Brain Facts

* New connections are created each and every time you remember something or have a new thought.
* Stronger, more intense emotional connections are linked to memories prompted by scent.
* Memories triggered by scent (like cologne) have a stronger emotional connection, and therefore appear more intense than other memory triggers.
* Cherish your sleep because that’s probably the best time for your brain to file away all the memories of the day.

Brain Facts

I Feel Like a Pink Cupcake in A World of Purple Cows

Seth Godin is a freaking genius. From a blog he wrote HERE, I have lifted this: "Cows, after you've seen them for a while, are boring. They may be well-bred cows, Six Sigma cows, cows lit by a beautiful light, but they are still boring. A Purple Cow, though: Now, that would really stand out. The essence of the Purple Cow -- the reason it would shine among a crowd of perfectly competent, even undeniably excellent cows -- is that it would be remarkable. Something remarkable is worth talking about, worth paying attention to. Boring stuff quickly becomes invisible.

The world is full of boring stuff -- brown cows -- which is why so few people pay attention."

This, of course, is an essay about business. These days you have to do something remarkable to stand out in a crowd. Especially with a new technology. He talks about his essay "In Praise of the Purple Cow" and describes it: "It is a plea for originality, for passion, guts, and daring. Not just because going through life with passion and guts beats the alternative (which it does), but also because it's the only way to be successful. Today, the one sure way to fail is to be boring. Your one chance for success is to be remarkable."

As I think about the gut-wrenching life & business challenges I have been through recently, I realize how difficult it is to just survive, let alone succeed, let alone be remarkable in business. And the tactics some people pull to gain an advantage in the business world were so dehumanizing it literally hurt in my chest. ("Nothing personal, it's just business") Survival of the fittest. Shrewdness. Competition. Winner takes all. Is that what it takes to make a business remarkable, a purple cow?

Blech!!

I like babies and pink and cupcakes and storybooks. Why I am even in the aggressive business world?


I like it when everyone gets to play in the sandbox together - the way facebook and twitter and blogger do, and when people with a vision but little wealth can be empowered to win - through web tools like joomla and mambo and sugarcrm and ning. That's sweet. That's good.

A person who can think of a business and a technology AND bring it to life on a shoestring, against all odds, now THAT person is remarkable. Actually, I interface with such people and technical brilliance almost daily. I am too soft-spoken, child-like, even sweet--they say--to be a real player here. What am I, a former kindergarten teacher and author of children's books, doing in the center of such a huge technology play, interfacing with eccentric geniuses and world icons in purple cow businesses?

Well, I helped create it for one thing. But now? I'm just keeping things rolling, doing gannt charts, trying to make everyone happy and bringing cupcakes to work now and then.

I'm not sure what the future holds for someone like me, even at the tech company I co-founded. It's like wondering if a pink cupcake could thrive in a gymnasium full of hungry pitbulls with a sweet tooth.

Next week will be interesting.

Thank goodness for Gary, Tolga, Geoff, Paul and the guys who treat me with respect and believe in me so much.

...to be continued.

New Potatoes with Cumin

At a Glance
Cuisine: Vegetarian Indian
Main Ingredient: Potato Vegetables
Cooking Method: Sautée Steam
Difficulty: Easy
Course/Dish: Side Dish
Makes: 8 servings
New Potatoes with Cumin
Created by The MDM Team, Friday, February 15, 2008
This Indian-inspired potato dish combines cumin, curry, turmeric and other spices for an aromatic concoction. Get your dose of curry in a hurry.
Ingredients
2 lb. new potatoes, cut into 1/4 inch thick pieces
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. cumin seed
2 tsp. ground turmeric
2 tsp. curry powder
2 tsp. coarse sea salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper
3 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
Methods/steps
Place whole potatoes into a saucepan with water to cover. Bring to a boil, and cook until just tender. Drain, and cut potatoes into quarters. Set aside to keep warm. Heat oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Sauté the cumin, turmeric, and curry powder for 1 minute. Add potatoes, and sauté until toasted. Toss potatoes with sea salt, pepper and fresh cilantro, and serve hot.

Launching Gingerbread Interactive

This is a graphic from the header of my new web site. (Click the graphic and it will take you there to see my progress.) I'm obviously not done with it - still adding a store and fixing bugs, but check it out. It includes all kinds of feminine web candy, resource links for moms, females online, etc. Here are some of my graphics.



I made this graphic by using royalty-free Victorian postcards and piecing them together with stock photos I paid for, but I cut pieces out of the photos so the Victorian graphics could show through, combining the old and the new. I love the end result.

This Is What Inspired Me To Get A Blog Account

It was 2006. I wrote this. "Suzi got her referral call describing new baby (already named Kolaina) that she is adopting from China. To say it was "exciting" is an understatement, sort of like saying childbirth is "cool." Anyway, I miss her and also Pam so much! Pam was giving me play-by-play action over the phone, almost like a baseball announcer. It was awesome! And so we got to see the adorable pictures of this precious child--you can see more of them on kolainasblog.blogspot.com.

So this is what has inspired me to activate a blog...this is my first post here. My sister Pam promised to start blogging so I could stay more a part of their lives, and I will do the same. I miss my sisters and my brother and my mom so much! And of course I miss my dad too, and hope to do a tribute web site to him soon.

Last night Emerson and I drove around the beautiful family neighborhoods in Las Vegas - with bread, searching for ponds with ducks and we found some. It was the sweetest evening. We had excellent conversations about many things along the way, and then at the last pond, Emerson decided he wanted to get wet. There was a dinosaur-themed playground with a water park full of creative water sprays and fountains, and Emerson just walked right in with his street clothes and shoes on, and he just stood there getting soaked. It was hilarious!! (Well, it was hilarious until he dragged me into the fountain too. The water was freezing!) What a fun night, just mom and son, acting like little children.

I love being a mom."

I wrote on June 26, 2006 and felt like reposting it because of something I learned. What made me want to blog? My feelings. Connecting. Sharing. It was family. It was emotion. It was love. And so it is with everyone, isn't it?

They start a blog by writing about something they love.

I think I'm destined to have a party. You know, those party plan kind of parties, complete with a hostess kit and goodies? I have been stumbling upon lots of them lately. In fact, Twitter Moms even put out a call to win free stuff for moms that blog about a new party kit. I thought that was clever, but soon, I found myself drawn into the actual product. So it worked.

And then I found CCC as a google adword that showed up on the right when I checked my gmail. This one is ...um...yummy! CCC stands for Chat, Chew and Chocolate. Check it out: http://www.chatchewandchocolate.com/