And the Crazy Traveling Is Done…Thank Goodness

The Ritz Carlton Key Biscayne

My crazy six weeks of traveling has just ended.  Since late March, I’ve been on the Disney Fantasy, on a family vacation to Phoenix, on a press trip to Virginia, at the Disney Social Media Celebration, and to Mom 2.0 in Key Biscayne, Florida.  I love traveling, and although it is a strain on my family, I always enjoy it.

Until this trip….

Here’s just a few of the things that happened:

After landing in Miami, we told the cab driver that we were headed to the Ritz.  About 20 minutes later, Charlene realized we were in the wrong place.  Apparently, he thought we said “beach”, and was in the process of driving us and all of our luggage to some random beach.The Ritz were unable to accommodate the request I’d been promised earlier – a rollaway bed in our room.  Eventually, housekeeping arrived with a comforter for the floor, then, when we refused, he returned with a thin mattress.  We also never received the conference room drops.  Eventually, they did remedy the problem, but it was a hassle.About ten seconds after putting on my new white dress for the white party, I got a paper cut and bled on the dress.  Can’t take me anywhere.On our return, we waited about 30 minutes for a cab (at 5:20am), and just made it to our flight.  I wasn’t able to get coffee before the flight, but figured I’d get some on the flight.  Until the pilot informed us that the coffee pot wasn’t working…

Yes, it’s time for a bit of a travel break…

Tagged as: mom travels

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Off to Beijing for National Cancer Institute workshop for Chinese journalists

photo by Jorge Lascar on Flickr

The website will be on hold over the next week, as I’m traveling to Beijing to help lead a workshop for Chinese journalists hosted by the National Cancer Institute and the Cancer Institute and Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

This will be the third international journalism workshop I’ve done with the National Cancer Institute – with several more on the horizon within the next year.

We are gratified to see the global reach of efforts like ours – built on the pioneering work done by an Australian team that founded the first Media Doctor site two years before we got started.  Now, as the yellow stars on the map below show, such projects have sprung up around the world.  And the invitations for talks and workshops, like the upcoming one in Beijing, continue to come in.

View the original article here

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Off to Beijing for National Cancer Institute workshop for Chinese journalists

photo by Jorge Lascar on Flickr

The website will be on hold over the next week, as I’m traveling to Beijing to help lead a workshop for Chinese journalists hosted by the National Cancer Institute and the Cancer Institute and Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

This will be the third international journalism workshop I’ve done with the National Cancer Institute – with several more on the horizon within the next year.

We are gratified to see the global reach of efforts like ours – built on the pioneering work done by an Australian team that founded the first Media Doctor site two years before we got started.  Now, as the yellow stars on the map below show, such projects have sprung up around the world.  And the invitations for talks and workshops, like the upcoming one in Beijing, continue to come in.

View the original article here

Read More

Off to Beijing for National Cancer Institute workshop for Chinese journalists

photo by Jorge Lascar on Flickr

The website will be on hold over the next week, as I’m traveling to Beijing to help lead a workshop for Chinese journalists hosted by the National Cancer Institute and the Cancer Institute and Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

This will be the third international journalism workshop I’ve done with the National Cancer Institute – with several more on the horizon within the next year.

We are gratified to see the global reach of efforts like ours – built on the pioneering work done by an Australian team that founded the first Media Doctor site two years before we got started.  Now, as the yellow stars on the map below show, such projects have sprung up around the world.  And the invitations for talks and workshops, like the upcoming one in Beijing, continue to come in.

View the original article here

Read More

Romney Prep - 'Playful' or 'Bullying Supreme?', Same Sex Marriage Asterisk, Edwards Prosecution Rests (PM Note)

