Butt Cream

I’m thuper confused as of late, what with Talvid’s decision to enter the 140-character-or-less world of twittering. I just don’t know where to vent my ridiculously life altering (for you, not me) musings. Facebook? The blog? Twitter? Your mother? Here’s what I’ve discovered: they’re all basically serving the same purpose. The purpose of relieving what it is that ails you. Think of the void in your life that Talvid fills. Nay, not a void, a deficiency. Even better, , the void/deficiency is a hemorrhoid. And fucking Talvid’s Blog of Shit, his Twitter account, and his respective facebook profiles are travel sized, everyday sized, and Costco sized containers of Preparation H. Does your Mind’s Brown Eye ache? Rub some Talvid on it and have a good modereffen night.

[Via http://talanddavidsblogofshit.wordpress.com]

Things Arise

Most of the time, I can ignore big world changes here on this blog. They might get a fleeting mention here or there, but I don’t usually dwell on it. Not usually. I feel like there’s something tonight that deserves a mention, mostly because of my own mixed feelings on this.

The Healthcare bill. That thing that Obama passed tonight, by a tiny nine votes. Not that we didn’t know it was going to be close either way, but this is interesting. Marnians got into this whole argument ages ago, and then consequentially banned it from the chat. They know my thoughts. Hell, I’m Canadian. Everyone knows my thoughts. I’m also pretty damn socialist, so lead on.

But I’m more interested in how it divides people. I have friends on both sides of the spectrum, and it always amazes me just how much policies affect people. I know. It’s a huge deal. I mean, Obama essentially has a cult following which was cultivated in a most interesting manner. But how much people differ in beliefs makes me wonder. As realist as I am, I’m still a little bit whimsical and hopeful. The human race hasn’t wiped themselves out yet, and there is a reason for that. The passions that flare over issues like this is understandable, expected to a degree. I imagine much of the world is seriously conflicted like this a lot of the time after big decisions. Hell, when I decided to apply for university, after I paid for it, I was seriously conflicted.

Politics is a divisor. It’s a heavy subject, but it is something that exists whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. We were born and bred to play the political game, and so help me if we ever stop. It is essential that in some form, we decide as a collective what will be better for us. It does more often than not show quite clearly the tendencies of people though. When we play politics, Machiavelli instructed us to illustrate altruism, even if our purposes have darker meaning. However, when decisions are made, it is as though all the masks come off. Any costume your wore during your play is now being returned to the box and any altruistic purposes no longer matter. What matters is how you have gained from the decision.

I’ve said my piece and I’ll say no more. I will neither rejoice nor weep at the decision made tonight, for it is not my place. I’m tired. School is tomorrow. As I said in my facebook status, I’m conflicted about a lot of things right now. Politics is the least of my worries, as long as I don’t have to think about it.

Seriously conflicted. About politics, boys, song lyrics, facebook statuses, shrimps, macs, mysterious men, french, couches, shoes or abs, sleep. You’d think the last night of march break would be less confusing.

[Via http://blackinkpen.wordpress.com]

Pioneer to an uncertain future: The Internet

I often wonder of how our future will be with our relationship with the Internet and it’s minions driving fiercely forward from a mere casual to one…. something uber-serious!

I very clearly remember my first date with the Internet. It was a sunny summery day of the 90’s to remember. My dad was checking his emails and sipping away to glory his freshly grounded coffee made from the finest Arabica Coffee Beans that were handpicked from the most succulent coffee plants found in the high up altitudes of Costa Rica…(or wait, maybe it was tea, lipton…bought from the local supermarket )…but regardless, it was that Friday summer afternoon, when it suddenly dawned to my dad that I, his protégé, was ready and mature enough to take care of myself and venture off into THE virtual entity all by myself!  Excited yet nervous about the decision, I picked up the courage and sat on that throne of a chair,  sweaty palms and shaking thighs, I slowly moved the cursor over and double-clicked on the shiny blue icon, the Internet Explorer.  It was a moment as if I had just surpassed the blinding white lights of the sky only to see that the doors of heaven had just opened up to me. That fine summers day was when this bond with the ever-so increasingly addictive Internet first started! Its been around 12 years now, we’re going stronger than ever!

Nowadays, the scene of getting introduced to the Internet is a little different. Its become something meaningless and completely ordinary. These days, even before a new-born baby gets the inevitable spank from the doctor:

#1 It has a Facebook account

#2 Has a picture of him/herself tagged and commented on!

Gone are those days when a newborn baby would either receive a gold or silver bracelet from his/her parents or cousins to welcome them into this world with luck. Instead, the biggest and most seismic gift the baby gets is the sacred password his lifelong Facebook and twitter account!

I strongly detest these means and solemnly swear to stick to means more traditions and gratifying in nature! When the little “Shah-Legacy Carriers” pop out, I’ll probably gift them something that’s more of a necessity than a luxury. Something logical and down-to-earth….something like, an iPhone.

I very much believe our generation, pro 1985, to be the one that’s a curve ahead than our parent’s generation in terms of adapting to technological advances. And to be honest, I don’t think the generation that will follow us, primarily our kids, will be able to outdo us in this respect either. Oh sure, holograms may become part of our daily lives, we’ll be flying in cars and all kids by law be will required to have mohawks…but seriously, we’ll adjust to it just as quick as we did with the arrival iPhones and beta versions of the X-Box Natal!

To give you an accurate idea of how our generation will never be outdone in terms of technological advances, here’s an image that just naturally played over in my head this very instance:

You know how quite a few of our parents are just starting to use things like Facebook, whereas we’re already established and esteemed gods and goddesses on the site…say in the near future, our son and his female-counterpart come back home from their very first day at kindergarten… and they’re all excited and pouncing on us to preach about what they learnt in school. They start, “Today we learnt about this really cool site called Facebook where” (we stop them right there…and we continue) ….”where u can make your own profile and stay connected with friends! YA YA…been there, done that. I have been a member on Facebook for the past 15 years and am deemed as great as Zeus himself there. Now tell me, WHOSE YOUR DADDY ??

SEE!! This is exactly what I’m taking about! The timing of our generation cannot be better! We’re an integral part of it all!

(Maybe I wont think the same way say…15 years from now, but oh well! I’m quite well justified for now! )

The only way the upcoming Generation Next will be able to outdo us, is if they start speaking like this:

For the time being, I’ll just hold on to my guns and best pray that I don’t see this day !!

[Via http://parajshah.wordpress.com]

Forgive me friends, for I have sinned...

Forgive me friends, for I have sinned… it’s been over a month since my last news update on Facebook.

How did it happen? Why did I lapse? Where did my Facebook faith go?

I remember those first zealous days of discovery. The joy of reconnecting with old friends… and co-workers and high school classmates and college buds… and ex-girlfriends, in-laws, business associates, guys I played D&D with while Reagan was still president, friends of friends I met at a party once, and even the siblings of  schoolmates from elementary school.

I proselytized, I evangelized, I got my friends and family to join.

I spent lunchtime on Facebook. I went on at night after my wife went to bed.

And then something happened.

I discovered Twitter.

I didn’t intend to convert. I avoided Twitter as long as possible. Josef Katz (@directmaestro)  said I should tweet, and I resisted. Eleanor Haas (@EleanorHaas), one of the most forward thinking marketing professionals I know, started tweeting and still, I resisted. But then Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome) tweeted while interviewing Twitter founder Biz Stone and I was hooked. It was all just so meta.

So I started tweeting.

For a while I did both. I even thought about connecting my Twitter (@jlsimons) to my Facebook.

But my Tweets tended to be about marketing and advertising, and that wasn’t really what Facebook was all about for me. Facebook was about reconnecting with friends, and Twitter was about business.

At least, that’s what I told myself.

But that wasn’t the truth.

It’s time to face the truth.

Twitter is just plain easier. Twitter doesn’t miss me when I don’t tweet, or at least, I don’t feel guilty about not commenting on every tweet I read. Twitter rewards me when I’m relevant… and challenges me to stay relevant.  Some of the most interesting articles I’ve read recently I found because someone I follow tweeted them.

I’m not the most prolific tweeter. The total of my tweets wouldn’t add up to a single week of Kevin Smith’s tweets (@ThatKevinSmith). Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) gets more followers in an hour than I’ve gotten in almost a year.

And still, I tweet. When I find something I think people will appreciate, I tweet it and I feel like I’ve added something useful to a conversation I want to be part of.

When I post a new post on my blog, I usually tweet it. Heck, I might even tweet this.

I almost never tweet about where I’m going or what I’m doing. I never tweet about what I’m eating. I know some people do, and I respect their right to do it. Tweet and let tweet, I always say. (Well, actually, that was the first time. But I’ll probably say it more often now.)

Sure, sometimes I still go to Facebook, but it’s not the same for me anymore. I can’t tell you why, or maybe I just don’t want to know, but I’m pretty sure it has nothing to do with the fact that Facebook is now the most popular site on the web and gets more visits than Google.

That would be silly, right, avoiding something just because everyone is doing it? Because then, someday, I’d have to give up tweeting for the same reason.

I’m not the kind of person who does things just because they’re new and shiny. Really I’m not.

But just in case I’m wrong, can someone please explain Foursquare to me?

[Via http://cansomeonepleaseexplain.com]

Kepribadian Manusia dari Status Facebook

1. Manusia Super Update

Kapanpun dan di manapun selalu update status. Statusnya tidak terlalu panjang tapi terlihat bikin risih, karena hal-hal yang tidak terlalu penting juga dipublikasikan.

Contoh : “Lagi makan di restoran A..”, “Dalam perjalanan menuju

neraka..”, “Saatnya baca koran..”, dan sebagainya.

2. Manusia Melankolis

Biasanya selalu curhat di status. Entah karena ingin banyak diberi komentar dari teman-temannya atau hanya sekedar menuangkan unek-uneknya ke facebook. Biasanya orang tipe ini menceritakan kisahnya dan terkadang menanyakan solusi yg terbaik kepada yang lain.

Contoh : “Kamu sakitin aku..lebih baik aku cari yang lain..”, “Cuma kamu yang terbaik buat aku..terima kasih kamu sudah sayang ama aku selama ini..”.

