Tag: technology

Mentoring Sarah Noel – Refreshing and Renewing

Posted on by MarleneMB

Sarah Noel Graduation

Throughout the years, I have had the benefit of having great mentors in my life. This made it easy for me to decide that I want to become a mentor to others. One of the organizations of which I am a member and act as a mentor, is the ITWomen organization. This group raises scholarship funds for young women pursuing careers in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) arena; provide networking opportunity for women in technology; and also mentors young women (and some men) in these areas.

At one of the schools that I visited to share the ins and outs of college life with the students, I met Sarah Noel. The first time I saw her, she had a copy of Les Miserable in her hand. I asked her if she had to read it for a class. She replied “No. I wanted to read it for myself. I like to read.” I immediately told her that I know she will be a great leader one day…great leaders like to read as well. That was over two years ago. Sarah and I have kept in contact with each other due to our kindred spirits in seeking to help others.

This past week she shared the picture of her in her cap and gown as she prepares to graduate from high school and continue her education at undergraduate level. The joy that I feel in seeing her picture gives me such hope for her future success. The amazing thing about my interaction with Sarah is that as I encouraged, mentored and shared with her my experiences; Sarah was opening my eyes to the wonders of believing and pursuing one’s dreams.

As adults sometimes the busyness of life causes us to push aside our dreams and aspirations. Mentoring Sarah and others like her helps me to keep my focus on my dreams. Thank you Sarah for giving me the opportunity to serve you and in the process develop myself as well. I know you are focused on living a Diamond Life, a Life of Purpose!

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Social Media – Attraction or Distraction

Posted on by MarleneMB

LinkedIn Congrats

I joined social media to promote my businesses and to build my brand awareness. I started out on LinkedIn in 2007 because it is a viewed as “the” professional social media site. Since then, I have joined Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, etc.  In its Nov. 2012 Internet report, Pew Research states that over 69% of adults in this country are on one form of social media. (63% are men and 74% are women…no surprise there!) We women are social creatures.

I have found that managing these many social media sites is a full time job; if one is not careful. At first I was happy to post information about the products and services we offer and updating my professional information. I grew my market base and met new business partners via social media sites and social media events generated from these sites. Life was great.

Then I got hooked into Facebook with my family and friends updating every life’s events: vacation trips, trips to the movies, trips to the mall, etc. OMG (Oh My God), WHT (What the Heck) as I have learned to type from social media.  These sites were eating up my time. I developed a love-hate relationship with them. If someone followed me on Twitter, I felt obligated to follow him or her. If they mentioned me in a tweet and retweet (RT), I had to thank them and mentioned (MT) them if I want to grow my followers.

I was drowning! One day, I had a revolt and decided that I was mad as heck and I wasn’t going to take it anymore. I decided I’m not going on for the rest of the week. That lasted about ½ day! Can we say addict? Anyway, I found out that I was not alone, about 54% of the women and 42% of men that are on social media get on every day. (Pew Report 2012)

Many people said that social media is a distraction.  In a recent Mashable, an online technology news site, article, reporter Jennifer Shore writes that social media distraction may be costing the U.S. economy $650 Billion or $4,452 per company! We spend over 12 billion hours on social media, annually. Wow! Think how many pairs of shoes or power tool one can buy! (Hahaha).

Don’t hit the panic button yet. We still have some control. As with any self-indulgent activity, we have to power to moderate how much we do or use something. I have resorted to use tools such as Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to manage most of my social media sites. These tools allow me to view the sites simultaneously and to post information across all. I also have allotted specific times when I will jump on these social sites. According to Pew about 61% of people state that they generally take breaks from Facebook. This is due to boredom, too much gossip or simple as a way to fast for Lent.

Personally, I take breaks to focus on getting my projects done and to stay focus on being creative and connected offline. When I feel like I have sometime important, or inspirational, I jump online and share it. I have learned to use social media as an attraction and not a distraction.  See you on LinkedIn or Facebook or Twitter or YouTube or whatever!!!!

Live a Diamond Life! Live a Life of Purpose!

