The value of connections

I recently, after 21 years, loaded up the Jeep and put Seattle in my rearview mirror for good, to begin a new chapter of my life in L.A.. This is a little nerve-wracking, but every second of it has been worth it so far. As I’ve told friends, there are a million things that could go wrong, a thousand that will, and I’m on board for every one of them. Of course, I’m more looking forward to the things that will go right, but hey…if you can’t face the reality that in any big change, things are going to go wrong? You’re in for a rough ride and a lot of disappointments!

The interesting thing that has come to light over the last 10 or so days of frantic packing and endless going-away parties is the depth and value of my connections – in L.A. and Seattle. In L.A., my number of friends is small, but the value is great. There are folks I can turn to for info on neighborhoods, best places to shop, folks who can help with job advice and networking, and people who would just plain join me for a beer after a crappy day. In Seattle, I’ve been amazed at the sheer number of people who came out of the woodwork!

Friends from work, friends from old jobs, friends from campaigns – in some cases, I saw people I hadn’t seen in years. It was nice to feel as though I left a mark on the city, even though my time there wasn’t what I’d hoped it would be. And it let me leave town feeling good about my decision. I wasn’t running from a sense of loneliness or running away from anything, or leaving in some sort of snit. I left feeling loved, and like I had a place to return to if things went wrong.

The value of that is inestimable. How can you possibly put words to the feeling of knowing that people who you’ve held in high regard have felt the same about you? It was, at times, a bit overwhelming, but allowed me to leave Seattle with a nice sense of missing people, instead of a bitter “good riddance” feeling, which I’d been dreading, to be honest.

Another thing that leapt out at me is the amount of new friends I have. I lived in Seattle for 21 years (early July, 1990 to March 8, 2011), and made more friends in the last year than I did in the previous 20 combined. Part of that is coming out of my own shell, and a lot of it (including the shedding of my shell) is due to meeting and embracing the Connector. Let me explain a bit.

I met my L.A. friends, in toto, on Twitter. I’ve met them all IRL (in real life for the uninitiated), but Twitter is where I’ve gotten to know them. I’ve gained new and dear friends in Denver, Canada (Yes, I know that’s not a city, bear with me), New York…all over. Some I’ve met IRL, some not. I’ve come to know professional athletes as actual people, and even meet them IRL, and consider them friends. And, for all its flaws, I owe these friends 100% to the existence of Twitter. Twitter allows you to reach people who would under no other circumstances come to be in your world. Perhaps they’ve no reason to acknowledge or meet you, they’re in a different city where you won’t go, or maybe they’re just someone you normally wouldn’t talk to (and vice versa). Twitter lets you reach into the world in a completely unique way, zeroing in on your passion, tracking those people who are unexpectedly like-minded, and getting to know them (and they, you).

(An aside: All social media is like this, but each in their own unique way, and with their own unique strengths and weaknesses.)

Connector is like a living Twitter. She knows, from all appearances, everyone. And she embraces them unambiguously, un-self consciously, and without reservation. Meaning all these people from different walks of life who would otherwise never encounter one another are brought into her sphere, as though her personality has its own gravity, and from there meet one another within that sphere of unambiguous acceptance. It’s a truly rare and beautiful thing. And just as I owe the breadth of my new online friends to Twitter, I owe the depth of my new IRL friends to the Connector.

These connections, and the ability to make them – they are what allow me to take the chance I am taking. My success or failure in this new chapter of my life will hinge entirely on my ability to expand, learn from, and enrich existing connections, and most importantly, to create new ones. And I am entirely optimistic about my chances of success.

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5 Reasons to Stop Making Lists

Actually, no – I won’t give five anythings. But please, oh please, my marketing and social media friends: enough with the lists! 5 Things You Need to Write About. 7 Tips For Facebook. 10 Social Media Tools.

It’s just a shameless trick to drive traffic to your site. Stop it. The tricks, tips and tools are invariably things that are either obvious and well known, and/or could have and should have been presented in a better fashion.

