Social Media - Yea or Nay

I've been thinking a lot about social media lately. Probably because Katherine is scheduled to get a Facebook page on her 14th birthday which is just around the corner. Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Here is what I read at http://socialnetworking.procon.org/:

Proponents of social networking sites argue that these online communities promote increased communication with friends and family, familiarize people with valuable computer skills, and allow contact with people from around the world.

Opponents argue that social networking sites expose children to predators, increase vulnerability to computer viruses, lower worker productivity, and promote narcissism and short attention spans.

 So, are you yea or nay? I'm with the yea. That may be because I am addicted to Facebook. However, I am able to keep up with the students I teach, people I went to high school with (we were a close knit group), church members, and family members. I get reminders about church events. I get reminded of people's birthdays. I have a forum for my ideas. And I've even had the occasion to help someone out of a real jam because my Facebook IM was open.

My latest project on Facebook is to create an event called the Anxiously Engaged - Actively Opposed Project. Essentially, I am calling on all my friends to become anxiously engaged in a cause and to be actively opposed to wrong. You can learn more about it here: https://www.facebook.com/events/398947670122780/

 Just like most "things", social media is not inherently bad. It depends on how you use it.

Other News: Katherine's first soccer game was canceled due to rain. Good news is that I'm not sitting in the rain watching a soccer game!


Kimberly is in Florida. I haven't heard from her since she disembarked from the plane. I assume that means she is having a ton of fun!


Kimberly went to a UNC CH basketball game this week. She had a lot of fun. Three things she mentioned: the campus was huge, the crowd was loud, and the guy in front of her needed a shower!


Keith and I are going to see The Odd Couple tonight at Temple Theatre. I am looking forward to the night out.


I have a dentist appointment for a teeth cleaning on Tuesday. I am terrified of the dentist. Please keep me in your prayers that I may stay calm.


Rebekah and I are going to see a Broadway Tour of the Lion King next Saturday. I can't wait to tell you all about it!

Another one of my "artsy" photos. Soon, I'll be taking pictures of flowering things. Bring on the spring!

On a Mini-Rant

Have you ever felt that people were attacking your beliefs and therefore attacking you? Yeah, I'm in that place. Politics is upon us, but the twist is that now religion has come into play. Who I am politically is more of a surface issue. Who I am religiously is a "real me" issue.

Why are they mixed? Most of you know that I am a Latter Day Saint belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, aka Mormons. And with Mitt Romney running for president, the Mormons are in the news - a lot.

But I have 3 things to say concerning his run for office:

1. Just because he is of my faith, does not mean I am for him. I may be. I may not be. Once I've made up my mind, it will not be because of his religion any more than I would vote for a candidate because of their race or their sex. I vote my conscience.

2. Our church does not sponsor candidates. They occasionally take a stance on a moral issue that is being politicized, but they have never, and will never, have a candidate they espouse. Each member of the church is encouraged to make their own informed decision.

3. Just because Mitt is a Mormon does not mean that everything he does reflects the church guidelines. He has voted in ways that, to me, seem to be against church teachings. He may very well do so again. He is no better than any of the rest of us trying to live out our religious views in the face of a society that no longer relishes those views. He is not perfect. I am not perfect. Don't hold his imperfections against his religion unless you are willing to do so to all candidates against their religions.

Done ranting.

Funny of the week:

A sign in my grocery store that reads:

Machine out of order
_______
Sorry
Management

I guess sorry management may have played a role here?

Other News:

Finally got a car! 2001 Buick LeSabre. Yeah! We got it for a tad under the amount the insurance company paid us for the wrecked car. I'm so glad that escapade is over!

Katherine's soccer practice started this week. She felt discouraged after Wednesday's practice. She is the most inexperienced player on the team. I told her she just needs to practice!

Quote of the Week:

Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.

I'm Legible - Are You?

My email server, gmail, is pretty good about relegating spam to the spam folder. However, on rare occasion, something slips through. This happened on Friday. And with it, came an idea for an English assignment. Clearly, the writer of the document was not an "English as a first language" writer. Clearly. In fact, in the first sentence, I was told that I was a legible person. Oh really? Apparently, I'm clear enough to read. That will be a great relief to my husband and children. I guess there really is no need for that communication's class after all.

Back to the assignment. I think I am going to give the document to my kids and have them find the word usage errors, the run on sentence errors, the verb usage errors, and the punctuation errors. Then I will have them rewrite the document in persuasive way. Out of this little piece of spam, we will get English grammar AND a creative writing assignment. What do you think? I just love homeschooling!

Just so you can laugh along with me, here is the first sentence of the letter: "I got your contact information from a reputable business/professional directory of your country which gives me assurance of your legibility as a person." As I said, whew. I've been worried about this for a LONG time!

