There is probably no sports owner in the history of any US sport more well known than George Steinbrenner. ‘The Boss’ died today at the age of 80 and leaves behind one heck of a legacy.

Love him or hate him, there is one thing that Mr. Steinbrenner wanted as the owner of the NY Yankees more than anything else: He wanted to win. And he did. In the 37 years he owned the NY Yankees, they won 16 division titles, 11 league championships and of course, 7 World Series championships. Steinbrenner was the kind of owner that fans of other teams claimed to hate, but secretly wish they had. He was never shy about opening his checkbook.

There were times when Steinbrenner was loathed by Yankees fans. In the late 80’s and early 90’s, much of Steinbrenner’s reckless spending and trading away young talent for aging veterans caught up with the franchise. From 1987 to 1992, the Yankees had 7 managerial changes and never finished better than fourth in the AL East. Ironically, it was Steinbrenner’s suspension from baseball for having paid small time crook to dig up dirt on Dave Winfield (one of Steinbrenner’s lowest moments) that allowed the Yankees to rebuild. Gene Michael built a stable of young players that included Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada. The team signed key veterans at bargain prices instead of trading away youthful talent and it worked. In 1993, the Yankees won 88 games and finished in second place. In 1994, the Yankees were 6.5 games in first place when the infamous strike happened.

Two years after that, the Yankees would win their first World Series in 18 years (I was in attendance for the clinching Game 6) and would begin a reign of domination in Major League baseball over the next 4-5 years that nobody thought would see happen. It was at this time when people started complaining (again) about Steinbrenner and how he spent money. People started saying he was “buying” championships and “ruining” the game with his spending. Of course the same people would say, “You see! Money isn’t everything!” whenever the Yankees would get eliminated in the playoffs.

For all of Steinbrenner’s bluster and issues, he was a caring man and one who would try to help anybody that had been part of the organization. This would include people like Steve Howe, Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry. You can read this page of an SI story to get an idea of Steinbrenner’s philanthropic outreach.

He was also famous beyond what most owners are. Quick: Who owns the San Diego Padres? See? Even non-sports fans knew who George Steinbrenner was. He was a figure on ‘Seinfeld’ for several years (he never actually appeared on the show. His face was never seen and Larry David did the voice), appeared in Miller Lite commercials with Billy Martin and even hosted Saturday Night Live.

I don’t like to whitewash peoples faults and Steinbrenner had plenty. His constant meddling during the 1980’s did far more harm than good. He fired managers on a whim. He forced his GM’s to make idiotic trades (I’ll never forget the Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps trade – which was mentioned twice on ‘Seinfeld’ most notably by Frank Constanza who seemed to be more interested in that than his sons apparent death) and often fed negative stories to the press about players/coaches/managers making the writers promise to keep the source anonymous.

But Steinbrenner did change in the late 90’s when the Yankees started winning World Series titles left and right. He learned to step into the background more. He’d still come out and say things from time to time but for the most part, George let his people do their work and as such, he became a revered figure both in the clubhouse and amongst the fans.

Particularly this one.

Rest easy Boss. We’re going to miss you.

Let me start off in full disclosure by saying that I am a NY Knicks fan. I haven’t watched many Knicks games and I swore I would never watch a game as long as the anti-Midas, Isaiah Thomas was running the show. Finally, owner James Dolan wised up, booted Thomas and brought in Donnie Walsh to run the team and he hired Mike D’Antoni to coach the team. It’s worked. The Knicks are still bad, but they are rebuilding bad, not overpriced, under performing somebody please administer a nice beating to Stephon Marbury bad.

Donnie Walsh took a big risk signing Amare Stoudemire. I like Stoudemire a lot. But he’s a Scottie Pippen. He’s better when playing with excellent talent around him. Like when he gets to play with Steve Nash. Or Lebron James.

James was not quiet in letting people know he wanted the Cavaliers to trade for Stoudemire last year. By signing Amare, the Knicks are saying to Lebron, “We’re serious about winning and not just having you here to play.” Will it work? I don’t know.

