The End of a Long Day

 

You know those days where all you really want to do is change into your pajamas and curl up on the couch while you decide which comfort food would make the best meal?

Yeah, I think I’m going to go ahead and do that.

Weight Loss Wednesday, August 27

 

First, unrelated particularly to weight loss, just dates in general—this year is flying by!  I can’t believe it’s almost September already.

Anyway, still up about half a pound from where I was before our weekend away, so a little slower coming back off than I would like, but it’s still moving forward, and that’s the important thing. 

 

	STEPS	ACTIVITIES
Wednesday	7,532
Thursday	8,165
Friday	7,314
Saturday	9,295	45 minutes treadmill; 2.97 miles
Sunday	10,984	46 minutes treadmill; 3.08 miles
Monday	7,818
Tuesday	7,982

Emmy’s Changing Face

 

As you might imagine from someone who has a weekly blog spot called Tube Day Tuesday, the Emmy Awards program is pretty much standard viewing around here.  But as I grow older, I find that I do not enjoy the show nearly as much as I did in the past.  I think maybe I’m just not keeping up with the changing ways of television.

Year after year, I find that network television is being pushed more and more to the side while the latest and greatest from cable takes home all the awards.  Heck, these days, most network shows don’t even get nominated.  It’s sort of sad to me. 

Not that cable shows aren’t great. (Though, honestly, most of the big winners this year I haven’t even seen.)  But, I do think there’s a certain conceit to the choices, where people think it’s just not trendy enough these days to admit they enjoy network television.

But, for this year, it’s all in the history books now, so I guess that sometime between now and next year I’ll either have to start watching the edgy fan favorites on cable, or resign myself to growing more and more distant from the awards I grew up loving.

On a completely different note, I’m not ashamed to say I cried like a baby when Billy Crystal did his tribute to Robin Williams.  If I still can’t believe Williams is gone, I can’t even imagine how his closest friends are coping.  But Crystal held up well, and delivered a beautiful, thoughtful, real tribute to his friend. If you missed it, you really ought to watch it now.  But make sure you’ve got some tissues handy.

Keep it to Yourself

 

And here’s another thing about Facebook:  There’s just too much drama. 

Maybe it’s the people I know. (Years of working in a call center has definitely brought some dramatic folks into my life!)  But, I just don’t get why you’d want to be airing some of that dirty laundry on a public timeline.  Broken hearts, crappy bosses, family squabbles—is Facebook really the place?

I mean, sure, tell me about your life-changing event.  If you had a rough break-up, some commiseration from your friends could be helpful, absolutely.  And even if you and I aren’t all that close, that sort of pain touches a common nerve, so I’ll try and leave some sort of encouragement.  But I don’t need all the vindictive anger that comes out after a breakup.  I don’t even really need your play-by-play of your grief and pain, but I’m a little more tolerant of that.  Just not the anger and calling people out all over social media.

And the groups?  Oh my goodness.  These people don’t even know each other, so how can it possibly create such feelings of animosity?  Sometimes I just want to take them all into a timeout corner and tell them to sit quietly until they can learn to play nicely.

By now I’m sure you’re wondering if griping about people’s social media habits on my blog is really much different than the behavior I’m griping about, and I suppose that’s a fair question.  I will only try and clarify that it’s not the occasional rant that I have a problem with, but the constant, unnecessary bitchiness that just makes me scratch my head and wonder why. 

On Person of Interest one time, social media in general was referred to as “a swamp of indiscretion”, and I’m reminded of that phrase almost daily.  There’s a ton of over-sharing, of course, but it’s the angry over-sharing that always bothers me the most.  Seriously, can we not all just get along?

Moon Over Mars

 

I know it’s not Friday, but let’s chat for just a moment about something making the rounds of Facebook.  Apparently there’s a belief that in a couple of days—August 27—Mars will be close enough to the earth that it will rise in the night sky and appear as a second moon.

Given the distance and relative size of Mars, this struck me as questionable, so I thought I’d run it through a quick Google search.  Sadly, it turns out to be untrue.  As cool as it might be to witness such a thing, it is not to be.

Apparently this misrepresentation of astronomical happenings has been going on every summer since 2003, though I don’t really remember seeing it before.  And, I have to say, every time I run across one of these strange viral hoaxes, I’m glad that the tradition of passing such things along via email seems to have gone by the wayside, at least for my friends.  I’d much rather be able to scroll mindlessly past a Facebook post than have such things show up in my inbox.

Anyway, if you’d like to know more about why this story apparently began, or why it’s patently false, you can read more about it here.  In the meantime, consider this your PSA: you don’t need to worry about catching a once in a lifetime viewing of the uber rare double full moon, because it isn’t going to happen.

Six Word Wish

 

Saturdays should be forty-eight hours longer!

Feel Good Friday, August 22

 

There’s so much craziness going on in the world.  Wars.  Racial and religious tensions.  Crime of just about every imaginable flavor.  It’s overwhelming sometimes. 

But, when it all seems hopeless, it’s refreshing to know that we’ve got a leader we can turn to for a needed dose of wisdom and inspiration.

Sadly, I don’t typically turn to elected officials for that much-needed boost, but I can always count on Kid President.  Making the rounds this week is his back to school message, and I was glad to see it, because the world definitely needs to show a little more awesome.

If you’re not familiar with Kid President, you really should check him out.  I’d vote for him (and his staffers) for real, but I wouldn’t want to ruin them!