Another Delco Guy In South Jersey

Hello There!

It's been a while ...

Things are busy, so I can't say the site has been at the top of my list of priorities. May is deposit season, so work is as busy as it gets. It's also the heart of youth baseball season, so the weekends (including Mother's Day) have been full of games and time with friends.  My daughter's social butterfly stage is in full bloom and I even understand she may have a boyfriend. Sigh.

I've been a bit better on the eye health front, but there are still some mornings where getting the lenses in is darn near impossible.  The crazy days of greenish yellow tree pollen coating everything seem to be waning, but who knows what will come next.

I haven't read much lately, but did finish the audio versions of the Dragon Tattoo series.  I'm working on reviews and looking forward to listening to the new John Sandford 'Prey' novel that is out.  I've also become acquainted with 'Mad Men,' and it's as good as everyone says.

I'm eating better, getting some exercise in and have found some new things to interest me and make me happy. I'm still here and will be checking in more as baseball winds down. 

Thursday

It was 60 degrees at lunchtime today, so I went for a walk instead of writing.  I likely won't be writing tonight either because I am going to a Flying Fish Brewing event at Philadelphia Bar and Restaurant in about an hour. 

Short story is that this is today's blog.  Enjoy it's brevity and prfound lack of content.

WordFUL Wednesday

Screw Worldless Wednesday for this week.  I am in a rut.  I seem to write a lot of the same things on here and i need to break out of that  cycle.  Sure, I write about my great kids and we all love that, but hearing how great my kid are gets boring even to me after a while. 

I write about how things have changed in my life and how it's hard but I am coping with it. Yeah, everyone's life is hard, they just don't all have blogs where they whine about it every day.  Seriously, some of the stuff I have written makes we want to listen to James Taylor, grab a bottle of Jack and stare morosely into space for a few days.

A lot of the stuff I have written since starting the blog back up in June have been the basic updates about life.  Seriously, reading back, I can't believe several dozen people actually stop by to read this crap every day.  I'm bored out of my skull reading it and it's my friggin' life!

Back in the day, I was way more wide-ranging.  I did some news analysis, social commentary, sports discussion and reviews of books, restaurants and the like.  Semi-interesting stuff that assumed that people cared what I thought.  

You're all on notice.  I'm going back that way.  Yeah there will still be family updates and the like, but there's going to be a more concerted effort to actually write about stuff that matters outside my small circle of family and friends.  Not really for more readers, either, but really because I am feeling the need to expand what I am thinking and writing about. 

So read the blog if you want to, if not, you've got Facebook for the updates.

On Change and Facebook

Come on people.  Are you frigging kidding me?

From looking at most of the web today, and certainly at Facebook, the only thing that people did all day was bitch about the new changes coming at FB.  The first part of the day was spent complaining about the changes to the Facebook feeds that were rolled out yesterday.  Legitimate news organizations devoted entire programs to the changes and the complaining.  The second act in the Day of Facebook Change was the rapt attention paid to FB founder Mark Zuckerberg's unveiling of the real changes coming.  After an intermission of rejoicing that the 'Like button' survived the update, the final act of today's drama was a wave of whining and moaning by people who don't want others to see their comments or 'likes.'

It's not like nothing else happened today.  The stock market crashed.  The Republicans continued pandering to the lunatic fringe.  REM broke up.

But everywhere you looked today, or listened or read, it was all about Facebook.  I know most of the world is addicted to Facebook, heck I know I spend too much time on it, but this is insanity people!

Cleaning Up A Bit

Sometimes things can get a bit stale at a blog or personal website or whatever this place is.  Spring is almost over, so I guess it's about time to do some spring cleaning around here.

First up is the Blog Roll on the lower left of the page.  I'm ditching some under-performers and bringing on board some rising stars.

Gone are daddy democrat, Gregg Henson, Under The Bridge, Fortress of Pillows, Long Drive and the Big Blog Collection.  daddy democrat was fun in its day, covering Delaware County politics and writing from a dad's perspective.  It hasn't been updated in 4 months though, so it's probably time to cut him.

Gregg Henson stopped updating last year and stopped being interesting long before that.  He was a blowhard when he was here in Philly and he was useless to read as a struggling franchise coffee shop owner and disgruntled Detroiter, so god knows why I didn't cut him long ago.

