Play it safe online

Are you sharing too much information about yourself through the social media sites?

I recently penned a blog article for Interact Media about how your social media efforts can be kidnapped by scam artists. You can read more about that here: http://www.interactmedia.com/social-media-marketing-blog/bid/24304/Social-Media-and-the-Scam-Artist

I have to say, I love my computer and I’m online a lot. As part of that, I pay regular visits to Facebook, and I’m astounded by the people who just post anything and everything on there.

I know how much their furniture cost, where their kids go to school, when they’re going on vacation and how long they’ll be gone, and even exactly where they work.

I even have friends who post on there how much they hate their jobs! Do they want to be fired that badly?

A lot of people believe that their posts are protected by some kind of privacy standards. I don’t know what kind of privacy they’re expecting, but I know that I can read the wall posts of just about anybody I search for without becoming their friends.

So just be careful out there. Not everybody is out to hurt you, but it only takes one scam artist to steal your identity or even steal your safety.

It’s snowing!

It’s snowing! It’s snowing! It’s snowing! It’s sno-o-o-o-o-ing!
Ok, I admit it. Nobody loves snow that much. We’re in line to get a foot or more tonight, and I’m really happy to be snowed in.
But then we come to our local television station, who is having what a co-worker of mine has called “weathergasms” over our latest winter storm.
They even announced tonight that the weather was bad and cars were getting stuck on a hill. What, cars stuck on a hill? In February. In the snow.
Ok, I’m not so thrilled with the snowstorm. I’d rather it be in the 80s and sunny. with me on the front porch with a cold drink and a hot romance to read.
But really, it’s no news flash to have it snowing in the winter.
I mean, News 9 had an hour and a half newscast on Friday night and will return at 7 a.m. Saturday for another two hour newscast. On the snowstorm.
Enough already. Be sure to click on the first sentence. It’s Pee-Wee Herman.
I think News 9 should just use it instead of doing its own forecast.

Are they really your friends?

My niece was bragging the other day.

“I have hundreds of friends!” she claimed.

Now my niece is a lovely girl, but hundreds of friends? “Do these people ever call you? Come visit? Go out to lunch?”

Turns out, she meant she has lots of friends on Facebook.

Aaaah, welcome to the wonderful world of the Internet, where a simple click of the button means someone is “your friend.”

Too often, for the lonely women out there, that simple click of a button means “soul mate.”

Don’t get me wrong. Facebook is a lot of fun. I’ve gotten into contact with people I’d forgotten all about. I get to see their families, their hobbies, their lives.

Great fun!

And Twitter? I follow every news agency I can think of, including BBC, Reuters, CNN, Fox and even Al Jazeera. I follow three different local newspapers and I just give a courtesy follow to whatever poor soul wanders in and thinks they should be following me.

How many of the hundred entities I follow do I actually know personally? I’d say about five or six.

But really, are they my friends? Do they come visit me? Do we go to the movies, out to dinner? Can I call them for a sympathetic shoulder to cry on? Will they come over to feed my dogs and cats when I have to be away?

They really should call them something else besides friends. But I guess “acquaintances with whom I have a very slender thread of recognition” is a little too long to fit in a website box.

Random thoughts, lazy blogger

God! I haven’t been on this one since February. I’ve done a little more on ohiowriter4hire.blogspot.com.
So it’s time to catch up.
It’s Friday night and I’m home alone with two dogs, three cats and a South Park marathon playing in the background. Is it as sad as it sounds? Probably so.
So I’m in the middle of exchanging a strange conversation with my friend and former college English professor, Rich McKee, who is probably one of the brainiest people I’ve ever met…and really funny too.
He lives in Florida and made the mistake of referencing the “skunk ape” on a Facebook posting. Of course, I had to ask what the skunk ape is.
Seems different parts of the country have different versions of Bigfoot. In Florida, it’s the Skunk Ape. Here in Ohio, it’s the Grassman. (you’d think the Grassman would be in Florida.)
Rich said of the Grassman: “I’ve heard a little about Grassman, but I suspected it was some legendary drug dealer from Mingo Junction.”
See why I find him so funny?
So that led me to tell him something that popped into my mind one day while I was driving home from Cadiz.
Cadiz, Ohio is directly in the middle of nothing. Hillsides one way, reclaimed coal mines the other, and you have to drive on winding roads through lots of trees to get anywhere. The wild deer and turkeys play kamakaze with moving vehicles.
And one evening, as I was driving home, this random thought popped into my mind:
What if Bigfoot jumped in front of my car right now?
Of course, I’m a writer and overall creative person, and another random thought popped into my mind.
Bigfoot standing in the road, going ROOOOARRRRR!
And I started laughing. And I laughed all the way home. I’m laughing now as I type this.
Sometimes I think I may be completely deranged.

