The Eclectic Writer

25 Things That May Suggest You're Addicted to Facebook

My writing and M.F.A. colleague, Aaliyah Miller, recently wrote a wonderful post on her blog, coming clean about her "addiction to social networking." Sadly, I'm working through my own issues, especially when it comes to Facebook. Okay, I admit it. "Issues" might be an understatement. But I've got a sneaking suspicion that these 25 warning signs (the quantity is a warning in itself!) might be worth paying attention to if you find yourself suddenly updating your profile to proudly proclaim that "nothing comes between you and your Facebook":

1.  You obsess more about your Facebook photo than the picture you choose for your family's holiday card.

2. At the end of a long day, you find yourself reaching for your laptop instead of a glass of chardonnay.

3. You casually shield the computer screen so your family can't see that you're on Facebook again.

4. You've virtually reconnected with more high school classmates since joining Facebook than you did attending your last reunion.

5. You begin "stalking" people you haven't thought about in over thirty years.

6. Every list you make - to dos, party guests, exercise reps, yoga breaths - has to number 25.

7. You use digital smiley faces more than proper punctuation :) .

8. You create an excel spreadsheet to track the number of Facebook friends you've accumulated.

9. You update your status more often than you eat a balanced meal.

10. You check for Facebook updates more often than you check your email.

11. You go to see movies just so you can add them to your favorites list.

12. You cancel your therapy session after reading other people's 25 things lists because maybe your life isn't as screwed up as you thought it was.

13.You get depressed if someone ignores your request to become a friend...and feel guilty if you don't return a virtual hug.

14. Since joining Facebook, you know more about the people you see every day than you did before you came on board. 

15. Your self-worth is measured by your number of Facebook friends.

16. You post an update before you drink your first cup of coffee in the morning.

17. You skip Jon Stewart so you can virtually connect with your Facebook friends.

18. You incessantly tell people how much you hate Facebook and then feel compelled to comment about it on your Facebook page.

19. You spend hours scouring through your Facebook friends' "friends" photos to see who you know and what everyone looks like now versus 7th grade.

20. Despite your Catholic upbringing, you learn that it's Ash Wednesday only after reading it on Facebook.

21. You find yourself commenting on things like celebrities and reality shows, even though you've only watched about a week's worth of television in the last year.

22. You start contemplating plastic surgery because if Jennifer Aniston can look that good at 40 then...

23. You get mad when people don't update their Facebook status in more than a day.

24. You find yourself thinking as deeply about Facebook comments as you did existentialism during your college years.

25.  You're unable to come up with a 25th thing because you haven't updated your Facebook status in over 12 hours. Gotta go!

It's For You (or Whoever Answers)

A sure sign that we're enduring rough economic times is the ringing of the telephone. I noticed this today. Our home phone - which may ring once during the day, usually my husband checking in to see if I need something at the store - rang four times. The phone rang all weekend. It rang off the hook last week.

I don't want to give off the impression we're unpopular. But these days most of our family and friends get in touch by email, text, or cell phone. The "old fashioned phone" is there for when I call out and want to catch up with people without our voices cutting in and out, given the country setting we live in. You can talk to me all you want about advanced technology, but in our hilly rural town of 5,000 there are still countless "dead zones," especially within my own house.

I sense that being on the "no call list" no longer carries any weight. One household appliance manufacturer has called at least three or four times in the past two weeks. Despite delivering our usual, "we're on the list, please remove our numbers," the phone keeps ringing.

I've heard from several not-for-profit organizations, looking for donations. Fortunately, they are understanding when I explain that we support a number of specific organizations directly. They in fact are usually very nice as they end the call, but my guilt continues for an hour after I hang up.

The area newspaper called several times over the last couple of weeks to make us an "outstanding" offer for home delivery. While it would be so convenient not to have to run out for a Sunday paper each week, the problem is that when we had it delivered in the past during "good times," the paper never seemed to arrive despite countless calls to complain. I just read that the paper's parent company has filed for bankruptcy.

I know we all have to hustle to make a living these days. It would be easy to let the ringing phone spiral me into a state of stress. However, the only thing I can control is to check caller i.d., take a deep breath, and politely get off the phone as quickly as possible, attempting with every opportunity to nip future calls in the bud.

