um...Hello? now what?!

Kids now a days!  (And by kids I mean anyone under 30)  They've lost a few basic manners somehow along the way, or were never taught them.

So here's a few basic manners to teach your young 'uns.  Please!  Before the art of basic human interaction is lost forever!

1. Look me in the eyes.  Yes, I know your phone just buzzed and there's some major crisis out there...like a facebook notification.  But please--just look me directly in the eyes when you are speaking to me.
2. When introducing someone to me, please give me their name!  "This is my girlfriend"...where do I go with that..."Hello, girlfriend!".... Proper manners.. Say the person's name you are introducing them to and say the person's name you are introducing.  Example:  Hello, Valerie, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Denise.
3. After being properly introduced, try to at least pretend to be interested in this person.  Although genuine concern is greatly appreciated.  Example:  Hello, Valerie!  It's so good to meet you!  My boyfriend has told me lots about you!  It's very good to meet you!
4. Try to find something to talk about.  It's polite to stay a few minutes (seconds) and at least get to know something about them.  Example:  Valerie- I hear you are from Arlington,  have you ever been to Six Flags?  I've always wanted to go!  Note: This does involve knowing some things about the world in general.
5. Please put away your phone while people are around.  Try to interact with the people around you.  
6. Ask questions about the other person.  Example:  What do you like to do for fun?  Do you play board games?  Where did you vacation last?  Showing interest in others is not only polite but you may get to know something about them!

This is just the very basic when meeting a person for the first time.  I've noticed more and more people now a days just don't understand how to interact with other people!  If there's not a Like button or a comment button on them they aren't sure what to do!

People are interesting!  People are fun!  Let's get back to real time interaction and not just screen time.  Anyone else experienced this madness??

Memories of Road Trips

When I was growing up, things were a lot different.  We didn't have smart phones, or even dumb phones that could leave our house!  There wasn't any Netflix or movies on demand. If we wanted to watch TV we had to watch what was on at the time.  (No DVRs --can you imagine!)

We had to do things differently.

Now, I'm not bashing technology.  I actually love social media, and the world of knowledge at my fingertips!  But back when I was growing up, and even while my kids were little, we had to come up with creative ways to entertain ourselves!

One of the great memories I have from the days of old were the car games.  The games we played in the backseat to entertain ourselves on long trips.  We used to sing all kinds of songs.  Not pop songs. But the good ol' folk songs.  My dad knew all the words to every verse and a lot of them have stuck with me.

There was also count the cows and horses.  That got old after a while because if we drove the same route we knew where the cemeteries were.  And of course if you were winning at the game (counting as many cows and horses as you could on your side of the car) as soon as you passed a graveyard you had to start all over again.

Slug bug was never my favorite either.  Not a fan of getting punched.

As I grew up, and when we were young marrieds, we took many long road trips together.  A great game Larry and I made up was the backward word game.  One person would say a word backward and the other person would have to guess what they were saying!  It's tougher than you think!  Try ssarg!

When the kids were little we would play lots of games in the car, I Spy, Bingo, A-Z game and many more.  There was always lots of singing and laughter too.

Since summer is just around the bend, maybe it's time to put away the ipads, ipods, i-distractions and get back to some good ol' fashioned family time.

What Will Kids be Like in 100 years?

My generation is the last generation that has known life without technology.  We have straddled this new world and have seen great advances in our lifetime.

I was talking to my grown kids the other day about huge changes I've seen in technology.  And how we used to do things.  I told them about how I used to write checks every month for all our bills and put them in envelopes and put stamps on them and mail them in the US Postal System!

The grocery store used to be a completely different experience!  None of the products had nutrition labels or ingredients listed.  There were no bar codes on anything.  Everything had stickers with the prices on them. The checkout lady was super fast at typing everything into the cash register. There was no "beep beep beep" as groceries were going through the line..but everything had to be input into the cash register.  And then at the end you had to pay cash or check!  They didn't take credit cards at the grocery store!  Then you got your receipt (with just numbers on it--no itemized)  and you also got your Green Stamps!  Then the kids went home and licked all the green stamps and put them in green stamp books and counted how many stamps we had so we could go to the Green Stamp store and buy stuff!  There was all kinds of stuff there from knick knacks to household furniture!