May 10, 2012 06:36 PM Same Sex Marriage Asterisk - Is it still doing the right thing if you didn't mean to do it, didn't want to do it then, and got an apology for being forced into it? Yesterday President Obama was talking about a change of heart that had to do with his conscience and Democrats and gay rights groups were heralding an historic moment.  But it turns out Obama didn't want to make that historic step. At least not right  now. Joe Biden privately apologized to the president, reports Devin Dwyer - http://abcn.ws/K0pl0T That won't keep him from raising more than $12 million in Seattle and LA. Shear Mittness - A High School Prank or Bullying - The Washington Post published a meticulously reported look at Mitt Romney's high school years and included a recollection by four named sources that the Republican nominee held down another student, who was "presumed" by some classmates to be gay, and chopped his hair. There were other elements to the story, including some very flattering to Romney, but that anecdote, which led the story, became a focus of other news outlets. One Witness, Phillip Maxwell, told ABC's David Muir he remembers every detail and has great regrets about it. Maxwell, now an attorney, says he and the then-governor's son engaged in "assault and battery" and called it "bullying supreme." There's a lot of atonement in what Maxwell tells Muir - http://abcn.ws/K6oGNk Romney said several times today he can't remember cutting the underclassmen's hair and her certainly wouldn't have done it because the boy was gay. But he didn't dispute that it happened. http://abcn.ws/ILJPeA Another classmate, who didn't want to be named,  described some of what went on at Cranbrook as "like Lord of the Flies." http://abcn.ws/IMaxnc Classmate Gregg Dearth Tells Steven Portnoy it was "Prankerish" and "Playful" - http://bit.ly/KTOOdc John Edwards - The prosecution rests by playing his 2008 interview with ABC's Bob Woodruff.http://abcn.ws/LtuNwY Other Romney News - Same Sex Adoption - Mitt Romney, talking to Fox's Neil Cavuto,  expressed support for gay adoption on Thursday,  calling it "fine" and noting that it's legal in his home state of Massachusetts. http://abcn.ws/M1EhCe Edwards Had His Eye On a Supreme Court Appointment - http://abcn.ws/IWT7cx Flashback - That John Edwards Interview with Woodruff - http://abcn.ws/IWT5RP Romney's Path to 270 -  'Hawkeye Granite' or 'Southern Sweep?' - Amy Walter: With names like the "3-2-1? plan, the "Southern Sweep" and "Hawkeye Granite," the Romney campaign argues that it can lose some traditionally "red" states and still win the White House. In the "4 + 1? plan, for example, Romney would need to carry four states - Florida, North Carolina, Virginia and Ohio, but just one of these former "red" states: Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico or Iowa. A win in Pennsylvania or New Hampshire - both of which went "blue" in 2004 - plus the original four would also work. http://abcn.ws/JjruWJ Julia Logic - Virginia Heffernan: "Is Julia gay? And will she get married now?" AND "But back to Julia, the cartoon character of ambiguous personal arrangements at the center of Obama's widely reviled propaganda slideshow, "Life of Julia." She is the fictional star of a digital campaign ad that contrasts the ways that Barack Obama's and Mitt Romney's policies affect the life of a woman who seems to be single, and yet has a baby. She may need the government, but man does she not need men. So maybe she's gay!"http://yhoo.it/J3QkZM Meet the New GOP Establishment - The Tea Party - Walter and Negrin - "The Tea Party was born out of a hatred for the establishment. Led by flamethrowers like Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann and Marco Rubio, Tea Partiers wanting to "shake things up" in Washington sided with conservative challengers to mainstream Republicans and sent them to Congress. Now it might be time for the Tea Party and the establishment to share a ride. The Tea Party's latest victory came this week in Indiana, where the longtime moderate Sen. Dick Lugar lost a primary race to the more conservative Richard Mourdock. (Somewhere in Maine, Olympia Snowe could be seen scowling.) On Wednesday, the establishment-bucking Mourdock stood side by side with Indiana's governor, Mitch Daniels, a conservative so mainstream that not only did he endorse Lugar, but he's a top-tier favorite among Republicans to be Mitt Romney's running mate. Daniels called for unity and said that Mourdock is "right out of the heart, right out of the mainstream of our party.""http://abcn.ws/JF7df4 Auto worker in Obama ad Works for Troubled Company - Johnson Controls, a company based in Milwaukee that makes car batteries. The Republican National Committee notes that Johnson Controls got $299 million from the stimulus to make batteries. But after getting the money, the company built just one factory instead of two. The Washington Post reported that "because of lower-than-projected demand," only the first was built and it's at half capacity. The government fined Johnson Controls for "exposing employees to higher than permissible levels of lead." And, in early April, the company laid off an unannounced number of workers to cut costs, after it reported weak results from January. http://abcn.ws/JiD3io Swiss Mrs. No More - Bachmann Rescinds Dual Swiss Citizenship - http://abcn.ws/KODRtZ Marco Rubio Woos Iowa-Based Crowd in DC - A Stump Speech Teaser -http://abcn.ws/M1zBfO Rubio: Democrats are Using Same Sex Marriage Issue to Create Division -http://abcn.ws/JfVtBi Allen West: Democrats Could Lose Black Vote Over Gay Marriage - http://abcn.ws/JkcGqR Boehner on SSM - "The president and the Democrats can talk about all this all they want, but the fact is the American people are focused on our economy and they're asking the question, 'Where are the jobs?'" Pelosi on SSM - "It was moving, it was historic, and it was a great day for our country. It honors the ideal of equality, which is the hope and heritage of our country." http://abcn.ws/K2O2hG Romney Frustrated by Colorado Interviewer, Prefers 'Issues of Substance' -http://abcn.ws/J0Bslw Miss America on the Ballot - http://abcn.ws/JghX5l

