DISQUS

We've got several of the Mini 9 netbooks and one of the Mini 12s and they're great - for their intended purpose. The Dell netbooks feel a bit more polished than the Asus offerings.

I naively started using - and have stuck with - is.gd simply because it produces a much smaller URL. I still struggle with 140 character boundaries, so every little bit helps.

Mostly I worry that all of those is.gd-generated links may not have the longevity that we tend to take for granted in this "everything ever published on the Web can be Googled" world, But then again, I typically only use those on Twitter, where everything is fairly fleeting anyway - I mean, how often do you browse back through other Twitter users' old Tweets?

Ranked #2 in Odessa?!! I am so offended!

Mr. #1 (@mackd3541) only has 11 updates!! How the heck dya get 406 followers with only 11 updates?!! TwitterGrader only thinks he has 299 Followers, but still...

Interesting little tool, though. ;)

On a slightly related note, I'd like to know why there's a field for my location, yet I can't (or at least haven't discovered how to) search specifically by that field. I've been trying to connect up with more people from my geographical region but this is a very hit & miss proposition - mostly miss.

If a new person joins (and provides a legit location) maybe among Twitter's recommendations should be other active members from that same city or area. And maybe that would compel more people to use valid locations in that field...

This is a bit of a pet peeve of mine - lots of Twitter users seem to only rarely even check their @Replies tab to see messages directed specifically at them. And also people often tend to just ignore those Tweets, so the sender is left wondering if the recipient ever even noticed the message or just simply couldn't be bothered to respond.

It's kinda equivalent to talking to someone at a party and that person being completely oblivious to having been spoken to. I sure wouldn't stay around to chat it up with 'em after that!

Xanadu & The Departed

As a fellow peanut butter fan, I just know that you'll enjoy The Peanut Butter Blog. LuckyGirl doesn't post very often, but it's still on my favorites list. And of course, don't miss my Nutty Uses for Peanut Butter post!

Great to see some Element love, Tim! I've had mine for nearly 6 years now and still love it! Re: Saturn's no-haggle pricing, I don't understand why auto dealers can handle car prices unlike any other consumer item - you don't have to wheel & deal when it comes time to buy a new TV or clothes dryer. Why are cars any different?

An article I wrote (Geoblogging - How to Geotag Your Blog) was published on Darren Rowse's awesome Problogger a few months back. It was a tremendous honor and brought in a flurry of traffic overnight.

However, I hadn't cached up any reserve posts for my blog and wasn't able to get very much fresh content on my blog in the hours & days after that guest blog was published. I sorta squandered an opportunity by not having new posts to push out to make my blog stickier during that influx of traffic - the opportunity to possibly convert more of those visitors to regular readers or subscribers.

And I've seen this same this with a post that got Stumbled. Sudden swell of traffic but just a quick a falloff since few of those newbies spent any real amount of time on the site or ever came back.

The thing to remember is that traffic alone isn't worth all that much - if it doesn't build your audience, then it's just the Internet's version of sugary junk food - tasty but only briefly satisfying and nutritionally worthless...

So, I advise that, whenever possible, you need to have a couple of blog entries queued up on the backburner so that you've got some fresh content when an unexpected spike in traffic comes along. And this'll also take some of the pressure off if you get a little too busy in the analog world to do much blogging for several days in a stretch.

Rob O.s last blog post..What a Crock!

Sadly, Jason Statham has kinda fallen into that Vin Diesel & Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson category - a.k.a. guys who're much better actors than they're given credit for, but keep taking (mostly) brainless action roles instead of holding out for meatier stuff. Statham can be much more than an action hero and I'm holding out hope that he'll shift away from those kinds of mindless movies.

I'm adding this one to my Netflix list and hoping for the best!

I got an incredibly nice framed black & white photo of my two favorite people in the world that'll be proudly displayed in my office.

But I also received a nifty "gift" from our local newspaper - an article about our adoption story. The reporter came out nearly a month ago to ask a flurry of questions. But then we figured the editors had decided it was not up to par or there wasn't space or whatever.

