I love it when a story starts to flow. You know, the point at which the characters leap off the page and into your head, when you find yourself just unable to stop because you’re afraid you’ll forget the next scene that’s in your mind, or that you’ll lose the train of thought for the plot. I just love that part and I’ve hit that golden stride with AR.

Up until now, AR had been an extremely difficult write for me. The prologue and concept came easily and the writing itself is some of the best that I’ve ever done. Writing it took sesrious concentration and it wasn’t coming easily beyond that prologue. Part of this is that I wasn’t accustomed to writing in the first person. Another part of it was that it deals with deeper spiritual topics and for a long time I’ve been floundering in how my own spirituality is panning out. Let’s not forget that our living situation hasn’t been all that great this past year either and the stress has just been ridiculous.

Telling this story from the perspective I’ve chosen has its perks. The reader is able to get a first hand account of the happenings in the story, the emotions behind it, answers to the question “what was she thinking?”, and a more personal connection with the main character. The flip side of that coin is that this is uncharted territory for this author. I’m sure that there will be much editing on this one to work out small nuances when I’m finished.  I don’t always think it flows right, but I keep pressing on.

Getting the story told is most important to me at this point. I need to get the story on the page and then worry about additional details and grammatical errors.

I’m sure I’ll reword sentences, add in descriptions of things, put more back story in as I edit. I always do. When I edit it is a blend of taking out and puting in material, usually I end up putting more in than I do taking out. This is one reason that I don’t do well with word count guidelines or short story work. Short stories end up being novellas for me.

100 pages of manuscript is now complete. Over 25,000 words and maybe a little less than a third of what I had planned originally for this project. However, I realized as I hit the mark last night that there is still a lot of story to tell. I’ve really only just tipped the iceberg for this one. There is still a lot to learn about Lilith, her relationship with Michael, and exactly what her role in the coming cataclysms is going to be.

So, I’m getting into the bulk of the story. Which is sweet progress. Things are clicking along, and I’m lucky I have a very understanding husband.

He’s actually insisted on my working while the muse is playing with me. He’s made sure I have tea, or Dr. Pepper, or whatever else I needed to keep going. He pokes his head into the office periodically to make sure I’m breathing and working away. Occassionally he’ll hug me and snag a nuggle, but he’s letting me do what I do best while he takes care of the housework, the laundry, and cleaning up dishes. All I have to do is make dinner, and by then, I need a break anyway.

So I’m off to see how much I can get finished today. I start the day job on Monday so I’m working on this every moment I can get right now.

Wish me luck? Maybe I’ll post a bit of a teaser later… you just never know with me.

É o que se gasta com doenças provocadas pela poluição do ar, não só em São Paulo, mas também no Rio, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Porto Alegre e Recife.

Não só probemas respiratórios, mas doenças mais graves como arritmias e outras doenças cardiovasculares são cada vez mais comuns, fazendo com que o Ministério Público de Sâo Paulo movesse uma ação contra a Petrobrás e mais 13 empresas, pois o componente repsonsável por tais danos é a fumaça do óleo diesel.

Para ler a matéria acesse o Ciência e Saúde da Uol.

I just completed 100 pages of AR!  Over 25,000 words complete. Hooray!

It is a milestone for this one. Up until now, it has been difficult for me to write. Now it’s starting to flow and its great.

However, I’m officially getting tired and making too many typos. So its off to bed. Will blog more on progress before I start tomorrow..

Suite à la brillante initiative de SYLM l’état des lieux du royalisme en France a été dressé.

“L’état des lieux du royalisme en France n’avait pas été dressé depuis vingt ans… c’est fait.
Ce n’est pas le bébé d’un mouvement ou d’un autre ni dirigé contre un mouvement ou un autre… mais un travail objectif engagé et effectué par SYLM afin de mieux percevoir ce que sont et ce que veulent les royalistes au XXIe siècle.” (extrait du communiqué de SYLM)

Pour commander la publication, c’est ici, pour en savoir plus, c’est là.

Music biographies mesmerized me when I was a kid. Whether it was Glenn Miller or Elvis Presley, it was always the same fascinating formula: talent and tenacity leading to the precipice of success, with the artist always searching for that one elusive element to define his signature sound, to breakthrough. With Miller it was the addition of trombones. The proceedings always put me on the edge of my seat and the breakthroughs set me reeling. I guess it was in my blood.

