Twit-like Twittering in the Twilight

Primarily in response to No. 634's post about twitter.

Well, what *I* wanna know is not so much how twitter works, or what client is best, or what it's for, because I think that is easily found and quickly understood. What *I* want to know is: What method is best suited for what purpose?

For example, ABC News did a little twitter expose the night after Obama's speech, to explain twitter to us, but most importantly, why bother? Because DURING Obama's speech, a LOT of the senators and congresspeople were sending tweets while sitting there in the room with Obama. ABC News thought it was interesting (as did I) that all of these people had their heads bent down with their thumbs and fingers clicking away ON THEIR PHONES, sending out tweets about what they were hearing, thinking or who they were seeing...there were a lot of star-struck tweets such as: OMG...Justice Ginsberg is here or whatever (something like that). We know WHAT it is and what it does...but by what means? In the case of the senators/congresspeople, they were using their PHONES. Not to follow anybody else's conversation or to follow a thread or whatever you call those #text terms, but simply to post in a very unidirectional manner. They weren't actually listening/reading anybody else's tweets, they weren't gathering info, taking anything IN (like that's some big surprise! ha). What they were doing was sending info OUT to the world. So that tells me how twitter is used in that situation.

That's the kind of detailed info i seek. Not from you personally, as in privately, but from you as in, how you as a generic Everyman/Everyperson law student, perhaps, is likely to use it, when in class, when back at the dorm, etc. My computing habits differ depending on context and purpose, so I'll do one thing at work and another at home. Well, actually, I'll do the same thing, but use different approaches, different methodologies, in each place.

Anyway, that is what I've been trying to gather more info about. And I disagree with that twitter video that says the primary idea is to answer "What are you doing?" The primary question is actually "What are you paying attention to/reacting to right now?" People tweet much more often about what they're thinking than about what they're actually doing. Who cares what you're doing? Instead, tweet about what's on your mind, and send me that tiny url! Right?

Open Appeal to Twitterheads

I'm trying to get deeper and deeper into twitter. (Sounds x-rated, or w-rated anyway) So, pride, shmide...I'm a tweeter ignoramus and I'm not gonna take it anymore!

Here's an open call to All Twitterheads to PLEASE tell me a trick or two about twitter that helps you love it so. I'm learning slowly, but I think I need people to clue me into some tips or tricks.

Obvious example: twitter is best accessed via COMPUTER, not phone. I base this on the fact that I see a lot of "updated via web" tweets out there.

Anybody disagree?

Computer-based-tweeting is less dynamic, though. I always have to hit refresh on the Home button. Whereas on the phone, the updates I allow to come through to my phone just come on through, dynamically, in real-time. I like that. But there's so much you can't do via the phone's basic SMS functions (I have a Palm Centro).

I just found search.twitter.com. So THAT's how you track all those #searchterm tweets. But again - no dynamic updates. Is the answer to setup an RSS feed from search.twitter.com to Google Reader or something? (starting to feel boxed in by feeds to google reader!)

This is a pretty lame-o post. The last time I appealed for technical assistance to the blogosphere, I got zero, zip, nada response from anybody. Let's see if that record stands this time. Go ahead, I dare ya. Say something. Say something smart. We're waiting.

Bar Exam Karma

For Trannyhead and ambimb: you're in it, right this second. The blogosphere sends you well wishes. All is calm. All is triumphant. You shall reign supreme. You shall pass the bar, puff yourself full of hard-fought and hard-won self-satisfaction (and I say that only because I know that's what I would do and rightfully so), and seldom pass this way again, quite likely. Well, so be it. I'm still cheering for you both. Good luck. Good brain waves. Good results. All for you.

Sahara Special

My daughter has a book report to turn in this Friday. She's been reading (in tiny little fragments) Sahara Special by Esme Raji Codell for the past couple of weeks. The one thing she HAD to do today was finish the book. There were about four chapters remaining. I managed to get a proper lunch on the table and then into our tummies, after which we settled down into my big fluffy bed and we read. I made some progress on Obama's Dreams From My Father and she eventually settled into Sahara Special. I only had to totally yell at her to stop making farting sounds with her mouth once. Progress.

After an hour, Q was ready to move on to the next activity. With just two chapters left to go! This is what kills me. Your one assignment that you MUST FINISH TODAY...c'mon kid...just get the job done already! Geesh. So, I offered to read aloud to her.

