Blog Trickery and The Isolated Geek

Friday, October 05, 2007 -

While I was in Redmond last week I got to talking to a few people, and was surprised when a few of them said "Yah, I saw your post on [thingX]". It's strange - those MS guys seem to just know when you blog about things they're working on. Is it magic? Nah - I'm just a little slow sometimes...

It's all about Google Alerts and Technorati. Both of these services can track your blog, and what people say about your or your project. Sort of a dash of vanity, and a dash of measuring public opinion. The MS guys (and some geek friends of mine) are all over this stuff.

You can have some good fun with this by invoking (Voldemort style) their names and DEMANDING they leave a comment if you caught them. Names like... oh for instance:

• Phil Haack (I know this guy's all over technorati and every other social tracking service)
• Scott Guthrie (One of Scott's golems will find this mention, I'm sure)
• Brad Abrams (he let it slip - he's a Google Alerts guy)
• Shawn Burke (ditto)
• Jeff Atwood (knock knock... you there?)
• Ayende Rahien

Not sure if they'll fess up - but I KNOW they got a ping in their inbox :). I'm bored, if you can't tell, which leads me to the next subject...

I Just read Scott Hanselman's post on starting at Microsoft - an interesting read. He nailed an issue (read here, point number 10) that I've had for a while:

"Working from home is very lonely. I've setup lunches at least 2-3 times a week to stay connected and sane, so if you want to have (or buy, nudge nudge) lunch with me, just let me know. I need the war stories..."

I love working remotely (and also at home). I get to see my kids grow up and don't have a commute. The only social interactions I have, however, involve my wife asking me what color I want to paint the bathroom and my daughter Ruby (the shouter) wanting to sit on my lap and pretend to type on my keyboard.

I try to get out of the house as much as I can, and that usually includes going down to the Hanalei Gourmet (it's a horrible website) for lunch. After I read Scott's post I started thinking...

If you're ever on vacation out this way, and find yourself on the North Shore (which you should, it's amazing here), please keep me from writing posts like this (second only to blogging while drunk ... although it's probably a bit too late for that)! I'll buy you and yours lunch, and we can yack about anything - geek or non-geek (spouses hate the geek stuff).

Open invitation - just shoot me an email if you're headed out!