The Three R's: 'Real' Reality Rant

Sooo I didn't exactly make it to an actual post this week either, BUT I do have something to share (at least you know I thought about you this week, right? ;o) School hit the ground running full tilt this year; we're all still trying to catch our breath. Okay, maybe it's more like we're hyperventilating... I got the brilliant (?) idea to share the rest of my zoo trip photos via slideshow. Ha. Why does this stuff always turn into a federal production? I've used up all my freebies through Cincopa, and now I find that Google has killed off the best feature of Picasa: The embeddable slideshow. So if, bright and early this morning, you happened to hear someone bellowing ugly sentiments at their computer in the distance... well... it was probably me. Sometimes I really hate technology. *sigh* So, we learned (I hope, I hope!) how to use the slideshow feature in Photoshop Elements. Probably. Maybe. Hopefully. Here goes nothing:

Aaaand nothing was what we got. So, we tried again:

Nope, didn't quite make it that time either. Okay, let's try this:

Clearly the third time was NOT the charm. What about this:

That would be a NO. Four? Anybody? Anybody at all. Do I hear four?

After several hours of unbelievable aggravation, the ditching Photoshop altogether (I couldn't get the file size low enough to appease Blogger), saying 3,482 bad words, wasting an additional 45 minutes on Smilebox only to throw my arms up in disgust, this is what I came up with:

Click here to view the Album on Google

*snarl*

Signed,

MUD

Access Denied, Dude

Do YOU know...  
How unbelievably and obnoxiously annoying you are? Is it just me or do you get fed up with the deluge of automated emails vomited out en masse to in-boxes everywhere by the social media giants? Do you know this person? How about this one? Wait! Here are 27 more people, just in case. I would say I appreciate the thought (self-serving though it may be), but I'd be telling a whopper for sure because I DON'T. I have to admit that whoever coined the term "the web" really knew what they were doing. As much as I appreciate and even [almost] enjoy technology, (when I'm not yelling at my screen, that is ;o) sometimes I think social media's sole purpose is to lure you in until you become hopelessly entangled in the virtual reality black hole. *Bangs head on desk.*

Case in point: I got on Pinterest over the holidays looking for some easy recipes, and got sidetracked by a cute crochet pattern pinned by a friend. Two hours and 2,000 Oh, look how cute!'s later, however, I was furious with myself for wasting so much time basically doing nothing (particularly since I had completely forgotten my original purpose). Recipes, ohhh yeah. *Facepalm* Yikes. It's a supernova turned black hole into which large quantities of time are sucked daily, I'm telling ya. Then there's the inevitability of the interface update; about the time I think I have a handle on a site, sweeping changes are announced and nothing looks like it did. Like the all new Facebook Timeline. Wait... What? Hold on, where the heck did everything go? Why are you tracking me on a big scary map? Cut it out, it's creepy. Hello?!? That's not even ME people; it's someone else with the same name and a smarter phone that lives in the next town. Oh, hey I got it: subterfuge. Okay that one could be good. I'm getting more like the horses every day; gimme a nice predictable rut. It may be boring, but at least I know what the heck's going on. *grin*

Now I'll confess to laughing hysterically at the Toyota commercial featuring the girl in her room mocking her "lame" parents for only having 17 sorry friends on Facebook compared to her own 600+ virtually vivacious pals. Of course her parents were out having fun with their real friends, while she sat home alone all night staring at a screen. I suppose it could be argued that technologically speaking she was with her friends (but that perspective just creeps me out completely, and move over Max Headroom). In honesty, the only reason I even joined Facebook in the first place was to create a Fan Page for Epic Farms (one of those things that seemed like a good idea at the time). It was almost fun for about 20 minutes, too, but I think it was the never-ending barrage of Little Green Patches and Farmville requests that totally killed it for me. Let's not forget the added drama that spills over into the school day from Facebook; superfun, that. Never mind the fact that you're supposed to be 18 either; nobody cares, believe me. I will say that DD was 20 or 21 before she signed up for Facebook, (and I dimly recall asking her what that giant whooshing noise was; it was the sound of her getting sucked into the virtual void *sigh*).

