Rick's Ramblings

A Rapper's Father's Day Sentiment

2009-06-17T23:18:00.004-04:00

On the CD "Asleep in the Bread Aisle", rap artist Asher Roth sends forth a heartfelt father's day message on his song "His Dream". You can hear the song on MySpace. Some of the lyrics from the song:

So he's well aware how vital a father figure is
How big of a responsibility it is
To be a good husband and care for your kids
...
Papa isn't dumb, he understands what this means
His dream is my dream, my dream is his dream

I was quite struck by the words. Among the tracks about college drinking, marijuana, and bad travel days was this lovely poem to his dad. The chorus:

I close my eyes and I can see (His dream)
The sacrifices he made for me (His dream)
Put it aside for his family (His dream)
Yeah, so I'ma keep it alive, Yeah

The sentiment is clear: a father, a good father, necessarily suspends some or all of his dreams to take on the dreams of his children. It's a striking and unexpected insight on an album featuring a song titled "Blunt Cruisin'". That said, if I'm to believe the song, I would think that Asher Roth's own father is quite proud. I know I would be. His son is living his dream. For father's everywhere, when your children live their dreams, you're living the best dream possible.

Jarhead

2009-05-25T10:18:00.005-04:00

"We are afraid, but that doesn't mean we don't want to fight."

Memorial Day is a time to remember the fallen, those who have died for "our cause." But there is a value to listening to those who lived, those who were there.

Earlier this year I read Jarhead, by Anthony Swofford, easily one of the best books I have read about war, and the nature of the combatants. Swofford's book came out in 2003, and I remember the rash of generally positive reviews. It was inevitable that a movie would be made based on Swofford's book. That came out in 2005, directed by Sam Mendes, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard.

Swofford's book is a high-testosterone retelling of the First Gulf War, under President George H.W. Bush. It was a short war (August 1990 to February 1991). Swofford was a sniper, but he never saw any "action." The book is a profane reminisce of his time "in the desert". He recalls the boredom of a war steeped in technology. He recalls, most eloquently, of he and his fellow soldiers' anxiousness to fight and to kill. He recalls the unending heat and the unending sand.

Swofford describes his transformation into a Marine. He became a jarhead, a grunt, and the change in his psyche was thrilling to read. Swofford is the embodiment of a tough guy, but with military training and weapons. He represents American might. And at the same time he openly acknowledges what a bad decision it was for him to join the Marines. Sexual frustration abounds. The food is miserable. Being "in shape" becomes a job. Drill Instructors direct violence and profanity towards him. "You must forget who you were before the Marine Corps. You must also forget the person you might be in the future..."

War is sometimes depicted as large arrows moving upward on the map of some country. War is made abstract, a simple "conflict." War becomes part of the narrative of the country, but Swofford says this holds "no sway for the warrior."

War is ultimately waged between combatants, between warriors. Sometimes combatants die, but sometimes they live beyond the war. "The warrior celebrates the fact of having survived," he writes. Survivors of war, like Anthony Swofford, sometimes give us a chance to hear from the combatants of war. We should be listening.

Rooted

2009-05-05T22:36:00.004-04:00

A house on our street is up for sale. The sign went up over the weekend. Since I live at the end of a dead-end street, we saw the tell-tale stream of strange cars. "Open house," my wife announced. In a few clicks, we found the listing, whistled at the price, and went on with our day, watching the cars go back and forth.

My family has lived in this house since March of 1997. Yep: Twelve years. My wife and I are rooted here in town. Our daughter was born in 2001 and now attends the nearby public school. We were just there for a school concert, and we saw lots of familiar faces, all rooted like us.

There are times when I badly wish we could just pull up our roots, and make a stake someplace else. Boredom is the cause. Sometimes I think it's just a desire to see if could lay down roots some place else. I like to think that I could do it. Of course, uprooting a whole family just because "I'm bored" is the height of selfishness.

I went out for take out during the open house. I saw the cars parked in front of the house for sale. There were a lot of visitors. Someone will be moving in over the next month or so (or sooner, who knows). I wonder if they were bored where they originally lived. I wonder if they were rooted like I feel I am.

Happy Birthday

2009-04-06T22:04:00.003-04:00

Forty-one today.

I just now noticed that 41 (years) times 365 (days in a year) = 14,965 (days). This means that in less than a month I could be at my 15,000th day. For some reason this feels momentous. 15,000 days! That's huge!

