Hips For Hire

Taiwan Duck | 台灣鴨. Cooking, gardening and food with a Taiwanese flavour.

2012-02-13T12:27:00.000-08:00

Taiwan Duck | 台灣鴨. Cooking, gardening and food with a Taiwanese flavour.:

'via Blog this'

Hips For Hire Blog Moves to Word Press

2010-09-01T15:37:00.000-07:00

In anticipation of the anniversary of my project launch Oct. 2, 2010, I've moved my project onto the WordPress platform.

What can you expect to happen?

1) I will no longer be maintaining the HipsForHire.blogspot.com site. All Hips For Hire blog posts, including guest blogger submissions, will appear on the blogpage of the relocated HipsForHire.com website now turned webblog.

2) Artists will be purchasing premium services at very low rates, and they will receive a blogpost about their work as well as a landing page featuring them with an attractive photo and a short video.

3) Visitors will enjoy a video a day, selected from Youtube and other Social Media tools. The video will highlight a lesser-known artist who I think you'll really enjoy, or who inspires me to be a better performer. You can submit requests to info@hipsforhire.com

4) Hips For Hire will be partnering with other companies that can help artists become more successful at what they do, including event planning companies, caterers, web design people, and more.

5) You'll be able to find affiliate links or Amazon links to products that help you as an artist build your business. More and more, I've seen that artists need the tools to help brand and advertise their work in a competitive market.

6) Hips For Hire will be adding artist interviews. Want to see inside a musician's home studio? Want to know how to create superior sound, lighting, or get just that right movement at the right time? You're going to love my roving camera work as I find you the artists and visual artists to follow.

Thanks for hanging out on the blogger site until I was ready to make the move. My thanks to Kristin Marshall for her time, attention, and skills to making my transition go smoothly.

Follow me on Twitter @hipsforhire
And now join me on HipsForHire.com

Cultural Dance Mashup

2010-09-01T09:19:00.000-07:00

Starting September 1, 2010, I'm attempting to highlight one performance art video from Youtube or other video services, gleaning from lesser-known yet talented people. In my quest to help artists get the notice they deserve, each video will bring you a little something special to brighten your day.

Here's a cultural mashup dance I found in Seattle. There was little other information provided other the than the title, Dance This Seattle 5 (please contact for more thorough credits):

Know a performance artist that deserves a little more airplay? Please forward video clip links or tips to info@HipsForHire.com.

Geek Dance Fun

2010-08-27T21:58:00.000-07:00

Not all art has to be serious.

To appreciate art, you don't have to have overly long hair, act pretentious, or know how to open up a glass of red wine. As a performance artist for ten years as a dancer, and over twenty years in music, art is an experience of the moment, and emotional rush, and a connection you make with your audience.

In the past two years, I've been experimenting more and more with dance as comedy, knowing that a moment of laughter that we share becomes a moving image burned into your neural network. Some people might find my dancing a mockery of the art of bellydance, hip hop, and Bollywood, but I'll remind you that some of the most respected dancers in all three genres weave well-timed, whimsical aspects of dance into their routines.

Do you think you can dance? Do you like making people laugh? Try combining the two! You get to dance, and you don't have to pass gas loudly and light your farts on fire to make people laugh with you.

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @HipsForHire and Facebook ImeiYogaDance.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

2010-08-26T16:57:00.000-07:00

Just before going to Studio 904 to donate my hair to WigsForKids.org, I stopped in for lunch at Pho Fuchia, a new pho shop across from my office. Slammed with customers and one chef down, my meal came to me 20 minutes after ordering, leaving me no time to eat it before I had to leave for my hair appointment. My hair, flowing around my lower ribs, was a wild and wonderful mess of curls; which "they" apologized to the server, and fled the building.

Rubberbands secure the hair for shipping

Two hours later, I returned to Pho Fuchia, reordering the lunch they had to waste. One of the waitresses looked at me hard, then said, "Wait, didn't you have long hair a few hours ago?" I showed her the bag of hair, ready to mail to Wigs For Kids, and she teared up.

"Can you give me the address so I can donate my hair too?" she asked. A year ago, her mother passed away from cancer, and she had been looking for a way she could honor her mother's memory.

It's only been a few hours, and though I feel lighter and freer, there is a loss in cutting off what feels like a woman's pride to grow her hair long. Still, I will tell anyone who can grow their hair for the minimum 12 inches required, it is a deep honor to be able to do something like this. I hope you'll join me if you can, or send a donation to WigsforKids.org. [Addendum: I have raised four people who have committed to doing the same thing. Will you join us? Email me at videonurse@me.com, or leave a comment below, and I will give you support to help you change someone else's life, helping a child be him or herself with confidence].

n00b View On Gnomedex

2010-08-26T10:38:00.000-07:00

n00b View On Gnomedex
Follow me on Twitter @HipsForHire
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As promised, here are my thoughts on Gnomedex from the perspective of the new kid on the block, and a new volunteer to Gnomedex. Volunteering for the conference meant my priorities were not around snapping photos and doing interviews. Instead, I had a unique, up close, and personal look at the Geek behind Gnomedex, the volunteers, the sponsors, and the speakers.

If you're looking for dirt, you usually find it. However, if you're looking for the dirt on Gnomedex, I'll leave that for Reddit.com to dish it out.

Five reasons why I LOVED volunteering for Gnomedex:

1. The speakers. My volunteer job was to assist Chris with curating two-day's worth of solid content and personable speakers. Over the years, Chris has learned that brilliant content can fall flat if the stage is not set, the speaker is not coached, and the community is not prepared. From day one, we dreamed of what speakers we would love to have join us, and received suggestions from volunteers, past speakers, and not-a-few unsolicited self-promoting queries.

The majority of the speaker line up you saw at Gnomedex came together quite quickly. Three of them were added to the lineup in the last 48 hours prior to the launch party. I bow and take off my hat to the handful of speakers who were given less than a week to prepare for their thirty-minute presentations. It was not only a thrill to watch you fly, but a reminder to me to just "let it ride" when you put your content out there. You've inspired me to take more risks, to try new things, and to seek to inspire others.

If you look on my iPhone for who I took the most pictures of, you'll notice that I took one of every speaker. Do I have a favorite speaker for Gnomedex? No. Do I know some better than others? Absolutely. Speakers who took the time to connect with me personally have left an indelible mark on my soul for their personal and professional contributions to my conference experience. Of course, I have a little more "happy puppy love" for those who were able to make it to my Belly Dance Tweetup at the end of Seattle Geek Week! You rawk. [So do your butts].

2. Chris Pirillo. The great thing about working alongside Chris is that he is so multi-talented. The challenge with working alongside Chris is that he is so multi-talented! Learning the process of conducting such a beloved conference from the Geek himself is a pleasure and an honor.

Sometime next week when I've turned over all the data of Gnomedex I was responsible for over to Kat and Chris, I'm going to poke my eyes out to give them a rest, because I swear I've poured over emails, documents, charts, phone numbers, venues, and threads so many times to catch the details, my eyes are swimming. But with Chris, you learn to be detail-oriented, professional, and thorough. If anyone reads this and wants to offer me a part-time, project-oriented job, I'm going to be asking Chris to tell you what he put me through to make me qualified to do almost anything short of coding.

3. Magic. For some reason, I like knowing that the magic we know as dance, music, performance, and public speaking has a math to it; meaning, even magic has a logical explanation. By volunteering, I felt I was part of the magic of the conference that so many others enjoy, whether in person, or via Youtube videos and livestreaming of the event.

Along with the magic comes the swag! I love watching people's faces light up when they won something. You'd think they were on "The Price Is Right", prancing down the aisle towards the stage to pick up their goodies. Sponsors provided great swag, such as Parallels, a night's stay at Hotel Max, a Wi-Fi iPad, and Throwboy pillow. Conferees changed out their own T-shirts for either the official Gnomdex T-shirt, or Swedish Hospital's, H1Nerd1 shirt.

4. It's finite. I enjoy projects that have a start and finish. Gnomedex had a birth, and it had a death. The next weeks and months are going to be interesting as all of us come to terms with ending something we believed in. My hope is that like all endings, it signals the beginning of something new.

5. Community. As a newbie, many of you reached out to me and made me feel welcome. While you could have treated me as unnoticeable hired help, you asked for my name, you connected it with my work, and you expressed kindness and interest. For all the dysfunction that I have seen in Social Media circles since the beginning of my year as "the n00b of Social Media", I saw many of you caring for others, including them in meals and conversations, and working against exclusion. Some of you even laughed at my jokes! I felt like less of a dweeb.

Five reasons why I HATED volunteering for Gnomedex

1. There is only one of me. I couldn't be doing one thing and taking care of another thing. I can't count on my hands and feet the number of times I had to end a great conversation to take care of an urgent need. I swear, this must be how new mothers feel: they never get to finish a conversation before the baby is spitting, shitting, or threating to put shit in their mouths and choke on it. The baby was Gnomedex, and it demands your attention.

2. No sleep for the wicked. It is very hard to be of any help to anyone when you don't get sleep. Volunteers sacrifice time, energy, and sleep, with many of us treating our volunteer activities like a job in the months before the conference. I had two nightmares before the start of the conference about something going wrong. One of the nightmares was true, involving an element in the schedule. The other nightmare had something to do with Chris stomping around the Gnomedex stage wearing nothing but pajama bottoms and swinging a light saber. I think that was brought on by sleep deprivation.

3. Volunteering means putting others first. If you are a selfish little arse, you won't make it very far. But I learned the hard way that if you put something out there for free, it will be gnawed to the bone. I knew I should have grabbed that scrap of food before it was gone...

But in all seriousness, serving others does bring up the question of taking care of your own needs. If you suck at putting others first, you do not know what it means to ask Chris or his volunteers - or even a paid event managing staff -- to conduct a future Gnomedex.

4. Disability. I think my right arm and my left wrist need to be in a cast for a few weeks to recover from responding to a million and one emails that flew by me from March 2010 until August. Can you say, "repetitive motion injury"? I am too tired to correct the auto-correction on my iPhone, so messages to Kat and Chris sound like teenage texts involving pee and poop.

5. Coma. My brain was firing on all cylinders, but fueled on PopChips and Zing bars. We had such amazing speakers, and it will be months before I will be able to sit back and enjoy their presentations without interruption. I did not get to sit back and absorb all the nuances that make Gnomedex magical. While audience members got to enjoy everything going "right" on the stage, volunteers have to keep their eyes open for everything that can potentially go "wrong", and step in to fix it.

That's the nature of being a volunteer. What that does to you brain is make you appear like you have a brain the size of a walnut, a.k.a. "I am my cat". I'm not sure if I put one intelligent word after another when I congratulated speakers for their presentations, or said hello at an after party and remembered names and faces. It's one big blur of silly-happy exhaustion.

I can say that when it was time to jump off the platform and fly Saturday night at Emerald City Trapeze Arts, I was so glad I had said "yes" back in the spring.

To Chris and the volunteers of the last Gnomedex, thank you for having me on board. Let's go flying, but for real. May you take your best ideas and inspiration from Gnomedex, and see them soar.

iPhone Unboxing Song

2010-08-24T13:09:00.000-07:00

In the midst of the chaos and the cool of Seattle Geek Week and volunteering for Gnomedex, I had planned for my iPhone 4 to arrive. I had to make my journey to the dark side complete, as the daughter of PC store owners George and Ruth Hsu in the 1980's (Micro Options, formerly in Bellevue, WA. Now I have a MacBook, iPad, and an iPhone to make synching my life online a little less painful.

[Author's note: both my parents are still PC's, my brother is a Mac, and my sister is a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll]

Just minutes into turning it on and synching it with my MacBook, live streamer Matthew Sabia captured this off Ustream.tv, and I had a second camera (which is the Picture in Picture shot) recording the momentous event. Unfortunately, iMovie was being a poopy head when I tried to edit the timing of the second clip, but at least you'll see, I am forever a Bollywood dancer.

@hipsforhire at her Geektastic Best: the Princess Leia belly... on Twitpic

2010-08-23T13:22:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Heidi Miller for the photo. Taken at Kalia Indian Cuisine, Seattle WA

Follow me on Twitter @hipsforhire or Facebook ImeiYogaDance

Geek Out

2010-08-23T13:15:00.000-07:00

Do geeks like dance?

Like any good project, if you build it, they will come. Sunday August 22, I built my monthly co-produced show Pearls of the East around Seattle Geek Week, and starting asking the community to support it over a month ago. I received a few odd-ball comments, such as "what does belly dance have to do with technology"? Yet, once we explained the concept of Seattle Geek Week, events started pouring in, such as a golf day for Geeks of WTIA, and Chic Meets Geek, bridging the gulf between cultural influencer and intellectual techies.

The " A Mostly Portland Show" with Pearls of the East (in conjunction with HipsForHire.com) was a hit with the Seattle Geek Week community, and I have already received a request to repeat it again as the closing act to next year's Seattle Geek Week.

A "geek" is anyone who has a passion for a specific interest, and I combined my interests in tech, dance, and healthcare. And the geeks came out, including web celebrities Carol Tran of Chic Meets Geek, Chris Pirillo of Lockergnome, Violet Blue (you may have seen her on Oprah, talking about Open Source Sex) of Tiny Nibbles, and locals Willow Bl00 (transhumanism) as the MC, and Heidi Miller (Social Media consultant). Heidi Miller informed me that Seattle tech news pages selected my event for exposure via an aggregator of tweets and retweets (translation: people are voting up your event online). I guess the n00b of Social Media continues to learn, and though I'm nowhere near being a "guru", I think people are leaving off the "n00b" part of my self-imposed title.

Because I asked Mayor McGinn to issue a proclamation to make Seattle Geek Week official, my event was broadcasted to press and to the world beyond Seattle, as well as my campaign to find 10 more people to make a commitment to donate their hair by Dec. 31, 2010 and join me when I donate my hair on August 26 to WigsForKids.org. If you are interested, see my video about donating your hair.

The pleasure for me as a show producer is seeing their phones come out (for tweeting and filming on well-watched Twitter and Facebook channels), as well as their jaws drop when they see the shimmies, zills, canes, veils, and fans come out. The ladies of Portland -- Jewels, Znama Dance Company, Tiffany, and Gretchen - did a fabulous, diverse, and seamless performance line up. I could not ask for more from a group of self-less dancers. To be able to raise awareness and campaign for a charity like WigsForKids.org blows my mind.

Unbeknownst to most people, I had been dying for the opportunity to create and perform a montage of music for an 8-minute-or-less "Geek Dance" replete with elements that would make most geeks laugh hard enough to pee their hands. Apparently, I rocked it because one of the tweets I read told me I hit paydirt:

heidimiller Aug 22, 7:27pm via HootSuite

I'm gonna pee my pants! @hipsforhire shimmying to Weird Al's White and Nerdy! #iheartdorks #seagw

And another Tweet showing off my Princess Leia double bun hairdo:

violetblue Aug 22, 6:13pm via Posterous

Pic: the now, which is the beauty of @hipsforhire #Gnomedex http://post.ly/tDrs

We will always be in love with the characters of Star Wars, and playing Princess Leia as a dancer with wings, veil, cane, and a hip hop dance to "White and Nerdy" was worth more than anyone could ever pay me to dance. Floating out on the Internet, you should now be able to see me attempting to tip Chris Pirillo while he's shaking his bottom while mimicking belly dancer Jewels. How else do you collect these moments than to be the architect who creates the scene in which it may occur?

