Archive for the ‘internet’ Category

There are just some things I wish my husband would do simply because it would make me really happy. That isn’t to say he doesn’t already make me happy, but I think it might make me feel a little better if he did a couple of what probably seems like stupid activities to him just to make me a little happier.

But on that same note, I’m trying to do things for him to make him happy and I dunno if I’m doing a good job or not. Football season absolutely is driving me crazy. But I’m doing my best to just deal with it because I realize it’s something he really enjoys. But I swear it’s one of the very few things he and I have ever argued about.

For example… He complained that he doesn’t have any Sundays off and he wants to watch football. I even offered to record it for him and he got snotty with me and told me he doesn’t want to actually watch the game – just the highlights. *Scratches head* There must be some weird man/woman communication barrier. He says there is more than one game. Great… I’ll record them all and what I can’t record, I will find someone who can.

But he got mad at me and told me it wasn’t the same thing because he’d already know the score and outcome. Huh? Again… must be a gender barrier. Why can’t he just not look at the score before hand and watch the game? How is this any damn different from watching it live? It’s not like by recording it, the highlights and stuff won’t be there. It’s the same damn game… and he can even fast forward through the commercials!

I don’t get it and no amount of his explaining is going to change that because quite frankly, I really think he’s more angry at his job in general rather than being upset because he’s missing a football game. He can’t say I didn’t try I guess. I was more than willing to record the games and make him dinner and get him all set up so he could enjoy it.

I hate it when he’s being stubborn like this. Because we both know the outcome. We’ll be upset at each other for thirty minutes or so. I’ll be really quiet for a while and so will he until one of us decides to admit defeat / wrong-doing and we’ll tell each other how sorry we are and all will be done and forgiven. Fighting is so silly. Is that even fighting? haha

Anyways… I want him to do something with me that I know he’s not happy about. He’s not even real happy that I’m doing it but he for the most part has let it go. But I want him to participate in it with me. I feel like all of my friends are enjoying something together with their significant others and I’m always the third wheel.

I know, I know… his ex girlfriend used it to cheat on him. I get it. But I do things for him and with him that bring up bad memories for me too. And I really think if I introduced him to a different aspect of it and he spent time with me on it, he’d come to enjoy it. Blah. I just think in this twisted, messed up world we live in, this would take a bit of the edge off for me and we could enjoy spending time together.

I know that was totally vague. I read it again and it sounds weird. haha He’ll know what I’m talking about tho.

I can’t say what this is really about or even to whom these next remarks are aimed at. Really, it’s more me posting in frustration than anything else.

I’ve been using the internet since I was 7 years old. I remember when AOL didn’t exist and I remember when my family got its first real computer [apart from the Commodore 64 my biological father had given to me to play Wheel of Fortune and Frogger on]. I remember dial up. I remember playing games on AOL Kids and chatting with Lord only knows who.

No one knew the safety issues back then. There wasn’t yet knowledge of things like pedophiles and adults pretending to be children in order to lure them. MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter… but a twinkle in someone’s eye yet to be fabricated. This was Pre-Google, Pre-Blogging, Pre-everything.

And now times have changed. There are so many social networking sites that even I don’t know about. Joining these sites is as quick and easy as typing in an e-mail address and a name. I can think of many of these sites that I have joined in the last 10 years alone and most of them I’ve never stuck with because quite frankly, who has time for all of them? I stick with the ones I enjoy and the ones that matter to me. I’m careful about who I speak to. I know how to be safe online and I feel it’s something everyone should learn.

Why even use them? Simple. I lost contact with a lot of people that were really important to me. I’ve only recently come in contact with some people that once made up a huge part of who I am and being able to write a quick message to those people on MySpace, Facebook or whatever… it really makes me feel like I’m regaining those friendships and I enjoy being able to know what those people are up to because I care about them.

Fortunately, everyone has a MySpace or a Facebook these days. And I do mean everyone. We’re talking movies, celebrities, regular people. You can find one in regards to thousands of parenting subject matters, toe lint or anything else you’re looking for. Why? Because this is the age of technology. This is the era of being connected with people at a touch of a button. And how nice is it to be able to sit at your desk after a hard day and talk to people who share your interests or understand what you’re going through? All that while being able to sit in your pajamas!

I will be the one to admit that social networking sites can easily consume your time. That said, it’s important that one learn to manage their time on them effectively. What is the goal of logging in at that moment? Do what you need to do and get away from it – that’s my motto. I spent a whole year completely sucked into MySpace all because I was too damn interested in what other people were doing and not enough with what I needed to be doing [mostly because my life sucked and I felt like I needed to escape the realities of my first marriage].

But the absolute BEST part of the internet? All of the blogging, the social networking sites, the groups one can belong to… it can all add up to something fantastic. Did you know that at least 90% of the activities I do online immediately correlate to my [likely abstract] marketing strategy? Even this blog is apart of a much larger picture that some people fail to see.

This blog is read by a bunch of people on IMVU – some of which purchase products from me frequently. It’s also read by complete strangers who have chosen my blog as their daily read. It’s read by professionals, students, mothers. You click on ads. You click on certain links. It might make me a dollar. Who knows. I have very subtle advertisement here because I feel that the content should come first and foremost. At some point, you will be able to get to my online store via this site once I am done redesigning it [this blog and the store]. Everything will become one flawless integration because the best in the business know that keeping people’s interest and keeping them on your own web pages is essential in making money online.

That’s why I have social networking pages. That’s why I have things set up this way. Sure, there are other motives. I do enjoy the work. I definitely enjoy blogging. I enjoy that I can type a quick message to a friend instead of calling them and waking their sleeping kids at nap time. I enjoy that I can type out an entire blog using my cell phone and post it in the middle of the night at a completely random hour just because something was on my mind and it woke me – all without even having to leave bed to go to my desk.

The absolute BEST part? Doing these things takes no time at all. I timed myself. I changed my status on MySpace, Twitter and Facebook simultaneously from my cell phone. It took me 20 seconds to type out a substantial status change within the 140 character limit and to hit send. This blog I’m writing? So far it’s taken me about 15 minutes.

Even better is that I use websites like Twitterfeed to make Twitter updates for me. It posts an update on my behalf that I have posted a blog here and I don’t even have to be at my computer. The program runs itself. I can do the same thing with my blog posts. I sometimes write a blog and set it to post later in the day. Having daily content is very important in Google ratings so I actually have a few blogs stored up and saved as drafts. If and when I need them posted because I have nothing else to post at that time, I can simply tell the system to post it. Sometimes I change the times on things because I don’t really care about what time things are posted. This is the internet. No one really believes that I posted things at the exact time it says I did. Anyone who does is a fool.

Let’s be honest here. What else do I have to do with my time right now if I’m not online and working? What I do for a living isn’t that abnormal. Millions of people are graphic artists. Thousands of people create content on IMVU. Tens of thousands [if not more] are shopkeepers on CafePress and make a nice living selling their graphic art on products. And I’m talking 5 and 6 figure kind of nice living. I could have that. I WOULD have that if my old store hadn’t been deleted by a certain someone. But instead, I’m struggling now to start from scratch.

My daughter isn’t home. I have no diapers to change. No sippy cups to pour. No Hailey to play with. I’ve sadly got nothing but time on my hands these days to work my ass off. I’m looking for a regular job. I’m doing everything I’m supposed to be doing. But once those phone calls are made and there is nothing else for me to do, I have tons of time left over in which I divvy up between friends, family and work. So yes, I spend a lot at my computer these days. I’m working my ass off.