Funny ad .. but how true can any ‘attack style’ advertising be? They are over-exaggerating the Googdangers to try to change the transfer of your dollars from someone else’s pockets back into their own. Has Microsoft ever killed a feature, moved a menu around, changed the way things used to work (ahem .. vista, word ribbon ..)? Can I get an ‘upgrade’ from the audience? Has a cool product ever just been scrapped? What ever happened to Bob? He seemed nice. Ever make a program obsolete? Try to make everyone ‘upgrade’ simply because they want you to try out a new operating system.They seem to be stuck on ‘how can so much of it be free’ – as in no charge, without exchange of dollars, open. The concept is simple. Remember broadcast TV? You know, the old kind before cable and satellite and internet. They paid for the service by selling advertising! We got to watch shows without cost over the air by permitting ourselves to become their product rather than their customer. Of course, in order to keep ‘us’ as products, they had to provide fabulous (enough) content so that we would keep watching. Ever hear of Nielsen ratings? It is in Google’s best interest to keep providing excellent (enough) products so that we continue to function as their products for their paying advertisers as we consume their Googcontent and use their ‘free’ Googservices.

I bought a Kindle 3 last year. Long story: it was lost for a while in a third world country (Bonaire), but eventually found it’s way home to me. Meanwhile, my daughters sprang for a replacement Kindle Touch for me for Christmas. Thanks Kids! So .. I (am supposed to) have two. It usually works out great, as I have two pockets in my suit jacket that they fit into quite well. It is often convenient to have two references open at once at church or in study. Mostly, they are used as replacement scriptures and lesson manuals and whatever. The bells and whistles of other devices fade in comparison to the crystal ink, usability and readability of my Kindles and they save me from lugging around my old 40 lb Samsonite briefcase.

Anyway, I have a Kindle Touch and a Kindle 3. Last week, the Kindle 3 disappeared shortly after our return from church. It was eventually found next to my computer under another book. Hmmm. This weekend the Kindle Touch also disappeared and eventually miraculously appeared under my daughters pillow in her room. Ahhh. So .. perhap we need some kind of GPS tracking device or a clapper/beeper function to be able to locate lost or stolen devices like this. THAT would be cool ..

I came back from lunch and my co-worker commented, "Hmmm .. you smell fruity." Yup, I had just grabbed a mandarin and peeled and then ate it on the way back from my lunch break. My first thought was, just where was the comma (if any) placed? I love our native tongue, but it has to be cooked properly first to be truly enjoyed. "You, smell fruity" is a command, "You smell, fruity" is a comment on my personal hygiene plus the addition of a new nickname, and "You smell fruity" could just be a nice observation on my new cologne. Language always was my worst subject, I look so much better on paper. You also have to listen for the snark-mark and decide if they are saying it in a threatening, amused, or angry manner. No wonder no one understands me. And that smells .. fruity.

I am a man. I don’t much care for flowers or chocolates or special moments. I come to Valentines Day kicking and screaming (silently to myself in my noisy troubled mind). My youngest daughter is 13. She seems to like the idea of ‘Valentines’. Last week, about the 12th or 13th of the month she came in to breakfast to greet me with this comment; “My valentine mailbox has been on the top of the piano for a week now, and I don’t see any cards from you in it .. yet.”. Next year she will be 14 and will probably be off to a school dance or something and too busy to care about her poor parents sitting home alone .. on Valentines! OK, so I brought home some red and white and pink cards for her and her Mom and some chocolate treats. They seemed to enjoy the moment.

I can’t settle on a favorite platform to post my insights on. I like Joomla but all my Joomla websites enjoy the almost exact look and feel. OK for ‘my’ sites, but not everyone wants to look just like me (he he). I am also testing out tumblr and twitter and facebook and google+ and even wordpress and weebly and google sites.This post was originally on tumblr which should have forwarded to twitter which should be passed on my 3 friends at facebook, but getting that content back from those sites to links on my websites is unnecessarily awkward. I usually end up double posting the content back where it should end up .. like here .. when I get time. Joomla is a CMS that I never use as one, because I really only have those 3 friends. So most of my sites end up like a large personal blog. Setting up a Joomla site for others to use has been less than successful due to the need to train users in entering passwords and basic html code. Their eyes start crossing and I have to back them slowly away from the computer screen.