Facebook's real nemesis

Ok, I would like to say, my first attempt at the social media world was Twitter. I liked that it gave me away to update the world on what I was up to without writing a huge blog post, but it was very limited, and eventually I got frustrated and left it behind.

My second time in was Google Buzz. Immediately when I got into buzz I noticed two things: One it had way fewer limitations, and Two it integrated seamlessly into my existing lifestyle because I already use Gmail, Blogger, Picasa, YouTube, and many other Google services. I immediately found some of my friends though my Gmail contacts, and then found a few that they chatted with. Gmail also was built in as the private messaging system for Buzz though a  robust email service, and Gtalk integration was a nice bonus.

I was happy with this, and probably wouldn't have done anything else, but Kindy talked me into joining Facebook. As you all know Facebook is the king of Social media. They have chat, private messaging, they invented the wall, and also have integration into many services. It was powerful, it was clean, it was boring.

Seriously, I learned there was one thing about Facebook I truly hated, it's bland boring 1990's style web page. It was possibly the ugliest thing I have seen on the internet in a long time. Even Twitter allowed you to add a custom background, but this was just white and blue.

To add insult to injury, it was harder to find my friends on FB. See unlike Buzz where I could look through my contacts, FB had no such robust feature set, it's friend finder was powerful, but it didn't help me find the people I wanted to find, so in the end it was useless.

FB also has games, which at first seem really cool, but I quickly learned they were more of a nuisance than fun. I get tired of 95% of my news feed being about what my friends and family are doing on Farmville. And the Integration into my Google services are weaker than Buzz.

Now I find myself back to Buzz mostly, I still do some stuff on my FB, but I find Buzz is easier, more robust, MORE social, and just friendlier. I can more easily control who sees my posts, and who doesn't, I can choose whether a Follower gets into my chat contacts, and same with other buzz users. It essentially allows me to control my privacy better than I would normally be able to.

The truth is I suspect I am not the only one. Buzz is more private and closed to my friends. I can control who sees what, and I can feel more like I am in a tight circle of friends, and less like I am on public display in a crowd on people, trying to find someone I know.

It will take a while, but I think that Buzz will in the end win out over Facebook.

Why I am an optimist

If one were to analyze the past few years of my life, one would wonder why I am an optimist. My Girlfriend used me to get another guy. I lost a younger sibling, and I have had three computers crash. I twisted my knee and permanently injured it. I got kicked out of a writers club in an ugly debate, and then I lost a lot of my writing.

My life was pretty terrible.

Shortly after I was kicked out of Inklings, I went to praying, and got saved. My life has had a pretty quick turn around. I started writing again, I rejoined Inklings, and not only that, I was made assistant leader. I then Finished my first book, caught up in all subjects except math, and have a new sibling on the way.

Things could not look better in all honesty. My writing is improving in leaps and bounds. I have good friends, I am reading my Bible. I am catching up in school. I will graduate soon.
The one thing that greatly delights me is My new Sibling Boo on the way, if one wants to hear all the drama about it I will send you to my momma's blog, but let's just say it has been a rough turn of events that are looking up now.

I wish I could explain how great my life feels now, but there was one thing missing. Of all the things that went wrong,t he one I never got over was the way my girlfriend had used me. We had been childhood friends so it hurt doubly. Since then I have read and read and I know now we were never meant to be, our lives were headed in different directions.

In recent times it has been easier to put that aside. I am now moving forward, and I will not look back. I have however said I would never love again until I was on my own and ready to Marry.
Things just never turn out the way I plan them.

On March 23rd I met Kinderline, and she joined Inklings. It was not long before we both got flustered, and admitted we liked each other. It was funny really, because we were both sure the other did not feel the same way.

In truth. I never really thought I would move on. No person would ever truly understand me, so I never expected to truly care about someone. Kinderline is different though, as she does understand me. Sometimes as well as I understand myself. We have long gone over debates, and have been discussing things, and I honestly say she is one truly special girl.
And the best part of all, is she is My Girlfriend.

So one may wonder why I am an optimist, I must tell them that after my bleakest years, everything came together. It has been a two year emotional roller coaster, and even if I regret some decisions, I would never for the life of me turn back the clock. My life has turned out better in the end.

That is why I am optimist.

My Girlfriend's post

Well that makes sense

You know, sometimes I am just baffled by logic in stores.
Ok actually, I have never been baffled by logic, but i have been baffled by immense stupidity, and that is what I am going to share with you today.

About a year ago, or tub knobs broke and we had to replace them in a hurry, so we did an emergency run to home depot, and couldn't find them. They weren't with the faucets, with plumbing, or the tubs. finally we gave up and asked someone....

he instructed us four isles down with the toilets. Shoulda known.

