Got tools? by Tojosan

Pirate? That’s me and much more. Over the last few years the Flickr 365 group has brought out the hero, the villain, saint and sinner.  This particular picture though caused one young viewer to ask her parents if they knew a real pirate.

Some other friends online ask if I’m an actor. Truth? I am. That’s not the whole truth though.

We’re all actors.

Role players each of us. We learn to play weak when it serves us at an early age. Later some of us learn to play bully. Many of us act both at one time or another.

As we mature, we learn to take on many roles. Some are forced upon us, some we work to make part of our inner self. Parent is a great example. Most of us play at being a parent and only after some rough days does that role become internalized.

Blogger, it’s just another role. Part of the problem with this role is that we often miss that we’re no longer playing at blogging, but it’s now part of us. We keep telling ourselves we’re not really bloggers.

STOP. You have a URL. You post things. You’re a blogger. It’s that simple really. Blogger isn’t a title reserved for those that make a living blogging. There’s no swearing into the club ceremony when you get a thousand subscribers.

You blog therefore you’re a blogger.

So stop playing the role of wimp. No more acting the beggar or the fool. Sit down. Shut up. Blog.

N’ough said.

Twitter gives us a new toy today, the List Widget. Shown above is the first widget I’ve put together. If you scroll down on the blog you’ll see it in action.

List widgets let you select the user first, then you can select from the user’s public lists. Customize the list widget appearance by choosing colors, size and even title and caption. The widget size can be auto-adjusting or a set size. Color choices allow you to select the hex code or eyeball it using your mouse.

A National Novel Writing Month widget is my example. I built a list, still growing of course, of Twitter users doing nanowrimo. The list is by no means near 500 yet, but it’s enough that there should be a fair amount of tweets coming in. I chose to have it poll, and display only 30 tweets. Those settings are adjustable as well.

Twitter included the option to copy and paste the HTML as well as a Blogger specific option.  No Facebook or MySpace option was available; you can however use the HTML for MySpace.

I agree with TechCrunch, these will be your chance to curate your lists.

What will you do with the Lists Widget?

I found this fascinating quote today:

This is an interview with Robyn Wright who didn’t mention that she was voted one of Nielson’s 50 Online Power Moms. Robyn is active on Twitter and Facebook and writes many product reviews on her blog. She has embarked on a new journey coming out  from behind her avatar of a hand on a keyboard to showing photos of herself and now making videos. It’s nice to see the real her that so many have come to enjoy reading about on her blog. Learn some more about her:murraynewlands.com, Robyns Online World Online Power Mom Robyn Wright Interview, Oct 2009

You should read the whole article.

Robyn, a fellow St. Louis area blogger, is both an online and offline friend.  She’s one of the most fun bloggers I know, local or not.  Her blog, Robyn’s Online World, is not just give aways, and good ones, but gives us an inside track on her world.

Robyn may not brag, but she’s got plenty of reason to be interviewed. She’s a prolific blogger. She networks both on various social networks online, but also connects by phone, email, and in person with both individuals and companies. 

She recently was selected to join EA for their big Spore event. As a follow up she had some Spore goodies to give away as well.

Please click through to the full interview and show Robyn some love.

     Once upon a time, there was this young guy that joined the Navy. The itch for something different wasn’t quite scratched by that though, so he became a Nuclear Machinist Mate. Satisfaction wasn’t going to be had just yet, so of course he volunteered to go submarines. Um, yeah?

     Well, that’s the story with a few facts left to your imagination.  In 1984 I signed up and under two years later I found myself walking on board my first submarine. That’s when the story gets interesting.

     A few firsts from that time:

• first submarine – USS Atlanta
• first words I heard – “ha, fresh meat”
• first thing I learned – the Chief of the Boat had killed someone with his car
• first important duty – laundry duty
• first port of call in a foreign country – England
• first watch station – Engine Room Lower Level

Blogger, the Google blog platform, and GrandCentral, the call me from online service, are joining together.  Now you’ll be able to add a GrandCentral Call Me button on your Blogger blog  side bar.  You can check out the post on the Blogger Buzz for more details.

So what’s in it for you?  Well if you are a blogger and ever wanted to have a way for folks to talk to you, this is it.  GrandCentral provides a voice mail box and does not share your true personal phone number.  They assign you a GrandCentral number.  You can have the calls forwarded to your cell phone or just left on the voice mailbox.  The messages are even available for download.  This works great if you’d like readers to be able to leave voice comments.

So give it a go if you’re a GrandCentral user blogging on Blogger. If you need an invite to GrandCentral, I’ve got a few left. Just let me know.

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Help me to go SOBCon08 for free. Click here to read about SOBCon08. No registration required.

My ooVoo Day With is a week-long experiment in blogger to fan interaction. Rock star bloggers from across the ’sphere will host interactive conversations on hot topics, facilitated by the multi-person video chat technology from our friends at ooVoo. Get face-to-face with your favorites and move beyond the post-comment-post world.

Check out ooVoo.com.