Social Media and Technology: When Will the Madness Stop?

This week I joined LinkedIn, the networking site for professional people seeking connection with other professionals. I think it’s the 21st century version of the cocktail party where you used to drink martinis and hand out business cards. It’s like Facebook, only you don’t put personal stuff on it like what your cat threw up that morning. Instead, you record your professional news and accomplishments. Rather than collecting “friends,” you cast your network for as many “connections” as possible. The more connections you have, the more successful you must be. Or something.

I only linked in when a respected adviser basically told me I had to. She said that many corporate recruiters won’t consider anyone who is not part of this version of the social networking craze. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not looking for a job right now, but in this age of shifting corporate landscapes, layoffs, reorgs, and whacked-out bosses, one can’t be too prepared.

What troubles me is the growing necessity to either be a part of these social networks or be left out of society all together.

Facebook is fun, but I was shocked to discover a whole world of electronic communicating, even among people I see every day, that I didn’t know about. I’d evidently missed volumes of important electronic conversation. And pictures.

So far, LinkedIn is not fun. I have absolutely no idea what I’m supposed to do. I filled in some of the basics of my profile but other than connecting with people I already know, it’s a pretty sad compilation of dull information.

I’m starting to feel kind of whiney and oppositional about technology. I just don’t want to incorporate any more into my life.

I was the last person in the entire world to get a cell phone, and that was only because my mother insisted that I wouldn’t be safe without it. This is the same woman who let me and my sister drive across Nebraska to school in a car with no heater in the middle of winter, but that’s neither here nor there. That first cell phone didn’t work anywhere except in the 303 area code, and subsequent improved phones and plans didn’t work in such places as the inside of my condo, and anywhere I visited in Nebraska or Wyoming.

I was also the last person (in about 2002) to get cable TV, and at first I only got the old fashioned analog kind. I joked at the time that I was being dragged kicking and screaming into the 1980s.

I got a nice CD player only after everyone else started getting ipods, and I only got my first ipod this year when a coworker upgraded to a fancy new one, giving me his old one. Now I have all these CDs gathering dust where my vinyl LPs and cassette tapes used to be.

I have VHS tapes in my bookcase but nothing to play them on. I have these holes in my walls where my old landline phones used to be. I can’t figure out how to change the password on my wireless router. I only know how to utilize about 10 percent of the buttons on the four remote controls I use for watching television.

I haven’t even mentioned the many other virtual worlds I belong to. Netflix not only allows me to select the movies I want to view, it enables me to see what my friends and family are viewing. I’m not sure I want them to see everything I’m watching. And then there are the dating web sites. ‘Nuf said about that.

Is this all too much, too fast, or am I only getting old? No need to answer. Just let me shuffle through my dotage in peaceful ignorance.

Except I still have to figure out how to link to enough connections so I don’t look like a professional failure.



(If you want to leave a comment and are having trouble, try entering your name and leaving the URL portion blank. If that doesn’t work, I don’t know what to tell you. It’s technology, after all.)

Holiday Newsletter Print Edition In Decline

Depending who you listen to, the demise of print media is either a tragedy leading to the downfall of civilization or an inevitable result of the democratization of information sharing via rapid advances in technoogy.

In any case, I'm not going to buck the trend. My annual holiday newsletter only went out to about 40 friends and family this year, mostly those who can't or don't use a computer. To save on postage and ink (I spent $80 on ink cartridges - that's more than the cost of the printer! What a racket!), I am posting my annual greetings and news online for my Facebook and blog friends to see.

I know it's a little less personal. I'm sorry if it makes you feel less special to me and I assure you that is not the case. I just believe in the democratization of information sharing via rapid advances in technology.

If you aren't mad at me, please read my Holiday Newsletter by clicking here.

And have a wonderful Holiday Season!

