I often find myself twittering links that would otherwise have made it into a blog entry. So, here are some of those links, with a bit more annotation around them than the 140 character limit on Twitter. I want to try to do this every once in a while…some links are silly, some actual news.

A&E Releases iPhone app for checking Paranormal activity – Really funny, really neat. I can’t wait to see the boys on Supernatural holding up an iPhone instead of their funny EMF reader thingy.

RyanAir Calls Blogger Idiot – This is just awful. I fully believe companies absolutely have to respond to negative criticism publicly, but even if the person they’re talking about IS an idiot, you just don’t do that! Don’t insult your customers. Period.

Bank of Obama – This site lets you generate a “Stimulus Check” to send to your friends. You can send it via email, or you can pay a small fee to have it sent by paper mail. I sent all of you a check here. As a cute added benefit, you get a “thank you from obama” for doing your part to help bailout America. Glad I could help!!

F***MyLife – their tag line is “my life sucks but I dont give a fuck” It’s funny, or at least, I think so.

Secret Tweet – along the same lines as fmylife, except for twitter, and tends to be much more serious and sad. Anonymous tweets, with links attached so you can discuss, if you’re so inclined. Always an interesting service, but has taken on a whole new life now with the comments. Read the site, or follow ‘em on twitter.

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow – Last but not least, from Stargate SG-1 writer Joseph Mallozzi’s blog, an episode outline for a story that will never air. It’s a time travel/alternate universe typey thing set during the 10th season. I looove the time travel/alternate universe stuff.

Enjoy the links!

Note – for those of you reading this through RSS, I recently switched my feedburner feed over to google. Please let me know if you see any wonkyness – all seems to be working ok, but I keep hearing stories of other folks having big problems.

Yes, this is another meme. I fully admit that I do not read blogs that are full of nothing but meme’s, so it is kind of pathetic for me to be doing these. They’re lazy ways to fill blogs with junk. That said, for some wacked out reason these things are making a comeback on Facebook, I was tagged over there, and I since I avoided meme’s like the plague before, ‘they’re new to me!’

Now, I don’t actually BLOG on Facebook – Facebook notes aren’t quite a blog to me – and have no intention to start now. Plus, I’ve written enough “real” stuff over here that I think I’m allowed a meme. Or two. Right?

Skip this post unless you’re interested….and I’m not sure many people would be. Once again, I’ll tag people on Facebook. If you want to see who I tag or whatever, just add me over there.

Okie, now for the meme. I have strange taste in music, including lots and lots of broadway, so this will be interesting. To me, at least.
The rules:
1. Put your iTunes/iPod/MP3 on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your next answer.
3. You must write that song name down no matter how outrageous it sounds!
4. Tag 10 friends who might enjoy doing the game as well as the person you got the note from.
5. Add commentary

IF SOMEONE SAYS, “IS THIS OKAY” YOU SAY?
“Looking Down” – Audiovent

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
“I’d Be Surprisingly Good For You” – Evita

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
“To Have and To Hold” – Depeche Mode
(I guess this one kind of makes sense? Ish?)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?
“Tether” – Indigo Girls

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
“My Grown Up Christmas List” – Kelly Clarkson
(uhhhhh. Ok?)

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
“The Answer” – Bad Religion

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT OFTEN?
“Take Me Away” – Avril Levigne
(hahahahaha)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
“How Much Longer – Eve6

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
“As Long As You Love Me” – Backstreet Boys
(ok, finally something kind of accurate. Kind of).

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
“Could I Be You” – Matchbox 20

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
“Nobody’s Home” – Avril Lavigne

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
“King of the Stereo” – Saliva

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
“Contrary Mary” – Kix

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
“Only the Young” – Journey

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
“The Rules” – Hoobastank

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
“Symphony no. 35″ – Mozart

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
“Touch of my Hand” – Britney Spears
(Kinky!)

