Power of Digital Video JVC Blogher Contest

JVC recently launched the JVC HD Everio “Power Your Passion” BlogHer ‘10 Sweepstakes, which gives bloggers a chance to win an expenses paid trip to the BlogHer ’10 Conference in New York City on August 6 – 7, 2010.

For the second consecutive year, JVC will provide four winners with roundtrip airfare, hotel accommodations and a full registration to this popular event, along with a JVC HD Everio camera to power their blog with rich high-definition content. From now until June 20, 2010, women bloggers can enter the JVC HD Everio “Power Your Passion” BlogHer ‘10 Sweepstakes by visiting the sweepstakes home page and explaining how digital video could power their passion for blogging.

Video has proven to be a powerful medium for many bloggers, but the addition of high definition content can boost traffic, increase reader engagement and enliven a blog. JVC is asking bloggers how video has enhanced or could enhance their blog to help them communicate with their audience.

Bloggers can enter the sweepstakes in one of four categories: Parenting; Business & Entrepreneurship; Travel & Leisure; and Health & Community. The sweepstakes is open to all female bloggers residing in the U.S. and one winner from each category will be selected at random. Each winner will receive a BlogHer ‘10 Conference registration, roundtrip airfare to New York, hotel accommodations for three nights and a JVC HD Everio GZ-HD620 camera.

Participants can also submit additional entries by blogging about the power of digital video, subscribing to the JVC newsletter or following JVC on Twitter (@JVC_USA) or on Facebook. Winners will be posted to http://hdeveriosweepstakes.jvc.com on June 23, 2010 and will be notified via email.

JVC is an official sponsor of BlogHer ’10 and will have an exhibit at the New York conference. JVC will also sponsor the first annual Mouthy Housewives Happy Two Hours event during the conference, which will take place at the Forty Eight cocktail lounge on August 6, 2010.

Coming soon — new information on swimsuits!

I keep getting inquiries about the 2010 swim suits, but I’m not an expert and have as many questions as the next person. So I’ve decided to resort to my “journalism” days and do some old-fashioned phone interviews of a few experts. I’m gathering my notes and promise to write up the information in the next week. Stay tuned, and if you don’t already subscribe to my site, do so in the right hand corner.

Stop — I want to get off!

Remember when you could ask for “do-overs” and when you could demand that the merry-go-round be stopped so you could get off? Well, my family has had a challenging (to say the least) week and I DO NOT want a do-over, but I would like to step off this insane ride for a few moments to catch my breath.

We’ve had three deaths in our extended family since Jan. 2, my computer was eaten alive by a trojan virus and our furnace quit working on the same day the temperatures hit the teens and the windchill took the mercury below zero!

Now let’s back up the truck and I’ll give you more details.

My husband’s uncle died on Jan. 2 from injuries he received in a horrible car accident just after Christmas. He lived in Kentucky, so my husband and his parents made the eight-hour drive from St. Louis to Kentucky late Monday night, returning on Wednesday. It was particularly hard on my mother-in-law, who is close to all of her siblings.

My great uncle also died on Jan. 2 after being ill for some time. He lived in the St. Louis area, so I was able to attend his wake Tuesday night (Jan. 5), but only after arranging carpools for my older children and only with my toddler in tow. It was a challenge, but I’m glad I went for my Mom, who is very sad, and to see lots of family that I seldom see.

On the same day as the wake, my brother’s father-in-law died after a year-long battle with pancreatic cancer. I knew this man before I even knew his daughter, who became my sister-in-law, because he had been my boss at my first teenage job at the Florissant (MO) K-Mart. He was a kind man who my brother had come to love and who was loved dearly by his daughters. His wake and funeral this weekend will be very sad and it will be hard to watch his widow, my brother and sister-in-law and their boys grieve the loss.

Certainly less important, but significantly disruptive, has been the destruction of my computer by a trojan virus. (Remember, I’m a freelance writer/communications professional who MAKES A LIVING AT HOME WITH A FUNCTIONAL COMPUTER).  This happened Dec. 30 and my poor husband has spent countless hours attempting to salvage it (amid all this other craziness), but we finally gave up. It is my intention to save the money to buy a Macintosh — IAM DONE WITH PC’S. But, as a Band-aid (and after more than one three-hour conversation with Microsoft support professionals on the other side of the globe) we’ve purchased a new computer. Now, I’m waiting for my dear husband to get home from work and “make it so.” In other words, I want him to restore all the crap off the back-up external hard drive, and set up all the other systems and processes I need to work. I am tired of working on a slow laptop that doesn’t like me to answer work emails, open attachments, save anything to the hard drive, open more than two Internet windows, blog, update my site, etc.

