Facebook is going away

Yes, it is.  No no no, it’s not shutting down.  I mean it’s going away – from me!

This is my typical Facebook regimen:

1. Open browser
2. Click to refresh latest updates
3. Scroll down the updates
4. Look at pictures of people I could mostly care less about (unless it’s a hot chick! bazinga!)
5. Look for any cool links which are seldom found
6. Open any cool links if any are available
7. See who is online
8. Check again to see who is online because FB chat is slow
9. Stare at screen waiting for something clever to say
10. Think hard about a link I could post but realize that no one gives a damn about it anyway so why bother
11. Despite the fact that no one gives a damn about discoveries pertaining to our Universe I post a link anyway waiting in vain for a response of “wow that’s cool!”
12. Instead I notice that the person who posted the status of “Premier of XYZ show tonight” gets 15 comments
13. I am filled with sadness over how a TV show is more important and conversation worthy than understanding the workings of our Universe
14. I close the browser
15. Rinse.
16. Repeat.

Yeah, that’s about how it goes.

Now, if I were a scientist, I’d probably have followers that were also interested in science.  I’d get positive feedback that way I suppose.  I’m not a scientist though, so establishing a base there isn’t happening anytime soon.  Instead most of my friends just aren’t interested in the things that I find stimulating.  I can count about three exceptions and they know who they are.

Or DO they?! Bwa ha ha, they may never know!

On the whole, it’s just time to give it up for a good while.  I’m working hard on simplifying my life. Irony!  It’s true though.  It takes some work to get things back to a simpler state.  I have to tie up loose ends here and there with people I know or maybe someone I was doing work for.

By the way, I do not do sidework anymore for anyone.  It sucks the absolute life out of me.  After a long day at work, the last thing I want is a long night of work at home.  That’s for another post maybe.  It’s ok, nothing to vent about.  It’s just something I had to get rid of.

How does one get rid of Facebook?  Turn it off.  WHOA! That was insane.  I better tone it down.

No, really, you just stop.  It’s not like a cigarette where you’d get physical withdrawal symptoms.  You might crave it in a sense though.  What is it though?  You constantly want to see what other people are doing?  That’s kind of sick I think.   I’ve done it too.  I’ve ‘stalked’ people.  Ok, not really but isn’t that what it is?  You go on their page and look at all their pics, their updates, links, vids, etc.

I know people normally don’t post what they don’t want seen, but that isn’t always the case.  I’ve found things on people’s pages that made me blush or go “hmm….alrighty then!”  It should just be called Stalkbook.  Not to mention that once you put something on the internet, it is there indefinitely.  That drunk photo?  It’s somewhere, even if you deleted it.  I’ve never had a drunk photo of me on the internet… I don’t think.

This world we live in is completely saturated with technology.  We can know anything and everything that happens anywhere in the world at the speed of light (almost).  Sadly, in this world there are many who don’t even understand how any of it works.  That was noted by the late Dr. Sagan.  He also said it was a disaster waiting to happen.  I’m not talking about Teh Internwebz.  I mean science and technology as a whole.  Refer to my sadness from the top.

While social networking is a product of science and technology, as with everything else, moderation is the key.

I do have some genuinely good friends on Facebook.  I have some family on Facebook as well.  Though, if I want to talk to my mom, I will pick up the phone.  If I want to talk to my wife, I’ll walk away from my computer.  Yes, walk away.

For now, the focus is on enjoying simple things in life.  I’ll still bury my head in books regarding the wonders of our Universe but strangely, I find a lot of peace in that.  Doesn’t that sound nice?

P.S. Should I post my Top Ten Most Annoying things people post as status updates?

Am I weird?

I hate 90% of what is on TV.  Maybe I don’t hate it, but I don’t want to be bothered with it.  I don’t watch anything current really.  I’ve never seen one episode of Lost, House and I’m sure there are a lot more that I can’t think of.  The only show I’ve actually followed in the past decade was Doctor Who.   Meaning, the only show with an actual plot-line.

Now, I’ve followed documentaries-a-plenty.  I can’t speak for everyone but I’d venture to say not as many people eagerly await the revamped version of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos.

Right now there are a handful of shows I like.  Deadliest Catch is one of them.  It’s fascinating to watch these guys do what they do.  The latest show I started watching, last night, was Pitchmen.  Call me a lunatic but I find that industry rather interesting.  If you haven’t heard about it, it’s got Billy Mays (yes, the Oxyclean guy) and Anthony Sullivan in it.   They take a couple of products, pitch them and see what sticks.  I suppose it’s my creative/inventive mind that sort of evaluates the products and so forth.   So I find interest and entertainment value there.  Plus it’s nice to see Billy Mays actually talk and not yell.

And that takes me to my shows of preference.  I like watching how things are made.  I like watching things explode.  Real explosions, not Hollywood ones.  I like watching tornadoes, again, the real ones.  I like watching nearly anything on science.  I draw the line at biology, never really liked biology!  I like watching Time Warp, the show that slows things down to insane slow motion.  I like watching rockets, again with the explosions, but controlled explosions.  Mythbusters is a great show.  How it’s made is a great show.  Dirty Jobs is a great show.   I suppose it’s “real” reality TV that I like.  I don’t really like the pretentiousness of most reality TV.  Pitchmen is semi-reality I guess but it’s tolerable.

I don’t care who gets voted off an island.  I don’t care who can sing, honestly.  I suppose it’s because those things don’t really directly affect me?  Am I a non-tv elitist?  I guess so!  Nah, a non-everyone else watches it-tv elitist!

I’ve always been that way.  I didn’t like Weezer until about five years AFTER their blue album.  I don’t like bandwagons I guess.  I don’t like fads much either.  I stopped liking fads after the whole color changing shirts craze of the 80s.

I prefer timeless things, with a few exceptions of course.  This is just a semi rant because I get tired of being asked if I watched this or that.  Half of the news online seems to be which Idol got bumped off or who left what show.  The other half is depressing as all hell.  Doesn’t leave much for good stuff, to me.  So I make my own!

But wait, there’s more!

Actually, not really.  That’s it my rant on TV is done.  Now, my next rant: Facebook and other online perils.

Welcome to Wal-Mart

I’m wearing a blue shirt with khakis today.  I go to Wal-Mart and I got asked to get a TV down for someone.  I politely laughed and told him I didn’t work there.

Went to the camera aisle where and older gentleman asked me about digital cameras.  I actually know a thing or two about that stuff so I helped  him out.  He never asked me to get one out of the case thankfully.  I ended up shoving my nametag in my pocket.  Lets see where else I can do and get mistaken as an employee!