ARI HERZOG

My Personal Blog

Walking Around In Their Shoes

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“You never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them,” said Atticus Finch.

Through his daughter Scout’s memories about her prepubescent childhood in the racially segregated Deep South of the 1930s, I feel like I’ve walked around in the shoes of lots of characters.

That’s what a wonderful book imparts to the reader: that you’re not merely reading words on a page but that you’re entering someone’s life and sharing their shoes.

It took me months to read the 323 pages of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and I finally forced myself this morning to read the final 150 pages in one sitting including the above quote from the second-to-last page.

I don’t know why I didn’t read the novel sooner. It was never assigned reading material in high school or college; and when I graduated both, I was never inspired to pick it up. Roaming the library at the beginning of this summer, I made a choice and checked it out.

That was a good choice.

Robocalls on the Rise

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“A legal lawsuit has been issued against you and a warrant has been issued for your arrest,” the robotic voice said when I picked up my ringing phone. It was a New York number. “Call this number immediately before legal action is taken.”

I immediately recognized the scam. First, if police want to arrest me, they’re not going to call me about it. Second, that particular prerecorded robocall is common.

I can’t tell you how many phone numbers I blocked in the past three months. It seems like dozens.

It’s shocking that 4.1 billion robocalls were placed in June 2018 in the United States, according to one source.

Until I started blocking, I’d never blocked a number before.

But when I started receiving daily calls from debt collectors, insurance providers, and other scam artists, I went into my call history and pressed the option to block.

The robocaller can continue to dial my number; but any message now goes direct to voicemail and my phone never rings.

 

Write it Down to Be Real

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This is a quote about dreams and goals.

It is cathartic to write. Unless I translate ideas and thoughts from my head into written words (on this blog, post-it notes, emails, or other communication), I’m distracted from focusing on what matters.

Remove your clutter and improve your life.

Learn from your failures and appreciate success.

Choose your own aphorism. Write down your thoughts — and do it.

Drink When Thirsty

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This is a glass of water.The earliest fossil evidence for anatomically modern Homo sapiens dates back 300,000 years.

Do you think your ancestors cared about eating, drinking, and sleeping schedules? Or, is it more likely they ate when hungry, drank when thirsty, and slept when tired?

Your ancestors might agree on the benefits of drinking water, but they’d also agree about the lack of scientific evidence to drink an arbitrary number of glasses of water every day.

Drink 8 glasses, some say. Drink half your weight in ounces, others say.

Then there are anecdotes by Smithsonian and NPR that indicate you should drink when you’re thirsty. If you want scientific evidence, there you go.

Your ancestors would tell you to drink when you’re thirsty. Monitor your urine to ensure it’s clear or light yellow.

Are your ancestors wrong?

Help Me Find My Next Job?

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Following in the spirit of my friends Anna Barcelos and Dave Atkins who each seek new jobs (please click their names to see what they’re looking for, should you be able to assist them), I’d like to tell you what I’m doing…

I shouldn’t need to tell you that I live and breathe social media. This blog attests to that statement; and your reading, sharing, and commenting is why I write a breadth of articles about the social web every week.

Despite attributes as a social media expert and thought leader, my focus is to work within the umbrella of communications — specifically within public affairs, government affairs, community relations, and/or similar-named titles. The web is ubiquitous in business operations by now; and if it’s not at a particular organization, you can be sure I’ll try to weave it in.

In this vein, I’ve kept busy in recent weeks reforming my resume and reflecting what I want to do with my life.

I’ve applied to several job vacancies over the past week including social media manager at a national retail chain, government affairs director at a pharmaceutical firm, marketing and communications coordinator for an urban affairs organization, communications manager for a health care advocacy organization, and chief of staff to a university president.

I bring a decade of experience in internal and external communications and web content creation, along with a knack for community organizing and implementing public education programs. I hold a Master in Public Administration, and I’ve worked in state and local government over the past five years. I am skilled in comprehending what makes an organization tick, weaving its mission statement with relationship building to create a cohesive social media or other strategic communications plan, and increasing customer/constituent engagement across social networking channels.

I am awaking every morning to an alarm, showering and getting dressed, and treating my days like I am working full-time. I am scouring the web’s job boards for interesting opportunities, connecting with friends and colleagues to set up networking meetings, and reaching out to strangers who hold appealing roles to interview them about their responsibilities.

Please let me know if you think I’ll be a fit at your company or if you have any ideas. I’m always reachable by email, Skype or Twitter (both at ariherzog), or by Google Voice at 978.558.0008.

Thanks a lot.

No Thanks to Digital Book Reading

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Here is 2016 data on digital book reading.“I can’t fathom reading a book without tactile sensations of turning pages and smelling paper,” I wrote six years ago about the newish fad of digital book reading.

It’s not a fad anymore — but with 28% of Americans reading digital books this year, it’s still a pastime of the few. The majority of Americans continue to read printed books and small numbers are shifting digital, says a recent Pew survey.

I can’t explain why I like reading my news online (I use the Google Newsstand app if not visiting a media website directly) but not books. Maybe because news reading involves a relatively shorter article and I can skim more easily? I don’t know.