Tag Archives: facebook

National Blog Posting Month, Reading

The chain letter that finally paid off

One of my neighbors posted something on Facebook a few weeks ago that caught my eye. It was, it said, a “social experiment” in which you send one of your favorite books to someone and then, eventually, you get a bunch of books in the mail from other folks. It was a good old-fashioned chain letter, but with books.

After being disappointed time and again as a youth, I finally grew wise to the chain letter and stopped sending them along. But I’m a sucker for a good book — and sometimes even for a bad book, as evidenced by the fact that I read a tome called “Saint Dale” in its entirety. So I signed on for my neighbor’s literary Facebook experiment, sent a Graham Greene paperback off to her friend and hoped for the best. Worst-case scenario, I figured, was someone would get to read “The Quiet American.”

And then a few days later Abraham Verghese’s “Cutting for Stone” arrived. And then “Supreme Courtship” by Christopher Buckley, and then “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” by Truman Capote. Then we went on vacation, and when we came home Rebecca Skloot’s “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” Rob Sheffield’s “Love is a Mix Tape,” Lisel Mueller’s “Alive Together” and Maria Semple’s “Where’d You Go, Bernadette?” were there waiting for me. I love a good book recommendation, and it’s been delightful getting things in the mail that aren’t bills.

The moral of the story? I don’t know. Take a chance on a chain letter now and again? Have a little faith in goofy Facebook things? Regardless, I’m loving having a stack of books waiting for me to read.

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Screen time, Social Media

Friday links! The smack talk goes global

  • Rockford and our expat friend Chris have a long-standing rivalry rooted in football. Chris graduated from the University of Georgia, and Rockford lived in Alabama for the first three years of his life, which he seems to think obligates him to be a ‘Bama fan. This weekend, the teams meet up in Athens. Chris asked Rockford to commemorate the event with a little smack talk over on his Web site: Your Cadillac Has Got a Wheel in the Ditch at A Free Man.
  • There was a time when I would have voted for John McCain for president. Even though he seems to have changed quite a bit since then, I was withholding judgment on him this time around until he picked his VP. Because of the “one heartbeat away from the presidency” thing, the VP pick is always important, but it seemed a little more so with McCain because of his age. Have you seen anything from Sarah Palin’s interview with Katie Couric? It continues to boggle my mind that the McCain camp thought this was a good idea.
  • Magnetic puzzles at Parent Hacks! Brilliant!
  • I tried to avoid Facebook for quite a long time, but once I joined up I found that, like Kate, “I’m not cool enough to be too cool for Facebook.” She expands on the social site’s allure in kate is watching you.
  • Another Kate is feeling a bit Overwhelmed right now. Her family left Galveston ahead of Hurricane Ike, and then she had a baby. They can’t go home yet because their house took in about 3 feet of water. Pop over there and lend some moral support.
  • And finally, I love these plates.
    • Social Media

    Friday links! Ears, bags, treats and ads

  • The Washington Post says you should “Leave That Ear Wax Alone in a sort of gross but ultimately informative report by Kathleen Doheny.

  • I bought some reusable shopping bags from Target awhile back, and I love them. A few of the bags sort of zip up into themselves to form a little wallet-sized packet, and they’re super-handy. When I saw them, I thought, “Boy, that probably wouldn’t be too hard to duplicate.” And then I thought, “Zippers! Argh!” And then I didn’t take the thought process any further. But someone at Whipup did! Here’s here tutorial for a wallet-sized fold-up reusable shopping bag.

  • There’s a group out there on the Internet called the Daring Bakers. Each month, they issue a baking challenge. August’s challenge? Chocolate Eclairs. Yum. I’ve joined the Daring Bakers, but I don’t think I’ll get my first challenge until October. Stay tuned.

  • Casey at Moosh in Indy is coming to terms with the fact that some things — like being a superstar or a cheerleader — aren’t in the cards for her. But she’s dealing with it gracefully and looking at the sunny side in “Never Always.”

  • Speaking of the sunny side: Peanut Butter Cups at Have Cake Will Travel! I keep thinking I’m going to make my own peanut butter cups, but it has yet to happen. For now, I’ll just drool over these.

  • Writer Rachel Beckman takes issue with targeted advertising in “Facebook Ads Target You Where It Hurts” at the Washington Post. I hadn’t paid much attention to the ads on Facebook before I read this, but I’ve been keeping an eye on them this week. They haven’t been too rude to me thus far.

  • McSweeneys occasionally features someone with an interesting or unusual job, and this recent interview with Joel Pierson, cruise ship pianist is a great one.