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Now here’s the miracle of Twitter: I’ve got a column in Tweet Deck searching for any Tweet that includes the word “San Antonio” or the hashtag “#satx.” And about a half hour ago, this tweet pops up at the top of the column:

But there’s no link, and no follow up. The AP doesn’t have anything on it. Neither does ESPN.com or SI.com.

And then, suddenly, a flood of tweets opens up in the column, all about the trade. One’s got a link.

So we’re off. A breaking news update goes on to kens5.com. A competitor — KSAT 12 — follows a few minutes later. (Worth noting: ESPN.com’s headline doesn’t go online until a few minutes after that.) Suddenly, the newsroom’s buzzing, with anchors getting called in and reporters being dispatched to Spur-related sites around the city.

A boss calls asking if we can get a full story on the site soon. Sure, I say. But shouldn’t we confirm the story first?

Twitter: a great tool. But nothing beats original reporting.

So I’m driving west on I-40 today, somewhere near Knoxville, Tenn., when I see a billboard on the opposite site of the road for a local restaurant. The billboard reads something like, “Exit 40B, then RT.”

And looking at it, I see the letters “RT” and fully expect an “@” and a username to follow it.

Then I realize that “RT” means “right.”

I’m an idiot.

I tweeted this earlier, but it’s worth a brief blog post, too, because this image says everything I have ever wanted to say about America.

For the record, that store is located at this address in San Antonio.

Two things that play really well on the Internet: sarcasm and lists. Last summer, I tried to combine both into a segment from Beijing that I called “What I’ve Learned.” As my week in San Antonio is winding down, I wanted to post a few initial impressions from this city.

-Real late-night drive-throughs have two lanes.

-Someone named Bill Miller is making a killing in this town.

-Air conditioning is not part of the lifestyle here; it is the lifestyle.

-If Eva Longoria shows up at a Wendy’s in town, nobody will seem surprised.

-I-10 West really goes North, and I-10 East really goes South. This is understood.

-There may not be a chicken in every pot, but there is a Mexican restaurant on every block.

-Going the wrong way? There’s a turnaround for that.

-Things are bigger in Texas, but it only takes 10 minutes to drive into downtown.

-And they still rent Chevy Aveos here.

-Some people end their conversations with “Hook ’em horns.” Many people do not want to be associated with these people.

-There was something I was supposed to remember in this town. What was it, exactly?

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H/T to tomasland for the photo.

This seemed to work well with my family at Thanksgiving, so I’ll try it again here.

1. Yes, I have a job (with these guys).

2. Yes, I have a fancier title than I deserve (officially: Digital Media Producer).

3. No, the use of Title Case is not necessary, but I like it anyway.

4. Yes, I’m aware that things are bigger in Texas.

5. No, I do not plan on using “You know, they say that everything’s bigger in Texas” as a pick up line.

Never fear: I’ll still be blogging at Dan Oshinsky.com. I’ll just be keeping the pornographically-related stories to a minimum.

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H/T to Corey Leopold for the photo of San Antonio’s Riverwalk, and to Dave Barry for the stolen title.

I’m noticing a massive spike in traffic from the San Antonio region, so to my new corporate overlords, I say, “Welcome!”

If you’d like to know how I feel about meteorologists, click here.

If you’d like to read about my dedication to finding barbecue wherever I am, click here.

If you’d to learn why I’m a fairly blurry individual, click here.

If you’re wondering whether or not I’m sarcastic, click here.

Thanks,
The Management.

A brief overdramatization…

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He holds her in his hands, and he watches as the whole of her shuts down, here in front of everyone, and for a moment he is vulnerable, disconnected, his eyes low, like a son watching his father step on to the 3:05 to some desert town, knowing that once that train turns the corner, he’ll never be sure when it’ll come back, and part of him is sad, because he needs her, he needs her right here, pressed up against his ear, telling him what he wants and needs, finding him when he’s lost and waking him when he’s not, and now she’s slipping away, her glow fading, and all he can do his clutch her and watch her leave him, and the voice comes over the speakers again, and it tells him to let her go, because he’s off to the Southland, and he knows that she’ll be back, and it’s time to let her rest, at least for now.

And the man watches her — watches her fade to black — and then he tucks her away into a pouch in his briefcase, and for a moment, he is unmistakably down, because he knows that for a few hours, on this flight from Baltimore to San Antonio, he’s not just disconnected from his emails and his business and his family.

His BlackBerry is off.

He is alone.

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H/T to saital for the photo.

A brief story, told via Twitter.

1. 
   danoshinsky I may or may not have just spent 30 minutes looking for arugula at the grocery store. No one — myself included — knew what it looked like. 07 Jun 2009 from TweetDeck
2. 
   danoshinsky And then, as I’m in line, about to give up, a store employee runs over, screaming out, “SIR! SIR!” and holding a bag of arugula in his hand. 07 Jun 2009 from TweetDeck
3. 
   danoshinsky It’s quite green and leafy. Who knew? 07 Jun 2009 from TweetDeck
4. 
   danoshinsky The worst part, actually, is that it was in hot pink packaging. No idea how I missed that. 07 Jun 2009 from TweetDeck

— this quote was brought to you by quoteurl

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H/T to Jing a Ling for the photo of arugula, QuoteURL for the help posting these Tweets, and the Giant Food staff for valiantly searching for my dinner.

Microsoft’s new search engine, Bing, went live last week, and I really didn’t take much notice. But yesterday, I went to one of my favorite sites — farecast.com — to search for flights, and I found that it’s been rolled into Bing as the search engine’s “travel” page.

For Bing, this is a great move. Farecast is already one of the most powerful travel tools on the web, and users searching for the site will be automatically redirected to Bing. It’s going to generate traffic from users who had no idea that Bing even existed.

Now Microsoft just has to prove that its search engine beats Google’s.

This, I like: The Los Angeles Times has teamed with Spain’s biggest sports daily, Marca, to crosspost Lakers center Pau Gasol’s blog in both English and Spanish.

This, I find strange: The Times’ blog is vastly inferior.

Marca’s blog (see: top left) has a better layout and a better color scheme. It uses larger photos, and it’s much easier to navigate. In terms of Internet readability, it’s also vastly superior.

Meanwhile, the latest post on the Times’ blog (see: top right) isn’t even formatted correctly.

It’s a perfect example of how news organizations should — and should not — be packaging their news. Deliver your unique content in bold ways, and you’ll be rewarded with an almighty click.