When I was younger I thought I’d be living the life of the Jetson family by now.  I pictured living in my high (high high high) rise condo with flying cars and a robot maid to do my dishes, laundry and clean the floors.  Yeah, even then I knew I’d hate cleaning floors.  As a child growing up in a time when books, movies and even cartoons had a heavy sci-fi leaning I thought I was prepared for the future culture, but that wasn’t so.

My contemporaries and I were prepared for flying cars, teleportation, instant meals, robots, replicants, virtual reality and snazzy jumpsuits.  And while Star Trek may have touched on the moral gray area of the holodeck I don’t seem to recall my sci-fi upbringing touching on the etiquette and moral implications of instant mass communication.  There was no “How to behave on social networks” manual being passed around.  It seemed to sneak into our culture and then explode. Like any community, sites have laws, rules or codes of conduct.  But those are legal issues.  Technical issues.  There are trolls and hostile users and spammers.  But those are not the etiquette issues of which I’m writing.

I’m thinking of people finding out a loved one is dead because someone posted it on facebook.  Mothers learning they’ll become grandmothers because someone blogged about it.  Kids finding out their parent is in the hospital because a family member tweeted it in passing.  In this age of instant communication do we need a manners lesson?  How would I feel if I learned something life altering about my daughter, father, mother, sibling or loved one because of a status update?

Like shit.

Yet I see it over and over again.  My family is just as guilty as any other and I’ve seen hurt feelings running rampant.  And with good reason, people behave thoughtlessly and someone is bound to be wounded.

Is this an issue of navigating the future world we live in or just a matter of common decency?  While having a thick skin isn’t such a bad idea, I think it’s important that we find a way to navigate the world keeping others in mind and find a way to teach future generations to do the same.

Or we can all become part machine.   You know, whichever.

This is not the first note I’ve written to you today, dear laptop.  Earlier I asked why you won’t add a period when I double space after a sentence.  It’s not like I was holding you personally responsible.  It’s not like I thought it was JUST you.  It’s the entire computing industry.  I’m just so used to that double space period when I type on my phone.  It’s a feature of my mobile device that I find intuitive, helpful and charming.

Maybe I was a bit harsh when I asked you to be more like my smaller handheld computing device.  Maybe I wasn’t thinking of your feelings.  But to be fair, laptop, you’re a laptop.  You’re not really supposed to have “feelings” per say.  We’re not living in the movie Terminator.  Or in Matrix.  You machines haven’t taken over the world.  Yet.

Now I know you’ve been fragile for a while.  I know you’re on your last legs so to speak… but if you could just hold out a little longer?  Instead of pulling the whack-a-doodle shit you were doing earlier today?  Instead of heaving, chugging, running your fan at a high pitched whine and then shutting down for no good reason could you just, well I don’t know, not do all that stuff?  Now is not a good time for you to die.  Okay?

Please?

I’ll try to only say the nicest things.  Really.

With love (and trepidation),
Cami

I have a problem you guys.  I’ve been aware of it for a while but fairly unwilling to admit it.  At first I couldn’t even admit it to myself.  It didn’t even occur to me to admit it to myself.  And then when it did occur to me I was horrified.  Mortified.  In a state of complete disbelief.

Stunned.

But I have admitted it to myself.  I even discussed it with a friend.  The fact of the matter is, guys, I like facebook.

Ohmyfuckinggawdhellinamotherfuckinghandbasket I can’t believe I just typed that.  Let’s take a deep breath.

Inhale.  Hold it.  Hold it.  Exhale.

Okay.  I said it.  I like facebook.  I’ve said so many times that I don’t.  I’ve even stated that I hate it.  Intense dislike.  That used to be the feeling I associated with it.  Really.  I said so on a podcast.  Multiple podcasts.  I may have even said it here but I can’t be sure and I’m too lazy to go check.  I’d rather just write this post and hang my head in shame.

My name is Cami and I like facebook.

You see I’m really kind of a twitter girl.  I love twitter and have since the moment I met it.  It’s so simple and smooth and accessible.  And facebook and twitter?  They were not the same.  They are not the same.  They’re different separate things that have nothing to do with one another.

And I like twitter.  But like I said… oh help me I’m going to say it again… I like facebook.

Now before you think I’m all crazy let me clarify something.  I like facebook, but not all of it.  It’s the like function.  I like liking.  I really like liking.  It’s a functionality that should be built into more sites and applications.  Instagram, for example, has made excellent use of the like function.  And I love Instagram.

