Eric’s Preposterous

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

This year one of my top thanks goes to Twitter. I am more connected to the world than I was last year, and I owe much of that to Twitter.

If you know me on Twitter (@tweric), you may have seen my desperate tweets about watching a wretched PowerPoint presentation last night. It was good to vent in 140 character bursts. It helped.

But where Twitter really helped was with that connectedness. A few people retweeted my presentation angst and offered kind words. I felt so much better, lighter, calm, and probably becuase of the thankful vibes in the air, I felt humble gratitude for the personal connections--with people I wouldn't know except for Twitter.

Thank you for being there. I am glad you are alive and tweeting.

Eric Matas
Blogger-at-large, Blah Blah Bleric

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Watch the Posterous guys chat with Robert Scoble on Building43:

I love when they talk about 1.7 billion people. My vision and scope is for 347 people.

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When I think about the internet these days, I think about friends and followers. You can't surf the net too much without landing on a site that includes the social element of finding friends or following others.

So, what are the loners supposed to do?

How are the tall dark and mysterious going to stay mysterious? Can you even be that anymore?

Think about the iconic cowboy riding out of town alone, disappearing into the horizon--can he have 1,400 followers on Twitter? And can the handsome, weary, man-of-few-words meet a lady in a dark bar and leave saying, "Friend me on Facebook..maybe I'll see you again."

Even the art school 20-something who works as a barista, with her wild hair and dark eye make-up--if you can follow her feed on friendfeed, wouldn't she lose some of her edge?

On the other side of the coin, I can't imagine not being on Twitter, Facebook, friendfeed and many others. Even Posterous! I follow about 59 blogs here...to be a rugged maverick, I'd have to follow none.

Maybe they'll develop the "silent follow" so the loners of the world (wide web) can follow without ruining their rep.

Eric Matas
Blogger-at-large, Blah Blah Bleric

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Very Interesting Concept. I played lots of Tetris...and I'm doing well...no PTSD from college. :-)

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Different bus today, but the same warped writer. Musing about swine flu and having babies.

The photo shows my oldest, Brooklyn, holding her day old little brother, Max. She was so proud (see her proudest pic on my Facebook: http://facebook.com/ericmatas).

Max arrived at the perfect time: in a small window of time between swine flu and Halloween. Our entire family did the H1N1 thing together with a side of whooping cough. Then we realized Max couldn't be born on his original due date of Halloween--as cool as a Halloween baby would be, we had other kids who needed to trick-or-treat.

So mom worked her magic and Max was born on the 27th, in time for a brief hospital stay before getting on with Halloween.

Now we can get on with our lives, sans swine flu, pregnancy, and kid-
holidays.

Or maybe this is our life? *single Zen bell tolls*

Eric Matas
Blogger-at-large, Blah Blah Bleric
http://www.ericmatas.com

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Get ready, folks. Idiocy has hit a new all time high!

From: http://thereifixedit.com/

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As a quick FYI, it is Londony in Minneapolis today. Cold and wet, yet humid, so sticky, clammy. What I call miserable.

Photo Credit: rrazor on flickr

Some people hate when people talk about the weather. Weather is, perhaps, a default or easy topic. I can understand how people get tired of the topic. Weather is like a main character in Minnesota--if you interact with several different people on any given day, you can end up discussing the weather seven times before lunch. It can be annoying.

But, I am just as annoyed by the people who express disgust for talk about the weather. Maybe because it is rude--condescending--to disparage another's topic of conversation. Or maybe because talking about what annoys them is as dull as mentioning the rain.

Mostly, I think I am annoyed by weather-talk haters because I get it that people talk about weather to connect when they are feeling uncomfortable. I empathize with that. My guess is that people feel uncomfortable and do one of two things. They either try to find common ground and connect. Or they try to to feel better by attacking or dominating.

I don't know for sure, but I know it's cloudy and wet in Minneapolis. Perhaps people are either out to connect or to try and dominate.

What are you out for? To connect or to dominate?

Eric Matas
Blogger-at-large, Blah Blah Bleric
http://www.ericmatas.com

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