@kopper -great music selection and always has a nice thing to say.  he used to be kopper of the way back machine so I feel like royalty being his twitter friend.  having stood in the same venue as kopper before (and perhaps maybe met him before) I feel as though he shouldn’t be on my list as I’ve excluded anyone I know in real life.  I feel that since he’s not one of my homeys he can go on here!  at any rate, homey or not, I’d hang out and listen to some tunes with the guy

@herrbenz -super nice.  genuine and super nice.  he’s one of the few people allowed to tell me to shut up on twitter since he’s so nice.  he responds to questions, reads posts and takes part in converstation.  most people don’t take time to do that, including people I know…but here he is, someone who knows nothing of me and yet takes the time to be sincere.  if I ever needed someone to tell me to shut up, he’s the first fella I’m running to!

@courtneychesley -I was first awed by her cool blog layout; then she did a contest where we submitted our “most twisted traits” via twitter.  how could I not instantly think her full of awesomeness.  she’s genuine, her real self on twitter.  all the good and all the bad.  someone not afraid to be who she is; the sorts of people I like to surround myself with all the time.  she’s crafty and clever and if she ever needed a quiz or contest participant, I’d be first in line!

@KBestOliver -she’s pretty awesome and tells everyone how it is, no hold’s bard.  if’s she’s going to spend hours bitching, she warns you!  she’s considerate, honest, and very clever.  if you don’t believe me, then read her blog.  she’s so clever she was sexy broccoli for halloween.  i’ve never been so jealous of broccoli in my life.  if she ever needed like a non sexy lumpy potato, I want in on that party!

@southpaw32 -you’d think with the name like southpaw that he’d be left handed, he probably is, I’ve never asked.  he’s pretty cool, responds to questions, asks them, and encourages silly acts of behavior (like animal voices).  he’s got good taste in beverages and knows all the good spots to go drink them at.  he in fact is so cool that he invites people to meet him sometimes.  most people wouldn’t do that or would think everyone is too psycho to invite, but he trusts his twitter people enough to make the invite. one day I’ll have to take him up on his invite, and then we can record a whole saga in animal voices

@sheehanpaul -this guy lets me tag along on his adventures, like san fransisco.  he even lets me talk about guns.  he might be annoyed with me but doesn’t act it and certainly hasn’t said it.  some people instantly freak out at the first indication of sincere friendship, or twittership in this case, but he was sincere in return.  we may not always talk, but there is an adventure to be had, or even a serious conversation to take place, he’s a good guy to have on the team.  one day, we should go shoot guns together!

@ibificus -quiet, but when he speaks, it’s usually good stuff. he always sends me to some rather intelligent and interesting sites/posts. he has good comics. he likes words! he’s writing a book with sheep. no, no, not writing with the sheep rather the sheep are context. he’s got great taste in music as well. I didn’t learn that on Twitter though, I cheated, but that’s beside the point. he even seems to have a similar sadistic/peculiar view on the world; but is extremely sincere. anyway, if I knew him in person, I’d make a point to hang out with him weekly despite the fact he’d rather be alone. I’m just mean like that! I just know we’d be bff’s! really awkward bff’s!

@FrankieP -odd. odd in a really great way. likes that which is creepy. but creepy in a really great way. he’s very creative and can craft up some interesting drawings and art projects, comics, whatever. he likes and shares things that are creative, bizarre, nightmarishly interesting…and yet he doesn’t watch scary movies. it’s like me, but not, I’m sure I cry a whole lot more, I’m not at all crafty (he could be the missing right side of my brain(if Eva didn’t already occupy that area)), and he’s a boy. while most boys are mean, i can’t say that of him, he has twitter tea with me on occasion and seems genuinely sincere. I suspect he is a superhero in his free time as he never seems to sleep; the alternative is that he Twitters in his sleep, but more likely a superhero. he is real life pals with @ibificus, so I’d make him hang out with us and drink tea. we’d have to call it #reallifetea

@jamesgallagher -he has an awesome bike! he blogged about it. I’m a sucker for people who like to bike, but aren’t super serious bikers. I’m not at all a serious biker but find that if I could walk/bike everywhere I needed to go on a regular basis, I’d be pretty darn content. that’s how he seems, and I like that. I’d make him go on bike rides with me. him and his really cool bike!