It persists. Last night I watched two great documentary-style bios on TV, one on Johnny Cash, another on Willie Nelson. Willie, as many of his fans may not realize, was actually a Nashville songwriter, penning such classics as “Crazy,” which Patsy Cline etched into the music lexicon. Despite his pre-eminent status as a writer, Willie couldn’t get arrested as an artist in Music City. His quirky phrasing was way too off beat for the 60’s sound, which was infused with sweet strings and pop arrangements.

At the age of 40, Willie returned home to Texas. Such a move would have meant a life sentence selling insurance had history not intervened. As fate would have it, Woodstock Nation had opened the doors to multiple music movements by the early 70s, and Willie realized that Austin clubs were ready for a new kind of country artist. He enlisted his buddy Waylon Jennings, among others, and set about launching a novel sound to a new audience. His ultimate success turned country music, and the music establishment at large, on its head. Ultimately, he was responsible for redefining music, establishing its “outlaw” class, creating the Austin revolution and worldwide social activism that persists to this day.

Despite his huge outsider success, Nashville rejected this giant yet again. By the 1980s, you couldn’t find a Willie song on mainstream country radio, and forget about a major label deal.

Okay, let’s get right down to the hard part. Cash was just another music god to be tumbled unceremoniously from Olympus. By the 80s, he, too, was cast out like so much trash. His popularity was dwindling, and he was struggling to find an audience and make a living.

So these outlaw outcasts banded together, literally, forming the country supergroup The Highwaymen, along with Waylon and Kris Kristofferson. Talk about a Mount Rushmore of talent. They had taken fate into their own hands and, once again, set out to redefine the music scene, outside the establishment, all on their own.

A Bronx boy, I was still getting my country legs under me, when I hit Nashville in the late 80s. At the time, I couldn’t understand why the likes of Willie and Johnny weren’t getting mainstream air play, why I could eat lunch with Emmylou Harris but couldn’t hear her songs on country radio, why Nanci Griffith was considered a darling in all the clubs, to all the execs, but couldn’t get the chart toppers and eventually carped about it in interviews.

I was just getting introduced to the hard truth of the music industry: bitterness. Griffith was bitter, my friend Artie Traum (from back home in Woodstock) — one of the sweetest guys to ever grace the business — was expressing a degree of bitterness, too, in interviews of the day. I was just learning.

The songwriting trade in Nashville was rough. By year two, I was saying you had to learn to live on a diet of stones. Rejection was the blue-plate special everyday. It took me two years to get my first major song contract and more to get my first staff writing job and my first cut. Everyone who stuck with it had war stories: the song on hold that never happened, the artist cut that got dropped by the label or never got released as a single or didn’t make it above 20 on the charts. But, despite eventual successes and even industry support, I left after a decade to pursue to a career as an artist, packing scars and wisdom, love and hate.

But back to Johnny Cash. One of the greatest artists to “walk the line,” he faced the pure pain of artistry more deeply, more movingly than anyone before him. Late in his career, with the help of producer Rick Rubin, Johnny faced his inner darkness, his demons, his truth, his soul. With such albums as “American Recordings” and “Unchained,” he found a vast and vital new audience, just years before his death. His new material was so raw that family members had a tough time listening. They told him it sounded like he was saying goodbye. He told them he was.

Pure Johnny Cash

In the Cash bio, artists such as Sheryl Crow, John Mellencamp and Vince Gill expressed the true painful tumble that all artists must face. Mellencamp himself recently penned a telling if rambling article on the biz in HuffPost, a blog post that established a wellspring of conversation in the social media sector.

So, this little Bronx boy, who reeled from the Glenn Miller story and cut and broke his teeth on Music Row, finally came to understand bitterness and the role it plays in any music career. No one is exempt. It may be (excuse me) a bitter pill to swallow, but I recommend downing it to develop a good artist-immune system. Another words, one has to learn to deal with it, to embrace it, pain and all, and find a way to move on, carry it on your back, in your suitcase, in your heart, on your skin — the rose tattoo of the music artist.

“Soy consciente de que cada día vales lo que vale tu último programa.”

Ana Rosa Quintana en una entrevista concedida a la revista Vanity Fair

I’ve been reading lots of good bloggers who write about the tech and marketing  aspects of augmented reality and other virtual experiences. What’s not so well covered is a focus on how these new tools and modes of communication and collaboration will affect our culture and our arts. Here are some of the topics I’d like to cover:

* who are the artists and what are they doing with these new technologies?

