Snapshot Chronicles

Susan Getgood's personal blog

Here’s to 2013…

by //

Taken at Ground Zero December 21, 2012

2012 has not been a great year for so many friends, colleagues and acquaintances, and truth be told, not so wonderful for me either. Most days, it definitely felt like the toast was jelly-side down.

But I’ve always been a glass half-full person. So rather than dwell on the bad, I thought I would take some time to share some of the things about which I am grateful and happy.

First, and always, my son Douglas (Instagram picture). The (still in progress) divorce has meant changes for all of us but Doug has really come into his own this year, and brought home his best report card EVER this fall, which makes me disgustingly proud.

I missed him over Thanksgiving when he was with his Dad and will miss him this weekend when he goes to spend the New Year with my ex, but we are forging new holiday traditions. Starting with a trip to New York City at holiday time. This year, it was the school field trip on December 21st. We went to the World Trade Center site, Bryant Park (Instagram picture), Rockefeller Center (Instagram picture) and of course the M&M Store in Times Square. With exciting (to 6th, 7th and 8th graders) culinary stops at McDonalds, Sbarro and the train station cafe.

We also make a point of visiting the Norwalk Maritime Aquarium every year for the Festival of Lighthouses Contest. We stumbled upon it the first year we lived here, and now, three years in, it is part of the holiday tradition. It runs through January 21st, so if you are in southwestern CT, well worth the stop.

The Bridgeport Independence Day parade starts from the public park next to our house.

I am beyond grateful to my mother and brother who sold their house in Massachusetts to consolidate with Douglas and me here in Connecticut. Things are still dicey on the financial front, and will be for a while, but having family support nearby has made a world of difference to both me and my son. I posted some pictures of  the house decorated for Christmas on Instagram (at these links – one, two, three) and at right is a shot I took on July 4th.

My job at BlogHer is still the most fun anyone should be allowed to have at a job. Some days the toast is jelly-side down at work too, but I get to do some amazing things. Like ride a Harley-Davidson motorcycle last summer and hang out with some tremendous Chicago area bloggers at a Balanced Living workshop hosted by Coca-Cola earlier this month.

Plus, every day, I get to work with a terrific group of people ( my BlogHer colleagues, our amazingly talented network bloggers, and our sponsors and advertisers) doing what I love the most — connecting brands and social media influencers in mutually beneficial ways. Below is a picture from BlogHer Pro earlier this month of just a few of the tremendously talented folks I get to work with at BlogHer.

Left to right: Skye Kilaen, Susan Getgood, Jenny Lauck, Jenifer Monroe, Lena Lotsey. Photo taken for us by the lovely Josie Webb at BlogHer Pro

Not the least, I am grateful for the stalwart few of you who continue to read my blogs even though I update so infrequently. I start each week with the best intentions. Truly. But so much of what has consumed my personal life this year is just not suitable for blogging. Nevertheless, in 2013, I am aiming for one post a week here, and one on Marketing Roadmaps.

As I have in past years, I’d like to leave you with the words of one of my very favorite Christmas carols, May Every Day Be Christmas by Louis Jordan.

“May every day be Christmas
And every day be blessed
Let the end of every day be filled with happiness
And may the Lord be good to you with every rising sun
All through the day have a smile for everyone
At night time comes a longing to be with ones you love
To sit around the fireside and dream of stars above
So may God bless you and keep you, come what may
Then every day will be a happy day
May good times come to you every day”

Here’s to a buttered-side up 2013 for all of us!

Enhanced by Zemanta

Reflections on respect and other matters

by //

Respect. Honesty. Tolerance. These are the building blocks of integrity.

And somewhere along the way, a large portion of this country has lost sight of its integrity, and that makes me sad.

Even sadder is that our moral meltdown is playing out on the public stage of Facebook and Twitter in ever uglier ways.

I’d love to think — I want to believe — that teenagers who make racist remarks about our President on Twitter and young women who post disrespectful photos taken at our National Cemetery on Facebook just aren’t thinking clearly about the ramifications of their stupid and offensive actions. And of course, they are not, and on some level, we need to forgive them their youthful stupidity and move on. Maybe they are racist. Maybe they aren’t. Maybe they have no respect for our veterans. Maybe they do.  At the moment, they are simply the latest icons for the pervasiveness of social media, and a timely reminder that once it is online, it’s out there forever. No do-overs.

But the sad sad reality is that their flagrant disrespect is simply reflective of what they see around them.