I should have been back up and running YESTERDAY but the supplier from which we ordered my new computer failed to deliver it yesterday as was promised. We were told it was “backordered” and they could not tell us when it woudl arrive. Unacceptable. We canceled the order and began shopping elsewhere. While doing that, we noticed it suddenly felt very cold in our house. “No honey — that’s not ME being ICY because I’m mad about my computer not arriving. It really is cold in here.” Hhrummpf! Like I could be enough of a witch to lower the temperature of the house!

Anyway, that’s when we discovered that the furnace wasn’t working. Guess what? Heating and air conditioning dudes are really busy when it gets super cold outside and the weather guys are predicting six inches of snow! To spare you boring details — our furnace is “temporarily” fixed while we wait for a part to be ordered that is due next Tuesday. No guarantees it will keep heating the house until then. Just a “let’s hope so” from the furnace dude.

Surprisingly, I haven’t had a complete tantrum yet. I’ve had a few “almost tantrums,” but no complete tantrums. My Beth Moore Bible Study is helping — this week’s lesson was on waiting/patience, neither of which are my strong suits and both upon which I needed desperately to focus. I was reminded that God’s in control, not me. And THAT gives me some peace. So, I’ll stay on the merry-go-round of life and be grateful for it.

Why blog?

As a Mom, I am seldom able to complete a sentence without being interrupted. Heck — I’m seldom able to complete a thought without being interrupted. Even when I’m working (I work from home part-time as a freelance writer), I’m often asked, “Mom, what’s for dinner?” or “Mom, can you take me to swim practice,” or “Michelle, do you know where the checkbook is?” or “Michelle, can you drop my stuff off at that dry cleaners?”

I’m very good at multi-tasking. I’m a woman who has cooked hamburger while nursing a baby while talking on the phone. No lie. It’s not safe, and I don’t recommend it, but I’ve done it. I am not, however, good at having a complete thought or saying a complete sentence while being constantly interrupted. In fact, having my thoughts and words interrupted makes me a little crabby sometimes.

That’s probably why I so appreciated this quote that my friend sent me yesterday:

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On Christmas, I Always Wonder If She Knew

We all know what a mother’s worst fear is — I don’t even like to say it or type it. So on Christmas, I always find myself wondering — did Mary know?

I admit, I probably didn’t form this question in my mind without the help of the song by Mark Lowry, “Mary, Did You Know?” It’s one of my favorite Christmas songs.

So think about it. Angels told Mary she would give birth to a child who would impact the world. And she experienced the miracle of a virgin birth. But the text of the Bible doesn’t indicate that she was told “You will give birth to this baby. And you will love Him like any other mother loves her baby. You’ll watch Him learn to walk, and you’ll comfort Him when He’s scared, and care for Him when He’s sick. You will raise Him and love Him more and more everyday and watch Him become a man. But not long after His 30th birthday, He will give His life for the rest of humanity, cleansing the rest of us. And those who choose to believe in Him will be restored our to Heavenly Father through His sacrifice.”

I don’t think she knew. But as a Jew, she’d been taught about the prophesies, so I think she may have suspected, especially near the end.

We, on the other hand, have the privilege of knowing what that virgin birth meant to mankind. We have all the evidence we need. As we celebrate Christ’s birththis year, let us not forget what His birth, and then death and resurrection, meant for us all. Consider the words of the song:

Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day walk on water? Mary did you know that your baby boy will save our sons and daughters? Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new? This child that you’ve delivered, will soon deliver you.

Mary did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man? Mary did you know that your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand? Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod? And when you kiss your little baby, you have kissed the face of God.

The blind will see, the deaf will hear and the dead will live again. The lame will leap, the dumb will speak, the praises of the lamb.

Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation? Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day rule the nations? Did you know that your baby boy is heaven’s perfect Lamb? This sleeping child you’re holding is the Great I Am.

Supporting My Frustrated Swimmer

I’ve been a little hesitant to write this post because a Mom blogger always needs to be mindful of the privacy rights of her children. However, my teenage daughter has shared her swimming struggles somewhat publicly lately, and I thought if it would help another swimmer or another parent, then maybe it would be a good thing to share here.

My 14-year-old swims competitively and she is very serious about her sport. She has five sectional cuts, but since she turned 14 last spring, she has been adding lots of time in her events (not a good thing for you non-swimming readers).

Her body changed from the body of a child to the body of a woman, as is the case for many 14-year-olds. With those changes came some problems with her strokes. She worked very hard all summer and early this fall to correct those problems. She NEVER EVER misses a practice — early morning, evening, late afternoon, weekend, holiday — she’s there. She doesn’t back off at practice either — according to her coaches and some of her teammates, she is one of the hardest workers in the pool. She does the dryland work that our swim club provides her, and she continues to compete in swim meets.