A BillsWeek Guest Entry: How to Leave Hialeah

By Joey Halligan

When I first came across this title, I was browsing through new books on Amazon.com. I’ve never seen a book with my hometown on the cover - nor did I ever think I would. You probably have never heard of it, and I don’t blame you.

When it boils down to it, Hialeah is simply a heavily Cuban populated city in the greater Miami area. It may sound a little more interesting to the average passerby - just imagine... the culture, the arts, the music, the beauty! And the food is to die for! However, those that pass by just keep right on going. The people are rude, the traffic is insane, and the crime rate is sky high. So why is it so hard to leave Hialeah when Hialeah is your home?

Hialeah found its way on the map during The Roaring Twenties. It was during this time when sports and film began to carve the culture of this Southern Florida prairie, snuggled between the Atlantic Ocean and the great Everglades. Perhaps one of the most famous landmarks in Hialeah - the Hialeah Racetrack, was erected during this era. Its Mediterranean architecture and grandeur brought tourism and curiosity. In fact, to this day, brides-to-be flock to the racetrack for their wedding photo session. Just make sure to crop out the factories and smog.

Today, the city is over-populated, dirty and has lost its old world charm. All the signs are in Spanish, no one holds the door for you, and the moment the traffic light turns green, the car behind you honks their horn. Yet for some reason, each time I visit home, I feel like everything is right in the world - even though I know it couldn’t get any worse. And that’s basically what draws us back to our hometown - it’s where we’re from... whether we like it or not. We will always have a sense of pride for what is ours, and where we come from.

It’s been five years since I’ve lived in Denver and I wouldn’t dream of moving back to Hialeah. Once you get a taste of life outside the city, it’s pretty easy to feel satisfied with life somewhere new. So how did I leave Hialeah? I packed everything I could into my car and drove for two days. I started fresh without knowing what to expect. Now, every time I make my descent into the Miami International Airport, I always look out the window and spot the new construction sites and the heavy traffic on the main roads and highways. The best view, however, is the same one when I leave Hialeah on my way back home.



Joey Halligan enjoys frolicking in the snow, eating pho, and drinking Starbucks in Denver. He can be reached at joeyhalligan@me.com.

Secular Holiday Hijacked by Religious Radicals

Let me make one thing perfectly clear. I am a life-long practicing Christian. I have a degree from a theological school. I go to church every week. I participate in faith-based rituals around Advent and Christmas Eve. I love the beautiful sacred music this time of year.

And unlike the vocal zealots on the news, I have no desire to cram my faith down the throats of those who simply wish to gather with friends and family over some eggnog, exchange gifts, and enjoy some colored lights during this gloomy month.

I contemplated many titles for this entry of BillsWeek:

• Waging Peace in the War on Christmas
• Let’s Take the Christ Out of Christmas
• Jesus is NOT the Reason for the Season

The point is, I’m sick to death of hearing from right wing Christians about the “true” meaning of the holiday and how those who celebrate secularly are misconstruing “the reason for the season.”

Merriment this time of year goes way back before the time of Christ. At least 10,000 years ago in the northern hemisphere, people celebrated the returning of light after the darkest nights of the year.

Light was no trivial matter to these pre-common era people. In Europe, in particular, light meant warmth and the ability to grow food. Light meant survival.

Solstice traditions and festivals evolved into major celebrations. When the Christian church started taking over in the first millennium, these celebrations were seen as dangerously frivolous, probably the work of the devil himself. Universal popularity made it impossible to forbid the festivities, so the church cleverly usurped the time and turned it into a celebration of Christ’s birth.

The timing of Christmas has nothing to do with Jesus’ actual birth. If you are really a fundamentalist, you shouldn’t celebrate in December at all. Indications from the Christian scriptures point to a spring birth (were those shepherds watching over lambs?).

The church still couldn’t subdue the revelry, however. In England, as late as the 1600s, this time of year was marked by major carousing and hooliganism. Respectable people stayed off the streets for their own safety.