I will say this with some certainty: Lebron James is not going to the Miami Heat. (Of course, I could have egg in my face by 9:10 tonight) Here’s a few reasons why:

1. With all of the money the Heat will have to pay James, Bosh and Wade, they’ll be forced to have 9 minimum salary players on the team. I don’t care how good those three are. Other players are important.

2. Lebron James becomes second fiddle to Wade. Remember, the Miami Heat is Dwyane Wade’s team. The only coach that could keep two guys like that playing nice together in time to win a championship is Phil Jackson and even he lost that battle after a few years (Kobe/Shaq).

3. It’s Miami. Cleveland is nothing to brag about, but Lebron owns that entire city. Cleveland as a sports town has so many sad stories, it would take a lot of time to write them all down. One championship is all they would need. If Lebron plays in New York however, he suddenly matches Kobe on the glam and glitter stage. The ring stage comes next.

If Lebron wants the challenge, the money, the fame and the glory, then the only choice he has in New York. The Knicks have not won a championship in nearly 40 years. They have not made the playoffs in nine years. They’ve been the laughingstock of the NBA for some time.

Remember what Mark Messier did for the NY Rangers? He came to New York and proclaimed he was going to bring that city the Stanley Cup. On the verge of defeat to the NJ Devils, Messier guaranteed a victory before Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals and then went out and delivered by scoring a hat trick (3 goals) – in New Jersey.

Does this mean I think Lebron is going to choose New York? I don’t know.

Cleveland is a strong possibility still because that’s where he is from. He lives there. He’s building a gigantic house there. He IS Ohio at the moment. Leaving Cleveland for riches and fame in Miami or New York would make him the most hated sports figure in Cleveland since Art Modell.

Does this mean I think Lebron is going to choose Cleveland? I don’t know.

But I am sure it will be the Knicks or Cleveland.

He’s not going to Miami.

Dear Sylvia,

It is amazing how fast time goes by. I get a kick out of some of the new Twitter friends we have celebrating their second or third anniversaries and proclaiming how “long” it has been.

15 years ago we were in the sanctuary at Bible Baptist Church in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey when we both said “I do.”

However, our story started three years earlier with a date at Rascal’s Comedy Club and then dinner. Over the next couple of years we enjoyed many weekends in New York City just walking around taking it all in. Because we lived nearly an hour apart, there were those times I spent at your house for the night (with your Mom making sure she didn’t go to bed until you went off to your room and I hit the couch!). We talked about the future.

And then I did something stupid. Stupid and greedy. For the first time, I felt really scared. Not because I was afraid of what the consequences were due to my stupidity. I was afraid you were going to leave me. I was afraid you were going to say, “I can’t be with a man that takes what is not his.” But you didn’t. About this time you had already began your walk with God and at first, I wasn’t having any of it. But in this particular moment, you showed me what forgiveness and grace was all about and it led to me becoming a Christ follower.

The years have gone by and we have shared so much. We have two beautiful children who are being raised by the greatest Mom they could ask for. We’ve enjoyed many times of laughter and joy. We unfortunately have shared many moments of anger and hurt. We’ve watched as family members and church friends have grown as well as their children. We’ve comforted each other in our times of grief as we lost loved ones close to us. Our lives have been so connected over the past 15 years that I couldn’t imagine what it would have been like without you.

So baby I want to say thank you.

Thank you for saying yes when I asked you out in June of 1992.

Thank you for saying yes when I asked if you would be my bride.

Thank you for saying, “I do” on June 10, 1995.

Thank you for 15 wonderful years and thank you for being the person you are.

You mean so much to me and I will always love you.

Love,
Jay

Jim Joyce blew it. Badly. One of the most respected umpires (from what I have read) blew a call that cost Armando Galarraga a perfect game.

And of course, the screams and yelps for expanding instant replay in baseball once again are being heard and unfortunately, with this latest incident it’s probably going to happen.

And it will suck.

Baseball is the greatest sport in the United States. Why? Because it is all about moments. There’s no clock. There’s no prevent defense. There’s no half court offense. There’s no dumping the puck. The game is not over until the last man is out.

