Lexical Light

Cinca de Smith...has arrived!

Mia finally made it out, on November 4th, Election Day. Weighing in at 9 lbs. 3 oz. & 20". We're both doing fine. Here she is just 2 hours after her debut. More details to come, but right now she's calling.

Pumpkin Painting

The girls painted their pumpkins this week. This morning I painted a pumpkin* in honor of today being Mia Belle's due date: 

What's more fun is that I had a doctor's appointment this morning, w/a non stress test. Thankfully the doc & nurse appreciated my attempt at humor, despite the trail of paint flakes I left throughout the office. 

As for a baby update....ain't nuthin' goin' on. 1cm. Mia's OK & I'm OK so we are just going to see what happens.

*I'm not a big Halloween fan, which makes Mia's due date quite ironic. October 31st is also Reformation Day. Since I am a fan of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation I sometimes use that to answer the due date question. The humor of connecting Luther's October 31st posting of the Ninety-Five Theses on a church door in 1517 to me "posting" them on my belly 500 years later is a stretch. Imagine this painted on my pumpkinesque tummy:

  ...not quite the same the same effect as a pumpkin.

Then & Now: How Soon is Now?

16 years ago I first heard The Smiths How Soon is Now while dancing at a 6th street venue in Austin. Last Saturday night at 10:30 I listened to it at an HEB Plus in RR while getting groceries for my family of 6. I refrained from dancing - barely. 16 years from now Jack & I will be groovin' to it at the local Senior Center's afternoon dance, then head to Luby's for a 5pm dinner.

Tangents:
*I didn't hear the song until 1992, though it came out in 1985. Not surprising, given that during 1985 I was in the hot bed of dance music that is Palestine, TX. Apparently Morrisey & the boys re-released it.
*I remember when, where, & who I was with when I first heard it because I liked it so much, it scratches my melancholy itch.
*So, how soon is now?
*Now I'm married to a Smith whose middle name is Morris. On a 10 our first (& only) trip back to El Paso, he played this song. Sigh. Such soulmates.

22 Books

Before I install the external hard drive, I needed to clear a spot for it on the desk. Clearing a pile of books is a place to start. Of course, I couldn't just take them upstairs. I had to enter them in my Library Thing account first. Some may not understand the satisfaction of such a thing, but some of you may empathize.

For an added dose of nerdage, I have two Library Thing accounts, one for books I own and one for books I've read. (I have the "read" books in the left sidebar of this blog. I'll add the "own" books on the right later.) Books make me happy.

What & Where I'm Reading

I have to read more than one book at a time. I used to get uptight about it, feeling like it was some form of ADD or lack of character. Today it dawned on me one reason read several books at a time is because toting the same book from place to place doesn't work for me. Because I have to grab snippets of time to read, I've strategically placed books so I can pick up a current read whenever I can. I've found I actually finish books if they have a designated spot. So, here's a quick rundown of what & where I'm reading:
(Note there are two "other libraries". If I had three bathrooms there would be another.)

Downstairs bathroom: One Tough Mother: It's Time to Step Up and Be the Mom by Julie Barnhill. An easy read with a balance of a kick in the pants, empathy and practical advice. I've jokingly said I want to grow up and be a black grandmother because I admire the truth in the stereotype of Madea. Two things will prevent that - I'm not black and I'm not tough. There's no pigment changing procedures in my future, but I do need to step up certain aspects of my mom role.

Upstairs bathroom:  Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas, by Michka Assayas. Bono's one of my favorite lyricists, though he doesn't pass part of the Bill Gothard criteria (examine their lifestyle) for musicians.

Swimming pool: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Definitely not an easy read, for me at least. Not being one to finish a book if I don't like it, I'm determined to finish this one. In between the apparent rabbit trails is a powerful story.

Kitchen Table: Usually whatever is reserved for the downstairs bathroom. I've learned to keep that book on a bookcase outside the lavatory instead of on the back of the commode.

Van: Nothing right now. Definitely needs to be an easy read.

