Twitter has many uses. Ask 100 people what they use it for and you'll receive 100 different answers. Tonight, I found that it is exceptional for following political debates. It is an unique new tool to interact with others watching and following along.

Generally, I use it for news gathering, interacting with friends and aquaintences. I have found that I am much more informed with the issues at hand in our political system while using Twitter in conjunction with the televised debate. I highly recommend it.

Let me know in the comments how you use Twitter. I want to read each of those 100 answers.

Initial Optimism

Reading through Zite, my favorite news aggregation app for my iPad and iPhone, I found a few articles related to blogging to be of interest. They went into some detail about the positives of blogging for money, how to begin, what you need to be aware of when starting, and more.

After reading them, I felt like I too had an opportunity on my hands. They made it sound rewarding beyond measure. It's would be easy to get started, and after a while the site would pay for itself with adwords.

What a load of horse****.

Reality Check

Writing about subjects you are passionate about and making money from it seems a bit too good to be true - and it is, for far more than the majority of us. We are the 99%. You see, blogs are only designed for two kinds of users.

The Breakdown

The first user is someone like me, who likes to write, enjoys it, and has some opinion on a subject matter. Eventually, they make their way to a blog site and start writing. Usually the site is hosted by someone else, in my case, Posterous. They do this because they feel like getting their words out whether anyone sees it or not (secretly, they hope everyone does and loves it), but aren't committed to making hosting payments and purchasing domain names. They aren't in it for fortune or fame - not really. This makes up 99% of bloggers out there.

The other 1% is made up of business blogs ranging from companies, trying to interact on a more "personal" level with their customers, to dedicated fulltime bloggers whos only day job is their blog, e.g. MG Siegler. The latter is akin to actual news reporters. Other bloggers in this realm, who are the sole proprieters of their blog, are few and far between. They exist, they make money, but usually their path can't be followed step by step.

I'm being very loose with the percentages, but my point remains.

Conclusion

Individuals looking to make money from their blogging venture must be dedicated and compromise much of their time in the first year. Don't expect oodles of unrealistic money to just come pouring in for all that work either. Blogs take time to build, and unless you have a nice little nest egg built up that can sustain you, don't go gung ho forward in your blogging for money. You'll be done before you even begin.

Let me know in the comments how you feel about blogging for money. Is it viable for they everyday person? Are companies with cash to spend the best opportunity in town?

Last week, I signed up for the new OnLive Desktop service that would allow me to directly interact with actual Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents from my iPad. A couple of days ago, the iPad app went live in the App Store. It was a free download and I had the predisposition that it would be just as bad as other similar apps.

OnLive has been in the game (ahem) for a while now as a game on demand service built for the masses. They have a good client base and have decided to expand their influence to the enterprise sector. This has great potential. They already have the infrastructure in place and now it's just a matter of further growth. There's no better time than now since Microsoft is continually trying to improve their own Office on the Web services.

Once I had the app downloaded to my iPad, I tried to use it immediately. This was a no go as my actual account hadn't been activated from their side just yet. I would have to wait. Until yesterday that is.

I received an email that my account had been activated and I gave it another go. It worked beautifully and was responsive to my touch. Log in was a breeze (the checkbox for "remember me" was a nice touch). It wasn't a blazingly fast response time any user of an iOS device would be used to, but the fact of the matter is that it was through an Internet VPN connection to a server and it was still hella fast and responsive. I was more than mildly impressed. I've used remote desktop clients before, and this was not that. It was way better, faster, sharper. Tailor made.

The only app I really spent much time on so far has been Word, and I have no doubts the Excel and PowerPoint applications will work similar to their desktop counterparts, because let's face it, these aren't just ports - they're the real deal.

The onscreen keyboard was a bit like the Android keyboard on mobile devices - a bit lackluster from my personal use. I've never been fond of the Android keyboard and so wasn't impressed. What I did want to play with, and what caught my eye by surprise, was the handwriting recognition feature included in Word. Maybe this is a new feature brought to Word from Microsoft, or maybe it's an addition brought by OnLive - I'm not sure.

