Facebook has come out and openly said that their goal is to mirror our relationships in real life not to necessarily connect people who didn’t know each other previously. Earlier today I read Nick O’Neill said that Facebook could kill Twitter by simply enabling status pulls from the API.

While that would definitely create more competition there is a very core and central point where Facebook’s system cannot be Twitter without a very core change.

Facebook, as said above, is a 1-to-1 relationship system. Every relationship is mutual between people. Where as the power on Twitter is that it is 1-to-N. Tim Ferriss, the author of the Four Hour Work Week has over 10,000 followers and is in turn following ZERO people. If that was on facebook, he’d have to follow each of those people. Kevin Rose has over 80,000 followers and follows only a very small percentage of those. Not possible on Facebook.

Now Facebook would definitely conquer a segment of the market that revolve around just friend statuses but so much of Twitter is following people who we can’t normally keep in touch with that this market would have to remain with Twitter.

Could Facebook adjust and make their system compatible to the way Twitter uses? Sure. But not easily. And definitely not as easily as Nick made it sound.

One part of keeping lots of balls in the air is that sometimes you drop one, and at times the dropped ball doesn’t just affect you but it affects someone else personally or professionally. And when you screw up, you need to apologize and try to make amends. Best is face to face so they can see you’re sincere and willing to make this contact and try to mend any damage done when you screwed up. If you can’t meet face to face, then do it over the phone. And if you can’t do it over the phone, do it by way of a well thought out and expressive email.

1. The stores are in shambles. Everything is in disarray and groups of employees at my nearby store stand in circles talking rather than working the floor or trying to get some sort of order.
2. The cashier asked me if I found everything alright, and when I told her ‘No, your movie display is like a warzone.’ She replied with ‘Oh I know, it gets that way after a sale.’ I can’t even begin to explain how that’s the wrong answer.
3. The prices suck. They’re not even attempting to undercut the competition and work on quantity rather than quality. Every piece of electronics is overpriced as compared to what I can find online or in other stores.

I should have just called this post ‘3 Reasons Circuit City sucks balls’ but I felt the current title was more to the point.

Last week I got a renewal document from GEICO for my car’s insurance despite it not expiring for another few months. This set me off to research alternatives as I’m fairly sure I can save money in that arena next time around. Progressive has an office near work so I was looking into them, I did a Consumer Reports lookup on car insurance companies to see who has the best record as well as surfing Consumerist looking for red flags. Since I still have a few months I didn’t do anything other than get a quote or two.

Just yesterday I get a plain envelope in the mail, open it to find a well written and somewhat personal feeling letter from a local State Farm agent. I get to the bottom and it’s got a printed signature using an obvious computer font.

I turned to K and said, “If only he had signed the letter.”

I am sure it was one letter in a mailer going out to thousands of car owners in Florida, but the effect a personal signature in blue ink would have had on the letter would have swayed me and made me much more eager to possibly switch to State Farm.

I guess the letter is better than the form letters I get from GEICO all the time trying to get my business (despite already being a GEICO customer) but I just wish he had gone that extra step and had a real signature.

This has been a rough week, full of hard work and two days spent with the main client who I do work for at MindComet.

Thursday was one of those days that sums up the sort of life I live. I was up and at work early, arriving close to 7:30am. Then I pushed hard with two other people working over my shoulder, something which is never comfortable and is quite trying.

I then stayed at work an hour late and from there headed directly to film two episodes of ManaNation. Lee, Darren and I knocked out two great episodes for this month, and headed home earlier than expected.

Once home I grilled up two grilled cheeses and then worked on Tritter for another hour and a half. And after midnight I finally turned in, only to wake up again at 6:30.

So Friday night, I did the wonderful. When I left the office around 6:30 I headed to Whole Foods and picked up some necessary elements, New York Strip steaks were on sale so I snagged some real beauties, along with some veggies and mac and cheese, as well as some soy ice cream sandwiches K asked for.

Once home I primed the steaks, rubbing them down with olive oil and sea salt, and letting them sit and raise to room temperature. I put on my recorded episode of Leverage (a great new show on TNT) and poured myself a wonderful glass of scotch. Dewars on the rocks, a rare treat I allow myself after tough days or weeks.

I then proceeded to lay out the game plan and attempt to time it all for when K got off work and arrived home. As I tweeted last night, the secret to a good meal is timing. If you get all the pieces to come out together or at least all be hot when they’re done, then I call that a win. I timed it nearly perfectly, everything was ready at the same time, but unfortunately it took Katie a little longer than expected to leave work and get home, so I left it all warming in the oven.

Oh but once she arrived home, wonderfulness was had. We cuddled, caught up on the DVR and then put in ‘Dark Knight’ for our nightcap.

And then of course my body woke me up at 6:30. *sigh*

There are a number of wealthy individuals that I find fascinating and have a deep desire to meet, just to learn from them. At the top of this list is Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin empire. Here are four questions I’d ask him were I given the chance:

1. What do you regard as your greatest business choice and why? - I’d ask because I think he’s had such a fascinating journey in business and he’s made so many choices, I suspect his values don’t run along what money he made, and rather what his choice accomplished for his business.
2. What is your average day like? - Is there anything more interesting than the life of the super wealthy? He’s the head of a massive conglomerate and as such he has to have some interesting insights into how to get the most out of his day. I imagine it involves getting the news condensed by a personal assistant, talking into the phone on the drive into work, etc.
3. What do you consider to be the penultimate skill for making sales? - That’s really what the business comes down to. Making the sale. And so is it the gift of gab, the ability to relate with others, or something else?
4. When did you realize you were a billionaire or going to be a billionaire? - Was it a specific business deal or did the day to day business drive your wealth up to where you officially became a billionaire? To me, someone quite a distance from this amount of wealth, it seems like news you’d remember for the rest of your life and you’d remember where you were when you first heard it.

Losing your job affects you. It makes you question your comfort, your skills, it makes you ask is this type of job right for you, whose fault was it, what can you do better next time?

I’m a confident guy, I’m not perfect but I am the perfect example of someone who believes they’re Superman and cannot be harmed.

But when Databanq let me go, I was rocked and it took me several weeks to figure it all out and then soon after starting the job hunt again MindComet found me and it’s now been over three months. Here are a few things I’ve learned from MindComet and about myself.

I remember back after the 2004 election when Obama won the Senatorial seat,  my friend Matt and I idly noted that his charisma, character and intelligence showed that he was on the fast track for the White house. Well it seems we need a political commentary show as we were correct.

Obama is coming into this seat with quite a lot on his plate with the economic problems, the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the international image which we need to repair there is little doubt he will be tested and tried.

His politics are radically different than my own but now he is to be the President and so I support him. We can take our political differences up later.

His campaign has changed the political landscape for future elections, and it has opened the door to the power of a well organized and well motivated ground force.

Congratulations to you sir.