It’s amazing how often people meet like ships in the night, and then drift away…it happened to me way back in 1981 when I met someone whom I liked a lot…our paths crossed for a brief semester at the University of Arizona, we went out for one solitary date, and then she just—disappeared. I was completely dumbfounded—she was a person I would have liked to know better. Slowly time made me forget, since I had other friends in college. Our two ships set their own different courses in the sea of life.

Fast-forward to 2009, and I was writing my blog series about my years in America. I intended to include some of my American college friends in it, and suddenly she flashed into my mind. Oh what the heck, since I’m on Facebook why not humor myself and do a Facebook search? Something just prodded me on, so I entered her name and clicked on Search. Lo and behold, the search results came back (there were several hundred entries) Gosh, am I going to search through all that? Again something urged me on, so I clicked on the first results page—nada. Second page, third page, fourth page, nope. And then there she was—slightly older no doubt (so am I) but there was that recognizable smile.

I hastily penned a message about adding her as my Facebook friend and clicked on Send. I remember writing something like “If I’ve got the wrong person, I do sincerely apologize.” A day or two later, I received an email from her, and eagerly opened it (I half-expected it to say that I’d got the wrong person) But fortunately it was her! And she remembered who I was. Thanks to the miracle of Facebook, two ships have managed to steer back towards each other, after an absence of 28 years.

We’ve been using WLM to stay in touch since then…it’s delightful to know about what has been going on in her life, while I tell her my own gory details. This is not a publicity campaign for Facebook (and it doesn’t need it) but without it two friends would not have reconnected again. Friendship transcends all barriers, be they physical or otherwise. There is nothing more congenial than knowing and confiding in a good friend. Friendship is truly the best ship of all. Thank you for being my friend, Crystal.

“Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.” Aristotle

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F: Facebook, Friendships, Food

Ah yes, Facebook. The cyber opium social networking network—some people love it, others wouldn’t even touch it. I haven’t been on Facebook for very long, in fact I only signed up last year but I love it. I can understand why it has become the #1 social networking phenomenon—it has almost everything (text, photos, apps, quizzes, chats, groups, marketplace, etc.) integrated into one convenient center. You just decide how much and what you want to do with it. The wide range of options makes Facebook very customizable, but you’ve got to learn to be careful not to divulge stuff that might come back to haunt you later on (ah yes, heard the one about employers searching FB for information about their prospective staff?)

I use Facebook primarily to connect with my friends and to publicize my blog posts, whenever I write a new one. And the quizzes—well I won’t talk too much about them, because there are some absolutely stupid and banal ones there (imagine a quiz titled “How stupid are you?” and you get the picture) Still, it’s great when you have time to kill or you’re just about fed-up with computer work or games. The chat program is very rudimentary; I still prefer Windows Live Messenger. However, it’s convenient for a quick chat when your friends are logged in.

One thing I’m grateful to Facebook for is that recently I had the chance to reconnect with an old friend from my University of Arizona days. We haven’t been in touch for something like 28 years, and through FB I managed to find this friend and reconnect. It was wonderful, and I think this is something that FB excels in doing…thanks, Facebook!

Friendships and friends mean so much to me. I don’t have a lot of what I would call close friends. Just a few of them and with the exception of one (yes you, Boss!) all the rest are in the good US of A. I know, we can’t like hug or throw friendly punches at each other, but Windows Live Messenger more than makes up for it. To all my friends out there (and you know who you are) I love you all. Thank you for your friendship!

“I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, who has sight so keen and strong
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.”
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Uh oh, someone’s going to call me a piggy when I mention food. I remember one of the best advice I received from my dad as I was about to depart for the UK was this: “You eat to live, not live to eat.” In other words, don’t be a glutton. And if eating isn’t enjoyable, then why do it? The same goes with sex, I suppose…but oops I am getting side-tracked. Many people are envious of me because I can simply eat whatever I like and yet not put on weight. What can I say, I have a high metabolic rate, LOL. However, I don’t use that as an excuse to pig out—no no no. I’ve been more careful with my diet now that I’m close to hitting the big 5-0.