WHAT’S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
“Perfect Stranger” – Erasure

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
“The Stone” – Ashes Divide

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
“I’ll Be There for You” – Bon Jovi

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
“Strange” Tori Amos

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
“Are You Happy Now?” – Michelle Branch

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
“Coming Home Now” – Boyzone

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
“Bones in the Sky” – Dan Fogelberg

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
“I Remember You” – Skid Row
(kind of fits. I guess?)

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
“How I Know You” – Aida
(Surprisingly accurate…if you know the musical and where the song fits in)

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
“Two Steps Back” Saliva

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
“I Go To Rio” – Finale from Boy From Oz

Best subject line ever!! Why? Because the only thing you can possibly do when you hear this song is dance around. I wish anyone luck sitting still, really, it’s not possible. Da da da daaaa….

Gotta admit, this was kind of fun – I rarely put my ipod on shuffle, primarily because the soundtrack music does bleed in, and I hate listening to musicals out of sequence. I did hear some music I haven’t listened to in ages, though.

But now I’m off to listen to all of Aida. Because, ya know, that song got me started….

Woooeeee I’m tired. Being a blabbermouth is exhausting!!

This afternoon I attended two sessions, one on personal identity, and one I gave on “creating the right product for the right audience.”

The identity session was fascinating to me. We all walk a very fine line between revealing information about ourselves online, and keeping things private. It’s very hard to know where the line is on what should and should not be said, and the line is very different for everyone.

There’s no question that it’s changed for me. At one point in my life, I was completely honest about everything in my life online. I maintained my live journal, which was locked to friends-only, and oh my, the secrets about me that were in there. I was also Bobbi, of course….BamBam didn’t come along until later.

At some point along the way, I realized that “friends-only” really didn’t mean much. Not only could I easily make a mistake and leave something open to the world, but god forbid a friend decided to be mean or something, they could easily take screenshots or copy/paste.

The words “private” and “online” simply do not belong together. No matter how locked down you may think things are, there’s always a way for things to get out.

So, in my case, “StephanieBamBam” was created at AOL. My friend Susan nicknamed me “BamBam” for being a klutz, and it stuck. The name was unique enough (your nickname has to be unique!) that it worked well, and I kinda liked it. StephanieBamBam took over, and everything Bobbi that I could find was pulled offline. You won’t find archives of those live journal entries, they don’t exist in digital form anymore. I pretty much recreated my virtual identity, changing from a pseudoanonymous “bobbi,” to a slightly more personal name I was willing to associate with the real me. There are some pieces of Bobbi still lingering about in various places, but you’d need to dig a bit to find, and honestly…if you’re going to dig THAT much…have at it. I’m not embarassed by anything I’ve done.

Admittedly, I’m in a special position, where I work online in social media. The session discussed things like people who truly cannot reveal their identities online due to safety reasons – how do they even use social media? How do you get a domain without a credit card in your fake name, how do you attend conferences, etc.

My recommendation – for most people – is don’t put anything online you wouldn’t want associated with you everywhere. You can live under a nickname, but live in the assumption that your real name will ultimately be exposed. Employers, schools…the world has access to ANYTHING you do or say online. Be smart.

The other session this afternoon was mine, so of course I thought it was fabulous. We talked about how to create a product for your market – how to know who you’re making what for. Professionally, I’ve created products targeted at adults, teens, and developers. And believe me, something that works for one will probably not work for the other.

So how do you know what to do? Be a teenager! Be a developer! Be an adult. That’s oversimplifying, obviously, but I’ve seen every single high school musical, read Twilight, watch Hannah Montana, belong to MyYearbook…. etc. I’m often called a teenager, even. Which is fine. People have got to remember that they are not building a product for themselves. Just because “this makes sense to me” doesn’t mean it’ll make sense to someone without the CS degree. Make your product for your audience, market your product to the right audience, and if you have a good product, it’ll work out.

More from She’s Geeky tomorrow – I’m giving another panel in the afternoon “how to launch a product.”

I am finally settled in, and although I can’t claim I’m 100% unpacked, I am at least at the stage where my apartment LOOKS unpacked. That’s half the battle, right? I’m also hard at work on Operation Turtle, and absolutely dying to get something out so I can finally start talking about it.

