[en] Am I really that hard to reach?
Histoire de rire, un petit diagramme fait par Bernard, mon co-directeur pour la formation SAWI MSCL, qui visiblement trouve que je suis trop difficile à joindre!
Stephanie Booth's online ramblings
[en] Am I really that hard to reach?
Histoire de rire, un petit diagramme fait par Bernard, mon co-directeur pour la formation SAWI MSCL, qui visiblement trouve que je suis trop difficile à joindre!
[en] You can still sign up for the social media course I co-direct until August 31st. In Lausanne. In French.
Hier, j’étais dans les studios de la RSR pour parler (bafouiller!) un peu de la formation SAWI de spécialiste en médias sociaux et communautés en ligne, juste avant la dernière séance d’information pour la volée 2011-2012.
Si entre cet interview et le programme du module 1, vous vous rendez compte que cette formation est pour vous, il est encore temps! Nous acceptons les inscriptions jusqu’au 31 août 9 septembre (dans la mesure des places disponibles).
Billet publié initialement sur le blog de la formation MSCL.
This year again, I’ll be overseeing blogger accreditations for LeWeb — but I won’t be alone. Frédéric de Villamil and Arne Hulstein have agreed to jump on board and help me with the selection process. A big thanks to both of them, we are now a team!
By the way, did you know that LeWeb is now a 3-day conference? It will take place on December 7-8-9th 2011 in Paris, and the theme this year is SOLOMO, Social-Local-Mobile. If you’re not eligible for a blogger accreditation and thinking of attending, get your ticket before September 30th to take advantage of the summer offer and get over 800€ off the full ticket price! (There are also special prices for students, freelance developers, and startups — check the bottom of the registration page.)
The process is pretty much the same as last year:
As much as possible, we’ll be dealing with submissions as they come in — but do give us some time to process them. Each blogger or podcaster we select based on your recommendation will be contacted directly (we’re aware they might not have heard of LeWeb or know that they were recommended!)
A reminder of what is expected of official bloggers, and the kind of profile we’re looking for. They should:
Of course, they also need to have a proper, publicly accessible, established blog or podcast (that is theirs or at the very least, that they contribute to regularly). Having a huge number of followers on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ is great, but doesn’t make you a blogger. Just like having a huge rolodex doesn’t make you a journalist. (Check out Live-Blogging vs. Live-Tweeting at Conferences.)
Although the accreditation allows to attend the conference for free, we cannot cover expenses.
A note about the recommendation form: this is not a popularity contest. Please do not ask your friends to nominate you (some of you did so, last year). We don’t care how many times a name is mentioned. It just gives us more (annoying) work to have to go through 20 submissions of the same name. You’ll be able to apply for an accreditation directly in September. Our objective here is to:
There, now that all this is said, here we go!
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[fr] Saviez-vous que les bégonias faisaient des fleurs femelles et mâles sur la même plante? Je viens de le découvrir.
I realized this morning that my begonia (who has identity problems, more on that later) first produces male flowers, then female ones. I noticed a couple of days ago that the new buds on the flower branch were slightly different from the old ones.
See the change?
Above, the “old” male flowers. Below, the “new” female flowers:
Of course, inspired by Derek, I’m going to see if I can get seeds out of them, given I still have male flowers in the kitchen 🙂
[fr] Mes plantes vont bien!
The plant-life in my appartment is doing pretty well, so I thought I’d give you some news. Happy news, to make up for the poor yucca, who is, it’s decided, going to be chopped up. If you have an idea for a big shade-loving plant to replace it, let me know.
Happy Monstera
My Monstera is happy. I think it likes the fertilizer. The stump of the stalk I cut off has sprouted two new leaves. I suspect it is relying on the aerial roots more than the flimsy stalk for those, but we’ll worry about that when I repot it (probably next year, I’m not sure how wise it is repot a fresh spurt of leaf-creation).
