Social media has made me less social at times.

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There was a movie I watched recently called Someone Like You.  I’m a sap for movies with Hugh Jackman in them, minus Real Steel.  It came out in 2001 which currently was 11 years ago.  There’s a point in the movie when the girl in the movie (Ashley Judd) is waiting around her house waiting for someone to call her house phone.

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That sounds ridiculously foreign now with people texting more than calling and people like my parents completely removing a land line in their home because they never use it anymore.  Their first phone line was a “party-line”. (If you don’t know what that is then click the word.)

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Times have indeed changed.

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I sometimes long for the simpler days of media, when it was less social and phones weren’t attached to our hips.  So what am I doing about it?  Well I’m simplifying how social my media is through my newly instituted analog nights and cutting things down to socially interacting in a few place online because really It’s getting tiring to talk to my friends on so many different platforms.

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How often do you use the social platforms that you surround yourself with?  Do I really need to sign up for a membership to every web-site out there?  No.  I do not, nor do you.

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My best suggestion is to take what social media you use the most and well use it, but for all the others forget it.  Will you use Google plus?  If not, then don’t sign up.  My parents asked me recently whether they should get a Twitter, I told them probably not.  Not because I make decisions for my parents, but rather… do they need it?

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There’s a quote that runs around in my head when I think about the multiplicity of social media:

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Everything is permissible, but not everything is necessary.

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So do we really need any of this new media?  NO!

But is it helpful?  Yes, and no.

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Do I need an app on my phone that lets me paint cats into pictures?  Possibly.

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So do as I’ve done, pick the social media/ new media that floats your boat.  Not everyone needs a Pinterest account, including me.

So if you feel like being social with me, check me out where I live on the internet at the links out to the side, but honestly don’t be too social.

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Let’s leave the real talk for real life, and leave the cell phones in the pocket.  You can tweet about it later.

Check out my recent post and book review on The Other Classroom.

In President Obama’s most recent State of the Union address I was a little concerned about something he said when speaking about higher education, tuition and financial aid.

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Read more at The OtherClassroom

Ever heard of the Sabbath?  Not Black Sabbath, but the other one.  The day of rest?

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New Idea:  I’m calling them “Analog Nights”.  For those of you that may not be sure what analog means.. ahem.

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Analog 

Measuring or representing data by means of one or more physical properties that can express any value along a continuous scale. For example, the position of the hands of a clock is an analog representation of time.

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So analog nights would be completely without anything digital. That means no phones, computer, camera, television, or anything that is digital.  I need to get my watch fixed because it died on 5 PM on Jueves the 28th.  Whenever that was.  I’ll let you figure that out. (yes my watch speaks spanish).

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I’ll be resting from technology (within reason).

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I realize the irony of  reading about analog nights on a blog, where you probably found from facebook, twitter or randomly, however analog nights are something I think is completely necessary in our day and time.  We are too connected as a society and unplugging for a while is really one of the best things I think anyone can do.  This doesn’t mean I can’t be around people it just may be a bit harder to get a hold of them without my phone.

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I encourage you to join me in my analog nights.  You can make them days if you have a full weekend. I might if I have more time or have a day off from work.

January 2012

Make it a “better” year.

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I’ve set a few goals for 2012, and with those goals I have plans to make 2012 a better year.  Not necessarily better than 2011, but “better”.

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Six months into the new job, a new home, and a new couch; it take the beginning of a year for me to sit back and assess.  It’s ‘human’ to live our lives by milestones and paramounts as we move from joy to pain and back again.  Making life “better” may be everyone’s hope, but few people are able to reach what people would consider better, and even when they do… they found out that better doesn’t mean what they thought.

So my gain for better doesn’t consist of more furniture, sexier physique (things I thought I’d never type), or more money; but rather “better” in the sense of overall livelihood.  What would make 2012 “better”

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This January I’ve started to attempt and make for a better 2012.  Maybe not with all I’ve done, but with perspective.  I’m no longer on my way into a new position, nor am I on my way out.  I am here in a place I call home.  In a conversation I was having I struck upon a thought I’ve had before, but forgot to live.

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Instead of looking to live every day like there’s something great coming, or as if I’m in line for a roller coaster that’s never coming. Live in the present, do as you should do in the moment what you’re thinking about doing tomorrow.

We don’t live forever, only now…   

So rather than wait for what is coming in 2012. I’m planning for the worst and living for the best.  Gonna keep 2012 packed with enough living for many other people to enjoy.  This first month has been a blast and honestly it’s just getting started.

Jump on the train, join me and let 2012 be better.