I was immediately impressed with the gesture recognition. Never before had I seen something take my chicken scratch and work the way it should, translating it into actual words. "Hello world" seemed appropriate for just such an occasion. It translated my writing into text faster than I could get a good screen grab on my iPad. That's nice, very nice. The ability to delete, insert, combine all just made my day with the handwriting. I doubt I'll ever really have an opportunity to make full use of it sans dedicated iPad pen, but the fact that it works and so well really just blew me away.

Thus far, it has been an excellent experience and all the other blog postings on OnLive Desktop may just be right. This app could be just the game changer enterprise users need to switch their mobile workflow exclusively to Apple's iPad. The only thing it's missing at this point is Outlook support in the form of a native application, but I have a gut feeling it's on their radar for future inclusion.

Has your account been activated yet? If so, what has your experience been so far? Let me know in the comments below.

Prioritize what is truly important and neglect all other unimportant tasks until the requirements of the important have been fulfilled. That is the only way to fully realize your talent.

I love photography. I want to be better at making exceptional photographs. The best way to get there, according to the above sentiments, is to neglect my other interests and duties.

I should make time for photography and leave the laundry for later. At least one quality photo should be made before lunch. Another after. Disown your chores and unimportant tasks until you've finished with your main interest.

This doesn't mean never do things that don't interest you or help you progress. It means focusing on a single priority and going all-in. Going all-in means to get the distractions out of the way until that priority is fulfilled.

Plan when you'll do those lesser tasks for a time after your important one. Set aside doing dishes and cleaning your room until you've had those necessary hours of violin practice, not the other way around. You may not get to the practicing that day if you're continually bogged down with trivial things. Days add up, and before you know it, you haven't practiced in weeks. This will not help you if you want to become great at something.

Try it out and see if it helps your focus and improves the talent you're most interested in. Let me know how it goes for you in the comments. Sent with Writer.

Prioritization:

High Importance/High Urgency - Get this done now. Extremely important with time constraints make this a top priority. Don't leave this for others as they may not place the same level of priority on the task.

High Importance/Low Urgency - Get this done soon, but you have time to schedule its completion. Set an end date or mark it in your to do list for the week.

Low Importance/High Urgency - mostly busy work or routines that can be taken care of by you or someone else. Delegate responsibility for this if possible and attack the more important and higher urgency tasks at hand.

Low Importance/Low Urgency - ask yourself if this is even worth doing. Is there an impact if it isn't? Don't let the really small things get in the way of higher priorities.

 

For the past six years or so, Google has lost their way. They went from a superb search engine site to a conglomerate business with no discernible direction. Their vision is fuzzy.

The founders are still around, still running things, currently floundering. It seems as if they can't make up their minds as to what Google truly is anymore.

Many companies have failed products and product lines. Google is no different in this arena. The catch is that they don't have to be the same. Google is highly capable of making some stellar products (Gmail, beta or not). They have the engineering task force at hand to fight off any technical challenge with which they are presented.

So many instances of failure, however, are beginning to crop up in abundance.the last time I watched a company pull these shenanigans at the height of their dominance was Microsoft. Now, not quite as dominant, they too are putting their fingers in too many pies.

At what point does this nonsense stop and these companies wake up to realize why they started in the first place? Soon, I hope.

It's been an awkward week. To say the least. It all started with a trip home from the hospital...

Wednesday last week, Amanda, my wife, started to feel a bit funny. Not sure what to make of it she dismissed it as nothing. Something that would pass. This was in the evening and sleep was calling both our names. Usually we talk a bit before we actually sleep. She didn't mention how she had felt earlier.

Thursday morning comes around and brings the usual hub-ub of getting the kids ready for school and fed. I arrive at work by 7:00 am so I can get home by 4:00 pm. Still, she didn't really mention how she felt the day before. By this point she was actually feeling worse. Noticeably.

I she drove me to work and I went about my day, not knowing what I would have to look forward to at the end of my shift. She picked me up a bit early that day and just looked shaken. She was shaking and her hair was a mess.
“what's going on, babe?”
“I'm not feeling well, at all.”

She was almost in tears.

