Howdy,

I spent much of the last week sick with a series of illness that piled up like cordwood over the week. A trip to the ER finally had me on the mend and I had a quiet week at home of sitting on my behind. I can’t remember a week where I sat like that at home in quite some time. It was a gift really. I used the opportunity to work on changing my website over to a new format.

I presented at a Digital Daisy workshop on Social Media the week before last. I’d hoped to pick up some inspiration and strategy since I knew my focus and energy in that regard were flagging. As I reflected on the past six years, I realized that I’d been using social media since the very beginning and with the help of folks at AppleCore Interactive, at been at the leading edge in using it for creating a support community and for expedition communications.

TA with AppleCore Interactive on the summit of Mount Elbrus

The technology and programming around social media is changing very rapidly and I found myself with an on-line presence in many different locations on the web and having to update each one individually. Add to that, that gmail almost shut me down last week because I had so much returned mail from last week’s update and I knew I needed to change things. I got so much returned mail because I had placed many embedded links within my email (a trick spammers use) so I got called a spammer.

Everest 2010 Expedition Signed Yeti Footprint at the Rum Doodle

Give a solid history of one weekly email to you all, I could convince them that I wasn’t nefarious and they gave me my account back…so all of this is to say…there is change afoot!

I’ve created a new Facebook group called TA’s Adventures that Move. In the past, I’ve had a separate group for each climb–this group will mean people won’t need to sign up over and over again. You can sign up at this address: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=152824781418515

I also have a new website that will allow me greater control over my content and allow me to create weekly blog entries that contain links, photos, videos, and narrative with greater ease. I’ll also be able to email and phone in updates during expeditions. The URL will be the same: www.taloeffler.com. I’m in the process of changing things over so sometimes at the moment, you’ll see the old site and sometimes the new (it takes awhile for all the DNS servers to get updated).

My weekly updates will appear on my blog page and the best news is that you’ll be able to sign up to receive notifications of new updates (and greatest of all, be able to chose the frequency at which you’d like to receive them…daily, weekly, monthly). You’ll have complete control and I won’t have to manage each email address separately (yay!).

Please visit the new site over the next while and sign yourself up to receive updates…I’ll send out a few more weeks of updates as per usual via email but then will stop (except for very special announcements). I know I may lose a few of you in this process, if so, thanks so much for being a part of my support community. From far flung lands to the oxygen starved tops of mountains, from the depths of grief to the joys of shared adventures, I’ve appreciated having you there.

My friend and mentor, Leslie celebrating her arrival at Everest Base Camp

As I uploaded updates from over the past six years, I could re-appreciate what an amazing journey this has been. Last night while out for dinner at a Chinese restaurant, we all joked that we would use our fortunes for life direction for the next while. I pulled my cookie first and chuckled out loud when it said, “You enjoy sharing your dreams and plans with others.” I guess I’m on track! I look forward to harnesses my newly reclaimed energy and excitement for visual storytelling and sharing my dreams and goals with you.

Thanks,

TA

PS. Special thanks go out to Bill Driscoll for rescuing my wallet from Torbay Road when it jumped ship while I was motorcycling. He had it returned to me before I even knew it was missing and saved me the hassle and heartache of recreating the life that lives out of my wallet.