PRIVACY pondering

By now, talking about data is passé and the cloud, simply yawn.

That made me realize, that besides the odd news story, there isn’t more noise and clucking about PRIVACY.

It wasn’t a television or radio ad either.

The race for our almighty dollars has started, without a start horn,  we are meekly falling into a deep trap door that narrowly funnels towards brand popularity and premium choice.

Who is their voice?

WHO’s Responsible for PRIVACY breaches?

As more privacy channels chain of command paths are broken, more and more incidents and varying degrees of alarm.

Definitely the United States lead the world with paranoias surrounding being under attack.  Deservedly so.  Simply because they’ve been attacked in many forms, for example:

On soil:  Pearl Harbour > World War II

World Trade Center 9/11

Russian Interference 2016 Election 

However, are they fulfilling their own profecy?

I personally can’t decide which is worse because they are equally horrible: greed and corruption.  It must be said, clarified, that I am a Canadian, representative of where Baby Boomers stop, a parent of Millennial children, all successfully employed and tumbling throug “adulting”, providing a safe landing when they veer off course, and championing & cheering them on to accomplish their own dreams in their own way.

Who owns your data? Your employer, your providers, or the government?

If you ask most people, I’m sure they would say they do.  It’s personal, thus it belongs to you.

YET, while you are at work, your everything belongs to your employer: calls are recorded for “coaching” purposes.  Nobody can notice a grumpy boss who tenaciously goes through all employee’s communications to find something, anything, that they can use to discipline or fire someone.  You’d think by now from the abundance of data, employers might track supervisors who have a lot of people quitting, transferring or being fired and a red flag would go up.

WHEN it’s your personal time: lunch, breaks, off time, your information is your own.  Not likely, before you can even have a cell phone, you have to share your private information: age, income, employment, education and credit score to the provider who may have a system that rates those things on a numerical score.

ONCE your smartphone is in hand, what you text, click on is registered in some way.  That’s long before you start adding apps.  If you subscribe to any media outlet, you release information, if you use a credit card, they can save for convenience or even pay for stuff.

If you click or swipe, you are sprinkling your data around.

DATA REALLY IS INFORMATION

About you, your likes, your weaknesses, your monetary strength or weakness.

WHAT ABOUT YOUR HEALTH?

When my husband was in the hospital, a friend of the kids knew about him before the ambulance had arrived to the neurological medical center, worked on his ward, even though it violated health center regulations.  Our medical charts seamlessly pop up between medical centres, physicians, specialists, etc.  That’s a lot of places where leaks can happen.

BODYGUARD on NETFLIX: a must see

Timely, yes.  There are many excellent examples of why you may want to watch this stunning cinematic TV drama.  However, if you happen to have PRIVACY as a hot button of late, you may register how much the main character’s privacy is disregarded in all forms by government, employers, clients, security sectors, and on and on.

I want to avoid spoilers but I hope someone does comment, to begin a real discussion of value.

I got more on a tangent about PRIVACY on my blog: YUPPYdom from @WordPress 

Oh shit, damn f***

: I said when upon stepping from the last step going into the basement to my studio

a sensation of immediate cold feet with a very emotive sounding:

 * S Q U I S H *

24 hours later things are falling into place.

I rolled a joint and actually figured out how to use the Xbox controller ... there goes that theory my (our) generation had based on the sphere of influence seemed to be really resilient.  Not surprising our Millennial children seem very strong with all the shit going on around everyone.

There appears to be incredible parallels going on here.

The how lucky you speech similarities: 

What we heard: I had to walk two miles to school everyday after I had gotten up at dawn to collect the eggs, feed the chickens and milked the cows before I left to school even though there was a blizzard going on as I walked in three feet of snow (pre metric times) without complaining and being thankful even if my lunch was an apple.

My variation: I was up by 5 most days of the week, on the ice by 6 for 2 hours, standing out side the high school door waiting for my friends to arrive long before the bell.  Then after school I was either coaching figure skating or working at the small town newspaper, which a lot was used for contribution towards skating coaching, etc.

What I like to think is that the same principle remains hidden unless you think about it.

1) you make a commitment and give as much as you can

2) you make sacrifices in order to improve

3) respect the money and honour your choices

4) always have your own backup plan for the bumpy times

5) you have to work hard because you’re only fooling yourself to have high aspirations with little sweat

6) if you don’t give’er, you may end up stuck

7) you don’t argue or complain to parents when it ends up harder than it looks

There’s always a few more wise words of wisdom from my mom:

1) In a marriage, you give 150% effort but never take more than 50 percent responsibility because there is two people where it is split equally in half

2) Be smart with money or else you will end up as a bag lady << the warning my grandmother imparted to my mom.

