Congress Twitters!

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Congress Twitters! Is that amazing or what?  Our government is twittering! 

“Congressional debates on the House floor? So 2007 (or 1787 for that matter). Earlier this month, Congress witnessed its first Twitter debate, when Speaker Pelosi’s 30 Something Working Group Member Rep. Tim Ryan (@timryan) challenged Rep. John Culberson to a Twitter-off. The Congressmen used Twitter, the micro-blogging site that lets users post 140 character status updates, for a real-time debate from the House floor about gas prices, oil drilling, and extending unemployment insurance for Americans looking for work” (Nancy Pelosi’s newsletter)

What will be next? Will the new President Twitter? Barrack Obama does already! Or maybe it’s someone on his staff, but his name does post regular Twitter updates. Social media is joining the big time! woo!

UPDATE:  Since I wrote this piece I have seen multiple articles about this including a site collecting support to let Congress Twitter:  http://letourcongresstweet…..  Of course I am now a member!

Facebook Geek Girl Dinner

Just to let you know…I started blogging on BlogHer.com. I’m a bit confused on where I want to blog. Bear with me. Or would that be bare with me…yes…that would be it…not the animal…lol…

Okay-to start off with their was no dinner-but there were appetisers. Last night I went to the Bay Area Girl Geek Dinner #2: Sponsored by Facebook. It was held at Ettiquette Lounge in San Francisco. It was such a fun event! To start with I didn’t know if I was geeky enough to go. I mean I blog…I’m starting a website (The Smart Moms Network) but…I’m not the developer. I’ve taken beginning programming and networking but that was as far as I got. I realized it wasn’t my thing. I asked Retro Audrey, one of the event organizers if I would fit in and she said yes, come. I knew a lot of these women were hardcore programmers so I wasn’t sure, but I thought it would be a really interesting event and possibly a good networking opportunity.

I brought along Holly, who is even less geeky than I, but very fun to hang with. We met at the parking lot and walked over. I fell out of the parking lot area and skinned my knee. I had blood dripping down, but somehow my supersonic L’eggs pantyhose escaped without a tear, run or hole!?!

At Ettiquette we were greeted with a red carpet entrance! Upon entering we were given cool name badges and two drink tickets. I was rather impressed that the drink tickets were for anything we wanted, not just cheap beer or wine! Facebook rocks! I had a raspberry mojito and a pandora’s box. Both were excellent! The bartenders at Ettiquette rock, too!

It was a small venue with approximately 200 in attendance, I was told. The panel included:
» Ruchi Sanghvi (Principal Product Manager, Facebook)
» Julie Zhuo (Product Designer, Platform, Facebook)
» Alina Libova (Founder and Developer, Easter Eggs)
» Holly Liu (User Experience and Co-Founder, Watercooler)
» Annie Chang (Co-Founder, LOLapps)

Moderator:
Sandra Liu Huang (Program Manager, Facebook)

Introduction:
Cyan Banister (Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Zivity)

All the women were amazing and accomplished. The sassy and scandalous Cyan Banister(http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/05/29/1938media-interview-with-zivity-cofounder-cyan-banister-guest-appearance-by-scoble-at-end/), co-founder and editor-in-chief at Zivity started us off with her introduction. I had to wonder why Facebook hasn’t hired Alina Libova, a UC Berkeley college student and the founder and developer of the Easter Eggs application? I snagged her email address in case I am in need of her skills someday for one of my websites! There were plenty of women headhunters from Facebook who seemed to be looking to hire. I would LOVE to work for Facebook, but Palo Alto is a bit too far of a drive for me.

The panel spoke about their accomplishments and the challenges and rewards of being a woman in a male dominated field. Listening to Ruchi gave us a taste of what it must have been like to be part of the beginning with Facebook. The women also spoke of the importance of user feedback and how immediate it can be on the internet. User feedback kept Annie Chang busy changing her apps to meet the users wants when she was heavily involved with LOLapps.

Right now I can only imagine how exciting it is to be on the ground floor as a website launches, and to get that user feedback and see your site grow. Soon I won’t have to imagine though, it will be my turn to be part of that as The Smart Moms Network launches, and I can’t wait!

After the panel talks and discussion we broke up for networking. It was a little difficult networking because no one seemed prepared for it. No one had business cards handy. The women speakers in the panel all kept saying that their business cards were in their backpacks in the back. (Apparently hardcore geek girls carry backpacks instead of purses.) Back to the bar for my second drink. Yes, we tipped the bartenders well! There was a spot for Geeky pictures with props, so Holly and I had some fun with some geek glasses. We also enjoyed the appetisers, the wasabi shrimp being my favs. A DJ was on hand through the night, though more for atmosphere than dancing. I recognized Retro Audrey right away from her Facebook photo, it was fun to say hello to her, she said she recognised me too!

To end the night we were presented with schwag!!! Did we get pocket protectors? No! Our schwag included a soft American Apparel lavender w/purple trim T-shirt with the Facebook Developer Garage – Geek Girl Dinner logo and a nifty wifi detector keychain! Retro Audrey was handing them out. After everyone had been through the line there were a few left over and she offered me an extra t-shirt for my daughter! She was a doll!

