RonVitale

Rambling of Thoughs: Home at Last

I landed at Philadelphia International Airport at 11:45pm last night and was home by 12:30am. After a fitful night of sleep, I woke up to the sound of the shower. My wife was getting ready for work. And then I heard my daughter crying. I stumbled out of bed, waited in hall as I thought she had fallen back asleep, but in a few seconds she began to cry, calling for her mommy. I went into her and in those few seconds, a host of ideas, came upon me. I had been away for a week and I couldn't wait to hold my daughter in my arms. Under 2, I wondered how much she had grown and what words she had learned. I went into her room, bent over her crib to comfort her and then there time stopped. She looked up at me, I looked her her, with her hair all tangled and tears on her cheeks and I smiled as I was home. She looked at me and--screamed. I tried to pick her up and she swatted at me, yelling, "No!" Her crying increased in volume four-fold and reality had set in. Welcome home. I thought my son would wake up and start calling for me, but he kept quiet. I reached for my daughter again and she continued to swat at my arm, this time calling for her mom. My wife came in as I held my daughter and her screams rose ever higher in pitch.

After a few minutes of calming down with her mom, I held her and she refused to go back asleep and didn't want to be left in her room with me. I took her into my and my wife's bedroom and held her for a bit. As she began to wake up, I could tell that she had recognized me and I walked back into her room and sat down on her rocking chair. I pulled the curtains back and pointed at the green tree, the house next door and the sky. She liked that and started to warm up to me. Thankfully.

Being away for a week was rough. I had traveled to Denver for work. The day after I arrived some of the surrounding areas received over 3 feet of snow. The picture in this blog post shows the great Blue Bear looking into the Colorado Convention Center in Denver when it was snowing on Friday, April 17th. The city could have received 4"-10" of snow. After all was said and done, there was a few inches of slush on the sidewalks, which made for a messy, morning walk to work, but it wasn't too bad. Though if you would have told me that I would have been walking in snow boots in a suit to the convention center I would have laughed at you. Little did I know of Denver.

On the way home, I had a layover in Detroit and while boarding the plane I knew my patience had reach its limit. A young engaged couple sat next to me. As we waited for the plane to take off, the guy next to me was looking at something on his iPhone and his wife to be started reading from a magazine. She, in a very loud voice, asked him, "Do you know what these terms are?" Brodown. Do you know what that is?" She pronounced it as "Bro-done." I rolled my eyes up and bit my tongue. He nodded, tuning her out as he played with his iPhone, but she went on. "How about a Brickberry? Do you know what that is?" He nodded, again, ignoring her.

Inside, I kept sreaming, "Please, shut the fuck up. Shut t-h-e f-u-c-k up!" She didn't listen. I had been up at 2:30am Denver time, fitfully slept off and on until 4:40am and out to work by 6:15am. It was near 10pm at night and I just wanted to go home. I thank God that the plane's engines caused her to caught and, boy, oh boy, am I thankful that I'm not married to her. But I was tired and not at my best.

Earlier that day, before leaving for work, I happened to be checking my e-mail and when I signed out saw an article about the moon occulting the planet Venus. And then it hit me, I finally realized which planet I was seeing out my hotel window each morning. I'd wake up around 4am and see a young crescent moon hanging over the city of denver. I took a so-so picture with my camera, but it was better than nothing. By the time I was on the street, headed to work, the moon had occulted Venus in the morning light. Very cool.

But now I'm back home. Exhausted, I so need sleep, washed out (I lost track of how many loads I did today--which reminds me that I need to get the bathroom rugs from the dryer) and trying to get back into the swing of things. I wanted to write about my state of mind. A ramble of thoughts, fatigue, thoughts of home and a special surprise.

On the flight home, I worried about getting a taxi to take me home. I calculated the cost of the taxi, how long it would take, giving instructions to the driver and pondering how long I'd be able to stay awake before I just collapsed. When I was leaving the plane at PHL airport, my phone rang. It was my wife. She had come to surprise me to pick me up. She had co-ordinated the whole thing: Her mom was sleeping over to watch the kids while she drove to the airport to pick me up near midnight. That meant the world to me. It was romantic, helpful and most appreciated. I held my wife next to me and took a deep breath of her hair. I was home. Home.