3. Manusia Tukang Ngeluh

Pagi, siang, malem, semuanya selalu ada aja yang dikeluhkan.

Contoh : ” Jakarta maceeet..!! Panas pula..”, “Aaaargh ujan, padahal baru nyuci mobil..sialan. .!!”, “Males ngapa2in.. cape hati gara2 si do’ i..”, dsb.

4. Manusia Sombong

Mungkin beberapa dari mereka ga berniat menyombongkan diri, tapi terkadang orang yang melihatnya, yang notabene tidak bisa seberuntung dia, merasa kalo statusnya itu kelewat sombong, dan malah bikin sebel.

Contoh : “Otw ke Paris ..!!”, “BMW ku sayang, saatnya kamu mandi..aku mandiin ya sayang..”,  “Duh, murah-murah banget belanja di Singapur, bow,”

5. Manusia Puitis

Dari judulnya udah jelas. Status nya selalu diisi dengan kata-kata mutiara, tapi ga jelas apa maksudnya. Bikin kita terharu? Bikin kita sadar atas pesan tersembunyinya? atau cuma sekedar memancing komentar? Sampai saat ini, tipe orang seperti ini masih dipertanyakan.

Contoh : “Kita masing-masing adalah malaikat bersayap satu. Dan hanya bisa terbang bila saling berpelukan”, “Mencintai dan dicintai adalah seperti merasakan sinar matahari dari kedua sisi”, “Jika kau hidup sampai seratus tahun, aku ingin hidup seratus tahun kurang sehari, agar aku tidak pernah hidup tanpamu”.

6. Manusia in English

Tipe manusianya bisa seperti apa saja, apakah melankolis, puitis, sombong dan sebagainya. Tapi dia berusaha lebih keren dengan mengatakannya dalam bahasa Inggwis Gicyu Low..

Contoh : “Tie and Chair..”, “I can tooth, you Pink sun..” dsb..

7. Manusia Lebay

Updatenya selalu bertema ‘gaul’ dengan menggunakan bahasa dewa.. ejaan yang dilebaykan..

Contoh..” met moulnin all.. pagiiieh yg cewrah… xixiixi” << lol~

8. Manusia Terobsesi…

Mengharap tapi ga kesampaian.. pengen jd artis ga dapat-dapat.

Contoh : “duwh… sesi pemotretan lagi! cape…”

9. Manusia Sok Tau..

Sotoy tenarnya. Padahal dia sendiri tidak tahu apa yang ditulisnya.

Contoh : “Pemerintah selalu memanjakan rakyatnya.. bla..bla…bla,”

10. Bioskop Mania..

Update film yang abis ditonton dan kasih comment..

Contoh : “ICE AGE 3..Recomended! !”, “Transformers 2 mantab euy..”

11. Manusia pedagang:

Contoh: “jual sepatu bla bla bla”

12. Manusia penyuluh masyarakat:

Contoh: “jangan lupa dateng ke TPS, 5 menit utk 5 tahun bla..bla”

13. Manusia Alay..

Ada berbagai macam versi, dari tulisannya yang aneh, atau tulisannya biasa aja, hanya saja kosakata nya ga lazim seperti bahasa alien.

Contoh:

Alay 1 : “DucH Gw4 5aYan9 b6t s4ma Lo..7aNgaN tin69aL!n akYu ya B3!bh..!!”

Alay 2 : “km mugh kog gag pernach ngabwarin aq lagee seech? kmuw maseeh saiangs sama aq gag seech sebenernywa? “

Alay 3 : “Ouh mY 9oD..!! kYknY4w c gW k3ReNz 48ee5h d3ch..!!”

(Khusus buat tipe ini, ga usah di baca juga gpp..saya pribadi juga mikir

dulu buat nulis ini, walaupun jadinya kurang mirip sama yg aslinya..)

14. Tipe Hidden Message

Tipe ini biasanya tidak to the point, tapi tentunya punya niat biar orang yg dituju membaca nya. (bagus kalo baca..kalo ngga? kelamaan nunggu) padahal kan bisa langsung aja sms ya..

Contoh : “For you my M***, I can’ t live without you..you are my bla bla bla..”,

“Heh, cewe bajingan..ngapain lo deket2in co gw?! kyk ga laku aja lo..” <<< (padahal ce tersebut tidak ada dalam jaringannya.. mana bisa baca…:p)

15. Tipe Misterius

Tipe yang biasanya bikin banyak orang bertanya tanya atas apa maksud

dari status orang tersebut..Biasanya dalam suatu kalimat membutuhkan

Subjek + Predikat + Objek + Keterangan. Tapi orang tipe ini mungkin

hanya mengambil beberapa atau malah hanya 1 saja..Dan pastinya

mengundang kontroversi.

Contoh : “Sudahlah..” , “Telah berakhir..” <<< (apanya??),

“Termenung.. .” <<< (so what gitu, loh)

sumber : http://techno.okezone.com/read/2009/08/03/93/244457/93/kepribadian-manusia-dari-status-facebook

[Via http://copypastecopypaste.wordpress.com]

My contest, film audition, and new webisode!

Yesterday marked the 2-yr. anniversary since we finished the actual filming on Bloodwine.  In honor of that, I wanted to do something a little fun, so, I started a best impression contest on a site I found called ibeatyou.com

http://www.ibeatyou.com/entry/fae31b/vanessa-leinani-says-hi-as-carmilla-from-bloodwine

OMG, I saw Jessica Alba’s on there, too.  That girl is such a trip!  I got such a kick out of here “I Pity The Fool” picbeat.  Hilaaaaaaarious!

Eileen Hadler-Pickard, a fan of mine, made a facebook fan page for me!  J Check it out!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vanessa-Leinani-Official-Fan-Page/395759316833?ref=search&sid=896760579.3009560702..1

On Saturday morning, I went and auditioned for a feature length film and had a fantastic time.  I was thrown a bunch of different roles to read, and it felt like I was on the playground just sitting around being goofy with a bunch of good friends.  It was THAT fun and had a really great atmosphere!

Then the lead of the film for that audition sent me a friend request and said he heard I nailed the audition, so, it looks positive; however, in a casting situation, it’s never over until you have a contract signed, and even then…funding could disappear, a project can go on hiatus, or right as you’re talking about coming on, they could get the celebrity actor they were holding out for and you could get bumped out of the role.  We’re talking a whole slew of variables that could change the casting situation.  So, you go in, confident that the role is yours, prepare and present yourself as if it is yours (which is why you hear the common saying “own it”) and remember that it could all change at any second no matter how you have prepared.  The point is, to present yourself in such a way that you become memorable, endearing, and above all, indispensable.

Also, on Saturday evening a filmmaker approached me with a pitch for a new webisode series.  As I found out, he had written it with me in mind and wanted to know if I would be interested in the project.  I happily accepted the lead role in the new webisode series set to film in September.  I cannot even begin to tell you how PUMPED I am about this project.  Not only is it going to be action-packed, but I’m also getting a chance to put my musical skills to work and already started writing a song for the show (with some delicious harmonies) and looking forward to more songwriting for it, too.  More details on the way as soon as we’re able to let you know!

+++++

Vanessa

http://www.vanessaleinani.com/

http://vanessaleinani.wordpress.com/

[Via http://vanessaleinani.wordpress.com]

webflexx on: twitter, facebook, google and yahoo!

These days, Twitter and Facebook are two essential websites that most would access apart from Google.com.  Up till now, many are still in the dark as to how Twitter and Facebook works.  It is true though when the industry experts and analysts mentioned that these two web giants can actually help propel a small business forward by miles.

Webflexx facebook is still very preliminary, but we have been actively advertising on Facebook.  We started on Twitter not too long ago and came up with a lot of interesting observations.  The amount of information is so vast that sometimes, I am beginning to wonder how does certain quarters pace up with these overloaded information.

We know more but the more we know the more I know I know much less than I thought I would knew!

My browser is telling me that Twitter is my most visited site in the past 7 days.  Yeah I am addicted to reading the latest news online and get into the minds of some of these web intellectuals as well as some of our Malaysian politicians.

Here’s a tip for those who have just started.

Do not follow more than you could manage.  It may send you into a frenzy and you may end up being more confused than ever.

I went surfing at some government websites as well as some big corporations.  Most websites have yet to establish themselves with a Twitter or a Facebook presence.  Seriously, if you were to ask me if Facebook is ever going to slow down, I would respond with a resounding NO.  Not for the next few years at least.

From Facebook and Twitter, you can see how much Google is responding with the Buzz, and these days, Yahoo tried entering the market quietly though.  Yahoo’s respond to enter the buzz market is nothing to shout about.  It is plain boring and you can tell it’s done in a hurry.

Looks like we will all be twitting and facebooking for a long time to come!

[Via http://webflexx.wordpress.com]

When to use URL Shortening Services?

Following the popularity of social networking and microblogging services, URL Shortening Services are springing up like mushrooms. In less than a year, I have used services offered by TinyURL, bit.ly, goo.gl. I also came across some shortened URLs with a twist, i.e. diu.li (The pronunciation of the URL sounds like 屌你 in Cantonese, which means “f*ck u” in the language).

URL Shortening Services is extremely handy when we have character limit in our way of communication. Twitter only allows user to use 140 characters in a tweet, Facebook allows only 420. If I would like to post a URL and tell my friends where Twestival is going to be held by linking to a Google Street View Image, I have to copy a 381 characters long URL and include it in my tweet.

http://maps.google.com.hk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=zh-TW&geocode=&q=Staunton’s+Cafe&sll=22.38131,114.168639&sspn=0.779675,1.212616&ie=UTF8&hq=Staunton’s+Cafe&hnear=&ll=22.282976,114.152541&spn=0,359.997632&z=19&brcurrent=3,0×3404007e811b3f95:0×47c863b8fcf83784,0,0×3403ff80eb6f67b1:0×46c3c89b39011247&layer=c&cbll=22.283108,114.152709&panoid=PGP8AwzKwwO5MtvtiN8wGQ&cbp=12,235.12,,0,5

Obviously, the tweet cannot be sent as the URL is lengthy enough to exceed the character limit of Twitter.

