NASCAR on twitter?

When I joined twitter this spring no one in NASCAR was there. None of my favorite drivers, and there weren't many 'official' sources of NASCAR news. Oh how times have changed. My NASCAR column on tweetdeck is now my most active group of people, and having grown up in the sport, I love it!


Who I follow
Kevin & Delana Harvick: @KevinHarvick & @DeLanaHarvick
Michael Waltrip: @mw55
Kenny Wallace: @Kenny_Wallace
Kyle Petty: @kylepetty
Bobby Labonte: @Bobby_Labonte
Elliott Sadler: @Elliott_Sadler
Richard Petty Motorsports: @RPMotorsports
Hendrick Motorsports: @HendrickInfo
Richard Childress Racing: @RCRracing
Greenville Pickens Speedway: @GP_Speedway

The drivers are pretty funny and candid. It's a lot of just what they do on a daily basis, but also driver to driver conversation, and some fan interaction. They post a lot of pictures, which is always interesting to see. The teams post a lot about driver and promotional appearances, and when they will be featured on different TV shows. They also provide some cool race day insight into how the different teams are running throughout the day, driver feedback, etc.


How to find NASCAR people on twitter
The easiest way to find out which drivers were on twitter was to check out who the official NASCAR twitter accounts were following. It was a lot easier than doing multiple searches. I also found people that I didn't originally think of, and/or didn't expect to be on twitter. This is where I started:

http://twitter.com/NASCARSays/following
http://twitter.com/NASCAR/following --- I don't know if this is an official account or not, but I did find my favorite new account of the day AJ Allmendinger (@AJDinger)
**Editor's Note: The Dinger's Twitter acct is no longer active. Sad

Who am I not following? Leave me a message in the Comments :)

life gets in the way

So I'm struggling to post on this blog. Its not that I don't want to, but I keep running into roadblocks.

The first is that I really don't have much happy to post about right now, and I don't want this to turn into a whinny blog. That would be very uncool. The second thing is I don't have internet at my house right now, and my only reliable source is a local bar that is not very 'hip to blogging' (yes I just said that, and whats worse, I didn't delete it). So in the meantime I'm going to share a few videos that have made me smile lately.



Really Cool Music Video



Ridiculously Awful Microsoft Commercial

happy Harry Potter movie day!

I love Harry Potter. I mean I really love the Harry Potter series. The books are fantastically written, and the world J.K. Rowling created is so completely described that it is hard not to get lost in them. Every time a new book or movie comes out I re-read/re-watch everything Harry Potter. I even pulled out my French version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5 of 7) on a recent road trip.

[dork moment: There was a point in time that I wanted to collect Harry Potter books in different languages, so I could have all of the different cover art. It didn't work out, but if you ever find yourself needing to buy me a gift...]

Needless to say, I am super excited about the new Harry Potter movie Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince coming out on tonight at midnight! This trailer in particular has had me on the edge of my seat:



What is intriguing about this trailer is that you get the feeling that this movie will both emulate & expand on the book. I'll be honest in that I'm a little nervous about deviating from the original text. My guess is that any additions will serve the purpose of building the suspense, which is cool, and/or showing off special effects, which could be cool, or could be a pointless disaster. The book is 672 pages long, so I have a feeling more will be cut than added. I just hope the additions can make up for what has been left out.

While I did attend a midnight release for this book on July 16th, 2005 -- complete with a Hogwarts Castle shaped cake I might add -- I don't think I can make it for the movie tonight. (Boo) I'm a little disappointed, BUT I am going to try and see it on Friday, and there's a movie marathon planned for the mean time! The good thing about Harry Potter movies is I don't have to worry about anyone spoiling the ending for me. ;)

playing in the dirt: part I

Everything happens for a reason. I firmly believe that. I just moved into my first solo apartment and I LOVE it. One of the benefits is I get to get back into my 'gardening'. I don't have a large patio, but I do have room for some of my plants...and my compost bin. :)

My plants have been neglected for some time, and are in need of some TLC. My Confederate Jasmine is completely brown, my moon flowers lost half their leaves, & my zucchini and squash may not make it, they are so dry. I like to think I have a bit of a green thumb though, & hopefully in about two weeks I'll have some pictures of happy plants to show off!

my happy factor

It is always good to remind yourself of the things that make you happy. Its also nice to check every once in a while to see if you're doing these things. This is my list in no particular order.

Stained Glass
I am an artist. I'm actually Artist in Residence at Backstreets Pub & Deli in Clemson, SC. I'm lucky enough to have a place where I can be as creative as possible, without worrying about whether my windows fit any specific style or theme. What I love about stained glass as an art is the hands on skill that is involved, and having something to show for your work at the end of the day. New Windows

Friends
My friends are the most important people in my life. For me to consider you a friend you have earned my respect, admiration, and trust. My friends are open minded, intellectual, caring, and passionate people, who exhibit these qualities in all aspects of their lives. Basically, they rock.

Traveling
This is something that I do not do enough of. I love to travel, meet new people, & experience different ways of life. I love to see history, and to see the similarities and differences of how people live. I love the architecture, I love the food, I love the music, & the atmospheres that you encounter when you travel. Travel for me = awesome. I even enjoy work trips.

Racing
I like making the decisions that make race cars go faster. I love being at the track all day in the summer working on the car in the heat, and the feeling you get just before the race starts. I love being on the radio, and giving the driver the information he needs to make quick decisions on the track, and giving the guys on pit road the information and tools they need to make quick repairs or adjustments. The people are great, and the rush is like no other.

