Facebook changes

I'm seriously considering deleting my Facebook account.  I mean deleting it permanently.  It isn't just the changes they're making, it's also the way they own you when you aren't even on the website.  Cookies track where I go twenty-four hours a day.  I know, they're not the only ones that do this:  Google is another culprit, and I'm not about to stop blogging.  But add together the changes Facebook is making and the "big brother" aspect, and I've had it.  
I stopped playing Farmville long ago; I went back and tried it again recently and it bored me silly.  So that's not a problem.  The best thing about Facebook is keeping up with relatives that I normally wouldn't keep in touch with.  That has been wonderful, and I will miss it.  
But then I think about how many good books I could read in the time I spend on Facebook, not to mention the household chores that often go undone, and I think getting rid of it might be the right thing to do.  
I'll let you know; I'm going to ponder it for a day or two.  Meanwhile, how about a picture of my granddog, Titan, who came to visit me today.

Look at the size of that foot.

The experiment

I've been somewhat of a Facebook fanatic at times during the last three or four years.  My Facebook "friends" number... oh, I don't know, somewhere above three hundred I think.  I could go check and make sure, but I've deactivated my Facebook account.  
I had thought about doing this in the past, but I was enjoying Farmville too much at the time.  Now I have become extremely bored with the game.  I am a multi-millionaire farmer and the game provides me with no way to spend all my funds.  They want me to use REAL money to buy the good stuff.  No thanks.      
I read the rules of Facebook and found out that if I want to, I can sign in and reactivate my account.  I may or may not do that; we'll see how much I miss it.  I may be back on in a week, who knows?  
Oh, there will be some things I will miss:  pictures, for instance.  My nephew Scotty has a new motorcycle, and I downloaded the picture from Facebook and sent it to Cliff in email so he could see it.  Cliff has a Facebook account but seldom checks it.  (I just realized, if I want to see what's going on with family members I can sign on Cliff's account.)  
I do have email, so anyone who wants to contact me on the Internet can use that.  
I'll let you know how this turns out.  
I expect I'll get back to actually reading my favorite blogs instead of skimming them.  I will, once again, monitor Tractor Tales to see what's going on there.  
Or I may crawl into a corner and suck my thumb, whimpering like a baby.    

Facebook alerts

Ms. Martyr commented that she found it strange we should find out about Cliff's brother's heart attack on Facebook, in this day of cell phones.  Actually if you know the time-line, it isn't so strange.  
Of course we would have eventually gotten a call from his wife or one of his kids after their whirlwind trip chasing the ambulance to a hospital forty miles away, followed by the emergency procedure to put the stints in place.  I'm sure they did contact all four of their kids by cell phone on the way to the hospital.  But what do you tell a man's siblings when you think your husband or father is dying, and what purpose would be served?  They were more interested in getting Phil through this alive than in making a bunch of phone calls.  
The message on Facebook was there as soon as Phil was in the ambulance, posted by a daughter-in-law who lives next door to them.  She simply asked for prayers for her father-in-law who was on the way to the hospital with chest pains.   
Cliff went to visit Phil yesterday, and he's doing great.  Good Lord willing, he'll be going home today.  
Phil said his energy level had been low for a couple of weeks; he'd practically had to force himself to get up and do anything.  
Now we know why.

