Ellie's Blog

As The New Year Approaches

This weekend marks the start of the year 5770. Tonight we celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year - also my favorite holiday.

I've never been really into New Year's (January 1), either because of when it falls (smack dab in the middle of the school year) or because of my lack of New Year's traditions. It's Rosh Hashanah that's full of traditions for me. Same situation with a lot of "American" holidays that, for me, have Jewish counterparts:

• Thanksgiving - Passover
• Halloween - Purim
• Valentine's Day - really?

It's this time of year that I really do stop and think about my life, the past year, and the new year ahead. It's a celebratory and reflective time and one of the (unfortunately) few times that really get me back to my Jewish roots.

This week also marks my two-year anniversary (or, the start of my third year!) at HubSpot. It's easy to lose track of time - in general, and especially at HubSpot - and forget where I am. What's great about the mark of a new year is that it gives you an opportunity to recognize how far you've come and think about where you want to go from here. A nice checkpoint to ground yourself.

Rosh Hashanah also gives me an excuse to eat delicious, sweet food, see family and friends, and generally be happy about life (cheesey, I know, but I'm a cheesey person from time to time). With all that said...

Shanah tovah u'metukah (a sweet and happy new year) to all!

Photo by chany14

But It's Also A Camera!

I love this joke from comedian Mike Birbiglia:

"I get really annoyed with technology. They don't make better technology, they just combine stuff. Like you go to buy something, everything's also a camera. They'll be like, 'It's also a camera!' I'm like, 'I just wanted a grapefruit.' They're like, 'It's a camera grapefruit. You take pictures of yourself eating the grapefruit, and then you eat the camera, and you shit the pictures!' Oh my god, that is the opposite of what I wanted."

- Mike Birbiglia, as heard on Invite Them Up

I was reminded of this last night, as I was at a family function talking to some family friends about cell phones. One family friend, who recently became a grandfather in fact, was talking about his old cell phone that he just loved. "It was just a phone. You turned it on, and it worked, and it never missed a call." He was ragging on all these PDAs and data plans -- he had no desire for such technology in his cell phone. I started to explain how valuable it is to have the Internet at your fingertips at all times. I tried to think of examples of how handy it would be, without giving the use cases of twitter or email, but didn't get far before getting stumped.

And so I started to think about how hyper-connected we all are with our iPhones and BlackBerries and how this can actually keep us from the living in the very moment we are in. I have not actually mastered mobile tweeting quite yet, and so still find it quite cumbersome to try to tweet while at a party or other event. Sparse tweets can actually mean that I'm just having too good a time to pull myself away to tweet. And while I'm a big believer in all this technology helping us extend our community and allow more people take part in our experiences, it may simultaneously serve as a distraction from that which we are experiencing at a given moment.

I was recently telling my friend of the "practical" reasons behind "observing the Sabbath." I grew up in a Reform Jewish household, and still consider myself Reform. Though I did have periods of my life where I became more observant, or was surrounded by those who were very observant. My friend couldn't imagine spending 24 whole hours not being online, not using technology. I told her how invigorating it can be - to put aside your cell phone, but aside your laptop, and just be with your friends and family. Spend the day talking or reading or playing games. Just be in the moment.

Isn't it still considered rude to be on your cell phone at the dinner table? That's at least partly because you're signaling to those around you that you'd rather be somewhere else, talking to someone else. Putting down the phone shows that you want to be right then and there.

It's also incredibly calming. That's what I love about traveling, especially out of the country, where my cell phone won't work and I rarely have access to the Internet. I'm disconnected, in a good way. I can just be where I am, doing whatever I'm doing. My brain isn't somewhere else and it doesn't need to be anywhere else. A little bit of the back to basics can be good from time to time. And that's exactly what I got last night, with the Russian music playing, and the happy couples dancing, and even with the camera phones snapping away... it was good to just laugh and dance in that very wholesome my-family-is-ridiculous sort of way.

Photo by pouwerkerk

Some Pre-Social Media Soul-Searching

I love Twitter for a lot of reasons. One is that I get great links to articles and stories and all sorts of interesting things to read and think about. That's exactly what happened to me today, when I was checking out some of my new followers.

I was directed to this article about using social media for personal branding. This is a classic topic, but this article, though short, had some nice tidbits.

Do some pre-social media soul-searching before starting 

Most articles about using social media for personal branding jump right into the listening, participating, and publishing aspects. Few actually make the point to step back, figure out who you are and what value you provide, before jumping into the rest.