As for the stalk I didn’t touch this time, it has produced the most beautiful leaf ever in all my years of Monstera-keeping. See all the holes? I’m also going to wait a bit before chopping this one up. I actually managed to pull it into a less invading position now that the other stalk is gone.
The Monstera in the kitchen is happy too, and has produced a giant leaf. This one is a chopped-off top of the main plant, from a year or two back (I’ve lost track).
Multiplying Spider Plant
The tiny spider plant I bought is thriving. Did you know that here we call them “plante vaudoise”, because the colours of the leaves are the same as the Vaud flag? Anyway, the stolon it produced is now carrying flowers and plantlets, which I find very pretty. I’m looking forward to having many more of these!
Flowering Begonia
The Begonia Maculata in my bedroom has been in bloom non-stop.
The cutting on the kitchen shelf is also flowering. How did I manage so long with fertilizing my plants? It’s obvious they like it.
By the way, I have two Begonia Maculata plants: one with 10-cm leaves, and the other with 15 to 20-cm leaves. Aside from the size of the leaves, they are identical: white-spotted leaves and pink flowers. If anybody has information on how to call these two siblings, I’m interested. The leaf size is not just a question of plant age or location or pot size; it’s really two different variations on the same plant theme. Like an M-sized Begonia Maculata and and L-sized one.
[en] You know Switzerland is beautiful, right? My recommendation: Morat, and the 3-lake cruise from there. Check out Fribourg Region for more info.
J’ai la chance de faire partie des quelques blogueurs à qui Fribourg Région a offert un week-end détente, dans le cadre de la promotion de leur “Grand concure” (permettant de gagner une cure anti-stress dans la région).
Vous apprendrez sans grande surprise que j’ai sauté sur la cure “courbature”: deux nuits à Morat, accompagnées (pour moi) d’une journée à vélo et d’une journée de croisière sur les Trois-Lacs. Le tout pour deux personnes, bien entendu.
Après mes mois de mai et de juin sans souffler, ça m’a fait le plus grand bien de passer un mois de juillet un peu “vacances”, à l’étranger comme plus près d’ici.
Eh bien, j’avoue que j’ai été absolument ravie de ma petite escapade au Pays des Trois-Lacs. C’est joli (vous êtes déjà allé à Morat? non? grave erreur!), très joli, il y a de l’eau, du relief, on y mange bien, l’hôtel est sympa… et en plus c’est à 1h30 de Lausanne. Que demander de plus?
Après avoir reçu le bon pour ma “cure”, j’ai contacté l’office de tourisme de Morat. On m’a fait remplir un petit formulaire en ligne pour choisir mes activités. Deux à choix: j’ai bien hésité à prendre le papillorama, mais je me suis dit que je voulais insister sur les courbatures, alors j’ai pris le vélo; quant à la croisière des Trois-Lacs, ça ne faisait aucun doute que j’allais la prendre!
Le projet initial consistait à passer la première journée à vélo (départ relativement tôt de Lausanne, donc), puis à reposer nos courbatures durant la croisière le deuxième jour. Et le troisième, tranquillement se réveiller, prendre ses affaires, et rentrer à d’autres obligations (vacancières en l’occurrence).
Les CFF et le temps se sont mis de mèche pour réduire à néant nos bonnes intentions pour cette première journée: train annulé (on arrive donc une heure plus tard que prévu) et en plus, il pleut… Heureusement, les bons pour la journée à vélo sont valables encore quelques temps. Cela nous fera une excuse pour revenir dans la région pour pédaler!
On a donc profité de cette première journée pour flâner un peu dans Morat, et ça aurait été dommage de nous en priver. C’est une ville à deux étages, qui me fait penser en celà un peu à Thonon — mais les étages sont moins éloignés et mois… déséquilibrés. Morat, c’est une ville fortifiée, pleine de jolies ruelles remplies de magasins et de restaurants, touristique sans trop l’être (en tous cas quand on y était, fin juillet en semaine), entourée de remparts sur lesquels on peut se balader, avec une vue imprenable sur le lac par-dessus les toits de la ville.
