Facebook Friends

So I ended up on Facebook. I don't recall how exactly. I think someone wondered why I wasn't on it, so I said okay. Then I ignored it for probably a year or so. Then someone "friended" me and I thought I'd better check it out to make sure I wasn't divulging too much information or whatever. I think I was thinking it was like MySpace. You know, full of tweens leaving cruel messages for each other, pretending to be Zac Efron totally dumping your ass. I was stunned to see perfectly normal (except perhaps for their friendship with me), seemingly non-criminal people on it. The chaplain of my old college is on it--and so is the rabbi! So I figured I'd give it a go, seeing as it's (cue the violin music) the only real way I'll see any of my friends' faces these days. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that no one in my networks was disparaging anyone's male virility or female chastity in crude, misspelled diatribes. So there I am.

The parts I'm enjoying most are the updates on what people are doing (again, for the shut-in loser in me) and the Bookshelf application. You can post on your profile all the books you've read, the ones you want to read, etc, which I am loving as a way to get book recos from friends. So all in all, my facebook experience has been going rather well. I still can't bring myself to put my kid's face or name on there, nor do I want to really really identify myself for people who only know me in an ancillary way. But I'm liking the level of involvement I have right now.

Contrast with the BabyDaddy. Beyond the fact that I should call him HWNDNBMITB (He Whose Name Dare Not Be Mentioned In The Blog) instead of BBDD, he is adamant that he will not under any circumstances join facebook. So tonight I was telling him how his friends in real life are now my facebook friends. (I mean, they are my friends too obviously (even if I'm closer to their wives), but you know what I mean; I know them because I know him). He is still unmoved. I showed him that his professional colleagues are on facebook and are no less credible for it; still he is unmoved. I've gotta respect his love of privacy, but I find it humorous nonetheless. So I started going through my (his) friend list near him and saying things tenderly like, "Oh Andrew. I'm so glad you're my friend." "Oh Julian, I can't tell you how happy it makes me to be your facebook friend..." "Oh Todd, when I need someone to chat with, to share my feelings with, I'll just SuperPoke you! Because you're my facebook friend!" Amazingly, he still will not join facebook, not even to stop me SuperPoking his friends. ;) But me, I think I like it. I think it works for me because everyone on my friend list is actually a person I know decently well and like. I see people with, like, 455 friends and I'm wondering if they actually really know every one of them to the extent that that person would want a note popping up saying, "E just had OJ for breakfast!"

My only complaint is that the fun quizzes available sometimes inadvertently spam your friends if you're not precise with the mouse clickage. I think I sent all my friends (including former professors and political pundits--and rabbis and chaplains) the following message: "E just took the 'Name That Smokin' Hot Actress' Quiz and she wants to challenge you to a match! Can you beat E's 89% score?" I also don't like how it always alerts everyone to everything you've done. Being a newbie I wrote a friend what I thought was a note. Turns out I put it on her "wall," so my profile immediately read, "E just wrote M a note. Click here to read it." Whaaaa?!! Thank God it was an innocuous whassup, rather than something like a tenderly-worded "I'm so glad you're my hunka hunka burnin facebook friend." Because THAT would be an invasion of my closely-guarded privacy. ;)

Happy Chinese New Year!

It's Lunar New Year again! Year of the Rat.

We're all decorated and ready to bring in the new year. Tonight is of course Chinese food with tangerines for dessert. I know I've said it before, but I absolutely love having three new years to celebrate. Happily, I've managed to transmit that joie de new year to Bambina who is decked out from head to toe in red today (the absolute must-have color for new year celebrations), has hung her lanterns in our front window, helped put up the chun lian (couplets in the photo) in the window, and is getting herself totally psyched to start yelling Gong Hay Fat Choy at the top of her lungs.

So, for those of you who celebrate, and even for those of you who don't, Gong Hay Fat Choy! Happy Lunar New Year!

Thoughts from Super DorksDay!

My girl JulieG and I were just IM'ing while watching the election returns. I asked, "are we total dorks for being so excited?" She sagely said that she fully embraces that kind of dorkhood. And so do I.

