Check marks

Housekeeping. We all need a day or just a few hours every week or so to do it. Especially when we don't want to. Today was one of those days.

I didn't write anything substantial today for my sporadic freelance work, but I did get a bunch of stuff done.

1. Wake up during the actual AM hours. (This is a big thing for me ever since I switched my work/sleep clock on its head.)
2. Make peace with not remembering and documenting every little detail of the night's dream. Also, make peace with sleeping for a long time to enjoy my exciting dream world.
3. Cancel the web hosting for InsureMeNYC.com - the health insurance blog some classmates and I started a year ago.
4. Cook.
5. Interview for a part-time job at a start-up travel site start-up.
6. Enjoy and present well at said interview.
7. Buy a cupcake.
8. Go grocery shopping.
0. Schedule temp work for later in the week.
10. Do writing workshop homework.
11. Listen to the full stomach and stop eating.

On the down side, these are the things I didn't do:
1. HungryHeather
2. Cover letters.
3. Demand articles.
4. W-2 organizing.
5. Freelance articles.

The interview went well. It was fun, even.
Much to do.

I do not celebrate Valentine's Day.

I don't celebrate Valentine's Day. I don't hate Valentine's Day, either. It's just one of those days that has never held any significant meaning to me. Perhaps this is because I never had a Valentine. But even things change and I have a Valentine in my future, I'm pretty sure this indifference will stay the same. You see, the fourteenth of February, for me, has already been marked as (1) my friend, Tara's, birthday and (2) the general time of year when the V-Day campaign to end violence against women is marked. And this year, there's the added occasion of the Lunar New Year falling on this day, according to the Chinese/Lunar calendar. So I'll be busy with that.

However, when it comes right down to it, I am a rather sentimental person who also doesn't mind the occasional friendly, trivial quiz. So to mark this Valentine's Day, I will answer the questions posted over at The Pioneer Woman's blog on love.

What was your first love’s name?
Have you ever had your heart broken?
What’s your favorite love song of all time?
Do you have a Valentine this year?
Do you believe love rules or love stinks?
Have you ever walked into a plate glass door in the dining hall on your first day of college?

Here are my answers:
First like = Will.
No.
"They Were You" by Barbara Cook for the musical, "The Fantasticks"
No.
Rules.
Not on the first day...


So, Happy Year of the Tiger!


And Happy Valentine's Day!



In other news:
My hair is curly!
I love ice choppers. Before tonight, I never realized just how essential they are to breaking up clods of snow that fell from the awning onto the garage, forming a tightly packed pile.

On Social Media and News Sharing Over the Internet

John Tierney wrote this column over at the Times today, in their Happiness section: "Will You Be E-Mailing This Column? It's Awesome." Seeing as how I make a daily habit out of posting links on Facebook and here, I feel like I'd be remiss if I didn't post my thoughts on this one as well.

First, a few things:
(1) love the mention of "the optics of deer vision."
(2) the sample was solely from the NYT. That skews a bit, but could also be safe bc of the mainstreamness of it.
(3)
the Times' tracking system works when tracking the clicks on their
page. What about when people like me use a separate "Share on Facebook"
button I've installed in my browser? I'm not sure if it counts that
too. And what about when I re-share articles already shared, like I just did with this one? I guess if it tracks the # of times an
article's URL is spit out into the web of social networks, then their
stats are fine. But if it only tracks NYT-specific page hits, then eh.

That said, why do I post things with such regularity? What types of articles catch my attention enough that I decide they warrant sharing and blasting out into cyberspace, like a spam message to all my Facebook friends?

Well, the process goes something like this:
What I share is the byproduct of what I read. And I only read what I am surprised/shocked/stunned by, scared by, have something to say about, think might be well-written, is written by someone whose work and thoughts I respect, that I think specific friends might enjoy hearing about, or that I think might elicit a fun debate/discourse.
So this includes anything politic, cultural, health-related, science-related, food-related, tv or entertainment-related and NYC-related.

So far, it's worked fine and lets me figure out my stance on issues and how to structure those thoughts while having engaging and constructive conversations with friends and colleagues.