I vaguely remember this concept of counting your age in days, and after rummaging around in my brain, I found a link: "Metric Birthday" (Kelvin Hartnall). According to this link, my 15K "birthday" will be May 1, this year. I wonder if I can get my wife to make me another cake?

A Decline in Weight

2009-03-22T10:12:00.004-04:00

I have lost almost thirty pounds over the last year. When I turned 40 in 2008, I made it a point to start visiting the doctor regularly (prior to this appointment it had been over five years since I saw a doctor). He ordered a blood test, and the cholesterol numbers that came back were high. With a glib note on the test results, he said "cut out dairy and meat fats."

My wife looked at the results, winced, then showed me exactly how much half and half cream I use in my coffee. Let me tell you: it's more than two tablespoons. "From now on, no cream in your coffee," she said. So...this was how it was going to be.

Since that change, I've made other adjustments, all of which I've accepted grudgingly. I've eliminated butter and toast for breakfast, favoring yogurt or cereal (and just a cup of cereal at that). I've stopped eating peanut butter. Every now and then, I'll enjoy a salad for lunch.

Just these few changes caused my pants to feel loose in a few months. We made other changes, including dropping out or greatly reducing certain take-out choices (good bye lovely Chinese food; good bye tasty sandwiches from Panera; good bye McDonald's; good bye Dunkin' Donut breakfast sandwiches). Over this period, I've become a fan of reading the nutrition label of anything I eat.

My next blood test seven months later showed a marked improvement, but the doctor still saw some high numbers, and he recommended a meeting with a nutritionist. This meeting was eye-opening. The nutritionist diagrammed how the body digests food, and how "bad" fat is created. He pointed me towards the South Beach diet for other principles. He introduced me to "heart-smart fats". He told me about the work of Dr. William Castelli and the Framingham Heart Study.

I didn't necessarily get "diet religion", but I have started taking Omega-3 pills, and redoubled my effort to eat more fruit instead of sugary or overly salty snacks (mixed nuts are good, in moderation).

My next cholesterol test will be sometime in late April or May. Who knows how these changes will affect those numbers, but the weight loss is undeniable evidence that these changes are having effect. The weight loss has been uneasy to me. I associate my weight with prosperity. Or maybe I justified it? Either way, tightening the belt is an easier thing for me today.

Boston in the Movies

2009-03-10T20:59:00.002-04:00

By no means an exhaustive list, but here are my favorite movies that were shot in Boston. For the other great city of my life, Jersey City, New Jersey, I can't name one (other than a few episodes of "The Sopranos").

7. A Civil Action - This was a tough book to adapt into a movie, but the Steven Zaillian does an admirable job. There are some "beauty" shots of Boston Harbor, and as Jan Schlichtmann (the lawyer, played by John Travolta) walks through the backside of suburbia, the film evokes Woburn.

6. Field of Dreams - I saw this movie a second time at the Hatch Shell in Boston, right on the Charles River. It's the perfect outdoor movie, with lovely scenes in Kenmore Square, and a great overhead shot of Storrow Drive. The movie only stays in Boston for a few minutes, but we get to have a whole scene in Fenway Park!

5. Spartan - David Mamet's action/adventure movie rolls quickly through Boston's Beacon Hill as well through the Big Dig tunnels. It's probably one of the first movies to feature the Zakim Bridge.

4. The Departed - This is the muscular gangster movie by Martin Scorsese that earned him his Best Director Oscar. The Zakim Bridge is also in this movie, as well as Boston's City Hall, and the Massachusetts State House.

3. Mystic River - Clint Eastwood has a gorgeous helicopter shot of the upper deck of Boston's Tobin Bridge, to introduce the two detectives in this grim movie. There's plenty of South Boston in here too.

2. Gone Baby Gone - Ben Affleck's movie is the gold standard if you want to hear the infamous Boston accent. This movie features the picturesque Mt. Auburn Cemetary, a flyover of Chelsea, and background shots of Dorchester and Roxbury.

1. Good Will Hunting - Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, two of Boston's most famous actors, teamed up in this soulful movie about a "city tough" prodigy who discovers his talents and his love. Robin Williams is awesome in this movie. Watch this movie to see MIT, Boston's Public Garden, the Red Line going South after it leaves Boston, and an older Harvard Square.