* what is particular to the experience of art that you cannot touch?

renaissance artist inside a camera obscura

* how does collaboration with technologists influence the artistic process?

* what are the cultural implications of these changes?

* what technologies are accessible to artists?

* what are the relationships and overlaps between game projects and art projects?

* what independent scenes (non-academic, non-corporate) are happening?

* what do all the po-mos (the art establishment) have to say?

* what academic programs are available?

This is a broad scope so there’ll be lots to explore and I hope this will be a good resource for artists.

The camera obscura is a great historical analogy. The technology of optics changed how artists could represent the world and forever changed the “language of art”.

Looking at the picture I wonder, how did it feel to the artist to be inside the box, tracing a dim image upside-down, instead of being outside looking at the “real world”? These days, like in every age, we question what it even means to be “real”.

Raros, indescritíveis, e ameaçados pela perda de habitat, o Gato-vermelho-de-Bornéu é uma das espécies menos estudadas do mundo dos gatos selvagens. Exemplares do gato foram coletados nos séculos 19 e 20, mas um gato vivo não foi nem sequer fotografado até 1998. Agora, investigadores em Sabah, no Bornéu malaio, conseguiram capturar o primeiro filme do animal. Com duração de sete segundos, o vídeo (veja abaixo) mostra claramente o gato de cor marrom-avermelhada em seu habitat natural.

Durante três anos, o Programa Global Canopy tem procurado os gatos selvagens de Bornéu com câmeras escondidas. Entre outras espécies, incluem o leopardo nublado Sunda, o gato marmoreado e o gato de cabeça chata. Mas o Gato-vermelho-de-Bornéu é a única espécie inteiramente de Bornéu. Assim como a gravação do primeiro vídeo do gato, as primeiras fotos do animal também foram tiradas em Sabah.

Devido à perda de habitat e ao desmatamento, em função da expansão das plantações de óleo de palma na região, o Gato-vermelho-de-Bornéu está listado como ameaçado pela Lista Vermelha da IUCN, e sua população está em declínio. Se as taxas de desmatamento continuarem como é esperado, os pesquisadores estimam que a população já pequena de gatos vai cair mais 20% na próxima década.

O Gato-vermelho-de-Bornéu não está sozinho em seu sofrimento. Quatro das cinco espécies de gatos selvagens de Bornéu são classificados pela IUCN como ameaçados de extinção devido ao desmatamento contínuo.

“Nenhum outro lugar tem uma percentagem maior de gatos selvagens ameaçados”, explica Jim Sanderson, um especialista em gatos pequenos do mundo. Salientando que 80% dos gatos de Bornéu estão em risco de extinção, Sanderson acrescenta que “não existe um destes gatos selvagens que constituam uma ameaça direta para os seres humanos”.

Tão pouco é conhecido sobre o Gato-vermelho-de-Bornéu que até mesmo a sua dieta permanece um grande mistério.

Para ler a matéria original, clique aqui

Abaixo, o único vídeo existente do Gato-vermelho-de-Bornéu:

.

Here is wishing all our American clients and readers a fun and relaxing Thanksgiving. For our readers outside the US, you no doubt will be enjoying a few days of reduced emails and phone calls! 

Our next official post will be on Monday, November 30th.

PS e PSD chumbam proposta: reforma com 40 anos de descontos não é viável

Não é viável, estou de acordo, mas era mais do que justo. E não é viável porquê? por causa das asneiras que PS e PSD fizeram nos últimos 15 anos. Diga-se que 13 desses foram governados pelo PS e apenas 2 pelo PSD.

Curioso também nesta notícia, ver que já há deputados do PS a admitir que está à vista a ruptura da Segurança Social. Algo que os governantes do PS teimam em não aceitar como um cenário mais do que evidente, dentro de alguns anos.

I’ve been working hard over the last few days really. There is a lot that I need to consider and the unfortunate side of this is that I don’t have a marketing or PR person to help with all of this stuff. Yes, as an artist, you are your own advocate and it is work I am perfectly willing to do, but there is also a part of me that is just overwhelmed by it all at times. I suppose, like many unknown authors, I have an idealized view of what I want in an Agent. I don’t know that I will ever find it but, it is a nice vision in my head.

