I just can't say no....

I am really bad at saying no to a lot of things, but I would like to air my grievances about being suckered into taking surveys.  I can't say no and have a clear conscious.  I believe this comes from the fact that in psychology we had to do research, and a lot of that research depended on people being willing to taking surveys and fill out questionnaires.  I know how it feels to be desperate for responses.  I know the that the more responses the better.  So tonight alone I filled out two surveys for companies because, well, who ACTUALLY wants to do that?  No one.  And if no one does, they will be like the poor dejected  psychology student who JUST NEEDS A FEW ANSWERS, for crying out loud.  Is that too much to ask?

(Dejected because they have no answers)

I better be racking up some good Karma for taking a few moments of my time because I feel guilt that I am sure few others feel.

Summer

Why this summer has been great:

Puerto Rico with this view:

And fresh peaches (I picked it off the tree myself):

Sharing one thing I love most

The world wide web

I am an internet GRANDMA. Actually, that isn't fair to say because I am pretty sure my Grandma is about a million times more computer/internet savvy than I am. I wish I was exaggerating, but that lady is GOOD with technology. I can get around a computer fine enough (I could be better, but I get by), but the INTERNET.... That is another story.

I love the internet. I have no idea what I would do without Google, gmail (which I do realize is a thing of google) whenparentstext.com, or mormon.org. (The last one is a lie. I do know what I would do without mormon.org: I would get to bed on time Sunday nights because I would not get sucked in for hours at a time.) But people use the internet for a lot more things than googling things like grad schools, how to get the stupid password of of an excel document that has about one hundred and five of them secretly embedded, or what the name of that ridiculously cheesy (which is synonymous for AWESOME) Christmas movie with the guy that rents a family to look good for a business deal. (Because you were wondering, the title of the movie is Borrowed Hearts: A Holidy Romance. It is all the title implies and more. Hallmark at its finest, my friends.)

No, people do a LOT more than that when they get on the internet. They find cool stuff like funny videos, inspiring videos, really all kinds of videos, websites with pictures and crafty stuff, or stuff that displays talents, interesting blogs, good recipes, how-to sites... The list goes on. The things people find never ceases to amaze me because I have NO IDEA how people do this. Do they first google something they are interested in, like puka shells, and then click on all the links related to them and find cool things? Is it just that they are daring enough to click suggested videos that pop-up on youtube that they happen upon so many gems? Also, how do you even find blogs? Through friends blogs? How do you even start the following blog trend? What if I actually don't care about clicking on the blog of my friend's friend? Am I doomed to never "discover" an interesting blog? I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW THIS ALL WORKS. Its like this not so secret world that eludes me.

My ineptitude at the internet is a little embarrassing. How could it not be? I mean, I live in the information age where all knowledge as at our fingertips and yet my main source of information is from the radio and print media. While there are nifty (ok, SUPER nifty) things to be discovered through both of those mediums, I can't actively participate in conversations in which everyone starts their sentences with phrases like "I was reading this blog today...." or "I saw this video on youtube...." or "I SAW THAT TOO!! Have you seen/heard of......", because I don't do any of those things. Mostly because I can't.

Now, I can get by in these kind of conversations by ooing and ahhhing, laughing, saying things like "ya I will have to look that up" (which I won't, I just like to toss that phrase carelessly about) or relating to them with something I heard on NPR. But I have moments when my true simplistic internet skills shine through and I become the obvious outsider with my internet awesome peers. It usually happens when people ask about pinterest and I chime in. Pinterest is potentially the MOST stressful site ON EARTH. It is where people display their ability to peruse the internet and find cool things. A lot of them are crafts and I first of all, don't even know how to find crafts on the internet (I know this because I tried to in my attempt to pin something under the stress of performing on pinterest), and second of all, I DON'T CRAFT. So in my mind pinterest = worst.site.ever. I shared this opinion with a guy that was asking about pinterest. I told him all about how stressful it was and why. But as I was saying this all the girls around us started looking at each other and him while shaking their heads and say "no its not...". WELL, maybe its not for the INTERNET PERUSING PROS that can find super awesome stuff on the internet. But I am not that person. And now they all know. I am the weirdo that cant figure out how to pin a cute dress that I found on the internet.*

(*Internet shopping: also beyond me. I would never pin a dress because I don't look at clothes online. Why would I? I am not going to buy something I don't try on. Also, I checked out modcloth.com the other day to fit in with all the girls that talk about it and I got nothing from that experience.)

Blogging: Obviously my forte

The title of my this post has nothing to do with what this post is going to be about. That is probably a good thing because I am nowhere near witty enough to make a post about sucking at blogging at all interesting.

What this post IS about is growing up/being a grown up/life. It all started yesterday as I was on my way home from work and was running errands on the way. As I was walking out out of the dry cleaners and putting my tickets into my wallet for safe keeping I realized: I am a grown up. I have dry cleaning. I have had dry cleaning before in my life, but it was just a moment when I realized that this is it, this is the life that I have been working towards (for the most part). A job, a place and random grown-up errands that have nothing to do with homework.

I have also developed grown-up like traits. First of all, after running errands I had a dinner to look forward to that had been cooking in the crock pot for 12 hours. I would like to address two things there. 1) Me cooking 2) With a crock pot. Just call me Suzy homemaker/who have I become? I also have a love for/OBSESSION with talk radio. When I was younger I could think of nothing worse. Now I can think of nothing better/more delightful than a commute full of NPR. If I don't have it on the radio, then there is an 85% chance that I am listening to an NPR CD (which I HIGHLY recommend. Both interesting and FUNNY. Just makes for a good time in the car).

I also have an increased interest in home decor. My Christmas list this year had more to do with home items than clothing. I have a ridiculous fixation on a Pampered Chef chopper. I even joined Pinterest to get cute home decor ideas. That being said, Pinterest stresses me out and every time I get a notification that someone is following me I feel SO MUCH PRESSURE to pin stuff. To avoid the stress I never get on it and I don't pin anything (because that takes perusing the internet for cute stuff and I really rather not). But the fact that I joined is a step in the right direction...right? (Although the only bone in my body that may be potentially crafty would be the very tip of my left pinkie finger, which is a bone with not much sway.) But going back to what I said initially, I have an interest in home decor and home products, which you DON'T have to be crafty to purchase....

In short, growing up just has a way of sneaking up on you. You never know when it is going to hit.