Forty minutes and three tissues later, we finished reading the book.

OMG, ya'll. I am such a cry-baby. It is so embarrassing! But this is one seriously good book. Well, I can only speak for the last two chapters. They were powerful. I cried. Like I usually do. I can't imagine what it must be like to have a cry-baby for a mother. I said, "It's really saaaad! Don't you think it's sad?" I got a clear-eyed, steady, "No." for a response.

Fine.

At least she has not inherited this burden of excessive sentimentality from my side of the family. My brother has been known to tear up from watching a McDonald's commercial. We are pussies. (Yeah, I said it. I've earned the right, after a lifetime of weepiness.) You don't know how many times in my life I was desperate to find some private corner in which to hide while an attack of leaky-eye-syndrome overcame me in public. It totally sucks.

As Miss Pointy says in the last chapter: "...the main character is the one who changes." I just hope that Q remains as unsentimental (yet without true snarkiness) throughout her post-pubescent years as she is now. Despite being her own main character, for her sake I hope that part doesn't change.

GarAttitude

GarAttitude...the best thing since Garanimals.

My brother was laid off a couple of weeks ago. That, plus Black Thursday, plus the tens (hundreds?) of thousands of layoffs and lost jobs in all corners of the global economy has forced me to wake up and smell my paycheck.

Really, I'm trying to focus on gratitude. It's kind of a fad these days, actually. There are articles and websites and a somewhat recent book all touting the health benefits of gratitude.

So I'm trying to be grateful for what I have, instead of thinking of what I don't have or what I don't like. So here's an attempt at identifying things that make the glass half full.

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I am very grateful to have a secure, well-paying job. I appreciate knowing that even in these bleak economic conditions, job openings are currently being posted that seek the duties, skills, and expertise required by my current position. That's a big deal. That is not something to ignore. But am I listening?

I'm very grateful that blogger does not charge me anything for this blog. Because it would suck to feel so blogfully incompetent AND go into debt for it.

I'm grateful that twitter lets me ignore it without consequence, unlike Plurk which is really good at making me feel like I suck at being human and I couldn't bum a nickel from a stranger if I had to.

I'm grateful for my house and my family and the sound of my daughter cackling at the 147th episode of Hannah Montana that she's watched today while waiting for mommy to think of things to be grateful for so mommy can finally end this post, step away from the computer and finally fix both of them a decent meal today.

I'm grateful the ground turkey didn't get stuck to the pan when I left it cooking while I snuck back over to the computer to quickly finish this post if I could just think of one more thing to be grateful for.

I'm grateful we don't have a dog, because letting a dog sit around the house all day with nobody home just spells disaster in the form of chewed up woodwork, digestion problems, vet bills, even more pet hair and the guilt I would feel for making it sit around the house all alone all day.

I'm grateful our cars are still under warranty. For the next three months. Maybe four.

I'm grateful my husband has a job, a part time job with lousy hours, so that we don't see him all weekend long, and is barely above minimum wage and has no benefits but brings in almost enough so we only have to use the credit card a little bit each month.

I'm grateful that my husband seems to care about the fact that we have to use the credit card.

I'm grateful I don't eat lunch. Seriously. Lunch is a pain in the butt.

I'm grateful for each and every comment I get on each and every post I dare to publish on this stupid blog that I love, love, love and which has broken my heart at least five times because I was apparently hoping I'd written something full of divinely inspired brilliance and was expecting the validating comments proving as much to come pouring in by the dozens and when that didn't happen I was forced to acknowledge that I just wasn't that interesting afterall.

I'm grateful for the delete key and that sometimes I know when to use it.

I'm grateful we found a girl scout troop without all the drama and stress of the last one and which has a leader who really likes me.

I'm grateful for the DVR's pause button and fast forward features. I really am. Shut up. It's the little things.

I'm grateful I snuck out of work Friday to go to a lunch thing with my mom and that she felt good enough to go and that we both found the energy to mix and mingle a little bit.

I'm grateful my parents live nearby, are alive and well and don't need in-home care and can still drive. And are able - and willing - to swing by school and pick up Q when I leave the office too late to make it to afterschool pickup by 6pm.