Twittering: A True Story

I was working at a conference using Twitter to follow what people were saying about the event. I simply went to the Twitter search page, typed in a keyword and followed the conversation. What I thought was most interesting is that I just left the browser up and could see (1)Twitter in the bottom taskbar in Windows to inform me that a new tweet had appear with the search term I was following. Not very exciting or ground breaking I admit. But here's where things start to get exciting.

On day 2 of the conference, I was hard at work but I had left Twitter open, sending out tweets to notify followers about new podcasts, upcoming sessions starting at the conference and other bits of information. I had left the Twitter search browser open and, out of curiosity, I wanted to check what people were saying. Traffic was slow, but I saw this one tweet: "In the back of main hall for opening session, sound is low and can't hear well." I pulled out my cell phone, called a colleague and informed him that I had received a complaint from an attendee who couldn't hear what was happening as he was sitting in the back. My colleague called the audio team and asked them to raise the volume. I sent a quick tweet back to the person who couldn't hear, letting him know that I was on the case.

About 15 minutes later, I refreshed the search page and saw that another attendee, who was also in the main session, had sent a thank you to the person who had complained about the sound as she also couldn't here. In a matter of a few key strokes and a quick phone call, the problem was solved. The next day the woman, who had thanked the guy who couldn't hear, sent me a direct message via Twitter asking for the sound to be raised as one of the speakers was speaking softly. I made the call again and the sound was fixed. Later another attendee praised the use of Twitter as a great way of fixing such tech issues.

I know it's a small example, but there's power in Twitter when it's used correctly. In listening to the discussion flying across Twitter at the conference, I was able to see what attendees thought was important. I learned what tweets they liked from other attendees (more on that in a minute) and could understand what they wanted more of. The tweets that were most successful were from other attendees who were in a session and were tweeting about what they were hearing. A woman, also attending the conference, but in a different session, tweeted out, "Thank you for your tweets as I'm in a different session. Nice to learn what's happening in your session." And that one tweet, crystalized what people were trying to accomplish with Twitter. Often there are concurrent sessions at big conferences and it's not possible to be in two places as once. Learning what is being said at another session, enables an attendee to make decisions on the fly. They can stay put and just listen in on what they're missing (and might choose to watch a webcast of the missed session later or to purchase the audio from it) or get up and move to the session to hear what they're missing.

According to an informal CNN.com poll, only 6% of those who answered the poll are actively using Twitter. It's not quite caught on to the masses though Oprah's use of Twitter last week might change that. Twitter, like any social network, is a tool. If you pick up a screw driver and try using it as a hammer, it might work, but not as effectively as an actual hammer. Twitter is only one of many social networking tools. I'm a firm proponent of empowering people to use Twitter to help each other. Communication need not come from the event organizer, let's say, but from all sides. That's the power of Twitter.

An organization can learn much from its attendees by just listening, but can also actively join the conversation to solve problems, help attendees and distribute information. Actively embracing Twitter and informing attendees that it'll be used sends a message to those engaged: They'll have the ability to virtually network with fellow attendees and that's where the fire starts. Ideas flow and great things begin to happen. I learned a lot from simply listening in. And, if you're in the same boat, I'd recommend that you do that same. It's not always about sending out, but keeping one's ear to the ground and listening. You might be surprised, in a good way, with what you hear.

Let the Right One in

Last night my wife and I finally had a chance to sit down and watch Tomas Alfredson's 2008 vampire film "Let the Right One in." If you're unfamiliar with what the Swedish film's about, check out the trailer. I had heard a review of the movie on the Filmspotting podcast cast several months ago and had wanted to see it because the hosts gave it good review. What peaked my curiosity is that Adam and Matty of Filmspotting suggested that this film would be a great alternative to "Twilight" which was breaking all box office records at the time. Now before I go any further, let me be clear: I am a fan of Stephenie Meyers' Twilight series, but I thought the film was lacking in imagination and pretty dull. There's a great story to be told there, but I don't believe Catherine Hardwicke, the director of Twilight, took enough chances with her source material. But enough of that.

