Lesson Learned

I've always thought it's a delicate dance with interaction that is not face to face or even voice to voice. I've often wondered why people feel the need to send photos of themselves in compromising positions or various stages of undress to others, famous or not. Look where it got Brett Favre!

I recently learned a valuable lesson about texting and while it has nothing to do with naked pictures, it gave me pause.

I enjoy meeting new people! I am very fortunate in that I don't find it difficult to strike up a conversation with just about anyone. I met someone one evening, waiting for another friend, it was fun conversation but I left with my pal. I ran into the same new friend another evening when I was on my own! More conversation and we decided to exchange digits because we worked out at the same gym and actually had some mutual friends. This new friend is male.

So I see my new friend out once again, at a local establishment, and think I am being savvy by texting him to turn around and see me. The return comes back, "I don't know who you are!" to which I reply by text, "Don't you remember me?". Then I proceed to go through my photos on my phone and send him one of me, just a head shot, fully clothed I might add, all the while the guy is physically about 10 paces away from me! I have NEVER done that before, I usually walk right up to the person, smile and say hello!

The reply comes back, "I don't know you, but you're cute! What's your name?" Now I realize I have texted some random person and it turns out to be a guy too! To boot, my new friend leaves so I don't even get a chance to say hello, and realize I don't have his correct phone number after all!

Sadly, my mind always leaps to the lowest common denominator. Now a random guy has my picture on his phone and for all I know could be pleasuring himself to it. I know it sounds presumptuous, it's not like I was in a bikini or anything, I just have a gutter-dwelling mind!

Luckily, I see my new friend at the gym, but I don't get a chance to explain.

As technology friendship would have it, I get a "friend" request on Facebook from him. I explain what happened and he gives me the right number.

I didn't follow up with random dude, I thought it's likely best if I don't.

But somewhere out there someone has, or at least had, a picture of me.

From now on, I say hello to someone to their face, especially if they are steps away!

Let's hope the random hit the delete button!

Lesson learned the hard way!

The End of Comedy? The Arts?

I complain all the time about how absorbed people are in their technology. I bet many of you sat in on your children's Christmas concerts/pageants this year. I am curious, when you looked around, how many of the parents were texting during the performance? Sure, it may not have been little Johnny's class up on stage, but does that give people license to ignore the other children?

It didn't occur to me until I read this article about a veteran stand up comedian who is hanging up the mic because the audiences are turning into zombies, that the performing arts may suffer because of our need for immediacy and validation.

In the comments section of the Toronto Star article, someone offers that they work at a theatre and that this sort of thing happens all the time. Texting, video taping, people letting their kids run in the aisles or taking them to a show that is inappropriate for their age. People just don't seem to care.

Not only is etiquette dwindling, but the performers, like the comedian in the article, are saying enough is enough. They are not being respected.

What will this do to our culture, one that was once rich in artistic creativity? One that at one time appreciated a 90 min performance and showed that appreciation by not speaking nor doing anything but paying attention. I'm not sure if some theatres do this, but one in our city asks people not to unwrap candy during a performance as to not distract the subjects on stage!

Many balk and say simply "it's just the time we live in".

Is it? I happen to know some people that don't even OWN a cellphone. Some that never Tweet, Facebook and some that don't even have an e-mail account.

I am guilty. I text, surf, Tweet, Facebook but a face to face conversation takes precedence. The only exception is an emergency.

So what IS an emergency? I guess it differs with everyone but I'm again curious. If someone yelled "FIRE" in a theatre, would people take them seriously? Would there be an urgency to get everyone outside? Or would people just look around at each other and wonder what they should do? Wait until someone TOLD them what to do?

Certainly an interesting an experiment to conduct. I suspect we've all become sheep and would wait until a leader emerged to shepherd people out.

That's exactly what has happened when it comes to technology taking over our lives. We've become sheep. No one seems to want to stand up and say "enough is enough", reclaiming the respect that people deserve.

Some people have rules for themselves like turning off the smart phone during turkey dinner. Some sadly do not.

Technology may change the culture we live in. Maybe for the better, maybe not.

It's really up to you.

Technology and Weather

It's amazing to me how much technology has advanced when it pertains to forecasting! Many complain that they weren't given enough warning when a natural disaster hits and still more complain when "warnings" and "watches" are issued and the storm never comes.

Growing up we heard terms like "Doppler Radar" and "Stormtracker 2000" but now you can sit in the comfort of your own home or even access satellite images from your smart phone!

In our little corner of the earth, and it was almost like a bubble, we had an enormous amount of snow fall for a constant three days with virtually no break in the flurries. The kids had three snow days in a row, which is unheard of, people were stranded and sent home, public transit shut down for a full day and retail shops were busy if people could walk to them. Many became creative with trying to keep the families busy. For the lucky ones that embrace the season, it was just plain fun!

It was fascinating to observe people posting photos and videos of just how much snow had fallen, and how the storm had affected different areas of the city on Facebook and Twitter. I took a few too!

All in all it was a great experience, and experiment, of how we deal with winter storms here in Canada and how our forms of communication have changed and grown.

As for the forecasters? In a rare turn of events, they were dead on!

Problem solved - motivation - check!

After researching and asking around the past couple of days, I decided on a free iPhone app called Run Keeper. You can upgrade to a better version for like $10 but I didn't feel like I was missing anything on my first run with it.

Plus, I can track my distance, pace and time AND listen to my music on the same device as well as catch a call or text! FOR FREE!!!

It absolutely pushed me to run farther. When you take a look at your distance (the upgrade actually announces in a male or female voice, your choice) you think, I can go just a little farther. I really like that aspect of it since I may not have a running buddy most of the time.

I mentioned that I don't like to "carry" anything when running, don't know why, makes me feel restricted. But I didn't mind digging out an old school "fanny pack" and starting up the iPod on the phone and the Run Keeper app and zipping it safely in.

During my online research, a friend (thanks Alicia) posted a blog on Facebook that was pretty cool. Have no idea who the guy is, and I know there are literally thousands of fitness and running blogs, but this one I found motivating.

cool blog

Oh, and here's the link to the online portion of the RunKeeper app... it keeps track of your runs, pace, and shows your graphs of your progress.

RunKeeper app