Watching the local news this evening, there were veterans on talking about how they are happy with their insurance, don’t want it changed and absolutely refuse to pay more for it so that other can have it. Obama’s proposals follow a common theme, one which I subscribe to – during these really tough, shitty times, the folks who have more should pay a little more. To me, it is just a no brainer but a lot of people are angry about contributing a greater share even though they can afford to. Bummer guys, but seriously. You don’t take money with you after you die, and many of these older veterans who are being asked to now kick in a few extra bucks are whining about it. Others are just opposed because its a Democratic President, or due to some ideological reason that doesn’t allow for rational thought.

Affordable health care should be something everyone has, rich or not. Really, who gives a shit if the government provides it. As long as someone is, I don’t really care.

Lets get one thing out of the way from the outset. Just because I think retweets (much like hashtags) are more or less workarounds for the failings of Twitter as a communication tool, that doesn’t mean they aren’t effective. One of my most popular posts on Examiner, the 5 reasons Facebook is better for marketing than Twitter, benefited greatly from retweeting. In an evening, the viral spread of the link to that post, almost entirely through RT’s amassed me over 1,000 views. Not bad when you think about it, really.

But the reason retweets came into existence in the first place was because Twitter users got frustrated with not being able to share the tweets they found with their friends. Unlike Facebook, favorites are buried on Twitter. You could look at a users “favorited” tweets but let’s face it, no one does.

Again, same thing with hashtags. People started to use the hash symbol in conjunction with keywords or abbreviations (#sxsw for example denotes South by South West) in order to provide a more efficient way of searching for related conversion on Twitter.

There have even been businesses form around the concept of retweets. TweetMeme and ReTweet.com are just 2 services which track the most popular conversations on Twitter based upon the number of RTs they get. You can even get into the act by clicking on the retweet button accompanying each post on this site.

Project Retweet

Project Retweet was announced today Twitter as an official way to deal with retweeting. Essentially, the ability to re-tweet a tweet on your timeline will be included in the standard Twitter web UI as well as through API calls that third party developers can take advantage of.

Mashable wrote a great post about how these changes will affect what people have come to know about retweeting. Now, it will be possible to see messages from people you don’t follow in your twitter feed – something I am not looking forward to as I have recently pruned about 800 people from my followed list.

I feel for the company’s which developed their own tools to facilitate this non-standard way of sharing tweets. However, I really feel bad for Twitter in that they feel forced to engineer hack workarounds to obvious flaws in their product. These do not feel like well though out changes.

At this point though, I am not sure if I really need it.

Notice, I didn’t say I am not sure if I really want an Apple tablet. Of course I want one. But having an iPhone and a Mac Book Pro already in my laptop bag, what value could I possibly get from a tablet computer (and don’t say that I’d just look really cool because I am cool anyway, of course).

Some of the fake prototypes of the device that have surfaced leave more questions than answers. For example, how comfortable would it be to type on a glass screen? How would you even hold an oversized iPod touch device? Would you sit it flat on your lap? Well, that doesn’t seem like it would be that comfortable.

I am an Apple fanboy, that is for certain. I’m tempted by every new product they introduce, but this one just doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense for them. And, I wonder about the alleged $700 price tag. Surely they could command a larger price when you can’t even get a 32gb iPod touch for less than $400 and that has a 3 inch screen and no camera.

Would you buy an Apple tablet?

First, I really admire and honestly, envy, the team that got to come and speak. It must be really awesome to go around the country and speak to large ballrooms full of Internet marketers about Facebook. The site is a enormous success, is growing by hundreds of thousands of users a week, and is worth several billion dollars. If you have read any of my writings about Facebook, you know I am an enormous fan of the site.

Second, these guys really know how to put together a presentation. Their slides were great, included some pretty damned impressive video snippets (high production value) and were full of useful information.

Third, attendees were provided links to some great, comprehensive documentation that talks about best practices for using Facebook for business marketing and advertising.

Much of the presentation focused on the basics of using Facebook for business marketing and I was hoping for a little more technical (specifically, Facebook Connect and customization of Facebook pages using FBML, etc) but this was a really good time.

What the hell is a social media rockstar anyway?

First and foremost, I HATE the term social media expert, or rockstar. When I read about people claiming to be experts in the social web it makes me want to gouge my eyes out. Being smart and helpful is like, well, being smart and helpful. Recycling “do unto others” line ad nausea on Twitter doesn’t make you an authority on Twitter – it makes you an authority on restating the obvious.

Maybe Chris Brogan is a nice guy – actually, I will go ahead and stipulate that he is. I know he likes to throw out a lot of advice online, and has built his reputation on answering noobish questions from new users on Twitter. However, to see the level of ass kissing that goes on towards him is a little over the top. Seriously, its hard for me to see where the greatness lies. You can’t visit a blog, see an advertised webinar or generally browse over your Twitter feed without seeing his name being tossed out.

We need new social media champions

I know there are lots of people who feel this way about social media experts in general. There are really two reasons you don’t hear from those folks. First, it is completely irrelevant if someone calls themselves a social media expert. Second, for every person who can see through the “formula” that so many of these experts follow to build their online reputation, there are 100 who don’t.

