Twitter is down and I am a lost puppy

[paragraphs]

So, my suspicions have been found to be on the mark. I am a twitter-addict.

I've noticed lately that I rarely write posts anymore. Either I am talking to people via email or gmailchat, or I am on twitter--all three are fast and furious, perfect for my dart in-and-out lifestyle. I read my flist every few days or so...some I track so I read them when I get notifications, but otherwise? I have been ignoring lj in ways I never thought I would.

So today, upon discovering that twitter is down, and I can't chat at my little buddies there--can't say hey to the Aussies, can't check up on what the b/f was yacking about the night before (although he has been at the parents, and is on his way back now so there wouldn't be anything anyway)--but also can't just toss self into the always ongoing conversations. (Or check my fav celebrities, like Derren Brown, Darren Hayes, Casey Stratton, Adorable Aled, etc. Or the NASA Astronaut I follow--who would've thought, twitter from space! SO COOL!)

Anyway. I am sad. It is part of my morning ritual and it is disrupted because twitter isn't working for me today. Sigh. I guess that means I really ought to either hang my laundry, take a shower, or go ahead and write a post and catch up on what's been happening here.

NOT MUCH!

The last week, I've been working at the BNSF Alliance Yard, doing an endless project (though it did end finally on Friday). For hours, I would sit on the floor (I brought a pillow the second day) and take photographs of giant slightly-bigger-than-poster-size exhibit prints. In 4.5 days I took 2132 photographs. Oy. This was my setup:



I wasn't alone though--we had a scanner too, and my co-worker Jeremy, along with another of our employees out of Topeka, ran that. They scanned over 4k images. Initially we were told 'oh it would take about 3 days, about 2k images'. Uh, no. Jeremy was doing it two weeks, and Brad and I, this last week. Brad was a real character. He is usually a field guy, but his job site was rained out (Shreveport) so they sent him to us. Kansas farm boy, a wrestler, good-looking but HULKING kid whose accent brought out my Texas twang like nothing else. LOL. He was great fun with stories of life on a farm (and wrestling tips!) I probably would've never heard anywhere else. So the guys, and my computer (I watched alot of shows) made the week bearable.

On the writing front, NANOWRIMO is just around the corner. I have two stories vying for attention. I think about one for awhile, then something smacks me upside the head on the other and I want to do that one. Then I go back to the other. Back and forth, back and forth. Both fantasy, but one is historical, one is contemporary, probably more dark fantasy. misswinterhill suggests I flip a coin on November 1 and see what comes up. I MIGHT! LOL.

Is twitter back up yet?

Also, for fun, am participating in reel_torchwood. I chose the 1963 Alfred Hitchcock classic, The Birds. Only my version is The Gulls. Having recently been highly annoyed by the winged rats, I am going to enjoy this. Rewatching the movie really made me smile...we've come a long, long way since 1963, though the bird work was truly amazing. Also, oy, the sexist attitudes really made me growl...though Melanie was a strong character who was quite brave despite everything. Still, if made today, her character would not be sitting meekly on the couch while Mitch braved fighting the birds off to keep them from getting inside the house, oh no... My version is somewhat post-CoE but it really isn't that apparent. Of course, I have always said I HATE CANON but dang it, I have seen and read so much TW stuff, I think I will be okay with getting it down, and if not, blue_fjords will happily smack me.

What else? Not much--just enjoying having sunshine after 2 weeks of rain and drizzle. The puppies are feisty with the cooler weather, kids are fine, Tiff started her new job at Starbuck's, and my son had his first choir show. Apparently, GLEE has had an interesting effect--all the cool boys are in choir (mostly dragged into it by my son's friend Josh who is the pres this year--he dragged about 9 of the guys into the choir, and they are doing great!) My son loves it.

Is twitter back up yet? Sigh, no, so I leave you all with a husky smackdown and will go watch something while folding clothes. Oh boy!

Comments

[samueljames]

Your tags made me laugh. I can happily go a few days without Twitter so I hadn't even noticed it was down. Just think of all the extra housework you can do :)

Glad Kelly's show went well.

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

WEll I generally don't do it during work hours, but I like to get up and see what trouble Nick's been up to, and then when I get home in the evenings. And all weekend. And...

Yeah.

Addicted.

Thanks! It was great! My MIL brought one of her friends with her and I kinda crack up at them around all the crazy high school kids--tee hee!

[samueljames]

Well I'm sure it helps to keep track of/in touch with Nick :)

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

Have to keep an eye on that boy! Though on twitter, he is very very bad. Nothing I can really do about it, lol.

[catsintheattic.livejournal.com]

Could you give me advice on how to get a little more addicted to Twitter? Lol. I try to use it on a professional basis, creating meaningful little messages, but I find that I'm still not enjoying myself too much over there.

So you're writing TW but you're not finishing Draco???? *glares at you* I can't allow this to happen, really. You have to finish the Draco-fic! *tries and fails at Imperius* *bribes you with home-made cookies*

Have a great day, and hopefully, Twitter will soon return for you! :-)

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

LOLOL you are so cute. AM SORRY!!!! I am a terrible person. I really liked my idea lots too.

the trick to twitter being fun is to have all your friends on there too. I pretty much only have mah peeps on there, a few from my flist that aren't TW peeps, and the handful of famous peeps that N is also following so we yack about them...I have 55 on there, and that is alot. I also use a twitter client (tweetdeck) which makes organizing the fun easier. A column for mentions, a column for friends, a column for the celebrity types.

