Sitting Under The Tree, Part 4

Well, hello: Welcome back under the tree! It's been a long, long time, hasn't it? Take a seat, have a cookie, some milk (if you like) - and enjoy! (Or just do whatever you do while reading blog postings. - Wait a minute. Sounds like "copy'n'paste". Nah, never mind.)

While I've been quite lazy, at least as for writing blog postings, folks at Twitter came up with some interesting new features. Giving that a second thought I should call them just "interesting" as they were not exactly new to the community. But let's take small steps, one after the other.

The features I'm talking about are "retweeting" and "lists". And looking back they are not exactly new to Twitter users, yet they are new in the way they are implemented. We all know that people find their way to work around limitations they are confronted with. What is interesting about it is that they manage to find some common ground and make this workaround work for many or even most of us.

One of those workarounds on Twitter is about what is called "retweeting". The original challenge was to publish a received update again (for what reason ever) in a way that it could be recognized in the timeline as re-published, as re-tweeted. To learn more about retweeting please visit the Twitter Fan Wiki or Mashable - to mention two possible resources.

You may find out that retweeting isn't just a workaround any longer but it has become a special part of the Twitter culture. As with being cited, being retweeted shows that the update must have been of some value for someone - and that someone has read the update! Don't laugh, think about it: imagine the amount of updates per second published on Twitter. And suddenly there is an update that is published once more. Maybe again and again. See? It is about influence too...

But my intention is not to explain the psychological aspects or those of group dynamics. Far from it. My point is that the community using Twitter has been using a way to deal with the challenge of republishing updates for months, for years. And it is still working.

Some weeks ago the folks at Twitter introduced their approach to that challenge. As they have the means and the tools at their hand, their interpretation of how to retweet is slightly different from the workarounds that have been in use for a long time. Using the web interface provided by Twitter, there is a button to be found next to each and every update offering the retweet option.

To learn more about it, please have a look at "Project Retweet: Phase One" by @biz on the Twitter Blog or a posting on that subject found on Mashable - or use the search engine of your choice to find out more about it.

As far as I am concerned, I don't see the point in the "official" retweet option provided by Twitter. Sure, it is nice, handy and, well, it is different. Yet to me, as I'm using Twitter for nine months now, the "traditional" way to retweet is somewhat more honest and maybe even more worth reading it.

Honest? Worth reading? Why? Because - assuming that the original update didn't make use of all the 140 characters - it leaves you some space to add your own comment. You can tell others what made you republish that tweet. You can add a comment on the original statement. You can add - value. In a way. The solution provided by Twitter lacks this options. Sad fact. But sure, they offer an option.

In the end it's up to you and me which way we prefer to retweet. All I can say is that there sure will be stuff worth retweeting. Well, at least I think so when taking a look at the list of people I am following... What brings me to the other new, errr, interesting feature: lists.

Lists. Lists? Indeed. Yet another way to manage the ones you are following? Yes. Again, let's take small steps, one after the other. Good places to start from may be the Twitter Fan Wiki (to get the idea of some traditional, workaround approach), "Soon to Launch: Lists" by @nk on the Twitter blog, or Mashable.

Since I joined Twitter I came across lots of sites offering some kind of help in building groups made up of people using Twitter. There were and there are different reasons why trying to do so. One sure is to help people to get in touch with others that are sharing similar interests - whatever that might be. Even though I only use sites and services like that in a passive way (registering, signing in and leaving again), I can see: it might be useful. Another reason, especially for creating groups offline (within the Twitter client of your choice), is laziness and pretending.

Confused? Why would it be lazy to use groups? Why would I call someone using groups a pretender? Well, it is about numbers. Again. This time it is about the number of people one can follow on Twitter - and still read what they are writing. Think about it: do you read all of the tweets published by the people you are following? (Sure, if you are not using Twitter, never mind.)

Building groups or lists may help those who are following lots of people to keep in touch with and read the updates of those people they are really interested in. And the rest? Well, the rest, they may feel better as the one they are following did follow back. Or something like that. I leave that to your imagination. The point is that in case one is following hundreds or thousands of people one needs to organize and prioritize. In that case groups have been the tool of choice ever since.

