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Facebook

I guess the story today is that mostly old people use Facebook, though of course that puts me right in the Facebook main stream.

Having said that, it is clear that people, old or young, who do not use Facebook or at least one of the more popular social networks do not realize how much interaction goes on that has a reasonable amount of social meaning. While I recognize that in-person relationships are deeper and agree with the studies that most of us can only have a limited number of ‘true’ social friendships, the interactions on Facebook have meaning and allow us to interact with people we otherwise would not touch.

My recent example is a post I made recently about a book that was sent by a publisher to Ellen so she could potentially review it, the joy of leaving your sh*t all over the place. My post said: “I am not sure if I’m more surprised that we have this book to read or that we were not the author.”

Facebook

Clothes

ME: “Ellen, I am thinking that I might, in the near-term future, throw out the pair of pants that are sort-of falling apart.” ELLEN: “Which one?” ME: “…” It is my feeling that Ellen and… Clothes

Let Them Eat Cereal

The other day Ellen told me a life lesson that a friend told her (and I know I am paraphrasing here, since my porous memory has become even more so). Her friend said that a… Let Them Eat Cereal

My Advice for Career Advancement

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I recently was asked to provide advice relating to career advancement for the UMUC Alumni association (some would argue that perhaps I am not the best source for such advice), but in any event as a proud UMUC Alumni (and current UMUC employee), I wrote up the following which appeared here and which is copied below:

My Advice for Career Advancement

Half of My Life

So today marks a pretty significant date in my life. As of today, September 22, 2013, I will have been married (to one person) for 50% of my life. It is not entirely clear what… Half of My Life

The Dog Channel

So there was a thread by a friend of mine about what channel they left their TV on for their dogs when the dogs were left home alone. The conversation wandered to the dog channel… The Dog Channel

My Father-in-Law and the MG

I have been very fortunate not only in whom I married but also with the parents that are part of the deal. Both my father-in-law, David Elow, and mother-in-law, Barbara Elow, are very special people.

Both of my daughters have had many valuable moments with both of them, especially as the daughters have become young adults; something I never had growing up having met my only surviving grandparent only one time. My father-in-law has provided me with great and useful, and sometimes necessary, business and life advice during my checkered personal history.

But here is the thing, my father-in-law has historically been a pretty buttoned-down personality. Serious. Adult. Appropriate. Sort of the anti-me.

Except for his long-time desire to own an MG. Years ago, he bought one, which he took great pride in, but after some number of years he sold it.

My Father-in-Law and the MG

Sandy and Social Networking

There were two big differences between Sandy for us and many past storms.

First, we did not lose power (yet) which is a real plus. Second, since we continued to have Internet access it was remarkable the active interaction with friends and near-friends who were close and geographically far away.

Our Sandy experience started in Williamsburg, WV, where Ellen and I had gone early to attend the ACT-IAC Executive Leadership Conference (ELC). My brilliant idea was to stay at a B&B rather than the conference hotels since we really like B&B’s and this allowed Ellen to feel like it was a bit more of a vacation from home since she gets to wander around Williamsburg while I go to the meetings.Sandy and Social Networking

Follow Your Passion

I have learned over the years that doing things that you are passionate about is very important.

This was brought home to me earlier this week when I had lunch with a long-time friend of mine who I worked with during my time at Sun Microsystems. We were comparing job experiences and she remarked that every time she took a job purely because of the money that it ended up being a mistake.

Of course, I recognize that acting on that understanding is not always easy.Follow Your Passion