10 useful Twitter alerts

Dr. Doug Green shared this helpful use of Twitter:

This is important: a device, masterfully dubbed “Huggies TweetPee,” that attaches to your baby’s derriere, then relays Twitter-like alerts to your smartphone to let you know when it’s diaper change time. Time Tech, May 10, 2013.

Exceptionally useful for today's parents who too often seem more involved in watching their phone than their children. (Criticism intended.)

This made me think that there a lot of things we could pay much less attention to if we knew that a Tweet would alert us to a possible problem. 

1. Brew-Tweet. Beer getting low and don't want to take your eyes off the game? A low-beer tweet will give your wife plenty of notice to bring you a replacement!
2. Hard-water Tweet. No sense in going all the way into the basement to see how much softener salt is left. A Tweet will tell you before you hair gets that hard water dullness. Also useful are the litterbox alert, the grass-is-getting-high message, and the you-need-to-change-the-sheets alarm.
3. Thank-you-reminder-Tweet. A week's gone by since you got that nice birthday card and check from your aunt and uncle. This Tweet helps you remember to get the stamp on the thank-you note. 
4. Sweet-nothing-Tweet. Attach the sensor to your Significant Other to monitor the level he/she is feeling taken for granted and get a Tweet before counseling is needed.
5. Waist-line-Tweet. When the belt moves to a new notch, this Tweet nags you about your diet and exercise routine.
6. Gas-tire-pressure-oil change-Tweets. Why look at your car's dashboard alerts when you can keep you eyes on your phone when driving ?
7. Dog-needs-to-go-out-Tweet. Once the dog's whine gets to a pre-set decibel level, the tweet will let you know it's time to let him out.
8. Boss-is-coming-Tweet. Working with a hidden camera and facial recognition software, this Tweet give you plenty of time to switch from reading your Tweets to doing actual work before the boss shows up.
9. Dust-the-house-and-scrub-the-floor-Tweet. When the dust on a selected surface gets sufficiently deep, a Tweet alert is triggered. Stickiness level of floor sensor is also available.
10. Call-your-mother-Tweet. Knows when your poor mother hasn't heard from you for over a week. Makes Twitter unaccessible until you and Mom have a a nice long chat.

OK, Blue Skunkers, what other reminders might help make your life just a little easier? Keep your eyes open - and on your phone's screen.

 

Re-create - please

Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, family, employers, and friends can exist one day without any one of us, and if our egos permit us to confess, they could exist eternally in our absence. Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us.   ~ Maya Angelou (from the Quoteflections blog)

My then-fifteen-year-old daughter and I took a trip through the Far East back in 1988. One of the places we visited was a section of the Great Wall of China outside Beijing. We climbed the wall, hiked a bit of its length, posed sitting on a Bactrian camel, dickered with the touts selling souvenirs, and generally had a memorable time. (Photo at right will be replaced when I can scan the slide properly.)

But from the top of the Wall, I could look down and see that some of the tour buses still had people in them - people too old, too tired, too disinterested to get off the bus, to interact with this strange, wonderful place even at a tourist level. At the time, I wondered how many of these folks had delayed travel and leisure and adventure until "after retirement." I vowed at that moment to adopt Travis McGee's strategy of taking one's retirement in small increments throughout one's life.

I worry about people, especially educators, who never seem to take a day off. From blogging. From Tweeting. From e-mail. From showing up at work. From worrying about their jobs, their students, and their schools. I am somewhat appalled when 80% of my co-workers when asked about what kind of vacation they are taking this summer reply "none."

Recreation, should always be spelled "re-creation." Getting away gives one perspective. Gives one time to reflect. Gives one time to get to know one's spouse, one's children, and one's self better - for good or for bad. 

Re-creation doesn't necessarily mean travelling to a new place. It can be going to a well-loved resort, To a quiet park.  It can be a day at the pool. At home alone with a good book. On a walk or a bike ride or a run at lunchtime. Maybe it just means turning off the computer and the phone for a few blissful hours.

We all need to truly leave work now and then - for both our physical and mental health. When we are gone, we give those who remain practice making responsible choices, thus strengthening our organizations. A little distance between ourselves and our challenges brings them into focus. 

