Finally, Flickr Gets Back in The Game

I've been a Flickr user since 2005, and lately have been wondering if it's time to jump ship. For one thing, I can NEVER remember my damn Yahoo! login that they make me ever since they've been sold, so I can really only access Flickr on a computer that has me continually logged in, but also because I haven't seen them really innovating or doing anything different to make it as user friendly as other photo apps, up to and including Facebook.

So I'm pretty happy to hear from TechCrunch that Flickr and Twitter are linking up (or, "sucking face", as they would say). From their release:

In addition to email uploads, Flickr now lets you Tweet out any photos directly from the site. After linking your accounts, whenever you click on the “Blog this” button on any photo on Flickr, your Twitter account will be one of the distribution options. This works for both photos you’ve uploaded and other photos you find on the site.

Yay! Flickr just got relevant again. Cool.

BMI, Healthy Knees, and Why Runner's World Can Bite Me

In this month’s Runner’s World, there was an article detailing different types of knee pain, and the causes and risks associated with said pain. One of the knee injuries profiled is one I’m quite familiar with: Iliotibial-Band(ITB) Syndrome, which is inflammation in the band of fibers that run along the outside of the knee.

Now, according to this article, the people most at risk are “Women with a BMI of 21 (weighing 135 at 5’7”, for example)” because the “extra body weight puts a heavier load on the hips and more pressure on the IT band.”

As a woman with a BMI of 21 – which is to say, I’m 5’7” and weigh 135 – I say: Bite me.

Forgetting for a second that, according to the National Institute of Health, a BMI of 21 is considered “Normal,” and therefore the premise of my “extra weight” causing knee pain is inherently flawed, I can think of about a thousand different reasons why this article and its conclusion is one of the more annoying things I’ve encountered this week. In the interest of time, I’ll give you two:


1. BMI is a ridiculous way to assess “healthy” weight

BMI doesn’t distinguish between muscle and fat…and muscle weighs more. I weigh about 10 pounds more than I did when I was in college, but I’m about 100x healthy than I was then. Last year, I posted a picture of me running my very first running race in 2005, and my brother commented: “Whoa, you look so much skinner – and not in a good way.” And he was right. I was a TON skinnier, but had no muscles, no strength, and, ironically, my knee problems were a LOT worse.


2. At the risk of sounding hyper sensitive: 135 pounds at 5’7” isn’t fat.

It just isn’t, and I’d appreciate it if pop culture would stop telling me that any female weighing more than 110 weighs too much. I’ve had more than one friend – and , if I’m going to be honest, I’ve spent more than a few days myself – stressing about “weighing too much”, when the reality of what is “too much” is based on such flawed perception. If we ever wonder why, as a culture, we’re so fat and/or neurotic, maybe it’s because we focus on entirely the wrong things. Numbers on a scale instead of the types of food we eat, size of our waist instead of the distance we can run or weight we can lift.

I think if I’d read this article in Cosmo or US Weekly, I wouldn’t care so much; those magazines aren’t intended to focus on fitness and health. But Runner’s World is, and I’m totally annoyed that they missed the mark so completely.

How Twitter Can Make You A Happier Person

Just read a great post titled “How Twitter Can Make You A Better (and Happier) Person” by the CEO of Zappos.

Tony – the Zappos guy – is one of my favorite people I follow on Twitter. I’m a big fan of the company for many reasons, and only one is related to shoes; I’ve been working in the field of Client Satisfaction for awhile, and Zappos has done a GREAT job building a company that encompasses the Client Sat values I think are important to be successful. When I read about the Zappo’s corporate values and culture, I’m reminded about how I want to frame my own professional values -- but that’s a totally different post.

ANYWAY, in this post Tony discusses what it means to him to tweet daily, and how he uses it as an opportunity to reinforce his overall values – both corporate and personal. As he says:

1. Transparency & Values: Twitter constantly reminds me of who I want to be, and what I want Zappos to stand for
2. Reframing Reality: Twitter encourages me to search for ways to view reality in a funnier and/or more positive way
3. Helping Others: Twitter makes me think about how to make a positive impact on other people's lives
4. Gratitude: Twitter helps me notice and appreciate the little things in life

I go back and forth on whether or not to protect my Twitter updates; on the one hand, I want to be able to communicate with my family and friends without worrying about my employer seeing what I wrote, on the other, I don’t want to be writing things that I would be embarrassed for my employer to see.