Our generation knows what it's like to go on a road trip and have to look out the window and play Count the cows and horses.  We had to talk together and sing songs on our trips.  We had to all listen to the same 8 track tape.

My generation is the last generation to remember what it's like without technology.  Now I'm not anti-tech!  I love my ipad, iphone, i-everything world!  But we are the last ones to actually have memories of the world without all that.

It's good to remember where we came from and what the world was like before.  It'll never be the same.  Our kids are so used to Googling everything, snapping pics of everything, the world at their fingertips.  Even 2 and 3 year olds have their own tablets now!

Imagine what our kids' kids will grow up with and be exposed to?  It's hard enough for me to keep up but kids now a days seem to be born with some sort of innate ability to understand all things technical.

Embrace the new.  Remember the past.  Teach kids to be thankful they don't have to "dial-up" their internet on their 486 computers!

What's your favorite memories of the past?  What do you think the next generation of techies will be like?

Facebook world

Facebook is an interesting phenomenon. I love getting online and checking out what everyone's up to and seeing everyone's pictures.  Most of the time I love being on fb.  But there's a flip side too.  A lot of people act differently on facebook than they would in real life.  They comment or say things on people's posts that they would never actually say to that person face to face.  I guess there's somewhat of an anonymity to typing something out on the computer verses actually speaking face to face with people.  Sometimes huge discussions break out and things are said and posts are made and ya gotta wonder...if this were a real life conversation between a group of people..would it be said this way?  And then if things get too rough and people's feelings get hurt (or their pride gets stepped on) they do the one thing they can control in a facebook world--unfriend you!  Delete!  Poof- you are magically gone from their daily news feed!  No longer do I have to worry about you commenting on my posts or saying something that might upset me.  You have been unfriended!  I no longer have to think about you!  Or reconcile, or figure out what you really meant, or understand your point, or apologize.  No that would be very inconvenient.

Don't you think we should be the same people in real life as we are on the computer?  Shouldn't we say and do things that wouldn't be any different than if you were sitting with me having coffee in the morning.  Would I be willing to say to your face what I've just typed?

I pray I am the same.  I want my character to be without question.  I want people to look at my facebook page and see the same Valerie that I am in real life.  I don't unfriend people.  I talk to people.  I have relationships.  I try to make a difficult situation better if possible.  If I have issue with you I will tell you.  If you have issue with me I expect the same.  Mutual respect.  Love one another.  Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Gentleness, and Self Control.  These are the things I strive for.

I will keep looking at facebook.  I like to keep in touch with people.  And if I see you in the mall or in Wal-mart- I will say hello and give you a hug and ask you to go for coffee with me.

Finally technology again!

It's been a rough few months for me and technology getting along.  First of all my newish computer went on the fritz in January.  We sent it in to the shop and waited and waited for it to be returned.... and waited and waited...  Then they finally called and said it couldn't be repaired so they would issue us a new computer.  But wait!  All my data was on that one!  Could I get it back..  Yes...but wait some more.. so we waited and waited...and waited... Finally 2 months after first sending it in..they said we couldn't get it back after all..  Well we could--but then they couldn't issue me a new computer.  Yikes!  Well, at least I had my phone/pda that had data on it... Until!!!!-- I accidentally put it in the washing machine!!  Oh my goodness!  It was in my housecoat pocket and then I spilled coffee on myself...and dutifully put my housecoat in the washing machine with out a thought..  Now where is my phone??  Oh no.. I didn't!  Yes I actually did!  Well luckily the phone had insurance and the sd card survived.. (i don't know how!)  So we were able to get a replacement phone fairly quickly.  Then I finally got a new computer Saturday.  Ahhh...   Now if only I can remember to back things up!