Think about the moments.

Babe Ruth’s “called” shot in the 1932 World Series.

Bobby Thompson’s home run in 1951 that gave the Giants the pennant and a shot in the World Series.

Joe Carter’s walk off home home run in the 1993 World Series.

As much as I hate to say it, David Ortiz’s walk off home run in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS.

Steve Garvey’s back-breaking home run against the Cubs in the 1984 NLCS.

Steve Bartman.

The 2001 World Series (the greatest World Series ever in my view despite the Yankees losing) was filled with moments that are forever planted in the minds of fans.

No other sport has such moments. None. Seriously..what’s better? In sports where there is a clock, such things are rare. Yeah there are buzzer beaters, last second field goals and touchdowns to win big games, but they’re rare. Most often, the last 2 minutes of a Super Bowl or NBC championship are spent watching players watch the clock. That doesn’t happen in baseball.

Diving catches, called strike three’s, stolen bases, etc. All moments.

All of which could be ruined by expanding instant replay in MLB.

People yammer about, “It’s about getting the calls right.” Well what if it was the other way around. What if Jason Donald clearly beat the throw and Joyce called him out? I seriously doubt Jeff Passan would be writing columns about the urgency of having more instant replay. The only ones upset then would be Cleveland Indians fans who would declare on their own that such a perfect game would not be legit.

Anybody who is not a Phillies fan will tell you that Roy Halladay was the recipient of a strike zone that was nearly a mile wide in his bid to throw a perfect game. I saw some of those strike calls on 3-x counts and several of them were clearly balls. Where was Passan then?

That’s the problem. The calls for instant replay are very subjective. “Getting it right” is only good for making sure something goes down in the record books the way somebody wants it. Nobody wants it when “getting it right” might undo something historic.

There’s an easy solution to all of this. Create a new rule that allows a manager on each team to challenge one play during a game. Instead of going to a booth, the umpires must get together and determine if the call made was the correct one. If umps C and D say ump A got the call wrong, it’s reversed and that’s it. If only ump C says A got the call wrong and B and D can’t say for sure, the call stands. That’s it.

Keep the instant replay on home run calls and be done with it. It’s not needed.

Spoilers ahead. That is all.

There are going to be many opinions about the ‘Lost’ series finale. There will be two distinct groups that stand out. One will be the uber-fans. Those are the ones that can tell you the name of every insignificant character that ever appeared on the show and in what episode. Then there are the “haters.” They’re the ones that have watched every episode only to tell people how much they hate the show and then make sure their DVR is set to record the next episode. The former will tell you they loved the finale even if they haven’t watched it yet. The latter will say they hated it, even if they didn’t watch it yet.

Most people will come down in the middle with some not being satisfied and others, like me, who were satisfied.

I think the finale was excellent. Was it the best series finale of all time? No. That honor goes to ‘The Shield’ which ended the series brilliantly. But the ‘Lost’ finale was great. Somebody quipped somewhere that it wasn’t “intellectually satisfying” for them. That’s true. But over the past 6 years, nobody would expect an intellectually satisfying ending. Our attachment to this show was purely emotional. No matter what happened, it always came down to the characters. A show such as ‘Lost’ would not survive were it not for the ability of the producers and the writers to create characters the audience cared about.

So all of the lingering questions were not answered. So what? Do you really think the appearance of the polar bears bore any significance at all in the grand scheme of things? People often wondered about these tribal factions that broke out amongst people on the island. That isn’t too hard to figure out. Read the book ‘The Lord of The Flies.’ It’s easy to see how it would happen.

As for the finale, it’s interesting how it all came to back around to Jack. The final 2.5 hours centered on him in both journeys. In the first was the redemption that Jack had always sought. He saved the island (and the world) and didn’t do it because of some responsibility he felt as a way to prove something to his dead father, but rather because he realized it was what he was destined to do. In the ‘alternate’ universe, Jack was the final piece that allowed the characters to reunite and finally “let go.”