Lunch Derailed

2009-03-02T19:45:00.005-05:00

Around 11:30AM or so, after shoveling out our driveway and my wife's car, I took off for some lunch. I drove through our recently shoveled street, and then had to stop. A truck was stuck, blocking the entrance to the street that crosses ours. I live on a long dead-end road, and with the one entrance blocked, it meant no take-out lunch.

The driver of the truck was walking up the road, his ear pressed to his cell. "The road's blocked", he said, and I nodded, already thinking about what was in our refrigerator. On an off-day, I think I would have gotten very impatient, and even angry about this sudden change in plans. The driver walked by me after I executed a K-turn to head back home. "How about getting out another way?" he asked. "This is the only way out," I said. Then I put on a smile. "Well, someone's coming to help us out," he offered. "Good luck with it!" I said, as cheerful as I could. I didn't want take-out anyway.

The Wrestler

2009-02-21T12:41:00.002-05:00

After finishing The Wrestler, I felt a bit depressed. To say that this is a serious movie is an understatement. This is a somber, even dour piece of film making. Some said it was "gritty." I'll say. It's gritty like your mouth must feel after having been sucker punched in the face.

The Oscar buzz around Mickey Rourke is deserved. His character is relentless in his remorse. He knows he's alone, and he seeks the warmth of two women who won't give him the real time of day (a stripper, played by Marisa Tomei, and his estranged daughter, played by Evan Rachel Wood). However, despite being rewarded by both for some sincere attempts at connecting, he finds the allure of the ring too strong to turn away from.

My wife kept talking about "the stapler scene", and yes, there's a lot of bloody violence in this movie. The director, Darren Aronofsky, very early on reveals that the violence is all pre-arranged, blood and all, but it's still slightly sickening to watch.

While reading the message boards about this movie, I learned that even though the ending felt "open", I realized that decisions were made, that conclusions were reached. I didn't think that happened for Mickey's character, Randy the Ram. But when he's in the ring, reveling in the adoration of his faithful fans, you get the feeling that he's made some peace with himself.

It's a fascinating though difficult movie to watch.

A Valentine's Day Proposal

2009-02-14T21:42:00.005-05:00

I proposed to my wife on Valentine's Day, 1993. It's mildly embarrassing that I don't remember much of the details, other than the restaurant (formerly known as the Bay Tower Room) and that she said yes.

Right after this, the wedding planning took on a certain importance. Every decision seemed fraught with meaning. The invitations, the gifts, the seating arrangements. After the day came and went, those things diminished in importance. Bigger things took over and I'm glad for it.

Earlier this week, we agreed that flowers wouldn't be missed this year (hey, it's the economy). This morning, we both discovered that we each decided to give one another some chocolate. Mine was a Kit Kat.

Happy Valentine's Day.

25 Random Things About Me

2009-02-07T21:41:00.003-05:00

Without further ado, here are 25 random things about me.

1. Earliest memory: swallowing a coin (I was likely three years old).
2. One of the childhood friends I miss the most: Jose Cornielle.
3. My Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: ENFJ.
4. Favorite book from childhood: "Catcher in the Rye".
5. Got Greg LeMond's autograph after he raced a criterium in New York City.
6. Once thought I'd grow up to be a journalist.
7. Met my wife in the personals.
8. First computer: VIC-20.
9. Best decision in my teens: Leaving home for college.
10. Contemplated becoming a Catholic priest.
11. Best sports thing I know how to do: ice skate.
12. Favorite movie from childhood: "Star Wars".
13. One of the best times in my life: Living and working in Pasadena, CA.
14. Favorite part of my morning: Watching my daughter in line for school.
15. Last concert: Joe Bonamassa, 2006 at Scullers.
16. Second best sports thing I know how to do: play golf.
17. Was a college radio DJ.
18. Dream profession: television production.
19. One of the best things I learned in high school: French.
20. Most awe-inspiring moment in life: Watching my daughter be born.
21. Prefer Pepsi over Coke, and Diet Pepsi over Regular Pepsi.
22. Favorite DVD commentary: "Metallica: Some Kind of Monster" (the commentary with the band).
23. Best sporting event watched live: Italy versus Spain, quarter-final of World Cup (1994).
24. Grateful for having two funny and interesting brothers. [1] [2]
25. On an airplane, I like the window seat.

My wife did this exercise, listing 100 things on her now defunct BLOG. I have 75 more random things coming, if I'm to meet her standard!

