Facebook is missing the mark

My 20^th high school reunion was last weekend. Even though I didn't go, I have suddenly had a flurry of people finding me on Facebook As this started happening I realized that Facebook is really missing the mark. It really should be marketing itself as the class reunion and Classmates.com killer. It is free, already designed to link people together and it allows people to connect for different group affiliations other than just schools. I signed up for classmates.com years ago. But I have been frustrated with the lack of free content offered by them. Everything they offer requires a yearly subscription. There is not enough information out there that I really care about using that I would be willing to pay for.

 

As for Facebook, I find it less annoying than MySpace but more cumbersome than Twitter. I have my Twitter posts upload to my Facebook page to help keep everyone up to date without having to actually use Facebook. I have no use for Lil Green patches and bumper stickers or quizzes offered on Facebook. That stuff is crap! But the connectivity and networking that can be done is far superior to MySpace, Classmates and Twitter. I know that they are really competing directly against MySpace but there is a market space that they could dominate in a matter of months if they refocused their efforts. The next time you see a classmates ad on a web page or get an email from them look at their free content and then go to Facebook to see how many people you can find there. If you are like me you will be impressed with the ease in which you can find people and actually be able to contact them.

Word 2007 Blogging and other rambles

This is the first time I am using Word 2007 to post directly to my blog. In theory, this seems like a great way to blog and be sure I put I's before E's except after C. I haven't blogged in a few days because I have been very busy. Things are changing and moving fast right now.

I have my event at Church this Sunday for The Bridge. I am trying to determine if I can get 3 separate circuits for the MEGA COMBO inflatable I have reserved. I am kind of excited about this. I hope we have a bunch of kids show up. I hope to have a bunch of adults help out too. I don't usually get the participation with this that I hope for but maybe this time it will be better. I meet with Andrew tomorrow (Thursday) to discuss the Bridge for the upcoming events and eventual ministry. I am excited to find out what has been decided.

I also have the move coming up in a few weeks. Still haven't packed anything yet! That should be fun. I hate moving as it is and this one is going to be bad. We have a full attic and half full garage. My car doesn't run and will need to go the .7 of a mile to the new house. I can't wait! I hope to get the car running soon though. With the weather getting nicer it would be great to have it going to work.

At work we have some things moving as always. New copiers came in (and don't work), people moving and the normal slew of projects.

Yesterday, I took Craig to find a job. What an adventure that was! He didn't want to work anywhere in retail. So he was not happy filling out applications and thinking about the possibility of missing some of his church activities. The rub is that he wants to go do all of those things, but expects Christie and I to take him. He needs to work and get his license. Now he also wants to go back to Africa next year. He needed employment of some kind. We went all around and the last stop was a music store. He wanted guitar strings and he also asked about a job. The owners of Music Matters were great! They talked to us both and showed us around. He ended up getting them to allow him to work there and do lessons. He may also get to help demo guitars and do some work on the floor. I am excited for him. He was very happy too. The pay is great and the store and people are incredible. God does some cool things when we surrender the need to control it all.

I have been reading Acts this week. We are studying it in Middle school the next couple of weeks and I thought it would be good for my morning bible reading. I love the writings of Luke. His style and clarity appeal to me more so than any other writers. Paul is too condemning and depressing to me! I know I shouldn't feel that way but it is true. Good stuff!

Ok, I am done for now. Let's see if this all posts!

S

New routine

So I have started some new routines this week. I have been starting my day by getting up and reading Psalms 119. We are studying that in our small group. I have been also walking with my two youngest sons and our three dogs. Right now they are so wiped out they can hardly move. The exercise and excitement is too much for them. But they actually seemed like they were waiting to go tonight.

We walked down to the rental house. It is nice to know that the new house is so close. I am dreading packing and moving but I am anxious to get there and get the pool cleaned and ready. We meet the owners on Tuesday. The Realtor gave us our options on the existing houses. Bleak and bleaker! I hope that God leads us to the right decision on this.

Today was a better day at work. Everything on my list and then some was completed. I am moving a VM to another server to try and speed it up. If only I could move the database over to our SQL servers it would run better. The vendor does not support having it on full SQL or another server. Poor development.

Saw the new Starbucks that Christie is working at. Wow! It is huge and nice. It may be the biggest and nicest Starbucks I have ever seen. I can't wait until Saturday when it officially opens.

Tonight the boys and I are continuing our Star Wars saga by watching Empire Strikes Back. This is a great movie all f these years later.

That is all for now. Until next time....

First Rant

I am not really sure what I want to focus on here, but I know it will come to me. It's been a typical day here at work, coworkers fighting out in shipping, systems going down for no apparent reason and vendors vying for my time and the companies money.

I am frustrated with Premier Global. Don't get me wrong, they are a great company and offer great services. But they are unwilling to add an addendum to a contract saying that if they go down more than 4 times for longer than 15 minutes in a 60 day period that we could have a 30 day out. Not that we probably would leave. But we have been burned before. They are great now, but 6 months from now they may not be the same company that we love. We want to use them. They refuse to bend on this. It is ridiculous.

I started my day calling RIM to fix an error after an upgrade. They helped me out and I documented it in our Sharepoint Wiki that we have just put in. I really like Sharepoint.

I called Regions Bank and got part of my financial dilemma worked out with them. They are still a useless bank. I will put my money elsewhere very soon. When one person is the only person you can speak to to get an error on their part fixed, there is a problem. They have taken money out without permission. Not cool.

Ok. So overall it wasn't a bad day, just a normal one. I did get to go to lunch (mmmm Checkers fries!) which is unusual. Again, not a bad day, just normal.

S