To clear up everything — this is final resolution — I’ve made The Beta Stage is alive and well.  It’s been absorbed into this domain, and the old “thebetastage.com” will now redirect here for the time being.  All old links will work perfectly, though, and will remain in play.  I’ll be importing all of the old posts onto the new domain, too, so that old posts will show up on this site’s archives, too.  Eventually, TheBetaStage.com may show new posts, too — I have to see how confusing all of this is before I make the change.

I also want to separate out the political from The Beta Stage.  That’s now its own self-contained blog, called “Stage Left.”  This will be where all of my “politics and new media” posts will go.  I think there’s an interest for some people in purely social media, and they might be turned off by the politics, so I’m going to cater to both tastes.  If there is any cross-posting, it will be done very sparingly, so don’t worry too much about repeat posts with this solution.

I’m also keeping up with the personal posts.

RSS feeds to come soon.  By the way, if you’re subscribed to the old Beta Stage RSS feed, don’t worry, you don’t need to change a thing.  II’ve already taken care of the changes and your feed will stay with “The Beta Stage.”

What’s a meme?  That’s a good question. My own, personal working definition is that it’s a concept, theme or idea that is exchanged and passed on.  In this case, this meme is about “summer things you like to do.”

Thanks to both Larissa and David for “tagging” me on this!

Here are my answers:

4 things you like about summer:

1. Summer Yankees baseball — gotta love the boys of summer
2. Sitting on my balcony and playing guitar
3. Listening to “summer music,” which generally consists of Dave Matthews Band, Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Neil Young, Santana, and roots rock
4. The beach (I’m from Jersey, so I’ve gotta go “down the shore,” even if it’s technically north these days).

4 of your favorite vacation destinations:

1. Bermuda (pink sand!)
2. Western Caribbean
3. Ocean City, NJ
4. Bermuda (I really, really like Bermuda)

4 of your favorite summer foods:

1. Ice Cream (Breyers is the preferred brand)
2. Burgers
3. Half and Half/Arnold Palmer (the lemonade/iced tea combo)
4. Cold sesame noodles

4 concerts not to miss:

1. Tom Petty (although I missed that)
2. Dave Matthews Band
3. Neil Young
4. Any of the Marley children

4 things to avoid during the summer:

1. Sunburn (although it always happens)
2. Mosquitoes
3. Long lines at amusement parks
4. Jellyfish

It seems like this meme made its way around a few times, so I’m not sure who’s left to pass it on to.  I’d love to hear from my very close friends and family — who do not have blogs themselves — so let’s try something else, shall we?

Mom, Jess, and any more of my reader friends — why don’t you add your own responses right here in the comments section of this blog post?

Why?  Because the new 3G iPhone comes out on Friday.

Not that it’s got features that are much different than my current one.  Really, it’s just 3G (which is actually great for me and I’ll love this), has GPS and has a bigger hard drive if you choose the top model.

I did it, mainly, because an eBay search showed me that original iPhones, as of yesterday, were still going for $350+.  Now, the new iPhones will cost $200 and $300 for the lower and top models.

So what did I do?  I put mine up, and lo and behold, someone actually bought it for $345.

Free iPhone upgrade, here I come.

With the weekend gone, I’m putting the focus back on work and, of course, the Internet.  I also picked up a copy of Clay Shirky’s Here Comes Everybody, and it looks like a promising read.  I’ll have a review up soon, as well as some content that I’ve written up over the course of the weekend.

Here are a few articles that have gained my interest since I’ve gotten back on the grid:

1. New York Times: The Facebooker Who Friended Obama: An excellent article about a segment of Obama’s new media strategy. The takeaway quote: �??You can have the best technology in the world but if you don�??t have a community who wants to use it and who are excited about it, then it has no purpose.”

2. NBC: Olympics a new-media ‘research lab’: A fairly basic new report that’s interesting, but lacks some details. I’d love to know what exactly is being tested, no? New media might do the Olympics some good — but don’t they get tons of media attention already?  Is “new” media the key to success?

3. YouTube: Neil Young in Dublin Encore A Day in the Life: Neil Young does an amazing cover of The Beatles’ “A Day In The Life” that’s really worth checking out. Both are two of my favorites.

Me last night, talking to my friend Reggie about a new album:

Me: I think I had enough of this record
Me: ha, record
Me: how old am I? 55?
Reggie: hahahha
Reggie: you’re either 55 or a hipper than thou hipster

And today, in regards to different music:

Me: ha — my cousin had a funny statement
Me: “I like the first half of the new coldplay more”
Reggie: i think i agree
Me: I actually like the second side more
Reggie: side?
Reggie: do you flip your MP3s?
Reggie: does your iTunes have auto-reverse?

I guess this is what happens when you’re raised on The Beatles and the classics. But it’s not like we had a working record player or anything when I was growing up (I still don’t).

So what gives?

Gary and I last year at my dad’s birthday dinner.

My very first memory, in fact, is his birth.  I’ll tell the story, and then my mom will likely comment and tell me that I’m remembering something else — but it’s the sentiment that counts, right?  I was around two-and-a-half, and I remember being at our old townhouse with my grandma and grandpa.  We got a call from my parents (on an 80’s-tastic brown corded phone with a built-in chalkboard), and I remember being handed the phone and being told that I have a new little brother.

Gary and I, in cuter times.

I was pretty jealous of the new arrival. Being the firstborn of the new generation of both sides, I was fairly used to attention, and he was so fat and cute it was hard for a kid to compete.  Just look:

Here’s another first memory: when I was four, I cut my hair with scissors, and then tried to pin it on Gary, who was actually too little to even hold — let alone work — a pair of scissors.  Gary, I apologize.  I don’t know what I was thinking, but I suppose you were an easy scapegoat.  You still are, in fact.

Gary, happy happy birthday to you, I love you and I’m proud of you, always.

We’re city slickers, we’ve realized!

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

One of these minuses is generally in the form of what I’ve termed “the sidewalk clipboard people,” who like to bother you to give money.  It’s never time or volunteerism.  It’s always money.  And I’ve tried asking if I can do the volunteering — they’re just not interested.

Lately, the main culprits have been Greenpeace.  They stand there in their blue Greenpeace shirts (why are they blue, by the way?  That doesn’t seem to make sense at all…), and like to ask me for money.

As I pass them, I generally start to try avoiding eye contact.  I like to pretend that the most amazing thing ever has just happened on my iPhone, which is why I need to keep intensely staring at it for the 20 seconds needed until I pass them.  But occasionally, they’ll get me anyway.

So, today, I came up with the winning “I’ve got to go, I don’t have time for the environment” excuse.

“Oh, sorry, I have to go.  My girlfriend’s waiting for me.”

I tried it a few more times after, and it definitely works.  Apparently people seem to sympathize with any possible causing of domestic strife, even if it means the degradation of the environment.

Jess is pretty amused by this, especially considering that she’s the most harmless person, well, pretty much ever, and would never get mad at me for anything like that.

So thank you, Jess, for both your kindness and your willingness to let me to use you as an excuse to strangers.

How about getting sick the day before you’re going to go see, in concert, one of your favorite musicians (Tom Petty)?

I was still sick today and had to make the unfortunate “opt-out” call.  I figured that since it was about 100 degrees outside today and I’m already dehydrated, toughing it out was likely not the best decision.

Not coincidentally, this is why you now see this blog.  So perhaps some good did come out of it after all, no?