I also keep mine locked so no one can just stumble by and nosily poke into my business. :)

So, yeah, that is how I do it!

I will take those cookies...

[catsintheattic.livejournal.com]

Cookies will be given away for finished stories about Draco. *pointedly ignores TW characters* I'm just glad that you think I'm cute rather than annoying. *beams at you* *waves cookies*

How do I mix friends with business people? I find it hard to balance the personal and the business news, so I tend to stay on the side of business. Besides, most of my friends are either no online junkies at all, or they spend all their time in front of the computer and blog at ten different places at once. I still haven't found the right balance, I fear I spend either too little or too much time at Twitter.

My account is not locked, because I want to be found. I think it will be easier once I've organised my whole idea of how to do social media marketing. Lots to do - and I should try to take it in do-able steps without berating myself for being too slow.

I also use tweetdeck, but I think I could make a better use of the columns. Thanks for the insight! *hugs*

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

You can make additional columns, organize who you want where. Love that, but can't use it at work! I have to use the main interface here. BOO!!!!

[misswinterhill.livejournal.com]

Another vote for having friends on there. I didn't get into Twitter at all until I got a few mates to hang around with. It's helpful that there's some NZ people who match my time zone!

[catsintheattic.livejournal.com]

*nods* Time zones are essential. My problem might be that I post in English and therefore only get people in other time zones. Lol.

Still, I'm not sure about how to mix friends and business in one Twitter account.

[misswinterhill.livejournal.com]

Honestly? I'm not sure I would. Where the TW twitterbrats are, it's pretty unsafe for work :(

[catsintheattic.livejournal.com]

Should or shouldn't - that's exactly what I'm thinking about.

I want to use Twitter for work reasons, but I find it hard to enjoy myself there at the same time. It's not so much about interacting but more about everybody sending their messages into space. I'm much for of a one-on-one person, even here on LJ, so maybe this is the real challenge in all things Twitter. :-)

[misswinterhill.livejournal.com]

I find I can get to a sort of one-on-one on Twitter, sometimes. Depends who is on. It's almost like an SMS message conversation...took me ages to adjust, but once I did...

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

YOU BECAME TROUBLE!!!! LOL.

[valancy-joy.livejournal.com]

Hey from someone who snagged another 60's movie for Reel_TW!! I'm probably going to hell for turning one of my favorite movies, 1960s The Apartment into an AU TW1 office sexual politics thing. It's amazingly apt in many ways, I just have to figure out ways to tweak the 'casting.'

(and also from some who is missing Twitter. The house feels so empty w/o those little chirps from the computer!)

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

I KNOW! I wanna know what everyone is up to! *high fives fellow addict*

Oh yeah! This is going to be seriously fun, (reel_tw). I still can't believe I am doing it. I DO NOT WRITE TW FICS!

I don't.

[misswinterhill.livejournal.com]

YOU DO NOW! C'mon, let us corrupt you, C! I put mine into Scrivener last night. YAY.

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

Oh you Mac user...

[candesgirl.livejournal.com]

I too am a twitter JUNKIE! Can I add you over there? :)

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

lol sure! I am cparagraphs.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I followed Twitter eagerly for a little while after signing up, but I rarely look in there now and virtually never post. Not sure why.

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

I think unless one is on there with a group one knows outside of twitter, it would be hard...we keep each other going without doubt. :)

How is the writing going?

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

I think unless one is on there with a group one knows outside of twitter, it would be hard...we keep each other going without doubt. :)

How is the writing going?

[amand-r.livejournal.com]

ay, so to get twitter sent to my phone, I text "on" and "off". Yesterday I texted "off" whilst I was home, because really, why have them sent to my phone when I'm here? So last night when I went to bed, I texted "on" and went to bed. Imagine my surprise when there was nothng waiting for me this morning. I texted "on" like three time before I realised that something is wrong.

ON ON ON ON.

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

I was so disturbed. Thought it was tweetdeck, then thought it was my laptop, went to big computer, NO!! Not there either! That is so not cool! LOL.

You seem better today. GOOD!

[amand-r.livejournal.com]

I AM FRICKING INSANE. BUT I THINK RIGHT NOW I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HURRICANE.

[blue-fjords.livejournal.com]

C!!!! I thought you chose the wolves!!!! You silly.

(And I will totes smack you for more of The Gulls! Smack, smack, smack, watch me smack!)

I <3 glee, your son joining choir, and your puppies!

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

I am hiding! I KNOW! I keep thinking about the other though, and how to change it and make it fantastic, and then talking to Jenny last night I got some great ideas and inspiration, and...and... Um...

I may toss that coin!

[misswinterhill.livejournal.com]

IT WAS NOT MY FAULT.

Well, maybe.

Blue, Blue, I love you and I'm not trying to lead C astray. You're the angel on her shoulder who'll lead her back to the right path.

