Saturday afternoons I would pretend I had a stomachache and take a book with me into the bathroom and lock the door hoping my mother would give up on making me practice another four hours. Sometimes I would lay down on the bath mat and take a nap.
I loved music naturally, but hated so much being forced to play, and the long-fingered ears of my mother reaching into me from beyond the kitchen to tell me when I was out of tune or playing too slowly--she really was stupid in so many ways, not understanding that a student plays more and more slowly as they listen more conscientiously. Non-musicians do not realize that it takes much more concentration and effort to play slowly than it does to mechanically rip through notes.
My teachers felt sorry for me. But I wish that even one of them had had the courage to tell my mother to quit pushing.
I wanted to play beautifully for myself, but I wanted to play badly for her, to disappoint her, and to make her angry. I wanted to practice for myself in freedom from her constant criticism, with her in a different country, or dead.
December 13, 2005
unhook your aggregators...
and go looking for some fabulous new-to-you voices. Like Zulieka:
December 12, 2005
Hey, I resemble that market!
So they've canned Mr. Six Flags, which will ultimately peeve my kid off, along with her swim friends, who delight in dancing like the old guy for prizes and money at summer pool parties.
BUT HEY, look on the bright side, that must mean they're looking for someone or something to replace him... HMMM... something to appeal to "mothers with young children..." HMMMM...
NANNY 911 GOES TO SIX FLAGS!
It's an episode in which little billy humps a clown's leg while sweet sally mae sets the funhouse on fire, and tommy hurls a ninja star from a moving roller coaster, scarring the ferris wheel operator for life.
Following Desperate Housewives...
Film at 11.
BUT HEY, look on the bright side, that must mean they're looking for someone or something to replace him... HMMM... something to appeal to "mothers with young children..." HMMMM...
NANNY 911 GOES TO SIX FLAGS!
It's an episode in which little billy humps a clown's leg while sweet sally mae sets the funhouse on fire, and tommy hurls a ninja star from a moving roller coaster, scarring the ferris wheel operator for life.
Following Desperate Housewives...
Film at 11.
Frank's Paynting Again!
The "How do you blog" series is getting started. Honored to be asked to say how I blog, in a few different ways...
Two non-mentions by MSM that piss me off.
The mainstream press continues to rewrite our history with two non-mentions of important contributors to big deals today.
First, Adam Curry gets Dave Winer's RSS software credit in Business Week. Now Dave and I have had our moments, hours, days, years, etc., but what kind of nutjob wouldn't give Dave the nod over Adam on the tech side of podcasting? That's just bad reporting and I'd have to think some kind of bias.
Second Blogads and Henry Copeland are omitted from the NYT article on MSNBC's big blogad buy (that thingy you see on the sidebar; thanks Henry!). It's easy to forget now that advertising on blogs is a legit advertising strategy for BigBiz, and a sweet spot for BigBloggers looking to gang up, that Henry was there when it wasn't. And he takes care of the little guys too. Don't forget that.
So rewrite your versions of these stories at home with me, kay kids?
First, Adam Curry gets Dave Winer's RSS software credit in Business Week. Now Dave and I have had our moments, hours, days, years, etc., but what kind of nutjob wouldn't give Dave the nod over Adam on the tech side of podcasting? That's just bad reporting and I'd have to think some kind of bias.
Second Blogads and Henry Copeland are omitted from the NYT article on MSNBC's big blogad buy (that thingy you see on the sidebar; thanks Henry!). It's easy to forget now that advertising on blogs is a legit advertising strategy for BigBiz, and a sweet spot for BigBloggers looking to gang up, that Henry was there when it wasn't. And he takes care of the little guys too. Don't forget that.
So rewrite your versions of these stories at home with me, kay kids?
December 11, 2005
How Does Frank Blog?
Oh wait, it's going to be all about how WE blog. Stay tuned to Frank's place for an upcoming post entitled, How Do You Blog?I contributed, but will I make the cut? Only Frank's hairdresser knows for sure...
Meg at Mandarin brought the question to life with this cool grafik.
She also gives a hint at how I answered the question--GREAT MINDS, BABY!
Final party pictures
Well, in addition to KC & The Sunshine Band, we also saw Martha Wash, one of the weather girls, who put out the favorite hit of my college days, it's raining men. Her voice is still awesome. I wish she brought a band rather than track singing, but hey. She's Martha Wash. She's still standing. In my book she can sing however the hell she wants.
There was also a very cool but odd fashion show of very very TALL large invididuals dressed in rather odd funky fashions. I snapped some of the runway models for Frank.
There are also some of George and I as we decide which to send to SXSW for the brochure. Vote if you like. Or don't if you don't like.
Now, I need to recuperate.
More later...
There was also a very cool but odd fashion show of very very TALL large invididuals dressed in rather odd funky fashions. I snapped some of the runway models for Frank.
There are also some of George and I as we decide which to send to SXSW for the brochure. Vote if you like. Or don't if you don't like.
Now, I need to recuperate.
More later...
The Anti-Pierce and the Shake Shake Shake Guy
Tony Pierce goes to all these sexy Buzznet parties with 20 somethings dancing on his head and stuff, and then he comes home and writes about them and puts up pictures of old girl friends or half-naked groupies. AND he is so GOOD at it.
I live vicariously through Shakespierce because I don't go to those kind of events in my old age. I'm an old married mom with an old married husband and a kid who talks too much who I love so so so so so so so. So we go to things like the annual XMAS Party and it's like we've died and gone to vegas, and for me, I get pretty excited about the baby sitter and buffet line.
Something changed between 19 and 43. I wish I could pinpoint when.
ha ha ha fricking ha.
So, when we got there, I was thinking in my glass-half-empty sort of way, KC & The Sunshine Band, great. I didn't like them the first time around. How much better have they gotten in 30 years?
But you know what? Old KC got himself some backup talent on stage, a kickass musical director from back in the day, and those folks put on a GREAT show. I mean, they worked their asses off. The horn section, rhythm section, guitarist, percussion, keys, and dancers, and KC working it as hard as he could, they all did an amazing job bringing new life to some, well, let's just say new life.
You want to see them move a little? CLICK HERE.
Of course we got to hear the hits, like shake shake shake... and get down tonight, and heck if i didn't forget KC ever did Babe (Babe, I love you sooo, I want you to know... that I'm gonna miss your love...)
ANYWAY I told George that even with my steady-eddie musical memory, some songs are stuck way way back behind my left lymph node some reason--maybe because they should say back there. Well, THAT's where Babe was. A song I forgot I knew and then instantly remembered where I'd put it.
So before you say, K-Who and the Sun-WHAT? you better lay back and appreciate determination, because KC's 55 now, and he's worked hard to rebuild what he lost and get by in this suckass business, so I'll keep Babe up in my mid-term memory for as long as I need to. For you, KC, and your sunshine band.
I live vicariously through Shakespierce because I don't go to those kind of events in my old age. I'm an old married mom with an old married husband and a kid who talks too much who I love so so so so so so so. So we go to things like the annual XMAS Party and it's like we've died and gone to vegas, and for me, I get pretty excited about the baby sitter and buffet line.
Something changed between 19 and 43. I wish I could pinpoint when.
ha ha ha fricking ha.
So, when we got there, I was thinking in my glass-half-empty sort of way, KC & The Sunshine Band, great. I didn't like them the first time around. How much better have they gotten in 30 years?
But you know what? Old KC got himself some backup talent on stage, a kickass musical director from back in the day, and those folks put on a GREAT show. I mean, they worked their asses off. The horn section, rhythm section, guitarist, percussion, keys, and dancers, and KC working it as hard as he could, they all did an amazing job bringing new life to some, well, let's just say new life.
You want to see them move a little? CLICK HERE.
Of course we got to hear the hits, like shake shake shake... and get down tonight, and heck if i didn't forget KC ever did Babe (Babe, I love you sooo, I want you to know... that I'm gonna miss your love...)
ANYWAY I told George that even with my steady-eddie musical memory, some songs are stuck way way back behind my left lymph node some reason--maybe because they should say back there. Well, THAT's where Babe was. A song I forgot I knew and then instantly remembered where I'd put it.
So before you say, K-Who and the Sun-WHAT? you better lay back and appreciate determination, because KC's 55 now, and he's worked hard to rebuild what he lost and get by in this suckass business, so I'll keep Babe up in my mid-term memory for as long as I need to. For you, KC, and your sunshine band.
December 10, 2005
Captain Planet Does It Again! XMAS PARTY a Blast.
The sessums don't leave their house much, but once a year we make the trek down to the Tabernacle to be part of Captian Planet's XMAS PARTY, which I've mentioned before here for it's great charity work AND FUN PARTIES!
Last night George took the night off work and we worked it at the XMAS Party. I have some great video and pics of the event, which I'll get posted eventually, but thought you'd be hankering for a taste of one of our favorite parts of the night -- the buffet!
Here's how it all begain. More later. Remember to click the audio button. ;-)
Last night George took the night off work and we worked it at the XMAS Party. I have some great video and pics of the event, which I'll get posted eventually, but thought you'd be hankering for a taste of one of our favorite parts of the night -- the buffet!
Here's how it all begain. More later. Remember to click the audio button. ;-)
December 09, 2005
Another old dog, some other old tricks
Ever since our old dog diva died about a year ago, Bando's been lonely. It's a rather obvious thing, isn't it. You spend your whole life with someone -- someone to terrorize, to love, to chew on, to sleep on in the winter -- and then one day you find her curled up, asleep for the last time. I mean, that's how it was for him. And he's not the brightest biscuit in the box, so add that to the mix here and you'll get an idea of his emotional state a year later.
Blogging helps you remember things. Or makes it harder to forget them. I hadn't realized that it was the anniversary of old Diva's death, but I think Bando has. A couple of weeks ago, he started escaping from the yard. By hook or by crook, by digging under the fence or hopping over. These are things he could have been doing for six years. Same house. Same fence. Same ground. Same dog. For some reason though, he's determined now that his yard will not have the boundaries they once had.
Or he's looking for Diva.
He howls still--something he started the week after she died.
It would make sense, wouldn't it, for us to have spent more time with him this last year. To play with him not just at dinner time and in the morning, but more often. I did take him to carpool once. But that's pretty lame.
Partly, it's hard for me to recognize that he's not a young bothersome puppy anymore. That was always his role when Diva was around: Bando, the pain in the ass puppy. But now he's six, and his muzzle's gray, and he's not really so young anymore.
Except that he can jump a four foot fence. And he runs up to meet the kids at the bus stop.
Anyway, I'm writing this post partly to remember Diva, whose absence somehow grows the longer she's not here, and to say to myself it's time to change up how I see our little mutt, who's not so little anymore, and not so young.
Blogging helps you remember things. Or makes it harder to forget them. I hadn't realized that it was the anniversary of old Diva's death, but I think Bando has. A couple of weeks ago, he started escaping from the yard. By hook or by crook, by digging under the fence or hopping over. These are things he could have been doing for six years. Same house. Same fence. Same ground. Same dog. For some reason though, he's determined now that his yard will not have the boundaries they once had.
Or he's looking for Diva.
He howls still--something he started the week after she died.
It would make sense, wouldn't it, for us to have spent more time with him this last year. To play with him not just at dinner time and in the morning, but more often. I did take him to carpool once. But that's pretty lame.
Partly, it's hard for me to recognize that he's not a young bothersome puppy anymore. That was always his role when Diva was around: Bando, the pain in the ass puppy. But now he's six, and his muzzle's gray, and he's not really so young anymore.
Except that he can jump a four foot fence. And he runs up to meet the kids at the bus stop.
Anyway, I'm writing this post partly to remember Diva, whose absence somehow grows the longer she's not here, and to say to myself it's time to change up how I see our little mutt, who's not so little anymore, and not so young.
December 08, 2005
Redneck Santa
Welcome to the neighborhood! Our santas are some of the laziest and drunkest in the southeastern united states! Thanks for stopping by!
Hey Atlanta, It's Willy's Time
One of my favorite things to eat out, since gaining my 833 pounds post-quitting-smoking and swearing off fast food, sort of, is a Willy's Super Veggie Burrito. Willy's has the best burritos in town, although the talent it takes to assemble and roll a truly delicious burrito varies by location, with the most talent at the Roswell Road Willy's, if you ask me.
Unfortunately, that's a little far for us on an average school night, so every now and then Jenna and I head over to the Willy's near us to crunch on some chips, cheese, and cilantro. Or one of those honking burritos they roll up into a stove pipe for you.
Of course, watching your burrito get rolled up in 8 megapixel zoomosity kind of, uh, takes the dreaminess out of it...
Unfortunately, that's a little far for us on an average school night, so every now and then Jenna and I head over to the Willy's near us to crunch on some chips, cheese, and cilantro. Or one of those honking burritos they roll up into a stove pipe for you.
Of course, watching your burrito get rolled up in 8 megapixel zoomosity kind of, uh, takes the dreaminess out of it...
December 07, 2005
so as i was saying...
You all know by now that this is my 'group' night, so I'm back from seething and grieving, and sort of tired but mellow but tired but excited. I guess it worked.
Have I mentioned that I need to give a big SHOUT OUT to my ex-BigPR brother in arms, Michael O'Connor Clarke for his clarity of vision and all around big brotherness (it's a weird sibling thing--I'm the big sister and he's the big brother, only possible on the blogs you see) , as well as his incredible hookups and winning personality lately? I mean, when we talk by phone it's like lilting kersplosions of funniness and what ifs and knee slaping, wrapped up in conspiracy theory and good natured surrender. You can't beat that for any given monday.