It has been a fairly wacky couple of months, though, and I think it’s safe to say that I was an idiot for even thinking I could do NaNoBloMo. Moving, starting a new job, multiple holidays, and a blog entry a day? Hell no. Next year.

I gotta admit, I love San Francisco, it is the closest thing to a “real city” I’ve lived in since leaving NYC (Arlington, VA considers itself a city, but it’s not the same). I lived in Mountain View (South Bay) last time I was in Northern Cali, so this is my first San Francisco living experience. I live in SOMA (South of Market), and am fairly close to everything in SF. f I can’t walk there, I can easily take muni/bart. I can even walk to work, which I love. I think I got a little too accustomed to being a car slug in LA, I am much happier getting around on my own two feet. That said, it’s still great to have a car just in case I need it.

The cats are also settling in nicely here, even Mystic is coming out of her shell. She is still very skittish, and will hide from anyone other than me, but she’s getting better – she’ll stay in place if I walk near her, or stay on my lap if I cross/uncross my legs. My theory is that she was about as terrified in the move as she’ll ever get, and realized if she survived that, she could survive anything. Both cats spent a total of three days locked up in carriers, two days to move in/out, and one day when I drove from LA to SF. It’s progress!

Harry is still a little terror, not afraid of anything, but I’m discovering some ways to take advantage of that. For example, since he truly doesn’t care what happens to him, he was perfectly fine with me holding his paws still so my 10 month old niece could pull on his fur. I swear, he would run up to a wolf and snuggle it, he’s clueless.

I’m also in a building with dogs, and it is absolutely hysterical to see the cats reacting as a doggie walks by in the hallway. The dogs in the building don’t really bark, we just hear the jangling of their leashes, but it’s enough to send Mystic running into the other room, and get Harry all excited sniffing the door. I have wacky cats, but at least they do keep things interesting.

What else. Stargate Atlantis ended, bad horror movies make me laugh, I love my iPhone, Glade doesn’t smell particularly good, and there’s a guy who hangs around the office with a cat on his back.

And tonight, I have a date with Jack Bauer, throwing things (or a cat or two) at Tony when he dares to speak. I remember writing a blog entry out of joy when he was killed off the show. I still can’t believe he’s back…

I’m all moved in to a place I really like, 24 is back, and turtles are fun. What more could a girl want!

I am currently on a plane to sf writing on my iPhone with it in airplane mode. I hadnt intended to knock out the day’s blog entry on the plane , but I do need the keyboard practice. Plus, I can’t find the videos I put on here. Dunno why. I had Atlantis to watch, dangit.

I gotta admit, I love the phone. I hadn’t expected to, but it truly is a little mini laptop, and is nicely serving as a netbook type thing for me. I’m also obsessed with apps (I knew that was gonna happen), and having fun seeing just how far I can push this thing. I even finally put leopard on my mbp,I had to for the google contacts support.

I also went back to food – orange juice to start. And dear lord am I happy to have it. I have never, ever been that weak or hungry in my life. Of course, I still would like to do this again for longer, but wow, nuts. I kinda get the feeling it’ll be a few days before I’m back to normal, right now, despite being full, I’m staaarving.

Would I recommend someone do this? Wellll, I would never, ever suggest it. It is crazy and drastic and very much starvation. But, if someone was already thinking about it, could physically do it (as in, doctor said ok) and wanted my opinion? Go for it. It is an experience like nothing else.

I am currently sitting in a hair salon in west Hollywood, writing this on my new iPhone. I figured, what better way to get used to this keyboard than to write a blog entry. And ya know, it isn’t half bad. My salon has open wifi, so I have a nice, solid Internet connection.

I am using the wordpress iPhone app, which has been very simple to use so far. I am definately making tons of typos as I type, but autocorrect seems to be catching most of what I’m trying to say. I also find that I don’t need a tactile response from the keyboards as much as I thought did. My piano teacher would be horrified.

