SEOAly's comments

I have attended each of my high school reunions since graduating back in 1994. It was very nice to see those with whom I was friends. Some did, in fact, get fat. Some had, in fact, been arrested. It was, as the infamousgdub stated, "a great annoyance to have people I barely remember act chummy to me." Call it juvenile, but those I didn't like in high school are still the same irritating, judgmental and self-absorbed souls they were throughout our childhoods. We had a relatively small class, in comparison to many, with just over 150 graduates. Many didn't attend the reunion - presumably because they had high hopes for their future that very few actually delivered upon. I was from a small town in which the "popular" kids (of which I was admittedly one, though a black sheep among them) "ruled the school". Many of them expected life and success in the real world to come to them as easily as it had in their small town world. It didn't. And I wasn't surprised that many of them didn't show up to the reunion. Our 15 year reunion should occur some time next year. I'll be interested to see if more or fewer people show up then than they did to the 10 year.

I've never clicked on any ads just out of an affinity for a particular blog owner or their posts. I believe that would cause problems and certainly have a negative impact on Google's ability to accurately determine the effectiveness of keyword-driven ads. The short-term benefit would be very low to the blog owner and potentially costly in the long run. I've never been one to sacrifice long-term goals in favor of a short-term revenue burst.

I think Kwippy is still generating a following. The fact is that when competing with the likes of Twitter and Plurk, it takes some time (and some differentiating features) to entice people to essentially "start over" building their network on yet another micro-blogging platform. I use Kwippy from time to time, but haven't yet gotten in the habit of it as I have with Twitter.

My work PC's OS is Windows XP, as is my Dell laptop. I am, however, a MacHead in reality. :) I much prefer a Mac...and Apple's OS. I'm currently running Leopard on my eMac at home. I've used Macs since I was a kid and have always had a preference for Apple's OS due to increased stability and lack of security vulnerabilities, from a practical standpoint. I have also found Macs to be much more user-friendly and aesthetically appealing to creative-minded individuals. I continue to the vast majority of my graphic design projects, aside from very basic tasks like cropping images, using a Mac.

I'm not economic expert (by a long shot). I agree there are multiple reasons for the financial crisis that America is facing at the moment. It is a dangerous combination of lack of regulation, a culture based upon living outside our means and complete lack of accountability on the part of financial institutions with regard their actions and reporting of true financial status. This crisis has been coming for several years. The lack of oversight of the "free market" philosophy surrounding the banking industry has ultimately led to this massive crash of virtually our entire economy. We, as taxpayers, have now "purchased" many of these questionable mortgages as a result of this bailout. Ironically further victimizing those victimized by predatory lenders by forcing them to now fund this bailout with their tax dollars. It's like saying, "Hey...you know that mortgage you never should have been approved for and couldn't pay? Well...now you're paying for it, but you still don't have your house...". Not only are those who have lost their homes forced to pay for it, but so is every other American taxpayer. In turn, we have mortgaged the future of our children, their children and their children's children in order to achieve the short-term goal of stabilizing our economy...a goal that likely still won't be achieved as a result of this bailout. There is a certain amount of accountability to falls on the individual. However, had there been proper regulation and oversight of the mortgage and financial industries, a crisis of this magnitude could have been averted. Politicians, as usual, chose to ignore the signs of the problem until it became impossible to ignore any longer (and frankly, until it started having a negative impact on some of them personally from an investment standpoint).

As far as I'm concerned such laws are completely unconstitutional. It should be at the discretion of the individual business owner to determine the needs of his local clientele and create policies for each establishment accordingly. This is most certainly a case of government completely over-stepping its bounds and infringing on individual rights. I think it would be hilarious if a group of restaurant owners got together, established a church and declared their restaurants places of worship...as well as listing among their religious practices: smoking. I don't believe in that case that the government would be able to enforce such laws.

Hey, Robin...I don't use Kwippy as much as I did when it first came out, but I'd have joined in on the conversation earlier had I not been out the past couple of days. :)

They may now a bit more now since the Twitter controversy. :) And yes, it looks like they've already got a growing following anyway. Most of my updates come via my tweets...I have both Twitter and kwippy apps installed on my Facebook profile. So, when I tweet, it updates Facebook and then Facebook updates kwippy (except with the @ replies, as those aren't pulled from Twitter through the Facebook app to begin with).

I'd have to say a combination of the three. I believe there is knowledge to be gleaned from virtually any information, regardless of its source. I tend to read more for enlightenment than entertainment...movies, in general, more for entertainment. Music is just something that is a part of my day-to-day existence. My iPod plays all day at my desk while at work. I often also listen to my iPod while driving, but sometimes opt for the radio. After all, how else will I find new music to put on my iPod? ;)

One of these days...one of these days... :)

MySpace is probably most comparable in popularity and function to Facebook. Seems like when something is release for one, it isn't long before a similar tool is released for the other. :) FriendFeed might also be a good option. Automatic updates to kwippy when a user adds pics to Flickr would be cool...

Sweet. Thanks for checking. So far looks like it's all good in the latest FF & IE, as well as Flock and Opera. If anyone is using an older FF version, I'd be interested in your comments...

No specific suggestions thus far...looks like it does what you intended it to do at this point. It's pulling my status updates from Facebook and adding them to kwippy. People have needed your help...really? It's pretty straight forward! :)

I'll gladly participate once we receive some clarification as to what you'd like us to do...

That's what I thought! Kwippy knows how to make new friends. ;)

I was just introduced to kwippy today...just playing around. :) I do like that conversations are threaded. Haven't started playing with integrated IM features yet, though...

Thanks. :)

You're welcome. I made sure it was a follow link. :)

I certainly will! I like what I'm seeing so far. Kudos. :)

:) Me, too...that's the quote that gets me through most days working in "corporate America". HAHA!