how great an Apple iMac computer is!

My girlfriend, Jayne, impressed on me the value of buying an iMac and after much harassment I said, "Okay." So here I sit in front of my ultra speedy new iMac computer with a 24 inch screen and I am just so overjoyed with what I can do, the clarity of the image I am seeing, the way that you can drag the windows around the screen and organise yourself.

Now, having been a devotee of Windows and PCs for over 20 years, I would never have thought that I would say that there was any program that can compare with Outlook, as I use it so much and find it very effective, but iMacs Address Book, Calendars, Email and Tasking even put Outlook to the test with the simplicity of data entry, the ease of creating calendars and the appearance of everything.  I mean, if there is a phone number, an event time in an email you can just click on it and off it goes to your calendar and address book!  No double data entry!  Plus you can colour code appointments simply by creating calendars for all the areas of your life.  I am so impressed I'm thinking of becoming an Apple affiliate!!!

I guess I've been bitten by iMac fever or something, but I just love it and that is coming from a very deeply ingrained Windows PC user.

I was also skeptical about the look of the keyboard and the mouse, as the whole keyboard could almost fit in my handbag, with it's flat little keys and lack of the extras like sound control buttons etc.  I mean, my usual wireless keyboard is everything a woman could want, almost including the kitchen sink.  But it is so bulky!  Looking at this MAC keyboard with it's totally flat keys I thought that's going to slow me down.  But you know what, it's so much more responsive to touch and I've actually increased my speed not slowed it.  So once again a great big tick and thank you to Apple!

And let's talk about the mouse.  I looked at it and thought, it's not going to feel as nice as my wireless mouse.  And now I realise that ergonomically it's probably better as my wrist is not being over stretched and it has extra button functions that I love.  For example, if I were going to get my calculator up in windows, it was about 3 clicks and multiple screens to get to it via Accessories.  Now I click a button on the side of my mouse and up pops a dashboard with a calculator, calendar, stock exchange and any other shortcuts I'd like to add as it is totally able to be customised.

And the creme de la creme is that I can also keep and use all of my windows based programs simply by loading up a program called Parallels that allows me to run the two systems on the one computer.  Can't ask for anything more than that!  Thank you Apple for your ingenuity. If only the whole world realised just how fantastic your products were, IBM and the likes would never have taken out the general market.

Now that I have such a fabulous computer, with it's inbuilt wireless networking capabilities I can set up my computer anywhere and do a presentation or demonstration.  It is going to be such a valued asset to my business.  I also realised that my broadband connection speed was way slower than it should be thanks to my friend, Jayne, and have upgraded to a way faster system so I get more time to do the things I love.

Also, by taking up the Apple of offer of MobileMe, I can access my files from anywhere in the world and there is no long uploading process.  I simply drag them into a folder and away I go.  I can give other people access too.  File sharing has never been easier.

The iMac comes with built-in programs such as i-photo (which has an awesome book making option where you can create a photo journal and get it printed hardcover for around 29.99US); i-movie (a movie editing suite and you don't need a camera because there is one built into the monitor which is great for creating short training DVDs); i-booth (a quick snap photo booth with effects); garageband (a really cool audio mixing suite where you can create songs simply by dropping and dragging loops); and much, much more!

Finally, my next purchase is going to be an iphone so I can link everything together.  It would certainly make my whole organisation easier if I only ever had to do one set of data entry! What a fabulous product, Apple.  You deserve an award for your innovation and for the world to recognise the brilliance of your products. 

PS  I am not an Apple iMac sales woman but with a product like this, it would sell itself!