Are we sharing content online efficiently? (Part 1)

Are we sharing content online efficiently?

By “we” I mean “I” at the moment. I feel like I’m on share-overload but not because there is so much content to share but because I feel like I use too many tools to share that content.

ISSUE: The Google-verse
My main e-mail address is at Hotmail and has been for a while now. I had a Hotmail email address in the early 2000s but switched to a new Hotmail address around 2007. I poo-pooed Gmail when it first came out but then I noticed that more people that I knew had @gmail.com addresses. I finally gave in and got a Gmail account to see what all the fuss was about. I admitted then and believe now (faith based on fact, you could say!) that Gmail’s tools are much better than Hotmail’s tools. Still, I have not yet fully migrated to Gmail. I haven’t even half-migrated to that account. I don’t share my @gmail.com address with people so they can contact me via email and I don’t even use it as a junk email account.

I basically don’t utilize it as an e-mail account. I’m satisfied that I’ve grabbed my particular email address so that no one else can have it. So, besides being greedy, what am I doing in the Google-verse?

Well, plenty. My Gmail account does get action but that action mainly comes from other Google features. I use Gmail chat to chat with mainly two friends and whenever I accidently close out the Gmail tab or have to leave, any bits of the conversation that I missed are sent to me through Gmail. One of those two friends uses Gmail and Google Calendar much more than I do and so when he sets up events in his Google Calendar and he invites me to them, I know through Gmail.

So far, my Google-verse (outside of search which is less social anyways, I suppose) has three people in it. What’s going on here?

In the era of social where we can easily connect with individuals and groups on a large scale, I have brand loyalty for a brand that connects me to two people?

Wanna cupcake, cupcake?

Delicious and unbelievably moist vegan carrot cake cupcakes (VCTOTW) and vegan cream cheese frosting

One good thing about my cupcake baking madness is that I buy much less sweet junk food. There is virtually no more cakes, cookies, candies, etc. in my house unless I am using the product as a part of a cupcake recipe. I am glad that this shift has occurred in my spending an deating habits. I am not sure if it was more intentional or just a natural inclination since I would end up with more than enough sweets with a dozen or so cupcakes on hand! Of course, sometimes I would go a bit overboard and have one (or two or three) too many cupcakes in one day but I blame that on (1) uncontrollable excitement of vegan goodness and (2) the fact that I'm my own taste-tester!

In anycase, I am glad that I have come to a point where I keep basic ingredients on hand--flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, etc--because I can whip up different recipes as I see fit.

I've even ventured into muffin-making! But, the cupcakes are still where it's at.

Empty Space

Art, after all, is traditionally displayed against vacancies: paintings on dun walls, sculptures in empty spaces, music in quiet halls.

John Hart

I was searching for some quotes about "empty space" as I thought of it. You know, I guess something like that spread in Oprah's magazine, Breathing Space. Maybe I was thinking of something more "empty". Anyhow, I ran across this quote by John Hart. I am currently sifting through my first Google result of "wiki John Hart."

I don't know much about art and I'm not sure of Hart's context, but I like this quote.

Unplugged

I was relatively computer-shy this weekend and it was nice. Wait, let's be real, I was "internet-shy" since just a plain old computer and software just won't do anymore, right?

With much of Friday afternoon off, I started my weekend early. Before figuring out what to do in Greensboro proper on the weekend before the official start of summer, I made a side trip to Whitsett for a tour of the Red Oak Brewery. A lot of the brewmaster's well-paced speech was almost over my head, but the beer samples and beer jelly samples at the end made us all appreciate all of the science and care that goes into beer...and Red Oak in particular.

The brewmaster starting off the tour.

I made another side trip to Salisbury to watch my friend Josh Sandman (formerly of Forest Oaks in Greensboro and now a high Point resident) play in the eGolf Professional Tour. It was the first time I was a spectator a tournament for a full 18 holes and with plenty of breaks on benches and grassy inclines, water and hummus and pita chips, I made it! Follow Josh's developing professional career on Following the Storm.

Josh in the foreground practicing before his tee time.

Sunday was a shame because I missed Summer Solstice at the Arboretum. I know that this seems to always have a hint of lame to it but I was diligent and happy to just do some life housekeeping on Sunday. I am always looking for things to do in Greensboro and part of those to-dos in the city are, I figure, a way for me to relax. Though I had waited a year for Summer Solstice to come around, I missed it, but it wasn't all for naught. In celebration of the Greensboro event, however, I wore my huge FeltmyHeart pink ruffle flower headband all day, the one I bought at The Shindig earlier this spring. Now that was pretty fun. Here comes summer!