In a perfect world (at least my perfect world) my agent would be my advocate. Part Editor, part sales person, part coach, and part image consultant and marketing guru. They would call me periodically to check in on how a new project is going, give me some encouraging words, insist from time to time that I take a respite from all the hectic duties that go with daily life so that I can write, and schedule public appearances that actually go over well when I arrive to do whatever. Again this is all an ideal. And frankly, I’ll be happy if I get someone who is adept at marketing my manuscripts and helping me to get into bookstores. It isn’t as easy as you would think it would be.

So, we moved back here. Weren’t entirely thrilled about it, but we did it. Now, it is just a matter of making the best out of the situation. Getting through the holidays is the priority at the moment. I’m going back to a full time job for a while at least. And I’m actually pretty excited about the new job. I mean it is the same work that I’ve always done in various forms, but it means a new environment, new faces, personalities, networking opportunities, and even new ideas.

I’m trying to find a groove. I know that isn’t going to be instantaneous. And likely it is going to take a few months to really find any sort of routine. Hubby is still looking for a job in the area. We’re focused on getting a certification that he needs in order to make more money and open up opportunities. So, in the meantime, I’m hoping that I can join a local writers group this year and perhaps start a creativity workshop in the area as well.  I just want to keep from taking on too much at a time.

Truth is, I’ve streamlined my life considerably over the last few months. It has been quite a journey for me. But, I’m hoping that with all of the strides I’ve made in the last year to come into my own, that life will be a bit more fulfilling.

Today, I’m working on AR. My husband is being a real gem lately. He just brought me some bagels with cream cheese and coffee. We’ve been late risers lately, so breakfast for me.  I have a little dog sitting here at my feet just waiting for me to drop something for her to gobble up. My mom’s six point siamese cat is sitting in the other chair curled up in a ball asleep.  I have my playlist up and ready to go.  I’m finally able to get into the groove and get to work.

So without further ado, I won’t keep Lil waiting any longer.

por Lígia Zampar

botecoliterario.wordpress.com

Espírito natalino no ar.

 Nas aulas de inglês, de espanhol, nos comerciais da TV, na decoração do shopping e na nova árvore da natal de casa, parece que o Natal começa amanhã. Esse ano voou. Tudo foi tão depressa, que parece que perdi tanta coisa. Deixei passar tantos momentos que poderia ter aproveitado mais. Rido mais. Chorado menos. E quando me dei conta é Natal. Depois, o ano acaba.

Todo ano esperava ansiosa pela véspera natalina. Reunir toda a família, trocar presentes e enfim, descobrir quem era meu amigo secreto. Melhor do que a véspera, só a preparação para este dia. A família já não se assustava quando o papelzinho que pegava era o nome do Serginho Malandro ou da Dona Florinda. Isso que dava deixar os netos preparem o amigo secreto. Agora cada um tem uma vida. Cada família tem ou quer passar em um lugar e se esquece de como era aquela noite. Mas novas noites virão. Diferentes, mas virão. Apesar de tudo isso, acredito que sou aquela menininha que espera pelo Natal de todos os anos.

Ainda não me acostumei com a idéia de ter que dormir no Carnaval e acordar no Natal. Não quero sequer pensar que a minha vida e rotina do próximo ano será diferente. Assim como perder o Natal aconteceu naturalmente, perder pessoas que realmente marcaram nossas vidas também será. Todas elas completam um ciclo. Elas fizeram parte do começo do meu novo ciclo há três anos e espero fazer parte do fim desse ciclo para elas.

Sei que ainda é cedo, mas só pra tentar achar meu espírito natalino perdido em algum lugar aqui dentro, desejo às minhas pessoas queridas o melhor que vida pode dar pra vocês. Sucesso!

Even in the 21^st Century with telepresence and social media, sometimes it is very useful to hit the road and meet analysts in person. Unfortunately these are expensive exercises so analyst relations (AR) teams need to be aware of the following top mistakes when it comes to road shows.

5) Not picking the right individuals to brief. Too often IT vendors waste precious time briefing analysts that have little ability to support the goals of the vendor.  While it is fine to add secondary analysts the focus must be on the most relevant to your revenues

4) Preparing a “one size fits all” presentation rather than tailoring presentations to the individual and type of analyst firm being briefed.  Analysts need to feel that you have taken the time to address their specific interests.

3) Having the wrong orientation, i.e., wanting to perform a data dump of speeds and feeds on the analyst instead of engaging in dialog and relationship building.  Moving from a company-centric approach to an analyst-centric orientation means you are more likely to address the analyst research needs.

