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Changing my Twitter name

Stuart — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 21:41:04 +0000

I changed my Twitter name. I decided I no longer want my name plastered on every Twitter update.

I’m not a conspiracy theorist or concerned about privacy. I use Twitter to tell silly jokes in an attempt to get stars on FAVRD and stay in touch with a small group of personal friends. My name is not relevant for that type of use. I’m not building a brand around me, I’m mostly telling jokes. Poorly at times.

Twitter is a distraction. Once described in a conversation as a “useful waste of time”. I think the “useful” part of the description is debatable.

It’s time to create a bit of separation between blog, Twitter and Facebook. I’m not posting the new Twitter name here, although I think the average person could figure it out!

Orlando, Chicago, Chicago

Stuart — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 04:31:38 +0000

You may have heard the saying (or some variation): “It takes five times to form a habit but only three times to break it.” The meaning is that for any activity to become a habit requires five repetitions but that the habit can be broken with just three missed occurrences.

Take this blog for instance! I’ve been off my regular routine due to travel to Orlando and two trips to Chicago inside of four weeks. The weekends away seeing old friends and relaxing have been great.

Tomorrow I leave again for four days in Chicago. I will be staying downtown at the Palmer House. I look forward to seeing all the changes that have happened downtown and in my old neighborhood. It has been far too long since I’ve visited some of my favorite childhood places.

The reason for the trip is to celebrate a good friend’s recent marriage at a restaurant. Yes, I’m flying to Chicago to have dinner, I am that much of a baller (not really, he’s a good friend and I told him months ago I would attend).

So after my third trip in the past four weeks I’ll be back to forming my habits (regular blog posts) all over! See you on the other side.

Domain names and privacy

admin — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:19:53 +0000

The first challenge of starting a blog is picking a domain name. This is much more difficult than it sounds. Almost every conceivable word combination is registered. Mind you, most domain names are not being used, but the fact someone registered the name means it’s not available. So…brainmower.com it is!

On Privacy: with the proliferation of Web2.0 social applications there are dozens of ways to keep in touch with people. Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Brightkite and more. Friendfeed now offers 41 services you can publish to and aggregate on a single site. As I shared the idea of a blog with friends one commented that he was not comfortable with the intrusion on his privacy that results from publishing information to various sites. This made me consider how to integrate a blog with my personal life. Where does the blog intersect with my life? What is off-limits? What is safe to share? Twitter has made me very aware of my internal filter. This blog is sure to be a learning experience as well.

Another friend said something about blogging that hit home. With the Internet, there is “no being anonymous”. I agree, the Internet is a social medium, not a series of static webpages.

The caveat: I am a single male with no kids. This greatly lessens my hesitation in “going public” with my thoughts. However, if I had kids I would rethink the idea of posting my thoughts in a public forum as it could have an impact on those around me.

Anonymity? Who needs it! Not me!