There was no guarantee of this when the day started with me oversleeping my alarm by nearly an hour. And by the end of my workday things weren’t looking promising. That’s when I realized that I had lost an earring–one I really like. That made me late leaving work. And that put me in rush-hour traffic.
No picnic that.
But when traffic on my expressway backed up and came to a grinding halt ahead of me, I bailed out and escaped onto side streets. Still no picnic, I assure you; but it turned out to be just what I needed. Because not half a mile from the expressway, I drove past a restaurant sign that changed my attitude and saved my day. Continue reading →
This year’s Thanksgiving pies: pecan, pumpkin, and peach-blueberry. Facebook just offered me my 2013 Thanksgiving pie photo as a memory, and it shows the same three pie flavors–in the exact same photographic arrangement. See what I mean about ritual?
Holidays bring out the ritual in me, and I don’t think I’m alone in this. Who doesn’t have some sort of ritual associated with major holidays?
For me, it starts with the food:
Thanksgiving = Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and lots of pie – always including pumpkin pie
Christmas = Swedish meatballs and potato sausage, baked beans, Swedish mazarin torte, and mostly the same kinds of cookies year after year after year
New Year’s Day = Lentil soup
All holidays = Sour cream macaroni & cheese for my vegetarian son
Just a couple of days before our whopping November snowstorm, this is how it looked.
It’s that time of year, of course, when we’re inundated on social media by “be thankful” memes. You know the ones: “Join me in a month of thankfulness.” I don’t begrudge my friends their participation in these observances, and I actually enjoy reading them sometimes. But I have to say they usually make me feel just a teensy bit guilty for not joining in.
So I have been thinking a bit about gratitude lately, and trying to pay attention to things for which I am grateful, even while not actually sharing them publicly. It’s not that I’m making any sort of statement by not sharing–more that I know if I promise to share daily, I will inevitably falter. So I am not setting myself up for failure or a broken promise.
That said, there are a few reasons why I truly am feeling grateful.
Image by AlphaZeta (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons
Looking for some distraction on this fine Saturday? How about a fun little learning tangent that will leave you better able to search and find what you want on the Internet? Behold: Google 201 (or, as it’s technically called, “Get More out of Google.”
This nifty infographic is far from new, but still has in it a whole lot of Google tips that many people don’t know. Things like: how to search Google for a specific type of file; how to limit your search to a specific website; and how to search for a word only in titles.
Today I’m learning about StumbleUpon and Reddit, two social networks with which I really have had only passing contact in the past: StumbleUpon is on my list because it drives a good deal of traffic to a website with which I’m involved, and Reddit because it’s a favorite of my teen-aged son. In the spirit of StumbleUpon, though, that’s not really what this post is about. I actually want to share with you something else that I discovered in passing during my quest – in fact, something I stumbled upon with StumbleUpon. It’s a whackin’ cool infographic and video “The Internet in Real-Time”:
Take a look, and you’ll find a real-time aggregation of activity on many of the world’s largest websites. These include social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and – yes – StumbleUpon and Reddit, plus Google, Amazon, Netflix and other Internet giants. Wonder just how quickly videos are being added to or watched on YouTube? Here’s your answer. What does search volume on Google look like compared with ad revenue? Look no further. Interested in Twitter posts, Pinterest pins, or Yelp reviews? Wonder no more.
It’s an absolutely mesmerizing display of data, updating constantly. It’s a rabbit hole to go down, a looking glass to fall into; give yourself a little time to just be dazzled and let your mind wander. Who knows what thought processes it might inspire?
In that way, it’s a bit like StumbleUpon itself – a place to let yourself get distracted, set your mind wandering off on a tangent, and maybe learn something in the process.
Now it’s back to StumbleUpon for me. Happy Saturday!
I’m having a Thankful Thursday.
![By AlphaZeta (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons](http://www.kkish.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Magnifying_glass_icon_mgx1.svg_.png){kind=icon}