I’ve been a big fan of Twitter for a while now. It provides me with an easy way to keep in touch with new and old friends; near and far. I can follow some of the most interesting people in the fields of training and education, web cartoonists, authors, musicians, actors, and browncoats all in one location.

Want to know what Wil Wheaton (@wilw), PJ Haarsma (@TheSoftwire), Scott Sigler (@scottsigler) or Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) have been writing about?  Curious as to where in the world Stephen Fry (@StephenFry) is now? Follow them on Twitter.  Want to find out when Marian Call‘s (@mariancall) next performance is? She’s on Twitter too.  Fan of The Guild (@theguild), Dr. Horrible (@drhorrible) or Legend of Neil (@legendofneil)?  Felicia Day (@feliciaday), Sandeep (@sandeepparikh) and many other stars, writers and staff of The Guild and Legend of Neil are posting away to their hearts content.  Joel (@hijinksensue), one of my favourite comic artists in recent months, drew my Twitter avatar. What to know what’s going on in Edmonton?  You have to follow Mack D. Male (@mastermaq).

Yeah, I’m a Twitter junkie.

Twitter’s not just for following the cool kids – it’s also for gathering together and offering a helping hand to those in need.  One of my favourite Twitter events this past year was tweetsgiving organized by StaceyMonk (@StaceyMonk) [my take: here, here and here].

If you’re in Edmonton (or anywhere else in the world) and spend time connecting with people near and far on Twitter, consider attending Twestival 2009. Anyone who knows me knows I don’t like throwing myself to the wolves and meeting people face-to-face. Something about the whole I’m a freak introversion thing makes me really nervous in social situations. So I’m dragging my friend Loxley, who I also dragged kicking and screaming into the world of Twitter, with me into the fray.

Support the cause.  Buy your ticket and join the fun. Make an appearance and get to know some of the most interesting locals in the area.

More than 100 cities around the world are hosting Twestivals on February 12th to raise money and awareness for charity: water. When I heard about the idea, I knew that Edmonton had to participate. After all, we’re known for our support of community and charitable causes, and the Twitter community here is second-to-none! It’s going to be an evening of great fun for a great cause!

Here are the details:

WHO: You and your friends!

WHAT: Edmonton Twestival 2009

WHEN: Thursday, February 12th at 6:30pm

WHERE: Vintage Lounge, 10124 124th Street – map

WHY: To have some fun while supporting a great cause!

COST: We’re asking for a $20 donation which will go entirely to charity: water.

Take a few hours out of your busy day – and $20 out of your wallet – and support this great cause.

Spent a huge chunk of today in waiting rooms in between being poked and prodded.  End result – the vampires have their million pints of blood and I have a new family doctor. Start the parade. He seems nice enough and since he was willing to take me on I think I’m gonna keep him. Considering how hard it appears to get a family doctor in this town that seems to be a good idea at this point.

Since returning home I’ve spent the bulk of my afternoon and early evening writing papers.  Upside: I’ve finished one of two papers due this weekend. Downside: It’s the one due on Saturday; not the one due Friday. I’ve still got a bit more to do before I’m going to consider this paper in the bag and move on to the next one.  Hopefully after an hour on the treadmill I’ll be ready to head back to it and finish it off.  Can’t afford to do much more procrastination at this point.

All this work in the home office reminds me that I have a really crappy office chair since Loxley killed the last one. I have never found a suitable replacement – never having been all that fond of the original chair – and so I use a folding card table chair in the office.  It’s uncomfortable as all get out. The plan was to keep a horrible chair in the office so I’d have to avoid spending all day working. It forces me to get up and take breaks. Of course since I’m always waiting until the last minute to actually sit down and write the plan doesn’t usually play out as formulated.  Instead, I’m working my way to needing a good, long soak in the jacuzzi tub to recover from my paper writing.

And since I’m supposed to be going out to dinner with R&R Friday evening I’ll likely be in similar shape tomorrow night after finishing the paper for my MilPsych class. That’s it then. I’m off to take a short break to exercise then back to the salt mines to work on the second paper.  If I can complete 50% of it tonight, I should be in great shape to have it submitted before I toddle off to dinner with R&R Friday evening.

