The JackB

"When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'." Groucho Marx

Archives for October 2011

An Unofficial Review of Windows Live Writer & Google+

by 10 Comments

 

placid

Two weeks ago a good friend asked me how much time I was wasting on social media. He is not a blogger, never uses Facebook and refers to Twitter as “just another time suck.”

I told him that social media is a tool and its utility is based more upon the skill of the user than the tool itself.

He snorted and told me that he needed a more substantive answer than that. I nodded my head and showed him the picture above.

It is a shot of Lake Placid that I took last summer. As we stared at the photo I explained to him that prior to leaving I went on Twitter and asked for help finding some restaurants and things to do with the kids.

Twenty minutes was all it took to receive a list of recommendations from people I know. That request for help saved a chunk of time I would have spent researching things online.

That is the kind of information exchange that I love. Quick and effective. And that is part of why I love Twitter.

Google+ Is Different

Google+ is different from Twitter. Since it doesn’t have the constraints of a 140 character count it encourages a deeper, more free flowing conversation.

On Twitter if you want to have a private conversation you need to send a direct message. It is different on Google+

The circles that you use to group your contacts help to address some of the privacy concerns that people have and make it easier to communicate with a smaller group.

It doesn’t relieve you of the burden of concern that others might one day be able to read your “private thoughts” but it does make it more difficult.

I am a big fan of the hangouts and the access to personalities you might not otherwise be able to engage with.

Hangouts are video chats that you can hold with one person or twenty. It has been a real pleasure to have the opportunity to speak face-to-face with some of the bloggers and folks I have met on Twitter.

Windows Live Writer

I downloaded Windows Live Writer based upon a post that Jessica Gottlieb wrote about it  in which she said it improved her productivity.

I figured that since it was free it couldn’t hurt to check it out and am using it to write this post.

Thus far I am ten minutes into my Windows Live Writer experience and it appears to be doing what it is supposed to do- make it easier to blog.

And that my friends is something that will always grab my attention.

You are invited to share your own thoughts and experiences in the comments.

P.S. One of the teachers at my kids’ school referred to the song below as old people music.

Update

I don’t know what happened but Windows Live Writer inserted a bunch of spaces into my post. So instead of point, click, post and walk I have been forced to come back and edit it a couple of times. The obvious question is what made that happen. I guess now I’ll have to check into user error or see if there is some other “glitch” that caused this.

Your Blogging Privileges Have Been Revoked

by 17 Comments

Muhammad Ali vs. Ernie Terrell, Houston Astrodome, Houston, TX, 1967The original headline of this post was supposed to be 18 Reasons To Read This Blog- Part 2.  Correction the original title was “The Post That Bill Dorman Almost Wrote But Didn’t.”

Since Bill used to be the invisible blogger I like sending traffic his way. The likelihood of his being invisible is about the same as The Bloggess highlighting the next 50 posts I write. Those of you who know me in real life know that crazy stuff happens to me all the time so I wouldn’t be surprised if she sent me an email to let me know that she had decided that it was important for all of her readers to learn more about me.

Really, one day Marcus is going to include me in his list of bloggers to read. One day soon  Danny Brown and Margie Clayman link up with me too. Take a moment to go wish Danny a happy third blogiversary and to read Margie’s post about installing Livefyre on her blog. Go on, we’ll wait for you.

C’mon Jayme.  We’re waiting for you and Ken to finish. Someone tell Brian to let Henry Wood go for a moment.

What Is The Point Of The Headline?

The point is that for the past four hours every time I tried to take a moment to write something came up and prevented me from doing so. It was uncanny the way life and responsibilities got in the way of the blog. There were telephone calls about sick relatives, work issues, bills, homework and a boatload of other things that made me feel like I was running in mud.

And I being the most patient father in the world walked out of my office, stepped outside and screamed at the Universe to “Back Off!” Ok, I didn’t scream because I didn’t want to freak out the neighbors but I didn’t have to. Really, my magic powers and exceptionally intense personality sent the message out into the world. And then for good measure I smiled broadly and asked for the universe to send me $10k. I figured it never hurts to ask and then while lost in contemplation I upped the number substantially.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained

So in an effort to practice what I preach I took a deep breath and reminded myself to go along and get along. This is how I reached the 18 Reasons To Read This Blog- Part 2 idea. It is a quick sequel to this post in which I provided a list of some of the most popular posts to appear here.

Every now and then it is good to share that information. It never hurts to showcase some of your most popular stuff to those who might not have seen it. And when you are jammed for time it is quick. But the universe in its infinite wisdom didn’t let me fire that off and in fact has continued to interrupt me while I am writing this one.

Bad move universe. I am a Taurus and you don’t to aggravate the bull or you’ll get the horns. You must be one of those people who thinks that the SEC plays real football or that the celtics play real basketball. So here I am determined to finish this damn post.

Here are a bunch of posts that my stats say are quite popular. Some of them may be repeats from the old list but some could be new. Read and enjoy and I promise to share a new post with real writing later this evening.

