It's funny how circular the web can be.  This morning I was looking for people to add to my dailymile.com friends list.  I saw a user’s icon that I recognized and clicked to view his profile.  My click was prompted by lingering curiosity from last week.  I had followed this person on Twitter.  The individual is both a runner and someone in the tech field; it seemed like a relevant fit.  A few minutes later I received a direct message thanking me for the follow and referencing our common interest in running.  Interesting, I’d never been thanked for following before.  My first thought was, “Hmm, nice touch.”  My second thought was, “Has some sort of Twitter etiquette, no doubt labeled ‘Twetiquette’, evolved that encourages these social graces?”  I didn’t have time to reply at the time, but made a mental note to do so later.  That night I saw a tweet in the person’s feed, a blip.fm song reference about which I made an @reply comment.  Then I typed out a direct message and sent it off only to be told that I can’t send a direct message to someone who is not following me.  Strange.  I checked my small list of followers and, yep, I’d been quit.  Had the delay in my response to the afternoon’s direct message offended?  Now I felt like a lout, especially after making a presumably unwelcome @reply.  Better to just un-follow and move on.

Return to this morning where I’m reading through this person’s blog from the dailymile profile click through.  The second post catches my eye because it mentions Twitter and Qwitter.  Qwitter I learn is a service that will let you know when people stop following you.  And not only that but also the tweet you made immediately preceding when they stopped following.  That way you can parse your 140 or less characters to get a glimpse into the quitter's psyche.  Honestly, people, it’s just Twitter.  Is this kind of thing really necessary?  Before you say “Well of course not, Will” read on because at the end of his post there I was.  He was apologizing for having offended me to the point that I would quit him, complete with “Brokeback Mountain” reference.  Huh?

Well, as it turns out I hadn’t been quit.  I had mentally checked the box that said this person had followed me when I received the direct message when in fact he had not.  (I backtracked through my email trash and found no ‘This person is following you on Twitter’ message.)  I had not offended him by not responding, and he had not un-followed me.  I suppose I never would have made this mistake if I’d been using Qwitter because I would not have received a ‘This person is no longer following you on Twitter’ email.  Foolproof clarity for free.

My wife makes fun of me for using Twitter.  I can't say that I blame her, especially after wasting half an hour writing this post.  For me Twitter wanes while dailymile.com waxes.  I’m looking for camaraderie not an audience – not that having an audience is bad.  You’re reading this now.  Will I Qwit Twitter?  No, I’m going to stick with it for now.  I have some friends that are traveling overseas and they decided to use Twitter as a low bandwidth intensive way of sharing their experience.  After that, who knows?  It’s not every day that you get have this kind of convoluted misunderstanding with a person you’ve never met.

I took the afternoon off on Tuesday to got to Frankfort.  My wife had made the trip to the state capitol last week to get the necessary seals for our adoption paperwork.  China requires certifications for the required documents as opposed to apostilles.  We initially received apostilles, but found out only after sending the paperwork via FedEx overnight to D.C. at great expense that we should have gotten certifications.  This is our fourth time through the China paper chase and each time there are new documents or variations in the process.  So back came the documents and it was now my turn to head to Frankfort. 

Until Tuesday I had not been to Frankfort and have only been to Louisville a few times, but I knew there were other parks and trails in the Frankfort/Louisville area.  If I was going to take the day off from work to make the trip I figured that was a good excuse to also find a trail run in the area.  A quick search turned up Capitol View Park conveniently located along my route.  The trial map on the site was too small to be of much use, but I found a larger version on another site. 

After getting the certifications on the paperwork I took them to a nearby FedEx office and sent them on their way.  Then it was time to run.  I found the park on the East West Connector and parked at the kiosk.  From there I followed the notes on the trail map that direct you to proceed through the parking lots to “The First Section”.  I actually overshot that trailhead and ended up heading down the double track and hoping onto the section of trail that runs along the upper perimeter of the map.  I went to the right and found myself on the abandoned railroad bed that took me back to the kiosk.  Realizing what I had done, I simply turned around and retraced my steps, moving counterclockwise as suggested.  After a full circuit of the park I grabbed a quick drink and bite at the car and ran clockwise this time, skipping the long loop that runs behind the library building.  I picked up the trailhead of “The First Section” this time around.  All told I covered about 12 miles of great trail under a blue sky.

If you go note that the trails are marked better in some areas than others.  Also, there a few details like side trails and intersections not included on the map so you may have to feel your way along, exploring, to make sure you’re on the main course if want to get the full mileage out of the park.  That’s part of the fun though.