There’s something so satisfying and simple about liking something.  I don’t have to think of a clever comment.  I don’t have to have anything to say.  I’m not required to have anything to add.  I can just say “Hey, I like this.”

And that is fucking awesome.  Okay… I’m done.  Go about your business.

It’s been a good long while since I had a geeky post but yesterday… oh yesterday Netflix released a “Watch Instantly” player for iPhone.

Oh how it’s been something I longed for.  Wanted.  Needed.  Had to have.  I mean I’m not entirely sure how often I’m going to need to stream movies or TV shows to my tiny little phone but the fact of the matter is?  NOW I CAN.  And really that’s what’s important.

At least that’s what I told myself as I was laying in bed yesterday morning checking out the app (which is available to download for free if you’re running iPhone OS 4).  I was still nestled all snug in my bed watching season 7 episode 1 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and it gave me a big old warm fuzzy.  No, not because that’s the season when Spike has a soul.  Because I have a brand shiny new toy.  One that I don’t have to pay anything additional for.

I already have my iPhone.  I already have my Netflix. Now I have a fancy new media viewing device.

Also? I’m totally blind without my contacts in so I can’t see my TV from bed anyway.

I’m pretty tech savvy.  Ish.  I know my way around my laptop.  I can troubleshoot my own problems.  I know how to restart things and back things up and smash them against the wall when need be… but there are some things that I am just not equipped to handle.  At all.  In any way shape or form.

Like when my computer overlord starts to tell me everything I’m doing as I’m doing it.  Announcing each program I access, each file that is selected, reading the little notices to me.  It even announced to me when tweetdeck had a new window pop up.  I don’t need notifications on my twitter notifications!!!

And then… then it wouldn’t stop.  I felt like my computer overlord was monologue-ing trying to keep me distracted while the rest of the computers slowly started sneaking up on the city of Portland.  Okay… maybe that’s not what I thought.  What I really thought was “Shit! What combination of buttons did I accidentally press while attempting to do a screen capture that made my computer start talking in an obnoxious robot voice and what combination of buttons do I press to make it stop… and can I finish what I’m doing before it drives me insane?”

The answer was no.

I started pushing buttons.  I started pushing more buttons.  I tried to turn the sound off.  Yeah.  That didn’t work.  Apparently with the talking comes the inability to change the volume level.  What the hell computer?  What the hell.  So I shut down what I was working on.  Sent a panicked message asking WTF to do to fix this and restarted my darling little macbook thinking that would surely do the job.

Yeah.  No.  It didn’t.

Luckily by the time my computer started back up I’d received instructions on how to make it stop (oh please for the love of technology make it stop).

Which brings me to my point.  While I can find my way around the computer world just fine thank you very much, more importantly I always know when to stop and ask for help.

Which is kind of often.  Maybe.

07/08 The day I got my Mac

I was thinking moments ago as I picked up my laptop in one hand and wandered into the next room with it, about the time before the laptop.  Not so much historically before the laptop but more personally.  I recall having only one computer in the house as a teenager.  We didn’t have a computer at all when I was a kid, unless you count our Atari or that “computer” that my brother played Robin Hood on until he spilled Grape Soda on it.

I remember when I got my first laptop, it wasn’t too long ago.  I’d laid my hands on laptops hundreds of times, but until I was married, with a kid and had moved into this house I did not have one of my own.  Mike had one that I used while I was pregnant.  It was enormous and weighed like 20 pounds.  The fan was loud and always on and it would get hot to the touch within 20 minutes of use… but since I spent the better part of those 8 months in bed, even that laptop was a luxury.

When I picked up my laptop this morning though, as I was writing something and referencing 3 other things, my mind went back to writing reports and having to move my work location long ago… before the laptop.  Even if I had to move 10 feet away it was a huge struggle to pack up books and notebooks, pens and whatever else I was using.  If I was using a computer it wasn’t a pain in the ass it was just impossible.

Sometimes I’m a little sad that we never caught up to the Jetsons, that we don’t have transporters or holodecks, but then I think about just how recently the light bulb was invented in the grand scheme of things and I clutch my laptop and iPhone to my breast and sing them sweet praises…

I mean it… I really love my laptop.

This little piece of blogging gold is going to be written in the time it takes my iPhone to update.  I’m starting about a minute late so I figure that when it’s done I’ll have a minute to close up shop and if need be make a stunning summation of the post and my daily activities as of late.