Generally I don't read before going to bed, but if I do, I grab the current selection from the upstairs loo.

Facebook

I finally succumbed to familial pressure to join Facebook, because I need another distraction from all the things I don't get done. Now I'm testing the Typepad integration with it. Fascinating, I know.

Update: FB had a neat "import blog button" that worked well. Cool.

Em Heard "Five" Kick

I know it's an odd 2nd post about pregnancy, but I'm going w/Flylady's idea of not trying to catch up, but just jumping in where I am. Where I am is almost 5 months pregnant with only two posts about it. Having documented no thoughts, feelings, or firsts about this baby, I'm taking the plunge by noting the first encounter a sibling had with Five.

On the way to dinner the girls & I were discussing whether or not Five could hear them talking yet.

"I'm not sure if Five can hear you, but I think loud sounds can be heard," I said as I left the van. Just in case they could be heard, they started talking to my belly - in the parking lot. After a I took a few steps towards the restaurant they stopped.

While standing at the deli counter 8 year-old Em listened to my tummy. Suddenly she looked up excitedly. "Was that Five?!"

"Yep. It sure was. Did you feel her* kick? 

She squealed out a yes.

How cool for her to be the first "external" person to experience Five.

*Since we're not sure if it's Mitchell or Mia, I use he & she interchangeably. Hopefully we'll find out later this month whether it's Cinco or Cinca de Smith.

What's Cinco De Mayo? (Redux)

Is Cinco de Mayo a cooking term for synchronization of a condiment?  Not so much. Neither is it Mexican Independence Day. My first year of blogging I did a post explaining it.  Here's the do over of my May 2, 2005 post: (Just to prove I'm still a blogger and still breathing...not necessarily in that order.)

In Texas, we hear a lot about Cinco de Mayo this time of year. But how many of us actually know what it is?  Allow me to help.

Literally, it is Spanish for the fifth of May.

Historically, it is a Hispanic holiday that celebrates the Mexican army’s victory over the French in 1862 in the Mexican town of Puebla.

It is NOT Mexican Independence Day. That is Dieciseis de Septiembre or September 16^th, which actually commemorates September 16^th of 1810, over 50 years before the Cinco de Mayo battle.

What Cinco de Mayo does celebrate is a battle significant because the Mexican army was about half the size of the French army and much less prepared, yet they managed to defeat them.

According to the History Channel, this was not a major strategic victory, yet was important in boosting Mexican moral. It also, according to Cincodemayo.org, played a major role in relations between Mexico and the United States.Some speculate that since it was during the United States’ Civil War, the U.S. may not have been able to counter a French invasion into the U.S. if the Mexicans had not defeated the French.

Researching this raised more questions than I have time to answer, but I hope you now have a better understanding of Cinco de Mayo. I do.

For more info:

Go to mexonline.com for an interesting paragraph about who celebrates Cinco de Mayo. Reminded me of the recent beverage commercial with the scenario of a fake mariachi band in Cleveland getting exposed as posers. The drink was bottled in White Plains, New York - where all authentic Mexican beverages are bottled.

This link from about.com has a short, easy to read  summary of  Cinco de Mayo.

Also on about.com are other articles on  Cinco de Mayo's history, activities for children and recipes.

Click on this map to become more geographically literate and to get a better sense of what happened. (France landed in Veracruz, heading for Mexico City 600 miles away. The US couldn't offer help because of the Civil War. Mexican General Saragossa was able to stop the French.  This will tell you the rest of the story.)

Added May 4, 2005:  Educators (of all "branches") can find useful links and book reviews on the childrenslit.com Themed Review page for Cinco de Mayo.   

JAN-U-ARY'S Outgoing Message

An annual part of my January phone message is adapted from the pledge of the Little Rascals' He Man Womun Haters Club during which they say, "JAN-U-ARY!" (Next time I run across it, I'll have to note the
whole text here.)

For some reason it cracks me up. Maybe it's the official sounding, false baritone voices they use. Maybe it's the exaggeration of the syllables. Whatever it is, it is stuck in my brain forever...and on my phone message each January.