3). Family is everything, means everything and the most important thing ahead of money, education, or position"

The meaning of life: now, that IS a beautiful thing

READ THIS FIRST

I even amazed myself ... reading this almost a year later.  Really crowning the website I did launch over a year ago [ www.graFX.online ] and left stagnant less the original gusto that comes when an idea bursts forward and fights to find solid ground.  A central repository of all my blogs, depending open my knowledge (typically business, sales or social media as @optioneerJM and its affiliate blogspot blog of the same name all under the social media persona I created in and around 2008 when a champion friend, mentor and cheerleader, Donna deMan pushed me off the cliff into the stratosphere online, starting on Linked In, then branching out to TWITTER where I was so thankfully introduced to a group of early adopters of social media with a lot of class, talent, skill and some sort of charm or charisma that people became drawn to:  those are still the forefathers.  Maybe I'll do a blog and ask people who I think impacted and guided me about remembering me (if) or what they remember most about me .... that would be fun {INSERT} imaginary virtual assistant who hussles off an email to me to serve as a reminder and then adds it to her notes to cover during our weekly phone call [not to mention quarterly luncheon to touch base personally and address anything more sensitive, needing more personal attention than day to day "STUFF".  

Well, I dreamed of writing and wishing about eventually being able to be paid for what I do, and I'm happy to say I like the direction this is going.  An assembly of blogs from an average, yet bright, confident yet sensitive business lady with a twist of this whirlpool of stuff may have some value.  Putting it under one umbrella:  www.graFX.online allows me to give it all under one setting.  

It is a hobby though.  Not an occupation, more like a preoccupation or passion that would be more inline with who I am, not who others want me to be or think they know me to be.  An honest reflection under one transparent crystal chandelier of my life.  

I think I really like the sweet spot that I may have found in THE PUBLISHER:  creative writings that would otherwise a) be lost after it was a fleeting idea or b) be stifled because they wouldn't land softly in the more tumultuous life I lead only a year later from when this blog was written.

I like to think I sounded optimistic and embracing the age on the farther side of 50 and coasting towards 60, amid big waves and whitecaps hitting us at this moment when everything is suppose to be rosy. 

 
After witnessing my own parents marriage of more than 50 years of togetherness [and other times of hellishness] and ending up with a partner in life, legally professed as husband, a father to one and a stepfather to a few, ending up after one failed marriage attempt renewed with optimism when we vowed to create a family among all four, equally treated with fairness.  Fast forward 11 years later:  it lived more like a mythical horror epic in the last 9 weeks.  We all discovered that Rob was a big piece of the glue that made us all stick.  And that is a beautiful thing. 

A MOM's BRAG BOOK of her four Millennial hipsters, happeners, hopesters

None of my kids read any of my blogs
so it is pretty near 100% guaranteed that it is true.  However, my one daughter told me that at least one of her friends reads this blog Out of the 6 or 7 blogs that I curate and/or I write about varying topics that interest me or developed or furthering knowledge on something that grabs me.

Having grown up conversations with a daughter is a new and wonderful experience.  How far we've both grown from a nervous wreck of a mother, tasked with an ailing son who needed additional care and attention while she was a bright shining star, oozing with talent from every pore.  

A mother's gift is sometimes recognizing the gift in her children.  Why else would Elvis Presley's mom have been the subject of his first recording?  A miracle talent nurtured and encouraged by a mother's love.  There are far too few examples shared in the world these days.  

SIDEBAR:  (I haven't done one of these for quite some time, ahem) ... what I'd like to find somewhere to read about or watch a written for TV series on Ivana Trump's influence on her daughter's beauty, grace, composed and elegant carriage.  There is a girl who was taught graciousness, humility and manners without a hint or trace of malice or arrogance, nor attesting to a special station in life.  

Then there is Prince William, agonizingly losing his mother (whom I often am outstandingly astonished at his gift of connecting with people of all ages, races, genders placing aside whatever other conceivable dividers there are and bridging gaps.  Leading by example.


**************

I came to blog here and discovered this had not been posted (above) so I went hunting for some photos or art that would convey the feeling, vibe and message of what I have written.

***************

Since I am not 100% myself, feeling anxious about the future with Rob, praying that there is a future no matter what the circumstances:  for better or worse vows of 11 years ago.  