The best thing about Facebook

I've seen people get on Facebook for awhile, then leave, saying it isn't of any worth to them, or that it drives them crazy; Cliff still says, "I don't get it," every time he logs on.  
I know the constant game updates from "friends" drives some of them away; they have no way of knowing they could block those games and not have to see them ever again.  
But here's my favorite thing about Facebook:  I'm getting to know relatives that I couldn't have picked out of a crowd until we Facebooked together.  
My cousin, Lela, doesn't have Internet, but her daughters do; I didn't know them before Facebook.  It's the same with my nephew's son's wife, Heather, who occasionally posts an update about her children.  These people don't put a lot of information online, but it's enough so that I'm getting to know them as individuals.  Before this, they were just faces I saw at reunions or get-togethers sometimes.  
Cliff's mom's side of his family has a fish-fry each year after Labor Day, a family reunion of sorts.  I know his dear old aunts, but most of the other people attending this thing were a mystery to me.  You know how it is, attending somebody else's family reunion, right?  Or is it just me?  
Today, I got to know a little more about two of Cliff's cousins.  Not that they reveal much of themselves online, but two of them have been reading my blog (thanks to Facebook), so that gave us a conversation-starter, some sort of common ground.  
I actually had a good time at Cliff's family reunion!  
Now I know a little about these lady's jobs and their lives.  We have a connection.  
Facebook seems like a funny place to get to know your relatives,  but it works for me!

A Love Story

Just look at that smiling face:  that's my great-nephew, Steven.  He's thirty years old, very intelligent, has a good job, and is buying his own home.  Oh yes, and his personality is out of this world.  
He's a bachelor who's been waiting to meet the right lady, and thanks to the Internet, it's finally happened.
I've read lots of negative things about Facebook; I've even heard of homes wrecked when people met up with old flames and decided to hook up with them again.  
So I wanted to share this positive side of Facebook.  
When you have a Facebook account, friends are suggested by other friends, or by Facebook itself.  Steven "friended" a girl with whom he graduated at Oklahoma Christian College.  They had never dated, and were simply casual acquaintances back then, possibly both dating other people at the time.    
And now they're engaged, and have tentatively set a date.  They're going to get married in Hawaii.  
I'm excited for them.  
I love happy endings.

Now I understand

You probably wonder what cave I came out of, to not know how Feta cheese should be used.

Thanks to a reader, I know now that it is not for cooking.

That's probably where my Fancy macaroni went wrong. Maybe I'll give it another chance one of these days.

Thanks to the Internet, I found out I can freeze Feta cheese in small batches and use it in salads, of which we'll probably be having many, very soon.

Have you ever met someone who refused to share a prized recipe? I wonder if this is the reason: They're afraid people will take liberties with the recipe and then blame them for the dish's failure. I've had it happen to me.

I am already so tired of winter! I'm too old to wish my life away, so I won't do that. But I'm starting to see why snowbirds like my sister spend the cold months in the South. I think I'll start haunting the seed catalogue websites and planning my next garden; that should get me out of my funk. I've been known to plant peas and lettuce in February; that isn't so far away.

I actually bought some milk yesterday at the store. As I told Cliff, since I don't have to milk the cow, I'm not going to, during this miserable weather. It isn't the cold temperatures that get me, it's the mess. It's really hard to clean up an animal that spends time lying in a dirty shed trying to stay out of the cold. Back when I milked lots of cows, I thought nothing of the cleanup part of it, although I really had no option anyway.

Since Bonnie's calf takes care of the milk, I don't have to worry about it. I like having that freedom.

I'm back to playing that silly "Farmville" on Facebook. It's never too cold to milk my cows and raise crops there! You can even have snowdrifts and snowmen next to your garden, and things will grow just fine. The only way crops will fail is if you don't harvest them in time, and even then it's no big deal. I find it humorous that it isn't children playing these time-wasting games: it's adults like me.

Here's my farm; as you can see, my cows are all in the dairy barn, nice and clean. The snowdrifts given to me as gifts by my neighbors have no effect on the rice and watermelons growing nearby. Kind neighbors come by while I'm sleeping and fertilize my crops for me, chasing away foxes and pulling weeds.

In real life, the only weed my neighbor would pull on my property would be the morel mushrooms that pop up in the spring; or the marijuana that grows wild at the back of the place, a result of the crops of hemp raised back during the Civil War.