Now Twitter offers its own group-building tool. They call it lists. And it is a clever approach: you can have public and private ones! Private lists instantly make sense as they are very much like the group tools other Twitter clients offer. As they offer similar functionality they are ideal for those who like to follow more people but want to read less tweets at the same time. But it is only one possible use.

Others are very similar to those offered by online services: building groups of people (one is following) because of a subject, an interest, of interesting content - and show this collections to others. That way everyone interested can easily find new feeds with possibly interesting updates. From that point of view lists can be some kind of extension to the use of hashtags. In the end it is up to everyone on Twitter interested in the lists feature to find out for themselves what lists can be used for.

As far as I am concerned, especially private lists have the aftertaste of some kind of betrayal. I would feel like a pretender if I would use a private list to read only updates of some of the people I am following. Sure, I played around and have set up some lists. But in the end, to me only reading the classic feed summary feels right. That is why I will stay with my principles: only follow people with (kind of) interesting updates and only as many as can seriously be read.

So, what are the lists about you are going to build? Well, go out there and have fun finding out! (You may find some hints and some help reading another article on Mashable.)

Me? I will lean back and sit here, whisteling my own tunes from time to time - and listen to the birds tweeting. Sitting under the tree.

CU - GU!

The Runner, Part 3

Even though I didn't write about it for a couple of weeks (well, yes, two months already), there has been progress. A small kickback too, because of a bad cold I had cought, but things like that happen, don't they?

Anyway. As predicted I gave third week's plan that extra loop. Same happend with fourth week's program - which looked like that:

1. running: 4x 6:00 minutes, intermediate walking: 1:30 minutes
2. rest
3. running: 3x 8:00 minutes, intermediate walking: 1:30 minutes
4. rest
5. running: 4x 6:00 minutes, intermediate walking: 1:30 minutes
6. rest

This week (number five, just to stay with that) was made up of the following steps:

1. running: 4x 8:00 minutes, intermediate walking: 1:30 minutes
2. rest
3. running: 3x 10:00 minutes, intermediate walking: 1:30 minutes
4. rest
5. running: 4x 8:00 minutes, intermediate walking: 1:30 minutes
6. rest

I changed the original plan at day three. The makers suggested 2x 10:00 minutes of running which appeared to me to be too much of a difference compared to day one and day five. I will have to wait and see if this was a clever decision.

Because of the blood donation on Monday (yes, onother one - I do this on a regular basis) I don't feel up to the mark at the moment. For that reason I will re-do days three through six at least one more time. No need to hurry.

CU - GU!

Why I've become a Mac - but stayed a PC too

First of all I think it's best that I make my point: In my humble opinion there is no such thing as an overall superior computer system! Each and every computer system brings its pros and cons. And as with every tool different computer systems are of different use in different cases. I'm very short on that, but I don't see any point on further discussion here. (Feel free to leave a comment anyway.)

Well, that's almost the answer to the headline question why I've become a Mac but stayed a PC too.

When I look back, I think I considered getting a Mac first time two decades ago. Back then, this was the time of those great machines powered by the 68k processor families by Motorola. These days I had just made the leap from a Commodore VC20 (anybody remember this one?) to the IBM PC compatible Commodore PC10-III. At that point it was just great because it was what I needed to follow computer science classes and go beyond that. A friend of mine and me had some good times developping our own, well, let's call it a GUI. But it was just far, far away from that DR GEM desktop!

Right from the start I really loved the idea of GUI! And I tried so very hard to get one of those Commodore AMIGA or an Atari ST. But even back then I was very short on money. Only thing left for me was a lot of reading. I think that was when I fell in love with the Mac. It was different, it had that very special way to use it - it had options delivered by default others didn't deliver even as add-on. And besides graphics it was all about music. Later on the AMIGA and the ST became popular in those areas too. But they just wern't Macs. And I had to stick to good old PC.

After the failure of DR GEM, MS took its chances with Windows which became, well, let's call it pretty much mainstream. I joined using Windows 3.1/3.11 which came along with my first notebook. Must have been back then when networked computers became popular even for small companies. Never mind. I cared and I got myself involved by means of Novell NetWare and Micosoft Windows NT (moving from 3.x to 4.0).