In fact, the man's a gift to behold and a fit to be tied, whatever that is.
Thanks, bro.
Have I mentioned that I need to give a big SHOUT OUT to my ex-BigPR brother in arms, Michael O'Connor Clarke for his clarity of vision and all around big brotherness (it's a weird sibling thing--I'm the big sister and he's the big brother, only possible on the blogs you see) , as well as his incredible hookups and winning personality lately? I mean, when we talk by phone it's like lilting kersplosions of funniness and what ifs and knee slaping, wrapped up in conspiracy theory and good natured surrender. You can't beat that for any given monday.
In fact, the man's a gift to behold and a fit to be tied, whatever that is.
Thanks, bro.
You Be My Client, You Be Blogging
Obviously a lot of what I'm doing this week is getting my head and hands around my new friends at BubbleShare. Somehow I've managed to push (bully? convince? inspire?) both of my CEO blog clients into blogging. Matt Willer at ElimiTaste will have his blog up soon. And Albert Lai at BubbleShare has entered the blogworld in record time at Simply Albert, located on blogspot at least for now.
Both Albert and Matt are incredibly brilliant business men and inspiring leaders within their young, edgy companies. They know their industries, they know their markets, they know they want to be closer to their markets.
I have nothing to teach them in that regard.
What I can teach them is how to fall in love with blogging, and how to make meaning out of what we do here.
What a time to be alive. What a time to be a cat.
So, meet some of the folks at BubbleShare courtesy of Albert's blog and listen to Albert introduce the gang. (Click the little audio button to turn on the sound.)
Brought to you by Bio Protein Bars, our corporate sponsor (HAHA!)
Both Albert and Matt are incredibly brilliant business men and inspiring leaders within their young, edgy companies. They know their industries, they know their markets, they know they want to be closer to their markets.
I have nothing to teach them in that regard.
What I can teach them is how to fall in love with blogging, and how to make meaning out of what we do here.
What a time to be alive. What a time to be a cat.
So, meet some of the folks at BubbleShare courtesy of Albert's blog and listen to Albert introduce the gang. (Click the little audio button to turn on the sound.)
Brought to you by Bio Protein Bars, our corporate sponsor (HAHA!)
Rocking Chair Study
I'm no Shelley Powers. Okay, we all know this. But still, I have an eye for ordinary things and what about them is a little bit special. I was at Jenna's friends' house and noticed this kid's rocking chair. Had some fun with it.
December 06, 2005
a geeky little christmas
George is getting me a headset/mic (a REAL one) for the holidays--he told me after I set out in search of one this morning--"Just wait a few days," and I said, "Why?" and defeated at having to blow the surprise, he said, "Cause one's on the way from Amazon," and I said, "I am SOO excited!" because I AM! Isn't that sweet? As much as blogging is a giant marital pain in the ass over the years, he still gets me the one thing a girl can't be without - a skype/podcast ready headset.
mmmm--dreamy! THANK YOU HONEY!
mmmm--dreamy! THANK YOU HONEY!
Voic.us Getting Better and Better...
Atlantans, if you haven't been over to Voic.Us yet, you should get over there and start reading, and hook up with Dana Blankenhorn about what you think of the blog engine. Don't be afeared. Just get going on it. I posted a couple of things formerly posted by the artist formerly known as me. Voic.Us has a sweet little backend on it. Give it a spin. And add it to your blogroll.
Atlanta Voic.Us
weee!
Atlanta Voic.Us
weee!
free me from menus
I was thinking yesterday as I was doing what I do a lot of - writing in MS Word - that my experience in 'browsing' over the last several years has made me tired of menus. Menus are so 1990s, and yet foundational applications like MS products (MS Word is the one that matters most to me) have changed very little in bringing a more web-like feel to word processing. And should we even call it 'word processing' any more?
Dear Microsoft: We could use some innovation on the destkop apps front.
Now, as I was writing something that required a little extra imagination yesterday, I decided to use a couple of the MS Word language tools that I don't use very often, one being "Thesaurus," and I realized after highlighting the word, that the menu item giving me what I need (essentially synonyms) is buried three levels down, right?
To get there, you select the Tools menu item, then you choose Language, then you scoot out to the right and pick Thesaurus.
I don't know about you, but by then I forget wtf I am doing because - thanks to the web - i have no attention span left.
Then I got to thinking if my 'word processing' tool were web-based, couldn't I just right click on a word and have everything I needed instantly available - synomyms, antonyms, origin, part of speech, pronunciation, spelling variations, related communities, related tags, who else used that word today on the net, common connotations, usage in a book title (via amazon), domain names associated, and so on. You could exclude words -- like articles (the, an, a, etc.) -- you could do lots of things.
Right?
In that way, every WORD (not just every link or every title or every tag) explodes into possibilites with a right click of the mouse button. That would tickle me pink: MS Word meets Google meets Wikipedia meets Friendster meets Amazon meets open source. The Best Part: I'm freed from the old Windows Menu, which I can't stand to drag my hand up to anymore, and my creativity soars exponentially as creative possibilities and storehouse entries of HOW I THINK multiply.
That's kind of what I was thinking about when Doc tackled monocultures and search recently and I responded about intitiveness and how search has to expand now to bring world of possibilities to us more intuitively than before, WAY more intuitively than me needing to frame a question or search phrase and reach to a menu or button to ask for assistance in finding some related stuff.
Okay--I ask, you answer.
That's how it works, right?
If you build it, at least I'll come. ;-)
If it's already built, someone tell me where and how much $.
Anyway,
Dear Microsoft: We could use some innovation on the destkop apps front.
Now, as I was writing something that required a little extra imagination yesterday, I decided to use a couple of the MS Word language tools that I don't use very often, one being "Thesaurus," and I realized after highlighting the word, that the menu item giving me what I need (essentially synonyms) is buried three levels down, right?
To get there, you select the Tools menu item, then you choose Language, then you scoot out to the right and pick Thesaurus.
I don't know about you, but by then I forget wtf I am doing because - thanks to the web - i have no attention span left.
Then I got to thinking if my 'word processing' tool were web-based, couldn't I just right click on a word and have everything I needed instantly available - synomyms, antonyms, origin, part of speech, pronunciation, spelling variations, related communities, related tags, who else used that word today on the net, common connotations, usage in a book title (via amazon), domain names associated, and so on. You could exclude words -- like articles (the, an, a, etc.) -- you could do lots of things.
Right?
In that way, every WORD (not just every link or every title or every tag) explodes into possibilites with a right click of the mouse button. That would tickle me pink: MS Word meets Google meets Wikipedia meets Friendster meets Amazon meets open source. The Best Part: I'm freed from the old Windows Menu, which I can't stand to drag my hand up to anymore, and my creativity soars exponentially as creative possibilities and storehouse entries of HOW I THINK multiply.
That's kind of what I was thinking about when Doc tackled monocultures and search recently and I responded about intitiveness and how search has to expand now to bring world of possibilities to us more intuitively than before, WAY more intuitively than me needing to frame a question or search phrase and reach to a menu or button to ask for assistance in finding some related stuff.
Okay--I ask, you answer.
That's how it works, right?
If you build it, at least I'll come. ;-)
If it's already built, someone tell me where and how much $.
Anyway,
December 05, 2005
What you really like
Is when you announce something really cool on your blog, and then your blogging service goes down for the rest of the day. Nice. Really. Thanks, blogger.
Well Blow Me a Bubble!
You know that I come to you first with all of the exciting news of my life, which thankfully doesn'?t happen too often, leaving me plenty of time to write about hamsters and PR and strep throat and Jenna.
Since leaving The Content Factor, I'?ve had lots of interesting opportunities pop up, but one is especially exciting and it all has to do with bubbles and pictures and sound. It'?s exciting for you too -- even though you might not know it yet. Not only do you get to sample the delectable posts I create using the awesome service called BubbleShare, but you can use it too. And you'?ll want to.
The long and short of it is this: Smart, geeky, energetic Canadians have been working like Santa's elves to build the world'?s simplest photo sharing tool. No registration. No profiles. No hoochie coochie community stuff. No muss, no fuss. No eyeballs to aggregate, no open marriage to consummate.
Just upload and share.
So it's pretty much: Ready, set, tell stories. Just the way you like it.
Now this original cast of Upper North Americaners at BubbleShare, led by Mr. around-the-clock himself, Albert Lai, has decided to add some foreign aid to their all-star team, including yours truly. I'll be serving as blog strategist (read: chief blogging and editorial maven) for BubbleShare, and I'm pleased to join such a smart, funny group of people in enhancing the world of online conversation.
December 02, 2005
You are so right when you say the moon is made of green cheese
Oh man. Oh man oh man.
Exactly.
Please do yourselves a service today and read Susan Mernit's post about the lengthy, investigative Craig's List article from the SF Weekly. While Susan praises the article for its look at the life of master Craig, she also points out at the end of her post the suspicious absence of women as sources--and folks there are a lot of sources in the article.
I'm glad I waited to post because the writer answers some of these questions in comments here. And the answers were worse than I thought:
Exactly.
Please do yourselves a service today and read Susan Mernit's post about the lengthy, investigative Craig's List article from the SF Weekly. While Susan praises the article for its look at the life of master Craig, she also points out at the end of her post the suspicious absence of women as sources--and folks there are a lot of sources in the article.
Yep, one interesting side note here, not the focus of this terrific story--is that every single person mentioned or quoted in it--except for Craig's unnamed girlfriend--is male.It's clear that the article's author left entire layers of the citizen journalism perspective out of the article. What wasn't clear when I initially heard about it is why. Was the writer being 'unthinking'? Was it easier and quicker to find the men to interview? Was there some bias or hidden agenda? Were all the women having PMS that day?
I'm glad I waited to post because the writer answers some of these questions in comments here. And the answers were worse than I thought:
Sadly, you are right. Few media critics and leaders of the citizen journalism movement are women.Sphincter says what? Oh tell me this is flame bait and not the view point of a ''''''legit'''''' journalist. Rather than naming the hapless reporter, I will name the women who commented on the article with some sound advice: Elisa Camahort, Liza Sabater, Nancy White, Sylvia Paull, and Halley Suitt.
head-splosion, head-splosion, head-splosion!
Finally just finished working for the day. hmmm. started at 7:50 so that brings it in at about 18+ hrs and more work to do. I went out to office depot to look at headsets about 8 so that was a break. Bought one that I hate and am taking back--wish I'd seen Ken's comment below before going. Ken, is this the one you were talking about?
You're right--it looks really nice and not whimpy/twisty/all/flimsy at all. This one I bought tonight that sux-so-bad is the kind that goes behind the neck and over the ears and through the woods to grandmother's house and by the time the sound gets to my earholes, there's nothing to hear, PLUS, whose head is shaped like that: one size fits all, potato-headed, non-adjustable doo doo.
I think I might go for the real deal. Ken has never steered me wrong. Come to think of it, he's never steered me period, but he has been a fellow gonzoengagedite for a long while. And you never bite the hand that blogs you. Well, at least not more than twice weekly. Unless it's Dave Winer.
In the mean time, I found a $7 mic at Office Depot, and an old pair of headphones from my dresser drawer, and that combo worked okay for my i-m-p-o-r-t-a-n-t business call this eve.
Can I confess something I haven't done since we were giddy with blogging back in aught-two. I did a lettermanesque test to see if anyone else was in on the secret.
After picking up the headset, ink cartridges, a ream of paper, and the little mic which became a big life saver, I plopped the commerce down on the counter belonging to the young guy in the computer area to make my purchase. And I said to him:
"You know what? This is Web 2.0. Did you know that?" And I'm goofin kind of like, hey, let's play Net banter, blog with me real time in person, because you know I'm jazzed about my new stuff and the feel of the web right now.
Right?
Kay?
helloo.
He says "wha?" and then I know he doesn't know what the hell I'm talking about. Just to make sure I ask my girlfriend as she rounds the corner looking for me - "You know, it's Web 2.o right? I'm on Skype and talking business and have 8 projects due at once and I'm sure I'll be up til 3 a.m. SO--get it? That's what it was like the last time."
She said 'what are you talking about' first, but I could tell she was ready to go to Chick-Fil-A and thought I was up to my usual time wasting activities. All the computer guy said was: "I have no idea what you're talking about, but it sounds great."
Now, we can sit here and be old fuss-budgets who, of course, are right when we say things like: web 2.0 how stupid. what day did that announcement come out and how come i wasn't cc-ed, and how come no one woke me when 1.0 was over. SURE we can be like that because we are really good at not believing hype and spin, because THAT's why we spend time here in the first place, to get away from Empty Promises.
But even you old fuss-budgets have to admit that something's going on.
And it's feeling kind of fun.
And if we're not careful, we might get a little giddy all over again.
You're right--it looks really nice and not whimpy/twisty/all/flimsy at all. This one I bought tonight that sux-so-bad is the kind that goes behind the neck and over the ears and through the woods to grandmother's house and by the time the sound gets to my earholes, there's nothing to hear, PLUS, whose head is shaped like that: one size fits all, potato-headed, non-adjustable doo doo.
I think I might go for the real deal. Ken has never steered me wrong. Come to think of it, he's never steered me period, but he has been a fellow gonzoengagedite for a long while. And you never bite the hand that blogs you. Well, at least not more than twice weekly. Unless it's Dave Winer.
