AnaFxFz is a presentation designer based in San Francisco, CA. I started following her when her post was mentioned on AllTop. I definitely know the Guy Kawasaki Effect and how it can blow up someone’s blog. When it happens, you tend to get some new followers. In my case, I was one of many new followers for Ana.

You should follow Ana if you’re into design and like having a conversation with other tweeps. I’ve also verified that she’s not a creeper either. I love her tweets and find what she posts to be very informative but also personal.

She’s also a Mac Girl!

Happy Follow Friday!

I’m blogging from the air, special thanks to Alaska Airlines for the in-flight wifi, or I like to call “Interwebs.” the main reason I’m happy about it is that I can now work and stay productive instead of sleeping on the plane and being restless for the night. This is a great time to catch up on professional/business emails, read RSS feeds and look at LOL Cats.

I had a great day and a half with my core team at ExactTarget. We had a lot of fun together and really grew professionally as a team. I’m a really big fan of off-sites to team build. I also took the Birkman exam and really discovered a lot about myself. Now it’s time for me to put those realizations into actualizations.

Here ifs to a great Q3…professionally and personally!

Below is a picture of my team and I at duck pin bowling. Thanks to Anna Meier for the photo!

I can’t believe it’s already been a year since you’ve left. The day was really clear to me. I was getting off the bus and walking to Nordstrom’s corporate office for a job interview when Megan Joplin called me. She asked me if I heard what happened to you. I knew it couldn’t be good. She was crying and told me that you drowned.

That was probably the hardest news I’ve heard in my life. We all miss you so much. I try to go home once in a while to see your mom and Max. They seem to be doing okay, but I know it’s tough. Did you see the Yankees win the World Series last year? I talked to Chad about how cool it’d be if they won #27 for you, and they did. Sorry man, can’t help you out with the Cowboys, haha. It was so exciting to text all of our friends (who were wearing Yankees hats throughout the playoffs) cheer on the same team. We were all in tears when they finally did it. They did it for you.

I really miss you a lot man. I was crushed when I found out you died last year. Your mom keeps telling me that’s not what you’d want, and she’s right. We should be laughing and just enjoying life. I don’t think a day passes by that something reminds me of you. The other day a cherry picker was parked outside of my apartment. I just assume it’s a nice little prank you’re pulling on me. I got dehydrated last week and ended up going to the hospital. The first thing it remind me of was you. The last time I dehydrated was when I blacked out on the track when we were working on sprints.

I don’t really know what else to say, except that I miss you very much. Some days I stay up all night thinking about all the great times we had. I don’t cry because I know you wouldn’t, but it’s hard not to. Please know that I am doing well and am in good spirits. Perhaps one day we will cross paths again, but right now there are some things I need to take care of here.

Love you very much,

–David

In my opinion, there’s a huge difference between having a conversation and talking. I notice this a lot on Twitter: lots of great conversations are happening, but there’s also a lot of talking. There are a lot of people who love to talk about what they’re going to do (or about to do) and end up not doing a thing. It reminds me of the Parable of the two sons (not preaching, just sharing a narrative). What causes an action…what you say you’re going to do, or what you actually do?

I’ve also get the impression that it seems like people like to create their own perception on the Internet by either exaggerating or even straight up lying about who they really are. I don’t understand why this is necessary. Has anyone else noticed this? Am I old fashion and simply think those who do are doing and don’t have time to talk? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Less talking, more conversations, in my opinion. This video is forever a classic for me…Run DMC’s “You talk too much.”