Last year, I rallied around a word to shape my goals. My word was DEPTH. I wanted to delve into my communities, to commit to projects, and draw closer to God.

This year, my word is LISTEN. I was inspired after finding this article that affirms so much of what I believe in — “The Joy Of Quiet” (New York Times, Dec. 29). Since my professional work is so active — I’m constantly writing, watching, posting, sharing — I also firmly believe in time to process, to reflect, to listen. There is such relief that comes with “white space” — a blank canvas, a quiet moment, the open road.  Listening offers the chance to observe, take in new ideas, learn from people with a variety of viewpoints.

Listen in the silence. How many times throughout the day am I interrupted, either by choice or not? Silence can be productive. Sometimes, in order to hear God more clearly, you need to turn down the volume in other areas. This couldn’t be more true for me than with digital noise. Jim Wallis writes that we all should practice more “people time” and less “screen time.” If I can maximize my computer time, I’ll have more time to invest in people and projects of value (and probably get more sleep, too!).

Listen for God and to God. Daily. To this extent, I want to further explore spiritual disciplines. Pastor Mark’s latest book is Circle Maker, which explores the power of prayer. God reveals more of himself in the quiet; he even says:

But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

If praying – listening – is a spiritual discipline, then I definitely need to get into shape.

Listen to others.  I’m usually pretty excited about life, and I’m not afraid to show it — arms waving passionately, and my face contorted 7 million ways to express each and every thought. But I think that listening is an art, and it can be a very humbling experience. Listening reminds us that we are not the center of the universe.

Listen to stories — sad, happy and in-between. One of my favorite projects is The People’s District, run by Danny Harris. His niche has been recording and sharing the stories of average people all around him. In this same journalistic fashion, I also find it valuable to know a person’s story.With all my interactions this year, I want to ask myself: “what does that person have to teach me?”

I really, really liked Maggie Fox’s recent tweet:

“OH: My New Year’s Resolution is to shut up more.” << Really, this is a good one for pretty much all of us.

Now for good measure: a scene from Disney’s The Princess Diaries.

If you could focus 2012 around one word, what would it be? In what ways can being a better listener make you a better person? 

The UMD Choir fills the Kennedy Center with Handel's classic.

The Kennedy Center offers the Christmas classic, Handel’s Messiah. You don’t need to pay top dollar either; the 28-dollar tickets my roommate and I snagged did the trick.  We sat on a side balcony very close to the front of the stage, and got a great view of the performers, including the stellar University of Maryland choir. If you’ve never seen Handel’s great piece, it’s breathtaking – a masterpiece in its own right.

The Smithsonian National Zoo holds its annual “Zoolights” festival, which is not so much about seeing animals, but more about twinkling lights, drinking cocoa and cozying up to your S.O. This year, I got to enjoy Zoolights with a little one in tow (my friend Rheta’s aDORable daughter Lydia), and that definitely makes the event more festive. If you want a cuppa Starbucks though, stop in before 8. The Cleveland Park location has unusually short hours.

ZooLights are best with coffee in hand, and toddler in tow!

But the fun doesn’t stop after December 25^th. Here are some things to check out through the winter months:

Go ice skating. Run the rinks at the Sculpture Garden in DC (which you’d recognize as “Jazz in Gardens” in July), Silver Spring (MD), or Fort Dupont Park in Southeast DC.

Take in a show. The obvious, of course, is Kennedy Center (currently showing Billy Elliot and Messiah), but there are plenty of smaller venues that offer off-beat, but quality performing. Check out the DC Theatre Scene website for a full digest.

Tour a historic home. Some are decorated for the holidays. Abraham Lincoln (Soldier’s Home in Petworth), Woodrow Wilson’s Home (Dupont Circle), George Washington (Mount Vernon) and (Dumbarton Oaks in Georgetown). On a related note: my neighbor Dan runs DCwriters.org, which features historic homes inhabited by writers from Washington, D.C. You can see him featured in a recent Washington Post article here. 

