Been thinking a lot about content. Good thing since website content is like real estate location. My theory is that for every concern, interest, wonder that I have there are hundreds of other people with similar concerns, intersts, wonderings. It makes sense to me. In fact, I'm sure that's what every book ever written, every story ever told, every business ever started believed. So now that I have a theory I guess I'm suppose to test it. So why do I keep getting stuck when it comes time to write? Actually, I haven't had trouble starting anything. I have a lot of started ideas for essays, editorials, lists, interviews etc. I get stuck on the follow through.

Free therapy - I love it. Any way, I know the routein. I acknowledge that I have a problem, I identify the problem, I can am thereby empowered to solve the problem. Eay to say. I could revert and get lost in structure. That's fun, in a frustrating sort of way. But I won't do that. Or maybe I will. I could start by fixing the time warp between this blog and my life. My computer has 5:11 pm, blogger is saying 5:31:48 am!!! that would make me be where? I could spend the next half hour finding out where in the world it actually is 5:31- actually I was looking at the last published time - fun-ny. still there's an hour difference.

Got a bit fast and made the background red. Didn't mean to, don't feel like figuring out how to make the blog look the way it's been looking - later. I need to go back to the beginning and review my purpose. I was going to write what was going on with multipurposewoman.org and saying that I'd do that was useful in that it got me beter organized. But I'm keeping the need-to-do list on paper and it's working and transfering the info here would be redundant plus I've found that the site is like Shrek, it has onion-like layers. So yes, I'll be writing about the growth of multipurposewoman.org but just not in the mechnical, "and today I added a new graphic", way I'd initially thought. That's a good thing.

Of the nine areas I've decided upon I'm most confused about the type of content for Romantic. But that's fine, for now I've decided to start with what comes the easiest and what I need to do for other projects. So the artist area and the owner area will be the first to receive original content. Now that I have an excuse to buy a digital camera I can relax and get to writing.

Off to do an adinkra workshop. Until next time, be multi-beautiful, use your purpose as a mantra, tell another woman something good.

Explore owner novelist -balancer tracker romantic artist champion kinswoman !quester

reading the FAQ's of a site you're new to is enlightening! I didn't have to figure out anything to be in the directory. I just had to wait. I went to Blogger's home page and there I was listed as recently updated. I liked seeing that. So now I feel the need to update more regularly :-) in fact I'm motivated now to do the "add some more content" to multipurposewoman.org task on my to-do list. so off I go. Until next time: be multifarious, share your purpose with a loved on, and hug a special woman.

I've been looking at a few other blogs and wondering why didn't I realize that I could add links? Go to Multipurposewoman.org.
Also some people have really worked their blogs so that they're websites in and of themselves. A person could get lost just journeying around blogville.
I have to learn how to have my blog listed in the directory and also posting to my site.
Do all the html tags work? let's see . . . practice list

• do this
• then do that,
• then when you're finished with things one and two do this,
• seems like I could have found some real info to put in this list but you know I'm tired today and lazy and don't feel like doing much of anything

go to multipurposewoman.org

the look is starting to work and I have some basic "what's my point" text up, and it's starting to seem real and possible! it's also starting to become a positive obsession but I'm strong and I'm moving back to my regularly scheduled programming - things to do, people to see.

until next time, be multi loving, enjoy your purpose and thank the sacred you're a woman!

the things I have done. I've been learning, learning and learning. I'm trying to work out some simple site things like a list of tools to use and basic page layouts. I don't want/need to reinvent this everytime I want to add new info. Trying to piece together something that works with yahoo!'s website services is maddening. I'm most likely going to switch to another host soon. But then I'll have to figure out there sillinesses! I have found, by setting up the RCDC site, that Yahoo!'s geocities paid hosting is more accessible and useful than the service I have but they want me to pay another service fee to switch. I knew not to pay the first fee!

anyway, the other thing I'm working out is organization of notes. I have notes in a notebook on my desk, in this blog, in files on my hard drive, on my palm, . . . . I know better but no method has imposed itself so I guess I'll have to do it. Isn't that amazing?

As promised here's some more about how I'll measure my progress towards getting Beta issue 1 up and announced by the Vernal Equinox. I'm using the "fixed", March 21st, date so I have eight Friday's to use as goal points. The paper list of completed tasks got jumbled up with some other papers so I'll restart the list on the site for the world to see. I'll have one main task that need to be accomplished by each of the Fridays and at the beginning of each week, on Sunday, while I'm doing my regular planning, I'll assign myself three lesser tasks. I'll do that for the first three weeks then analyze my progress to see what needs to be adjusted. That should keep me busy.

I did some major craiziness playing with a table today but I was saved by webmonkey and soon I'll have pages at the site that look a lot like the blog which is what I want. It's past my bedtime. so until next time, be multisensory, experience your purpose differently, and be a touchy-feely woman. That should keep you busy!

Cherry Garcia anyone?