By using URL shortening services, the link can be shortened as a URL which uses only 20 characters (in bit.ly’s case).

http://bit.ly/d0ZT09

One of the assignments that I gave my class on “Computer-aided Translation” is on Terminology Management using Google Docs. Apart from building a simple bilingual or multilingual glossary which contains the term in its source language and the corresponding translations, I suggested them to include the following fields – “Created by” (to identify the creator of the entry”, “Definition”, “Source” (to indicate where the entry or its translations is from).

Not every group follow the suggestion strictly, but the group which did includes a column of shortened URL.

The layout of the spreadsheet is definitely more presentable with shorted URLs, however, readers got no idea on where the information comes from. I don’t know where the link will take me – a press release in the government’s website? Tech spec of a certain product? A blog post? Worse, a spam/virus spreading website! Not a clue!

My stand is URL shortening service is useful when it is used with microblogging services like Twitter or 2D matrix code like QR code. However, the usage must be limited to that. As the messages are like Instant Messages, it appears for a day or two, then being lost in no where. As an active twitter user, I never dig up my first tweet, and I think I do not need to refer to the tweets I posted a week ago for a new tweet.

For comparatively formal writing like academic writing, journals, essays, I do not think it is acceptable to use URL Shortening services as people may have to refer to your articles anytime. What if the shortening service is no longer available? What if people only want to know where the information comes from but do not want to verify themselves? Providing a full URL in this case can give people a better understanding on the website without really opening the browser.

In short, Shortened URL looks good, but not for formal writing.

[Via http://uituit.wordpress.com]

Realtor’s Top 10 Marketing Preferences

No matter what business you are in, marketing is the KEY. Without great marketing, no matter how excellent your products or services are, it would not get too far. Today, we’re still in the beginning of the social media hype. Countless of business market themselves on the internet, but are they doing it the right way? Using the most effective tools?

HomeGain ®, a connection portal for realtors and buyers of real estate conducted a survey on the top marketing practices and preferences of realtors today. Parts of the result were a bit shocking to me.

According to HomeGain®, over 1,300 real estate agents and brokers in US participated in the survey. Each type of marketing strategies receives a score out of 10 for effectiveness; with 1 as the least effective and 10 as the most effective.

1= Least Effective 10= Most Effective

Networking and referrals for Realtors is at the top of the list as excepted. Word of mouth advertisement is at its best in this industry. Building a large and solid network should be the top priority for realtors, as a matter of fact for any industry.  Printed Ads may become obsolete. The public views thousands of advertisements a day, no matter where they go. They have learned to look pass it and place them into their unconsciousness. For me personally, I will not complete give it up. Its low cost/investment will still give me an increase of 3.6%; it’s better than nothing.



This second part of this survey asked the agents and brokers what strategy they will choose in the future. Results show that they will continue to focus on referrals, e-mail campaigns and featured listings. They are less likely to invest time and money on strategies such as Twitter, banner ads, pay per click advertisements, outdoor advertising and MySpace.

Below is the Top 10 Marketing Objectives for Realtors in 2010.  We will likely in all the top 10 strategies mentioned. Moreover, YouTube will likely to be used more than before in the future as a marketing tool in the real estate industry.  (1=Least Likely to Use; 10= Most Likely to Use)

• Referrals (8.9)
• Email Campaigns (5.7)
• Postcards/Mailers (5.4)
• Featured Listings (5.2)
• Facebook (4.9)
• Print Ads (4.3)
• Blogging (4.2)
• LinkedIn (4.1)
• Online Lead Generation Services (4.0)
• YouTube (3.5)

• A final note: NETWORKING IS AND WILL BE THE WAY TO GO

Source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010-homegain/real-estate-survey/prweb3712784.htm

[Via http://daniel511.wordpress.com]

Recommending Scobleizer's The revolution at work

Image by Hello, I am Bruce via Flickr The Revolution at Work (the industry reacts to Salesforce’s moves) Blog: the Revolution at Work; the industry reacts to @salesforce’s moves:http://bit.ly/cjls1e @yammer @socialtext @socialcast @zoho @jive (Scobleizer) scobleizer.com

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[Via http://fredzimny.wordpress.com]

Social Networking Will Kill Us All

I’m trying to become famous here. How famous you ask? I guess about as famous as I can get while being a father/trophy-husband/son/friend/guy-with-a-life.

I don’t know what EXACTLY I want to get out of this blog. I can say with reckless abandon that “I don’t care how many people read my stuff. I do this for me as an outlet to pour my creative juices into for a little bit each day.” To a certain extent this is true… buuuuuuuuuuuuuut… it’s not entirely accurate.

I’ve always liked being acknowledged thus I always dreamed of becoming an actor… but then life got in the way.

After my dreams of talking with David Letterman on The Late Show about my latest flick were replaced with dreams of raising my daughter to be filled with nothing short of my unending love… I still craved some sort of recognition.

I think I would have proved a more valuable interview…

Even if it was in my mind.

I’ve always had a good imagination. When I was 18… I mean 8… I can remember setting up entire battle sequences with my sisters stuffed animals she’d indebted to me to keep safe while she went away to college. As I punched her large stuffed bear named “Beau” in his (rapidly deteriorating) fluffy neck… I imagined I was in an epic battle with some vicious animal from the netherworld.

That would be me, our family cat and Beau… right before I kicked him in the groin and then roundhouse kicked him in the temple

I used to be gone for hours traveling around the 300-acre farmland we had with my BB gun shooting trashed glass bottles. These glass bottles would represent my enemies… and each one I eliminated meant I was that much closer to “rescuing” Jill: my elementary school crush at the time who obviously had no idea what I would go through to rescue her from such evil empty Coke bottles.

While my battles with evil Coke bottles and innocent stuffed animals are long gone… they’ve been replaced with the all more real battle of trying to figure out “what the hell am I doing with my life?”

My imagination still rolls on.

These days, I imagine getting “discovered” i.e. Lorne Michaels magically reads my blog among the 10 million other things he’s doing and wants me to write some sketches for SNL. Or I could get featured on some “mega-blog” and start experiencing a paradigm shift in the number of readers who visit my site. Or I could actually get paid to do this crap!?

Lorne… first of all… what kind of name is “Lorne” and uh… I’m available

I realize this doesn’t EVER happen on accident… but rather, with hard work, marketing and perhaps a little luck. I know what I have to do. I have to visit other blogs, socially network myself like hell (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter… I got ‘em all), join other networking forums (Dad Blogs, blah, blah) and maybe even spend some cash for advertising or making my site a little more “flashy”.

Which brings me to a question: “How do I have time to do all this?”

Quick answer for you: “I don’t really”.

Uh-oh… Here comes the catch.

So, I have these ideas (they’re free!):

- Follow me on Twitter and catch up with all my random quips throughout the day that prove I’m really completely uninteresting. I more than likely will follow you as well.

- If you’re not a freak… you can ask me to be your friend on Facebook with the notion that you’re a reader of mine and I’ll accept you.

- If you’re still on the archaic social networking site known as “MySpace” you can find me there too… but not very often.

- Visit my Blogroll. There are some great blogs there that I read continually that would love to see some traffic directed their way from my site.

- Visit my Fanroll. If you have a blog, business or just want to see yourself on the internet the you could feature yourself in my fanroll… just read how to do so by clicking this sentence that’s underlined in blue.

- If you’ve never made a comment before… THEN MAKE ONE ON THIS POST! Seriously… I have tracking software and a guy named “Brutus” who’ll shatter your kneecaps if you don’t.

Did I mention he’s a tranny…

- If you’ve made a comment before… THEN MAKE ONE AGAIN! I’ve never made it over 25 comments (and some of those were mine) so why don’t we get it over 40… that would be awesome.

Okay… I’m officially done begging.

Help my imagination become reality (and inflate my ego)… and I’ll help you do whatever you need help with (within reason). I’m serious. Just let me know. It’s a big bloggy world out there… and we could ALL use a little help now and then.

[Via http://handstowar.wordpress.com]

Twitter Turns Tuesday Into Testing and Tweaking Time

Twitter, the micro-blogging service and social media company founded by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, and Biz Stone among others, has seen steady growth month over month and a combined growth over the past year of 294.26%.

So, if you are a social media networking site with 23 million unique visitors, what do you do to attract a revenue stream and more users? Apparently, spend a day testing out some new features and updates. And that is just what they spent today doing.

Twitter spent Tuesday doing some experimentation and some tweaking.  These appeared and then disappeared like a blip on the radar.

One of the changes? Modifying the “update” button to “tweet,” seemingly to signify that it’s official.  Those of you sending out those 140 character message aren’t twittering but in fact “tweeting.” It only took the stats to rise to 50 million tweets per day for them to make the update, but even then, only momentarily. It was noticed by a few and TechCrunch sent out a post regarding it, but at the time of this post, it still remains “update.”

In an attempt to timidly enter the location wars, Twitter turned on the geolocation function on its website.  TechCrunch featured small screenshots of tweets with small location place markers, displaying a Google map showing the location of the tweet when a user hovered over it. This feature has also been deactivated since TechCrunch’s post broke the news and screenshots.

Twitter’s geolocation feature has been live through its API since November, but until today, there was no indication that Twitter was looking to fully integrate geolocation into the main website.  Twitter has timed this move well, with the report from the New York Times earlier today that Facebook has finally decided to enter the location war by unveiling its response next month at its f8 conference.  Coincidentally (or not), Twitter’s inaugural Chirp conference takes place 1 week before the f8 conference. Google is trying to get into the location war as well, but has made a disappointing debut thus far with meager offerings through Buzz and Latitude.  Of course, each day it seems Twitter is bursting with the buzz of the new and shiny app of the day to throw their hat into the ring of the location wars.  Most of the new apps are passing information back to Twitter, leveraging Twitter’s geolocation API, which further supports the timing and logic of Twitter to turn this function on within their own website.

Written by: Sara Paxton, managing partner, CTO, and Social Media Officer of Evans Media Group, Kansas City’s Social Media Agency, a boutique agency located in Overland Park, KS that specializes in traditional marketing, social media marketing, online marketing, and public relations.

