Ordinary Maine

Every once in a while you see something and wonder what the thinking process is behind the scenes. Life is complicated and often there are no easy answers, but sometimes someone just needs to ask. I am hoping this will become the first of many such entries in by blog.

Many in Westbrook know that the neighborhood from Spring Street over to Saco Street is considered a rough part of town. It could be worse, it could be better, but it is what it is. Anyone who spends any time in this area knows it is teeming with children. Children just ready to explore places like this. The night it burned the fire department pulled it's firefighters out because the floor was unstable.

Now I understand that this area is prone to car theft, vandalism and the occasional murder, but how safe is this situation? I would hate to be the person wondering why this building was not torn down until after a child was killed. I am the last person to wants to see the government interfere with private property rights, however seven months is clearly enough time to get this situation rectified.

This leaves me to wonder a few things:

1) What happens in the winter when this building becomes a haven for the homeless?

2) If the above happens how will we react if a firefighter gets injured fighting another fire here?

of course I saved the best for last......

3) Do you think this kind of situation would be tolerated on Oakland St, Munroe St or Berkeley St?

The first two are pretty straight forward. I will let you all figure out why I asked the last question.

The key factor in determining what kind of program I would use is my cell phone. I use a Motorola Droid Pro with the Android OS. This is important because I want my cell phone to have access to the same features available via the world wide web. I settled on a program called HootSuite which is available for free on the internet with mobile apps for Android OS, Iphone and Blackberry.

I am getting a little deeper into the program as I write this report. So far I have successfully linked my Facebook and twitter accounts with my HootSuite account. This allowed me to post updates to either social network or multiple networks at the same time. There is a great scheduling function that allows users to create updates and choose a specific time in the future to have that update posted. This has some really interesting potential for social media networking and marketing.

My newest experiment is connecting an RSS feed to HootSuite. This blog entry is, in fact, my first foray into that connection. If all goes right, this post will be made available for viewing by people who can view my Facebook and twitter accounts. The ability to connect all these social networks and RSS feeds with one web-based application is awesome. That I am able to get the same functionality with my cell phone is even better.

I am currently using the free version of HootSuite and in all honesty it meets my needs. My next move with this program will be to explore its report capabilities. At the moment all I can tell you is that the pro version of HootSuite has far better report capabilities than the one I am using. I guess it is a good thing I have what I want and need for now with the free version.

Well, here goes nothing.........

It has been a long time since I posted here on Ordinary Maine and I hope to start making regular posts. My intent when I started this blog back in 2008 was to focus on photography. Specifically the photography that embodies the sights I encounter in my travels in this great State. I hope you will join me as I rediscover that wonder.