2) Not practicing sufficiently, insufficient practice, and not planning the appropriate time to practice.

…and the number one worst mistake is

1) Not starting early enough. We have established roadshow preparation checklists that start eight weeks in advance of the roadshow. These checklists are set up to accomplish tasks in a less pressured environment and provide sufficient time for review, fine tuning, and practice.

SageCircle Technique:

• Start early – include your roadshows for next year in the AR plan you are working on today
• Be clear about your goals for each roadshow
• Structure the roadshow to achieve those goals
• Make certain that you get the analysts you really want and not “fill in” with less relevant analysts
• Conduct phone inquiries before and after the roadshow to gather advance intelligence, manage expectations, and measure success
• Ruthlessly drive value

Bottom Line: Roadshows can be incredibly useful or dreadfully painful failures. There is only one way to ensure success and that is for AR to start months in advance and drive the process from beginning to end. Because roadshows for IT and telecommunications analysts are so expensive in time, money, executive bandwidth, and political capital, AR teams should work to avoid these top five mistakes.

SageCircle clients can find roadshow execution checklists in the Online SageContent™ Library. We also recommend that Advisory clients schedule inquiries with a strategist to review your plan, act as a sounding board, and critique content.

AR State-2006

Our bodies are temples of His grace and it is my job to ensure that I keep my temple clean and strong.

This weekend I have decided to get back into a muscle-building mode and put back on some meat.

AR State--2006

In July of 2006, I was a lightweight competitive bodybuilder. Then, my husband and I found out that we were expecting a sweet addition to out already large brood. Long story, short, the next two years paid a great toll on my body as I battled health issues during the pregnancy and beyond.

My workouts were hit-and-miss at best and completely non-existent at their worst. However, through that period of my life, I knew that if I listened to my body and resisted the urge to push it beyond its abilities at that time, that my body would recover more quickly and more thoroughly, and when it was healed my mind would be waiting with great anticipation.

AR State-2006

The waiting paid off and I was able to get back to training in the summer of 2008. When I got back into the swing of things, though, I was hit with the hard reality that I had to start from scratch. Let me just say that did not make me happy. I was well, I was healed, I was 20 pounds lighter than before, and I was down-right weak.

Because I knew what had to be done to get back into a healthy fitness habit, I just put my head down and got to work.

AR State-2006

I’m not telling you that it was fun, though. I’m not one to blow smoke. It was hard and I was out of practice at pushing myself. There were days when I just couldn’t seem to get motivated enough to get my workouts done. Other days I would allow just about anything to distract me from taking care of my temple.

But let me tell you this: the more workouts I made time for, the easier was to fit future workouts into my schedule. So many can attest to this truth. We can find time to so just about anything we want to do, but unless we find joy in working out it’s not going to be high on our priority lists.

AR State-2006

What kind of exercises do you enjoy doing? I love to weight train. I just realized over the weekend that I still get a thrill from running. I enjoy yoga, but rarely get to class and don’t enjoy it alone in my home (which is odd for me because I tend to be a loner when I exercise). I love to ride bikes like Lance and punch a heavy bag like Rocky, but those are not to-to favorites when I’m energized and ready to work. For me, it’s all about clanking weight plates and dumbbells around, dripping in sweat and forming the tell-tale signs of a weight trainer on the calloused palms of my hands (even through gloves). My go-to workouts revolve around the weight room floor.

So, here I am now…three years later. Through functional training and working to get into cardiovascular as well as strength shape, this is how far I’ve come. I’m not including any of the “in between” pics of how big I got with my third pregnancy, or how tiny I shrunk down to during the subsequent illness, but sufficed to say, I am happy that my body is responding to some weight gain. I feel more like “me.”

I believe that everything happens for a reason, and it’s how we respond to tragedy, loss, illness, and even bounty that shape us and teach us. Friends, let me tell you, I’ve learned a lot! And I am thankful for every lesson. Now, I think it’s time to hit the gym!!!

Today, I’m working upper body. Last night’s 10×10 squats were killer fun. Tonight, because we have a holiday looming and workouts will surely be hit-or-miss while travelling, I’m going to do an extended, seriously brutal workout…a series of 10×10’s. BEWARE!

10×10 Incline dumbbell press

10×10 Chin-ups (modify if you need to)

10×10 Incline bicep curls

10×10 Overhead Tricep Extensions

Here’s where I stand today, November 2009:

I know…I know…this is as dark as my skin gets…just call me Casper the friendly Gym Girl!!!