In watching the returns, a few items jumped out at me:

1. I think CNN overstates Obama's loss in Massachusetts. They keep talking about HRC's victory in the face of the endorsements by Ted and Caroline Kennedy and John Kerry. I don't want to burst anyone's bubble, but I think most people in Massachusetts will tell you that they have no particular regard one way or the other for the Kennedys. Yeah, there are always haters and lovers. But the vast majority of Massholes, I am certain, are positively ambivalent about "The Kennedys" as a collective proper noun. I think their endorsement was symbolic and certainly welcome, as most endorsements are. But to characterize Senator Clinton's win in Massachusetts as some kind of repudiation of the Kennedys is a bit of a stretch. Yes, it gives Wolf B something to yammer about on the telly, but it's not--from the perspective of your average Masshole--something on which to hang an entire theory of victory.

2. Yes, Romney did win Massachusetts. But no one is mentioning that 44% of MA Republicans voted for McCain. That's hardly a rousing show of support for our fearless former governor.

3. Why is no one asking Mike Huckabee, who just espoused his view of the Sanctity of Life and how all Americans are entitled to equal protection under the law, why his regard for a fetus' rights to equal protection doesn't extend to gay Americans and others who don't meet his Bible-based view of the world.

4. Everyone is waiting to see how California shakes out in the wee hours of the Eastern-time morning, but what of the millions of California residents who voted via absentee ballot? Will those votes swing the race one way or another? Will there really be reliable results at midnight?

5. Also in California, as CNN reports the "winner," will they make viewers aware that the Democratic Party's rules regarding the splitting of delegates by percentage means that a candidate could lose in California by 6 points and still be neck-and-neck in the delegate count? On the other side of the coin, in the GOP's winner-take-all process, McCain with 38% of the vote, Huckabee with 33% and Romney with 29%, McCain would "win" every single delegate even though more people voted for other candidates than for him.

Any other thoughts you want to share?

Gomez For Super Tuesday

It's officially Super Tuesday! I'm waiting to see how super it turns out to be. I obviously have my preference with which I will refrain from bludgeoning you. (GObama '08!) The following song by Gomez helps to sum up where I am with regard to the choices in this Democratic primary. As much as I support Obama, I truly wish that Bill Clinton had not injected himself into the race in the time, place and manner that he did, because in doing so he completely solidified in my mind why a vote for Senator Clinton is a vote to send them BOTH back to the White House. As I've analogized before, Bill Clinton emodies all the characteristics of the charming rakish old boyfriend whose charms are best enjoyed nostalgically. You look back and think, "we had some great times" but you know that, in the final analysis now that you are older and wiser, he really did treat you like shit and you are ashamed you put up with it all for so long. Bill personifies feelings I really don't want to feel about politics anymore. I'm looking for something more transcendent, more positive, more hopeful. He used to be that guy, back in 1992. A Place Called Hope. Now, for me, it's time to move away from one man or one place representing hope, and toward a movement that sees hope as the power and the willingness to believe again in ourselves and in our nation.

Good Sports(wo)manship

Okay, I'm gonna be an example to my child and display some grace in the Patriots loss last night. Especially because, as my girl C says, the Giants just wanted it more. And, let's be honest, the 4th quarter play where Manning escaped a potential sack by THREE guys and goes on to score is something the Giants can be proud of. The Patriots, not so much. :(

Perhaps, like the Tony Romo/Jessica Simpson thing, we can blame the presence of Gisele Bundchen on this ignominious defeat?

What? Is the FCC Too Busy Keeping Me Safe From Areolas?

The Super Bowl is still ongoing but I'm too pissed off to really enjoy it. Did you guys see the salesgenie ads? You know, the racist ones? I was aghast at the first one wherein Indian accents are mocked. I was thinking, "that is the most racist commercial I've seen in a long time!" Until, that is, the second one aired with pandas running a bamboo furniture business talking all "so velly solly!" This from a company founded by Vin Gupta. Self hater, perhaps? Or perhaps he's hoping to generate "buzz" for his company via low-brow, no-wit racism? Either way, it's a company I'd like to see go under from--irony!--a lack of sales leads.

And, either way, how does that kind of sh*t get on the air? Isn't the FCC supposed to fine the networks for content of an offensive nature? If only Gupta's company had run an ad with the panda's tits hanging out, then we'd have been spared this piece of garbage.

A Patriot of Giant Proportions

Bambina's preschool often sends home details about what the kids have been doing that week. This week we received one single sheet of paper entitled, "Who Are You Supporting In The Super Bowl?" The answers were as follows:

Kid 1: Patriots!
Kid 2: I don't like football.
Kid 3: Um...my mommy.
Kid 4: The football
Kid 5: *shrug*
Kid 6: a lion

And my kid? My sweet loyal Bambina?:

Bambina: The Giants!

That sound you hear is a mother's heart breaking. ;)