SQUEEZED FROM THE FRESHEST MINDGRAPES.
RETIRED BULLETIN ENTRIES
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|  | 16.51: Why I Joined the Facebook Nation
NIDA: I wasn't going to sign up. Really, I wasn't. Threw down the proverbial gauntlet and built a six foot high barbed wire fence to separate myself from any aggressive Facebookers that threatened to cross my untainted analog social network. I adamantly refused. In public. To people who will ridicule me to no end for going back on my word, people who unfortunately have known me long enough to most likely have devastating insider information that could be used as blackmail bait against me one day.
Then I wanted to find someone. Not badly enough to call up a mutual friend to get his contact info but badly enough to want to communicate solely through online mass networking. So I handed over my passwords to Facebook and let them root through my contacts lists and address books and guess what. The wonder that is Facebook put me superficially in touch with people I haven't spoken to in years. People whose e-mail addresses are still relevant and are the kind of people who like to communicate with others online through mass social networking sites. And it's nice to reconnect with some of these people. Particularly the ones who are in excellent positions to lend me large amounts of money in the future. (I kid, I kid. - I have no qualms against begging for money from any of my struggling grad student friends.) Tagging someone's Facebook Wall is somehow a much smoother re-introduction than calling or e-mailing out of the blue, especially if you hied yourself off in the proverbial wilderness for a few years and took an independent graduate study in hermitage. But I'm still conflicted about joining. So I decided to do what I do best and make a list.
The Pros
- The ego boost of watching my number of friends climb.
- The voyeuristic pleasure of keeping tabs on my friends' every Facebook move
- Not having to turn around to talk to Jeronimo now that we're Facebook friends.
- Taking sexy back from Jeronimo and hadoukening Nick.
- Realizing I can request to be friends with one of my new favorite authors/bloggers.
The Cons
- Realizing I have nothing to say to one of my new favorite authors/bloggers. While I appreciate his writing and insights (read his new book if you've ever wondered about how to get someone to wash the dishes or put down the toilet seat) and am titillated about closing that invisible fourth wall between omniscient author and anonymous reader, I'm not sure I'd actually want to get to know him. Shouldn't friendship involve some sort of interaction or exchange? You hang out with people because you enjoy their company and (possibly) you have things in common and you can relate to each other.
- Feeling old. It seems like everyone else on Facebook is 10 years younger than I am.
- What's the point of joining a group? Are there any benefits beyond letting others know that you belong to and identify with a certain group? From the ones I've seen, there are a few wall posts and one or two discussions, but it's mostly just a way of saying, "This is part of who I am." The one group I'm thinking joining is entitled, "I Think I'm Too Old for Facebook." Everyone there seems to be from my graduating class.
So Facebook is a fun distraction but not really for me. I know I'm not the greatest at keeping in touch or replying to wedding invitations, but it's too tempting (if you are, like me, glued to the computer screen 24/7) to put in the online time and not the face time. Maybe if I were a big networker but seriously, have you met me?
And I still haven't found that kid I was looking for in the first place. Guess I'll have to pick up the phone.
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| | 17.15: The Best Team You've Never Heard Of
NIDA: That's how Nike is advertising the US National Women's Soccer Team. And you'll probably continue to never hear about them, considering that ESPN has decided to air games at 5AM and 8AM. While I normally respect the live broadcast (I'm guessing that's why the games are on at those times) and favor it over the tape-delay, I don't think that doing so in this instance is really a wise choice for a sport that's trying to establish a market and reconnect with its audience after the failure of the WUSA and the retirements of Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Joy Fawcett, et al. Those women are giants in women's soccer not just because of their talent and domination but also because of their longevity. They had multiple World Cups and Olympics to seep into the middle American consciousness. They started playing when they were 15 or 16 and kept on playing until they were past 30 - how utterly amazing is that!? I mean, c'mon, they were at the top of their game and at the top of everyone else's game too. And they did it together, as a unit. Gotta love the unitness.
