Jun
7
Making Vacations
Filed Under Brunch | 16 Comments
Each weekend a new "Brunch" post will feature thoughts about balancing family and self care with working in an always-on Internet environment. This edition is by Elizabeth Able, owner of AbleReach.
What can you do after your Broadband goes on the fritz, hosting is wonky, a hard drive takes a final bow and the neighborhood's electricity goes out just before saving a nice, long article? Playing catch-up is a given, but what about the headaches, the sleepless nights and that quicksand dread when the next set of hassles hits?
For one thing, I've been more purposeful lately about planting good things where I will naturally experience them on a regular basis. Relief is sometimes active, sometimes passive, and I can help with both.
Beauty can Bring Peace
I have fuchsia baskets hanging outside my bathroom window, by which I inevitably need to sit, and where I will inevitably look. Humming birds like the fuchsias - aren't humming birds magical?
My cat has figured out that a trip to the bathroom is an opportunity to bird-watch with Mom. Now he chases me into the bathroom and perches on the window ledge, having his cat fantasies about the birds. A happy cat is fun to watch. I like that I don't need to make my little birdwatching moments happen. I stacked the cards in my favor and now I just need to remember to be happy.
Stretching is Healthy
The Mayo Clinic has an illustrated series of sensible stretches you can do in your office. I like to get up and turn around before stretching - a little odd, but it seems to make my muscles be more willing to stretch.
Walking Time is Good Thinking Time
I like to go for walks in between tasks. Tip: tuck a small notebook in your pocket, because a change of pace can help turn problems into a flow of ideas.
Dance Makes You Breathe and Feel
Do you work alone at home? What a great opportunity for dancing like a fool! Disclaimer - these examples look more foolish when I do them.
Sometimes I unwind the stress by sort of vogue-ing while I stretch, or by flat out pretending I can dance up a storm. (And my daughter thought that living with my singing was a challenge!)
Singing is Good Medicine
Breathing deeply changes your chemistry by getting more oxygen in the blood... and there's nothing like a sing-along with dangerous Nan McGrew to change one's perspective.
Why, I pull a train right off the tracks
And for perfume, I use shellac
When mad dogs bite, I bite 'em back
Grrrr! 'Cause I'm dangerous Nan McGrew!
Mini Vacations Freshen Outlook
Everything I've described above can be a mini-vacation, but to get some of the same benefits you don't need to stretch, dance, sing, garden or take the time for a walk. Relaxing takes the edge off, and doesn't have to take long.
Have you ever had one of those days where "a moment's peace" seems to be too much to ask, and the logical truth is that problems won't be resolved quickly or easily? A mini vacation may hit the spot. Close your eyes and relax, breathing slowly and deeply, and visualize... nothing. Or visualize a meadow or a beach, whatever will give you a moment's peace. A few moments of peace can change your outlook, maybe not 100%, but certainly enough to sidestep a head-on collision with full-on frustration.
A few minutes later, take another mini-vacation. Practice will shorten your inner commute to a delicious pocket of no-strings calm.
Wait Just a Minute!
Don't even tell me you skimmed to the end without checking out the song and dance links. Back up and click on some joi de vie. Verve is good for you.
When I'm not writing or experimenting with WordPress I like to help to moderate at Cre8asite Forums, admire my plants and Stumble like a fiend.
Jun
4
Hard Drive Crash
Filed Under Uncategorized | 3 Comments
On Monday I had an emphatic series of visitations from the Blue Screen of Death. The hard drive is toast and I'm not so sure about the future of the computer. Talk about expensive and irritating!
Needless to say, this is a great time to toss me a $10 tip via my scratchback widget, or share any creative moola-getting ideas. I'm always up for a little marketing fun. 
On the bright side, Mom Necessity has given me some nifty ideas for this weekend's brunch post.
I need a few more days to sort things out, and then I will be back to bloging like a (happy) madwoman.
May
31
Hello May 31st!
Filed Under The Meaning of Life | Leave a Comment
I thought I'd better let everyone know that I'm putting my twice-a-week WordPress project on vacation until Thursday.
You see, I'm busy moving to a new host - yipeee!