[Via http://evansmediagroup.wordpress.com]

Gestures Across Cultures: Thumbs-Up

Gestures do not have a universal meaning across cultures. Be careful when using body language in your business and social interaction and make sure you understand your audience.

While the thumbs-up sign might show approval in the Western world, it might be interpreted as obscene in other cultures. In some Middle Eastern countries this sign traditionally translates as the foulest of gesticular insults. In Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, and Thailand thumbs-up is an obscene gesture, equivalent to the use of the middle finger in the Western world. In Italy, in the right context, it can simply indicate the number one. In Russia and Finland the meaning of this expression is “good”, or “well done”. In the England, a single handed thumbs-up sign can be used as a farewell or greetings gesture between young males. In Egypt and Israel, it means perfect or very good.

In fact, Facebook users encounter the same thumbs-up sign every day. The most popular “Like” button allows members of the social-networking site to show their appreciation to messages, photos and videos by putting a thumbs-up. But do you think this feature communicates the same message worldwide? I doubt it.

[Via http://patiento.wordpress.com]

It’s Rahm vs. Axelrod, and Rahm Is Winning

Sunday, 07 Mar 2010 11:19 AM Earth to Rhambo: I don’t know what you had to do with picking the people that surround the One. Clearly they haven’t a clue on how to create real jobs and turn the economy around.  You see, Rham baby, it may be the desire of the progressives to make everyone except for the elite poor, news flash, It’s not going to happen.  So get your tu tu out of the cleaners and start working on your game. You will be gone by January if not before.  It’s said, you can better articulate the message? Here’s the message:  It’s jobs and the economy stupid! Give up on all your progressive schemes.  Random thoughts while watching the deck chairs being moved on the Titanic, J.C.

In the days of the old Pravda, one could determine who was winning secret Politburo power struggles by just looking at the official Soviet newspaper. Those winning simply got better press.

Perhaps it may be no different here in the United States.

This week two of the heaviest guns in American media, The Washington Post and The New York Times, unloaded their missiles at Obama adviser David Axelrod while heralding White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel as a centrist and pragmatist.

This Sunday’s New York Times, for example, features Axelrod and describes him as the ideological courtier advising the president into darkness as Emanuel remains the level-headed counselor.

Here’s an excerpt from “Message Maven Finds Fingers Pointing at Him”:

“Recent news reports have cast the White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, as the administration’s chief pragmatist, and Mr. Axelrod, by implication, as something of a swooning loyalist. ‘I’ve heard him be called a “Moonie,”’ dismissed Mr. Axelrod’s close friend, former Commerce Secretary William Daley. Or as the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, joked, ‘the guy who walks in front of the president with rose petals.’”

The Times speculates that the “No Drama Obama” Team is indeed “fracturing.” The Times report follows the page one, top-of-the-fold story in Tuesday’s Washington Post that screamed “Hotheaded  Emanuel May Be White House Voice of Reason.”

Sorry Ballerina Boy Following Axelrod, make your flight reservation

The Post story details the enormous transformation Rahm has been making.

Once considered a “caricature,” the paper says he has had a reputation as D.C.’s “resident leviathan, a bullying, bruising White House chief of staff who is a prime target for the failings of the Obama administration.”

But then the dagger falls on Axelrod as Emanuel is played as the White House voice of reason, as the Post describes:

“But a contrarian narrative is emerging: Emanuel is a force of political reason within the White House and could have helped the administration avoid its current bind if the president had heeded his advice on some of the most sensitive subjects of the year: health-care reform, jobs and trying alleged terrorists in civilian courts.“

Emanuel could have saved Obama from falling poll numbers if only he had avoided all the agenda items pushed by Axelrod!

For instance, the Post notes that Emanuel pressed Obama not to allow Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed to be tried in civilian court.

Attorney General Eric Holder argued for doing just that as a matter of “principle.”

The Post says: “David Axelrod, senior adviser to Obama, supported Holder, the source said. The president agreed that letting the Justice Department take the lead was the right thing to do.”

The paper quotes Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham: “During this whole civilian-trial debate, Rahm’s gut instincts knew that taking KSM to New York for civilian trials was going to be a misstep. He has a better ear for domestic politics on this issue than anybody in the administration, quite frankly.”

Kremlinologists can see the handwriting on the wall. Axelrod will soon be ousted or sidelined. Rahm emerges, and so does a more pragmatic and moderate Obama.

[Via http://dancingczars.wordpress.com]

Should you cross-post updates to Facebook and Twitter?

Here’s an article I wrote that was published on Ragan.com:

Published: 3/5/2010

Should you cross-post updates to Facebook and Twitter?

By Ari B. Adler

Consider your audience before posting the same update to multiple social media channels

The root strategy for any public relations initiative includes creating your message, determining your audience, and finding the best way of delivering your message to that audience. But now, with social media, technology has given people the ability to blast identical messages to different audiences.

LinkedIn allows you to post your status update simultaneously to Twitter. You can automatically feed your tweets to Google Buzz. You can connect tweets with your Facebook status updates or your Posterous feed. And with third-party software like Tweetdeck, you can post the same message to multiple Twitter accounts, Facebook and LinkedIn with the touch of one Send button. Whether that’s a good thing or not depends on whom you ask.

“I don’t cross-post, because I use each tool for a slightly different purpose. Therefore, I target messages for each audience,” says Angela Dockett, marketing and communications manager for the American Cancer Society in East Lansing, Mich.

“I’ve done it, but am starting to back off,” admits Jason Dobson, a professional gaming blogger in Broken Arrow, Okla. “Audiences can be quite different between social media sites, and the messaging needs to reflect that.”

Although there is some mingling of followers and friends from one platform to the other, the style of how people communicate on those platforms differs, especially from a language standpoint.

While Twitter often is filled with abbreviations and symbols, those same messages appearing on a Facebook page could be confusing. Still, that hasn’t stopped some people from connecting their accounts.

“I post Twitter to Facebook, because I have friends and family finally on Facebook that don’t get Twitter. It’s too much of a hassle for me to keep up with both,” says Colleen Lin, senior rich media producer for the Dallas County Community College District in Texas. When asked if the audiences were ever confused, Lin said they were at first.

“I had some complaints, but I find that most people ‘hide’ me (on Facebook) if they’re irritated,” she says.

For some entities, particularly government agencies and universities, cross-posting may make sense.

“We cross-post, using Facebook for students and future students; Twitter for corporations, media and parents,” says Laurie Creasy, a new media specialist at Penn State.

Creasy said they aren’t using quite the same message everywhere, but Penn State hopes all the separate networks see similar messages. She noted the messages on Twitter are “more professional.”

In Rhode Island, the state Department of Transportation uses the exact same message on multiple networks, according to Dana Alexander Nolfe, RIDOT’s chief public affairs officer.

“I have a very broad target audience, and I think my goal is to get my message to as many people as possible. With so many venues, and to ensure consistency, I cross-post my message,” Nolfe says. “Some social media have a good-size audience, and some are very small, but my feeling is if MySpace, for example, is the only place someone is going to go to get RIDOT’s message, then I am going to continue to ensure that the message gets out that way.”

Some argue that business accounts should be given some leeway when cross-posting.

“The audiences are completely different if you are coming from a personal perspective,” says A.J. Teachout, owner of Ulu Marketing in Detroit. “My Twitter followers are likely not my Facebook friends, or friends at all for that matter, so they will not care to hear about what my kid did the other day. My Facebook friends actually know me and care to hear more personal details.

“That being said, from a business perspective, I think it’s a wise move. Your audience is in it for the same reason—to learn more about the business and, likely, your messages will be similar.”

In the end, it’s up to the individual whether to cross-post. With social media being such a new conduit, there’s no proven right or wrong way to do things—yet.

“The bottom line is: Know your audience and how they might be different across multiple networks and social sites,” Teachout says. “How would that affect your message?”

[Via http://aribadler.wordpress.com]

Are employment publications really helpful at all?

A funny thing happened one day as I was out for breakfast in Saint Paul.  Every now and then in the morning I would take a walk down the street and catch the first #21 bus to get myself an egg mcmuffin, hash brown, and orange juice at McDonald’s.

I would pick up the local newspaper the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, Minneapolis Star Tribune, and also each one of those freebie Employment Guide & Employment News publications and look through them while I sat down for breakfast.

 This weekly issue of the Employment Guide was one of the smaller ones I had seen in quite a while.  As I unfolded it I realized that it was only a four page issue.  On further inspection, the pages were filled with only advertisements for job training in multiple fields: truck driver CDL training programs, a full page of medical assistance training advertisements,  culinary training programs, online college courses, and GED classes.

 What caught my eye was that there were no job listings!  None whatsoever.  Not one. 

I was so surprised by this that it prompted me to make the following sarcastic status update on my Facebook page when I got home:

 I just picked up the new issue of the Employment News.  The unemployment rate in the Twin Cities must be at zero because there are absolutely no advertised  jobs. 

The recession is over!

[Via http://dahospitalityguy.wordpress.com]

Beware of Ganj A Fahma on Facebook!

Totally not a forward, and completely real. A friend of mine has pics of her baby on Facebook and got a comment from someone she did not know named “Ganj A Fahma.” HE, SHE, or IT is a fake!!!

Beware if you get “Ganj A Fahma” (ganja farmer = weed farmer) for a friend whom you never added who starts leaving random comments about some awesome game that you have to check out or anything else that is irrelevant to you.

Report it FIRST by going to the profile by clicking on the name, go to the bottom of the page, and click the Report/Block link. Then, go back to your pics and delete the comments if they’re still there so no one clicks on the link the faker provides. They’ll get hacked or worse!!!!! Totally a faker, you DID NOT add this person!!!!

Please pass this note onto others.

View This Poll

surveys

[Via http://ejatpsyche.wordpress.com]

Facebook ads

Creepy facebooks ads currently showing on my profile:

See what your baby looks like, all you need is a pic of you and a pic of anyone else! Subscription required.

You only live once, Make the most of it. Date wealthy and upscale men. Join MeetingMillionaires and meet the man of your dreams!