Let me be clear. I don't like to be hung up on as I begin to decline the offer. I don't like to be argued with and served up some slick sales pitch just because I pick up the phone. But these days, as we all try to make it through this downer of a recession, I figure these people are just doing their jobs. And if we can at least be nice to each other when the telephone rings, maybe something good will arise like a phoenix from the ashes of these troubling times.

Digital Tips for a Blog Reader

One of my loyal blog readers, Colleen, recently left a comment on my posting about digital photo albums. She was looking for tips about how to manage the numerous digital photos that have accumulated on her hard drive and that she has done nothing with.

Wow! What a great question. The major magazines are always publishing articles about how to manage the clutter that takes over our homes and offices. But given this digital age we live in, the conveniences and speed that technology provides is countered by the exponentially higher levels of stress we take on given the multitude of emails, documents, digital photos, and other "stuff" we collect on our computers. Among the more annoying culprits are the digital photos. They tend to be big files, take up a lot of space, and hang out in a folder called something generic like "My Pictures."

Unfortunately I don't have a simple solution to this dilemma. I, too, battle the beast. However, I have pulled together a random list of tips I've figured out that may help. Good luck!

• Develop small, repeatable steps that become habits. Organizing digital photos can't be done in a day, weekend, or month. It's about creating a process that works for you.
• Start with the downloading process. When you transfer photos from your camera to the computer, name the folder. Specify subject, month, and year. For example, Fred's Birthday Feb 2009. What's important is to get a chronology into your folder system and create easily identifiable tags.
• Follow same steps for non-event subjects. If you can't resist taking 30 shots of a tree with ice on it (see earlier blog posts!) download them but name the folder Winter Trees Jan 2009.  I put all my close-up shots that can be used for publicity, websites, etc. in a folder titled, "Anne's Professional Shots."
• Delete bad photos immediately. Once you download, go through your pics and immediately delete the ones that are blurry, the subject has their eyes closed, etc. You'll never use them - why keep them? And to save space, empty your recycle folder regularly.
• Create subfolders. Do you take pics at Fred's birthday every year? Have a folder called "Fred's Birthdays" and put the annual folders inside. Are birthdays in general a popular photo op? Then create a "Birthday" folder and move subfolders inside that. The key is getting down a theme or topic that you can easily "search" when you're looking for a specific photo.
• Watch for duplicates. I find I have this habit of renaming photos and saving copies to my desktop so they are easier for me to find and download. Try to rename photos once and put in a subfolder called "Keepers." Put all others in a folder called "Extras."
• Invest in an external drive. They're not expensive, and you can back up your photos and free up space on your computer. I find I still keep photos on my hard drive, but tend to put the "Extras" offline as a "safety net."
• Take advantage of a personal productivity lull to "clean house." We all have those days when we just aren't feeling productive and are looking for some brainless activity. Take advantage and go into that photo folder. Just organizing the "loose pictures" into a folder can be a huge help and make you feel more organized!

Tips for Wasting Time With Your Computer

I'm enjoying my annual "date" with Oscar; that is, I'm sitting here in front of the television watching the Academy Awards, like I do every year.

But since I'm getting too old to run to the bathroom and practice my Oscar acceptance speech for when I, too, am famous, I'm instead being totally unproductive with my computer. So far I've wasted away time on Facebook, writing silly, nonsensical little notes in response to my friends' indescript ramblings. I've Googled old boyfriends whose names I can't even remember (of course, never finding them and assuming not that I can't spell but only that they've gone on to lead boring lives, or at least existences that are Google-less in meaning.) I put my name into a search on Google images and found my good ole pics - the favorite one you see on this blog, the least favorite one snapped during residency that appears on my Westconn profile, my cycling in Vilnius pic from TravelingMom.com bio, and my Blogger shot taken on the Baltic Sea last summer. I figured out that when I Google myself in Images, my photos appear next to those of my good friend, Ann Zuccardy, of Vermont Shortbread fame. Go figure. A very serendipidous moment, if you ask me.

