Thursday, November 18, 2010

Socializing Media

I started tweeting when I knew I was going to stay during Hurricane Ike.
I sent a few tweets during that terrible time but Twitter was new and I mostly just forgot about it.
I picked it up in a big way some time later and I really enjoy it. I have ADD issues and having to read and write only 140 characters at a time really enables that behavior for me.

Twitter allows me to have dialogues with people I admire whether it be celebrities, friends or local businesses and other entities.
I'm not here trying to sell Twitter to you because I know a lot of people think it's silly but I believe it can be quite powerful.
I realized recently that I get a lot of my news coverage from Twitter. I follow several news outlets and journalists and I find myself checking the tweets first when I hear a rumor of a story.
It's great for following sports and as I found recently, it's great for making new friends who love sports....especially baseball!

In September, I got involved in the Astros Social Media Nights and made some new friends. We then started this AstrosTweeps thing where a bunch of us go out to support different Astros-related events and mainly just to hang out together and have fun.
We're a mixed bag of people; different races, genders and ages.

Last night we all met at a restaurant in midtown Houston for a radio show featuring a player. We were fortunate enough to get to meet pitcher Bud Norris while he was patiently posing for pictures with us.
I also got to meet a local sport talk show host that I admire. I can't believe I had the nerve to tug on his sleeve and introduce myself. I'm just not that kind of girl, no matter what people say!

After the radio show, we all walked down to a nearby bar and had a few drinks and just talked and laughed. It was just so simple. A bunch of people enjoying each others company.
It happened on Twitter.
Amazing, right?

A Milestone

My beautiful, BEAUTIFUL friend, Sheila, is celebrating eight years of blogging.
I said this in her comments and I truly mean it:
The entire world is a better place because of her AND her blog.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Yummy Books

I'm not very knowledgeable about some things but I have completely unfounded opinions on many things.
When you get an e-reader, like the Kindle or the Nook, the first thing you learn about is free and super cheap books. A lot of publishers will put out an e-book for free or for 99cents to "introduce" an author. If you like them, you'll buy his or her full price stuff. I think it's a cool idea. I've discovered some great authors like, Charlie Carillo, when his book "One Hit Wonder" was free for a very short time.
Then there are the Indie authors who publish their own books straight to e-book format without having to go through a big publishing house. In theory, this is a great idea because you discover some great hidden talent....and I have.
The problem is, total and utter crap gets through because they don't have a publishing house editor telling them that "LOL" is not an appropriate way to describe something the narrator is thinking.

I really hate to talk shit about an author's work. I have written things and when someone criticizes my work, they might as well call me fat and ugly and then take a crap on my couch because I take it that personally. But....I can't let this one go.
I purchased a light mystery e-book on the recommendation of another Kindle user. It was very cheap so I figured I didn't have anything to lose except for a dollar or two.
It was a silly fluff piece but it was a cute little story except something about it bothered me. I had the same problem with another book by yet another Indie author. The only way I can think of to describe it is that it was filled with "twee-ness".
Descriptions of the pizza someone ate, or the lip gloss someone swiped on their lips were just a little TOO much. I'm not talking Stephen King descriptives here. This was just too cutesy. Everything was adorable and twee. It was just grating on my nerves. However, I had invested some time in this book and figured I'd stick it out to see who the bad guys really were.
That is until....the author wrote the following sentence:
"I polished off at least six tacos and they were yummy in my tummy."

Seriously??? Seriously. (On a side note...in looking for this sentence to quote, I searched the word "yummy" in the book and I got 6 results. That's 6 too many times she used "yummy".)

I just couldn't go on after that. It was over for me. I draw the line at "yummy in my tummy".
Just. Can't. Go. There.