It’s been an amazing two weeks.

A lot has happened… too much to cover, really. If you were there to witness and share in it, grats. It’s been something pretty-damned-great! Who knows… perhaps there’s just gunna be more of this?! That’d be grand.

I’ve talked a little bit about Pownce going “buh bye…” (at least one of these links—if not both—will be down after December 15) and I’ve had a lot of different feelings about it, “not caring” not amongst ‘em. I’m not even sure why I care so much about a relatively-unpopular microblogging and sharing service… it’s not like I was ever a Leah-fanboy. In fact, I didn’t even follow her stuff until just last week.

However, over the past year, I’d been using Pownce for three very-important things: large file sharing, badass music sharing (oh yeah!) and social-links-organization. One of the lesser-known (awesome) features of Pownce is the “Other Profiles” tab; although Pownce didn’t have all of the social networks, it has all of the majors, and I’d found many cool services and sites from searching the list. My Pownce is was a great single URL I could share with family, friends and contacts to share (almost) all of my profiles.

I’m sad to see the service go, but all isn’t lost—I’ve imported my content to my VOX blog—and I’ve started to re-list my profiles there, too. Thanks to Maddy, I’ve added Retaggr as well… and it’s posted at my Tumblr for everyone’s convenience (especially mine)!

This weekend should be pretty-damned cool, too.

I’m excited. I’m going to write. I’m going to design. I’m going to illustrate and paint. I’m going to take some photos, blog and post some web content. I’m redesigning the Bradtastic brand… and several others as well. I’m going to email friends, catch-up with important people, and help the “holiday spirit” flourish as it should. I’m going to get better. I’m going to be better.

And just so y’all know… Stephanie is great. She’s absolutely great. She makes me really happy.

I haven’t been able to set-aside time to blog… in quite a while. I haven’t been able to keep up my usual microblogging pace, either. [I post to my Twitter, and others... I haven't Plurked much, however.]

I have posted a few things on my Tumblr, and will continue to do so, thanks to a neat, free application (for the iPhone) called Lifecast (links to application in iTunes). Using this app, I can very easily and very quickly update my “status” and post on-the-go without the complications of typing login information into a browser window.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been busy and I’ve been sick… and being ill has only made me more busy—backed-up with countless emails to respond to, correspondence, phone calls to make, appointments to reschedule, art, illustration and writing to complete.

I plan on getting back into the groove, my goal is to increase my overall content output. I don’t get a lot of commenting on my blogs (a bummer, because I write and create to stimulate conversation)… my traffic and pageview totals tell me that people are viewing my sites and content. I’m changing some stuff, too.

My plan is to start vlogging. I’m still figuring out the elements of the “show,” still plotting the “pilot,” and deciding whether to use Seesmic or something else.

One last note:

I’m not going to change my inkblog address (for now). It’s bradchin.com and fairly-easy to remember… and I can’t justify creating a new inkblog site to do the same thing. Perhaps when the content changes or if I modify my style. I’m going to post ink later today.

Apple has released iPhone 2.01 software to address the abysmal battery-life and keyboard lag. My use (thus far) tells me that it’s definitely an improvement (though not quite stable-enough to replace “business” phones). If you want to chat about iPhone stuff (games, applications, functionality, etc), please let me know. I’m planning to write an iPhone software review (what’s hot, what’s not), something simple for friends with less-time to aimlessly browse the net and the iTunes App Store.

I feel very lucky to have some good friends, willing to set-aside time to take care of me during my illness. Long-story short—my medications made me dizzy, nauseated and then sick; I couldn’t get out of bed for a few days, couldn’t drive for a bit, couldn’t leave my condo and couldn’t eat (and hold-down food). I’m pretty sure that I’d still be sick without their support.

Until next time…

“What’s up?!”

The inevitable question I used to answer in oh-so-many different ways. It’s not my favorite question; it’s occasionally more of a statement, and I don’t always want to share the answer.

• With close-friends: it’s a phone call or shared in-person.
• With other friends: SMS or instant message.
• To all others: a blog post.

ABOUT ONCE A WEEK, I’D HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SUM-UP AND SHARE my life events, stories and work in the form of a blog post. If I had something particularly-important, I’d even cross-post. I enjoyed the recaps, the feedback, the small, semi-insignificant validation that my life has meaning…

this is all in the past.

Now, the web-elite has microblogging; this simple 140-characters-or-less pleasure is significant mental-masturbation, and the death of the “what’s up.”

The process is not only simple, it’s accessible and always-on. (Well, maybe not Twitter… but some microblog is going to be up!) These services can be updated via instant message and SMS; from a PC or a phone, friends, family and others can follow, get notified and update. Almost anything can warrant a change of status: going to the grocery store, standing in line for a movie or a club, meeting someone famous, having the rare opportunity to hang out with Bradtastic… and with a microblog, the whole world could know it.

Not that the whole world would (or should) care. Regardless, these services are so integrated and “status” is so heavily-prevalent, many people are likely still unaware that they’ve bought-into the trend. Myspace has it, Facebook has it… instant messengers have it.

 
Several times last month, I sat at my computer, staring at a blank page, wondering why I couldn’t blog about my life. I finally realized, and it was so simple: I already had.

I’VE BEEN ILL OVER THE PAST FEW DAYS; unfortunately (for me), the world doesn’t stop nor slow-down simply because I’m feeling the wrath of sickness, the side-effects of narcotics, and the endless-pains of the semi-crippled.

However, because of my illness, I haven’t been able to setup this website as I’d been chatting about at my Twitter and such. Rest assured, I’m currently working on making the updates, upgrades and changes that will make this website a reasonable-replacement for all of the Bradtastics sites and group-pages. I might even link a new, better forum someday soon.

How to get the latest news and “art of impression” tips…

…is really quite-simple. A few days ago (after weeks of Twitter-bugginess and bad-service) I caught chatter about a new service called Plurk. Interesting name, great service. Getting into the action is simple. Finding people at Plurk, well, isn’t.

But all you have to do is click here to join Plurk and follow me.

And leave a comment to let me know how much you care. Who knows, perhaps it may even make me feel better. (Even though standard diagnostic medicine may disagree.)