Short and Sweet.

So that's what I'm going to make this blog post, short and sweet.  Frankly I went back and read some of the things that I put here and they read like garbage; even for me.  I'm still going to use this as a depository for random stuff but I'm going to try and have those thoughts make sense before posting them up rather than using this blog to ramble on.  We'll see what happens.

It's a Blackberry Life

Having started life before the advent of the cassette tape, let alone cd's, mp3's, and the internet, how did I survive without a connection to the outside world for so long?  I recently traded in my old cell phone on a new Blackberry and have found that I look at it as a necessity more than something that simply makes my life easier.  Wait, you want me to go outside without being connected to my Facebook friends, or Twitter?  You mean that I have to wait until I get back home after work to check my email?  Email?  How did I survive when I had to send a message to someone via U.S. Postal Service and wait weeks for a response?

My how far we've come in the last 20 years, but has the journey been a wise one?  Should we be so dependent on technology and live our lives around being as connected as we are?  What would happen to most of us if we lost these connections?  Having recently watched Body of Lies, and seen so much television coverage of the Conficker Worm, this became more of a concern of mine.  I began thinking about how crippled our society would be if we lost our grip on information technology and would anyone remember what to do without it.  Would we, as a society, be able to function even if we remembered how to conduct our lives without the immediacy of information?  Our banking system is already a shambles but could it function at all without this technology?  What about the stock market, or our national defense?

I listened to a podcast this week that's put out by some video game industry people who have formed a new site called Out of the Game, and the title of the episode was Born before Digital.  I'm a product of the generation that they discuss.  The podcast is not for those with sensitive ears, but it is funny and does bring to light a lot of things about how the world has changed with regards to technology and the need for immediate information.  I suggest that if you don't mind the occasional foul language, or childlike humor, you give it a listen.  Especially if you were born before digital.

I'm not saying that I'm going to give up my Blackberry or Mac, but I think I might send a letter to my parents the old fashioned way within the next few days.  It won't make me all nostalgic and won't really serve a purpose, but maybe it'll be enough to offset the fact that I'm blogging about it right now.  The irony is that I'll probably still type it up on my laptop, and print out the label.  Have we gone too far and could we ever go back?  Only time will tell I suppose, but I hope that we never have to find out. 

Politics and Religion. It's like 28 Days Later.

Have you ever seen the movie "28 Days Later"?  It's basically a zombie flick, but instead of people actually being dead and rising up to feast of the brains of the living, it's a virus that enrages people to ... well ... want to feast on the brains of the living.

That's how I view the discussion of politics and religion, and since I value the gray matter than I have, I'm going to try as hard as I can to not discuss either topic.  Now this is more difficult than you can imagine, because these are two things that make me the most irate.  They're also two things that make others irate, and since I have hopes that someday someone might actually read this, I want to avoid the irrational name calling battles that usually accompany these topics.

I'm not saying that I won't touch them entirely, but I may generalize now and again.  Oh who am I kidding?  This will eventually turn into a blood bath, but I at least want to have my Zombie Escape Plan thought out before it does.

Defragging my Brain

 I recently joined Facebook, and I know that I'm late to the party.  It made me realize that the Wall Post system of Facebook, and Twitter for that matter, don't offer me the chance that I need to get so many randomly generated thoughts, out of my head.  I've found that I need a way to defrag once in awhile, and do it in more than 140 characters.

That being said, I felt that maybe a blog was the way to go.  I've never blogged before, so this is going to be a rough ride to start with and it will hopefully smooth out over time once I figure out how to format this thing and make it look it's best.  I make no promises that my grammar and/or punctuation will be perfect or even near perfect.  I'll use words in the wrong context, and make mistakes, so don't expect much.  Think of this as throwing pasta against the wall to see what sticks.  My posts will stick, but they won't look pretty.

I don't know if anyone will ever read it, but it gives me a way to "talk" to myself without the awkward looks from strangers.  Let's hope this works.  I'm going to try and post at least once a week, and maybe more frequently as my brain needs that defragging, but I make no promises.