January is right around the corner, which means Restaurant Week (January 9 through 15), and a slew of events to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. If you haven’t yet seen the latest memorial, January couldn’t be a more appropriate time to do so!

Today, however, spoke to much broader audience — marketers looking to maximize social media for branding and content distribution.

Perhaps my biggest takeaway was from Greg Cangialosi‘s presentation: “Social Lessons from the Start Up World”. He’s the former CEO of Blue Sky Factory, a start-up email marketing company. He described his theory on 3 stages of social media integration.  What stage is your company or organization in?

1. The “Kumbaya Effect” – This stage is the first foray into social media marketing. Cangialosi said there was a lot of cheerleading at Blue Sky during this stage. “Social is our happy place. Everyone rallied around it. But there was no strategy.” Cangialosi coined the concept “shotgun social” to explain how he pushed it hard without any real structure (that’s developed in stages 2 and 3).

2. Engagement and Buy-in - In this stage, companies should ask: “How do we relate to customers? Who are the influencers?” Cangialosi said it was during this stage he started a regular blogging schedule, and experimented with creating e-books and hosting webinars.

3. Strategic Objective and Execution – The third expansion area is in customer service and support. This when analytics become standardized, and SMART goals are part of the routine strategy. “Social media” is part of the line-item budget.

Social media is a marathon, not a sprint. Changes don’t happen overnight. All good reminders to those of us who are a little more impatient (who? me?).

Oh, and the other highlight of my day? Eric Boggs from Argyle Social, who — I kid you not – wore argyle pants during his presentation.

Thanks, #socialfresh‘ers! I had a great time learning with you.

A few weeks ago, I won tickets to SocialFresh Baltimore, a 2-day conference hosted by the social media training company, SocialFresh. Day One focused primarily on mobile marketing. Here are a few highlights from the experts, roughly paraphrased:

Jeanne Hopkins on “The 17 R’s of Mobile Marketing” [presentation slides]

• Outbound marketing is “interrupting”. Inbound marketing is creating an asset for your company.
• Lay the foundation and evaluate how to test mobile. Start with your analytics.
• As a user, you expect change to happen rapidly. As a marketing professional, you  have to stay on top of mobile evolution.
• In mobile marketing,  we need to measure often, and evolve faster.
• Think about documenting and recording feedback; readjust campaign strategy if needed.

Justin Mastrangelo on “Texting is Not Dead: How To Effectively Use SMS Marketing”

• Mobile should integrate with everything, especially traditional marketing.
• SMS has a 90-95% open rate and 90% of those open within the first 15 minutes.
• People want to receive text messages that have value to them. Don’t just send general marketing messages.
• 75% of Americans text. One in 3 prefer texting over talking.
• SMS marketing myths: 1. That it’s only for young people,  and 2. That people don’t want to text.
• QR codes are getting a lot of press,  but only 6% of mobile users actually use them.

Justine Jordan on “Optimizing Email for a Newly Mobile Audience” [slides and infographics]

• Being “mobile aware” means designing an email with mobile in mind. For examples, see the 3Sixty and Fab websites, which are already mobile-friendly.
• The finger is the new mouse; design mobile pages for “tappable” touch targets — not links.
• Fifteen percent of email opens are on a mobile device.
• Use CSS3 media queries to detect mobile screen size. The “display content” option is based on size of screen the email is seen.
• Font size decreases about 50% on mobile devices.

Tim Hayden on “Mobile Web: Where Relevance and Decisions Converge”

• Mobile is not a shiny new technnology; “mobile” is a behavior.
• By 2014, mobile internet usage will likely overtake desktop internet usage.
• We are making more decisions based on those close to us. It will be less about the “great influencers” in the coming months, and more about the more intimate, trusted circles, as seen with group SMS.
• We are becoming untethered from the desktop computers. Humans weren’t designed to sit at a computer all day. Smart phones let us escape that.
• “Shame on you if you’re using a QR code to take a viewer to a non-mobile-friendly website!”
• Brevity will rule. The quicker you get them to a decision point, the faster they will convert.