Speaking of which, I’m absolutely a breakfast person. I need my breakfast! It has been cereal for the past years but recently I converted to oats because of their ability to purge the bad cholesterol away from my body. Honestly I am not a fan of oats but hey, if it’s good for me I’ll eat it. I have regular meals (and leftovers yes) and I indulge in the occasional pizza and burger, though not always. And since I’m managing my boss’ food blog it is sometimes a wee bit overwhelming to look at all those glorious food pictures and become hungry and salivate—but fortunately I can stand it!

As a fitting conclusion to this subject of food, just take a look at this whopper of a burger from Burger King. Can you finish this monster in 7 minutes?

P/S Watch the video here.  The final comment from the guy who ate this makes this video well worth watching.

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I use Twitter. I use Facebook. I love these two apps. Twitter is like a virtual text or SMS device for me in cyberspace, while Facebook connects me with my friends and keeps me informed of their goings-on. In the past, I used to log on to Twitter in my browser. Of course that was inconvenient, as I had to perform a number of steps:

1. Open my browser.
2. Go to the Twitter homepage.
3. Log in.
4. Look at my messages, type an update, reply, etc.
5. Log out.
6. Oops, I forgot to post an update—repeat steps 2 to 5 again (groan)

Then I discovered Twhirl, a nice little app which performs all of the above and sits quietly in my taskbar icon area. Whenever a new tweet comes in, or if I want to post an update, I just have to click on it once, view it and do my stuff, and exit. Very nice.

I find that history is repeating itself, this time with Facebook. I have to perform all those six steps outlined above, the only difference being step 2, where I go to Facebook’s homepage instead. Wouldn’t it be great if I had an app that could automate it for me?

Then just a few days ago, my very good friend Crystal was tweeting about an app called Seesmic, and she was glowing about it. Hmmm, time for me to check it out. I went to Seesmic’s homepage, installed Seesmic Desktop 0.4, and I am very impressed.

So what’s so cool about Seesmic? In a nutshell, Seesmic aggregates your Twitter and Facebook accounts into one very convenient app. You can install it straight from their website. It’s free of charge and takes just a while to install. After that, you add your Twitter and Facebook account log-ins to it, configure a few simple settings, and you’re all set to go. From now on, you can do all your Twitter and Facebook stuff from Seesmic itself—it’s just brilliant! I found it hard to believe that this app only came out in May of this year.

And I should have guessed this—Loic Le Meur, the founder and CEO of Seesmic, is the same guy who makes Twhirl too. That’s why it was so easy for me to transition to Seesmic. It’s now a bigger home with Facebook added.

I have nothing much to gripe about concerning the present version 0.4. The only thing I wish is that I’d like for Seesmic to minimize to the taskbar icon area when I click its Close button (Twhirl does this) No luck yet. Seesmic simply exits. If I want to minimize it, I have to click on the minimize button, and Seesmic goes into my taskbar area, consuming a bit of taskbar estate. Perhaps Mr. Le Meur could fix this in a future update? Still, just a minor niggle, or perhaps it’s my OCD showing itself.

Anyways, Seesmic Desktop is one fantastic app, especially if you want your Twitter and Facebook stuff living together in the same house. Try it out!

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If you’ve read my About Me page you would already know that I’ve been a member and staff of BigBlueBall since June 2006. Although this forum caters to IM (Instant Messaging) and social networking first and foremost, there are a lot of other sections within, such as Cell Phones, PDA and Mobiles, and also Computer Support. There’s also a Community Center with the BigBlueBall Lounge as a place where you can get to know new members, post your own poll, read the funnies, a Music room, etc. All in all, there’s a lot to see and do. Needless to say, becoming a member is totally free (and painless).

Have a look at the new BigBlueBall here.

Last but not least, don’t forget to visit the BBB Blog, where you can post comments even without registering (but we hope you will). A big plus is that BBB is also connectable to your existing Facebook account:

So, a lot of stuff to explore—drop by anytime!

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