All Hail Social Media!

When it came to Twitter, I was the first to scoff. Why on earth would anyone want to know what I am doing? But eventually as I blogged less frequently, I found that tweets linked to this blog allowed me to be short and sweet. My life still isn’t exciting but it’s the following that I love.

Without social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, I wouldn’t know about the immigration protest at the Federal Building near my house today. I wouldn’t necessarily know where to donate my haircut clippings to clean up the oil spill in the Gulf. I wouldn’t know the goings-on of friends from high school and college. And I know when my favorite blogs have new postings. It’s these bite-size bits of knowledge that allow me to not retreat in a cocoon of Baby A, M., kitties and email. (So easy to do.)

The bottom line: before you knock it, try it. From one convert, this may streamline your information feed and at the end of the day, don’t we all want things to be easier.

Bloggy Love: The 2009 List Edition

Every year this week, the last week, becomes a hodge-podge of lists—movies, books, TV shows, food, trends, etc. And blogs are not immune. Including this one. However, instead of listing all the things I am thankful for or my favorite books or even my favorite blogs (that’s what the blog roll is for), I thought I would send you to some of my favorite lists recapping lessons learned or things enjoyed in 2009 that you can use in 2010(in no particular order). Enjoy! And I will see you next year (tomorrow).

• Rachel Weingarten’s post “The Best of Times.” I love how she looks back on her successful year with humility and grace.

•Sammit’s iTuned In Series about the songs on his iPod has introduced me to new (and old) music. I love Sam’s writing about pop culture and highly recommend that you place him on your favorites.

•Good bye Holiday 2009, what will you be reincarnated as in 2010? That’s what Leah Ingram suggests in her post “3 Ways to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle in 2010.”

•Tod Goldberg’s 8 Days of Lists Series. Usually he  lists his favorite books of the year, which I love, but this year’s replacement lists are an interesting look into a creative mind. If you are looking for book recommendations, head over to Book a Week with Jen.

•If you’re a resolution-making guy or girl, head over to The Happiness Project to find ways to make those things stick.

•Are you on Twitter? If so, head over to WordCount and read Michelle Rafter’s “Lessons Learned from a Year on Twitter.”

Dry Heat 101

There’s been a lot of complaining from my friends on facebook and twitter about the temperatures reaching triple digits. And yes, 100-plus is hot but know this: if it’s a dry heat it feels about 10 degrees less.

I grew up in Palm Springs and the most miserable summer I endured was the first one I spent in the San Fernando Valley. (It even beat the summers I spent in Chicago. At least there you could possibly get a breeze off the lake.) I’m not sure if it was the smog or the humid or both, but it was 110-degrees of gross. In the Coachella Valley, it was only really unbearable when it hit 120. Otherwise, you could still breathe and go outside. But that seems to have changed. Now that there are more golf course and more green grass, there is more humidity and the summer really can suck. That is why when it’s hot you want it to be truly dry.

In Phoenix, it’s dry. Landscaping is more brown—sand, cacti, palos verde—than green—trees, grass, planted flowers. All of the latter need water, and the more of those things are planted, the more water is in the air, and the more humid it is. Our first (and last) weeks in Phoenix were spent in 95-plus degree heat. It wasn’t bad. Actually it was quite lovely out. The same temperatures would have felt like the middle of hell in the San Fernando Valley, specifically Woodland Hills.  It’s amazing what a lack of water can do to temperature perception. That’s why I’ll take a dry heat any day.

If I Twittered … (The Snarky Version.)

Thank you to restaurants that serve full menu at the bar. Good food, interesting people and sports.

Hmm. Carrot cake or grilled veggie platter for dinner. Carrots are a vegetable, right?

Decided on the grilled veggie platter. Yum!

Come on, Blackhawks. Score! (Unfortunately, they didn’t survive overtime)

I love that we live in a country where Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow can poke fun at people in the news. When you think about it, public figures are humorous.

Still thinking about the carrot cake.

Man Cow experiences waterboarding and changing his mind about whether it’s torture. Really? He had go through it to decide that?

When did I limit my vocabulary to only 100 words?

(To get more snark, visit my friend Mo at The Daily Snark)

If I Twittered…

You would probably see these tweets:

• It’s 4:30 AM and there is a line at the Starbucks drive-thru six cars long. Thank you to all the employees who rise earlier than me.
• Thank you to the nice cashier at Paradise Bakery Cafe that got a highchair for Baby A, waited for us to pick a table and set up the chair.
• We couldn’t be luckier that Moo kitty is so gentle. Baby A is really pounding on him.
• Kick Ass Spin class! Can’t wait for Monday (or Friday).
• I have a wonderful husband who helps me take care of our son; especially at 6 AM.

Thrilling stuff, isn’t? While these gratuitous thoughts send out positive vibes in a world that tends to see glasses as half full, they’re not exciting or, even remotely, interesting.  I’ll leave it to more insightful people, such as the engineers repairing the Hubble telescope to twitter.