Yes, it’s Valentine’s Day. And that has me thinking about the things I love as a professional, things that make my life richer or easier or both. As a journalist turned website and electronic communications strategist, it’s a fairly wide-ranging list. Here are just a few of the things I really am appreciating today:
- Journalists – the trained ones who know their craft, know the value of truth, and know how to ferret out facts (hat tip to all my fellow alumni of City News Bureau of Chicago)
- Jon Stewart – for providing some of the most insightful news analysis available anywhere, despite NOT being a trained journalist. Just because it’s funny doesn’t mean it’s not true, folks. (And yes, Stewart does let us know his politics, but he’s proven himself equally willing to skewer both right and left when they deserve it.)
- Pew Research – for the amazing insights they provide into our thoughts, behaviors and desires
- My Twitter network – I’ve “met” an amazing group of people on Twitter, who provide me valuable information, advice, support and inspiration on a daily basis. I have met some of them in real-life meatspace since first connecting on Twitter; many more remain on my wish list of people I hope to get to know in person someday. But most are people I never would have met without the benefit of social media.
- My in-person network of current and former colleagues, classmates and trusted friends – people I rely on both professionally and personally, and wish I could see more of. I had dinner with a group of gal-pal former co-workers just last weekend, had a great time, and wish I could do that every weekend.
- Google Analytics – Freeware that helps me do my job. It’s not perfect, but it is an enterprise-quality analytics platform that provides top-quality data that associations and non-profits – really, anyone – can use to improve the work they do.
- Dropbox and WordPress and other tools that make my job easier
And on a personal basis, let me add these to the list:
- My public library
- iTunes
- Public radio
- Tivo
- My family, including the world’s greatest cartoonist, my husband Phil Maish
- Jasmine tea, good coffee, and grapefruit seltzer
- Dogs, especially the ones who share my life
Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone. Let me know in the comments what you love.