This is more funny if I don't fully explain it.

Jessica sent me an email with the subject line "My lil Caitlin" (at least she didn't put KiKi).

The included picture was this:

I don't know where she found it, nor do I want to.

My response: Thanks...so much.

Jessica: You don't want to be my Jimmy Olsen. :(

Me: He always DIES.  But sure, I'll be Jimmy Olsen.

Jessica: Good.

Me: I mean, seriously.  It always comes down to him and Lois Lane, and he's always the one that DIES.

Jessica: That's just because Lois puts out.

Me: Maybe if Jimmy just grabbed his ankles every once in a while, we'd all be better off.

 

My office is awesome.

So this week has been rather crazy. I have worked under deadlines before academically (tell that to my still unfinished masters paper) and done just fine under normal circumstances, even working three jobs my senior year. Hell, I've taught high school students about history without dying. But this thing is just...insane. So I'm going to apologize now for that, and admit that posting will probably continue to be sporadic until I get the rhythm of this thing down. But enough with the sorry ass brigade. I'll just give you this instead:

That's Buster, Josh's dad's dog. He is almost as awesome as Josh is.

But that's beside the point. When I was revamping my site over last weekend, I was having some issues with the SquareSpace UI (user interface). This was, I admit, mostly my fault, because I, the user, wasn't interfacing with the site properly. That's my fault. It's always hard to learn a new system, and I know just enough HTML to have posed a danger to myself. So what did I do when I encountered difficulties? I bitched about it on Twitter. And within three minutes of my spastic, self-serving complaint, I had a response from @acasalena, the founder and lead programmer behind SquareSpace. He was just chilling out on a Sunday night, and asked me if he could do anything to help with my issue. Turns out, he could, and he helped me fix what I was having problems with. Turned out to be my own stupidity I was struggling with.

The fact of the matter is, though, that Anthony Casalena didn't have to answer my Tweet. He (or maybe his rep, I don't know...I still chose to give him credit because he seems like a cool guy) didn't have to spend his time searching to see if he could help someone out. But now, because of that one action, I'm hoping to get my dad, my roommate, and my potential webcomic and/or craft store up on SS. Because if tech support is half as good as Casalena is, it's four times better than any other site I've encountered, including...*gasp* .Mac, now MobileMe. I know, I know...a self-professed Mac cult member saying that.

That's not all though, kids. A few weeks ago, standing waiting for the L to come and take me home after a long day at work, I found a small button waiting for me on the phone booth next to my right hand. It was just a picture of a blue sky with a few fluffy clouds, and on the back was a website and email address, asking you to contact the creator with where you found the button. Now, me being me, and easily distracted, I forgot about it until I found it in my bag today at work. And it got me thinking: is that what we're doing with social media? Reach out to strangers, leave little links and pictures and tidbits around for them to find and follow back to us at the source. We just don't always get to do it in such a beautiful and simple way. If you're curious, the site on the back of the pin is deepblueskies.com.

But wait, there's even more! The last post I put up here, the one about Decibelle and the poetry reading, got some attention. Last Friday, I got an email from T. Khyentse James Executive Director, telling me that she'd stumbled across my post. My immediate reaction was, of course, AH DON'T LOOK AT ME I'M SORRY. But then I realized that, if I spent a little time and effort on it, I could do some great work for them. And maybe it's the repressed angry feminist, maybe the repressed rocker chick, maybe it's the repressed Girl Scout...but I really want to. So I've begun doodling on napkins again, trying to figure out how to do more for non-profits in particular. Beyond what I mentioned in my last post about Facebook and teaming up with other non-profits, what resources are there?

And so I went poking around. I found Change.org (doesn't fit the needs of all non-profits, but it's a good place to start). Skimming through Decibelle's (really awesome) site, I looked at all the traditional media attention they've gotten in the past few years. It's great that they can get the articles written when they have events, but usually it's published after events have already happened, a sum-up of what went on and who was there. They even have some great, big to medium sponsors. They're definitely better off than most non-profits I've seen or worked with. Then it hit me. One of the places that they don't seem to be taking advantage of their diverse and wondrous talents is with small, local, regular events. At least, not in Chicago.

Here is where I think social media can really shine. I can get them in contact with weekly or monthly open mics that can not only funnel new listeners to them by announcing their events live or online, but also help them find new talent, new venues, new donors, and maybe even get some cash and support for themselves.

Here's my question for all of you, my loyal readers (for all that I may force most of you to read or run the risk of losing my friendship): what else can I do for Decibelle that will help them out? How can I get people to respond to them with the same excitement and conviction that I did to SquareSpace and my nifty Blue Skies Button?

Comments are ready and waiting people...let's help out a great cause.

For those of you that managed to miss it, a new search engine got launched recently, with much promises of surpassing Google in capacity, accuracy, and precision.

