One of our small supply of trusted babysitters has fallen in love with someone in Nanaimo (hint to fellow parents: DO NOT encourage your babysitter to go visit that ex-boyfriend in another town). So we're back to searching for fresh blood, and wondered whether there might be room for a web app to help.Â
Turns out, someone else has already thought this all through. CareSquare is a well thought-out online community that helps parents find available caregivers, and lets you rank trusted caregivers and see those who are trusted by your friends (or their friends). There are a few hundred caregivers already in the network, but surprise surprise they're mostly in the San Francisco area.
So fellow Vancouverites, hear my plea: if you are a parent, caregiver, or sometimes babysitter, please add yourself to CareSquare. If we can get a few dozen Vancouverites using the tool, it could turn out to be really useful.
We’re just back from two days in Houston as the guests of ttweak, a marketing, communications and design firm that shares our belief that authentic, original voices are the best way to convey a message. ttweak’s best-known work is probably their Houston It’s Worth It campaign, but their extensive and varied experience also includes a number of video projects that let interview subjects, rather than narrators, tell the story. ttweak principals Randy Twaddle and Dave Thompson proved to us that Houston is indeed worth it, not only for the food (mmm, bbq. I mean mmm, Mexican. I mean, mmm, Cajun.) but even more notably for the almost unbelievably friendly people.
While we were in Houston we had the opportunity to meet with a number of ttweak’s clients, all of whom reinforced our impression that Randy and Dave have mastered the art of bottom-up marketing campaigns — and did so long before us johnny-come-latelys in the Web 2.0 world started yakking on about user-generated content. Here’s some of the wisdom we gleaned from their example and their advice:
- Let participants speak for themselves. Don’t drown out original voices with heavy-handed narration or moderation.
- Remain tool agnostic. If your goal is to convey a message, you’ll need to choose a different medium depending on the message you’re delivering.
- Production values matter. Don’t kid yourself into thinking that people will see past your barebones interface to appreciate the depth or brilliant of your feature set. Appearance counts.
- Invest in your local community. Even if your business has a national or international reach, a solid reputation with clients in your own city provides a bedrock for growth.
- Build relationships with your client’s entire team. During one client visit, we saw how ttweak’s introduction counted with the CEO — but we also saw Dave on hugging terms with the parking valet. We got a warm reception in the boardroom — and a warm car waiting outside when we were done.
- Client service is the surest way to grow a business. Resist the temptation to cash in by focusing on a single hot product, or cash out by selling your company to the highest bidder.
- Do what you’re great at. Over-reaching is the surest way to burn your client — and your brand.
We’re excited to work with a company that realizes Web 2.0 values of user engagement in all of its work. And thanks again to Randy and Dave for introducing us to their wonderful city!
My husband observed that the best indicator of the unrealistic expectations on us moms is the number of different phrases about “bad” moms: smothering vs neglectful. hovering vs cold, etc. Whereas the only derogatory thing you ever hear associated with fatherhood is “absent father”. In other words, dads get full marks simply for showing up; moms have to worry about being too loving or not loving enough, too engaged or too distracted.
I'm the consumer queen. You know how everyone has one weakness or another where they overspend? For some people it's clothes, for others food, books, music, electronics, home furnishings, kids' stuff, pet stuff — everyone has some area where they overaccumulate.
For me it's ALL of those categories. Which is why I find myself thinking more and more about my personal consumption and how it conflicts with my values and beliefs about social and environmental sustainability.
But I'm not sure that conscious consumption is the solution, per se. OK, it's part of the solution. Buy American Apparel rather than the Gap (if you feel better about underwriting sexual harassment than underwriting cheap labour). Buy recycled paper. Buy organic. Et cetera.
The problem with all that is that in our culture, consumption isn't only — or even primarily — about the end of acquiring goods or services. It's really about the addictive, numbing process of acquisition: every minute I spend searching for the perfect pair of chic, waterproof black boots (suggestions, anyone?) is a minute I'm not spending in reflection about the prospect of global warming, the situation in Iraq, my kids' prospects for happiness, my mortgage, the possibility of suitcase nukes, or any of the other ten thousand anxieties that zoom through my postmodern worrybrain.
Conscious consumption is arguably a better way of channeling that numbing behaviour — if only because non-exploitative goods are more expensive, and thus shopping consciously probably means shopping less –Â but it doesn't address the underlying problem of a society in which the process of consumption is a core social, psychological and identify-forming behaviour.Â
All that said, having given up so many other helpful self-medicating behaviours in the name of responsible parenting, I'm not yet willing/able to separate from my shopaholism. So my latest experiment in displacing the consumer urge has been to switch from real-world shopping (which consumes resources to produce and ship goods) to virtual shopping (which consumes a little energy, but remarkably little.) For all the other shopaholics out there who want to hit the mall without destroying the earth, I recommend checking out Second Life.
For all of us thinking about death and grieving, the Body Worlds exhibit is holding an interesting event this weekend:
Religious Views of the Human Body and Soul After Death
In conjunction with the InterSpiritual Centre of Vancouver (www.interspiritualcentre.org)
Saturday, November 4, 2006
7:00pm — 7:50pm
Science Theatre (seating is limited)
CBC Radio host Priya Ramu will host a discussion among representatives of Vancouver’s Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish and Sikh religious communities regarding their perspectives on death and dying, the body and soul, funeral practices and the public display of human bodies for educational purposes. The remainder of the program will provide an opportunity for the audience to address questions to our panel.
This event is FREE with purchase of a BODY WORLDS 3 ticket for that evening. Seating is limited and is available on a ‘first come/first served’ basis.
Featuring:
Orai Fujikawa Sensei: Bishop of the Hongwanji Buddhist Temples in Canada
Pandit Prameya Chaitanya: Priest of the Shree Mahalakshmi Hindu Temple
Giani Jasbir Singh Ji: Priest of the Akali Singh Gurdwara Sahib
Dr. Amr Hafez: Islamic Society of BC
Tara Bentall King: Vancouver School of Theology
Rabbi David Mivasair: Ahavat Olam Synagogue
I'm amazed we don't hear more about the economic arguments in favour of equal marriage rights. It's a huge source of competitive advantage that Canada offers gay couples the same legal rights as straight couples — just think about how much easier it makes it for Canadian companies to recruit and retain talented gay employees.
Recent Comments