So what is the solution? We need new people to step up, be smart (not pretentious) and talk about social media realistically. No more about how transparent you can be. That’s a great thing to say (and do if your a business owner feeling their way on Twitter or Facebook), but there is much more to it than that. How do you monetize social. How can you empower your users/customers to create, and use that to market your business? What are some actual examples of how you used social media to solve a business problem? No more theory, no more brain dead obvious best practices.

Also, we need people to show some savvy beyond using Twitter. I’m sorry, but Twitter’s best days are now well behind it. It is a missed opportunity. The real focus should be on Facebook, yet you almost never hear these guys talk about it. Why is that? Cool, you have amassed far more people following you than you can possibly ever communicate with efficiently through the medium (Twitter). That doesn’t impress me at all and really, it shouldn’t impress you either.

Chances are that EVERY baseball star has done steroids or some other performance enhancing substance. Whether you are a Yankee, a Red Sox fan, a Texas Rangers fan or even a football fan, pretty much everyone (except Ichiro) has done steroids. Everyone has cheated to get ahead. Can we just move on now?

Seriously. If doing steroids makes a player better, can’t we as fans just enjoy the game for what it is? Okay, I get it – these guys are stronger, and baseball is a sport built on records. Since there is no way to go back and undo what has been done, why even care at this point?

How many people actually watched Mark McGuire and thought he wasn’t on steroids? Big Papi? I always thought he was on it. The guy is huge and went from riding the bench to belting over 30 homers in 1 year? Come on, it can’t be a surprise.

Does this mean the Red Sox championship was tainted? Maybe, but who cares? It is a game for christs sake. It isn’t like anyone’s life is at stake here beyond the athletes who are giving themselves a chemical boost so they can play better.

Repeat after me.. GAME.

• Ortiz and Ramirez Said to Be on 2003 Doping List (nytimes.com)
• Not a Good Time To Be a Boston Red Sox Fan: Steroids Stain the Game (bleacherreport.com)
• Report: Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz tested positive for PEDs in 2003 (sports.espn.go.com)
• Report: Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz tested positive for PEDs in 2003 (ballhype.com)
• Ortiz, Ramirez failed drug test in 2003 (cbc.ca)

We are going to see a lot more of this in the news. Hell, I guess I even joined in to an extent with this blog. But really, ask yourself – Does Big Papi being “Big Papi” and Manny “being Manny” make baseball more enjoyable to watch? Answer is yes. Is baseball more fun when the Sox and the Yankees are battling it out? Yes. What about when you have a person vying for the home run record? More fun, sure.

That’s all that matters. Lets drop this crap about steroids already.

Dwelling on mistakes isn’t any way to make progress.

And because of my upbringing, I tend to carry a lot of guilt around. Recently a friend of mine wondered if I was catholic, which was actually pretty funny. I guess catholics carry guilt? I grew up non-denominational so I wouldn’t know.

In any event, that’s really all I meant — I know, super vague, right?

I have had a lot of really disparate thoughts recently – anything from the moon and space, politics and health care, agency vs freelancers, the fear of dying and why I shouldn’t really be scared of it, True Blood and whether or not a world with vampires would be exciting, among other things.

I’d really love to write on all of them. Sometimes, I then think about how my blog is totally a dumping ground for random crap. Should I try to make this site a little more focused? Don’t know. Is this site the Seinfeld of blogs? Thats an interesting thought.

If you happen to fall into one of these categories, there is a GREAT chance that I have either already unfollowed you or plan to in the very near future.

1. Passive Aggressive – no time for it. If you don’t have the balls to say whats on your mind to the actual person you are intending to put off, then you deserve to be unfollowed.

2. Hashtags – they are idiotic, and if you use them to somehow “enhance” your communications or emphasize a point, then you idiotic. Most people don’t even know what hash tags were even created for in the first place because if they did, they’d know that they are irrelevant now. People who use hashtags to add color to their tweets are like the people who talk in ghetto slang in order to somehow get street cred (e.g. the Nick Cannon’s of the world)

3. Social media strategists or experts – sorry, but 99% of you are folks who stay at home and don’t want to get a real job. There are probably a handful of genuine experts out there in “social media” and its likely that you haven’t ever heard of them. Thats because they are busy working and not self promoting.

4. Self promoters – I’ll allow a certain amount of self promotion to cross my Twitter stream. After all, as Loren Feldman says eloquently, Twitter is great for spamming links. I’ve been known to post links to writings on other sites. But, if you’re using Twitter as a platform to become a psuedo celebrity, then i want no part of that and will ultimately unfollow you.

5. Excessive negativity – have enough of it in my daily life, don’t need to read more on an opt-in basis.

6. Conservative politics or religion – couldn’t be further from my wheelhouse. I won’t follow anyone (knowingly) who thinks Sarah Palin is great or would even consider voting for her in 2012.

7. PC fanboys – I rode the Windows is awesome train my whole life, then I got the iPhone. Now, i am an Apple fanatic through and through. If you are a “PC” then I simply can’t follow – sorry!

