Clean Up #FF: Number 3 - Don't Forget the Day!

(see below for explanation)

Time got away from you and Saturday rolls around. As you check your mentions from the previous day, you notice a long list of #FF that came in during West Coast time. What to do? You think about RTs and Replies. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Resist. Don't do it! It isn't Friday. Stop.

Clean it Up! It is just confusing to see #FF tweets on Saturday and (heaven forbid but it is true) on Wednesday!  If you need to reply or mention those who mentioned you (not a bad thing as long as you follow #2 above), file it away until the next Friday. Perhaps go ahead and pre-schedule your #FF tweets for the future. Resist the urge to #FF tweet like there's no more Fridays.

So move along now my Clean Up #FF crew. The clock is ticking. Today is FRIDAY!  #FF

Thus ends the Clean Up #FF List of 3.

Note: Lately #FF has become a post fest... It's insanity tweeple. Can that many people really know and like that many tweeple? All at once? It just feels wrong, phony and bad. Bad tweeple. Bad.

What to do? Options abound.  So we shall have a list. We shall. Let's call it the Clean Up #FF List! It will be a list of 3 (I love talking in rhymes). I'll be posting a daily list of 3 #FF Clean up ideas. Please join me in my quest to clean up #FF!

Clean Up #FF: Number 1 - Don't be a #FF Pimp

Are you tweet pimping? How many people do you suggest for #FF? If the answer is in three digits, you're a PIMP! Yes, I'm name calling you. P-I-M-P! PIMP! And I don't mean that in any warm and affectionate hip-hop kind of way. Na sir.

Clean it up! Take a few moments and choose from among your follow list the newest, brightest or dearest. Then mention them one or two at a time. Then - here's the hard part - stop! Return to your regularly scheduled tweeting. That's right. toss off that fur coat and top hat and pimp no more.

NOTE: Lately #FF has become a post fest... It's insanity tweeple. Can that many people really know and like that many tweeple? All at once? It just feels wrong, phony and bad. Bad tweeple. Bad.

What to do? Options abound.  So we shall have a list. We shall. Let's call it the Clean Up #FF List! It will be a list of 3 (I love talking in rhymes). I'll be posting a daily list of 3 #FF Clean up ideas. Please join me in my quest to clean up #FF!

Clean Up #FF: Number 2 - Don't waste the Tweet

(see bottom of post for explanation)

Now you are selecting your #FF few and preparing to tweet. If you just in mention them by name and some generic line like - let's see - "Here's @WilliamsKim and you should #FF him" - although it rhymes beautifully (and come to think of it that might make it tweet worthy) it doesn't REALLY tell me why I should. You have all that extra space. We do get a whopping 140 characters to tweet, so don't waste the tweet.

Clean it up! This recommendation was actually given to me by @DHatfiled.  Tell me why I should follow someone. Give me a adjective or verb (you remember those. right?) to describe the tweetworthiness (ok. I made that one up) of your #FF mention. Go ahead. Be kind. You can do it.

Note: Lately #FF has become a post fest... It's insanity tweeple. Can that many people really know and like that many tweeple? All at once? It just feels wrong, phony and bad. Bad tweeple. Bad.

What to do? Options abound.  So we shall have a list. We shall. Let's call it the Clean Up #FF List! It will be a list of 3 (I love talking in rhymes). I'll be posting a daily list of 3 #FF Clean up ideas. Please join me in my quest to clean up #FF!

Can We Clean Up Follow Friday? Please.

If you are using Twitter then you know about Follow Friday (#FF). It is a bit of a tradition and one of the oldest practiced in the Twitterverse (Twitter talk for the stuff on Twitter).  Lately I've been less than a fan of the day. It boils down to my opinion about the manner in which some tweeps (that's Twitter talk for people who use Twitter) are practicing the tradition.

The idea originated from @Micah (according to Mashable) as a way of suggesting a couple of people to follow and soon spread rapidly. The intent is great. You suggest people you like to follow to me (and your other followers ) and we all do the same. The process is simple. You just include the hashtag #FF* (Twitter talk for using the # sign in front of a word of letters to tie it to a specific theme)  in your tweet and mention the people you would like others to check out. The timing is concise. You do this on Friday and on Friday only. Before and after #FF we are about our regularly scheduled tweeting. So, what's not to like?

Lately #FF has become a post fest. Many people are listing the maximum number of people in a single tweet with only the #FF hashtag. They do this not once or twice but incessantly as if going through their entire following. Several times I have visited an individual's tweet stream (more Twitter talk but I'm not explaining. Use your imagination) and seen nothing but a long list of hundreds of #FF posts packed with peoples user names and the hashtag. Then there are those who get crazy with the Retweets (RT is more Twitter talk. Buy Twitter for dummies if you are still lost) of their #FF mentions. Someone #FF with my user name and I RT it. Then someone else RTs it and I RT it again. Last Friday I saw so many #FF packed posts, I felt - well - dirty - as in "solicitation" dirty. ugh. 