These are my barns, and you can see I have a tractor that makes my plowing go faster and a harvester (the blue thing) that helps me harvest faster. Oh yes, everything is up-to-date on my farm. To show you how amazing this Internet world is: John, whose farm, as you can see, is next to mine, is the man who interviewed me for my job at Kohl's in the year 2000. He's a wonderful person, but I would never have expected to have heard from him again, since we don't run in the same circles or live near one another; we really aren't even all that well acquainted. And we neither one work at Kohls any more.

But one thing led to another, and here we are playing silly farm games together. Another of my Farmville neighbors was my first assistant supervisor when I started at Kohls... one of the best bosses I ever had. Another neighbor is my sweet, funny Jessica.

Say what you will about Facebook. I'm loving it!

I'm also loving how easy it is to take screenshots with my Mac. I'm loving how easy EVERYTHING is with my Mac!

I have fans!

This will mean nothing to those of you who are wise enough to stay off Facebook, but it is for you wise ones that I'll try to lay some groundwork as an explanation of what I'm talking about here; Facebook friends will already understand.

Facebook is, after all, 90% silliness. Since I enjoy silliness, it works pretty well for me.

Often I'll notice that some of my Facebook "friends" have joined some cause or other, and I'll see a notification like this: "John Doe (mythical Facebook friend) has become a fan of Denny's (or Walmart, or Krogers, or KFC, etc)," and this makes sense to me. But then, among my younger "friends", there will be a notification like this: "John Doe has become a fan of 'I hate it when i get a text, but its not from the person i wanted'."

This sort of activity leads me to believe it must not be difficult to make up something for people become a fan of, and I asked the question, on Facebook, "How does one start one of these "become a fan" things?"

Because I can think of many causes, both whimsical and serious, that I'd love to become a fan of.

My friend Celeste answered, "Just start a group; then people can become a fan."

While I was poking around trying to figure out how to start a group, Celeste, all in good fun I'm sure, started a group "Become a fan of Donna and her blog, 'Just Me'". Last time I checked, I had twenty-five fans.

How silly.

But I still don't know how to start a group!

At least I have fans, though.

*added later: I've figured out how to start a group now. Maybe I could call my group "I finally found out how to start a group but now I'm out of the mood"?

To see ourselves as others see us

Yesterday Cliff and I went to visit my cousin and his wife in Cameron, Missouri. Cliff needed a missing piece for his Oliver 1855, and my cousin is a master craftsman in manufacturing things like that from scrap metal, since he's restored many old classic cars in his time. Cliff was beside himself when he saw what Gerald had created for him. He had called junk yards all over the country trying to find the piece, to no avail, and here it was in his hands needing nothing more than paint.

While the guys were in the shop talking tractors, Dee and I fiddled around on her computer; she's fairly new at this Internet thing, and asked me several questions, including some I couldn't answer.

I found out she had not discovered the wonders of Youtube and explained how you can find almost any performer, living or dead, and watch clips of them. I told her Cliff hunts up clips of Oliver tractors plowing and pulling, and she asked me to type in "1955 Mercury". We found plenty of those, and she said, "Oh, Gerald is going to like this!"

She wanted me to help her figure out something on Facebook, and this is where I had an eye-opening experience: Her Facebook page was filled up with ME!

When I type something into Facebook, on this end it doesn't look like I'm saying so much more than anyone else, because I have over two hundred "friends" there; so my remarks are just a drop in the bucket, mixed in with all those.

But Dee only has a few close friends and several relatives, most of whom don't have a lot to say on Facebook. So what I saw on her computer screen was page after page after page of ME. She kept assuring me that was fine, of course, that it didn't bother her.

I have a new resolution: Type no more than two statements per day into Facebook. I'm not counting the applications that show on people's pages, because they can block those; I showed Dee how to do that, too. But I shall try not to be so verbose from now on. If I were Dee, I'd have blocked me long ago.

I'll do my blabbing right here from now on.

