Social Networking...And All My Secrets!

I admit it! I check my Facebook account as often (if not more often) than I check my e-mail account. I'm always anxious to see what my friends are up to today, or to see how someone's day is going or even to vent a little steam. Sometimes, if I have a bad day, it makes me feel better to update my status and hear my friend's encouraging remarks. And Facebook is the only way that I keep in touch with a lot of my friends from high school. But I don't think I'm addicted to it. I could live without facebook, and the other popular social networking sites. I know I use Wikipedia for everything, so I'll use it again for this post too. On Wikipedia I found a list of well over 100 social networking sites...I had no idea that many existed! Needless to say, I'm not familiar with most of these sites. I have a Facebook account and a Myspace account and I've heard of Twitter, but I haven't set up an account yet for that site, so by social networking standards, I guess I'm falling behind!

I do think that social networking sites are a great way to keep in touch with friends and family that you don't get to see that often. I know it makes me feel good when a friend that I haven't seen in a while writes on my Facebook wall, just to let me know that they're thinking of me. And I like keeping up with what's going on in my friends' lives. Actually, Facebook is one of the only ways that I keep in touch with many of my high school friends who all scattered after graduation. But I also think that you have to be very careful about how you present yourself on a social networking site and what you allow others to see.

For example the other night, my car was towed from my apartment building because I had forgotten to put my hang tag back up after I had taken it down the night before. So, when I walked outside and realized what had happened, I was very upset, and I posted my feelings in my Facebook status. On the following Sunday, my grandmother asks me "What happened to your car last week?" First, I was upset that she had found out about it (because her and my grandfather have a tendency to worry about me, so I had taken care of the car problem and not told them anything about it). Second, I was stunned that she had found out (unlike some of my friends, my grandparents have not yet joined the social networking world). It turns out one of my friends of Facebook is a church friend of my grandmother, so at church, the lady had asked about my car. So really these social networking sites just work like one big gossip chain.

I guess my grandmother finding out about my car wasn't such a big deal, but what if it had been something more serious? What if a potential employer had seen my angry status about my car being towed and because of it, refused to offer me the job? I guess what I'm saying is that you never really know who is reading your Facebook posts or status updates, and therefore you have to be very cautious about what you write. Because even if someone isn't reading what you post on your social network site, they may have a friend, acquaintance or collegue who is.

Is RSS really useful?

Really Simple Syndication or RSS is defined by Wikipedia as "a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format." So, you're basically attaching yourself-even more so than with cell phones, twitter and facebook-to a constant stream of information and news. Honestly, I rarely watch the news on TV, much less do I spend time looking it up on the Internet, so I'm not sure that RSS would be very useful to me, but I can see how it would be useful to some people.

If you're a journalist, in order to keep up with the fast-paced, ever-changing world, you need to be constantly plugged in to what's going on not only with your employer but also with rival companies. RSS would definitely be a helpful tool for someone in this position. One example is The New York Times website. It offers RSS feeds from all the different sections of the paper. So, if you work as a rival journalist for the sports section of Newsday, you might be interested to know what the sports section of The New York Times is offering that day. One important aspect of keeping ahead of your rivals, is knowing what they are actually writing about.

RSS would probably also be useful to politicians who need to keep up with judicial decisions, election results and other politicians' political moves. A local politician would probably benefit from subscribing to an RSS feed from the local or state news section of the Montgomery Advertiser.

As a future teacher, I can also see using RSS in my classroom, for projects or essays. Students would be able to have a constant stream of relevant information at their fingertips. As for me personally, I think I spend enough time on the computer without adding a constant flood of information. E-mail is quick enough for my tastes.

A World of Blogs

I should admit that I don't have much experience with blogs. This is the first blog that I've ever created on my own, and the only other blog that I have any knowledge about was created by one of my teachers. I was only expected to post comments on the blog. I had nothing to do with the creation of it. So, when we were asked to blog about blogging, I decided to start with a definition. Wikipedia defines blogging as "a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary." There are no limits about what can be discussed on a blog. And there are no guidelines that have to be followed (as far as content goes, I'm sure blogs are monitored by website managers for inappropriate content, but the creator of the blog can talk about whatever they feel like discussing that day). Blogging is open and available to the world and the world is taking notice of blogs.
After finding this quick definition of blogging, I then decided to search for more information about blogs, and I found a website called DailyBlogsTips that offers information about blogging that is broken down into categories such as blog design, blog projects and blogging basics. I thought this site offered a good overview of the basics of blogging (especially for someone new to the blogging experience).
So what's good about blogs?
One aspect of blogs that I like is the fact that you can blog about anything you want. I love watching movies, so I found a blog that offers reviews and news about upcoming movies: The Movie Blog. But if I loved watching baseball or college football or even learning about the latest fashions, I could find a blog to meet those needs too.
What's not so good about blogs?
Well, one thing that's a little scary about blogs is that anyone can blog about anything they want. And you don't have to be an expert to impart your information (correct or not) to the whole world.
So, if you have something to say and you want the world to hear it, blogging is a great starting point. Those of us who are reading blogs just have to remember that we need to read with a critical eye in order to know what's true information and what should be considered someone's opinion. Overall, I think blogging is a positive thing.

"Dream as if you'll live forever" ~James Dean

When I first considered my dreams for the future, I discovered that most of my dreams fall into the category of long-term goals. I began to wonder if this was a good thing or a bad thing. Yes, a lot of dreams can be considered goals, but isn't a dream supposed to be a little unrealistic? Aren't dreams supposed to be wants and desires that are a little crazy and out there? So, when I first considered what I would write concerning my "dreams," I worried that they might seem a little tame or boring to most people. But then I realized that my dreams didn't have to match up with what others wanted out of life, because they are MY dreams. If I dream of sitting beside my husband in our recliners, reading good books all day, and loving my job as a teacher, then that's okay. So here they are...

I want to be an inspiring and memorable teacher. I want my students to love coming to my class everyday because they know that I will make them think critically and (hopefully) learn to love literature as much as I do. I want to be the kind of teacher that students remember 20 years down the road, and I want to have a positive impact on my students' lives. I want them to know that they have the potential to succeed, not only in my class, but also in their future lives.

I want to be married to my best friend and have three children. I want to be the kind of mother who helps her kids with their homework, gets them involved in extracurricular activities and supports them and loves them unconditionally (just like my mother did for me). I want to be able to cook dinner for my family most nights and eat it sitting around a table, while discussing our day.

I want to travel to places that I've never been before. I'd love to travel to Europe and Australia. I want to go on a cruise one day. I want to visit Hawaii and the Bahamas. I want to see the Grand Canyon and the desert and Los Angelos and Maine and Maryland. There are so many places that I've never been that I'd love to see.

Finally, after I retire from a wonderful teaching career, I want to run a bed and breakfast with my husband. I want us to plan trips and activities for our guests and work together to fix up an old house and to keep it running smoothly. I want to get up every morning and make breakfast for our guests and go to bed every night sleeping peacefully from a long day of work.

So, they may not seem like much, but these are my dreams for the future. And If they do look a little like long-term goals, then that's okay with me!