In some places, only the Roman Catholic Church celebrated Christmas. Protestants, including those Puritans who so faithfully established some of the original American colonies, distained Christmas. The only reason Protestants began to celebrate Christmas in church was because so many were sneaking over to experience the beautiful Catholic Christmas mass.

So I’d like to invite all those extremists who are offended by the modern celebration of Christmas to celebrate the season in whatever way is meaningful to them. But this is The United States of America. We have freedom of religion here. If we want to visit Santa at the mall, put a plastic snowman in our yard, play hockey with a fruitcake, light a menorah, or observe the solstice in the manner of Pagans and Wiccans, get off our backs.

I think most people are like me: enjoying a combination of religious tradition and secular celebration. But because I don’t want to assume that your beliefs match mine, I will simply wish you:

Happy Holidays!

Thanksgiving Chronicles

It seems strange that to cope with all the Thanksgiving work and stress, I kept taking Facebook breaks. How did I get through last year without the web’s most popular social networking site? Reviewing the posts reveals the drama of the holiday. Here’s a sampling from Facebook.
First, the cast of characters:

• Bill – you all know me.
• Neda – friend and former coworker
• Linda – high school classmate in Nebraska, reconnected via Facebook
  Forrest – friend and former colleague in Georgia
• Wendy – lives ten minutes away and never forgets anything I say
• Katherine – next door neighbor who I could talk to through the wall, but FB is often the medium of choice
• Thomas – world citizen, friend who delights in brutal honesty
• Debra - high school classmate in Nevada, reconnected via Facebook
• Susan – sister in Wyoming
• Kim – irreverent Reverend
• Jeff – national reporter based in Denver, visiting New Hampshire
• Kris – nonprofit director in Oregon

