So far, just my toes are in the water...

I've spent most of my night cleaning up Google Reader, trying to ship eBay auction items, tinkering with my new phone, and learning about more things I won't have time to use. I turn into a technology-sponge when I sit at my computer. I just enjoy plowing through all the feeds and info. According to Google Reader, I browsed through almost 1200 items today, and we didn't I wasn't even home from our 3 day weekend until 4PM.

All this to say, did I just waste the last 5 hours? Did I do something productive? Did I affect anything in a positive way? I don't know. Maybe someone will read something I have done and say, well done, who knows. I think I need to train myself to contribute to the web 2.0 sphere, not just feed off of it. Although I really haven't found the time to get involved in FriendFeed yet, my limited experience with it has taught me if I want to contribute, I can't sit on the sidelines. If I really want to learn, I have to be involved and open up. I can read 1200 items in a day, but have I shared with anyone what I have learned or how it makes me feel? I want to be part of an interactive web, not a self-affixed knowledge sponge. I need to start finding ways to sqeeze the sponge after it has been soaked up. Once I start squeezing, hopefully my experiences can be shared with others in a way that inspires.

Can you be a casual junkie?

I was pondering this question over the last few days while I thought about my interests in the web 2.0 'sphere. Can you really be a junkie if you only have the time for it to be a casual interest? Sometimes I don't feel like I have time to keep up with the internet. I am signed up on so many sites that I don't have time to use. I just signed up for Freindfeed just because I heard it was cool. I could spend hours reading through feeds, writing reviews, updating a blog, or tweeting it up. I sign up for sites that I just hear about, I'm not even sure if I'll use it or not.

It really leads me to my next question. Why do I enjoy web 2.0 so much? Well, I think it comes down to contribution and interaction. I want to be able to learn and share with others. I want to have fun and intelligent conversations about technology, local issues, the economy. I want to learn what's interesting to other people that have the same (or sometimes differing) interests. That's what makes it so great. You don't have 1 site to check for news or opinion, you can see the ebb and flow of what's important to people everywhere.

For now, I think I'll be a casual junkie. I'll get to the computer when I can. It's a hobby. Maybe some day it will be more than that, but that's definitely not what I'm looking for. I'm looking for opportunities to open my mind and to contribute to the greater cloud of the web.

What do I really look forward to reading online...

If you've taken any notice to the Google reader shared articles feed, I probably read a blog called TechDirt the most. It keeps me up to speed on a lot of different things that are going on with media, patents, business models, and how it affects consumers, businesses and the world as a whole. Their articles encompass a lot of different subjects. They also post around 10 times a day, so there's always something new. I took a little break from content for about a month, so I'm trying to catch up to today's posts. Only 80 more to go. If you really want to keep up to date on what's going on in the technology world, with some great commentary and discussion, I suggest you check them out.

Blogging...

I just realized that I blog so little that my wife has taken me off of her list of blogs she reads. I'm probably still in her Google reader though. But can you blame her? I'm still pretty involved with Facebook, at least enough to keep up with the friends updates. I'm also a little enthralled with twitter right now, so maybe that's my new outlet. The content I do get to read I usually share through Google reader or comment on in either Facebook or twitter. So my web 2.0 usability just seems to come in waves. I really only keep up with 1 to 2 things at a time. We'll see if I can keep up with anything long enough where it is considered a sustainable hobby.

How to make friends and influence air travelers

So, I'm currently sitting in the Rochester Airport waiting for a 5PM flight. Now, what do I do with my 4 hours of time before I'm ready to board. I could buy a book or a magazine. I could grab a bite to eat. I could people watch (I don't think I'll ever stop doing that in an airport. Or, I could take my laptop out and get some work done or surf around on the internet.

Here's my dilemma. Why do I need to pay $9.99 for 24 hour time slot to get on their network? I'm not paying for the internet at that point. I'm really just paying for the convenience of using their connection to the internet. As a result, I actually found a wireless network called "linksys". More than likely one of the offices or vendors in the airport have a router opened up.

Right now you're probably thinking I'm either really cheap or I'm stealing internet. Well first, I am cheap. I'm going to look for a bargain when I can. If I really wanted to get on the internet, I'd probably pay the $9.99. On the other hand, why isn't their competition? Why should 1 company have the right to charge? Secondly, I'm not stealing anything. Whoever owns the router decided it wasn't important enough to keep the public off of it.

So vendors, want to get on my "companies I like" list while I'm traveling? Open up your network so I can get on the internet. Even better, let travelers know you have free wi-fi and they just might stop in for a bite to eat. And to the airports who think it's a good idea to sign a monopoly contract with these ISP's. Don't. You'll have happier travelers and less complaints. Trust me.

Are annoyances on the internet worth it?

I wanted to see what the top stories were over at the Detroit Free Press web site, and an animated flying bee went over the page and eventually landed on a banner ad on the right of the screen. Thank you to the programmer who just pushed me to never come back again. I'll go ahead and use Google Reader from now on. Try going to weather.com without some animated pop-up on your screen or having to see some animated dancing silhouette. Thanks to Firefox, I can now block them with ease.

Do you want to know why I use Firefox and RSS Readers like Google reader and I hardly have any applications added on Facebook? Because I think the internet is really annoying sometimes. Things like unsolicited pop-up ads, invitations, and busy sites just don't appeal to me.

I guess those are the things I will have to continue to deal with on a "free" internet. It's one of the biggest reasons I won't come back to a site. Unless I really need the info, I'll look elsewhere.

I understand ads (as you can see some of the ones on my own blog), but give me a reason to come back to your site or I'll continue to use tools that make my experience with the internet better.

Thank you Seth Godin

You'll have to thank Seth Godin for this post. His blog just inspires me to write here. I know I may not know what I'm doing on this blog or have any specific vision right now, but I can't get better at blogging by doing nothing at all.