Thanks Dick's Sporting Goods for bein cool about it and sacrificing a dummy for my athletic needs.

So Jason Baer had an interesting post on his site about "What do Twitter Lists say about your Personal Brand", and he has a little tool that allows you to pull the words out of the lists people put you into and then by using Wordle.com you can get a tag cloud based on that...

So evidently I live in Phoenix, talk a lot, live at Gangplank and do SEO and Wordpress :)

Tara Hunt (@missrogue) speaking at the Arizona Entrepreneurship Conference

#azec
http://azec09.com

"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently."
- Henry Ford

Another article came out with some not-so-exact quoting (normal tho) from me, this time regarding the Arizona Entrepreneur Conference.  Since the Biz Journal charges and doesn't allow everybody to read the entire article, I obtained it and posted it for all here:

Forum to focus on social media, green ventures, cloud computing

Phoenix Business Journal - by Patrick O'Grady

Entrepreneurs say the best time to start a new business is during a recession, and next week’s Arizona Entrepreneurship Conference aims to highlight some of the business segments poised to do best in this economy.

Information technology services such as cloud computing and mobile platforms have done well, as have sustainable companies and those developing technology in health care, according to those helping put on the conference.

“It’s probably the best time to start a business,” said Chuck Reynolds, a Web strategist with Valley-based consulting firm and forum sponsor rYnoweb.com (pronounced “rhino Web”).

Whether driven by choice or by the failing economy, Reynolds said many people are flocking to the entrepreneurial tech sector because today’s tools for startups have cut the cost of launching a business to nearly nil.

Successful businesses have latched on to new technologies, either developing new Web services (such as Valley-based EmpowHer.com, which focuses on women’s health issues) or developing a software-as-a-service business model (such as online scheduling software Appointment-Plus).

This year’s conference will focus on giving entrepreneurs information about what is working for startups and why. Keynote speakers include Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious Materials, and Tara Hunt, an online marketing expert and author of “The Whuffle Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business.”

As in years past, AEC is a group effort featuring a number of local tech companies coming together to promote startups and provide information and tools to help them be more successful.

The event takes place at a time when it’s tough for startups to find funding. Investors have changed the dynamics of which companies they’re willing to throw their financial weight behind, said Paul Winandy, director of the Arizona Technology Investor Forum, a group that focuses on Arizona tech-related startups.

“Most of the existing startups have figured out the world has changed,” he said.

Event Facts

With one week to go... We're finishing up the final details and craziness for PodCampAz on Nov 14-15th 2009

hooah! no not photoshopped... 

@chuckreynolds

Little warm for this time of year in Az, heard hasn't been this hot this late into the year since the 30's.

The funny thing is look at the 46 degree temperature difference from day time to night. zomg!

This same thing came up but in different circumstances but I, as most people, learn slowly and continued to hit this pitfall along the road of life.  Over time I began to realize that if I assumed something was going to happen, and it didn't, it would screw things up for me on a personal level.  So eventually I just stopped expecting things; I stopped assuming certain things were going to happen.  Granted I still wanted that stuff to happen, but I got to a point where, if things didn't go as planned in my head and I didn't get what I want, it just didn't matter to me anymore.  I didn't let it destroy me because I started to see the other things outside of the tunnel vision that were good and saw that no matter what I didn't get, things could be worse.  There's always something worse.  As a kid I didn't get that cool big toy I wanted, but I got like 6 other things that were just as good and meaningful - hell at least I got something, lot of people don't.  As an adult and in the business world it's, "I didn't get that big fun contract I wanted", but look at it this way - I'm still busy working and there's other jobs out there and I'm not broke and I can still pay rent and eat.... shit just isn't that bad enough to worry about the one thing you focused on that went away or changed.  It could always be worse, remember that.

Having goals is good but don't let them dominate your reality with tunnel vision.  The truth is, there are plenty of things outside of the tunnel that can make you happy.  Life changes, plans change, jobs change, people change, the ecosystem changes.  The secret is to not be narrow minded and too blindly focused on something that may not be there in your future, or may be altered... the secret is to adapt and overcome and be happy with what you have.  Make your goal happen regardless of what changes because you can see all around and have the ability to adapt and overcome.

These days... I'm very nonchalant, I live day by day with a loose goal set in mind... I have a good idea where I want to go but the path is uncertain and I'm fine with that.  I have my own morals and standards which fit fine and well with society but don't follow any religion or external mindset from my own.  I feel very dynamic, almost to a point where I don't like rigidity in my life because it clashes - it starts to bring back that assumption of "it'll go a certain way" sort of thing.  I'm happy with a free-flowing reality and am willing to address conflict and change as it comes.  I know that which does not kill me will make me stronger - and so I thrive.  And to quote Nietzsche again "He who has a why to live can bear almost any how."

I got a little philosophical but for good reason.  People complain about dumb shit and they're never happy no matter if you try and help them or not - the fact is they need to help themselves, you can't do it for them.  When that sort of third party thing begins to effect my life I can't help but to reject it.  And so begins the quest to figure out how to work with that set of circumstances, but only because I choose to.