…Now I’m twittering. Good grief, what’s the matter with me.

For those of you who aren’t addicted to everything web allow me to explain. Twitter is kind of like a micro blog. It’s used to keep the people closest to you even more up-to-dater than a normal blog. Each “tweet” (that’s what you call a Twitter post, if you’re cool like that) can only be up to 140 characters long. You have just enough room to say what your currently doing or mention something funny from your last meeting or post a link to something worth sharing. You can even tweet from your cell phone with SMS or from a chat client.

Twitter is also cool because, using their web site, you can respond back to other people’s tweets and you can set up a list of folks whose tweets you want to follow. You can even have Twitter send you alerts via IM or on your phone when someone in particular has tweeted (I’m sure there’s a better past tense for “tweet”, but I could think of anything that didn’t sound vulgar).

The main reason I signed up is because a lot of the big names in web design and standards are on there and I can follow them and (maybe) do a better job of staying on top of my industry. As you may have noticed, my side bar links have been updated to reflect the fact that I’m trying to keep up with those guys’ blogs too.

As a handy-dandy side benefit, Twitter has a blog plug-in that allows me to display my last few tweets here as well (as you can see to the right).

Now the big question is, will I actually use it, or will Twitter just be one more thing that ends up stuck in the corner with cobwebs on it because I’m just “too busy”? Only time will tell.

The “man behind the curtain” is working on the side bar. Please ignore the mess. Carry on.

Remember when I talked about the stress level going up at work? First Dave left. Then I moved into his office. Now Thomas (the new guy) has moved into my old office. I’m still very uncomfortable being the senior-most guy. Now, if Thomas has any problems or questions, I’m the guy who must come up with the answer. Can you tell my confidence level is being put to the test?

Anyway. Enough whining. Here’s this week’s white board quip.

Constant change is here to stay.

I love Randy. I really do. But he should have at least warned me that the link he sent would cause my corneas to hemorrhage. So, as a public service to you, my faithful viewers: Don’t Click This Link.

Bonus points for the first commenter who knows what movie that poem is from. (Hint: I own it and love it.)

Double bonus points if your the first to tell me what Evan wants you to buy him.

We live in a brave new world where anything is possible, including getting over 800 complete strangers to play freeze tag in a park.

Improve Anywhere’s MP3 Experiment #4

That’s friggin’ awesome.

No really. Do you? Cuz I forget.

Oh, that’s right. I remember now. I hate when I get to work on Monday and have this vague recollection that sometime during the weekend something really funny happened and I said to myself that I would definitely have to blog about it, but now I have no idea what it was or why it was so funny.

I really hate that.

I like music. Especially, you know, the kind you listen to.

A couple weeks ago, I got a new cell phone. Not just any new cell phone, but the cell phone over which I have been drooling for the last two or three years. A coworker got a new phone and was ready to part ways with his Treo 700wx. I picked it up at a great price with all the goodies and extras to go with it.

With the Windows Mobile OS on the phone, I’m able to sync it with my computer for contacts, calendar, etc. All of which is way cool. Plus, since Sprint was nice enough to transfer all the data from my old phone, I’m finally able to access the pictures that have long been trapped there.

That brings me to the “Old Story” part. Remember waaay back in March of 2006 when I busted my arm? Well, I finally have the picture that I took, while sitting on the curb, of my road-rashed elbow, mere minutes after the event (long before any swelling or bruising showed up). I took the picture so I could see what was going on over there, since at that time, I couldn’t twist my arm enough to see the damage. I thought I’d share this bit of history with you.

If you’re curious about the shirt I’m wearing, I did the artwork and you can have one for yourself. Just check out Dave’s CafePress page.

For years I’ve said that you simply can’t believe your eyes anymore. The very first time I scanned in some 4×6 prints of pictures I’d taken in Colorado and used PhotoShop to “clean them up”, I realized the power of digital retouching. The coolest one was when I deleted a guard rail and recreated one of my feet so that it looked like I was out in the wilderness, instead of standing next to a road. It took me five minutes to teach my mom how to “stamp out” lead ropes and ugly background buildings in the pictures of their horses.

It’s now a full fledged industry, not only turning wrinkled, freckled, and baggy eyed actresses into ravishing, sex-goddess cover shots, but also piecing together video so you can fly through the interiors of luxury cars while they’re blazing across the dessert at 100 miles per hour.

Just to show off their talents, some retouch artists enter contests on a site called worth1000.com (as in “A picture is worth…”). My favorites are where they do the exact opposite of what they get paid for, like artificially aging Katie Holms.

There’s a short demo real on YouTube the shows just what today’s marketing wizards have at their displosal. Click to watch “Everything you see is fake.”

There’s a company called iWANEX that retouches celebrity photos. Click to go to the iWANEX web site, then click on “Portfolio”. Click on a thumbnail to open it, then mouse-over and mouse-off of the picture to compare the before to the after. It will really rock your world. (My favorite is Kelly Clarkson’s amazing chin and butt reduction.)

While the state of Louisiana certainly has its faults, I must applaud a recent development in several LA local governments.

I guess I’m old fashioned, but it just drives me up the wall when I see guys walking around with their boxer shorts exposed well past the point of reason. I know I don’t want to see your underoos, and, try as I might, I have yet to find any one else who does. When I ask guys why they prefer to have their butts hanging out of their pants, they never seem to have a good answer. “Ah’dunno. Iz coo’ I guess.” Riiiight.

Well, gentlemen, there are now several communities in Louisiana in which it is very not “coo'” including Mansfield, a small community just south of Shreveport.

“Pull ’em up or pay up.”

That’s Police Chief Don English’s interpretation of a new law that takes effect in Mansfield on Sept. 15

Anyone caught wearing sagging pants who exposes his or her underwear will be subject to a fine of up to $150 plus court costs, or face up to 15 days in jail.

The laws being enacted are most often clarifications of existing indecency rules already on the books. You can read the complete article here.