In the mean time, I found a $7 mic at Office Depot, and an old pair of headphones from my dresser drawer, and that combo worked okay for my i-m-p-o-r-t-a-n-t business call this eve.
Can I confess something I haven't done since we were giddy with blogging back in aught-two. I did a lettermanesque test to see if anyone else was in on the secret.
After picking up the headset, ink cartridges, a ream of paper, and the little mic which became a big life saver, I plopped the commerce down on the counter belonging to the young guy in the computer area to make my purchase. And I said to him:
"You know what? This is Web 2.0. Did you know that?" And I'm goofin kind of like, hey, let's play Net banter, blog with me real time in person, because you know I'm jazzed about my new stuff and the feel of the web right now.
Right?
Kay?
helloo.
He says "wha?" and then I know he doesn't know what the hell I'm talking about. Just to make sure I ask my girlfriend as she rounds the corner looking for me - "You know, it's Web 2.o right? I'm on Skype and talking business and have 8 projects due at once and I'm sure I'll be up til 3 a.m. SO--get it? That's what it was like the last time."
She said 'what are you talking about' first, but I could tell she was ready to go to Chick-Fil-A and thought I was up to my usual time wasting activities. All the computer guy said was: "I have no idea what you're talking about, but it sounds great."
Now, we can sit here and be old fuss-budgets who, of course, are right when we say things like: web 2.0 how stupid. what day did that announcement come out and how come i wasn't cc-ed, and how come no one woke me when 1.0 was over. SURE we can be like that because we are really good at not believing hype and spin, because THAT's why we spend time here in the first place, to get away from Empty Promises.
But even you old fuss-budgets have to admit that something's going on.
And it's feeling kind of fun.
And if we're not careful, we might get a little giddy all over again.
December 01, 2005
Cut. It. Out.
Skype. Oh man! hello, is the 21st century home? Well of course I've heard about it, but I'm getting set up and I'm pretty much (you know me) thinking this is the best thing since orkut. (hee hee--had to be there w/ me kinda). Anyway, I'm all googleyeyed over skype now, and I need to know something for folks who have been using headphones and mics with their computers for the last three decades: what kind of headset really rocks? I mean, for comfort, sound, easy speaking while typing very fast, fast as I can go?
1) I don't like wrap around headsets (i know that bec/ i got some crap at office depot tonight and am taking it back.
2) I do like snug ear muffins (as jenna calls headphones)
3) I think I want a built in mic because sometimes (mostly) I lay down when I have to think and write simultaneously. (try to avoid it, but some days there's just no use.)
4) It has to be durable--I'm going to be ripping this thing off and on about 3939 times a day.
So I guess I'm looking for the three Cs of headsets: Comfort, Clarity, and Cuality.
Thoughts?
1) I don't like wrap around headsets (i know that bec/ i got some crap at office depot tonight and am taking it back.
2) I do like snug ear muffins (as jenna calls headphones)
3) I think I want a built in mic because sometimes (mostly) I lay down when I have to think and write simultaneously. (try to avoid it, but some days there's just no use.)
4) It has to be durable--I'm going to be ripping this thing off and on about 3939 times a day.
So I guess I'm looking for the three Cs of headsets: Comfort, Clarity, and Cuality.
Thoughts?
I'm Gonna Disco Like It's 1981!
You remember last year we were fortunate enough to be invited to attend the SO COOL xmas party hosted by the Captain Planet Foundation, right? Well, these folks were actually silly enough to invite this Cobb County couple back to the ATL this year for another round of food, drinks, merriment, and amazing stuff being bought by some really red-cheeked party-goers.
WAY!
We'll be hitting xmas party 2005 on December 9th where the theme is Disco and the mission is to save the planet, or at least move it in the right direction, raising money for children and the environment.
The most glitterific news of all? K.C. &the Sunshine Band will be there. AND so will my digital camera.
Again, Way.
This is some of the stuff we get to see:
AND the official word on why this event is so important (and if you have the dough you should go):
Over the past 10 years, proceeds from X-MAS Party have raised over 1.8 million dollars for homeless children and the environment. This year’s X-MAS Party beneficiaries are Captain Planet Foundation, The American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund, Atlanta Children’s Shelter, Center for Health, Environment & Justice, Our House and Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper’s Educational Waters to the Sea Program.
Now that's boogilicious!
WAY!
We'll be hitting xmas party 2005 on December 9th where the theme is Disco and the mission is to save the planet, or at least move it in the right direction, raising money for children and the environment.
The most glitterific news of all? K.C. &the Sunshine Band will be there. AND so will my digital camera.
Again, Way.
This is some of the stuff we get to see:
- The “Disco Power Princess” arrive on her white horse
- The “Pollution Armor Entourage” where you get to dress in armor from the sets of Warner Bros. Studios
- Disco Diva and pop icon Martha Wash
- And if it's like last year, FOOD TO DIE FOR, from Whole Foods Market, prepared by A Legendary Event.
- “I Love the Nightlife Lounge and Open Bar”
AND the official word on why this event is so important (and if you have the dough you should go):
Over the past 10 years, proceeds from X-MAS Party have raised over 1.8 million dollars for homeless children and the environment. This year’s X-MAS Party beneficiaries are Captain Planet Foundation, The American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund, Atlanta Children’s Shelter, Center for Health, Environment & Justice, Our House and Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper’s Educational Waters to the Sea Program.
Now that's boogilicious!
My Life as a Top 10 Non-Sexy Source
Hey Cool! I'm a source on Halley's new Top 10 Sources page, on what looks to be a site about neat larger website sources on stuff--that's the non-tech definition. Honored I am to be among the likes of Shakespierce, Andrew Sullivan, Denise Howell, the gang at the Huffington Post, Dooce, Mindy, Joi Ito, Thoughts in Random Patterns and Fish is just fish. Now three of those folks I hadn't read much, if at all, and I've looked at them since seeing them in Halley's list--GLAD to have found them. I haven't been this excited since I won Fishrush's Five Fish Blog Award back in O2.
Halley promises more to come -- I'm assuming sexy is right around the corner, and isn't it always with Halley? Look forward to seeing what develops. ;-)
Halley promises more to come -- I'm assuming sexy is right around the corner, and isn't it always with Halley? Look forward to seeing what develops. ;-)
November 30, 2005
Okay
Thanks to the ton-a-yous who have been telling me to STOP worrying about what kind of camera I DIDN'T get and start posting some pictures, I've seen my way clear to take your sage advice.
You know, I like this new age of crisp digtal photos. I think I see more than I ever meant to. I still prefer the sound of vinyl for music, but I can get used to digital pix. And so, I give to you, the simple joy of what every child in the South would do, if they could do, on Thanksgiving day:
They like to jump and jump and leap for joy, and this they do AFTER their tummys are full of turkey and dressing and sweet potatoes and pie. This particular athlete and his sister are two of Jenna's best friends, and the trampoline lives at their house. This is the infamous trampoline upon which my dear daughter broke her wrist a year ago. She's much better at it now.
So jump and jump and jump they did until dusk fell like a cool mist upon their little reindeer games.
Then it was on dancer, on prancer, on donner and vixen, off to the bowling alley where we'd get a few trix in.
Hey, Jenna, is that gravy on your shirt?
Okay, and a bonus shot of me looking tired like I am this evening:
Next up, some impressive, deep photos of local cemeteries and more from a day in the life of this old mom.
You know, I like this new age of crisp digtal photos. I think I see more than I ever meant to. I still prefer the sound of vinyl for music, but I can get used to digital pix. And so, I give to you, the simple joy of what every child in the South would do, if they could do, on Thanksgiving day:
They like to jump and jump and leap for joy, and this they do AFTER their tummys are full of turkey and dressing and sweet potatoes and pie. This particular athlete and his sister are two of Jenna's best friends, and the trampoline lives at their house. This is the infamous trampoline upon which my dear daughter broke her wrist a year ago. She's much better at it now.
So jump and jump and jump they did until dusk fell like a cool mist upon their little reindeer games.
Then it was on dancer, on prancer, on donner and vixen, off to the bowling alley where we'd get a few trix in.
Hey, Jenna, is that gravy on your shirt?
Okay, and a bonus shot of me looking tired like I am this evening:
Next up, some impressive, deep photos of local cemeteries and more from a day in the life of this old mom.
November 29, 2005
Who can say they've been blogging half their life?
My kid can.
She started at 4, she's past 8 now.
Yes, so 2004 was a rough year. Perhaps it will become known as her dark period, her days of writer's block and a first-grade teacher who gave homework out the wazoo, but don't tell Jenna where or what a wazoo is. She's impressionable.
2005 holds much promise for her blogging prowess, since now she knows how to type herself, and she's even made her own amazon wishlist--I don't have to sign her in anymore to Amazon and thank goodness she has her own login [[one-click pony]] even though I think that's against the law, her being 8 and all.
Whatever. I'm pretty sure her posting will pick up some velocity as she enters her 8s.
She wrote about Thanksgiving tonight. I typed the post because it was past bedtime to say the least. But I was amazed when she decided to share something pretty personal -- the fact that she didn't make it through her scheduled sleep over on Thursday night at her friend's house.
Because she missed her mom.
"I missed my mom..."
That goes something like this at midnight:
Ring ring... "Hello?" "Hi momeee." "Honey, what's up--why are you crying?" "i miss you momeee." "Oh honey, I miss you too but it's time to go to sleep and I'm right down the road. I'll be there in the morning." "but momeeee i trieed (sniff sniff) four times and i can't do it--i can't sleep and everyone else is asleep and i miss you momee." "Oh baby it's okay, just relax and let sleep come to you, don't try so hard." "i did momeee i miss you pls canicomhome?"
Now the sleepover parents had to get up VERY early for work, or I would have probably made her stick it out. But as it was, Jenna was the only one awake in the house. So that made the decision for me. I had to go get her.
Oh who am I kidding, I'm not going to leave my kid crying herself to sleep at someone else's house; I would have gone and gotten her either way.
So I got her. And I let her know I wasn't PLEASED about coming out to get her, but that I understood. And that it would be a long while before we'd try this again.
Although, we had to go over there at 7 the next morning because I was time-sharing the kids with the other mom during the holiday week off school.
So that's what she's talking about in her post.
When she says: "I missed my mom. So my mom came and got me."
(and you know what: i missed her too.)
She started at 4, she's past 8 now.
Yes, so 2004 was a rough year. Perhaps it will become known as her dark period, her days of writer's block and a first-grade teacher who gave homework out the wazoo, but don't tell Jenna where or what a wazoo is. She's impressionable.
2005 holds much promise for her blogging prowess, since now she knows how to type herself, and she's even made her own amazon wishlist--I don't have to sign her in anymore to Amazon and thank goodness she has her own login [[one-click pony]] even though I think that's against the law, her being 8 and all.
Whatever. I'm pretty sure her posting will pick up some velocity as she enters her 8s.
She wrote about Thanksgiving tonight. I typed the post because it was past bedtime to say the least. But I was amazed when she decided to share something pretty personal -- the fact that she didn't make it through her scheduled sleep over on Thursday night at her friend's house.
Because she missed her mom.
"I missed my mom..."
That goes something like this at midnight:
Ring ring... "Hello?" "Hi momeee." "Honey, what's up--why are you crying?" "i miss you momeee." "Oh honey, I miss you too but it's time to go to sleep and I'm right down the road. I'll be there in the morning." "but momeeee i trieed (sniff sniff) four times and i can't do it--i can't sleep and everyone else is asleep and i miss you momee." "Oh baby it's okay, just relax and let sleep come to you, don't try so hard." "i did momeee i miss you pls canicomhome?"
Now the sleepover parents had to get up VERY early for work, or I would have probably made her stick it out. But as it was, Jenna was the only one awake in the house. So that made the decision for me. I had to go get her.
Oh who am I kidding, I'm not going to leave my kid crying herself to sleep at someone else's house; I would have gone and gotten her either way.
So I got her. And I let her know I wasn't PLEASED about coming out to get her, but that I understood. And that it would be a long while before we'd try this again.
Although, we had to go over there at 7 the next morning because I was time-sharing the kids with the other mom during the holiday week off school.
So that's what she's talking about in her post.
When she says: "I missed my mom. So my mom came and got me."
(and you know what: i missed her too.)
One last comment on comment dilemmas
Read the comments to my comments post--they're smart and they say things that Blogger and RSS enthusiasts should hear.
Here's what it's like to be only sort of techy and a blogger
You hear these conversations going on about Ruby and then you know there's a blogger named Sam Ruby, and you glean from the folks raving about Ruby that it is some kind of programming language and then naturally you think it must be a language developed by Sam Ruby because how the hell would a coincidence like that occur -- a blogger named Ruby and a techno-advancement named Ruby at the same time -- and then you start hearing about Ruby on Rails, and all the time you're thinking Sam Ruby must like to ride trains, or he wrote a book with a railroad track on the cover, like an O'Reilly book or something, and now these tech bloggers are going on about Ruby on Rails, like a rollercoaster ride or something, and everyone has a ticket but me.
Then you see stuff about Ajax and you're not stupid enough to think it's a household cleaning aid, and you're smart enough to know it has something to do with making shit work, maybe it's an OS or maybe it's a language or maybe it's end-user software, you're not really sure, and you're not interested enough to pay rapt attention, but you're wondering if it's something that you'll be seeing boxed on the shelves, or is it like Ruby on Rails and invisible to those of us that wouldn't know what to do with it.