Other news:

Kimberly is going to Florida at the end of the month to visit a family she had grown very close to. She's very excited to be flying for the first time.

Rebekah has been busy with her Temple Teens - teen ambassadors for the Temple Theatre. They are a singing and dancing troupe. I saw one of her Valentine's Day performances and she is really good, if I do say so myself.

Katherine and Rebekah have created a writing contest. First person to write a novel of at least 50 pages (and it must be finished and NOT a fan fiction) will get a Barnes and Noble gift card from the other. I love contests that go along with one of my school goals - writing, writing, and writing!

I've been working on my website. Take a look and tell me what you think. I really am looking for critique, so be honest with me: www.teribclark.com

One of my latest photos for my 365 Day Photo Challenge

The first dandelion of the year. It may be a weed, but it is yellow and flowering and a promise of Spring. I'll take it however I get it!

aaaaahhhhhhhh....screeeeeeccccccchhhhhhh.........crunnnnnccccchhhhhhhhh

Today was not a good day. I was in a car accident and it was my fault. No one was hurt, thank goodness, but my car is in pretty bad shape. Luckily, we have good insurance - that I'm sure my rates will skyrocket on immediately.

Rebekah was in the car with me - in the front seat. She screamed for me to watch out. I slammed on the brakes, but I just didn't have the space. Yes, I was following too closely.

No airbags deployed which is both a cause of concern and joy. Concern because I rear ended someone and was going about 30mph when we hit. Shouldn't they have come bouncing out of the steering wheel and dash? Joy, however, because I could drive it under its own power to the body shop. Deployed airbags would have prevented that.

I called 911. And then we waited....and waited....and waited. 15 minutes. That's a long time to stand on the side of the road with a stranger trying to make small talk when you've just hit her car. The car with her child in it. Yeah, and it gets worse. Her child was both physically and mentally handicapped. He was very concerned and scared. I felt like a real loser.

Now for a funny moment. We were waiting on the police to arrive when Rebekah looks down and gasps. I look down to see what she is gasping at. I don't see a thing. She points to my feet, and then says with horror, "You are wearing pink fuzzy socks! Those are not outside socks. Mom! Oh, I hope no one sees your socks." So, here I stood, with my hood all scrunched up and lights hanging by cords and my daughter is worried about my socks!

For those interested, the car is awaiting an adjuster. We are down to one car. This should make life interesting for a while.

In other news: Our governor is not running for election again. Wow. Her rating is so low, she knew she couldn't win a primary and there was going to be a primary. How sad is that?

Rebekah is singing with the Temple Teens at a black tie affair and needs a black or red dress. That is what we were going to do today before the...uh...incident.

Kimberly gave blood for the second time today. Her phlebotomist has a child that could be part of the program at her summer camp. It is called Camp Kaleidoscope and is for kids who have been sick with cancer or heart problems or things that keep them from being able to attend a camp without medical supervision. He saw her tshirt and knew the name because the children's hospital has talked to him about it. He never thought about it because he was afraid. After talking with Kimberly, he is going to check into it for his daughter this summer. I feel she was meant to be there today, just for this father.

Katherine is with a friend, primping for photos. My daughter...primping. I'm finding this hard to fathom, but it is happening as we speak.

Keith has had a political victory today. We have a commissioner that is mean, abuses his power, and is sneaky. Keith was able to uncover a story that showed this to be true. The newspaper took it up and now the whole commissioner's race this spring and fall will have a new flavor. I'm very proud of him for sticking up for the community and living by his principles.

24 Hours is a LONG Time

As you know, Keith and I are doing a communication course. Wednesday was our second lesson. We had been using content communication all week. I found that I am a big hint dropper, but realized that Keith is as well. He tends to ask me a question like "Are you hungry?" actually meaning "I am hungry, will you fix me some lunch." It's been interesting.

Well, one of Wednesday's challenges was to go 24 hours without being critical of anyone. Absolutely anyone. Even those I don't know. So, let's say I see something on TV that is just whacko, I can't talk to the TV and complain about what I see by calling someone an idiot. Or, I can't talk about the stupid drivers. Or, I can't make some snide remark about my husband.

The first try lasted 11 hours. The second try lasted 17 hours. Today, I made it! However, within 30 minutes of meeting my goal, I was critical of someone I didn't know. They were cheating on a photo assignment. I complained that they had NOT taken that photo today and therefore the photo simply didn't count. I said it with disgust. Sigh. It isn't easy to do. And poor Keith - he is involved in a bitter conflict with politics. He doesn't make it from phone call to phone call! He wants to know if he can exclude politics from his 24 hour assignment. I told him, "It's up to you." And it is, but secretly, I have my own opinion!

Other things that have struck me lately:

Gmail has an advertisement for spam quiche. The idea makes me squirm.

