I have been to Chicago twice in the last five years and really enjoyed the massive city. But I have always wanted to go back for a weekend just to go to some museums and explore the city. So I booked a flight for me and my good friend Lonzo to go to Chicago on the weekend of May 15th through the 17th, Friday through Sunday. This is not just a vacation, its an adventure! I want to discover new places, meet new people, and see amazing things. I think Twitter can help me do that.
Chicago Skyline
So here is my plan. I am going to Twitter my entire trip, as much as reasonably possible. From the plane and train rides, to the museums, restaurants, and public spaces. I want my followers to feel like they are there with me. But its more than that. I have been building a small network of great Chicago Twitter users that have already helped me plan this trip immensely. Some of them are @explorechicago, @JamesJanega, @thewindypixel, and @VisitChicago. It is my hope that they and others will keep an eye on my Twitter stream in order to give me feedback and suggestions. I would love to tweet that I am hungry with where I am, and get local people to give me suggestions on where to eat.
My Twitter name is @KMuncie and I will most likely be using the hash tag #ChicagoTrip unless it becomes to burdensome. Hope that you can be involved!
An amazing TED Talk from 2009 in which Elizabeth Gilbert talks about creative genius. Thanks to @kevinrose for bringing it to my, and many others, attention!
She brings up the fact that today we link being creative with suffering and anguish. As in, you must suffer in order to have the experience and feelings in order to create something magnificent. I have always struggled with this concept and found it a hard road block to over come. She then lists examples of creative people who have been able to overcome this by seperating themselves from the responsibility of being outstanding.
The fact is we all have the ability to create something breathtaking. I feel it is not coming from some secondary being, as she posits, but is a collection of our being and experiences that, when let free of the weight of expectations and limitations, is able to bring about something that we never could have imagined was possible. I do my best to create this environment when I have people over to my house to draw and paint and be creative. Its sad that so many find it hard and uncomfortable to let loose and create something.
I hope you enjoy this TED Talk and explore the website it came from for more fascinating talks.
The most popular way to post photos to Twitter is through TwitPic.com - most smartphone Twitter applications, like TwitterFon, send photos to this site. So how do you do it without a Twiter application on your phone?
First, go to TwitPic.com. There you can login with your Twitter credentials, nice and simple.
Second, click Settings at the top of the page. Once this page loads you will see your personal email address that adds photos to TwitPic. Now create a new contact in your phone called TwitPic and set its email address with the address listed.
TwitPic Settings
Third, select the photo on your phone you want to share (or take a new one!) and send the photo to your new TwitPic contact. Use the Subject line to write the Twitter post to go along with it. Hit send!
If everything worked properly you have just posted a new tweet with a small link attatched to your photo that is hosted on TwitPic.com. I look forward to seeing all your wonderful photos and seeing what you do during the day. Feel free to follow me at Twitter.com/KMuncie
I love Twitter and all its many uses. Keeping in touch with friends on a level never before seen. Getting up to the second news, worldwide. Watching what others are saying about a TV show or the horrible Dallas Cowboys, as it happens.
So when I got my iPhone I set out to find the best app available. Noting that I am not a power user and saw no need to pay unless it offered something amazing.
Twitterific was the first one I tried since it seems to be the most popular. I went along in ignorant ecstasy for a while, enjoying the interface and ignoring the occasional ad. Until it started crashing often and I went looking for a backup.
I am really loving this game! I used to spend hours playing SimCity 2000 on my desktop. While I wish this were a direct port of that game, I am being entertained none the less.
I wish it had a deeper game play. The beauty of SimCity 2000 was the graphs and overlays so that you could fight specific problems and better understand how to lay out your city in an efficient manner. It frustrates me to have this game constantly telling me I have a great road system only to immediatly be told people are moving away because they cant get to work. Why!? No deeper explanation is available.
My other big gripe is not being able to rotate the view. This doesnt strike me as being a large problem and yet it would really help in construction and satisfy my desire to see the beautiful city I just spent hours creating.
Overall, it is one of the best games for the iPhone. I just hope EA takes advantage of updates to fix bugs and add new features. I give it an 8.5/10