Don't get me started with podcasting and how magical I thought all of that was until I realize that it is: 1) having a blog, 2) having or recording an mp3 file, and 3) knowing how to put a little enclosure tag around the mp3 file. Badabing--you're podcasting. But before all that, I hear about it here and there and assume that you must own an ipod and you must have a studio and on and on, and it comes down to a little tag, man, but as an only-sort-of-techy, it takes months to figure this out.
Never mind tags and taxonomies and constructs like that--things that border on the fine line where the philosophical meets the symantic meets the stand up comic. I mean really.
Move on to OPML and I have to wonder why Dave Winer names everything with initials, mostly consonants, and was he deprived of vowels as a young man, or is it to scare those of us afraid of initial-caps away, and what the heck is OPML, I'm assuming it's like HTML, because of the ML, and I know what HTML is, I know basic HTML tags, hell I even know bookmaster tags, but what is OPML and what does he mean by "outliner," and then ONE DAY, Dana Blankenhorn sends me a file to open with my OPML editor thingy which I don't have but I certainly can download it and install it, so I do, and magically I see that it's a way to pass lists of all the feeds in our aggregators back and forth, and I remember ASKING for something like this like a year ago, and all this time when people are yada-yada-yadaing about OPML I have no idea that's something an outliner does, and I wonder why did they have to make it all sound so secret and difficult
And then I wonder what does Sam Ruby have to do with all of this anyway.
That's kind of what it's like.
Then you see stuff about Ajax and you're not stupid enough to think it's a household cleaning aid, and you're smart enough to know it has something to do with making shit work, maybe it's an OS or maybe it's a language or maybe it's end-user software, you're not really sure, and you're not interested enough to pay rapt attention, but you're wondering if it's something that you'll be seeing boxed on the shelves, or is it like Ruby on Rails and invisible to those of us that wouldn't know what to do with it.
Don't get me started with podcasting and how magical I thought all of that was until I realize that it is: 1) having a blog, 2) having or recording an mp3 file, and 3) knowing how to put a little enclosure tag around the mp3 file. Badabing--you're podcasting. But before all that, I hear about it here and there and assume that you must own an ipod and you must have a studio and on and on, and it comes down to a little tag, man, but as an only-sort-of-techy, it takes months to figure this out.
Never mind tags and taxonomies and constructs like that--things that border on the fine line where the philosophical meets the symantic meets the stand up comic. I mean really.
Move on to OPML and I have to wonder why Dave Winer names everything with initials, mostly consonants, and was he deprived of vowels as a young man, or is it to scare those of us afraid of initial-caps away, and what the heck is OPML, I'm assuming it's like HTML, because of the ML, and I know what HTML is, I know basic HTML tags, hell I even know bookmaster tags, but what is OPML and what does he mean by "outliner," and then ONE DAY, Dana Blankenhorn sends me a file to open with my OPML editor thingy which I don't have but I certainly can download it and install it, so I do, and magically I see that it's a way to pass lists of all the feeds in our aggregators back and forth, and I remember ASKING for something like this like a year ago, and all this time when people are yada-yada-yadaing about OPML I have no idea that's something an outliner does, and I wonder why did they have to make it all sound so secret and difficult
And then I wonder what does Sam Ruby have to do with all of this anyway.
That's kind of what it's like.
Note to my really smart readers...
(and the others too)...
To clear up any confusion, I never said that the ONLY post you could comment on was the post I wrote about comments.
see, other posts have comment opportunities too.
See them all, readers?
just wanted to make sure you understood.
since you're being really fucking quiet.
To clear up any confusion, I never said that the ONLY post you could comment on was the post I wrote about comments.
see, other posts have comment opportunities too.
See them all, readers?
just wanted to make sure you understood.
since you're being really fucking quiet.
Rethink Your Processes
Tony Pierce isn't the only one with uberletterwriting talent. Enter engadget, with a friendly note to some unfortunate business owners:
That is so sensitive the way they give advice over there at engadget. And wise advice too. 'Cause that is something I can so totally see myself doing in a rush to be productive. And then, that little voice in the back of my head: "Drat!"
Dear Counterfeiters,
We’re totally not trying to tell you how to run your business, but when the printer you’re using to pump out counterfeit hundies and fiddies breaks, it’s probably a good idea to remove all the fake money jammed inside of it before you send it out for repair. Otherwise you’ll end up like that gang of geniuses in Arizona which just got busted this week for pumping out $160,000 in counterfeit cash.
Your friends,
Engadget
That is so sensitive the way they give advice over there at engadget. And wise advice too. 'Cause that is something I can so totally see myself doing in a rush to be productive. And then, that little voice in the back of my head: "Drat!"
No one, but no one, writes letters like TPie
Tony Pierce writes an ode to Jessica Simpson in her time of quiet desperation. Moving. That's what he is. The man is moving:
Jessica, girl, you know what to do.
dear jessica simpson,
dont be sad that youre divorcing nick. you know what i say about boybanders: kiss em but dont marry em.
you dont see my girl anna k marrying enrique do you?
no, and thats cuz gay boyfriends are fun, but gay husbands arent so fun. they want you to clean up around the house, they want to play dress up when you want to be in sweats, and they end up just breaking yr heart babydoll so dont blame yourself, blame nature.
now the good book says a lot of things about married women and divorce and technically i cant really marry you since youre always going to be married in the eyes of the Lord to nick.
but.
but we dont have to get married. and to be honest, youre so fucking hot we dont even have to get it on. and from what i could gleen from your tv show it didnt seem like you were that into getting it on anyways.
so heres what i propose. i propose that you move into my hollywood bachelor pad and be my girlfriend. if you wanna buy a dog you can buy a dog. if you wanna call tuna chicken you can call that shit chicken and you know what i'll do, i'll say baby i love you. thats what i'll say.
you know who tells someone as sweet and as hot as you that youre wrong and ditzy? xhusbands.
youre perfect. and you look good in uggs. you sing like youre having sex and i cant name one song of yours but you can sing em all around the house and i'll just say louder baby louder.
and then we'll get some food delivered and heres another thing, i will never interrupt our days or nights by watching college hoops and calling my buddies on the phone in the middle of the game and say holy shit that was a fucked up call.
what i might do is call them up and say jessica is dressed up as a school girl and shes thinking about buying a new purse.
yes i know im not handsome, but your handsome boy just broke your heart.
yes i know im not buff but people who are constantly making their muscles grow are making up for a muscle that will never grow
their heart.
i know youre being passed around by the jackass boys but you need to get out of that world cuz dudes who are that nuts about getting their balls shot at by firehoses and aligators dont know how to treat a dainty southern girl whose dreams have been crushed.
what you need is a blogger.
a failed poet.
a hetrosensual.
a very old one who will look at you from across the room and say stand up on that coffee table baby and spin around real slow.
and when you do it he'll say damn girl.
you might even persuade me to move to calabassas, but only if tsar can play in the backyard on new years.
Jessica, girl, you know what to do.
The problem with half great
The problem with having half-great technology is that even though you spend GOOD money on a new device, ALL the money you can afford to spend in fact, and even though you ENOY your new device very much, you nonetheless can't shake the nagging feeling that what you could afford is half great, and therefore you covet the devices of those who spent more on the truly great.
Oh man.
I like my new camera. Don't get me wrong. And yah, I'll post pictures. I just, you know, I'm having some personal issues with my camera not being what I covet.
It started when I was at a birthday party with jenna this weekend, and the uncle of the newly-turned nine year old had a GREAT Cannon and I of course HAD to take a picture with it of the whole family at the restaurant, and of course he HAD to show me his lenses and the tricks it could do, and then he HAD to tell me for $1200 you can really get everythng that would really make you happy in the life of one who takes pictures, and of course I KNOW that we can be happier for less money than that, but then I start to sort of twitch, and I know that I couldn't afford that little wireless number that lets you avoid hooking up a USB cable every time you want to dump photos, and sure some day I'll have the extra dough to get one of those dandy photo printers I didn't know even existed until a week ago....
But somehow knowing all these things does not erase the nagging feeling of someone else's better, cooler, heavier, multi-lensed, feature-rich camera in my hand. Or the memory of standing in BrandsMart in a 'if shopping is sugar, then I'm in a diabetic coma' moment, staring at all of the many many many wonderful things that now belong to others.
I don't covet my neighbor's wife.
I covet his Cannon.
I hope that's okay.
Oh man.
I like my new camera. Don't get me wrong. And yah, I'll post pictures. I just, you know, I'm having some personal issues with my camera not being what I covet.
It started when I was at a birthday party with jenna this weekend, and the uncle of the newly-turned nine year old had a GREAT Cannon and I of course HAD to take a picture with it of the whole family at the restaurant, and of course he HAD to show me his lenses and the tricks it could do, and then he HAD to tell me for $1200 you can really get everythng that would really make you happy in the life of one who takes pictures, and of course I KNOW that we can be happier for less money than that, but then I start to sort of twitch, and I know that I couldn't afford that little wireless number that lets you avoid hooking up a USB cable every time you want to dump photos, and sure some day I'll have the extra dough to get one of those dandy photo printers I didn't know even existed until a week ago....
But somehow knowing all these things does not erase the nagging feeling of someone else's better, cooler, heavier, multi-lensed, feature-rich camera in my hand. Or the memory of standing in BrandsMart in a 'if shopping is sugar, then I'm in a diabetic coma' moment, staring at all of the many many many wonderful things that now belong to others.
I don't covet my neighbor's wife.
I covet his Cannon.
I hope that's okay.
comment update
I've found that switching back and forth between registration-only and totally-open comments seems to be working well to thwart the spERmmers pretty well. If I can spend the majority of your time offering no-hoops commenting, by golly I'll do it! Plan B, based on your advice: Moderated.
Can you imagine having had this conversation four years ago? That was when we had to get up a 6:00 to register in the two-hour window YACCS had open for new registrants so that they could keep up with the tide of nerdy bloggers wanting to add comment functonality to their blogs. And the only people who ever commented were people on your blogroll.
Time sure flies when you're having blog.
Can you imagine having had this conversation four years ago? That was when we had to get up a 6:00 to register in the two-hour window YACCS had open for new registrants so that they could keep up with the tide of nerdy bloggers wanting to add comment functonality to their blogs. And the only people who ever commented were people on your blogroll.
Time sure flies when you're having blog.
On Being a Cold-Weather Football Fan
I was talking with my friend yesterday who had been home to Greenwood, Mississippi for Thanksgiving, where one of her relatives is married to Kent Hull, former Buffalo Bill who is a three-time pro-bowler and who went to The Show four consecutive seasons.
Kent was the center and anchor of the offensive line during the greatest era in football (at least to those of us in Western New York). He played 121 straight games in his 11-year career. During that time, the Bills enjoyed eight winning seasons and won four consecutive AFC titles. Kent was also one of the team's captains for his final seven years.
Being a Bills fan during that era was probably as wild a sports fan experience as any in history. No team before or since has run the hurry-up offense like the Bills did during those years. No team has come from behind more times to earn more surprise wins like the Bills during those years. No team rushed back and back and back and back to the Superbowl with the same players like the Bills did.
And no team handed as many heartbreaks to as many loyal fans who loved them as completely as we loved the Bills during those years.
God, those were the days.
Mmmm. Sleepy Sundays. TV and radio on at the same time. All night call-in shows after the games. .... yes they were the days.
Which isn't to say that I want to get stuck there.
So let me keep going with why I started this post in the first place.
Right.
So, during my friend's conversation with Kent Hull, she told him that she and I had been talking about the team last week. We were talking about the amazing players during that era, especially the offensive line and Kent at the helm, and we were trying to remember Steve Christie's name, and it was one of those tip-of-my-tongue moments where I got stuck on Norwood and couldn't get past it. yada yada yada.
Next she was telling Kent about how her friend-and-bills-fan thought he was one of the most amazing players to have ever graced an offensive line with his presence.
His response: "Wow, I'm just happy someone remembers me."
REMEMBERS HIM?
Remembers him?
I said, "Did you tell him he kept me alive?"
And that's the thing really. From 1980 - 1994, which is when I left Rochester, football kept me alive. Partly, that's the kind of football fan I am. And partly, that's just how it is when you spend half the year at or below freezing temperatures. When autumn hints that it's on its way, you might drive your car into a guardrail without knowing that football season is there to ease you gently into winter. By the time the superbowl and pro bowl are over, you're well into the worst of winter and spring is next on the agenda.
That transitional power of football season is no accident.
And there were some dark times, very dark yes, when it was the reason that this resident of the icy tundra of the Great Lakes decided to go on another day. A reason to brush 8 inches of caked snow off my car one more day. To shovel the driveway one more day. To step through slush one more day. To wrap a scarf around my dry mouth and lungs one more day. To stay hermetically sealed in a 61-degree house one more day. To slide my four tires for a half hour down 390 to work on top of a sheet of ice one more day. To fall on my back walking in pumps one more day. To stand on the register feeling the forced air heat on my legs until the hives on my skin went down one more day. To wipe freezing snot from my nose one more day. To zip up, pull on, wrap around, strap on, and seal up one more day. To trudge through three feet of snow to get the bills from the mail box one more day. To weather dark grey skies, whipping wind, and frozen ear lobes one more day. To never, ever, ever be warm one more day. To coat my cracked, bloody lips with lotion and squeeze my bleeding nose until it stopped one more day. To slide into one more light pole one more day.
