It Could Happen To You . . .

Date: October 15th, 2009
Time: 5:55 PM to 8:15 PM
Location: Northwest Washington D.C.

5:55 PM - Typically on Thursday nights Nicole volunteers in Northwest D.C. and I come with her and linger at a bookstore nearby. On this night I walked Nicole to the door of the non-profit organization then walked a quarter mile back to the bookstore.

6:00 PM - Arrived at bookstore (which has a cafe).

6:02 PM - Picked up an in-store copy of "Horse Soldiers" (Nicole had the excellent idea of instead of bringing my own book, to just remember the page I am on and use the book at the store).

6:04 PM - Ordered a mocha.

6:05 PM - Barista asks if I want whipped cream. I respond with yes.

6:05:10 PM - Barista asks if I want chocolate drizzled on top. I respond with yes.

6:06 PM - I have mocha in hand (the whipped cream and chocolate rise above the rim at least an inch or two).

6:07 PM - I sit in the public area with chairs and couches. I make a mental note that it's a full house (only one chair is available...front and center of the cafe).

6:09 PM - I open up the book to the last pages of the last chapter--I'm excited to finish.

6:10 PM - I drink (and almost guzzle) my delicious mocha.

6:12 PM - Mocha is finished...so good!

6:13 PM - Return to reading my book.

6:20 PM - People filter in and out of the coffee shop. I look up and make eye contact with a man in his 70's. He looks at me like he knows me. I smile and return to my book.

6:30 PM - Get an alert on my phone that some kid who was thought to be in a balloon over Colorado has been found safe.

6:31 PM - Continue reading.

6:44 PM - A teenager sits to my immediate right at a table facing me.

6:47 PM - Same teenager starts texting on her phone. I look over and she looks down to her phone suddenly.

6:48 PM - Continue reading.

6:55 PM - A woman walks by and looks at me as if I'm familiar to her. I smile politely...she does not return the smile.

7:05 PM - I read through the epilogue of the book.

7:07 PM - Teenager next to me is STILL texting and looking at me. I think to myself, do I look like someone famous?

7:08 PM - I look across the room and the woman who walked by is looking at me but then quickly looks down at her work.

7:18 PM - I finish Horse Soldiers.

7:19 PM - I log onto Twitter to write a very brief review of the book.

7:22 PM - My friend from UC Irvine starts chatting with me on my iphone (instant messaging).

7:33 PM - An awkward man sits at the table across from me. He wears his pants really high and is wearing white socks with black loafers. He looks at me, smiles, then sits down.

7:45 PM - Still chatting with friend online. Look up to see that awkward man is staring at me.

7:55 PM - A college study group shows up. Many of them look in my general direction. I feel like I am sitting in a seat reserved for someone else as they look at me and talk amongst themselves.

7:56 PM - Teenager still texting next to me...avoiding eye contact when I look that direction.

8:01 PM - Nicole sends me a text to let me know that she is done volunteering.

8:01:01 PM - I send her a text that I am on my way to her location.

8:04 PM - I walk down the stairs of the bookstore and a very official man is going up the escalator. He looks at me for a very long time. I smile nervously and continue down the stairs.

8:08 PM - I can see Nicole in the darkness two blocks ahead of me walking in my direction.

8:09 PM - I meet up with her and prepare to give her a kiss.

8:10 PM - Nicole stops me and says "WHAT IS ALL OVER YOUR NOSE? IS THAT CHOCOLATE AND WHIP CREAM?" (See 6:10 PM entry)

8:10:01 PM - A wave of embarrassment sweeps over my body. I touch my nose to feel the softness of cream and the stickiness of dark chocolate all over the tip of my nose. My mind flashes back (much like the ending of "The Usual Suspects"). All of those people staring at me for the last two hours said NOTHING. Here I felt like maybe I looked like someone they knew, or that I had taken a "regular's" seat. How hard would it have been for someone to politely come up to me and say "Sir, there is chocolate and whip cream on your nose." Someone could have gestured towards their nose and I probably would have taken the hint.

8:10:30 PM - I say to Nicole "That's why everyone was staring at me!"

8:10:31 PM - Nicole collapses in laughter.

8:10:45 PM - I explain to her the sequence of events. Nicole laughs even harder!

8:11 PM - I wipe my nose again to make sure that I got every ounce of it off.

8:12 PM - We make our way to the Metro.

