My blog n'at

I need to smile more. Jesus I didn’t realize it until I saw this pic and this was the best one out of the series on my webcam I just shot.

I wonder how long I can grow a beard until I wake up and find that someone shaved it off? At least let me make some designs first.

What’s with that funky eye thing from my glasses? I need to get new glasses or contact. Probably depend if I play softball this year what I’ll get.

Dropping pounds. Not from some great miracle diet unless you count sleeping in 2hr spurts a diet. Let my kids sleep over for a couple weeks and you can be as dashing as myself. If anything it making me cranky. Yes, cranky.

I bought a couple books today. I hate reading but something compelled me when I listened to the author speak. I never impulse buy. I did today. Books will be posted when they get here.

Did you ever notice the people that bitch most about how they hate the high school drama on social media sites are always the ones causing it? Even funnier is when they drag fantasy land into the real world and spend all of their time offline talking about what happened online. Watch out I might blog about it. Err wait. And people wonder why TV soap operas are dying *sheesh*

You thought all those D&D kids from grade school were freaks. They’re the ones building the apps right now you can’t stop using. Suckers!

I’ve paid attention more to the debates recently not because I want answers but because I want to see who’s going to get choke-slammed by Newt next. He probably won’t win the nomination because people are still too sensitive but man he’d be a bad ass. At the end of the day though my vote in November will go to Stephen Colbert.

If the biggest drama in your young life is if you should have kids now or later,  my advice is to wait until you’re 30. You’re obviously not ready to handle the mindscrew they lay on you so enjoy your 20′s. Just wait until there are 2 of them.

Want or need? The most annoying thing old people, especially my mom, say to me is “Do you NEED it or do you WANT it?” when it comes to making purchases. I have a feeling this has the legs for a good post subject. One that I NEED and WANT.

Late today I got the great news that this big project I’ve been stressing over got the green light to launch days earlier than expected. To celebrate I’m going to be the celebrity judge at a wine competition tomorrow night. Wrap your noodle around that one. Little know fact, I like wine… Franzia, thanks to Griff.

I have a couple more brew kits coming my way and I just need to pick out the yeast. Be afraid.

Looking forward to hanging with various groups of friends I haven’t seen in almost 6months. There will be bowling, mexican food and tequila involved. This can’t end well.

cheers!

Since the Pittsburgh Magazine article came out I’ve had quite a few notifications of new followers. Most times I’ll follow back because I’m always up for a good conversation and try to keep up with everything going on through the day but lets be honest, you can’t follow all the time (just like it can’t rain all the time).

This morning I tweeted that I was psyched to see Anthony Bourdain was coming to Pittsburgh to talk. This is a must for me so I told Lushie we need to make plans for it. Shortly afterwards I had a reply from TwinmamaTeb saying “@douglasderda clearly you missed all my tweets about the presale and gettting 8th row seats. heh.”. That’s when I thought, how many conversations am I missing?  Granted most tweets are people spewing random nonsense (I’m guilty myself) but what else have I missed out on? I decided it was time to checked my stats.

As of right now I have 1,250 followers, I’m following 987 back and I’m on 112 lists. Those 112 lists can be summed up in the following categories: beer, hockey, Pittsburgh.  If I were to die right now that is how I could be summed up in 3 words. I love craft beer, I love hockey and I love Pittsburgh.

The most popular question I get from people obsessed with Facebook is “Why do you tweet?”  I gave it some though and here’s the deal on how/why I use Twitter. I’m connected to every user. Because of tags such as “craftbeer” I have been introduced to a community of people that I may have never had the chance to meet besides the degrees of separation on FB. I use Twitter because it’s about the conversation. Over the past day I finally started watching the #craftbeer tag on Twitter with TweetDeck and have met some incredible bloggers, fans from all over the world and a few brewers.  I’m able to buy and sell hockey tickets and chat with other Pens fans during games. I have been invited to events I may not have known about before and helped plan a few of my own. All in under 140 characters. I can ask questions and people, while sometimes smartasses, answer. I can get traffic updates from not just the networks but from people out on the roads.

From the 1250 I’m not following 263. Odds have it you’re selling me a service I don’t want, you’re a spammer or I really have no clue what your deal is. Now there is the margin of error since Twitter is notorious from un-following people without warning and if you’re one of those let me know.

So now I’m reaching out to you. If you’re in the rest of the 987 and read this blog (which hopefully you do because you follow me on twitter and obviously wanna get to know me ) leave me a comment. I can say that I know MAYBE 2/5 of you personally from beer events or social media but if we’ve never met before I want you to say hi. If you wanna keep it personal then shoot me a message on my contact form.  Spoon wants know who you are! If you’re in the Pittsburgh area and want to meet others check out Pittsburgh tweetup!

I should probably tweet this…

The internet just got a hella better with Danny DeVito is on Twitter. If you don’t understand the awesomeness that comes with this I weep for your future.

(NSFW. click at yer own risk n’at)

September 17th can’t get here fast enough!

Bobby Flay (@bflay) is one of the few TV celebs that when I hear the name I grin and say “he dah man”. Whenever his shows are on TV I watch them and I also credit him with saving Food Network back in the day (although now Next Food Network Star is a mess). Bobby can cook, there is no doubt about that. He can play baseball and looks like he makes a mean drink. Basically he’s the guy you want to hang out with when the wife is out of town and eat like a rockstar.