Make it a great day,

Marilyn

Reyne Quackenbush (Twitter handle) has joined the growing Analyst & Advisory Relations team at Tech Mahindra (website).  Reyne will lead the Analyst & Advisory Relations practice in North America. She will collaborate with Tech Mahindra’s Leader of the Global Analyst & Advisory Relations program, Rahul Basarkar, who is based in India as well as her counterpart, Ed Gyurko, who is based in the UK.  Tech Mahindra is a global systems integrator and business transformation consulting firm focused on the Telcom industry. For over two decades, Tech Mahindra has been the chosen transformation partner for wireline, wireless and broadband operators in Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America. Majority owned by Mahindra & Mahindra, one of the Top 10 industrial houses in India, in partnership with British Telecommunications plc (BT), world’s leading communications service provider, Tech Mahindra has grown rapidly to become the 5th largest software exporter in India (NASSCOM 2009) and the first largest telecom software provider from India (Voice & Data 2009).

Please join us in congratulating Reyne and wishing her great success in her new position.

___________________________________

Are you or someone you know on the move? Please let us know and we’ll post the news in future editions of People on the Move. Send us the information to info [at] sagecircle dot com.

If you are interested, please send your resume, expected pay rate and citizenship status (US citizen/green card/work permit) to sarada@quality-waves.com

If you are interested, please send your resume, expected pay rate and citizenship status (US citizen/green card/work permit) to sarada@quality-waves.com

Érkeznek az Intel új alsó- és középkategóriás processzorai, amelyek 32nm-es technológiával készülnek és várhatóan 2010 elején kerülnek a boltok polcaira. Ezzel egyidőben piacra kerül az új H57-es alaplap is, amit szintén várunk. Nos, a specifikációkról is lehullott a lepel, a lenti képen megtaláltok minden szükséges információt, többek között a várható árakat egyaránt. Annyi érdekesség fűzödik még az új processzorokhoz, hogy beépített DX10-es vezérlőt is tartalmaznak, ami elég impozáns. Támogatják a Hyper Threading technológiát és ezáltal egyszerre több szálon tudnak dolgozni. A memórai vezérlő DDR3-1333Mhz-ig támogatja a modulokat, persze simán kezelni tudja a tuning, OC ramokat is.

If you are interested, please send your resume, expected pay rate and citizenship status (US citizen/green card/work permit) to sarada@quality-waves.com

Posts on this blog usually begin with and include a picture of the contributor of the tone(s). In regards to these In Memoriam Tones, I’m avoiding that tendency; for these images are meant to convey the loss or absence of a person from our Pittsburgh landscape–the artist Rick Gribenas, who passed away earlier this year. He died when he was 31, as he was undergoing treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

The image above and the tones below were submitted by Ayanah Moor, artist and associate professor in the School of Art at Carnegie Mellon University.

Around 2001-2002, Ayanah began collaborating with Gribenas. Their collaborations consisted of print-making and mixing music together. “I believe we met each other at A.I.R. (Artist Image Resource) on the North Side,” Ayanah said. “When we played music together, Rick would come over to my house, he’d bring his cassette tape deck, a stack of tapes and a computer, and he’d alter sound from the tape deck in real time. I worked with two CD turntables. We didn’t talk a lot about thematics before we’d begin playing–we just let these ‘conversations’ unfold.”

Around 2005, Gribenas left Pittsburgh for grad school at Columbia College in Chicago. That same year, Ayanah had a solo show at A+D 11th Street Gallery in Chicago (Columbia College’s gallery), and one of their recorded pieces was part of he exhibition. The photograph above is documentation of their 11-minute piece,  A&R. The two ringtones contributed by Ayanah are excerpted from that collaborative piece, and are dedicated to Rick in memoriam.

“When he returned to Pittsburgh after completing his graduate studies, Rick left this note in my mailbox. I kept meaning to respond to it, but didn’t,” Ayanah said. “I never caught up with him. That’s why I decided to create some tones in memoriam. It’s an opportunity to bring closure. It just feels right.”

Last week, Ayanah and I listened to the track and talked about excerpts that would capture the essence of their music-making collaboration. We both thought that Gribenas/Moor@3:41 would make a great ringtone or phone alarm, and then we selected Gribenas/Moor@7:10 as a second tone.

