State of the Union

I’ve decided to try a “new” journalistic tact to provide some more unique content to our little slice of the blogosphere.

My creative juices tend to flow best just as I reach the state of tiredness that makes my basic functions difficult and renders most everything hilarious. Said juices tend to flow freely just after midnight and return to a sporadic trickle just before dawn.

My circadian rhythm appears fatally flawed.

None the less, I shall bring you these ramblings- which may or may not be the continued makings of my first book- as they appear the day after.

It wouldn’t be true “gonzo” journalism if I edited them, so I’ll try to avoid the temptation to tinker, but I fear my maniacal alter-ego “the editor” may continue to inflict his knowledge upon us all.

Here are the initial impressions from POTUS' big talk, virtually unedited:


Get off the Goddamn Internets (sic) man! It’s rotting your brain from the outside in. A beautifully useful tool, yes, but there are so many fools shouting at the same time the cacophony sometimes drowns out what really matters.

As if I didn’t have enough reason to despise the dumbing down of America known as Twitter, seeing elected officials on their Blackberry’s “tweeting” during the State of the Union address puts me on edge.

I’m a 24-year-old man who has grown up squarely in the age of technology, and even I know there are times when it’s not appropriate to be on your damn phone.

I don’t even answer my phone during dinner, yet these people feel it’s totally appropriate to send messages during a speech by the President?

It’s not just any speech either, it’s the most important speech of the year hands down. For a public speaking nerd like me, it’s not unlike a huge sporting event.

Obama’s first State of the Union was a pretty good one too. It was like the previous guy’s eligibility was finally up and this year for the big game we finally had a quarterback who could throw (and didn’t fumble as much).

Obama shines under the bright lights of the big stage, and while his prose was a bit lengthy, I thought overall it was well thought out and presented.

I’m not commenting so much on the policies, those seemed to be a mixed bag. Even the general tenor of the speech was a bit too arrogant for my tastes. All this, “America! We’re #1!” nonsense is just that. However, it’s just so utterly delightful to listen to a speaker who can actually speak.

The cynical bastard will reply, “Oh well he has a teleprompter.”

To that, I must remind you he’s reading a speech that’s over an hour long on national television in front of ostensibly the entire nation. I’m not sure John and Jane Q. Public could hack that.

Dude I'm So Yammered

Repeat after me: "I, state your name, will not twitter or tweet. I shall only yammer or yam." If you think you're confused put yourself in the shoes of my company's employees earlier this week.

We are by no means an "old" company - the average age is probably somewhere in the lower 30s - but the concept of "yammering" certainly seemed foreign to many of our employees.

During a professional development session earlier this week we were all instructed that we were about to embark on a 60-day pilot program within our company using twitter's business companion: Yammer.

Founded by former executives and early employees of PayPal, eGroups, eBay, and Tribe Yammer aims to loosen ties, kick off shoes, and let employees kick back in their chairs while answering one simple question: "What are you working on?"

I find it pleasantly ironic that the very day Justin posted his anti-Twitter article was when I was introduced to Twitter's sibling. In its most literal sense Yammer is Twitter for corporations.

Just as Twitter users can customize their homepages so too can companies on Yammer.

According to Yammer's homepage, more than 40,000 businesses worldwide use the program including Adobe, Hill & Knowlton, Starcom MediaVest Group, and Deloitte.

Below is an interview with Yammer CEO David Sacks. While the video is a tad outdated (September 2008) it does provide a solid outline of what the product is all about.

Yammer is available online in web browsers but also has a desktop application (my personal preference), an iPhone app (also handy), and more.

With all that said, I remain firm that the only Twitter interaction I will ever have is the occasional glance at what Charlie Weis is up to.

Twitter and The Death of the American Dream

I would like to go on record officially as saying that I fully believe Twitter to be a useful waste of time.

The whole concept essentially boils down to a network that proliferates glorified away messages. Cooping up the brains of our youth in the context of 140 characters (including spaces) is hardly conducive to catching America up to the rest of the world.

And yes, I assure you we are squarely behind the eight ball as a nation. Just turn on the news once in a while.

So my point returns to the damn Twitter. Instead of a "Hey! Follow us on Twitter!" we will be putting a non-twitter logo on the right side to ward off greedheads and illiterate bums.

Thank you, and enjoy your continued travels around the Internet.