Fires in Trash Cans

2009-01-31T20:04:00.006-05:00

One of the images I have in my head about the Great Depression are those small groups of desolate men, surrounding a fire that they've lit up in a garbage can. They're homeless, and huddling around the fire and each other for some warmth. I don't even know if this is a real image, but I can't help but think about that now, in the wake of all the jobs lost over the last few months.

Thanks to electronic social networks, I can see the electronic version of these garbage can fires. On Facebook, punching in "laid off" produces over 200 groups, with group titles like "I just got laid off due to this craptastical economy", "I Got Laid Off from Dell", and "I got laid off from IndyMac Bank and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt." On Twitter, I see a layoffs hashtag, but searching for "laid off" produces tweets that are only minutes old.

It's in the air, the demise of steady work. The jobless among us are gathered around their families, and around these electronic garbage cans, talking about their firings. Misery loves company, and those garbage can fires are online now. Good luck, all of you. I'm hoping that the economic stimulus plan works, so we can all be in a better place tomorrow.

The Cold is All Relative

2009-01-25T22:28:00.003-05:00

Today the temperature descended back to winter. It was quite chilly in the mid-20s (Fahrenheit), but it felt even colder because it "warmed up" to about the high-30s on Friday. I was beginning to think about March. Instead, January reminded me today that it's still the first month of 2009 here in New England.

Seasons get us prepared because of how slowly they turn. It's sudden change that gets us, I think. Indian Summer. Snow in April. New Englanders usually have a brisk Fall which puts us in "warmer" jackets, and the lighter sweaters and fleeces, before Winter comes in, forcing us into heavy jackets and boots. We get acclimated. I think this is natural.

So it's back to the cold weather. I'm not worried about it. We're all hunkered down anyway, so it's not too bad. Like I said, it's all relative.

Best Movies in 2008

2009-01-18T07:37:00.003-05:00

(This is my eighth such list. I have done this for my movie viewing in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007.)

I watched 19 movies in 2008. My favorite movie from this list was WALL-E, the Pixar animated movie starring a wistful lovestruck robot. It's wondrous! It's a classic "boy meets girl" story, but the settings and the back-story and all the gritty then gleaming images were dazzling.

My second favorite was The Contender, a political thriller that harks the feel of "All the President's Men". This is an adult movie, in every sense of the word, full of super performances starting with Joan Allen, a strong senator fighting for her nomination for the vice presidency.

Best DVD Commentary: Panic Room (out of the three, the one with the special guest screenwriter)

Favorite Male Acting: Sam Elliott (The Contender)

Favorite Female Acting: Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain)

Finally Glad I Watched: Brokeback Mountain, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Best Books Read in 2008

2009-01-10T22:29:00.004-05:00

My Previous Best Books: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007.

I read 18 books last year, with one I finished on the very last day of the year: Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell. I like the list. A nice mix of fiction and non-fiction.

My favorite non-fiction was The Outlaw Sea, by William Langewiesche. This book explores the open sea, and its inhospitable nature. There are pirates, storms, and descriptions of ships as they're being disassembled for parts. I felt it blended in well with Uncommon Carriers, by John McPhee, which I read later in the year (and which was my second favorite).

Honorable mentions: Ball Four (Jim Bouton), Hammer of the Gods (Stephen Davis).

My favorite fiction was Then We Came to the End. This is a novel set in a modern workplace, and it concerns itself with petty rumors, office politics, and layoffs. In other words, it's a fiction of the lives led by many people in the white-collar world. It has a lot of spot-on observations, and a tricky literary point of view (it's told from the first person plural ("We saw him come out of the elevator"), with a brief interlude to take on another character's point of view). This was Joshua Ferris' first novel, and it's a winner.

Honorable mentions: Tree of Smoke (Denis Johnson), American Pastoral (Philip Roth), Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Philip K. Dick).

Resolution 2009: More Posts

2009-01-06T19:22:00.003-05:00

There were plenty of weeks in 2008 when I didn't write a BLOG post. This year, my resolution is to write at least one post a week. How hard can this be? Happy New Year again. Coming up soon: my favorite books and movies from 2008.

Happy New Year

2008-12-31T23:17:00.002-05:00

2008 ends. 2009 begins. With an extra second to boot. Happy New Year to the readers and visitors of this BLOG, wherever you happen to find it.