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Cutting-edge Technology Resting on a Shaky Foundation

Posted on by MarleneMB

From the dawn of time, humans have used various methods to communicate: smoke signals, drums, messengers on foot and horseback, carrier pigeons, telegraphs, wired telephone, and today’s mobile phones and the Internet. We have always had the need to communicate with each other.  Technology has improved the methods we use to communicate with each. Communication has become more convenient and effortless, generally. Unfortunately, today’s modern communication systems rely on a system that is flawed and have not had much improvement in the United States.

Yes, we have gone from the use of fires sites, to candles to kerosene lamps to electricity to provide us light, but the grids that transport electricity have fallen behind the improvements that our communication systems have experienced.  We see how vulnerable our electrical grids are as seen in the power outages due to outdated equipment and network design. The damages that Hurricane turned Tropical Storm Sandy caused to the supply of power to the Northeast underscores this vulnerability of this antiquated system.

As a nation, we have become more reliant on access to electricity for most of our activities in our daily lives. We use electricity to cook our food, to wash our clothes, to secure and heat our homes, to power our electric cars, and to power our phones and computers. Electricity permeates our lives and we have become very dependent on this power source.  It is amazing to me that the public is not demanding that the power companies improve the backbone of our power supply in this nation. Think of all the money that has been lost because of the delayed repairs of the services in Northeast. Imaging the billions of dollars that may have been lost with the inability of the stock market being down.

We are so concerned about securing our borders, and we should; however, we have lost sight of the great need to secure our electrical power grids by modernizing these systems and ensuring that they cannot be affected by certain natural and man-made events. This can lead to economical and security disasters. It is said one should build one’s house on solid ground and not on sinking sand. If we don’t improve our power grids, we run the risk of building our fancy communications systems not only on a shaky foundation but also on quicksand.

Live a Diamond Life! Live a Life of Purpose!

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Plan B Update

Posted on by MarleneMB

Well we didn’t get my son’s stolen phone back. I think I lost the opportunity to locate it because I had to travel this weekend on business outside the country. The problem with the Plan B App is that the crooks can see that the App is being loaded on the phone. They have the ability to uninstall it and/or turn off the phone. This means the phone cannot be tracked. What we need is an App that is able to be loaded with such stealth that no one is aware of it.

Also, the Plan B App accesses the phone via the Gmail account. Now that my son has his replacement phone associated with his Gmail account, we may have lost the capability to link the App with the stolen phone. I will keep trying to find an App that would give me this capability. In the end, my son learned a valuable lesson about being more careful with his phone. I’m disappointed that we were not able to locate it, and have the pleasure of handing the culprits over to the police. Yet, I am reminded that this is only a small material loss and there are people in the Northeast who are wondering where they will sleep or what they will eat tonight. My prayers remain with them.

Live a Diamond Life. Live a Life of Purpose.

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Plan B

Posted on by MarleneMB
Plan B

My son sent me instant message on Facebook that his cell phone was stolen last night. I informed him to call the police and report the phone stolen. I had to call Sprint to restrict the use of the phone. Then I had to order another phone for him under the protection plan I have on the phone. Needless to say, I was surprised when my son informed me that the theft was using his phone to access his Facebook account.

I called Sprint and asked them why the block did not work. The young lady informed me that she saw that the restriction was on the phone and nothing should be going through. I asked her if there wasn’t a way for me to locate the phone, a Samsung Epic, similar to the App on the iPhone. She said that Sprint doesn’t have one that would work after phone is stolen; however, she was told by other customers that they found Apps in the Google Store that offer such capabilities. She is not allowed to recommend one.

I hotfooted (okay I typed) my way to wwww.Play.Google.com and type in a search for such an App. I remember the young lady mentioned something called Plan B. Sure enough I found the App. It allows you to remotely download the App to the device via your Gmail account. Your device is tied to your Gmail account, thus the App points right to your and installs onto the phone. I tried it with my phone and it was there. I also got an email message that the App successfully installed and that it will send another message once the device is located. The App claims it should notify me in approximately 10 minutes after I text the word “locate” to my cell phone number from another mobile phone.

Check back tomorrow to see how I made out.

Live a Diamond Life. Live a Life of Purpose.

Click to like my Fan Pages: MarleneMBryanLLC and HigherRoadConsultingCorporation

Visit my websites: www.marlenembryan.com and www.higherroadconsulting.com