Not only is Mr. Kalia of Kalia Indian Cuisine (and host to the show for the past two and a half years) happy with the large turn outs our latest shows have been having due to my work with Social Media and the support of the belly dance community, but he is also happy to announce that since the smoke damage that had happened last year, the brother's restaurants are doing well, in part to a kiosk installed in Microsoft, with a request for a second one in Microsoft in October! You should be hearing more of what Kalia and Pearls of the East have in store for the belly dance community soon.

It might seem like I'm bragging, and maybe a part of me is, but I'm bragging on your behalf. There are many businesses and performance artists who are struggling financially, and I have wanted to be transparent about the process of using Social Media to help them while they help others. If you've been following my blog since late August, you'll recall that I didn't have a Twitter account for HipsForHire.com until late September 2009. It's been a fun and informative journey, which I am more than happy to share. I hope that you'll continue to help me build HipsForHire.com into the helping resource it was meant to be.

Also, stay tuned for "A Mostly Seattle Show" in Portland, OR (coming in Dec 2010 or January 2011), where we'll curate a dance "trunk show" to caravan south to Portland and give them a little flavor of the Emerald City.

Again, my thanks to the dancers, the dance community, the Seattle Social Media community, Seattle Geek Week participants, and Mayor McGinn for making last night a success.

Gnomedex Recap from the n00b (coming soon!)

2010-08-21T16:02:00.000-07:00

As a person behind the scenes and volunteering at Gnomedex 2010 this year, I could not vlog or do interviews. My priority was to provide support to all the speakers for Gnomedex, so I'll be bringing you a very special blogpost after Gnomedex and Seattle Geek Week wraps up.

I hope you've been following my tweets on HipsforHire on Twitter, and seeing why a performance artist and healthcare advocate might be so interested in technology and its ability to change the world.

Video Nurse Chops It Off For Wigs For Kids

2010-08-16T18:48:00.001-07:00

Video Nurse Chops It Off For Wigs For Kids

2010-08-16T18:48:00.000-07:00

The Big Chop-Chop: Studio 904 in Pioneer Square

2010-08-14T18:23:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, I asked for help finding a salon to harvest my hair for WigsForKids.org:

The loss of hair is enough of a traumatizing experience. To have to pay high salon fees for that act just compounds the emotions even more. So I'm asking that if you know of a place that will follow the carefully described rules for collecting and donating the hair properly, I'd like to find that salon. The salon must be in the Seattle area (within a 15 mile radius of West Seattle), and willing to be written up for press about my experience.

If you are a salon owner, the wigs for kids site has a description that shows you exactly how they would like the hair collected and shipped for maximum hair usage. All I ask is that I be treated with compassion, and that I get a professional hair cut out of the deal for the next phase of my life. You get my blogpost and video of my experience, and a little bit of exposure for your business.

Thanks to Studio 904 in the Pioneer Square area of Seattle, I'll be able to harvest my hair in a compassionate setting. They've done collections for Locks of Love in the past, and they were also very accommodating of my wishes to get it filmed, as I want to inspire others to do the same.

With just under two weeks left to enjoy my long hair, I have a lot of mixed feelings. The big "chop chop" is nothing like the "little snip snip" that many men decide to do. Cutting one's hair is public, image-altering, but not permanent. Having a vasectomy is private, unnoticeable, but permanent. For now, I'm using this strange comparison to overcome my discomfort with cutting my hair.

You can participate in my donation, whether you live in Seattle or not, in the following ways:

1. Go to WigsForKids.org, and make a direct donation on their website.

2. Click on my Youtube video (it will be posted after August 26) and leave a video response of what you'd like to do to help kids with cancer.

3. Attend my Tweetup http://www.twtvite.com/bellydanceSGW August 22, and give your dollars during collection time at the event, and I will send in those dollars with my hair collection. If you mention Seattle Geek Week or the hashtag #SeaGW, you'll receive 10% off your food and bev tab for the evening.

I just got official word: Chris Pirillo will be attending this event after the hackathon event at the Edgewater Inn running earlier August 22. In addtion, I'm honoring Kat Armstrong, Community Manager for Geekshed as my very special guest for the evening.

I know of no better way to celebrate life, to journey through grief, and to help others, than to combine everything I love into one fantastic event than be giving. Thank you for your support, and I hope you'll participate with me in any way you can.

Balls: Part II How To Use Them

2010-08-11T09:45:00.000-07:00

I, like thousands of others, got taken in. Yes, it does happen. The people behind TheChive.com, who have come up with other hoaxes, landed this one with the hope of going viral once again. Congratulations, guys: you got more people to regurgitate your make-believe story (*applause*).

Before you start giving them props and kudos for successfully spinning a tale about "Jenny", the disgruntled employee who quit her job using a series of 31 dry-erase board photo messages, you might want to consider another angle. In a way, I'd like to thank theChive.com guys not so much for their prank, but what their prank highlights: Social Media and Internet journalism is rife with regurgitated, over-spun stories instead of innovative, action-oriented content that inspires, improves the quality of life, or fills a need that makes a difference.

If we really have the balls, as I wrote about in my previous post "Balls: Not Only On the Guys", we would be action-oriented. We would be more like the people who are about to take the stages of the numerous Seattle Geek Week activities August 13 - 22, such as Austin Heap's work to help Iranian dissidents, or Johnny Diggz' Geeks Without Borders.

The Jenny story gave us some kicks and giggles. But if I wanted to be entertained, there is enough noise and Internet drivel available out there (and I've probably supplied a drop or two of that myself) on Youtube and Facebook from which to select for a good laugh. If I wanted to be emotionally manipulated for someone else's pleasure, I could find someone to re-enact a form of relational sadism upon me until my dying days (or just watch "The Notebook").

It was pointed out to me that perhaps the "Jenny" story served another purpose. Maybe the offshoot is that it inspires other people who hate their jobs to actually do something like "Jenny" did. I thought long and hard about it (about five seconds). Nah. I am not ready to assign that kind of credit for inspiration to change, when these guys knew they'd have to call it a hoax in less than 24 hours. True inspiration doesn't come from single acts of random people, but from consistent leadership that flows from character. I would rather applaud the people who will be coming to the Gnomedex stage August 19 - 21. There's no hoax involved. They are the real deal, and I am proud to be involved in curating the content that will be on the stage for this conference.

Maybe as our own little prank, those of us who got taken in by the "Jenny" story should invoice the Chive guys with the estimated cost of our wasted time. I'm sure the Jay Leno show and the Today Show might have some hefty bills. Let's see now: I charge $110- $175/hr for coaching. I took thirty minutes to respond to other people on FB and Twitter about the story, and ten minutes to review the hoax when it was revealed. I spent another five minutes responding to Twitter retweets, and fifteen minutes writing this blog post.

I'll be fair. The invoice for my time looks like about $110 sixty minutes, but I got an idea that's worth a million bucks to me out of the experience. That idea is this: keep doing original actions, and keep writing original content. Keep dancing original choreography, and keep performing original music. So, we'll call it even.

Thanks guys. By negative example, I figured out exactly who I don't want to be.

Balls: Not Just On the Boys

2010-08-10T22:33:00.000-07:00

I applaud everyday heroes. They are unsung people who decide that passive aggressive action builds nothing more than resentment between themselves and the person they dislike, and revenge obliterates the object of their hatred so that they have nothing left to destroy but themselves.

So when Jenny uploaded 31 dry-erase messages to her co-workers and her boss, who her called her a HOPA after she transferred a professional call to him (Hot Piece of Ass), I wanted to stand up and cheer. Revenge would be to make his life miserable for his comment. Having the balls to quit without another job in place, yet to tell people why she quit with no regrets, is what I applaud her for. (Amendment: it turns out the Jenny story was a hoax from the jerks behind theChive.com. They seem to think it is funny to experiment on people and try to prove that people will believe anything, but all they proved to me is that some will stoop to any level to manipulate and take advantage of the good hearts of people. They wasted my time, all for their pleasure and probably for fame and fortune for themselves. The n00b has learned something new. There are some really creepy people out there.)

There are everyday heroes all around us. I once saw an American run alongside a bus in Beijing for nearly a half mile in the dead of winter, attempting to return the mitten of a young Chinese girl who had lost it as the bus door closed abruptly, snapping the mitten off her hand. I saw two men jump out of their cars when an elderly gentlemen slipped and fell on the sidewalk, hitting his head on a stone planter on the way down. One took off his jacket to stop the blood oozing from the man's head, while the other one called 911 on his cell phone (I came up just as the ambulance arrived).

Of course, I like stories where the underdog -- or at least the person with less perceived power -- stands up for what is right, and s/he puts a story "out there" for the world to see. Jenny may not be perfect, but Spencer (the boss who played Farmville on company time) will have something to think about for awhile, besides trying to figure out what other HOPA he can exploit and demean. And I hope someone will offer Jenny an honorable job, free from sexual harassment and "the little switch".

Check Me In: No OCD Required

2010-08-09T09:14:00.000-07:00

Mashable's article about live entertainment check in behavior got me thinking about the "check in" craze. I've not been one to jump on the Foursquare craze at all, though I think it's a superb business idea of anyone who has a store-front business. Check out the Mashable article before reading on.

Some people may feel that without geolocation as the primary motivation to use a check in service, the value of check in apps decreases. Yet imagine if check in apps had been installed near the Twitter feed going on for such historic events as the memorial for Michael Jackson. I'm not talking about geolocation in the sense of physically checking in. Instead, I'm talking about virtual check ins when you listen to your favorite music, like Beats Antique on Pandora, or a check in while watching "America's Got Talent". Mashable's article pointed out that when people watch a popular TV show, they watch it to the point of obsession (i.e. "Lost", or "Mad Men").

As we do more and more activities remotely, including working, check in behavior that is not oriented around physical check ins to places will likely become more popular. Psychologically, they may increase our feelings of belonging, especially in periods of intense work schedules, business travel, or isolation. Imagine checking in to your favorite TV show, while being on a trip far away from home, yet staying connected with people you know who also use the same check in apps. It's these small, cultural ties-that-bind that I believe will have use coming back for more: connection, that is.

The minute my iPhone is in my hot little hand, I'm going to be trying out some of these non-geolocating check in apps, and asking my friends to join me. It's just one more virtual party to throw, and there's no bottles or mess to clean up.

Where To Get It Chopped Off

2010-08-08T13:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the start of something new involves both excitement and grief. I decided back in spring to make the best of a new start by donating my hair at the end of summer to Wigs For Kids (since Locks of Love appears to be in some kind of problems concerning fraud).

In the Asian culture (particularly in the case of death or lost love), a woman cuts her hair to symbolize her grief. I wanted to put a modern spin on that act by donating my hair to a good cause, so that even with loss, someone may benefit by my sorrow.

The loss of hair is enough of a traumatizing experience. To have to pay high salon fees for that act just compounds the emotions even more. So I'm asking that if you know of a place that will follow the carefully described rules for collecting and donating the hair properly, I'd like to find that salon. The salon must be in the Seattle area (within a 15 mile radius of West Seattle), and willing to be written up for press about my experience.

If you are a salon owner, the wigs for kids site has a description that shows you exactly how they would like the hair collected and shipped for maximum hair usage. All I ask is that I be treated with compassion, and that I get a professional hair cut out of the deal for the next phase of my life. You get my blogpost and video of my experience, and a little bit of exposure for your business.

Zill Playing Lust Belly Dance Show at Kalia's August 22, 2010

2010-08-04T12:51:00.000-07:00

On August 22, 2010 Hips For Hire hosts a very special Pearls of the East Belly dance show", A Mostly-Portland Pearls Show" at Kalia Indian Cuisine of Greenwood (Seattle, WA). This monthly belly dance show begins seating at 6:30 pm, with the show starting at 7:00 pm. The cover fee is $7 (tips welcome), which goes to pay for the dancers.

In Hips for Hire tradition, I may be attaching a fundraiser (more information TBA). Guests are welcome to participate through donation or gathering more information about the specific fundraiser. We encourage guests to take a moment to use Twitter and Facebook to tell others about our events, even during the event itself (we won't think you're rude if your face is looking at a screen).

This month's show information:
Featuring: JEWELS of Portland, OR (American Cabaret Bellydance)
with very special guest soloists and troupes
Kristnh (Turkish bellydance)
Najma and Znama Dance Company (belly dance fusion)

and your hostess and soloist, Imei (always a surprise)

Coming on the heels of Seattle Geek Week (see SeattleGeekWeek.com), I've invited geeks from my community to also attend our show! Please welcome these volunteers and enthusiasts, who also share a passion for technology, entertainment, food and wine, and "geeking" out! You may see guests from participating Seattle Geek Week attendees such as ChicMeetsGeek, pii2010.com, and Gnomedex.

Our guest dancer line up this month will be showing Seattle how Portland can pimp out some amazing dance! For those of you who have not seen Jewels, she has been involved in Alimah/Manon/Tamalyn's "Artist's Circle" project (2011), and really impressing me with her use of older music, new energy, and down-right technically flawless zill playing that makes the musician in me get chills of ecstasy. It's the closest thing you'll ever experience to zill-playing lust.

Paired with Mr. Kalia's spontaneous dancing (!) and his Pearls of the East dinner specials (paired with a glass of red or white wine), our Pearls shows have been impressing the community and drawing regulars.

Would you like to volunteer for this month's show? I (Imei) need one volunteer with experience with sound equipment, using a hand-held microphone, and collecting door fees,as well as walking the floor at intermission. Your door fee is compensation, plus a percentage of the door fee. Volunteer will be accepted by experience and willingness to help promote the show via Social Media channels two weeks prior to the event. If you are interested, please email me ASAP at info@hipsforhire.com.

Next month: J9 (Janine Pierce)

Hope to see you there!

Cheers!

Imei

Geeks Take Over Seattle August 13-22 for Ten Days of Technology and Social Events

2010-08-02T10:50:00.000-07:00

Seattle has enough geeks to throw their own party, not for one day, but for ten days of techie and non-techie activities.

Check out the press release, giving you the run down of all the parties, events (hey, even a golf tournament!), and venues hosting geeky events as a part of Seattle Geek Week.

Geeks Take Over Seattle August 13-22 for Ten Days of Technology and Social Events

Use the hashtag #SEAgw when you tweet about any of the events, and be sure to invite your friends.

Not Free? Not For Me! Turning Away In-Flight WiFi

2010-08-01T22:26:00.000-07:00

In-flight WiFi is still a novelty to me, even though apparently 950 planes in the U.S. are equipped for it. According to Dave Freeman's post on CrunchGear (July 6, 2010), people aren't buying it (literally) for a number of reasons, including the shortness of flights, and possibly the wish of businessmen to take a break from work. Less than 10% of travelers are using the WiFi service when it is available.

Maybe someone should have studied my inbound flight. In the month of July, Alaska Airlines offered free WiFi for one leg of my journey, and I was excited to try it. In my test, I used my iPad and my Android (note: yes, this IS the phone that knows it will be sent to the land of misfit toys, so stop asking). There was no issue about not having enough workspace. I also noticed that almost every passenger around me had a smart phone or netbook of some kind, so they were also trying out the WiFi.

This first in-flight WiFi trip was the quietest trip I have ever taken. Babies were entertained. Adults were watching videos on their own devices. People were catching up with text messages and emails. There was hardly a peep for hours, except to order a drink. My neighbors didn't even get up to the use the restroom.

Contrast that with the return leg home. Alaska Airline's free WiFi program ended on July 31, and I returned after that date. Approximately five minutes of "tease" time -- free WiFi for all -- was given, and then a message came on the screen, showing you how to purchase that same service for $9.99. Not to my surprise, the flight was a noisier one filled with crying babies and cranky people. There was a definite air of restlessness among the young people around me. Due to the shortness of this portion of my itinerary, I can't imagine many people wishing to pay for WiFi after coughing up $20 for their one piece of checked luggage.

