Wednesday, September 23, 2009

How About a Digital Debate?

Some of my recent Facebook comments have been rubbed out quicker than one of Tony Soprano’s enemies. Can a defriending be far behind?

Perhaps a generational gap is to blame. Many of my Facebook friends are younger than me. They’re probably surprised to see a 40-year-old in their digital sandbox.

For the most part, that’s fine. I live vicariously through their party people weekends while posting updates about my wife, kids and Louisville sports. But when the conversation occasionally veers into politics, things get a little sticky. For starters, I think their embarrassed to know someone who didn’t actually vote for Barack Obama.

I should take a timeout here and tell you that I’m the kind of guy who is very passionate about his views. I’ve always been that way. In my peer group, you either debated or got run over. We argued about everything … sports, girls, clothes, etc. We drank beers, argued, ate, argued, went home, stewed and did it all over again the next day.

This was probably great training for a career in public relations. If someone said something you didn’t like, you picked it apart. You couldn’t delete their comments.

Facebook isn’t like that. In the digital world, if you don’t like something someone says, then you just zap it away. I found that out the hard way while commenting about things like the health care and other current events.

I prefer the old way. If you don’t agree with me, let’s go toe to toe. When it’s over, you’ll send me a virtual margarita. I’ll send you a smiley face. And we’ll do it again tomorrow.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Enter at Your Own Risk

I was in a pretty sketchy convenience store the other day when it occurred to me that most of these places have a few major things in common. So in the interest of public safety, here are my top 10 signs that you’re in a shady convenience store:

10). Police won’t stop there … even for free doughnuts.
9). Always someone on a bicycle hanging suspiciously around a pay phone.
8).You can’t find USA Today, but you can find three fetish magazines.
7). More handmade signs than a lemonade stand.
6). The clerk is staring at you through bars like an inmate on death row.
5). Three words: Lotto. Lotto. Lotto.
4). A fellow customer is actually enjoying one of those hot dogs off the rollers.
3). They have one of those measuring sticks at the door to identify the perpetrator … and they actually use it.
2). Police tape. (See number 3).
1). One brand of milk; five brands of rolling paper.

If you see three or more of these 10, then it’s probably a good idea to move on down the road. You can thank me later.