Under the Bridge had a promising start, but Walklett ditched it in favor of Facebook last year.  I stuck with it in case he started up again, but I fear his attention span is too short for blogging.

Chris and Tug Haines shut down Long Drive after the end of the 2009 season.  Tug is is now posting his insane ruminations on The Fightins.

Chamomiles Davis shut down Fortress of Pillows at some point and is now (sporadically) posting for Meech and Tug and the gang over at The Fightins.  I will miss his Villanova stuff and his occasional insane tirade. 

Big Blog Collection is a list of sites.  Who cares.

Also gone is InsideOutBlog.  Tammi has shut down that particular site and is now concentrating on Living in LoCo, which is now linked.

New to the Blog Roll is Megan Kutulis, with a project by recent a recent Cabrini graduate that I am looking forward to reading regularly.

Also new is a long-time (in Internet terms) Twitter friend.  Purple Car is by Christine Cavalier, a Philadelphia writer who is smart and funny and has a lot of insight about the intersection of technology and our lives.

And finally, Part Time Vagabond  is by another Chris Cavs, this one of Portland Maine who writes about travel, beer and life and takes some great photos along the way.  Sound a lot like someone I know ...

Anyway, there will be some more changes along the way, but I think these folks are worth reading and I hope you stop by and give them a shot!

***** UPDATE *****

A more widely-read blog aficionado than myself (my brother) notes that Long Drive changed things up a bit and now is at PhilliesLongDrive.com.  Thanks Matty!

Who's Got The Time Anymore?

Obviously I write a blog.  And I have a Facebook page too.  And a Twitter feed.  I have a disused Tumblr site, an abandoned MySpace page (remember MySpace?), a LinkedIn Profile, about 8,000 images on Flickr and an entire website I manage at work.   I've got a pile of places on the web I try to get to every day and there are more than a few places where I used to post regularly and rarely get to anymore. 

My instant messaging platform aggregates my AOL, Yahoo, Google, and MSN instant messaging identities along with keeping me updated on FB status changes, Tweets and new email.  This was suppose to make my life easier.  Sometimes I just turn it off so the world doesn't seem so overwhelming.

I can post to my blog, Twitter or Flickr from my Blackberry as well as sent IMs, emails from all 4 of my accounts and also send photo and text messages.  I also occasionally use it to make phone calls.

I've got 2 kids, a new house, a significant other (not my laptop), a job, and a pile of other things to do that are not i- or e- or tech- or anything like that.  It's not like time is infinitely available to me.

I freely admit that I often find myself pecking away on my Blackberry posting from a cool restaurant or a kids' birthday party, with the nagging thought of "I HAVE to get the post up!!!!"

Recently though, I have been having that thought and then another right on its heels of "Or what if I don't?"  What would happen if I didn't? Would I become suddenly less relevant to the rest of the world?  Will my already meager posse of followers and readers dwindle to nothingness?

Would it matter?  Do they feel, as I sometimes do, that they "must" visit my site or comment on my latest status change lest they somehow be found guilty of not being an appropriately interested 21st Century Friend?

I am going to spend the next week or so thinking about my online media presence and usage as well as how it has changed in just the 3 years I have been blogging.  If you've your own thoughts on the topic, feel free to chime in!

What My Website Says About Me

There's a website out there that you can type your blog's URL into and get a reading on what the writing style says about your personality type.  It uses the basic types from the Myers-Briggs test and seems like a fun idea.

Mine came back as ETSP - The Doers.  Here's what they say about me:

       

ESTP - The Doers

The active and playful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.

The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.

Well, I've usually tested as ENTP using the Myers-Briggs, so this is a bit of a departure.  I can see where the ESTP is pretty close to the mark in a lot of ways, though.

If you've got a blog of your own, see what Typealyzer says about you.  Or put in some of your favorite places on the web and see what comes up.  Just a guess, but I will assume you're not going to see a lot of introverts with a blog.

The Best Blog Post Ever

Every time a Philly sports team makes the playoffs the sports fans of this town are forced to endure a national cliche fest that paints us all as grade school dropouts who threw snowballs at Santa, booed Jesus in the manger, wear white sheets and pointed hats to games and hate anyone not named Rocky Balboa.