On principle, I have never believed any business should charge for WiFi if the consumer has his or her own device. I don't blink an eye at the coffee shop around the corner, who offers a free, 15 minutes of Internet service with a beverage purchase in order to use their computers. However, I would glare at them if they charged anything for use of their WiFi if you brought your own device (lucky for them, they are spared my evil eye). The purpose of offering WiFi in any business is to keep people informed, connected, entertained, educated, and/or able to purchase or sell goods at any time (i.e. to perform business on-the-go). The incentive for offering that WiFi free is for your customers to feel happy while they are experiencing one of those elements in your environment, and the hope is that a happy experience converts into future bookings.

Did I buy WiFi for my return trip? Even though this was the first return trip I have been offered WiFi, I turned it down. Instead, I played several rounds of every game Chris Pirillo has loaded onto my iPad, since flights seem to be the only time I get a chance to try them out. I also noodled around with some of the new loop sets on Looptastic HD, an app that lets you become your own iPad DJ. And my neighbor, who had just bought a Kindle, started a conversation about whether she should return the Kindle and get an iPad after she saw the resolution on an eBook I had in my virtual library. For the length of that conversation, Apple should pay me a commission, because I think I sold at least three iPads on that flight (including two to the people behind me who were eavesdropping).

Could the airlines who offer WiFi ask their customers about why they should make in-flight WiFi free? Couldn't we start something similar to Foursquare for flights, only without geo location (i.e. rewards for tweeting, flying, or completing certain routes)? Couldn't we bring some of the fun back into flying by having free WiFi and creating a win-win for all, instead of watching the once-free benefits of free luggage check-in, food, and other amenities disappear?

Let me know what you think. Unless you're that one guy who thinks only first-class passengers should be able to Tweet for free.

50 Divorce Tips for Men

2010-07-29T18:32:00.000-07:00

I teamed up with Chris Pirillo to co-author, "50 Divorce Tips for Men", drawing from Chris' experience as a divorcee, and mine as a counselor and divorcee. We released this version for the men first, because I acknowledge that there is much less information available for men on the subject than there is for women.

We'll be releasing a similar list for women in a few weeks. In the meantime, please know that our collective desire is to present the healthiest options for self-care, proceeding through a divorce, and taking care of the kids and pets. There are plenty of other books, articles, and websites showing you how to screw your ex-spouse over and walk away a "winner", and if you want to find that information, don't read our divorce tips list.

If you are going through a divorce or know someone else who is, please read the list, share it, and let us know if it helps. Sometimes it just helps to know you're not alone when you go through something as traumatizing as divorce that you are not alone.

Got iPad? Get Touchpad

2010-07-29T14:53:00.000-07:00

With the release of Apple's Magic Trackpad, my mind has been wrapped around that oh-so-familiar question, "Should I get it? Do I want it? Do I need it? Will it make my life a little easier?"

Many years ago, I wanted to develop a foot-controlled mouse pad with a track ball on a foot board in order to alleviate the pain of a repetitive motion injury in my right wrist and elbow. Years of piano playing, layered with the use of a computer keyboard, made mouse use excruciating at times, and the injury I had was only cured by putting my entire arm in a cast and sling for 30 days. Subsequently, I've eyed the computer mouse as a necessary evil.

Recently, I've begun icing my left elbow for what appears to be a similar injury: tendonitis which radiates to the top of my hand and extends into the second digit. I don't mouse with my left hand, but I use a lot of keystrokes with the left hand that were meant to reduce the total number of keystrokes overall. The Magic Trackpad caught my interest while considering how it might further reduce the kind of keystrokes that irritate my tendonitis (i.e. pressing and clicking finger movements, versus sliding or dragging finger movements). I believe it could be a great solution for this condition, and I'm looking forward to testing my theory out on myself.

But it took me an extra twenty-four hours to generate my dumb question of the hour: if I have an iPad, isn't there an app available to turn the iPad (which also has Bluetooth and runs wirelessly) into a trackpad of sorts, as well as a controller for multiple computers? Turns out, maybe my dumb question isn't so dumb.

The first time I visited Chris Pirillo's office, he flipped out when my mouse from across the room took over his computer while he was trying to manage a document. He thought his mouse was on crack, until he realized it was I who was making his mouse scamper across his screen. We quickly reset our mice to recognize our respective computers. With more than four computers running in the office simultaneously, computer confusion among the mice happens. However, that experience left me wondering if there was a better solution for organizing the mice. I mean, are we mice or are we (wo)men?

After looking at a video about Sonosaurus Rex and Looptastic HD, I began wondering more about using the iPad as a controller, so I could roam my house with one device in hand. Chris can do that with his iPhone, but I hadn't thought about that for the iPad, which is also oh-so-portable, but with a bigger touch screen for all the things I might want to do with it.

What if you wanted one mouse/trackpad to control all your devices, like a universal remote control? What if you wanted it to control computers running Windows (with an additional recommended download) or Linux? Looks like there's been a solution all along, and the developer recently made some cool updates. Check out Touchpad for iPhone and iPad, which turns your iPad or iPhone into a controller. Now you can roam your home or office, and liberate yourself of mice and spare keyboards clutter because Touchpad uses your WiFi network. It works well for your HDTV and Mac Mini configurations, and it appears to have gotten a lot of four star (or higher) reviews.

Well, my little empire of computers is a molehill compared to Chris' empire of screens throughout his house, but whether your set up is big, small, or somewhere in the middle, Touchpad could be your $4.99 app solution on your already-spendy iPad purchase.

Apple shouldn't be disappointed I'm not racing out to get the Magic Trackpad just yet. They already got my money for an iPad and an iPhone this year. And there are plenty of people who will love the trackpad as a designated piece of hardware. I'd say there's really a win for everyone here.

Fun n00b project

2010-07-29T12:17:00.000-07:00

Ready, Set, Bag! Comes To The Seattle Area

2010-07-25T12:40:00.000-07:00

Bag It: Documentary Film “Ready, Set, Bag!

Follow on Twitter @HipsForHire
Follow on Facebook ImeiYogaDance

Pixar CTO and Independent film Executive Producer Oren Jacob’s got it in the bag, and the bag is making its way to your town.

In Jacob’s independent film, “Ready, Set, Bag!”, eight contestants train and compete to win the National Grocery Bagging Competition, and the film shows us what a serious competition it is, while raising money for meals as the film travels across the nation.

Jacob’s reached out to Chris Pirillo and the Lockergnome community because of Pirillo’s general love of food, as well as his work in Social Media circles. Pirillo knew I would snap up the chance to share with you how to feed yourself and feed others in your town.

Here’s why you should go see this movie. In a statement released by Jacobs:

We support food banks everywhere we go and we've already funded
over4,500 meals so far in a few special event screenings in the Bay
Area this past winter. Now, as we take the film out across the country,
there's the opportunity to fund 100,000 meals or even many more,
depending on how well we do. We donate 100% of all ad revenue from
www.readysetbag.blip.tv.

Ready, Set, Bag! is the first movie to sign a deal with Groupon. Seattle area people on the Groupon mailing list should receive a coupon good for two tickets and a large popcorn (plus a free reusable shopping bag), all for $16. Groupon coupons are very time-limited (released on July 25, 2010), so be sure to pick up your coupons and make plans to see the movie quickly.

One of the cool aspects of this film is how theatres and the filmmaker are collaborating to not only sell tickets, but to provide money to local food banks where the film is being shown. It’s the ultimate kind of “feel good” movie that lets you do good at the same time.

I’m equally impressed at how Jacobs is using Social Media tools such as Facebook to identify venues that support his film and his cause. Viewers of the Groupon coupon are encouraged to follow this film on Twitter and Facebook, and people’s interest about the film is growing since it was marketed earlier in the Bay Area. In Seattle, the film can be seen at Central Cinema.

In the Seattle area, I already noticed a sign at PCC announcing their bagging competition coming August 20-21, while the movie is still making the rounds in Seattle and Bellingham. Maybe you’ll be inspired to do some bagging yourself. And if you do, Jacobs wants you to take up a challenge by filming yourself. This is the one case where baggery has nothing to do with being a douche.

B. Imei Hsu, RN, MAC, LMHC is a nurse psychotherapist, dance artist, fitness instructor, and occasional guest blogger for Lockergnome. When she isn’t shopping at PCC for organic food, she’s usually up to no good (or just walking like she’s up to no good). She lives in Seattle, WA, and is impatiently waiting for her iPhone 4.

Be Your Own iPad DJ: Why I Love Looptastic

2010-07-23T08:16:00.000-07:00

Be Your Own iPad DJ: Why I Love Looptastic

Long ago, in a galaxy far, far, away (Seattle, WA), I had a few records and a turn table. Not that I would have known what to do with Peter Frampton Live and the Sex Pistols, but I knew that without a second turn table and impeccable timing, I didn't stand half a chance at becoming even a hobbyist disc jockey. I just knew I wanted to spin the tunes.

The appeal of being a DJ may be lost on the upcoming generation. On Lockergnome.net, a question about what DJ's do for a party (since they aren't playing musical instruments) came up on the community-powered forum created by Chris Pirillo. In the thread, various replies intimated that the real worth of DJs lies in his powers to spin emotional landscapes as much as it is to spin tunes. On the heels of watching Christopher Nolan's, "Inception", I'll add to that description by saying that while musicians and singers are the prophets of this age, DJ's are the new architects of the our subconscious projections.

Many moons later, I find myself the owner of a Carvin sound system (from my former band gigging days as a singer, keyboardist, and sometimes bass player), an iPad, and a generously stocked iTunes gift card to download the latest music apps. Thanks to the iPad DJ Rana Sobhany's tip, I concur with her thumbs up of Looptastic, which allows even n00bs like me to seamlessly mix looped presets with interchangeable musical elements, such as hi hats and melody lines.

Filmed at my office on a VADO 3rd gen

One doesn't need perfect timing, nor a steady hand. Looptastic's buttons allow you to add and subtract musical elements, yet only on the beat. Even a young child can slide the buttons up and down, or return them to a holding deck below the "score".

Once my iPad gets in proximity of Chris Pirillo's iPad, the next level of ultimate DJ'ing can be explored. Looptastic for iPad allows you to synch two iPads together, so you can run another music set simultaneously. The app also allows you to record your masterpiece, so you can reproduce to your heart's content without having to rely on recall.

Of course, I've already downloaded Groovemaker, iElectribe, and iDaft. I'll likely be testing a decent piano app, as well as something like Sonosaurus Rex for iPad (I heard the updates for the iPad make this a sick addition to what I've got already, along with the ability to save your files to iTunes for future use). Andrew and Andrew (two iPad DJ's) have a demo of Sonosaurus Rex, an iTunes app that you can download to your laptop, connect the laptop to your tuner and speakers, and use the iPad as your wireless controller interface, allowing the iPad DJ to wirelessly roam the planet - or, at least the venue floor! - spinning tunes while interacting with a crowd. I'd just make sure I had Mobile Me on the iPad, especially if you are holding a drink-i-pooh in the other hand.

I've always loved the concept of tools that even the playing field, and Looptastic HD for iPad definitely allows just about anyone with an iPad to unlock unlimited possibilities in musical architecture. I only wish I had had one of these when I was painstakingly banging out Rachmaninoff to scholarship my way through college. We don't need to settle for Bethovan's Fifth set to a disco beat. Now we can give the world Jason Moran and Billie Holiday, wrapped up in the warm cocoon of Dub-step, without rolling out the heavy equipment and wires.

As I tweeted out to my community, I think I'll dust off my old stage name and recirculate it. Please welcome Trixie Bon Bon, Seattle iPad DJ. And don't forget to follow me on Twitter, as I round the corner into the last days of my 365-1/4 days as the n00b of Social Media.

Ten Years of Bellydance: Orchestrating Emotion

2010-07-18T23:53:00.000-07:00

This summer marks my tenth year since I started belly dance. The most common question I get (besides "How do you balance that sword on your head?") is, "Why did you decide to learn belly dance?" It's a valid question, but I also know this question comes with an a certain amount of curiosity about how a Chinese girl picked up a Middle Eastern folkloric dance as a passion.

The story: in 2000, I graduated from my second Master's degree program at nearly the same time a very important relationship with a troubled man was put on hold. My own personal suffering translated into physical illness. I ate and slept so poorly, my doctor recommended that I find something more gentle to do than running and aerobics for exercise (I had lost approximately 25 pounds in two months).

Picking up a Discover U catalog for Seattle-area classes, I flipped through it, looking for "something" that seemed interesting. I didn't know I was looking for belly dance, though I had been exposed to Lebanese belly dancing while on a tour of Israel a few years earlier. One of the Discover U class offerings was belly dance with Yasmine, who I would later find out was not only a dancer but a musician as well. With a few group classes, Yasmine encouraged me to consider belly dance as "your dance"; that is, she felt that I took naturally to it. I must admit, being a musician has its advantages: zill playing was a bit easier for me than the average beginner.

Imei, celebrating 10 years of belly dance, and different styles of dance

People ask me where I get my ideas for choreography. Certainly, all of us learn from someone, and we borrow their moves as it suits us. Later, we learn to listen to the music, playing with variations of how those shapes and emotions might look when in motion and facial expressions. Finally, we create, film, observe, perform, and elicit feedback, constantly working to refine the feelings and messages we wish to send to the audience with each piece.

Sabura once wrote an email with a piece of advice I have taken to heart over the years. She reminded me that it didn't matter so much what movement I did in a choreography, as long as it perfectly expressed the emotion of the music in which it occurred. If I can get an audience feeling what I feel -- longing, joy, tension, release, breath, misery, anger, confidence, comedy -- I have accomplished no small feat.

In essence, we dancers give our viewers the unique opportunity to feel what is is to embody the music itself, yet without having to move from one's chair, nor ooze a single drop of sweat. If you find yourself holding your breath, smiling, laughing, or emitting a flirty confidence from every pore in your body, you have just understood perfectly what it is to be a belly dancer: orchestrating emotions in a waterfall of pleasure

Belly Dance At MedFest: Why We Love This Festival

2010-07-18T11:22:00.000-07:00

I am shocked when Seattle locals who have lived here for years are surprised to hear that one of the Northwest's largest belly dance shows occurs annually every third weekend in July in the vibrant West Seattle Community.

Over 600 dancers from California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and even Alaska register for non-stop dancing over two days on two stages for the Mediterranean Fantasy Festival, hosted by the Babylonian Ensemble. Audiences are exposed to various forms of the classic as well as emerging genres of belly dance, which include steam punk, tribal fusion, goth, martial arts, hip hop, and circus elements.

Additionally, MedFest has been open to Bollywood dance, and over the past few years, I've seen a few troupes present Indian-inspired works or full-on Bollywood pieces. This year, Mollie Singh introduced Bollywood Seattle, with excerpts of three solo choreographies as well as a group number, all choreographed by Mollie.

What I love about MedFest is how the organizers never fail to attract a high-quality workshop instructor and performer. Saturday July 17 Tito Seif of Cairo, Egypt performed on the outdoor stage (video recordings were not allowed), wowing the audience with his exciting stick dance, beledi, and dance performance while balanced on a tabla.

Tito Seif is one of the world's best male bellydancers, and an exciting choreographer. His joy is infectious, and his intensity and precision inspires dancers across the globe. In terms of the level of accomplishment this man has achieved, I was only surprised that I could not find a Wiki page about him. Bet his press team is working on that, because he is surely a "notable".