*OK, I think I'm still going to be all over Dee's page. Even if she blocks apps like Swagbucks and drawings for Macs and Walmart gift cards. Because when I do a blog entry (at least three times a day, it seems) it shows there; when I write on someone's wall, it shows up.
My Facebook friends are doomed to an overload of ME, unless they totally block me. That can be done, you know.

A Facebook story: reconnecting

In this dreary, rainy weather we're having, I tend to stay glued to the computer even more than usual. When all else fails, I mess around on Facebook.

On our most recent motorcycle ride (which seems eons ago, but was only a couple of weeks), we were on the back roads and passed through a small, decaying town that triggered the memory of a person in my past.

In the late 70's, my children were both in school and I decided to go to work at Whitaker Cable, eight miles from here. I called around and found someone I could ride with (my friend Carol, the most loyal friend I have; but she was a stranger to me then). For the first time in over ten years, I was going to be earning a paycheck.

The first day, they put me on a conveyor that turned out wiring harnesses. A woman just placed me there, showed me which wires I'd be plugging in and directing around a form with other wires, and left. Within ten minutes I was hopelessly behind. When I was at the point of going around the end of the conveyor, someone would turn off the conveyor and everyone would wait until I could catch up. Any of them could have helped me, but only one person did. The others stood there with smug smiles on their faces. It was quite embarrassing, and if it weren't for the fact that Cliff had told me he was sure I wouldn't be able to keep a job because I'd been out of the work force so long, I would have quit before noon. But I had to show him.

There was that one lady named Sue, a little older than me, working on my right. Until I got to the point where I could hold up my part of the job, she'd reach over and do one or two of my wires: just enough so that I could keep up. Within two weeks I could manage without help.

A couple of years later I heard some of the old-timers at Whitaker talking about how they used to bet on how long new employees would last, and they'd try to see how fast they could make them quit. They were laughing it up reminiscing, and I just had to tell them, "Yeah, I know all about it; I'm one of those people you tried to run off."

Thus ended their little trip down memory lane.

Sue was a quiet woman who lived in Cowgill. While working, we talked about our husbands and children; her husband liked tractors and so did Cliff. One time Cliff and I stopped by their place briefly on the way back from somewhere. But other than that, we only saw one another at work.

Whitaker Cable shut down and both of us sought employment elsewhere. I never saw her again, although someone later told me one of her sons fell while working at construction and was paralyzed from the neck down.

Sue's last name isn't all that common, so I decided to type it in the Facebook search. I knew the chances of someone her age being on Facebook were slim, but I was just passing time; and it never hurts to try.

She wasn't listed, but there were several young folks with her last name who attend high school in Polo, Missouri; that's where Cowgill kids go to school. I figured they had to be related to Sue, probably her grandchildren. Of course you can't see profiles of people who haven't "friended" you, but you can see their faces and ages, and you can send them a message.

So I chose a pretty girl named Tiffany (class of '09) and asked if she was related to Sue. Within an hour, I had this reply: "Yeah that's my grandma she is the best she is doin pretty good she moved to the ozarks about 6 in ah half years ago my grandpa died in 06 I think it was in a simple hernia surgery she had a hard time for a while but she's doin better now."

I told her to tell her grandma, next time she saw her, that I remembered her fondly. She messaged back, "Wouldja like her number?"

Of course this sent me into a cold sweat. Me, talk on the phone to someone I haven't seen in thirty years? What would we talk about? Could I keep up my end of the conversation? I'm a typer, not a talker!

So I told Tiffany I'm not much for talking on the phone, but I'd love to have Sue's address so I could write her a note.

Perhaps she'll give it to me, because she "friended" me overnight.

I'm sharing this so some of you can see the opportunities afforded by Facebook to reconnect with people who helped you along the way; maybe there's somebody in your past to whom you owe a "thank you". You may find them, directly or indirectly, on Facebook.

Is it the phase of the moon?

I'm always awake at 4 or 5 A.M. I stopped worrying about it years ago. I try to lie there in bed until 5, then I get up and go to the computer; usually these days I head to Facebook first.