Thoughts are floating and I'm not trying to stifle them.  Acceptance that downsizing to a bungalow would be practical.  Even comparing facilities/condos in Calgary and Edmonton for 55 + which I had really only come to realize.

Denial of sorts.  
It seems like any step in any direction that is not 100% tied to Rob's current condition, is stopped.  One day, one minute, one report at a time.

I may float other photos out that I may just be able to get away with under the radar from the kids.  Pick your moments, not your battles.  Allows a calmness that you may not think you possess.

Rebel nerds

Easter 2015

Nephew Shawn and son Kyle 

Adulting dinner out 

First selfie with youngest daughter 

Changing hairdos reflect changing attitudes.

Only Uncle & Only Nephew 

Understands values, is loyal and treats other kindly

BEST female Gamer ever! (HINT:  this is her gamer meme character)

Pretty as her picture, kindness at her core

A kind daughter, generous sister and supportive friend

A thinker

A doer

She is who she is (note comfy shoes and glasses on)

Romantic, happily married Newlyweds 

Living life face on

WITH CHILDREN: Listen, and you won't hear a pin drop

Creating the appropriate dialogue with teens and especially young adults who have crossed the bridge from "adulting" (current term by the bottom curve of Millennial) to land in the planet of responsibility and accountability can be a shock to some, depending upon the type of parenting they've received.

Looking at my life over the past couple of weeks

facing the uncertainty of what may lay ahead

where before if there were uncertainty, we talked it through together.

Right now, that is not an option

as my husband lies in critical care at the best hospital in the universe (ref:  www.bafound.org ) acclaimed among peers, heavily sedated and kept paralyzed to avoid more vasospasms REF: Wikipedia ::...

I've become reflective as a means of coping

Answering on Quora gives me the opportunity to give my opinions based on my own experiences.  Taken at face value.  No acknowledgement or acclaim other than some votes.

The one challenge that Millennial populace share is the ability to ask for or heed advice.  The stronger, more centrally planted know who and how to reach out for advice without hesitation.  

When one puts into perspective the parenting most Millennial have is their is a strong likelihood their parents were on the bottom curve of Baby Boomers, barely a blip before the slight hilly curve of GenX emerged.  

1960-61 was one of the worst years in history to be born:  squeezed mightily by Baby Boomers on the one side, with their Millennial children imploding on the other:  whom I dub us "The INbetweeners" and evolved a blog talking about YUPPYdom:  the attitude of those beginning to adult in the 1980s to beginning to have the start of the Millennial generation starting in 1989.



1961:  the same year Obama was born ::... squeezed by the free era of free love, drugs & rock n roll baby boomer older siblings>  We have a unique perspective by those who are never afraid of expressing their opinion, less possible to be heard from the noise of the bigger, louder generation of Baby Boomers. 

Listening to your children is the best gift you can give them ... and this is coming from someone who is affectionately called "Chatty Cathy" by the love of my life:  Hunkster Hubster.

Yet all those times, hours, I sat among the kids, their friends, I was really listening to them.  What was going on in their world:  their guffaws and giggles and snorts when I confirmed that I was pretty isolated in some ways as a child.

What evolved was really being talked to:  hopes, dreams, drama, dilemmas going on in their world.  Since my answers often came across as goofy and naive, the rave of laughter was roaring in our home.  That's about when the Hunkster Hubster would puff out his chest and give his take on the matter, in a nutshell, with very few words, spoken in either his very soft voice that made people strain to hear him forcing them to really listen .... or he could boom out a command that filled the house up echoing from the walls.  If it was a cliche movie theme, Buddy would be howling in the background! 

I don't think there was any question among our motley crew of dreamers, schemers and believers that they could have an important conversation with their parents; their parental unit as it was at most time, togetherness, on the same wavelength.  It became interesting when everyone was contributing ideas, debating ideals.

The Hunkster Hubster and I were both born in 1961.  There is a level of understanding, belief systems ingrained in us that really makes us uniquely opposite in so many ways, while harmoniously in sink in others.  Especially the importance of children.

From that unified approach, it has guided us when we felt there were few answers.  Like now.  It's just sad that I can't share it with him right now.

FEMINISM: The word of the year [SOURCE: Merriam-Webster]

Merriam-Webster

Original art by:  Jeannette Marshall
@optioneerJM
(C) Copyrighted

The year of feminism. Well. Wouldn't ya know?

The only beef I have with that is:  every year should be a year where feminism moves forward in giving women the same rights as anyone else.

I speak of which I know.
Hitting my 50s wasn't really so bad.  I had 4 great children all making their way in life.  One now off to university, another one married, one with a sparkle in her eye, and another one battling demons [ REF:  gaming].