We attended a swim meet in Columbia, MO a few weeks ago at which she had hoped to come close to swimming her best times. It didn’t happen. She had big adds in her best events. Because she was feeling good about the progress she had made on her strokes, it was hard for her to experience this again. And because I’d heard some of the positive feedback regarding her stroke work, I also had higher expectations about what would happen this past weekend. So initially, I was was frustrated with the results, too.

But then I had some great conversations with other parents and with one of her coaches, and I have to say, I’m even more proud to be this young lady’s mother. The parents reassured me that this is so very normal. Many of them shared stories in which their own daughters went through the very same thing around the same age. I’d heard this, but it helps to hear it again and again. Not all swimmers go through this, but a lot of them do, and many of them add time in their best events for more than a year. I remember one young lady in our club going through this a few years ago. She had been a “young star”  and then all of a sudden, she was adding time at every meet. At the time, I remember admiring her perseverance and telling my daughter to make a mental note of her work ethic. Of course, I hoped against hope that it “wouldn’t happen to my kid,” but I guess my daughter DID make a mental note, becuase she is now doing exactly what that young lady did. And you know what? That swimmer is one of my daughter’s biggest supporters, joking with her, reminding her of the struggles she endured, encouraging her to keep working hard at practice even when it’s not the popular thing to do. And her parents are among those reassuring me on a regular basis. That helps a lot.

One of the coaches told me that the she’s doing everything she should be doing to pull through this minus one — she needs to readjust her expectations. He said that when she competes in her next meet, she should look to drop off of her times from the meet in Columbia — NOT to drop time off her BEST times. He said it may still be months before she is coming close to swimming her best times. I cannot tell you how much that simple thing helped us. He also said as her parents, our job is to NOT get frustrated with her, but to support her.

He said part of supporting her includes never questioning the program she is following in front of her because she needs for us to believe in what she’s doing and in her coaches as much as she does. We aren’t the kind of parents who question the program. I know there are parents who jump ship to another club the minute their kids start struggling, blaming the coaches or some aspect of the training program for the issue. That’s not us. But it was good to be reminded of this so that we can talk to her about how MUCH we believe in her coaches and in her training program.

So, we just had another meet this weekend, and we did the whole “adjusted expectations” thing. It was so liberating. And you know what — she DID drop from almost all the times she swam in Columbia. She didn’t hit any of her best times — the closest she came was 3 seconds in her 200 free. But she left the meet feeling successful. Her coaches told her that her strokes are back to looking like they should. Now, she just needs to work on doing them faster.

So, if you’re the parent of a swimmer who is going through this, I hope you have coaches who are as wise as our coaches and as willing to comfort and reassure parents. If you don’t, maybe this post will help you support your swimmer through his or her trials.

You’re Never Really Anonymous When You’re Online

If you’ve been following the Kurt Greenbaum situation at the Post-Dispatch, then you KNOW that you are seldom anonymous when posting on the Web. Members of the St. Louis Bloggers Guild — an organization to which I belong — has discussed the situation at length via email and now on the Guild site here and here.

For the record, I don’t necessarily think the man in question should have lost his job. But, I don’t know WHY he resigned or lost his job. Maybe there was much MORE to the story. I am uncomfortable that he worked at a school and left such an obnoxious/vulgar comment on a blog from a school computer. I doubt if it was Greenbaum’s fault. Maybe Greenbaum went too far. Maybe he violated the newspaper’s privacy policy. I just don’t know.

I do know that when faced with a situation in which I could have contacted an obnoxious anonymous commentor’s employer, I chose not to do so. I sleep better having made that choice. But there IS a lesson here. You should NOT do something or say something or write something anonymously that you would not do, say, write with your name attached. I might go a step further and say that you shouldn’t do or say or write something that you wouldn’t do or say in front of your Mom or your kids.

What do you think?

Political Correctness Going Mad Yet Again

It seems that political correctness has taken yet another step toward insanity. As reported last week by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, students in the Rockwood School District are being taught an alternative to the calendar designations of B.C. (Before Christ)and A.D. (Anno Domini, Latin for “in the year of the Lord.”)

Dean Mandis, a father of two students in the Rockwood School District (also the school district of my children) addressed the district’s school board last week regarding his concerns that his daaughter was being taught the concepts of B.C.E. (Before the Common Era) and C.E. (Common Era) as alternatives to the dating system that has been in place for HUNDREDS OF CENTURIES!

“Introducing B.C.E./C.E. in conjunction with B.C./A.D. in the classroom is to deny the historical basis of the dating system and ultimately leads to confusion,” Mandis told the board. Mandis said this teacher’s decision was “irresponsible” and possibly “a dangerous and slippery slope.” (quoted from Tim Townsend’s article in the Post and on stltoday.com.)

