Yesterday, I received the digital tablet that I won in a drawing at the recent IABC World Conference in San Diego. No, not an Apple iPad…a Blackberry Playbook.

My expectation that this would finally replace my long-dead and missed Palm T/X was soon shattered. Turns out that the Playbook doesn’t offer a contact/calendar feature that I thought would be standard on these tablets.

No, to get those, I would need to use the Blackberry Bridge software to add the contacts and calendar items from my Blackberry smartphone.

Trouble was, I didn’t have a Blackberry smartphone. Neither does 99.9% of the world’s population. This seemed like either a real oversight by Blackberry, or a misconceived plan to attract tons of new business on the strength of the Playbook’s appeal.

In my case, it kind of worked. Rather than hand my new Playbook over to my teenaged daughter, I looked into my AT&T contract, and saw that, for an $18 fee and 2-year recommitment, I could get a refurbished Blackberry Pearl smartphone.

So I did that this morning, and expect the “new” Blackberry Pearl to arrive sometime next week.

I hope that Blackberry hasn’t gone out of business by then, based on the bad news that I read later.

This is another reason why Apple continues to dominate. Its competitors keep shooting themselves in the foot, while Apple methodically churns out nice products that people buy in droves. Unless those people get stuck with the leftovers, like me.

As the debt-ceiling decision loomed large, President Obama used the “bully pulpit” to suggest that Americans, who are tired of the partisan gamesmanship, prod Congress with emails, phone calls and social-media messages.

Strangely, he didn’t think to include himself, but I’m doing that anyway.

I went to the White House website and the websites of my two state senators and left versions of the following.

I agree with President Obama’s statement last night that, “The American people may have voted for divided government, but they didn’t vote for a dysfunctional government.”

Now you, my elected senator(President), need to take a page out of the President’s book—from his work with the automotive industry—and stand strong on a deficit-reduction bill that will make a real difference. Support John Boehner’s bill that only lifts the debt ceiling by $1 trillion, while imposing $1.2 trillion in spending cuts.

I recall President Obama’s steadfastness, when dealing with the automotive manufacturer’s bailout. He refused to let those automotive leaders avoid reality or do things the “way they always been done.” His team required real change in attitude, planning and focus.

That real change is needed in this debt-limit crisis.

Stop letting the nation’s long-term economic health deteriorate as you tremble at the thought of making tough decisions that groups of Americans will oppose. Do what is right for the long-term good of this nation, not what is least damaging to your political base.

Support the Boehner bill that takes action NOW, and requires cuts greater than the additional debt burden you are placing on me, my children, and my children’s children.

Sincerely,

Tom Keefe
(phone and email)

Yes, they probably never will actually read this, but one of their staff members might. Will it change the course of history? Not likely.

But the President asked us to speak up, and our elected representatives need to remember that they are being paid to make choices that are best for our nation. Those choices aren’t always clear, but who in their right mind thinks that adding trillions to our debt will be good for our nation?

On June 29, 2011, I joined a group of professional communicators from across North America in downtown Chicago for the “Writing Across All Media” Workshop presented by Steve Crescenzo and Jim Ylisela.

This was a very practical, and very engaging, seminar in which Write (Steve) and Jim (Rewrite) explained how to:

1. Transform your communications department from a funnel pumping out every content request to a filter making good decisions about what to write, how to write it – and what doesn’t make the grade.
2. Create a “news desk” to decide which channel a piece of content belongs in – print, online, social media, audio or video, e-mail or face to face.
3. Change your web (or intranet) writing style to adapt to dramatic changes in the last two years.
4. Compose an effective blog that will draw readers and inspire comments.
5. Master the art of Print 2.0 – and give your publication new life.
6. Make the best use of Twitter’s 140-character limit – it still demands good writing.
7. Write for podcasts and other audio channels, which are fast becoming the most popular corporate communication tools.
8. Write for video, to create stand-alone video stories that go beyond “talking heads.”
9. Draw a crowd around typically boring corporate topics and initiatives by telling those stories across various media.

Listen to this 5-minute post-event interview of Steve, attendees and even Scout, the young daughter of writer David Murray. Scout didn’t attend the workshop, but she did attend the Chicago Cubs game afterward, along with her parents.

It’s July 4, 2011, and the economy has dampened the typical Independence Day Holiday celebration marked by civic displays of fireworks. Chicago and Gurnee, IL, where I live, announced that they would not pay for fireworks displays because of the expense.

So we’ll just have to enjoy this video of a fabulous fireworks display that I and my family recorded on July 3, 2007 while vacationing in South Dakota, U.S.A. One of the better fireworks displays available was scheduled for July 3 of that year at the historic Mt. Rushmore National Park.

Dry weather had threatened to shut down the fireworks display that day, but we were blessed by a sprinkling of rain that sufficiently lowered the risk of brush fires. The event was about one hour in length, including opening singers and a flyby by Air Force fighter jets. The actual fireworks display was 20 minutes long.

One of the BEST fireworks displays that my family has seen in-person. There’s just something about watching and hearing explosions of light and sound, emanating from the stony likenesses of our four most famous U.S. presidents.