Facebook is like a series clubhouse. You invite people in, you get invited to other people’s clubhouses, you share things… like posters of movie stars you idolize. You keep people out that you don’t care for.

Twitter is like a caffeteria. You bring people to your table to listen to what they have to say (follow). Others can bring you to there table to listen to (followers). You don’t have to pay attention to everyone at your table, you can listen in to other table conversations, and you can take people aside into the hallway (DM).

But why?

Why do we choose to do this?

Packing Tape Practical Joke by L. Marie

This wordpress blog is the new home of my online persona/brand.

I have been running around online and in Boston meeting all sorts of people. I want to keep and touch and share whatever I can. I hope that my blog can help others to get to know me and perhaps help them out in their projects.

Like so many others, I am working on both professional, non-profit, and other projects. I love to experiment in the space between online tools and real life gatherings.

So in other words, my days are full of fun and work…

Dear Awesome Trustees and other affiliated Awesome People,

I would like to openly submit my name for consideration for the position of Dean of Awesome. I believe I have the skills and time to help spread the word and continue to build the community of Awesome that you have begun.

In regards to my experience, please see my linked in page here:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/guidostein

Please see the people who recommend me for the position of Dean of Awesome here:
http://twitter.com/#search?q=guido4dean

Three years ago I had a dream about how community could be fostered around fiber activities (knitting/crocheting/etc) in Boston. There are a powerful amount of fiber folks online and in the Boston area. It was time to bring the community together and celebrate the common interest as well as the things that make us unique.

To this end I worked on building a Guild, Common Cod Fiber Guild, which meets once every other month. With the guild we have created talks, fashion shows, and most recently (see photo to left) we put on FiberCamp Boston, the first un-conference for fiber folks.

I want to bring this kind of vision and social experimentation to your group. I want to see what your community looks like and how it can manifest itself. I want to be, Dean of Awesome.

I love her and miss her.

This morning I read an article in the Boston Globe(paper copy) that stated “Senators eliminate end-of-life provision“. For those of you who don’t know, the provision in question allows for patients to speak to their doctors about their medical options when dealing with death in the current health care reform bill that is currently being fought over debated.

This really depresses me.

Basically, opponents of this provision have turned this into a question of putting old people down like pets. They refer to it as the “death panel” provision. The fear here is that if the government gets involved in health care the choice of who gets care will also include a choice of who will be killed off for the betterment of the nation.

How is it that this issue is being dropped. Isn’t it important for patients to talk to their doctors about living wills and who will make choices in case the patient is no longer capable. Where are all the cancer walkers and the democrats? Why is it so easy to convince everyone that talking to your doctor about death means you are talking about euthanas?

It’s just heartbreaking that this is being dropped. I guess it’s insane that this was the focus of the debate when the whole health care system costs and quality at large is really what is at issue with this bill… no?

With the advent of Twitter it seems that we are all learning a new way to converse. With only 140 characters and a few explicit ways to manage and direct the conversation flow, I find that is more important than ever to understand how to interact with others.

With this in mind I would like to share one of my core beliefs about the the Twitter conversation.

If Twitter is a conversation in a huge cafeteria where everyone can select the people they want to listen to, then Direct Messaging(DM) is the equivalent of asking someone into the hallway for a moment.

Using this understanding of DM, it would be ok with me to have you DM me about something personal, like your email or phone number. it would be ok to DM me something that might embarass me or you in front of the rest of the group, like asking what a hash tag is or telling me my avatar is super sexy.

It is NOT OK to direct message me generic information. If you DM me to thank me for following I get suspicious. If you DM me about a pyramid scheme or how to get more followers, I stop following all together.

Today I received multiple DMs about a charity that is trying to get people to tweet their specific congressmen about their cause. They created an app that puts out a message with a hash tag about your local politicians. Clever… but it also has an opt out button that asks to DM all your followers.

By sending DM to all your followers you will be setting a bad rep for you and thing you are sending the DM about. Follow me, based on what I have said so far… I have been asked into the hallway multiple times today to ask to join a cult charity. This was ok the first time, but with every new DM I get from a friend about this, I start to get more tired and unfriendly about the cause.

So, am I crazy about what the meaning of DM is? Is this how you see DM? Let me know what you think.

(The img used above by creative commons use is Lunch by adactio )

I presented a session on getting started on podcasting. It was a wonderful talk with people who are finding their voices and Adam Weiss. You can download the slides here.