Some time ago I tried to figure out what I was going to do with this blog. So far, it's been a crazy mix of posts on anything from rants about facebook to funny YouTube videos to updates on what I happen to be cooking in the kitchen that week. Yep, not focused at all. Part of the reason is I haven't figured out who I'm writing for. Is it my friends and family who want to know what I've been up to? Or is it my marketing community where I live and interact all day every day on a professional level. This is where I really start to understand the whole business vs. personal social media dilemma.

So it's time for me to take a step back. Figure out who I'm writing for, and why. This is a hugely important step when you're going to use social media for personal branding.

Five Fun Facts About Ellie

This is only my second blogger meme (read my first and this one too), so I'm still pretty excited about these things. In particular, this meme.

To get you up to speed - what happens with these blogger memes is that a blogger will write a post like "6 Reasons Why I Blog" or "Five Fun Facts About Me" and "tag" a number of other bloggers (by mentioning them by name and linking to their blogs) so that they follow in suite.

Well, Mike Volpe tagged me (and the rest of our awesome marketing department) in the "Five Fun Facts" meme. So here goes:

Five Fun Facts About Me

1. When I was younger, I wrote and illustrated a number of books with my friends. I really wanted to be a cartoonist or children's book illustrator when I grew up. (By the way, I still have those books - maybe someday I'll scan them in and post them here... if I get the OK from my co-authors.)
2. My other childhood dream was to be a mermaid. I think this had more to do with liking The Little Mermaid than (coincidentally) my last name (Mirman).
3. I am an organizational geek. The Container Store and art supply stores are my Heaven. I am all about lists and color coding.
4. I really enjoy learning new languages and visiting new places, but very rarely stick with any one language (I've studied at least 5 languages, but most I didn't get past the beginner level) or visit a given place more than once.
5. Up until a few years ago, I did not eat pizza. I'm not lactose intolerant or anything, but I do not like tomato sauce and, until about halfway through college, did not go anywhere near pizza. Still, all my pre-college friends would, without a doubt, drop their jaws to see me eat pizza. (I started eating pizza again about halfway through college because not eating pizza is almost as crazy-sounding to a college student as not eating chocolate. Rest assured, I do eat chocolate.)

As for the tagging, I'll let you, my readers, do the work for me... those of you who want to jump in on this meme, go ahead and blog about it and leave a link to your post in the comments below. (What a fun little way to learn more about each other...)

Late Night Cramming

I would have thought that my late night cramming days were behind me. That I wouldn't be typing typing away in the beautiful silence that only comes with a completely sound asleep household - er - apartment building. But here I am, just finishing a presentation I'll deliver in 10 hours to a few thousand people. And now cutting into my precious beauty sleep to reminisce about my college days.

Oddly enough, I've been thinking a lot about dorm life tonight.

Out of my whole first year, or even out of all my four years at university, for some reason there's one late night cramming session that I always remember. It was sometime first semester of my first year, and I was taking Philosophy 101 (just like every other going-to-save-the-world-someday-with-my-altruism college undergrad). I had a paper on who-knows-what due the next day and, well, it was already the middle of the night, just about 9 hours before the paper was due. Hey, 9 hours is plenty (if I don't have to sleep...). I had taken my laptop out into the hallway of my dorm because it was so wonderfully quiet, and oddly comfortable. It was so peaceful (perhaps producing the right state of mind to write about philosophy...) with everyone asleep in their rooms, except me, typing away in the hallway, and my roommate the night-owl, settling into our room after a night out on the town.

There's not much more to that memory, oddly enough, except perhaps thinking that my most productive time of day was 3am, and also the feeling that I was genuinely happy. That must be it. The reason I always remember that moment - that feeling of pure happiness. Feels pretty sad right about now.

There were a lot of things that really made me happy in my dorm life days. The friends, the independence, the sense of (productivity? no, purpose sounds better though cheesy). Not to say those other things are gone. I continue to have wonderful friends (many from those same late night cram sessions), live even more independently, and, fortunately, continue to feel productive - er - purposeful? But there is still something more to the calm happiness of my late night cram session... perhaps it was due to living in a building of 600 others just like me. Or perhaps it is just due to having too much caffeine and staying up typing through the dead of night.

Lessons from a Beer Cap

"Moments only pass to make room for more"

That's really the message I got under the cap of my Magic Hat #9 the other night. I find it very fitting when trying to deal with my past week.

