Menagarie: Part Deux

It has been a while since the mood has struck me to ramble. I often find myself coming across a topic that I might "burn" on, and discarding it. In my mind I am always my toughest critic, and I compare my potential new post to the most responded to blogs of the past and it never seems to stack up. I guess I should stop worrying and just write. This is why I do not work for the Times or something...

I also noticed a trend to worry about spelling/grammar/accuracy. Many of my ramblings deal with others inability to find a coherent sentence with two hands and a flash light. Now I fret over every line I type and it takes way too long to put out a simple article. Then, inevitably I post what I think is a polished rant that has been gone over for hours, only to notice a glaring mistake after I click "Publish Post". Oh well, I guess it is what it is, and my opening disclaimer for this blog is that I am not an expert. Never claimed to be. I try to follow the proverb of, "Don't throw stones if you live in a glass house", but it is just too much fun to point out things like, "Are credit card machine is broken and We apologize for that!" So, my grammar is broken, and I apologize for that.

Sometimes I wonder if anyone out there is still reading what I ramble (this is not a shameless attempt to get you to write me, just an observation). Then, I will pass someone randomly in the hall at work or hear someone mention my blog to someone else and it reminds me that people are watching. Facebook is the same way. I often run into a co-worker or friend on campus that I don't see that often who will comment on some aspect of my private life that I know I have not spoken to them about. It will take a second, then it will hit me. They see the pictures online. So, remember, someone is always watching.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=cr-socialnetowrking040709&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

In that vein, I rambled a while back about the use of Facebook as a discovery tool when interviewing a potential employee. Now it seems that this technique has been taken to the next level. Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports reports that NFL teams have taken to setting up fake profiles and befriending unsuspecting draft hopefuls in an effort to get a one of a kind in depth look into the private personal life of the young man they are about to invest millions in. I am a bit surprised at the fake profile tactic, seems a bit underhanded to me, but I don't blame them for wanting to protect their investments. Also, if the player is dumb enough to post a picture of himself with a spread of money and drugs, well then I have no sympathy for him. The moral of this story? Don't put anything on the web you would not bring to a job interview.

Observation: A computer is like a child. I am learning Linux (an operating system such as Windows or Mac) I am amazed at how often I forget that a computer is not capable of inferring intent from your command. I type something that makes sense to me, looking at the object I am referring to right in front of me on the screen. For some reason I am amazed that the computer has no idea what I mean! Then I realize, you have to be very explicit. This reminds me of something a parent would feel when asking a child to do something. How often has a parent given what they thought were reasonable instructions to a child such as load the washing machine? Later the parent enters the laundry room to find a full washer of dry, dirty clothes. If you do not specify to the child that you intend for them to add detergent and start the spin cycle you should be prepared for getting exactly what you asked for. I remember once when my brother and I were younger, my dad told us to go "hop" in the truck and he would be along shortly. When he arrived at his drivers door he noticed the vehicle bouncing wildly. As he stuck his head inside he found us complying to his request, literally hoping up and down in the truck. Priceless...

http://semicoherentramblingsofamadman.blogspot.com/

Menagerie

Since I started this blog I have been focusing on quality over quantity. Sometimes it is hard to stay politically correct and keep from offending someone, and this narrows my choice of topics to "burn on" (to steal a phrase made popular by T.V.'s Jim Rome).

Having said that, here is a list of things I am thinking about right now, in no particular order and in no way related to anything other than random thoughts floating in my head.

Yesterday I was accosted at MIS by GropeZilla. The whole incident was caught on tape by my friend who was trying to capture a posed pic of me in front of the Dale Earnhardt Jr. merchandise trailer. I was just goofing off with a funny pose in front of a huge picture of Dale, when from out of nowhere I feel someone come from behind and mount me! We are fond of such silliness in my family and group of friends so my first thought brought to mind my brother trying to sneak into the pic. As such I began to reach down to grab hold and complete the pose. Providence stepped in just before I grabbed a handful, because I had looked up and noticed that all members of my party were present and accounted for in front of me. Hmmmm.

As I turned around I noticed that a women had made the best of an opportunity to make her friends, and subsequently my whole group, almost die of laughter. Thank god I did not grab hold. As luck would have it, when I handed my camera to my friend I had left it on movie mode, so the whole thing was captured on a 20 sec youtube worthy clip. Thanks must go out to my wife who quite calmly muttered under her breath after seeing the clip, and did not try to track down GropeZilla. Honey, I love you. Thanks also to dad for a great day!

I can not believe the summer is almost over! Where did time go? I guess hours of watching my daughter saturate herself with slobber while trying to master the "motor boat sound" has made time fly by. This past Saturday I had the opportunity to return to a class held at the hospital for prospective dads. This time I was the "veteran" returning in glorious fashion to regale the wide eyed group of newbies with tales of meconium, afterbirth, epidurals and other things that would make most young men queasy.

It was a lot of fun to share my experience and answer questions as a respected member of the dad community. They hung on my every word as I remembered how I felt only a few short months ago when I was in their seat. I assured them that the head would not fall off when they picked baby up (one of my irrational fears as a newbie) and told them they would get through this just fine. Emily screeched and fused the whole time, so I am not sure how effective my message was, but it was fun none the less...

Is it a good thing or a bad thing that social networking software such as Facebook exists? I am on the fence. I am a late adopter (I only started because I had to give a presentation on it at the library, so I would have felt hypocritical to teach it without using it). I like some of the features, for example I just last night discovered a long lost high school friend, but it also has some drawbacks.

Advertising, the double edged sword. Your page is farmed for keywords, your birth date and gender provide key demographic info, your likes and interests page make you all too easy to target. Yet, without these advertisers willing to pay top dollar for this market research that is worth its weight in gold, things like Facebook would not be free and probably would not exist.

Another disturbing trend that I am almost against (read: I will apply it to others but object to it being applied to me) is the use of Facebook as a pre-job interview discovery tactic. Today, a student inquired about an open position I have. So I "Facebooked" him. He is a friend of a former student I had employed and I got the skinny on him. No need to interview him. It is a bold new world we live in!