Posted on Wordpress

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 

Harmony & Peace are just as necessary as Exercise for optimum health

Does establishing a routine mean you’re old?

Not necessarily.  I recall being in my twenties where I resided in ME me ME:

Princess of my domain

Unlikely to do anything that wasn’t self-serving with the exception of knowledge or growth.

Captain of a ship of my own making

The pressure of your twenties is proportionate to the expectations of your teens.

Scribe of my own personal story

With heartache and disappointment the most reliable friendships.  

With my hands, head, heart, health

Steering my course: what direction I was going and whether it jived with my inner core.

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 solitary reflection

George Karasov 

This blog was original written and posted on the optioneerJM blog. 

Excuse moi to readers who come to optioneerJM for business, leadership, sales or social media advice.  You have been bombarded with clips from Polyvore, independently posted.

I apologize.  It was another experiment or test.  No apologies for the test certainly.  I disclose that I am constantly trying out new avenues online to see what is what, what works, and how I may want to do things differently.

This is a "do differently".  

Polyvore allows users to create fashion statements, creative ensemble within a specific user base:  fashion enthusiasts, fashionistas and creative personalities.  I hadn't been there for a while before yesterday.  Because I haven't, I looked at the experience with fresh eyes, as if new.

Polyvore is a great environment for the fashion conscience, creative minds, fashionistas and the like.  My meanderingsabout blog is my reflection on creative expression ... outside the "box" of what I write here.  

Creativity is an integral part of who I am.  I recognized the following I had and that they were not interested in the fashionista and beauty side of who I am:  a woman in her 50s fighting aging by using a tasteful fashion, accessories, beauty regime.  That's where I created Meanderings about a year ago.  

Maybe the original idea was to have a blog where I could "rant".  Then realizing that people just don't like to read about rants, in general.  The only time I've seen them work is when a group amasses to express a similar disapproval.  More often, I've noticed, they are directed at airlines.  I would say telecommunication cellular providers would battle for first other days.  

Then I began writing as if I was giving advice to my daughters on life, living, love and dating.  They may not read it.  My three daughters and stepdaughter aged 22, 23 and 25.  A great representation of the Millennials.  

Not all experiments are successful.  Usually you can extrapolate what you have learned from the exercise and extrapolate "do differently" for down the road.

So Polyvore has the right idea:  they allow enthusiasts to share their creations on Pinterest, Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook.  Sadly, missing is instaGRAM.  Also, when you select posting for a Blog, the default is Tumblr, while allowing you to select "BLOG" for Google's Blogspot posts.  It defaults to the blog you have associated with your email address, which in this case is optioneerJM.  It doesn't allow me to distinguish it if you happen to have more than one blogspot.  

I will continue to fiddle around and experiment.  Thank you for your understanding.  I apologize if it seemed misleading to draw my loyal readers here, thinking I may be writing about sales and instead be bombarded with these posts that seem commercial.  You share the image you created on Polyvore, and then what Brands represent the products you have selected.

Polyvore has Polyvore Clippers, which I am liking, and just getting around to trying (for instance the image of Sally Field in character of Doris surrounded by scarves and cat eye glasses.  

There are a lot of tools or sites that start out with one idea and its users evolve and experiment, bringing a wider ensemble of tools and ways to share.  I'm never content to just create, post, share.  I like to test to see how it can be used in building social media audiences or "content" as the big thing these days is.  

Corporate brands and companies have gotten the message.  They are adding "Blog" to their websites.  However, the conundrum is how to keep the Blogs fresh, relevant, with regular posting.  A way to drive viewers to the website, where the website is suppose to take over and keep the audience there longer, to click, go deeper into the site.  Even better if an inquiry or lead generated or a sale.

I will keep exploring and doing experiments and reporting findings for others to benefit.  Even if that means an annoying array of blog posts that seem to have little to nothing to do with the central theme.

IF, this happened to make you curious.  I went to Polyvore to gather ideas for a Halloween costume -- obviously, I'm looking to be "Doris" from this great, whimsical, movie about an isolated woman in her 60s who steps out, after the passing of her mother whom Doris was caregiver to.  The idea of how she takes on what is normally Tween or Teenage experiences about dating and socializing.

  Doris is wonderfully portrayed by Oscar winner Sally Field, whom I hope gets an Oscar for this great role.  You can't help but be entertained with her crush experience, being coached by a 13 year old friend's granddaughter.  

Now, I will tidy up optioneerJM and move the creations over to meanderingsABOUT and delete the errant posts from here once they are where they belong.  (CHECK ~ done)

I will continue to experiment and try new things.  To report on findings that may help others with their social media experience, expand their social selling efforts, or share advice on business or leadership.  It has been a fun ride, and after 200,000+ page views, I look forward to continue to learn and share those experiences with you.