I can’t wait for their next event! Facebook and the Geek Girls did it high class all the way.

I love being a geek girl! Where’s my backpack!?!

P.S. I ALSO love blog comments! Leave one, please!

photo credits ~ Laura N Holly standing, Laura with another geek girl, Laura and Holly, geek panel from the back of the room photos by Icka Boo. Geek panel speaks, geek panel geeky, geek room, retro audrey, Etiquette, Ettiquette Inside by Vanessa Naylon.

Email and Social Media Frenzy

I get up early and check my email:
1. Read all three horoscopes.
2. Read my todays Mission Calendar Inspiration from Oprah.
3. my astrology.com’s Daily Feng Shui Tip.
4. See what Freecycle is giving away.
5. Find new things I like on ThisNext,
6. Read Fashionista -15 new articles,
7. check out the InSyle look of the day,
8. Go Buy Now: Tiered Skirts from WhoWhatWear Daily,
9. see if Shop Bop has anything new and cute,
10. check the Fashion Alert at nymag.com,
11. Look through Bluefly.com,
12. AnnTaylorLoft,
13. OldNavy,
14. Newport-News,
15. Nordstrom,
16. JuicyCouture,
17. Tobi.com, and
18. Spiegel at their latest clothes,
19. check out what I might love in Stuff We Love at ivillage.com.
20. See what is at The BIG Semi-Annual Sale at Bath and Body Works.
21. Drool over diamonds at BlueNile.com.
22. See what desserts CookingFood.com wants me to make tonight.
23. Read through 20 FlyLady emails encouraging me to clean my house.
24. Read Cory Kennedy’s new blog post on uber.com,
25. Read perezhilton.com
26. and TMZ.com to find out what’s new with the stars
27. Read stereogum.com to find out the latest music
28. See what to do, where to go, or what to eat with San Francisco Mgazine’s itlist_sf,
29. About.com: San Francisco,
30. radioalice.com’s Alice Everyday: News and Notes,
31. check my Going.com The Weekly Update,
32. Thrilllist San Francisco.
33. See what Advance Movie Screening!!! Entertainment Weekly wants to send me to.
34. Find out that Netflix.com received my last DVD.
35. Buy something from thegreatergood.com to save the children. The Greater Good Network, shop where it matters!
36. Look at the When We Left Earth Series at the Discovery Store Channel at discovery.com.
37. Find out What to Watch from EW.com,
38. See what’s going to be on This Week on the Sundance Channel.
39. Find out what’s happening on Oprah’s show tomorrow with my OprahAlert.
40. Send a message to my legislators at MomsRising.org.
41. Find out 10 Easy Ways to Sleep Better from LifetimeTelevision.com,
42. find out what my favorite Ebay seller is selling.
43. Update at twitter and read all the twitters including blogs and links and then reply to them all plus welcome new twitterfriends,
44. update at friendfeed and see what Robert Scoble has to say,
45. check facebook and see how my Fantasy Stock Exchange is doing and what my friends have been doing on the newsfeed and check my notifications to see who sent me a virtual bloody mary,
46. check MySpace to see if any friends have tagged me in any embarassing pics or what their Status and Mood is and check the Friend Updates to find out who has changed thier profile song to “You’re So Vain” by Carly Simon and check the Bulletin Space to read my friends survey on thier favorite sex positions and see what band is promoting a concert far away from me in Europe, and read The Dresden Dolls blog to find out that they now have a special edition of “No, Virginia” to download with bonus tracks.
47. Check my karma at Plurk.com and say hi and comment with all my plurky friends there.
48. Write a blog on WordPress.com
49. post it on mashable.com
50. and del.icio.us
51. and Kirtsy,
52. and Mahalo,
53. and Friendfeed
54. and digg.com
55. Moderate my blog comments.
56. read Jeremy’s Shoemoney – Skills To Pay The Bills,
57. and John Chow dot Com,
58. and Laughing Squid
59. and The Latest from TechCrunch
60. and WebProNews to keep up on the latest tech news.
61. Watch GaryVee on Wine Library TV to find out what wine to buy for dinner,
62. watch Jake Marsh on Viddler.com to see what he’s been up to,
63. Shop on Etsy.com
64. If it’s Sunday I must watch Val’s Art Diary on YouTube.com.
65. Then there are the forwarded jokes from friends,
66. the graphics from Oasis to look through
67. Check out what Bob Lefsetz had to say about the music scene.
68. See what’s new at iTunes.
69. Check my rss feed at Pageflakes and read all new articles.
70. and if I’m lucky maybe even a personal email or two.
71. I think I’ll just delete the BUSINESS PROPOSAL, Online Degree Program, Mastercard or Visa Approved, 3 Days and 3 Nights Confirmation, the Cheapest pain medication online and Please Your Woman Tonight emails, after all, it’s bedtime.

P. S. If I missed any, leave me a comment and let me know! If I didn’t miss any, leave me a comment and let me know!

MySpace Haiku

email ~ new blog post
friend requests ~ always new bands
hey comment me back

Twitter Haiku

hear the birds twitter
in the trees, on the screen too
whales ride through the sky