This year I added a little U2 for background music, offering bonus points to callers who could I.D. the song.

Other than the January pronunciation and the music, it's a pretty standard "leave your name and number" note.

(I posted this on March 4th, though the date says January 31st. Oy vey.)

Internet Filter Recommendation: K9 Web Protection

I've been in search for a good internet filter since I switched all my other computer maintenance tasks (anti-virus, firewall, off site backup, etc.) to Plum Choice. When I used Trend Micro they had a decent filtering components, but they don't offer it separately. (It didn't always response well to "adding" sites so I don't miss it terribly.)

I bought Net Nanny 5.0  and didn't like the way it mucked up the computer. Ugh. The customer support wasn't much help either. They do have a subscription service I considered, but I wasn't ready to go there.
During my search I had heard of K9, but never installed it. Then a mom in home school co-op mentioned it last week. This weekend I installed it and it has worked well.

K9 Web Protection from Blue Coat offers free internet filtering and parental controls.

I just installed it today, but so far I'm pleased with:

*ease of installation 
*it didn't muck of the computer
*seems to work fairly well (It missed a few seemingly innocent sites that had links in them. I just added them to the blocked list.)
*easy and effective administrator override

A few things it doesn't do:
*set users at multiple security levels
*monitor different users' time on computer

Hey, it's free. If they added those few things, I'd be willing to pay. Within the next year or so I may go with Cyber Patrol's paid option because it does have a few more bells & whistles. (But if they muck up my computer, it's outta here.)

So, if you're looking for a quick, easy, cheap answer to filtering the web, check out K9 Web Protection from Blue Coat.

U23D Austin: Not IF, but HOW MANY

The question is not IF i will see this, but HOW MANY TIMES? The closest I've come to seeing a U2 concert was in 1987 when I saw, from the interstate, their trucks being unloaded at the Erwin Center in Austin. I'm thinking this film will be a comparable experience - not exactly the same, but close enough and without the crowds.

How will the audience react? That would be a plus of the concert - the energy expended while standing through the show. I may have to go opening night and then go another night to compare the show. Ahh, a blog project in the making. Pity I haven't finished my other U2 blog project. Yes, I am lame.

Christy, you want to go to a quasi U2 concert, maybe opening night, Jan 23? (Here are the showtimes for the Austin IMAX at the Bob Bullock TSH Museum.) I think 1 or 2 of the my kids may basketball games, but they'll have other games. Let me know.

A Socialization Funny

For my homeschooling friends - there's a hilarious cartoon and a nice post on socialization at Do Life Right. Take a minute to go read it. The cartoon illustrates something I'm hesitant to articulate because I don't believe it for every child, but it strikes a chord with me. (I couldn't get the cartoon to post here, though the artist gives permission to use his work on blogs.)

No offense to my dear friends and readers who choose to use public schools. I know plenty of awesome kids who go to public school* -a few of them might even be yours.

*Reminds me of the, "I even have colored friends" line people use to prove they aren't racist. 

Help Webkinz Update

The Complaint Desk at helpwebkinz.com is still open. Though NOT an official Webkinz site, you can still get some satisfaction from posting there, knowing your two cents may add up to change a glaring weakness in an an otherwise fun website.

Helpwebkinz.com  has received over 200 visits its first four days, largely due to referrals from links at I, Lamont. That tells me there is some interest, maybe even need for it.

Webkinz Problems

If you're not satisfied with the customer support at Webkinz, head over to Webkinz, help! and file a complaint. It's a blog I started to compile Webkinz issues in hopes that Ganz will improve their customer service.

(There's no logic to why I'm blogging about this instead of other things going on. I guess it's light and easy. Maybe I'm just...oh, look...a chicken. Oh, yeah. Happy New Year. Oy vey.)

Better than Saturday Morning Cartoons

Wow. What a cool morning it's been. The quick version of my agenda:

7:00 am - breakfast at IHOP w/a friend. Pumpkin pancakes, eggs, laughs, good counsel, and tea bags from home made for an absolutely refreshing meeting.