Rob and I had a conversation about this the other day.  It was after we returned home from having dinner with our besties couple friends.  It was to celebrate Rob's birthday.  He made a statement that they had a big hill to climb ahead.  Looking back, he was reflecting on experience.  That one minute, you're tripping over kids or kids friends or kids stuff, nonstop nagging 

What he said was true though:  the next minute they're off and growing up or have grown up, with lives of their own.  Their own responsibilities (either significant other or career climb), overshadowing the wants or needs of elder parents.  Yes, we're aging, but we're still in our 50s, considered young in the aging age bracket.  

It's profound.  It's quiet.  [Except when Rob is gaming online with some of the kids].  Sometimes I remember to put my music on to drown out his banter that is one-sided.  Not in the least curious what the other parties are saying in the least.  I've had to grow to be balanced with curiosity.

I've always been an exuberant gal.  Ready with a question, so that I can pick up the minuet details of information and audibly digest it by saying it out loud.  That is a really big misconception, by the way:  people who talk a lot are scattered, indecisive, annoyingly vocal, opinionated and sometimes critical.  

Except if you delve deeper into the logic, demystification surfaces.  We've often heard that some people are visual, visual learners, etc.  What is rarely spoken is that there are others who are auditory.  Meaning that in order to absorb information, they need to say it aloud in order for it to be absorbed.  Alterna- tively, visually oriented appeal to imagery, videos, graphics, art.  

I suppose just words are fine if you are auditory.  One doesn't have to read out loud to comprehend what they are reading.  That is off the track.

We live in a world of supposition.
We make assumptions, jump to conclusions more now than ever before.  By now, the flash of information and visuals is so rapid and fleeting, we don't even realize or recognize what information we're being fed, factual or false.

Feminism is about opinions
That is my take at any rate.   An outspoken, opinionated, egotistical male is considered aggressively pursuing a space rocket trajectory into the stratosphere.  A woman with such attributes is considered aggressive and a bitch.

Three degrees of interpretation
Having three daughters the ages of 23, 25[next month] and 27[2 months].  I've decided to stop identifying which one is my stepdaughter, inherited by marriage because she's been part of my family for 13 years, with a husband I've known for 13 years, who was born on the 13th and I married on the 13th [scoffing at fate and bad-luck tales].

Each girl has branched out into different areas

One is pursuing the arts in university, the other on a carpet ride in project management and the other torn between the legal mill or the pursuit of an education.  The main point, really, being that they each took different paths that reflect their different views on life, education, work, relationships and what they want out of it.

Only one is a steadfast feminist
She is vocal, she is a champion for the underdog and she is learning her voice.  The feminism of the millennials is quite different that the first feminist whom one has heard about starting in the 60s, making leaps in the 80s, and protests and speeches abound, fighting for equal rights for women.

There is a long, long way to go.
Like the example I was trying to give on learning or communication styles, we make assumptions and we allow stereotypical thinking of our own.  

Wishing you a merry and marvelous holiday season to you and yours

xo Jeannette
@optioneerJM
(c) Copyright unless written permission granted

Where a title can't explain ....

The following is a post I wrote on Facebook when I wanted to share the comments I saw online under job site INDEED ...... Maybe INDEED has hired someone to cross the pavement from that other G-spot on Facebook where employees, clients, interviewees can voice their opinion, anonymously or aligned by a brand.  

A very public scathing review of companies and apparently organizations that hire others, is becoming a central voice of opinion.  CEOs tremor at the power of opinion if one of the opinionator's were approached by a mainstream media or create a video for community support and advancement in ethics.

Our opinions are starting to matter a lot more.  Our opinions are our voice.  There is nobody else like you thus it is impossible for anyone to think, act, voice .... unless we have the acclaim:  "My opinions are my own ...." Does that really protect us (must find out).

I wrote this a few days ago on Facebook with the intent to repost it her on my meanderingsABOUT blog.  I chose Facebook to see it first because that audience is continuously showing and demonstrating their loyalty and support.  Now secondly, it is here on meanderings because this is where a 56 year old woman who is fighting her 50s while trying to be a fashionista fashion voice and social media personality for women 50 and over .... a growing following who like the vibe I transmit and bump into me in other social sites ..... 

Google's blogspot blog allows me to see stats every single day, subtract my own clicks to keep authenticity, and it has allowed me to grow an understanding of the following I catch vibes with.  Presumably you would think the two ME-generations (Baby Boomers and Millennials) ....

