Are we sharing content online efficiently? (Part 2)

ISSUE: The Google-verse, continued

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?

I still think that I underutilize my Gmail account but it is also up to me to either stick with Hotmail and wait for its innovation or to fully migrate to Gmail. My Gmail account is just one of Google’s features that I have embraced a bit but only for a bit. I use Google Calendar but it’s just a functional tool at the moment and I wouldn’t call exciting. I’ve filled out my Google profile but whenever I go back to look at it or update it, I get sort of giddy like I’m taking some online quiz or filling out my first Facebook profile circa 2005.

What the Google-verse has offered me as a fun and functional tool is its Reader. I love my Google Reader. One thing that I love about my Google Reader is that I can easily share posts from the many, many feeds that I have on Facebook and on Twitter, I honestly have not fully explored all of the features in Google Reader and I want to, but as it stands, I am taking the time to step back from exploring that to exploring whether I am sharing content online efficiently.

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?

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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!