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There’s only two options.  Better, or worse.

album of the month

Not a lot of albums came out in January that were worth talking about.  I had to scratch the bottom of the barrel to find one that I really felt was worth putting on here that wasn’t from 2011.  However I am excited about a few coming soon.  (The Shins)

But do yourself a favor and buy the soundtrack to Midnight in Paris.  Very good.

The album of the month is a refreshing folk duo from Sweden by the name of First Aid Kit.  I might be falling in love with Folk music all over again because of these two.  Laura Marling watch your back.

 First Aid Kit ~ The Lion’s Roar

Check out my recent post and book review on The Other Classroom.

Getting personal

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I’m not usually one to write down goals (personal goals at least), I like to have them more so in my mind.  Makes them a lot less harder to break, but let’s try something different with goals that are less goals, but more or less plans for the rest of the year.

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I’ve already started a few of these and of course it will continue throughout the rest of the year.

I’m glad I took January to hash out what 2012 will look like.  It’s much easier than all in one sitting.

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Personal Goals

• Live like a Traveler 
• Read More…
• Write more letters/postcards to people (I’m going to play chess via mail too as soon as I send out the letters)
• Work on writing more of that “book” I starting writing 2 years ago. (You’re welcome Jennifer)
• Follow the Calendar (more on this later)
• Be more Neighborly (because my neighbors don’t bite, that I know of)

Check out my recent post on The Other Classroom.

Every culture, age of academia and person has defined what a classroom is, or isn’t.

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Education has in most recent centuries had a major stake in the economic success of a society; education IS important. How to educate large numbers of people in effective ways is being discussed by all.

Read more at The Other Classroom… 

I follow way too many Vegan food blogs.

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I’m not vegan even though for some people I know this is an increasingly popular joke around friends of mine (nor am I a vegetarian).  Below is an example of me eating meat.  There aren’t any photos of me wearing leather, but then again I’m sure you’re glad of that.

(never mind that it’s squid and this was at least a year ago)

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So health goals are really not goals as much as they are plans.  I’m not going to call this a resolution, because I’m not resolving anything, but rather just doing something new(er).  Changing things up, plus I need a bit more variety.  Not that Arkansas food is boring, but if I had a limited vocabulary I would call it boring rather than uninspired.

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So merry “fooding” to me for the next year. Look forward to a few blog posts about food, and my adventures forthwith, as well as some adventures to help extend my health this year.  It’s going to be fun, more than likely, probably.  At the least it won’t be boring.

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Health Goals

• New Recipe every week
• Be more (athletically) active
• Look Taller (which means look less wide)
• More Potassium (and other nutritional items)
• Eat some bugs (I’ve been wanting to do this for a while.. example)
• Drink more tea (rather than coffee, it’s becoming a problem, you should know this if you follow me on twitter)

Beware, this is a blog about blogging.

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I don’t know if I’d call myself a blogger, but I blog.  Sometimes I Blah-g, and I’m going to try and remedy that, and make it more of a conscious thing.  I like writing, and don’t really do enough of it.  I also don’t utilize this site as much as I’d like.  So things are going to get better here, and maybe a bit more active.

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So, The plan is to use this site a bit more for what it’s supposed to be used for, sharing what I do with those out there that I care about and those that stalk me that I don’t know about.  Yeah, caught you, I know.  Maybe blog more about things in my life cause honestly those are the fun and interesting things people would rather read about.  Not just my thoughts, cause honestly I don’t even want to read that.

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Below are a few of my goals for my Online experience and how I plan to help myself extend what I do “here”, without doing too much.  I’ll focus on quality, and hopefully not skimp on it.

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Online Goals

• Weekly Posts (hopefully)
• Other Classroom (Weekly Posts as Well)
• Give you something worthwhile  to read (and sometimes write about something important)
• Re-Blog (you’ll see what this means if you don’t already have an idea)
• More Photos (or at least better ones)
• Simplify (more on this later too if you can’t already tell)

My brain works in venn diagrams.

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To be or not to be more organized?  That isn’t really a questions, but rather a feeling about how I need to be.   Not that I’m not organized, but living in stacks of thing vs. filing organized-chaos is a common occurrence when you recently move to a new place, which I seem to be perpetually doing.

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So the plan is to make things like this happen:

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Now time to set some goals… Because if there’s something I was taught in undergrad it’s that a goals should achievable and realistic.  I can thank Bill Handy for that nugget of truth and a few others.

Organization Goals

• Rip All DVDs (Did this with my music already)
• Go as Digital with filing as possible (I’ll be better off in the future)
• Actually use my file cabinet (not that I don’t, just better)
• Spice Rack (self explanatory)
• Clothing (because honestly ROYGBIV belongs in the closet.)
• Create more Storage (because my landlord doesn’t know what closets are)