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I found out about Internet Week in New York from Associated Content’s call to action for submitting content.  I submitted an entry and hopefully it will get accepted and I will win $5000.  Wouldn’t that be nice?  Of course it would.

Here is the entry I did not submit to them.  Just some random thoughts about how having New York host an Internet Week could impact web users.

What do you think of when you hear the words, Internet Week In New York?  Is it going to be some huge party where everyone walks around with phones sticking out of their ears pulling carts containing their laptops behind them?  I can just see all the techies gathering at Central Park for Bill Gates and Steve Jobs teaming up for a duet of the famous song, “Bridge Over Troubled Water”, sung in Karaoke style.

Maybe I am a bit off the wall here, but just what does it mean when the Big Apple dedicates a whole week to the Internet?  What sort of credibility does that give the Internet?  Why did it take so long for New York to have Internet Week?  Or is this something I have not heard of before now?  To me the internet has always been credible.  I won’t bombard you with facts, because this is not a research or scientific article.  This is about my reaction to Internet Week in New York and how I foresee the changes that will take place after this event.

The Internet allows people to sit around in their pajamas to research, or play, or conduct business from home.  That is one of the personas.  Another one is that people who are antisocial hang out on the Internet avoiding facing people up front.  It is easier for some to gain acceptance on the Internet then it is in person.  You can find people with really poor social skills on the Internet.  Events such as Internet Week in New York are going to change that.  People are going to come out of the “I’m a geek, or a dork”, closet and be mainstreamed. Will New York hosting of a Geek Fest result in geek tolerance?  Wouldn’t that be cool?

There are many seasoned geeks who see no need to hide the fact we find this all amusing and entertaining.  At the same time it will be fun to see how the Internet evolves after such a week.  I predict that the social sites will boom after Geek Fest in New York.  I also predict that the need for live interactive coaching that teaches how to use the Internet is going to grow in demand.

That is why I am ahead of the trend and an Internet success coach with the Mastermind Pros team.  We do have our own website and we do have live interactive coaching sessions seven days a week.  I feel that after Internet Week and the publicity, more and more people are going to become interested in actual interaction where it goes beyond typing and the use of online conferencing is going to boom.

Thank you New York for the opportunities you are going to present for several hundreds, if not thousands of people, by hosting Internet Week.  The Internet world will never be the same after your event.

Thanks to all who serve in the military, and any other form of service.  You do so much and get recognized so little. We see the pictures over and over that circulate across the internet of the men and women in Iraq. 

Have you seen this video?  I like this one and it is how we should treat our military.  They are making so many sacrifices and life long changes due to what they encounter in the military.  This is one of my favorites.

After seeing this I now say thanks to the people I see in uniform.  I did before when it was convenient, but now I will go out of my way.  I hope you can take some time to remember someone who served today and tell them Thank You. 

Thanks Dad!  Thanks to all those who got off those boats on the beaches of Normandy.  Thanks to all those who died at Pearl Harbor and to those who kept on going. Thanks to all those who went to Korea, Viet Nam, Desert Storm, Iraq.

I might be back to add more images later.

Did you read this one?  I do not know if it is true or not, I have not looked on snopes or anywhere to disclaim it, because it is a great story.  It was sent in an email.

Leading the fight is Gunnery Sgt Michael Burghardt, known as ‘Iron Mike’ or just ‘Gunny’. He is on his third tour in Iraq . He had become a legend in the bomb disposal world after winning the Bronze Star for disabling 64 IEDs and destroying 1,548 pieces of ordnance during his second tour.
 
 
Then, on September 19, he got blown up. He had arrived at a chaotic scene after a bomb had killed four US soldiers. He chose not to wear the bulky bomb protection suit. ‘You can’t react to any sniper fire and you get tunnel-vision,’ he explains. So,protected by just a helmet and standard-issue flak jacket, he began what bomb disposal officers term ‘the longest walk’, stepping gingerly into a 5 foot deep and 8 foot wide crater.

The earth shifted slightly and he saw a Senao base station with a wire leading from it.  He cut the wire and used his 7 inch knife to probe the ground. ‘I found a piece of red detonating cord between my legs,’ he says. ‘That’s when I knew I was screwed.’

Realizing he had been sucked into a trap, Sgt Burghardt, 35, yelled at everyone to stay back. At that moment, an insurgent, probably watching through binoculars, pressed a button on his mobile phone to detonate the secondary device below the sergeant’s feet.  ‘A chill went up the back of my neck and then the bomb exploded,’ he recalls. ‘As I was in the air I remember thinking, ‘I don’t believe they got me.’ I was just ticked off they were able to do it. Then I was lying on the road, not able to feel anything from the waist down.’
 
 
His colleagues cut off his trousers to see how badly he was hurt. None could believe his legs were still there. ‘My dad’s a Vietnam vet who’s paralyzed from the waist down,’ says Sgt Burghardt. ‘I was lying there thinking I didn’t want to be in a wheelchair next to my dad and for him to see me like that. They started to cut away my pants and I felt a real sharp pain and blood trickling down. Then I wiggled my toes and I thought, ‘Good, I’m in business.’ ‘As a stretcher was brought over, adrenaline and anger kicked in. ‘I decided to walk to the helicopter. I wasn’t going to let my team-mates see me being carried away on a stretcher.’ He stood and gave the insurgents who had blown him up a one-fingered salute. ‘I flipped them one. It was like, ‘OK, I lost that round but I’ll be back next week’.’ </ SPAN>
 
 
Copies of a photograph depicting his defiance, taken by Jeff Bundy for the Omaha World-Herald, adorn the walls of homes across America and that of Col John Gronski, the brigade commander in Ramadi, who has hailed the image as an exemplar of the warrior spirit.
 
 
Sgt Burghardt’s injuries - burns and wounds to his legs and buttocks - kept him off duty for nearly a month and could have earned him a ticket home. But, like his father - who was awarded a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts for being wounded in action in Vietnam - he stayed in Ramadi to engage in the battle against insurgents who are forever coming up with more ingenious ways of killing Americans.

I decided not to show the photo because some might find it offensive.

There used to be bloggers who just used this format to leave journal type entries for their friends and families to use to keep in contact. Some people used to write their poems and add them to a blog.  Others found blogging a good way to rant and get out their frustration and anger over anything that upset them.

It was amazing to me to see how open these people were in their topics and posts.  Also they were getting people to comment on their postings.  I usually write when I need to vent, but the thought of having it out there for everyone to see was a bit intimidating for me.

If you are going to have a blog where you express yourself with a lot of profanity, then it is best to inform the reader that you do not have a kid friendly blog.  I guess I am old fashioned in this since I believe that if you can take the time to write the profanity you can find the time to find grammar appropriate to everyone. 

However it seems that more and more we are finding even the well respected people in the world do not always worry about what words come out of their mouths or fingers.  The reader can voice their opinion by not supporting the blog. 

Perhaps you are just a blog reader.  If you are just a blog reader for now, that is ok.  That is how I started and now I am a devoted blogger.  One tiny bit of advice is that if you are reading a blog go ahead and leave a comment on it.  You can leave your email address and it is never given to the public on 99% of the blogs, but you might be asked to join a mailing list.

What happens when you leave comments is that you are getting your name out there.  You are beginning your internet presence.  Bloggers love to get comments.  Usually we will reciprocate with a comment on your site, or a return comment to your comment, or an email.

Remember your email address are usually kept private and you are notified of that.

I will discuss more posting etiquette in future posts.  I will also discuss more types of blogs and Web 2.0 sites.