Fan Pages, Youtube and Attitude!

Your push to success!

I love the story of success that has come the way of Lauren Luke.  If you don’t know who that is, just check out some of her videos on Youtube.  She’s a makeup mavin who has been recognized by the Sephora line and has achieved the opportunity to have her very own line of cosmetics.  Her life has become a whirlwind of jetting, busing, photo shoots and interviews.  I think that’s absolutely fabulous!

Right Place, Right Time

Have you ever thought of what it would be like to be “discovered” for your talents, interests or business idea?  Do you have a Youtube.com Channel?  A Facebook fanpage?  A twitter account?  If not, why not?

Being in the right place at the right time takes action and if you’ve not put yourself out there for others to find, you’ll never be “discovered”.

Just take the plunge

I have a friend from Texas who has always said that all he has to contribute is his voice – he’s quite the speaker and when you get him started, dare I say it, he can really get you thinking.

For awhile now I’ve been trying to encourage him to do something with one of his favorite past-times and one of his well-known skills among his friends – his ability to put together amazing meals and in particular, his excellent grilling creations!

His motto is “real men don’t use recipes”, he’s always trying to tell me this but I’m a recipe kind of person – although I rarely follow them to the letter – and he can look in a pantry, grab some ingredients and do up a fabulous concoction just by mixing them together without any concern for whether or not the end result will be great or fair.

Yet, when I bugged him to get his ideas out there…start up a podcast or a vidcast, he hesitated…so I finally pulled a few “recipes” from him and got an e-book put together.  Very simple, very plain but it has had over 10,000 views to date…actually, let me just check on that…11,459 times to be exact.

I don’t know if that was the carrot he needed or not but all of a sudden I learn that he and a friend have teamed up…they have a fanpage on Facebook…TASTEBuds, they have a Youtube channel FBTASTEBuds, they have a twitter account FBTASTEBuds and they have a blog.  In the past few weeks they’ve had a couple of well known businesses, one in the East and one in the West, take interest in what they’ve been doing and these businesses have forwarded to them for their videos, bottles of their famous sauces for use in their grilling fare.

Don’t Ever Believe YOU aren’t worth discovering

Moral of my story?  As the header says, get yourself out there…you ARE worth discovering.  Your skills, your talents and your products or services are indeed sought after by others but if you don’t get yourself out there how will anyone ever know about you?

I know of many creative, inventive, talented and ultra skilled people who do what they do for no other reason than pure enjoyment and the ability to express what is inside them.  Their creations usually get no further than decor for their own homes, yards or perhaps as part of a good friend’s collection.  Are you one of these people?

Perhaps you enjoy being one of these individuals, but if you aren’t…take some of the steps my friend has and just watch how quickly your creative world expands!

I’ll be setting up a few tutorials in the next few weeks that will assist those of you who may be new to the soc-med (Social Media) sphere.  They will help get you up to speed regarding self-promotion that doesn’t have to cost you a dime yet can have a huge impact on your future success.

If you are a successful Artistic, crafty or otherwise creative individual who has found some great avenues that have worked well for you, pass them along so others can learn from your experience.

Til later, take care everyone and … get yourself out there!

Akaiya

“What I want to be when I grow up”…and other myths

My youngest daughter asked me last evening, “Mom, what did you want to do before you did this.”  Clarification was needed, so I asked, “what this?”, to which she replied, with a wave of her hand in the air, “all this?”  Now, that translated,  lead me to believe she was including my stint as mom, dog, cat and bird caregiver, taxi and courier service provider, chief cook and bottle washer, maid – oh and in there somewhere is actually writing, designing, artwork and well – the other things that make me who I am today.

Open up a whole new world for yourself

Open up a whole new world for yourself

I didn’t have to think very hard, “A facial reconstruction artist” I replied.