After re-reading this blog I’m unlocking my tweets again, and rethinking how I want to mass communicate with the world.

Little Wedding Moments

So many things to remember about the wedding, little moments I never want to forget. So this entry is really just for myself, although you’re welcome to remember along with me. I'm sure I'll leave out so many, but this is just the little stuff, the one-offs, that I'd hate to lose.

1. Forgetting to ask Devon to do the reading, and then frantically texting her the day before. And then forgetting to GIVE Devon the reading, and having her see it for the first time 40 minutes before the ceremony

2. My brother, at the rehearsal dinner, beginning his toast with “Well, in high school, we were all pretty convinced that Liz was a lesbian…”

3. Doing shots of whiskey with my cousins the night before, and thinking to myself “This is the moment I’m going to reference as the moment I should have stopped drinking”

4. Des doing my hair and being impeccably German about the whole thing.

5. The relief of Devon taking my blackberry away from me and fielding all questions, concerns or suggestions the day of. It was exactly what I needed.

6. Running to the pre ceremony margarita hour in flip flops and a sundress

7. Neglecting to actually pick music for the ceremony, and having my dad ask me, as we’re walking in, “Is there music?” and going “Whoops. Um, probably not”

8. …and then being happily surprised to hear Clair de Lune strike up and realize that, once again, Kristen had saved the day

9. Walking down the aisle with my dad, and thinking that it was too short. A huge moment over so quickly.


10. During the vows, thinking to myself “I also vow to stop leaving water bottles all over the house, as I know how much it annoys you”

11. My uncle doing the ceremony, and needing the golf pro to make it official

12. Pictures with Mike and Sammy during the cocktail hour, and us calling to Sammy during breaks: “Sammy – bring the scotch!”

13. Toasts! I love a good toast, and so many wonderful ones… both brothers, my dad, Eddie, Faith, Sara, Devon, Marjorie, Rob, Mad [Col Hadder], the Teubners, Mike and Ann…and so many I’m sure I’m forgetting at this moment.

14. The Fudgie the Whale Ice Cream Wedding Cake

15. First song from the band: Sweet Home Alabama. And I didn’t sit down for a single second after they started

16. Samantha singing. Oh my God this was the most amazing moment of the wedding. She wanted to sing for our “first dance,” and then, in the middle of the band’s first set, she got up there with them and belted out Journey’s “Open Arms.” Tears, people. Tears.

17. Speaking of the band: amazing. I’d travel to go see them as a special event; having them at my wedding was an amazing present from Kristen and Joe. Amazing.

18. Sending Laura to go get my parents for the band’s first encore, Billy Joel’s Italian Restaurant.

19. Second encore: Scotty Doesn’t Know – Just for Mike

20. My family and I toasting each other with cans of Bud… much like my parents did 37 years ago at their wedding. I don’t know who smuggled in the Budweiser, but I owe them big time


21. The disgusting sweaty mess that was my brother Mike

22. …and how he split his pants while dancing

23. Laura requesting MmmmmmBOP at the bar afterwards, and the DJ almost kicking us out



24. Mike purchasing $120 worth of beer at the beer (a total of 24 beers. Ouch) to move the pool

25. Changing out of my wedding dress at the pool deck into Devon’s borrowed bikini

26. Mike showing people how to open beer bottles with his wedding ring

27. Swimming/hot tubbing with the gang till 4:30 in the morning, then walking back to our hotel room barefoot and in a bathing suit...

28. …and waking up the next to discover I had no other clothes with me (side note: thanks to Devon for grabbing my dress!)

29. …making Mike’s first official husband act the act of “Find wife some clothes”

30. Someone at the brunch the next morning asking me why I was in such a good mood after so little sleep, and me saying “Not sure, I think I might still be drunk”

31. Leisurely drive down to Key West on Monday … the first time Mike and I had been alone in almost a week. It was perfect.