Hmmm. I wonder if I can convince them to come to karaoke after dinner?  It has been a while since they’ve come out to sing…

I go back to the doctor’s tomorrow to be poked and prodded, questioned (grilled?), weighed and measured. Hopefully I won’t be found lacking. A large chunk of the day is going to be spent completing round two of my interview to become a patient. After all is said and done I’ll be trying to finish off at least one of my two papers tomorrow before I return to work on Thursday.

At some point I’m going to have to bite the bullet and buy a student copy of SPSS. I’m not having much luck finding it for less than $100 but it certainly would come in handy in my Stats class. Perhaps my student advisor will have good news when she replies to my email about student licensing. Keep your fingers and toes crossed.

Off to toddle on my treadmill and work off lunch. Or sleep. Sleep would be good. Yeah. Sleep. There’s a great plan. Zzzzzzz.

Was a great weekend overall. Not being a fan of NFL football I skipped the Superbowl but still got to keep up with details through the magic of Twitter. Don’t get me wrong. I’d watch the game if the Canadian channels carried the US commercials. Since they don’t I spent my time completing readings for class and getting assignments done. I still have lots more to do – especially since I have two papers due by Friday – but I’m starting to catch up again.

There’s always hulu.com for the US commercials. Got to love the interwebs.

Got a call from Drew this evening which always tops of my Sunday evenings. I may get two calls this week a he purchased a calling card this week to get extra minutes.

Drew received the second home move CD and, unlike the first one, he was able to view the videos. So whatever went wrong on the first CD burn didn’t occur on the second. Next weekend I’ll likely start converting the video we recorded at Celt-X last night. I can’t convert it during the week because the process pretty much takes over my laptop and renders it unusable for 8 plus hours. I need it to write papers during the week more than I need to send Drew videos. Sorry Drew.

An interesting email popped into my inbox this afternoon which resulted in my NOT working today. Can’t say I was too disappointed since I was able to spent those hours on school work. Tomorrow will be filled with meetings and conversations I’m sure.

Thanks to all the package fairies, Drew’s got a good supply of books to read and use to improve the library at Canada House. Good to know that lots of personnel will be able to pick out something to read other than bodice rippers. Perhaps they should name the new improved library after the donors. Something Gaelic might be appropriate as the bulk of the donors were pipers and drummers.

Queue the ever expanding ego.

If Drew can swing it we think we know what the mom’s will be getting for Christmas. Nothing like building up a sense of anticipation many months in advance.

Off to watch Rebus before I totter off to sleep. Night all.

Heading to Celt-X soon an am looking forward to a night out with friends. The Boys of St James Gate are providing the entertainment and they always put on an awesome show. Pat is doing the toast to the Haggis again. Drew has yet to see it but Im sure some day he will.

Loxley is coming to ferry me to the big event. It’s a huge cab ride for me to get there and back and I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage both ways. Since Loxley is chauffeuring me there it’s all going to work out. The return trip via cab fits the budget I set for the night out. Well, it does if Dr. D lives up to his promises 🙂

Got a package and letter from Drew today. He sent me a fabulous wooden bowl and some linens from a market in Kandahar. I got a kick out of the fact that the package contained linens cause I bought so many when I was living in India and Drew kinda wondered why. They’re woven, really beautiful and so soft. I believe you can learn much about a culture by learning about their textiles and how they’re manufactured. Oh and he sent a killer Tshirt that I’m planning to wear out to Celt-X tonight.

Which reminds me, I need to check the camcorder batteries are charged and get everything ready to go for tonight.

The afternoon trip to the doctor’s was pretty uneventful. He asked some questions and told me to make an appointment next week. I think he may take me on, since he’s asked me to come back to have a physical and take my family history. Then he says “we’ll see”. I’m going to take that as a good sign for now.

Gotta go change and make my self all beautiful for the night out. Hope your Saturday is as much fun as I know mine will be. Now the morning after experience will be evil. But hey, everyone needs to suffer through a well earned hangover once a year. I’m just getting mine out of the way early.