Dancing
I love to dance, or as some people like to say, 'wiggle.' The comparison has been made more than once to the toy flower with the sunglasses from the 80's that dances when it hears music. I love sweating uncontrollably in a warm ballet studio, while your body is perfectly under control. I love fast paced jazz classes, there the choreography is cutting edge and challenging. While I'm not taking classes anywhere right now, I do love to go out and dance. My favorite venue of the minute being anywhere PictureMeFree is playing. :)

Learning
This is going to sound crazy coming from someone who pretty much hates school right now. (more on that later, maybe) But I love to learn. I love learning about new things, technology, people, places, you name it. I really do think that with knowledge comes understanding, and with understanding comes peace and progress. [note: Thats my inner hippie coming out]

Things that make me smile

I was born in 1982. As a result, I was exposed to a wealth of classically 80's kids shows. One of my these shows was The Care Bears.

I watched the tv show, I had the books, and I still have a Tender Heart teddy bear that I keep in my room. (The only reason it is not on my bed, is b.c I just moved, and it is still in a box.) My AIM screen name is even a reference to Care Bear Convertible Cloud Cars. Its safe to say I was, and still am a fan. Its not something I talk about a lot, but I'm not ashamed to admit it. So needless to say, I was thrilled to hear the Care Bears Theme Song tonight when I was working on a stained glass bear for Backstreets Pub & Deli tonight. Here's a quick clip:

RT - What?

I think differently. My mind works in mysterious ways that don't always align with the common world view.


RT on twitter
The first time I saw "RT @twitter_user_name" what automatically ran through my head was the phrase: "right at twitter_user_name." As in a shout out to the person who first came up with the material. Makes sense right? I thought so. I was thoroughly disappointed to find out in conversation with a few friends that "RT @" really means "ReTweet of twitter_user_name's post", or, as I like to think of it: 'What He Said.'

Why its confusing:
What still bothers me about the whole ReTweet thing, is the syntax that goes along with it. In apps like TweetDeck, PowerTwitter etc., the citation comes before the text of the original tweet. This makes no sense to me, and makes commenting on the tweet tricky. Some people use quotes around the original tweet, or around their comment. Others use brackets, or '...' to break up the tweet. And then different people use parenthesis at the very end. Call me old school, but this is one instance where I think the older, call it analogue even, traditional method of citations works best.

[nerd moment: the first time I thought about this I definitely dusted off my MLA Handbook from High School]

My Solution:
According to Perdue's MLA Formatting and Style Guide, the format for citing a short quote (a tweet fits that description) in a text is this:

Applied to twitter it looks something like this:

"Really cool tweet that I wanted to share" (RT @twitter_user_name) or
"Really cool tweet that I wanted to share" (@twitter_user_name)

Either way just makes sense. You can add your comments before or after the ReTweet, and everyone understands who is saying what. In its basic form, it links back to the twitter_user_name's feed, functioning similar to a works cited. Most Apps do an even better job of tying 'RT' and '@' to conversations between users as well.

My Thoughts on Twitter
My view on twitter is that it is a new, public, communication medium. Tweets can spark conversation between individuals who otherwise may have never communicated. (Awesome) I think that its important to share your thoughts clearly, and this take on ReTweets helps with clarity...I'm also that girl who tries to tweet in complete sentences, and gets frustrated when people use too many pronouns in their tweets, and think the world is full of mind readers.

What do you think?

1-2-3 Go!

Welcome to _emily_rose!
The first thing you need to know is that I can barely believe I'm starting a blog. A good friend of mine would say I'm late to the party. Blogging has been going on for quite some time, and I get this. I've been reading blogs for years, following people, but I've never felt like I've had much to contribute. Some people say that's not the point, but regardless, it has been what held me back. I'm at a point in my life where I do have a few things to say (that are more than 140 characters long) and I hope you find some of these things worthwhile. Now granted, some posts will be more interesting/entertaining/humorous than others, and the topics will tend to bounce around a bit, but I sincerely hope you enjoy the bulk of what I have to offer.

What you need to know about me:
The basic stuff:
I am 27 and I'm currently living in Clemson, SC. I'm originally from the Chattanooga, TN area.

The important stuff:
You will never be able to put me into one category. I like to think of myself as an Artist & an Analyst, as well as a Thinker & a Doer. I have been a soloist in a Ballet Company & a NASCAR liscenced mechanic, and for a while I was both. My education is in Mechanical Engineering, & my most fulfilling job so far has been in Marketing. I have been self employed for the past year as both an Artist (Stained Glass), & a Customer Behavior Analyst for websites. I'm a big dork, I love my friends, college sports, and data acquisition & analysis, and having something to show for my work....Speaking of, this is some of my stained glass work.



The random stuff:
My typing skills suck. You would never know I am part of what is considered the millennium generation/gen y etc. BUT in my humble opinion, that's what the red wavy line is for. (NY Times agrees) Also, I love & appreciate music, but I am the worst person to play the "who sings that" or the "what is the name of this song" game. I'm also digging the old school '&' right now.

About the Name
One thing that I will be constantly complaining about is consistency and standards across the web. _emily_rose is my twitter name. It was the first available combination of my first and middle name. (The funny thing about girls is that our initials have the possibility of changing at some point, so they don't make for good usernames.) This username is not available on gmail, or blogger, as '_' is not an acceptable character to lead with (gmail) or include period (blogger). Hence the' emily---rose.blogspot.com' It would be nice to have everything match, but oh well.