Same-Sex Marriage: We’re Not in Iowa Anymore

My presentation for this afternoon at the SHRM 2011 Annual Conference.

Same-Sex Marriage: We’re Not in Iowa Anymore
As of March 2010, 2,020 same-sex couples were married in Iowa, and only 815 of those were Iowans. Regardless of whether your business operates in all 50 states or just one building, marriage and other issues relating to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees may impact your business soon, if not already. This session will update you on the relevant laws and regulations and provide you with specific insights and tools to be prepared.

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Relationship Building 101

I’ve given some version of this presentation for a few years, and I’m giving it again today. Posting here for folks to find / download later.

p.s.: It was a great crowd! Hoping I was helpful. I really enjoy helping people find their path here in D.C…

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-05-22

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-05-15

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XX and Hot Chip at the 9:30 Club (April 2010)

Two of my favorite bands ever performed at the 9:30 Club in D.C. last year, and it was an amazing concert. Even better – I can relive it on NPR’s All Music Considered podcast (download MP3s from NPR.org) and with some less-than-stellar shots of my own of The xx (watch the slideshow).

XX at the 9:30 Club

 

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Easter Egg

I held back on the cheese in my goodbye e-mail at work.  Here’s what I wish was playing while folks read the e-mail.

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BlackBerries vs. iPhones

Sadly, today is my last day with my precious BlackBerry Bold, and at HRC.

I’m pretty sure I’m going to use my new employer’s phone subsidy to get a new BlackBerry Bold for myself — I absolutely love turning off my BlackBerry and flying solo with my iPhone (personal phone).  And I’ve become a speed demon on my BlackBerry. So, it’s time to update my last post on BlackBerry keyboard shortcuts.

New gems I’ve grown to love:

  • abse -> absolute
  • absy -> absolutely
  • altho -> although
  • appt -> appointment
  • asst -> assistant
  • attn -> attention
  • availe -> available
  • availy -> availability
  • avp -> Assistant Vice President
  • bday -> birthday
  • bf -> boyfriend
  • chg -> change
  • cld -> could
  • cmte -> committee
  • conf -> conference
  • convo -> conversation
  • corp -> corporate
  • dc -> DC
  • def -> definitely
  • dept -> department
  • diff -> different
  • dl -> download
  • ees -> employees
  • eg -> e.g.,
  • eqeo -> equal employment opportunity
  • ers -> employers
  • esp -> especially
  • fab -> fabulous
  • fed -> federal
  • gf -> girlfriend
  • gmail -> GMail
  • gtown -> Georgetown
  • hdays -> holidays
  • hh -> happy hour
  • hs -> high school
  • hur -> Human Resources
  • impt -> important
  • info -> information
  • intl -> international
  • iphone -> iPhone
  • mgr -> manager
  • mgrs -> managers
  • mins -> minutes
  • mtgs -> meetings
  • natl -> national
  • nm -> nevermind
  • oot -> out of town
  • org -> organization
  • orgs -> organizations
  • prob -> probable
  • probm -> problem
  • proby -> probably
  • pw -> password
  • q -> question
  • qs -> questions
  • r -> are
  • shld -> should
  • sry -> sorry
  • st -> something
  • stl -> StL
  • tgiving -> Thanksgiving
  • unf -> unfortunate
  • unfy -> unfortunately
  • vp -> Vice President
  • wld -> would
  • xmas -> Christmas
  • yest -> yesterday

Also, some fun shortcuts:

  • bizadd -> your business address
  • biolink -> web address to your bio (comes in handy more than I’d have imagined!)
  • bizcard -> your business card information
  • bizcell -> your business cell #
  • biznum -> your desk #
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cherry blossoms at dawn

Earlier this month, Saqib, Michael, Eric and I took a 6 am bike ride out to the tidal basin to catch the cherry blossoms at their peak (April 2, to be exact). I’m still working with a simple pocket camera (the Casio EX-Z750 to be exact), but I love the results.

I’d highly recommend biking DC before morning rush hour picks up.

Watch the slideshow.

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Hello world!

This is my first post using WordPress — I’m migrating from Blogger.com right now and switching to GreenGeeks.com hosting and domain name registration. Hope to finally centralize my web presence…

  • Switched to GreenGeeks even though it’s more expensive because they claim to offset 300% of their energy usage, which is awesome, and because I couldn’t find too many terrible reviews of GreenGeeks compared to other services.  But the green aspect won me over, a fact that makes me think that perhaps I should do some simple LGBT-inclusiveness comparison of the various hosting services — an LGBT screen would be pretty valuable as a differentiator since the services are so similar. BTW, you should definitely Google for coupons when buying these services…
  • Switching from Google to WordPress in part because it’s just too easy and I needed some sort of technical challenge (although so far I haven’t needed to do much of anything very technical). Also because I’ve seen some amazing themes for WordPress sites. And because Google just runs too much of my life.

So far so good.

p.s.: I loved how Bill Gates’ first tweet was a “Hello world.” He’s so adorkable, that Bill Gates.

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LGBT-Inclusive Workplaces

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks at work, as we’ve released two major reports.

First, the Corporate Equality Index 2010:

Next, Degrees of Equality: A National Study Examining Workplace Climate for LGBT Employees:

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