C -- OMG I have started to think of details. DETAILS. I think it's going to be an adventure. My crazy little man has a pet platypus. He's a vaudeville performer and hooks up with the governor's daughter (or son, haven't decided yet) but he doesn't know that at all. Lots of intrigue. Bushrangers. And such. And PLATYPUSES!

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

Do Platypus make good pets? REally? I know nothing about them! OH YAY DETAILS!

I have a gameplan now and it is a good one. I will make a new post!

[misswinterhill.livejournal.com]

They'd make an awful pet. Male ones are poisonous, they're terribly shy and I think they'd panic. This is sort of like the wizard who has some stupid creature as a familiar that would NEVER be a good familiar in RL, like a snake or similar. But they can sense electrical currents. And they ARE poisonous, so good in a fight.

I'm sort of working from the idea that the character, who has been left all alone in the world [oh noes!] finds it, injured, and adopts it. And that everyone but him thinks its a bloody nuisance and "that horrible duck-mole" or similar.

New post! Yay!

[klgrem.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm sorry to say it, but I'm glad it was down. Good to hear from you. ;)

I was just back in Alec last weekend. We got a bit of rain there, too.

Good luck with your writing! You always worry, but it always turns out fantastic. Glad you have so many ideas poking you. :)

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

Love your user pic!

LOL. NOO TWITTER RULES!!!!!!!

I do always worry. I really do. TOO MANY IDEAS! The wolves win though. LOL. More on that next!

[klgrem.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear it. Wolfhunter has always been a favorite. :)

[tree00faery.livejournal.com]

I don't even have a twitter account, so I can't really empathize. I totally live on LJ though. And of course, the 3 days I'm out of town with limited internet are the 3 days when EVERYONE starts posting again, after my flist being quiet for like a week. *headdesk*

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

awww LOL!!!! I write maybe a post a week. I am bad! I should do more!

[tree00faery.livejournal.com]

Lol it's fine. I only post about once a week, if that. (Mostly because I don't write fic, and I don't usually have anything interesting to say.)

[momebie.livejournal.com]

I hate seagulls. I cannot properly express the loathing I feel for them, and all that they do to rather literally shit on all that is good and decent in the world. I've seen those suckers swarm people at Disney and knock the food out of their hands so they can steal it. IRGH.

That being said, I think that's a marvelous idea for a fic and I can't wait to see it finished.

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

RATS WITH WINGS (screamed in Golem's voice btw).

Oh I may ask you for more horror stories!! I am going to use that though!

they are loud and obnoxious especially at 5:30 a.m. on trash day in Cardiff, right outside my window. I felt like crying, I was so tired!

[momebie.livejournal.com]

THEY'RE RUININGSES IIIIIIITTTT!!!! *shakes fist*

Yeah...I grew up on an island. We had the option of eating outside in high school, but we learned pretty quickly that that was a bad idea if you wanted to keep it.

They get to be a pretty big problem at Disney during some times of the year, though. Disney actually got in trouble one time, because they were trying to kill them off. I read that in a Carl Hiaasen book ages ago, though, so if you want more details on that I'm going to have to look them up.

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

LOL. Nick grew up with them too and of course has them in the city where he is now too. Doesn't seem to bother him but I found them worse than grackles, and grackles are pretty darn bad!!!!

[momebie.livejournal.com]

Okay, you've got me. What in the ever loving fuck is a grackle?

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

Grackles are PESTS! they are a type of blackbird, big with long legs and tails, lol. Noisy noisy noisy things.



Common Grackles are blackbirds that look like they've been slightly stretched. They're taller and longer tailed than a typical blackbird, with a longer, more tapered bill and glossy-iridescent bodies. Grackles walk around lawns and fields on their long legs or gather in noisy groups high in trees, typically evergreens. They eat many crops (notably corn) and nearly anything else as well, including garbage. In flight their long tails trail behind them, sometimes folded down the middle into a shallow V shape.

[momebie.livejournal.com]

Haha, I'll take your word for it then. Speaking of birds that make weird noises. I heard an egret make noise for the first time the other day, and it sounded like what I imagine dinosaurs sounded like. I seriously almost fell over I was so startled by it. I think I had just imagined they didn't make noise before then. I don't know why really, but I'd never heard any from them. Now I know the secret, and I'm terrified.

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

WE have egrets here too--they are lovely to watch. I had no idea! I want to scare one of the ones here and see what happens...

[talekyn.livejournal.com]

Yay, doggie pictures!

I had such high hopes for productivity today -- then slept on half the flight, putzed on internet in afternoon -- did go for a walk and have dinner whilst reading Dracula -- came back, unpacked, got set up for tomorrow, and for some reason on the night I want to get stuff done, people need to have Important Conversations with me on AIM and such. When I want to talk, no-one's around ....

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

Aren't you glad I am not on AIM? I would harrass you too! LOL.

Awwww...

Well, I got lots of cleaning stuff done but still haven't tackled my closet properly. Sigh. Right now I just want to get another dumpster and throw everything out!

[talekyn.livejournal.com]

AIM conversations with you would rock!