There were other great moments as well. Hurley being given the responsibility of being the new protector of the island. It was fitting. Hurley has been the one character throughout that has always been honest. It was a great moment seeing him offer the “no 2″ job to Ben who happily accepted it. In that moment Ben was thrilled that he was wanted. Not to be a means for somebody else’s ends as it was the case for so long. No. Hurley just wanted some help. There were also the emotional realizations the characters had with of course the two most striking being Jin and Sun as well as Sawyer and Juliet. I will admit reuniting Sayid with Shannon was a bit of a stretch as she was such a minor character in the scheme of things, but how else would they get Sayid to realize who he was or where?

Then there was Jack’s showdown with the Smoke Monster who still had the form of Locke. I loved when Smokey was trying to reminisce with Jack only to have Jack remind spit at him, “You’re not Locke.” Superman fans will appreciate the reverse effects removing the ‘cork’ had on Smokey. While he was right in that the island would be destroyed, it also transformed him into a mere mortal setting the stage for a good old fashioned fight between him and Jack.

I won’t go into all of the details of what happened over the entire 2.5 hours only to say that I really enjoyed the ending. To be honest, I did not guess as to what it all was until Christian made it clear. The producers did not deceive us. What happened on the island really did happen. The title of series had more to do with the souls of the characters and not their actual location. Every single question was not answered but that’s just fine with me. The ending was fitting and it worked.

I’m not sure if there will ever be a series like this again.

Thanks ‘Lost.’ It was an amazing ride.

What did you think of the finale?

Several months ago, I approached photographer Stephen Hunton about the possibility of assisting him on a wedding shoot. I don’t want to make a career of shooting weddings necessarily, but if I can transition to photography full time on the back of wedding photography, I am happy to do so. Wedding photography is vastly different from what it used to be as it has transformed into a photo-journalism style from the boring traditional weddings shoots of the past. Stephen quickly agreed which was so cool.

Since the wedding was going to be in the Atlanta area, I knew I had my great friends, Scott and Alycia (@alyiciawilliams – Scott doesn’t do Twitter. He’s too busy protecting and serving as a Cobb County police officer) who would put me up for a few days. I quickly made it into a family trip so I was bringing the wife and kids along as well. In addition, I knew this would be a perfect time to get know some of the people I had connected with on Twitter.

Thursday

We arrived late Wednesday night on the 12th of May. The next day, the fam drove over to Roswell (from Dallas – Yes there is a Dallas in Georgia) to have lunch with Chris and Brenda Ames, aka @dewde and @dewdette. It was great meeting them. We enjoyed lunch at this great burger place called The Counter (the burgers are HUGE. Smallest is 1/3 pound and this AFTER cooking yo). We talked about all kinds of things like home schooling, how we met our spouses, etc. and just enjoyed each other’s company. After that, we stopped by Trader Joe’s (we hadn’t even thought about it until Brenda reminded us) and then spent the rest of the time at our friends house just relaxing.

Friday

On Friday, for dinner we met Tom and Meghan McFarlin, aka @tomsfoolery and @meghanmcfarlin for dinner along with Eric Jones aka @witharmshigh. We met at a cool place (@dewde called it “trendy Italian”) called Figo Pasta. It was such a great time. I’ve been conversing with Tom on Twitter for only a few months. Meghan probably less than that, but when we all sat down it was like being with people we’ve been friends with for awhile. We had a great dinner and congratulated Eric on his engagement.

After that we moved things to Starbucks. This gave us a more relaxed setting. Or so it seemed. It was Tom’s idea to sit outside. It was raining and while most of us found cover, poor Eric was busy getting soaked. Then the lighting and thunder started and the next thing you know, we were back inside. After awhile, two more Twitter friends showed up. Jared and Eryn Erickson aka @alliswell and @cupc8kes were at a wedding rehearsal and stopped by. Jared, for all his (what seems to be) “annoyed” faces you’ll see on Twitter is a guy filled with laughter. And laugh we did. For the next hour or so, we were the loudest people in Starbucks.