Thursday, T-1 Week
Bill: Stuff I’m Thankful For – A BillsWeek List
Friday, T-6 Days
Bill: Kathy Griffin tonight. Feels like the beginning of the holidays!
Sunday, T-4 Days
Bill: … bought most of the Thanksgiving dinner stuff today. Charles is already playing in the foil roasting pan I bought for the turkey. Long day, but at least the shopping is mostly done. Now up to 14 guests at my place. Cooking and cleaning the next few days ...
Neda: Wow … Did you party grow?
Bill: (Certain family members) keep inviting additional people … it’s really ok, but a little overwhelming at the moment. It will be fun when the big day comes …
Tuesday, T-36 Hours
Linda: Share some kitty stories. Life would be so dull without kitties.
Bill: I would be so lost without them. Right now, Lily is annoyed that I’m typing and she keeps bumping my hand. My younger kitten Charles is so active, I’m going to have to assign someone to manage him while the house is full of people Thursday.
Bill: Cleaning is more or less done. Dining room table is extended. Tomorrow, cooking and counting chairs, plates, etc.
Forrest: Will the cats hide with all the company?
Wendy: Charles is going to hide in the turkey --- according to Bill!
Bill: That’s my fear – Lily will hide at first, but she’ll eventually come out and grace us with her presence. Only a few will be deemed worthy to pet her a little. Charles will be the life of the party, jumping from lap to lap, because he knows all humans love cats, and him in particular. He will be on the counter trying to get food, on the table trying to get food, and yes, I’m afraid I’ll turn around and find him with his head in the turkey. Usually he’s locked down in the bathroom when I can’t handle him, but with so much company, I don’t think that will work…
Forrest: Sounds like organized chaos is about to happen…
Wednesday, T-30
Bill: I got out my pretty red table runner with the tassels to hang it up and de-wrinkle. Guess who discovered the tassels not 15 seconds later. Yep, my little kitty boy. Now I have to figure out where to hang it where he can’t get to it.
Katherine: No, you have to find a place where Charles won’t create problems! Try putting it back out, and when he goes after it, point the water bottle. He will get the message …
Thomas: Good luck with that.
Bill: Ok-he found it. Tassels are history. It will be a pretty red runner without tassels. (Later) Needless to say, there will be no Christmas tree this year.
Thomas: Come on, be daring.
Wendy: Since there will not be tassels for the table, perhaps you could wear the tassels …
Thomas: Post pictures of that!
Debra: Cats and tassels – temptation is just too great … Try hanging it over the top of a door and hope he does not decide to high jump. (Editor’s note: I did exactly that and the jumping was fantastic, tassels wrestled to the floor and leapt upon with wild abandon.)
Susan: Who needs tassels? Have a wonderful day …
Wednesday, T-16
Bill: Turkey isn’t thawing. Is now in the shower where Sir Charles can’t get to it. SURELY it will be thawed by morning.
Kim: At least it will be clean!
Linda: Don’t let it spoil. My 18 lb. bird did … We threw it out. We followed the unthawing instructions so it must have been tainted from the beginning. We went turkey shopping late today… Bill, the cat will find it. Good luck!
Kris: hello, roasted Brassica oleracea and Cucurbita moschatta pie! (Editor: Huh? What ever happened to mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie?)
Thursday, T-8.5
Bill: I was conscious of the spoilage factor. It was cold the whole time and I put it back in the fridge after a couple hours. … All is well.
Bill: Up at 4:30. Finished thawing turkey under cool water in the sink and stuffed and seasoned it. Both Charles and Lily quite agitated. Poor kitties’ first bedroom lockdown of the day. Thanksgiving is difficult for poor starving kittens.
Linda: Did the cat get the turkey? Ours wants in the roaster as it was sitting out waiting to be cleaned.
Bill: No, Charles didn’t get the turkey, not for lack of trying. It’s safely in the oven now and he’ll be locked in the bedroom during carving and serving.
T-4 and Counting
Bill: Taking a coffee break now that as much food is prepared as can be until the last minute. So far, Charles has been in lockdown three times. Lily once. Made it to the health club to work off some of the stress of the day. I feel ready now. Except I’d better set the table.
Thursday Night, T+9
Debra: How did everything go? The turkey-cats saga must go on!
Bill: The dishes are clean. The leftovers are put away and sent home with the guests. Tablecloths laundered. There are two cats sacked out on the sofa and I can’t get them to move. We’re all three just pooped. It was a wonderful day. Of course, Charles spent much of it locked in the bedroom, but he got to socialize too. I hope all of you had a good T-day too!
Jeff: Thanksgiving is over. Merry Christmas.
Bill: Ugh
The Morning After
Bill: “Please dear. Auntie Mame is hung.” Charles and Lily are wide awake now and wanting breakfast. All I can muster from my bed is this quote from Rosalind Russell in the 1958 movie, Auntie Mame. For the record, I didn’t touch a drop of alcohol. I just feel hung over.
Katherine: Poor Bill. It must have been too much turkey or pie or something. Drink lots of water, watch Netflix, nap, and call me in the morning.
Kim: LOL! I hope you had a wonderful time in spite of the stress of it all.
And you know, I did. Let’s just try to recover for a while and not think about Christmas. How can millions of people go shopping so soon after all this?

Stuff I’m Thankful For – A BillsWeek List

A couple weeks ago I published a rather negative blog entry called Stuff That Bugs Me. In order to ease the sting of that downbeat list, I made a promise that I would do a nice list soon. Well, it’s soon, and it’s less than a week to Thanksgiving, so here’s some stuff I’m thankful for. I hope it conveys a more positive vibe. Ok, here goes:

