2 Random Rants

The end of the 140 character tweet?

If you're a tweeter or a twitterer, as I like to call us, you've probably seen a growing trend lately for people's 140-character tweets to trail-off mid-thought with a  "(cont)" and then a link.

This is due to a new twitter plug-in called "TwitLonger". Basically it enables you to extend the length of your tweets. You type your tweet into TwitLonger and it sends most of it to your twitter news feed, truncating and providing a link to the full tweet.

I'm a bit disappointed by this, truth be told. I'm kind of enjoying the daily practice to condense my thoughts into the short space twitter provides. I tend to be wordy by nature (I'm sure you've noticed) and so it's good to force myself to be more to-the-point while, at the same time, sending the same message and (sometimes, even, if I can) be amusing or provocative at the same time.

Plus, it opens up twitter to a sort of Facebook-like essay-writing, that cannibalizes the very point of twitter - to provide short, frequent, bite-sized, thoughts or status updates, that can be read quickly. Now, to read the rest of some people's thoughts, I have to click on a link. Meh. I just don't want to. Plus, people were forced to be creative with 140 characters. Notsomuch when you have all the space in the world to ramble on. I mean, HELLO, look at this blog!


A glimpse into the future

Yesterday evening, Daisy played on her own in the living room for a whole hour while I cleaned the kitchen, drank a glass of wine, and even (simultaneously) talked on the phone with a girlfriend. It was a marvelous and epiphanic moment; a glimpse into a future when I may again be able to get something significant done around the house without having to stop to pick a whining Missy up, kiss an owie, fix something she broke, help her with something she can't do, or ward-off a tantrum.

Given that Daisy only naps perhaps one hour a day now when I'm with her, long gone are the hours I used to have to quietly putter around the house and get the odd thing done. So, it would be nice to have at least one hour a day where I can tackle a floor cleaning, a toilet cleaning, a drawer reorganizing... just anything that makes me feel a little bit more in control of my environment and, therefore, life.

It's official: Ms. Ranty Pants joins the World Wide Web

Having tweaked the blog's design, layout, and name, this lunch time I set out to purchase http://www.msrantypants.com/ plus http://www.lazycrazydaisy.com/ for Missy's blog.

The names are now mine, all mine, and all the forwarding is taken care of. So now you can view both blogs, wherever they live, now or in the future, without all the "blogger" clutter.

I've also opened up my twitter feed. It was previously locked/private but I sort of forgot why I did that, so it no longer is. However, I changed my twitter name to "msrantypants" (click the name to find my feed and "follow me") just for a little added identity protection. Most of you know who I am already but, for the occasional drop-by, I like it better that way.

I have NO IDEA what the purpose of this tweaking and spouffing-up is for. I have no grand plans for my blogs. Just felt a need for a change.

Speaking of change, I have a hair appointment next week and am going to tell my hairdresser to send me blonde. My mother will be soooo excited but most of my friends seem to prefer me as a brunette. Either way, I'll make someone happy. For those of you that know me personally, you're already aware that I change my hair all the time, so this is no big shakes. Don't panic, though, I won't be throwing bleach on my head anytime soon. We're talking a sort of dark, golden blond. This is the pic I'll be taking with me to the hairdresser... maybe a little less red but we'll see...