Gotta admit, I love this phone. Cuz it’s not just a phone it is truly a little mini computer, and the power of that is incredible.

It also helps to alleviate the extreme boredom that is waiting for hair color to set. I’m surevim downloading lots of useless apps, but it is wasting time.

So first iPhone impression – amazing, and I am much more in love with this thing than I expected to be. Go fig – and thanks, Steve!

I’m a little brainless today. It’s been quite a week, huh. New president, California taking rights away from its citizens, my birthday (what, wasn’t that a major event to the world?)…lots of stuff going on.

At least it’s the weekend. And strangely enough – I have a new Michael Crichton book to read!! After I published the entry about Michael Crichton on Wednesday, I received an email telling me about a ‘favorite book of his called Binary.’ I’d never heard of a Michael Crichton book called Ninary…

Now, I have read a book published by Michael Crichton under another name called “A Case of Need.” I loved the book, but it was very clearly not “typical” Michael Crichton.  Turns out Binary is written under yet another pseudonym, one I’d never heard of. I dug around online (the book is long out of print), found a used copy for sale, ordered, and have it now.

So much to my surprise, I get to spend the weekend curled up with a new Michael Crichton book (considered new under the “it’s new to me” rule). Not a bad weekend at all.

Hope everyone has a good weekend, you all probably need one after this week!

About three years ago, I was lucky enough to go to Stanford for a summit on virtual reality technology. The twenty or so of us there got to see all of the latest and greatest VR being developed, from full body virtual reality to simple sims that would react to you. Among other things, I played with a virtual baby, and “jumped” off of a 20 foot cliff.

The baby in the ad below is a cross between the VR baby I played with that day, and the technology many companies have been utilizing for years to create realistic avatars (this one’s from Oddcast). It’s silly, and weird, but to me at least, it’s very, very cool.

I had Brad Pitt and Britney Spears “make this baby.” Make one of your own!

I always tend to go a little overboard with the self-analysis around my birthday, and nicely manage to depress myself. Because, of course, no matter where I am in life, there is somewhere else I could be.

Not that I’m saying I SHOULD be somewhere else. I just could be. Like everyone, my life has taken lots of turns and missteps along the way to getting here, and although I try not to look back very often, I always do around my birthday.

I don’t feel like doing that today. Today another year starts for me, and I’m looking forward to a good one.

And it has to be said – tomorrow starts another four years for the US, so please…everyone who can, get out and vote!!

I feel like I should say something profound, it being November 1st and the beginning of this whole “blogging for 30 days” month. I’m not good at profound, though. So some ramblings on blogging.

I’ve been blogging for a long time. My LiveJournal creation date is in early 2002, but I’d kind of started a bit before that in a different form. Like many people, whatever personal webpage I was working on at the time had an “about me” section. The “about me” would turn into a personal blog, entries in reverse order and all, and was updated almost as regularly as the rest of the site.

Before that, I had a .plan file on my VAX account. The updates there were closer to status updates on Facebook/MySpace, or Twitter blabberings, but even there, I would put basic info like “in class.” I didn’t keep the old entries, though (which is technically required to hit the definition of a “blog”).

Over the years my blogging has become much less personal, I’m sure in large part due to the fact that just about everyone’s online these days. I mean…my mom reads my Twitter. Weird, right? Not bad, just strange. The Internet was my world.

The majority of the entries in my former blog would be locked to friends-only, and would be extremely personal at times. I was a master of friend lists, and would post to different people depending on the topic. I trusted that privacy. I don’t anymore.

I very rarely see people blogging like we used to. It’s a necessary thing, of course, we were regularly talking about things we didn’t want the world to know. Not a good idea to put private information online these days.

I do miss it, though. I was friends with every single person who read my blog, and truly valued their comments and feedback. These days, I have nearly 1,000 followers on Twitter, and damn if I know half of them.

Our tiny Internet community exploded. It’s different, sure, but I’m very happy to welcome everyone on board. This is just the start – the next five years online are going to be amazing. And I for one can’t wait to see what happens.