I'm grateful that the worst thing I can think of is that I stay at my current job for the next couple of decades. Cry me a river, already. If that's the worst thing I got going on, I'm fine.

I'm grateful that the whole law school question remains in the realm of fantasy for the moment, that I can research my options without jeopardizing my family's welfare.

I'm grateful for every contact, every supportive word I've found through blogging. I'm grateful for the money I've saved on therapy because of blogging. I'm grateful for avoiding the many fights my husband and I might have had if I hadn't already expressed my thoughts and feelings on the blog so that I didn't try to share them with him only to have him walk away for the thousandth time and totally piss me off because I suddenly find myself talking to an empty room in mid-sentence.

I'm grateful for the opportunity to be inspired. To get out of my own head. To feel connected.

I'm grateful for Cadbury mini-eggs, too.

Yes, the answer is 43

A lawyer friend of mine told me law school sucked because it really comes down to opinion and how well you argue it. There are no absolutes, there are no ultimate truths. You're not right or wrong. You're just persuasive. So, in this hypo, is there a right answer in terms of an exact number of liabilities to be identified?

(from here) ... Finding Nemo tort hypothetical:

Marlin, a clown fish, discovers a pair of snorkeler goggles. Marlin's friend Dory, greatly desirous of the goggles, grabs the goggles from him; Marlin grabs back. In the course of the struggle, Marlin accidentally lets go of the goggles. They hit Dory in the face, causing a nosebleed. Assume that Dory has no title to the goggles.

Blood from Dory's nose wafts up to Bruce, a shark and recovering blood addict. Marlin and Dory are well aware of Bruce's addiction. They are further aware that blood causes sharks to go crazy. The blood induces an insane rage in Bruce, who then chases after Marlin and Dory, destroying property from a derelict ship (owned by Ships, Inc.) along the way. Bruce's chase also causes enormous emotional distress to Marlin. Dory, a more relaxed fish, simply takes Bruce's insane rage in stride.

Marlin and Dory flee into a torpedo shaft. Neither of them are aware that the metal cylinder behind them is a torpedo; nor are they aware that the "balloons" outside the derelict ship are mines. They are in no danger within the torpedo shaft, but Bruce continues to rage outside. Rather than waiting for Bruce's blood lust to wane, Dory triggers a switch that causes the torpedo to slide out, jamming itself in Bruce's mouth and causing at least one broken tooth. (Bruce, however, regularly regrows broken teeth.)

In an attempt to rid himself of the torpedo, Bruce swings his head back and forth. Unfortunately, his final swing hurls the torpedo out over the minefield. Unlike Marlin and Dory, Bruce is aware of the mines outside the derelict ship. The torpedo hits one of the mines, and they all explode. The derelict ship, which already lies on the bottom of the sea floor, is knocked into a nearby trench, causing more destruction. The mines are all obliterated. On the surface of the ocean, a pelican is disturbed by the gaseous discharge from the explosion.

Who may be liable to whom, for what, and why? Please note: Dory is perhaps mentally incapacitated due to her lack of short-term memory, and Bruce has a history of childhood neglect. If your legal conclusion depends on additional facts not provided here, identify those facts and discuss how they would affect your analysis.

On Choosing Yourself Over Your Child

LSAT studying has not really been happening for me. I just will not get less than seven hours of sleep a night (I often get eight hours). So that's constraint number one. And going to the office for eight to nine hours a day is contraint number two. (Unless I could study online for the LSAT. That'd be the only way I could sneak it into my work day.) And keeping Q on schedule pretty much eats up most of the evening, until after 9pm. She just will not or can not settle down and go to sleep like she used to. It's very frustrating and tiring.

By 9:30 (lately it's been closer to 10pm) I'm tired and my attention is fractured. Plus, if I'm ever going to finish Obama's first book, then I need to put in at least half an hour of reading. After doing that, it's time for bed.

The most obvious solution, although some risk of discovery exists, is to stay late at the office and study from 5-7 and get home around 8 (which then allows my husband time to go to the gym). But that means almost no quality time with Q throughout the week. It means not knowing the meaningful bits and pieces of what's going on in my kid's life. This is a major stumbling block.

When do you let go of the little details of your child's experiencing the world? How do you stand aside, focus more on yourself, and know that the nuances of today will not be known to you?