• Sunny winter days
• Hottubs
• Warm fuzzy cats
• Family and friends
• Those orange creamcicles from King Soopers
• Marie Calendars
• Pizza delivery
• Donuts
• 24 hour supermarkets
• Dinners at El Jardin
• Health care
• Liberals with a sense of humor
• Kathy Griffin's "relationship" with Levi Johnston
• Engineers who like cats on YouTube - yes, "they should be but they aren't"
• Living in the city with all its conveniences (like walking to the store)
• First class performances at The Buell
• Diversity in restaurants - from greasy diners to pho
• 24 hour emergency rooms for animals (I've been there a couple of times)
• Independent movie theaters
• Denver Public Library
• The easy empty canister on my vacuum cleaner
• Scrubbing bubbles
• Clumping kitty litter
• Recessed lighting with dimmer switch
• Off buttons on phones
• State parks early in the morning
• Microwave ovens
• Timely traffic updates
• Michelle Obama
• Ocean Beach, San Diego
• Workout machines with televisions attached
• Late night BBC radio
• Digital Video Recording
• Enduring legacy of the Civilian Conservation Corps
• Lake Irene
• Dairy Queen
• Public transportation
• Quiet neighbors
• Jon Stewart
• A roomy freezer
• Leave-in conditioner
• Stove-Top Stuffing
• Time off around the holidays
• Readers of my blog

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

America Before and After

I’m spending a snowy Sunday inside, cuddled with the cats, eating tangerines I bought from King Soopers, and watching Netflix rentals. Today, it’s Sports Night, a comedy series from the late 90s which was fast-paced, witty, intelligent, and way ahead of its time. Critically acclaimed but not watched by a viewing majority, It barely squeaked out two seasons. I may do a blog about it someday, but the thing I keep thinking about is 1998.

In 1998, the economy was good. Dot coms boomed with no bust in sight. The biggest problem we seemed to have was whether the president was having sex with an intern. On Sports Night, the TVs are square and have large back ends. The characters don’t look too different from people today, but they carry around VHS cartridges and type on computers with huge monitors. On one episode, a character is going to see The Lion King on Broadway, but has no idea the show is sold out.

Amid the laughs and drama, I keep wanting to say to the people on screen, “You have no idea what’s coming, do you?”

Like many others, I see the modern world in two parts: before September 11, 2001, and after. Every movie I watch, every book I read is evaluated by whether the author or characters have yet gone through the experiences of that day.

On Sports Night, they talk about AIDS and the homeless as serious problems, but don’t seem much affected personally. Their individual lives are safe and insular. They can’t yet comprehend how the world could come crashing around them at any moment.

I was 2,000 miles away from the terrorist attacks, but I remember with vivid detail where I was and what I was doing when the World Trade Center fell and the Pentagon burned. I was working from home with the TV on when local TV anchor Kyle Dyer said that a plane had just crashed into one of the twin towers.

“Some drunk pilot,” I thought. “They’ll be talking about this for years.”

Later that day, I interviewed house cleaners and went to the computer store because I needed software. I was in a daze. Everyone was. But we had to go about our business or the terrorists would win.

After 9-11, we still have AIDS and the homeless. Thankfully, there is still also humor on TV. But there’s a difference. Fictional characters and we ourselves, go about our normal business but seem to be half looking over our shoulders, knowing something terrible and life-changing could happen again. The President has to manage two wars, whether justified or not. No thought of interns in the national conscience these days. There is extra security, ridiculous at times, at the airport. And we are reminded of terror every time we see the ubiquitous skyline of New York on TV show cutaways – on Sports Night, the twin towers achingly present, on newer shows, painfully absent.

A trial soon begins of the man who is said to be the mastermind of the 9-11 attacks. As is typical in the United States of America, there is discussion of justice and a desire to see this man punished for taking those thousands of lives. As appropriate and necessary in the USA, there is concern that we continue to follow the law: give this man a fair trial and not lose our heads to emotion and vengeance.

As to whether the trial should be held in civilian or military court, in New York or somewhere else, I don’t really care. I frankly, personally, don’t care what happens to the guy.

I want my 1998 back.

But this is America. Part of the Obama victory last year was a mandate to return to the reasonable, just, and democratic America which could be an example to the rest of the world. We have a constitution which rules over our hot heads. Every accused criminal gets a fair trial so that all of us can be free.

Now, back to Sports Night.