These start-ups pop up so fast I have a hard time checking out all of the services and products I want to, but I still try.

Here’s The Problem

The problem with this is that I have an account on nearly every new social media and web 2.0 service that exists, and I rarely use any of them. I am taking services and trying to make them fit somewhere, rather looking at new services and seeing if they actually present me with any sort of value.

I have a blog (obviously) and I have a Twitter account, FriendFeed, Socialthing!, orkut (I think, I’ve never used it), Facebook, MySpace (never use it)… Well, you get the picture.  When I hear about something I sign up, check it out, and rarely do I ever return. I am the epitome of the ADD super-connected web service junkie with the attention span of a gnat.

Case in point: I heard about Tumblr, which is a great little micro-blogging service that I was able to find some application for within our company. It is simple to use, and allows me to post short messages with a nice interface excluding the clutter of a more feature-filled service like WordPress. It is all I needed to solve a problem and nothing more. 

I decided that I should start a Tumblelog personally as well. I created it and started posting alongside this blog. My justification was, “I will use this to flesh out my ideas before posting them to the blog. Posts to Tumblr will be more reflective and will be a spring-board for full blog posts.” My Tumblr account turned into a personal journal and I wasn’t comfortable with juicy details about me on the interwebs. Plus, I already write in a journal. Regardless, I didn’t need a separate blog to flesh out blog ideas in the first place, that’s what drafts are for.

Here’s The Solution (Not Earth-Shattering, Mind You)

I was looking at my Tumblelog today and thinking, “What was I thinking? What am I going to do with this?” and I realized that I need to stop signing up for everything that crosses my path if there is no specific, immediate application for it. If I don’t need it, I don’t need it.

This epiphany also applies to other areas of life as well; I don’t need a new car, a bigger house (just yet), a Mont Blanc pen, a Rado watch, etc. Mass-marketing has turned me into a consumer and I hate myself for it. I already have far more than I need or in some cases have any right to, so I’m going to try and tone it down a bit.

Starting with my infatuation with new web services that I don’t need.

The iPhone is now available in Germany, France and the UK which are all separated from California by oceans. Canada, being separated by only the world’s longest undefended border, has no iPhones.

Who is to blame here? iphoneworld.ca published a post in July of 2007 quoting a Rogers employee that said Apple and Rogers were in discussion about the iPhone. According to this employee, Apple is requiring Rogers to lower data rate plans in order to accommodate the iPhone’s data-hungry operations. The post also says that Rogers will likely wait for the next version of the iPhone to come out to limit the amount of problems with the first-generation phone.

On one hand, I am happy that the iPhone is not quite out yet because I have nearly 3 years left on my plan with Bell for the free BlackBerry I just received in November. The data rates are nearly criminal though and the BlackBerry is not the king of web browsing. Email, yes. Web browsing, no. Iwould probably pay the fees it would take to get out of my Bell plan and move to Rogers for the iPhone, even though my BlackBerry works great and Bell has been very good to me (sorry Bell, us consumers are a fickle bunch). It costs me a small fortune, but I change phones almost as frequently as my underwear.

So I’m waiting for the iPhone to be released in my neck of the woods so that I can justify having an oversized phone that is capable of more than sending the odd email. And I feel the itch, the itch for a shiny new techie-toy that surfs the web, plays music and provides a host of other delightful marvels.

When will I experience this Apple goodness? Hopefully soon… Until then, I suppose this will have to suffice:

So now I’ve decided to take a short break from putting the final touches on my theme to write about something that has been on my mind for the past few hours.

Tonight I went out with a friend for dinner and then to the local tea house to finish off the night. While we waited for her hot chocolate and my matcha latte I saw a girl I knew sitting at one of the tables with a guy I didn’t know. About two weeks ago I had asked this girl out for coffee after meeting her at a friend’s birthday party. I asked her out with a simple one-line message through FaceBook, “I’m thinking you should let me take you out for coffee on Wednesday”.

The message was a big hit, I received a full-page reply stating that what I had sent was the most confident ask-out that she had received in a long time and that she liked it. But it went on to say that she was interested in someone else and didn’t think it would be fair to him to come out for a coffee.

Fair enough, I thought. I appreciate the fact that she just said it straight-up without leaving room for me to think that I would just have to wait a little while longer or convince a little more. It’s not something that you receive from girls most of the time.

Seeing her made me think of a conversation I had with another friend earlier in the day about this other girl that I was interested in and pursued and kept on the burner for about a year while she was overseas doing missions work. She had left about a month after I asked her out, her declining because she was about to leave. I took her response to mean that she didn’t want to get into a relationship right before she left, not that she wasn’t interested.

She came back a year later with a fiance. I have spent some time with her and her fiance since, but for about 2 hours of our initial conversation she kept referring to me as “Darren”, which isn’t even close to my name! How did she forget my damn name?!

About two weeks ago I asked my waitress out to hit some balls at the driving range. My car broke down before we were able to get together and I phoned her to try and reschedule, but during the conversation one of our cells dropped the call (I think) and when I phoned her back my call rang through but she didn’t answer. I haven’t heard from her since.

So I wonder, what is it about me that keeps me from getting someone? Is it something to do with my personality or is it just God keeping someone out of my life at this point because I’m not ready? If it is that I’m not ready, what do I need to do to be ready?

I just needed to rant on this for a little while before continuing on, because it bothers me.

That’s all, as you were…