If you missed out on his workshop Saturday morning, Seif is offering another choreography workshop at 6 pm Sunday July18. For more information, go to the Babylonian Ensemble website, and click on the workshops.

Last but not least, one of my favorites is back: Shoshana of Arcata, CA. Shoshana's playful use of the four-yard veil always takes my breath away. She was the first to teach me how to use my veil like a rubber band, flicking it across the room if necessary [Added: Sunday July 18 at 1:45 pm. Shoshana had to leave early, so she performed at 12:30 pm instead of the listed time of 3 pm. Here's a few photos, taken on my Vado 3rd generation camera]:

Cocooned within a transparent, over-sized veil, Shoshana shows the audience how to spin out of a web.

Even with a breeze, Shoshana's control makes throwing, tossing, and flicking the veil look like liquid magic.

Letting the veil follow her slightest coaxing.

Did I mention the shopping? I'm not much of a shopper, so when I do shop, it's usually in binges. This year, I purchased four dresses for $65! I wasn't in need of a new costume, but there are plenty of costume vendors ready to suit you up in gorgeous glamour, whimsical skirts, and gothic tribal wear. If you don't want to depart with any hard-earned cash, do not (I repeat, do not) go anywhere near the indoor stage area where Shiny Sparkly Things is happily liberating people of their dough. I bought a pair of earrings from SST a couple of years ago, and I'm getting great mileage out of their high-quality, costume jewelry.

Hungry? Falafel sandwiches, kabobs, and non-alcoholic beverages are vended from a conveniently placed truck and grills.

All-in-all, you and your family can spend the afternoon at MedFest in this highly entertaining, vital community of dancers, musicians, fans, and people who love world music. Come and join us if you can (just don't park on Walnut Street, or you are likely to get a parking ticket), and bring a light jacket, as it is a bit chilly for mid-July.

The Sh!t: To Do Or To Be

2010-07-14T16:03:00.000-07:00

People who I consider deep thinkers have many characteristics in common, but one that fascinates me to no end is their shared experience of an unexplainable, undefinable moment. I know this already, sounds not only vague and woo-woo like, but I assure you, it isn't magic juju. The most successful, brilliant, out-of-the-box thinkers have all had "experiences" -- moments that helped them see beyond their senses -- that shaped their direction, choices, attitude, or outlook. With that shift in energy and perspective, they went on to do great things. In times of discouragement, they drew upon those experiences to give them strength to pursue their path.

For right now, I'm going to call that experience, "The Sh!t" (here, I'm using an exclamation point to symbolize the "i", turning a slang word for fecal matter into a metaphysical signifier for that uncommon, and often unrepeatable, experience). In contrast to "the shits", which refers to having repeated loose stools in rapid succession,"The Sh!t" is a welcomed phenomenon, though perhaps poorly understood.

Take a look at this video from Youtube. This is a perfect example of "The Sh!t", even if the viewer suspects the man behind the camera has ingested some magic mushrooms:

What should you do when you are facing "The Sh!t"? One of my former graduate school professors used to remind people to stop getting so worked up about "doing", and focus more on "being". I don't think he was on any mushrooms while he said this, but he would constantly point to the merits of "going with the flow", "being in the stream", "riding the wave", and other terms we commonly share for letting what's happening "do its thing" without our resistances kicking in and shutting "The Sh!t" down.

"Being" isn't an excuse for laziness. The truth of "being" includes being alive and awake to what is happening, just like the man shouting in the video, "What does it mean?" Being is an active process, not a passive one. Laziness is not active; laziness is a state of half-sleep while events happen, yet without interest or reaction from the person. The lazy person defaults to either apathy or lack of appreciation, even though the "being" person may also appear to be doing nothing on the surface. The difference is observation. Though the man behind the camera does not get an audible answer to his question, he simply stays with the moment, laughing, appreciating the beauty, sobbing, and then coming back into equanimity with "what is".

My friend Bill calls these "shifts" [though I had thought of them as epiphanies]. Shifts include energy, motivation, and attitudinal movements that occur inside of our thought processes, and maybe physically in our bodies [though perhaps we have no way to measure it except in things like heart rates and body extremity temperatures). When a shift occurs, we are freed from the stifling heat of our own wearying thoughts, fears, and paranoia.

We may find the video "Double Rainbow" funny (and that is the category it is listed under for Youtube), but I'm also caught with my own experience of "The Sh!t", and I can assure you, there were no mood-altering substances involved! When I watched "Double Rainbow", I found myself laughing at his goofy remarks, and then suddenly uncomfortable. I knew I was watching something of a very private, vulnerable moment, and one that I have experienced so many times before. One can laugh it off as a joke, or one can also grapple with the complexity of an existential moment bearing down on the shoulders of a man, and wondering how his mind didn't just snap under the pressure.

I am fairly confident for the number of "The Sh!t" moments I've had in my lifetime G-d/Life/The Universe is sure to throw me a few more of those. Will I -- and will you-- know how to "be" with "The Sh!t", or like many things we do in our tech savvy world, simply ignore it in the waterfall of unending content we see every day? Will you chuckle and chalk these kinds of experiences up to things that we make up for silly Youtube videos? Or will you open your eyes to "The Sh!t" and let it take you into Being, while taking you on a rip-roaring ride towards greater creativity and more passion for connection?

Your choice.

For those of you who couldn't get enough of the "Double Rainbow" effect, take a look at this KFC parody "The Doublelicious", also from Youtube:

Seattle Nightlife Initiative

2010-07-13T17:33:00.000-07:00

Mayor McGinn will sign the Seattle Nightlife Initiative on July 13, 2010 at the Century Ballroom to help stimulate a better and safer nightlife economy for Seattle, including flexible hours for serving liquor, more public transportation at night (yay!), and ways to deal with nighttime noise and nuisances.

School of Rock is scheduled to play two short sets to help us celebrate. A no-host bar reception will be held at Tin Table afterwards. Mayor McGinn had the press release added to his Twitter feed today.

Hips For Hire believes some of these changes will definitely be a boost to the nighttime economy and allow artists in the registry to pick up more gigs as the demand for quality performances increase. I hope to shake the hand of Mayor McGinn, and tell him how I hope this initiative will help performance artists make a better living -- and perform in safer venues! -- with the initiative going into effect.

If you plan to be there, it's at the Century Ballroom on Pike Street in Seattle, starting at 7 pm. We might be getting a bite to eat elsewhere (Boom Noodles, Mediterranean Express) to stay on the cheap yet yummy side of the food spectrum. Join us by looking for the girl in the black "geek" shirt.

iPad Geek Out: Merging tech and art

2010-07-09T14:45:00.000-07:00

While the iPhone has already spawned several concerts composed of people using iPhones (such as the Michigan Mobile Phone Ensemble), I've been waiting to play around with apps for the iPad that would allow myself as a dancer and musician to explore sound and music while getting geeky with it.

After passing my iPad over to Chris Pirillo with the plea, "Pimp my apps," he loaded Beatwave, and later texted me with the message, "Grab Granimator now, it's free!" [unfortunately, it's not free any more]. You can see Chris demo the Granimator on his Youtube video.

Beatwave app for iPad got me thinking. Why not set up a repeating pattern based on a the principles of western music (we like resolution or resolved dissonance), and then express those patterns through movement and dance?

Here's a quick video demo of how that works (wait for the Picture-in-picture video at 1:17).

Filmed at home using a Vado. Bose speaker.

With Beatwave, you can adjust the reverb, speed, tone, and you have four "pages" to work with, creating solos or muting a page of notations. Better yet, non-musicians have a perfect picture of a matrix-style representation of your musical creation. Though there are other apps that allow you to create musical patterns using keyboards or hitting objects with your fingers, I like Beatwave's sense of almost random generation by trial and error, and then the ability to share what you created with friends. You don't have to be a musician to create some cool stuff.

I did not create the music before turning on the camera, nor should you have to tell a person how to move when s/he hears a note. None of this was choreographed. Imagine what I could do with six to 10 people, line up across a stage, while I, the maestro, keys in notes on Beatwave, and I assign a note to each dancer. I could layer two or more people to take on the chords layered by my choices. One could create an entirely spontaneous stage piece, with dancers following simple principles related to sounds assigned to them. It's like an Etch-a-Sketch, only for space and time, and geeky people like you and I.

If you liked what you just read, come join me on Twitter @HipsForHire, or friend me on Facebook ImeiYogaDance. Better yet, go on my Youtube channel YourLilChinaGirl, and leave me a comment.

Anxiety: Much To-Do About Everything

2010-07-08T16:24:00.000-07:00

The other day, I answered a knock at my front door and walked into a spider web. Without much thought to it, I reached my hand up to my face, pulled the sticky thread away, and finished my conversation with the person at the door. There is nothing remarkable about this story, unless you understand that I don't like spiders.

I have, in fact, a moderate fear around spiders. The idea that we ingest some of these critters over our lifetime makes my stomach a little queasy. If I come across a picture of a hairy spider in a magazine, I get the "heeby jeebies" (my non-clinical description of the hairs on the back of my neck standing to a state of alertness, and a feeling of hyper awareness about my surroundings).

Video demonstrating trigger, anxiety response, response to stimulus, avoidance, recovery
"Cat Boo" by Imei Hsu and Charles-Monet

What exactly is anxiety (in the clinical sense), and when should someone consider seeking professional help to treat that anxiety? A quick hot-list of anxiety types and their symptoms can be found on WebMD.com

What Are the Types of Anxiety Disorders?
There are several recognized types of anxiety disorders, including:

Panic disorder : People with this condition have feelings of terror that strike suddenly and repeatedly with no warning. Other symptoms of a panic attack include sweating, chest pain, palpitations (irregular heartbeats), and a feeling of choking, which may make the person feel like he or she is having a heart attack or "going crazy."

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) : People with OCD are plagued by constant thoughts or fears that cause them to perform certain rituals or routines. The disturbing thoughts are called obsessions, and the rituals are called compulsions. An example is a person with an unreasonable fear of germs who constantly washes his or her hands.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) : PTSD is a condition that can develop following a traumatic and/or terrifying event, such as a sexual or physical assault, the unexpected death of a loved one, or a natural disaster. People with PTSD often have lasting and frightening thoughts and memories of the event, and tend to be emotionally numb.

Social anxiety disorder : Also called social phobia, social anxiety disorder involves overwhelming worry and self-consciousness about everyday social situations. The worry often centers on a fear of being judged by others, or behaving in a way that might cause embarrassment or lead to ridicule.

Specific phobias : A specific phobia is an intense fear of a specific object or situation, such as snakes, heights, or flying. The level of fear usually is inappropriate to the situation and may cause the person to avoid common, everyday situations.

Generalized anxiety disorder : This disorder involves excessive, unrealistic worry and tension, even if there is little or nothing to provoke the anxiety.

As a clinician treating people with mood disorders, the way I can tell someone should seek professional treatment is whether the person is able to reasonably cope with feelings of anxiety. If the person is having to restructure his/her life in such a way that it is hurting a significant relationship, or s/he cannot cope or function with the anxiety during work or leisure, it's very likely that the person needs to seek treatment. If he could have reduced that anxiety by himself, he would have done so much earlier. One element of anxiety that needs attention and treatment is the compulsive - almost instinctual in nature - factor in the way it manifests.

In an age of third-party payers, clinicians also look at the qualifiers of a diagnosis for Anxiety, using the qualifications as a screening test. Usually the presence of more than half of the qualifiers for a significant period of time is enough evidence for a diagnosis. The Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM) has been the accepted method used in the Western medical model to classify disorders and base evidence for a treatment plan. At Seattle Direct Counseling, I use the DSM IV as one way to help classify the type and extent of symptoms a person is experiencing, and if I am using a client's third-party payer, I have no choice but to use this method of diagnosis and classification.

Clients can choose to take any number of online quizzes to help them better understand if they may have a problem with anxiety. The statements can help them realize they are not the only ones who feel this way. One example from Psychcentral.com

I also prefer a compassionate, positive approach to diagnosis. Instead of focusing only on what is going wrong with a client, I like to help him see what is going right. This philosophical approach is more Buddhist in nature, in that it helps clients discover positive features of their coping mechanisms, free of feelings of guilt or "wrong-doing". I like to remind people that for the level of fear they are experiencing -- whether those fears "make sense" or are irrational -- their minds have come up with some pretty clever ways to try to feel better!

Life will never be without its anxiety-filled moments. However, it is possible to learn to move through them with more grace and ease, and to recover from traumatic events in ways that cause us to become stronger than we ever imagined.

Costumes: How to Buy Them Without Breaking the Bank

2010-07-07T11:19:00.000-07:00

Every week, I get requests on my FB page or messages to my Youtube channel asking questions such as, "How many costumes do you have?" and "These look expensive. How do you afford them?"

I have watched many belly dancers go through countless costumes over the years. Some are great purchases; others, not so much. How do you purchase good costumes without taking out a small business loan? Here are my ten tips to purchasing quality costumes and starting a belly dance costume brokerage.

You can find this exact post on my hiring website, DreamYogaAndDance.com.

How to Purchase and Maintain Quality Costumes (without breaking the bank)

I now own 14 costumes, which I cycle through on a regular basis. I started out with two costumes in 2002. One was a poor purchase, and is useless (beading fell apart, backing of belt also ripped). The other got a lot of mileage, and has since been resold at the top of the market. Here's how you can own quality costumes and get your money back.

1. Find a costume maker you love. Some suggestions:

Dahlal.com

Bellacostumes.com

2. Participate in a swap board or consignment group

Bhuz.com

The Belly dance costume recycle project (Facebook)

Belly dance Costume SWAP (Facebook)

3. Know what colors you want, what style looks good and moves well with you, and don't buy anything less than that (or you might regret the spendy purchase). Additonal tip: if you dance with a troupe, you might want to think about colors, shapes, and designs where others can purchase similar costumes to match.

4. Keep your costumes in excellent condition, doing repairs and replacing bead loss immediately. This will help when you are ready to re-sell your costumes to purchase your next costume. Store them in separate boxes after airing them out after a performance. Do not smoke or eat in your costumes, and do not wear your costumes longer than you need to (i.e. change into street clothes after a performance).

5. Dance at least ten times for pay in each costume, and keep track of how much money you made. Some costumes are "money" costumes, attracting more tips and better pay. You might wish to keep this costume longer, even if it isn't your personal favorite. Sell the costume after the 10th time you've used it in your same town.

NOTE: Here's the kicker: if you aren't being paid for performances, you should pace your costume purchases and quality to the pace of your ability to pay for them. If you simply buy costumes because you really want them, make sure you have the income to cover these purchases. Otherwise, consider doing a "costume brokerage" systems, buying and reselling approximately two costumes a year, and purchase costumes that you believe will have a high resell value.

6. Purchase costumes in bright colors with interesting details. These will not only gain you great attention while you dance, they'll be popular when you're ready to sell it.

7. If you know a professional dancer who is close in size to you, offer to purchase costumes from her for below-new prices, or get on her email list when she places them on sale. My favorite: Sandra of raks-sharki.com

8. Don't buy costumes if they are:
a. full of small problems you wish you could fix, but know you won't
b. ill-fitting, too large or too small, or requiring massive amounts of alterations (adding more cost)
c. in drab colors that don't suit your complexion
d. trendy, unless you can truly pull it off AND you believe you can resell it later

8. Don't make emotional decisions about costume purchases. Get a trusted friend's opinion if you are unsure about a purchase. When it comes time to sell, don't hesitate if you find a buyer.