Now sometimes I understand thing getting stuck in an odd location when you are running out of space, but who in the world is going to go look at toilets to find bathtub knobs?

Well, Lowe's knew better. We went there yesterday because our knobs broke again. (I think we have gremlins) Anyway, we decided to go to Lowe's this time because we just prefer them. Again, I was lost. we tried everywhere, even the toilets and couldn't find anything. we were about to give up and go to home depot when momma asked someone..... and was pointed to outdoor plumbing.

now I really want to see the idiot who would put their indoor tub in their front yard. This is about on the level of sticking your kitchen sink.... not in the kitchen, but out in your garage.

I fail to see logic in either.

well now we know where to find them, and we need to replace a kitchen faucet soon. I think we will try the lumber section first.

I mean, it makes about as much sense as the others did.

Of things that go right

Of things that go right:

Best Friend returning,
We have a new (used) truck, (Which we have been needing desperately)
Favorite band puts out an epic new Music Video.
Texas has been not facing drought (Bigger deal than you think)
UFO's have not landed.(big news for those who watched Independence day)
I am starting to get over my Head cold.
My Efforts to revive Inklings is paying off finally.
The Narnia trailer looks awesome.
I'm not dead. (Duh)
Laura's Birthday did not end in disaster (Unless you are a bear. We now have a Venus Bear trap in the Inklings garden)

So how have things gone for you lately? My week started out bad, but has ended with a bang. I am somewhere between Delighted, and Deliriously Happy. If you need me, I will be somewhere in the upper atmosphere.

Of things that go massivly wrong

We have had an interesting week. From fridge failures to my knee popping out of joint (again). We have just plain had an bad week, but despite that some good HAS happened.

-I started back up on writing my book
-I am getting everything in place to finally fix my laptop
-our fridge crisis turned out to be a minor thing (the fridge got turned way up so that it was not cooling at all.)
-my knee is getting better.
-we had a cool front move through.


I think these are all good things, and so I am feeling upbeat and happy. We have not had any asteroids hit our house. nor has a volcano erupted beneath our feat. so far we have avoided brain eating zombies, but sock eating dinos seem to have invaded.

how has your week gone? please do tell me.

Read below for details on this special blog post

Happy Mothers Day Momma!

By the time you recieve this, it may be too late.

At 11;28 my family returned from the comic book store. they came back with comic books, bags, and screaming glow in the dark monkeys.

This is going to be a very looooooong day. My Momma is planning a tour around the city taking pictures of this er Woot the Monkey with landmarks. I am already looking into the cost of earplugs and a two week vacation.

If any of you have like free two way tickets to Alaska, send them to me now.
However by the time they get here.
it may be too late.

I'm bored

I have been bored out of my mind today. I get like that sometimes, and this is one of those times. I reached my daily word quota, and I have played with my brother, and NOTHING feels exciting.

So here is my plan: I am going to redesign our back yard. with any luck I can implement my plan for roughly around $100. I am planning on getting info as to how to put a pool out there (above ground, we already own it, but we have an evil dog, and the ground is uneven)

I also plan to for the first time in my life: own a current gen console. whether that is the PS3 or the Wii I have not entirely decided, but I am leaning towards the PS3.

Furthermore I plan to get us a table and grill for outside. The grill may push me over the edge, but it would be well worth it.

Well I will probably keep planning this till I get distracted. ooh a duck.

Got the PS2

I got a PS2 last night, and we installed it in the living room. At first everything was going well, but then we started playing our classic PS1 titles, aaaaaaand it came up with disc read error after disk read error.

Flash was upset because his games are all PS1 titles and we were hoping this system would fix the problems he had been having. Me being a computer geek and proud of the fact that I fixed a PS2 around 2 years ago, I went to unscrewing the monstrosity, and breaking in to preform the fix that I had known so well.

However when I opened it up I was immediately lost. on the outside it looked the same as my original, but after opening it I saw that the power buttons were mounted inside the lower half, and not on the lid, and the disc tray cover was mounted differently as well.

It took me a grand total of 15min, but I finally got to the inner DVD tray, and yet again was lost. The white gear that adjusted the laser in my old PS2 was not there. I found two white gears in the back, but they did not control the laser. I was about to give up when i told Flash we might as well clean the laser while we were in, so we grabbed an alcohol dipped Q-tip and cleaned the lens.

15min later we were playing ALL of the PS1 titles. Turned out this was a dusty system and it needed cleaning. I am glad that was all it was, and flash is glad to have his games back.

This morning I ran into more troubles, the parental controls were in the way, but I entered a code, and turned it off.

The console works perfectly. It came with a Sony brand controller, and a wireless controller as well. we are loving it so far, and already have a plan on which games we are going to get.