Conner's Blog

My friend Doniree wrote a post about the Cocktail Question a few weeks ago.  I loved this post and it’s one I think everyone should read.  The premise of her post really hit home with me this weekend.  I went to Unsummit and while meeting a bunch of great people, as expected, the Cocktail question kept coming up.  For those that don’t know me, I’m an insurance adjuster by day.  But this doesn’t define me at all.  It’s what I do for a living, I work hard while I’m at work and enjoy my job, but once I walk out those office doors, or the clock reads 4:30, I’m done.

The problem I have is defining what I do.  I’m obviously a blogger, a social media nut, a photographer, and an overall web nut.  I’m also occasionally a web programmer and designer, a sports fan, and a beer geek.  I’m a pretty decent cook and a budding baker.

So I can tell you what I love, and what I do for a living, but when asked the question, what do you do I’m honestly not sure how to answer.  I hate saying I work for an insurance company.  I’m not ashamed of my job,  I love that it gives me the opportunities it does, but among peers who I want to connect with it doesn’t say what I want it to say.  My passions pull me in many directions, one day I’m working on building a WordPress powered site, the next I’m tinkering with some other tool.  I’m a web host for myself, the family help desk, the office computer guy, and a passable Linux admin.  I have 500+ followers on Twitter for reasons that continue to elude me, a blog that gets less than around 2k page views  a month, and a strong opinion that social media is something you can’t do wrong unless you are a local news organization that has no idea what they are doing.

The best answer I’ve come up with for who I am is that I’m just a geek.  I’m someone who knows how to get the most out of whatever tool you put in front of me.  I pursue new experiences and new hobbies constantly, I get the basics down and then move on to the next experience.  I love to communicate with people whatever their background.  But really I’m just a geek, a guy who can have a conversation about almost anything, who loves being challenged, and tends to get animated and overly excited when talking about something I’m passionate about. (This is so bad I no longer let myself engage with passenger when I’m driving, and absolutely refuse to talk on the phone for more than a minute)

Somehow though, I think telling people I’m just a geek isn’t going to get me very far.  It’s a bit broad and unfortunately carries a somewhat negative connotation in some circles.  So I’m working on defining myself.  I’m not sure how I’ll do this, but for now I just stick with I’m Conner McCall and keep my answer to the Cocktail question an ever changing one.

I’m not trying to ignore you.  I know it feels like I am lately, but I really think about you all the time.  The problem is that I just don’t feel like anything interesting has happened to me lately.  Now don’t take that to mean I’m sitting at home watching TV and not leaving the house.  It’s actually the exact opposite.  I’ve been having a blast.  Last weekend I went tubing at Afton Alps, spent the evening at PF Changs and Southdale.  In fact I almost ran into a fellow Twitterer at the Apple Store.  That had been preceded by a Tweetup at Grumpy’s where I met a group of people I knew from the Internet only and who I now know in what some call real life (like it’s better than Twitter, ha).

Speaking of Grumpy’s, apparently I put that on my MN todo list so that has been crossed off.  It was definitely a cool place. Of course since they serve Surley that could have been part of it’s charm.  Anytime you have a Furious or a Bender in hand your going to be apt to consider your location downright awesome.  I wasn’t as happy with the mini-tacos as I thought I would be.  I guess my tastes have changed since high school.

I also went back to the Herk on Tuesday this week.  I didn’t eat again as I has just spent the weekend eating out, but the beer was good again.  I hung out with Drew and a few of his friends who were playing shuffleboard.  I was only in uptown because I was looking at a new apartment.  Which brings me to the next thing I have going on, I’m trying to find a new place to live.  Though my current living situation is good, it’s time to move on.  I’m looking for a one bedroom or a large studio, somewhere near uptown or downtown.  I’ve only looked at one place, and I’m going to take my time.

Last night was another great night, I started out at the ACME comedy club, meeting with a new young professionals group that I had developed a website for.  I will admit to not being overwhelmed by the presentation that was being given, but as I ended up walking in late due to work and traffic I can’t judge it too harshly.  I met a few people, but I had the Twestival to get to and I was excited to meet some more of the people I communicate with daily in person.  So, after having a beer and chatting for a bit I headed up the road to Moto-i.  I had a blast hanging out with fellow Tweeple.  It’s nice to finally have a face to put to the tweets you read, and it’s fun adding people to your list after having a conversation instead of adding them based on their last two 140 character thoughts.

So yeah, I’ve been busy, but it isn’t an excuse to neglect you.  I remember chatting with Emily and Bill a bit regarding changing how you write due to getting more readers.  At the time I didn’t think I would fall into that trap, but as my reader count increased I started to try and be more interesting or funny.  But what I need to remember is the reason I started this site wasn’t to entertain everyone else, but to give me a place to write whatever I want.  I even put it in my About page.  So I’m going to try harder to attend to you more frequently that on Wednesdays.

Thanks for putting up with me.

Sincerely

Conner McCall