I have decided to take a 365 day photo challenge. So has Kimberly. Feel free to join the site and see what we put up! https://www.facebook.com/pages/365-day-photo-challenge/336655936358297  Here is today's post - I call it "Dress Up"

I can't play blues music on the piano without keeping the beat with my body. It must be hysterical to watch. I guess I'll have to get a video and see for myself.

My step granddaughter, Claudia, emailed us today. Grandpa had written to her about how he likes politics and asked her if she knew who her Governor and mayor were. She was proud to tell us that her Governor was Jerry Brown and her mayor was Scott Nelson. Keith just loved the email!

Rebekah is finally signed up for Driver's Ed. We also signed her up for the SAT on May 5th. And she plans to do the Winter Conservatory  - 12th Night by Shakespeare. Busy, busy.

Katherine is in the throes of picking a summer camp for GS. I think she has decided on the "Immunity Challenge."

Word of the Day

Remember how I said that I get too much email because I surf and sign up? You may also recall that I signed up to Squidoo of the Day. Its a lens, which is kind of like a blog, which is not really catching on. Anyway, as they do every day, they sent me the title of the day's squidoo. It caught my attention: Musical Earworms.

My first thought was ewwwwwwwwwww. I could just picture some horrid, nasty worms squiggling around in my ear. And I immediately wondered how a person got them and how they got rid of them. Of course, I had to look at the lens. I was relieved to find out that musical earworms is the name for the problem of having a tune stuck in your head. Why anyone would name that phenomenon any kind of worm is your guess.

I have a song stuck in my head today. It is Sound of Music. I am learning to play this on my piano. I can play to the first break, but I play it over and over and over, trying to get it good enough that someone could sing to it with me. The hills are alive with the sound of musical earworms!

I swear I don't see any worms.

Other News of the day: Kimberly started back to college today. She has 2nd level English, College Algebra, Spanish 1, 2nd level Psychology, and .....weight lifting. Yes, my girl will be in with all the jocks!

Keith is steeped up to his eyeballs in local politics. He has so many irons in the fire that he doesn't know which way to turn and the phone is ringing all the time. He loves every minute of it.

Katherine is writing her own fan fiction. She loves to do it. I love that she is writing!

Rebekah is spending the week babysitting. She does her schoolwork while the baby sleeps. SATs are coming - anybody have a good idea for a practice essay? Today's was "Should they allow the Pledge of Allegiance in schools?"

Me - I've been on a cleaning kick. My filing cabinet has been updated. I've hung a few pictures. The hall and stairs are vacuumed. My room and bathroom, which always take the back seat to other cleaning, are spotless today. Everything smells like scrubbing bubbles. I am now a convert to that stuff. Talk about making cleaning easy! The soap scum on my shower door is completely gone. I just sprayed it on, waited 5 minutes, and wiped it down. Gone. I know, I could be a commercial!

Oops. I think I over did it!

I Said It - I Must Mean It

From reading my last post, you know that I didn't make any New Year's resolutions. I probably won't. I think they are overrated.However, this does not mean that I don't try to improve myself and set goals.

So, where, you might ask, do I feel the need to improve? I'm an author - I write a lot. I'm a mom and a wife and a teacher - I talk a lot. I am a FB junkie - I comment a lot. You'd think I'd have the whole communication thing down. Not. Particularly with my family.

Keith and I are listening to a series on communication. I've realized a few things. For instance, I am a hint dropper. Hint dropper, you might ask? Let me give you a scenario. I walk into the kitchen. I stare into the sink. I stare at my daughter Katherine. I stare back into the sink and put my hands on my hips. I give one more withering look to Katherine. Seems pretty straight forward to me. I see dirty dishes in the sink, Katherine is in charge of the kitchen, I want her to clean up the mess. According to this series, I did not communicate effectively. Wow.

I guess that leads me to ask the question, What is effective? I mean, she understands the look and scurries over to the sink and does the dishes. Seems effective to me.

Let me give you another scenario. I walk into the kitchen and announce - there are two coats in the kitchen. Once again, seems obvious to me. I want the owners of the coats to hang them up or at least get them out of my way. Once again, it is effective in that the coats get out of my way.

Apparently, not everyone gets the hints, especially husbands that have not grown up with the best hint dropper of them all (hi mom!). So, according to this series, we should practice something called content communication. This means that what I say is what I mean - no matter what my tone of voice or no matter how I gesture. So, if I announce that there are 2 coats in my kitchen, the appropriate response could be - yes, there are 2 coats in there. Does this smack of smart a&& to anyone else?

Keith and I have decided to try content communication for a week and see how it goes. We often get upset with one another over tone of voice or over a hint that didn't go over well. This is supposed to solve that problem.

How am I doing, you ask? Please, I'm doing great! (Oh, sarcasm doesn't work well online, nor is it allowed in content communication....sorry). I'm failing miserably. And that's the truth.