This week's drive by assassination of Philadelphia sports fans comes to us courtesy of Fox Sports' Ian O'Connor.  This pretentious ass gets his though from an anonymous blogger named Gimpy von Hogaknocker who takes apart O'Connor's overwritten bag of BS on a line-by-line basis.

It's not just the best Philly sports blog post every (sorry E and Matt), it's not just the best sports blog post ever.  It's the best fucking blog post ever.  Period.

Nice work Gimpy!

Thanks!

I use Typepad to publish and maintain this website.  It's a pretty good solution that allows a fair degree of customization, mobile posting options and plenty of space for my words and photos.  I switched from Google's Blogger a bit more than a year back and I'm glad for the increased control that Typepad gives me.

It costs $149 a year to host the site.  The 2 ads I have plus the Amazon links cover about half the cost.  So mostly it's a hobby that costs me about as much as a good meal without drinks.

I'm not a web design guru like Heidi, though, so I have basically been stuck with the posting templates that Typepad provides.  That limited how I can use photos within a post and was kind of frustrating.  So when Typepad announced an upgrade to the composing software, I was pretty happy.  I kept waiting for it.  And waiting.  I don't wait well.  Eventually it turned out that the announcement was that they were rolling the upgrade out over the course of the summer, and my turn had not come yet.

I occasionally get a bit snarky when I feel neglected or affronted, so I left a petulant comment on the Typepad site noting that I was paying for this service, blah blah blah. 

A gracious Typepad employee saw the post and magically granted me access to the fabled new composing software, which I used last night to create a post with photos on 2 different side of the page.  (Sounds simple, but I had to start somewhere!)

So I'd like to thank Krissy Teegerstrom, Typepad's Community Manager for the upgrade.  Her personal blog is Artisthenewreligion.  There's a lot of good art, videos and commentary there. Stop by and tell her Another Delco Guy sent you.

Apologies

Since I've had two readers (one quite heart-broken) contact me about yesterday's lack of a Friday Fantasic Four, please let me offer my apologies.

The Fantastic Four will return next week.  Here's a link to all of the prior weeks if you need a fix.

Now I am off to get a bagel sandwich and explore The Old Port for a bit.  As always, Gritty's was a fun spot for a few pints and a bison burger last night.  The 'stoner music' was a bit much to take after a while though!!

Have a great day.

Vote for my brother and The700Level!

Hey there - I need your help!!!

My brother's great sports blog, the700level is in a sports blog tournament.  They are the best philly sports blog on the planet.  Period.

Please help them out by going to :

http://www.bustedcoverage.com//?page_id=1178

and voting for The700level

Thanks for yer support!

Friday Fantastic Four

To celebrate the beginning of the football season, we have a sport-related list today. 

What are your four favorite sports events? 

For example – in 1983 when I hit a home run off Suzy Sample to win the Kidde Kup World Series or the 2003 Daytona 500 or whatever.

1. Taking the kids and GF to Yankee Stadium in 2006.  Yanks lost, but John was enthralled
2. Game 5, 1993 World Series - Schilling beats the Blow Jays 2-0.  Bryen O'Boyle and I sit in the 700 Level and drink lots of beer, later falling asleep in the parking lot.
3. 1997 1998 Pennsylvania Athletic Conference Baskeball Championship - Cabrini beats Allentown Alvernia to cut the nets down in the last game ever at Sacred Heart Hall.
4. 1985 NCAA Division 1 Men's Basketball Championship - Villanova plays the perfect game and downs the vaunted Hoyas 66-64 on April Fool's Day.

Knowing What It's All About

I'm in transit today to my summer vacation spot in Maine.  The kids, the GF and I are packed into the CR-V with everything else we can cram into it.  Since I can't really write much today,  I'll give you a link to a real writer to check out. 

A good friend and co-worker of mine, Bill Mea, put me on to the blog of Patricia Digh.  Her blog (also hosted by Typepad) is entitled 37 days and is subtitled "what would you be doing today if you only had 37 days to live?"

The title derives from the 37 days her step-father lived after his lung cancer diagnosis.  I simply can't imagine what I would do.  I can't even think about how to order my priorities.  I would have no idea where to start. 

Thankfully, i think i have more than 37 days.  At least i think so, but who really knows.  I guess that is Digh's point.  Shouldn't we all be living by the carpe diem model?  Shouldn't we all be living like our lives are in the balance?

Thanks to Patricia for the great photos and writing and to Bill for the referral.