Category Archives: uncategorized

As the first day of April has largely come to be the day where nothing but jokes, fake press releases, preposterous rumors (or, at least, more preposterous than they are normally), expensively produced videos for products that will never exist by companies that kill real products to “focus”, and the infinite re-sharing-blogging-tweeting-plussing of such, I think it is high time that those who reject such foolishness and need to get real work done take this day back.

I say we make this first of April, and every first of April to come, the day where we take a digital sabbatical (at the very least, an online one). We use this day to take a break. Perhaps get an honest day’s work in. Maybe brush off that old notebook and sharpen that pencil and write out the things you’re going to get done tomorrow. If you are at work, perhaps this is a good day to clean your office. If at home, take the kids out to a museum. Perhaps this is the day to put on your favorite road songs, get in the car, pick a direction, and drive for a few hours and see where you end up. Because that place, no matter where it is, will be better than just about anything else you will see online today. I think you get the idea.

Because, well, it is already pretty difficult to sift the meaning from the noise from the constant connection. It is even more so when you have to question almost everything you see on it for a day. Life is short. There are better things to do. Ignore it today. It’ll still be here (and, hopefully, back to normal) tomorrow.

I’ll see you then.

I’m a writer. Writing is how I make this world better, friendlier, stronger place. If these words improved your day, please let me know by contributing here.

Many of you know that my usage of Twitter has declined dramatically. In fact, up until a couple of months ago I was on an extended sabbatical from it. There were a iety of reasons for this, as there also were for my return. That said, if you’ve followed me on Twitter you may have noticed that my posting on it is sparse and tends to be mostly for promotional purposes.

Another big reason for that is that I have largely switched to App.net for my more sociable pursuits. I appreciate the fact that it is a paid service supported directly by it’s users. I find the community that I’m building there to be smart and strong. I also appreciate the larger character limit as it allows for more complex expression. There is where I post ideas, quotes, interesting links, and the other things those that used to follow me on Twitter used to see from me there.

I really like it. I think you will like it too. I have 50 invites to give away on a first come, first serve, basis. All you need to do is click here and, if you are among the first 50, you will be in and automatically following me.

See you there.

I’m pretty tired and it has been a long day. Therefore, just a quick post of a few things that I’ve mentioned before but still am finding delightful.

• Path— Still using Path to log many of my daily travels and life moments and share them with a small group of my close friends. It is the one place I feel safe posting almost anything.

• 1Password — Specifically, the built in web browser in the iPad version of the app has been really helpful in a iety of ways. If I know I’m going to visit a website on the iPad mini and it will require I enter a password, credit card, or fill out some personal details, I don’t launch Mobile Safari. I go straight to 1Password.

• Poster for iOS — I would not have been able to keep up this daily posting routine without it. Still a wonderful app for blog posting from an iOS device.

• Day One — Been using this a lot more lately for capturing ideas as I’ve begun work on my next book. Especially love the quick capture menu bar widget in the desktop version. Been really handy. I also use Slogger to capture all my blog posts, social network updates, Pinboard links and Instapaper favorites. So, it is basically keeping an Internet travel log of sorts for me too. Really like this app.

• Drafts — It’s like a Swiss Army knife for text. I’m a writer. Of course I love the hell out of it. And, like a Swiss Army knife, it is not my primary weapon. But it is the one I always I turn to in a pinch and it never fails to rise to the task with yet another obscure, yet useful, thing it can do.