Knowing that a game is coming, knowing that it matters, knowing that the guys in the uniforms in a stadium with no roof and no heat and 20-below temperatures with frozen fingers and bare arms are going to bust every inch of their skin and bones for me -- one more day. Knowing that it's never, ever over, and the two-minute offense is a game within a game, knowing that it starts again next Sunday and next Sunday and next Sunday, like the blanket of snow and sleet that is constant...just knowing that.
Remember you?
Kent, you kept me alive.
Kent was the center and anchor of the offensive line during the greatest era in football (at least to those of us in Western New York). He played 121 straight games in his 11-year career. During that time, the Bills enjoyed eight winning seasons and won four consecutive AFC titles. Kent was also one of the team's captains for his final seven years.
Being a Bills fan during that era was probably as wild a sports fan experience as any in history. No team before or since has run the hurry-up offense like the Bills did during those years. No team has come from behind more times to earn more surprise wins like the Bills during those years. No team rushed back and back and back and back to the Superbowl with the same players like the Bills did.
And no team handed as many heartbreaks to as many loyal fans who loved them as completely as we loved the Bills during those years.
God, those were the days.
Mmmm. Sleepy Sundays. TV and radio on at the same time. All night call-in shows after the games. .... yes they were the days.
Which isn't to say that I want to get stuck there.
So let me keep going with why I started this post in the first place.
Right.
So, during my friend's conversation with Kent Hull, she told him that she and I had been talking about the team last week. We were talking about the amazing players during that era, especially the offensive line and Kent at the helm, and we were trying to remember Steve Christie's name, and it was one of those tip-of-my-tongue moments where I got stuck on Norwood and couldn't get past it. yada yada yada.
Next she was telling Kent about how her friend-and-bills-fan thought he was one of the most amazing players to have ever graced an offensive line with his presence.
His response: "Wow, I'm just happy someone remembers me."
REMEMBERS HIM?
Remembers him?
I said, "Did you tell him he kept me alive?"
And that's the thing really. From 1980 - 1994, which is when I left Rochester, football kept me alive. Partly, that's the kind of football fan I am. And partly, that's just how it is when you spend half the year at or below freezing temperatures. When autumn hints that it's on its way, you might drive your car into a guardrail without knowing that football season is there to ease you gently into winter. By the time the superbowl and pro bowl are over, you're well into the worst of winter and spring is next on the agenda.
That transitional power of football season is no accident.
And there were some dark times, very dark yes, when it was the reason that this resident of the icy tundra of the Great Lakes decided to go on another day. A reason to brush 8 inches of caked snow off my car one more day. To shovel the driveway one more day. To step through slush one more day. To wrap a scarf around my dry mouth and lungs one more day. To stay hermetically sealed in a 61-degree house one more day. To slide my four tires for a half hour down 390 to work on top of a sheet of ice one more day. To fall on my back walking in pumps one more day. To stand on the register feeling the forced air heat on my legs until the hives on my skin went down one more day. To wipe freezing snot from my nose one more day. To zip up, pull on, wrap around, strap on, and seal up one more day. To trudge through three feet of snow to get the bills from the mail box one more day. To weather dark grey skies, whipping wind, and frozen ear lobes one more day. To never, ever, ever be warm one more day. To coat my cracked, bloody lips with lotion and squeeze my bleeding nose until it stopped one more day. To slide into one more light pole one more day.
Knowing that a game is coming, knowing that it matters, knowing that the guys in the uniforms in a stadium with no roof and no heat and 20-below temperatures with frozen fingers and bare arms are going to bust every inch of their skin and bones for me -- one more day. Knowing that it's never, ever over, and the two-minute offense is a game within a game, knowing that it starts again next Sunday and next Sunday and next Sunday, like the blanket of snow and sleet that is constant...just knowing that.
Remember you?
Kent, you kept me alive.
i had a dream last night
that tom matrullo put up a bunch of animated gifs and he was really excited that the ones he made himself were among those he chose to post. Thing is, the ones he made himself didn't jiggle, wiggle, jump or flash. They stayed still.
They were really cool looking though. I can see some of the thumbnails in my mind. A large cat -- like a running cheetah, and a coffee-pouring-into-mug gif.
Kind of sux that the ones he made didn't move though.
Kinda like the one in the post below.
I really don't know.
Just reporting.
Over and out.
They were really cool looking though. I can see some of the thumbnails in my mind. A large cat -- like a running cheetah, and a coffee-pouring-into-mug gif.
Kind of sux that the ones he made didn't move though.
Kinda like the one in the post below.
I really don't know.
Just reporting.
Over and out.
Don't read me
Read the comments on my comments post below--specially ken's. VERY VERY interesting take on RSS and its accidental(?) cultural inherent circumnavigation (ACIC) of comments.
ACIC must not be allowed to stand. VOTE NO to ACIC, or, why, I'll....
Alright--that's supposed to be an animated gif whereby this hand punches through paper right at you. How come it's not animated. It's not in my firefox. is it for you?
tomorrow i will blog actual thoughts.
This was just a test.
i've been real busy.
no excuse.
but when you add in my late afternoon nap, well, NOW you understand, right?
ACIC must not be allowed to stand. VOTE NO to ACIC, or, why, I'll....
Alright--that's supposed to be an animated gif whereby this hand punches through paper right at you. How come it's not animated. It's not in my firefox. is it for you?
tomorrow i will blog actual thoughts.
This was just a test.
i've been real busy.
no excuse.
but when you add in my late afternoon nap, well, NOW you understand, right?
November 28, 2005
November 26, 2005
got tickets see ya lata
Off to the Theater in the Square tonight to see George-who-still-wants-to-blog-but-somehow-never-finds-the-time doing bass duty in the musical, The 1940s radio show. He'll be doing the show from now until the end of December every night except for tues and weds. Wave to the brown guy with the long locks if you go.
I'll report back on how someone who looks like my husband made out in the 1940s....
OH WAIT--it's a radio show!
And, there was Lionel Hampton...
Catcha later!
I'll report back on how someone who looks like my husband made out in the 1940s....
OH WAIT--it's a radio show!
And, there was Lionel Hampton...
Catcha later!
crawled out from under the dining room table
HI! so that was fun! Hope your thanksgiving was merry, or thankful or something.
I need to know something about comments here. Okay, right now I have blogger's 'let anyone comment' feature selected. I'm assuming that means that, like me, to comment on this blog you just wite your little witty nugget and excrete it into my comment box AFTER typing in the cryptic code designed to fend off spam bots. Right?
But spammers still come. Those bastads. So, about a week ago I selected the other feature in Blogger that lets you only let registered users comment. But I noticed not so many people commented. So I changed it back to open.
SO, when I had the 'registered users' option selected a week or so back, did that mean that the only folks who could leave comments were those who have registered with blogger? Does that turn you off as a reader, commentor, trouble maker, or passerby? I know that I for one like to be able to leave comments without jumping through hoops, and truth be known, I will generally shut up rather than be bothered registering to comment someplace. Unless I really heart the blog.
To make things a little more interesting (read: confusing), Blogger has recently added 'moderated comments' to our plethora of conversation-continuing options, which is very cool. I think most businesses should use moderated comments and that they should respond quickly to accept all comments but spam.
But again, as a blog READER, it bums me out to make such a witty statement as I may make over at someone's blog but then not see my wit (or something that rhymes with wit) come to fruition for a while. So I don't know whether to try the moderated comments. Do you like moderated comments? Would it piss you off and make you go away if I tried them?
Because I do have abandonment issues.
As if you may have missed that along the way.
And we're not done yet: Blogger's OTHER commenting option is to let only a designated 'team' comment on the blog. I'm sure that's handy somewhere along the line, although I can't think of one single reason that any pubic blog should exclude everyone but a select group from commenting. For that reason, this option is out for my blog.
Which leaves me with a question: What kind of comments work best for you, o great and powerful readers?
I need to know something about comments here. Okay, right now I have blogger's 'let anyone comment' feature selected. I'm assuming that means that, like me, to comment on this blog you just wite your little witty nugget and excrete it into my comment box AFTER typing in the cryptic code designed to fend off spam bots. Right?
But spammers still come. Those bastads. So, about a week ago I selected the other feature in Blogger that lets you only let registered users comment. But I noticed not so many people commented. So I changed it back to open.
SO, when I had the 'registered users' option selected a week or so back, did that mean that the only folks who could leave comments were those who have registered with blogger? Does that turn you off as a reader, commentor, trouble maker, or passerby? I know that I for one like to be able to leave comments without jumping through hoops, and truth be known, I will generally shut up rather than be bothered registering to comment someplace. Unless I really heart the blog.
To make things a little more interesting (read: confusing), Blogger has recently added 'moderated comments' to our plethora of conversation-continuing options, which is very cool. I think most businesses should use moderated comments and that they should respond quickly to accept all comments but spam.
But again, as a blog READER, it bums me out to make such a witty statement as I may make over at someone's blog but then not see my wit (or something that rhymes with wit) come to fruition for a while. So I don't know whether to try the moderated comments. Do you like moderated comments? Would it piss you off and make you go away if I tried them?
Because I do have abandonment issues.
As if you may have missed that along the way.
And we're not done yet: Blogger's OTHER commenting option is to let only a designated 'team' comment on the blog. I'm sure that's handy somewhere along the line, although I can't think of one single reason that any pubic blog should exclude everyone but a select group from commenting. For that reason, this option is out for my blog.
Which leaves me with a question: What kind of comments work best for you, o great and powerful readers?
- The all-open (sprinkled [potentially littered] with spam) option
- The registered-people-can-comment option
- The moderated-comments option
- The really-stupid-team-commenting option
- None of the above - yer blog sux.
- All of the above - it's all about you, J.
Thank you for voting.
November 23, 2005
brandsmart?
Have you ever been into one of these places? Have you ever been shopping in Atlanta during the holidays? If you can say "no" to both of the above questions, your life will be all the more peaceful for it. Holy Heck, as Halley would say, in between writing steamy sex scenes and such, this place BrandsMart or BrandSmart or whatever you want to capitalize is in-sane. I mean excess and more and stuff and then some and everything and more and what you want and what you need and what you might need and what you'd never need but would be nice ALL under one roof. washersdryerstvsphonesrecordersdvdscamerascds
surroundsoundwatercoolers--i mean everything. Add in a thousand hurried shoppers and two sales associates and you get the picture.
and i get the picture too because i bought myself a digital camera. shhhh. i got caught up in the moment.
surroundsoundwatercoolers--i mean everything. Add in a thousand hurried shoppers and two sales associates and you get the picture.
and i get the picture too because i bought myself a digital camera. shhhh. i got caught up in the moment.
Pope Says Recovered or Passive Gays Okay for Priesthood
Looking for a new career? If you're a would-be catholic priest, you better steer clear of the new pope unless you've been clean and sober, homosexually speaking, for at least 3 years.
I believe that's the platinum chip.
OH NO, not African Rituals. The excess of it! Hold your babies tight. Under the reign of Ratzi, Interreligious gatherings are now a no-no too.
Doesn't this guy have, like, some praying to do to keep him busy?
I believe that's the platinum chip.
"If instead it is a case of homosexual tendencies that are merely the expression of a transitory problem, for example as in the case of an unfinished adolescence, they must however have been clearly overcome for at least three years before ordination as a deacon."
The pope also announced that anyone born gay would be slaughtered like the fatted before sundown tomorrow.
In other news, the Bruce Willis of popes, Benedict XVI, has gotten a firm grip on those pesky friars, known for their peace marches and other madness.
Vittorio Messori, a conservative Catholic commentator, told The Independent the 1986 conference was marked by excesses, including allowing African and Indian rituals.
OH NO, not African Rituals. The excess of it! Hold your babies tight. Under the reign of Ratzi, Interreligious gatherings are now a no-no too.
Doesn't this guy have, like, some praying to do to keep him busy?
Atlanta Bloggers...
Raise Your Voic.us!
If you're an Atlanta area blogger or want to write about local Atlanta topics -- from soup to nuts and then some -- check out voic.us. Blood-and-sweat child of longtime journalist, Atlanta resident, and Corante columnist, Dana Blankenhorn, Voic.us is an Atlanta community blog with a pretty neat blog engine AND other tools that are being tailored for writers. If you sign on, you'll see what I mean. Like half of Web 2.0, this site is in BETA and Dana REALLY wants to hear from Atlanta bloggers on what you think--stuff you like and stuff they can make better.
Atlantans are opinionated by nature -- after all every day here is a motherfucking opening day -- so sign in and add a Personal Blog Entry of your own. It’s easy to keep track of your new posts. During the beta testing, all your entries will flow automatically to the top of the main page.
I like the various ways you can enter a post. The blog engine has some pretty powerful word processor-like features, OR you can go with plain text or straight HTML. I copied a couple of posts out of Blogger's compose window and they went across great--including ready-made pictures and links.
You can email Dana with questions.
If you're an Atlanta area blogger or want to write about local Atlanta topics -- from soup to nuts and then some -- check out voic.us. Blood-and-sweat child of longtime journalist, Atlanta resident, and Corante columnist, Dana Blankenhorn, Voic.us is an Atlanta community blog with a pretty neat blog engine AND other tools that are being tailored for writers. If you sign on, you'll see what I mean. Like half of Web 2.0, this site is in BETA and Dana REALLY wants to hear from Atlanta bloggers on what you think--stuff you like and stuff they can make better.
