I had planned to hit the ground running after the ASAE Technology Conference and post not only my notes but also a lot of associated thoughts, learnings and observations. That was until I got home. My entire family has been sidelined with a pretty nasty virus.

Stay tuned, as I am going to do my best to get my thoughts posted in the next day or two.

Earlier this week, I posted on how I felt text messaging had reached a tipping point. Today, I found a recent post from David Pogue of the New York Times on The Next Generation of Online Shorthand and thought it was a fitting extension to my original post. We’re all familiar with text shorthand such as LOL, OMG, BRB, and AFK, and anybody that texts, twitters or IM’s on a regular basis knows just how convenient the shortcuts really are. However, the problem is, as Pogue states: “they are pretty ancient.”

He set out to create a updated list of online shorthand with the help of two of his summer interns. They surfaced a number of keepers like:

• GI — Google it
• MOP — Mac or PC?
• FCAO — five conversations at once
• IIOYT — is it on YouTube?
• DYFH — did you Facebook him/her?
• CMT (CMF, CMM, CMB) — check my Twitter (Facebook, Myspace, blog)
• CYE (CYF, CYM, CYB) — check your email (Facebook, Myspace, blog)

They went on to also create some specifically for iPhone owners.

• SPLETS — send pics later; Edge too slow
• CSVUI — can’t send video, using iPhone
• BPWMI — boss playing with my iPhone
• SIK — sorry, iPhone keyboard
• OOM — out of messages (for iPhone users who haven’t upgraded their AT&T “200 messages a month” plan)

And for all of the parents out there who saw the following commercial and thought the mom and daughter were speaking a foreign language:

They even formulated some shorthand specifically for parents. My favorites from that list:

• NIWYM — no idea what you mean
• NCK — not a chance, kid
• AYD? — are you drunk?
• LODH — log off, do homework
• DYMK? — does your mother know?

It’s not really the most productive post that I have done in a while, but I found the abbreviations to be a great Friday afternoon distraction. Check out the David’s full list at the NYTimes website. My only question is: should we add some of our own to the list? Knowing that Bmart is pretty proficient with his phone and does like to txt, I bet he has more than a few.

As we near the end of the summer Fridays will obviously take a turn for the more serious. Gone are the half-days or ditching-out a little early to head to the mountains or the beach. In the spirit of fun, I thought I’d share an multi-player game that I just found.

Just Letters

Think of it as refrigerator magnets gone astray. There really is no point other than to try to make words before the other players take your letters away. It’s a total timesink but it is a lot of fun and safe for work.