You can join me on Polyvore and join in the fun!  I've experimented with GROUPS, creating one for fashionista creatives who want to create ensembles that Doris would love:

This post has also been featured on "The Publisher" and "optioneerJM".

LINK to The Publisher

optioneerJM

I was a little taken aback by this blog I had written.  I can't say why it was sitting in drafts?  I am going to guess it was Halloween 2016.  

That was my first climb out of depression.  I am honestly telling everyone.  Twice, in the past 6 months, I threatened suicide -- not to my family or friends -- to respond to the threat of bullying, commonly accepted culture where I found myself spiraling downward into.

If "Alice in Wonderland" fell into a hole with magical ramifications and whimsical delights, then I fell into the waiting room with next step:  HELL!

If you stand out, stand up.

FALL: The time for new beginnings

A time of fresh, new beginnings

Most people would say that they think the year begins January 1st ... then there would be other theories on when was the beginning of time?  I'm reading around on faith, inspiration and wonderful things to know or to learn more about ::.... the constant read-seeker of truth, wisdom, important things & knowledge aligned with my head, when art, photography and aesthetic eye candy.  My sister, Diana, was here visiting a few weeks ago, and she had made a comment to me:  "You are good with the eye, Jeannette."  Being online and blogging, interacting with people regardless of anything other than what they click on their keyboard. 

 

Fine Arts Awards WINNER:  2016 Ella Maple Rynehart [FacebookURL]

I could say it is an eye for talented, classy, smart 
people instead.  One without the other would be like a hurricane without wild winds and ferocious rains.  [ REF:  2 the nonstop Hurrican Irma, Jose, now Marie.  My dad must be smiling down from heaven.  Telling his cohorts [ Steve Jobs & Michael Jackson ] - the unlikeliest crew - that "He had to live with a Hurricane Marie for over 50 years!  NOW, all of a sudden there's a big deal about nothing that he hadn't already plugged along with so many years.  Yeah, my mom:  Marie.  82 now and still going strong.  When Wikipedia creates a "Hurricane Marie" page, they may consider a photo of my mom.  Said with only the greatest affection and respect.  Teacher of all things and showed me where I got my "stubborn as a mule gut feel and firm facial expression that is conveyed in my tone" from.  

Now, we're well into the back side
 of September 2017.  Coasting towards Halloween and then Christmas, for the folks of a similar background (no bias or slur intended, only the deepest respect and admiration).

September sounds the horn that it is FALL
Time to get back to books, bells, friendships and extra-curricular pursuits.  Most parents have, with super powered, human tenacity to make sure their kids get into school.  Certainly, by then many will have been burnt out, frazzled beyond an electrocution, patience in the thinnest and finest fine line.  Tackling them from outside and wrestling them to bed, would qualify any parent as an Olympian-of-back-to-school-fanfare!    Trying to set a routine is just as hard for the parents as it is for the kids, because between jungling and giving with work to survive and have the energy of anyone half your age, with the smarts to act your age.

Hitting the FALL time means a lot of different things
Not bemoaning noticing that the days are gliding shorter, leaves are floating downward; there ARE some people that ADORE fall!  The time of new beginnings:  a new classroom, a new Teacher, a new team, a new group of classmates, friends to be made, friends from before cherished.  The start of a new dance-figure skating-gymnastics-swimming-running-basketball-soccer year begins.  That, and the social activities you sign up for to make this year even better than last year (and IT was GREAT!).    They are all around the corner with new events, competitions, contests, clubs, creations, stories and memories so that you may look back at them with fondness for all the great things you were able to do in your youth.

Fall can hint an age
before it becomes consciously embraced.  Where you have strove for gathering knowledge, maintained an edge for signs of change, an aesthetic eye, and wisdom worthy writings.  

Time to make dreams come true
and create dreams to follow at a later time.   Where did you think you'd be at 50?  Did you even think about it?  Honestly, I didn't.  It just hit me:  BWAMB!  I turned 50 and not where I should be.  That is the thought that has consumed me, deprived me of sleep and caused me anxiety.  Well, that, and admitting that I have been the object of bullying in my workplace a number of time, just only now recognizing it for what it is.  Adult bullying is much more sophisticated and rarely discussed.  More commonly women against women.