I’m not ready to think about having a child, and am not shallow enough to go to a site like meetingmillionaires

[Via http://creativityfromscratch.wordpress.com]

Mud is good.

Well, it was muddy – incredibly muddy.  There were all different kinds of mud.  There was the shin deep mud that pulls your runners off your feet.  There was the slippy mud you kind of skate on.  There was watery mud – up to your waist at points, that you waded through.  There was grassy looking mud that you thought was grassy enough to be safe, but wasn’t and you went flying.  There was mud that looked like it had broken glass in it, but it was just muddy ice.

Last Saturday I participated in Ireland’s first ever ‘Mud Run’.  It was in aid of MS Ireland and each runner had to raise a minimum of €150 to take part.  Probably about 500 people turned up and ran on the day – it was out in Mondello Park.  There’s an off-road tank track there and they marked out a running route through it.  It was a lovely morning, cold, but bright.  My running mate had flaked out, so I was on my own, but actually you couldn’t really be on your own there, because there was great banter and fun and helping each other out as you fell.

The event raised about €75,000 for MS Ireland and it was also sponsored by Persil – and that’s where it’s a bit interesting from a marketing point of view.  What a nice fit for Persil.  Not too big, not too clever, but some lovely touches.  They had a giant clothes line at the finishing line.  And when you finished you got a goodie bag including a sample of Persil Naturals.  Of course what do you do when you go home, only chuck your gear in the wash?  The facebook page for the event had about 800 fans, there’s photos and video up already – I found myself at 1:35 here: .  Not to mention all the online talk and content outside of the official pages.  Already the runners are talking online about next year.

Between the ideal sampling opportunity (proper old-school marketing), the on-course branding, the online presence and the good cause, it worked out pretty well for Persil.  Sure, there are probably things they could have done better – but that’s something they can start working on for next year.

In the meantime, Dirt really is good.

John Clancy

[Via http://theinfluentials.wordpress.com]

so, is this Facebook stuff worth it?

I asked this question about Social Media in general a few weeks back.    I also noted how at the C.H. Nash Museum we do not want our newsletter, website, and Facebook to be simply different versions of the same thing.  We routinely use Facebook to interact and with our fans.  So how is that going and what are we learning?

The first thing I learned was the need to give up control.  This seems somewhat contradictory to my position as the Museum Director, but all of our staff and graduate assistants are now administrators of the Facebook page.  We routinely discuss the type of content we think will work.  I thoroughly enjoy that the posts I at first might cringe at, are in fact those that engage our fans the most.  Further, this interactivity is driving increased awareness and participation in our on-site events, such as our annual 5k run.

Second, the ability to interact with other Museums, cross promote activities, and simply share and be engaged with other folks experience is tremendous.  The page Museums on Facebook lists some 600 different institutions with fan pages.  I am a fan of a couple dozen different regional, Native American, and archaeological museum pages.  The types of posts from these museums is diverse.  Most museum web pages continue to just push product.  However, an increasing number are becoming more interactive and “social” in their approach.  For example the Newseum Facebook fan page always ends their posts with a question to engage their fans.  On the C.H. Nash Museum page, we find that questions posed are always answered by at least a couple of fans.

A recent post on Beth’s Blog discussed Facebook analytics.    Options range from the complex such as Google Analytics to not so complex analytic options.  For example, the simpler Insights link available to administrators of each individual Facebook fan page actually has a wealth of data.  There are also links with lots of Online data on Facebook fan page analytics.  A good starting point for me was a download that reports on comparative data based on Facebook Insights.  The report contains abundant detail on averages for Fan Pages, on everything from number of fans, average posts, number of comments per post – more stuff than you can shake a stick at.  This downloadable report allows you to see how your Fan Page stacks up against the norm.  For example, on the C.H. Nash Museum page, we are above the norm on the most of the various feedback measures.

However, these data still do not directly answer the question, is this Facebook stuff worth it?  If a page maintains above average rankings on all measures, does that mean it is working and is worth the time expended?  I’ll play with this more in the future.

What are your thoughts on how to measure if your energy expenditure in Facebook is worth it?

[Via http://rcnnolly.wordpress.com]

What will you post tomorrow on FACEBOOK? SMH (Shaking My Head)

Some of the posts on Facebook are simply horrible, and the worst part is when you share the same DNA with the ignorant poster. Be careful Facebooker’s BIG BROTHER is watching,  so is BIG MOMMA & Daddy too, your employer, and potential employers. I pray that your spelling on State exams aren’t as ebonic as your ranting on your page. I deleted so many people in the last couple of weeks.

FYI: “Just  because you are an adult, teenager(who faked their age to get online), and its your page doesn’t mean you have to act your shoe size.”

Are schools still teaching phonics because when these ignorant Facebooker’s aren’t breaking verbs, cussing out their momma’s for asking them to get off of Facebook and study they’re dropping the F Bomb like they are in the school ‘elementary’ yard, and spinning nouns on its shoulder blades scraping compound words into phrases because your lazy. These Facebooker’s are inventing a new vocabulary worst than anything I have ever heard, and trust me you will not want your newborn reciting their ABC’s. 

Perhaps it should be call lack of phonics. Okay don’t get me wrong, along with my mom, I know a little internet short cuts slong with texting (short messaging) lingo, but I am afraid if I begin to write this way (shortening the english language), I will then be in the cubicle with paper cuts at a deadend job, or at the window saying how may I take your order. NOT HERE, NOT EVER!!!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT/DISCLAIMER:

Although as a teen, I never worked for fast food restaurant’s if you need a job, fast food places are cool-it all depends on you, and your community-, but I believe you don’t and shouldn’t settle for fast food if you don’t have  to, but if you continue to post ignorance fast food jobs may not be available to you either in your future. Be ever so careful of what you post on social networking sites since it can come back to bite.

What future are you carving out for yourselves if all you do with your precious time is rant and rave about nothing on facebook. Be reminded that once it is out there its in cyber land forever! Some are online going bizark over celebrities ( I have my favorites, but let us all be real), and rappers for some of the dumbest lyrics ever. Some of it is cool but come on must you post the entire backwards song that speaks of your downfall if you don’t become like the rapper you are holding in high esteem.

Seriously speaking are you planning on contributing something good and well worth speaking about when the social networking sites all are networked out. Consider posting something that ignites the brain to think and reproduce something creative that will never depreciate.

“Trust me in a couple of years the things that matter now won’t later but to your employer it just might, I am just saying!”

[Via http://dwritewell.wordpress.com]

Reading @Social Media Today:Moving beyond the industrial society

Image via Wikipedia

Great post about these changing times. It enables me to act on the professional and personal level. Assume that it will have benefits for u2 (and probably also at the department and organizational level)

Found at Social Media Today | Moving beyond the industrial society.

Noted psychiatrist R. D. Laing said “we live in a moment of history where change is so speeded up that we begin to see the present only when it is already disappearing.” We live in a world that is on the leading edge of a major business (or maybe that’s societal) transformation, but like any widespread change, the shift away from the industrial model will take time. The change to social business is cultural and as such, threatens a great many concepts that we were brought up believing. It’s ingrained in our education system, our organizations and our businesses. As Seth Godin points out “our entire education system is designed to prepare people to work in factories, consume stuff, and believe this makes us happy.”

To be continued at http://socialmediatoday.com/SMC/177706?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Social+Media+Today+(all+posts)

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• Challanges of working with Fear Based People (girlatplay.com)
• 2010: The system’s not changing fast enough and it no longer matters (edu.blogs.com)

[Via http://fredzimny.wordpress.com]

Fool me once, shame on you…

…. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Pretty much sums up my thoughts on Facebook and its ever changing privacy settings. I understand the uproar every time a layout changes, or the settings change.  People, for the most part, do not like change.

When Facebook started allowing people without a college affiliation, people freaked out. When Facebook changed its wall functions to status based, people freaked out. When Facebook changed its privacy settings, people freaked out. People love to freak out.

In the past couple of months, Facebook made some changes, or extensions, to current privacy settings. This gave the user MUCH more control over what people saw, how much they saw, and in what context. Facebook’s home page announced these changes on the main page, sent out emails, and gave step by step instructions on how to edit your privacy settings.

Facebook used to be all or nothing. If you weren’t friends with someone, you either set that they COULD or COULD NOT see your profile. That was when everyone was in the same network, and were using Facebook for the same means.

Now, with business and networking becoming a larger part of the social media outlet, it might be nice to allow people I am not friends with to access my work information, and hobbies. But no, I might not want them seeing photos of me out last Saturday night or a link to my family’s Facebook pages. The new settings allow me to share exactly what I want, every last detail, to who I want. And I’ve found it quite and I have no complaints about the changes.

If you were silly enough to ignore the memo the first time Facebook changed its settings, than I don’t pitty you when your future employer comes across photos of you doing a keg stand back in 2004.  If you are smart enough to put the information out there, you should be smart enough to protect it.

[Via http://emilyblakem.wordpress.com]

QWS in Facebook

Anyone heard of QWS? I bet some of you have. It stands for Quality of Worklife Seminar, a flagship values enhancement program which the D.M. Consunji Technical Training Center (DMCTTC) offers. And, as far as QWS is concerned, the bonding of the group members which this program fosters is not anymore confined to the four walls of the conference hall or venue area. It’s also in the WEB.

And, talking about the WWW, there’s no other place popular in the social networking sphere than Facebook. While in FB (shortened form for Facebook), all one has to do is to look for “Friends of QWS” under Groups. Or, you may type at the browser address the following link: http://groups.to/friendsofqws.

But wait, there’s a prior action you have to take before you can continue and get to know the people inside this group. The “Friends of QWS” Facebook group is an exclusive group for participants of the QWS. Now, that’s a prerequisite before one could join this FB group, since we treat the QWS experience as unique for the individual and for those who have gone through it.

Those in the DMCI group of companies (Construction, Homes, Water, Power, DMCI Mining, Semirara Mining, RMC, EMD) who have not taken this seminar and who would like to avail of our QWS, kindly email us of your request to this address dmcttc@dmcinet.com so we could include you in our future QWS offering.

