However, I’m not gone for good. I’m doing new things. I think that blogging has evolved and I’m evolving with it. I’ve started a new blog that is more “fresh” than the static type of blogging of logging in, writing posts, etc. I’m using Posterous as a platform, which makes it easier to share ideas, items found elsewhere, and the rest. It’s a whole new approach to blogging, and I like it.

I’m blogging there under a new name to reflect the freshness of the new approach. You can find me at: goodbuddies.net. I call the blog: Really Random Stuff.

I thought I’d call it what it is.

My photoblog Roland Allen: [seeing-things] is very active.

I recently picked up “The Best Camera Is the One That’s With You” by Chase Jarvis. It’s a great concept that elevates the use of cell phone cameras.

I used my iPhone to take this photo when I pulled up to the ATM yesterday afternoon.

I like doing “street photography” – maybe because of the risk involved.

Since I’ve been working really long hours, I’ve been taking breaks at what should be the end of the usual work day and going for photowalks. It’s a great way to refresh before returning to complete projects. Fortunately, downtown San Juan Capistrano and the Old Mission are within a mile of my office.

I’ve left this post up because it’s cool that FLICKR can post directly to a blog.

Customers can ship in old bottles for a replacement. I took an easier route. I went to Whole Foods Market in Laguna Beach. The Whole Foods exchange was painless. I picked out a replacement bottle and handed the old bottle to the cashier. There are no questions, no paperwork and no hassles. Also, there’s no waiting for SIGG to ship a new bottle.

I like the idea of Gowalla, but it hasn’t worked well since adding it and trying in out in Dallas, Texas. The application has never completed loaded. Foursquare, on the other hand, loads immediately.

Meet Will Lammerding – 8 year old son of Erik & Karyn and adored by his two older brothers.  Will was born with a rare genetic condition known as the mosaic trisomy 8 – T8mS, which  has severely limited his mental & physical development, requiring full time medical care.

Please read about Will Lammerding and consider supporting his family’s effort to raise funds for his extraodinary medical needs.

I met his father, Erik, years ago at Westmont College in Santa Barbara.

Fortunately, my friend alerted me to the public post and I took it down right away. However, the mistake prompted me to look more closely at controlling who sees what on FaceBook.

I spent hours going through privacy settings and found that creating a new list helped me control my privacy. Here’s how it works. Create a new list on Facebook. Let’s say you call it “controlled”. Click on the “Friends” tab. You’ll see your friends listed. On the right side is a pull down that says “add to list”. From here you can create a “controlled” list. It’s painstaking to do this, but go through all your friends and decide what lists you want them on. In the process of doing this, I “cleaned” up my friends list, eliminating nearly 100 people I didn’t really know who I had become “friends” with over the years.

After friends are in their lists, go to the “settings” page, and then to “privacy”. You can manage who sees what from there. Be sure to go through each setting. For example, under “Status and Links” I checked the radio button for “Only Friends”, but also in “except these” I added the lists of friends I don’t want to see my every update. I did the same for “Wall Posts”.

There are advantages to going through this process.
1) Genuine privacy. Admittedly, Facebook is a nice way to stay in touch with an array of friends and constituents. Sometimes. however, you don’t want all your Facebook friends to know everything about you. And, it’s good practice to not let some people know all your activities, for example, your travel whereabouts, and the like.

2) Some information is acceptable to certain friends, and sensitive for others.

It’s worthwhile spending time on the Facebook Blog to learn more about privacy and security.