This next generation of players might never have tthat same chance and we'll never get to see how they grow and mesh together over the years because we'll ALL. STILL. BE. IN. BED. ASLEEP. Seriously, who airs a soccer game at 5 in the morning? Who watches a soccer game at 5 in the morning on a weekday? From what I've discovered through all my extensive research, the majority of people who follow women's soccer are girl soccer players. Aged 8 through 16. Most likely not up at 5AM on a school day (unless they are absolutely diesel and are hitting the gym at that hour but really, how many 13 year olds like that do you know?). Maybe some kids are hardcore and they'll get up early. Or they'll use this thing called TiVo I've heard so much about and watch it later. If I had such advanced technology at my disposal, that's what I would probably do as well, except that blocking out a full 90+ minutes of my day to watch something after it's long done and over with is just so unappealing. I actually hate watching sports after the fact, especially a continuous one like soccer. It's not like you can cut the commercials and trim that 90 minutes down to nice manageable attention-deficit-disorder chunks. Anyway, the moral of the day is that it's a shame that the games aren't being aired at more market-friendly times, even in an age where availability makes timeslots less relevant. Here is a team that has fairly DOMINATED the rest of the world in a sport that the rest of the world adores and which our men's side absolutely sucks mighty megatron in, yet they can't get any commercial or mainstream love. Absolute shame. However, ESPN has roughly 18-20 years to get their act together - that's when the babygirls of this generation's soccer stars will come of age. Should be an exciting Women's World Cup 2027 - mark it on your DVR now.
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| | 19.05: Still Ranting
NIDA: This time I have evidence to support my inconsistent raving rambles on the best team no one will ever hear about it despite the odd media posting regarding such, and the best kind of evidence it is. Interweb evidence. Because we should believe everything we read on the interwebs. So read here and here for some of the reasons why women's soccer failed to capitalize on their raucous success of '99. (If you're wondering what this has to do with the multidisciplinary designing that the Unit at GO is known for, I think someone mentions something about building a brand at some point).
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| | 09.43: Almost Well Played, ESPN, Almost Well Played
NIDA: I arrived home last night, turned on the telly, and discovered that ESPN was, in fact, re-airing the US v. People's Republic of Korea game at a more reasonable hour. I had already begun to ponder how best to get the egg off my face (hey, they're not just for breakfast) when I checked online. It turns out that they just don't advertise the second showing and never mention it when tagging the game during other sports coverage or in any of their commercials. And the second showing is not a regular thing. So almost well done, ESPN. You had me right in your corner until I wasn't.
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| | 18.10: Fictional Life Goals for My Fictional Life Number 71
NIDA: So these life list things have been all the rage this past year or two, if you haven't noticed. People are just raging down the street left and right nowadays, dodging bulletpoints and weaving through checkmarks. It's the most violent era of listmaking history ever. Or maybe it's not and I'm just thinking violent thoughts because Jeronimo just shanked me in our ongoing Facebook Superpoke! war. (For the sake of fairness, I should mention that I started it all by taking sexy back from him. Someone had to do it.) So in my fictional life list for my fictional life, Number 71 is to start an independent free weekly in Lancaster. Besides all the other independent free weeklies already out because of course mine would be so much better by virtue of my stealing every good bit from Philly's free weeklies. Like the I Love You, I Hate You bit from the Citypaper. So much unbridled, unedited, smutty hatred all in one place!
I can only imagine how the Lancaster version would turn out...
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| | 13.36: Trying to Meet Your Blogging Needs in an Adequate Fashion
NIDA: Until I find my spare brain cells or my expensive digital PS, enjoy the tids and the bits that are currently distracting me from my loss(es).
Bad.
Good.
Amazing. How do you live when life lasts only from one blink of the eyes to the next?
Disappointed. Oh Bear, say it ain't so. Still, I'd rather be trapped in the wild with him than have to survive with Survivorman.
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| | 10.49: One of Us Has Got Some 'Splaining to Do
NIDA: "I see you taking pictures of children all the time. Is that your hobby?" - question asked of a Member of the Unit
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