Hope to hear from you.

[Via http://dmcttc.wordpress.com]

Random Post & Test

So this is a ‘quickpress’ post. I’m not sure if that means anything until I publish it..but I’m giving it a whirl.

A football player with the University of Oregon was booted off the team due to a Facebook status update.  Furthering my point before that Facebook is reaching its boiling point. Did you know Facebook started as a vehicle for making fun of people and things? Here’s the founders first status update, ever:

I’m a little intoxicated, not gonna lie. So what if it’s not even 10 p.m. and it’s a Tuesday night? What? The Kirkland [dorm] facebook is open on my desktop and some of these people have pretty horrendous facebook pics. I almost want to put some of these faces next to pictures of farm animals and have people vote on which is more attractive. —9:48 pm

Anyway! Better news.

The US defeated Canada in Olympic hockey tonight! It was awesome!

U. S. A.!

U. S. A.!

[Via http://mickerdoo.wordpress.com]

SEE.HEAR.SAY: Canada's reaction by Facebook Status Updates

Canada’s reaction by Facebook Status Updates

21 February 2010

I’m actually finding the Facebook Status Updates post-game reaction hilarious, so I thought I would share:

canada bring on the excuses!!!!! WHO ELSE CURRENTLY HATES MARTIN BRODEUR going to start a riot Just because there’s a goalie doesn’t mean you can’t score i just…what do u say after that??? no. fucking. way. having about 3 seperate heart attacks right now… we can still win gold…….. REPEAT OF 02 CANADA! any other week of the year, I would love Kesler for scoring an empty netter…now…well, you can probably guess..

And the best post-game fan page is…..

Really Brodeur?

[Via http://avenuel.wordpress.com]

Warming up to blogging

I guess you could say… I’m starting to like blogging. I think how it started was I’ve become obsessed with looking up how many views I get a day, anyone agree? My highest… was 33 views, but I think if I keep this up… writing about my discoveries and ranting about my life’s situations… that we’ll come across a few interesting stories.

[Via http://mattdenisonconfused.wordpress.com]

K&B Recap Thursday February 18th: Kat Von D

On today’s show: Kat Von D stopped by to talk about the new season of L.A. Ink, listeners get busted for internet postings and The Internet Roundup.

Also, Mr. Skin gave us his list of the Top 5 hottest Canadians, Sal Masekela talks about Shaun White’s Gold Medal winning performance, American Psycho is now a musical and more.

Click more to listen to the podcast.

[Via http://kroq.radio.com]

Facebook's Project Titan

Did you know that Facebook will be launching a full featured email capability?  I didn’t know that, but I do now.  It’ll be cool.  I already use Facebook to do alot of my messaging instead of email because many of my students won’t even check their e mail anymore.  Plus the whole network is there.  Just when I was thinking about not using Facebook anymore, I learn that it’ll become that much more functional.

Your e mail address on Facebook will be your vanity name @facebook.com.  Not sure when it comes out, but if you figure it out, let me know.  Facebook – just when you think it’s going – comes out with new stuff.  We’ll see.

What do you think is the next thing?

[Via http://identityspecialist.wordpress.com]

Drinking, farms, double-standards and that one time I took my pants off at the bar.

Let me preface this entry by saying that I have a bit of a chip on my shoulder when it comes to talking about age-related issues in the social media space. It comes from all of the times that I have been at a networking event and been shrugged off as some kid that doesn’t belong. It comes from all of the times that I have raised a legitimate question or concern via a social media channel and been ignored. It comes from that one time when I retweeted your f*cking blog post and you didn’t say thank you. Color me mildly pissed about that. So that’s where I’m coming from.

With that being said, if you are old enough to drive a car and you use Facebook for networking or professional purposes, put away the gifts, farms, mafias, and whatever other app you think will look cute on your Facebook page. Lately, all of the invitations and requests I have been getting have come from people who I have met at networking events. People who are using social networking sites for business. People who should know better. Sad face.

I would liken these requests to walking into the office of a small business to find the owner sitting on the floor playing with Troll Dolls or My Little Pony. What would you think about that small business’ ability to handle the demands of their consumers? Would that reflect positively or negatively on your perception of that company?

Oh, and please, please (please!) stop inviting me to join in on the fun. I would rather be hit in the head repeatedly with my own severed arm then join your mafia gang. I’m sorry, but Mafia Wars invitations are grounds for an instant unfriending. No joke. Try me.

Moving right along. So, since joining the big boy grown up world of working in a corporate environment about 3 years ago, I have heard one consistent word of advice regarding Facebook: untag any pictures of yourself drinking or partying that you have linked to your Facebook page. Employers will look at that sort of thing and they don’t want to see you looking unprofessional or, God forbid, having a good time.

Now let me ask you, who would you rather have as an employee? The jovial, good-natured person who goes out on the weekends and occasionally takes his pants off at the bar because it was really hot that day and they were restricting my range of motion and I really wanted to win the dance-off? Or the grown up person who spends all day playing with an imaginary farm and sending virtual gifts to their virtual, grown up ‘friends’? I’ll pause and let that question settle. I’m not sure why this issue is never brought up when people are talking about social media and professionalism.

Let’s face it, everyone likes to go out and cut loose every once in a while. From management to new hires, it’s all the same. For me specifically, that ‘once in awhile’ might be more than for some others, but that’s not the point. The point is that I look really good when I’m drinking. Like, better than when I’m wearing a tie and sitting up straight and there’s a lame photographer’s background behind me. Plus, if I had to untag all of the pictures of myself that were either taken at a bar or while intoxicated, I would be left with some throwback baby pictures and that’s about it.

So why would employers discourage the tagging of pictures where people are having fun? In our crazy, stressful, mixed up world, shouldn’t we be embracing the traits and activities that bond us together and make us human and condemning the activities that make us lame and weird? Sometimes I think the whole world has gone mad.

[Via http://colormesocial.wordpress.com]

Facebook Makan korban .. lagi !!

bicara tentang facebook gak ada matinya. semua orang demam facebook. facebook jadi bahan iklan, marketing, nyari dukungan, hingga bisa menentukan kebijakan. ajaib plus sedikit memilukan. mungkin sang pencetus facebook Mark Zuckerberg gak menyangka booming facebook seperti sekarang ini. gak gaul kalo gak punya facebook, apalagi setelah ditanamkan sofware yang bisa facebook an di HP semakin merajalela situs pertemanan ini.

awalnya facebook hanya ditujukan sebagai situs pertemanan bagi mahasiswa di universitas. kemudian mulai berkecambah dan akhirnya menjadi situs pertemanan yang berkembang luar biasa pesat mengalahkan friendster, myspace, mungkin bahkan twitter.

dari peruntukan awalnya sebenarnya sudah terlihat bahwa situs pertemanan ini lebih ditujukan pada individu yang sudah dinyatakan dewasa, itu teorinya, nyatanya banyak anak smp, sd bahkan tk sudah punya account facebook. trus siapa yang salah, ketika kemudian FB disalahgunakan untuk hal-hal negatif (tergantung melihatnya dari mana) ada yang menggunakan sebagai media iklan buat prostitusi, jualan badan, jualan macem-macem, hingga bisa menjadi tempat curahan hati, hujat-menghujat. terakhir muncul diberita 4 anak SD dikeluarkan gara-gara menulis comment di tembok nya FB.

ada beberapa analisis yang bisa dikemukakan. pertama ditinjau dari ranah pendidikan banyak hal bisa dikritisi, bagaimana metode mengajarnya apakah sudah benar dan mengasyikkan bagi si anak? jangan-jangan memang cara ngajar dan metodenya yang gak bener atau justru gurunya yang benar-benar menerapkan student center learning yang menempatkan murid sebagai subyek sekaligus obyek pembelajaran, sehingga murid senantiasa dan seharusnya diberi tugas rumah yang seabrek banyaknya. atau memang muridnya yang kebangetan, malas, mengeluh ketika diberi banyak tugas, karena biasanya semuanya sudah diberikan oleh orang tuanya, plus pengaruh turunnya moral dan budipekerti terhadap gurunya. kalau dulu guru selalu diposisikan sebagai orang yang dihormati, digugu lan ditiru, sekarang menjadi koran salah asuh orang tua dan sistem pendidikan kita yang mengutamakan hasil akhir dengan mengorbankan moral dan budi pekerti.

perlu kiranya untuk bercermin apakah sistem pendidikan kita yang lagi-lagi mengutamakan hasil akhir yang penting lulus telah mengorbankan moralitas, budi pekerti.

analisis lain bisa ditinjau dari ranah keluarga. secara sosiologis ada yang salah dengan ranah keluarga. peran keluarga menjadi tanda tanya besar ketika pendidikan yang semestinya masih menjadii tanggung jawab orang tua selain pendidikan formal. tekanan ekonomi dan sosial yang semaikin hebat memberipengaruh pada pola asuh orang tua terhadap anaknya. asumsinya mulai ada degradasi alokasi waktu untuk anak yang berakibat pada munculnya perilaku menyimpang. kondisi ini apabila terus dibiarkan akan mencetak generasi-generasi yang buruk moral, acuh dan cuek terhadap lingkungan yang akhirnya secara perlahan-lahan akan menghancurkan budaya dan cirikhas bangsa ini.

[Via http://glindingan.wordpress.com]

A typical conversation. Client: Hi, is t...

A typical conversation.

Client: Hi, is this Nono?

Me: yep (slightly irritated i have to answer the obvious)

Client: My name is _______. I am creating an app. I saw your work and I really like it.

Me: _____ , did you see my rate? I want to make sure we are clear on that. (curtly)

Client: yah, not a problem. I am looking for someone just like you. I am forming a team of the best. I have not seen anyone who gets it. and I have a revolutionary product that I need some UX design for.

Me: ok (still not interested at this point)…what is your app?

At this point, client tells me just how revolutionary his product is, how they’re absolutely going to rake it in, how they’re going to change the world, that they are well funded, and that I will benefit and that _____ can give me some guidance etc.

Me: ok, when do you want to start.

Client: ok, so right now, we are trying to watch our burn rate, would you possibly consider taking some equity or a lowered rate.

dial tone….

a click later

another person on my spam list.

