Purple Wren

Have You Seen Any Outstanding New Blogs?

Troy Worman has created another award recognizing new blogs. New is defined as less than one year old. There's a few of them that I want to recognize. I'll add them at the bottom. So grab Troy's button to put on your blog.

The Original List:

About Every Little Thing by Lis
Abundance Journal by Belle Wong (Toronto, Ontario)
Angela Maiers by Angela Maiers
Attitude, Ultimate Power by Mel Kaye
C is for Corrie by Corrie Haffly
Confident Writing by Joanna Young
Continuum Wellness by Catherine
Creatorship by Barbara Sliter
Employer Ease by Carl Lingen
Get Fresh Minds by Katie Konrath
How To Be An Original by Lodewijk van den Broek
Innovating to Win by Jim Todhunter
Leadership and Other Ramblings by Eric Peterson
Lead Quietly by Don Frederiksen
Litemind by Luciano Passuello
Media Hunter by Sticky Advertising
Moment on Monday by Art Dinkin
My Beautiful Chaos by April Groves
Rooms of My Heart by Trinity
Runners Lounge by Amy Hunold-Van Gundy and Tom Green
Sui Generis by Derrick Kwa
Tamara by Tamara Dull
The Happy Burro by Joe Raasch
The Road Map by Ron Bland
ThoughtSparks by Phil
Wendy Piersal by Wendy Piersal
Yap 3.0 by Robin Yap
Your Human Experience by Paula Kawal
ZoomStart by Shane Navratil

My Additions:

Rita Perea Consulting by Rita Perea
Good and Beyond by Sherry Borzo and Marsha Hines
Enroute365 by Brenda Friedrich
This Ain't No Spin Class by Kelly Moore

The I List is Growing

This is a fun way to end the year - with an "I" list. For all the Iowa bloggers. Several of us have been posting lists of Iowa bloggers during the past year, but Drew McLellan (and Mike Sansone) turned it into The I List. What a great idea!

I've added a few links to sites that you might be interested in checking out: SmartPestSolutions | Around Des Moines | Association for Women in Communications DSM Alliance | Enroute365 | Essential Estrogen | This Ain't No Spin Class

Go ahead, add any Iowa blogger links that are missing, grab the code and post it on your blog.

Here's the list with my additions.

The I list:

Adam Carroll
Andy Drish
Around Des Moines
Art Dinkin, CFP, CLU, ChFC
Association of Business & Industry
Association for Women in Communications DSM Alliance
Babich, Goldman, Cashatt & Renzo
Barry Pace
BeatCanvas
Bill Grell
Blue Frog Arts
Brett Trout
Bridges Financial
Broom Wizards
C Wenger Group
Carpe Factum
Claire Celsi
Cloud Nine Diamonds
Compass Financial Services
Conference Calls Unlimited
ConverStations
Dave Dreeszen
Des Moines Families
Dickinson, Mackaman, Tyler & Hagen
DMWebLife
Do You Q?
Dr U Fantasy Football
DSM Buzz
Dwebware
Employer Ease
Enroute365
Eric Peterson
Essential Estrogen
Focal Point Multimedia
George Davison
Gift Idea Help
Home Know-it-All
Insight Advertising & Marketing
Iowa Bed & Breakfast Association
Iowa Biz
J. Erik Potter
Jann Freed
Jennifer Jaskolka-Brown
Josh More
Kyle's Cove
Maiers Educational Services
McKee, Vorhees & Sease
McLellan Marketing Group
NCMIC Insurance
Purple Wren
Radio Iowa
REL Productions
Rental Metrics
Rita Perea Consulting
Roth & Company
RSM McGladrey
Ruby's Pub
Runners' Lounge
Rush Nigut
Ryan Rossinick
Simplifive
SmartPestSolutions
Snap! Creative Works
Studio 24 Design
Sullivan & Ward's Iowa Law Blog
Swing Station
The Members Group
The Mitchell Group
The Simple Dollar
The Yin Blog
This Ain't No Spin Class
Transition Capital Management
US Rodeo Supply
Victoria Herring
Wade Den Hartog
Wealth With Mortgage
When Words Matter
White Rabbit Group

Related posts:

Recognizing Outstanding Bloggers
Z-Listers are now Pic Shots
Sharing the Z-List Collage
Z-List goes Interactive and Mobile on Wiffiti
Have you seen the Iowa Blogga Nostra?
Using Photo Flicks to Share Memories

Wordless Wednesday: Kalk Bay Harbour

The colors in this photo caught my eye. We've had a couple days of fog, a couple days of snow, and now a few days with sun and snow flurries. I'm already yearning for the warmth of summer. And it's still December, although not for long. How about you? Do you have a winter trip planned?