"Let the Right One in" is unlike "Twilight" in more ways than its style and plot. Whereas "Twilight" is essentially a Romeo and Juliet story watered down so that it's acceptable to the tween audience, "Let the Right One in" captures a more intimate look at a young boy, Oskar, who is being bullied at school. His blossoming relationship with Eli evolves throughout the film until the rather unsettling climax. What is clear is that Eli, a vampire, feeds off of human blood as do Meyers' vampires, but her fierceness is unparalleled. A cross between William Golding's children in "Lord of the Flies" and a wild animal, Eli appears to be "about 12 years old," but might be hundreds of years older. Her actual age is never addressed, adding to the mystery behind her true motivations. Is she simply using Oskar or are they using each other mutually to obtain a semi-bit of freedom from the world around them.

Nicely cemented into the '80s, complete with Smurf toys on Oskar's dresser, "Let the Right One in" is a more thoughtful film that at its core circling around the a note Eli leaves Oskar: "To flee is to live. To linger, death." But flee from what? Conformity in Europe during the '80s? Bullies trying to beat up Oskar? A mother and father both failing to understand Oskar's problems? Or from Eli--a vampire who needs a human friend to help her meals.... There are layers up layers in this film and I think that's why I enjoyed it so much. The nuances in Eli and Oskar's personalities are a joy to see unfold on the screen. How far will Oskar go to save his friend and does Eli despise who and what she is or is she just calculating and a cold-blooded murderer? None of these themes and questions are truly ever addressed in "Twlight."

If you're looking for a more penseful approach to the nearly done to death (pun intended) vampire genre, then check out "Let the Right One in." You can't go wrong. It's a bit slow as its paced as a European film rather than the fast cut MTV world of American films these days, but your patience will be greatly rewarded if you stick with it to the end.

Borders: Going to Survive?

About three weeks ago I read the latest "Resnick & Malzberg Diaglogues" in the Feb-Mar 2009 (Vol. 42, Issue 4) Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's (SFWA) "The Bulletin." Let me quote Mike Resnick: "$13 is the 52-week high for Borders stock. 67 cents is the prices it's going for today (December 8, 2008), as we begin this dialogue..." The article goes back and forth between Resnick and Malzberg as they discuss the future of super bookstores and what might come next. As with all of their Dialogues in "The Bulletin," there isn't so much a final answer to the be all and end all, but rather a sobering listing of what's happening in the industry.

I did a little research and found that Borders' stock (BGP on the NYSE) last trade for 99 cents on Friday. In after hours, the stock price has gone up to $1.05. In digging a little more, I found an article on Yahoo entitled "Borders Turnaround Is Happening Despite Downturn."

I read through all of this news and scratched my head. Yesterday I went to Borders and tried to buy a copy of the April issue of Scientific American. I had listened to American's latest podcast and wanted to pick up a copy to read about the Dark Energy story and the controversial decision that the Texas school district just passed. My wife took the kids upstairs to the children's books section and I scoured through the magazines. I looked and I looked. I came upstairs, checked on how my wife was doing and told her that I couldn't find a copy of Scientific American. After a bit, I wandered back downstairs and talked to a sales associate. He told me that he thought that Borders was no longer carrying the magazine but he would check. As he was paging through a huge book, he said that Borders had recently cut back on 400,000 items. I nodded my head and a memory began stirring in my mind. The Resnick & Malzberg Dialogues article popped into my head. The sales associate walked me over to the magazines and we began looking together. After a minute, he used the microphone headset he was wearing and asked a colleague if they still carried Scientific American. While he was waiting for a response, we continued to look and I noticed that I couldn't find Astronomy magazine or Sky & Telescope. I was a bit surprised. There were a ton (and I mean a ton) of magazines on fashion, weddings and the like, but not on science. I was rather shocked. The sales associated paused for a moment, listening and then turned to me to say, "I'm sorry but we no longer carried it." I thanked him and headed off to meet up with my family.

My goal was to purchase a Scientific American and because I didn't want to leave empty-handed I left with purchasing Cooking Light magazine.

Throughout the store, I saw red tickets on CDs and DVDs--40% off. It looked to me that Borders was hoping to clear a lot of their inventory. Not a good sign if you ask me. Has anyone else noticed this sad state of affairs for Borders?