Tonight, I had drag my old college TV/VCR deal up from the basement to watch a video for school.  I CANNOT remember the last time I watched a video…oh wait, I did last year at my friend’s in Tucson.

I am surprised the TV still works.   I remember when this was cutting edge.  Having one of these in college was considered a must if you liked to watch movies.  Reception in the rooms sucked for the most part.  I could watch some soap operas on certain days depending on the time of day and full moon night before (Just kidding.)

I cannot tell you how many times I watched this movie on repeat during college, especially after getting in after a night out at the bars (legally of course!)

I love facebook. A bit too much. I have been hiatus for about a week now. I do miss seeing what my friends are up to it via facebook.  Pictures they have downloaded, incessant status updates, seeing who is interacting with whom.  But I still can use g-chat to talk to friends, email and flickr to see pictures (of those who update of course).

Walking away from facebook for a few days and weeks is refreshing.  It makes it easier for me to focus. However, there is one problem: people who soley rely upon facebook to contact you, invite you to events, and on.  To me, email is the BEST form of internet communication. Sure, there are several ways that emails can be read the wrong way. Certain interpretations can be taken that aren’t necessarily there.  I am a HUGE fan of g-chat (only a select few people on there that I like to talk to plus it doesn’t take up the WHOLE screen) BUT c’mon its IM. People sign off, get signed off etc. It is NOT a dependable form of communicating important details. Its awesome for me to bitch at  my friends about the amount of work I have and vice verse.

Facebook: A few of my friends will invite me to events via their event planner and then get upset when I don’t attend or respond. I get upset when I miss an event that I could have, otherwise, attendend if I had known. Email is awesome for that. There is also a group of people who only depend on facebook to get info about their gigs out there.

I know you can turn on your preferences to have certain notifications sent to you. But I have them turned off because I don’t want facebook clogging up my inbox.

OK, this post may seem whiny but it is how I feel.

Next a tirade on cell phones?

So I’m seriously thinking about buying an iPod shuffle.  Reasons are that:

(1) I need a new iPod very badly
(2) I need one for cheap
(3) I like to listen to certain music OVER and OVER again, thus don’t need much space.
(3) I need something small and easy
(4) I only really would use it for the gym, maybe the subway, and shorter flights…

So the questions are:

Does anyone have the latest models and if so what do you think? Does it bug you there isn’t a screen?

Which color should I get? Go here to look!

I’m leaning toward red!

Seven years old today! It started on January 15, 2001.

And the internet hasn’t been the same since!

1. Cool sites like feministing, Girl with Pen, etc.
2. The Onion.
3. The NYTimes.
4. Gmail is cool too.
5. H-Net!
6. Google image search…so neat.
7. Google maps…so I can look up places like Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ.
8. [WorldCat.org].
9. bloglines.
10. Oh and duh Amazon.

Or landline?

Once again I found an article that speaks to an ongoing dilemma I have: modern communication options.  Back in the day, there was the landline and snail mail.  As I got to middle school, a lot of my friends got their own personal land lines in their room.  I was one of those.  It rocked.

Then the cell phone happened!  My parents got me one for my 18th birthday for when I traveled and was away at school.  For the first few years, it basically sat in my drawer only to be taken out to check messages usually from my mom who would then call me on my school landline.  For some reason, I started using it all the time when I became 20.  I think its because a lot of my friends got cell phones too.

Soon people only began calling my cell phone and at first it annoyed me but I learned to deal with it.  I moved back home after college to my personal landline and started using that more and more.  I’ve always had a cell phone and land line at the same time except for a few months in 2004.  I definitely prefer the landline.

I only really like to have phone conversations with family members and a few close friends.  But mostly email and IM are my preferred means of conversation when it comes to acquaintances.  I like it because it gives me a way to think about my response.  I’m decent at speaking effectively but it wears me out plus I can multitask while emailing not when I’m on the phone. I have a blackberry for this purpose and it works out well except when it starts to interfere with my personal life.

From the article:

Does he or she hate e-mail, letting it build up in the inbox, but quick to answer the cellphone on the first ring? Does the person refuse to carry a cellphone, but grab the office line through the Bluetooth that is literally attached to one ear? Is it solicitous or stalkerish to send an e-mail message, then leave an office message, then try the cellphone just to be sure?

While most of us can state our preferences, are we sure they are the most effective ways of communication for their designated purposes?  I miss emails, phone calls and texts all deemed important.  I tell everyone to call me on my landline at night or anytime if they really need to get a hold of me and I’m not answering my cell (which I tend to ignore at night as it collects dust in my purse.)  But people don’t do tis or forget.  Its understandable…there are way too many options and preferences.  I still haven’t memorized my husband’s new cell phone number (bad, bad wife.)

I love the information age, but am sometimes completely perplexed by all the way I can retrieve information.  I think the cell phone vs. land line, email vs. text etc. fits into this new dilemma.  How do we organize all this new information and ways of communicating it?

Then there is the whole issue what happens if one leaves their cell phone at home!  That’s a whole other subject.