“Ewww, you wanted to reconstruct people’s faces?”, in a sense yes.  A long time ago, I wanted to be a Forensic Artist working with Police forces and doing those renditions that would capture the bad guys, but also working with clay and reconstructing facial likenesses for “unsolved” cases where a skull was the only foundation to go on.  Gruesome work I guess but it intrigued me.  The problem at the time was that I was ahead of my time.  I wanted to work with computers for facial compositions yet there was nothing available back then to allow me to do this and well, my programming skills to develop such?  Let’s just say I’d probably still be putting the program together. Continue reading

A Credit isn’t a credit with Hydro Ottawa

Tsk, tsk…the fun just continues it would seem.

I read a story about a family whom Hydro Ottawa cut off for late payment or something in June 2009 and how Hugh Adami of the Ottawa Citizen appeared to work magic for them and had big bad Hydro Ottawa reconnect their service.  So I thought to myself….hey all we want is for Hydro Ottawa to remove their so called “Arrangement Installment” and stop charging us to cover for electricity that their known defective 1st Gen smart meter rang up last year when its motherboard became defective and someone, I don’t know birds or something used because after all, our bills with the new 2nd gen meter are once again right in line with our history prior to the demon meter.  They don’t even have to flip a switch!

By the way, should mention, I also read today that Toronto smart meters – the ones manufactured by the same company and used here by  Hydro Ottawa originally  – are now showing up defective in that city…is Toronto Hydro billing those customers for the aggravation as well?  I’d be curious to find out.

We thought we had this settled actually…last bill for Jun-Jul 2009 came complete with a credit – yes indeedy – for the full $2945 erroneous smart meter damage.  Even gone was the $159 “Arrangement Installment” they were expecting us to fork over for the next three years.  We daringly believed that our MPP had succeeded and we were happy and relieved that our bills would no longer be in the $450- $470 range.

Not so fast though.  You see just as Hydro Ottawa can bill you for any old charge they want to, whether its actually justified or not, it would appear so too can they credit that erroneous charge and then tack it right back on again in a later bill!  It’s obviously some sick little game they enjoy playing with the people who are paying off their Retirement debt and putting food on their tables, or paying for vacations or whatever it is us customers are doing for them nowadays.   The bill that came in today for Jul-Aug 2009 once again shows that good ole highway robbery style “Arrangement Installment” tacked right back on…but wow, look, they actually reduced it!  They took an entire whopping $23 off…it’s now $136 instead of $159 – 0h joy!  Not quite as scammed as we thought I guess is how we should look at it.

So, I started thinking about that single mom and her success and I figured, hey, all we’re asking for here is fair – remove the bogus $136 every billing and you can consider us happy….the faulty 1sg Gen meters are showing their true colors so really, it is only a matter of time Hydro Ottawa before others jump on the band wagon here and start questioning just what the deal is and what you’re really trying to accomplish here without even having to use a gun.

So…as I started to say – I contacted Hugh Adami a few minutes ago – seems he use to be a Para Legal…hmmm.  Have no hopes that this will get us anywhere actually, I mean, I’ve used up all the hopes the last several times I’ve thought this issue was going to be properly and fairly corrected so right now, I’m just trusting that eventually, if more people come together to tell their Smart Meter billing horror stories…maybe, just maybe, we might see a light at the end of the tunnel well before we have finished dishing out almost $3000 to pay for a defective issue that wasn’t our fault to begin with and shouldn’t be our responsibility to pay for.

So, let’s see – is the media really more powerful than the big bad Hydro Ottawa?  Time will tell I guess.

Whoa, it’s been a while but here’s a catch up…

Things have been so crazy for me that I’m having a hard time hanging on!  So let’s see, where to start!

Well, I guess one of the most incredible things is that I now host my own radio show – that’s tres cool.  Something I’ve wanted to do for quite some time – even took courses in Broadcasting way back when and finally it’s all coming together.

Our Hydro Ottawa story has grown in length, almost a year now since we’ve been trying to get them to correct their Smart Meter errors – today, Jun 6/09 we decided that we’d been patient enough since Kim called us on March 16/09 to tell us she was going to put our request to have our account erradicated of the erroneous just shy of $3000 excess billing – we gave her 3 months to put this in front of her Supervisors but seems she didn’t quite have the time to give it any attention.  Today we contacted our MPP office in Ottawa South, Lauren at that office has been an awesome help.  She apparently sent a request to Ottawa Hydro May 20, 2009 to ask them to provide her with a follow up on the progress but she hadn’t heard anything back.  Tsk, tsk…so she requested that we authorize her to deal with this situation again – thanks so much Lauren!!!