What bothers me the most about this, I think, is that often the people guilty of committing this sin are people who do have something useful to add. It’s one thing if someone doesn’t really have the tools to inform their reader and resorts to this – that’s just a case of someone with limited skills doing what they have to do. But reading a list put together by someone with obvious skills and something to actually pass on to their reader – it’s sad. It feels like something tossed off with no thought and no effort.

You must ask yourself, what am I really bringing to the (I shudder to use this cliched word) conversation? Am I contributing? Or just filling space? If social media is going to be part of the new media and business landscape, it can’t simply devolve into mindless lists and retweeting of one another, or we risk turning this powerful tool into an online, real-time version of US Weekly. Or providing even less value, an echo chamber.

There is too much potential in social media for it to be wasted with this sort of dime-store philosophizing. Use your platform for good! Bring your skills out into the light and let them shine! Don’t hide behind the easy formulations; build your content thoughtfully and make it strong.

Your readers are depending on you.

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Job hunting – what’s the plan?

As my job ended on Monday, I found myself faced with fear, relief, challenge and opportunity. What will I do? Where will I go? I’m so glad to be out of that job, but what now?! What if I can’t find a job? I’ve been wanting to move to LA for several months now, so I can finally make that happen. But the questions…there are so many!

I spent the first couple days diligently staying focused on the task at hand. Up at 8am, filling out unemployment paperwork, reading tips on cover letters, finding jobs to apply for. But there was no real plan, other than “I must be looking for a job at all times”. Writer? Sure! Sales? Okay! Call Center Operator? Why not! On Wednesday, I had a lengthy dream in which I defended Obama’s budget, resulting in my feeling like a geek when I woke up. I texted a friend about this oddball dream, and her response was “Go back into politics”. Well, that’s all I needed to hear! I was off and running for a political job!

But later that day, I finally slowed down and took stock of my situation. I just left a job I hated. I did not want to be doing what I was doing, in the company I was in, and felt my skills were woefully underutilized. I was excited about this opportunity to improve my situation, yet here I was flitting about the job scene, hurling resumes at whichever job seemed shiny at the moment. I had not yet put any thought into what I want to do. What makes me happy. Using my skills!

So, while I have applied for a couple jobs since that point, much more of my time has been spent simply thinking. Beginning the process of organizing my thoughts, my hopes, my passions. Next week is the week of written self-reflection and lists!

First step: What are my passions? Politics, obviously, is one. I think about it, write about it, talk about it. Non-profit work, especially anything related to early childhood education. And in the random department: track and field. High school, college, pro. I would do anything to write about track for a living.

Next step: What do I want to do within those passions? Here it gets trickier, right? Do I manage campaigns? Handle communications? Be a muckraking gadfly? So many options. Do I focus on working at Boys and Girls clubs, putting my skills to work? Other educational non-profits? What do I do for them – PR, fundraising, mentoring? Do I coach track, write for free until I’m noticed, or hassle the USATF for a job? This step is going to be the most difficult to nail down, because there are a plethora of options.

And next: How do I get these jobs? What is realistic? Writing for track is least likely – it’s a niche within a niche, and the money isn’t great for those who are lucky enough to write for a living (although the travel is amazing). Do my qualifications match what I perceive to be my skillset? Can I sell myself to a hiring manager? What am I really worth? (That’s a tough one!)

And on it will go. There are more steps, and I’m sure anger, grief, acceptance, and hopelessness will all rear their heads from time to time as well. I plan to move to LA in the first couple weeks of March, and I want to have a plan, a real plan, in place before I get there. Because job hunting without a plan, my friends, is just asking to repeat the same old unhappy situation again and again.

And that is not a plan I can agree to.

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Perception is everything!

It’s been an interesting week in marketing – something I don’t write about much, but which I’m focused on quite a bit. Google accused Bing of “cheating” and essentially stealing their search results, Kenneth Cole tried to turn the Egypt protests into a money-making opportunity, and Groupon ran a Super Bowl ad referencing Tibet that upset some folks. The reactions to each are a great lesson in how important perception is to your brand.

