Love

Although its delivery was unremarkable, particularly after the eloquence of President Obama, I found Elizabeth Alexander's inaugural poem, striking in its message, relevance, elegance and simplicity.

This line will stay time with me for years to come:

"... What if the mightiest word is love,
love beyond marital, filial, national.
Love that casts a widening pool of light.
Love with no need to preempt grievance..."

A few more Twitter tips

For many, myself included, getting started on twitter involved a bit of a learning curve. So, when a friend told me the other day that he was going to get started on twitter, I found myself writing a long response, as if to preemptively get him over the learning curve "hump." Below are highlights from the email, just in case you too are giving Twitter a try (or another try).

For me, the value of Twitter increased as I identified what, how, and who I found most useful on Twitter.

1) What style of updates I find most useful:

People use Twitter in a variety of ways. Some (such as DC Concierge) offer a blend of personal and "informational" tweets, whereas others, say politico or Washingtonian, send out solely informational tweets. On both accounts, its a matter of taste and what type of info you enjoy consuming. I love people watching, so I enjoy the more personal updates as well informational ones.

2) How best to receive updates:

Twitter can be used as just a web based platform, or you can have upates sent direclty to your phone. In my opinion, Twitter is relatively useless and overwhelming if you use it just on its own platform, but web based gadgets like Twitter Gadget, or desktop software like tweetdeck and twhirl help make twitter useful, if the idea of more crap on your phone scares you ;-)

3) Finding and following the right folks:

Like the two points above, this is an iterative process, an definitely a matter of personal taste. Here are some of my personal favorites:

• Fred Wilson: Fred is my favorite VC and blogger. I find him incredibly forward thinking, compassionate, and with his finger on the pulse of trends in tech and finance. He blogs at www.avc.com

Local DCers:

• Washingtonian
• DC Concierge
• Peter Corbett
  
• Technotheory
• Matt Stempeck
  

Tech Mavens:

• Loic Le Muer
• Tech Crunch
  
• Venture Beat
• JeanLucr
• Guy Kawasaki
• mavindigital
  

Finance:

• Mark Reiboldt
• Howard Lindzon (founder of stocktwits, an example of a very cool use of twitter!)
  

Raw Foodism/ general wisdom:

• Dhrumil

Finally, a few random notes:

1) Twitter has its own language that takes some getting used to # is an aggregator, @username is how you refer to other users (so that they are tagged in the tweet), d username is how you send a message directly to a user, and rt or retweet is how you can forward along tweets of others you find interesting.

2) I recomend using bit.ly or tinyurl, so that you can refer to links in your tweets

3) Check out twitdom for a database of twitter related applications

4) For further resources, check out:

• a quick blog post I wrote on twitter (includes some useful links)
  
• TwitTip (highly recommend)

Do you have any other tips or guidance for new twitter users? Who are your favorite folks to follow?

Decandence for around a dollar

A few weeks ago I discovered young coconuts, an absolutely decadent treat that had been under my nose all along! Young coconuts are available in the DC area at Whole Foods, for just $2.50 each.

Here are some of my favorite uses so far. The best part is, just one coconut will yield all three!

Coconut Water: Coconut water is slightly sweet, deliriously fragrant and full of nutrients and electrolytes. With all due respect to Harvest Bay (and other makers of boxed coconut water), there is *nothing* like drinking the water straight out of the coconut (nature's box, if you will ;). I was also amazed at how much water each young coconut contained. I giggle with joy each time I thwack one open!

In addition to drinking straight, try blending with a touch of coconut meat, the juice from 1/4 lime, a touch of cayenne and a splash of sweetener (I use agave).

Exfoliating scrub: Blend together one part coconut meat with one part water. After its thoroughly blended, add in Epsom salt (which is known for is detoxing properties) til you have a grainy consistency. Voila!

Coconut meat pudding: Blend together one part coconut meat, one part water, one part chocolate (use organic syrup if you are feeling lazy ;) half part sweetener (I like agave), and a splash of vanilla. Blend until it has a pudding like consistency. Insanely good!

I would be remisc if I wrote a note about coconuts without mentioning how to open them. Believe me, its MUCH easier than you think! Essentially, thwack off the pointy part with a heavy knife or meat cleaver. Thats it! (But if you want a more thorough description, visit this play-by-play or watch this video)

For more information on young coconuts, check out these articles and blog posts:

• Young Coconuts by Priscilla at Foodielicious.com
• Health Benefits of Coconut Water
• Certified Organic young coconuts
• Several recipes, articles, etc at the Give it to me Raw community

Do you have any tips, tricks or recipes with young coconuts? And... any ideas on what to do with those shells (I have a growing collection!)? Leave 'em in the comments!

Ins and Outs

I decided 2009 was a good year to leave some gunk behind. This list practically wrote itself!

OUT	IN
Blame	Responsibility
Limited	Limitless
Saying No	Saying Yes
Perfection	Failure
Control	Ready
Regiment	Routines
Guilt	Gratitude
Binging	Savoring
Fear	Love
React	Observe
Avoid	Acknowledge
Debt	Abundance
Fitting In	Thriving among
Planning	Preparing
Dogma	Dharma
Obligation	Sincerity
Expectation	Gratitude
Lattes	Tea
ManiPedi's	SPAvecados
Buying	Bartering

What is on your Outs and Ins list?