8:14 PM - I do a search on Twitter to see if anyone posted anything about a "Bald Guy sitting in bookstore with whip cream and chocolate on his nose--oblivious.")

8:15 PM - The search reveals that no one posted it so in good humor I post it about myself.

Back To Basics

I've painted myself into a corner.

Somewhere around January I took this whole thing off track. I was so fascinated by the sociological implications of Facebook, Twitter, iPhones, and the countless other digital distractions that I thought I could do a commentary on them. I don't know why I thought I could be an authority when I didn't really do much other than read about them. Learning about them is really just a Google Search away.

Ironically the iPhone entered my life at the end of June and Twitter became very useful shortly after that (thanks to Tweetie.) In mid-July I took a week to analyze Facebook and hunt for old Marine Corps friends (with little success.) Alas, it was a great experience, but in the end I realized there is absolutely nothing wrong with Facebook...it's just not right for me.

I'm not sure why I wanted to write a long essay on the risks and rewards of these variable digital distractions. At this moment I realize that it's not the devices or websites that can be a problem, but the way people use them.

For those of you who have been waiting for this Facebook, Twitter, iPhone mega post...it's not going to happen. I'm not the expert. I love to talk to people in person on how I "feel" about social media, but I don't feel comfortable making blanket statements here. Lastly, I want the content of this blog to be unique and I'm okay with it not following any rhyme or reason.

* * *

So it has been nine months since I have written about the real world things going on in my life. I can tell that my writing is rusty and I need to write more even about the seemingly small stuff.

We moved to Washington D.C. in June in pursuit of "Better Living" and we are really happy to be here. The Northwest will always be where our hearts are, but we needed to move to an area that provided an "education" that we could take back with us. Most conversations that we get into with others (from new friends to strangers on the Metro) lead to learning something new. Since we've been out here, Nicole and I have been inspired in many directions that otherwise wouldn't have happened had we stayed in the Northwest. We're calling this chapter of our lives "The D.C. Internship."

Just yesterday we took the Metro to D.C. for Vegfest. While Nicole was volunteering at a booth there, I went searching for protesters that were marching to the Capitol. On my walk, I found a group of people playing roller hockey behind the White House. When I say behind, I mean literally behind...on the pedestrian-only street that runs behind it. It was a little surreal.

Meanwhile, there was a protest somewhere, but I must have missed it. I walked to Freedom Square only to find trash blowing in the wind and a handful of city workers cleaning up. It was really weird because I could almost feel the warmth of the thousands of people still on the bricks yet it was quiet (by then they must have reached the Capitol.)

Following my failed photo shoot I returned to Nicole only to hop on a shuttle bus to the Kennedy Center for an open house. We arrived to find clusters of people surrounding various street performers from all over the world. They were performing on various stages around the building. One thing about Washington D.C. is that there seems to be plenty of high quality free entertainment. This was no exception. I enjoyed watching the kids laugh and smile even more than I enjoyed watching the various performances of jugglers, unicyclists, and pantomime performances. A street performer can really grab the attention of a child (and an adult's "inner child".)

We left the Kennedy Center and headed to our favorite downtown theater, the Landmark E-Street Theater. Located just a few blocks away from the White House, it is a great theater for seeing foreign, documentary, and independently produced films. So far we have seen "Food Inc." (3 times), "In The Loop", and yesterday "It Might Get Loud". This last movie was great if you love guitar and Jack White-The Edge-Jimmy Page.

We returned to our place greeted by our full-bladder dog who was very happy to see us.

I hope to write more often on a daily basis. I will write about technology, simplicity, and perhaps the incredible things that happen to us while we're out here.

Welcome Twitter Users

So I'm still working on my Twitter/Facebook Manifesto (hopefully I am able to finish it!)

In the meantime, take this poll and I will add it to the story (if enough people respond.)

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

My various Twitter accounts:

http://twitter.com/annieisadog Life through the eyes of our dog

http://twitter.com/thetweetlab My primary Twitter account...I do a lot of testing using this account

http://twitter.com/nicoleandjeff More of our joint Twitter account...good for status updates regarding us in a general sense

http://twitter.com/breakinginfo This is a strictly news account. I mostly monitor the news here, but will occasionally retweet (or even break my own news)

http://twitter.com/idwhatiam This one is just for fun...I have a camera on my cell phone so I take pictures of things (bugs, birds, strange objects) and try to get people to guess what they are.