“That’s What You Get” by Paramore

“Call Me” by Blondie

“Fast As You Can” by Fiona Apple

“Space Oddity” by David Bowie (he’s androgynous enough to fit the category today, I think)

Me: Happy Romygras!
Romy: Thanks. I’ve already had a PB&J and now I just need to steal something.

Well, look no further. Paper.li is here. Sign up for an account (it takes all of 15 seconds), and within a minute you’ll be creating your very own online newspaper. Paper.li looks at your Twitter stream, and the stream of people you follow to create an organized page of news for you to read. The page is divided up into various sections, like media, entertainment, education, technology, and a whole host of other topics relevant to the content being aggregated.

But it gets better! You can create more than one paper! I started out creating one based on my own Twitter account, but you can also create more based on #hashtags, and other Twitter users and shared lists.

Some examples:
A paper based on my Twitter feed: Erik Bates Daily
One based on people most influential in Tech: Most Influential in Tech Daily
News about the Oil Spill: #oilspill Daily

Pretty cool, huh?

1. I don’t need to be as connected to the whole social networking universe as I think I do.
2. I’m just this guy, you know?  Being connected to all these people who have, at most, a marginal relationship to me does nothing for me.

I admit, I have learned a few things about higher-ed trends through my interactions on Twitter, but I have had remarkably few insights, connections, or any actual “networking” as a result of my Twitter adventures.

Ok, so this blog that I’ve started and stopped, ad nauseum, over the years is just another vain attempt at internet fame.  Unlike Paul Carr from TechCrunch, I don’t make money from sharing my personal experiences.  Honestly, I don’t have any real reason for updating this website (and, as is quite obvious, I suck at it, anyway).

I looked back at my various twitter posts, and, let’s face it, I haven’t said anything of real interest in the over 2000 posts I’ve written.  And really, how much can someone really say in 140 characters?  I think that when Twitter started, the idea that 140 characters would force people to say what they needed to say succinctly, and not draw it out into a lengthy blog post.  However, more often than not, it’s turned into a variation of some of the following scenarios:

1. Confusing, out-of-context posts that have no meaning, and are completely self-serving. What was once a narrative blog entry about someone’s terrible day that gives you context, and a connection to the author, has now become a single tweet: “Worst. Day. Ever.“
2. Attempts to sound philosophical and deep by making profound 140-character statements. Thanks for the advice, Steve, but you’re really not sharing anything new or groundbreaking, here.
3. Auto-tweets that advertise a new blog post.  These aren’t so bad, really.  If that’s all you do, though, I think you’re missing the point of Twitter.
4. Real, meaningful networking.  Asking questions, answering questions, making announcements, and creating a true network of like-minded (or at least similarly interested) individuals.
5. Spam.

Other social networking endeavors produce much of the same result.  Checking-in with Foursquare or Gowalla: what’s the point?  Ok, so I’m checking-in at this amazing bar in St. Louis.  Awesome.  98% of my Twitter followers ³ are not from St. Louis, and of those that are, they’re not going to see my check-in and say, “Shit!  Erik’s at The Royale!  Let’s go!”  At most, it produces a response of, “Oh, I like that place.”

Personally, I’d like to see what my friends and family are up to and hear the stories about it.  You went to the Royale?  Awesome.  Who else was there?  Did they have a good drink special? Band playing? Take any pictures?  These are the kinds of things that just can’t be squeezed into a micro-blogging format.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not dropping Twitter.  I’m still going to post random crap that probably falls into the above-listed scenarios, although I am going to try to cut back a bit and make more thoughtful contributions (or random crap that makes me look like a hypocrite when put into the perspective of this post).  I did drop the location-based stuff, because it just didn’t make any sense to me.  I’ve made the decision to update my blog more often.  Partially to let friends and family know what’s going on.  Partially for me to keep a record for myself.  And, partially because I know that some day I’m going to come up with some profound philosophical idea that I absolutely must share with the world to create my internet fame.

Just for the record, the pictures on their website just don’t do the place justice.  Our hostess, Lynn, was incredibly friendly, helpful, and funny.  If/when we ever head back to wine country again, we will definitely be staying there!

While in the area, we visited several wineries: Montelle, Augusta, Mount Pleasant, Sugar Creek, and Chandler Hill.  We tasted some real good wine, and bought a few bottles to bring home.  In all, it was a very good, relaxing “weekend” (Wednesday-Thursday, actually).