MIA but I’m still not having kids!
Sorry for the lack of posting lately. There’s been a lot going on, and unfortunately because of NDAs much of it I can’t talk about. I already got blasted by a few folks for my NetworkWorld post on the new iPhone. However, I did finally sign the contract for my new book. It’s slated to come out in Q12009 and tentatively titled “Office Communications Server 2007 Unleashed”, based on the upcoming OCS 2007 R2 code. I’m also replacing the current Cisco CallManager solution of a client with OCS as their sole VoIP solution. Should be interesting…
That aside, I’m also trying to have some fun. Life can’t be all about work and stress. I played in the “Old School” Harbor Beach Open tournament over the weekend and had a great time. Greg and I pulled the “Gonzo’s” in the first round and got trounced but followed up with a strong, but mostly fun, rest of the day. The great food from El Palomar and free beer doesn’t hurt either!
Finally, Why I’m Never Having Kids. A.P. Taylor wraps up completely my chief reasons for never wanting to have kids. Sex is important, mmm kay. It’s one area where more is almost always better
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.
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?
Twitterbot: A cool toy
I saw that a colleague, Carlo Longino had his blog auto-update his twitter stream with new posts. He uses twit tools and they aren’t available for those of us on wordpress.com so I found twitterbot. Another option is twitterfeed but I couldn’t get it to work. I’m also a little leary of using a service for this sort of thing, no offense Mario.
It doesn’t run as a service technically, but I’m considering setting it up that way using the Microsoft SC tool.
My RSS feeds
As a follow up to my last post here’s a list of RSS feeds for various places I’m involved with.
All links go directly to the RSS feed:
Alex Lewis at the NetworkWorld Microsoft Subnet
Hyperconnectivity.com
Alex’s Twitter Stream
Tech Blogs I Write and more about me
This is my first stab at a personal blog, but I’m not new to blogging. I’ve written a few for various sources over the years. Here’s a list of ones I’m writing currently and some other general info.

My NetworkWorld Microsoft Subnet Blog: Mainly Unified Communications focused, but I cover the general Microsoft landscape as well.
My Twitter stream: Regularly updated with what I’m doing and random thoughts.- HYPERCONNECTIVITY.COM: I write for this site on global unified communications and telepresence strategy and news.

I work as a principal consultant for Convergent Computing. CCO specializes in design and implementation of Microsoft technologies. I lead CCO’s Unified Communications practice.
Windows Server 2003 R2 Unleashed: My first book as a named (front cover) author. I’m currently working on an OCS Unleashed title, also from SAMS publishing.
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