I have determined, with one simple action, that all of these claims are utterly false. I Googled myself (it's turned into a verb for a reason, let's admit it) on Cuil yesterday morning at the prompting of a coworker of mine, the more than infamous CheapSuits, to do so. There were three results, two of which appeared to be in Ukrainian and had nothing to do with me. The first result, however, was a blast from my readily forgotten past. It was an introduction post on a gamer's forum/site that I had joined and ultimately started to help out at (minor moderating duties, helped to organize efforts, etc) in 2005 at the behest of my then boyfriend. The site has been down for some time now, and Google no longer lists it as one of the top search results when you type in my name.

Cuil, however, does. And it provides, in it's scintillating and visually robust (but less useful) interface the details of the first couple lines of my post. Who you are: Caitlin Rosberg. Where you are: Chicago. Why you're here: I gave some answer about being really excited about the project (I actually was, once I got involved) then admitted that my boyfriend of the time had drug me into it initially.

As CheapSuits said: it used to be that you moved for a guy. Now you join a forum for him.

My response: I wish I could erase half of the things I did (or more) between the ages of 11 and 21. Since 21 there have been a few things, but far fewer than between 11 and 21. He suggested I blog on it. And so here we are, considering all that has changed in the almost four years since I posted that.

Allow me to digress for a moment away from the personal torment that is teenagedom. The point is: Cuil is really actually pretty crappy, at least for searching some things. You only get that result when you search my name in quotes, and even then it's not the first result. When you search without quotes, you get one of the results that Google offers every time, but none of the other answers, yet again, has anything to do with me.

So why is it that Cuil felt the need to plug themselves so vigorously in opposition to Google? Why did they hype themselves up to the point where some people (the ones who dislike Google because it reminds them of evil Microsoft, but with Segways and better medical benefits and better customer service....) actually really believed it was possible to overthrow the juggernaut, only to be largely disappointed?

Press. Publicity. Branding. Cuil is certainly pretty, it definitely has that going for it. It's one of the reasons that Google attracted so many people at first, is that it was so clean and simple. Now, it appeals with all of the customization options, the ease of use, and the fact that...let's face it. Everyone uses Google. It's the industry standard in the way AOL and Microsoft once were (I will argue that Microsoft isn't anymore...but I can see how people would argue against me on that one). Now Cuil is trying to get in on the action where Google originally launched itself. Here's where it went wrong:

1. Bad name. Bad bad bad bad bad. I said soo-ill for days until someone told me it was pronounced coo-el (cool). Bad name. To quote Steve Krug, or at least loosely paraphrase, anything that makes a question mark pop up over my head is a bad idea for any website.
2. Google does a lot more now than just search. With Google Desktop now getting distributed like crazy, GMail, Google Maps just revamped their look, an image search that actually works pretty well, services like Analytics, AdSense, and a whole cavalry of other solid, working offers that are (usually) free, why the hell would we want something else...especially if it doesn't work as well?
3. Google is not Microsoft. While some people don't like Google, and some conspiracy theorists feel that they are taking over the net too much (admit it, many of us have thought it), Google treats its employees and users pretty damned well. I've never heard from the cubicle or study room or apartment next to mine "GOD DAMN IT. Google crashed AGAIN and I just lost FOUR HOURS of work on my ." Even with Google Documents, that doesn't happen.
4. Were they not paying attention to all those great Ask.com ads that aired two, maybe three years ago on TV? The ads were awesome, the services were well thought out and user friendly, and the searches worked...but Ask.com still has just over one sixth the visits that Google has. I said it before, I'll say it again: it's a verb for a reason...kind of like Kleenex and Band-aid became common nouns instead of trademarked brands, UPS and FedEx became verbs, and LOLcats became luhl-cats.

Later, I will discuss Batman. Because I am a massive dork and I feel the need. But I need to go indulge in the best summer dessert ever: blackberry icecream in ginger ale. It's like a root beer float, only better.

I was just informed that we are out of blackberry ice cream. Because I love him, I will not kill my boyfriend. I may, however, demand that he go get more tomorrow. Since he didn't tell me that we were out while we were at the grocery store a few hours ago.

Either that, or I will post more pictures of him on the internet. He hates that.

Thank you for reading YouRuinedMyChildhood.com. It really means a lot to us here at YRMC that you would take the time out of your busy schedule to think about the fact that somewhere on the internet, your favorite childhood memory is being violated by fanfiction.

I will be doing a more extensive post this afternoon/evening, mostly because I don't have time right now, as I am at work. But, here's a quick shot:

Look where I got linked!
Many thanks to Liz Strauss!

I feel like I may be starting to accomplish something. That's exciting, and it's getting my knees shaking in a first date sort of way.

Thank you for reading YouRuinedMyChildhood.com. It really means a lot to us here at YRMC that you would take the time out of your busy schedule to think about the fact that somewhere on the internet, your favorite childhood memory is being violated by fanfiction.