Simon Salt on “Mobile Business: There’s an App for That”

• 73% of children own a book. 85% own a cell phoneApps are not a mobile strategy.
• The U.S. is quickly losing top rank for the most amount of app downloads. Mobile developers will need to have a global mindset in the future.
• Entertainment apps like CarZar are an opportunity for data mining.

Lori Ulloa on “Optimize Your Mobile Website for the Modern Customer”

• Google’s keyword tool lets you search for mobile keywords through advanced settings.
• Focus on local: ask your customers to review you on a site like TripIt, Yelp or OpenTable.
• Not “going mobile” is like saying to your client, “I don’t work on Thursdays”.
• Determine your best solution: a mobile-optimized site, or building app? Choose the most worthwhile option.
• SEO search success = local + broad category.

CC Chapman also gave the keynote at the end of the day, but I (regrettably!) had to jet. To see some of the conversation, take a look at the Twitter stream.

Check back in 24 hours, when I’ll have the notes from Day Two posted! You can also keep up by following the #socialfresh hashtag on Twitter.

1. Come prepared. For your first visit, you should know your objective. Are you looking up your great-grandfather’s military pension record? Do you need to search through the 1896 immigration records? Have a clear plan, and do as much prep work ahead of time. On your first visit, you’ll start with a PowerPoint overview of the rules (see #3) and tips for using the Archives. Then you’ll get your very own “researcher card” (similar to a library card). Keep it on you throughout the building, as it is required for entry into most rooms. See “Plan Your Research Visit” on the Archives website.

2. Time it well. The National Archives have very specific hours that aren’t all that convenient for the regular 9-to-5′er. Basically, the staff only pulls records (on the hour) during the week. The Archives is open on Saturday, but they don’t pull records, and the building is closed entirely on Sunday.

3. Follow the rules. All of them. And there are a lot. Get really, really familiar with the Archives website, where you can see items that are – and aren’t – allowed in the building. There’s a convenient locker room to can store bulky bags and coats. When handling primary documents in the Records Room, consult the “What’s Allowed” located on the Archives website. To give you an idea of the level of security involved, just imagine you’re at the airport dealing with TSA.

All that to say, the National Archives is a remarkable place. If you have relatives who served in a war, it’s likely their records are on file. I’ve been twice now, and had the chance to read the medical records of family members who have served, and touch letters — these are truly primary documents. Now, don’t take my word for it: Go read my mom’s blog, GeneaJourneys, or start doing some research yourself!

…caring for orphans is more than an initiative, it’s a way of life. In fact it is so important that God himself describes it as the “pure” & “faultless” religion that he had in mind when he created the earth (James 1:27) What if you decided that everything extra you had was in fact to fulfill someone else’s need?

Yesterday was “Orphan Sunday”, an annual event to recognize the millions of parent-less children — our most vulnerable members of society whose parents might be incarcerated, deceased or simply not present.

This upcoming Saturday, November 12, there’s a chance to learn more about how to care for “the least of these”. There are 163 million orphans in the world. The problem may seem enormous, but it all starts with one. Join us as we share how you can utilize your everyday skills, resources, and networks to impact the lives of vulnerable children domestically and internationally. You will also have the opportunity to be introduced to and interact with many local/international organizations in the orphan care world. The half-day seminar is for anyone looking to adopt, advocate, or just fulfill your curiosity.

Join us at Ebenezer’s Coffeehouse (2nd & F NE, Washington, D.C.) for the seminar, which includes speakers, multimedia, and a Q-and-A portion. Here are just a few of the fantastic groups making an appearance:

• New Rhythm Project
• America World Adoption
• BestKids Mentoring
• Southeast White House
• Children’s Choice, Inc.
• aONEeight Missions
• Congressional Coalition on Adoption
• National Council for Adoption
• Shepherding the Next Generation
• Jason Yost Band
• World Vision
• KidsSave

ONE call.

ONE need.

ONE voice.

ONE step.

Be the ONE.