9:30 - scrapbook store to check on cropping area guidelines. Since they weren't open, I read a little Gatto in the van.

10:15 - It's fun to stay at the YMCA. Did an hour on the elliptical. Can I read on the elliptical w/out barfing? Yep. Woohoo! The Gatto book was cumbersome, but smaller books should be easier - unless the print was too small. Made sure I strectched well afterwards, to help w/the Achilles issue.

12:00 - scarfin' a Mighty Kids Meal at Mickey D's. It's not as healthly as Jason's Deli, but not as bad as Sonic. Read a little more in the van.

12:30 - Ahhh, the library. Yes, I have a computer at home, but it's not quite and neat at home. :) After my hour and a half of computer time is up I'll head back to the homefront to prep us all for church this evening.

This has been one of the most restorative moring's I've had. Though hubby took the kiddos the G'parents a couple of days last week, I stayed in the house and did nothing. This felt much better.

Thanks, strong, handsome Jack, for this mornig. I owe you. ;)

Is there a list of books in this book of lists?

I'm quite the list maker. Not that I finish doing things on my list, but I like making the list. I guess it makes me feel a bit in control - at least on paper. Now I can read a book of other people's lists, Sasha Cagen's 2nd book, To Do List.

Sasha first did a magazine of lists from 2000 - 2003. In 2005 she started a blog collecting people's to do lists. On November 6 of this year she released a book of 100 TDLs. No doubt her publication of the book was influenced by the success of the blog.

BTW, if you want to contribute a list to Sashas' blog, she's still accepting them.

Maybe Dave should do a Top Ten List compiled from Sahsa's book.

HT: Blogger Buzz, the blogger.com blog.

40

I waited patiently for the LORD;
And He inclined to me and  heard my cry. 

He brought me up out of the  pit of destruction, out of the miry clay,
And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. 
   
He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
Many will see and fear
And will trust in the LORD.
Psalm 40: 1-3, NIV

I waited patiently for the Lord.
He inclined and heard my cry.
He brought me up out of the pit
Out of the miry clay.

I will sing, sing a new song.
I will sing, sing a new song.
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?
How long, how long, how long
How long to sing this song?

You set my feet upon a rock
And made my footsteps firm.
Many will see, many will see and hear.

I will sing, sing a new song.
I will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song.
I will sing, sing a new song
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song? .

"40" by U2

The Final Countdown...of my 30's

(Cue "band trash" music...Final Countdown by Swedish glam band Europe.)

Yes, this is the eve of my 40's. The dawn of a new era. Though still within the 35-44 demographic on product registration cards, it marks a new decade in my life. I prefer to think of myself as "Queen of the Hill," not "Over the Hill."

How do I feel about my 40th birthday? Fine, thank you. Fine enough to wear a "I'm 40, so there." If I had one.

I don't recall looking forward to any particular age growing up. Going from single to double digits didn't leave a mark. There was no Bar Mitzvah, quinceanera, sweet sixteen or debutante ball to mark teenage milestones.  I've never liked alcohol, so twenty-one was no biggie. Twenty-five was cool because it's a quarter of a century, but other than that, birthday numbers didn't mean much to me. Until now.

For some reason, I'm pretty pumped about turning forty. I wonder why. It's not like I'm in the best shape of my life. I'm not a millionaire. In fact, there's lots of things I'm not. On the other hand, there are lots of things I am - blessed with a perfect for me husband, four awesome children, lots of friends and family, etc. Oh, yeah, I'm also here. People complain about getting older, but would they want the alternative?

