My Follow Philosophy

Everyone has his or her own policy about following people on Twitter. Here’s mine: I follow accounts that speak to my personal and/or professional interests. They can be news feeds; fellow entertainment and media types; punsters; those who share my hobbies and passions; public figures I admire; friends of friends. But there’s always a specific reason and intent that I follow. I don’t automatically follow back everyone who follows me, for a number of reasons:

Interests are asynchronous. Just because I’m interested in what you have to tweet doesn’t mean you’re interested in what I tweet. The reverse holds true. We’re all grownups (or should be). I do generally reply to people who @ me even if I’m not following them. The reverse often holds true. It’s not a matter of hurting feelings. It’s just life.

Many of the accounts that (attempt to) follow me are spammers or bots. It’s easy enough to determine this; on the email notification about the follow, they have few to no followers, few to no tweets, and are following hundreds of people. Not only don’t they get a follow back, they get an automatic block.

The best tools in the world won’t help you sip from a fire hose. Unless you’re spending all day on Twitter (and I know some do), it’s just not possible to follow the tweets of several thousand – or tens of thousands – of people. You could decide to pay attention only to the ones who mention you, of course, but you can do that without following them. You can separate them into groups in a 3rd-party app like TweetDeck- but you could do the same thing by creating a list and checking it periodically. And you don’t need to be following someone to add them to a list.

Indiscriminate following leads to spams and auto-DMs. Most of the people I see complaining about spams and DMs are people who follow everyone who follows them, or who follow accounts without regard to the “quality” of the account.

Privacy. Anyone you follow can send you a DM. My preference is to limit that channel of communication to the extent possible.

Should everyone practice this philosophy? Not necessarily. Anyone using Twitter as a customer service tool shouldn’t, for example. Many customers prefer to communicate via direct message – and many companies would prefer that grievances be aired through private channels.

However, this is the way I currently manage my twitter feed with respect to follows. What’s yours?

CAR! by Gary Larson

One of my favorite cartoons, ever:

Some favorite recipes

For the past five months, my husband and I have been eating a largely vegan diet. I know that saying “largely vegan” is akin to saying “somewhat pregnant,” so let’s just say that we severely limit the amount of animal product we eat, and save it for very special occasions. Let it be known: I will NEVER give up cheese entirely!

So, most of what we eat is comprised of fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains – you know, things that don’t have to have an ingredient list when you buy them. My friend Martha Stroud asked me to post links to some of my favorite healthful recipes and here they are.

Soup Au Pistou

Yellow peppers Stuffed with Quinoa, Corn and Feta Cheese

Spinach and Zucchini Soup

Quinoa Mushroom Pilaf

Quinoa Salad with Lime + Fresh Mint

Three-Bean Salad

“California Roll” Salad

Lemon-Roasted Green Beans with Marcona Almonds

Not available online is our favorite vegetarian chili recipe, which is in Anna Thomas’ book Love Soup.

The other front garden

Flowers in the front garden

Corkage

Once upon a time, my husband and I published a wine newsletter called Swirl Wine News. (We plan to resurrect it as a blog someday… more on that another time.)

This afternoon on Twitter, a lively discussion broke out among several of us about corkage policies at restaurants. It brought to mind a piece we published in our July/August 2003 issue, reproduced below. (Keep in mind that the restaurants and prices cited are from seven years ago!) I’d love your thoughts about corkage (really); please add them in the comments.

The ABCs of BYO

Many restaurants will let customers bring their own wine with them to dinner, usually charging a “corkage” fee to offset the costs of the server opening and serving your wine, the use and cleaning of the stemware, etc. However, bringing your own is definitely not as simple as grabbing the closest bottle and heading out the door. Here’s how it should be done (and what you should definitely NOT do).

DOs

1. Bring your own wine for the right reason. Good reasons to BYO are:

• You’re celebrating a special occasion for which youve saved (or bought) a bottle.
• It’s not a special occasion, but you’ve got a rare, unusual or favorite wine that’s not available at the restaurant to which you’re headed.

2. Call ahead to find out the restaurant’s corkage policies and fees. Some simply don’t allow it. Among those that do, fees vary widely. Typical charges are $5-15 per bottle, but that’s not always the case. Some places set high corkage fees to discourage the pracrtice; Aureole, in Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Hotel, charges $35 per bottle. Calling ahead is respectful, and will prevent you from being embarrassed when you arrive or shocked when you leave.

3. Share. Offer a taste of your wine to the sommelier and/or your server. They’ll appreciate the gesture, particularly if your bottle is uncommon. Your generosity will help pave the way the next time you want to BYO.

4. Be a good customer. Regular customers are the lifeblood of restaurants, as they are for any business. If a restaurant knows you dine there often and introduce others to the place, they’ll ooften waive your corkage fee.

5. Tip fairly. Many servers depend on tips for their income, and most tips are based on a dinner bill that includes wine. When you bring you r own, the server has to do just as much work as if you were buying off the restaurant’s list. Take that into consideration when deciding how much of a tip to leave.

6. Be a good sport. If you’re drinking more than a bottle, buy the second one off the restaurant’s list. Some restaurants, like Rockenwagner in Santa Monica, will waive the corkage fee if you do so.

7. Go out of your own way. If you want to drink your wine chilled or have it decanted, ask the restaurant if you can bring it in ahead of time. They can arrange for the sommelier to serve your wine at the desired temperature, or decant your bottle the requisite 30 to 60 minutes before you expect to drink it. Again, remember to tip appropriately.

DON’Ts

1. Never bring a wine on the restaurant’s list. As the front of the award winning list at Thee Bungalow in Ocean Beach, CA admonishes: “If it’s on our list, put it back in your car.” If you’re not sure, a simple phone call ahead of time (or a check of the restaurant’s web site, if they publish their list on it) can answer the question.

2. Think twice, if not thrice, about bringing your own wine to a restaurant renowned for its wine list. It can be an affront to the restaurauteur who’s spent six figures (or more!) assembling a stellar cellar if you bring your own bottle. Unless you’ve got a darned good reason (or wine), leave yours at home and take advantage of the restaurant’s bounty.

3. Corkage isn’t a way to avoid paying ‘restaurant prices.’ Bringing your own isn’t a license to whip out something cheap or readily available. A good rule is that the wine you bring with you should cost at least as much as the corkage fee.

4. Limit your BYO wine to a bottle or two. Some restaurants simply place a limit on the number of bottles you can bring. Others don’t, but a restaurateur we know recoiled with horror while recounting tales of one customer who lugged in a grocery bag full of bottles, and another who actually brought a full case. That’s simply abusing the privilege.

5. Don’t act entitled. Corkage isn’t a right; it’s a courtesy extended by those restaurateurs who choose to do so. In some places, local regulations forbid the practice altogether and impose stiff penalties on establishments that break the rules. If your favorite bistro doesn’t allow it, go with the flow and enjoy a glass or bottle off their list.

The Guppy, by Ogden Nash

Whales have calves,
Cats have kittens,
Bears have cubs,
Bats have bittens,
Swans have cygnets,
Seals have puppies,
But guppies just have little guppies.

Amazon.com: The Best of Ogden Nash.

swissmiss | Tea Sub

How freaking cute is this???

swissmiss | Tea Sub.