One thing Bobby can’t do though is Twitter. Now we’re in an age that names are hijacked or spoofed on a regular basis but when someone such as Mashable links to it, I tend to believe in the validity. At the time I type this Bobby has 21,654 followers and following ZERO. That’s right nada. Not even his wife or a friend. Not even Food Network! This leads me to believe that either its not Bobby (he seems more tech savvy than Paula Deen and she’s following 64), its a really bad dummy account or some PR person doesn’t give a shit and made it because it came up at a weekly meeting. He doesn’t even have more than a standard background.

Bobby, if this is you, it’s about communication and your tweets suck. There I said it. THEY SUCK! This is a great way to talk to your fans and you’re failing. Take a Saturday and learn what it is you are doing here. Snap some pics with your phone and post it. Let us know what’s on your mind and ask us for opinions. Heck you can even have a ghost twitter and make your assistant or an intern answer it. Just give us something besides “another Iron Chef taping”.

Bobby… you’re doing it wrong

Sonni is a fan of the spoon. You know it Proving once again why their morning show is number one. The entire morning show is on Twitter and talking with viewers during the broadcasts. Check out who else is on Twitter from KDKA and follow the morning show here.

Original air date was 5/14/09

We’re bringing Teaspoon home today and since I’ve been neglecting this blog that I should have some fun with it. Really, what could I have possibly been busy with these last 4 weeks right? Start watching below and hit refresh throughout the day. I’ll post at random times when I have a chance. Newest entry at the bottom. Feel free to comment away!

This is probably also the last of continuous Teaspoon updates. I said I would keep him away from the internet and here on out I plan to do so unless its something monumental. I’ll take the weekend to get situated and then it will be back to regularly scheduled blogging. I’ve been keeping a running list of subjects I want to address.

• 11:30pm (3/25) - Checked into our nesting room. Better than any hotel room we’ve stayed but no room service. Vending machine may become my friend.
• 1:05am (3/26) – Teaspoon is eating and quacking like a duck
• 2:49am – Woke up and found teaspoon giving me the “pick me up NOW” look.  I gave in.
• 4:15am – Benson is on Fresh Prince as Will’s boss at a dealership. Nick at Nite has become a staple in our house. Benson is still a pimp.
• 4:30am - Plus side to having Teaspoon at the NICU for the last month, he’s on a schedule when he comes home. He also just baptized mommy. Running count, Mom – 3  Dad  – 0.  Daddy rules!
• 5:07am – It’s 50F! That’s a heatwave!  Watching the KDKA Morning Show and reading Jim Lokay’s tweets while Teaspoon naps before his 7am feeding.
• 5:38am – I just opened my Google Reader for the first time in less than 24 hours. 738 new entries. So far the highlight, Dogfish Head has a new IPA coming out. Awwwww yeah!
• 8:00am – Fell asleep around 6am and a nurse came at 7am to get Teaspoon from Lushie for a final checkup and feeding with the doctor. Monitor didn’t go off all night! I’m going back to sleep for a few. Could be the last I get for a long time.
• 9:26am – Just got an update. Teaspoon is going home at 5.6lbs and 19 inches long. Birth weight he was 4.1 (17 inches) and at his lowest was 3.2 pounds. Good thing Yinz Team gave me their leftover HGH.
• 10:42am – Teaspoon is pitchin a fit. He’s getting his outfit on to leave and does not like it one bit. Daddy is shutting down and getting bags ready. Here we go!
• 1:48pm – We’re home!  It was a rainy ride north but we’re all settled now. Teaspoon is sleepin, Lushie is pumpin and I’m ordering lunch. Life is good.
• 3:05pm – Pizza Hut never tasted so good. Seriously though, 8 slices in a large? I think the pizza shrank.
• 5:07pm – Got a feeding done and all 3 of us are going to try and nap at the same time.
• 6:47pm – Nap was under and hour but that’s a start. Teaspoon is ready to watch some PITT basketball tonight with daddy.
• 7:54pm – Pitt’s defense has more penetrable holes in the paint than Jenna Jameson.
• 9:05pm – Teaspoon just gave mommy (holding a bottle) this look as if saying “Should I Drink That?“. I guess it could have been “bluuuuaaarrrgggh” too.  World may never know.
• 10:37pm – Kid is fed, Pitt won and I have to record a video for a class final due tonight. This is going to be a long night.
• 11:44pm – OK, we’ve gone a full 24 hours and it’s time to end this post. I just wrapped up my video for class, Lushie is catching a nap and I’m wide awake listening to Teaspoon make noises. Everyone, life is good. Oh yeah and GO NOVA! My brackets could use it

All times Eastern Standard Time

Today would have been my dad’s 74th birthday and I’ve made a habit of driving to Erie and have a cigar with him at the cemetery. Today though it’s pouring down rain and the motor on my wipers is just about shot so I’m staying home and taking a day for myself. Yeah, and I’m still online. Even when I’m off I’m still on. Happy Birthday dad. Stop the rain and I’ll go outside and have that cigar.

I was sent an invite to join Bright Kite last week and it’s starting to get addicting like Twitter. The jist of BK is that it’s location-based social networking. What I dig is that I can post pics from my cell phone and BK will publish it to my Twitter account. I’m not very kosher on the whole “here is my exact location” idea but you can have that limited to the state you’re in. The plus side though is I can see if anyone else is in my general area when I want to hang out. It’s like a GPS of others.

Pens won 4-2 last night and are 2 games away from the Stanley Cup Finals. Midway through the 2nd period I already had calls from Flyers fans saying the series was over. Nice eh? I’m still sticking with my prediction of Pens in 7 only because Philadelphia fans are insane and can give that team of thugs enough spirit to pull out wins… or Geno will just blast more goals past his biatch Biron and this is over in 4. I have tickets to game 5 so part of me is also hoping that I get to see the clinching game here.