Social Network Butterfly

You can find me on Facebook, LinkedIn, Meetup, Youtube and Twitter. Whenever I join a new networking site, I always feel uncomfortable. I feel like the new person in a room of strangers who know each other. It takes me awhile to get my bearings and to decide if and how I will continue to use the site.

Facebook provides me a way to share news, websites, photos and video clips with friends and family. My daughter reminds me that I don't have any friends. Well, when I started I didn't. But, I'm OK with that. I'll make friends over time.

When I joined LinkedIn I only found 1 person I knew. Thankfully she agreed to be my friend. Thanks, Kristen! She even wrote a testimonial for me. Kristen and I were a dynamic duo when we were Tech Reps at IBI. It took several weeks before I found anyone else to join me on LinkedIn. I began to think that LinkedIn was only used by employees of large corporations.

Eventually my LINKedIN network grew as more of my contacts joined me and as I discovered long-lost colleagues. That's what is really neat about LinkedIn - being able to communicate with people I used to work with, but had lost touch since. I am now connected with coworkers from Chubb, DEC, and IBI.

I joined Meetup.com and signed up for a bunch of interesting groups. Too many for me to be active in all of them. I figured I'd go to some meetings, but I never did. Then one day I did a Google search on my name and all my Meetup groups came up in my results page. That bothered me since I had made my meetup groups private. Plus I am not interested in advertising Meetup when I am focused on my own business, Boot-up, bootupnow.com. So I immediately unjoined all groups and deleted my account. I have since recreated my account. Although I am not a member of any groups.

I began Twittering to find out what the Buzz is all about. I'm not sure why Twitter is so popular but I will try to find out. I think it is like Text Messaging for Adults. Adults want to be young and use technology like teenagers do.

When I began posting video testimonials on Youtube it was exciting to watch as the numbers of views increased. It was also flattering to have others subscribe and follow me. I now have 3 subscribers from around the world who automatically get notified when I post another video on Youtube. You can visit me http://youtube.com/bevmargo - Maybe you'll want to subscribe?

Software on the Server

When I worked as a Tech Rep at DEC in the late 80's, the focus was on selling customers a Server which would act as a single source for all their needs.  Instead of installing tools onto everyone's desktop PC, the server would simplify the process.   It is so much easier to have someone manage the server and others can access everything they need over the network.  

I find software installations boring and tedious.  I think it is so awesome when I find tools I can use, over the Internet.   The Internet is the ultimate server.  I can keep my own calendar and to do list on my laptop or my desktop PC.  But, if I use my calendar on my MACbook Pro laptop, then I don't have access to it from my Desktop in my office.    I discovered Toodledo.  toodledo.com provides a centralized place for your to-do list.   It can sync with your Outlook calendar --- but it does not sync with the MAC calendar & to-do list.  Oh well,  I'll have to search for a site that's Mac compatible.

It is so neat to be able to store Photos & Videos & share them over the Internet using Facebook, Youtube, among other sites.  I don't have to worry about running out of disk space  or other computer problems.  I like the idea of accessing my stuff from anywhere.  The simplicity of a computer browser,  with  Internet connectivity.    

I remember the old days when I had to configure computers for customers.  Now computers come fully loaded and configured.  Access to the Internet is easy.  Just need the IP address of your Internet service provider.   Your URL identifies a specific computer based on IP address.

Visit geekgirlfriends.com for the latest in cool websites.  

adding the MAC platform

I am still perfecting the fine points of using the MAC.  I have completed the setup of my new MacBook Pro.   

• I've successfully used iMovie to create and upload educational video testimonials.  You can check them out http://youtube.com/bevmargo
  
• I've successfully installed VMware Fusion.   I had some difficulties I had to overcome. I had to reinstall twice.  
• I now have Windows XP running on my MAC as a virtual machine.  Very cool!   I must remember to take Snapshots after every new software install in my XP VM.  
• I installed MS-Office on my XP VM.  This includes Word and Access.  There is no Access for MAC.   
• I am also looking at Open Source software to install on my MAC.   

I love the fact that the MAC is built on UNIX.  UNIX has always been my forte: I worked for several hardware/software vendors as a Unix Programmer and Tech Support Rep:  AT&T, DEC, Info Builders,....