November 21st...
...apparently that was the last time that I've blogged...
...I feel like such a slacker...
...we move on!
2006 proved to be a defining year for me. First and foremost, I had a relatively healthy year. I also experienced substantial personal growth through some tough times, challenging situations and new experiences. Bigger than all of that, I turned 30 this year! We should always celebrate the milestones, and that was a huge one for me. ANYONE who has ever turned 30 (the guy in the back knows that I am talking about *grin*) will tell you that 30 is the new 20. That's my new mantra and I'm sticking by it. Many more adventures to come in 2007. Bring it on, cruel world!
Here are some good articles to bring you into the new year:
- You may have picked up on my skepticism about TIME in a previous post when they named YouTube the 2006 Invention of the year. Well now they went ahead and topped themselves with their 2006 People of the Year...US! I don't know about you, but to me this just feels like traditional media trying to stay hip and relevant. I mean, they are freaking TIME Magazine. Really? Are they aware that the Web has been heavily accessible for more than a decade now? Are they aware that social networking web sites have also been around for years? So when it becomes mainstream, NOW we are worthy of receiving the people of year recognition? It must suck to be a a world renown scientist, inventor or diplomat this year. In related news, I have yet to receive my plaque from Time -> "I was recognized by Time Magazine as one of their people of the year, and all I got was this crummy mirror."
Some other quick hits:
Great look at 2006's top high tech/web trends to keep an eye on in the new year! This is the deepest 2006 recap that I've come across thus far.
When was the last time you had what Ray Jordan, VP of Public Affairs and Corporate Communications at J&J, coined "a cork moment"?
146 days consuming media in 2007...my gosh, we'll be busy!
Gartner's 2007 Market Predictions
The Power of Search! No surprise, Google poised to be the most visited Internet site worldwide in 2007.
Matt,
So you haven't blogged in over a month? Well, when you hit the big 3-0, you have to pace yourself and rest much more frequently, so that's probably the REAL reason... ;-) Anyway, I wanted to comment on the "cork moment." Ray's "cork moment" about GM's FYI blog was definitely one for me, too -- even though I'm doing a company blog, and am a frequent reader of blogs, hearing Brian Akre speak was definitely an "a-ha!" moment. Here's another one I had recently. My sister-in-law, who works for NYU, was commenting to me about a discussion she had with one of the TA's in her department. She's in her late 30s and was comparing notes with him about college, studying, research, etc. She realized that, because of the scope and breadth of the information available on the web, he belongs to a generation that HAS NO IDEA WHAT IT'S LIKE to have questions that are unanswered. Think about it: from the privacy of your own home, you can find the answer to just about anything in probably just a few seconds or minutes searching on the internet. That's absolutely amazing. It was really brought home to me the other day when I was reviewing an executive's bio for use by an outside organization, and I wanted to verify the spelling of the name of his high school in India. I Googled it and, sure enough, the school had a website, and I was able to check and correct its name in the bio, all in less than a minute. Think about how difficult/time consuming or impossible something like that would be without the reach that internet gives all of us. If, as they say, knowledge is power, think about how much more powerful that makes each one of us in our work and personal lives.
Posted by: Margaret G. | January 05, 2007 at 12:07 PM