Busted....Facebook Fever...
First things first. This picture is too incredibly funny. I decided to make a batch of Martha Stewart cupcakes (chocolate). Boy, if you don’t have the February Martha Stewart Living, go get it quickly - best set of cupcake recipes on the planet and soo easy to make. Anyways, I made some cupcakes and had walked out of the kitchen to get something upstairs I think. Well, Michelle was downstairs and saw Maya lurking by the counter. Having an idea of what may transpire, Michelle wisely snatched the camera and moved back into the kitchen. Foreshadowing would be an understatement. She crept back into the kitchen, lined up the shot and clicked the button. The click of the camera alerted the cupcake thief that someone was onto them, hence the look of utter shock. This was also early in the morning as Maya rather than bed-head has the Billy Ray Cyrus mane working itself out. Maya must have thought she was so ready for the big heist that she forgot to set booby traps. Lucky for us, Maya isn’t a super fan of the cake, she just likes the frosting. Needless to say, it was incredibly funny seeing some of the pictures Michelle was able to get.
Several months ago I wrote about an addiction to Target. Today I am proud to admit, I have completed my withdrawal program and am now down to using only once or twice a month. I am sad to say that I have moved on. Michelle and I have recently joined Facebook. Yes, we know it has been around for ever and a day, but neither of us has ever really been into the social networking thing. We really have no need to be into it now. The thought was that anyone we wanted to talk to we had their e-mail address and/or phone and could get in touch with them if we wanted. Social networking is what it is all about, but it is also about being a part of a viral beast. The predominant reason we are now on Facebook is because virtually everyone we know is on the service. I can’t tell you how many times in the last three weeks I’ve heard, “are you on Facebook”? Nope. “Dude, you have to get on, its crazy”. Right. So, like a double blind experiment, Michelle and I both set up accounts.
Cool is one way to look at it. After about 24 hours I went from zero friends to fifteen. In 48 hours I went up to 28. People are coming out of the woodworks. The great thing is that I’ve hooked up with a bunch of friends, people I’ve met through other people, friends that live over seas, old friends that I haven’t thought of in years, but are all on Facebook. I’m obsessed. Obsessed with the widgets that Facebook offers. I have a beer recommendation widget, IQ test widgets and a million other things at my disposal. Probably something that is now taking up too much of my time, but I’m learning to deal with the need for a fix. The single most addicting thing is to be able to update your “status”, which is generally a one-liner about what you are doing at any given point in time. Perhaps it is a thought, or maybe something you are doing, or just a random musing. The status update is quite a key point for me. If I were to update my status right now it would say “Travis is blogging and rocking out to the tunes of the Grammy’s”. In fact, that is now what it says. I couldn’t not update it. I’d like to dedicate that double negative to my mom (love you mom).
Michelle already hates Facebook. She finds herself strangely drawn to it. She, isn’t as into the status thing as I am, but she is just as addicted. The funny thing is that for her it isn’t so much an addition as it is a calling or a need to not be rude. Probably more the latter. I think she now has more friends than I have on my account - not shocking. She has half of her high school homies (30 out of 60 isn’t bad), old work buds, current school homies and even some of her mom’s friends (how weird is that)? It always amazes me when people in my mom’s generation are tooling around in the social networking arena with the x-generation kids. At any rate, we are both fully hooked and now learning to deal with our need to get a fix.
So, here comes the recommendation, if you have nothing better to do, join Facebook. It will certainly take up your time and need for something in your life that is probably less than healthy. If it were between Facebook and a cheeseburger, choose the cheeseburger. the damage is more correctable. If you had a choice between Facebook and a kick in the privates....choose the kick, the pain will stop. If you had a choice between Facebook and life in prison...don’t be stupid, choose Facebook.
Duh, don’t be dumb, dummies. Stay cool.
Sunday, February 8, 2009