First off, I've been filling in MyFeeds at BlogLines and I'm finding that to be a very productive way to keep up with various information sources. If anything is going to prompt me to at least get syndication going here, it's that sort of stuff. I'm not quite as pleased with My Yahoo since I think they've left a whole lot of stuff on the table as far as features, but we can't all move in internet time. MyFeed is Here if you're curious.

I've also got an account with del.icio.us, which I think might come in handy with a web-enabled cell phone. I was also checking out Syndic8 and Technocrati, but I have to admit I'm not quite sure what to make of those sites just yet.

I suspect some pieces of those things above will appear in sidebar blocks on this site. At least the blogroll from BlogLines, and perhaps some links and stuff like that. I'm feeling really slow as I look around at all of the effort people put into their various blogs and special interest sites and whatnot. Like we say, though, 2005 is a whole new year.

Now, a brief word on interviews. If you are interviewing someone and you ask them to fly from where they live to meet with you, and you decide that you aren't going to hire that person for whatever reason, you still have to pick up their plane ticket. If the candiate is mediocre at best, well, maybe pick up half, but it shows zero class to allow someone to pay their own way to meet with you and you leave them hanging. That person will, in the hand, be better off not working for you. And if you're the candidate, do as much of the interview on the phone as possible before you commit to traveling, and get a promise up front for the fare. Again, if the person interviewing you doesn't want to spend the money for you to travel to meet with them, that is a big, red flag. Enough said.

Finally, I signed up with MeetUp.com on Wednesday and found a Phoenix Slashdot group that was to meet on Thuresday night. I RSVPed and headed out for the 15-minute drive, only to discover that I couldn't find the place. In the end, I had confused Via Linda Ave with Via de Ventura Ave, and while I was around the former, the designated meeting spot was at the latter (I was on the right cross street, theough, which is totally annoying). Since only the meeting organizer and myself had RSVPed, I feel doubly-bad, since I seem like a flake now, but I had to bail after I was 30 minutes late... I just felt bad at that point, though it wasn't until I got back home and checked the map link for the meetup that I found my error.

So here's what I found out. The meeting was at a coffee shop called Village Coffee Roastery. They have a website and everything. I happen to have MyYahoo! bookmarked in my cell phone, so I stopped at one point and tried to search in the Yaho o Local search for "Village Coffee" to see if I could get a map or the website link or anything (in my defense, Meetup.com opened the shop url in a chrome-less window, so I didn't see the url until I came back). Well, MyYahoo returned zero results! Clearly I need to add MeetUp.com to my bookmark list if I try this again.