No, they just held the article until Father's Day. Wow. Just icing on the cake for an awesome day!

Here's the article:

From Russia With Love

Yeah, Nicky, they do "Apologize," but there's several other really good songs on the disc that're a lot like Coldplay, Snow Patrol, and/or Maroon 5.

Rob O.s last blog post..Junetipping v2.0

Mike, given that list, I still think you'd like OneRepublic. Give 'em a listen!

Rob O.s last blog post..Junetipping v2.0

Or they could - shudder to think it - actually not give a crap about the number of robots and instead focus attention on crafting a script that contains a smattering of real plot?

Transformers was all eye-candy fluff and no substance. Seems like a big budget movie could incorporate at least as much story arc as a TV cartoon...

Rob O.s last blog post..Junetipping v2.0

When my wife & I were preparing for adopting our son, the agency required a number of hours of educational credits per parent. There was a reading list of books that could apply to some of this, but we also opted to take a parenting course offered by a local non-profit agency called Love & Logic (http://www.loveandlogic.com/).

This was an excellent intro course that led us to also purchase accompanying books and a video. The focal point of Love & Logic is to teach children to be responsible and prepare them for the real world by allowing them to experience its choices - and the consequences of those choices. They emphasize that experience is a far more effective means for children to learn than lectures. Love & Logic's philosophy is to let your child suffer the consequences of less-than-optimal choices while the price tag is still very low.

For example, be if your child is a picky eater, you should simply make available the foods you want your child to have and then leave it at that - if he chooses not to eat what's been given, then he can wait it out until the next meal to see if it seems more palatible. That little rumbling gut will be a much more constructive and educational opportunity than an hours worth of coaxing at the dinner table. Likewise, if your child learn that his toys will not automatically or magically be replaced if he loses of damages them then perhaps he'll truly value the bigger-ticket stuff later in life.

The only drawback I see to this plan - and it's a minor one - is that you do kinda have to wait until your child is old enough to communicate well with before you can really start implementing most of the Love & Logic ideals - not quite so effective on an 18 month-old. So, I'm biding my time and trying to introduce some of the concepts in small steps.

What's really amazing is that many of the Love & Logic concepts work on adults as well. It has made a difference for both my wife & me at work where we no longer accept ownership of problems that aren't our own. We push the responsibility - and/or the price of failing to be responsible - back on the appropriate parties. This works wonders for dealing with those self-entitled Gen Y slackers who've wormed their way into the job market in recent years.

I'm usually a little iffy on Coen brothers stuff, but this does look pretty good...

Rob O.s last blog post..How Am I Unlike a Turnip?

I'm holding out a some hope for this based on the acting talent behind it, but there's little about the director's credentials that's very confidence-inspiring for me, including the fact that he doesn't even bother using his whole name - Joseph McGinty Nichol. (That always bothers me when punk-ass rappers do it, too.)

"Charlie's Angels?" C'mon, that was stale tripe on a styrofoam plate! The sequel? Didn't even bother with it...

Now granted, I liked, "We Are Marshall," but that had much more to do with the caliber of the actors and what they brought to the screen than the actual directing - certain actors could make even a laundry detergent ad compelling for me.

Rob O.s last blog post..How Am I Unlike a Turnip?

I can only think of 3 things to say about this...

Oh, hell yeah!

Rob O.s last blog post..How Am I Unlike a Turnip?

I still like the first movie best, but one of my fave lines is from The Last Crusade:

"Germany has declared war on the Jones boys!"

Rob O.s last blog post..Busted Again

I'm a big Cook fan in spite of the fact that his funky hairdo does nothing to disguise his bean-shaped noggin. I like his stage presence and vocal style. His performances feel genuine (whereas Archie seems rote & plasticy). Cook can actually play an instrument - and well. All that said, his choice of the Collective Soul song was a big mistake. Awesome song, but too unique to avoid comparisons and Cook's version paled.

