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Next stop ... New York City

This weekend (June 2-3), I will be attending Book Expo America, dubbed the "premier event serving the U.S. book publishing industry." My primary reason for attending is that I'm currently working on a new workplace humor memoir, and I'm looking to meet agents and publishers to pitch my book. I am also interested in networking with others and compiling a list for reciprocal web links. At the minimum, I'll be visiting a new city, so I'm pretty hyped about that.

Oh, and of course, I'll be pitching "The Developers" and my newest project, "Polos to Ties," as I go.

Joke-telling not always easy on IM

IM tellin' takes a look at a bad joke gone .. er .. bad. It's important to note, however, that one great thing about chatting online is that you do have the capability to make up your own sound effects.

Ben: knock knock

Sean: I HAVE A DOORBELL

Ben: damnit

Ben: DING!

Sean: THAT SOUNDED MORE LIKE A MICROWAVE TIMER

Ben: damnit!!!!!!

Ben: DIIIIIING .... donnnnnng

Sean: haha

Spam worries being curtailed

Spam has arrived, so much so that it is now more widely ignored than ever before. People in general, according to a recent study by the Pew Internet and American Life project, receive more spam but don't seem to care too much about it.

A recent PC World article shows that the main reasons people don't see spam as a threat is because the volume of messages has decreased, along with the fact that people are becoming more knowledgeable regarding spam.

Hello bot, meet bot

Chatting with bots can be fun ... sort of strange, but fun. But what about bots chatting with each other? Can they determine that each other is not human?

Well, that's a tossup, but Discover Magazine tried to determine this particular item. ALICE and Jabberwacky have been chatting with people for quite some time now. And finally, they have been introduced.

Research help

As many of you are aware, I'm in the process of writing my second novel. This novel is closely based on my experience in the business world, so I'm currently rifling through various books on that topic.

From the Archive

Weeding out the pretenders not easy

Do you know how difficult it is to determine if a plant

growth is a weed or a flower after two weeks?

If you do not know, either you are a botantist or you've

never tried to plant seeds and watch them grow. I decided

about three weeks ago to plant three different types

of flowers, mainly because I never had before. I told

a friend I'm trying to teach myself patience. Watching

Fill out forms with fury

There comes a day in columnists' lives when they realize they have written

about everything they know anything about.

I realized this a couple years ago, after the fourth column, but now I'm running

out of things that I've even heard of. So instead of ranting and raving about

the commercialization of Valentine's Day or the plight of the American economy

or the Canadian women's curling team or the combination of the three, I decided

to dive deeper into the topic of forms.

Next stop: Gaithersburg, Md.

Although my summer signing schedule is pretty light, I will be in Gaithersburg, Md., in July for "The Developers." The event will take place at 2 p.m. July 8 at the Barnes and Noble (21 Grand Corner Ave.). I hope to discuss this book, as well as my new project, "Polos to Ties," which is keeping me mostly off the book tour circuit this year.

Get directions to the Gaithersburg Barnes and Noble here

Stalking, IM style

People who use instant messenger services occasionally receive chat requests from people they don't have on their buddy list. Usually these messages are from random people or lost friends and mean no harm. Every once in awhile, though, a message will pop up from your IM stalker.

The results are in -- I do have readers

After tallying the results of my informal questionnaire two weeks ago, I stumbled onto some startling results.

People actually read my column!

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