Atlantans are opinionated by nature -- after all every day here is a motherfucking opening day -- so sign in and add a Personal Blog Entry of your own. It’s easy to keep track of your new posts. During the beta testing, all your entries will flow automatically to the top of the main page.
I like the various ways you can enter a post. The blog engine has some pretty powerful word processor-like features, OR you can go with plain text or straight HTML. I copied a couple of posts out of Blogger's compose window and they went across great--including ready-made pictures and links.
You can email Dana with questions.
Oh to be young and in love and....
...pissed off at each other? Ponzi and Chris Pirillo go at it on vacation. And not in a good way.
Are they warming up for SXSW? Honest couples blogging?
Or is this for real, and is there an actual living human being who sets up two flat screen monitors in Hawaii and complains about the heat?
Are they warming up for SXSW? Honest couples blogging?
Or is this for real, and is there an actual living human being who sets up two flat screen monitors in Hawaii and complains about the heat?
November 22, 2005
not the time to be in a blog funk
what with turkey hormonal anesthetization right around the corner, I'm feeling like there's nothing to read on the blogs these days. Oh sure, I've got my aggregator full of feeds from him and her and them, but I'm so used to them I think that I could post for them now.
Is anyone still "just starting out" in blogging? Where do we find the newbies--where are the new people who I don't know about--how do I find them: the ones who aren't writing ABOUT stuff but are writing stuff. More more. Leave me some links in comments.
Is anyone still "just starting out" in blogging? Where do we find the newbies--where are the new people who I don't know about--how do I find them: the ones who aren't writing ABOUT stuff but are writing stuff. More more. Leave me some links in comments.
First holiday off in a long time
It looks like I might actually have NO work to do on Thanksgiving.
I'm nearly anxious with excitement.
I'm not counting blogging in this no-work decree, because blogging is blogging even when it feels like work. I mean no client work, no business work, no DEADLINES. These last three years have been DEADLINE driven, well hell the last 23 years have been, oh well why not count college too and little miss summa 4.0's work ethic...
Well, now that I'm back out on my own I've decided I'm going to do it differently this time, take on two or three projects I care about, and downstream/outstream the rest to folks in my knowledge network, which includes and is mostly made up of bloggers.
I thought that was what I was going to be able to do in my last venture--outstream to bloggers. It didn't work out that way. And what I'm telling you has little or nothing to do with deadlines but everything to do with DEAD LINES because blogging is neither dead NOR linear, so how much easier deadlines will be to meet with the resources of the LIVE WEB!!!!!
oh i can't wait!
I'm nearly anxious with excitement.
I'm not counting blogging in this no-work decree, because blogging is blogging even when it feels like work. I mean no client work, no business work, no DEADLINES. These last three years have been DEADLINE driven, well hell the last 23 years have been, oh well why not count college too and little miss summa 4.0's work ethic...
Well, now that I'm back out on my own I've decided I'm going to do it differently this time, take on two or three projects I care about, and downstream/outstream the rest to folks in my knowledge network, which includes and is mostly made up of bloggers.
I thought that was what I was going to be able to do in my last venture--outstream to bloggers. It didn't work out that way. And what I'm telling you has little or nothing to do with deadlines but everything to do with DEAD LINES because blogging is neither dead NOR linear, so how much easier deadlines will be to meet with the resources of the LIVE WEB!!!!!
oh i can't wait!
That's not a SNAIL, That's Thanksgiving Dinner!
Holy Crap!
Is that a snail in your pocket or are you......
November 21, 2005
Thinking about adoption?
It's national adoption month. Thinking about the pitter patter of little feet? Big feet? Excellent! Got some good links for you.
When the net goes zzzzzzzz
When there's not much to interest me in my wanderings through RSS feeds (yawn) and technorati blog finder fuel (zzzz) late at night, I usually think up a couple of words, throw them in Google, and then look at the images associated with those words.
I find wonderful things that way. It's the last best unexpected place around.
So tonight I was thinking about being tired and that old phrase 'rest assured' came to mind, and so i put that in google and clicked images and I found the most delicious (no tags intended) looking bed, people!!!
From a site called online beds, comes the Rest Assured Pocket Spring 1200 Venice Ortho.
HELLO JETHRO granny's sleepin tonight!
Look at that puppy, will ya.
I look at beds and bedding like some people look at cars. You tell me stuff like Luxury damask fabric, Heavy duty springs, Sumptuous cotton and super soft polyester mattress fillings, Felt tufts and I'm nearly in tears. And when it comes to Rest Assured, I'm gathering that the Jubilee is the Roles Royce of the line.
I love beds. I love bedding, comforters, quilts, throws, pillows, cotton, duvet covers, dust ruffles, I AM A LINEN FREAK.
And google reminded me that it's okay. I feel better now. No really, rest assured, I'm fine.
I find wonderful things that way. It's the last best unexpected place around.
So tonight I was thinking about being tired and that old phrase 'rest assured' came to mind, and so i put that in google and clicked images and I found the most delicious (no tags intended) looking bed, people!!!
From a site called online beds, comes the Rest Assured Pocket Spring 1200 Venice Ortho.
HELLO JETHRO granny's sleepin tonight!
Look at that puppy, will ya.
I look at beds and bedding like some people look at cars. You tell me stuff like Luxury damask fabric, Heavy duty springs, Sumptuous cotton and super soft polyester mattress fillings, Felt tufts and I'm nearly in tears. And when it comes to Rest Assured, I'm gathering that the Jubilee is the Roles Royce of the line.
I love beds. I love bedding, comforters, quilts, throws, pillows, cotton, duvet covers, dust ruffles, I AM A LINEN FREAK.
And google reminded me that it's okay. I feel better now. No really, rest assured, I'm fine.
Happy Birthday Michelle!!!!
For the wonderful lady who does so much for the rest of us blogknownots, a lady indeed, Happy Birthday Meg!!!! Peace, you.
November 20, 2005
Chris Rabb Raps on Race & the Blogosphere
Hadn't heard this before. It's interesting listening. It's from I don't know when--I think earlier this month when Chris Rabb was on Tavis Smiley's show.
Chris needs to tell Tavis to get blogging. May? Huffington? Naw.
Chris needs to tell Tavis to get blogging. May? Huffington? Naw.
Introducing Blackster(TM)
Are you a conference planner who has trouble ensuring the right percentage of diversity at your events? Are you a pomo-web-2.0 company looking to get your groove on with that untapped demographic of color? Planning a blog meetup in your town and embarassed by that last showing of all grey-and-balding-50-something white guys with the stains on their ties?
Then Blackster's for YOU.
It's a social network, an online equalizer, and an RSS feed all at once! With Blackster, you find out how 'in' you are by how dark you link.
You may be Linked In, but are you sharing your link love with bloggers of all hues? Can you prove it the next time you get called on the carpet? Or will you try to be wiley like Tim O'Reilly?
Blackster is THE proven 'great equalizer' for the Web--and the protection you need from the bad PR of online brophobia.
AND for a limited time, if you purchase Blackster for $99.99, you get Blackster Desktop, which tailors your user experience to make you as diverse as you wanna be.
FEATURE LIST
BLACKSTER - 'cause once you blog black you never go back.
Then Blackster's for YOU.
It's a social network, an online equalizer, and an RSS feed all at once! With Blackster, you find out how 'in' you are by how dark you link.
You may be Linked In, but are you sharing your link love with bloggers of all hues? Can you prove it the next time you get called on the carpet? Or will you try to be wiley like Tim O'Reilly?
Blackster is THE proven 'great equalizer' for the Web--and the protection you need from the bad PR of online brophobia.
AND for a limited time, if you purchase Blackster for $99.99, you get Blackster Desktop, which tailors your user experience to make you as diverse as you wanna be.
FEATURE LIST
- Generates starter emails tailored to the darker side of your Outlook contact database.
- Launches Real Player pre-loaded with today's hottest Rap hits.
- Integrates seven free pre-loaded Blackster Registration Lists to ensure that your next conference meets minimum diversity standards (MDS)
- Integrates seamlessly with blogrolling.com to populate your blogroll with blogging's HOT new melanin-enhanced talent.
AND MORE!!
- BLACKSTER ALERTS notify you via email, pager, or SMS when your diversity quotient drops below 20% so that you can take immediate action to do what's right, not white.
- This month only--get tips on how to get the Internet's most popular blog brothers to add you to their blogrolls without dropping $20 on Miss Clairol Mod Blonde hair color.
BLACKSTER - 'cause once you blog black you never go back.
Next Week Goals
Spend more time reading blogs than I do posting (last week it was about equal--i think a ratio of 3/4 reading to 1/4 writing is good).
Spend more time with Jenna since the kids are once again out of school for a week.
SLEEP IN.
Try not to shop.
Maybe shop a little.
Lock up the debit card.
Clean this fricking house.
Feed the hamsters.
Change the hamsters.
MAKE Jenna clean her room.
Make clients oh-so happy.
Bill.
Clean my frigging car.
Email four friends.
Await a package from India.
EAT SOME BIRD.
Pray more.
.....your turn.
Spend more time with Jenna since the kids are once again out of school for a week.
SLEEP IN.
Try not to shop.
Maybe shop a little.
Lock up the debit card.
Clean this fricking house.
Feed the hamsters.
Change the hamsters.
MAKE Jenna clean her room.
Make clients oh-so happy.
Bill.
Clean my frigging car.
Email four friends.
Await a package from India.
EAT SOME BIRD.
Pray more.
.....your turn.
November 19, 2005
dot boom boom
Web 2.0 has the feeel of the speeedy dotcomboom times, but we learned from that little experiment, right? So it feeeels similar but it's all bouncing along on strange roads with foliage we've seen before. It's neither here nor there but the secret password is required for entrance.
Open Sessume
2.0 is going to go better than 1.0 ever did, and I really think so, because the refugees of boombangbust came to blogging in droves, most never abandoned the net in the first place, although they might have had second jobs as the under employed and bored as hell after trading in their jobs at exciting but defunct Internet 1.0 companies for the security of established enterprizes. The beauty of Established Enterprizes is that kow how to do real layoffs, where severance packages beat stock options and involuntary separation is a welcome break from the monotony of corporate servitude.
At first I wasn't down with the 2.o label. I was all about label-free, man, just let it be. But we have to call it something. We have to recognize that these opportunities are the ones WE WE WE WE WE have made. The cluetrain dare realized.
Something's afoot when Hugh lands Budget, knowtImean? When betas are sprouting like tomatas.
I didn't go the conference, I haven't seen the movie, I'm too busy to watch the film at 11, but I know when i'm in the middle of something important. We are. No Forbes is required to spell out their fear - I believe in the business arrangements happening as we walk away from the monitor long enough to shake hands and kiss cheeks and say okay then, let's go.
There's really nothing to it. The hard work's been done. The momentum will carry us home.
weeee!
Open Sessume
2.0 is going to go better than 1.0 ever did, and I really think so, because the refugees of boombangbust came to blogging in droves, most never abandoned the net in the first place, although they might have had second jobs as the under employed and bored as hell after trading in their jobs at exciting but defunct Internet 1.0 companies for the security of established enterprizes. The beauty of Established Enterprizes is that kow how to do real layoffs, where severance packages beat stock options and involuntary separation is a welcome break from the monotony of corporate servitude.
At first I wasn't down with the 2.o label. I was all about label-free, man, just let it be. But we have to call it something. We have to recognize that these opportunities are the ones WE WE WE WE WE have made. The cluetrain dare realized.
Something's afoot when Hugh lands Budget, knowtImean? When betas are sprouting like tomatas.
I didn't go the conference, I haven't seen the movie, I'm too busy to watch the film at 11, but I know when i'm in the middle of something important. We are. No Forbes is required to spell out their fear - I believe in the business arrangements happening as we walk away from the monitor long enough to shake hands and kiss cheeks and say okay then, let's go.
There's really nothing to it. The hard work's been done. The momentum will carry us home.
weeee!
if there is one kind of writing i hate
and truth be known there is more than one kind, and sometimes it's every kind of writing that bothers me, but the one I can depend on hating every time is proposal writing.
Oh Lord, give me a white paper, give me technical specs, give me a god-awful press release -- send me any of that before you send me into proposal hell.
I'm working on one for a client over the weekend that we started early last week, and the funny thing is that every proposal I've ever done (probably about 40 of them representing a total of probably $200 million) comes down to the last frigging minute. What is that about? What is it about proposals that invite the most exhausting processes in all of cobbling content together? Even the big companies I've worked for that either 1) claimed to have a proposal writing process together or 2) gave me the authority to build my own, never seemed to be able to stick to a schedule, timetable, or process--except the Big D Deadline
It's as though every proposal is a big sack that you know you have to hand over to the garbage man on Monday and you cram as much important stuff as possible into it for as long as you can until you start to get nervous--then you start picking through to take out what just doesn't fit, a Kleenex here and a used condom there--right up to the moment the truck pulls up. And the poor person waiting to tie the bag. Never mind.
So that's what I'm doing today. Dealing with Kleenex and condoms and the wonderful world of proposal writing.
Oh Lord, give me a white paper, give me technical specs, give me a god-awful press release -- send me any of that before you send me into proposal hell.