8. Seesmic users – now I am getting a little carried away but seriously? What is with all the poseurs using Seesmic desktop? That app is terrible.

Of course, I reserve the right to add to this list at any time. I can think of probably half a dozen other examples of things I disapprove of on Twitter. Anyway, the hash tag is just really, really, REALLY annoying. Please don’t do it.

Initially, we blamed Blues the cat. After all, we had just gotten back from Seattle and Bainbridge Island and she tends to get offended if we leave her alone for a week. Plus, it is convenient to just blame the cat. After cleaning up the puddle I went upstairs to get a shower and get ready for work. “Hrmm” I thought. This water is really cold. “Well thats odd” I thought, as I turned the shower faucet over to the hot setting and nothing happened.

Went down to the garage and stepped into water. Opened the garage door and it was almost as if a dam broke. Looked over to the hot water heater only to see it gushing water.

“Well, isn’t this a shitty way to come back from vacation!”

I missed work that day as I tried to call Sears. The water heater was still under a full warranty as it was only 7 years old. In water heater terms, we had a teenager. It was supposed to be young and strong.  Maybe, it would be able to stay up past 11 and not be tired, hanging out with friends. Maybe, just maybe it would be old enough to drive.

Nope, ours was old, shot and busted.

The first frustration with Sears came from the fact I had to deal with an automated system. Yes, one of those automated systems that thinks it can solve your problem through a series of inane questions. Then, by the time I had gotten through the maze of yes and no questions I get connected to a customer support professional who I don’t think could even speak (or comprehend) English. You’ve heard these stories before so I won’t go into a lot more detail. Anyway, needless to say, because the water heater was bought by the previous owner of the house, Sears was completely incapable of finding a record of it to check the warranty. To all of this I was less than sympathetic. See, I had water pouring out of my garage – i just wanted the damned thing fixed.

I was frustrated when the Sears rep told me they were booked solid and couldn’t have anyone look at our heater until the following day. What? You mean there isn’t a 10% unemployment rate in this country? There isn’t a contractor with his own small plumbing business that can come out and look at this water heater you sold a warranty on that has died after only 7 years?

Anyway, I told Sears thanks but I’d look for someone else to come out. Then, I realized that opting not to have the company which had warrantied us against such a disaster fix this was stupid. My wife literally called back 1 min and 28 seconds later and the wait time was moved up to 3 days. Thanks Sears!

Honey, you're shower is ready - thanks Sears!

Three days later, after roughly 6 or 7 cold showers, the fine Sears contractor comes out to “fix” our water heater. After about 15-20 mins they determined that it was broken and that it would need to be replaced. Of course, they don’t have a replacement so it is off to Sears to order a new one. Although it is under warranty, Sears wants to charge us over $300 in fees to replace the water heater which was still under warranty. These fees include a building code fee, as well as installation and haul away fees. By the way, they can’t get out to do this the same day, or even the next. We’re scheduled for Thursday, almost 7 days after we first called them.

Sure, it isn’t like our AC went out – it is only our hot water heater. But, think about how often you use your hot water.

• Showering
• Washing dishes
• Washing clothes

We literally boil water on the stove to bathe ourselves. I feel like a pioneer. Yes, we will survive this (haha) of course but damned if Sears needs to get its act together. First, its been said before but bears repeating – hire people who can speak the language. Second, employ more contractors if you have like a 7 day wait to service critical home appliances. Third, if you are going to have an excessively long wait to service, at least reduce or negate the installation, haul away or BOTH. A brand new heater is only $700 – you’re charging me half of that just to fix your own faulty stuff.

Dear COX Automated Robot Support Lady:

Thank you for saving me $50 this evening. Your inability to help me reset my Pay Per View pin number kept me from ordering UFC 100 using your COX inDemand service. Instead, I will probably just download the fight clips off illegal file sharing sites in the morning – more portable and in better quality than what I’d get by watching on my television.

When you said: “Just tell me what I can help you with” and I said “Reset Pay Per View Pin Number” I kind of expected you to, well, help me reset my PPV pin. But you didn’t. Maybe your masters didn’t program that, which is a shame, because after you replied to me with some sort of “I don’t understand” I asked to speak to an operator.

“Wait time is currently 10 minutes, please continue to hold”.

35 mins later, and I am still holding.

40 mins later and I decided to keep my money and write this blog post.

And what is the deal with these automated support numbers? Why do they ask me for a bunch of information, fail to have the answer to my question, then put me in touch with a human operator who has to go and ask me for all the same information over again? Why not just give me an option to talk to the robot or a human from the outset and save a lot of aggravation?

Here is how it could work:

“Hi, thanks for calling Cox support. You have the following options:

Press 1 if you would like to go through our automated support. Automated support can help you do A, B, and C.

Press 2 if you would like to just talk to a real person. This is a good option for X, Y, and Z.”

I know, because it costs more to have a real person respond. But how much does it cost you when I get tired of your support and go to Direct TV? Or, say, Dish Network. Or say hell with all of it and just run Hulu or my Apple TV for my shows.

Stop being so mediocre Cox.