On the other hand I loved to make music ever since. (And I still do.) Visiting a dear friend at his studio now and then I met again those Atari ST and of course those Macs. And amazing stuff we produced using tools on a Mac. It was easy, a snap - and a good idea became a good song or score. It became obvious that I had to get one of those machines! My notebook was ready to record basic demos but this stuff was just great - on top of the ease of use the Macs provided ever since.

As time went by, just some more years, I became more and more involved with company IT. It became obvious that I had to do something to show some of my skills not just to fellow IT pros but to HR staff to. So I became certified and it isn't hard to imagine which programs were on top of my list. There were lots of challenges and most of the time it was fun figuring out ways for IT environments to become a real company value. And I took lots of work home with me to plan and test solutions I had on my mind.

About three years ago I started to question a lot of things. I mean it. Amongst those habits was that modern man's model railroad too: Why still play around with workrelated stuff at home, rendering private equipment unusable from time to time? Why not just have some machine that just works? I had become tired of fixing my personal equipment, pushing it to some limits, bringing on changes - just like a model railroad.

Searching the Apple homepage for a reseller close to me, I fond one quite close to me. I drove by and asked for a test drive. - Playing around with that MacBook it struck me like lightning! It didn't even take an hour to be sure that this was the remedy! So when I brought back this little white thing I placed the order. A week later I received my first Mac...

Today I'm writing these lines using my third Mac (a MacBook Pro, to be more precise). And I'm still in love with the technique and still find it amazing that it, well, just works. I'm still with IT business and I'm still bringing on solutions to keep the company's IT up and running and stepping forward. But it's a reliefe to return home and find a machine that just works. That's it and I love it! It's the simple things in life that make you feel good. Me too.

And that is why I've become a Mac but stayed a PC too.

So, what's your story? Feel free to let me know - I'm curious!

CU - GU!

Welcome To The Shark Pool, Part 1

Welcome and thank you for joining me!

First of all I have to make a confession: Yes, I'm a geek and I've been working within IT business as a pro for more than a decade now. (Sounds like introducing myself to the Net-addicts Anonymous: 'Hi, my name is Gunter and I'm a net-addicted geek.') Anyway, that's the way it is. Over all I've been involved with IT related stuff for about 25 years now. Let's say I've seen some things out here. And overall I have to say that I like it.

Still. But who knows. As Bob Dylan already stated: 'The Times They Are A-Changin''.

Looking back on the years as an IT pro I sure subscribe to that line. And I have to say that I don't like what I see today. No, not everything's been better these days, of course not. But am I the only one who's struck by shiverings while looking at the working enviroment of the current times? (Though I hope that I'm not - who knows?)

I think that there have been only few changes to job postings all over the years. If there's a vacancy to fill in IT, employers ever since have been looking for a kind of swiss army knife, some kind of jack of all trades - someone bringing quite a number of skills (including the ability to walk on water, even in summer time) drawing just a single salary. One of the skills that have always been on those wish lists is the capacity for teamwork. Am I mistaken?

No, of course I'm not! You sure agree with me that the ability to work in a team ever since has been not only a "plus" but a "must have" - for some good reasons. Looking back I'm pretty convinced that the start-up I joined in my early years in IT only did succeed because (almost) everybody was able to work in teams. It's never been just a job to do. It's been hard work, but it was fun solving the problems we were facing. We had our focus on solutions within the IT department itself as well as in in co-operation with all the other departments. That's been our passion, that was what we were real pros in. We didn't really care who might take the credit for something! We were so passionate about making things work for our colleagues and for the company, it has been pure pleasure. We just did it. That was then.

Strange things happened later on. Like dark clouds gathering in the sky, the culture of teamwork changed to its worse. It appears to me that it's no longer about solutions and what's best for the customers. You may call me thin-skinned and maybe you're right (kind of, at least) - but it feels quite cold outside in day-by-day IT business. I may have been in, well, let's call them "suboptimal" places for the last years. That may be. But talking to my former colleagues I can't fight the feeling that this isn't about individual luck but more about decreasing manners, demoralizing thousands of highly qualified and skilled people. (That's not to say that I have that manny former colleagues. Those can almost be counted on the fingers of both hands.)

