It ain’t pretty outside, sort of a steady stream of misty rain that refuses to turn into light or heavy rain. Walking to work was like having a slightly chilly spa facial treatment. I treated myself with a latte from the Starbucks because I’ve become enamored of late with the plain toasted bagel as breakfast. I’m more a butter than cream cheese spreader tho. When I got into the office, I dropped the buttered half-a-bagel and it landed butter side down, of course, on my jeans.

Not really off to a good start today, but if that little plant shoot outside can ignore adversity, then so can I. They did such a good job of landscaping around here that the plant sex was quite rampant and nestled all over between the cracks of the brickwork sidewalks. We have a few more peeking up through the cracks, but this little guy is in such a place that it’s unlikely to be walked on. So I’ll keep rooting (yeah, I said it) for it until someone notices and they have to chop it off.

In addition to today being May Day, let us not forget that in the USA it is both Law Day:

The right of ordinary men and women to determine their own future, protected by the rule of law, lies at the heart of America’s founding principles. As our country celebrates the 50th anniversary of Law Day, we renew our commitment to the ideals on which this great Nation was established and to a robust system of ordered liberty.

… and also Loyalty Day:

Americans believe that every man, woman, and child has unalienable rights, dignity, and matchless value. Advancing these ideals was the honorable vision of our Founders and the mission that helped shape this great country. On Loyalty Day, we celebrate the legacy of freedom and the shared ideals that bind us together.

I think I’d rather go frolic around a Maypole.

It’s still a little chilly out there this weekend, but the blossoms around my neighborhood are peaking. I was up on Capitol Hill earlier today freezing my tush off and the trees along Pennsylvania Avenue are still keeping their petals to themselves. I had considered heading downtown yesterday, but a little research showed that there really was too much going on and staying in seemed a much better option.

It’s been a pretty slow day, I was up early and at the grocery store. I am definitely doing all of my shopping at 8am Sunday morning! The store was blissfully empty, I was in and out of Safeway faster than I think I’ve ever been. I met Tim over at Eastern Market and aside from getting a nice little hunk of parmesan-gouda, I got away without anything else. A quick breakfast/brunch at Mr. Henry’s and a short walk, due to the cold, and it was back home. I upgraded my Wordpress install which is the main reason for this post and it seems to have gone off without a hitch.

I’m attempting grilled lamb chops for dinner tonight, but in the meantime I think I might do some reading and some gaming and be happy that I am not outside in the windy chill. The joke is usually that DC gets about a week of Spring and then it’s straight away into Summer. It seems like this year we’re going to have a slightly more extended Spring before we become the swamp. It’s not that I miss heading into work already having broken a sweat, but with April around the corner, I don’t exactly expect to head out into 35° weather for a morning walk to the store!

Apologies to Meryn Cadell’s The Sweater Song, but it seemed appropriate. Also, I had no idea that Meryn had transitioned FtM. Of course he hasn’t released an album for about 10 years so I have kinda lost touch with his career. I may have to add his LJ to my reads to keep up.

It’s been quite the day today, interesting interpretations of reality by customers that don’t seem to understand the word no. Literally, we tell them we can’t do something and they reply “I don’t understand.” We aren’t being difficult, we do not possess the materials to perform the task. However “no” is not a response they are willing to accept. It’s kinda maddening.

So let’s look back to a simpler time, when all it took was a guy in a cardigan removing one shoe at a time to completely hypnotize me into an attentive, motionless lump on the sofa or the floor. March 20th is Sweater Day, part of “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” Days which are part of Pittsburgh’s 250th anniversary celebration taking place this year. March 20th would have been Fred Rogers’ 80th birthday and they’ve released a video starring Mr. McFeely (David Newell) asking everyone everywhere to wear a sweater that day. It doesn’t have to be a cardigan, so long as its special to you.

I’ll be ready with my sweater that day. It’s also going to be the first day of Spring, so hopefully it truly will be a beautiful day in the neighborhood! I need to check Netflix to see if they ever released a Best of Mister Rogers dvd for rental. That might make for a nice way to meditate after a particularly trying day.

I think it’s time to reclaim a little bit of civilized behavior and apply it back to IMs. I can handle that interpersonal communications have, over time, removed the personal part of it… and often times the communication as well. This isn’t directed at anyone in particular, because I’m just as guilty of it as anyone else. But I’m going to stop from now on.

Sending messages without context is pretty common, it leads to confusion, but it’s not a high sin. Sending blind URLs without context, on the other hand, was one of those things that separated man from spambot. In the earlier days of IM when you got a message, even from someone you knew, that was nothing more than a link with no hello or any manner of greeting… you didn’t click it as it could have lead to anything. In the past week though, I’ve gotten a lot of IMs from people with just a URL. Even if its mid-conversation, there’s nothing really detailing what the URL is, or in some cases the URL is sent about something we chatted about 5-10 mins prior but had moved onto something else. And it isn’t that I didn’t want to see what was behind the link, but at least tell me what you’re sending and why.

It especially applies to YouTube/video links. Mostly because my internet video tolerance is really low. Many of them just aren’t that funny, often too long, too loud, and backed by horrid music (even the semi-professional ones). If I’m at work, chances are I don’t have time (or enough privacy) to watch a video. When sending a link to a video, you have to think of yourself like a star appearing on a talk show: “Why don’t you set up this clip for us?” If I’m at work I’m probably chatting while multi-tasking, unless I’m using an Adobe product which means that I can’t even move the mouse too fast or it’ll lock up my system. And when I’m at home I’m playing a game or watching tv. So pretty much if you don’t give me a reason to stop what I’m doing and check out the video, I ain’t clicking until I’ve asked what it is, and usually the answer is along the vague lines of “something funny”.

I was recently sent a link to a domain that the office network had on the block list. We had been talking about it, but it was no longer in my short term memory — who needs memory when you have an IM text buffer? In that case sending the link was saving the time of explaining what I’d find at the site, except that it was a blocked site, so he had to explain anyway. The reason I didn’t know ahead of time that the site was blocked brings me to my next pet peeve… TinyURL.

I actually love TinyURL when it’s used properly, but most often it isn’t. It’s great for shortening a link which would send the IM scrollbar a inch off, or might get broken up by someone’s chat program, but TinyURL takes context even further off the grid. At least with most long URLs, you have an idea what it is from just reading it. When it gets shrunk, especially with no interstitial page, you’re really flying blind.

Someone else sent me a link that was spoiler-ific. Again, there was no hello, but a link to a picture at a hosting service. Since I know the person, I clicked on it. By the time it had come up (on my older mac mini, so it was a little slow) he sends “Oh, wait.” “Don’t click on that if you don’t want to be spoiled.” Huh… a wee bit too late. I’m not all that rabid about spoilers, and I’d read an article earlier that alluded to what he sent, but still if he’d set up that link properly chances are I wouldn’t have clicked it.

It’s like George says, “We’re living in a society!” I stay on the fence about just how different my forms of online communication should be from my face to face interactions, but I think I need my IMs to still retain a hint of conversation instead of dissemination. Speaking of face to face, I’m already running a little late to meet Chris while he’s in town for a conference. I hope no one in the area was held up too much by the “snow”. I’m with Fredo here, no more teases on the winter weather. Give us a nice last shout of snow and ice or just give it up and send in Spring, please!