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Romney Prep - 'Playful' or 'Bullying Supreme?', Same Sex Marriage Asterisk, Edwards Prosecution Rests (PM Note)

May 10, 2012 06:36 PM Same Sex Marriage Asterisk - Is it still doing the right thing if you didn't mean to do it, didn't want to do it then, and got an apology for being forced into it? Yesterday President Obama was talking about a change of heart that had to do with his conscience and Democrats and gay rights groups were heralding an historic moment.  But it turns out Obama didn't want to make that historic step. At least not right  now. Joe Biden privately apologized to the president, reports Devin Dwyer - http://abcn.ws/K0pl0T That won't keep him from raising more than $12 million in Seattle and LA. Shear Mittness - A High School Prank or Bullying - The Washington Post published a meticulously reported look at Mitt Romney's high school years and included a recollection by four named sources that the Republican nominee held down another student, who was "presumed" by some classmates to be gay, and chopped his hair. There were other elements to the story, including some very flattering to Romney, but that anecdote, which led the story, became a focus of other news outlets. One Witness, Phillip Maxwell, told ABC's David Muir he remembers every detail and has great regrets about it. Maxwell, now an attorney, says he and the then-governor's son engaged in "assault and battery" and called it "bullying supreme." There's a lot of atonement in what Maxwell tells Muir - http://abcn.ws/K6oGNk Romney said several times today he can't remember cutting the underclassmen's hair and her certainly wouldn't have done it because the boy was gay. But he didn't dispute that it happened. http://abcn.ws/ILJPeA Another classmate, who didn't want to be named,  described some of what went on at Cranbrook as "like Lord of the Flies." http://abcn.ws/IMaxnc Classmate Gregg Dearth Tells Steven Portnoy it was "Prankerish" and "Playful" - http://bit.ly/KTOOdc John Edwards - The prosecution rests by playing his 2008 interview with ABC's Bob Woodruff.http://abcn.ws/LtuNwY Other Romney News - Same Sex Adoption - Mitt Romney, talking to Fox's Neil Cavuto,  expressed support for gay adoption on Thursday,  calling it "fine" and noting that it's legal in his home state of Massachusetts. http://abcn.ws/M1EhCe Edwards Had His Eye On a Supreme Court Appointment - http://abcn.ws/IWT7cx Flashback - That John Edwards Interview with Woodruff - http://abcn.ws/IWT5RP Romney's Path to 270 -  'Hawkeye Granite' or 'Southern Sweep?' - Amy Walter: With names like the "3-2-1? plan, the "Southern Sweep" and "Hawkeye Granite," the Romney campaign argues that it can lose some traditionally "red" states and still win the White House. In the "4 + 1? plan, for example, Romney would need to carry four states - Florida, North Carolina, Virginia and Ohio, but just one of these former "red" states: Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico or Iowa. A win in Pennsylvania or New Hampshire - both of which went "blue" in 2004 - plus the original four would also work. http://abcn.ws/JjruWJ Julia Logic - Virginia Heffernan: "Is Julia gay? And will she get married now?" AND "But back to Julia, the cartoon character of ambiguous personal arrangements at the center of Obama's widely reviled propaganda slideshow, "Life of Julia." She is the fictional star of a digital campaign ad that contrasts the ways that Barack Obama's and Mitt Romney's policies affect the life of a woman who seems to be single, and yet has a baby. She may need the government, but man does she not need men. So maybe she's gay!"http://yhoo.it/J3QkZM Meet the New GOP Establishment - The Tea Party - Walter and Negrin - "The Tea Party was born out of a hatred for the establishment. Led by flamethrowers like Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann and Marco Rubio, Tea Partiers wanting to "shake things up" in Washington sided with conservative challengers to mainstream Republicans and sent them to Congress. Now it might be time for the Tea Party and the establishment to share a ride. The Tea Party's latest victory came this week in Indiana, where the longtime moderate Sen. Dick Lugar lost a primary race to the more conservative Richard Mourdock. (Somewhere in Maine, Olympia Snowe could be seen scowling.) On Wednesday, the establishment-bucking Mourdock stood side by side with Indiana's governor, Mitch Daniels, a conservative so mainstream that not only did he endorse Lugar, but he's a top-tier favorite among Republicans to be Mitt Romney's running mate. Daniels called for unity and said that Mourdock is "right out of the heart, right out of the mainstream of our party.""http://abcn.ws/JF7df4 Auto worker in Obama ad Works for Troubled Company - Johnson Controls, a company based in Milwaukee that makes car batteries. The Republican National Committee notes that Johnson Controls got $299 million from the stimulus to make batteries. But after getting the money, the company built just one factory instead of two. The Washington Post reported that "because of lower-than-projected demand," only the first was built and it's at half capacity. The government fined Johnson Controls for "exposing employees to higher than permissible levels of lead." And, in early April, the company laid off an unannounced number of workers to cut costs, after it reported weak results from January. http://abcn.ws/JiD3io Swiss Mrs. No More - Bachmann Rescinds Dual Swiss Citizenship - http://abcn.ws/KODRtZ Marco Rubio Woos Iowa-Based Crowd in DC - A Stump Speech Teaser -http://abcn.ws/M1zBfO Rubio: Democrats are Using Same Sex Marriage Issue to Create Division -http://abcn.ws/JfVtBi Allen West: Democrats Could Lose Black Vote Over Gay Marriage - http://abcn.ws/JkcGqR Boehner on SSM - "The president and the Democrats can talk about all this all they want, but the fact is the American people are focused on our economy and they're asking the question, 'Where are the jobs?'" Pelosi on SSM - "It was moving, it was historic, and it was a great day for our country. It honors the ideal of equality, which is the hope and heritage of our country." http://abcn.ws/K2O2hG Romney Frustrated by Colorado Interviewer, Prefers 'Issues of Substance' -http://abcn.ws/J0Bslw Miss America on the Ballot - http://abcn.ws/JghX5l