Today it is more and more about individaul credit. Sure, still teams are formed because forces need to be merged and concentrated to get and deliver best results (whatever that means in the long run). But more and more the habits within teams and in between team members have changed. We started to stalk each other, waiting for moments of weakness to step to the center of the stage. We try to elbow or way through to be the one who's stepping into the light by the end of a project, to be the one who raises the cheer. Even though that is not the reality behind the scenes, success is considered to be the result of a single man's efforts. On the other hand, if it's a failure it's the team who failed. Quite simple - but fair?

Who cares about "fair"? Who cares about "working atmosphere"? Who cares about "quality" or "sustainability" of the implementation? It's about "hit and run"!

Welcome to the shark pool!

Depressed now? Believe me, I'm really sorry to hear that! But what am I supposed to do about it? Even though I tend to say that the glass is half full I can't play down the facts or at least what I'm facing nowadays. - And if I manage to make a series of postings out of it be assured: It will not be dedicated to complaining or whinig! If I can work it out you will find some neat small stories. Some of them may make you knowingly grin or nod, some of them may make you shake your head in incomprehension. After all even nowadays work can be entertaining, no? Well then, let's see what the future holds! Until then...

Welcome to the shark pool!

CU - GU!

Sitting Under The Tree, Part 3

Welcome back again, sitting under the tree. Pleased to meet you (again), great to have you around! Especially nowadays when it appears to be hunting season on Twitter!

What? Wait a minute: hunting season? Good question - no, I didn't lose my mind! (Not yet, even though some may have noticed that I'm working on it.) Yes, hunting season!

Just a few days ago we could follow (did we?) the race between Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) and CNN (@cnnbrk). Race? For what? A race for follower no. 1.000.000. I won't get into details here. I'd like to focus on that figure: 1.000.000. Maybe you can already imagine my face when @m140z suggested (were they serious?) a similar kind of celeb race for followers in Germany. Reading my own lines, this still makes me shake my head. Anyway.

Just a week or something before that happened, @AppleInvestor (aka @Twitlinker aka @JavaChief) brought my attention to a similar playground. There are a lot of people out there trying to sell nothing less than the ultimate way to gain thousands of followers. 10.000, 15.000, 25.000 - chosse a number, it's up to you! Just hand'em the cash and they will take care. Well, they may - or may not. To be honest, that doesn't take us anywhere here. Again it's in those numbers.

Wow. I can remember the day I started tweeting I was completely blown away as I saw that the counter for followers had changed from 0 to 1, went up to 2 some hours later. Imagine: There's someone out there who's kind of interested in what you've got to say! And it's even more flattering that the number of followers did rise even higher. It's amazing to me!

But why would I feel the need push it? That's the question that's going round in my mind! To me it is one thing if you stay in one place long enough and just find an audience (or real friends, that's left to your proper definition). That may be by chance, that may be because of recommendation (as you may find in tradition of #followfriday or something similar). At least that's my kind of naive approach. Well, I like it - and a couple of people out there appear to like it that way too.

@AppleInvestor brought the idea to me (not personally but by his tweets) that you can use techniques to improve the number of followers. I'm not quite sure if he's serious about it. But assuming he's taking his own medicine it sure works out for him and it's an impressing number of followers he gained, that's for sure. But while reading his re-appearing tweets on that topics a single question came to my mind: Why would I do that?

Sure, his ideas are still kind of a classic approach on it. And he's completely right when he asks again and again: Why would I believe in someone who's trying to sell me followers for money? Why would I believe it's a one-way road that ups my follower counter by a single kick-start? And why would I believe those people won't get back on me, asking for more, offering more?

There is one point in all that, that's for sure, and I think that's why those "salesmen" get a grip on quite a number of people: Many people are around on social networks to make a show of how popular they are, how well-known they are - and they just do believe in that! They don't care about a single follower. They don't care about what they're tweeting and how they interact with their so-called network. They need the biggest house with the biggest pool and the latest Ferrari (continue if you like). That's all.

