A Little of This, A Little of That
[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/glecharles/status/118543925970599936″]
My last post here was on August 7th, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t had anything to post about, I just haven’t had the time. At least not for anything in-depth.
I’ve actually been pretty active on Google+, using it as a micro-blog for a mix of what Facebook now refers to as “lightweight” updates (mostly related to beer and bourbon) and brief thoughts on topics that in the past might have been full posts here, including:
- The Netflix/Qwikster kerfuffle
- Facebook’s latest privacy shenanigans
- Rethinking social sharing in light of privacy concerns
Interestingly, after a brief dip in activity, I’m finding myself rejuvenated on Twitter, partly driven by my increased activity on Google+ where engagement is much higher and more substantial. Twitter surfaces the interesting content, while Google+ offers a platform to have real conversations. Facebook, meanwhile, is about 3-6 months from being completely dead to me, regardless of who continues to use it.
ITEM: DC COMICS – There’s been a lot of debate and discussion about DC’s latest relaunch, particularly around the recurring issue of their treatment of women, and while I have a number of thoughts about it, I’ve only flipped through a couple of issues because I truly couldn’t be less interested in this latest ill-conceived, desperate attempt to goose sales that doesn’t include outreach to new audiences. Instead, I recommend reading “Dear DC Comics,” a brief post that perfectly illustrates what’s wrong with superhero comics today.
ITEM: NEW ORLEANS – Last month, I was able to squeeze out a week’s vacation down in New Orleans, this time with the whole family, and we came back giving serious thought to the possibility of relocating next summer. Schools, of course, were the sticking point, and after some serious consideration of all of our options, it looks like we’ll be staying in Bloomfield until the kids are done with school. That’s eight more years! Being a responsible parent sucks! means making tough compromises.
In related news, I recently had the honor of being profiled at a great new parenting site called Parent du Jour: “I knew special could not contain you.” Check it out (there’s a poem!), and poke around the site, too, because I love the concept Lisa and Steve have going there. One of my favorite profiles was of Mary Champagne, who candidly shared her worst parenting moment and offered up this wise takeaway: “I realized I would never be the perfect parent, but with the willingness to use the support of others, I could still be a very good mother.” Amen to that!
ITEM: DAY JOB UPDATE – The day job continues to be awesome and time-consuming, and I have my hands in a number of exciting projects, most behind the scenes for now, but two you can and should check out are the new websites for The Horn Book and The Digital Shift. Let me know what you think!
Both sites are built on StudioPress’ Genesis framework, and if I didn’t already love WordPress, I’d totally be a fan now. In the process of developing those two sites, I’ve gone deeper into WordPress than I ever had before, leaving me thinking “If I knew then what I know now…,” though some of what I uncovered I’ve integrated into the backend of my blog, including the Twitter Blackbird Pie plugin that created the cool little Twitter excerpt above.
ITEM: ONE BOOK, ONE MOVIE
- Nine Lives by Dan Baum: LOVED IT! Read it now.
- Dolphin Tale: Sappy and manipulative as hell, but in an honest way. I really liked it.
That’s all (for now) folks!
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