Dear Stuarts,

ATTN: STUARTS OF THE WORLD!

A long time ago, back in College, I grew very frustrated one day at all the people who misspelled my first name. In an attempt to cool off, I logged on to Facebook and started stalking people.

I noticed that some of my friends who had unusual names belonged to various “common interest” facebook groups where everyone who was a member shared the same name. That sounded appealing to me so I tried searching for one with my name….only Facebook didn’t have any listed.

So I created one of my own.

A few days later I forgot all about it.

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Fast forward to 2011 – and the group now has over thirty members in it. Pretty good for a Facebook Group with almost no advertisement! But now I’m figuring it’s time to start advertising!  

SO - if *your* first name is Stuart and you happen to read this blog – please join my Facebook Group!

You won’t regret it….and and will probably forget all about it a few days later.

It's not me, it's you

Hey TV, do you have a minute?  We need to talk. 

Maybe you should sit down for this…..! 

I know there’s no easy way to say this and rather than tip toe around the issue like we’ve been doing the past few years, I’m just going to come out and say it:  I’m breaking up with you. 

And just so we’re clear it’s not me; it’s you. 

I know it seems like I’m springing this on you, but can you honestly say you didn’t see this coming?  The quality of your prime-time programming just doesn’t satisfy me anymore.  My once-favorite shows like The Office & How I met your Mother have just dropped to an all-time low.  And why the hell is Two & a Half Men still on the air?  3 times a night every night, no less?  That show’s terrible!  And where are all these Reality-TV shows coming from??  You know how much I hate that crap! 

Look, I don’t mean to yell but I’ve been feeling this way for a while now and I’ve come to the conclusion that we would both be better off if we just didn’t see each other anymore. 

Don’t get me wrong; I still think you’re beautiful.  Heck, you’re even more beautiful than the day I met you.  How could you not be now that you switched over to satellite and hi-def resolution?  But ever since you did that, things have gotten really expensive / complicated.  I can’t even keep track of all these cable programming packages I need just to see you. 

Look, I know there are reasons to stay; I hear great things about Community, 30 Rock, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Weeds, South Park and Modern Family…..but let’s face it: I’m never gonna be around to watch those. 

And yeah, since you asked, there *is* someone else.  Her name’s Netflix, and she’ just cheaper and easier to be with than you.  Hey – she is *NOT* a slut.  How dare you call her that?  You don’t even know her! 

Stop, just stop; I’m not going to argue with you about this.  It’s too late to change my mind.  I’m going.  I’m leaving now to give you some time to process this information with your regularly scheduled programming.  I already canceled my subscription to TV guide and you can keep have all the remotes.  I’ll be back to pick up my DVD player later—

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Wait – did you say Parks & Recreations: Season 3 just started? 

I’M BACK, BABY!

Internet-dependent thinking?

Do you ever wonder if we rely too much on the internet to "look up" stuff? 

It's pretty easy, if you think about it - someone asks you a question; just google it. 
....or look it up on Wikipedia;

or god-willing, we can even Ask Jeeves. 

And while we all know by now that we should double-check all the info we get from online resources (so sayeth the English major in me), how often do we remember what we look up? 

I ask because in the past week, my co-workers and I have looked up random trivia online, only to forget it later that day. 

- once when my co-worker had to look up who the Lindbergh baby was.  (she forgot it that afternoon)
- and another time today where I looked up if Jehovah's witnesses celebrate birthdays (they don't)

I didn't consider it a big deal at the time, but I was driving home from work today when I tried *again* to remember if Jehovah's witnesses celebrate birthdays (turns out they don't!), I started to wonder if we take all this available-at-your-fingertips information for granted and don't really bother to learn it. 

Kind of makes me appreciate all the studying I had to do in school.  (Or maybe I just have early onset Alzheimers).