Some nights you got to just say, heck with it, and do nothing. The kids' vacation is over as of the morning and it will be time for me to kick back into high gear. I watch the Oscars to rev up my right brain, to shake up the artist within who sometimes goes into hiding when self-doubt or sheer frustration kicks in. I get reminded of the stories - the many, many stories - that are sitting in my brain, desperately wanting to emerge and make their way into words on the page. I reflect on the completed work that sits on the shelf, waiting to be published for a world to digest.

But without this act of doing nothing, I'd never get going to accomplish something. Doing nothing is something I was never good at. Practice makes perfect, so I'll sit here a bit longer, randomly posting what I'm doing, watching Facebook updates magically appear in the right hand corner of my computer screen, as others like me waste away the evening on their laptops.

Only good things can come from doing nothing, I am learning. That's something to think about.

A Breath of Fresh Air

The weather online said temperatures would be around 40. The sun was shining. There was no way we were going to stay inside yesterday.

This week was winter vacation. But all winter vacation does is remind me (happily) that spring vacation is just around the corner. So when temperatures rose above freezing, I knew I wanted to get the kids out of the house for some fresh air and exercise. I wanted to take us for a hike in the woods.

Since our town is once again under snow cover, I decided to travel the half hour or so to my hometown.  Given its a shoreline community, I was pretty sure we'd see beautiful brown groundcover, not the blinding white of the cold, fluffy stuff.

We went to the Audubon Society. Growing up I spent many weekends walking these same trails with my dad. Bringing my children here is a way to connect my past with the present. The terrain is for the most part flat. The kids would run ahead, then I would walk quickly to catch up. This was our pattern throughout our journey. By the end we were pleasantly tired, but not totally exhausted.

Enjoy these wonderful pics, courtesy of Mother Nature. If you have a moment, start taking a walk outdoors and get ready for spring!

Tips for Mixing Business Travel with Family Fun

Did you ever think about bringing the family along on a business trip?  Does it one minute seem like a great idea and the next minute totally insane?

Pack the suitcases! Juggling family and business can present its challenges, but it can be a great opportunity to get work done and fit in some family time, too. I share some tips that will help make this dual endeavor a happy experience for all in my latest Sanity advice on TravelingMom.com. Click here to read my recent article.

Don't forget to check in on the TMOM bloggers for lots of great tips, advice, and destination ideas for your next travel adventure, whether solo, with family, or with friends. 

Best of a Blog

As many of you know, in addition to The Eclectic Writer I also blog for TravelingMom.com, a very cool website that’s filled with a ton of information for moms on the go! I write with a wonderful group of women and the collective tips provide valuable insights and advice, whether you travel for business or pleasure, in the U.S. or abroad, with families in tow or solo. I am also the "resident sanity expert" for TMOM and share my advice for staying sane when trying to achieve balance on the go.

Below is a "best of" collection of recent blog posts on the TMOM site. The links will bring you directly to my postings; however, I encourage you to check out what my fellow bloggers have to say. I'm always picking up valuable tips myself that help with me manage my busy life. You'll also find many recent posts about destinations and ideas for spring break - which is just around the corner!

Remember, us bloggers LOVE to hear what you have to tell us. Just like for The Eclectic Writer, I encourage you to drop me a comment if you read a post of particular interest. Just go to the bottom of the TMOM blog post, Leave a Reply, and click Submit. It's that easy!  

Thanks and enjoy the posts!

Post about BB King’s Blues Club, Orlando:

http://www.travelingmom.com/blogger/singing-the-blues-over-spring-break/

 Post about Gatorland, Orlando:

http://www.travelingmom.com/blogger/get-a-load-of-them-gators/

 Post about creating a digital photo book:

http://www.travelingmom.com/blogger/capturing-travel-memories-in-a-photo-book/#comments

 Post about anticipating summer vacation:

http://www.travelingmom.com/blogger/putting-summer-vacation-and-family-fun-first/

 Post about the game Mad Dash:

http://www.travelingmom.com/blogger/dash-out-for-some-geography-fun/

 Post about a breakfast shortcut:

http://www.travelingmom.com/blogger/breakfast-sanity/

 Post about Holiday Inn Waterpark:

http://www.travelingmom.com/blogger/splish-splash-with-some-stuffing-on-the-side/

 Post about the zoo:

http://www.travelingmom.com/blogger/bundle-up-and-visit-the-zoo/