I’m just all a"twitter” …so I better practice

As you get older, and figure you know just about everything, you get a little excited when given the opportunity to learn a brand-new thing. That happened this week when Kristen, the very talented person who heads up our Web site at work, sent us all an e-mail telling us that there is a great new opportunity for us to communicate with folks through a new online thing called Twitter.

It’s sort of like blogging and it’s sort of like instant messaging. It seems to be yet one more tool for all of us who are so busy and so fast-paced that we have time only for brief, sometimes abbreviated, sometimes shorthand- like bits of information.  Kristen was nice enough to provide some links to some extremely busy folks who are already posting Twitters for the whole world to see. I clicked the Twitter for another TV guy in town and instantly knew what the guy was doing every second of the day. In one, he was headed to a school to speak. In another, he told us where he was driving and that he might be “out of touch” for a while. I haven’t checked back but I pray he’s back “in touch” and that everyone who cares knows exactly where he is and what he’s doing.

I don’t want to seem anti-technology or anything, but these are the questions I asked myself as I read each post on these Twitter links:  Why should I care what someone else is doing every second of the day? Aren’t we at least flirting with some real egotistical issues if we think that someone, anyone wants to know our every move? 

So, I’m asking you today for feedback.  I’m going to practice—sort of provide a test Twitter.  If it’s really cutting-edge and whets your appetite for more, then I’ll jump on board with both feet and I’ll Twitter in the morning, Twitter in the evening and Twitter at supper time…here goes!

Friday 6:32 am:  Just woke up
6:33am: Walking into my bathroom
6:33:30am: (personal)
6:35am: Putting on yesterday’s jeans and sweatshirt and stumbling downstairs
6:37am: Fussing at Will about how slow he is getting ready for school, untying his tennis shoes and telling him to hurry up.
6:39am: Telling Jack we have biscuits and bacon for breakfast and to dress warmly.
6:41am: Walking to kitchen, coffee not ready yet, so mumbling something about coffee not being ready yet and grabbing morning paper.
6:44am: Reading about a convicted murderer getting executed after kidnapping, raping and killing a college student…things looking up.
6:46am: Reading about pilot who landed his jet in Hudson River, saving lives of 156 passengers and crew. Article confirmed what I suspected: the guy has thousands of hours in a military fighter.
6:51am: Back in kitchen fussing at one of the boys about their table manners.
7:10am: After teeth brushing & backpack finding, driving boys to school.  I’m peppered with questions about how snow forms, what the difference is between freezing rain, sleet and snow.
Now: Writing this now

What do ya think? Do you want to sign up now for Mike’s Twitter? I’ve got some really fascinating stuff coming up later. I’ll be shaving, showering, getting ready for work and going to work. Only time can tell what all I can Twitter to you later today. The weekend… don’t even go there.

I get about two handwritten letters a year. They might be from the last two people in the world who sit down, pen in hand, and write their thoughts on paper that they sign and mail to me, just me. I have a whole box of personalized note cards and matching envelopes under my desk. I think my wife ordered a couple hundred. There are 198 of them left, and I’ve had them a couple of years. 

I guess this whole thing is a little long. I could have abbreviated most of this, Twittered it to you and we could have moved on to the next pressing thing that Mike has to do now.  You do care, don’t you?

See you tonight at 5:00, 6:00 and 10:00pm