I'm working on one for a client over the weekend that we started early last week, and the funny thing is that every proposal I've ever done (probably about 40 of them representing a total of probably $200 million) comes down to the last frigging minute. What is that about? What is it about proposals that invite the most exhausting processes in all of cobbling content together? Even the big companies I've worked for that either 1) claimed to have a proposal writing process together or 2) gave me the authority to build my own, never seemed to be able to stick to a schedule, timetable, or process--except the Big D Deadline
It's as though every proposal is a big sack that you know you have to hand over to the garbage man on Monday and you cram as much important stuff as possible into it for as long as you can until you start to get nervous--then you start picking through to take out what just doesn't fit, a Kleenex here and a used condom there--right up to the moment the truck pulls up. And the poor person waiting to tie the bag. Never mind.
So that's what I'm doing today. Dealing with Kleenex and condoms and the wonderful world of proposal writing.
more-more-more-more-more-more-more
random stuff
Weird things I got called this week:
1) High and Mighty
2) Holier than Thou
3) Too Principled
Weird thing I have right now:
1) High and Mighty
2) Holier than Thou
3) Too Principled
Weird thing I have right now:
- Hiccups
- This boil thing on my right shoulder
- Technorati is faster - and behaving
- Back to Hiccups
November 17, 2005
OH my aching head
everything due everywhere at once and oh.
off to take jenna to basketball practice. it's cold here now and george cleaned the garage. i almost got out the cold weather clothes then it got hot and now here it is brrr again.
george does the laundry- he doesn't let me touch it because i always mix up the hues and he's very hue oriented, washing greens with greens and blues, red with reds oranges and pinks, yellows with beiges and pales, and white all by themselves same with blacks. You'd think an integrationist like him would not be so paranoid about laundry, but he is the klansman of the washing machine talking about the purity of the colors that comes out if you're careful.
me i throw it all in together 1 load for lights - near darks, and the other for darks and brights. My dryer lint is always dark grey. His dryer lint is the beautiful hue du jour.
so all this clean laundry piles up and he's all like, can't you at least put it away? and I'm all like, no. I'm busy, and he's all about I WASHED IT ALL and I'm like, that's good now it is clean and pure of hue, so put it on, and he has started some kind of protest whereby he will not bring clean laundry up from the basement unless i put away what's on the bed, and truth be known there is nothing I like better than sleeping under a pile of clean, crumpled laundry. Shhh.
He's got another musical gig--busy, busy. I guess I could put a few shirts away.
can you tell--i don't have a single, solitary brain cell left.
half of that problem is all yer faults.
blogger romper room - hi michael and tom and gary and mike, hi shelley and liza and lisa and rox, hi david and doc and chris and dean, hi betsy and sheila and jennifer and denise.
byebye
off to take jenna to basketball practice. it's cold here now and george cleaned the garage. i almost got out the cold weather clothes then it got hot and now here it is brrr again.
george does the laundry- he doesn't let me touch it because i always mix up the hues and he's very hue oriented, washing greens with greens and blues, red with reds oranges and pinks, yellows with beiges and pales, and white all by themselves same with blacks. You'd think an integrationist like him would not be so paranoid about laundry, but he is the klansman of the washing machine talking about the purity of the colors that comes out if you're careful.
me i throw it all in together 1 load for lights - near darks, and the other for darks and brights. My dryer lint is always dark grey. His dryer lint is the beautiful hue du jour.
so all this clean laundry piles up and he's all like, can't you at least put it away? and I'm all like, no. I'm busy, and he's all about I WASHED IT ALL and I'm like, that's good now it is clean and pure of hue, so put it on, and he has started some kind of protest whereby he will not bring clean laundry up from the basement unless i put away what's on the bed, and truth be known there is nothing I like better than sleeping under a pile of clean, crumpled laundry. Shhh.
He's got another musical gig--busy, busy. I guess I could put a few shirts away.
can you tell--i don't have a single, solitary brain cell left.
half of that problem is all yer faults.
blogger romper room - hi michael and tom and gary and mike, hi shelley and liza and lisa and rox, hi david and doc and chris and dean, hi betsy and sheila and jennifer and denise.
byebye
November 16, 2005
It's easy to keep the body count down...
...when you don't bother looking for them in the place that the most people died.
I was always under the impression that there would be a hard- target search at some point following that to determine whether or not there were any casualties left in those dwellings. As of right now -- in fact, the day before yesterday, in my own jurisdiction, a family came home to discover a family member who had been reported missing.
COOPER: Oh, my God.
STEPHENS: It was a horrible -- it was a gruesome sight. Very -- and again, people don't deserve any more grief and pain than they're going through right now. I mean, this whole process has been so excruciatingly screwed up and slow that, I mean, you're starting to feel a real sense of anger and hostility on the part of people locally and, my God, it's well-deserved.
new pictures not pictures
I know you're used to my sarcastic side. It's endearing isn't it? It's also been protecting me this last year. I mean I'm not saying I'm letting it go because it gives me a GREAT deal of pleasure to share it with you and it's what helps me make great fun of Those in Power and we all need that every third Friday.
What I'm meaning to say is that something's opening again. blogging doesn't like that, not grown up professional blogging, RSS doesn't understand because aggregators are flat like TV and you don't have to travel to them, like you do when you go to a friend's house or blog. Aggregators are channels and you tune in to flat feeds so my wounded feed doesn't FEEL any different than my SARCASTIC feed or my PR feed because everthing sits in the flat aggregator window and what do I care really?
Please understand: I don't care.
What I care about is that I saw new pictures of my father this weekend.
Have you seen them? What I mean is that when you are a child and your parent disappears forever, you're left with a finite set of image-memories -- like a deck of playing cards you take out now and then and shuffle through -- and then you get older and these are your 'bread and butter' of memories. They're the stock pictures you conjure when you think about the missing person. They are known because you have seen them over and over behind your eyes, year after year.
In all of my father memories, the face looking back at me is frozen in time, still, it is the dad I have seen in photographs and in home movies. My memories are the pictures of him that I've seen on the walls at relatives' houses, in the old box of black-and-white photos in the closet. They are a birthday party memory snapshot here; a vacation trip there; they are the paisley pajamas of my heart.
In loss, eventually, your memories grow still. Movement slows, then finally stop. You are left with disjointed snapshots that tell the only parts of your story you can absorb.
This weekend I saw my father in motion. It felt something like this:
Hi Dad! HI! and he was smiling back and Oh My dad that was your smile and YES I saw the corners of your eyes turn down and I see the SIDE of your face, this is not a picture, I see YOU, and you are MOVING inside you are in motion you are three dimensional you are NOT an RSS feed memory you are with me HI DAD! HI! do you see me? YES. You're dressed in a white cotton shirt, not pajamas and not clothes from the home movies, and it's really you, and where are you going daddy? What are you doing and why are you here like this. Only one time you came to me new and in motion, and I was 16 and you sang me a song in the kitchen, and now I'm 43 and you're back, moving your head and you're so real I could pinch your cheeks, and if I could just reach your shoulder..... and I wonder why you are back, and have I said I'm SO glad to see you? I can't believe I SEE YOU!!! You look so good--I wish I could get to you, what are you about 1o yards away? The way you tilt your head to the right.... of course, yes i'm your baby. yes i'm your baby. OH hellohelloiloveyoudaddy.
And it is going on and on like that. I have no explanation and I have no pretense about it. It just is. He's here and I'm not sure why, but you should all know that something is moving.
What I'm meaning to say is that something's opening again. blogging doesn't like that, not grown up professional blogging, RSS doesn't understand because aggregators are flat like TV and you don't have to travel to them, like you do when you go to a friend's house or blog. Aggregators are channels and you tune in to flat feeds so my wounded feed doesn't FEEL any different than my SARCASTIC feed or my PR feed because everthing sits in the flat aggregator window and what do I care really?
Please understand: I don't care.
What I care about is that I saw new pictures of my father this weekend.
Have you seen them? What I mean is that when you are a child and your parent disappears forever, you're left with a finite set of image-memories -- like a deck of playing cards you take out now and then and shuffle through -- and then you get older and these are your 'bread and butter' of memories. They're the stock pictures you conjure when you think about the missing person. They are known because you have seen them over and over behind your eyes, year after year.
In all of my father memories, the face looking back at me is frozen in time, still, it is the dad I have seen in photographs and in home movies. My memories are the pictures of him that I've seen on the walls at relatives' houses, in the old box of black-and-white photos in the closet. They are a birthday party memory snapshot here; a vacation trip there; they are the paisley pajamas of my heart.
In loss, eventually, your memories grow still. Movement slows, then finally stop. You are left with disjointed snapshots that tell the only parts of your story you can absorb.
This weekend I saw my father in motion. It felt something like this:
Hi Dad! HI! and he was smiling back and Oh My dad that was your smile and YES I saw the corners of your eyes turn down and I see the SIDE of your face, this is not a picture, I see YOU, and you are MOVING inside you are in motion you are three dimensional you are NOT an RSS feed memory you are with me HI DAD! HI! do you see me? YES. You're dressed in a white cotton shirt, not pajamas and not clothes from the home movies, and it's really you, and where are you going daddy? What are you doing and why are you here like this. Only one time you came to me new and in motion, and I was 16 and you sang me a song in the kitchen, and now I'm 43 and you're back, moving your head and you're so real I could pinch your cheeks, and if I could just reach your shoulder..... and I wonder why you are back, and have I said I'm SO glad to see you? I can't believe I SEE YOU!!! You look so good--I wish I could get to you, what are you about 1o yards away? The way you tilt your head to the right.... of course, yes i'm your baby. yes i'm your baby. OH hellohelloiloveyoudaddy.
And it is going on and on like that. I have no explanation and I have no pretense about it. It just is. He's here and I'm not sure why, but you should all know that something is moving.
Dear Cigarette that I Want
Dear smoking,
I want to tell you some things, the first thing is that I love smoking and I love to smoke and it's legal and I don't think there's a thing wrong with smoking as long as you quit between 50 and 60 and as long as you're not my kid. That's just how I see it and I think it comes down to genes and also what The Man puts in cigarettes today because my grandpa smoked until he was 76 and he started at like 7 and he never even coughed. Same with all my Italian relatives and now a days you have to buy good cigarettes like American Spirit brand in order to avoid inhaling sugar and insecticide although since Reynolds bought my beautiful brand (i think that's who bought them) i am not sure i know who to trust. but i did trust them in that i love them with my very being I would wrap myself around an American spirit this instant if I could, and i would inhale so deep I'd disappear. All my thoughts and worries and complex problems and ideas would adhere to the plumes and make perfect sense.
Smoking did you know they say that i used to use you to push anger down? i don't know what the fuck they're supposed to be talking about because i'm not fucking mad at any fucking one except when they say that about you. I stick up for you all the time because you were my buddy, smoking, and when everyone else gave me grief, you sat there in your cellophane and paper not giving me one ounce of trouble. sure, yes, well blah blah senate commission.
I saw a thing yesterday at the store that takes tar out of cigarettes before you inhale them and i know that they're not too far away from coming out with that safe-smoke cigarette and do you know what smoking? when they do i am so there. I am right there. I am in line overnight for the concert of my dreams.
did you know i fell in love with you at 11? I stole for you. Every day. You know that right? I bet not many kids did that for you or know you like I did.
Anyway, I have to go now but i wanted you to know that no matter what you're always a part of how i think and feel, even when you're not around. as soon as you clean yourself up you come back and see me and we'll talk about how we can maybe get together again. because sometimes my head just won't clear out no matter how hard a shake it, and i get that messy cloudy feeling or i start just bawling for no reason or i get pissed enough to break shit, and smoking i know you're the one who can talk me out of those places.
in the mean time, you try not to hurt anybody now and I'll see you pretty soon.
I want to tell you some things, the first thing is that I love smoking and I love to smoke and it's legal and I don't think there's a thing wrong with smoking as long as you quit between 50 and 60 and as long as you're not my kid. That's just how I see it and I think it comes down to genes and also what The Man puts in cigarettes today because my grandpa smoked until he was 76 and he started at like 7 and he never even coughed. Same with all my Italian relatives and now a days you have to buy good cigarettes like American Spirit brand in order to avoid inhaling sugar and insecticide although since Reynolds bought my beautiful brand (i think that's who bought them) i am not sure i know who to trust. but i did trust them in that i love them with my very being I would wrap myself around an American spirit this instant if I could, and i would inhale so deep I'd disappear. All my thoughts and worries and complex problems and ideas would adhere to the plumes and make perfect sense.
Smoking did you know they say that i used to use you to push anger down? i don't know what the fuck they're supposed to be talking about because i'm not fucking mad at any fucking one except when they say that about you. I stick up for you all the time because you were my buddy, smoking, and when everyone else gave me grief, you sat there in your cellophane and paper not giving me one ounce of trouble. sure, yes, well blah blah senate commission.
I saw a thing yesterday at the store that takes tar out of cigarettes before you inhale them and i know that they're not too far away from coming out with that safe-smoke cigarette and do you know what smoking? when they do i am so there. I am right there. I am in line overnight for the concert of my dreams.
did you know i fell in love with you at 11? I stole for you. Every day. You know that right? I bet not many kids did that for you or know you like I did.
Anyway, I have to go now but i wanted you to know that no matter what you're always a part of how i think and feel, even when you're not around. as soon as you clean yourself up you come back and see me and we'll talk about how we can maybe get together again. because sometimes my head just won't clear out no matter how hard a shake it, and i get that messy cloudy feeling or i start just bawling for no reason or i get pissed enough to break shit, and smoking i know you're the one who can talk me out of those places.
in the mean time, you try not to hurt anybody now and I'll see you pretty soon.