9. If you do a lot of performance where you are the solo entertainment for the event, consider buying costumes that are easy for you to dress yourself. If they have unreachable clasps, requires a lot of pinning, or have details that need a second pair of hands, save those costume purchases for when you are doing stage shows (people in the dressing room can help you).

10. Consider buying conservative fitting skirts with slits that can be shortened or closed, and those with beading sewn directly to the skirt (instead of a separate belt). Costumes showing too much of the thigh are pretty for pictures, but not always practical (and sometimes unappreciated) in some settings.

Have costume purchase tips you'd like to add? Please send them offline to info@hipsforhire.com

How to Lose Weight: Fast and Easy?

2010-07-05T16:37:00.000-07:00

Did I get your attention? I purposely titled this post, "How to Lose Weight: Fast and Easy?" because I know if you're looking for this kind of information, you could very well go to the wrong place. Truly, I feel for you: you're just trying to get honest information, and a ton of people who aren't even in the health care industry are trying to tell you how to lose weight. Admittedly, my friend Chris Pirillo wrote his own weight loss tips list, and it was he who suggested that I use my licenses as an RN and psychotherapist who has coached others towards weight loss to write my own eBook to help people.

Truth: there is no SAFE way to lose weight fast nor easily. You can, however, lose weight at a steady pace and keep it off. Here's how.

If you live in America, you need to know that you live in a weight-obsessed culture, with a food industry that creates a hostile environment for your plans to maintain a healthy diet, a fit body, and a weight meant for your height, age, and genetics.

Here's the opening excerpt from my upcoming eBook, "Video Nurse: 50 Weight Loss Tips for Busy People". It will be available to order by Paypal for just $5, and comes with an attractive cover and title page, perfect for giving as a gift. Download it as a PDF, or make a printed copy to keep by your desk.

Here's the excerpt:

According to present statistics available at the time of this writing, obesity rates in the U.S. may be finally leveling off, but the rates are still high. No state passed the Healthy People 2010 Guidelines for 15% or less obese people http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/index.html. Our food supplies continue to cater to a market that is willing to buy cheap food to keep our mouths entertained, while the number of preventable diseases and deaths related to complications of obesity continue to soar along with our health care bills.

Whenever instituting a change that doesn't provide an immediate measurable outcome, consider giving yourself a non-food reward for good behavior to help encourage the repetition of that behavior. I suggest that reward to be something other than food because I feel that food shouldn't be used as punishment or reward. An example of a non-food reward: put a dime in a jar for each time you complete a particular tip on the list below. At the end of fifty days, you'd have five dollars if you did just one tip (or put in a dollar per day as your list grows); you'd have $250 if you did all fifty tips for fifty days at a dime a piece (although some tips will only be done once or twice). At the end of fifty days, use that money for something healthy for yourself to enjoy.

I hold licenses as a Registered Nurse and a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the State of Washington. "Video Nurse" health tips are just that: health tips. They are not designed to be used for diagnosis or treatment of specific diseases or disorders. Any misuse or misinterpretation of these health tips are at the risk of the reader, and Video Nurse and Bernice Imei Hsu, RN, MAC, LMHC is not responsible for any untoward consequences of these actions. You are advised to seek professional advice in the treatment of any illness, disease, or disorder.

Here area few tips from the eBook:

17. Unless you are diabetic or an athlete, it's not likely that more than 60% of your calories need to come from carbohydrates. If your diet consists of mostly cereal, spaghetti, and breads because of convenience, you might be encouraging a carbohydrate addiction as well as packing on the pounds over time. Consider weaning yourself off of excess carbs by reducing the portion size while replacing the excess with a serving of vegetables cooked in a tablespoon of good oil. Non-wheat eaters may find that returning to their genetic history may be easier on digestion. Example: I metabolize rice better than pasta, as long as I combine my carbs with protein.

18. Busy people need to have healthy foods ready to grab and eat in order to change the habit of eating less nutritious convenience foods. Consider spending one afternoon on a weekend preparing fresh foods cooked and measured into meal-sized bags, and keep a basket of fresh fruits in snack sizes (e.g small oranges, apples, bananas) nearby. Lunches can be pre-packed. Dinners can be waiting in large-sized zip lock bags, reheated by microwave or by placing on a baking sheet and reheated.

19. Juice fruit rather than buy it in a carton. It's easier to see how much you're actually consuming when you grab one orange and juice it yourself.

20. Eat slowly. It takes time for the stomach to feel full enough to signal the brain to stop seeking food. Converse during a meal, or put your fork down between bites. Consume a glass of water before the meal and during the meal to slow the process of eating down.

21. Stop eating when you feel 80% full. As one friend put it, it's a realization that you could eat a few bites more, but those bites would only be for entertainment. Do you really need "a party in your mouth" (as Dr. Phil has said)?

The eBook contains fifty tips I have discussed with clients over the years who were either recommended by their doctor to reduce their weight, or had personal health goals of which weight loss was a reasonable part of their treatment. Every client who did what I asked them to do lost weight. Whether they put the weight back on depends on whether they understood the lifestyle change involved in weight management, or their vision was temporary in nature.

The only real way to lose weight and keep it off is to eat less calories than you burn on a daily basis, and to use both smart nutrition and exercise/movement to create an environment where the body can thrive. There are no short cuts. There is no magic bullet. Even diet pills that encourage faster weight loss have side effects that may be intolerable, such as fatty, loose stools if you have too much fat in your diet. Diet shakes and protein shakes can help you lose weight, but they do not do the work for you to shape up those muscles, such as swimming, jogging, and resistance training.

You may have reached the time where you "get real" with your health goals, and you are ready to do the work to achieve your best life physically, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally. I hope you'll check out my work at Seattle Direct Counseling, or my eBook of weight loss tips (coming soon), to help you on your way.

Tech Animation Sling Mud: Defend What You Think (If You Can)

2010-07-02T14:45:00.000-07:00

If you've been reading my past blog posts about technology, I've been fascinated by the users of technology as much as the tech itself. As a person with nothing to lose by choosing one brand over another, and with no personal loyalty to defend, I've been amused at the debates, cat fights, troll comments, and name calling that has followed the HTC EVO (Sprint) vs iPhone4 (AT&T) debate.

Leave it to a young person to come up out with this video from TinyWatchProductions. Please be warned: though it's cute animation, this video contains a lot of expletives and demeaning statements:

This is a perfect parody and dramatization of comments on the Internet.

Your thoughts?

Follow me on Twitter! @Hipsforhire

Uncommon Uses for the iPad

2010-06-30T17:30:00.000-07:00

Last night, I found myself walking to a bus stop unusually late from an event. I discovered that an offer for a ride home unexpectedly changed, but Seattle has a pretty decent public transit system, with service to my neighborhood, so I didn't panic. I punched in the info to a Metro trip planner, and headed off to the bus stop according to the map. [common use #1 - bus finder and Google maps]

The bus stop was located on the opposite side of a busy freeway. After three attempts to figure out how to get to the other side (as there was no overpass), a homeless person pointed to a dimly-let sign: pedestrian underpass. I walked on the sidewalk of the busy street, getting honked at a few times by cars who must like frightening the bah-jesus out of women. Forget doing some Yoga breathing to stay calm: the sidewalk and stairwells of the underpass smelled of beer and urine, and reminded me that men really do think the entire world is their toilet. At these times, I wonder if my sacrifice of reducing my carbon footprint is really worth the sacrifice.

Twenty minutes later, teeth chattering and hugging my iPad for warmth [uncommon use #2 - heat source], my bus came. Thank goodness I exchanged my WiFi-only iPad for a 3G+WiFi model within two weeks, because 3G was the only connectivity available on the side of the 99 Highway, though I clearly saw the names of locked networks all around. As great as the iPhone4 is, it wouldn't have kept me warm.

As I sat down, a man spoke to me with a French accent: "Nice shoes. And the hat and the scarf work for you." As he was saying this, he was smiling and looking at my iPad. [uncommon use #3 - man magnet]. He worked for a tech company, but certainly wasn't talking tech. When he got off at his stop, he asked for my first name, took my hand, placed a soft kiss upon it, and said, "It was lovely to meet you."

On came a man who had taken an earlier bus: "I didn't want to wait at the stop I saw you at. This one is further downtown, a lot of gang bangers, but at least it wasn't so isolated." Good point: I should have downloaded MyNextBus.com, gotten a transfer, and waited with a bunch of smokers. Not.

We chatted about the iPhone all the way to West Seattle, where I bid him, "Au revoir." About a half a block into my walk home, I realized all the street lights were down, and the people of that street didn't do a lot of gardening and maintenance to the overgrowth. I tripped and nearly fell, cursing myself for not replacing the mini flashlight I used to carry in my purse. Without really thinking, I took out my iPad, slid the unlock button and punched in the password, and held the screen facing away from me [uncommon use #4 - iPad as a mobile street lamp]. Needless to say, I had a nicely illuminated path all the way home.

Well, some people say that the iPad isn't all that magical. I didn't need it to be. Instead, it got me thinking about uncommon uses of everything we have around us, if only we'd use our own heads and creativity to see.

Do you see?

Creativity: Blank page or Template?

2010-06-29T15:15:00.000-07:00

With just 18 days left until Seattle's largest bellydance festival, Mediterranean Fantasy Festival I made a decision two weeks ago to challenge my usual patterns of creating choreography. Usually, I start with a piece of music I love but have never choreographed, study it, and start interpreting the music into movement. I then get a couple of sets of eyes to look at it with me, and give me feedback and suggestions to help milk the movement for ultimate emotional impact.

This year, I'm doing something different.

Blame it on Artist's Circle, which has been challenging my thinking about what makes belly dance "work" for me. Sprinkle on some pressure from BollywoodSeattle.com, where my time is being squeezed out of me like toothpaste as we prepare for our first group performance and solos at Medfest 2010 July 15-17, a restaurant, and a parade. Oh, and I could slide in an equally legitimate excuse as I work behind the scenes on getting speakers lined up for Gnomedex August 19 - 21, 2010, Seattle's "confluence of influence" for technology enthusiasts (and n00b's like me). The bottom line: what will allow me to show share with my fans my personal growth as an artist?

Over the years, I've learned to keep my choreography and song selection a secret. The powers that be have strange ways of teaching you about the malevolence and unkindness of others. This year, I considered that I might change things up a bit, so much that what I'm doing is transparent.

For nearly five years, I've been in love with a piece of music. Take a look at Tina Sargent, winner of the Miss Belly Dancer USA contest, performing Maleeha's choreography to "A Shot of Glory" from The Cafe (Mareal Caracalla):

Choreography by Maleeha (Iowa).

Having studied veil technique with master dancer and choreographer Sabura while also having taken the same choreography workshop with Maleeha featured in the above video, I have formulated a new approach to this year's offering: give a nod to my mentors, teachers, and heroes of dance, and then build upon it by adding my own flair. I'll be performing "Shot of Glory", using the first moments of Maleeha's choreography, and then departing from the choreography as you see it in the video, and welcoming you into my interpretation of those same musical notes.

If you're in Seattle, be sure to mark July 15 - 17, 2010 in your calendar. I'm dancing Sunday July 17 twice: at 11:12 am on the indoor stage with Bollywood Seattle, and later the same hour in my solo of "Shot of Glory" on the same stage at 11:50 am. Believe me, I'll be having people back stage tearing off my Bollywood costume, jewelry, and redoing my hair in a quick turn around for this belly dance solo.

If you do not live in Seattle, I'll have my interpretation of "Shot of Glory" filmed for Youtube and my websites, and if it turns out well, you'll be able to find it there on my channel Yourlilchinagirl. You'll be able to see the clear departure from Maleeha's choreography, yet still get a sense of who I've studied with, admire, and highly respect in the world of belly dance and folkloric performance art.

For me, dance has never been about the diva behavior I've been exposed to in the past few years. The proof is in the ability to give it away for free because the world needs your art to add to its beauty. It is all about the inspiration and joy we find in the dance when we share it with the world. As cheesy and tree-huggerish as that sounds, it still remains true.

This not to say that artist's aren't worth their weight in gold. I formed Hipsforhire.com to help artists like myself get hired for reasonable pay while raising money for various charitable causes. Though it's been slow going, HFH is finally being recognized, with emails and calls for paid events throughout the Northwest. I am so humbled that people are recognizing this vision, and I am thrilled that people are paying me well for my performances. Yet there are times when it is appropriate to dance for free.

I'm giving my dance away, because now it has become something that is worth being copied, yet cannot be stolen.

Bellydancers Have The Bigger Knife

2010-06-29T10:06:00.000-07:00

As a belly dancer who also uses a sword or scimitar as a dance prop, I was highly amused to hear this story (see link below). Her sword would have been much longer than a hand-held knife, putting her in less danger as she was pointing it at his belly (unless he wanted to take a chance and throw his knife at her, which the average person does not know how to do with accuracy). The point of a scimitar is not sharp, but with enough force applied, you can impale someone on it. It's good the would-be robber decided not to take his chances!

Good for you, Miss Moody. Way to calm your fears, keep your head, and stare the f*cker down.

Would-be robber gets the point, moody, purse, knife - News - YumaSun

Troll Patrol: Five Reasons To Have Them Visit You

2010-06-26T14:43:00.000-07:00

I have friends who think that what I'm trying to do is amazing. As I continue to use Social Media not only to promote performance art or connect people to use my project, "Video Nurse", they remind me that they don't know anyone else who is doing this in quite the same way. More likely than not, they explain to me in plain words, "I couldn't do that. I'm too scared."

My question: too scared of WHAT? Or, WHO are they scared of?

I can only imagine the fear they express has something to do with stories of breaches of privacy and security that have been the source of lawsuits, complaints against almost all Social Media platforms, and news that has now become as commonplace to our lives as credit card fraud. Most people don't want to open themselves up to this kind of nuisance. But now, we have something else to deal with that is a problematic as security breaches.

When I first initiated an Internet presence through a website in 2000, I couldn't have conceived of the types of web terrorism that we now have on our hands today. Sure, I was aware enough back then to keep my private information off the web, such as home phone numbers and addresses, or the names of my family members and children.

But now we have on our hands the web equivalent of a gang-style, drive-by shooting, something which I'm naming a Troll Patrol. The troll patrol is a group of loosely-organized douchebags mostly composed of young males. They gather at appointed times, comb the Internet for unmoderated shows, livestreams, and web communities, and once designating a target, swarm an unsuspecting site. Comments are saturated with boring uses of expletives, racist and bigoted remarks, repeated lines of garbage, and progressively more violent, misogynistic, or rude comments to try to provoke the moderator or web manager to react. Those who were enjoying the site feel terrorized in the volatile environment, and they may leave and plan not to return. Whereas a single troll can easily be blocked or removed, a horde as large as 200 or 300 trolls is a bit more like trying to spray insect repellent on a horde of angry hornets. This hornet's nest, however, is composed of bored teenagers looking for fun at your expense.

At first glance, interacting with a group of bored teenagers might not sound very daunting, nor scary. But you might recall an incident a few years ago involving a pair of teens who threw the switch of a train, sending it off the tracks and killing several on board. When interviewed as to why they did this, the answer: they were bored. Use this example as a reminder of what a group of bored teens and young adults can do collectively using smartphones, laptops, and the power of Google to search the web for information about you.

If a troll patrol comes and visits YOUR sites, could there possibly be any reason to celebrate?