Kalk Bay Harbour, originally uploaded by ifijay.

 

Links to Share: Holiday Photography Tips

It's finally here - the holidays are upon us. How many photos do you think will be taken in the next 10 days? Whether you've been at it for years or you're just unwrapping that new digital camera, we can all benefit from a few reminders. Today I ran across this great list of tips and wanted to share the link with you.

• digital Photography School: 16 Digital Photography Tips for Christmas

What's your favorite photography tip?

Wordless Wednesday: Staying Warm

This is a great photo. I'm not sure where it was taken, but it reminds me of how the birds in Iowa look right now. Every now and then I catch a glimpse of red in the trees. They are busy finding food and staying warm. Evidently the next snowstorm is going to hit soon. We still have ice from the last one...

bundled, originally uploaded by Steve took it.

 

Wordless Wednesday: Ice Storm

There were a lot of people without power during the huge ice storm that covered a wide section of the country.

Ice Storm- December 11, 2007 (39), originally uploaded by CR Artist.

Wordless Wednesday: Brrrr..... Icy Cold

Brrrr..... Icy Cold, originally uploaded by Chris2325.

 

Recognizing Outstanding Bloggers

Troy Worman from OrbitNow! has started a blog meme to recognize outstanding bloggers. What's a meme?

1. 100 Bloggers
2. 37 Days
3. 3i
4. 43 Folders
5. A Clear Eye
6. A Daily Dose of Architecture
7. The Agonist
8. All Things Workplace
   
9. All This Chittah Chattah
10. Angela Maiers
11. Antonella Pavese
12. Arizona High Tech
13. A Writer’s Words, An Editor’s Eye
14. Badger Blogger
    
15. Bailey WorkPlay
16. Being Peter Kim
17. Brett Trout
18. Best of Mother Earth
19. Beyond Madison Avenue
    
20. Biz and Buzz
21. Bizhack
22. BizSolutions Plus
23. Blog Business World
24. Bloggers Showroom
25. Blogging for Business
    
26. Blogher
27. Blog Till You Drop!
28. Bob Sutton
29. Brain Based Business
30. Brains on Fire
    
31. Brand Autopsy
32. The Brand Builder Blog
33. Branding and Marketing
34. Branding Strategy
35. Brand is Language
    
36. BrandSizzle
37. Brandsoul
38. Bren Blog
    
39. Business Evolutionist
40. Business Management Life
41. Business Pundit
42. Business Services, Etc.
    
43. Busy Mom
44. Buzz Canuck
45. Buzz Customer
46. Buzzoodle
    
47. Career Intensity
48. Carpe Factum
49. Casual Fridays
50. Change Your Thoughts
51. Chaos Scenario
    
52. Cheezhead
53. Chief Happiness Officer
54. Chris Brogan
55. Christine Kane
56. Church of the Customer
    
57. Circaspecting
58. CK’s Blog
59. Come Gather Round
60. Community Guy
    
61. Confident Writing
62. Conversation Agent
63. Converstations
64. Cooking for Engineers
65. Cool Hunting
66. Core77
67. Corporate Presenter
68. Crayon Writer
69. Creating a Better Life
70. Creating Passionate Users
71. Creative Think
72. CRM Mastery
73. Crossroads Dispatches
74. Cube Rules
75. Culture Kitchen
76. Customers Are Always
77. Customer Service Experience
78. Customer Service Reader
79. Customers Rock!
80. Custserv
81. Craig Harper
82. Daily Fix
83. Dawud Miracle
84. Dave Olson
85. David Airey
86. David Maister
87. David S Finch
    
88. Design Your Writing Life
89. Digital Common Sense
90. Director Tom
91. Diva Marketing
92. Do You Q
93. Duct Tape Marketing
    
94. Empowerment 4 Life
95. The Engaging Brand
96. Essential Keystrokes
    
97. Every Dot Connects
98. Experience Architect
99. Experience Curve
100. Experience Matters
101. Extreme Leadership
102. Eyes on Living
103. Feld Thoughts
104. Flooring the Customer
     
105. Fouroboros
106. FutureLab
     
107. Genuine Curiosity
108. Glass Half Full
109. The Good Life
110. Great Circle
111. Greg Verdino’s Marketing Blog
112. Hee-Haw Marketing
     
113. Hello, My Name is BLOG
     
114. Holly’s Corner
     
115. Homeless Family
116. The Idea Dude
117. I’d Rather be Blogging
118. Influential Marketing
119. Innovating to Win
120. Inspiring & Empowering Lives
121. Instigator Blog
122. Jaffe Juice
123. Jibber Jobber
124. Joyful Jubilant Learning
125. Joy of Six
126. Kent Blumberg
127. Kevin Eikenberry
128. Learned on Women
129. Life Beyond Code
     
