Yikes — been a while since I wrote in here. I’ve been busy playing with all the various apps for my new iPhone, keeping up with the kids (always a losing battle), trying to spend a few minutes with Elizabeth before running off to the next soccer game, work, or other activity. Oy. It never ends.

The good news is I went jogging yesterday for the first time in a couple months, and it felt great. I was jazzed all day after that, and I slept like a log. More jogging tomorrow, that’s the plan (I, ah, slept in today…).

Oh, and I’m still plugging away on the baseball novel. Almost done with Act One. Speaking of the plan, I wanted to be done with Act Two (of Three) by this time of the year, but what can  you do? It’s a slow process. I almost wonder if I’d be better just chucking what I’ve got and re-drafting the whole book. No. That way is insane… I’m getting there, just need to get on a schedule.

And get focused. I noticed that I waste a lot of time plinking around on sites like Facebook and Twitter. As far as social networking goes, I think they’re great — if you’re willing to put in the time. You get out of those sites exactly what you put into them. If you leave comments, add your own links and status updates and photos, it’s pretty rewarding. But it gets to be a time suck, for me at least. Seems like you see a lot of people talking about their Facebook addiction, though it tends to be short-lived. Then you’re ready to move on.

And then there’s Twitter. Short little status updates, just like those in Facebook, but you can check out all the statuses (“tweets”) of your friends via apps like TwitterFox where you can quickly respond to ’em. It’s like instant messaging with lots of people, without being in a chat at the same time, waiting for a response. It’s another one of those new Internet-only habits that people are still discovering purposes for. I kinda find it annoying after a while, especially when I don’t have anything to share or “tweet” about.

So here’s my question. As a technical writer for the past dozen of years, I’m always interested in how people use software (we call it “usability” in the biz). So how do you use Facebook? Which page or link do you go to most on the site? (Or do you use it on your cell phone, which is what I did for a while, until I got annoyed with it?).

I tend to go the the Home link at the top first, next to the Profile link on Facebook. I like reading everyone’s status updates and their linked stories and news (I wish people would use the linking features more). If people just post their results to their latest Facebook quiz or talk about how crappy they feel today or other minutiae of their day, I tend to use the Hide feature. Hey, what can I say? I somehow ended up with like 247 friends. Me — antisocial me.

I sometimes comment on people’s status updates and other things, but that’s about all I use Facebook for — a quick scan of what’s going on with folks. And if I remember, I’ll try to add some smart-alecky status for myself, or link to a cool website or blog entry.

How about you?

And if you use Twitter, same goes. How do you use it? Do you go to the slow-as-molasses Twitter.com site, or do you use a plug-in or separate app? How many Twitter friends do you follow? I have about 20, and that feels like plenty. I’m kind of tired of Twitter again, actually, so I’m laying off it for a while. Tell me what I’m missing.

So yeah, I’m going a bit Luddite lately and pulling out the ol’ Moleskine again for my journaling thoughts. I also have the Stanza app on my iPhone, with my draft of my baseball novel on it, in case I get bored. I’d rather read and think about that than do the Facebook/Twitter scan thing.

I have to have a cup and book photo here, in honor of ol’ Greg van E:

Call me old school, I don’t care.