It's insanity tweeple. Can that many people really know and like that many tweeple? All at once? It just feels wrong, phony and bad. Bad tweeple. Bad.

What to do? Options abound.  So we shall have a list. We shall. Let's call it the Clean Up #FF List! It will be a list of 3 (I love talking in rhymes). I'll be posting a daily list of 3 #FF Clean up ideas. Please join me in my quest to clean up #FF!

Tomorrow #1 - Don't be a #FF Pimp!

*Note: the original hashtag for Follow Friday was #FollowFriday, but it got shortened to #FF so the #FF pimps to get in more mentions (yes. I'm ranting).

On Hiking the Grand Canyon

I spent a few days hiking at the Grand Canyon a few years back. I penned these words from the experience.

These Walls

These walls, these cascading rocks of harden earth, earthen toned history revealing centuries of the never ending dance between water and stone, hold me in awe. Is not this chasm grand in span and even grander yet in spirit, for it calls not only for all that the body can give it while every muscle screams for relief and each sinew claims finality. This brilliant abyss wants for the release of more, the conquest of ones very being, the devouring of all spirit. Give to it this, this measure of your existence, all body and spirit and therein, perhaps therein, weary traveler of this land, you might just discover more of who you are, or more complete still, you and I may just become more, more complete, more wonder-full. These walls can caress the very earthen vessel of humanity and breathe again into us, a vital wisp of that delicate mixture of earth and water and their waltz through eternity.

Reflection on Imagination - Talons, Fist and Fur

My breath dances in and then out while I wait in the darkness of veiled eyes. Then it comes...

My meadow beneath me, again, welcomes me home. I raise my fist to the sky and he descends. I feel the familiar tearing of my flesh as he settles, talons slicing into my fist. With the agony, I welcome my ancient friend. Blood trails down my arm for a moment and as talon and flesh merge, I heal.

Breath in the darkness...

She strolls to my side, padding heavily upon the turf. She leans against my thigh. Lowering my free hand I find her -fur, thick. Kneeling, I wrap my arm around her and lower my face into hers, breathing deep her scent, scents of death, decay and blood. I so love her primitive cause.

Now we are one, us three. And there, hidden in darkness we know - I miss them when I cannot imagine.


NOTE: Do you value your dreams, your visions beyond reality? Do tell...

Local Bloggers to Gather to Support Ronald McDonald House

ATTENTION LOCAL BLOGGERS

Host: The Ronald McDonald House of Winston-Salem
Location: The Ronald McDonald House, 419 South Hawthorne Road, Winston-Salem, NC 27103
When: Saturday, September 11, 10:00AM to 11:30AM
Phone: 336-723-0228 x 38
Please join us and meet other Carolina Bloggers for breakfast & a tour of the new 17,000 sq. ft. expansion!

We are opening 18 more bedrooms to out-of-town families with sick children being treated at local hospitals.
Come tour our home away from home for families and spread the word about the Ronald McDonald House of Winston-Salem!



More Info Here : http://ow.ly/2oqEg

Are You Bum Material?

As I strive for self actualization

Demanding more of my mind, spirit and body each day

Determined to succeed, to claim yesterday’s distant horizon

As today’s dawn

It occurs to me that I might have it all wrong

What if these images of status and position

That haunt my mind each evening are self contrived

And the resistance that pushes me backward

Each hard fought day is prophetic

What if my truth is that

This world simply needs another bum?

What if that bum should be me...

[Pausing to consider. considering. seriously considering...]

nope.

Getting Down Uptown

We are fortunate that our city has multiple outdoor music events uptown during the summer months. Last weekend my wife and I attended one of the Summer on Trade events. We had a good time, but the little guy below was hands-down having the best time of us all.

5 Lessons My Father Taught Me From the Dead - Number 5

My father died in 1964. I was 6 years old. Even though most of my life has been lived in his absence, his life has taught valuable lessons. This 5 part blog series is about those lessons.

5. We all have a life to live - Live It!

Shortly after my mother and father met he told her that he would not live past 36. Strange thing was there was no physical illness or history of family disease to indicate that he would be right. Yet, he was insistent that he knew he would not live past 36. He told my mother this and she believed him. They decided to live life together anyway - until death do we part.

In the 13 years that they had together - they laughed, learned, and enjoyed life. They parented three children and set the stage for their future. They would often forget the ticking of time but for my father's occasional reminders.  He was gentle with his belief, but serious.

In June of 1964 at the age of 36, my father had a massive heart attack and died. He left behind more than his widow and three children. He left behind a life powerfully and well lived that has inspired us to live with death in sight. Life should be lovingly and joyfully lived each day.