I want to smoke so badly
I'm on a passive smoking binge. That means I want to smoke SO badly that I'll do anything to keep wanting to smoke. I suck the wind downstream of friends who exhale. I swear, to my own shame, that I had a tear stream down my cheek yesterday when I saw that the convenience station VERY near my house carries my brand of American Spirit -- the brown packs.
"Oh Oh Oh," I said to the cashier. "You've got my brand. Right here. Do you know that? Oh oh no."
"Which?"
"American Spirits, the brown, look at them above your head there, don't they look good?"
"Sure. $10 for the gas."
"I know but, do you know I used to smoke those? I quit a year ago, but that's my brand and I think I should get them."
I hand him the $10. He makes the register go cachunk and sticks the money in.
Then he looks at me. I'm thinking he wants to talk some more about my smoking days. Then I realize he's waiting for me to move out of the way so the guy behind me can pay for his gas.
Sometimes I just don't get people.
And DON'T come on here and tell me not to smoke, fucking shit I know I shouldn't smoke, what do you think that doesn't piss me off when you tell me that?
I love you.
"Oh Oh Oh," I said to the cashier. "You've got my brand. Right here. Do you know that? Oh oh no."
"Which?"
"American Spirits, the brown, look at them above your head there, don't they look good?"
"Sure. $10 for the gas."
"I know but, do you know I used to smoke those? I quit a year ago, but that's my brand and I think I should get them."
I hand him the $10. He makes the register go cachunk and sticks the money in.
Then he looks at me. I'm thinking he wants to talk some more about my smoking days. Then I realize he's waiting for me to move out of the way so the guy behind me can pay for his gas.
Sometimes I just don't get people.
And DON'T come on here and tell me not to smoke, fucking shit I know I shouldn't smoke, what do you think that doesn't piss me off when you tell me that?
I love you.
Watching Gum
I don't watch TV much anymore. Hardly ever. Only during an active hurricane season. My bedroom TV has now become a stage for Elimitaste gum, preferred gum of the bloggerati. You need some gum, you come see me. My TV makes a great distribution center. I've got my Smoke Screen in one stack, my Zapp in another. Ladies and gentlemen, I AM supply chain efficiency.
I've only got 10 minutes...
...before I'm out the door again. Being back on my own business wise means mo-meetings. I was around people yesterday. I find it odd, entertaining, and energizing. Until I leave, and then I have to pass out.
I used to do these blog jaunts where I'd try to post 30 posts in 30 minutes. I never made it. I once posted 30 in a row but it took an hour and a half. It seemed like 30 minutes.
So here's the thing about Jenna's school. The teacher sent home 'corrected' class work the other day and I looked it over to find that the teacher had marked THREE problems wrong that were actually right. One of them was 51 - 48. Jenna got it right. The teacher didn't.
I AM VERY SCARED.
I used to do these blog jaunts where I'd try to post 30 posts in 30 minutes. I never made it. I once posted 30 in a row but it took an hour and a half. It seemed like 30 minutes.
So here's the thing about Jenna's school. The teacher sent home 'corrected' class work the other day and I looked it over to find that the teacher had marked THREE problems wrong that were actually right. One of them was 51 - 48. Jenna got it right. The teacher didn't.
I AM VERY SCARED.
FleshBooks(SM)
I talked to RB today about a new business model that's been brewing in my head (the last 20 minutes). I'll call it a distribution methodology, and I shall name and brand it here and now as my own: FleshBook(SM).Under the FleshBook(SM) brand, we will write our stories upon flesh -- all of us. We will move in numbers, tatoo words not pictures, string ourselves together to make meaning.
Words are what I see on flesh, I am a walking chapter, I read myself and you, I read myself in you. I paint stories in blood.
What's your genre? What font family? Mine is a deep, dark typeface that screams.
I am busy now writing stories upon my flesh.
I write them with my fingers. I cut and paste, I peel layers.
What word for my little finger, then? Secret.
Some choose to encrypt themselves.
Reading them requires a decoder. It is necessary--it is worth any price.
Story consumers must pay a lifetime's worth of a living wage for a decoder to read an encrypted teller's story.
The ending is everything.
Mothers, make stories of your children.
Tellers are seers. Their flesh is hairless and smooth.
We will write books upon the beautiful people and send them out into the world to carry our message.
We will write poetry books on the injured, the wounded.
Talk to me.
November 15, 2005
Latest project up!
Wshew--world record pace completion of content for InComm's new website. Went up today. InComm's Fastcard(R) Network is what makes it possible -- not to mention quick, easy and cost-effective -- for retailers to sell you all of those cool gift cards you'll be buying for holiday presents. They're a smart, nice bunch of folks. Wrote this 100-page website in about three weeks I think--I'm not sure. I call it creative amnesia. What was I saying? Why do I feel like shopping?
BY THE WAY woman who did the Web design on the site is looking for work -- she'll be updating her blog soon. Let her know if you have work for a Web project manager with XHTML/CSS experience. She is one of the most organized and easy-to-work-with women I've done business with in a looooong time.
Happy Furry Half a Million
Speaking of which, there are some really great prizes at stake for being Happy Furry Puppy Time's 500,000th visitor!!!! Click early and click often!
November 14, 2005
Apparently Frank...
...and the rest of blogging are at some Senior Sex Addict conference... I really--I had no idea--I mean Frank seems so.... innocent....and I think he's like 31.
Near as I can tell, it's Weinberger, Paynter and a bunch of women bloggers. Somewhere up north.
I don't know. I never thought Halley would bring Jackson to SSA.
...wait...maybe i've gotten my letters mixed up....
Near as I can tell, it's Weinberger, Paynter and a bunch of women bloggers. Somewhere up north.
I don't know. I never thought Halley would bring Jackson to SSA.
...wait...maybe i've gotten my letters mixed up....
Can Google Kill the SEO Industry
Well, it helped build the industry, so sure. If it wants to. Because when Google moves there are a thousand rippling counter moves. And I can already hear the shirt sleves rolling up.
It's not in Google's best interest to kill the entire SEO industry. It is in their best interest to take aim at a piece.
Personally, I would like to see the SEO companies go through Conversation Sensitivity Training before they pretend to know how to Make You More Visible online. Not because I think it would do any good. But because it would be fun to watch.
Now, I've had to learn to write search-optimized copy because it's my business to know how. I'm STILL not good at it because it's like writing my way into a shoebox, and if I wanted to write my way into a shoebox, then that shoebox better contain some really super comfortable and nice looking black pumps, not your average bla-blahdy-blah tissue paper and one right shoe.
SEO is a low-return-for-the-investment activity. A year of looking at it hasn't changed my mind. It comes down to two different ways to spend your money:
You can figure out how to join or support conversation, or you can pay companies to help you circumvent and avoid the conversation. It's that simple. There are no wrong answers. But each approach comes with a pricetag. Guess which one is higher. Guess which model is more sustainable.
Ding Ding--YOU WIN!
It's not in Google's best interest to kill the entire SEO industry. It is in their best interest to take aim at a piece.
Personally, I would like to see the SEO companies go through Conversation Sensitivity Training before they pretend to know how to Make You More Visible online. Not because I think it would do any good. But because it would be fun to watch.
Now, I've had to learn to write search-optimized copy because it's my business to know how. I'm STILL not good at it because it's like writing my way into a shoebox, and if I wanted to write my way into a shoebox, then that shoebox better contain some really super comfortable and nice looking black pumps, not your average bla-blahdy-blah tissue paper and one right shoe.
SEO is a low-return-for-the-investment activity. A year of looking at it hasn't changed my mind. It comes down to two different ways to spend your money:
You can figure out how to join or support conversation, or you can pay companies to help you circumvent and avoid the conversation. It's that simple. There are no wrong answers. But each approach comes with a pricetag. Guess which one is higher. Guess which model is more sustainable.
Ding Ding--YOU WIN!
So is the best part being above the super models?
Or this most awesome post from Tom who knows I've been brooding more than usual lately? I think by far Tom's bruit post is the best thing.
Oddly, I'd been thinking for the last four days that I would come back into circulation as an independent kind of like Prince, because from a contractual standpoint, being a symbol opens up brand new horizons the law has yet to completely settle on. I was looking for the perfect non-name to represent The Blogger Formerly Known as Jeneane.
Tom's most appropriate Trinacrian symbol is just what I was looking for! Now, what kind of computation mechanism would be required to tell Google (but no one else) that [(insert trinacrian symbol here)] is the blogger formerly known as me?
Or maybe I should just put it on a cafe press t-shirt.... hmmmmm. ;-)
In case you don't know, Tom's the best.
--posted by
Oddly, I'd been thinking for the last four days that I would come back into circulation as an independent kind of like Prince, because from a contractual standpoint, being a symbol opens up brand new horizons the law has yet to completely settle on. I was looking for the perfect non-name to represent The Blogger Formerly Known as Jeneane.
Tom's most appropriate Trinacrian symbol is just what I was looking for! Now, what kind of computation mechanism would be required to tell Google (but no one else) that [(insert trinacrian symbol here)] is the blogger formerly known as me?
Or maybe I should just put it on a cafe press t-shirt.... hmmmmm. ;-)
In case you don't know, Tom's the best.
--posted by
Song and Dance and The Color Purple
With George Sessum a founding orchestra member of The Color Purple, which first hit the stage in a five-week pre-broadway shakedown here in Atlanta, I've been following the show's journey to broadway from the sidelines. This I know: it was an intense schedule and experience for the cast and crew who first brought The Color Purple to the stage at its World Premiere at the Alliance. And since that time, the Broadway-bound company has spent a year improving and refining the show.With Oprah signed on as a co-producer now, I'm sure that no expense will be spared to ensure the show has a long, successful run.
It was fun to see the original cast members I'd met do their thing on Oprah last week. Hope to get to NY to see the end result.
Standing O for all involved.
*************************
Bonus Links - MP3s & Such
My original post on
The Color Purple World Premiere
MP3s
Push Da Button
What About Love
The Color Purple
Video
Videos on Oprah.com
************************
November 13, 2005
Jeneane 2.0
This news item will be as brief as I can make it.
I've left The Content Factor as a partner. While I maintain a relationship with my existing clients through the business, I am otherwise unhitched, departnered, unattached and free. In fact, I'm just one big forward looking statement!
Eventually, I'll write about some of the tough lessons I've learned during the last year in working to build what has become a very successful business.
But now's not the time for that.
If I stop to look back, I risk falling into a giant, goo-filled pothole. Now is not the time for goo. (Not sure when the right time for goo is, well kinda, but never mind.) Now is the time to entertain new ventures and opportunities. Some of which I'm already entertaining.
You too can entertain me.
(Sing Elvis, Dance!!!!)
Contact info and recent work is represented here.
Welcome me home.
I'm glad to be back.
Wshew.
I've left The Content Factor as a partner. While I maintain a relationship with my existing clients through the business, I am otherwise unhitched, departnered, unattached and free. In fact, I'm just one big forward looking statement!
Eventually, I'll write about some of the tough lessons I've learned during the last year in working to build what has become a very successful business.
But now's not the time for that.
If I stop to look back, I risk falling into a giant, goo-filled pothole. Now is not the time for goo. (Not sure when the right time for goo is, well kinda, but never mind.) Now is the time to entertain new ventures and opportunities. Some of which I'm already entertaining.
You too can entertain me.
(Sing Elvis, Dance!!!!)
Contact info and recent work is represented here.
Welcome me home.
I'm glad to be back.
Wshew.
Redemption Song
[audio]
[interesting 2nd - audio]
Old pirates yes they rob I
Sold I to the merchant ships
Minutes after they took I
from the Bottom less pit
But my hand was made strong
By the hand of the almighty
We forward in this generation
triumphantly
Won't you help to sing these songs of freedom
Cause all I ever had
redemption songs, redemption songs
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds
Have no fear for atomic energy
Cause none of them can stop the time
How long shall they kill our prophets
While we stand aside and look
Some say it's just a part of it
We've got to fulfill the book
Won't you help to sing,
these songs of freedom
Cause all I ever had,
redemption songs, redemption songs,
redemption songs
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds
Have no fear for atomic energy
Cause none of them can stop the time
How long shall they kill our prophets
While we stand aside and look
Yes some say it's just part of it
We've got to fulfill the book
Won't you help to sing, these songs of freedom
Cause all I ever had, redemption songs
All I ever had, redemption songs
These songs of freedom, songs of freedom
[interesting 2nd - audio]
Old pirates yes they rob I
Sold I to the merchant ships
Minutes after they took I
from the Bottom less pit
But my hand was made strong
By the hand of the almighty
We forward in this generation
triumphantly
Won't you help to sing these songs of freedom
Cause all I ever had
redemption songs, redemption songs
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds
Have no fear for atomic energy
Cause none of them can stop the time
How long shall they kill our prophets
While we stand aside and look
Some say it's just a part of it
We've got to fulfill the book
Won't you help to sing,
these songs of freedom
Cause all I ever had,
redemption songs, redemption songs,
redemption songs
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds
Have no fear for atomic energy
Cause none of them can stop the time
How long shall they kill our prophets
While we stand aside and look
Yes some say it's just part of it
We've got to fulfill the book
Won't you help to sing, these songs of freedom
Cause all I ever had, redemption songs
All I ever had, redemption songs
These songs of freedom, songs of freedom
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