So if you have random thoughts that pop into your mind that worry you or scare you, or even make you laugh like a loon, does that mean you have serious problems?
Here’s some of the thoughts that I often think:
1. Why are the lyrics to the banana phone song so freaking catchy? Is it a plot to make us buy bananas or phones? Ring ring ring ring ring ring banana phone…
2. What color is my hair, really? Ok, I color it a lot, like once a month, and I highlight it. So what color would it be if I didn’t do all that?
3. Once I went out in my yard and a giant ball mushroom was growing. I pulled it out and then it grew again. So now every time it rains I think I’m going to find a mushroom. What if it wasn’t a mushroom at all?
4. Why does every woman in Self magazine have on a bikini? It’s a magazine for women. That’s not MY self, no matter who I sell my soul to.
5. Is it weird to think Hugh Jackman is even hotter when his claws are out when he’s being Wolverine?
6. What are my cats really thinking? Are they plotting?

I’d write more, but the South Park episode with the giant guinea pigs is on, and I’m sure I’ll obsess over it too, when I quit laughing.

Organized crime, aisle three

We’re all cutting back these days. We’re doing without new clothes, new electronic gadgets, new everything.
What we can’t do without is NEW FOOD.
I don’t know why they don’t just point a gun at you when you walk in the store and just take your money.That’s how bad it’s getting to go grocery shopping.
Where I live, everyone goes to the local Kroger’s if they’re in a hurry.
Yeah, Kroger’s had some good sales. Milk was $1.99; big boxes of name-brand cereal, $2.99.
Then we get to the rip off part.
It’s not Kroger’s fault that the manufacturers rip us off.
When did a case of Coca Cola have 20 cans, not 24? And why does Kroger’s still charge us as much for the 20 pack that they did for the 24 pack?
Then you come to ice cream. There’s no such thing as a half gallon of ice cream anymore. You now get one and one half quarts, not two.
And it’s still the same price.
Then meander over to produce. Yeah, 97 cents a pound for grapes is pretty good. $2.99 a pound for peaches is NOT GOOD.
Then just keep looking around. You’re paying a lot more for a lot smaller packaging.
Should a can of peas cost almost a dollar? No way.
Kroger’s isn’t the only store involved in the great American rip-off.
Do you have a dog? Did you go to Wal-Mart before for the dog food.
Well, the price for a big bag has raised. It used to be about 7.50 for a 20 pound bag.
Now it’s $10 for a 17.5 pound bag.
Somehow my smiley face isn’t looking so happy anymore.

Great movies!

From “Slumdog Millionaire”

Now I’ve seen two movies that have more than made up for the dismal “Rachel Getting Married.”
(I almost hate to mention THAT in connection with the two really great ones I’ve seen since then.)
The first one was “Gran Turino.”
Clint Eastwood is an old, retired auto worker in Detroit, whose neighborhood is being overtaken by Asian families.
His reactions are priceless, and he’s the most bigoted character on screen since Archie Bunker.
However, by the end of the movie, Clint is part of your mind. This movie will haunt your mind.
And he should have been nominated for at least ONE Academy Award. His acting was perfection in this movie.
And then there’s the second movie I’ve seen, “Slumdog Millionaire.”
Set in India, this movie is about a “slumdog,” or child who grows up in the slums of Bombay, India.
Somehow, he rises to the top as a contestant on Who Wants to be a Millionaire. He’s one question away of becoming a millionaire, when he’s ordered to be arrested and tortured because he’s accused of cheating.
And through a series of flashbacks, we watch the events that shaped this young man’s life.
I want to see this movie again, before it’s off the big screen forever.
I’ve never seen a movie like this. I can’t even describe how beautifully it was filmed.
A lovely, classic film with characters we fall in love with.
When was the last time we’ve had something like this?
This movie deserves each and every award it’s nominated for.
And yes, I cried at the end of it. And sometimes during it, just because of its sheer beauty.
I love movies that involve me that much.