This weekend, I hosted a friend who asked to see more “uncommon” sights. We visited two places I had never heard of before, probably because they did not begin with the word “Smithsonian”. After all, DC really is more than just those buildings on the National Mall. In fact, a number of organizations and historical societies have set up tributes that memorialize a variety of issues and time-period events.

The Laogai Museum at 20th & S Street NW has been in the Dupont area for only a year, but offers a sober education on labor camps in China. “Laogai” means “reform through labor”. The museum has only been open for a year, but hosts a monthly educational film and lecture series on-site. The museum style is bold, modern and engaging; it includes video interviews from prisoners. Self-guided tours, free.

The Christian Heurich House Museum (aka “The Brewmaster’s Castle“) on New Hampshire Avenue offers patrons a peek inside the home straight from the Gilded Age. The builder and original owner was Christian Heurich, a German American who ran a successful brewery in the DC area at the turn of the century. His house was the first fireproof home in DC, and is noted for being the most-intact late Victorian home (it’s even listed on the National Register of Historic Places). The interior is bold, dark and dramatic. And, being a brewer, Mr. Heurich enjoyed his own pub of sorts in the basement where he and his friends played cards. Scheduled tours Tuesday through Saturday. Suggested $5 donation.

Other lesser-known, oddball, obscure, niche museums:

In Dupont:

• Woodrow Wilson House
• The O Street Mansion: “Like walking into an ‘I Spy’ book“
• National Museum of American Jewish Military History

• Seawall-Belmont House and Museum
• National Building Museum: I visited this in 2009 to see an exhibit on church building photography, and wrote about it on Digital Disciple
• President Lincoln & Soldiers’ Home National Monument
• Old Stone House: The oldest house in the District of Columbia
• National Museum of Women in the Arts
• National Museum of Health and Medicine: One of DC’s oldest museums, which has now relocated to Silver Spring, MD
• And this one, thankfully, shut down in 1998.

In any case, your fall is not complete without the following:

National Book Festival (Sept. 24, 25) Join thousands of booklovers on the National Mall, along with acclaimed authors. I’m especially excited for children’s author Tomi DePaola. Who doesn’t love children’s authors? (Well, except the biography of Roald Dahl I’m reading which suggests he was kind of a grouch).

Walking Town DC / Biking Town DC (Sept. 23 – Oct. 2) Sponsored by Cultural Tourism DC, this is a free series for locals (and yes, tourists) to learn about local history. Pick a tour for a ward, time of day (happy hour walk, anyone?) or for your affinity for the Civil War.

Crafty Bastards (Oct. 1) Look for some creative goodies from local artists, and get in some good old-fashioned people-watching (and probably animal-watching, too, according to the promo video). The annual craft festival sets up shop on the 18th Street strip in the Adams Morgan neighborhood in Northwest DC.

Related Posts

“Bookie Fest” (Sept. 2009)

“Near-Death Experiences” (Sept. 2010)

Jessie and Jaime taught me essential survival skills that I would otherwise be helpless without:

1. Don’t buy “tub” frosting; make it from scratch.
2. Per #1, it is completely acceptable to bake, but only one-tenth of said baked goods may remain in the apartment. The rest must be distributed elsewhere.
3. Why go to a store when you can shop online?
4. Per #3, clothing should make an appearance in the form of a “fashion show” for the other roommates, who will offer either praise or recommendations.
5. Saturday mornings are meant for lots of coffee and the VHI Music Video Countdown.
6. There is no judgment in apartment 512 (i.e. When working through issues with the opposite sex, all roommates will commiserate together by eating homemade baked mac and cheese with a glass of wine).
7. You can never eat enough vegetables, which may include, but are not limited to: squash, zucchini, kale and brussel sprouts. The more exotic the vegetable, the better.
8. There will always be awkward moments in the laundry room with neighbors we only ever see in the laundry room.
9. Not every roommate will convert to Twitter (Meg tried to Twitter-vangelize them, but to no avail).
10. Keep a coupon binder like the people on the show “Extreme Couponing” and be proud of it. Savvy shopping is rewarded!