Note: this guy is actually not the worst. Some people call me and start interrogating me as if I called them. They barely make it past their second question.

Some people might wonder how I can act this way when other designers are struggling.

Simple.

because I can.

[Via http://nonoumasy.wordpress.com]

Western carriers return to Iraq

Iraq may not be among Western travelers’ most desired destinations quite yet, but some of the world’s leading airlines have decided that flying to the war-ravaged country can be profitable, so they are returning there after a 20-year absence.

Although two of Europe’s major carriers — Austrian Airlines and Turkish Airlines — have been serving Iraq since 2008, their re-entry in that market was viewed as only moderately significant at the time, and none of their peers followed suit.

Austrian chose Erbil, the capital of Kurdish Northern Iraq, which was never nearly as violent as the rest of the country. Turkish began flying to Baghdad, as well as Erbil, but Turkey is not a European Union member. Neither carrier has a truly global network to connect Iraq with many other countries on different continents.

Britain’s second-largest carrier, BMI, said in April it would also start flights to Baghdad, but those plans haven’t materialized.

Last week, Iraq received a major vote of confidence when Germany’s Lufthansa became the largest airline to announce renewed services for the first time since the first Gulf War, beginning this summer. It operated flights to the country from 1956 until 1990. Both Austrian and BMI are part of the Lufthansa Group.

READ FULL STORY

[Via http://nicholaskralev.wordpress.com]

I'm in a mood

Ever just have one of those days? As the picture on my blog clearly shows, I do sometimes… and today is one of those days…

I am in a horrible mood for no good reason at all. Of course I am stressed about moving and money (the ever present stress… but it’s improving) and life in general… and it doesn’t help to be having that monthly fun time, as I like to call it, but yes… today is definitely one of those days.

So today,  I am going to go on a rampage. This rampage is aimed at AT&T!

Today, on facebook, my good friend Lizzard posted something about being mad at AT&T and the Woodland Police Department. Upon further investigation, I discovered that AT&T is trying to royally screw her, as well as many other of her facebook friends and fellow commenters. And the Woodland PD has no tolerance for solving bill problems over the phone while driving (another perk of Nevada… can talk on my phone again!!) Apparently there are many ongoing lawsuits against AT&T all the time because they are always trying to screw people.

What is the deal?

AT&T is totally monopolizing the market, I have to say, and it’s totally ridiculous and unfair. It’s the only cell phone service that actually has service where I now live in Nevada, and it’s basically going to be our only real option for internet there, which is really telling about other cell phone companies, but anyway…Lizzard states her problem as follows:

“I have AT&T for my Internet and I wanted to upgrade my package (and pay more), so they told me I’d have to cancel my current package and pay $150 termination fee and then sign up for the upgraded package. Talk about a load of crap! And then I got a ticket for talking on my cell phone while driving because speaker phone doesn’t count if you’re holding the phone. So frustrating!”

Now that is ridiculous… on both accounts. It has just now occurred to me that perhaps the PD is in cahoots with the phone companies. They make a law that requires every California resident to purchase more phone gadgets from the phone companies (i.e. hands free devices), because clearly speakerphone is not a viable option! I digress…

AT&T: their family plan is also a joke. My husband and I can decide between plan one) way too few minutes for the two of us to share or plan two) more minutes than we could ever hope to talk through. We have 10,000 rollover minutes because when we were on the lesser plan, we over shot every month and had to pay unsightly fees… and now that we are on the upgraded plan, we pay for minutes that we are clearly not using. Now, if we were to downgrade now, because we have sooooooo many rollover minutes, we would lose them all. How on earth does that work? We have paid for those minutes. We have earned them. It’s madness!!! And the one time we did throw a fit about the over charges when we were on the lesser plan, they took like $100 off our bill, which only goes to show me that most of America is just rolling over and taking it in the butt and when you raise a stink, they take off the charges no problem because they know the charges are unfair. It’s just absurd!

How is this happening? There must be something we can do. If I were more political, I would start a petition for something! But for now, this blog will have to do. It will have to satisfy me and hold all my pent up aggression towards ‘The Man.’… whatever that means….

Luke Wilson… you’re all they got man!

[Via http://mrswatercloset.wordpress.com]

Click 'Deactivate'. Two Year Olds Aren't Allowed To Have Facebook Accounts.

Facebook changed their homepage layout… again. I think they learned their lesson last time when they gave everyone a head’s up with screen shots, tours and notes n’whatnot. This time it was like a sneak attack. People’s pages just started changing and when they did, you got a link with a ‘how it works’ guide.

I kind of hate it when Facebook changes their layout, just because I don’t like having to figure out where all the stuff I use, went, and having to get used to it being set up that way. But I’m not going to be one of those annoying people who whine and complain about it. I have some Facebook friends that will freak out, protest and refuse to use Facebook if they dare change the layout.. They act like two year olds every time it changes, and yet… Facebook never switches the layout back, due to the complainers. They don’t fix it or try to make the users feel better about it. So why whine and cry over it? Honestly, if you’re going to throw a fit, stop saying you’re going to delete your account and just DO IT already! Please… For me. I’m begging. If only you could see me, down on my knees pleading with the morons of the world! … Okay I’m not on my knees, but really.

I don’t usually like the layout change either, but I just keep using it and try to get used to it as soon as I can. And honestly, I like the most recent change a lot better than the last one they did. So.

[Via http://voteforcoffee.wordpress.com]

Brooklyn Slur - Lodge

The Slow Food NYC monthly Happy Hour! It’s fun, social, and informal. But it’s also your opportunity to talk to the leadership of Slow Food NYC and let us know what you think. Got a great idea for an event? Looking for ways to get involved? Want to learn more about Slow Food? Just looking to have a relaxing drink with other “Slow” minded people? The Slur is your opportunity.

Built from wood re-purposed from a 19th century Adirondack camp, Lodge is a bar and restaurant that offers regionally grown and sustainably produced foods. The menu features comfort classics like pulled pork with mac and cheese, and the drink list includes cocktails made with organic vodka, Six Point and Brooklyn beers and biodynamic wines.

For our Slur, Lodge will offer $3 pints of Yeungling along with its regular Monday night special–all-you-can-eat chicken wings at the bar with the purchase of a beer.  We hope to see you there.

Where: Lodge – 318 Grand Street; Williamsburg, Brooklyn [website: www.lodgenyc.com]

When: Monday, February 22nd – 7pm to 9pm

[Via http://slowfoodnyc.wordpress.com]

Rss Feed

What is an RSS feed? How do they work? I have so many questions and no one to ask. I can read whatever I find online but nothing has helped me so far. I’m trying to figure this all out but I don’t understand. What has an Rss Feed? I assume it’s something like twitter that is updated on a regular basis (for most people, but not in my case) but does Facebook have such a thing? I truly feel I will never figure this out….

[Via http://hajewell.wordpress.com]

Is it worth it?

Which side are YOU on?

Are great pants really worth throwing away a friendship for? Well, in the case of Sherway educators Christine and Rachel, they sure are*. The Flashback Pant and Dance Studio Pant made their respective debuts in our spring line this past week, and these two normally-pleasant women have been butting heads since. Christine swears by the loose-fitting, chafe resistant cotton terry Flashbacks, while Rachel counters with the lightweight and breathable Dance Studios, which she comfortably wears to and from her hip-hop class (she’s training for the next Drake vid).

“Ewwww, I can’t stand her,” Christine says of her former friend.

“She’s ugly,” Rachel says in response. “Her pants are great, but mine are better.”

So, which pants do you like better? Get on in to Sherway and check them out! We can force you to come, but we highly recommend it!

Along with the Flashbacks and Dance Studios, we’ve got some new 5 Year Pima Tees and Modern Racer Tanks in that are worth a look too. If you like getting updates like this, be sure to sign up for our product notification…HERE! Also, become a fan on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay in the loop!

* (Note: Christine and Rachel actually aren’t fighting. Sure, they have beef over the pants, but they still get along splendidly and encourage everyone else to keep the peace.)

[Via http://lululemonsherway.com]

New Facebook Look ... Again

By Erik Qualman

Facebook revealed a new look today. If you haven’t seen this change yet, you will.  In the meantime I’ve posted a screen shot below.

Facebook's New Look Came Out Today

My 3-minute reaction is that I like it.  If over the course of the next 24-hours that opinion changes I will let you know!  The main change is to the top and side navigation; specifically, it is easier to find the items you use most: messages, new requests, notifications, etc.

Another feature is they showcase who’s online now (left nav) in an attempt to increase the use of their chat feature. They’ve also made the reminders, like for birthdays, a little more prominent.   I’ve only reviewed for a few minutes, but so far there is nothing glaring that I can’t find.

[Via http://socialnomics.net]

Facebook Passes the 400 Million User Mark

Facebook is celebrating its 6th birthday in style, with yet another traffic milestone: 400 million users served.

Two months ago the social network hit 350 million, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg reminds us that number was less than half of today’s 400 million mark a year ago. It took the site about three months to climb from 300 to 350 million users and only about two months to gain another 50 million, indicating Facebook’s explosive growth is actually still accelerating.

[Via http://lmd308.wordpress.com]

Facebook Hiatus

For the past few weeks, one of my Facebook friends has been trying to gather Facebook junkies/addicts/socialites to join a small group called No-Facebook February.  As I perused my friends’ status updates, photos, and favorite links, I found myself annoyed at the prospect of taking that much time (twenty-eight days!) away from the social scene, well, the online social scene.  Who would do that? Why should I consider it like she kept saying I should?

For goodness sakes, an old acquaintance from high school who I haven’t talked-to talked to in, oh, eight years is about to give birth any day now!  How would I know when the baby was born?  It’s not like she’d call me or something.  How would I know, know, know about my 130 close (not-so close) friends’  most facebook-able activities? Certainly they all are waiting for my status updates about what I’m making for dinner, or how Adeline’s nap for the day went, and would miss then should they not arrive in their live news feed.  Surely, I cannot disappoint.

Uh-oh.