Five Reasons to Celebrate a Troll Patrol Visitation

1. Use a Troll Patrol visit as an education. As disgusting as some of their comments may become, you are receiving a fast education about what this generation of users has absorbed from the Internet. For better or for worse, study your market.

2. Their presence on your site, for however long it lasts, may signal that you have a good presence on the Internet. They aren't targeting first time users. Break out the bubbly, and congratulate yourself: you have arrived.

3. Practice handling hostility. Someday, this will help you if you have a PR nightmare on your hands if you ever get a public complaint about your business, or you make a mistake that needs your quick answer, free of defense or excuses. How you handle a Troll Patrol is a pretty good indicator of quick thinking and fast action.

4. Stand on your own feet. A moderator, spam bot, or your blocking application won't be helpful. Visitations are brief, and you won't be able to remove them as fast as they can return; at the same time, you have to protect your real fans, client, and viable community. Here'a great chance to allow people to sling mud and for you to not take any of it personally. Your true community will see you for who you truly are: strong and confident. The trolls are doing you a favor: while demonstrating their own pathos, group trolls are unwittingly making you look good to your community.

None of this is about you; it is clearly about them. Watch how they turn on each other if you laugh and smile at their comments while they search for ways to "get to you." One of the comments on my recent troll patrol visitation speculated that I must have a child who was retarded. The commenter asked if I was angry. Another commenter added that he would like to me in the . I observed their frenzy with fascination and amusement.

5. Use the experience as a "shake-down" for security measures you may want to add to your sites, such as age restrictions, user registrations, and blocking abilities. If you don't have a moderator, you might want to find one by searching through your most loyal clients or fans. In exchange for moderating your site, you could give free product, discounts, services, or a title on your site that connotes honor and loyalty.

Have you been visited by a Troll Patrol? How did you handle it? If you have a funny or interesting related story, please share it offline at info@hipsforhire.com.

Relationship Talk on Ustream.tv

2010-06-21T21:58:00.000-07:00

Love stinks. Yeah yeah [love stinks]. Love stinks! Yeah yeah [love stinks].

Well actually, I'm no executioner of love. In fact, I am probably more in line with the belief, "All We Need Is Love" (and maybe a really good prenuptial agreement, in some cases, lol). Today I decided to let loose with an hour of talk about relationships for my one-hour segment of "Video Nurse", which aired June 21, 2010 at 4 PM PST. It was one hour earlier than usual, due to a scheduling snafu that Chris Pirillo takes full responsibility for, as he had not alerted me that I was attending a Tweetup at 5:30 pm in which he needed my n00b presence to help balance out the number of Social Media savvy and n00bs in the room.

I recorded just a couple of segments from the hour, with one shorter one up on Youtube, and this one here on my post from "Shaw" (I had his spoken permission to use his question for discussion).

http://www.ustream.tv/myvideos/1/7814582

I think you'll find some valuable questions and exercises to do (pen and paper, or iPad!) that could help you or someone you know how to move on from a relationship that you feel "stuck" on thinking about longer than what seems to be helpful.

It certainly isn't all that I would tell a person who is grieving from the end of a relationship. But it is a start. The transition from being in a relationship to being without that person can take many forms, and there is no designated timeline on how long that takes. However, this person sounded like he is struggling with the other person bringing up the relationship again after a long period of time.

My private practice at Seattle Direct Counseling encounters these kind of relationship questions (and more) on a regular basis. Video Nurse is simply an avenue where community can build and gather to talk about what interests us most about health, mental health, and relationship issues. Join us next time at our regularly scheduled time Mondays at 5 pm PST. Join in the dialogue.

I'd like to thank Chris Pirillo for use of his office, lighting, and Comcast High Speed Internet connection for this segment of Video Nurse.

Video Nurse: 50 Health Tips for Busy People

2010-06-20T23:03:00.000-07:00

Ten years ago, one of my professors told me he thought I was a good writer. All I knew back then is that I love to write. Now I know that I not only enjoy writing, I am thrilled when my words are heard or read in such a way that makes a difference in someone's life.

Every so often, Chris Pirillo sends me a piece of fan mail usually containing a thank you for content someone read that changed their life. Eight out of ten times, those pieces of fan mail were not about his technology reviews or funny videos, but instead were about his eBooks such as 140 Twitter Tips, or his video on "How To Lose Weight Fast". Chris doesn't claim to be a doctor, and yet with personal research and an inquisitive mind, he's done a fine job in communicating what you should know about this health topic. After reading a few of these fan emails, he told me, "You should write your own eBooks."

It is with great pleasure that I am announcing a series of eBooks for 2010 and 2011, starting with my Video Nurse series, "Video Nurse: 50 Health Tips For Busy People". Each downloadable PDF eBook comes with an attractive cover sheet (designed by Kristin Marshall), and fifty tips gleaned from personal experience as well as years of professional experience as a back-office Registered Nurse in Community Health and as a private practice psychotherapist. You'll also see my QR code on the title page, so if you purchase this for a friend, co-worker, or family member, they'll be able to see my contact information should they wish to obtain my confidential services or simply send an email with questions or feedback. Simply scan the QR code with a smartphone's QR reader, and the my contact information comes up. Cool, eh?

Each eBook will be five dollars or under, with the exception of a hard-copy book I hope to publish in 2011 (the topic is a secret, but know you're going to love it). Copies can be obtained for now by going to Seattle Direct Counseling and clicking on the Paypal "Buy Now" button (located on the bottom of the home page), where you'll be prompted on how to give your information so I can release the PDF to your email's inbox. Later, this process will be streamlined automatically on my new website (due out July 1, 2010).

Right now, my website is a bit sad looking. Honestly, I'm not a web designer, and I never claimed to be. The website that is up today has cost me nothing (free template), and the web hosting a mere $13.94 per month to run. You are going to LOVE the new website coming, with an interactive blog, ability to schedule, Video Nurse archives and a link to Ustream.tv, and of course, a user-friendly area to purchase my eBooks. I sincerely hope you'll come check out my new website when it's finished, and share my link to my eBooks (or buy them for friends) with your loved ones.

The heart of my business is building relationships. Video Nurse is just one project in 2010 that I hope will help me build a relationship with you that helps you create your most satisfying (and healthy!) life.

n00b Kid On The Block

2010-06-18T11:58:00.000-07:00

I like being the n00b kid on the block.

In an earlier blogpost on my Ning site, I explained how being a beginner at something has its adventures, advantages, and downfalls. So far in my 261 days as "the n00b of Social Media", there haven't been many pitfalls. I've had a rather thrilling ride through Social Media 101 Blogworld 2009, LeWeb 2009, 140TC 2010, SXSWi 2010, ReThink Hawaii 2010, and I'm currently volunteering with Gnomedex 2010 for August 19-21. I just finished my first eBook, started a third Twitter account @VideoNurse, and launched a regular Ustream.tv show "Video Nurse" airing Mondays at 5 pm PST talking about health care and its intersection with technology. I've assisted with content on another eBook, and I'm about to launch a fully-interactive website for my psychology and wellness website, SeattleDirectCounseling.com (coming on WordPress soon!).

By far, this doesn't make me:

1. Successful
2. Rich (!)
3. An expert

I'd like to convert my forays in Social Media to become:

1. Richer
2. A Savvy and smart business woman
3. A better networker
4. Helpful to others with a much larger reach than one person at a time.

Nothing felt more "n00bier" than receiving several emails from different fields, requesting easy tips on turning their current websites into monetized blogs. I felt n00bish because my first reaction is "Who am I to give advice on this? What do I really know? What have I really done?" I'm still in the "hard work, all for fun, where's the money" stage. Though each email was a sincere ask for help, I felt n00bish because I'm frankly still a n00b, and I enjoy being a n00b.

Sound Effects for Your Thoughts

With just 104 days of my n00b year left, I'm asking all those hard questions. What can I really show for that year? What were the losses? What were the gains? If I could do anything differently, what would it be? And what am I deeply satisfied with?

One thing that has become apparent: just about everything I've done has shown up on an unfinished list from Chris Pirillo on the topic of making money from blogging. That isn't the only thing I'm trying to do, but at its essence, a blog doesn't survive for long if it doesn't yield a measureable return on your investment (ROI). One of the tips eluded to is a tried-and-true motto:

Easy money usually means hard work.

Five seconds ago, I tried to think of one word that would describe my immersion into Social Media. The only word that flashed was this one:

mentor

To clarify, the word is MENTOR, not "mental", although there have been times that I have felt the latter quite deeply.

A few related words also suit the effect: coach, teacher, model. You see, I have a pile of books in my house, and all of them are full of information, insight, suggestions, exercises, and reviews. However, I'm not very motivated to learn from these books and swim through the minutiae to find out what HTML code I need to insert in my website in order to make a button bigger or smaller. I'm just not that kind of Neek (hybrid nerd and geek). I'm not inclined to read 50 reviews to find out if the camera I'm using is the best one for my purposes. But I am sold on the process of sitting with someone who shows me in front of my face what I'm doing right and what I can improve, even if that is done in a group setting. I'm all into the learning process, but I'm suggesting that your learning process cannot be limited to a CD and book study program (just $49.95 plus shipping and handling). It can't be encapsulated in a friend's well-meaning but greatly attenuated "hot list" of things you need to do.

As my motivational coaching practice takes flight (I already have clients!), I believe I'm going to see more of this trend happen in Social Media. The emails with requests for short cuts and tips will keep coming in. However my answer will remain the same: "There are no short cuts, and there is no free lunch. Get a mentor or a coach." I am passionate about this answer, because this is what has been done for me.

I am indebted to two men, Joe Kennedy and Chris Pirillo, for the n00b journey I've been on. Joe Kennedy is responsible for inviting me to Social Media 101 September 25, 2009 and being the incredible networker that he is. Chris Pirillo is responsible for asking me out to coffee after I shyly told him I had just launched my first Twitter handle. He showed me what happened when he retweeted my Tweet: "What would Scooby Doo do with a Macbook and an iPhone?" As people responded to that Tweet, my eyes were opened. Everything else is history.

Please follow me on Twitter @hipsforhire @VideoNurse and Facebook ImeiYogaDance, and check out video on YouTube YourLilChinaGirl

Veil For Belly Dance

2010-06-15T21:56:00.000-07:00

After five years of dance study with a variety of different master teachers, I have heard a lot of smack talk about using veil for Middle Eastern belly dance. Usually there is a split down the middle between the old school, who believes that authentic belly dance should only use the veil for a short entrance piece but ditch it before the meat of the choreography (the visceral opening of the guts of a musical arrangement), and those who have found an ethereal (and maybe even spiritual) place akin to the whirling dervish dances where the dancer is both tranced and sweeps the viewer into the magic of concealing and revealing veil work.

I think you can figure out where I stand. As one of my teachers once pounded into my brain, "It really doesn't matter what movement you do, as long as it expresses the music and emotion." My amendment to that is that the majority of those movements do need to come from Middle Eastern Raks Sharki to be considered belly dance, but that doesn't exclude movement found in most folkloric dances, such as spins and turns.

I'm not here to argue with old-schoolers how much veil work to include in your choreographies in order to make them "authentic". If you're an old-schooler, you've already convinced yourself of that answer. What I enjoy doing is passing on what I've learned of various veil movements used to express the vocabulary of emotion found in Middle Eastern music, and to let the dancer choose the presence, absence, and volume of veil movement in his or her own choreographies.

In my years of study with "veil master" Sabura (her website appears to be down at this time) has passed on some beautiful veil technique, which she teaches throughout the U.S. and Canada. It would be completely unfair to her to reveal her more advanced technique to others. If you are interested in learning Sabura's advanced veil technique, please request her in a city near you. Her double veil and her "triple wrap" work are just stunning to see and to learn, but you won't likely see this on a teaching DVD. It has also inspired me to find my own variations and to encapsulate them in a different genre, such as what I call "Imei's Latin Veil", using Latin dance inspiration in the midst of exciting veil work and combinations.

Learning veil for a choreography? I challenge you dancers to start putting some good stuff out there on Youtube. Have a question about a veil move? Please post it to my Youtube channel, YourLilChinaGirl.

Check out Sandra's classic veil entrance DVD (she included it in the last Bella costume I purchased from her recently) for a nice veil choreography to "Faddah", which happens to be one of Sabura's favorite pieces of music.

Choking Smoking

2010-06-14T13:58:00.000-07:00

I'm a pretty forgiving person, but one of the most difficult events I have come to forgive is the gift of asthma from my father's 1.5 pack-a-day smoking in the house, in the car, and everywhere in between until I moved away from home. Second-hand smoke, combined with living in L.A. for four years, are the two most likely contributors to my present diagnosis of asthma. After countless doctor visits, inhalers, reverse breath techniques, allergy identification and removal, and an aggressive cardiovascular fitness routine, I recently removed my fast-acting inhaler from my purse and laid it to rest, knowing that I could still have a massive asthma attack at anytime, but also knowing that the primary trigger to my asthma has been removed: smoking.

When Washington enacted its current Chapter 70.160 RCW smoking ban from all public indoor spaces (including the 25 foot rule which goes beyond most state's smoking bans) in 2005, I did a little dance of joy. For years, going out in public for a meal, entering a nightclub for music concerts, or accepting an invitation to a public party meant knowing that at any moment, a smoker's cloud directed towards my airspace could mean hours, days, and weeks of illness, shortness of breath, or a trip to the hospital. Until international cities like Paris adopted similar laws, a trip to gay Paris meant at least a week of coughing, bronchitis, and repeated asthma symptoms; a visit to Taipei, Taiwan still means coughing until I vomit, wearing a mask at all times, and nothing short of physical misery.

Recently, someone asked the question, "What do you love most about living in America?" My immediate gut response is unequivocally, "Freedom." But freedom includes every person's right to pursue happiness and pleasure, including smoking cigarettes. What right do I, a smoke-sensitive person on par with fitness trainer Bob Greene (who coaches weight-loss clients to quit smoking first, for their health and because of his own sensitivity to smoke), have to tell people they should give up their freedom to kill themselves with cancer sticks?

When I first learned how addictive cigarette smoking truly is to the human body and brain, I felt a tinge of sorrow. Maybe people don't quit because they can't. Ironically, while watching the movie, "G.I. Jane", the movie includes a quote from D.H. Lawrence's poem "Self-Pity": "I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without having felt sorry for itself." We are a kind of wild thing, we humans. Yet we feel sorry for ourselves and others when maybe pity isn't what's needed. Action -- your true right to choose freely after seeing the truth -- is what's needed.

At the time of my personal education, I was a nursing student caring for a woman in her 40's, a double amputee due to poor circulation directly linked to her two pack-a-day smoking habit. Crying while still smoking on the balcony of the hospital after her third amputation to the thigh on both legs, she begged me for mercy and understanding. I will never forget that day, nor what I said. I looked at her, and said quietly, "It doesn't matter if I grant you mercy. If mercy is what you seek, you already have it. But if you don't quit smoking now, there is no more of your legs to cut off. There is no remedy. You must stop, or you will die." She was later treated, discharged, and I never saw her again. I don't even know if she's still alive. I do know that she had a cigarette hanging out of her mouth as her family members wheeled her away to their car.

From my experience as a nurse and psychotherapist, the reason why anyone would continue to repeat an action that they know is harmful to them is not because they don't know better, but because that action is doing something for them. That action has to feel incredibly good, be convenient and easy to use, and/or highly addictive. In the case of chronic smoking, nicotine is delivering nothing less than self-medication for anxiety and unsettling emotions which similar to carb loading, over-exercise, or certain drugs like Xanax and even TCH in marijuana, provide a temporary respite. Not only are there physical cravings when smoker's attempt to quit, but there are psychological ones as well.

