Twitter User of The Week

The person who suggested @lolife was @Nylons and since she knows Michael so well, I asked her to write the introduction to this article:

There are those people you meet in your lifetime that change the course of it and Michael Koppelman is one of those people for me.  My professional relationship with Michael started about 14 years ago.  My friendship with him was immediate.  In the time I have called him friend and business partner he has been a teacher, a confidante, an advisor and, in a few special and irrational moments, my rent-a-husband.  Michael is, hands down, one of the most brilliant people I know.  His love of life and his love of learning inspires me and everyone around him.  Michael is a musician, a music producer, a composer, a scientist, a mathamagician, an astronomer, an engineer, an entrepreneur, an adventurer, a father, a husband and a friend.  And he embraces each of those roles with equal intensity.  He doesn’t do anything he doesn’t believe in.  We hear so much about the need for authenticity and some people are so deliberate about it.  Michael has always been one of the truest people I know.  In fact, he is fearless in his willingness to tell the truth.  He doesn’t care what people think.  He enjoys healthy debate.  He is even tempered and calm always.  When I need someone with whom to process complicated or stressful issues he is the first person I call.  When I need some zen-like balance in a room, he is the first person I call.  When I need additional, rational perspective, Michael is the man.  He calls himself lolife on Twitter.  Those of us who know him appreciate the irony.  He’s the antithesis of his Twitter handle. I’m fortunate to call him my friend.

Twitter User Of The Week Questions:

How do you use Twitter/What do you use Twitter for?

I use it solely to amuse myself. I don’t have any personal or professional goals with Twitter and I’m generally suspect of people who do.  It’s sort of like asking “What do you use your friends for?” I don’t use my friends, I have genuine relationships with them.

If you had the opportunity, what would you do improve Twitter?

I would do very little. The biggest risk to Twitter is that they try to improve it too much. It works so well because it is simple.

What do you like to do when you are not connected to the internet?

I play and record music, fly high-power rockets, get data at my astronomical observatory, play with my kids, a bit of gaming, a bit of biking, trying to learn Spanish, read lots of books…should I keep going?

What is your favorite website to visit other than Twitter, and why?

Google Analytics. I love that thing. I spend hours playing with web metrics for fun. For distraction-seeking I like popurls.com.

What attracts you to social media over traditional media?

I make friends there. While there is tons of potential for leveraging social media for business purposes,  it is friendship, in a very broad sense, that drives social media for me personally and, I suspect, for most people.

What is your favorite Laffy Taffy Joke (One-liner joke)?

There once was a guy who asked me what my favorite Laffy Taffy joke was…

What is a question to which you would answer: “D. All of the above”? And, what are A, B, & C?

Have you ever:

A. Worked in the studio with the musician Prince?
B. Observed a gamma-ray burst with your telescope?
C. Created the coolest f-ing company in the world?
D. All of the above.

What would you do if you had a time machine?

Kill the two mosquitos that Noah took on the Arc.

What is something that not a lot of people know about you but you WISH more people COULD know?

That I’m actually a fairly decent songwriter.

What song lyric sums up your life thus far?

Long you live and high you fly
Smiles you’ll give and tears you’ll cry
But all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be

What is the one thing that gets you out of bed every morning?

An undying ambition to amuse myself.

What is the first thing you do in the morning?

I try to guess what time it is. I’m almost always within a couple of minutes. I deplore waking up to an alarm.

If you weren’t doing what you are doing for a profession, what would you be doing?

Probably something in the music business, which was my first career, or in astrophysics, which may be my last career.

What’s the hardest lesson you’ve had to learn so far in your life?

Some people can’t be saved.

What’s an idea you have that, if implemented, could change the world?

Little pods that turn sunlight and water into hydrogen.

What drives you nuts?

Just about everything. I need a zoo to keep my pet peeves in.

What actor or actress would you want to play you in a movie about your life?

Viggo Mortenson, maybe? My wife suggests Javier Bardem.

What super power would you like to have?

Definitely “stop time”. Then I could get enough sleep and still do everything I want to do.

What question would you add to this list and what is your answer to it?

Q. What’s your favorite sexual position?
A. I find that offensive and refuse to answer.

Who should I write about in future weeks, and why?

@georgehrab is a funny/weird/interesting guy. @chuckhermes is one of my favorite people.  I am totally, professionally in love with @irishgirl. @simostronomy is one of my best astronomy buddies. All are fun to follow on Twitter.

Thank you to @lolife and @Nylons for participating in this week’s Twitter User Of The Week article.

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