I've often wondered if professionals stopped putting in unpaid overtime, if unemployment would disappear in the U.S. While we all pride ourselves on our work "ethic," I often wonder if we are treating ourselves ethically? What happened to those promised 30 hour work weeks that automation was supposed to produce?

Perhaps this is all just rationaliazation since I will be taking the last three days of the week off and another week off later in the month to re-create. Maybe. But I do believe in the value for both oneself and those with whom one works to get away now and then.

Try it if you haven't. 

BFTP: Lessons learned from bicycling

A weekend Blue Skunk "feature" will be a revision of an old post. I'm calling this BFTP: Blast from the Past. Original post June 25, 2006.  Shared and updated almost annually, but I needed to review this because Tuesday, I will be starting a five day bike trip that goes from Ortonville (MN), along the Minnesota River, through Mankato, and back up to Shakopee*. Much of the route will be in areas where the Dakota War of 1862 was fought - and to a degree, continues to this day. Wish me luck. One never trains enough.

Your author just a few short years ago...

Some Lessons Learned from Bicycling:

Cycle tracks will abound in Utopia. H.G. Wells

1. Balance is a good thing.
2. It's usually uphill and against the wind. (Murphy's Law of Bicycling)
3. Most big hills that look impossible are usually a series of small hills that are possible.
4. I've never met a hill I couldn't walk up.
5. It's better to shift to a lower gear than to stop altogether.
6. Sometimes it's nice to be able to have equipment to blame things on.
7. You really can't make your own weather.
8. Coasting feels good, but you don't get much exercise doing it.
9. A beer at the end of a long day of riding tastes better than a beer when just sitting around (or at breakfast, I'm guessing).
10. Don't drink at lunch time and expect to enjoy the afternoon.
11. Bike helmets are a sure sign that natural selection is still a force of nature.
12. The few minutes putting air in your tires at the beginning of the day is time well spent.
13. There will always be riders who are faster than you and riders who are slower than you.
14. Watching old people zip by you should be encouraging, not discouraging.
15. Too often we quit because our spirit fails, not our legs or lungs.
16. Spouses (or entire families) who dress alike should not expect the rest of us to consider them normal.
17. Too much padding between you and a bike seat is impossible.
18. The happiest people are the ones who consider life a ride, not a race.
19. The more expensive the bike and clothing, the higher the expectations others have of your performance.
20. The 500 calories burnt exercising do not compensate for the 2000 calories from beer drunk celebrating your accomplishment.
21. Everyone can look buxom on a bicycle - even guys.
22. You always feel the headwind, but never the tailwind. But it's there.
23. Most forms of travel involve some degree of discomfort. But keep moving anyway.
24. Cows always have the right of way.
25. You eventually dry out even after the biggest downpour.
26. Don't text and bike.
27. Always be on the look out for idiots. (See number 26.)
28. Be grateful for the ability to create sore muscles.
29. New places look better from a bicycle seat than from the window of a tour bus.
30. The office will do just fine without you while you are on your bike.

And your observations, fellow bicyclists?

* The Minnesota River History Ride is a Bus/Bike tour that begins and ends in Shakopee. Meet Tuesday evening, July 9, to board the bus to Ortonville for five days of riding along the river, visiting many river communities full of frontier history along the way. From Wednesday, July 10, through Sunday, July 14. The tour is limited to 150 people, for a Minnesota River history ride experience. Day 1 -Leave Ortonville, riding around Lac Qui Parle Lake, then on to Montevideo where a full scale railroad working museum awaits. Day 2 -Continue along the river through Granite Falls, with an option of stopping at Upper Sioux Agency State Park, then Belview, and on to the Redwood Falls Area for you evening fun, food and rest. Day 3 - While here check out a famous battle field or county museum, then enjoy a few more historic sites before reaching New Ulm. Day 4 - After enjoying the German charm (maybe an optional brewery tour/guided history tour) the route continues on to Mankato, as both the river and bike route makes a swing to the northeast to St. Peter. Day 5 - After taking in the sights of this college town and the Sioux Treaty Site/History Center the bike journey and river current continue north up through the river communities of Le Sueur, Belle Plain and Chaska before returning back to Shakopee. See more information and lodging options at the website below.