So what did I do the last night of my 39th year? I went to B&N to get a new journal. Then I went to Starbucks to finish up my old journal. (I didn't quite finish, but I'm going to be a rabble rouser and start my new journal tomorrow anyway. I can do that kind of thing, I'll be 40.) Curiously, when I told hubby about my plans, he asked if I couldn't just do it at home. Usually he's completely okay w/me going out for some alone time on short notice, but he seemed to want me home tonight. He told me to take the truck because it was safer and call him before I headed home, "Because he loves me." I took the truck and called before I came home. Here's the reason behind the questioning:

At first I thought hubby & the kids had been at work, but the handwriting was suspiciously neat. Turns out it was my sis-in-law with her daughter & a friend. So that's what you get with a pre-meno woman & two juniors in high school. Nice. They also decorated the front door of the house. Not only did they make me smile, they helped me find some chicken I forgot in the van. Thanks, girls. The birthday messages blazoned on all the van windows will hold me over until I can get my  ''copyright 1967" t-shirt.

   

3 for 1 Blog Post

Ahhhh. This 20 minutes of calm brought to me by the Round Rock Public Library and the RR Y. Since they are so close to each other, Ninjaboy & I were able to zip down here and enjoy some computer time. I usually discourage the kids from getting on the library's computer becuase they get plenty of computer time at home. So, it's a treat for Ninjaboy. The condition was he must complete a blog post before perusing the web. He wrote a nice post about his new bike.

So from just 20 minutes w/my blog I get 3 benefits:

blogging

being at the library

teaching

Suhweet.

More Info on Rainbow Clouds

The "rainbow cloud" my 5 year-old spotted in June merited a blog post and some research. Thanks to Suzi's comment I looked up "sun dog" and found some amazing pictures of other "rainbow clouds."

Based on what I found, it seems we saw a circumhorizon arc.  The pictures I found of sun dogs,  don't look like what we saw. If you like our little picture, go check out the circumhorizon arc gallery  at Atmospheric Optics.

Update 10/21/07: I saw two mor circumhorizon arcs today at about 5:48pm CST. They were near the sun and visible only briefly, one of them only with the help of my sunglasses. Coo.

Time for a Bit o' Cheese

What can break my weeks of blog neglect?  TEAMWORK, of course!!!!! "A Chair for my Mother" is my favorite episode, in part because of this AWESOME video. I'm so pumped to have found this. It's not unusual for me to bust out the chorus when we're doing some work. After you've enjoyed the main video, scroll down for the video of the ending credits. Also hilarious.  The kids & I gave nicknames to the dancers: "Flippy Guy," "Bendy Girl,"  "Twirly Girl," and "Cha-cha Man." No offense to the dancers. They're quite talented. Blame it on the '80's.

Thanks to the youtube user who posted these.

Different Books - One Message

Household chores, postmodern culture and a PBS show for preschoolers. Different topics, one underlying theme - follow, imitate, cling to and know Jesus. How does that happen? It starts with reading His Word and praying. Three of the books I've been reading lately are all pointing me in that direction, though I didn't read them for that purpose. I hear you, Daddy.

Book Tour: Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture

Mary E. DeMuth was one of the first blogging writers I discovered, way back in 2005. Upon finding her blog, Relevant Blog (I think it was Relevant Girl back then), and her Relevant Prose news letter because both contain easily digested info for writers. Now, I'm thrilled to help spread the word about her latest book, Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture.

Don't let the phrase "postmodern culture" scare you. Mary gives a quick explanation of the idea and how it has influenced American culture and American churches. Additionally, the subtitle, "Practical Help for Shaping Your Children's Hearts, Minds and Souls," assures you it's not merely a lofty, idealogical book on parenting. Instead, it's quite user friendly. I've been reading it over breakfast the past few days and it's a lovely compliment to my Berrylicious Oatmeal. For more a bit more about the common sense parenting approach Mary conveys, read this Practical Tips post. 

You can go to Amazon for more info about the book and check out Mary's site, Relevant Prose, for more info from her and about her.

About the blog tour:
I've received a complimentary copy of the book from the publisher in return for writing a few posts about it. For a list of other blogs on the tour, go here.

Do Over

"Nothing ground-breaking, but a good thing to read if you need to revisit the easily-forgettable obvious."  - from Gen Falel's Amazon review of The Rhythm of Life

Apparently I do need to revisit the easily forgettable, so I'll download this book via Netlibrary. (Courtesy of the Friends of RRPL.)