We fully expect Hydro Ottawa will want to move their tushies on this now – we’ve had roughly 6 months worth of billings that are about 2500kws lower than the old Smart meter was ringing up and given we’ve gone through the winter months with much less kws used than Hydro Ottawa’s defective Smart Meter was ringing up in Aug of 2008 when our home was pretty well as “turned off” as we could possibly get it without taking it off the grid completely – we are pretty certain that Lauren will work her magic and Hydro Ottawa will be trying to gouge someone else for their mistake somewhere along the way.

If you’re having billing issues with Hydro Ottawa stick with it because they certainly don’t have your best interest at heart – but utilize the avenues that will get you were you need to go – MPP, Media, Legal – whatever it takes – it’s money you deserve to fight for…and money they don’t deserve to have!    If you think your Smart meter is reading ridiculously high – you’re probably right, particularly if you still have a 1st Generation meter with “known” motherboard malfunctions – don’t let Hydro Ottawa tell you they’re Smart meter is reading perfectly because they are fully aware of the motherboard issues and this is why they are currently introducing 2nd Generation meters….so call em up and get yourself a new meter if you have one from 2006-2007 – particularly  if you are finding your hydro bills out of control.

My family took part in the Relay for Life in a small city this past weekend – the entire effort raised $305,000.00!!!  That was so awesome.  I was a little disappointed to see so few of my husband’s family out and active in this effort given that they have a mom, brother and sister in law who passed away from cancer – but next year I have a solution – I’ll just contact everyone – door to door and yank em out and get them up for even 1/2 an hour show up – least they can do right?  My family drove 2 hours to get to the Relay – walked most of the night – then drove 2 hours back home so all I can say is I think anyone who lives just 10 minutes from the activities can give at least a 1/2 hour of their time for this great cause!

Well, that’s about it at this end – tons more I could add but apparently I have children who are fading away for lack of “instant” food 😉 so it’s out to the grocery store to ensure they keep up their strength – after all, they still need to clean their rooms!

Have a great day everyone – enjoy it to the fullest – like the Nickelback song – If today was your Last Day – you want to ensure you do it up right!  I’ll try to get in here and update some tutorials and jewelry finds for you – schedules, schedules…have to learn how to work with those! 😉

Take care,

Akaiya

How to make … GeltDesigns tutorials & Blue Buddah classes

Sometimes it pays to have your Twitter ‘on’ so that you don’t miss some really great little nuggets of info through out the day. Thanks to Blue Buddah Boutique , a Chain Maille shop with lots of supplies for the Chain Maille enthusiast, I noted a link they had twittered about that lead me to a great group of Tutorials on how to make all kinds of jewelry clasps.  This led me to a main site of tutorials where you will find a lengthy list of even more How to do’s related to Resin Jewelry, Precious Metal clays, How to make different types of jewelry and much more.

The site with the tutorials is for GeltDesigns.  All the tutorials come up in a paged format with great images and step by step instructions.  An excellent resource.  If you also want to take in their tutorials on their blog, you can visit them at GeltDesigns.com.

If you’re into Chain Maille and are fortunate enough to live in the Chicago area where Blue Buddah Boutique is located, you might be interested in taking up some of their upcoming classes starting in April related to Wire Crochet, Viking knit,  knotting and beaded maille, or if you’re like me and just need lots and lots of Jump rings, they can help you out there too.  I’ll have to get an order into these folks!

While I’m on the subject of fine things and great finds, again a link from Blue Buddah, you have to check out some of the most incredibly devine Dragon sculptures from Unicorns and Dragons on Etsy!  These are amazing and I must say, they are absolutely stunning!  For the amount of work that obviously goes in to making these gorgeous items the prices in my opinion are very reasonable.  Beautiful work and thought I’d pass it along for others to enjoy – and lucky you if you find yourself unable to resist purchasing one or more of them!  I’m envious 😉

Enjoy your day,

Akaiya

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