Blogs

July 15, 2008

No email. No Twitter. No blogging while I was gone. But I did do some gambling and got a new iPhone.

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July 11, 2008

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I'll be out of the office Monday, July 14, dropping nickels in the slot machines and celebrating the upcoming nuptials of a good friend.

While I'm out, please feel free to contact Laura or Megan by emailing nfib@hammock.com.

I'll be back checking email and counting my winnings Tuesday, July 15.

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July 7, 2008

You've heard us talk about Twitter before, and you probably know we're big believers in social networking and love trying out the tools made for bringing people together. But in addition to providing breaking news and making business contacts, I learned last week that Twitter can be also used for a greater community good.

In the span of just three days, a few folks tweeting in Austin, Texas, decided they should do something to help the community, and the idea for the first-ever Austin Blood Drive Tweetup was born. I signed up to donate with the first "tweet" that I read.

The blood drive was Thursday, July 3, and from what we hear from the Central Texas Blood and Tissue Center, they saw more first-time donors that day than they had in ages and the total number of donors was more than double that of a normal Thursday. Just in time for the July 4 holiday weekend.

Read more about the event, including the initial planning, from the one of the tweeting event planners, Michelle Greer.

And if you're just starting to tweet and want to follow someone who donates blood, takes pictures of her pets and loves Nashville and Austin equally, you can find me @summerh.

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June 30, 2008

I'm not one of those folks who spend their days longing to quit their jobs to become professional photographers. But I do love to run around with a camera. And I love to eat. And I enjoy words. And just last week, I started playing with a way to combine all three.

So often we see pictures -- whether online or in print -- with words beside them or under them to describe exactly what's going on in the photo. But what if we put the words on the photo, right there in the heart of the photo so that your eye sees the image and reads the words all at once?

We do quite a bit of this for hammock.com, and I'm going to continue to play and learn with my own personal photos, too.

Using picnik.com on images that I took of food I actually cooked, here are my first two attempts. Bananas Foster French Toast and a spinach salad with grilled chicken, apples and feta:

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June 20, 2008

Bugsy works on keeping my chair warm while T.J. does some blogging and Thunder chases cats away. It's Take Your Dog to Work Day!

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June 12, 2008

We're back from Washington, D.C., where a team of folks from Hammock spent several days covering the NFIB 2008 National Small Business Summit, using our "association community builder" approach to share the event. Video, text and photos can all be viewed at the NFIB Summit website.

The Summit is always a great time for learning about small business issues and sharing a meal and great conversation with folks from NFIB who are scattered all over the country. Putting email addresses and new faces together is always exciting for me. But a definite highlight for me this year was two seconds with Roger Staubach who spoke at the gala reception Tuesday evening. My Daddy is so proud!

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June 5, 2008

I'll be in our nation's capital June 8-11 for the 2008 NFIB National Small Business Summit. And I'm hoping to find a few minutes to sneak away for some yummy local bites with the politicos. During the scheduled agenda for the Summit, food is plentiful and always good. But if you happen to find yourself in D.C. during the Summit too and have extra time to taste the regional fare while you're there, here are a few local favorites:

• Ben's Chili Bowl and Old Ebbitt Grill. Politicians and lobbyists are regularly seen at both places.
• There are tons of excellent restaurants in the Chinatown/Penn Quarter area, which is very near the Summit location. A local favorite is Matchbox. There is almost always a huge line and at least an hour wait no matter what night of the week you go.
• Also in that area are Cafe Atlantico, Jaleo, Rosa Mexicano and District Chophouse. All are yummy and unique to D.C.
• Friends who work on the Hill say Hawk & Dove and Tabard Inn are also big political hangouts if you're hoping to rub elbows.

If you see me there, say hello. I'll be the one on the hunt for the best cupcake in town.

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June 2, 2008

And I didn't check e-mail. Not even once.

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May 12, 2008

I participated in my first wiki during the Super Bowl three years ago. It was basically the score chart page that goes around many offices during the Super Bowl or the Final Four. Everyone purchases a square or two, and if one of your squares lines up with the final score, you win!!! (This particular Super Bowl wiki was all for charity, with the cash going to the winner's favorite charity.) With fewer than 50 people participating, this wiki was small and easy to use.

Compare that to Wikipedia, the behemoth online encyclopedia, which has more than 2.3 million articles in English alone. In that instance, wikis can be rather intimidating. But they don't have to be.

Shifting Careers, the New York Times small business blog, has linked to a fun and informative little video that explains a wiki in a very easy-to-understand format.

Wikis can fill many needs from social networking to education to business collaboration -- one of our favorites around here is smallbusiness.com -- but they don't have to be scary. They can be fun -- and even generous -- if you play your cards right.

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April 29, 2008

When I was growing up, there was a picture of him hanging on our living room wall, right along side other family portraits. His voice could often be heard coming from the den and wafting down the hallway as he sang. I even spent a couple of July Fourth holidays picnicking with him in Luckenbach, Texas. And still to this day, I call him "Uncle Willie."

And when the Texas Monthly celebrating Willie Nelson's 75th birthday showed up in our mail yesterday, I actually got a bit choked up. I'm no designer. I've never shot a photo for a magazine cover, but I know when a good cover hits me like a ton of bricks. And this one certainly did. It's just him. No barcode, no cover blurbs teasing inside stories, no airbrushing. It's just Uncle Willie. Aging and full of history and music and legend.

A striking cover. That's all.

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Summer Huggins

Managing Editor

o: 615.690.3428