Get a life!

Is that the most overused, annoying phrases in the world, or what?
Get a life.
What the heck does it even mean anyway? I have a life and I enjoy my life very much, thank you.
I do a lot in my life. I blog and work every day out in the community.
I have two teenaged children, one in high school and one in college. I have two dogs, two cats, a house and yard of my own and a car I love.
I’m a divorced woman and still single by choice, not necessity.

I just don’t understand that phrase…get a life.

It’s usually uttered by someone when they don’t agree with your point of view. For example, the other day I posted on a newspaper comment section, when an editor wrote about allowing her two-year-old to hit the debit card numbers in the grocery store, that being behind that writer and her daughter would be very annoying.

And it would be. Can you imagine? You’re just there, wanting to pay for your loaf of bread and maybe some bologna, and there’s someone with a kid up there.

“Hit the TWO honey. The TWO. Now the THREE. No, that’s not the THREE, that’s the FOUR. This is the THREE. No, honey, you hit the SEVEN….”

Oh, God.

So of course, someone promptly came on and told me to to “get a life.”

I have a life, and part of it should not be having to wait for some over-indulgent mom, who thinks her kid is the most precious in the whole world, to learn her numbers while everyone else has to wait.

But isn’t it funny, when people just don’t know how else to insult you, they just tell you to “get a life.”

Maybe they should just get a vocabulary.

Bruce, say it isn’t so!

Once upon a time, I lived in Atlantic City, NJ.

Okay, it was in 1988. Yes, 21 years ago…and that makes me…oh, God, about older than dirt.

Anyway, I worked at the then-Bally’s Grande Hotel and Casino as a room reservations clerk. Sometimes I came out to the front desk and helped there too.

And one day, there he was. Larger than life. Well, not that large. It was BRUCE.

The girl and I working were so tongue-tied, we couldn’t even speak. It was BRUCE, last 80s, New Jersey.

It was like having Elvis stop and talk to you. He was hotter than hot, and yeah, I’ve bored a lot of people with that story over the years.

Now we’re going to fast forward those 21 years, up to Super Bowl Sunday. Until HE was to take the stage for a glorious 12 minutes of looking back.

And suddenly, there he was.

It’s not that Bruce got older. Heck, we all have. But where, oh where did his dignity go?

You’re Bruce Springsteen, man. You don’t have to start a show with a back bend that leaves us wondering if you’re going to get up.

You don’t have to slide balls-first into a camera angle. And try as you might with those skin-tight jeans and vest…we can still see that spare tire. We can tell at 59 years old, your hair isn’t naturally that black.

But that’s okay. You’re a legend.

But why did you try to sell yourself so hard? Watching you and Steven Van Zandt posturing and gyrating, and watching the antics of your band, was uncomfortably like going to a bar and watching the guys in an over-the-hill bar band down in some dive down off the Boardwalk, trying to recall their own “Glory Days.”

Twelve minutes. Twelve short minutes to watch you sell out again. First you sell out to Wal-Mart, then you sell out to the rest of the world.

And we all watched you jump the shark. And as you’re feeling the pain in your back and in your knees today from that workout you gave them, you know you jumped that shark too.

Guilty TV Pleasures

Okay, this “Guy” is one of my guilty pleasures. I LOVE Diners and Dives…and why do I find Guy Fieri so cute, anyway? Is it because he cooks? Because he eats like a real guy? Watching his show really is a guilty pleasure.

It’s winter and it’s cold outside, and sometimes you just don’t want to leave the couch.
But really, if you’re planting yourself there, you have to find something to do and something great to watch.

A lot of people don’t like to waste their TV time watching shows that aren’t uplifting and informational in some ways. That’s not me! I just want to be entertained.