Easily the best and funniest story of the night was Meghan telling us how her and a bunch of friends were going to see Rush Hour. Bzzzzt. No they were not. Because Megan was 13, and the movie was rated PG-13, her Mom and Dad wouldn’t allow her to go (they wanted to screen the movie first which is actually totally cool – but it’s still funny!). As a result, her and all of her friends had to go see Antz (or A Bugs Life) instead. I’m cracking up typing this out.

Saturday

Saturday was a whirlwind day for me. I was up at 6:30am to travel halfway across the state to do a photo-shoot for Tom and Meghan. I got to see their house. Tom gave me some coffee I had asked him to pick up for me in NYC. I was ready to pay but he presented it as a gift which was totally cool. I gave to him the Eric Clapton ‘Crossroads’ boxed set that I had purchased for my Mom back in 1988. I knew she would want somebody to have it that would appreciate it, so I was happy to give it to Tom. Tom also regaled me with stories of his yard battles after they bought the house. All this while we waited for (a late!) Meghan to get ready.

After the photo-shoot it was back across to Dallas for some lunch a shower, and then I met up with Stephen over in Smyrna and we drove together up to Cumming where the wedding was being held. Stephen answered all of my questions and we got to know each other a little better talking about our kids and how we came to get into photography. He was really cool in that he told me to go ahead and do some shooting during the ceremony. I got to see how he did his lighting setups for the reception as well as talk pricing and other “shop” things. I also got to see Jared and Eryn again. She was in the wedding and also performed a song for the happy couple during the ceremony. It’s amazing. Eryn is small (Don’t get me wrong. My wife and her family are Sicilian. Whenever I get together with them, I feel like I’m in Munchkinland) but God blessed her with this BIG voice and it’s just great. The wedding ended at a little past 11:00 and by the time I got back to my friends place, it was nearly 1:00am. Suffice to say, I was tired. Sunday was nothing but relaxation, breakfast at iHop, some more relaxation and then the drive home.

It was a great trip and it was the best time I had in a while particularly with being able to meet new people.

The only thing that sucked about the trip is that I didn’t get to meet John Saddington (@human3rror), Austin Lee (@austinklee),as well as Adam and Tami Shields (@adamrshields and @tamishields). But I’ve promised all of them that on my next trip up there it would happen.

I can honestly say I would not have met any of these fantastic people were it not for Twitter. If you don’t use Twitter, I’m cool with that. It’s not for everybody. But if you dismiss Twitter as nothing but a vanity app that does nothing but tell people what you’re doing all day, then you just do not get it. At all.

A shout of thanks to my new friends. You’re all awesome.

There are only 3 prime time television shows I watch. One of them is ‘Law & Order: SVU’ and the other two are ‘Lost’ and ‘24.’

I have been watching ‘V’ and ‘Flash Forward’ but I don’t expect much from either of those shows so if I miss it, it doesn’t matter.

24

‘24′ is a show that I did not watch from the beginning. It’s not that I didn’t want to, it’s just that when it came out, the DVR was not mainstream and missing episodes meant being totally clueless as to what was going on. Through Netflix I was able to watch the first three seasons in a month (yes, three seasons. I was hooked and sometimes watching that show until 2:00am) on DVD and since then, I have watched every season.

The show has suffered in the last few years. Similar plot lines, familiar twists (CTU has the absolute worst screening for employees), and predictable results have brought the show down. Even this season was a downer. Many times I wasn’t even paying attention.

But then the producers abruptly (or maybe not!) announced this was going to be the final season. For some reason, whether or not it was knowing the end was near or because the show really did improve, I was hooked again. The ending is going to be amazing. Jack was rough before, but he’s taking no prisoners now. If the producers wanted this series to go out with a bang, they’ve done their job. The fact that the series is about to end and the pedal to the medal turn the series took in the last few weeks has no doubt contributed to increased ratings.

–

Lost

‘Lost’ is a show that nearly gave up on. Like ‘24′, I didn’t start from the beginning and watched the first season on DVD. I was hooked. But I nearly gave up on the show during season 3. They were introducing way too many story lines and it was getting confusing. To make matters worse, ABC’s scheduling of the series was awful. It was difficult to tell when a new episode would be on because there were constant repeats. Not until the series went on hiatus and came back in February of 2007 did it catch on again. ABC began airing the show the way Fox did with ‘24′. No more repeats.

