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By Kyle, June 30, 2009 4:19 pm

A few weeks ago, I was asked by one of my blog readers why on earth I “tweet” (a verb referring to the stream of consciousness micro-blogging on upstart social network Twitter). Truth be told, I didn’t have a great reason, other than it was the newest technology fad (this was pre-Iranian election solidarity-tweeting). And yet yesterday, Twitter literally allowed me to not spend $50 I had otherwise planned on spending!

Here it goes. Last night I returned from vacation in Costa Rica, and was scheduled to arrive at LAX at 12:30….A.M! I didn’t want to burden anyone with the responsibility of picking me up that late (it would have been about 1:30am after going through customs, etc…), and so I had simply planned on taking a taxi home. Yet as our plane descended into LAX, I had a thought…how about a low-pressure, non-invasive, mass shout out to everyone I know in LA! And best yet, no one would get woken up over it!

As the plane touched down, I whipped out my cell-phone, which mind you, doesn’t even have a data plan, and sent a simple text message to my Twitter account that went exactly like this:

Just landed at LAX! If anyone wants to give me a lift home, text or call by 1am or so. If not, no worries….I’ll cab it. See ya soon!

Now’s where it get’s cool! That simple message instantly updated my Facebook page as well, which during any given minute, is being used by 10-30 of my actual friends and acquaintances here in L.A. Seriously, within about 90 seconds (and while still taxiing) I received a phone call from my buddy Alex, who volunteered to pick me up from the airport! Thanks Alex! And thanks Twitter!

(As a post script, I should also mention that I subsequently had to turn down two more offers for a late night pickup from people who saw my post)..

Anyway, enough geeking out for now on technology. Here are my Costa Rica pics! Enjoy!

Trip to Costa Rica! from Kyle Hunsberger on Vimeo.

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By Kyle, July 4, 2008 4:33 pm

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Webster’s Dictionary defines Crapware as the category of software programs that come previously installed on your brand new PC, programs which slow your memory, your speed, and are often incredibly difficult to exorcise from your hard drive. I’ve spent the last few years tweaking my ability to get rid of crapware and it’s ugly cousin spyware from my PC. And to a high degree, I’ve been fairly successful, and now I’m the proud owner of a blazing fast, Microsoft powered, Windows Vista machine, with nary a blue-screen-of-death to show for it. For anyone interested, I highly recommend the use of the free programs Ccleaner and Ad-aware as part of a regular maintenance schedule to keep your machine running at top speed.

Why am I posting about crapware? Well, simply because my random iTunes background song is, in fact, one of the media files that came attached within the sample media files for the Windows Media player to discover and play. The piece, a slow jazz groove entitled Despertar, which is the Spanish verb that means “to wake up”. The sad thing, is that the piece is not that bad. For not being much of a jazz music aficionado, it’s actually growing on me. I grew up listening to some ragtime, and small doses of “big-band”, but only recently have gotten into the likes of Miles Davis or John Coltrane. It’s only when I feel like I’m sitting in a dentist’s waiting room that I get a bit perturbed.