Magic Hat, Buddhist principle, or Jewish story?

The sentiment is clearly one of the principles of Buddhism. Non-attachment - joy will pass, pain will pass, everything passes so don't get attached. My mom also recently told me of a similar version from an old Jewish story (when I told her it was a Buddhist principle, she says, "So now we know where the Buddhists got it!").

No matter the source, the lesson here is quite powerful. There will be difficult times in your life, but they'll pass, so don't dwell on them. There will also be wonderful times in your life, but they'll pass, too, so enjoy them while you can. It's been a tough week for me, but that's just what it is - a tough week. It will pass. Just make the most of what you have.

I'm big on lessons, not regret. Honesty, not lies. Analyzing myself, not letting unknown forces take control of me. That Magic Hat is pretty philosophical stuff.

The World Doesn't Slow Down

One of the big turning points in my life was in 10th grade when I went on a 6-week trip to Israel on an amazing youth Israel trip with an organization called Nesiya ("Journey" in Hebrew). For now I won't go into my experience on the trip or how it changed me, but I was just reminded of the essay I wrote to get into the program: I was supposed to write about a song or book that really spoke to me in some way. I chose the song "The World Ain't Slowin' Down" by Ellis Paul.

I was really into self-reflection and great, meaningful experiences, doing something with my life, and amazingly beautiful music (all this stands true today of course) and so this song was a perfect fit for me.

It's funny to hear this song again now, 8 years later (woo! I feel young), and reassess my reaction to the song in relation to my current stage in life. I am happy to say that I feel like I did get in on the carnival of life (oh dear could I be any mushier?)

The World Ain't Slowin' Down - Ellis Paul

I found you sitting on a suitcase crying
Beneath my feet I feel the rumble of a subway train
And I laugh out loud
'Cause it's the one thing I hadn't been trying
The train came in breathless
The passenger's restless
You say, "Baby, you'll never change"

You gotta get gone
You gotta get going
Hey, the world ain't slowin' down
For no one
It's a carnival calling out to you
And it sounds like a song
It hits you like scripture
You paint the picture
With colors squeezed from your hand
Weren't you the kid
Who just climbed on a merry-go-round
Hey, look, the world ain't slowin' down

Out on the sidewalk
The pigeons do the moonwalk
I'll be dancing like Fred Astaire
The lampposts are rockin'
The whole town is talking
Like a fool in a barber's chair
And I get the sensation
It's joy and frustration
Like getting caught by a drop of cold rain
Freedom can numb you
When there's no place to run to
It feels just like Novocain

You gotta get gone...

You packed up all your handbags
You're throwing off the sandbags
I let go when you stepped free
I didn't want to lose you
You said, "You didn't choose to --
It's just how your karma came"
But thanks for the vision,
And the twenty-twenty wisdom
It hit me like a south-bound train

You gotta get gone...

From the McGill Bubble to Work Bubble, but not Web 2.0 Bubble

This post is sure to be packed with hilarious video AND some self-reflection and perspective-taking... Are you ready for it?

 

The most recent video to craze my office is this video on the Web 2.0 bubble. (What is Web 2.0?)



HubSpot's co-founder and Chief Software Architect, Dharmesh Shah, wrote a great post on this video and why HubSpot isn't part of the Web 2.0 bubble. He offers 10 reasons to support his claim, which I find not only validating of his claim, but also hilarious and true. I particular enjoyed the following:

5. For us, "exit strategy" means figuring out how to leave work at 9:00 p.m. (and go home to work some more) and not look like a slacker to the other members of the team.

9. Nobody creates the illusion that they're working -- but instead try to create the illusion that they have a life. Some succeed at this illusion better than others.

Sadly, hilariously, true.

I find the timing of this video/article quite fitting because today I realized that I do live in a bit of a bubble. Not the Web 2.0 bubble, but a work bubble, oftentimes completely consumed by my job. Then some days - like today - I am able to get some persepctive and realize that the rest of the world doesn't think about marketing, or particularly internet marketing, all day every day.

I also realized that I am probably somewhat prone to this bubble-like living. I truly love having a lot of and challenging work and even when I was in university - where my workload was not nearly as heavy as it is now - I became completely consumed by what I was doing (mostly extracurriculars rather than schoolwork actually). Luckily quite a few of my friends were right in that bubble with me and we still managed to have a pretty good time. I find my work satisfying, I just need to step back and get some perspective from time to time.