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.

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.

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.

I don’t think that most people are surprised to read statistics that credit SPAM with producing the majority of email traffic worldwide. And if you write a blog that allows comments, you probably have to continually contend with sifting legitimate comments from the SPAM chaff–even if you have anti-SPAM measures in-place.

I’ve never had a problem recognizing SPAM comments, and I thought that SPAM would be easy for anyone to spot. But I’ve recently visited blogs from long-time communication professionals who have inadvertently approved SPAM comments. These are blogs that moderate comments, so I can’t blame this on anyone but the site moderators.

Granted, most SPAM messages aren’t overtly malicious or dangerous; but like weeds, they can detract from the beauty of your blog. Best to deal with them before they spread.

Here is a screenshot of recent SPAM messages that came to this blog. One of them made it through the Akismet spam blocker plugin, but I quickly spotted it as SPAM and sent it to my SPAM folder to await final deletion. The sender names and links alone reveal these as SPAM messages.

SPAM comments usually promote a product or service, or suggest that you visit a website.

Even a quick look at the sender name and return email address are suspicious. When the return email address is a site that clearly promotes a product or service, the SPAM alarm bells should ring loudly!

My hunch is that the comment moderators on my colleagues’ blogs approved the comments without reviewing them closely. Perhaps they were viewing the comments on a smartphone, where the smaller screen prevented them from seeing the sender’s entire return address and link. Or perhaps they were just in a hurry. Either way, their blogs are now part of the SPAM weed-fest.

Both of the above points are clear on this “Non-Judgment Saturday”—a day when much of the world laughed at a sincere, but sincerely wrong, religious “leader’s” prediction of the world’s demise. Harold Camping, an 89-year-old retired civil engineer, has developed a flourishing ministry based on his doomsday message that Jesus Christ would return to judge the earth on May 21, 2011. That judgment would include destruction described in the final book of the Christian Bible, Revelation.

While a small handful of misguided fools responded to Camping’s prediction by selling their possessions, quitting their jobs and waiting prayerfully to be swept into Heaven, a much larger—and in my opinion—much more foolish collection of mockers used Camping’s folly to paint a prejudiced, hurtful and more destructive picture of Christianity.

The mockers correctly see that no person can predict the Coming of the Lord. Their error is believing that, because Jesus Christ didn’t return on a day computed by a flawed human being, then Jesus Christ is NEVER returning.

Their hatred for Jesus Christ and the Christian faith almost compels them to ridicule any self-professed “Christian” who is more kook than Christian. They want to denigrate the true Christian message of love, hope, and most of all, grace.

Real faith in Jesus Christ means accepting the fact that we are not capable of living a life worthy of eternity in Heaven following our death on earth. It means being realistic and humble enough to accept the free gift of forgiveness that comes with belief that Jesus Christ lived a totally righteous life 2,000 years ago, and purposely suffered a painful and undeserved death to “pay for” the sins of every human being, past present and future.

Real faith in Jesus Christ means believing the eye-witness accounts that he rose from the dead and today is waiting to return to judge the world.

Be discerning, but don’t be a fool.

Laughing at a misguided person like Harold Camping does not change reality any more than covering the sun with your thumb makes the sun disappear. Just because you can’t see something, doesn’t mean that it isn’t there.

No one knows when Jesus Christ will return for Judgment Day. But instead of getting some cheap laughs today, accept some important truth: Jesus Christ is returning, and we all need to be ready.

“The police just left. Before you freak out, don’t worry, both our kids are fine.”

Hard to believe that hearing THAT might “freak me out,” right? Kim’s opening salvo had done its job–I was now speechless and listening intently to her. (There’s a communication tip here, but let’s not stop to examine it just now.)

     Why would THAT freak me out?

As the details poured out of Kim’s mouth, the story reminded me of a bad sitcom plot–only it was true. The main characters in this true-life drama were Kim, my daughter, Caitlyn and her mobile phone, an adult leader in my church’s high school youth ministry, and the Gurnee Police Department.

Caitlyn was sitting in her school auditorium, watching a touring theatre company’s production of “Romeo and Juliet.” Her mobile phone was in a rear pocket of her jeans. What happened next is still under investigation (by me), but here are the undisputed portions of the next series of events.

• Caitlyn's mobile phone dialed the home phone of the adult youth ministry leader.
• The adult leader saw from her Caller ID that the incoming call was from Caitlyn. Although the leader wondered why Caitlyn would call her, she was even more concerned with what she heard from the other end of the phone call.
• The leader heard muffled, unintelligible talking, but soon heard loud yelling or screaming. Thinking that Caitlyn was in trouble, the adult leader hung up and dialed 9-1-1.
• The Gurnee Police Department responded to the 9-1-1 call by dispatching a squad car to my home, to ensure that neither Kim nor I were holding Caitlyn hostage. (Let the record show that A) Caitlyn was safely in school, and B) I appreciate the police department's policy, because it might save some other victim of a domestic dispute or home invasion.)
• After confirming that Caitlyn was not in danger at our home, the police officer contacted Caitlyn's school. In these situations, school officials need to verify that the child is, indeed, where she was supposed to be. By that time, Romeo and Juliet were both dead (perhaps that was the screaming that our youth leader friend had heard), and Caitlyn was at her next class. The school security guard confirmed Caitlyn's presence, and our excitement was over.