Every Spring, I fill my apothecary jars full of Easter eggs. Hey, I have a four year old. This year, I got a little inspired and decided to add chicks. I mean, what the heck, live dangerously, right? However, I don’t think they give the effect I was looking for. Unfortunately, it looks like they are screaming to get out. 😦 Hmmmm….
Andrea
Twitter shmitter….honestly. Who invented such nonsense? Does anyone really care that you are eating a hot dog for lunch or that you were up at 3 a.m.? Do I really need to know such things instantly? I have received several invitations to join Twitter…all of which I promptly deleted from my inbox while cackling like a maniac. Twitter is like IM’s gone awry. You get these messages, completely unsolicited, at all hours of the day which, by the way, reminds me of spam mail. I HATE spam. In fact, I believe I have lost a few friends over spam mail. Those friends felt it necessary to send me every urban legend circulating the world wide web, advice of quacks from unverified sources, scare tactics, etc. All the while I am reading this junk thinking “You gotta be kidding me!”. When I finally grew weary of hitting delete 105 times every time I opened my inbox, I finally sent a “friendly” little note asking my “friend” to please stop sending me such junk. Most of them quit sending me anymore email. Period. Well, if ya don’t have anything good to say, THEN DON’T SAY IT! Or, in this case, forward it (or Tweet it). 🙂
Now, when I open my WordPress account, a little banner is on the screen asking me if I want to add Twitter to my blog. They should have left me a little box to check “No”. I am wondering, though, how in the world does that work? Do they send your blog posts to all your Twitterers? I guess I will have to read up on that.
Earlier, I decided to Google the word Twitter. I came across several people discussing Twitter as being the new microblog. Microblog? Is that a new name for text messages? Honestly.
Now, I know what you are thinking. You are wondering why, if I have such a disdain for reading everyone’s business at all hours of the day, why am I blogging? The answer really is simple. I don’t really care if people visit my blog or not. It is mainly for my personal journaling purposes. Could I write in a diary instead? Sure. But journaling in a weblog is much more fun and I can upload pictures! The difference between reading blogs on the computer and receiving “Tweets” is that when I read blogs on the computer, I am soliciting. I can control who and what I want to read about. When I receive Tweets, they are unsolicited. With Twitter, people would intrude on my privacy and work, at all hours of the day, whenever they deemed fit. I am sure that there are good uses for Twitter. But, for now, count me out!
Andrea
***UPDATE: At least I am not the only one who has electronic social overload. Check out this article, I laughed my way through it. Here is an excerpt:
CHICAGO (AP) – Eily Toyama gave in after friends pestered her to join Facebook. But she used her cat’s name instead of her own so she could avoid networking requests from people she didn’t really want to connect to. And don’t even ask her about Twitter unless you want to get an eye roll.
“I just don’t think people need to know that much about my life,” says the 32-year-old Chicagoan, who works in information technology.
Call it online sociability fatigue. And it’s not just being felt by older folks who have lived most of their lives without the Web. As social networking grows, from stream-of-consciousness Twitter to buttoned-up LinkedIn, even some of the very young people who’ve helped drive these sites’ growth could use a break.
Mike Nourie, a student at Emerson College in Boston, says he feels a little relieved to escape social networking when he works summers at an inn on Cape Cod where connection to the wired world is spotty. For more, click here: Are you a twit if you don’t want to Twitter?
“If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.”
1 John 4:12
“The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it”
William James
Re-Posted here with permission by Lamar White, Jr.
To see the original post, click here.
Throughout the past few weeks, I’ve been discussing Alexandria on a personal level and the potential and opportunities presented by the community’s renewed spirit and by the nearly $100 million infrastructural project known as SPARC.
Last week, Daniel Smith, Melinda Anderson, and I took a tour of Alexandria. We were scoping out provisional historical districts and properties, in preparation for a visit by the State Historic Preservation Office (which was covered in today’s newspaper). Just as an aside, a designation on the National Register of Historic Places does not prevent a structure from being demolished. However, it is an incredibly important distinction, paving the way for various tax credits (when applicable) and demonstrating the importance of a place’s history and local significance.
Our tour was instructive.