When a candidate for president can dismiss half the population as ne’er do wells …

When candidates for national office think it’s okay to redefine rape …

When conservative commentators think it’s okay to call the President a “retard”  and then compound the nastiness to say it just means “loser”  …

I think it is pretty clear  — when it comes to integrity, we’ve lost the plot. How can we really be that surprised when our youth behaves so badly when so many putative role models clearly have ZERO respect and tolerance for others? Quite frankly, I think they lie too, but that’s not my main point here.

There’s some good news — respect and tolerance prevailed on November 6th. I am most definitely giving thanks that “That Happened:”

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

 

But we cannot be complacent in our lingering election euphoria. I fear that the ugliness is still simmering under the current veneer of cooperation and retrenchment on the right.

So, while I am thankful that women will still retain their reproductive rights in this country, and that more and more of our citizens are free to marry whomever they choose (although I never plan to do THAT again personally), and that the middle class won’t get totally squeezed as the 1% gets another tax cut, and that math prevailed over mumbo jumbo, and that there are outstanding young men like John Franklin Stephens, I am also thinking long and hard about integrity today.

And what we as a nation need to do to get it back.

 

Hurricanes, Trolls and Halloween

by //

After two days without power due to Hurricane Sandy, we were finally restored around 5:30 pm on All Hallows’ Eve. Just after my brother got back from a run to borrow a generator from a family friend in Massachusetts. Ah the irony.

So I started to scroll through my personal email, and found one from an unknown name labeled A Voice from the Past. Curious, I opened it only to immediately realize that my stalker was back. I guess the trolls DO come out for Halloween.

For the last 6 years or so, I have periodically received highly insulting and offensive emails purporting to be from a former colleague at SurfControl. I’m not entirely sure who it is, nor do I really care. It’s clearly someone who didn’t know me particularly well, or he (I think it is a he) would know that I didn’t change my name when I got married, and even might have met my ex-husband at a company function. And thus wouldn’t have copied my brother’s gmail on his latest insulting missive.

I’m also clueless as to why someone would hold a grudge this long against someone they barely knew. Yes, the content is hurtful. It’s meant to be.

And that’s why I’ve decided to shine the light of day on my stalker.

Normally I am an advocate of ignoring trolls, but maybe my stalker just needs his 15 minutes or so of fame, and he will go away. So, here, in its entirety,  is the latest missive from  Anthony Stevenson, anthonystevenson63@googlemail.com

Hi Big Sue, you’re not so easy a lady to communicate with these days as you no longer have “Comment” responses on your blogs … but, I guess it was getting a bit embarrassing that nobody was commenting !! We don’t like to make that visible do we?

Anyway, here I am in an idle moment late one morning and your name “came up” as I was clearing out some old SRF files. How I remember you as that “big girl from the East Coast in marketing … with the even bigger mouth and feeling of self importance”.

Looking at your Snapshot Chronicles I notice that your blog posts are getting less and less (get good my dear) and that you are probably divorced by now. Did he get “too big” in the marriage or was it you who got “too big”?? Or, did he just get sick of your “blogging & self opinionated, feminist bullshit” … and, you simply grew apart – how surprising.

I also couldn’t help notice the HarleyD thing that came in mid-year on your blog … isn’t that for post mid-40 fellas? And, you never did write that article on the HD event … in any event. Another FAD as you now try and find yourself? Anyway, loved your recent “Involuntarily Denied Boarding and Other Airline Tales” post on your “Bogroll”. What a load of crap … is that all you’ve got?  It’s almost:-

  • I have nothing really meaningful to blog about now
  • I have to dig back in time for content, memories
  • I have travelled a lot, I used to be a “bigshot”
  • I’m divorced, a fattie, love dogs and stick up for Moms (cause that all that counts)
  • I just love (T)wittering on about myself to try and keep my profile up

Now Big Sue, you may think what I’ve said above is “unkind” at least but don’t “go on one”, thinking harassment, distress etc because there is absolutely nothing threatening in my email. I’ve just told you what I think of you – you most egocentric of females who is now clearly past the best you managed to spin out for a short while.

Isn’t that neat … and, there’s nothing you can do about it. Sort of free speech I guess. But, you’ve heard it now and I bet you’ll never forget it. Try changing, you just might have 30-years to do it.

And there you have it.

Anthony, whoever you are, you complained about my comments being closed. They are not — you can easily leave one on this post. So man up — tell me who you are and what action I took that has you so riled up — after more than 8 years — that you keep sending me these offensive emails.

Or feel free to crawl back under your bridge.



hit counter