Sunday, April 26, 2009

Twitter


So I started a Twitter account today. Not that I am popular enough to necessitate a twitter account but why not. It is on the news every 5 seconds and everybody and their dog has one. The news the last week or so has done nothing but talk about twitter, tweeting, and everything else buzzing around about it. When they mentioned that even Oprah Winfrey and Larry King had a twitter, I figured I better check out what all this bloody "tweeting" is about then.

The first thing they have when you go to the site are links to click about "how" and "why" twitter is around, how to actually use it, and a clever little video with paper cut-outs (I am not kidding) showing you how this system works. The next thing I did was click on "blog" down at the bottom (http://blog.twitter.com/). I figured it would just lead me to something about how to make a blog or link your blog on twitter, but, the results were interesting.

The other night on Larry King Live (http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/larry.king.live/), Ashton Kutcher and P.-Diddy were on talking about which of them had more followers and some twitter contest to be more popular by getting 1-million followers. Throughout the interview portions that I saw, they made no reference to why they were having the contest, so it wasn't clear to me what exactly it was all about. It turns out, by clicking on "blog" at the bottom of twitter it takes you to a page explaining the contest. It was not just celebrities going on about how awesome they are because they can get the most "tweets" and prove how wonderful their lives are compared to the average joe.

The reason for their contest was to support and raise money for the organization Malaria No More. The contest was to see who would be the 1st to 1-million followers on Twitter between CNN and Ashton Kutcher. The winner was to donate what ended up being $100,000 to a noble cause. Well, I think you can guess who won (Ashton Kutcher). I couldn't believe Mr. Demi Moore was actually using his craziness and silliness to make the world a better place. No wonder CNN was part of this crazy popularity contest!! In the end, Ashton Kutcher donated the $100,000 he promised, CNN still donated $100,000 (despite not being as popular as Mr. Demi Moore), and many other celebrities, including Oprah Winfrey donated large sums of money to Malaria No More which will provide mosquito nets to help prevent the spread of this terrible disease.

I think it's great that we can use these social networking sites like http://twitter.com/, http://facebook.com/, and http://myspace.com/ to try to make a difference. Don't get me wrong, I love these places and go to them all the time to check in with friends and family, which is great in and of itself, but to hear that celebrities are using their cult-like status on these sites to change the world is just fantastic!!

To check out the video either go to http://blog.twitter.com/ or to You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZADez_MIr5I. You can also find it by searching for "Twitter and World Malaria Day" on the You Tube search engine. To check out Malaria No More you can click on the link above, this one http://www.malarianomore.org/index.php, or the one listed on my links of some excellent causes.

So keep on tweeting, blogging, networking, and making the world a better place!
And so it goes...

Saturday, April 25, 2009

The Empty Dog Bed


So the other week my hubby and I took a cab (yes still no car since accident, no accountability these days I guess) to the pet store and then walked home to exercise my crappy leg. We were so happy when we found a great deal on a dog bed. We figured poor Sassy is 10 years old now and could use a nice cushy bed to hang out on and that maybe she wouldn't sit right on top of my chair at the desk. Since I am on the computer for work and entertainment all the time I figured this would be a fabulous thing.

The dog bed was an $80 bed on sale for $15...what a deal we said! It is shaped like a slice of pie so it sits perfectly in a corner or across a straight edge, like say the wall which is a whopping 4-5 feet from me. It is nice and cushy, very soft, and has a washable cover. Surely this would put our dog in a state of bliss, no?


No.


Despite the fact that said awesome bed is extremely close to me and she can watch every move I make to the kitchen, bathroom, to kiddo's room, etc. because of my carefully chosen location, it is apparently not close enough. Apparently Sassy is a daredevil who likes to live on the edge and jump up and run whenever I scooch my chair to get up, grab a book, refill a drink, or just re-adjust in general.


What makes it even weirder is she is a well-trained and very intelligent dog. Sassy is a border-collie that I have had since she was a few weeks old. She follows every command instantly and has a very relaxed disposition. What I cannot understand is why in recent years she feels the need to sit right on top of my chair?!? I am so afraid I am gonna hop up to get the phone and run over her tail or something. I even bought her a gigantic bone to accompany her on afformentioned cushy bed to occupy her time. Apparently my easy dog likes the hardwood floor and running for her life instead of a nice bed. Pets can be so strange I swear.


And so it goes...

Blog Awards

Here are a few awards this blog has received thanks to some kind folks!

Friends and Favorites Award

Friends and Favorites Award
given 05/20/2009 by SquirrelQueen (http://squirrelqueen2.blogspot.com/)

One Lovely Blog Award

One Lovely Blog Award
given on 07/23/2009 by Juanita (http://juanitaharris.blogspot.com/)