Sadly, Cook will loose to Archie because of the prepubescent girl speed dialers.

I'm pretty stinking chapped at the judges for their neverending, gushing praise of Archie. His vocals are pretty, but kinda flat and really doesn't have that much range. His "oh, garsh, you really like me?" shtick after each performance is enough to make ya wanna claw out your eyes.

Rob O.s last blog post..Slip, Slop, Slap, Wrap

Damien Lewis makes me think of Steve McQueen in a big way. In fact, I'd heartily nominate him to take the starring role should the remake of Bullit ever materialize.

I also really liked Ron Livingston's performance in this. And it's always a treat to see Dale Dye, who is often featured in cameos on movies where he's served as a technical combat advisor.

This was indeed an excellent miniseries! I really felt connected with these guys and was kinda sad when it was over.

Rob O.s last blog post..Master Bath Makeover

Whoa...

It seemed very unfair to saddle David Cook with that crappy old Roberta Flack song when the other two got easy peasy stuff that played to their strengths. Now granted, he made the most of it, but it was still a crappy song.

I respect Cook for choosing that Switchfoot song based not on strategy but just because it fit his mood, but it was a poor choice.

Only someone who thinks that "Pour Some Sugar On Me" is a good representation of Def Leppard would think that "I Don’t Want To Miss a Thing" is "one of the greatest songs ever." It's an overblown, sappy mess regardless of who performs it! Again, David made the most of a poor choice.

I thought Syesha held back on "Fever" and it'll cost her. The performance part was good, but the vocals were too restrained and lackluster. She's done better. She did very well on the Alicia Keys song, but it did sound almost note for note exactly like the original. Randy kinda did her wrong with that song choice.

By all rights, Archuleta should go tonight, but I'll bet it's Syesha instead. This squinty little squirt has survived far too long on the good graces (and speed dials) of prepubescent girls. And it was grossly unfair that Paula & the producers put him right into his audience's lap with sappy, slow songs.

Rob O.s last blog post..Master Bath Makeover

Maybe Spielberg can get Aaron Sorkin involved in the Lincoln project... Sorkin does political dialog like nobody else. I really enjoy his rapid-fire bantering style.

Makes me think a little bit of Tarintino's sharp-witted dialog - I'm not crazy about QT's movies, but I've always admired the dialog his characters have.

Rob O.s last blog post..Twofer Tuesday

I'm with ya on M. Night, Jason. His visual storytelling is incredible but he needs someone else's story to tell.

Sadly enough, Frank, it is precisely that younger 8-15 male demographic (seeded with far too much disposable income from well-meaning but ignorant parents) who keep punks like Snoop Dogg, Kanye West, & Eminem flush with all the cash they'll ever need.

So, yeah, they'll probably keep "Speed Racer" afloat...

Rob O.s last blog post..Dolphins Bubble With Excitement

I have a big problem with eye candy for the sake of eye candy. And just as you said, this was one of the chief downfalls of the 2nd Star Wars trilogy. When CGI was backbreakingly difficult and mindbogglingly expensive, you had to have a damn good reason to fit it into your movie's budget. It had to support the plotline or it simply couldn't be justified.

Now, it's just so cheap that whole movies are crafted out of CGI with little or no thought to actual story or character development or anything beyond the eye-popping fluff. "Transformers," anyone?

There are some innovative folks out there still. I was really enthralled with Kerry Conran's "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow." Sure, it was massively CGI-laden - it was filmed in a warehouse, fer cryin' out loud! - but the graphics supported the "pulp" style of the film and wasn't a substitute for plot.

Pixar films are typically an excellent example of this - the technology always tales a backseat to the story and its underlying heart.

So, nah, I have little desire to see "Speed Racer." I think the Wachowski bros may be quickly becoming the next M. Night Shyamalans - one trick ponies.

Rob O.s last blog post..Dolphins Bubble With Excitement