He Made Off

2008-12-21T15:09:00.008-05:00

I can't get enough of the Bernie Madoff story. He's the financier who somehow swindled hundreds (thousands?) of very rich investors by an elaborate Ponzi scheme. There are so many angles to follow. His own sons turned him in (or have they been acting along with him?). Luminaries in sports, entertainment, and academics have been damaged in the wake of his scheme. And on top of these is the most important angle of them all: where's the money?

While the simple answer is that the money's "gone", one lawyer says "there are funds to be found and captured." My wife says that people at the beginning of the scheme get paid first, but I think she's confusing Madoff's "fund" with a pyramid scheme.

Part of me revels with schadenfreude. Madoff's funds are not for "ordinary investors" (i.e. you've got to be "connected", or "introduced" to the fund), certainly not for people like me. There's a feeling of people being taken down a notch or two that's grimly amusing to me.

Another small part of me is thinking "I'm not caught up in this, am I?" Madoff's funds relied on "feeder funds", and who's to say that my money hasn't been bundled up with other people's money to be fed into Madoff's scheme. Maybe I'm being paranoid. Or not.

Forensic accountants say it will be months before the full extent of the fraud can be known. With every new prominent victim that's announced, the story becomes more and more compelling. How did Madoff get away with this? And even though he got caught (he confessed to it, actually), how did Madoff run this ruse for as long as he did? I'm waiting for the answers.

Learning Snow Lessons

2008-12-19T08:39:00.002-05:00

Today, all of Greater Boston and points West are bracing for the first Winter Storm of the year. And all forecasts seem to be pointing to a doozy. Last year, I was stuck in a snow storm trying to get home. A 30-40 minute commute became a four hour ordeal of frustration. When my wife announced to me yesterday that the snow storm would be just as bad as last year's, she looked at me expectantly. "I'm going to work from home," I said. Snow lesson learned.

Follow the storm by subscribing to my twitter feed.

Folding Fitted Sheets

2008-12-01T20:09:00.005-05:00

I fold laundry. I happen to like it. It's one of the small ways (emphasis on small) that I can contribute around the house. But the one thing I can't fold are fitted sheets. I usually get frustrated, and then make up some technique. The result? Puffy and a messy corners. My wife folds fitted sheets perfectly. Too proud to ask her how to do it, I always think that I can figure out how she's done it by staring at the perfectly folded sheets that she's already done. Instead, I happily toss them into the closest, grateful that I don't have do it for one more week. Not tonight. Tonight I reached deep into the Internet, and found a video explanation for how to do the folding correctly. Folded fitted sheets, FTW!

Buckling Down

2008-11-16T20:32:00.003-05:00

I took a drive around Sun Microsystem's offices in Burlington this morning. The company announced last week that it will lay off 15% to 18% of its workforce, which translates to roughly 5000 to 6000 people. It's becoming a tough time out there. The headlines on Friday were along the lines of "high tech sector now feeling the pinch of the economy."

I drove around looking for clues in the parking lot: how many cars were here? Who was working? I somehow thought the parking lot would be full, a buzz in the air. People were going to be let go, and middle managers needed to be working. Instead, the parking lot was empty. It was a quiet Sunday morning. Nothing was stirring except for a few landscaping vehicles. As I circled the large campus, all I was left to ponder was the general vulnerability of any kind of job, including my own "high tech sector" job. The economy isn't taking prisoners.

Voting: An American Experience

2008-11-03T19:40:00.005-05:00

On November 4, citizens of the United States of America will elect their next president. I think electing our president is one of the most uniquely American experiences there is. Two men, Barack Obama and John McCain, have been barnstorming this great nation, exhorting us on national television, in rallies, in town meetings, in stump speeches, to vote for one of them. They're working hard not just for my vote; they're working hard for our vote. It's awe-inspiring to me that after all their work, after all their pleadings, it's simply up to the voter to decide. Sure, there's the electoral college, and the battle ground states, and all that campaign money, but in the end, it all boils down to each of us getting into a booth, and inking in our choice. There are countries around the world that do not give their citizens a choice in this matter. We do it every four years. Go out and vote, you American citizens. I'll be right there with all of you on November 4, engaged in this thrilling American experience. Vote!

The Blog is Dead...Long Live the Blog

2008-10-26T19:23:00.006-04:00

Last week, Wired magazine published an essay stating that blogs are dead. The author Paul Boutin says don't even think of starting one. He even suggests that if you have a blog, you might kill it in favor of your Twitter, Flickr, or Facebook pages. Posts from blogs are no longer "first page results" on search engines; Wikipedia and "professional blogs" now dominate that first page. Why bother, he asks.

