Stardate 76891.45 - Added Mastodon Link for Verification

As this blog atrophies, I did have occasion to make a small adjustment and added a link back to my Mastodon account (see the link over on the left).  By adding some specific HTML to that part of the blog, and then adding a link from my Mastodon account to here, I'm "verified" by Mastodon.  But really, all that means is that I control both this blog and that Mastodon account.  That works for non-famous people like me, but celebrities will need to make this change to their official web sites in order for people to feel the account is authentic.  What a lot of people are doing is just putting their Mastodon account into their Twitter bio (or a pinned tweet), since that account is probably already verified.  That's the easy way to do it.

Atlantic Highlands, NJ, USA

Stardate 75929.69 - As the Years Go By

Another few years have passed and I've still not figured out the best use of this blog, although I've somewhat cut back on posting to Facebook and Twitter, other than auto-cross-posting from Instagram. Mainly that is all I use social media for these days - posting pictures. And wishing people Happy Birthday. But sharing articles and that sort of thing I've cut way, way back on. 

Atlantic Highlands, NJ

Stardate 72442.08 - 2018 Update

Looks like I went the entire year of 2017 without posting an update. I'm still struggling with the best use of the blog in the wake of services such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. This blog used to be the primary way to share our adventures and photos with friends and family, but that was pre-social media. Now, I'm trying to determine if there is a purpose this blog can serve. Loren and I are watching How I Met Your Mother (new to her, re-runs to me) on Hulu, and it is interesting that such a recent show has Barney talking about his blog, and not about Facebook. I think there may have been a My Space reference, but as of Season 3 there is still no reference to any of today's social media sites. How quickly things change.

Atlantic Highlands, NJ

Stardate 70178.45 - Semi-Annual Update

Wow.  I haven't posted to the blog in a few years now.  Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have really taken over.  Although in some ways I miss the ability to have a detailed narrative around the photos, for quick/easy posting the newer social media platforms are better.

Atlantic Highlands, NJ

Stardate 67669.47 - Annual Update

It has been well over a year since I last posted to this blog...a far cry from the multiple posts per week that I wrote back near the start (June 24, 2004 to be exact).  I started the blog to mess around with RSS as we were using that technology for work (remember, nearly 10 years ago!), so the first few posts were just messing around.  But then I started posting photos and stories from our lives in Manhattan and later on the Jersey Shore.  It became the main method of keeping our families up-to-date on what we were doing and of sharing photos with them.

The blog was kept pretty well up to date until September, 2011.  At that point, Facebook took over as the main mechanism for keeping people up-to-date on what we were doing and of sharing photos with them.  In a way, it took over from the blog because it was so easy...just upload a bunch of photos, maybe write a caption, and you are done!  It took far less time than the narrative around the photos I wrote for the blog, and uploading photos was so much faster...in fact, getting multiple photos to upload in the proper order was a real hassle in the early days of blogging (at least on Blogger).

The demise of the blog also coincided with the transfer of primary photo-taking responsibility from me to Cheryl.  As Cheryl began shooting in RAW and doing post-processing of the photos, they simply were not available in a format to quickly post after an event or vacation, and once time had passed the urge to get the photos posted with a story wrapped around them would fade.  And it was easier to just share the album once she put it up on Facebook than it was to re-create the whole thing on the blog.

So for now, this blog is pretty idle.  Only had a post or two in 2012, and this is the first post from 2013.  If you are still subscribing to this blog as your primary way of keeping in touch, I recommend that you either click on the links on the left to add us as friends in Facebook, or subscribe to my Twitter feed (@SawyerCurt).  I'm sure you've figured it out by now, but Facebook (and to a lesser extent, Twitter) have pretty much killed off the blog as a "what are we doing" and photo sharing channel.  Until I can figure out a different use for it, one for which it is uniquely qualified, this blog will remain mostly idle.

Atlantic Highlands, NJ

Stardate 66129.42 - Urgent Appeal

Please sign the petition!!

Memorial Sloan Kettering wants to build a new out-patient facility right up against our home.  Our building has been asking for compromises to preserve some light and air, and MSK is ignoring us. Please join us in protesting the decision of MSK to ignore the pleas of its new neighbors completely, and show total disrespect for our quality of life and the quality of life in the surrounding community by constructing a building without giving any thought to how it will impact its neighbors and neighborhood.  The point of this petition is to protest MSK's decision to ignore its neighbors and the grave impact that the construction of its desired building will have on our community. We are asking for a cordial discussion with MSK officials so they can work with us to minimize the damage caused to our residents, our building and our neighborhood.

Please sign the petition asking them to work with us, not steamroll over us!

NYC

Stardate 65694.12 - 9-11-01, Ten Years Later

Cheryl and I moved to NYC in November, 2001.  She received the job offer in August 2001 and we were starting to make plans to visit Manhattan to look at apartments when 9/11 occurred.  It was odd to be looking at apartments in the weeks after 9/11 and have landlords and agents ask if we were relocating from lower Manhattan.  Of course, 9/11 literally hit pretty close to home as we were living in the DC-suburbs of Northern Virginia at the time.  Cheryl was in her office at the US Census Bureau and I was in a meeting at my job at Booz Allen Hamilton.  I came out of the meeting and had a voice mail message from my mom asking if I was in the Pentagon that day (I had Pentagon access at the time).  I thought it a very odd question at the time, until a secretary ran by and told me what had happened.  I called Cheryl and while I was on the phone with her she was told her office was evacuating so she started what became a long drive home.  We lived only 10 minutes away from my office so I went home as well and we watched everything unfold on television for the rest of the day.

People asked me afterwards if we were still moving to Manhattan.  I tried to explain that I could have just as easily been in the Pentagon on that day (and Booz Allen Hamilton did lose 3 people in the Pentagon that day).  I don't think either of us really gave a thought to not moving.

Five years ago I took the following pictures from the balcony of our rental place at 66th and 2nd ave.  We don't live there anymore and I don't think I've taken any more recent photos so I've posted these again now.  I felt like I should put something up here on the anniversary but I also think we've moved on.  Maybe because I personally didn't know anyone lost on that day, but at some point we have to get past it.  Not over it - never over it - but past it.

I'm glad to live in Manhattan, to have my kids go to school there, to work there.  Even though we usually spend our weekends outside of the city we have no plans to permanently relocate out of Manhattan any time soon.  I said it 5 years ago and I'll say it again - we're proud to be in NYC since November, 2001.



Atlantic Highlands, NJ