My conclusion is that - as with most things, especially on the social networks - you're much better off when you just don't judge the book by ist cover. Talking about me, I just started to develop my network on Twitter. But I already found some very, very interesting people out there. Some tweets are just entertaining, some tweets deliver interesting news or great advices. And one starts to get involved: One sends a reply here, gets a direct message there and vice versa. One gets into contact, one gets part of it.

Talking about me, that's my understanding of a social media network. And that is what I learned to like within and about Twitter. There are just great people out there like @JustTooBusy, @markshaw, @ScottGiorgini, @NinaRoosen, @nencetti - just to mention a few of those I am pround of to be in touch with. (All of you, my dear followers, that I didn't mention: I beg your pardon! Space and time are quite limited, you know...) To me it's the old story about "give and take" - I will not get into details on that here. It's just my point I want to make here: It's the respect and the exchange between people that counts - not the numbers (neither of followers nor of tweets)!

In my humble opinion there's no need to be jealous of someone's follower network growing faster than the own one. It's just not about the numbers, it's about the people and the network! There sure is a reason, but who cares. Just share that co-tweeter's happiness about his touch, that he just found his domain and that so many people seem to like it.

On the other hand - and I'm serious about that - I think one can be pround and even more feel honored if there is just one single person out there who follows one's tweets: There must be just something about it! So that is great - and suddenly there are two people who care! (Maybe just the beginning.)

That said, I want to invite everybody who managed to read through this that far to leave a comment, just to let me (and others) know what your opinion is on that! And feel free to contact me via Twitter: It is all about communication and connection!

Now I will lean back again, calm down, and start listening again to the birds singing their songs right here, right now - with me sitting under the tree.

CU - GU!

("Hello friend, welcome home!")

For Absent Friends

Don't know how it happend. But somehow I did it. No, I didn't: I didn't post a single word for more than a month now! Shame one me! - Hm. And even now I just got carried away, distracted now and again. Oh, well, why not: Even fun is no fun any more when taken too serious. Seriously!

To be honest I had some slight health issues that made me drift around more than take step after step right ahead. It's annoying, but your lacking any spiritedness and any drive so you just let it go. I apologize but that's exactly what I did - still it's nothing I am pround of.

Anyway, here we go again! I'm already working on updates on "The Runner" (not much here, as I told you aleady) and "Sitting Under The Tree" (well, here we've got some things that just hit me). In addition I'm currently collecting stuff for something that may work out as a series too. What do you think of a headline like "Welcome To The Shark Pool!"? (Doesn't that sound like the most lovely place you could think of to be in?)

Well, that said I have to pick up some loose ends, haven't I?

CU - GU!

For those who didn't notice: the headline is borrowed from Genesis' "Nursery Cryme", track #2.
Did I mention that I like those old records?

The Runner, Part 2

Oh, yes, I'm still on it. Today I started the third week's program:

1. running: 6x 4:00 minutes, intermediate walking: 1:30 minutes
2. rest
3. running: 4x 6:00 minutes, intermediate walking: 1:30 minutes
4. rest
5. running: 6x 4:00 minutes, intermediate walking: 1:30 minutes
6. rest
   

Maybe I have to insert an extra loop. That depends on how much I loose shape after the blood donation on Monday. Anyway, I will keep with it 'cos it still feels that good - and I'm closing in on the 7km limit!

CU - GU!

Sitting Under The Tree, Part 2

Well, hello: Welcome under the tree again! Take a seat, take a cookie, some milk (if you like) - and enjoy! (Or just do whatever you do while reading blog postings.)

I've been around here for a couple of days now. Thereby "here" means as much as with Twitter. And it's quite a place, sure it is. Sometimes it's just amusing, sometimes it makes me think.

One point I came across is the follower-following-ratio that can be found amongst the accounts. It's amazing, just figure it out: people following hundreds of feeds! - What brings me to the question that suddenly stroke me: is it possible to really, seriously follow that many tweets a day?