Why bother, indeed.

As I read the article, it's clear that he is speaking of the blog as "soap box", the blog as an attention gathering device. I can imagine him giving the same argument about writing novels, or making music. "Don't bother. It's been done already. Today's creative works are cranked out by pros." Forget your voice. There's no more room for it on the web.

I reject his thesis, partly out of self-defense. I write mostly to serve my own muse, to serve up my own musings. I don't write to be paid, or to get "mass" attention. While at one point I wondered about page views, I no longer care.

I care about having the ability to write on the web, in a format that people have come to accept, even though these people are quickly moving to other formats. I care about producing meaty writing, not these so-called tweets or status updates. I care about connecting with people, even if they turn out to be only my family and friends, and the occasional stranger. I care about blogging, and I hope for my own sake that it's not dead.

And as for anyone who's thinking of starting one? I say go for it. Paul's right that your posts probably won't merit mass attention. But if you have an angle or a point of view that you want to express, I think there's plenty of room in the blogosphere. It's hard to express your thoughts with just photos and tweets. Getting your writing out there is sure to satisfy at least one reader: yourself.

The New Kids

2008-10-13T19:56:00.006-04:00

I was waiting for a cab outside the airport last week, when two people next to me struck up a conversation.

"Yeah, noticed you on the flight. You're at the Intercontinental?"
"Yeah, here for the same deal."
"Did you get an agenda?"
"Not yet."

I glanced over, and noticed that the two people were college aged kids. As they spoke, it was pretty clear they were here for some company recruiting function.

Companies will do that when recruiting college kids. They'll bring a whole bunch of them over, and interview them together. They'll make a day of it for these kids. Nice hotel. Nice meals at the corporate office. Companies trying to woo fresh blood.

The two men conversing next to me traded woes about the job scene ("it's tough") and about the trials of modern recruiting ("that was me who asked that question in the chat room"). They impressed me. I had the bizarre thought that someday I'd probably be working for one of these people.

Hello, you new kids. Good luck getting hired.

Night Grill

2008-09-25T22:32:00.004-04:00

Jenn and I have been grilling our hot dogs all Summer. It's a new thing with us. We used to boil our hot dogs before eating them. After a barbecue this Summer, it seems as if we've switched to grilling these. The taste and texture of a slightly blackened hot dog cannot be beat. It's now a matter of course.

Tonight was hot dog night. As I went outside to grill, I realized it would be a slightly different experience, since it was night. As Summer marched on, I grilled in fading light. Thanks to Fall, or the Equinox, or some combination, it was dark by the time I got to the grill tonight. "Use a flashlight," Jenn said.

Getting the grill turned on was tricky, but the front door light helped. However, once I got the hot dogs started, I found that I liked the light turned off. The glow of the fire seemed magical. The heat and the smell of the food whisked away the slight chill. I turned the hot dogs, but I couldn't see them, so I couldn't tell whether they were getting blackened the way I like them. I found I didn't care. I sat there in the night, me and the grill. This must be what a campfire meal must be like. I haven't been camping since I was in school.

I eventually turned on the flashlight. I shut everything down, and went back inside with my food. The hot dogs were blackened perfectly.

2008-09-07T21:04:00.002-04:00

Clive Thompson's NY Times article about Twitter and Facebook shows how online social networking has somehow expanded people's concept of their "social circle." Through a steady diet of short "status" messages (e.g. "Having a pizza dinner", "I'm watching the US Open now") that eventually become a stock ticker of your real self, Twitter enables people to follow other people's lives in a strangely more intimate way than they might "in real life." Thompson is careful to point out the drawbacks to virtual friendships, but as a whole, it seems positive.

While reading this piece, I kept thinking about a recent lunch my wife and I had with a nearby friend of mine. We met with our families, and had an entertaining time catching up, laughing, telling stories, and minding our children. I kept thinking "this is so nice!" Now, weeks after that lunch, I wish that my friend had a Twitter account (I searched; she doesn't have one that I could find). However, since it's a Web 2.0 thing, I'm pretty certain that her children will end up with Twitter accounts someday.

Won't they be surprised when they find out that they can follow my tweets?

If you want to follow me, check out the sidebar of my blog for my Twitter updates, or visit my Twitter page.