“Do you want me to drive? Can I please drive us?”
“No, I can do it.”

We talked some more on the ride home and when we arrived she laid down in bed. She had been running a 102 degree temp most of the day. My first thoughts at this point was that she either had the flu or she was pregnant. Either would have been common enough for anyone who knows us at all.

I took care of the evening’s events, fed the kids, washed the youngest, and got them ready for bed. I don't remember Amanda getting up for any of it. She was indeed not feeling well. I slept on the living room futon.

Friday morning came and I picked up on the usual routine of getting the kids ready on my own. Luckily, I had already requested that day off earlier in the month due to my obligations with Isabel’s gymnastics recital that evening. I spent the day cleaning house, giving Amanda Tylenol and ibuprofen, and performing other assorted errands. She still had a raised temp. In fact, it had gone up to 103+. I was starting to get worried. At this point. The meds didn't seem to help with her fever at all. She was constantly chilled and sweating profusely.

I fed the two youngest and washed my 4 yr old before heading out the door to my gymnastics obligation. All Amanda needed to do was put them in their beds when it was time. She seemed to be feeling well enough to do this. She even texted me during the show to keep me updated. Was she getting better? Were the meds kicking in finally?

After the show, I drove back home with Isabel. We both got ready for bed and went to sleep. I again slept on the living room futon. Apparently the meds weren't working as I had hoped.

Saturday morning, I drove Isabel and her friend to gymnastics practice. Amanda stayed in bed for the duration of the morning. More Tylenol and ibuprofen later, she got up. She called her step mother from the bed for advice. The fever was just not breaking and her temp was getting dangerously high: 104.6. It was time to make a hard decision.

We all got in the car and drove to the hospital. It took about 10 minutes of checking vitals and obtaining information before she was taken back to a temporary room for further examination. This was at 3:15 pm. By 6:00, the doctor came in and explained that her labs had come back positive for pnuemonia. What!? By 7:00 pm, she was admitted and wheeled to her own room on the fourth floor of Ball Memorial Hospital, room 4313.

The kids and I bid Amanda farewell for the evening and went home. She was now in much better care than I could have given her with tylenol and ibuprofen alone. IV drips of saline and antibiotics reduced the fever and vicodin and other meds relieved her pains. She even enjoyed the bed. It was actually really comfortable, she said.

On monday she was discharged from the hospital and released to go home. I have been running the household in her absence and providing more support than usual now that she’s back. She is on antibiotic pills and her strength hasn’t fully returned, yet. She’ll get there. Her fever is completely gone and she’s feeling normal again. I am so glad to have her back. I knew she’d pull through just fine, but there’s always that little nagging voice at the back of your mind that always thinks the worst case scenerio.

Here we are now, most of the week over and everyone is on the road to recovery. It’s been awkward.

I can remember the days of going to the mall, sitting on Santa's lap, and telling him what I wanted for Christmas. The excitement of arriving and knowing that what I wanted most could be mine in short order if I could just tell Santa. It was always an experience.

At what point is that experience pushed under the rug?

I have my own children now. We go to the mall each year and they are just as excited as I once was. They want to go and tell Santa about the one or two things they want the most. They tell me, "Santa doesn't have a money limit. He can get anything!" While that may not be entirely true (and we all know why), they believe that - and it buoys them every Christmas season.

In recent years, I have felt and seen a decline in the actual experience of going in leu of monetization and flaky photography. Now, I can understand and appreciate the fact that businesses are in the business of making money. Otherwise they don't stay in business long.lets face it though, this is just an easy gimme fundraiser for Simon malls. I don’t think the sanctity of visiting Santa should be encroached upon. It’s just an experience that shouldn't be used to turn a profit.

Most of the time the photographers dont even know what theyre doing. They aren’t real photographers. And some of the times, Samta doesnt even ask the children what they want for Christmas. He just smiles for the flaky snapshot about to be made and hands out candy canes after.

What a sham.

I’m more than a little discouraged at the thought of going back again this year for another helping of the same treatment.

What thoughts do you have on this subject? Have you felt the same way? Have you seen it first hand? Let me know in the comments below.

Aren't QR codes the best?