First a disclaimer: I work at Microsoft. I have no connection with Bing, and less technical skills than you’d think (my job is thoroughly non-technical), so my understanding of the technology behind search is limited. My opinions here are my own, and I’m not getting into the details – I’m focusing on the perception aspect alone.

The story behind the Google-Bing kerfuffle is pretty basic – Google search results showed up in Bing search results. Google did a “sting” to prove it, went public, and got some press. Bing issued a statement which said, in essence, “Yeah, we do that. So what? It’s how search works.” I won’t go into the technology (because I don’t understand it), but basically, if a page is searched and clicked on, the search engines track that, and add it into their search results. Bing eventually showed that Google is doing the same thing, and in the search world, the issue seems to have mostly been settled as a non-issue. But in the non-search world, Microsoft took a hit. Why?

Perception. Microsoft is still dealing with some negative perception issues lingering from the antitrust years. Google still has lots of positive perception, although that’s beginning to shift as they become a larger, more aggressive corporation. So when Google levied an accusation, many people simply heard it and assumed it was true. These people have either not heard the rest of the story or are unswayed by it. The longstanding negative perception of Microsoft is simply stuck in their brain.

Kenneth Cole has a different issue. Not necessarily a bad perception, but not a good one, either. So when he sent a very ill-advised tweet out looking to make a buck off of oppressed people, the reaction was swift and intense. He was mocked, forced to apologize and delete the tweet, people were angry, and the online world was seemingly out for blood. Even his apology did him no good, as it was considered too little, too late, and insincere. The damage was done. His lack of goodwill ended up hurting him.

Groupon did, essentially, the same thing with their Tibet ad, but the response was muted. They have certainly dealt with their share of outrage, but people have been much more willing to laugh it off as an obvious joke. And when they issued an explanation today on Monday, there were people willing to accept that explanation. Not all, of course, but certainly more than Kenneth Cole got, and he actually apologized! The difference?

Perception, again. Groupon has great public perception. They’re seen as a good company that does good things, so they had a cushion of goodwill when they made a blunder on an enormous stage.

Let there be no mistake – every bit of goodwill that you can build with your customers and potential customers matters. Because there will be mistakes and missteps. Competitors will try to make you look bad. Something can go wrong at any time. And that cushion can be the difference between a decade, a year, or a week of rebuilding trust with the public.

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Da Spam! Da Spam!

Okay, I get about 100 spam comments a day – most are super repetitive and easy to smoke out (“Wow, useful info, thanks for share! I will come back.” “I have discussed this topic with several people, but I think your opinion on it is the most reasonable.”), but sometimes they get clever, like last week’s “I’m being held hostage by the Russian mafia” spam.

Cleverest spam I’ve gotten today: "Mary Bale the cat lady reminds me of one of Bladerunner’s replicants – right after the ‘entre of boiled dog’ query in the Voight-Kampff test; “You find a cat alone in the street. You pet it, and then what?”"

Thank you, clever spammer. Well played. You are still denied!

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Pre Classic Preview!

Updated – see below

You guys! My track geekery is going to explode from my chest like one of those weird alien babies except it’ll be all lean and complaining about lane draws and probably have personalized spikes and try to drag my burst chest along for a 4 x 800 workout.  My geekery is an asshole, you guys.  Anyway, I don’t usually blog about track here, but nobody reads my track blog, so the hell with it.  I’ll do it here. 

The man himself - I'll be sitting just a couple rows up from that finish line!On Saturday, I’ll be in Eugene for the Pre Classic, a Diamond League track meet in its 36th year (first as a Diamond League event, essentially joining it to what used to be the European circuit), and named in honor of Steve Prefontaine – read about my track hero here.  And you can see the Pre Classic live on NBC at 1:00pm PDT (look for me near the finish line!)

So here’s how this works: I’m a track geek, but I’m not all professional like my friend Ann, who puts up real previews with all sorts of useful info.  I just write about stuff I like and what I think, so my predictions are often pure shit.  And I know fuckall about discus and javelin, so sue me.  But I’ll do my best to provide some useful info, and maybe a grown-up track person will link to me and I’ll be famous.