How do you buy food in Greensboro?

Greensboro-licious!

How do you shop for groceries in Greensboro? Sometimes farmers' markets fit in my equation, but it's usually a social thing when I go with my friends to check out the goods. This post is going to revolve around a couple of groery stores that I frequent amongst others.

I have made the effort to curb a bad habit of mine...a bad habit with good intentions. I have made Earth Fare one of my usual stops for groceries but recently I had been stopping by the store several times a week. I had even been there twice in one day! You'd think that it be where everybody knows my name now, but I mostly feel like staff there are thinking, She's here again?! No worries. The staff are nice and helpful there, and I think I've seen most of the regular staff there!

Anyhow, Earth Fare caters to my food preferences but I don't live close to it and I barely work close to it. Most things are 15-30 minutes away from me in either direction whether I'm at home or at work. From work, it takes between 10-15 minutes to get to Earth Fare, a usual lunch stop. But my bad habit of going there all the time during lunch or after work or whenever else was getting out of hand. I was spending a lot on gas and with those quick trips, I was mostly buying Rice Dream vanilla pies and other one-time eats.

So, most recently I've started shopping there one a week for the motherload of groceries. You know, that big bill that covers enough meal and snack options for at least the week. It's been a good experience so far. I still mostly cook for one so there isn't too much thought that goes into the shopping. i am able to shop at a slower pace because I don't have to rush back to the office or back home so that I can get everything else done before I get to bed at a reasonable time.

*****

How do you shop for groceries? Is it an everyday thing where you get a little of this and a little of that? Do you shop for yourself or maybe two people or for a bigger family? Do you feel like you spend too much on groceries?

*****

Now, of course, the photo above is from Deep Roots Market. I loved the "Greensboro-licious" line. My mini-bad habit now is stopping by Deep Roots for snacky-type things. Also, the drive down Wendover to get there is for some reason pleasant to me. Agh, all of this driving! I used to do this frequent stop-and-shop thing at the Friendly Harris Teeter where you go to see and be seen!

¿Cómo se traduce...?

Necesito ayuda para traducir esta frase:

"Reach out a hand to one and influence the condition of all."

La parte que me da problema es "Reach out a hand to one..."

He leído la traducción, "Dele la mano a uno..." (y todavía estoy confudida entre "dele" y "déle").

¿Puedo usar alargar o alcanzar en este contexto?

O, ¿Debo usar simplemente ayudar?

¡Gracias!

Finding fitness in Greensboro

Belay's on! Generally speaking.

I'm sort of in a fitness rut. I think it's a productive rut, though. That may be an oxymoron so maybe I can refer to it as a fork in the road, a stall, a...ok, when I feel like I need to get a thesaurus out, it's time to pause.

Since the beginning of this year, I have been attending Zumba classes to jump start a lifestyle that includes fitness. Fitness, as a part of wellness, hadn't been a strong point for me in the past. I wasn't athletic or sporty and I used the gym in college as a place to be social more so than it should be.

The only time I really got up and moving on a regular basis was when I was in college. I am not just counting the fact that I had to walk everywhere and only sat down for three hours at the most during the day; I actually used the gym productively once in a while!

I got into indoor rock climbing at The Edge at UNCG which was social and productive as a workout. I even bought rock climbing shoes! (Read: begged and convinced my father to buy them).

I'm trying to find something like that that will get me hyped up about working out again. Zumba has done that, but I am trying to add to what I do in a class or facility. Of course, there is the indoor climbing facility at Tumblebee's. I have been there twice but I still haven't convinced myself to pay so much to work out there. As a UNCG alumna in Greensboro, I really could just get a UNCG membership and use The Edge again but, honestly, using The Edge specifically would just make me feel like an old mid-20-something year old (which, I would be!).

I know that there are lots of options in Greensboro. I even travel out of my way to High Point to work out. That isn't too environmentally-friendly. I've started signing up for 5Ks but I haven't worked up to actually running in them yet. I'm not sure how I feel about running, yet. I have joined gyms in the past but I often find myself uninspired to do much past the elliptical.

So, I'm still searching and trying out new things. Hopefully all of this trying out random workouts has some positive wellness effect on me even though it isn't consistent.

Then there's general day-to-day fitness: getting up from the desk once in a while, taking the stairs, riding a bike, taking a walk, stretching, breathing...all that kind of stuff.

I did buy a hula hoop (a real one from me&e) and I have a primo jump rope that I often break out when I'm bored or feel like I need a burst of energy.

It's a process. And, no, I won't be tabling things like chocolate peanut butter cake. I'll just have to work those calories off somehow!