You know when you're out running and you see a guy in front of you and think, "Wow, he's so slow," and then you never pass him. Yeah...
Facebook. Twitter. LinkedIn. Instagram. Pinterest. YouTube. Google+. The list of social media sites is exhausting. I consider myself in the know, but who really has time to be on ALL of them? If you do, are you working or having face-to-face relationships? I find myself more and more contemplating just how connected I want to be...
While most sites play to a niche, I don't think Google+ has claimed its place in the social media world. It launched two years ago, and I remember hearing it would replace Facebook. Well, Facebook is still the number one social media site in the world, and on Google+ I have 19 followers. I can't imagine that's the success creators had in mind. Today was my first post on my G+ account. It was the exact same post I put on Facebook. I'm dying to know... Do you you use G+? Am I wasting my time?
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I don't get a chance to do it often, but every now and again I can squeeze a movie in on a week day. Tonight's choice was a 2013 film called Side Effects. The cast of actors drew me in: Jude Law, Channing Tatum and Catherine Zeta-Jones. The summary on Netflix was also intriguing.
Tatum plays a guy named Martin who's married to Mara's character Emily. Martin just got out of prison for insider trading when Emily's depression flares up again causing some serious stuff to go down. Her psychiatrist Dr. Banks is played by Jude Law. As he's treating her, he gets in touch with her previous psychiatrist Dr. Siebert. Emily's depression continues to worsen as she experiences sleep walking as a side effect of her medication. I won't spoil the movie, but she does something very bad and gets in trouble with the law. Dr. Banks helps her out, but afterwards something just doesn't seem right. He starts investigating which leads to a huge twist in the movie. If you are good at guessing the twists and turns of movies, I challenge you to try this one. It's an interesting plot with pretty good acting besides that of Tatum, unfortunately. He's hot, but he's not really ready for a serious film. As part of my quest for becoming a more well-read person, I am going back to high school english class to read the classic books I never read. The first book I crossed of the list was Of Mice and Men. Then I took on A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I didn't know what the plot was about but figured it should be good. It's a classic for a reason, right? Two pages in, I was bored. The old English was hard to read, there was no real hook to draw me in, and there the print was just too little and the pages too big. I tried to get past those things though; I was committed to completing this classic. Well, after five more pages, I succumbed to my disinterest and quit.
It's very rare that I start a book and am not able to finish it. While I feel a little bad about this, I realized that I'm not actually in high school and I don't actually have to read it. Maybe I'll give it another try in a few years... or not. I have such fond memories of going to the dent... oh wait, no I don't. Don't get me wrong. I don't freak out at the dentist's office, but it's usually not something I get excited for. It's usually quick and painless, and I've been cavity-free since I was a kid. I was definitely not looking forward to this particular appointment. It's been two years since I'd visited the tooth doc.
My whole life I was very good about going every six months. But then I moved to Des Moines and tried to keep my dentist in Chicago. That didn't work. Then when I got dropped from my parents' insurance I tried to save some money by not getting my own dental insurance. Then I got a new job, with dental insurance, and just got lazy for six months to set up an appointment here in Des Moines. I asked for recommendations from my lovely Facebook friends and then did some research to make sure the dentist was covered by both Lucas' and my insurance (because we're difficult and each have our own). Davidson Family Dentistry in Urbandale fit the bill. I gave them a call and they happened to have two cancellations and got us both in this week. I thought skipping the dentist for two years was bad; well, Lucas has gone at least 10 years. He walked out with one cavity! I walked out with more than that. My next trip back will be next month to get my first filling in about 18 years. Dr. Davidson and the hygienist Anne were both great. They explained everything to me. They took digital x-rays and digital pictures of my teeth and showed me those on the monitor attached to my chair. Once they were done showing me the important stuff, scenic pictures of far away places took over the monitor. Classical music played in the background too. All in all, it was a great experience My cousin is a motivated, hardworking, caring, wonderful young woman. It's absolutely amazing to me that this is the third year in a row she is organizing a fundraiser called Carol's Crew Cares Bra Crawl. The event raises money for the Carol's Crew Cares Relay for Life team, which helps the American Cancer Society. I haven't been able to attend as it's in Cedar Falls, but this year I at least made a monetary donation. It would have been a blast to decorate a bra to wear on the outside of my clothes and parade up and down the streets of Cedar Falls. Hopefully next year...
Today was my first time writing to an elected official. I don't get political often, but enough is enough. President Obama was re-elected. The Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act. It is a law. Move on. Some Republicans have come to that view point, fortunately. However, there are some that believe letting the government shut down is worth it for their cause. If Obamacare is so terrible, how is letting a government shutdown negatively affect millions of Americans not as terrible?
On Congressman Latham's website, who happens to be the representative for my area, he says he will vote to keep the government open and stop Obamacare. You can't have it both ways. In my respectful email to Latham, I asked him to work toward a quick resolution so that Americans can trust their federal government and elected officials do, in fact, care about them. I asked Latham to not take a paycheck until the government can find a resolution. A Washington Post article lists more than 100 members of Congress who are not keeping their paycheck. Latham was not among them at the time of my post. Maybe he'll change his mind. I ask you to write to your elected officials to tell them to get over Obamacare, find a resolution and actually help the American people. |