Here’s the (provisional) start list.  I’m just going to stick with the format for the most part (with a couple exceptions).

Men’s 200 Meters:

Loaded, but any sprint without Usain Bolt these days feels oddly anti-climactic.  Tyson Gay is scheduled to appear, but he’s had a balky hamstring lately, so we’ll see what happens.  If he comes, and the hammy holds up, he’s a clear favorite.  The man’s capable of a 19.5.  Besides him, though, at least two others who’ve run sub-20 are on the board, and both Shawn Crawford and Walter Dix are capable of producing 19.7 if things go right, so we’ll see a fast race no matter what!  I predict Gay/Dix/Crawford if Tyson makes it, Dix/Crawford/Thompson if not.

Men’s 110 Meter Hurdles:

Again, WOW!  David Oliver, Ryan Wilson, Ronnie Ash, David Payne, Ryan Brathwaite, Terrence Trammell – let’s see, a guy who’s run sub-13 three times this year including a 12.93 into a headwind last week (Oliver), the reigning World Champion (Trammell), and four other guys who can threaten 13?  Yeah, this should be a good race.  Smart money’s on Oliver, and he looks primed to pop something big this summer.  Could it be Saturday?

Men’s 1000 Meters:

Here’s where it gets good. Eugene, Hayward Field, and the Pre Classic are really about distance and middle-distance events.  This one could be a doozy.  Khadevis Robinson is going to pace them through 800m in 1:45 (!!), in Abubaker Kaki’s attempt at the world record of 2:11.96.  Nick Symmonds is also along, as are Boaz Lalang and Alfred Yego, sub 1:44 guys all, and all with a shot at that record.  I’d say the fastest 1000 on US soil (2:15.97) is going down for certain, and Nick has a really good shot at the American Record at a minimum (2:13.9).  I think 2:11 may be a tough one, but it should be in the 2:13 range, for sure.

Men’s 5000 Meters:

Are you kidding me???  Kipchoge, Merga, Ebuya, Tegenkamp, Solinsky, Salel, Bekele, Mutahi…yeah, my geekery is starting to pound on my chest wall now. Ten guys in the starting field have run sub-13:00 either this year or last year, including two Americans.  Yeah. Read that again. The weather will be sunny and 70, so the first sub-13:00 on US soil will happen.  Mark it on your calendar.  And it’s realistic to say Tegenkamp or Solinsky could be in the money here.  This race is truly wide open, although I’m going to lean on Kipchoge or Merga for the win.  With Tegenkamp and Solinsky living in Oregon, I’ll definitely be pulling for the guys with home cooking in their bellies, though!

Update: Alistair Craig has been added to the field – don’t know how much he’ll be in the mix, but he was smoking it during the indoor season.

Men’s Shot Put:

C’mon.  Christian Cantwell is unbeatable this year, and he loves throwing in Eugene.  I’m only mentioning this event because I look forward to making fun of Tomasz Majewski’s hair in person.  Cantwell wins, Majewski, Hoffa and Nelson fight it out for 2nd and 3rd, with Ryan Whiting being an interesting dark horse.

Women’s 100 Meters:

Possibly more star power here than in the men’s 200. Carmelita Jeter, Shelly-Ann Fraser, Veronica Campbell Brown, LaShauntea Moore and Kelly-Ann Baptiste headline – this race could fly.  Jeter and Fraser most likely duke it out for 1st, but any of these women could pop a fast time.  I expect sub-11 by at least two.

Women’s 800 Meters:

Ohboyohboyohboyohboy!!  rowburyYeah, this and the steeple are where I get excited! (Okay, and the men’s 5000 and mile)  Sub-2:00 seems very possible, as everyone in this race has run under 2:00 this season or last, including last year’s surprise winner (and my current track crush) Maggie Vessey, who dropped a 1:57 on the world last year.  Janeth Jepkosgei looks to be in 2007 form, meaning really tough to beat, but she’ll be pushed hard by Anna Pierce, Mariya Savinova (the best 800 runner in the world when she runs in Russia), Maryam Jamal, Alysia Johnson, Kenia Sinclair and Shannon Rowbury.  Pamela Jelimo is in the field and is rounding back into form, but is nowhere near her 2008 self yet, and I don’t see her challenging. 