So I was wondering, if anyone reads this, what are your top 10 guilty TV pleasures? Here’s mine, and why.

10. The Soup. I don’t have time to watch every television show, but that funny little guy on the E! network keeps me up to date. Yeah, it makes me laugh every time.

9. Will and Grace reruns. I didn’t get to see a lot of these because I was either working night shifts or going to meetings when they were on TV originally. Will and Grace have a great chemistry, but Karen Walker steals the show, every show.

8. Animal Cops on Animal Planet. I can’t believe people are so cruel to animals and I get mad every time, but I still watch it.

7. Dives and Diners, Food Network. That’s the show where they go to diners across America. The host, Guy Fieri, has three shows on Food Network after he won as The Next Food Network Star. Can he BE any cuter???

6. Clean House, BBC America. These maid ladies go to people’s very incredibly dirty houses and clean them and teach the people how to clean. Since most of the time my house looks like a crack house, watching this show makes me feel much, much better. And I’ve gotten some pretty great tips too!

5. The Girls Next Door, E! Network. Everyone’s heard of this one. The three girlfriends of Hugh Hefner live in the mansion and get in all kinds of shenanigans. Ordinarily, I’d be kind of jealous of these girls, but they really are cute and funny and the show is good.

4. Big Love, HBO. Who knew a show about Mormon polygamists could be so damned entertaining. This harkens back to the prime time soaps we all grew up with..but with much better acting. This show should win more Emmys.

3. Chelsea Lately, E! Network. She is so funny and irreverent, and her panel is usually hysterical. I think it would be fun to get drunk with her.

2. Sex and the City reruns, various channels. Okay, so I saw all these when they were uncut and on HBO. I saw them all several times, when they were uncut and on HBO. They are horribly cut up and much of them are missing on TBS, but I still watch them. They’re not as good that way, but they’re still there. Funny enough, I hated the movie.

1. Tah da! Okay..this is kind of a cheat. It’s not a show, it’s a network. TV Land. I love seeing all those old sitcoms I loved as a kid. One Day at a Time, Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons. Corny, outdated…but it’s escapism of the silliest kind.

Okay, there’s my top 10? What’s yours?

Pirates Caravan

Normally I don’t get into writing about sports.
However, I just have to say — if the Pirates Caravan comes to town, and nobody notices, did they really leave Pittsburgh?
This past week, the Pirates bus was parked in front of Wheeling Island Racetrack and Casino, while a few of the Pirates, the parrot and other various people were inside in a room, where people could stop by and meet them.
I saw the bus while I was walking in to meet a friend, so we could throw a couple of $20s in the machine. Stupid habit, I know…but I also know I won $180 that night…
OK, I digress. I’m still excited, I guess.
Well, anyway, I did look back in that room to see if there were people meeting the Pirates.
There really weren’t very many.
There may have been many reasons people weren’t there. It was a cold night. Also, the visit was at a casino, a place where a lot of parents would never bring their kids.
However, I think there’s another reason there weren’t many there — the Pirates have become such an embarrassment that nobody really cares anymore.
I hate to talk this way about the Pirates. After all, I remember the days of Roberto Clemente and how sad I was when he died. I remember cheering when “Chicken on the Hill” Willie Stargell would slam another one out of the park.
Sadly, the Pirates of those days are gone. They’re replaced by a team of second-stringers, guys who will work more cheaply than anyone else in the league.
The World Series-winning Pirates of the past have been replaced, for the past 16 or so years, by teams who just can’t bring home a winning season.
Unfortunately, when the Nutting family bought the Pirates, they installed the same means of management into that team that they keep their newspaper employees under.
That strategy is to get people who will work cheap, pay them low wages until they get fed up and quit, and then replace them with other people who will work cheaply. That is, if you replace them at all.
Well, that strategy is hurting area newspapers and it hurts the Pirates, too.
You have to spend money to attract real talent, no matter what business you are in. If you don’t want to spend the money, your endeavor ends up being a dismal failure.
The Pirates have the most beautiful baseball field in the nation.
However, it’s a field with a team that just can’t live up to its legend anymore.
Is it too much to ask that Pittsburgh’s baseball team be as successful as its football and hockey teams?
It’s just sad.