Three days in Birmingham, Alabama

We spent three days in Birmingham, AL last week, attending American Mensa's Annual Gathering.  I had the opportunity to give a talk on blogging, and we heard some great talks by other passionate speakers.  And we loved Birmingham's superb art museum.  Here are the highlights.

The museum

Birmingham's art museum is a treasure.  It's a beautiful space with some very cool stuff.  This painting, for example, is huge (perhaps 10 feet by 6 feet) and hangs at the end of a long hallway.  You can't see it in this little thumbnail, but the painting absolutely glows with the wonder of the west to mid-1800s Americans.  The 1400-piece Wedgwood collection is truly awesome.

The highlight for both of us, though, was one display case.  The case contained silver cones that ladies used (in the 1800s, I think) to hold small bouquets.  They held these bouquets to their noses to overcome the foul smells of nineteenth century American cities.  Since the bouquets made the ladies' noses feel better, they were known as "nosegays."  The case also contained little books of ceramic sheets (about 1 inch by 2 inches) on which shopping lists could be written with pencil.  Cynthia noted that these were probably the first ever PCAs (personal ceramic assistants).

The best speech

Frank Stitt, chef-owner of three top Birmingham restaurants, spoke about how restaurants can help drive a local, organic and sustainable food supply.  You might not have thought Birmingham would have world class restaurants, but you would have been wrong.  In 2001 Gourmet magazine named his Highlands Bar & Grill as the fifth best restaurant in the entire US!

Frank has a passion for local, organic, and sustainable food supplies, and works with local farms, ranches and dairies to get the best food to his tables.  He spends time with a local farmers' market, helping farmers understand what he needs for his table.  He builds relationships with folks like the pig farmer who lets his pigs roam free, and a chemicals-free beef producer.  Frank has his own farm where he keeps free-range hens for their eggs, and grows herbs for his restaurants.

I love listening to someone speak when he has both knowledge and passion for his topic.  Frank has that, and then some.  In case you can't get to Birmingham any time soon, check out Frank's recipe book.

My speech

I spoke to an audience of about 75 Mensans about the world of blogs.  I covered what blogs are, how to find and read them, how to comment on them, and how to write one.  Tons of questions - Mensans ask great questions - and heaps of fun.  You can download a PDF version of my talk [4 MB] , or the handout I passed around [Word, 49 kb].

The best part of the handout is this list of 21 blogs I recommended the audience find and enjoy.  My goal was to offer up a broad range of interesting blogs I read.

1. Kent Blumberg (http://www.kentblumberg.com)
2. Seth Godin (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/)
3. Phil Gerbyshak (http://makeitgreat.typepad.com/makeitgreat/)
4. Christine Kane (http://christinekane.com/blog/)
5. Lifehacker (http://lifehacker.com/)
6. Slow leadership (http://www.slowleadership.org/)
7. David Maister (http://davidmaister.com/blog/)
8. Liz Strauss (http://www.successful-blog.com/)
9. Karin Hermans (http://www.thekissbusiness.co.uk/)
10. Terry Starbucker (http://tshalffull.blogspot.com/)
11. Chris Cree (http://successcreeations.com/)
12. William Aruda (http://blog.williamarruda.com/blog/)
13. Carolyn Manning (http://thoughtsphilosophies.com/)
14. Jonathan Phillips (http://smartwealthyrich.com/)
15. Andy Sernovitz (http://www.damniwish.com/)
16. Bob Sutton (http://bobsutton.typepad.com/)
17. Alexander Kjerulf (http://positivesharing.com/)
18. Mike Sansone (http://www.converstations.com/)
19. Roger Oech (http://blog.creativethink.com/)
20. Jessica Hagy (http://indexed.blogspot.com/)
21. Daily dose of imagery (http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/)