jasonbutler42

I’m totally feeling connected to humanity once again. Twitter, despite being unreliable and not having IM, is helping me connect with people I would never have met. And despite my atrocious behavior at the Whitaker Music Festival where I failed to introduce my lovely wife to anyone without being prompted, it was nice meeting Melody (girlsguidetothegalaxy.com) and Don (www.lifemovestoofast.com) and Mati (matik72.blogspot.com) and some others (I’m not even going to pretend I remember. I barely remember my children’s names).

Despite the possibility that IM use is on the decline, I use it all the time. I just started experimenting with a webcam to connect with my family in California. Now if only I could frickin’ blog more.

But the thing I like is that I’m connecting with local people, not just totally random internet people. It was great talking with Gina about a new home for my cat Sammy, and about pets in general – including the pain of losing my pet rat Ashley (it was more traumatic than you might think!).

Also, the links to various people in this entry are to their respective twitter accounts. Should I do that? Would you rather me link to your websites? Maybe I’ll add that in later.

Update: Added in homepage URLs.

Here’s an excellent summary of what Twitter is and why it works. I’ve been using Twitter since April 11, 2007. It’s been life changing. I’ve made new connections and began feeling like part of a community. Most of the people I follow are in and around St. Louis with a few exceptions (like Wil Wheaton). This video from Common Craft succinctly explains tweeting far better than I have ever been able to.

It’s been said that we are now in the end of prehistory. I know I don’t remember stuff the way I used to. Who am I kidding? I never remembered stuff before. But now you can search through all your old communications and find dates and names and places. It’s the future – and we’re living in it now!If you haven’t signed up for Twitter, give it a shot. You can follow me at twitter.com/jasonbutler42.