And yeah, that’s me and my atrocious haircut from earlier this spring, looming awkwardly over poor Shannon Rowbury after she ran a season-opening 800 at the UW Indoor Preview.

Update: Nancy Langat!  She’s been added to the field – I’m pulling hard for Maggie, and this made a super exciting race even more super exciting!

Women’s Steeplechase:

So I’m totally biased here.  I’m a Lisa Aguilera groupie, and you should be too.  But this race, like a lot of women’s steeples in the last couple years, is loaded.  The top three, Marta Dominguez, Yuliya Zarudneva and Milcah Chemos, have all run under 9:10, Assefa and Aguilera have run in the 9:20s, while Bridget Franek and Nicole Bush are just on the cusp of some breakout times.  Expect this to be quick, as Chemos likes to push the pace, and Dominguez and Zarudneva won’t let her get away.  My only gripe here is that Chemos’ form over the hurdles makes my brain hurt, and I contend puts other runners at risk in close quarters (she pulls both legs over sideways at the same time, rather than using traditional hurdle form – it takes up at least 18 inches to her right, and causes her to stop all momentum when she lands. It’s a testament to how fast she’s running between hurdles, but it’s a matter of time before she causes a crash).  My new friend Shayla Houlihan is very excited to be running in this race in her fancy Brooks gear.  Team Houlihan! 

Women’s 400m Hurdles and 400 Meters:

I don’t have a start list for these yet, but I know we’ll see Lashinda Demus, Sheena Tosta and Josanne Lucas square off.  Demus is HOT this year, so we’ll see what she can roll. 

I haven’t seen a start list for the women’s javelin, either, but you know Kara Patterson will be there, fresh off her unexpected American Record in Des Moines next week, so the crowd should be juiced for her!

Bowerman Mile:

This race traditionally closes the meet out, and it’s going to be a doozy this year.  Seven of the top 10 milers from last year.  Two World Champions, an Olympic Champion, two sub 1:44 800m guys.  Think they’ll get it going?  I’d love to see them get under 3:48 for the first time at Hayward, but that’s a rare event; we’ll see.  One thing I know, this is never a tactical race, it’s all about time.  Asbel Kiprop, Youssef Kamel, Haron Keitany, Bernard Lagat, Mohammed Moustaoui, Nicholas Kemboi, Amine Laalou, Daniel Komen, Gebremedhin Mekonnen – good lord!  Throw in Leo Manzano and Lopez Lomong to round out the US group, and this is definitely going to put an exclamation point on the meet.  The question for me is not if we’ll see a sub 3:50, but how many guys will go sub 3:50. 

Update: Andrew Wheating, after skipping the US Championships last week (boo, Andrew!), has been added to this.  With all the talk of Andrew being the next great American miler, is this his first shot at the big time?

Okay, that’s it. I’ll post pics and try to blog from Eugene, and if you want from-the-track updates, be sure to follow me at Switzerblog!

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Meet the new Switzer, better than the old Switzer!

Okay, y’all, I’m baaack.  And now I’m on WordPress!  I’m busy adding widgets and Twitter shit and tweaking the background, so you may visit and find things missing or all jumbly, but just bear with me.  Writing resuming soooooon!

For a quick update: there is no more Mrs. Switzer :( , I’ve lost 50 switzerpounds (well…40.  I put some back on), and I’m still pissed off about bad grammar, poor spelling, vapid political stances and general assholery.  Plus, I’m all over freaking Twitter now (follow me!).  Okay, Happy Halloweenie.

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Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and one atheist

I’ve been fortunate enough to spend a lot of time over the last 5 days listening to the Dalai Lama discuss compassion and early childhood development.  For those of you outside the Seattle area, his visit was part of a 5 day event hosted by Seeds of Compassion.  Well, it was the MAJOR part.  Yesterday’s event, which stretched over 4 hours, was a panel on interfaith discussion and spirituality which I enjoyed and found very informative.

