DogBalls Blog

flickr photo of the day

Pico Jumps
Originally uploaded by mylerdude

one in an occasional series

Best Friends

Twitter (almost) killed my blog

My design for Twitter's "over capacity" screen
Originally uploaded by Mykl Roventine

I wonder how many people have neglected their blogging "duties" in favor of quick hits on twitter. I definitely fall into that camp and I'm not happy about it... for a few reasons.

First of all, my blog acts as a bit of a self-serving diary of my thoughts on a great number of topics from cartoons to social media to advertising to cars and of course... golf and family. Twitter does provide you with a time-line of your tweets but realistically, I can't say I've looked back at any of them with great interest the way I do with my personal blog. Furthermore, how many people stumble upon one tweet and then look at past tweets for more insight into a person... a blog is different and it's a more complete picture of a person and their thoughts beyond the 140 characters Twitter limits you to.

Secondly, Twitter allows you to purge your thoughts without much thought and 99.999% of the time, that's enough to satisfy my need to write a blog post. That's unfortunate because without that outlet I may ponder the issue a bit more, develop the content, find a photo to accompany the story and hyperlink liberally to make a more complete story. I miss that art and creative outlet. Damn you Twitter!

Lastly, I think Twitter's dominance over blogging is also a social comment on people's diminishing attention span. Why say in 500 words that can be told in just 140 characters?

Am I giving up my Twitter account? Not quite... but I might be holding back some tweets in favor of a more developed story.

Thank You Wall Street

Takin' it to the BANK$Y
Originally uploaded by guano

It has always frustrated me to see companies act in their long-term worst interests only to satisfy the large investors and Wall Street that pressured them. In this context, it's never enough to earn a hefty stream of revenue, spending less than you're making which results in a profit. Any small (privately held) business or individual (earning a paycheck, paying monthly bills and stocking enough away for a rainy day) would call that a "WIN." Obviously, it's great to continue to earn more each year (growth) but at the same time, if you manage to continue churning out profits year after year... you should be content. Being content is not / was not enough for Wall Street.... and they suffered the same fate they imposed on other businesses as a result.

When publicly held companies are forced to show double-digit percentage growth month over month, they leverage an otherwise healthy business to deliver the results. CEO's are compensated by the publicly traded price... rather than the true health of their business and as a result make poor decisions.

I think there is a case to be made for having *fewer* companies on the open-market. For some high-growth companies it makes sense or those that pay dividends to it's stock-holders but it would seem that the vast majority are there for the wrong reasons ... for the big-pay day on the day of their IPO, vast sums of cash infusion for no need and over-extended growth in a market that really couldn't support it.

Starbucks for example... great product, great marketing but it was the pressure of Wall Street investors that said, "That's not enough. What other food are you going to sell? Why don't you add more stores? Why don't you source the coffee cheaper? Why don't you pay the labor less?" And now what? Starbucks may have eeked out more profit following that mantra but now has to retract and fire it's employees. Was it worth the gamble? I would argue it was not because at the end of the day, where is that extra revenue they earned? It was presumably stuck in the share price which is a mythical figure and has since (along with the rest of the market) imploded. Thank You Wall Street.

It's been widely assumed that capitalisim works and when you have the finaical community encouraging growth, it's in everyone's best interest. The problem comes with unrealistic growth expectations that result in over-leveraging and over-borrowing to meet a short-term goal. Wall Street encouraged it and is now (as we all are) the victim of their own mantra... growth at any cost, even the long-term health of their own firms.

CNN = (being) Social

The tag-line, "To serve man" was already taken and had a lasting impression that we were serving up people for food. ;-)

CNN, instead, chooses to position itself as being able to: "Inform, Involve and Empower" it's customers wherever they access CNN whether it be: cable, web, mobile or podcast.

In the category of "inform", there are multiple sources one can be informed by. It's the unique organization that can "involve" and "empower" those to act upon what they are informed by. CNN delivers on that promise in a number of ways [trying not to sound too much like a sales-guy] but a recent study released really drove the point home for me.