Last season they announced this season would be the last. It was bad news but also good news. They had to wrap it up, but ‘Lost’ is seriously going to be missed. Forget about the polar bears, the light at the center of the island, the two parallel universes, etc. This show is all about the characters. If we didn’t care about these characters we wouldn’t care about the show. It’s what allows a kooky series like this to survive as long as it did.

Now that we’re getting to the end, I am excited. People have been complaining about idiotic things like the significance of the polar bears not being explained. Who cares? Same for the light at the center of the island. It’s not important to the overall story.

I am really stoked about the finale to ‘Lost.’ It’s obvious that whatever happens is going to revolve around whatever Desmond is doing. He has a plan and he is executing it. He is the only one completely aware in both timelines that there are in fact, two timelines. Others have seen visions and suspect something is up, but he’s the only one that knows for sure.

The finale is going to be epic and I am sure people will complain, but I am pretty sure, the producers aren’t going to wuss out like David Chase did with the pathetic way he ended ‘The Sopranos.’

When I made my trip to Georgia last week (more on that in another post), I had the opportunity to visit Trader Joe’s. My reason for going was that I wanted to get my hands on some of that cheap but good Charles Shaw wine. $2.79 a bottle = WIN. I’m no wine snob. I like the way it tastes.

Trader Joe’s bills itself as a “specialty retail grocery store” and that is an accurate description. Trader Joe’s is not the place you do everyday food shopping unless you have the wallet for it.

I liked the place the moment I walked through the door. The store is laid out very well and instead of using the same old boring static signs, they use what appears to be chalk-board signs for their products. The selection of items ran from the average to the exotic. They sell ‘fair trade’ coffee and it’s not all that expensive for a pound. My wife bought some tea there. I of course, grabbed some Charles Shaw chardonnay.

But what I have to say I liked the most was the customer service. No matter who it was, if you walked past an employee they would greet you with a smile and a friendly hello. The cashiers actively engage the customers in conversation. It’s not just a token, “How are you?” but a real attempt to talk to the people shopping there. When the gentleman loading our things noticed the watermelon, he said, “That’s some good watermelon. But, if you don’t like it, make sure you bring back your receipt for a refund.”

I asked him, “You offer refunds on eaten fruit?”

He looked at me and said, “We look at it this way. We’d rather pay you back $4.50 for a watermelon than lose you as a customer.”

Awesome.

What isn’t awesome is the fact there are no Trader Joe stores in Florida. Of course there isn’t.

President Obama touched off a firestorm of criticism with some recent remarks of his and this time it probably united a bunch of conservatives and liberals on both sides of the debate. Obama had this to say when addressing graduates at Hampton University this past Sunday:

“You’re coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don’t always rank that high on the truth meter,” he told the students. “And with iPods and iPads, and Xboxes and PlayStations — none of which I know how to work — information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation.”

Do you agree?

I have to say I was puzzled for a number of reasons.

1. As the image in this post shows, President Obama is a big user of his Blackberry. In fact, despite protests from those responsible for security, President Obama still carries his. Wouldn’t smartphones be part of that same culture? He doesn’t mention the Internet, but the iPad and iPhone would be sort of useless without it. The Xbox and PS3 are full blown entertainment devices thanks to the ability to get online with it. This a President who was the first one to really harness the power of the Internet for an election and use it to his advantage. But he leaves that out as well.

2. The President admits he doesn’t know how to use these devices, yet criticizes how they are used. That’s never a good thing. As a photographer it would be like me steering people away from Canon products saying they’re inferior to Nikon despite having never owned Canon equipment.

3. As for the arguments that don’t always rank high on the truth meter, that’s always been an issue. Maybe not in the 24 hours news cycle like we have now, but in my view, the Internet and the advancement of the smart-phone has helped to set the record straight with the mainstream media more than it has spread bad information. The best example of this was in 2004 when ‘60 Minutes Wednesday’ did a story claiming they had definitive proof in the form of official documents proving President George W. Bush did not complete his National Guard service. Within hours of it airing, forums and blogs were challenging the authenticity of the documents. This was a few years before Facebook and Twitter took off.

