The Zen of Tweeting is very simple, yet so few understand. All tweeple (people who twitter) are searching for answers or things that make them feel complete. Is it companionship, knowledge; and for what purpose, for material gain, to make ourselves more informed, happier? Do we tweet because we believe all these things can be attained from within Twitter? Read more…

I long for the month of August. For the past 18 years, we’ve been coming to the island of Martha’s Vineyard, always in August. It’s a time for us to escape the normal grind and take a different path. When we’re here on the island, we have no schedule, no commitments, no work to do, just what fancies us, and what the weather gods will provide. My family includes my wife and two teenage daughters, and our dog, Gyasi the Ridgeback. We leave the cats at home, they’re not beach people! Read more…

I was just let go a couple of weeks ago, what am I going to do? The economy is down, no one is answering my calls, the job boards have nothing, and the good postings have 100 or more people applying for that job. I can’t get an interview and the bills are piling up. My wife, she’s freaking out, we’re 5 years into our new house, and face the possibility of giving it all up.

Is this you? Or could it be you next week, or the week after? People are losing their jobs at an alarming rate, and it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Most economists believe double digit unemployment is inevitable. It’s daunting, nerve racking, scary, and definitely not happy times. Read more…

How to Get Into the Zone
I have often characterized my state of mind when in dead stroke as unconscious. What I mean is that I’m of no mind, a detached state of being that has the quality of pure simplicity. No distractions are possible, because they cannot penetrate what is not there. Dead Stroke is a pool players vernacular for getting into the zone. Dead stroke is potting/sinking balls on the billiards table without effort, the balls have in fact already been potted. It’s simply a matter of setting yourself in motion and realizing the goal, the eventuality.

How does one train oneself to achieve this mind state. Is there a drill or technique you can use to enter the zone at will? Many say it happens as a matter of chance, that it’s a fleeting moment, something to treasure because it may never return, so revel in its mystery when it occurs but harbor little hope that you’ll ever enter the zone again. A few espouse repetition, developing muscular memory, that the frequency of achieving dead stroke is proportional to the number of years of quality practice and play. Read more…

I take this walk just about every morning, usually with my wife Ellen. There’s nothing more Zen than enjoying the beauty of mother nature. This photo expose and geo-stamping was created using the iPhone App called Trails, see my review, and then uploaded to EveryTrail.

Warner Trail at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: GPS Trail Maps

The wife calls upstairs, “Ernie dinner’s ready!” I yell back, “Be right down.” Fifteen minutes go by and the wife, a little perturbed this time, calls up again, “Ernie, your dinner’s getting cold!” I mutter, “Um… Ok.” Twenty minutes later, the wife appears at my office door, “ahem!” I look up, “Yeah?” I say. Her brow beats down me and she says, “I gave it to the dog!” and storms away. I looked up, a little confused, then switched to Speed mode.

It’s GaryVee’s fault I said to myself, yup, he’s the one that told me about this iPhone game called The B1nary Game. He said, “you’ve gotta try it Ernie, it’s addictive!” Read more…

Here’s a few Twitter-based tools, which will open your eyes to the hidden value of Twitter. Sure, you can use it to network with experts, drive traffic to website(s), help others with their needs. But did you know that the people at Twitter make their application programming interface (API) available to anyone that wants to build web applications that tap into the Twitter stream?

Everyday I find useful Twitter tools. Some are browser-based, some are stand alone applications, some are made for mobile devices, like the iPhone. Here’s a few browser-based Twitter apps, and what they’re good for. Read more…

Twitter is this collection of thought streams that flow into a gigantic river of consciousness. Tweeple submit their particular stream of tweets to the river, hoping someone will notice their piece of mind. Most tweets simply blend in with the rest, and flow into obscurity, never to be seen again. Some are noticed due to a particular style and rhythm of the tweeter. Tweet that are complete and interesting thoughts resonate. Read more…

With only 140 characters to compose your Tweet, you have to have the minimalist’s mindset. But if you need to include a URL, then you may not be able to even describe the link. So the answer is to use one of many services that will shorten your URL, like Bit.ly, Tr.im, Twurl.nl, or Tinyurl.

These services are easy to use. All you have to do is go the site URL shortener site of your choice and enter the URL you want shortened. You’ll get a URL that is significantly shorter than the original, plus depending on the site, a whole lot more. Read more…

In the spirit of Zen, this is a minimalist review of Twitter Apps on the iPhone. There are four Apps that I tested over the past week. I rate them on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being Outstanding.

My review was weighted most heavily on user interface, then work flow, feature set, and finally price. Twitterrific Premium deserves a special note about its price, at $10 it’s just not worth it! It’s a very clean app, but missing lots of features. It takes the concept of utilitarian to an extreme, and there’s no reason to pay a premium for that. Read more…