Do I appreciate the convenience? Sure I do. It's nice to be able to catch up with things at 4a.m., which is generally the only time I have a few extra minutes to spare. It's handy too, when something major (like a surgery) is going on - it's a great way to let everyone know an update all at once. But where's the line? Do I need to know that 12 people I do not know 'liked' what someone else posted that I didn't read? Nope, and I pretty much don't care either (sorry). I signed up with Twitter to promote my Etsy shops (you know, the ones that were stuck in vacation mode for the past year) and announce new blog posts but I rarely remember to tweet either one. I totally forgot to announce the Epic Farms Etsy shop was open again too - my bad. For some reason, Twitter grates on my nerves too. I'm mostly sure I don't need to know what you're doing every minute of every day. Saw a tweet one time that someone had just finished scrubbing the toilet, and was getting ready to jump in the shower; talk about TMI. Who on earth get's that bored? Oy. For a little while, I was interjecting one-liners just to break the monotony of all those self-serving monologuistic tweets. 

Then I joined BlogFrog and four or five other promote-your-blog-here sites (that I don't even remember). All that did for me was generate still more friend requests/followers from people in places I've never even heard of and whose profiles basically scare me. I couldn't even tell you why I joined LinkedIn (although I'm fairly certain I had a reason at the time). Truth be told, that was the catalyst that led to today's posterior-exposing post (SO not explaining that one if you missed it ;o) A whatEVER request (friend? circle? group? clique? groupie? network? follower? stalker?) from some random real estate person that I've never heard of who works halfway across the country in some state I've never seen. Hitting the online white pages for the entire US of online A these days are we? There just seems to come a time when the harassing and haranguing overrides said convenience and becomes one more set of overwhelming obligations on that never ending gotta get "tuit" list. I'm going back to my virtual beginnings and see how many of these online onuses I can start ditching to cut down on my bit... Er, as much as I enjoy the occasional rhyming game, perhaps we'd just better not go there (we are rated G don'tcha know ;o)
Wow. That was a lot. Hope I didn't hurt anybody; seems I've been saving up *grin*. Somehow, I'm betting there are at least a few of you that have the same love/loathe relationship with technology. Or is it just me? I'll have a Sarabear update next time and the upside of technological advances. For now though, I'm sending you a happy smile and a virtual hug. BTW: have you noticed that we are up to 114 Facebook Likes? How exciting *bounce*bounce*bounce*. So feel free to Like us, tweet this, link to it, pin it, Digg it, Stumble it...  
Oh, ACK!

Out With the Old and In With the New...

I don't know about you, but I have a tempestuous (such a cool word ;o) love/hate relationship with the internet and all things technological. As the parent of a deaf child, I TOTALLY appreciate  the marvelous blessing that texting has been. I do not miss the days of running halfway across the pasture to catch DD for one thing or another (can't just bellow at a deaf kid, don'tcha know), but as a regular form of communication I find it seriously annoying. Just call me for crying out loud. I can't wait until iPhones are more affordable (Facetalk means signing not texting - Woo!) Facebook is okay I guess, fun sometimes for sharing photos or catching/keeping up with old friends and family but definitely prone to TMI Overload (too much information).
Sometimes I DO NOT WANT TO KNOW - in explicit detail - "What's on your mind" (because ick). I'm not sure I like all the ease of access stuff either; especially when I can't really tell where my personal information is going. Leeeetle too scary for me - sorry. And don't get me started on Google's new [over the top] tracking stalking strategy. *shudders* The photo, in case you are wondering, is one of the cabinet doors in the workroom at school (I was making copies and pondering this week's post). It's kind of funny to me that with all this amazing technology around, the bulletin board decorations haven't really changed all that much since I was in school. We are NOT talking about how long ago that was though. Getting back to my original thought here...

Twitter I use for promotional purposes and periodic one-liners just to break up the monotony. Example: What do you get when you toss a grenade into a kitchen in France? Linoleum Blownapart. *snort* But honestly? I just don't get the twits, er, twitterers sometimes. Do I care that you just finished flossing your teeth? Um, no (although I'm sure your dentist must be very proud). How about it? Are you addicted to any of the social media sites? You can tell me (I promise not to tweet it ;o) This photo is Bella performing one of her spectacular yawns. *laugh* I was kind of proud this one was actually in focus (she didn't do the head flip/hair tossing thing with it - she really gets into her yawns).

This has been a bit of a painful week. At the beginning of it, Taya came hobbling down the hill with a stick protruding from her front foot right above her hoof. At first I thought it was just caught in the hair, but I couldn't get it out - it was through the skin and stuck fast. Ugh, a puncture (eew). It obviously pained her, as she snatched her foot away every time she thought I might touch it again. Poor girl. Got a gel ice pack and laid carefully over the area hoping to numb it a little. She stood still on her own for me (the girls are SO good about this :o) as we waited for a few minutes. Said a prayer, put some pressure on the ice pack and slid the offending splinter out. Whew! A squirt of peroxide to be safe, and she happily trotted off munching her good patient treat. Some kind of sticker bush I guess, but just look at this evil thing - Yeow! It was stuck in there all the way to that second knot. She must have lay down to roll and knelt on it or something. Geez.

