Thank you, Steve Jobs

Last night just before 7 pm CST I learned of the death of Steve Jobs, entrepreneur, visionary and former CEO of Apple. A man who was in the prime of his life at 56 years old whom I'd never met changed the life of just about everyone I know.

My first exposure to computers was in eighth grade (1981) in Mrs. Strain's math class on an Apple II. We did a little bit of programming and from what I can best recall we created mosaics. Big stuff for a girl from a tiny Texas town (West Columbia). In fact that computer may have been the ONLY computer in our junior high school at that time.

Thank you, Mr. Jobs for being a part of that first exposure.

So as I was driving home tonight after speaking at Social Media Club Texas State, I thought about what I'd done in my life that wouldn't have been possible without Job's innovations. Yes, I know he was the end all be all to Apple and there were many hundreds of people who helped their products, but he was the face of Apple to me. And while I have a strong sense of who my savior is and who my God is, I'd have to think that if I leaned toward believing in demi-gods then Jobs would be right up there in my top 10 list.

Great Fundraiser Event to Benefit Caritas of Austin

So, for those of you who may not know it, I've left Bulldog Solutions and have joined Kershner Trading as a Recruiting Specialist. I know I need to update a ton of things on my blog, but first things first.

If you're in Austin today (Wed., Dec. 3) we'd love to have you join us tonight!

This year, my new employer, Kershner Trading has partnered with Ten Thousand Village's Austin's SoCo location and Caritas of Austin to create a unity holiday shopping evening.

When: December 3 from 5-8 pm

Where: 10,000 Villages, 1317 S. Congress Avenue, Austin, TX 78704

Come support two great charitable causes and find unique gift ideas for the upcoming holidays. For those unfamiliar with 10,000 Villages, here is the mission statement from their webpage:

At Ten Thousand Villages, we work with over 120 artisan groups in more than 30 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America to bring you fair trade jewelry, home decor, gifts and more. As one of the world's oldest and largest fair trade organizations, we build long-term relationships with artisans that are based on mutual understanding and respect. Fair trade enables artisans to earn a fair wage and provides the opportunity for a better quality of life.

Additionally, since Kershner is sponsoring the event through their volunteer support, we are able to donate 20% of the total sales from 5-8 PM to Caritas of Austin. Caritas is another great organization fighting hunger, homelessness, and poverty in our greater Austin community.

Questions? Please contact me.

What an Amazing Privilege

I'm not one to write on political topics, but I'm pretty darn patriotic. I grew up with my father not only decorating our front yard with little flags, but then making sure that the neighbors were all decked out as well. He was big on showing support of the candidates he liked by allowing them to post their HUGE signs on his back yard fence which was a perfect spot for advertising on the busy street.

It's one of the things that I found enticing about Charles from the get-go of our first conversations. He was a passionate . . . okay, I'm going to leave parties behind in this post . . .

Whatever your preference of candidate, party or beliefs, if you're an American and able to vote you should. Many countries don't allow their people this right. Many Americans take it for granted and think their voice doesn't count. But it does. It matters.

And even though I have incredibly opposing views to many of my friends and even some family members I also know those same people are adamat about one thing - exercising the right to choose, the right to vote, the right to participate in the world's most amazing democracy.

Be sure do your part. Vote.

Texas voters find more info here. Vote Texas.

Only in Texas - really?

My mom has always commented that only in Texas can you see the cloud formations we seemed blessed with.
This past Monday as I was coming out of a store, I looked up at the sky and was amazed at how breathtaking it was. Luckily I had my camera with me.

Take Me Away In Your Flying Machine

Charles and I ventured down to Lady Bird Lake (formerly Town Lake) in downtown Austin this evening to watch Redbull's Flugtag event.

According to Wikipedia, Flugtag is an event in which competitors attempt to fly in homemade flying machines.

Oh my goodness, I've never seen so many people. Charles' thought is there were probably 20,000 or so. I'm anxious to see the newspaper tomorrow to see what official estimates where.

It was incredibly hot in addition to being overcrowded. Our expectation was to go to the "official" side, but we quickly deduced that there was NO WAY to get through the masses to the other side. So, we finally settled into the spot where this video was shot and peered through branches.

Fun nonetheless, but we never saw a single contraption fly. I guess that's part of the fun -watching the crashes.



Austin, Texas Redbull Flugtag 2007 from Kim and Vimeo.

Yikes - ID Theft and Texas

From a post today on Freakonomics . . .

I.D.-Theft Watchdog Finds the State of Texas is Wide Open for I.D. Thieves
Steven Peisner, whom Dubner and Levitt wrote about recently in a column on identity theft, has made a career out of trying to stop people from hacking or otherwise stealing valuable information from websites.
So Peisner’s ears perked up when he learned of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s announcement on May 31 that Texas now requires companies to shred documents that list customers’ personal information rather than simply tear them in half. In a televised press conference, Abbott blasted stores like the EZ Pawn chain, charging that its practice of throwing unshredded documents into Dumpsters “put hundreds of Texans at risk” by giving fraudsters access to confidential information. EZ Pawn is being charged with violating the new law, Abbott said, with penalties of up to $50,000 per infraction.

See the whole article here: http://www.freakonomics.com/blog/2007/07/12/id-theft-watchdog-finds-the-state-of-texas-is-wide-open-for-id-thieves/