During the past couple of weeks I've been trying to trim my list of Facebook friends: I don't have a problem with any or the people on my friend list, but there are people who never post a status update on Facebook or show any sort of activity there. If I go to their "wall", all I see is a few birthday wishes that people posted six months ago. And then there are those that I hardly know in real life: they won't know the difference if I unfriend them; they probably already have their settings fixed so they don't see my all-too-frequent updates. Surprisingly, I am still left with 367 friends. There was one guy I was going to unfriend, but when I went to his wall and saw a picture of him, his wife, and their two sons, I just couldn't do it. I used to watch those boys in the nursery at church, and I like seeing them all grown up. I may eventually knock the guy off my friend list, but not until I've looked at those fully-grown, handsome boys a couple more times. With a couple of exceptions, I can now look at the "wall" of any of my friends and know exactly who they are. Here's a surprising thing to me: At one time I needed more Farmville friends on Facebook, so people referred some of their relatives and friends to me, and I added them so I could be a more successful Farmville farmer. It stands to reason that since I no longer play the game, I could easily get rid of those people, wouldn't you think? Oh no! I interact with most of them regularly. They are nice people, and I don't want to lose their status updates. I enjoy seeing their pets and their children and all their smiling faces.
On to another note: Before Cliff retired, we agreed to drop subscriptions to most magazines and newspapers. With the Internet, who needs all that stuff coming in the mail? Evidently Cliff does, because one by one he has resubscribed to most of the magazines we dropped over a year ago. He gets two Oliver-collector magazines, and he recently subscribed to this:
It's chock-full of home-made inventions and bright ideas, and Cliff decided he can't live without it. I think he's considering resubscribing to Antique Power, too. If you want an antique tractor magazine that's professionally done, it's the best. I, on the other hand, have not felt the need to start getting any newspapers or magazines. The last time someone called from the Kansas City Star with a bargin subscription price for me, I told them I wouldn't take the paper if it was free. It's just something for me to haul to the trash. However, this morning I actually realized that I've missed the Odessan. It's a weekly local paper that carries the school news, and I have granddaughters in school. Besides, I can keep up with the obituaries and divorces and traffic tickets around here. I caved and made out a check. So far I've managed to rake up the money for all these subscriptions, so I guess it's OK.
I have kept a Reader's Digest subscription going for years; the size is perfect for slipping in a purse (or lunchbox, in Cliff's case) so it's handy for those times when we're somewhere waiting, for instance at a doctor's or dentist's office. The articles are brief, so you're not committing to a lot of time when you start reading. I've learned a lot from Reader's Digest. However, my subscription lapsed, and I've decided this is one thing we can easily do without. I know it's time to renew, because they've been sending me bills for a couple of months. But I didn't renew, so why are they sending me bills that sound like I re-subscribed? In fact, they've sent me two magazines that I shouldn't have received, and the tone of their little notes make me feel more like a freeloader with each reminder. I found a phone number on the bill Thursday and gave them a call. I explained the problem to the customer service person and gave her my name and address. "Oh," she said, "you're on automatic renewal." What? I never asked for that! She took me off the plan and graciously told me I could keep the two magazines that I wasn't supposed to receive. I just wonder how many people renew their subscriptions who otherwise would not, if they hadn't been bullied into "automatically renewal"? The same day, I received a credit card bill charging me $1.82 in interest; I had made no purchases, so how did I rack up interest? We're down to three credit cards, and I still have to weed at least one of them out; I just haven't decided which one. I've gotten rid of Kohl's, Home Depot, Sears, and two gasoline credit cards. I kept these for years because credit card holders get special deals; it was really hard to destroy my Kohl's card, because that's where I buy shoes, and sometimes I got 30% off a sale price as a card-holder. Still, we do not need all that plastic filling up our billfolds. If I get angry with any of my remaining three card providers, they are history. I was ready to tell somebody that when I called Chase card customer service. This summer we used that card to excess (the Arkansas trip and lots of diesel fuel for tractors), and in the end it took me three months to pay them off. We swore never to let that happen again, even if we have to sit at home for the rest of our lives. The lady explained to me that ours is a revolving charge account and the $1.82 is carried over from the previous month. Just as I was getting ready to tell her what she could do with my account, she said, "Oh, wait; I think I can take that off your bill. Yes, I can; it should show up as being removed within a few days." So I still have a decision to make about which card I get rid of. I'll wait and see if that $1.82 really is removed before I decide.
Here's a video to show you how my dog, Iris, plays with shadows. She also plays with beams of light, and chases birds flying overhead. She's nuts.
