Facebook ponderings

I was chatting with a friend the other day - and we wonder, is Facebook now what Solitaire used to be? That compulsive, obsessive thing you do to numb your senses so you don't have to really think or get off your butt to finish work you need to do?

Or is it like a Pavlovian response....you are the rat that is trained to hit a lever over and over and over and every once in a while the rat gets something yummy to eat. When I read Facebook my eyes slide over post after post of drudgery ("Sick...snot flowing..." "Black bean soup and club sandwich for lunch!" "We are so proud of our little Jimmy - he pooped on the potty today" and then ONCE in a rare moon something that you chuckle at, cry over or changes how you see the world.

Three little birdies sitting in a nest.....

one flew out it was for the best! Yes, one of the chillins got his own place. Before you think I am a terrible, horrible mom for being glad a bird flew the coop -- you have to realize, the biggest bird was so ready to go. It has only been a few weeks, but attitudes (from all parties concerned) have changed drastically. I used to hear about parents and kids being "best friends" and now I kinda know how that feels. It is nice.

Pass the prozac, please....

Just this week I spoke (facebooked, IMd) with at least three other women who, like me, woke up in the wee hours of the morning with the breathless, panicky feeling that they had forgotten do do something really important. It is the equivalent of the dream where you go to school and there is a HUGE test that counts for, oh 90 percent of your grade, and not only did you not study, you don't even know what the test is on.

We are launching our new Web site today (opps, the Associated Press just changed how newspapers should write Web site -- it is no longer a capital 'W' and two words, but lowercase and just one word "website" must remember, must remember, must remember....) and in between learning the new set up, and loading the site, I have to blog, update the Facebook page, remember to open a twitter account for the paper, go through the 92 emails that I received this morning, create a new Senior Life section for the paper and then keep in mind that after work I must deposit money into my checking account, order my daughter's yearbook, reserve the date at the hall for her 16th birthday, order photos for a scrapbook I'm creating for a friend's birthday, order a top for a costume of the 2nd daughter, return an item to the store before the return deadline... and, and, and....dang I forgot. Oh yes, order a new bottle of Prozac (does that need a trademark symbol behind it?) Argh....

How to get people to read your blog..."Boobies and Kittens"

"I don't want my blog to be blah," I was moaning to friend and fellow blogger Anthony Pacheco (http://anthony-pacheco.com/about/ -- check him out). "I want the people who read it to think I'm interesting." The question is...what do people want to read about? (I'm pretty sure it isn't about me complaining about blogging...). He said (rather IM'd) that he could spend hours on a very thoughtful post and -- and comments would equal zippo, nadda -- but, if he wrote something snarky, silly or selfish - bam, 11 comments, like that. His suggestion was to write about what people find interesting -- boobies and kittens. To that end he sent me a link to a YouTube video entitled -- yes -- Boobies and Kittens (tastefully done). If you have sense of humor -- go see it -- it is worth the laugh. If you do not have a sense of humor, please don't comment me about it, instead see below for YouTube's warning about the video.

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Mandate: You WILL blog....

Mandate from on high: Everyone in this room will have a blog = new blog for me. Well, I've never been shy about sharing my opinion, so I guess this is a good thing. After all, I had a weekly (award-winning, had to sneak that in!) column in another newspaper for years and I loved how it allowed me to vent and post views that didn't align with the norm.

So... here we go... why did I choose the title of my blog? Well, you can thank Bev, she didn't like my original title -- Bell View -- get it? After the insane asylum? Well, neither did a lot of other people.

'Tap Dancing as Fast as I Can' has multiple meanings...two of my children dance, rather they live at the dance studio and much of my life involves taking them to dance, then home from dance, making and rhinestoning and blinging costumes, working to pay for dance, driving to weekend long dance competitions.... you get the picture.

It also refers to the newspaper business, a business that, by its very nature and in this day and age, is based on how fast you can get the news from the source to the people. Instead of worrying just about daily consumption, we must worry about minute-by-minute consumption....who is tweeting, how many Facebook posts, is the Web uploaded....NOW! Don't get me wrong....I LOVE Facebook, I love Web sites, I love technology -- I just loved it more when I was on the receiving end.