I made up my mind a little bit on that. Aware of the saying what assuming can make of you and me I'll do it anyway: Let's assume that the good old 80/20 rule works for this one too. Which one? Oh, yes. Thinking about 100 feeds to be followed, 20 of them might create 80 percent of the tweets. If those people are less active that may lead to about 20 tweets per hour. That's all right. But what happens in case these people have quite a mind and things to say? That can lead to about 40 to 60 tweets an hour - one tweet every minute!

Now, let's step back and take a look. One tweet every minute, at least every two minutes. What about all the people out there complaining 'bout more-than-full e-mail inboxes? Am I the only one to find that a little bit strange?

Let's change point of view a little bit: Who's to read it? Again back to e-mail for comparison. There are junk filters, spam filters, inbox rules and a lot more stuff to do filtering on what's coming in. (Well, that's why it's called inbox. Never mind.) But that's done because you sometimes just don't have a choice on what you get and who might send a message to you. And after all, honestly, a lot of messages remain in the inbox (or a subfolder) kind of unread. (No, don't lie to me...)

Back to the lovely tweets. In most cases you have a choice. You choose which feeds you'd like to follow. That may be because it's entertaining, useful or anything else. But again I'll do an assumption: you only follow tweets because you read them (most of the time). - Remember the figures from above? One tweet every minute? Can that be done? Honestly?

I don't want to give answers here. It is a very personal thing. Some people just can't get enough whereas others are overstrained quite easily. Everyone has to judge this for himself. (Please pardon my political incorrectness.) It just came to my mind...

I know of a small experiment performed by @jadito. He just asked for a reply using the words "read" in the message. He wanted to find out how many of the following/followers really read and tend to the messages they receive. I may be mistaken by the proper goals of the experiment but as far as I learned the result was quite disillusioning - even though it was expectable.

Another good point is that some people just have a life. (Yes, they have!) @nencetti asked: "If I am too busy to use Social Media sites, does hat make me Anti-Social Media?" Quite a question, isn't it? Many people "like social media", but "never have the time. Day job, marriage, life, etc." Good points I think.

So, how many feeds with tweets you can follow seriously? Yes, it depends, that's right. Everyone of us is different. That's how it's meant to be. That's why everybody can feel free to ask the question and answer it for himself. (Don't get me 'bout the political incorrectness!) As far as I am concerned, I am about to follow 50 feeds - and I am about to draw the line there. Just have to see how much noise, er, tweets there will be during the next couple of days.

Until then I will sit here, whisteling my own tunes from time to time - and listen to the birds tweeting. Sitting under the tree.

CU - GU!

The Runner, Part 1

To be honest, I am not an ace at all - never been. But I like sports, I really do. Basketball is my favorite team game. I just love it. (Note to myself: Look for a local old men's team.)

But it's no fun at all as long as you're in a bad shape. That's the reason why I am running for training. As a part-time runner I have to start over every year after winter's break. Today the second week has just begun.

Here's how I started over last week:

1. running: 6x 2:00 minutes, intermediate walking: 1:30 minutes
2. rest
3. running: 4x 3:00 minutes, intermediate walking: 1:30 minutes
4. rest
5. running: 6x 2:00 minutes, intermediate walking: 1:30 minutes
6. rest

And here's second week's program:

1. running: 6x 3:00 minutes, intermediate walking: 1:30 minutes
2. rest
3. running: 4x 5:00 minutes, intermediate walking: 2:00 minutes
4. rest
5. running: 6x 3:00 minutes, intermediate walking: 1:30 minutes
6. rest

As I said, second week has just begun. It's not exhausting; key point is discipline and constancy - well, I think that's why it's called training. And it feels good after all.

CU - GU!

The Art Of Noise

Even though it's months now that I moved to my new flat I haven't neither been able nor motivated to unpack and set up all I brought here. All in all happening step by step - very small steps. Anyway, looks that it's time to start doing it.

While waiting for my just ordered 17"MBP it's time to prepare for one of it's major uses: Home recording and producing demos.