Daily activities that have been largely out of the ordinary for me.

Seriously, as bad of a housekeeper as I claim to be, as much as I put off laundry and scrubbing floors…  I think in general I do a bang up job of keeping this house from falling apart.  I’m basing this on the fact that I spent Tuesday getting ready for 3 days of out of the house podcasting, running errands and clinging to my freshly on summer vacation child.  Wednesday morning I got up at the ass crack of painfully early, which for those in need of a tangible measure of time means 5:20 AM.  To be fair my alarm started going off at 5 on the nose but I was lucky that Mike chose to grab the first shower and I got a few minutes of snooze time.  From there it was go go go as we…

Oh shit that was a lot quicker than I thought!!!  My iPhone is updated and now restarting… quick let me tell you what I did.  Two full days podcasting at a conference, plus attending a wonderful story telling event, then a podcast show at an afterparty plus beer&blog and then I had to go to Whiffies and get a pie at 1 AM because that’s what you do in Portland at 1 AM when you’re hungry and you’ve just done a podcast on the top floor of the Hilton downtown (phone hasn’t started back up yet I still totally have a moment).

Today I am going to try to jam all the domestic stuff that never got done in, plus tacos which no doubt means margaritas.  Mike has to get all the editing he can into today because tomorrow is Father’s day and there’s no way he’s going to get away with that tomorrow and now my time is up.

I’ll let you know how the update is next week…  oh and pictures… xoxo

I’m going to save the grumblings on how I’ve been the victim of theft not just once, but twice already this year for another day, and instead talk about something wonderful.  Something glorious.  Something downright helpful that happened right here in the city I call my home.

Community.

Oh yes, I know I’ve said a thing or two about it in the past, I’ve sung the praises of the Portland tech community and the twittersphere… so try not to be surprised, but I’m going to do it again.

On Saturday Cube Space played host to an awesome event called End Bloglessness.  It was put on by the good people at Beer & Blog and was staffed by some wonderful volunteers, there are too many for me to name (especially since I didn’t make note of who all was there, sorry… my bad).  You may find yourself wondering what goes on at an event called “End Bloglessness”.  I bet you can’t guess.

They weren’t teaching children not to pick their noses in public (though humanity could certainly benefit from that).

They weren’t teaching people how to bake sough dough bread (though a friend brought me a sour dough starter that I may have already killed).

They weren’t training cats to fly tiny airplanes (and for that I’m thankful).

They were helping people set up and upgrade their blogs.  For free.  With beer.  That was free.

I headed over about an hour after the event started.  I didn’t go for the beer as I’m not much of a beer drinker and I already have a blog so you may be asking “Why?  Why did you go to End Bloglessness Cami?”

I went because I wondered if somehow I might be able to help someone and I was hoping that someone there would be able to help me implement a blog for Dr Normal within the pages of the Strange Love Live site.  Plus it was a Saturday and I had no other plans so I wanted to go and ogle some fellow geek girls.  It’s just something I like to do.

In one respect I think I was pretty much a failure.  I don’t recall helping anyone.  I showed someone where the kitchen was, forced a friend to eat dinner with me, ate some wonderful alienveggie bread and looked at semi naked pictures of the bread’s baker…  Those things may have been helpful in some regard but I don’t think I actually helped anyone with a blog.  But by not helping anyone, I’ve also ensured that I didn’t steer anyone in the wrong direction.

My other aims, setting up a blog page for Dr Normal off the Strange Love Live main page and checking out the geek girlies, let’s just say those went very well.

If you follow the Portland Tech scene at all then this episode needs no introduction… This week we talked with the ever charming Rick Turoczy. Check out the tech episode and then our after hours show where we not only talk to Rick, but also discuss the many uses of my Vidoop hard hat and chat with our fab studio audience.

Enjoy!

Strange Love Tech

Strange Love Afterhours

as always you can listen to the show here, download them or subscribe so that you can always be the first to know when we’ve put out a new episode…

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Join us Friday the 1st at 10 PM for another live episode of Strange Love, this time I chat with my cousin Mie as we catch up and fill out postcards to friends around the world.

Can a Mac and a PC live together in harmony? Let’s find out as we chat with the geek girl of my heart, Verso:

as always you can listen to the show here, download it or subscribe so that you can always be the first to know when we’ve put out a new episode…

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Join us Friday 25th at 10 PM for another live and lovely episode of Strange Love with the ever vigilant narrator of the Portland tech scene, Rick Turoczy.