@curlydena I met her having twitter tea and since then I’ve loved just about everything she posts. she’s crude in the sweetest way possible, and all while looking adorable. she’s got some great curse words as well. you can’t help but want to chime in on her fun, or perhaps be there having that fun with her. I know this because she twitters when she’s out telling us all of the fun she’s having, downright jealous. she’s sincerely nice, and won’t be taken as a hypocrite…if she doesn’t like something, she doesn’t hold back. no worrying about a salty wound in the back with this one! I’d beg her to hang out with me, but only once a week or so (sheesh, once every other month), I’d never be able to keep up!

@AllanCavanagh -he’s an artist guy, he’s got kids, and he curses a whole lot. that’s the kind of people I like. no holding back, just let it all out, and then go and be all adorable with the kids. I had twitter tea with this fella as well, and he’s amusing. if you get a rare chance to see him post a twitpic or something, they are always good…him and the kids and Dr. Who, or him and some odd childhood toy, etc…amusing. he’s the kind of fella who seems to have a million things going on, so I’ll have to settle for being the sitter, but heck, just knowing the guy would be worth it!

@breakfastface -this girl is 100% real. there’s no faking here. I like that people are sincere and they really show up that way behind the avatar and characters on the screen. if it weren’t for her bulldog Roscoe and her newest addition Olive I wouldn’t have ever gotten to meet her perhaps. since then we keep tabs on each other’s pooches (they are our children after all). we check in on each other when we need it, and sometimes that’s the one thing that makes us realize we don’t live in a vacuum, we live in a world where good people care about us. she’s adorable, caring, and seems to be a hard worker (a lot of her tweets and pics are when she’s at work). she can definitely roll with the punches, we’d have all sorts of fun doggy play dates.

@ThatOneEBD -he is a bulldog. an english bulldog. he’s funny. he’s just like a dog. he sends me songs when I’m down. I want to kiss his little noggin’ and give all sorts of belly rubs. dogs are just great, and a dog on twitter, well that’s just amazing stuff! I’d hang out with EBD for sure, and kiss his furrowed brow every chance I got!!

Stephanie Marie-Arbogast Spann; born on May 11th, (in the late 70′s, let’s leave it at that) to John E. and Sharon E., the second child after John D. (a.k.a. Dusty).  Quirky fact – Dusty and Steph share the same birthday, 2 years apart!  Their parents anniversary happens to fall nine months prior (hmm . . . ).  At an early age she learned to never leave her foot on the railroad tracks.  Lesson learned: if the big train doesn’t get you, your older brother will be sure to pummel you for derailing the train!  After a small hiatus, a younger brother, Drew A. was born.  Steph is very overprotective of her baby brother and will pummel you for breaking his heart (let that be fair warning ladies).  Steph grew to become an overachiever that eventually led her to Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville to get a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Civil Engineering.  She has continued on to work as a structural engineer.  She was married in 2007 to Chris Spann, thus legally renaming herself to have a hyphenated middle name.  She has two awesome dogs Riley and Bella.  She enjoys reading (books and blogs), writing (blogs), Douglas Adams, Christopher Moore, hot black tea with a bit of milk and sweetener, music (particularly ska, punk, and reggae), sustainability, and travel.   Here are some of her favorites: color-pink; architect-Frank Lloyd Wright; bestest friend ever-Eva W.; teacher-Brad Cross; scent-lavender; flower-Gerber daisies.  When asked what she would want to be remembered for after her death, she responded that she would like to know that people saw that she tried to make the right decisions (ethical, moral, or just) given the circumstances and knowledge when she made her choice; and as such was a model for others.

This is NOT my scary image!

 I’m using the above image as an example about what I am going to write about.  I went to this website and borrowed the above image that is scarier than scary.  There are more images like it, think the movie Fortress  or Strangers (sweet soundtrack by the way), but worse!

It wasn’t too long ago from the date of this post that I attended HOK’s BlogEx.  I was able to attend the actual meeting in St. Louis (that’s where I’m at) while about 20 others attended via the web.  I think it went well, a lot of things were discussed.  I was happy to hear Justin stick up for his values of the blog’s purpose.  In fact one of the things he mentioned was the copying and pasting of blogs and websites that already exist as a sort of high-lite!  He mentioned that the only thing it does is show that we bloggers know how to use “control c control v”.  And, he’s right!  I think as a blogger I should be more insightful, less plagiaristic.  I believe of course that there is a time and place for re-posting a blog or drawing attention to another’s work (when it’s good, it’s good).  But then again, sometimes it’s redundant!  After all, if you are reading my blog, you probably read the blogs I read too!  I haven’t even mentioned the fact that I just write.  I write even when the content is crappy!  So then, is it a good idea to write about other blogs, or not a good idea?  You tell me!  What do you do?  What do you read?

