Microblogging Your Day in 140 Character Installments

I use Twitter. I use Plurk.

One could say I'm a microblogging addict.

Really.

It goes something like this.

I wake up in the morning and I post something pithy to my Twitter and then I jump over to Plurk and post something pithy there (all of this via my Crackberry, of course). In the background via magical internet forces, what I posted in Twitter lands in my Facebook "what am I doing now" status. And then, by the magical forces of FriendFeed, my Plurk ends up on my Facebook wall.

So, in a mere two 140 character posts people know things like: my daughter is being very slow today, that it's a beautiful fall morning in Vermont or that I'm a bit stressed about the economy and am thinking about putting money in my mattress.

Yes, I know it seems a bit odd. Why would anyone care? Why would I want to share that information with people I don't even know?  Very good questions...

A Visit to Competitive Computing

Ed. Note: This is the first in a series of posts about Vermont companies and their creative solutions to technical challenges. Look for Nate's next profile in a few weeks.

I've always suspected that there is a lot of technical innovation happening in Vermont that no one ever hears about. When Vermont companies get any sort of media attention, it is usually because of product they sell. Ice cream. Clothing. Snowboards. What you don't hear about is the technology and "information innovation" that went into making that company and keeping that company successful. As an Information Technology Director, and general all around geek, that's the kind of stuff I want to know. So I went looking for it.

Competitive Computing is a company that provides many IT solutions for Vermont companies.  They often shorten their name to C2, and if you visit their website, you're presented with many of the services that a consulting company provides, from server infrastructure to eCommerce and portal solutions.  And then your eye wanders to the bottom of the page where you see an image of a leaf followed by the statement "Green Computing."

Everything is going green these days. Green cars, green houses, green clothing. All of it is driven by the practice of making a product more environmentally friendly. It produces less waste. It uses less fuel. It uses fewer natural resources. It creates fewer toxins. Green has become intertwined in marketing today. People today want to save the planet and live a healthier lifestyle and they do it with their dollars. Which gets us back to "Green Computing."