Apparently, according to a source in the article, the movement to use C.E. and B.C.E. in western academia began in the 1980s. When something similar happened in Kentucky in 2006, Christians fought it and the effort to use the new dating system disappeared. Gotta hand it to you, KY! (that’s for my husband and his relatives.)

Not surprisingly, the same textbook companies that have been re-writing history for the last few decades to make it more politically correct and less offensive are at least partially to blame for this effort. Craig Larson, Rockwood School District superintendent, wrote this explanation on his blog:

“Within the last 10-15 years, CE/BCE has started to appear in student textbooks, usually along with AD/BC and sometimes with just one or the other mentioned. Teachers make sure that students are aware of both designations so they are literate when they encounter either notation.”

I understand the textbook companies desire to sell textbooks. When I was a newspaper reporter, people used to accuse us of writing things “just to sell newspapers.” I’d say, “We need to sell newspapers, folks. This isn’t a not-for-profit operation.” But that didn’t mean we had license to write things that were false. I understand that you can probably sell more textbooks if your books are vanilla enough to not offend ANYONE, that doesn’t make them accurate.

I’ll never forget when my oldest came home from kindergarten telling me that the pilgrims celebrated Thanksgiving to thank the Native Americans (see, I can be PC) for helping them survive in the new country. Seriously? While the pilgrims may very well have owed a debt of gratitude to any Native Americans who helped them learn to live in this untame land, it was NOT the Indians who they were thanking that first Thanksgiving. Still, when I investigated, that was the message of the book my daughter’s teacher was reading to her class. No mention of thanking God on Thanksgiving — just the natives.

As Larson pointed out, Rockwood School District doesn’t write textbooks, and the district has a responsibility to help our students understand dates in any way they may be presented. But I’m with Mandis — it’s a slippery slope. I think the district should reject any textbooks that teach an inaccurate history of Thanksgiving, and then the textbook companies won’t print falsities about that holiday.

Our dating system shouldn’t offend anyone. B.C. doesn’t stand for “Before Christ, the one true God, Son of Man, Risen Savior.” And the newer system of dating doesn’t change anything — the calendar is still measured in terms of the birth of Jesus Christ. So let’s stop erasing God from our history. Larson says the school district doesn’t have a “policy” on dates.

Maybe we should have a policy and that policy should be that we will continue to teach our children the principles upon which this country was founded in regard to everything, including the dating system. If you are a Rockwood parent and you feel strongly about this, a group of parents have started a petition on the topic. You can sign it here.

Online Shopping Destination Offers Great Organization and Videos of Products

Over the past few years, I’ve begun doing more and more of my shopping online. I guess that’s partly because the mall is seldom the most economical way to shop, and partly because I have less time to shop, so running from one discount store to the next is usually too time consuming (and too difficult with a toddler). So, I’m slowly becoming a connoisseur of online shopping destinations.

Recently, ShopNBC.com invited me to check out their site, and I really like it. My favorite part of the site is the organization. The general umbrella categories across the top (jewelry, watches, apparel & accessories, beauty, house & home, computers & electronics, coins, clearance and auctions) have drop-down menus with intuitive sub-categories. And once you’re in a sub-category, you can shop by brand, price or another sub-category. Of course, you can search the site by keywords.

Another very shopper-friendly part of the site is the live chat function – that’s better service than I can get at most discount (and non-discount) department stores where you can literally fire a shotgun and not draw the attention of a customer service rep or sales clerk on most days.

Similar to those television programs where you can see hosts demonstrate and talk about the products, you also can view webcasts and live programs on ShopNBC.com. Plus, if you see a product you like, you can click on a button and see the video demonstration/pitch on that particular product. That’s way better than trying to see something from a single thumbnail photo.

I’ll be bookmarking this online shopping destination and sharing it with friends. Do you have any online shopping destinations you’d like to suggest?

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*compensation provided for the links in this post

Join the Circus — Get Discounted Tickets!

The Greatest Show on Earth is on the road and is stopping in St. Louis Oct. 15-18 at the Scottrade Center.

This year, Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey® Circus live performances provide edge-of-your-seat entertainment for the young and young at heart. And they’re giving you the chance to just about “join” the circus by providing an All-Access Pre-Show, which begins an hour before the show starts live on the circus floor. Your kids will have the chance to meet the performers, try on costumes, and get close and personal with the circus! The All-Access Pre-Show is FREE to all ticket holders and is a must see!

• Offer #1: Get 4 tickets for just $44 by entering the code “MOM” at select ticketing channels. Offer good on all weekday performances, which includes all weekday evening and Friday matinee performances; minimum purchase of 4 tickets required; additional tickets can be purchased at $11 each.
• Offer #2: All weekend performance tickets will be $4 off the original price.
• Offer #3: Get the best Circus Celebrity, Front Row and VIP seats available – There are reserved seats in these sections just for you! Enter the code MOM. No discounts available on these sections.