Do we always need something new and ground-breaking? Have we applied all we've heard, read, seen prviously? What if my pastor didn't move on to another lesson until I had mastered the what he taught on last week? One thing is for sure - his sermon prep would be a lot easier.

I guess it's human nature to want something new. The Israelites spent a lot of time in the dessert because they didn't learn lessons well. Sounds familiar.

So why am I downloading a new audio book when I haven't gotten a handle on all the other stuff I've read in other books?  I don't have any audio books on the Sansa yet, that's why.

Hoo Whoo Who's a Night Owl?

I am, but just because I'm prone to something doesn't make it the best choice for me. Trying to find the balance between living within my bent and developing character to compensate for my tendencies is often a struggle for me.

Being in the midst of raising and education my 4 kiddos is definitely not conducive to being a night owl. However, I've had a hard time getting things done during the day for a few days now and the kitchen was scary, so I decided to take advantage of my get up and go and get some work done. I had quite a bit of fun w/my MP3 player doing laundry and cleaning. I even got a bit of a workout trying to choreograph some quicksteps to a Jody Watley song.

Instead of trying to get up for church, it's best just to stay up. Of course, I'll be napping tomorrow,this afternoon, but I feel I've put a dent in the housework. The trick will be to go to bed at a decent hour tonight.

I've done a little research into circadian rhythms before, but had never looked for blogs about them. A Technorati search uncovered a some posts. One was an article citing some research about a connection between certain circadian rhythms and obesity, depression, bipolar disorder and addiction. Sounds more harrowing than simply being someone who likes to stay up late. Maybe I'll take a vacation to Dr. McClung's lab to make sure I'm just a night owl...unless she only studies mice.

Thankfully I also found a helpful article and a blog post about how to cope.

One thing I need to do is get up at the same time every day. I'll get right on that, right after I get the TPS Reports done.

BTW, I also found a fun little page about the sounds different owls make. (I was trying to spell an owl noise correctly.)

Hey, I think I'm going to enjoy the sunrise now. :)

New Round Rock Zip Codes

About 8,000 local residents will get a new zip code. How will I know if I'm one of them? I'll get something in the mail. :)

I read about that in the local paper and wonder if I would be affected. How exciting. A new zip code. The newspaper article gave bullet points of the affected areas boundaries, but I was huntin' a map. (Apparently my brain needs pictures sometimes.) No such luck.

I tried to Google the info, to no avail. No info on the USPS site either. I finally resorted to calling the local Post Office, after looking up their number online. The end result: if I was getting a new zip code, they would have told me via mail. (Makes sense.) Also, if my zip code was going to change, it would have come up in the Zip Code Lookup.

Why did I blog about this? Because there may be one other Round Rock resident who needs help knowing if they will have a new zip code. If that's you, leave me a comment so I can feel validated. :)

My Next Virtual Conference

In May I participated in an online homeschool conference. The workshops had interactive chat and could be listened to later, so it was cool and convenient. It didn't require much new techno learning on my part, just downloading some conference software and playing with iTunes.  Though it won't replace being physcially present, it's a nice chance to learn from people you may not otherwise hear.

My next virtual conference will require some techno learning. I'll need to figure out how to use 2nd Life so I can attend the BlogHer '07 conference.

What's Blogher? It started in 2005 as a conference for women bloggers and has grown to include an online gathering place for women bloggers.

Being the learning junkie I am, I would love to hang out at a BlogHer conference. However, I can't make it to Chicago, but I can still attend the conference virtually via 2nd Life.

My geeky self is quite excited about that. What's better is there is no fee to attend virtually. Woo-hoo.
It will cost me some time to learn how to participate in 2nd Life, but it will be a fun experiment.

I'm interested in the "Business of You" workshop track. It seems like a nice fit for blogging writers. Here's the description:

Business of You: This track is devoted to personal and business advancement. We will discuss speaker and media training, self-branding and promotion, mentoring, turning your blog into a book or a business, and even managing your time, your finances, your blogging policies and best practices...the business of you.