We began in Lower Third. There’s a neighborhood near Augusta Street that is approaching the 50 year threshold, and though it probably does not possess the “wow factor” needed for inclusion in the National Register, it appears to be a stable and healthy working class neighborhood, a place in which pride of ownership shows.
We then dipped down to Samtown/Woodside, an area in obvious need of attention, to check out a small area that we had initially believed to be nearing 50 years old (but have subsequently determined otherwise). As I mentioned in a previous post on walkability, Samtown/Woodside has some obvious obstacles– in large part, this is because the area was developed and subsequently annexed into the City of Alexandria, which means that site development requirements were practically non-existent. There are very few sidewalks, and in many places, the roads are entirely too narrow.
I know many, many people who have lived in Alexandria for the entire lives and have not yet been to Samtown or Woodside. And I am personally ashamed that it took me nearly twenty years before I had ever visited this important area of our City.
Which leads me to a broader point: When discussing the needs of our community, we must be objective. Our needs should be discussed collectively– as a community; they should not be steered by the wants and demands of a small group of individuals. The table should have enough seats for all of us.
If you have no notion of the needs of Lower Third, Samtown/Woodside, and South Alexandria– tangible and obvious needs- then you likely have a distorted view of our most pressing priorities.
Much of Alexandria is blighted and in need of immediate attention– both programmatic and infrastructural.
That said, there is a reason I personally believe preservation is particularly important– not just in the area around the Alexandria Garden District but throughout our fair City. To be sure, I think it is foolish to be stubborn on this issue– sometimes, quite simply, some things are beyond saving. But when we can, we must preserve.
After Daniel, Melinda, and I left Samtown/Woodside, we toured an area near South Lee Street– remarkably similar to the character of Samtown/Woodside, and then on to an area known as Sunken Village, which, believe it or not, is technically outside of the city limits. Sunken Village is, in my opinion, a unique urban problem. As its name implies, the neighborhood has a tendency to flood, and although it appears to be primarily occupied by young families, its infrastructure is ancient. Children crowded the streets due to a lack of sidewalks. Something needs to happen there. It’s outside of the City. There’s no homeowner’s association. Much of the neighborhood is rental property. It’s prone to flooding.
When you tour Alexandria in this way, you have a notion of the scale of blight. It is not isolated to a single area; it exists throughout the City, and therefore, it is a City-wide problem.
Working together means acknowledging our shared challenges.
I implore you: If you haven’t seen your City, go out and see it.
Lamar White, Jr.
Unto thee, Oh Lord, do I lift up my soul.
To my Connect Group Members:
Here are some pictures from our last meeting. We had a great time sharing Daniel Fast recipes and learning how to teach Bible studies.
Hope to see you all soon!
Andrea
It has been killing me not to be able to take any pictures or post anything! I have been riding around looking at houses lately. I stopped a couple times and grabbed for my camera…then I remembered that it was “out of order”. You always see the most interesting things the one time you don’t have a camera. I could not even find film for my good ole Minolta. Oh well….
Off to dance class!
Happy Monday everyone!
Isn’t this pretty? Soon, it will be sanded and stained. I am looking at rubbing Briwax into it instead of sealing it with polyurethane. Yes, it would be more trouble…I would have to rub Briwax into the wood every year or so, but I think the wood grain would be prettier and more natural looking. After scraping off layers of paint and orange-ish puddles of yuck…I think I would prefer not to put any of that stuff back on there.
This is burley or curly pine (I guess depending on where you are from or who you talk to). Legend has it that only the wealthy in Central Louisiana had it in their homes since it is so rare. The curly pine comes from a diseased tree where the bark grows in wavy patterns instead of straight. I was also told that a certain affluent Alexandria family who owned one of the only local mills in the early 1900’s, kept all of curly pine found for their homes. The builder and owner of my home, Sally Hynson-Ringgold (who, from what I can gather, lost her husband in the Civil War), was the former owner of the Kent Plantation (she inherited the Kent Plantation from her father). She must have either had connections, or her husband’s family owned one or more of the sawmills in Ringgold, Louisiana, because there is curly pine throughout my house as well.
Andrea
Perpetual Renovator 