This morning I noticed a strange phenomenon there.

Dave typed in, "Why am I awake at 0300 on my day off?"

Sonya said, "WIDE AWAKE.... WHY?" and someone commented to her: "Me too, I've been awake for an hour and ten minutes."

My friend Joanna: "3 AM and I'm worrying over work issues. Not a good thing."

Mortimer: "Spent the night with Mr. Insomnia."

Mighty peculiar. I hope all my readers slept well last night.

Facebook scores again

It’s so funny how it works on Facebook: You “friend” someone from your past and happen to notice one of their friends is someone else from the past, one of those “I wonder what happened to her” people.

Looking at a former co-worker’s profile yesterday, I saw she had recently added a Jessica to her friend list, and I recognized the name: she was one of the most interesting, fun people I worked with at Kohl’s distribution center... a woman about the age of my daughter who loved to tell stories about her past; and you know how I love stories. I told her a few of my own. We were both pretty hard workers, but not so much when we were working side-by-side; we were too busy telling stories to one another!

Back then, I was trying to write a poem every day, sort of an exercise to keep me creative, I guess. Sometimes I’d rhyme about people or events at work, and one day Jessica informed me she wanted me to write a poem about her. I ended up making it a song. If you read it as a poem, it’s hard to get the rhythm right, but take my word for it: it works fine as a mediocre song. Here are the words.

JESSICA’S SONG

Hers was the friendliest face in the crowd when I began working at Kohl’s.
I was so scared about starting that job, and her smile was a balm to my soul.
She spoke with a delicate Arkansas drawl, with a voice like a ten-year-old girl.
We ended up in the same department, and Jessica brightened my world.

This is Jessica’s poem; this is Jessica’s song.
She’s living proof that you can recover after a man does you wrong.
She asked me to write her a poem, but somehow I knew all along
That there had to be
A melody,
So now, this is Jessica’s song.

She was born to a couple of hippies one June, In the rock-covered Arkansas hills.
All they possessed were the basics of life, ‘cause they didn’t believe in the frills.
Jessica learned in her growing-up years that life’s best things are not always free,
But these days, the many hard times that beset her are only a grim memory.

I sat down to write her a poem, and somehow my heart heard a song.
So I only had to put pencil to paper; the tune was right there, all along.
If heaven’s a place for the child-like, that’s certainly where she’ll belong.
It was worth my while
To have seen her smile.
That’s why I wrote Jessica’s song.

This is Jessica as I remember her.

There’s one other thing that makes her really special: She’s the person who told me where to find a horse like I wanted, a horse gentle enough for an older lady, one my grandchildren could ride: that horse was Blue.

FACEBOOK

That guy in Oregon doesn't care much for Facebook. You can go on over there and read the reasons why.

I'm here to tell you my opinion of the Facebook phenomenon.

The games, quizzes, tests, and such are stupid. Yoville and Farm Town and FarmVille and Barn Buddy... these all bore me now, and I don't even know why I'm still playing. Actually, I'm not playing very often. I should delete them all, except for Mafia Wars: I’ve never played that one, but I joined up so my son could have me on his team… or something; so just for him, I’d keep that.

Anyhow, I recently had the opportunity to learn how useful Facebook can be in renewing or strengthening family ties: My sister's son, grandsons, and their families visited her, and we got together with them a couple of times that weekend.

Our real-life contacts with these folks have been few and far between... more so, as years go by. I barely knew my great-nephew's wife, Heather. We'd shared some Christmas dinners through the years, but that doesn't really acquaint you with someone.

However, since we've been Facebook friends, I feel as though I'm getting to know her. When I get together with my sister, who has no desire to have Internet service, I can usually tell her about some of her great-grandchildren's escapades, because I've read all about them on Facebook.

So when we saw them all a couple of weeks ago, there wasn't any awkward silence, no lulls in the conversation. It felt as though we'd seen one another only last week, or last month. And all this from a random sentence or two typed onto Facebook occasionally.