Au hasard de notre promenade, nous découvrons que Morat a un cinéma open air. La classe! On passe à l’office du tourisme se renseigner et dire bonjour à la gentille dame avec qui j’avais eu contact pour préparer le séjour. Le hasard fait bien les choses: elles avaient justement deux invitations pour le soir même qu’elles n’allaient pas utiliser, et dont elles nous ont fait cadeau.
Notre hôtel était situé juste à l’intérieur des remparts, assez simple mais très joli et propre. J’ai dormi un peu dans les couvertures, ayant oublié de les prévenir à l’avance de mon allergie, mais à part ça, rien à redire. J’ai un peu fait la tête en voyant que c’était WC et douches à l’étage, mais c’était super propre, juste en face de notre porte, et on n’a jamais eu à attendre 🙂
Le lendemain, journée lacustre: Morat-Neuchâtel-Bienne-Neuchâtel-Morat. On a réservé notre repas sur le bateau la veille et embarqué à 10h, heure encore raisonnable. Il ne faisait pas très beau, ce qui veut dire qu’il y avait de la place pour s’asseoir (dedans!) — et comme toujours lorsque je me retrouve dans un cadre magnifique sous un temps non-idéal, j’ai pris note que c’est beau, très beau, même quand il fait moche. Moralité: quand il fait moche, allez dans la nature, plutôt que de rester en ville.
J’ai adoré cette croisière. Une journée à ne rien faire. Au retour de Bienne, il faisait un peu plus beau, et j’ai passé l’après-midi à l’extérieur, bien emmitouflée dans mes diverses couches et mon ciré.
Les canaux qui relient les lacs sont vraiment jolis et calmes.
Et allez, la petite famille de cygnes, juste pour le plaisir des yeux et du coeur:
Bref, pour ceux qui aurait sauté un peu tous les passages descriptifs pour se retrouver à la fin de mon article (et pour ceux qui désirent un résumé):
[fr] Le yucca de l'eclau n'est pas heureux.
There is a very unhappy Yucca at eclau. Here he is:
As you can see, his lower leaves are drying out in huge quantities. By the time I remembered to take a photo, I had already cleared about half out:
You can see which way they’re drying out, and the speckles on the dry leaves:
Even the new leaves are not happy:
It might be overwatering (I’ve hung a “don’t water” sign on him now) but I suspect something more problematic like lack of light. It doesn’t get any direct sunshine where it is, and eclau sometimes stays closed (blinds down) all week-end. Not great for a yucca.
I don’t see a solution to this because this guy is huge. There is nowhere else he will fit. The yucca was brought to eclau ages ago by one of the coworkers and was left there when he departed. I’ve always had a bit of trouble fitting him somewhere, not to mention that he first came with hordes of little black “rot flies” (dunno how to call them in English).
So, I suspect it’ll come down to this:
Ideas and advice welcome, specially if you know what’s going on here.
[en] The last info-session for the SAWI course I co-direct on social media and online communities is next week. The course is filling up, don't wait too much if you want to take part!
La dernière session d’information sur la formation que je co-dirige au SAWI (médias sociaux et communautés en ligne) aura lieu mercredi dans deux semaines, le 24 août à Lausanne. Le cours se remplit et le délai d’inscription approche, venez donc vous informer la semaine prochaine et ne ratez pas l’occasion de prendre part à cette deuxième volée!
Plus d’infos sur le blog de la formation et la page d’info du SAWI.
[fr] Visite féline durant le mois à venir. Je garde Kitty, le chat d'une de mes anciennes cat-sitteuses. Juste retour des choses, et occasion d'une réflexion sur ma vie sans chat/avec chat.
I’ve been meaning to write this post for quite a few months. What prompts me to write it now is that there is a cat in my flat, and will be for the next month. Kitty belongs to a friend of mine, who is going abroad for a month. She used to cat-sit Bagha back in the day. So, I’m taking care of Kitty for her while she’s away.
