Social or Not

Recently I had someone call me out on a social networking site. It was a great call on his part. There's still a little mystery in it for me, but not a lot. They had me in their circles, but I didn't have them in mine. And were kind enough to give me fair warning to engage with them or get booted. After a very brief exchange on our part, it was a refreshing breath to see we saw eye to eye. Social media is just that, "SOCIAL". See, it says it right there in the name. And bottom line, if you're not social, eventually I'm going to boot you from my list. It doesn't matter much how you engage, just that you do such.

Now this doesn't mean I'm going to interact with every single person, every single day. And will a few get past unnoticed for a while? It's a pretty safe bet. Furthermore, it doesn't mean I'm going to read every single post. Let's face it, there's just too many. Some people have over 30 posts a day. And after you have more than a handful of people added to your circles, reading everything become a pipe dream. This is especially true if you don't engage with people. The occasional comment, or shared pic. Maybe a mention as a way of saying, "Thanks to so-so for sharing this." Something. And I'm not just talking about liking a post. Thanks FB for that BS trend.

Does everyone slack once in a while? Of course, life happens. Will we agree on everything? Well great minds think alike... ok, that's BS. Simply put no, but that's life. So here's fair warning to everyone, if you don't engage on some level, eventually you'll be gone from my list. If all you do is try sharing dirty pics, you'll be gone even faster. But if you have something intelligent, or of interest to share from time to time you're perfectly safe.

With that said, I'd just like to take a moment to thank +Tobi Mann for the courtesy the other day.

To my loyal blog readers, don't worry I have some fun headed back your way. I still owe someone a post on sock puppets, and of course there's always some weird crap running through my mind.

My heater thinks its an air conditioner

Hey kids, come on in. The heater went out, so I home you dressed warm. Yup, nothing says cold like no heat in the winter time. Oh I know there are those of you who would say, "It's not that bad" or "I'd rather be cold than hot." Or you'd utter some other moronic dribble that would make me want to punch you in the throat. Let me tell you this, if you're one of those that would spew such idiocy, you are a LIAR and truly don't know what you're saying. So if you haven't guessed by now, I'm venting right now.

This piece of garbage we call a heater, makes me feel like the dad from A Christmas Story at night. It comes on for an undetermined amount of time, usually 1-5 minutes, and then the blower just stops. You hear the hum, but there's just nothing. Or what's worse, is when the stupid thing will come on, but all it does is blow air. Let me clarify this for those who are thinking, "well duh, that's what it's supposed to do." It's not hot or even warm air. It's the already frigid air in the house blowing through like an arctic dune. A couple of nights ago, I was so cold my face literally hurt.

Why hasn't this been fixed by now? Not for lack of trying, and getting shafted. We've had a company come out several times. In some cases day after day. They say it's this, or that, or we think it's this now but we're not sure. Someone who claimed to be the supervisor even came over a couple times. Then they said they'd have to talk to the OEM and get one of their people because they couldn't figure it out. And then the final insult... I kid you not, they said we'd just have to turn it off and throw the breaker switch every time it stops working right. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Then they still had the balls to try charging us for coming out and not fixing it!

So right now I'm sitting hear, waiting for the HVAC guys to come fix my stupid heater. A different company this time. They worked magic with our A/C last summer, which had never previously worked that well. So hopefully they can bring that same magic to keep my family warm. Otherwise I'm afraid I'm going to have to burn the whole house down just to stay warm for a night. At least I have my fireplace, and a good stack of wood. It's the only thing that's helped keep the house in the mid-50s to lower 60's the past couple days.

Extra Time

Well the holidays are upon us. The home stretch of the year, that puts a hurt on everyone's wallets. And as the saying holds, only in America do we have a holiday to reflect on what you're grateful for, only to have an event the next day that promotes trampling others for the stuff you don't have. So last week I got to enjoy a rare treat in the holiday spirit. I got to go have a Thanksgiving lunch with my youngest.

I did it last year too, and even though it's nothing flashy, it still holds an amazing feeling around it. Here in our area, the elementary schools have an annual Thanksgiving lunch. And the parents get to go sit down with their kiddos. So I got to have a little time with my boy, that I normally wouldn't have. And that in itself is something to grateful for.

We all meet up at our kiddos classrooms, then get in line with them. And the food is actually pretty decent. Some of it is a bit salty for my taste, but still pretty decent. Turkey (a bit of white and dark meat), stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, a wheat dinner roll, pumpkin spiced cake, cranberry sauce, and a choice of milk (white, chocolate, or strawberry).

So in a month where so many say I'm thankful for this, and that, with some BS daily little thing to say they're grateful for the month. I'm grateful for my family, and the extra time I get to spend with them as it comes. And not just today, but everyday of the year.

And on a final note... SCREW BLACK FRIDAY!