Tweeting can be lonely.

Many of the people in my personal tribe are not what you call “digital natives.” We can’t really help it. We were born before there was anything digital to be native about. We are the people who had to think like application developers to use early word processors. Insert the wrong code and you got 24 pt. ital. bookman rather than 10 pt. roman courier.

So last night, while enjoying some non-digital food, drinks and laughs around a very non-digital table under non-digital stars by a non-digital fire, my tribemates might be forgiven for striking the above pose as I began to evangelize on the virtues of Twitter.

Ah me. How to explain how cool it was on Monday morning to be a digital hanger-on to Mayo Clinic’s Transform, “a collaborative symposium on innovations in health care experience and delivery.” As Clayton Christensen delivered the keynote, tweeters in the room delivered key points from his talk. Tweeters at their desks around the country began a conversation of 140-character posts, many of them containing links to enlightening, related information — all of them representing thinkers and explorers who might be worth following in their own right.  All this by simply monitoring content under Twitter hashtag #txfm09.

If you’ve never tried this, and you’d like to, Mayo’s own social media guru, Lee Aase, explains how to get started at his Social Media University Global. Check out his Twitter curriculum.

But out here, I’m probably preaching to many members of the tweeting choir with much more experience than I. I’ll just have to keep working on the rest.

Lunch break

This could happen to you. A pie. And schmutz on your phone.

The wall between work and home can get pretty thin when you work at home and when your home contains your work.

That wall got squeezed to the limit of “thin” last week, when what you see  above really happened. Keys, notepad, highlighter, cell phone and pen dangerously close to a dusting of flour on the kitchen island.

It all started in July, when Little Fire begged for her favorite pie, the family chocolate cream. This is a pie that’s even a favorite of the seven-year-old in the house, who eats little more than hot dogs, cheesy broccoli and bread. This is the pie that always disappears first no matter how many newfangled recipes show up at the big family Thanksgiving gathering.

So it’s not just pie. It’s a celebration. But July evaporated. August got kind of busy.  School started. And still no chocolate pie. Finally, a window in my schedule. Over the lunch hour on a Monday. All ingredients in the fridge, even the whipping cream (How often do you find whipping cream in your fridge?)

Oops. Free webinar on reaching the small group market at exactly the same time.

Hmmmm. Laptop. High-speed wireless. Let’s make pie and learn about social marketing. A cup of sugar and a couple tablespoons of cornstarch. An occasional note about new segmentation methods. Cook 2 minutes while stirring constantly. Roll eyes wondering how people who know so little get so much exposure.

In the end. A heavenly pie. Even if, due to multi-tasking (which Professor Biker claims does not really exist), I forgot to add extra chocolate. But the egg yolks didn’t curdle. And it set up just right.

All in all, an hour well-spent.

Marilyn’s Chocolate Pie:

Combine in saucepan: (I sometimes sift these together to make extra sure of zero lumps)

1 c. sugar

1/3 c. flour

1/4 t. salt

Stir in:

2 1-oz squares unsweetened chocolate, melted (I often add a half to one square more, and, yes, the mix will seem weird and pasty.)

Add, then bring to boil and cook 2 minutes:

2 c. whole milk (can use lowfat or evap. too)

Remove from heat, then add a little of the heated mix to:

3 slightly beaten egg yolks

Cook mixture 2 minutes longer. Then stir in:

2 T. butter

1 t. vanilla

Let cool with was paper resting on surface of pudding to prevent skin from forming on top. Can refrigerate. Then spoon into baked pie shell. Top with whipped cream.