Having treated many people for anxiety, I have a certain level of compassion for the "drug of choice" that each anxious person chooses, whether it becomes an OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder) ritual, an Eating Disorder, psychotropic medication for anxiety, or cigarettes. I only know that nobody can stay at a high level of anxiety for long without feeling like they are going to crawl right out of their skin.

However, knowing that there are more healthy options to treat anxiety gives me some hope that those who are willing to get an "education" as I did about cigarette smoking might come to the same conclusion: while smoking is the number one cause for preventable diseases (such as cancer, stroke,and heart attack), it's not a very good way to treat anxiety! Neither is marijuana, for that matter, as you end up trading one problem for a host of others. For my many friends and future clients who wish to quit smoking but feel too anxious to do so, I don't judge you personally. I only know that there are better ways to treat your anxiety and cravings, and when you're ready to quit, there is help to do so. Just tell me when.

Video Nurse will be featuring a one-hour hosted chat on Ustream.tv Monday June 14, 2010 at 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, finishing out the series, "Five Things People Do That Could Kill Them". Smoking is an obvious one, but Video Nurse will take on all the stuff we don't talk about, since most of us know the statistics. It's like telling a fat person, "You're fat." That doesn't help. Instead, we'll talk about the "why's" behind cigarette and marijuana smoking, and worldwide trends that'll have you thinking about what the tobacco industry will be doing to make sure they stay in business for years to come, as well as the link between smoking and obesity, as smoking doesn't always serve to curb one's appetite.

I'll then edit a five minute video segment on Youtube, so you can share it with friends. I hope it's not only informative, but entertaining as well. I find that even when we're talking about death and cancer, there's always something strangely funny or bizarre to share. Tune in and check it out for yourself.

Video Nurse: Are Tanning Beds Safe?

2010-06-08T16:50:00.000-07:00

This is segment from a series of answers given during Video Nurse, which aired on June 7, 2010 at 5 pm on ustream.tv. Video Nurse talked about "Five things people do that could kill them". Rather than take the top five things, Video Nurse took five random things, from the common to the not so common, and did some research on each subject to give people a glimpse into their options.

Some of you know last year I placed a status update on my Facebook page about getting a package of tanning sessions in preparation for my photo shoot with Sarah Lyons. Immediately, several concerned friends cautioned me, stating the dangers of indoor tanning. Since then, my bigger question has been not just about overall safety, but also the way tanning beds work, and at what levels should we consider them to be "overused" and a health risk. You'll be happy to hear that I have no skin cancer, and my skin remains healthy.

Here's a few things I learned:

1. What is considered "overuse" of tanning beds? A number of medically-based articles stated that 100 hours per year is considered overuse in the UVA/UVB enhanced beds. However, your risk factors of skin cancer are based not only on use, but also your genetics. If you are pale skinned and sensitive to the sun, you have a higher risk for skin cancer. If you have more melanin in your skin, you have more protection built into your skin against the damaging rays of the sun.

2. It doesn't matter at what age you start tanning. What does matter is the number of years you've been using tanning beds or staying outdoors without protection for your skin. It's a little bit more like smoking: the more years you smoke, the more damage.

3. Tanning beds in general can't be used to increase Vitamin D absorption. The ones that could be useful are those that have adjustable settings where you can decrease the UVA rays and increase UVB rays, as it is the latter that assist Vitamin D absorption, and it's the UVA rays that cause the skin to turn brown. You could also limit the sessions to seven minutes at a time a couple of times a week during the winter months when sunlight exposure is the shortest, and this might be helpful in lifting some of the depression associated with Vitamin D deficiencies.

4. Although not mentioned in the video, there are some medications that make the skin subject to burns from sun exposure. If you are on these medications, a tanning bed is no place for you, and the risk for burns and skin cancer is increased significantly if you choose to ignore the warnings clearly labeled on these prescription medications.

At the very least, Video Nurse found answers to the unspoken question, "If tanning beds are so unsafe, why are they allowed to be in operation?" There may be some limited use for tanning beds with adjustable settings in the near future, but for the most part, tanning salons know that they aren't holding a gun to anyone's head and saying, "Get tanned or else!" There is no addictive element, and both operators and clients are counseled about the benefits and risks of indoor tanning beds. I don't believe we're going to see tanning salons banned in the U.S. any sooner than we're going to see cigarette smoking outlawed. If anything, I predict tanning bed makers are going to simply create a lower powered one for domestic use and sell them to high-end real estate owners and community clubs.

This is not to say that Video Nurse believes indoor tanning beds are completely safe. It appears that safety depends on the machinery, the amount of use, and the genetics of the user. Just don't be ignorant and believe everything the indoor tanning industry tells you. It's a conflict of interest for studies to be conduct by the insiders in the industry, as this tends to skew the outcome of the studies. Instead, look for independent studies, or go outside the industry and read medical journal articles on the subject.

Video Nurse Says, "Read the Labels"

2010-06-08T14:35:00.000-07:00

Not that I totally like to live life on the dramatic side, but after doing my research, there are certainly enough things that can kill us to take in account. There are so many things, in fact, that sometimes I am reminded as to why life is such a miracle when so many things could go horribly wrong. By the way, if you're neurotic, you might want to skip this blog and move onto some of my more entertainment-friendly pieces.

From edited segments from Video Nurse on June 7, 2010, talking about "Five Things People Do That Could Kill Them", the first segment is something that people do NOT do that could harm them: they don't read the ingredients list on packaging, and they don't read the labels, dosing, and side effects and contraindications the accompany prescription medications.

How can not reading ingredients lists be harmful? In some cases, all you're going to get is some junk in your mouth. In other cases, you might have a food sensitivity and not notice that it's in the food you're about to eat. In other cases, you might mix a medication with something you shouldn't (such as a NSAID or Tylenol), and get an adverse reaction. If you don't know the side effects of medications, you might not know whether these are expected side effects, or you should discontinue the medication and call your doctor.

The rest of the segments can be viewed on my Video Nurse channel , where you'll hear the other three things that could kill you (and the last one I'm saving up for its own segment). Video Nurse airs every Monday at 5 pm PST (unless otherwise indicated).

Not reading ingredients lists over the long haul leads to the problems we're facing as a nation with the obesity crisis, Type II Adult Onset Diabetes, and the problem of corn in almost all our foods. Corn is a filler used to beef up animals for slaughter, but most of us are either allergic to it, or we don't digest it well at the quantities that are showing up in our food. Author Michael Pollan reminds us to not eat from the same place we fuel our cars (biodiesel); we need to know what's in our foods so we can eliminate the stuff that's killing us off or at least harming our quality of life.

Video Nurse wants to encourage you to take back your taste buds and your control over what goes into your body by helping you get informed about your food choices. Why should you allow food producers to groom your taste buds away from natural foods, and towards foods that are high in bad fats, sodium, cholesterol, and excess sugar? Whatever has been done can be undone, but it's going to take some knowledge and discipline. You might not stop craving chocolate cake (and I'm not saying you should!), but you can make choices about what kind of chocolate cake, ingredients, frequency, and in what portion size you want to eat that piece of decadence.

Follow me on Twitter at @HipsForHire and @VideoNurse, or on my Facebook page ImeiYogaDance.

Hands on the Wheel Instead of the Cell Phone

2010-06-08T12:17:00.000-07:00

Not so long ago, in a galaxy called West Seattle, I used to get up in the morning, fix myself breakfast, grab my tote bag, and make the drive between Seattle and Everett. The approximate 30 mile commute went from 40 minutes to well over an hour on bad traffic mornings (Tuesdays being the worst), and yet I needed to commute for a few months before handing my office space over to a colleague and moving my private psychotherapy practice to West Seattle. Sometimes I commuted on my motorcycle, which made things a little less stressful, except when I was polite enough to line up on the backed-up stretches of the entrance ramp to I-5.

By the time six months slid by, I wanted to someone to take me out back and shoot me. I hated commuting, and it was making feel sick.

Once I got past the mobile phone "drop zone" on the West Seattle bridge, I used to try making phone calls to catch up on errands. But the stress of using my commute for more "work" made this idea less and less appealing. The commute time was also inappropriate for client calls because of distraction.

Like most people, I began considering alternatives: listen to music, listen to news programs, practice learning French using language CD's. Each of these alternatives had a point: keep your hands on the wheel, and your eyes on the road. Reduce your distraction, and remember that when you climb behind the wheel of an automobile, you are taking your life (and possibly someone else's) into your own hands.

Whatever happened to old-fashioned, undistracted driving? Unless you have your own driver (that isn't you), when did you think it would ever be OK to take your hands off the wheel and move your eyes and your attention somewhere else than on the road and the cars, bicycles, and pedestrians around you? Almost every time a car has veered through a crosswalk when I had the right of way as a pedestrian, nine out of ten times that driver had a cell phone in his and her hands. Likely, the driver never even noticed me.

Check out what King 5 News had to say about the new hands-free cell phone law that starts Thursday June 10: http://www.king5.com/news/consumer/LOOPHOLE-IN-NEW-CELL-PHONE-LAW--95824039.html. Now you can be pulled over and cited for holding your cell phone while driving without any other reason for being pulled over (such as a traffic violation). You can still talk on your phone, but you can't hold it in your hand to your ear or cradle it between your ear and shoulder (though it can be in your hand, just not held to your ear). And it's still not OK to violate traffic laws, cell phone or no cell phone. [added 06/10: a woman holding a Bluetooth device to her ear was pulled over, but did not receive the $124 fine].

And though cell phone users and drivers have plenty of hands-free devices to help them be compliant, I implore you to go a few steps further:

1. Don't engage in emotional conversations with others while driving. Emotions can cloud your judgment and elongate your reaction times.
2. Keep your conversations brief and business-like, such as, "I"m just calling you to let you know I'm running 5 minutes late, see you soon."
3. Consider talking briefly only on freeways and highways, and not in congested areas involving bicycles and pedestrians. Use voice dialing.
4. For crying out loud, don't text or jabber away on your cell phone while taking your babies and children on errands with you. Pull over to the side of the road, and take care of what you need to on your phone. We already know that parent drivers have to split their attention between the road and their children. You don't need to give any more attention away to a cell phone.

Some cars are outfitted with Bluetooth and a decent set of speakers. Still, I (as Video Nurse), advocate cautious and informed use of calls made from your car, especially because of the distraction factor. What conversation in the car could possibly be worth the value of your life, or someone else's life?

The first time I saw a police officer use a computer while engaged in a high speed chase (I was doing a ride-along program to learn more about our police force), I was momentarily terrified. Then again, officers are trained to do this. The minute the officer punched data in, both hands were on the wheel, pedal went to the metal, and I have never felt safer. The rest of us don't have hours of experience learning how to control a car AND communicate vital information back to police headquarters WHILE occasionally punching in data onto a netbook-sized keyboard. So if you don't have this kind of experience, don't pretend that you do. Put the phone down, and limit your use of voice dialing and cell phone calls.

So, how did I pass all those hours of commuting without losing my mind? I practiced singing show tunes, learning about 300 tunes at one point in time. Guess some day it'll pay off when I do some serious karaoke, or if you ever ask me to sing in your wedding.

Video Nurse: Five Things People Do That Could Kill Them

2010-06-07T13:01:00.000-07:00

Just another friendly reminder: Video Nurse will be talking about, "Five Things That People Do That Could Kill Them". Yeah, yeah, we know that we're all going to die someday, and that death is an inevitability. But Video Nurse is going to talk about some uncommon thoughts about people's every day choices that can lead to dramatic (and sometimes devastating) results in regards to their health.

Video Nurse has already released several short segments on Youtube covering the following subjects: dirty money (should you wash your hands after handling money?), hawt dogs (shoes and foot care), Eating Disorders, and how to stave off a cold. Now we're coming to you live to unleash the power of technology and community to help foster discussion on what you can do to improve your overall physical and mental health.

Video Nurse makes its official debut Mondays at 5pm Pacific Standard Time on Ustream.tv (look for Video Nurse) starting June 7, 2010. It's a one-hour show by topic, with time for people in the chat room to ask questions and jump in the dialogue about health-related topics. I'll occasionally record segments of the show and archive them by topic.

While Video Nurse does not exist to diagnose or treat any specific person's disease or disorder, I can speak generally about the disease/disorder, and point callers towards resources to help them make the most informed choices possible.

In a Nutshell: The Truth About Allergies

2010-06-04T16:33:00.000-07:00

Ask a roomful of people, "Who has an allergy?" and the majority of hands will go up. For some, it's outdoor allergens like grass, flowers, weeds, and dust. For others, it's indoor allergies such as mold, pet dander, or perfumes.

Since I was very young, I have been allergic to more things than can be listed in a short blogpost. In fact, my present allergy list takes up three full pages (and that is in a summarized report). Somehow, I managed to survive all the pets I grew up with, the weeds I rolled in, and the foods I subsequently ate without knowing what it would do to me. The "wake up" call came in 2001, when I ate food specifically ordered without peanuts (a known allergen to me), only to discover later that the peanuts had simply been "removed" from the food and re-served to me by the cook. Alone in my office, wheezing, and on my knees, knowing I only had minutes to respond, I dragged myself to my office's kitchen, made strong black coffee, and drank three cups of it after calling for help. [And no, I didn't have an epinephrine pen on me]. The caffeine works as a vasoconstrictor, buying me precious time when I feared I might be running out of it.

Today, I live with the same allergies and sensitivities, but it appears I'm not alone. Not only have many schools banned peanuts from their premises, but now the DOT is looking into banning peanuts from flights. Right now, only United Airlines bans peanuts and peanut products from all flights, creating "no peanut" zones [and we're cautioned to check that fact with United, as things can change].

The kinds of questions I receive about severe peanut allergies range from the curious ("Why does there seem to be a rise in the number of people with peanut allergies?") to the ignorant ("Why can't people with peanut allergies just not eat peanuts? Why do the rest of us have to be deprived?"). Here are a few facts:

1. Food allergic reactions can also occur by contact or air, meaning, an allergic person can be affected by contact with or by breathing the air containing the allergy. At the writing of this post, a friend sent me a link to an article where a person was handed a peanut-dusted pillow by an airline attendant. Not good.

2. Peanut allergies may be linked to the use of soy milk and baby lotions containing peanut oil. A study in 2003 was conducted in England demonstrating that link (www.bristol.ac.uk/alspac/documents/peanut-allergy-press-release.pdf). There are possible ways to treat peanut reactions coming in the future, but for the most part, there is no known way to remove a peanut allergy, only to treat the rashes, swelling, digestive, or anaphylaxis associated with this allergy.

3. Peanut allergies doubled in the U.S. between 1997 and 2002, but the incidence seems to be unclear. I have seen one report in Wikipedia stating incidence is between 0.4%-0.6% of the population, and another more recent report stating that percentage has climbed to 1.1% or higher. Approximately 100 deaths occur from peanut allergies, making it the most deadly of all known allergies. Possibly the difference in percentages reported is that the collection of data may have only included those reporting severe sensitivities, or incidences that were reported by schools and hospitals for treatment. It may not include the mom who had a child who responded with mild tongue swelling or a rash, but was resolved with an OTC antihistamine.

4. Not all children outgrow allergies as adults. And yes, you can develop allergies later in life. [In my case, I did not find out I was allergic to peanuts until I was 28, and still remember what it was like to eat my first peanut butter and jelly sandwich as a child, without incident].

5. This is so not funny, but a peanut-allergic person can die from kissing someone who ate peanuts earlier. I am truly sorry for the boyfriend of this young gal.

