Do You Try to Win Conversations?
Conversations aren’t battlefields. There aren’t winners and losers. But that doesn’t stop us from trying. Today I was having a conversation over e-mail with a few colleagues about an issue that arose at work. There were many different sides to the story, several layers of miscommunication, and dropped balls by several people. Overall, we were [...]
What’s Your Favorite Song Right Now?
I love this question, and I want to ask it more often. It’s an infinitely better question than, “What kind of music do you like?” That question is way too broad. It’s like asking what kind of food you like or what you like to do in your free time. There are too many possible [...]
Mr. and Mrs. Fix-It
I was chatting with a few people at the exclusive soft opening of a new local pie restaurant (see how I just dropped that in there? I make myself sound SO important) when the topic of fixing things came up. I had never considered “fixing things” as a good conversation topic, but it’s actually great [...]
Pet Peeve #41: TMI
I really enjoy open and vulnerable conversation. To me, there are no limits on conversation topics unless they start to make someone uncomfortable. I’m very aware of the latter–I truly don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable or offend anyone. Every once in a while I encounter a conversationalist who will seem to intentionally push people’s [...]
What You Do When You Get Nervous on a Date
During my recent 3-month nonstop dating adventure, I realized that there are three types of people out there (I could say “two types of women, because my sample group is all female, but I’m pretty sure this applies to guys too): People who talk too much when they get nervous on a date, people who [...]
The Future of Electronic Conversations: The Solution
The vase majority of blogs have comments at the end of the entry, making them seem like an afterthought. They’re not an afterthought—they’re just as important as the entry! Thankfully, someone realized this. That someone is an organization called the Institute for the Future of the Book. The Institute invented a new blog format, a [...]
The Future of Electronic Conversations: The Problem
Two months ago, I started using the Google Blogger instead of the LiveJournal Platform. I didn’t regret that choice until yesterday. Several people who read my LiveJournal blog have told me that they didn’t like the move because it made it harder for them to post comments on my blog. And it is harder. But [...]