There was that twinge.  You can chalk it up to conscience, God, or the little angel sitting on your right shoulder, but you know that feeling.  It happens when you pass by the Salvation Army bell-ringer when you have plenty of change to spare, or buy what you want instead of what you need, or lean in a little closer to hear, out of genuine concern of course, what Jane heard about Jill. It’s when you hear loud and clear, “Examine yourself!!”  So I did.

Facebook shows me a lot of blessings and keeps people in my life that I wouldn’t have contact with in any other way, but do I really need to know what movie Long-Lost-Friend #14 saw Friday night, or peek through the pictures Old-Coworker posts of her niece?  Whether it’s my reading time, homework time, mama-ing time, doting on my husband time, is this how I need to be spending it? Commenting on what other people are eating for lunch or giving advice  on how to spur on contractions to someone I met once is not teaching my daughter to count to three or getting me any closer to being who I want to be.

So, at 11:58 PM on January 31st, I made a spur of the moment decision and signed off of Facebook for twenty-eight days.  I haven’t ‘liked’ anything, added anyone, or updated my status for two days now.  And though I know that I’ve missed some good discussions and moments that people very dear to me have shared, I’ve also been more productive and realized some of the irritation I feel at social networking.  So far, two days in, No-Facebook February is feeling fine.  But I must admit – I’m glad it’s not leap year.

[Via http://moorefamlily.wordpress.com]

hoy, en todos lados, comieron tamales

Si, hoy por lo del dia de la Candelaria los tamales estuvieron a la orden del dia, de hecho hoy desyunamos tamales y cenamos tamales… hasta la madre de tamales!

Tengo que agregar que esta foto tiene algo particular:

Este wey me hizo comprar tamales para los weyes del trabajo… ni modo, ya hace mucho tiempo que no me tocaba, creo que ya era algo justo.

emphhh… ya, tambien quieren que me vaya a dar de baja de la UVM (ahora si, hasta les urge a los cabrones…) para tramitar el reembolso de los pagos que ya habia hecho chinguen a su ma’ para mi maestria, en fin.

ya tambien quiero mencionar que he atiborrado mi Picasa con fotografias que he tomado en el fin de semana, lo bueno es que compre el espacio de 20GB por $5 USD y asi libero el espacio del disco duro, solamente no se que pasa con el intercable que ahora ha estado demasiado lento (torrents??) y se tardan un buen en subirse las fotos…

Ahh!!!, tambien hoy he probado el cliente de facebook basado en silverlight, de hecho se ve muy chido (la verdad no se porque al hablar de silverlight no puedo evitar relacionarlo con el Adobe AIR, supongo que no tienen mucho que ver el uno con el otro, quien sabe…) y aqui esta una captura de como se ve:

Lo que me gusto es que cuando checas el apartado de ‘photos’ se ponen de fondo, como mosaico (al mas puro estilo Windows Media Center) y solo eso, tiene un efecto muy chido, pero no esperen mas de eso, al probar por un rato la app creo que falta algo de trabajo, como para ver links y demas tienes que abrir tu browser, creo que para que este bien elaborado este cliente tienes que abrir o ejecutar todo dentro de la misma app, no?

y hoy, hoy es otro dia mas… ya casi llega el dia d…

sigo tarareando chiquitita, esa cancion (aunque no lo digo muy seguido, aunque ahora que lo pienso… no lo habia dicho salvo a una sola persona) me gusta mucho… y creo que la seguire tarareando un buen rato mas.

cheers!

 

[Via http://somethingtotalkaboutme.com]

'The Bachelor' Winner leaked? Spoiler Alert ....Pilot 'Bachelor' Jake Pavelka has reportedly chosen???

The Bachelor’ winner leaked: spoiler alert. The rumored winner is named in the post.

Winner of the newest season of ‘The Bachelor’ leaked?

January 2010 — The newest season of ‘The Bachelor’ is just getting underway and already the name of the winner has been leaked. (The leaked name appears in this post.)

According to “Reality Steve” who correctly predicted the Molly/Melissa switch on last season’s ‘Bachelor’ the winner of this season’s bachelor has been leaked.

Pilot ‘Bachelor’ Jake Pavelka has reportedly chosen 23 year old Vienna Girardi to be his future bride. Other spoilers have also been leaked including the final four, Tenley, Gia, Ali, and Vienna.

[Via http://ctpatriot1970.wordpress.com]

Old Friends?

Do you really need them in your life? Have you reconnected on Facebook and kinda regretted it? I have. I have reconnected with Bill, the God fearing, three time reformed alcoholic, sex addicted bass player and Fat Becky, the slutty pathological liar who never met a sandwich that she didn’t like. These people offer us NOTHING, right? Are we crazy to bring them into our cyber lives? Maybe. I guess it builds the ‘friend count’ and there’s nothing like ‘perceived value’ – I mean, this dude knows A LOT of people! He MUST be cool, right? Not really, kids. Bill, Becky, Lisa (who has 3 kids with 3 different dads), Jerry, Dan, Warren, Patrick ( who I never even MET before!)  - All of Y’all are just padding my numbers on the Facebook, so thanks, I think. Like I said, Jim – Perceived VALUE.

[Via http://jeromejerome.wordpress.com]

Closing out a long week...

No great strides in my journey this week, I am sad to say. Though, that may not be all together true. Yes, my journey is primarily one of weight loss, but I have forgotten, it is also about being happy and healthy… that is not merely weight loss. So, in that respect, I have actually done quite well this week, today being especially good. Work has been pretty slow, but, I am still bringing money home. I am definitely working tomorrow, but not sure about Saturday. I admit that I would love to have the weekend off to recuperate. I am getting used to having to be at work and on the road as much as I am. It’s a bit of a drive from my house to work, so I lose about 1.5 to 2 hours driving a day, depending on traffic.

But, even though I have not been the success at the gym that I have wanted to be, as of yet, I have been able to maintain the initial weight loss. I remain at 447 and have not gained or loss since that weigh in. I have been sticking to my “diet” (I hate using that word, but it is what most people tend to use, common nomenclature and all) and drinking massive amounts of water. I suppose that has been a help. I do need to get back on track with taking my vitamins and supplements, I really slacked off on that and I am really disappointed with myself about that. Tomorrow, I will start anew with the pills. I have also come to the conclusion that my all or nothing attitude has to be adjusted a bit when it comes to the gym, at least for now anyway. I had fully intended on working out 6 days a week with one day off… well, my spirit is certainly willing, but, my body is saying “oh… no, no, no…” And rightfully so, I mean really, you can’t abuse your body for so many years and then expect it to play ball when you come to your senses!

I am now going to work out every other day, no matter what. Starting either Tomorrow or Saturday. I am still a little on the sore side from earlier this week, and I think one more day of rest will prepare me for my return. I totally enjoy going and doing what I have to at the gym, I just need to convince my body that it is okay! I was happy to see that my blog has found its way, with no assistance from me, to other blog sites on the web. I don’t know how it is being found, but I am glad it is getting out there all the same. I would, however, welcome any and all suggestions on how I can better promote this blog and get more eyes to see it. I have tried a few things to no real avail except the one post in December when I had my record of 500 plus hits in one day. I have to say that I was a bit spoiled by that day, and have felt that my meager 15 to 30 hits on any given day is not so great, lol.

Once again, I am thinking seriously of pursuing a career in writing. I have been told by many, including a few people who I value their opinions very highly, that I should find a way to write for a living. I have been posting some articles on eHow.com and have really enjoyed that. I am looking for some opportunities to contribute to a few local publications if I can, even for free at first. I will be reviewing and writing a piece on the band “Particle Effect” after their show that is coming up in February. Info as follows: (Particle Effects is the band, and they will be kicking off open mic at Yeoman’s Road on Davis Island. 10pm Tuesday night on February 9th. at 236 Davis Blvd. Tampa FL. 33606. Mapquest it or GPS it. Come on out and support them, then hang out with them after the show.) One of the band members is a dear friend and former band mate of mine, Christian F. Rivas. I look forward to the opportunity to see them live for the first time, and to write what very well may be their first review. I will try to be as objective as possible, though, my bias may play into it a little. I am sure that it will be a great show! I am also still putting together some ideas for a book, I have a few working titles, but, I am going to leave the title until I am further into the creation of the actual main body.

Well, it is that time… I am tired and have a probable long day ahead of me tomorrow at the club. Please let me know what you are thinking and any of the aforementioned suggestions and/or comments are greatly appreciated!

Thanks to all of you for your continued love and support.

As always, take care and remember…

Every day is a chance to turn it all around!

- Kenny

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[Via http://kennyislosingit.wordpress.com]

Modern Technology Owes Ecology An Apology

Oh, people in the 21st century…(sigh). Anything anybody’s interested in these days are the new “pea pods” or “tea books”. Now, many a “mature” being may have come across these grammatical mishaps given to the fact that they still probably think Lincoln is in office. Well, as these oldies resist, the younglings are practically more than welcoming. As I have just learned, from personal experience, these younger generations have become frighteningly dependent on these great technological feats, spending hours on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. Seeming to have some kind of hypnotizing component to it, technology is anything anybody cares about nowadays. What happened to curling up with a good ole book without a glaring light projecting from a digitally processed page? Or actually writing a letter and taking the time to send it, postage stamp and all instead of typing it up and sending it off in a matter of seconds?

Yesterday, because of complications with my WiFi network, I could not access the internet on my laptop. My frustration turned into hysteria which turned into me crying over not being able to check my Facebook page. Oh. My. God. I felt so incredibly silly afterwards, recounting my rant on how important it was that I check up on my page right that second. Not to mention that I had an audience as well, equipped with friends and family.

I suppose the “moral” of the story is that maybe one of these days you should trade up that eBook for an original (antique) copy of The Grapes of Wrath or that email for a piece of looseleaf and a pen. Bring yourself back down to earth, buy that horse and not that Prius.

“Western society has accepted as unquestionable a technological imperative that is quite as arbitrary as the most primitive taboo:  not merely the duty to foster invention and constantly to create technological novelties, but equally the duty to surrender to these novelties unconditionally, just because they are offered, without respect to their human consequences.”  ~Lewis Mumford

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