Before I forget, I have to give a warm fuzzy (furry?) Thank You Thank you Thank you! to Beth over at Seriously Horsing Around. She finds some great horsey stuff any and everywhere, and actually managed to find a way to get a free one year subscription to Horse Illustrated (post is here). The magazine was one of the first things to get whacked a few years ago at the beginning of my [personal] budget cutting craze. I've missed it, but now in 6 to 24 weeks I'll be perusing its pages once more. And for free too: Yay!

We ended the week with a Mad Max mental moment (and why are you not surprised, right? *sigh*) I had a couple of pretty good shots of him aggravating Cinnamon, but cannot seem to find them anywhere (don'tcha just hate that?). The two of them are fine until mealtime, then it's Nyah-Nyah games. We'll make due with this picture of our resident problem child taken near the end of last fall. I used the poster setting on the camera, which gave it an unusual look. I kind of like it though, and although I wish his ears were up, I have to admit it's much more Maximus the way they are :o)

One of the things on my ToDo list is to build Mr. Miscreant up there a climbing wall. He seems to have a genetic predisposition for it, and has discovered that the round pen panels make a pretty decent ladder. Grrr. I have the plans (and a pretty good idea of who I can coerce to handle the carpentry part) but I was hoping to put it off until we finished the patio/visitor area and started working on the boy's new stalls. I am now rethinking that strategy.
Below is a photo of what was - in its former life - a round pen panel. More specifically, the panel between Max and Cinnamon's stall. It has - as evidenced by its current state - been pretty well annihilated. Must you add Max the mountain climber to your personal cast of characters? Really man? How about we add Joe Destruco instead? *sigh*

Guess that's enough for now; I'd better get busy around here (so much to do and so little time ;o) Gotta go work on our taxes (talk about painful - Blech). Thanks for reading this far, and have a blessed week everyone! Oh, and don't forget to look for Epic Farms on Goodsearch please; we'll take all the help we can get. And Clancy, I hope you're okay down there girl (prayed for you when I saw all that water on the news). Okay, now I'm really done. Hugs,

...With one scary purchase, my shopping is through!

For the past several years I have been ogling (and subsequently drooling over) digital cameras, but never could afford anything close to what I wanted. Trying to get a fledgling Non-Profit off the ground means that the bulk of my paycheck gets pretty much re-routed before I get to see it.  This year, however, DH gave me money (and made me promise not to spend it on bills or anyone but myself; horses included) and my parents gave me a big Walmart gift card so I went a little crazy... 

First: A Byte of Background

The digital camera on the right was on perpetual loan from a dear friend; I've been using it to take the listing photos for our Etsy Shop.  Before that I was using my camera phone (sad, but true :o)

Because it didn't belong to me (and I am paranoid) I rarely took it outside. Most of my outdoor shots were taken with my regular camera or my handy-dandy cell phone (well whaddaya want on a no budget budget?)

The Blast from my [not too distant] Past  

I took a picture of our Christmas tree for the scrapbook before we dove into the small pile of presents underneath it on Christmas morning. My dad, who was standing nearby, held out a hand and said, "Let me see". Thinking he meant my camera, I handed it to him. He turned the camera around and in utter shock stated, "This is a FILM camera!" Apparently, he was expecting to see a small digital screen instead of the black plastic view he got :o)

"Thanks for pointing that out, Pop", I returned with a laugh. "There are a few of us that still use them, you know." At least I think there are...are there? Do any of you guys still use 'regular' cameras, or am I the last one left on the planet? Not that it worries me to be bringing up the rear mind you, I'm just curious...

"Welcome to the 21st Century"

Was my father's response to my extravagant Christmas purchase (of course it was 100% sponsored by the presents from DH and my parents; and it was also on sale - WooHoo!!)

There's probably something off about a senior citizen being shocked by his offspring's lack of technology (in fact, I'm sure of it :o) but that doesn't bother me in the slightest. To be honest, I thought it was pretty darn funny myself, because it was just so wrong.


Of course now I have guilt;I should have saved the money, bought feed with it, paid a bill with it, etc.  I seem to have an awful lot of trouble spending "me money", do you?

I've never participated in one of these, but thought I'd throw this in as a tribute to my cell phone camera (another oldie, but goodie :o)

Theme #194 "Lick"

Er, this is Shadow "cleaning" my daughter; he's our resident treat vacuum and people washer... 

She thought it was funny. Me? I was kind of thinking more along the lines of...


 EEEEEW!