I'll be back in a few days, reloaded with promised humor. In honor of brunchy balance, I may also give myself a couple days off - what a concept.
I feel like I did not give enough this this week, because I had plans I didn't finish. Looking back, I have to give myself credit. I had more server outages, after all.
Even so, I did the big stuff. I feel just great about WordPress Wireframes, and my Big List of Green Web Hosts is a resource I am satisfied with and can build on.
I am eager to get to the next steps.
I can't stop from thinking thinking thinking, and there are some ideas I'm excited about and have been working on, and, goodness me, I have to stop myself, or I'll enthuse myself straight past that break I wanted. Must... resist... temptation.
Heh. The temptation passed.
Was that a tease, or self-preservation?
Whatever you say, dears.
Life is good.
May
31
Drive, Balance and Business at Home
Filed Under Brunch | 2 Comments
Each weekend a new "Brunch" post will feature thoughts about balancing family and self care with working in an always-on Internet environment. This edition is by Rachel Goldstein.
As a parent who runs a successful Internet business, you probably assume that I have no free time to spend quality moments with my 4 young children. I have to admit that sometimes it is a struggle to place my priorities with my children, as I really enjoy the work that I do. As the bread-winner and the caretaker of my family, I am being pulled in both directions. When my priorities are out of place, I snap out of it by simply reminding myself that I started this business 10 years ago so that I could stay home with my kids. My solution to balancing my career-life with my family-life is a bit unorthodox, but it works very well for me and my family.
In order to be able to work full time for my business and be there emotionally and physically for my kids, I changed my schedule drastically to fit my family's demands. Two of my kids are in school and two of my kids are still at home with me during the day. Every morning, after I get my older kids off to school and my younger kids dressed and fed, then I set 30 minutes to an hour aside for myself to answer morning emails (sometimes there are 100s). I put off writing back to emails that don't seem urgent. After that beginning block of time, I dedicate 45 minutes out of every hour to spend time with my kids (for every hour they are awake). The other 15 minutes of every hour is put towards answering emails or getting smaller business tasks completed.
When I spend time with my kids, I make the most of this special time together. We sing songs, read books, tell stories, and play games with each other. During the kids' afternoon nap and after bedtime at night, I get the bulk of my work done. I normally don't get to sleep until 2 or 3 AM, depending on how much work I need to get completed. And if I can't get what I want done, I have to just relax and try to get it done tomorrow. I have to remember that there isn't a boss breathing down my throat to get the work done, it is only my inner drive that is pushing me so hard. I know that I need more sleep than I am currently getting, but this is my way of balancing work and motherhood at the same time.
My kids know that they are much more important than my work and that they will always come before the business. However, the older kids are also starting to understand that I have to work in order to pay the bills. I try to make every bit of time with my children special, and every chance I get I try to turn every day trivialities into a silly joke to make them laugh. People are always mentioning to me that they have never seen kids who smile as much as mine, and even though this is partly genetics to blame (I smile a lot too), I would like to think that it is also because I am doing something right.
Thank you, Rachel!
Rachel Goldstein is a graphic designer, web designer and muralist whose hard work created a business that allows her to stay home with her kids. After a few years, her husband Josh was able to quit his full-time job and work on the family business from home as well. Together, they run more sites than you can shake a stick at, including these familiar resources:
May
29
Big List of Green Web Hosts
Filed Under Green | 19 Comments
Welcome to the first edition of my Big List of Green Web Hosts. There are 22 here, and I am sure there are more out in the world that can be added later. I only included hosts with English language pages and specific information about what they are doing to be "green."
I will be updating and fine tuning this list as I get more information. As some point I'll be putting together definitions for some terms like carbon neutral, carbon credit, green credit, carbon offset, off-grid, carbon fixing and possibly more - doesn't seem fair to feed nonspecific information to a nerdly audience. Also in the works are interviews with some of the providers.
Here they are, 22 green web hosts in alphabetical order:
- Athenaeum Ecological Hosting offers 100% green hosting by using energy credits to buy wind generated power. Hosting is accomplished through a solar powered data center in California. Their offices are in West Yorkshire, in the UK.
