The History of Daddy Claxton

As you may recall, there was a post here on DaddyClaxton.com 371 or so days ago was entitled: Why I cut 3,300 peeps from my @Twitter account and feel all the better for it.  This year, I only cut 3,119, but it was time for a cleansing of the tweeps who I was following who either weren’t kind enough or who were too important in their own minds to be following me back.  There was a smaller group, like of about 350 or so, whom I cut because they haven’t used Twitter like  since the days of smoke signals. 

It took me about three days again, but this year I had help.  I used a couple of UnFollow Twitter sites.  And using Firefox and a plug in that lets me check boxes on pages where the Twitter API no longer will allow programmers to build it into a page, I zapped roughly 1,500 peeps a day, by the categories mentioned above.  The site I used for the purging was ManageFilter and I have to say, it worked really, really easy.  Of course, I didn’t cut everyone it recommended, but it did clear a lot of fog.  Because really, who wants to get a bunch tweets from someone you can’t really carry on a conversation with?

I used ManageFilter most of all because it didn’t cost me anything.  I began with another site, Untweeps.com, and although they were kind enough to tell me of the Firefox plug-in Check-Fox, I couldn’t figure out how to use it.   It’s sort of tricky, but it goes like this.

On a Mac, you hit Control+A at the same time you’re right clicking on your mouse. (I think it’s the same for a PC, but if you have a PC, you’re probably more worried about if it’s going to work in 10 minutes than the number of Twitter followers who aren’t following you.) This works on pages where there are check boxes for miles and you don’t have the patience or the extra hour or so of time to click down through say, 1,500 boxes. Because I didn’t know that Untweeps.com, would only cut 500 non-followers at a time, I wasted the time to highlight the 1,500 I wanted to get rid of, only to click delete and for it to tell me it had a limit.  So, I wasted about an hour and a half time, total, and largely decided I was not happy.  I then downloaded the Check-Fox add on for Firefox, logged back into Untweeps.com to use it, and then it said my three FREE attempts were all used up and I could pay $1.37 or some crazy-assed amount to use it for three days.  I sent Untweeps.com‘s developer a Tweet saying how disappointed I was.  His response was to get the Check-Fox add on.  I decided for the time I’d already invested with them, there was no way I was going to pay $1.37.

Twitter 2011

Like last year, I want to commend Twitter for how it’s really worked to clean up the spammers and those tramps trying to sell sex sites.

But I also have to say that I’m not real crazy about their new layout.  It’s frustrated me, and maybe that’s more so because I’m now 45, but here’ what I did last night that I didn’t want to do.

I sent a DM to someone I didn’t want to send a DM to.  I clicked in the messages portion I guess at the top center of the new Twitter screen and sent them a message.  Well, I was so tired when I sent it, and frustrated that I was having to use new Twitter that I didn’t realize until this morning that I’d sent the DM.  

So, for those of you out there who might be struggling with the new Twitter to figure out how to send a DM to someone, you click the MESSAGE space at the top.  Now the screen it takes you to to me feels like it’s a Timeline screen, and that’s where I made my error.

So, person who got a DM from me last night asking why you’ve not been on Twitter the past few days, I didn’t mean to do that, and I’m glad you replied this morning to one of my normal tweets to you.  Like I promised when you began following me, I plan to continue to be judicial in how I send DMs to you, as the last thing I want to happen, is for you to unfollow me.

Related articles

• Twitter Bulk Unfollow Tools-My Quest to Un Follow (seomoves.org)
• Finding Quality Interactions on Twitter – Lose the Auto DM! (inkhousepr.blogspot.com)
• I Joined Twitter, Now What? (communicatevalue.com)
• Twitter’s Most Popular Celebrities (nowpublic.com)
• Twitter’s New Desktop App for the Mac: A Disappointment (newsgrange.com)
• TWEETDECK IS SAFE: Twitter For Mac Is Nothing Special (businessinsider.com)
• A new Twitter business model – a comprehensive hashtag strategy (socialmediatoday.com)

If I were Jeff Bezos or one of his high-dollar PR people from Amazon, I think I would have found a way to hold a big news conference TODAY, Jan. 26, 2010 in San Fran to announce something new and radical about the Kindle–like I was cutting it's price by 25-30 percent because I "think that everyone ought to have access to digital books and we at Amazon are paving the way to it without it costing high dollars to get there." 

Would he be losing money?  I'm sure the marketing people could have structured it so that they wouldn't have.  And this would have been a tremendous opportunity to put a huge dent in the Barnes & Noble Nook market–already struggling because they can't produce enough to keep up with their demand. 

Of course, the reason I say all this is because it is expected that tomorrow, Jan. 27, 2010, Steve Job's is going to unveil the "latest creation" in San Francisco.  All the world's tech media is in San Fran for this event.  The rest of us will be glued to an Engadet screen or various other live links tomorrow (12 noon CST) to see what the master has to say.  