Perhaps the beginnings of tackling a tough topic:
why are women so awful towards other women?  I have had a draft sitting in my BLOG for probably 7 years, I'm just guessing.  I was even doing research and asked people on QUORA.com [ which I love for answering questions; testing my knowledge; tracking acceptance of theories or experience; developing an expertise by others' acknowledgement not self-proclaim.

meanderingsABOUT quite possibly the best setting
to unravel the mystery that I've wondered about for so many years.  Ask anyone, regardless of age or anything divisible:  "Why do you think women get into such awful fights?  Especially when being threatened as a daughter, sister, mother, wife, employee, entrepreneur ::... they really don't seem to like even the faintest empathy, only able to react quickly, decisively and devastatingly if you are on the receiving end.  

Switching it up a bit
There are a lot of job postings out there ::.... a wonderful signal in recovery for an economy:  challenging the status quo, setting higher goals, clearing up to define purpose, scramble things:  I wrote this synopsis:  "Re-purposed a failing signage/print hub by hiring the right team, defining new processes, eliminated wastage & overages that were eating away at the NET profitability."  That's not the only thing I've done, but I'm thinking of switching up JOB DESCRIPTION on @LinkedIN +LinkedInCompanyPage to say it like it is:  what did I accomplish during the time I was there, with the numbers still in my head.

"Sound Suit" by Nick Cave SOURCE 

The FALL behind time
of the memories and past noise that you can re-hash in your head, over and over, especially at the witching time [a sign of Halloween perhaps?], between 1am and 3am, sometimes 4am;  even by 5:30am when the shower goes on for my husband's day.  

Feeling tired all the time
as the chill in the air descends into our bones, more defined as we age.  Something else I never considered, being an active, energy nut like myself:  my bones would start to crack when I stood up from kneeling in the garden or to pick something up.  The anxiety about the future, becoming more and more clouded by Hurricane devastation and what I now dub my version of A1 or "Artificial Intelligence" is the most part the media, exceptions of BBC and CBC  based on personal observation and perception:  the FAKE MEDIA should just be called A1Media to signify "Artificial Intelligence" when a lie is exposed.

The sink falls out
and life goes on [ seriously, our garburator broke, and the sink fell apart when hubby was pulling it out to see what was wrong ].  Oh and the insurance adjustor comes over after over a year ago claim with a FAR LESS deductible (fodder for my +optioneerJM blog).  
Writing settles me
exhumes the toxic influences that have seemed to be growing, now lessening because of the quality of my surroundings:  who I affiliate with, blessed with friendship, superb family, associates, those I learn from, and even a few who may learn from me.

I hope you enjoy your FALL and consider it part of new beginnings ....

Photographer:  Moin Ahmed:  2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Make new friends, love the old

one is silver and the other GOLD
as I grow each older, the more appreciative I've become of so many wonderful experiences to be blessed with, never for a moment taking any of it for granted.

working one's self to the core 
doesn't do anyone favors (p.s. in Canadianese the American favors is favored by spell check, but we Canadians taught articulation in the late 60s and the early 70s were blessed with the very big gift of expression. ..... :: anywayyyyyyyyyyyyyys [an 80s term for those yuppies still out there, and the Millennial wannabes ::.... how things have evolved eh?

In the folds of being born of the 60s
like wallflowers to the Baby Boomers, we observed, we absorbed the best parts, we have held our composure, and now we are parents of the gift to our generation:  the gift of the Millennial Bloom.  

We're pretty lucky
even though if you paid attention to statistics and stereotypical behavior, those born in the 60s were pre-packaged to lean towards failure.  If you think stereo-typing is dangerous, especially to mental health, think of the resilience and tenacity of anyone you know, been lucky enough to have met, or heaven help you if you're an offspring.

A beacon of light
to the Millennials is their embrace of the 80s culture.  Is it because there is a soul connection of what those of us in our 20s in the 80s aligned with what our own Millennials are facing.

Where optimism can be restored
when you think of what great things, events, game-changers occurred in the 80s, introduced back then, every day now.  

Boxers who come out of the corner
jumping into the obstacle ahead, head of, crouched in readiness to take the offensive with hardly a sniffle and long before a drop of sweat.  That would define those who lived their 20s in the 80s.  

I graduated from college in the 80s
and it was a great platform to launch a career.  Not limited by the restrictive curriculum, more persevering to land beyond the world of conformity, censorship, polite manners, poise and abloom with everything is impossible, we may as well make the impossible possible.

I notice some really talented folks out there.  Some that mere names crossed paths with me.  What a crazy, crazy CRAZY time, when I think back to it.  With gurgling reflection caught and captured from my conversation with my mother this afternoon.

Being the parent of a Millennial
is a worrisome, full board, attentive preoccupation.  You revel is the brilliance shining from your child born, first in 1989, with the others to follow in the 90s.  

