Goodbye Facebook

Well, I went and did it. I de-cluttered my life by getting rid of facebook! Mind you I did not delete my account, I merely deactivated it, but I do not forsee myself going back to it anytime in the near future.

Why, you may be asking. I will tell you now- I have been, for the past several months grown tired of facebook. I have been caught up in the information overload. I hit max overload with the false rumors that facebook will be charging for membership, I checked and this just is not true but it didn't stop many of my friends from posting on their status updates that indeed it was true. I originally joined facebook back in 2007 or thereabouts, to give me more of a web presence. I thought it would be a great way to stay in touch with friends, and re-connect with old friends. To that end facebook did it's job sufficiently, what began to work against me was the fact that I forgot what people do when they see an empty space of internet real estate- they feel that they must fill it in with whatever they feel. In principle that is a good idea, but in theory it only presents me with much garbage to weed through on my way to finding inspiration, inspiration that was very hard to come by. Facebook became, to my 'friends' a sounding board for whatever. I'm afraid I was looking for water in a well that had dried up about a year ago. This is not to say some of my friends didn't post things that weren't interesting to read, to them I was grateful. They say that hind sight is 20/20, what I should have done was to delete probably 67% of my friends, then I would be onto something! But by the time I realized that it was too late, the die had been cast, and I was no longer a member of facebook. I think what really got to me was the fact that I was hearing things from people who, would never have shared these things with me if facebook never existed, and that made me feel very strange. I also found myself looking through friends of friends photo albums before I even realized it. Also making me feel strange for I knew if I grabbed, and then started looking through a strangers photo album, which was in a sense what I was doing, right in front of them, they would have abruptly stopped me and asked just what I thought I was doing, and rightfully so. I found that my social network was becoming an anti-social network.

Let me tell you what did happen in the 2 days since I got rid of my account- I have actually contacted several of my friends via email. These are people that do mean something to me, people that I look forward to sharing with, That list will grow in time. Oh, and no I do not miss these friends, just to name a few; the narcissist, the bragger, the downer, the potty-mouth, the shop-a-holic, the causeheads (a few of those); the please re-posters (also a few of them), the guess-where-I-am-going-on-vacation-this-week, the play-by-play of their life announcer, the do-you-realize-who-you-are-sharing-this-wither, and the what-happens-in-the-bathroom-does-not-neccesarily-stay-in-the-bathroom. Serenity now!

I have it now, I am off to live life on my terms. The End!!

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

I didn't watch the presidents address last night, but I did hear how we are buying too many foreign cars- he specifically mentioned Hyundai and Kia. I took offense to that, my wife and I both own Hyundais, and they have been great cars for us! I am a big believer in buying American, BUT, I am not just going to buy American because it's the right thing to do. I want to buy a product that I know I will be able to rely on. I think back to when my Grandfather was still with us, he was so proud to buy American TV's, appliances, and cars. Now, this was back in the 1970's when we knew how to make good products, he once owned an Oldsmobile (a 1972 Delta 88) that was a great car, it lasted over 20 years, as far as I know the engine from that car is living in a tow truck somewhere. We cared about the products we made, they were made to last, we had pride. Somewhere along the line our "America is the greatest" cry became our downfall when our arrogance took over, we have been to slow to realize that just saying something doesn't make it so, we need to have action behind it!! I think Unions have served their purpose, we needed Unions to help the American gain some dignity, and better pay when they were woefully underpaid. Now, I think Unions have gotten too big for their own good, that is something we need to examine, instead of moving forward, I believe that Unions are holding us back. I love my country, we ARE the greatest nation in the world, we need to get back to basics. I agree with Obama, we do need to buy American, and America has to uphold it's end of the bargain by making products that people want to buy, strong products made by a strong nation. God Bless America!!