So, what are our choices when it comes to flying, sharing the air (no pun intended),and staying alive? Here's what the DOT is considering (as taken from http://regulationroom.org/airline-passenger-rights/peanut-allergies/)

The Proposed Solutions:
DOT thinks perhaps the time has come to address again the problems of travelers with severe peanut allergies. It is considering the following options:

An outright ban on airlines serving peanuts and peanut products
Banning service of peanuts and peanut products only on a flight where a passenger with a peanut allergy requests a peanut-free flight in advance
Requiring the airline to provide a peanut-free buffer zone around a passenger with a medically-documented severe peanut allergy if the passenger makes a request in advance.
But DOT is open to other solutions, as well as to not adopting any regulation on this issue. See next section.

Already, peanut-sensitive people have resources to help them make the safest decision in regards to airline flight. They know who they are, and they usually take great steps to ensure their own safety, including medical alert bracelets, epi pens, and peanut product avoidance. The bigger question is if airlines need to do more to reduce their liability and incidence of peanut allergies on flights, AND if the public takes this as a cue to researching how infiltrated their food supply has become with oils, fats, and faux ingredients that are harmful and unhealthy.

What do you think? Should the FAA and DOT move towards a ban of peanut products on all flights? Do you believe peanut-allergic people take enough strides to protect their health, and need the public's help in taking the next step? I welcome your comments.

And by the way, did you know I'm airing "Video Nurse" live on Ustream.tv/video-nurse Mondays at 5pm Pacific Standard Time? Join in the fun as we discuss, "Five Things People Do That Could Kill Them". Follow me on Twitter @HipsForHire and @VideoNurse.

Lose Weight With One Change A Day

2010-06-03T15:40:00.000-07:00

Recently I've been chatting with web entrepreneur Chris Pirillo about weight loss. Chris has been keeping up a steady pace of weight loss by counting calories and exercising fairly regularly. Yet even Chris experiences a day that ends with a "F*ck it!" and an extra helping of something or other. We all do.

What if you want to lose weight, but you're in no real big hurry to do it? You want it, but slow and steady, at nothing more than one pound a week. Is there anything you can do that doesn't take a dramatic shift in diet or routine, and doesn't involve an expensive magic pill?

I'm been reading Michael Pollan's, "In Defense of Food", the sequel to "The Omnivore's Dilemma", and Chapter Four lists most of the tips I tell my clients at Seattle Direct Counseling if they just want to make a change at a time towards healthier eating and subsequent weight loss.

Here's the skinny on those tips, with my additions [in brackets]:

1. Pay more, eat less. [By paying for higher quality food, you're likely to need and eat less].
2. Eat Meals. [Eat real meals, and snack less. At the very least, don't eat meal-sized snacks].
3. Do all your eating at a table. [And the computer desk does not count as a table. See #7]
4. Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does. [Corn is biodiesel. Get rid of it.]
5. Try not to eat alone. [You're less likely to binge, and you eat slowly and enjoy eating]
6. Consult your gut. [Learn internal cues to satiety and satisfaction].
7. Eat slowly. [Your brain needs more time to figure out you're full]
8. Cook, and if you can, grow a garden. [You're more likely to know what's in your food, and you can learn to portion it correctly].

You can try instituting one of these tips a day, and see what effect it makes. For example, take your lunch to work, but eat in a public space with other co-workers, and chat it up. Or with Tip #2, skip your office's doughnuts offered as mid-meal snacks, and have a small apple and sparkling water available if everyone else is standing around eating and you feel legitimately hungry.

None of these tips are designed to give you fast weight loss, but all of them are safe, and all of them are associated with the habits of the most health-conscious and lower weight cultures on the planet.

I'll be putting together my best weight loss tips for you in an eBook soon. In the meantime, let me know how any of these tips from Pollan's books are working for you to either help you lose weight slowly over time, or maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Newbies and n00bs: SSDD

2010-06-02T21:09:00.000-07:00

TSSTechangel shared an acronym with me today on my Ustream.tv chatroom (Hips for Hire):

SSDD = Same Sh!t, Different Day.

I suppose the same thing could be said about experts and gurus claiming to be Social Media experts. When Scott Berkun delivered his presentation to SMCSea (Social Media Club Seattle) last week, "How to Call B.S. on a Social Media Guru", the audience murmured with agreement that so-called experts in this new field need to substantiate their claims and do not need to be received as experts just because they have a book or a program to sell. No one, however, mentioned that because Social Media is so new, maybe we ought to stop looking for gurus and just learn as much as we can collectively.

Oh but wait: that would make all of us in the room a bunch of newbies and n00bs. Is this possible? Therefore, SSDD.

For the past eight months, I've been calling myself "the n00b of Social Media". Two weeks after having launched a new company idea, HipsForHire.com, and armed with a Twitter account and a blog, I attended BlogWorld 2009 in Las Vegas. Seated across from me during a radio interview was Chris Pirillo, and across from him was the most "newbie" person in the room: me. I figured "n00b" was a better description than "village idiot".

Eight months later, I'm told that essentially everyone who uses Social Media is a newbie. We don't know what we're doing. Even Mark Zuckerberg in his most recent admissions has shared that Facebook has made mistakes. We simply don't know what the impact of our actions are in this sensitive new media climate.

Why then are so many people quick to name themselves as Social Media master consultants and experts? Why aren't they taking Berkun's advice by allowing others to label a person as an expert? Since October 2009, I'm managed to attend four Social Media Events: Blogworld 2009, LeWeb 2009, SXSW 2010, ReThinkHawaii 2010. By August, I'll have attended my first Gnomedex, and I'll be rounding the corner into the final days of the first n00b year. And I'll still be calling myself a n00b.

If anything I'm learning in my journey of immersion into the world of Social Media, it is that we only end up learning how much we don't know. Albert Einstein got it right, "If we knew what we were doing, we wouldn't call it Research."

I'm a n00b, and likely I'll stay a n00b for years to come. I'm still researching, still learning, still growing. Every day I'm exposed to some new tool, some little trick, a different way of organizing and disseminating products, services, or ideas. This Social Media universe is big. . I'll let some other person call himself an expert. With title comes responsibility. Then again, if you never make any mistakes, you probably weren't working on anything of importance.

Interview with DJ Chuang

2010-06-02T16:40:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine has been using social media tools and the Internet ("new media" was what it was called before) for years. Dj Chuang (djchuang.com) is a web guy, engineer, ePastor, and geek in his own right. He decided to interview me about my immersion into Social Media as a non-geek, non-industry person -- otherwise known as a "n00b".

Check out the video interview (and sorry for the verbosity, I got really excited about sharing my story!) about how I got into using Social Media for my businesses and my newest direction for Video Nurse.

What do you think? Does Video Nurse have a place in all the voices and talking heads out there?

Video Nurse: Five Things People Do That Could Kill Them

2010-06-02T10:16:00.000-07:00

It happens all the time. In fact, it happened yesterday evening.

A friend emails me, asking about a side effect of a medication he is taking. He wants to know if he should stop taking it, or if he should continue taking it. Can he stop taking a pain killer he was prescribed, and take some OTC Tylenol instead?

As an RN and licensed mental health counselor, I have the licenses and background to field general questions -- something like a triage nurse -- and help you, the consumer, find practical answers. With cheeky humor, entertainment, knowledge, and maybe a tiny bit of pointed sarcasm for the belligerent help-resistant person, I can point you in the right direction. I'll help you wade through medical journal articles, understand studies and statistics, and tell you when something sounds downright fishy (or as my friend says, "It's a bunch of crap!").

Video Nurse makes its official debut Mondays at 5pm Pacific Standard Time on Ustream.tv (look for Video Nurse) starting June 7, 2010. It's a one-hour show by topic, with time for people in the chat room to ask questions and jump in the dialogue about health-related topics. I'll occasionally record segments of the show and archive them by topic.

While Video Nurse does not exist to diagnose or treat any specific person's disease or disorder, I can speak generally about the disease/disorder, and point callers towards resources to help them make the most informed choices possible.

Here's just one example of Video Nurse:

On Monday June 7, 2010, Video Nurse will cover the topic, "Five Things People Do That Could Kill Them". I already gave you a hint to one of the five in the above example. When you don't read your prescription carefully and mix medications, you are playing "mad scientist" with your body as the lab experiment. In the example above, Tylenol had an adverse reaction to the pain killer this friend wanted to replace. The same could be said about stopping a medication mid-prescription without informing your doctor (for follow up): that's almost always a dumb thing to do, because doctor's usually do not prescribe medication without a reason.

Every single person is responsible for his or her own health, even if you see a physician. No matter your culture, age, gender, or sexual orientation, it is your right to be informed about what keeps you healthy. Ultimately, the choices available are yours to take. Watch Video Nurse, and start living your most satisfying life today.

Video Nurse Moves to HipsForHire on Blogger!

2010-06-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

Video Nurse on Youtube made its debut earlier this year (2010) with the encouragement of web entrepreneur Chris Pirillo and the support of various friends both inside and outside the medical world. They know my passion for health care and particularly Community Health, which is my emphasis as a B.S.N./RN and psychotherapist.

Now I am temporarily moving Video Nurse segments to my new Hips For Hire Blogger site (its current home is HipsForHire.ning.com, but we'll be wrapping up that community this month). I am launching a Ustream.tv show, "Video Nurse" airing Mondays at 5pm PST, fielding questions about health care and mental health care, and preparing interesting subjects in a "Dr. Phil" type of format, without formally diagnosing or treating anyone (for liability issues). Please check out my show starting June 7, 2010 on ustream.tv (search for Video Nurse).

For those of you joining my web community or reading this post, here's a post I wrote in March 2010 explaining the idea and environment in which Video Nurse evolved:

Why Video Nurse Makes Sense
by Imei Hsu, RN, MAC, LMHC
SeattleDirectCounseling
March 5, 2010

We already know that the Internet has changed the way we do life in general. In a survey of Americans taken by Yahoo! as shown on the Today Show on March 5, 2010, people have indicated that the Internet is something they can't do without, and even more importantly, email has replaced snail mail as the quintessential form of communication of letters and notes. And with movies like "Avatar" and "Alice in Wonderland", 3-D movies are changing the way we literally see life. What next?

If video killed the radio star, can video "kill" or change the way we deliver medicine?

Though we will never replace the need for a set of eyes, hands, ears, nose and a brain to physically observe a person showing a set of symptoms, video and digital reproduction are being used in innovative ways to keep us healthy. The ways we can use new technologies are endless.

At the SMC Seattle's Tweetup at Swedish Medical Center last week, I sat at a machine that allowed me to get the feel of conducting a lap-band procedure. Grasping handles that were so much more comfortable than Joy-stick style game controllers, I plucked, lifted, stretched, and lassoed a number of gelatinous objects in my viewer, whilst others looked at the real objects and cheered me on in my imaginary world of lap band placement. I walked away feeling like a pro, though I assure you, it would be many hours of training before the average medical student will be performing his or her first procedure.

If only bariatric training could have been so cool. Back in the day, nurses and doctors studied books and watched videos of surgeries and procedures. Then we scheduled "cut and sew alongs" (my phrase), practicing on real people with an supervising physician. Every medical newbie remembers the first time s/he cauterized a bleeder, or placed stitches on an ear hanging precariously off the side of a patient's head. With real-time video, streaming, and digital reproduction, learning is faster, realistic, and vivid. Just like my philosophy instructor said, "Like the Matrix, the virtual is now more real than the Real."

If these technologies, documentation, and videos are available for people to access, why do we need something like "Video Nurse", a new concept I am testing on Youtube to provide questions and answers from the Internet about health, mental health, and relationships? One of my Youtube subscribers said it succinctly: because there isn't anything else like it on Youtube, and because people are lazy. The info is there. Yet we still like to talk to a warm body and be pointed in a direction that makes sense to us.

If curiosity killed the cat, I wonder how many of my cat lives are dead. I love finding good questions, and then I literally want to do a combo "pee-pee dance/O face" of excitement whilst I research answers off the Internet, compare statistics and sources, and decide what is essential to share.

Got an interesting question for Video Nurse? Send it in, and let me at it. Chances are, someone out there has been asking the same question, and together, we can do a world of good. If there are enough questions for a full-life show, I'll stream my answers in a 30 minute or 60 minute event on Ustream.tv. Grab your popcorn - or, oh wait! Find out what Video Nurse has to say about digestion and corn, and then make your own decision about what to grab for a snack.

What's For Dinner?

2010-05-31T14:50:00.000-07:00

These days, most advice about what to eat sounds more like what NOT to eat. Don't eat foods with transfats. Don't eat fish with high levels of mercury. Don't eat foods or drink beverages sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. But do you know how to answer the question, "What's for dinner?" if you need to prepare healthy food without boring yourself to tears?

On my HipsForHire.ning.com site (which will be out of commission when all free networks will be asked to pay for services), I have already posted a simple "tips" list of foods you can eat when trying to modify your diet to include healthy ingredients, higher fiber, and remove "junk food" from your daily routine. My website, www.SeattleDirectCounseling.com, will soon include a section on healthy eating tips and foods you can find in your local grocery store that will make eating both wise and fun.

Dave of Dave's Killer Bread produces breads that fit the bill if you're trying to increase your fiber, lose weight, and eat healthy grains free of transfats or refined white flour.

With nine choices including his new "Sin Dawg" (with Cinnamon to help satisfy a sweet tooth), Dave has taken his father's baking profession and brought it into the 21st century by marketing on Twitter. I think he may be the only baker that has reached out on Twitter to help people find out more about his loaves of bread!

Dave's personal story is shared on every loaf of bread. He's a four-time ex-con who had an epiphany during his last time in the slammer. Turning his life around and heading straight to the kitchen, Dave now has nine different loaves of his "killer bread", and he has a fan following including moms and kids who wanted to have their pictures taken with him. He also claims he's used his own bread to take off 20 pounds, pounds that can easily come on with age when we get busy, are injured, or can't exercise the way we want to.

Dave and his wife had a booth at NW Folklife Festival, and they were doing brisk business when Chris Pirillo and I stopped by. Dave also has a coloring book with fun illustrations of the bread-making process.

For more information about Dave's Killer Bread, check out his website DavesKillerBread.com.

Next time you ask, "What's for dinner?" I hope that your bread choice may include Dave's Killer Bread. My choices are Spelt or Powerseed. What's yours?

Hips for Hire on Ning Moving to Blogger?

2010-05-29T18:07:00.000-07:00

May 29, 2010

With just days left to make a final decision concerning the fate of my Ning blog site, HipsForHire.ning.com, I've decided to "hold" the option of moving my blog to Blogger.

Already, I have two blogsites that I don't use very much, The Wireless Yogini, and Quick Question Consult. But I've always enjoyed the ease of use with Blogger, and though I'll likely miss the profiles and community-building tools of Ning, I'm going to trust that Blogger is working to capitalize on all the underling fall-outs like myself, who like Ning, but just aren't big enough to justify premium paid services.

When my community grows beyond 300+, I would consider paying for a blogging platform like Ning, and for the most part, I've been happy using Ning since I started my company Hips for Hire in October 2009. I look forward to the day when I can return.

In the meanwhile, you might find me here, posting Hipsforhire blog posts on fitness, dance, music, health care, mental health, and other tech-related subjects that I enjoy writing about.

You may also find links to my Ustream.tv channel segments, "Video Nurse", where I take live chat questions or phone calls on a variety of subjects about health care and mental health, relationships, related concerns, airing every Monday at 5 pm, Pacific Standard Time.