This would have been a good chance for Bezos to grab some of that attention and maybe lure some people who might be thinking whatever it is Steve comes out with tomorrow it's going to be a little more than they're ready to pay, and, in the age of instant gratification, it's probably going to be late spring/early summer before any of us can stand in line to get one. 

Bezos, isn't this opportunity lost?

I'm a casual fan of The Secret and the philosophy that if you're thinking positive about things, that's half the battle, and that things will line up in the universe to make that which otherwise would seem impossible become a reality. 

It's hard to be optimistic all the time.  And lately, it's been a super challenge as there have been so many negative things to happen in 2009. 

But here are things in that I'm putting on my list.  These are good things for all dads, not just me.  But hey, I'd be happy having them on behalf of the other dads out there.

So what would be an excellent technology Christmas gift for a dad this year?

1) The Barnes & Noble Nook.  I read more books than I can count in 2009 and bought a good many of them at market price. 
Barnes & Noble, along with competitor, Borders, have rewards and online coupons I receive often, so that saved me money here and there, but a Nook would be fantastic, and for the moment, from all accounts, it's the better investment between the Nook and the new Kindle 3G.  If there is such a thing as an Apple Tablet waiting in the wings for release in January, I suppose it would trump both of them, but for now, The Nook is the best for an eBook.  (Though moms, you might recommend dad download the FREE eReader from B&N.com.  There he can buy books for nearly the same price as he would for the Nook. He just has to read them on his computer or laptop.)

2)  Mom, if your husband is still a PC, it's time to convert him to a Mac.  Then neither of you have to worry about viruses, and the sky's the limit as far as what a new iMac or new MacBook Pro will do.  With that new Mac he'll also really, really love you if you get him the new touch-sensitive Magic Mouse from Apple. 

3) One of my desires to satisfy my computer creativity itch is to eventually have the entire Adobe Creative Suite CS4 before CS5 comes out in about 18 months or so.  Add to that Final Cut Pro 7, complete with Motion.  Sure, they'll set you back about $4,000 for both packages, but if your man is a creative, techy guy, well, you'll be Queen of the Universe to him forever with these two packages. Presently, I only have Photoshop and Dreamweaver.  Both are great, but if I had Illustrator and InDesign, well, that would be the dog's bollucks.

4)  Nikon has a new DSLR out called the D-3000. 
It produces photos with 10.5 megapixels and comes with a reasonable lens 18-55 for starters and only runs about $539 retail.  That would be an excellent addition to the family resources as far as generating high-quality photos for the future.  And again, if he's using a Mac, Aperture 2 is a great tool for managing, editing and cataloging those RAW, high-res photos.

5)  If you're getting your man/wife a new Mac for Christmas and live in a city that has an Apple Store or two, then the next best thing you can buy them the same day you buy the Mac is the year-long sessions for One-to-One training on using the products designed for the new Mac.  I learned how to do Final Cut Express for cool movie editing.  That branched into Photoshop, iMovie, iPhoto, and GarageBand which all blend together to make some pretty incredible productions.   And don't forget to learn how to make .mov movies in Keynote.  (That's the next best thing and MUCH SIMPLER than using Motion!)  

6) If he's getting all the stuff above, then done forget to include a cool video camera.  HD is preferable.  And there are a range of options here, from a customizable Flip Camera that shoots in HD, all the way up to a Canon XL2 video camera that will turn your man/wife into a Hollywood producer at home.  And hey, if they have any/all of the stuff mentioned above, they practically will be.

7)  There are a host of books, (Back to the Nook) out there for helping learn to use this stuff, and to serve as a reference guide.  For the work I've been doing in DreamWeaver, I use the Adobe DreamWeaver CS4 book.  Adobe's Photoshop CS4 Classroom in a book series also is one of the best I've used.  There also are good books out there for using Aperture 2 and iPhoto. 

8)  If he has all that or it's just out of the budget, gift cards for iTunes always are good things, that way you're not seeing expenditures in the checking account! 

9) External hard drives are becoming more and more reasonable in price with more and more memory.  A new 500 Gig Western Digital portable drive will run about $100 and provide much needed options if he still has a hard drive with only 160 Gigs on it.  Remember, all those RAW photos, the movies, the iTunes music, etc eats up drive space FAST. 

10)  A flat screen monitor, particularly if he's doing video editing, also comes in handy, particularly for play back of projects as they're being worked on in Final Cut Express or Final Cut Pro.  The more detail that can be seen in the editing process, the better the final product. 

So there you have it.  How much would all this cost?  No idea.  I don't expect anyone to have the funds to go out and get everything on this list.  Of course, if you'd care to send me the goods, I'd be more than obliged to use them.  But if your man is like me, you'll probably have to race him to the store to get some of this stuff as most dads I know don't wait for anyone to buy
them something as a gift.  I think it's a guy thing. 

Anyway, if you have additional questions about particulars, let me know. I'm happy to answer.   Oh, and one more thing, though I'd like to have sponsors sending me products to try out, at this writing, that hasn't happened yet, so these suggestions are as straightforward as they can be.  Just thought you should know. 