I have to stop eating Cherry Garcia ice cream and all those other Ben & Jerry's flavors. And I had to write the company the following note. Find out why you might need to do the same at radicalthought.org I was saddened to read Ben and Jerry’s response to the question about the origin of your cocoa. Nothing about the response suggested that this was a concern for your company or that your company was even remotely considering checking to find out if your cocoa is the result of child & slave labor. Susceptibility to supply problems is a poor excuse for not even finding out. Like the writer of the original request “I would very much appreciate knowing if Ivory Coast cocoa is used in your product, and cannot in good conscience purchase or enjoy it until I know for certain.” I hope more people visit radicalthought.org and become aware of the apathy of manufacturers who use cocoa. I know I’ll do my best to get as many people as possible to go to the site and read Ben & Jerry’s and other companies’ responses. Sincerely,A former Cherry Garcia lover

I've made some decisions about multipurposewoman.org and to make them binding I'm posting them here. I've used the SMART goal format to help ensure that I ask myself enough questions.

Specific:

The beta issue will be finished and up by the spring equinox. To say that is is "up" means that I inform at least 10 people and ask them to go to the site and provide feedback on content, design, etc. For this beta issue I'll be the only one involved. I want to have a workable page format and at least 5 departments/articles with original content. The site will be listed in at least 5 places. Places I like and can list fairly easily like AOL, blogger, others. Having the site up and visiable will make the project real by taking it past my usual thing of keeping my ideas all in my head.

measurable:

How will I measure my progress? good questions. I'll use Friday nights as the check in. I'll construct a list and post it here tomorrow.

Attainable

I'm sure I can, I'm sure I can. I have to admit that I've never really been sure about this part. If a person didn't think a goal was attainable why would they say they were going to accomplish it and then proceed to make plans toward accomplishment?

Realistic

I understand realistic. I've set many a goal that I thought were attainable but in reality were not realistic based on my expectations and the time allotted for them. So I'm watching myself and scheduling time to do all that needs to be done. Still I'll have to struggle to keep this under control. I've found that assigning numbers to things helps. For example, instead of just saying I'm going to have the website I started defining how much content. I need to define this more.

Tangible

The tangible evidence will be seeing the site and knowing that the people I invited to view it, and maybe some people who happened by through one of the listings, will also be viewing multipurposewoman.org

something for you to do. Yes, you. If you're reading this blog by accident or by design I'm always talking to you/me when I have ideas of things to do. And yes, it's only a suggestion :-) Some of my posting end with a three part suggestion for action or reflection. For example my first post ended: until next time, be multi-useful, be truly purposeful, be a wilder woman than you usually are. I'd like for people to e-mail me about their experiences practicing any of the "until next time" suggestions. I should have practiced being a wilder woman than I usually am. In fact I need to graffiti that into my palm so that I might actually take it seriously and do it. I'm for real. Try doing some of the suggestions and then e-mail me at gwen@multipurposewoman.org and tell me how it went. Happy 29th Danielle and the rest of the world born on yesterday, January 18. Oh, until next time, be multi-adventurous, purposefully expand your comfort zone, send another woman to participate at www.multipurposewoman.org.

Let's get to it! I downloaded Arachnophilia, a website editor and workshop. I remembered it from the last time, 2+ years ago when I started playing with HTML and website construction. Yahoo! and Geocities were driving me to despair. My first website attempts were all about bells and whistles. I had a great time finding out all all the things I could do, that was fine for what it was. Multipurposewoman.org however has a purpose so I'm going to focus on content and keep the format simple. Besides being disgusted with the immediate alternative, I returned to Arachnophilia because I remember it being easy to use but full featured and it's author Paul Lutus or Port Hadlock, WA "sells" it as CareWare. The idea of CareWare is beautiful. Here it is in Mr. Lutus' own words, copied directly from Arachnophilia's overview page: Economic principles lie behind many more human activities than most of us realize. We are almost constantly exchanging something for something else. Many economic transactions don't involve money. In traditional societies, and sometimes even this one, people trade using favors, influence, even pure ideas, instead of money. Sometimes money is not the best way to convey value. And sometimes money is so completely inappropriate that it destroys the transaction. CareWare is one of those transactions. CareWare doesn't involve money, but it is a transaction nevertheless. Something is delivered, something is received. Adam Smith's invisible economic hand moves through the CareWare economy just like everywhere else. I can't ask for something more than I am giving, but I can ask for an appropriate exchange. In CareWare, the "buyer" gets something of value in exchange for something the "seller" wants. And what does the seller want? The general answer is "Anything except money," but I prefer the really remarkable transactions, which you recognize instinctively when you see them. Here is an example -- here is a hypothetical transaction between myself and you. I have a program called "Arachnophilia" which is a rather nice Web page editor and workshop, but I don't want your money in exchange, I want something else. So I say "This is what I am offering, and here is what I want in return." Simple, right? I have been doing this for a little while now, and the responses have been very interesting. Many people think I have religious beliefs -- I don't, at least not religious beliefs recognizable by a person of normal intellectual gifts. Others try to push the transaction in a more traditional direction for one reason or another -- I recently received this message: Careware, eh? A small price to pay for such a great software package. My pen quivers over my checkbook in case you change your mind. This response could arise from any number of causes, and bartering about the medium as well as the size of the payment is a normal part of economic transactions, so maybe I am picking on this particular correspondent a little. But the funny part is CareWare is by no means a small price to pay. For example, here is a payment I will accept for a copy of Arachnophilia -- To own Arachnophilia, I ask that you stop whining about how hard your life is, at least for a while. When Americans whine, nearly everybody else in the world laughs. We have so much, and yet we manage to: · Overlook great examples of beauty around us, · Miss our most important opportunities, · Manage to make ourselves miserable by expecting something even better to come along. Every time we whine about how tough we have it, apart from the fact that we look ridiculous, we make it harder for people around us to appreciate how much we have. We encourage people to overlook the things we do have, the gifts of man and nature. We provide a context to dismiss everything as not good enough, to be miserable in the midst of plenty. Don't get the wrong impression -- many things are unjust, things that should be struggled against until they are made right. My complaint is with people who can't find even one thing to take joy in, to appreciate. These people not only make themselves miserable, but they infect others with the attitude that the world should right itself, by itself, before they will take simple pleasure in anything. So here is my deal: stop whining for an hour, a day, a week, your choice, and you will have earned your copy of Arachnophilia. Say encouraging words to young people, make them feel welcome on the planet Earth (many do not). Show by example that we don't need all we have in order to be happy and productive. Important Note: if you don't like this idea, just ignore it -- you can have Arachnophilia anyway. That's one way to distinguish the world of ideas from the rest of human history: you can disregard an idea and no one knocks on your door at midnight. So there it is something to think about. If you need a great website editor and paying in $$$'s is not the best option for you, download Arachnophilia at www.arachnoid.com

