Blogger blogging near Seattle
Lessons learned about life; pearls of wisdom I’ve gleaned through pain, failure and honest reflection
Some one (God bless them) left a bag of Key Lime M&Ms in my office kitchen.
Well, for some reason, my brain went immediately to this meme:
My brain can be a strange place…
Update: I see the watermark on the image and dug for seconds on the Google. This Twitter account looks to be the originator of the mem: @jojofrmojerz.
This morning I read “Elon Musk Backs Off Legacy Checkmark Purge“. As a long time Twitter user, and someone who held Musk in high regard, I’ve been following the acquisition by Musk with a personal interest. This particular situation has been…fascinating.
Ultimately, Musk fails to understand the value of verification. Yes, it provides some value to the user, but far more value comes to Twitter. Knowing that this person posting REALLY is Steven King, Will Shatner, etc, brings value to Twitter since we KNOW who we’re interacting with. By building that direct connection between fans and creators, Twitter gains.
In his rush to monetize everything (anything?) on the platform, he has lost focus on what makes Twitter interesting and valuable. Which is sad. Over the years, I’ve met amazing and wonderful people. People who’s friendship I value as deeply as anyone I’ve met In Real Life. I’ve learned a huge amount from them.
Fortunately, it’s not been too hard to tune out Musk’s antics. But the increase in hate speech and right wing rage making its way into my feed has deeply detracted from my experience. I still post, but much less often. And I spend far less time on it (which certainly is a net positive).
Will Twitter survive Musk? Possibly. Will it return to what it was before? No. But the platform has evolved considerably since its launch and will continue to. What it looks like next year is extremely hard to predict. We’ll see, I guess.
One of my favorite bloggers, Pooja over at Life’s Fine Wine had a great post today: A VERY HAPPY APRIL TO EVERYONE. One thing she mentioned was getting a vegan cake for her birthday. Years ago, one of my team members that I was the admin for, mentioned the he never eat any of the cakes I’d got for the team celebrations. His commitment to his vegan principles were challenged. So, for his next birthday, I made it a point to track down a vegan cake. Seattle had some vegan options, but they were pretty….inferior. I was not going to settle! I finally found a GREAT vegan bakery, with carrot cake that even non-vegans loved. My friend was delight. And he appreciated that we valued him enough to do this. I was quite proud of it.
Fandango posted today about Johnbo’s Cellpic Sunday, a regular feature on his blog.
This one is from a few nights ago. And, yes, this was taken with my Samsung S22. I was really delighted with it.
A friend of mine posted this cartoon in my office’s breakroom. Seems rather apropos, no?
If you’re not familiar with Pearls Before Swine, check them out.
Anyway, I hope you have a lovely weekend!
As a tea fan (yeah, I love coffee, too), I’m glad to have discovered “It’s More Than Tea” some time ago. Today Jill posted about one of those low-intensity holidays: Tea For Two Tuesday. I appreciate her wry take on all these marketing-driven holidays, but then how she dives into the benefits of taking moments to appreciate the “small” things. There are lots of benefits from taking a moment and having a cup of tea with someone. So, take a moment and give the post a read.
Fellow blogger, Fandango, posted this response to another blogger, John Steiner’s “Cell Pic Sunday” prompt. I love prompts, so thought I’d dive in.
I took this photo a few days ago along the Edmonds waterfront (about 20 miles north of Seattle). I’m walking away from this squall (rather quickly, I might add) in an attempt to avoid getting drenched. Which was successful, though it was shifting from sprinkles to a steady rain when I got back to my car.
I’ve spent the majority of my life in this area. I walked this exact stretch of beach with my grandparents ages ago. I know the winds, the weather, yet sometimes get caught off guard. I was able to read the change before I got hit, while still meeting my step goal. I’ll take that as a win.
This morning this tweet dropped into my feed:
I grew up with Mr. Diamond’s music. My mother had many of his albums. I was saddened when he retired. So this video filled me with joy. It’s a bit sad, too, as I can see some of the impacts of Parkinsons. But, man, such grace and courage.
Oh, and here’s a link to the video on YouTube for those not engaged with Twitter, or in case the Twitter dumpster fire finally takes that site down.
A blogger I like an admire, Bernie Michalik, wrote this charming piece about New York City: “The best time to visit New York is in December. And other things NYC”.
I have a limited history with New York. Born in Rhode Island, I went to the City many times, apparently. But I haven’t been in New England since I was three. So, though my father insists otherwise, I don’t consider myself having experienced it. But I’ve long felt a connection, or at least an interest with the City. If not for family stories, then also from the many films centered there. There’s a charm, as well as an intensity of reputation, that I find compelling.
Eventually, I’d like to travel (back?) to New York. And, hopefully, I can visit in December.
I think the greatest challenge for people with any greater than zero amount of ambition is choosing what not to learn. For me, there are so many things I want to learn. About three lifetimes worth. Finding focus is hard. Focus means saying no to other, often great, opportunities. My goodness, that’s hard.