If you're interested in attending virtually, go here for more info. Let me know if you'll be there.

Road Trip

A few weeks ago we celebrated the opening of a short stretch of road. The kids & I went to the grand opening. We thought it would be fun to make a "Thank You" sign. Alexa held it up in the heat, throughout the ceremony. About half way through I had to offer her a $2 incentive, but it was money well spent.  I don't want to take our city leaders and workers for granted. I also want to teach the kids a bit about how our society is run.

The said road is not long, but it's quite important. It's a north/south connecting road that will take off about 10 minutes of several local trips we make. Woo-hoo. It's also makes ours grocery store about 8 minutes closer.Whee!

Tweaking the Blog, Tweaking the Blog

One of my current blog goals is to clean up my sidebars. That's why I'm moving a lot of my Typelists to my Blog Closet. (Look in the sidebar.) I'm using Typepad Pages to store my Typelists. I will miss the pictures of the books from Library Thing, but I Have this urge to clean up my sidebars. Go figure.

Blogging for Writers

My Blogging for Writers blog is coming along. This is a shameless attempt to get some of you to click over and visit. I just installed a stat counter (not letting it count my own visits) and the visits page looks awfully blank. ; )

BTW, it's part of My Continuing Education plan. (Which I still need to post about.)

Have a lovely day.

Google and Politics

Do you want to know "Google's views on government, policy and politics?" I know. You were just wondering about that. Now you can read the Google Public Policy Blog.

Information is powerful. Google is a worldwide distributor of information, granted it has a lot more user control  than traditional information distributors like newspaper & tv, but it's still a huge purveyor of ideas. The user has to be able to critically sift through all they find on Google.

I'm used to thinking of Google as a search engine, a tech company - even a verb. I'm not sure what to do with this new idea of them shaping public policy, but as an observer of how technology affects our lives I had to note it in my blog.

Now that I think about it a bit more, other companies have influence on government, so it makes sense for Google to have a blog focusing

"on issues like net neutrality, censorship, innovation regulation, immigration, R&D, national security, and trade" ("just to name a few"). Google's public policy team, who author the blog, say that they hope to foster a "dialogue" with Google users about political issues in order to "do a better job of fighting for our common interests." (from this post
on readwriteweb.com)

Do other big companies, particularly oil, have blogs about issues affecting their business?   

Since my brain hasn't processed this info yet, though I have been thinking, I'll leave you with Josh Catone's conclusion from his Google the Vote post:

"Lobbying and PACs are the more traditional road for corporations to influence American politics. Google's latest approach leverages social technologies (the backbone of web 2.0?) to bypass Washington completely. By creating platforms for candidates and talking directly to the people, Google has positioned themselves as a major force in shaping American political policy (and by extension, have a far reaching global effect). At the same time, Google's political forays will likely strengthen their brand -- not just by helping them get what they want politically, but also by associating their name with yet another staple of American life: the democratic process."

Nothing like a little food for thought with my Berrylicious Oatmeal.

 

Dr. Wannabe, Paging Dr. Wannabe

Dr. Lexie. Yep. Part of me wants to get a doctorate in something so I can be Dr. Lexie. It would take a long time since only have a bachelor's degree. I don't even know what kind of advanced degree I would want. I have no long term career goal that requires a doctorate. Finally, there's no way I'm going back to school now. I'm trying to school my children. So, what gives?

I've tried to check my heart & make sure it's not a pride thing. I don't think it is. It must have something to do with how much I enjoy being on a college campus.  Since I worked full-time through college I didn't have the stereo-typical "college experience," so I don't think it's a longing for the good ol' days thing. I just like being on campus and learning stuff.

Aha! Maybe it's not prideful, but perhaps I do want something "official" for my learning. According to the quick MotherStyles quiz I took about personality, two of the ways I'm energized, as an INTP person, are by taking a class (iNtuitive me) and objective validation (Thinking me) of my competence. Now the Dr. wannabe thoughts make sense.

Thankfully, I have a paradigm and a plan to scratch the Doctoral itch. You can read about it tomorrow soon.