130. Lip-sticking
131. Listics
132. The Lives and Times
133. Live Your Best Life
134. Live Your Inspiration
135. Living Light Bulbs
136. Logical Emotions
     
137. Logic + Emotion
     
138. Make It Great!
139. Making Life Work for You
140. Management Craft
141. Managing with Aloha
142. The M.A.P. Maker
143. The Marketing Excellence Blog
144. Marketing Headhunter
145. Marketing Hipster
146. The Marketing Minute
147. Marketing Nirvana
148. Marketing Roadmaps
149. Marketing Through the Clutter
150. Mary Schmidt
151. Masey
152. The Media Age
153. Micropersuasion
154. Middle Zone Musings
155. Miss604
156. Moment on Money
157. Monk at Work
158. Monkey Bites
159. Movie Marketing Madness
     
160. Motivation on the Run
161. My 2 Cents
162. My Beautiful Chaos
     
163. Naked Conversations
164. Neat & Simple Living
165. New Age 2020
166. New Charm School
     
167. Next Up
168. No Man’s Blog
169. The [Non] Billable Hour
170. Note to CMO
171. Office Politics
172. Optimist Lab
173. The Origin of Brands
174. Own Your Brand
175. Pardon My French
176. Passion Meets Purpose
177. Pause
178. Peerless Professionals
     
179. Perfectly Petersen
180. Personal Branding
181. The Podcast Network
182. The Power of Choice
183. Practical Leadership
184. Presentation Zen
     
185. Priscilla Palmer
186. Productivity Goal
187. Pro Hip-Hop
188. Prosperity for You
     
189. Purple Wren
190. QAQnA
191. Qlog
192. Reveries
193. Rex Blog
194. Ririan Project
195. Rohdesign
196. Rothacker Reviews
197. Scott H Young
198. Search Engine Guide
199. Servant of Chaos
200. Service Untitled
201. Seth’s Blog
202. Shards of Consciousness
203. Shotgun Marketing
204. Simplenomics
205. Simplicity
     
206. Slacker Manager
207. Slow Leadership
208. Socially Adept
209. Social Media Marketing Blog
210. Spare Change
     
211. Spirit in Gear
     
212. Spooky Action
213. Steve’s 2 Cents
214. Strategic Design
215. Strength-based Leadership
216. StickyFigure
217. Studentlinc
218. Success Begins Today
219. Success Creeations
220. Success From the Nest
221. Successful Blog
222. Success Jolt
223. Talk to Strangers
224. Tammy Lenski
225. Tell Ten Friends
226. That Girl from Marketing
227. Think Positive!
228. This Girl’s Weblog
229. Thoughts & Philosophies
230. Tom Peters
231. Trust Matters
232. Verve Coaching
233. Viral Garden
234. Waiter Bell
235. Wealth Building Guy
236. What’s Next
237. Writers Notes
     
238. You Already Know this Stuff
     
239. Zen Chill

What's a Meme?

Lately, several people have asked me, "What's a meme?" The term originated with Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene. There's a lengthy explanation at Wikipedia.

First of all, it rhymes with theme although I've heard some people pronounce it "mem" like in memory, or me-me like

It's a form of imitation - an idea that spreads from person to person. For bloggers this usually means quizzes, surveys, and questions that people link to and pass around on blogs. They can be interesting and give you insight into the personalities of fellow bloggers. Often people are inclined to participate on the weekends when they have more time.

For example, a meme might be “why do you blog?” You write a post on your site asking and answering the question. Then you “tag” other bloggers that you want to hear from. (This reference to "tag" is like the childhood game of "tag, you're it".) Since most bloggers keep track of links to their site (with RSS feeds) they will see the “tag” and respond on their site with a link back to your site and with links to the other participants.

When you write your post, there is often a blog tag to use that references the meme. By using this tag you can track how the meme has spread at Technorati. (This "tag" refers to Technorati tags - a method of categorizing blog posts.)

The reason most people participate is they get a lot of "link love" and it generates new traffic, some of whom may become regular readers. It's a good way to find new sites to read. Here's a site dedicated to the meme: The Daily Meme.

Have you participated in a good meme lately? Which one?

Another Color Quiz

Here's another color quiz on the QuizTron site. Love the color of the flowers. What color is your personality?

This site is interesting because you can create your own quizzes.

What color is your personality? Your personality is purple! Highly unique, your a true idealist. Your the most spiritual of all the colours. Your attracted to things like the occult, and metaphysical concepts. You have strong beliefs, but are incredibly passionate. Click Here to Take This Quiz

Quizzes and Personality Tests