Everyone, and I mean everyone, is welcome to follow me on Twitter. That’s not exactly an earth-shattering statement, but according to many Twitter users, some followers are less desirable than others.
- Porn bots – Twitter accounts that have a scantily clad avatar, are following 1,000-2,000 people, and have ten tweets that are variations of “come see me naked”.
- Spammers – people that use sponsored tweet services, people that send automatic (impersonal) direct messages, and whose tweets are nothing but affiliate links.
- Marketers – people that don’t spam, but still tweet “too much” about deals or products they’ve found online.
- Generally untrustworthy people – this is a vague category, but one that has been gaining traction among some of the people that I follow. When a user doesn’t have a properly filled out Bio or uses a URL shortening service in their Web link, they are deemed untrustworthy. According to Will, ”in my experience, no bio = planning to spam.”
All of these are valid complaints… I suppose. The thing is, I don’t care who follows me. I never block anyone. I don’t automatically follow anyone back. When I get a new follower notice in my email inbox, I don’t often click through. I don’t waste any of my time on these activities. Since I don’t follow the porn bots and the spammers when they follow me, I don’t have to read their junk in my Twitter stream. They can’t send me Direct Messages. They do not impact my Twitter usage at all.
No wasted time + no impact on my stream = I don’t care who follows me. Continue Reading >
Tagged as:
Nobody cares who's on your follower list.
While they are always quick to deliver things that I have little interest in, when it comes to stuff I really really want, UPS makes me suffer. Now, I have proof that it’s intentional. The following is an authentic*, accurate* and true* transcript of a phone conversation that took place last week between representatives of UPS and NewEgg.com.
NewEgg: Hello, this is Martha. How may I direct your call?
UPS: Department X, please.
There’s a short pause, then a click.
NewEgg: This is Vinny. What’s the order number?
UPS: [xxx]87687
NewEgg: Okay, got it. That’s going to Daniel M. Clark in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
UPS: Right. And is this something that he’s really, really looking forward to, do you think?
NewEgg: Oh, totally. This is a cool piece of tech, I’m sure he would be upset if he… let’s see… yeah, he paid for 3-day select, and he’d probably be upset if he didn’t get it on the third day.
UPS: Hm. We’ll think about that. We usually try to deliver on the last day possible to this guy, so if he chose Ground, it would’ve been day seven instead of day four. Still, we’ll make sure we don’t deliver until the very end of the day so he can’t leave the house for fear of missing us. That always cracks us up here at the office.
NewEgg: Sounds good!
*This was not authentic, accurate or true. But it wouldn’t surprise me if it was. I’m still waiting for my delivery, and it’s almost four in the afternoon.
[Update!] UPS dropped off my package at 5:20. Good thing I’m residential and not business, or they would’ve missed their window.
Tagged as:
FedEx is no better,
they all hate me
My son, Ian, is just a day over 9 months old. Like his big sister, Ian will be taught some sign language as he grows up. No, he’s not deaf; he’s not hearing impaired in the least. Signing with infants in the months before they can talk is awesome.
Sign language is wonderful for relieving stress and anxiety due to lack of verbal communication skills in infants and toddlers. Even if the child doesn’t learn much more than “milk” and “more”, he’ll be able to communicate one of his basic needs.
We taught our daughter, Winter, sign language using the Signing Time DVD series and a few selections from My Baby Can Talk. In my opinion, although the My Baby Can Talk series is nice, it’s not as personable as the Signing Time series. Signing Time, created by and starring Rachel Coleman – along with her daughter Leah and nephew Alex – is a treat. The cast is friendly and energetic, and the kids are a joy to watch.
To kick off this series documenting Ian’s education in sign language, I’m putting up just a couple of photos. As he gets a little older and is able to start controlling his hands, I’ll be posting video. I want every parent who hears about baby sign language to see firsthand how effective it is and how beneficial it can be for kids with and without the ability to hear.
Ian watches Volume 4 of Signing Time
He loves that remote!
We don’t normally sit him that close to the TV, of course… that was just for the picture!
Do you have any experience with baby sign language? I’d love to hear about it!
Tagged as:
Baby Sign Language,
it's a hell of a lot better than Barney,
signing time
Geek Dads @ Home episode #30 is available at GeekDadsAtHome.com and in the iTunes store. That’s right, 30! The big three-oh. Now, you’d think that for a show that debuted last December, we’d be a lot further along than 30, but that’s the life of a geek dad: we miss recording some weeks. Our 30th was a good one, though. We talked a lot about services and products that we recommend, the kids walking and crawling, and the importance of backing up your family photos (I’ll have a lengthy article about that shortly). As they say, “all that and more!”
Oddly, I didn’t realize that my microphone wasn’t picking me up and I was being recorded on my MacBook Pro’s internal microphone, so it’s a little echo-y on my end. Not my finest technical achievement. Still, we had a good time, and I hope you enjoy it.
Tagged as:
30 is too a real anniversary!,
back your stuff up,
hard drive failures suck
Dear Albertson’s checkout lady,
The store’s current promotion is a fine deal: customers receive one stamp for every ten dollars they spend, and when they collect enough stamps they may trade them in for a piece of cookware. I’ve participated in a few Albertson’s promotions in the past. I own a nice chef’s knife and a fantastic wok that I use quite a lot.
I know that when a store runs a promotion, the clerks are supposed to enforce the rules. I know that if my total comes to $52.65 I should expect to be given five stamps. If my total comes to $48.73, I expect four stamps.
My total today was $89.91. You gave me eight stamps. I know you’re following the rules to the letter, but it was nine cents. I didn’t make a big deal about it; I didn’t even mention it, in fact. But I’ll remember. This might not be the thing that gets me to shop at the Smith’s across the street, but enough of these little things can add up to a customer switching stores. Take a little initiative. Make the customer happy with a little extra kindness above and beyond the letter of the law – or promotional rules. No manager in his right mind will fire you, or even reprimand you, for putting a smile on the face of a customer who came nine cents short for a sticker.
Little things count.
Tagged as:
Nine cents. NINE CENTS!