My take aways from the weekend are as follows:

• There are always newbies trying to understand social media/internet
• Podcamp is a wonderful place to share and talk about “the conversation”
• Respectful debate is the next frontier

As always, I made podcamp what I wanted it to be, a few good conversations with thoughful people who want to understand what matters online. I had these talks with socail media pros, marketers, and newbies.

Please comment and let me know what you took away from podcamp.

That being said, this is now the second event this summer that focuses on people with connections to the current administration that has had a resolution for only a few people. The other example is the gates police encounter.

I guess I am feeling like I want a story that shows me that we are all gonig to be saved by Clinton and or Obama. I mean, will Obama invite me and my knitting friends for a cold breew at the white house? Will Clinton fly into Barre and help my friend who is losing his house because he did not have money to keep it after his wife died of a surgery that left her paralyized that was supposed to help her with her cancer.

Let me know that health care is going down in price… let me know that there will be free wifi for all, let me know that we will all have a three day weekend more often…

ok… like I said, just feeling petty. (I know Obama really does want better health care, but those pesky nasayers seem to be getting in the way {without any solutions of their own})

I never know who is going to stumble on this site and I think I need to do a better job at rolling out the welcome carpet.

In case you don’t know… this site is about me, Guido Stein. I am a guy in his thirties who has a lot of varied interests. I spend a lot of time in two categories, knitting (personal) and GIS (professional). I like to share my thoughts and help others with all the things I do. I am constantly learning new things.

If you look to the right of this web page you will find links to some of my projects online (More Content). I have ordered them from the most active at the top to the least active at the bottom. I will update this list as I start new online projects (hint.. hint…).

I hope you enjoy some of my musings and have a look at my many other projects online.

:)

That being said… I can’t seem to nail cooking the Brisket to save my life. I thought I was making a good brisket until I tried my Aunt’s Brisket this year. I am using a recipe out of “the mensch chef” and I have been cooking it in a dutch oven, so how can I go wrong… right? Well… it turns out that my Brisket is hard… tasty but hard. I am so ashamed.

anyhow… happy easter and pesach… I hope you are all well…

So last weekend my Pumkin and I had two food adventures I want to share.

First was our Friday Night/Date Night dinner. We decided to go local and walk around union Sqaure looking for something good. And, we found something good at Cantina la Mexicana.

Cantina La Mexicana is an expansions of a burrito/mexican restaurant. They took over a space that used to be Irish Eyes, which used to be a scary bar. The once green interior of the old space was now replaced with bright oranges, reds, and wood accents. The atmosphere felt festive, clean, and well thought out. I liked a lot of the accents and playfulness provided by lighting and glass work.

We ordered shrimp cevache, a litre of sangria, chiles relleno, The Union Square Gringo(assortment of meet wrapped in cheese and corn encasings), and flan. The food was good and tasty. Sadly, the salsa and some of the seasoning was not very spicy… but the actual food made up for this. The only thing lacking about my huge portion of food was a little side salad or beans. The Flan however was amazingly huge and delicuous, image a half sheet of brownies, but in flan form.

Besides the spice, my only complaint was that the service was lowsy. We were ignored most of the time, plates were not taken away when we finished them, and it took a while to get our check. This wouldn’t have been so bad if it had not been for the fact that the owner of the resaurant was hovering over the table next to us, I think there was some local media there… hey buddy… share the love with the rest of us people who are paying for a meal.

The second meal we ate was at the Eatern Standard. This place is big in town, not just their website. They get a lot of good reviews and I was excited to try it for the first time. The atmosphere was kinda pretentious, but warm none the less.

The service here was amazing, they actually apologized for the wait on our appetizers and took them off the price for our meal. Everyone’s food was wonderful, french toast/dulce de lech crepe, but mine. I ordered the fritata and I wish I hadn’t. The portion for the fritata was very small and it was very bland and lacking character. I was expecting something with a lot of cheesey kick and perhaps some semi-burnt edges, what i got was a soggy spongey thing instead. And if that was not enough, the chorizo sausage I got with the fritata was really small and also very underspiced… pooh…

So, I hope that sharing this is helpful to others. I am going to start to put these kinda reviews and thoughts abot food here and on yelp and chow. I think that this will give me a new community of people who share some of my passions outside of my regular knitting crew…

that’s it