My daughter has connected me with some of her old school pals; I seem to have had a reputation among them for being a good cook. That's what they recall about me, anyway. I'm glad to know that's what they remember me for; without Facebook I would never have known it.

I've connected with people who were my co-workers five years ago, so I get to see what's going on in their lives.

I get glimpses into the activities of Cliff's brother's kids and their families, just little snippets here and there; but I know a lot more about them than I used to.

I enjoy becoming a fan of my favorite TV shows, because then I get notice when the new season starts, or when a new episode is coming on. Being a fan of Denny's Restaurant, I get 20% off coupons from time to time. Of course I realize that only pays the waitress's tip, but every little bit helps.

I am sorry that Facebook has taken a lot of people away from blogging, but obviously they're more comfortable with brief updates, rather than typing several paragraphs; it takes all kinds of people to make a world.

I know many of my Facebook friends in real life; some, I've attended church with in the past. Other friends I only know online, either from the old AOL chat room or from AOL Journals and Blogger. Honestly, I probably know some of the online friends better than I "know" many of my real-life ones.

They're coming up with a Facebook Lite that won't show all the games and quizzes and IQ tests; it'll only show the things people actually type in, in the course of their everyday lives. I think that may work better for some of us.

Yeah, I’ll keep my Facebook.

Getting my husband up-to-date

I have several relatives on Facebook. Sometimes those brief sentences they type in are priceless: Cliff's nephews talking about their jobs, for instance. My son, uploading a video of his fast car at the drag race (is that what you call it, Jim?).

Sometimes things aren't so priceless: Cliff's brother's wife, for instance, tells us that her sister's cancer is back, and that she's in extreme pain (prayers would be appreciated on her behalf, by the way... her name is Carol).

Cliff gets on the computer quite a bit these days, and I decided he needs a facebook account. He won't be typing anything in, but he will be watching for those updates from family members. I fixed his profile for him, and he approved it.

Everything's up-to-date in Kansas City. And surrounding areas, as well.

Stupid Facebook (for my youngest granddaughter)

So, my youngest granddaughter, the one who lives in Georgia, sent me this silly facebook quiz called "What do you want in a man".

Lyndsay, for heaven's sake: Have you not looked at your grandpa? THAT'S what I want in a man. None of the questions in this quiz were applicable to my situation.

What Do You Want in a Man? Likes and Dislikes

1. Your Favorite type of Movie?
Romantic Comedy
Mystery and Suspense
Drama
Who has time to watch movies?
Slapstick Humor

My answer: Who cares? Movies make me sleepy.

2. Favorite Type of Music?
I'm too busy to really listen to music.
Country
Classical
Jazz
Top 40 / 1980's

My answer: Folk, and 1960's through 1980's country.

3. What is your ideal family?
Husband and Wife and Few Children
Husband and Wife and Many Children
Husband and Wife and other Swingers
Depends on my our ancestoral backgrounds
I spend most of my time with my Work Family!

My answer: I'm sixty-four years old, and so far I have never seen an ideal family.

4. Dream Date?
Romantic Dinner with Wine and a movie
Board Games and pizza
Church and Dinner with the Family
Drinks at an Airport Bar
Surfing and drinks at a Tiki bar

My answer: Please, I don't want a date. I go to bed before 10 o'clock. I'm tired.

5. How do you like to dance?
I don't dance
Waltz
I am always too drunk to remember
Two step
Slow Dancing

My answer: I never learned to dance, and I don't intend to start now.

6. Sexiest male celebrity?
Matt Damon
Edward Norton
George Clooney
Barak Obama
Clive Owens

My answer: What kind of choices are these? Where is Paul Newman? Where is Elvis? Sheesh.

7. What would the man of your dreams do for a living?
College Professor or Professional
Bartender or Waiter
Business owner or Heir
Artist
Church pastor

My answer: farmer.

