side3’s super-neato posterous land

So Shelley (@miche11e) and I were out doing some birthday shopping yesterday (it's her b-day today). 

Happy Birthday to my amazing wife!! 

• We stopped for some things at the only Wal-Mart in a 50 mile radius that we have not been in before (big surprise, it looked exactly like the other ones). 
• Shelley did not allow me to get the velcro sneakers once again. 
• Stopped at Starbucks, (for the record I am not a Starbucks fan). I got a Signature Hot Chocolate and Shelley got a White Chocolate something awful. 
• If you combine the Signature Hot Chocolate with the White Chocolate something awful, you get something I would call "Starbucks Classic Feet In a Cup with Cinnamon " 
• Had dinner at Applebee's and Shelley forced me to fill out some raffle thing, made me put my real name and write legibly. Needless to say, I ended up winning a free dinner that night. As it was her birthday she was quite chapped about it.
• We went to this outlet mall and they have a pond in the center of it. They had signs all around the pond.... All I could think of was "Beware of Ducks Pooping Little Ducks"
• Yes I am like a 5 yr old at times. 

       

Today I have the awesome pleasure of announcing today is my 1st wedding anniversary.

One year ago today Shelley and I took our vows with 20 close friends and family in Las Vegas. Although, I was all about the whole Elvis wedding.. we had a great pastor who performed the service.

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
 By any other name would smell as sweet." - Billy S.

I looked back on a twitter account I had setup in 2007 realized I had made one twitter entry and then never used it again.  I didn't get it. 

Perhaps, it was because there really wasn't anyone else was out there, or perhaps it was I didn't know what to say but it just kind of sat there.

In late '07 early '08 I started a blog called lightvox to share with people my love of music as ministry. As I started to scour the internet for information to pull together, I had noticed that a number of the artists that I enjoyed listening to had twitter accounts. I decided to create a new one called @lightvox to be able to follow along and provide "breaking news" from the Christian music industry. 

This led to a whole new identity for me but it was only a part of who I am. 

My twitter friends grew to some amazing people working in design, music, ministry and other random walks of life. Because of my @replies, recommendations of others or just randomness of my twitters, people found me and added me.

Now I am no twitter rockstar by any means, but as I was reading a blog post by someone that I follow (@maurilio) I realized that I was limiting my online identity to just one aspect of my life (an important part of my life) but limited just the same.  

My online identity is the closest to the sum total of whom I am. I share thoughts, pictures, video as an ever-growing collage of, well, me. My online friends, people whom I've only met throught my online persona, often say to me "I feel like I really know you." And, if they follow me on Twitter or Facebook, they probably do. Some might feel I share too much personal information, while others appreciate my transparency. However, my personal brand continues to grow and get exposure to people all over the globe. I could have been "Brazilio" or "LatinMan" if I were using the web for nefarious reasons. - Maurilio Amorim 

This post with some additional feedback from some other friends led me to change my @lightvox to @side3 (side3 being a nickname I have had for many years and also the name of my design firm)

I was a little nervous on the impact of changing a name that people knew, had recommended to others and was associated with all my online profiles but I think it is going to be a change for the better.

So with some additional advice from a posterous alltop member, I created this posterous blog to be the conduit, a personal space that links me the person, to my vocation and my passions and I am hoping that you will find this helpful.

Of course... I will still be posting the randomness of things like "Why my wife gets embarrassed when we go shopping in Target" but now, it may not seem as out of place to new people visiting Lightvox.com for information on the Christian music industry.

Thanks for your reading time, 

- Christopher (@side3)

I have been going back and forth on this issue of online identity and found this great post from Maurilio, owner of The A Group -  a marketing and media firm in TN. 

What's your online identity? 

-Christopher