The greatest support for my Blog comes from my Facebook followers so thank YOU!!  However, honorable mention has to be to the WordPress crew who actively engages with YUPPYdom (my blog there).

Perhaps I am scattered around the various blogs but I'm not worried.  Why?  Because I read seven years ago (2010) that content was going to be king in the new generation of opportunities.  Perhaps an honorable follow to comfort which was the retail king launched and mastered by Steve obs' APPLE was devoted to comfort and ease for customers (with a critical eye on aesthetics to match the quality and value it was going to be branded as).  

Maybe all these scattered blogs identify with a specific audience by looking at the numbers and the hashtags that they're likely to react (aka click under), I observed a pattern evolving.  If I paid attention to the numbers under an article segment came from a particular strong regional audience from abroad, then I would cater the conversation in that direction.  For example, I blip on my blogging was actually on travel under optioneerJM.  Conjuring the dream to travel and discovery on new lands, unique people, honorable cultures and all-round good people.  I would have to thank Mazatlan, Mexico for that.  I have a blog in the works:  I'm now creating my own art for my posts (an advocate for artists who should be compensated for their work) I started to dabble with painting and then uncork this need to come up with the graphics as I gurgle the ideas in my mind -- big multi-tasking to be sure!!

I will write about these matters.  I have a blogging fever!  Being away for most of November, with a major delay in getting into the Christmas spirit (something my youngest daughter told me was one of her fondest memories:  how I went all out decorating and festivities surrounding Christmas.  I remember saying:  "I guess I figured out what must go up, must come down.... there was nobody around to help pack it away or help put it up".

The following was posted on Facebook yesterday:

An example of the power of statement made online ........ reviews galore! There's no fire to put out. It appears as though it were lit a long, long time ago. I've watched with fascination [wanting to understand the history and learn the culture] and dismay [ Canada's shameful treatment of so many honorable people, of Canada, at the hands of the residential schools.

There's a difference, I see. Not so long ago, Many non-indigenous folks, like myself, only saw what we saw closest to our homes, mode of transportation, path, event, city or town street or avenue: sprawled, sleeping or drunken indian man or woman underneath a tree, in the transit station, the stench of vomit mingled with body odor that would indicate bathing and hygiene have been ignored. Sometimes approaching one trying to get from point A to point B, staggering forward with barely audible slurred words requesting a donation towards their next meal, which would also appear to have been neglected or compromised regularity or shelter to have them, a soup kitchen, even kind words.

I admit to be one of the Canadians guilty of ignoring this great people. Hidden behind my own limited self-perceptions based on a VERY small percentage of a proud community and our country's founders. In so many ways, we have done them dis-justice very likely with shame, no differently one would with a son or uncle or mother struggling with addition.

Then, to make matters worse. We allowed the traditional media to influence those perceptions: NOT stories of courage, overcoming great obstacles, the struggle to keep a culture alive as its youth flock to the city, often recycling the affliction of their adult influences: I wonder how many of the youth of indigenous origin escaping the need to commit suicide, towards severe conditions of negative bias, fall to more dangerous additions like heroine or Fentanyl ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fentanyl

A crowd across the universe is possessed by the cloud, data extrapolation of information from people everywhere to create algorithms :: who knows what Artificial Intelligence AI will tell, what stories will unfold.

If we think that racism and bias is alive and thriving in a pathetic world of people just trying to keep living, without struggle, starvation, addictions, health inflictions .... can you imagine what will happen when some computer generates an algorithm that dictates by stating the pure numbers that this is the preferred response rate, what will happen then?

We've already become a toss away society and we cannot blame our offspring, the Millennials, shoulder the cause alone. Because where did they learn that from, the offspring of the war era babies who learned to make one dollar stretch into five [ reference to my meanderingsABOUT.blogspot where I captured a conversation quip from my 82 year old mother, how she wore underwear made from potatoe sacks until her mother figured out that flour sacks made much finer cloth -- of Ukrainian heritage, can you say perogies without yum?

I rambled on a little too long. I will continue to blog and want to thank you for your support for a long time!! I am initially writing this on Facebook on my OptioneerJM page because my greatest readership falls like stars in the sky from Facebook.

I've started to expel the knowledge I learned about 30 years ago on numbers. I had the best example and will also write about that more.

Okanagan Indian Band review on Indeed

"Tough nut to crack": There are great people, some amazing employees to work with. Everyone is overworked and underpaid, however. The political climate is intense, and the direction is scattered and usually unrealistic. Don't expect a long term position, but if you can handle…

CA.INDEED.COM