This amazing Internet world

My daughter lured me onto Facebook with those silly time-wasting applications like MyFarm and YoVille. I've collected friends there: several relatives, and relatives of relatives; a few local folks that I barely know, but hey... I need friends. Oh, and lots of Blogger buddies.

On Facebook, the word "friend" is pretty broad in its meaning.

But then there's this one unique friend. I'm not sure how we connected on Facebook. Probably via the email connection. But this is a man who has seen my husband's heart beating. Really! Mike was Cliff's respiratory therapist at the time of his surgery; and for some reason, Cliff's surgeon invited him to watch the open heart surgery. Mike told me it was an awesome experience, and gave me his email address so he could follow Cliff's progress.

One thing bothers me. Back in April of 2006, Mike smoked. It was disturbing to me that a respiratory therapist would do that to his body, but what do I know?

I can't help wondering if he's kicked the habit. I certainly hope so, because anybody who has seen my husband's heart beat is special. You've seen one very personal part of Cliff that I will never see.

What say you, Mike? You just got married. Have you kicked the habit so that you can live a long, healthy life with your lovely wife?

My latest Facebook addiction

Thanks for all your input on my previous entry!

Now, on to lighter subjects: When I was a child, one of my favorite Christmas gifts was a farm set consisting of a barn, fences, animals, and other things that make up a farm. I liked making pens and putting pigs in one, cows in another. So when friends on Facebook (mainly my daughter) started sending me horses, cattle and chickens for MyFarm, I decided to check it out.

You start out with a little pretend-cash ($2,000 I think?) which supplies you with funds for plowing, buying seed, and planting crops. Crops are harvested in one, two, or three days, depending on which crop you choose to plant. If you forget to harvest on time, the crop is ruined. You can also harvest fruit from your trees, which I didn't realize until my daughter told me the other day.

Here's how my farm looked a week ago. You can buy animals and trees, but the best way to get those is to have your friends give them to you. You send your MyFarm friends something and hopefully they send you something in return. This is free to both the giver and the recipient.

Those blue areas show a rice crop I planted the other day. Rice, I believe, takes two days until harvest. Since then, I've gotten more industrious, though, and planted a much larger area.

Isn't that an impressive crop? The reason I've gotten so industrious is that for 50,000 MyFarm bucks I can buy a barn, and then I'll be able to sell animals. For $25,000 I can buy a chicken house, and eventually sell eggs. So I'm planting bigger crops in order to bring in more cash! Once I harvest the crop you see here, I should be able to afford a barn.

I figured since I'd told my readers about YoVille recently, I had better tell you about this application. I think I actually prefer this one; it takes me back to my childhood play-farm.

I figure if there's a total crop failure, the government will bail me out. Right?

It's nice to be retired and have time to play silly games on the computer.

If you should decide to start a farm on Facebook, let me know and I'll send you some animals and trees.

Hooked on Yoville

I blame my daughter for this latest Internet addiction: YoVille, an application on Facebook.

When you start out as a YoVille resident, you get to create a little "you" to live in the apartment you are given. You can actually walk around the town and talk to people. Yes, it's a kid thing; and I'm hooked. By the way, if you think that doesn't look much like me, there's no way to put wrinkles and gray hair on me. So that's a younger version.

In YoVille you can go to work at the Widget Factory every six hours and draw your pay. You can then spend your earnings on furniture for your home, clothing, coffee, booze, food, or even a house.

I'm not good at saving large amounts of money, even pretend money. But I did finally save enough to buy myself a junkie trailer house (sound familiar?).

I actually paid YoVille bucks for that pickup on jacks and that dilapidated doghouse. Oh, and the junk fence.

I can rearrange furniture in my rooms any time I want. I can visit my daughter's apartment or trailer.

If you ever decide to move to YoVille, look me up.

Don't even get me started talking about myFarm. (I doubt these links will work if you don't have the applications on Facebook yourself.)

Somebody just shoot me.