Granted, the Internet has also been a feeding ground for bogus rumors of which many make it to the mainstream media for fear of not “having the story” if it is indeed true. It’s part of the reason why I don’t watch cable news anymore.

What do you think?

I can honestly say that I don’t remember how I came across ChurchCrunch other than to say I know I found it via Twitter. The only thing I can think of is that I saw somebody re-tweet something that was posted there. I found it and was immediately subscribed to it. It was when I first came into contact with John Saddington, aka @human3rror.

I started reading and shortly thereafter mentioned something about connections and before I knew it, John was asking me to write a guest post about it! It was wild. The post is here.

From there, things kept moving along. John and I would communicate from time to time. He brought me into a project called Church Tweets which unfortunately did not work out. But John took the whole thing in stride. Over the last year, Johh and I have emailed each other and discussed some things via IM. He’s been very encouraging during what has been a very challenging point in my life over the last 4-5 months.

During that time I started to interact with some of the people he followed. I liked Chris Ames, aka @dewde, immediately. His sense of humor was on par with mine and he doesn’t mind that people make fun of that flowing hair of his. His wife Brenda gets mad props because she’s probably more conservative than I am. We were discussing the amount of taxes the government sucks out of bonus checks and she remarked that her company “just gave the government a stimulus package.” Awesome.

Other lines of communication that stemmed from that were opened with:

Stephen Hunton – He’s a excellent photographer and a super nice guy. I want to be able to shoot weddings and while I certainly skilled enough to make the photos, I wanted to assist a photographer locally just to see the work flow and how they went about the day. I could not find one locally that would help. In fact, I had one that outright refused to “assist potential competition.” Steve’s in Atlanta, but he afforded me that opportunity so I am going to assist him at a wedding next month.

Tom McFarlin – I found Tom on Twitter when Chris re-tweeted something by him. Just like with Chris, I liked Tom right off the bat. He too has a great sense of humor, and appreciates good music and movies like I do. His lovely wife Meghan is also on Twitter and also has a blog where she writes about various topics. Tom had a blog but he quit. Punk.

There is also Jared Erickson. This dude is a designer and eats that stuff up. He’s a big Apple fan as well. When I was asking people about purchasing a Mac, Jared was like the uber-evangelist and sent me an email that would have pushed me over the edge even if I was a true skeptic. His blog not surprisingly, focuses mostly on…design. Great stuff. His wife Erin is also a talent. She’s a singer, and you can find out info on that at her site (designed by Jared of course).

Adam Shields is another. Adam is a great guy. He is somewhat left of center with regard to politics so sometimes when I get political on the blog, we’ll disagree. But I appreciate the way he and I have discussed issues without having to resort to being nasty and personal. Adam reads books like crazy. Go ask him. His wife Tami is a teacher and must be one heck of a cook considering the tweets I see about the dishes she’s preparing and also the baking.

Austin Lee. Another one from the Atlanta area. Wicked sense of humor.

The really cool thing is, that barring any issues, I am going to hang with all of these people when I am in Atlanta next month.

The list can go on. Early connections also include Graham Brenna. Check out his blog. Graham is one tall dude. I’m 6′2. But GB is 6′5. Look at this blog entry where he is towering over Tony Morgan.

Other great people include Kyle Reed, Ben Woodard, Bill Wolfe, Eric Jones, Tyler Braun, Imthiaz and Adam Houseman, Stephen Bateman, Tam & Brent Hodge, Brett Barner, Steve Garufi etc. I know I am forgetting people.

All of these people listed have connected with me in some way. Whether it’s through prayer, love of photography, the Yankees, blogging, or just plain goofing off, that connection is there. If any of them said to me, “Hey Jay, I am going to be around your area. Let’s get together for dinner” I’d jump at the opportunity. If they needed a place to stay. Ditto.

Twitter is not just about “Telling people what I’m doing all day.”