My View

Hubby and I live in an older neighborhood. By older I mean the houses run about 25 years on average. Give or take a few. Recently a neighbor got me into walking in our little neighborhood. The weather has been perfect for it lately.  Why not? Isn't it always better with some good conversation and a lot of humor.

The neighbor works so we've been walking in the evening. But this morning I took the opportunity to get out there and enjoy the fresh morning air. After taking an allergy pill mind you. When I took a look at my hood with fresh morning eyes it was a new perspective. There were things that I enjoyed. 

Who can't pass up a family of ducks? They're everywhere along the trail. They even come up into our yards. 

 There are tons of trees along the trail. Granted they may be trash trees, but they're trees. And they provide lots of shade. I am grateful for them.

The trail also has lots of pedestrian bridges. The trail runs along a creek that's right along my hood at the end of my street. Wanna switch sides or turn around? No problem! Just cross one of the many bridges. 

I can go as far as I want on this trail without having to cross any major roads. There are underpasses for the walker/jogger/biker all along the trail. 

Well, I thought this picture would turn out better, but it didn't. There's women playing tennis in cute little skirts. No one had just t-shirts and shorts on. They were all wearing cute little outfits. Oh my! My first reaction was, "Really?" We're not living in the west part of the city. This is the "normal" part. Granted we're a little closer to the Upper Class than the Lower class, but skirts?!?!?!? 

And the best for last. There's a weirdo fishing! Seriously? I'm not sure why anyone would fish in that water. The ducks,rabbits,turtles and whatever fish there could be are to be fed and looked at. Fed and looked at only. 

By no means is this a walk along a gorgeous coastline. But, it's what I've got and it's pretty good. There's always something better, but there's always something worse. Like no view at all! I have a great view on my walk. Thank you God for all that I am able to take in during my walk! 

Lent, Second Edition

During Lent, 2011, Hubby and I gave up facebook. It wasn't as painful as I thought it would be. We didn't even cheat on Sundays. At least he didn't. I did on the third Sunday. We had time on our hands. We had to communicate the old fashioned way!

Then Easter Sunday came and went. I was perusing facebook that night and I was enjoying some pictures that "friends" had posted. I noticed one particular picture that someone had posted of the inside of their church from that morning. It was exquisite. It had beautiful woodwork and it was traditional to the bones. So, I "liked" the picture and asked if it was in the same city in which he lived. This guys response was, "Try xxxxx". Really? How in the world am I supposed to know? I'm glad I'm happy at the church we attend. That would have been a great opportunity to share his church home with others. I "unliked" the photo and deleted my comment. Whatever.

Maybe my response was extreme. But, I'm not sure that his response could have been taken in any other way. If so, oh well.

While we were abstaining from facebook during Lent, Hubby and I had discussed continuing not to participate. Either we would only look on Sundays or just delete our accounts altogether. Of course deleting our accounts altogether would be easy since we hadn't been that much into it during the Lenten season. But, I felt a tug. Delete my account? Take a breath, it will be okay.

Then we watched a show on one of the cable news networks called, "The Facebook Obsession". It highlighted the start of facebook and some of the ups and downs along the way. It all started in a dorm room at Harvard by Mark Zuckerberg. His original concept was called "facemash", where he had input Harvard students pictures on the web site and he asked for people to vote on the prettiest/ugliest students. Sounds lovely, huh? It was quickly taken down.

The Facebook Obsession highlighted a reunion story of an adult woman looking for her birth mother. I guess that's okay when both want to be found. They also brought attention to police departments who had captured criminals through the web site. Yeah for criminals being captured! One woman that the show featured was employed as a school principal. She was fired after her "private" rants about the students were seen as inappropriate. The principal had blamed facebook for her firing. I don't blame facebook, facebook didn't make her put those things on her wall. She did.

Our privacy on the site is constantly being sacrificed. The site is constantly making changes, but those changes aren't made very well known unless someone gets a hold of it and spreads the word. Even though I think my wall is private, it's not. As the show continued, I think it made it a little easier for us to stomach deleting our accounts. First we have to go in and delete our photos one by one. Joy.

The producers of the show requested an interview with Zuckerberg, but their request was denied. They were referred to the facebook's privacy page on the site.

The show also aired a partial interview by Kara Swisher of The Wall Street Journal. She sat down with Zuckerberg for an interview and some of the questions weren't even that hard hitting, but he was sweating profusely. Some have called it, his "Nixon moment". This socially awkward young adult who started the biggest social network there is to date.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't an attack on anyone who chooses to participate on facebook. It's just that we are finding it easier not to. Come Friday, we will start to delete the pictures one by one on our pages and say good-bye.

The Facebook Obsession

House of Blues

Recently, a vendor that services Hubby and other managers at this office invited us to a concert at the House of Blues. The night would be filled with free appetizers and drinks. It sounded pretty cool so Hubby and I, among others accepted. The singer that was performing was Chris Cornell. He used to be part of Soundgarden*. As a solo artist he's pretty good. I even have one of his songs on my iPod, so I thought, "How bad could it be?"

As I obsessed for days about what I would wear**, Hubby was able to get his parents to come over and stay with the kids. It was a date night and we were going to have some fun. Neither of us had been there, so we were looking forward to the experience. 

I guess we were so excited to go that we were the first of our group to show up. Awkward. The email that our host had sent said, "Your host for the evening is Mo. He'll take you to our private room". When we went to the side door, there was Mo. Mo was someone who could have been mistaken for a Marine mercenary. Very tall, built and he didn't seem to have a sense of humor. You don't mess with Mo. 

When we got on the private elevator it was daylight outside. When we got off of the private elevator, the atmosphere was filled with rock and roll, alcohol and a little bit of sexual tension for grins. The large room was filled with Persian rugs and privates booths. The bar was stocked with skinny bitches playing bartender. 

Finally some others that are part of our group show up. Pretty people that I have absolutely nothing in common with. Just about. I had asked the wife of another couple if she had ever been there before. Her response was that she had been to the gospel brunch on Sunday once in LA. She followed with, "It was great. But, I'm not religious or anything." Huh? Was I supposed to apologize for that? 

Hubby was smart and had a sandwich before we left, I thought I could wait it out. It was a long wait. But, well worth it. The crab cakes were some of the best I had ever had. Sliders, mashed potatoes and prime rib was also served. YUMMY. I figured once the food was served it would be okay to step away from the Coca Cola and go for something a little harder. Those drinks weren't watered down either. It was time to stop after just ONE long island iced tea and go back to Coca Cola.

After the gin and vodka had been diluted in my body, my eyes were clear enough to see the plaques on the wall. There were two of these wall decorations. They were divided into six squares each. Each square had a couple in different positions. Need I go any further? Get my drift? 

Finally, the concert was about to begin and we went to our section. He sort of talked a little. Sang a song. Talked a little. Sang a song. There were a few "F" bombs thrown in. I was just hoping Chris would perform the one song I had on my iPod. He never did. Unless he sang it during the encore, that we didn't choose to stay for. Monday was coming and it was coming fast!

It was something fun we hadn't done before. The vendor mentioned to Hubby that if we ever wanted to see somebody there, just to let him know. It was nice to be treated to a fun night. It was interesting in many ways. But if they talk business again, I just hope it takes place in a private suite at Rangers stadium***. =)

*"Black Hole Sun" ring a bell? If not, that's okay. 

**My wardrobe is a combination of a gym rat's wardrobe and a failed attempt at mismatched, halfway cuteness

***Talk about a wedding stress reliever! A few days before Hubby-to-be and I were married, we were in a private suite at Rangers stadium!! That's awesomeness!