Patrick O'Keefe

photo credit: Calvin Lee

I returned from SXSW Interactive a few days ago, and a full recap of the event is forthcoming, even if it isn’t soon (I’m maybe half way as far as catching up to everything I need to catch up with). In the mean time, I wanted to share something.

One of the things that I felt pretty strongly throughout is that I am incredibly blessed to know the people that I know. As I wrote this post, I started grouping people up into categories, but that’s  just too difficult. There are my long term friends, there are friends I’ve made recently, there are people who I’m still building a relationship with, who I wouldn’t (yet) identify as a “friend” in the serious sense of the word, more as an acquaintance and I am sure there are other categories, as well. (more…)

photo credit: internets_dairy

When I was growing up, Nickelodeon was probably my favorite TV station. I loved the channel and still do. It’s a highly memorable part of my childhood.

When I was at IZEAFest last year, I had an animated and highly enjoyable conversation with Ryan P. Thompson about old Nick shows like “All That,” “Doug,” “Kenan & Kel,” “Rocko’s Modern Life” and more. That conversation continued on Twitter where, somehow, I brought up that I had won Nick or Treat. (more…)

photo credit: jasonawhite

Here’s a gift: Larry Granillo of Wezen-Ball.com has taken up quite the cool task: he’s going through the long history of the Peanuts comic strip and cataloging the the various baseball related numbers associated with Charlie Brown or, to be more specific; the wins, losses and some other fun categories, like the number of times Brown is knocked down by a line drive.

Stats aren’t the only thing, though: the posts read as a treasure trove of information of the baseball played in the series. (more…)

My prayers and thoughts are with the people of Haiti and everyone affected by this terrible disaster.

What is apparent in times like this is that everything counts, no matter how small. Can you afford to donate $5? $3? $1? If so, that’s great. It may be a small amount to you, all on it’s own, but coupled with other small amounts, it becomes a big, powerful amount. You can find a list of charities on WhatGives!?

Can’t afford to donate? You can still spread the word. The power of online community and social media has afforded everyone a voice if they choose to have one. If you’re on Twitter, Facebook, etc.; you have a community of people and connections. Share worthwhile initiatives with them and help bring awareness. It only takes a few moments to send a link or retweet something on Twitter, but it does help. (more…)

I was on Facebook when I saw that my friend Tom Tollefson had joined the “Save Al Kaprielian’s Job!” group. Started by Zito and Karen Blake, a pair of DJs at Boston-area radio station 103.3 WODS-FM, the group has 2,823 members as I write. But, you’re probably asking: who is Al Kaprielian?

Al has been the weatherman on New Hampshire-based TV station WZMY (formerly WNDS) for 26 years. In the area, he’s something of a legend, due to his approach to explaining the weather, which is fun and light-hearted with imitable, high pitched catch phrases. “High pressure!” “Good eeeevening!” I lived in the Hudson and Nashua, New Hampshire area for around 10 years and if there is such a thing as a local TV fixture, Al is it. To get a sense for why this is, watch this video, which was produced to commemorate his 25th year at the station.

I also went on a field trip while I lived there where we met and got a tour from him. On and off TV, he’s always come across as someone who cares about the weather and, more importantly, a good man. (more…)

photo credit: jronaldlee

The holiday season is here and I wanted to take a moment to wish you Happy Holidays!

Thank you to everyone who has read, commented on and linked to this blog or otherwise supported me  in 2009. I really appreciate it and I wish you a happy, healthy and successful 2010!

Thank you for reading.

photo credit: blacken1772

Yeah. So. This blogging thing. I should really do it. It’s been over a month since I last posted. Wow, how did that happen? Everything just sorted of piled onto me at once. I attended three conferences in three weeks in three different states. IZEAFest, Blog World & New Media Expo and Social Media Business Forum. And there was plenty of preparation, packing and unpacking. And they all went well, which was awesome. Expect recaps for the last two at some point in December.

Being away so much, messages just piled up. E-mail messages, Bloglines subscriptions, forum posts and other things. Almost three weeks worth in some cases. In catching up with that, I just never found time to blog. And then I got sick. And then I had another trip tied to my birthday. And then we have Thanksgiving. And then I’ve been contemplating what 2010 holds for me. It just never ends. But, the good news is I have an idea of where I want to go with this blog and that’ll come in time.

But, for now, I’m hoping that things will return to normal. Thank you for reading.

I forget what pointed me to it, but not long ago I discovered Armor Games – specifically, the games developed by Con Artist Games. They’re all great. The Last Stand and The Last Stand 2 are my favorites with Warfare 1917 right behind them, followed by Warfare 1944. I didn’t really get into Sin Mark, but it looks like a cool game. And I loved Crush the Castle, a game he had a hand in, as well. He does great work. If you’re looking for some fun games to try out and play without getting bogged down for hours, check him out.

I’ve just added this blog to the NetworkedBlogs Facebook application, making it possible to receive notifications of new posts through Facebook. If you are a Facebook user, please consider a subscription.

Thank you for reading and for your support.

It turns out, I wasn’t crazy. Not this time, anyway. The Firefox issue I had, where my cookies would be automatically deleted, was fixed in version 3.0.7, released on March 4. Sorry for the delay in posting an update, but better late than never. Thank you to everyone who attempted to help me with this issue.