I'm happy. The publisher said an error occured when I tried to post but it didn't, or if it did it didn't stop the blog from linking. So now there's a link from multipurposewoman.org's front page to this blog. And now I can move on and start planning/doing/adjusting/stabilizing. I dream big. And recently I discovered that that's not always the best thing. Or actually what I learned is that there is a difference between dreaming about something and actually planning/doing something manageble. What does that lesson have to do with this blog and gestation of a webzine/virtual community? Well, I'm going to share the best of both, or maybe even all of both. I'm going to list, talk about all the things I eventually would like for multipurposewoman.org to be/do. And at the same time I'm going to track the "dreams" that I'm actually concentrating on birthing. As it stands now, I'm writing original articles, on a variety of subjects and in several formats, for the site. True, I haven't decided which one, from my long list, is going to be the article I start and finish first. I'll make that decision on Sunday. I just made a note in my palm to do that and spend one timed hour jumpstarting. Also, I'm scouring the web in search of extraordinary sites, tools, information, and the like to add to or link to multipurposewoman.org this is the way I work. My life is a collage - more specifically a 9-patch collage. There's more about that on the site. until next time, be multi-creative, thank the sacred for making your purpose evident, smile at another woman.

finally I paid attention at the blogger home page and noticed a message I'd been ignoring about geocities. It finally penetrated my consciousness that Yahoo! website services and geocities are the same animal! I was doing everything right but the "system" is screwed up. That's too real life. Anyway, I'm going to try it again. Then I'm going to start doing what I said I was going to do in this blog and start talking my way to growing an exceptional webzine and virtual community. Sothere!

the computers finally got multipurposewoman.org up but this webster can not work the ftp lingo to get the blog on the site proper. so in typical multipurpose fashion I'm trying a different route and just linking the blog to the site. I'll deal with it (maybe) when I get back from Ponderosa, (the mysterous Ponderora). Or maybe I'll be able to "let it go and move on". until next time, be multi-patient, work diligently towards your purpose, continue to be a beautiful, inspirational woman.

damn it! it didn't work. I guess I need to wait a day or so until the domain filing people talk to the web host people and all their computers get together over lunch. At any rate, the Blogger site is a good host and I've already seen a few pages that I'm very curious about and will later today have time to explore. So off I go to earn some $$'s to support this new project. until next time, be multi-useful, be truly purposeful, be a wilder woman than you usually are. P.S. I like the fact that I can coin words/phrases! it's too funny and very empowering.Try it the next time you have occassion to write a note to another multipurpose woman.

I've had my adventure in cyberspace for the day. Hopefully, this blog is now showing up directly at multipurposewoman.org I went about the whole process in a roundabout way which I often do but my new model is, "it's better to do things out of order and get them done then to worry so much about the order that nothing gets done".

Learned a lesson with my very first screenful of words; post often. Multipurposewoman.org I like the sound of it. I've loved thinking about its possibilities and now I've actually, finally, really made it real. Well almost. I registered the domain name. I secured a host. So conception has happened. The pregnancy metaphor keeps coming to me and I at first kept pushing it away but it will be useful. It'll remind me to take my time and not try to rush the progress of the site but to keep growing in tune with my natural inclinations. So it has begun and according to a birth calculator I found on the web if I were pregnant and today was the first day of my last period (which is a backward way of looking at it, I realize as I write this - I'll correct my logic later - maybe) then my due date would be October 20th. I'd like to have the site format stable by then and multipurposewoman.org ready to be shown to the public way before then but that could just be my impatient tendencies. We'll see. until next time, be multi-joyous, dream in a purposeful way, be the woman you want to be