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Romney Prep - 'Playful' or 'Bullying Supreme?', Same Sex Marriage Asterisk, Edwards Prosecution Rests (PM Note)

May 10, 2012 06:36 PM Same Sex Marriage Asterisk - Is it still doing the right thing if you didn't mean to do it, didn't want to do it then, and got an apology for being forced into it? Yesterday President Obama was talking about a change of heart that had to do with his conscience and Democrats and gay rights groups were heralding an historic moment.  But it turns out Obama didn't want to make that historic step. At least not right  now. Joe Biden privately apologized to the president, reports Devin Dwyer - http://abcn.ws/K0pl0T That won't keep him from raising more than $12 million in Seattle and LA. Shear Mittness - A High School Prank or Bullying - The Washington Post published a meticulously reported look at Mitt Romney's high school years and included a recollection by four named sources that the Republican nominee held down another student, who was "presumed" by some classmates to be gay, and chopped his hair. There were other elements to the story, including some very flattering to Romney, but that anecdote, which led the story, became a focus of other news outlets. One Witness, Phillip Maxwell, told ABC's David Muir he remembers every detail and has great regrets about it. Maxwell, now an attorney, says he and the then-governor's son engaged in "assault and battery" and called it "bullying supreme." There's a lot of atonement in what Maxwell tells Muir - http://abcn.ws/K6oGNk Romney said several times today he can't remember cutting the underclassmen's hair and her certainly wouldn't have done it because the boy was gay. But he didn't dispute that it happened. http://abcn.ws/ILJPeA Another classmate, who didn't want to be named,  described some of what went on at Cranbrook as "like Lord of the Flies." http://abcn.ws/IMaxnc Classmate Gregg Dearth Tells Steven Portnoy it was "Prankerish" and "Playful" - http://bit.ly/KTOOdc John Edwards - The prosecution rests by playing his 2008 interview with ABC's Bob Woodruff.http://abcn.ws/LtuNwY Other Romney News - Same Sex Adoption - Mitt Romney, talking to Fox's Neil Cavuto,  expressed support for gay adoption on Thursday,  calling it "fine" and noting that it's legal in his home state of Massachusetts. http://abcn.ws/M1EhCe Edwards Had His Eye On a Supreme Court Appointment - http://abcn.ws/IWT7cx Flashback - That John Edwards Interview with Woodruff - http://abcn.ws/IWT5RP Romney's Path to 270 -  'Hawkeye Granite' or 'Southern Sweep?' - Amy Walter: With names like the "3-2-1? plan, the "Southern Sweep" and "Hawkeye Granite," the Romney campaign argues that it can lose some traditionally "red" states and still win the White House. In the "4 + 1? plan, for example, Romney would need to carry four states - Florida, North Carolina, Virginia and Ohio, but just one of these former "red" states: Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico or Iowa. A win in Pennsylvania or New Hampshire - both of which went "blue" in 2004 - plus the original four would also work. http://abcn.ws/JjruWJ Julia Logic - Virginia Heffernan: "Is Julia gay? And will