A great guy (Matt Mueller) that I met once has this website where he posts his photography.  Wonderful photography!  Here are his photos of Iceland!  I’ve added a couple here just to highlight and entice you to look further.  Don’t be afraid to wander around his site and look at other photos.  He also has an IMDb page you could check out too just to see what he’s done professionally!  And to think, this guy started out getting a civil engineering degree at SIUE!

The images are the express copyright of Matt Mueller

First of all, let me tell you what a hash actually is.  It is in fact that little number symbol just above the 3 on your keyboard [#].  That guy that I have always called “the number symbol” is actually called a “hash”  [Editor's note: Engineers call this the pound symbol and is often shown in calculations for shorthand]!  I think he has a few other names, but for the purpose of Twitter and fellow Tweets, we will now call him Hash!

So a hashtag is simply the hash symbol [#] with a string of text behind him that is a tag to something greater!  Basically there are whole websites devoted to #hashtag.  There are Wiki’s out there about this guy that I would recommend digging up just to get some in depth understanding.  I did however list a couple of links below to show you how hashtags are tracked in real time!

hashtags.org
twemes.com

Now here is a list to see if your “community” exists already and what their hashtag might be:

Tag Directory

You should probably note that not all hashtags get listed.  Some one is usually responsible for getting tags added to these diractories.  Do a bit of research first to see if the tag you want does exist!

So how do you use a hashtag? It’s simple really! You write out your twitter message. Somewhere in the message you place the hashtag [#Rancid]. 

The show in St. Louis this June is going to be great, I’m looking forward to hearing Start Now #Rancid

Somewhere out there in the great Internets are places where all Twitter messages tagging #Rancid are tracked.  For the really nerdy of us, there are sometimes graphs displaying the usage of your specific hashtag!  So there could be whole conversations about the band Rancid being displayed somewhere with adorable graphs showing peak and maximum usage.  In most cases you can search for your specific tag to use (if it already exists).  You can also search the tag to display all, (and only) messages that are marked with #Rancid.  To quote a Wiki, you can think of these as “bookmarks” to messages.  That is in fact exactly what they are!

As a side note, hashtags are to be used sparingly.  It would be like calling 9-1-1 everytime you slipped and fell.  Useful?  Perhaps.  Necessary?  Probably not!

Where am I going with this?  Good question!  Here is where I’m going.  I would like you to sponsor a friend for the March of Dimes.  Her name is Stacy and I am certain that if angels have literally fallen from Heaven, she is one of them!

In 10 days I will be walking in memory of Marlee…a sweet angel born April 10, 2008 to amazing parents prematurely. Marlee was only here a day, but has touched alot of hearts, mine being one! On April 25 her team will be walking, raising money for the March of Dimes. Please sponsor me, no amount too small and it will make a difference! http://www.marchforbabies.org/jimmusi is the website to visit.

Hopefully you have a little extra to give to help support someone else’s cause, you never know who you can help until you get to do it!

Thanks! Check out this blog for a fun video: http://stephysite.blogspot.com

I know, a very scary thought!  Chances are, it won’t happen, but I am rethinking my ways of living.  If I can do my part, everyone else can do their part as well!  We should all make an effort!

In the mean time, check out the movie that made me think: Human Footprint.

Here it is, the dog friendly car blog!

I have posted about my Kansas City trip at blogspot!

So now, you’re here, trying to write to get stuff off your chest, or to at least buy yourself a little time before you start modeling a building in one of your design programs.  You have the peppiest Toots songs you can find, you’re dancing in your seat, you’re still just really exhausted!  There’s very little to save your soul right now!  Let me know what you find, I might need a little of that.  You can slide it in my pocket baby!

You can keep on listening, “baby don’t you know that I love you . . .“; it’s not going to help, trust me.  Perhaps someone will walk by your desk and compliment you.   Perhaps you’ll get good news right about now.  Perhaps, you will have consumed enough tea, pop, or coffee to get that caffiene rush you need!  Maybe!

It’s probably right about now you are quietly asking yourself why you are here, reading this blog.  It’s a good question!  This blog is going to have no real content.  This blog is going to have no insight to getting you the awakedness you need.  This blog is empty!

Don’t worry, I will add a link here to make you feel like you are learning something!  I do like to teach!  I also like to read!  Therefore, I am teaching you about a books I think you need to read! 

Title 1:  In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Title 2:  Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Title 3:  The Reader by Bernhard Schlink