I know, it's not really here yet, but it's begun around our house.  The Santa Sleigh is out front as is the Santa's Workshop we built last year.  Next Friday night I begin at 6 p.m. in front of the house as Santa.  We've put hundreds of flyers out around Balch Springs and Mesquite, TX inviting parents to bring their kids by to see Santa and snap their own pictures for their memories.  It's an exciting time.

And at the same time I must confess at this writing I have no idea how the holidays are going to go.  We've been dealt a damaging financial blow at our house this year and every penny has an immeasurable value.  I don't know how much time I'm going to get to spend with my kids.  I'm going to be working to make up for time I've had to take off during the summer months; not necessarily because I've been told to make up the time, but because I'm honest enough to feel compelled to do so.

Tonight after work Kari told me something incredible that brought me great joy.  Yesterday as school across the street was ending, I was out handing out flyers (Download 12 nights 2009 Santa Cop Flyer) inviting moms and dads to bring their kids by beginning next week for The 12 Nights of Christmas in Balch Springs.  Until now Kari and I have paid for everything associated with this endeavor, from building the sleigh, the workshop, the cost of the lights to rival National Lampoon's Chevy Chase house, and heck, Kari even made the Santa suit from last year that I shall don again in a week's time.

She said a mom stopped her as she picked up Ashleigh today from school and asked, "Hey, isn't your husband the guy doing Santa Claus?"  When Kari said yes, the lady then surprised her.  "Can I give him some candy canes to hand out to kids?"  YES!  The miracle of what Christmas is all about lives in this wonderful lady as well. 

She also asked if the toys we're helping gather for the Balch Springs Police Department's 23rd Annual Santa Cop program have to be brand new toys.  They don't. 
They just need to be unwrapped so that the police officers can know what they are and whom to give them to when they do so.  This wonderful lady said she had some like-new toys she wanted to give to kids in need.  Again, I say, YES! 

I don't know this wonderful lady's name, but she just made my Christmas.  Through something we've done here at our house to give to others, others also are finding ways to use our contribution to make theirs meaningful, too.  There is a power in that, a power that in the darkest, most painful days of 2009, when I fought back tears (and let some pass in great quantities) from the shear pain and injustices we were enduring, the peace and purity of maintaining our integrity, maintaining our faith in God, and our devotion to others, I never could have imagined what we would do to help others at the end of the year would have this much more meaning.

Christmas is simply my favorite time of the year.  Long ago I learned to accept that I wasn't going to get material gifts that I might want for Christmas.  After all, typically if I want something bad enough, I set my mind to earning it and God has provided. Sure, I want my kids to experience the bountiful joys of opening incredible things I wish I could get, like Macs for all of them, complete with the software to help them become good at things like video editing, photo editing, and the like.  We'd love to make another Christmas trip to Yosemite. 

But I don't see that happening this year.  Instead we're going to be able to have something together no one will be able to take from us, the simple appreciation that we love each other no matter what happens.  We shall have the celebration that we're all healthy.  We shall have the joy of seeing others enjoy a surprise when they truly are anticipating nothing. 

My heart is filled with the joy of Christmas even a week before Thanksgiving, because while I'm thinking of the celebration of the birth of my Lord next month, I'm also thankful for all of the things he has given me in this life, most importantly my wife, Kari, and our seven kids: Ricky, Jerrod, Chandler, Logan, Reagan, Haley and Ashleigh.  And now I'm inspired by the hope that there are other people in the world who still believe that giving is much better than receiving.     

 UPDATE: If you, too, would like to make a contribution through the Santa Cop program, or contribute things to give to the kids who visit Santa beginning next week, please post a comment or contact me through Twitter. 

Talk about a missed opportunity.  I just looked at buying the Sarah Palin
eBook Going Rogue on Barnes & Noble's Web site and at buying the Kindle version on Amazon.  It's selling for $9.99 and the hard cover is available in stores as of today.  But it's not available online in an eBook form or on Kindle until Dec. 26.  I have to say, if this Nook and Kindle are going to be a success, the industry is going to have to make the product available at time of release. 

Amazon yesterday hooked me, I will confess.  They had "pre-order" pricing at $9.99 for the hardback copy.  With shipping, I got it for $12.99 and though it likely won't be here until the end of the week, life is so busy now I wouldn't have had time to read it this week anyways.  But the Amazon price is still about $5 cheaper than the B&N hardcover price of their member price of $17.39.

And even at this writing, the hard cover price at Amazon is just $14.50. 

Over on the Borders Books Web site, you can "pre-order" the book still for $15.65. 

I went looking through Google as to why it takes so long to get an eBook produced.   I didn't really get an answer, though Google did pull up an answer as to why it takes so long to backup on a Mac and then even less relevant, "How long does it take to get pregnant?"  which goes to a broken link.  I guess it took too long to come up with an answer.

Any ideas from my author friends?

This is funny. Get a Mac. Today.
I know this feeling. My wife and I are both Macs.