'The Vitrue 100 measured the top 100-brands in the online space in terms of "...usage, size of the social media environment and the magnitude of the conversation." CNN ranked #2 just behind iPhone and ahead of Apple, Disney, Xbox, MTV and Fox News (the next closest news competitor at #19.) What does this all mean?

CNN appears to be the dot-com news service "of record" for the vast majority of "web 2.0izens." Twitter a news item? Post it on Facebook, Digg or your blog? Chances are... you're going to use CNN as your source to inform others, involve your users and potentially empower those around you to do something.

Happy Chanukah

Happy Chanukah
Originally uploaded by mil8

Happy Thanksgiving

Jordan's 1st Bottle
Originally uploaded by mil8

"Reaching across the aisles..."

A Casa da Árvore [Tree House]
Originally uploaded by Jim Skea

The current political race for next President of the United States can be divisive. In California, less so, because the state has been chalked up for Barack Obama very early on and there is no chance it'll goto McCain.... so I don't see a lot of arguments over lunch. Having said that... there should be more debate about who should live in the White House ... but it shouldn't be limited to the great GOP v. DNC "smack-down" the country is wrapped up in.

"Reaching across the aisles" is what has led our country down the road we find ourselves in. Working toward a common goal, forgetting party alliances to put our country's best interests first is a noble cause and should be every U.S. Congressmen and Senator's duty. The problem is that our house is TOO cordial ... and their ideals are too closely aligned. Take for example the $700B rescue/bail-out package for the Financial sector. In the end, both parties agreed it was the right thing to do... but not before adding an additional $200B in pork to pass it.

Where is the voice of reason that stands up to these two political parties and says, "NO. Adding more pork to our country's already deep debt is not the right move for us." Nobody is there to keep the GOP and DNC honest. Each party likes to appoint themselves as the watch-dog for us, the American People, to keep "the other guys" from raising taxes, keeping abortion legal/safe, drilling, not drilling, etc. But in the end, these two parties are like Coke v. Pepsi. (No real difference at all.)

The United States of America is a diverse nation. How can our nation be represented by ONLY TWO political parties? It makes no sense. The reason we are represented by only two parties is because the two parties in control like it this way. They can push and pull on each other all day and night, year in and year out but in the end... they need each other to play one another's foil. It's been this way for many years but... Time is running out.

Time is running out because the great loser in this "fake battle" between the GOP and the DNC is US. We the people, though a coordinated effort from BOTH sides of the aisle of racked up huge amounts of debt, seen an unregulated financial system nearly (probably) collapse us and get us into a war nobody wants to be in. Before blame starts being thrown around... it's BOTH sides fault.

I get wrapped up in the GOP v. DNC smack-down myself.... I have my opinions about McCain's choice for VP and about Obama's strategy on health care for everyone. But... but... I have to remind myself (and hopefully via this blog post others) that the real enemy and threat to our country is this two-party system. We need REAL candidates with brave new ideas that can push us past this mess we've gotten ourselves into.

Vote your conscience this year ... and send the message that the GOP and DNC cannot take YOUR vote for granted... that they need to start making smart decisions for our country...introduce a new voice that makes them better/smarter/faster/stronger!

PEACE AND LOVE

Father & Daughter

Jordan Reese & Me
Originally uploaded by mil8

My new daughter, Jordan Reese Levin,  joins Lola, Sydney, Stacey and Me. If there was ever a doubt... I am truly outnumbered with no hope for a come-back! ;-)

We're blessed by her arrival and look forward to Sydney's baby-sitting skills to progress... she's already proven to be a very loving and caring big-sister.

Thanks for all your well-wishes!

Golf Product Review of the Day

The most comfortable golf shoe I've ever worn is the Adidas Tour 360 3.0. After a long "scramble" tournament with a "20" and a "30" that took six hours to complete, I was ready to play another 18. If you're a golfer, you know that after a round like that... you're ready to give up the game.

Great stability, cushioning and grip (even with the "stock" spikes.) Adidas does a good job with these shoes and I think they've made a giant leap over past attempts.

They're not bad to look at either! ;) Available here.