Twitter went offline today for re-scheduled maintenance for one hour late this afternoon (Central Time).
Wow. This Twitter addict felt ... liberated! In that hour, free of the compulsion to monitor the enlightening and entertaining I accomplished the incredible.
1. I reduced my work inbox to 14 unread messages.
2. I conducted seven productive meetings and escaped with just two action items.
3. I volunteered and filled six sandbags for the next major storm that is sure to hit the city this week and spark a Katie Horror Fest.
4. I baked a cake.
5. I bought a new bicycle and rode 22 miles.
6. I recycled four aluminum Coke Zero cans.
7. I said hi to four strangers.
8. I did not speed.
9. I sent 42 text messages.
10. I admired a piece of art.
11. I thought fondly of someone close to me.
12. I learned origami.
13. I relearned calligraphy.
14. I built a bridge.
15. I designed an airport.
16. I sculpted a fruit bowl.
17. I read the Harry Potter series.
18. I watched the entire Friends series on DVD.
19. I posted 93 Facebook updates.
20. I considered buying a bag of marshmallows.
21. I bought more Purell.
22. I realized that my Pre is 1.7 million times better than my Moto Q.
23. I signed some forms.
24. I played nice when I could have taken a different road.
25. I ate some lasagna. (What? Like you didn't think I would? If only I was stocked with Idaho potatoes to mash with the 2% milk and margarine.)
26. I planned a much needed trip.
27. I admired the blue sky and speckles of white puffiness.
28. I loathed the humidity.
29. I wrote nine songs and won two Grammy award: One for my h.s. rap song, "Runny Nose" and, one for my karaoke performance of Sunday Morning.
30. I thanked six people for things they did that made my life better.
31. I cured fingernail cancer.
Thank you Twitter, for a brief workday respite. How I love you, but how I don't miss you when you're not there. Funny in a way that *life* is happening when we're not looking at Twitter or Tweetdeck or Seesmic or Facebook or whatever.
All snarkiness aside, I love the Twitter folks for what they are, for what the app will become, and for what they did today to reschedule their planned maintenance around a U.S. State Department request to accommodate the post-election protests in Iran.
For those that, in apparent, equivalent snarkiness, label Twitter an arm of U.S. foreign policy, would you say the same in the face of an overnight natural disaster or an accident at the Zion Nuclear Power Station for example?
This is social media. Twitter provides a voice to those without. Any ill-conceived, State Department motives aside, Twitter acted responsibly in letting those abroad voice their opinions and concerns at a time when it was (and is) most needed.
For my part, I hope that these demonstrations result in a peaceful transition of power. I understand that I am idealistic, but still, with a truly democratic Iran, what a wonderful world it would be.
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