From the monthly archives:

November 2008

I don’t have a lot of details but I did hear that piece of brief but good news. That is truly something to be thankful for.

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First of all, do we still talk about “memes,” or is that something else on which I am hopelessly behind? If we do, here’s a meme I’m seeing among some of my Twitter folks: an Internet fast for the holidays. Three of my colleagues have mentioned it, and two have cited spousal annoyance as a reason. That caught my attention, as I’m getting some heat at home for being buried in the BlackBerry or constantly staring at my laptop. Telling The Mrs. to follow me on FriendFeed did not elicit a positive response.

I’ve felt a bit overwhelmed by all my connecting methods lately. Ever since accepting the position of social media manager at SAS I’ve felt I needed to beef up my online presence. I started blogging in 2003 but I haven’t blogged about work until I started this blog, and that makes me feel at a disadvantage. At least once a day on the blogs or Twitter feeds of the social media gurus I follow I hear about something that I’m either not doing or not doing to its full potential. Steve Rubel is the worst (or best, I suppose). I’m convinced he makes his morning toast on his iPhone, via Gmail. I was awake at midnight Saturday, in bed with my laptop, with a vague feeling I needed to be doing something with my Facebook profile, or checking in on the groups I’m following but not, you know, following. And then there’s my LinkedIn profile, and should I be using TweetDeck, and do I have Twitter alerts set up and what was the tool that Jim Tobin mentioned last week that made his BlackBerry beep whenever someone mentioned him on Facebook? Or was it Twitter? And do I even need that?

So the idea of an Internet fast sounds appealing, and also terrifying. Does that mean I’ve let social media become the equivalent of a dozen new inboxes that need to be dealt with? And if I go cold turkey (heh) on the Web this Thanksgiving, where am I going to look for stuffing recipes? A cookbook? What is this, 1952?

Have you condsidered an Internet fast? What would you miss the most?

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Don’t pay the ransom. I’ve escaped!

11.17.2008

Okay, I’ve been a bad, bad blogger. Between one, two or three members of the household having a cold for the last month, adjusting to the new day care (or as we call it, baby school) routine, some travel, some birthday activities and getting ready to transition to a new job within SAS (starting Dec. [...]

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Shouldn't spammers be getting better, not worse?

11.13.2008

The text of two spam emails I received this morning, blocked by my Outlook filter: Good Afternoon   My name is Tammy, I live in Florida and I make handmade jewelry. I would like to know if you would have a possible interest in seeing my items on my website?   Thank you in advance. [...]

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Caffeine + information overload = insomnia

11.12.2008

I never have trouble sleeping. The last time I remember having any real trouble getting to sleep was seven or eight years ago the night my house was robbed. Oh, and ten years or so ago when I decided to start drinking coffee. After a few weeks I was having rapid heartbeat and withdrawal headaches [...]

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Hello, Internet! Are you ready to rock?

11.12.2008

WordPress just offered me the opportunity to own my own domain and “make this blog davebtommylive.com for just $15 a year.” Thanks, but I think I’ll stick with dbthomas.com and dbthomas.net. Does that mean that even davebtommy.com is taken? I’m pretty sure that when I bought my first domain, plooble.com, I paid $150 for it. [...]

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Happy Birthday Marcus

11.12.2008

Today is my nephew, Marcus’, 13th birthday. Happy birthday Marcus from Aunt Jean, Uncle Dave and your adoring cousin Conrad! One of my favorite stories about Marcus is when he was about 3 years old. I think it must have been the Spring, around the time of my niece’s and sister in law’s birthday. He [...]

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Local TV takes a cue from YouTube

11.11.2008

I get a news digest email several times a day from Local Tech Wire, the biz and tech web outlet of WRAL, our CBS affiliate. The editor, Rick Smith, provides some of the best and most in-depth business coverage in our area. He and colleague Valonda Calloway did a fascinating interview with SAS CEO Jim [...]

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Quick! Choose one! Polar bears or Twitter?

11.10.2008

This morning I got hit by a headline on a wire service article that snapped my head back: “Web 2.0 investments dive in Q3 but cleantech surges.” “Oh, no,” I thought. “Here we go again. The media can’t declare something on the rise without simultaneously sounding the death knell for something else.” We saw the [...]

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Dinner at Saint Jacques

11.09.2008

The Mrs. and I went to Saint Jacques in Raleigh last night for a pre-birthday (mine) dinner with our friends Memsy and Gill. I’ve been there several times for lunch with my dad and have been trying to get there for dinner for at least a year. It’s one of the most elegant, calm and [...]

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