My Retirement, Second Month +

February, the cruelest month and doing OK

One of my Friends is a Winery - another blog on Technology.

The word "friends" has a new meaning in our times.  Friends now include people we only really know in cyber-life, those we once vaguely knew and now with whom we share all the mundane parts of our lives.    Last year I joined Facebook.  Oh, how happy my children were!  I am sure they gave some thought about accepting "Mom" as a friend.   

I notice that all the younger people have hundreds of friends. It seems like a popularity contest.  Sadly, on the web I only have 30 (but more in real life) and one is Peju Winery in California.  However, having a winery on my Facebook wall is a quite nice.  It adds a certain perception of joie de vivre to my image.  I do have an association with this site as I visited it in Napa a few years ago with my daughter and her family.  It is a beautiful place and they do have fine, fine, very fine wine.  I have recommended them to people who are visiting Napa and they all were quite impressed; they have even joined their wine club. My son is one of these people and has kindly given us some bottles but hubby has been saving them for a "special occasion". I do not know what that occasion will be, but at our age I hope it comes soon.

I just began  texting and can see how that can become addictive. I just love to hear that little ding-a-ling when I get a text.  I feel a real part of this new age!  I'm cool, I'm hip, and it is all so sweet.  (Yes, as you can see, I am not quite up to the latest urban slang, but I did not say "groovy").  Until a few months ago I though of texting as another form of communication that further detached us from others. Now, however, I look for reasons to text people.   It is also a new language and spelling correctly is not necessary.  I am beginning to learn "this talk" and have been thinking of new abbreviations to add.  Instead of LOL, we mature people could write PMP  (figure it out) when explaining our excitement when hearing something funny.  I am behind in this text talk though, so most of what I can come up with probably has been used for years.  However, finding new acronyms can be a new goal of mine.

Facebook, Twitter, Texting, My Space (once the rage, but hear little of it now), are what makes the world go round.  Egypt's new revolution was spread by the use of Twitter and everything came about so quickly that it surprised most nations' leaders.  It is amazing and frightening at the same time.  Today is about instantaneous information, however important or correct it may be.  It has become difficult for many of us to keep up as communication/technology is changing at breakneck speed. I am suffering from whiplash at times and feel old and passe. I still am amazed though at what has come about in my lifetime and look forward to the future and more remarkable achievements. It's a rollar coaster and I want to be on the ride, even if it is only through the first loop.