@NowSourcing.Com

It’s been a couple of weeks, so it’s time for a #10in10 update.  And a bit different of an update this time.  If you’ve been following my whereabouts lately or are in the area, you’d know that Louisville has been hit with a powerful ice storm that kept us out of the house without power for days. Upon our return, we have power once again, but the dreaded internet is down – what to do?

Funny the way things work out sometimes…we’ve lived in our new home almost 2 years now, and really haven’t spoken much to our neighbor.  Big disaster type storms have a way of connecting people, and that’s just what this storm did.  I spoke to my neighbor about letting me on to his secure wifi, and sure enough he had no problem with this! Saved me quite a few trips to the local coffee shop and allowed me to work uninterrupted.  Sometimes it’s great to just step away from the computer (even when forced in this case ), out of the echo chamber, and connect with real live people…even when they aren’t into social media (yet anyways mwhahaha).

2 to go until the big iPod winner (sponsored by Geeks.com) going to the person that drives the furthest to meet up, currently Kevin Mason from Nashville.

Previous 10 in 10 posts:

• Week 7: Meeting Louisville Soup
• Week 6: Meeting Erin McMahon aka Firestar9s
• Week 5: Meeting Scott Hack
• Week 4:Week 4 – Todd Mundt from NPR
• Week 3: meeting with Jaime Mack
• iPod Nano / Geeks.com sponsor announcement
• Week 2: meeting with Kevin Mason
• Week 1: meeting with David Finch
• Taking it to the Streets: Initial post

Related articles:

• Crippling Ice Storm Sweeps Heartland (cbsnews.com)
• chilly on TwitPic (tsurch.com)
• 250K still without power in icy Kentucky (cnn.com)

(image credit: paulobrandao)

Snow storms can be a good thing.  Remember when you were a kid, and the first thing you did when you got out of bed? Sure you do.  Think back.  You got out of bed, looked outside, listened to the radio / tv, and checked for closings.  You then rooted for the weatherman to pronounce the verdict of CLOSED, and you had your perfect winter wonderland to explore.

So, what’s changed? We’re older now, many of us with families of our own and the responsibilities to prove it.  We need to earn our keep, and in the fast paced world of social media, we often don’t think twice at 12+ hour workdays.

And then, we have a snowday.  The Mayor of Louisville had declared a state of emergency due to a huge winter storm, and the heavy ice from the storm resulted in lots of downed power lines.  For me, this meant no Internet for a day.  Pretty soon, I began feeling the effects of social media withdrawal.  I know I wasn’t alone in this feeling, as I stepped in to my local coffee shop, I’ve never seen the caffeinated, wi-fi laden venue so full of laptop armed people

But wait a minute..aren’t snowdays supposed to be fun? Here are some tips to help you through your social media snowday:

Family time. This was a great day for me to be with my family.  Sure, I still had a few iPhone and coffee shop moments, but nothing brings a family closer when the power goes out.

Focus. I don’t know about you, but the sheer about of texts, im’s, emails, dm’s and every other abbreviation imaginable I receive every day is enough to short out even the most dedicated individual’s focus.  Downtime away from the Internet can help you bang out that blog post you’ve been dying to write, get that proposal ready to go without interruption, and take care of your taxes (hey, it is the season, folks).

Strategic Time Blocks. Building on the previous point of focus, if you know that you are only going to have power / Internet for a short while (i.e. on your next visit to the coffee shop), keep these hotspot visits focused.  Perhaps you can prep a number of emails/responses so they will be ready to be sent.

Go fully mobile. If you just can’t stay away, you can always go buy an air card for your laptop.  Still, if you aren’t a road warrior, it may not be worth the monthly fee for you.  You can also get a lot done through your mobile device, but for me, there is nothing like a full-sized keyboard.

Help others. Maybe you are one of the lucky ones with power and internet in when many others aren’t.  Spread some good feelings through Twitter and your other social networks to help others get a quick place to recharge.  Panera and Whole Foods have been good examples, having free wi-fi and coffee during outages.

How did you spend YOUR snowday? Louisvillians? Midwesterners? Lend me your thoughts.