You regular readers, and outraged Don Stewart or Fascinating Womanhood fans, will be wondering why an atheist hippy such as myself would go to an event like this and what sort of scorn I’m about to heap on religions and the holy personages named in the title above.  Well, getcher panties outta their bunch, have a seat and calm down.  No scorn-heaping is on the way.  Nor have I converted, so my atheist fans can unclench as well.

The thing is, I have no problem with spirituality, nor with religion.  In fact, Rabbi David Rosen voiced a wonderful defense of religion today – that I happen to agree with – when asked about violence attributed to religion.  He pointed out that those who use religion to justify or rationalize violence have grossly misappropriated spirituality.  Bear in mind that I’m a boob, and he said it better than I’m writing it.  The point is, while religion has been used over centuries and centuries to justify all sorts of horrors, in general religion and the followers thereof lean towards peace and harmony.  The new testament seeks to undo some of the violent aspects of the old testament, with Jesus walking with sinners and calling on believers to practice peace and love.  Islam calls for much personal sacrifice for the community (yes, in addition to some beastly views on gender equality and some calls for violence that A: are mirrored in the bible and B: are clung to a little too closely by the extremists we’ve come to know as terrorists.  I didn’t say all was roses).  These are good things, and as an atheist, I want people to look for harmony and reasons to be peaceful, whether that’s inside themselves or in a belief system that includes an invisible man in the sky. 

There are certainly things about religion that can be looked on with scorn.  Views on women are often mysogin..misogyn…bad.  There are strange and contradictory views on peace and war.  One can quite easily find justifications for any manner of abuse towards one’s children, gays, women, or even slavery in most (major) religious texts. 

But, especially with Christianity (although also, and intentionally, with Judaism), there is a pick-and-choose sort of religion alive today that has for the most part been for the better.  By picking and choosing, for instance, we’ve eliminated the need for any inquisitions (although unfortunately picking and choosing always leaves that door just a lil’ bit open).  Picking and choosing allows for the Unitarian church which welcomes our gay brothers and sisters to worship as they please without fear of the boot of Jerry Falwell’s ghost finding its way to their ass.  Yes, that picking and choosing has also allowed for the evangelical outburst of the last 15 years, prompting sometimes physically violent opposition to abortion, outright hatred of and single-minded focus on homosexuals, and a sort of hybrid hyper-patriotic Christianism.  The dangers are there, and well discussed.  I need not list the sins of religion, particularly American religion, again here.

But for the most part, cafeteria religion has allowed modern believers to focus on giving within their communities, being loving and charitable within their families, and forging tighter bonds between people.  It’s allowed for a sense of increased and much-needed comfort and security, as in the uptick in church attendance following 9/11.  And this is what today’s event was really about – the different ways these faiths interrelate and work together to bring compassionate change in people’s lives. 

I’m all about that.  Atheists, as any true non-believer knows, are no more likely than your average Episcopalian to become an ax-wielding homicidal maniac or child molester (in sheer numbers, in fact, less so!).  And we want peace and harmony as much as any religious leader.  We want our children to be raised well, to be taught to feel safe and love others and show compassion.  The Dalai Lama touched, repeatedly over the weekend, on something that I try to live by (and too many of the Christianists currently dominating the media and our politics do not seem to get):  that to help someone we know who is hurting, while good, is not true compassion.  This is compassion with an angle.  We like them and want them to like us.  We feel good for helping.  True compassion is helping those who need it, even if they despise us or we despise them.  If someone wrongs us yet they need help, they are still people in need of help.  Even bad people (or different people) are still people. 

In any event, I’ve run right out of steam here.  (Does it show that I’ve gotten rusty at blogging?)  My point is that this was more than worthwhile, and even a big ol’ cynical bag of gas like me managed to pick up a few new things.  Take note, true believers, us atheists aren’t all rabble-rousing buttholes out to disrupt the Dalai Lama’s speechifying.  And atheist friends, let’s take a look at where we can all agree, argue those points where we can’t, and, as we would ask others, let’s lighten up a bit!

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