Kitty is a shy character, maybe a leftover of her past life as a stray. I have been trying to coax her out from under a piece of furniture with little bits of ham — and my plan for making friends over the next weeks involves clicker-training. You’ll get photographs once she comes out of hiding.
Over the last months, saddened though I was by Bagha’s death, I have been enjoying the freedom of catlessness. I have travelled a lot (maybe too much), and appreciated being able to stay elsewhere overnight on a whim without feeling bad about leaving my cat alone. (One could discuss how justified feeling bad about leaving Bagha alone for a night was, but that’s another topic.)
Now that I’m clearly out of the acute stage of grief, and that my catless life seems very normal, I wonder how I’ll feel about giving up some of that freedom again for furry companions. Of course, the freedom you give up for an animal when its young and healthy is not the same as when it is old and declining. (Kittens, though, are another story. I’m not sure I want kittens. Kittens are cute. Of course I’d love kittens. But I’m not sure I want to go through a year of having baby cats in the house.)
I’m not finding it too difficult to enjoy my freedom. I thought I would be more conflicted about it. Feeling bad about being happy to be free [because I don’t have a cat anymore]. I was a bit, intially. Now… sometimes I even forget to be sad. I think that’s a good sign.
This month with Kitty, in addition to helping out a friend, is also an opportunity for me to be “with cat” again. Another cat than Bagha. I mentioned that one of the things I needed to do to sort through my grieving emotions was separate my sadness of losing Bagha from my sadness of being catless. Maybe the coming month will be a chance to tie up a few loose ends around that theme.
[fr] Avoir une routine matinale à laquelle on se tient, ça aide (même quand on a eu une panne d'oreiller, comme moi ce matin!)
I have a morning routine. From wake-up to office, it takes roughly 90 minutes. I don’t hurry. I don’t look at the time. I just go through it.
It’s a way to start the day, a way to wake up before staring at my inbox or getting started with work. It also means that for 90 minutes at the start of the day, I don’t have to make any choices or take any decisions.
There are times when I’m not good at sticking to it. But in general, I’ve noticed that the days, weeks or months when I do tend to go better. Not confusing correlation with causation, here: I’m very well aware that if I have the leisure to not be in a rush in the morning and take those 90 minutes, it means I’m not running around putting out fires all the time. True too, though, that if I am putting out fires but do manage to preserve this morning time of mine, I am managing to firewall some downtime from the madness of the rest of the day. In this way, my morning routine is not just a health indicator of my life, but also a took I can use to influence it.
This morning, I overslept. I had blocked a full day of work in the office, and I woke up three hours later than I had planned. Normally, when that happens, I rush downstairs to the office as fast as I can and get on with my day. This morning, I had second thoughts:
[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/stephtara/status/98311606978625536″]
Well, I listend to Nicole’s (and others’) advice and followed my gut: stick with the morning routine. Waking up late is annoying enough without throwing “my time” out of the window on top of it. And if I needed to sleep 10 hours straight, well so be it.
[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/cncx/status/98312585681715200″]
I now have a new “rule”: stick with the morning routine. If I needed extra sleep, well, let that eat into work or evening time, not morning and “get going” time.
Consequences for today: I worked later than I’d initially planned, and decided to give up going to a barbecue in the evening. But I went through my day without feeling crap.
So, you’re wondering, what do I do during those 90 minutes? No big mystery. My morning routine intially crept up on me (result of too much unstructured life) and was fertilized by my discovery of FlyLady (who, amongst other things, insists on the importance of routines). My morning routine is pretty much what it was 2 years ago:
Not much to do for 90 minutes, see. I often also take a few minutes to check Twitter, or play a level of Plants vs. Zombies on my iPhone (warning: crack-addictive).
Do you have a morning routine? (Coffee drinkers, you do — even if you don’t think you do.)