We're lucky so they are lucky
as well.  Like skipping stones across a glass-like lake or quietly lapping ocean shore.  We may have been born in inopportune times, faced some pretty insur-mountable odds.  What we share is that grasp of not expecting anything for free, without commitment, not always sacrifice [ often by choice ] understanding the basic rightful work ethic:  

* work hard
* work honestly
* work with integrity
* be known for your word without all the numerous
* be committed to quality

* whatever you do, do it with pride

* love who you do it with, who you're surrounded by

* do your best always, it always pays off in spades

A dog eat dog world 
began with the Baby Boomers with entitlement mastered by GenX.  Where those born of the 60s, grew in the 80s, parents of the Millennials >> skipped >> over the hay days and landed in the middle of the first recession since the 1929 stock market crash [ if you do not know anything about this historical event, pause this article and go find out about it .... as my commitment to you as a blogger, you read ] we had to survive.  Really not much opportunity to learn as funds dried up and kids had to go leave post-secondary because their was some sort of crisis in their lives, with their family, that took more important measure instead.

Learn from your elders
as much as you can.  No time will be wasted.  I can guarantee that!  Talking to my mother, with so many wise words shared.  I even said to her:  "I hope I remember all of this for when I write later".  The gift of her wisdom was shone brightly upon me, like a face of a flower blooming forward towards the sun.  

I was a sponge in the 80s
that was my greatest gift.  I only had a college diploma, not even a university degree.  It was enough to teach me discipline and that anything worthwhile doesn't come free, without commitment and stick-to-it-ness that is just emerging within the Millennial generation.  

Millennials have faced fear
reflected in their parents eyes.  A strong, tough upper lip, and a straight spine.  We weren't even considering weakness, with goals clearly defined in our line of vision.  

Dedication, optimism ~
contagiously positive attitudes were bestowed upon our offspring.  Whether they grasped those sprinkles of enlightenment and hung on to the best qualities we shared.

Nobody is perfect
and neither is anyone who defines themselves as a Yuppie.  [ Or admits in select company and trusted members ] Who wear it as an emblem of pride, saying "who cares?" if they still have enough hair left to grow a mullet, why not?

As the Millennials groan
and tsk tsk with embarrassment to their very influential peers.  What their peers think of them is more important than their parents, their boyfriend, or their employer slash / boss could ever dream.  A peer sets the benchmark and the height of the peddle stool they are awarded, acclaimed, worshiped or refrained.

Be still thine parental heart
it is just a mutation of your chromosomes, evolved and collided with nature and environment to form an independent being, an individual.  I know it is very hard.  Like a moth does to a butterfly without the loss of the moth, is the butterfly allowed to form.

Be glad, be proud and be boastful
toward anyone who'll listen.  Those are the ones you want to be around.  They can relate, or your words resonate with them.

Unlike my mom's words
this afternoon.  They were so wise, so enlightening ... almost as though I was leaving a cocoon.    While I'd been living these 55 years, I was enclosed in a small outlook, not looking far beyond to where flowers bloom and the sun's flower is warm with a gentle wind, with an iced tea at my elbow.  I'm careful I don't give it a nudge to topple it over as I tap, tap, tap with the rhythm of my 1979 typing class on an electric typewriter.  Graduating exceeding 120 clicks minutes  ::.... now WHAT was it called back in those days when we took our speed tests on a manual typewriter?  Hmmmm I think it was ... nope not characters per second, or any variation of the Times New Roman font that was the only letters to be had, to write a letter, draw up an agreement or a contract.  

Some of us grew up with carbon copy
yet how many know what that material is?  What it is like to try to avoid staining your fingers on the sticky substance on its back with a wrapping-paper thin or thinner-than-onion paper thin [ I'm sure Google can show you what either of those things are .... if not, Wikipedia for sure ].

This is a story for those 
who remember the glory of being a yuppie.  Bringing in the 80s as we all turned 20.  That is a pretty unique identifiable experience, a uniqueness we can own.  A significant contribution to our society came from our decade.  [ you may have to dig back to my other INBETWEENERs blog (before we evolved to be called "YUPPYDOM" ) mere weeks ago I wrote about those who graduated from the 1960s and became icons of our time.  Across borders, beliefs, colors, race or country, the class of the 1960s born are unique with much to boast about.

Keep steady on the present.
Slam the door or gently close the past.  Forget about the future because it isn't anything you can touch right now.  So you may as well be aware of the present and make every moment count!

where everything is impossible, 

we may as well make the 

impossible possible

~Jeannette Marshall