Day: February 6, 2013

Dear Facebook: 67% of us are leaving you….

~ K ~ 4 Comments

This morning one of our local TV stations mentioned a survey about Facebook users.  You can imagine that a lot of us might spend a tad bit too much time on Facebook. A whopping 67% of the people in the survey said they were going to spend less time on Facebook this year.  Just like a meth addict coming back to his favorite drug, I know most people with a Facebook addiction will still be logged on and hitting the “Like” button.

Sure, Facebook might be one of those background windows on your desktop but it is still there.  The window is still open, you are still logged in and looking at status updates every few minutes.

My cousin is addicted to Facebook and I’m worried about her.  Like every addict, I have a sense of concern about her behavior.  She posts on the average of 5-9 times a day.  And she “likes” a lot of things.  To her defense, I know she is using social media to spread the word about her business.  Well, she should be spreading the word about her business; however it appears that she is getting off topic on every post.  I don’t really need to know she “likes” that cute puppy dog in the snow.

Of course, you can argue that my Facebook addiction is my cyber stalking of my cousin.  She is constantly on my newsfeed.  I probably should block her because her updates are really cutting into my Facebook stalking time of other people.  How can I spread out my stalking of everyone else if she is always posting and distracting me?

However, if I block her I won’t have anything to complain about.  What fun is that?  I could also not be logged onto Facebook at all.  I could go cold turkey.  I can give it up.  I can devote my time to actually work projects.  I did give up the mobile Facebook application on my Smartphone.  No one needs to know I just check in at the Bellevue Square Taco Bell (when I really should be at work).

What is the solution?  There isn’t any solution.  We are doomed.  You should know by now that my advice is heavily dosed with sarcasm and is worthless for the advancement of your knowledge base.  The only reason you should be reading my blog is to feel better about yourself.  You can learn that you are like every other Facebook user out there that wants to quit but won’t quit.

Really, if you quit who is going to “like” all those cute puppy pictures?

The Latest News: The Economy Still Sucks!

~ K ~ Leave a comment

Is it my turn to complain?

Today I was on the U.S. News and World Reports website and learned that Seattle ranks Number 2 in the Top Ten Cities with Debt.  Yes, this is a wonderful way for me to get more depressed about the state of the U.S. economy.  Sure, Number 2 is pretty good but I always like it better as Number 1.  On a side note: Seattle’s traffic is only the 9th worst in the nation (and we tied…tied with Philadelphia…we didn’t beat them…we tied).  However, we did move up one spot from last year!  Oh yeah!  When can we be Number 1 in worst traffic?

One could say that I like to find the negative in things.  I would much rather prefer to say that I am a realist and that I enjoy reading (and learning) so that I can complain more.  Why be uninformed?

How can I not be depressed with today’s economy?  Washington State has a $1 billion budget shortfall that it needs to make up for.  Reuter’s reports that Fitch Ratings might lower Washington State’s credit rating which in turn will cause the interest rate for money Washington State borrows to cost more and when Washington State issues bonds the interest rate it must pay out will be higher.

Getting back to the issue at hand, we see that the debt was defined as average debt per person (excluding home mortgages).  Sadly, this was written back in 2010 so I have to wonder if it is better or worse now that we are in 2013.  And I would like to say that while the government says the recession of 2007 is over, it really feels like it is still here in 2013.

Here’s a list of the top ten most indebted cities:

Denver

Seattle

Dallas

Phoenix

Atlanta

Portland, OR

Baltimore

Washington, DC

Houston

Philadelphia

Other bad news: The nation’s unemployment is 7.9%.  According to the Washington State’s website, in 2011 it was 8.9% (while Washington State was at 9.2%) http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/planning/wtp/datalibrary/Economy/UnemploymentbyCounty.htm

 

Strangely, the Washington State website didn’t have 2012 numbers but I found that The Seattle Times had our unemployment rate for December 2012 at 7.6%. http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020144459_apwawashjobless1stldwritethru.html

On a much brighter note I learned that Lynsi Torres is the 30-year-old owner and president of In-N-Out Burger and is worth a reported billion dollars.  Sure, I won’t meet her or even marry her but I can now sleep better knowing she is out there with her 3rd husband and a fabulous fortune.

As always, your comments are welcome!