  1. Some Things I’ll Teach My Children (Updated)
  2. A Father Describes Parenting
  3. Teach Your Children To Be Responsible With Money
  4. An Open Letter To Triberr Members
  5. Your Blog Bores Me
  6. My Children Confront Death Again
  7. A Whiter Shade Of Pale
  8. The Best Cover Letter.Ever
  9. Would You Read This Story Part 3
  10. Mean Girls Come From Mean Moms
  11. One Slightly Used Pump For Sale
  12. When Mean Girls Grow Up
  13. More Proof That Great Headlines Don’t Matter
  14. Facebooking Proves That Time Doesn’t Heal All Wounds
  15. The GermoPhobe
  16. It is Called Life
  17. Life Lessons Learned on the Soccer Field
  18. Know Your Own Worth

“My Dad Says Good Writers Have An Opinion”

by 12 Comments

“If I ever see Edgar Allen Poe I shall rip his still beating tell-tale heart and feed it to that foul bird of his and be troubled by him nevermore.“- Mark Twain didn’t really say that but he might have.

Some of you are staring at that quote above trying to figure out what it means. Stop it. Just stop troubling your brain- I made it up. It is fabricated. I used my imagination and damn if you don’t need a little of bit of that to be a good writer.

More than a few pieces of the prose here are fabricated. Some of you spend time crawling through the content trying to decipher the secrets contained within. I doubt that you will find the satisfaction you seek. There are very few clear answers to be had. That is not because I am playing games or trying to tell the world of the shadows that lay across my heart.

Words that construct the fiction that I compose are fabricated based upon my experiences and those of others I know or know of. If it seems familiar it is because like you I have fallen in and out of love. I have been the heartbreaker and the heartbroken. There are no mysteries there. You won’t find Leonard Nimoy doing a special repeat of “In Search Of” about me.

So I am sitting in my office listening to the iTunes DJ cycle through my library when Surrender by Cheap Trick comes on and two thoughts/images float through my head. First I hear Mike Damone of Fast Times at Ridgemont High singing it and then I see in my mind Damone dispensing dating advice. You remember it, don’t you? It is his Five point plan:

First of all Rat, you never let on how much you like a girl. “Oh, Debbie. Hi.” Two, you always call the shots. “Kiss me. You won’t regret it.” Now three, act like wherever you are, that’s the place to be. “Isn’t this great?” Four, when ordering food, you find out what she wants, then order for the both of you. It’s a classy move. “Now, the lady will have the linguini and white clam sauce, and a Coke with no ice.” And five, now this is the most important, Rat. When it comes down to making out, whenever possible, put on side one of Led Zeppelin IV.

Afficionados of the movie may recall that the song that follows this diatribe is Kashmir. It is one of my favorite songs of all time, but it is not on IV. Speaking of Damone I came across a video of him today reciting his plan- dude looks old. Suppose that means that I am looking older too.

The question I sometimes ask myself is whether age and experience is lending just wrinkles or wrinkles and wisdom. I prefer Wisdom Without Wrinkles, my own WWW. Although I suppose that were I to brew my own beer, become a master vintner or make moonshine I would consider calling Wrinkles and Wisdom. I wonder if I could get Statler and Waldorf to represent me.

Blogging

You’ll have to pardon my dust but we are still remodeling around here. We are in the process of what could be a long renovation- but it might not be. There is a rhyme and a reason to the racket and the rumors might be true. But then again they might not be so try not to listen to that kind of nonsense.

Instead prepare yourself for I get the feeling that I might go on a blogging tear for a bit. I think that I just might start cranking out the posts with a vengeance. There are tales to be told and stories to be shared. The mighty ship is about to set sail and I am working hard to free her from her shackles.

 

Commenting Systems and Blog Design

by 41 Comments

This audio post is titled Commenting Systems and Blog Design

For those of you who find my voice to be objectionable or are unable to listen here are my words. I have turned off the Livefyre commenting system and am now using the WP native commenting system.

This blog exists for a variety of reasons the primary purpose being is that it is my cybersandbox for my writing. It is where I practice my craft and chronicle the moments and memories of my life. It is also the platform that I use for business purposes and for the joy that interacting with others bring.

I like my community and enjoy interacting with you. As many of you know I take an active role in trying to build my community. This is not a secret or unusual. I routinely encourage you to follow me on all of the different platforms that are available be it Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

Part of my job is to find the best tools and resources to make the community work for all of us. Commenting systems are an integral part of this which is why I am conducting an unscientific test. Overall my experience with Livefyre has been very  positive but recently I have received multiple complaints about it from readers who say that they find it overly cumbersome and or impossible to use.

In response I have decided to turn it off and see what happens. I like having Commentluv and that is not supported by LF or for that matter DISQUS. But I also like having threaded comments and the WP system as I understand it doesn’t really offer that either.

Anyhoo, part of the fun in blogging is being able to change things on the fly. We’ll give this a whirl and see how it goes. I may turn LF back on or I may not. I would love to hear your thoughts on this, that includes the lurkers. Take the discussion to the comment section and let me know what you think.

I would love to hear from you.