The Life of a Silicon Valley Rockstar

My varied life… in a nutshell

Volleyball in Boston? Not so much

I went to volleyball last night with high hopes. Knowing we’d miss playoffs because the slackers on the team never bother to show up. Yeah, I’m calling you out Sid and George. Alex, at least you have an excuse. If I was stuck in Brazil surrounded by hot girls in bikinis… or less… I’d stay too. So last night Nate scrolls the IVL free agent list. i should have know this was a bad sign. But I was too stoked to play to see the writing on the wall. Here’s the guy that showed up… The guy couldn’t even get his hands above the net. Worse yet he doubled more than half the balls he touched but insisted on setting. Uggh. He said he played “A” in Boston but somehow I think “A” over there stands for average; or better yet abhorent. It was bad, real bad, beyond words bad. Uggh.

The good news is Matt and I are playing a CBVA tournament Saturday. Back to real volleyball. must… forget… the horror.

May 6, 2008 Posted by Alex | Life | , | No Comments Yet

New Batman The Dark Knight trailer released

*drool* A new Batman The Dark Knight trailer is out! Mark my words, this will be THE blockbuster of the summer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RlD9akw084

May 6, 2008 Posted by Alex | Life | , | 2 Comments

Twitter for beginners

SheGeeks isn’t just for the fairer pronoun and they posted a great guide to twitter for beginners. I’m going to break one of the commandments (below) and post my twitter link, http://twitter.com/alexlewis. And in the wisdom that there’s a wiki for anything if you look hard enough, check out Chris Brogan’s “Twitterpack” wiki. It’s filled with good info on what to do if you’ve just joined Twitter. What are you waiting for?  …Andwhile you’re at it, check out my thoughts on Twitter from earlier today.

 For a little comic relief, Valleywag posted their 10 commandments on what not to use Twitter for:

  • Don’t say anything that might just as well be said in an email, i.e. “I’m sorry Steve, it’s going to have to be $37.”
  • Don’t forget how many people are listening. For example, do not say: “Oops, hope nobody notices the smell.”
  • Don’t follow people you’ve never met. Exception: Diablo Cody.
  • Don’t follow Jason Calacanis.
  • Don’t add too many followers too fast. Like any dangerous recreational narcotic, one has to build one’s tolerance before ignoring the Surgeon General’s warnings.
  • Don’t expect timely and informative responses to your Twittered queries. Or for anyone to read them. Twitter is a heat sink for the unexpressed ego.
  • Don’t Twitter things that would be better said in person. Example: “@George, No, I won’t marry you. It’s the halitosis.”
  • Don’t try share your political, religious or business views in 140 characters. It takes more words to obfuscate how simple and derivative they are.
  • Don’t follow Robert Scoble.
  • Don’t follow bloggers who write about Twitter just to have an excuse to include a link to their Twitter account. They will bombard you with links to their blog posts, because they are paid by pageviews.

May 6, 2008 Posted by Alex | Technology | , , | 2 Comments

Twitter: for geniuses only?

 So what’s this twitter thing? That’s not the best question. A better one is, how do I use it? Twitter’s a great tool for keeping in near real-time contact with friends. Great for ad-hoc communication with all of your contacts and like most social networks great for meeting new people and learning new ideas. Did I just say “learning”? Yeah, I did. Most of us would agree, I think, that the most valuable thing we’d learned coming out of school was how to digest and interpret new ideas. Whether this means working as a team to come up with a solution or more independent thought there’s nothing more valuable than sharing those ideas with others and being open to ideas from others.

By the very nature of Twitter, you follow people (celebrities excluded) who either have similiar interests to you or where you are interested in their thoughts. The potential for “great” or at least thought-provoking ideas is very high. That’s why I love Twitter. I’m exposed to thoughts and ideas I’d otherwise have no access to. Why do you love/hate twitter?

May 6, 2008 Posted by Alex | Life, Technology | , , | 2 Comments