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Ten Reasons to Be Grateful for the Internet

Ten Reasons to Be Grateful for the Internet

internetThe internet gets some pretty bad press and for good reason. But it’s a neutral medium, as is any technology. When it’s used the right way, it makes life much easier as this top ten list shows.

10.  YouTube how to clips take the pain out of DYI projects . It’s also handy for finding funny clips to dress up speeches. And the technology is simple enough for digital immigrant authors to create videos about their books.

9.  Much as I like to handpick gifts at real stores, online shopping makes life easier in a pinch. As does printing out coupons and then shopping at real stores. I can just about here my grandkids talking about the olden days when grandma was a girl, and she had to hunt for newspapers and cut coupons.

8.  What’s not to like about online Bibles with hot link cross-references? Clicko, presto, and the verse is right there. Can you say time saver?

7.  Email means book proposals and manuscripts can be sent to agents and editors as attachments. No more printing hard copies, preparing them for mailing, driving to the post office, and paying an arm and a leg for postage.

6.  The internet makes research fun and fast. Want to know if your latest book idea is unique? Do an Amazon search. Need to know the date of the Saturday before Thanksgiving in 1977? There’s a website for that. Or how about the television viewing schedule for October 1988? It’s all online!

5.  Recipes, recipes, recipes.

4.  Online conferences and church services make it possible for people who can’t leave home to not only watch a worship service, but also to interact with other worshipers.

3.  Netflix = 0 commercials.

2.  Mapquest and Google Maps means never having to ask for directions again.

1.  Facebook is a wonderful place to create community among parents of kids with special needs–parents whose caregiving duties make it hard for them to get out of the house. Thanks to Facebook, a few years ago I met other parents of kids with the same condition my son was born with in 1988. To find someone who totally understands your parenting journey is a gift beyond measure.

Three Springy Thoughts for Thursday

Three Springy Thoughts for Thursday

Spring is in full swing with Easter celebrations in the works for the weekend. You have just enough time to check out these three thoughts for Thursday before preparations for the celebration crowds out everything else.

  1.  A breathtakingly beautiful drive across the eastern half of our state – its red bud, wild plum, and crab apple trees in bloom mile after mile – made me grateful to live in Iowa in springtime.
  2. Watching oneself in a video is not nearly as breathtakingly beautiful as a drive across Iowa in the spring. In fact, the experience is so painful, I won’t make a habit of watching the book trailer for Different Dream Parenting. But if you’ve been wondering how the book came to be, check out both the trailer and information about how to order the new electronic version of the book here.
  3. Did you see Target’s Easter ad in the Sunday paper? Beside the picture of a carton of eggs was a big, red target dot spinning them as “ready to cook and dye eggs!” How long did it take for the advertizing department to come up with that one?

What’s the craziest spin you’ve seen in an ad? Leave a comment so we can chuckle with you.

From Technologically-Challenged Dog to Skypette

From Technologically-Challenged Dog to Skypette

I don’t want to get all gushy about this, but I think the little Skype chats between the web guy and me have become a bonding experience. These days, we talk almost daily – me with my list of new questions about problems I created while working on the Different Dream website assignments he gives, and the web guy with his ready list of answers and solutions for my missteps. He’s either remarkably patient or a glutton for punishment. I’m not sure which.

Without a doubt, he’s a good teacher because I’m actually starting to understand what I’m doing. And, when I log into the admin dashboard, (Don’t I sound all techie throwing around words like admin dashboard? I know lots more techie lingo, so if you need some, let me know.) I no longer feel like throwing up. If that’s not a sign of progress, I don’t know what is.

And yesterday, an amazing thing happened. I figured out how to do something before the web guy did! Please don’t get the idea I’m bragging and don’t hold your breath waiting for it to happen again. But certainly do take heart. If this old technologically-challenged dog can build a website, become a Skypette, and have a video on YouTube, there’s no limit to what you can do.

With that bit of encouragement, I need to stop blogging and log into the Different Dream website again. I have a lot to do before me and my web guy bond via Skype this afternoon.

The way I’m feeling right now, the first thing on the list will be to throw up. Hmm…am I backsliding already?

Being a Mom

Being a Mom

A friend of mine sent me the funniest video this morning. She said when she watched it she thought of me. She said “it smacked of my writing,” but I thought it smacked of every mom and every teacher I have ever known. And it made me want to send the video to my daughter at college and my son in the monastery, to get their reactions. Do monks watch youtube videos?

If you’re curious now, go to the link below and watch for yourself. And be prepared to laugh – but not with your mouth full. Your mother wouldn’t like that.

HTTP://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzZJO3ZRNCo