These are the first memorial tones in the project. Thank you, Ayanah, for your thoughtful contribution–a contribution that responds to my project’s focusing question with sounds from the not-so-long-ago past that still resonate in the minds and in hearts of many Pittsburghers who knew this young artist.

What did Pittsburgh sound like? Sometimes it sounded like the handiwork of Rick Gribenas.

Analyst Relations Manager

• Job ID: 2009-2415 (click here to apply, search on job ID)
• Location: US-VA-Sterling
• Posted Date: 11/23/2009

Overview:  The Industry Analyst Relations Manager owns and builds analyst relationships to propagate messaging, positively influencing analysts to speak and write about Neustar.

Responsibilities:

• Develops analyst plan in support of line of business and corporate goals.
• Assists in go-to-market, product launches, and vertical and geographic market growth via analyst relations activities.
• Ensures Neustar written coverage. Stays current on upcoming research agendas and coverage areas and reaches out as applicable.
• Utilizes social media to determine analyst influence, tonality and plans appropriate response.
• Innovates. Continuously seeks improvement. Stays current on best business practices. Seeks out of the box methods to improve.
• Executes on thought leadership component of AR through trend research / surveys.
• Develops metrics and reporting.
• Manages contractual relationships.
• Stays on top of analyst opinion of Neustar and analyst opinion on trends. Able to report on both to senior management.

Qualifications:

Minimum of 6 years of experience in a communications or marketing field. Will consider a sales or project manager background as well. Must have basic computer skills. Must have a college degree. AR experience a plus but not mandatory. Some knowledge of project management is a plus. Must be internet and application savvy. Knowledge of Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook a must.

My grandmother’s favorite morning saying doesn’t quite seem to apply to me. I’m not much of a morning person. We were up late last night; hubby watching t.v. and me working on AR. Then I was awakened early (as usual) by a little dog who apparently had to go outside right that minute. And she is so persistent that you simply can’t ignore her. I have to admit that it beats cleaning up a mess. And now she’s being all cute and sleepy in the other chair here beside me so I can’t be too upset with her.

My husband is still sleeping peacefully in the bed. So I’m taking advantage of some time alone this morning so that I can go spend some time with him later on when he gets up.

AR is coming along nicely. I finished Part One last night and began work on the Intro for Part Two. Still feeling strong about this project which is good. Of course it helps that people around me are so supportive of this one. It may be the one that puts me on the map really. I realize this.  Things that are hard to write and controversial end up making the biggest impact. Isn’t that always how it goes?

There are some major turning points coming up for my main character though. I am piecing together ways to present these events. So far everything has come from her perspective. I like this element of this manuscript because it is out of the norm for me. But I’m wondering at this point if my readers are getting enough of the story. There are elements that I am afraid won’t be relayed the way that they should be.

I keep telling myself to finish the draft and find a Beta reader to give me an opinion on it. And maybe I should. I haven’t let anyone read this one so far. Which is funny because my mom is itching to read it. She usually likes my work, not because of me being her daughter, but because I generally write things that she would actually pick up off the shelf to read anyway. And she can be a good Beta reader. Not that I want her to edit it all. But she can tell me if it flows, if elements work, and if it conveys the idea well. I’m sure that it is going to incite a great deal of debate and questions about me for her… I’ve really put a lot of my personal experience into this one.

Anyway, I suppose I should get back to work on the manuscript at this point while I have time to myself.

Por causa do excesso de produtos tóxicos, um número cada vez maior de recém-nascidos, tanto humanos como animais, começam suas vidas com menos neurônios e nefros. Os tóxicos estão produzindo uma nova raça de homens e animais com menos células cerebrais e menos capacidade de filtrar os agentes químicos tóxicos produzidos pelo homem. As crianças de hoje têm sistemas imunológicos inadequados, ficando mais suscetíveis ao grande número de doenças modernas do mundo ocidental.

Como resultado, a longevidade também é reduzida. A capacidade mental diminui à medida que os níveis de toxicidade no meio ambiente aumentam. Entretanto, os habitantes do fundo das florestas tropicais, longe da indústria moderna e dos agroquímicos, continuam a viver uma vida longa e saudável.

Então, o que podemos fazer? Neste novo século, nós todos temos que reavaliar nossos atos diários e seu impacto sobre o futuro do nosso planeta. Nós todos temos que concentrar nossos esforços para impedir que novos danos afetem a infra-estrutura do nosso planeta, enquanto procuramos modos de reparar os prejuízos já causados.

© 2009 ATWA Brasil