Today's Thought . . . and Rant

Ok, so I'm not a person who is technologically-deficient. However, I DO have my limitations. I love being able to LEAVE voice mails . . . I hate GETTING voice mails. I love taking digital pictures, but don't sort or label them very well. And, if it hadn't been for the Geek Squad suggesting a backup drive, I would never have backed up my personal computer in my life until a few months ago. Now, it backs up my computer nightly for me. I loathe checking my personal emails and keep it to a minimum. But, I have been working hard at "improving" my blog. In other words, I'm cluttering it up but feeling like I'm finally catching up to the rest of the world. There are still several things that I have seen on other blogs that I think are totally cool but haven't figured out how to accomplish yet. And, since I'm the QUEEN OF PROCRASTINATION (those of you know me well, stop laughing and continue reading), I always put off learning how to do those things. But, I'm working on it. Seriously. Stop laughing again, MICHELLE.

And, speaking of Michelle, she is responsible for me not only starting this blog, but surfing other blogs, reading Stephen Brust's books . . . which has become an addiction and teaching me to love my jump drive and to carry it with me every day. Yes, in my pocket (along with my pocket knife) I carry my jump drive. I'm becoming a pseudo-geek. It's kind of like being a closet Trekkie. I'm not one of those people who dress up and go to the conventions. I don't read the books . . . although I read the book that Leonard Nimoy wrote about doing Star Trek. And, I don't schedule my life around Star Trek series or movies. But, if I'm flipping thru the channels and there is one on, I'm apt to watch it.

Anyway, that's today's thought. I'm becoming a techno and blog junkie. That little Next Blog button calls my name whenever I log in.

And, last week I was indulging in that vice (one of many) when lo and behold, what should pop up but a blog from a person who was commenting on something happening in their small town. I started perusing thru it and found it funny, touching and . . . ummmm, interesting. As I was scrolling thru the posts, I saw one that talked about going to a certain southern city for vacation. It had a picture with it. When I looked at the picture, I thought that the person in it looked a lot like a co-worker at my former place of employment. The next picture showed someone that looked a lot like ANOTHER co-worker at my former place of employment. It had a caption with it and gave the first name of the person. The name was the same as the person that I was thinking of. I enlarged the picture, went back to the first picture, enlarged it and then had to pick up my jaw from the floor. IT WAS THEM! I had accidentally stumbled upon the blog of a former co-worker. I am not naming names because the person has a blog title that obviously keeps them from being identified unless you really know them.

Anyway, the funny thing was to be able to read things from their personal point of view. There were things in there that I knew. Things that I was not surprised by. There were nicknames galore, but I think I decoded several of them since I know that person . . . but there were things there that totally shocked me. . . personal things. Nothing about me . . . things about that person. In particular, there was a list of "Things about Me". You know, those lists where you tell so many things about yourself that others may not know . . .or things that you think are important to your personality. There were things in that list that I think that person would not necessarily want shared with the people they work with . . . I don't know, I could be wrong. But, let's say I had a love for . . . . oh. . . "adult entertainment". I'll leave the rest up to your imagination. I wouldn't necessarily want to share that with my co-workers. Now, I know the odds of someone he/she didn't want to see that stumbling upon it by hitting the Next Blog button are not very good. But, it happened.

The blog also had some great entries that I enjoyed. It would be a blog I would LOVE to have a link to so that other people could share it. But, I obviously don't want to jeopardize that person's privacy. So, I keep the blog in my memory (what there is left of it) and check it out every few days.

Which leads me (in my roundabout way) to my rant . . . about technology.

If there's one thing I can't stand . . . and I know it's the "in" thing . . .it's text messaging. I hate it for a couple of reasons. One, can you not just pick up the phone and call the person? Even I (who hates to talk on the phone) will eventually give in and pick up the phone if I need to speak to someone.

The other thing I can't stand about it is that it's giving a whole generation a serious lack of personal interaction (which I think is important to your growth) and spelling! Ok, I'm not the world's best speller . . . but I'm pretty good. And, even I make typos and I totally understand that other people do too . . . even with spell check. But I can't stand all this short hand that they use. It's used in instant messaging too. I hate that too, for the same reasons. I'm sure everyone thinks that instant messaging is old-fashioned now.

Now here comes the part where I am a total hyppocrite because I am blogging this . . .

PEOPLE - GET OUT FROM BEHIND YOUR STUPID COMPUTER AND INTERACT WITH SOME REAL PEOPLE!

Ok, enough said. I'm stepping down from the soapbox . . . with egg on my face as a blog addict.