Haven't done any of this stuff for quite a time. The last recordings I did seriously date back about 10 years. Jeez! I just made up my mind about the equipment I used:

• Escom Paradigma 486 notebook
• MS Win 3.11 (instead of DR GEM)
• Steinberg Cubasis
• Steinberg PCmidi (parallel)
• Yamaha QY20
• Yamaha MDF-1
• Yamaha PSS-480
• BOSS BX-4 mixer
• AIWA tape deck

The results were quite impressive - for demo recordings. And I've had some real fun doing that stuff. And, you know, words can only say so much - it's hard to express...

Time went by. A lot of things happened that brought even more changes to my life. A lot of them sure worth telling another time.

For a couple of years I'm a proud owner/user of a MacBook. Again and again it's quite impressing what is possible using this thing. Even the bundled stuff can help you produce quite a few things. Arranged some sweet backing tracks for remixing with the free loops already for example.

Now I'm about to set up my small home recording corner again:

• 17" MacBook Pro (can't wait for delivery)
• GarageBand (may switch to Logic express later)
• M-Audio MIDISPORT 2x2 (Anniversery Edition)
• Yamaha QY20 (still have this "notebook")
• Yamaha PSS-480 (yes, still there)
• BOSS BX-4 mixer (for other audio sources)

And maybe, yes, maybe I'll even get a guitar (electric one, nice sound, more options).

I think that will be a lot of fun. And maybe I will post the one or the other demo track here (or link it, more likely). That way all can enjoy (like it - or not) the art of noise.

CU - GU!

Sitting Under The Tree, Part 1

All right, here we go. But what is in a name - or a headline? Well, let me try to explain.

I'm not quite new to that world of networked computers, not really. Curiosity and exaltation for the new things to discover using well-known tools have driven me to use Twitter and start this blog. Kind of late compared to others, but anyway.

Now, here I am, sitting under the tree. Which tree you might ask. Sorry, let me explain. Those of you who know be sure know which company I'm addicted to. That company's logo not always has been a fruit only. Anyone remember the first one? (Search Wikipedia or Google, sure will find, what I'm writing about.) So, I may write on my experience on these products from time to time.

But now for the other tree, let me call it Twitter tree. Yes, after all I joined this community with a smile on my face. The stories about the beginning of Twitter in mind I wasn't sure at all if I would stay for long. No need to repeat the questions that were running through my mind - many others have left their notes on it on The Net.

Let me tell you, I'm no longer looking for a sense in Twitter. I still have a smile on my face when it comes to Twitter. It might lack sense frome time to time, but it can be just fun. Nothing more, nothing less. So I'm sitting under the tree with all it's birds and listen to them, tweeting.

From time to time it can be quite noisy. Following some of the people, you might find you in front of a wave of messages exchanged between them. That's what I call noisy - just like startled birds. Nayway, that's part of Twitter, like it or not.
But there are times of silence, too. Noone you follow has a thing to write about, you yourself have neither. Looking at the Public Timeline, things are going slow there, too. As annoying as the noise might be, the silence is strange to me frrom time to time.

Sitting under the tree you have to live with the droppings. Spam is everywhere, and the wave of spam sure still has to strike Twitter. Until then you just have to learn to recognize this stuff. And followers aren't all that counts.
On the other hand some birds in the tree are almost unhearable, but their tweets are that sweet you don't want to miss a single one. I call myself lucky to come across some of those tweets now and then. It's kind of an inspiration from time to time. Others just are, well, nice.
Last but not least some birds are around that take the word too serious: "Eat like a bird, poop like an elephant." I'm pretty sure that these words by Guy Kawasaki are terribly mistake from time to time. (Note to myself: Think about it!)

Well, but after all I like to sit here, whisteling my own tunes from time to time - and listen to the birds tweeting. Sitting under the tree.

CU - GU!

Solving the problems...

... I didn't have before starting this page. No fun.

I liked the easy start but the rusult is, well, mainstream. Not that I wouldn't like parts of mainstream. And the page looks all right for a point to start from. But it needs work.

Well, yes.

Maybe I should focus now on work I have to do in real life. Here we go...

Different?

Well, yes: Hello!

Welcome to this place that might turn into a blog.

I'm still a little bit uncertain how to start...

Anyway, let's go and find it out.

CU - GU!