she get married now?" AND "But back to Julia, the cartoon character of ambiguous personal arrangements at the center of Obama's widely reviled propaganda slideshow, "Life of Julia." She is the fictional star of a digital campaign ad that contrasts the ways that Barack Obama's and Mitt Romney's policies affect the life of a woman who seems to be single, and yet has a baby. She may need the government, but man does she not need men. So maybe she's gay!"http://yhoo.it/J3QkZM Meet the New GOP Establishment - The Tea Party - Walter and Negrin - "The Tea Party was born out of a hatred for the establishment. Led by flamethrowers like Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann and Marco Rubio, Tea Partiers wanting to "shake things up" in Washington sided with conservative challengers to mainstream Republicans and sent them to Congress. Now it might be time for the Tea Party and the establishment to share a ride. The Tea Party's latest victory came this week in Indiana, where the longtime moderate Sen. Dick Lugar lost a primary race to the more conservative Richard Mourdock. (Somewhere in Maine, Olympia Snowe could be seen scowling.) On Wednesday, the establishment-bucking Mourdock stood side by side with Indiana's governor, Mitch Daniels, a conservative so mainstream that not only did he endorse Lugar, but he's a top-tier favorite among Republicans to be Mitt Romney's running mate. Daniels called for unity and said that Mourdock is "right out of the heart, right out of the mainstream of our party.""http://abcn.ws/JF7df4 Auto worker in Obama ad Works for Troubled Company - Johnson Controls, a company based in Milwaukee that makes car batteries. The Republican National Committee notes that Johnson Controls got $299 million from the stimulus to make batteries. But after getting the money, the company built just one factory instead of two. The Washington Post reported that "because of lower-than-projected demand," only the first was built and it's at half capacity. The government fined Johnson Controls for "exposing employees to higher than permissible levels of lead." And, in early April, the company laid off an unannounced number of workers to cut costs, after it reported weak results from January. http://abcn.ws/JiD3io Swiss Mrs. No More - Bachmann Rescinds Dual Swiss Citizenship - http://abcn.ws/KODRtZ Marco Rubio Woos Iowa-Based Crowd in DC - A Stump Speech Teaser -http://abcn.ws/M1zBfO Rubio: Democrats are Using Same Sex Marriage Issue to Create Division -http://abcn.ws/JfVtBi Allen West: Democrats Could Lose Black Vote Over Gay Marriage - http://abcn.ws/JkcGqR Boehner on SSM - "The president and the Democrats can talk about all this all they want, but the fact is the American people are focused on our economy and they're asking the question, 'Where are the jobs?'" Pelosi on SSM - "It was moving, it was historic, and it was a great day for our country. It honors the ideal of equality, which is the hope and heritage of our country." http://abcn.ws/K2O2hG Romney Frustrated by Colorado Interviewer, Prefers 'Issues of Substance' -http://abcn.ws/J0Bslw Miss America on the Ballot - http://abcn.ws/JghX5l

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