- A2 Hosting buys carbon credits from Carbonfund.org to offset their server emissions. Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
- Acorn Host is a reseller, which means that they buy their hosting from a larger organization. They also buy carbon credits and give discounts to nonprofits. Headquarters in Portland, Oregon.
- AISO offers 100% solar powered hosting, from energy that they produce themselves. Uses energy efficient servers. In 2006 AISO was featured in Inc. Magazine's Top 50 Green Companies. Located in Romoland, California, East of Los Angeles
- CWH, Canada Web Hosting, saves 90% on electricity costs by using Lake Ontario for a Deep Water Cooling system., with the help of the Toronto-based energy corporation Enwave. Facilities in Toronto, Canada
- Dreamhost calculates all possible environmental impact and then buys Renewable Energy Credits from ecologically sound power sources such as wind, solar, biogas or geothermal, as well as Emission Reduction Credits. Located in Claremont, California.
- EcoSky is a solar energy producer. Their offices are partially powered by renewable energy, through their own solar power as well as purchased renewable energy credits. In case of shortfall they purchase wind-powered energy credits. Uses energy efficient equipment. Located in Portland, Oregon.
- Go Green Hosting uses green certificates and "other renewable energy technologies," such as wind power. Located in north eastern Oklahoma, USA.
- Green WebHost offers a solar powered option. They operate a virtually paperless office and are also an ISP. Aims to be better than carbon neutral. Plants a tree for each new broadband and web hosting customer. Located in the UK, though the solar-powered data centers are in the US near Los Angeles.
- Greenest Host uses 100% solar power, with propane and conventional on-the-grid energy to power their backup systems. "Our servers are located at a state-of-the-art data center just 90 miles northeast of San Diego in Romoland, California." Greenest Host is located in San Diego, CA.
- Host Papa purchases enough wind and solar green energy certificates to completely offset greenhouse gas produced by their electricity providers. Located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
- Ilisys is provides 100% carbon neutral hosting through solar and wind energy credits. Also plants trees to offset unavoidable pollution such as commuting by staff. Recently bought by MYOB. Offices and datacenter in Perth, Australia.
- Iron Mountain produces their own solar power, though I've read elsewhere that they also purchase energy credits. Located in Ponoma, California.
- Lightbeing Creations uses 100% renewable energy. They use a 100% solar powered datacenter in California, and have wind-powered offices in Trowbridge, between Bristol and London.
- pair Networks is carbon-neutral through green a carbon credit program. They also operate an energy efficient office that is an exceptional-sounding healthy working environment. Offices in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
- Planet Mind uses solar and wind power, "provided by a grid-intertied solar array." Office located in Nederland, Colorado.
- Rackspace buys green energy credits and is investing in building green dataservers. Rackspace in London is carbon neutral through tree planting, and has green plans for a campus in San Antonio and a datacenter in England. Rackspace's datacenters are located in San Antonio and Dallas in Texas, Herndon Virginia, and London, with offices in San Antonio and London.
- Solar Energy Host is off-grid and 100% solar powered - no carbon credits. They use a data center located in Romoland, California. Offices are in British Columbia, Canada.
- SustainableWebsites is 100% carbon neutral through purchased RECs (Renewable Energy Credits) from the Mountain View Wind facility in San Gorgonio Pass, California. Profits from web hosting services are re-invested in SustainableMarketing, a unique community giving green entrepreneurs advice and tools needed to bring their marketing to a professional level, in an ethical and sustainable manner. Uses a datacenter in Dallas, Texas, and another in New Jersey. Offices in San Francisco, California.
- Thinkhost is 100% carbon neutral through wind and solar green energy credits and conservation. Their social responsibility page says they offer free and discounted hosting to non-profit community groups. Offices in Portland, Oregon.
- WebCtel is a small solar energy producer. They use their energy to power two services: web hosting and an ISP. Located in Cambridge, MA.
- WebHostingBuzz is carbon neutral, through tree plantation projects, in partnership with the International Tree Foundation. Headquartered in Delaware, USA
Got suggestions and additions? Please leave a comment here or contact me.