Let's Talk About Facebook

Are you a Facebook fan? Have you been for long? Right before Christmas, we joined the revolution of Facebook. And I must say, we did so more dutifully than eagerly. Actually, I wasn't eager at all.

Today I want to talk about the upside and the not so upside of Facebook and what "Works For Me Wednesday" about Facebook in my life.

To know me, I am very social and outgoing. So I communicate naturally weather it be in person, by phone, email, or letter writing. I enjoy all of these means. Because I have written in several mediums all of my life, I love writing letters.

Am not a huge proponent of change so when the internet evolved and email. I was the last to join that revolution because I'll admit I loved my telephone conversations. And I loved my letters - writing them and receiving them.

Eventually I got the routine of email and it was a wonderful thing when Mountain Man and I were in a small town where he was at the University and everyone we knew lived in another town.

Back to Facebook, so when all the 'friending' requests kept coming, I didn't understand why these same friends already were 'friending' me. And by all means, why didn't they just email me anyway.

I did join Facebook and I have to say, it's just public email. Are people better in groups? Are most people better writing to a 'wall' than actually writing a friend. I am not sure. There is something about personal communication that I enjoy. So the whole Facebook phenomenon is a bit anticlimactic.

This isn't to even mention how time consuming it can be to set up your friends, you know, all the people in your email. Even though Facebook is done very well. They make it simple. You 'invite' your entire address book.

Never mind, that all relationships are not one and the same. So you set all of this up and then the "wall-to-wall" -writing back and forth - and there you have it. From there it is instant communication with your whole entire communications list.

So I will share quickly what I love and not so much here.

What I Love about Facebook:

1) Facebook does make it run smoothly, updates, home page, profiles, etc. All are user friendly.
2) It is fun to see where everyone is;
3) You can quickly comment as much as you would like and
4) You get an email anytime something happens on your profile

Not So Much:

1) It seems so trivial
2) All relationships are not the same.
3) Right now it just seems redundant. After all I blog, I twitter, I email, I write, etc. and
4) Therefore I do not see the need to have those same relationships a.g.a.i.n in FB (yes, I know I can set up my Twitter to update on my FB. why? Twitter is not FB so why post it there. And why do people (mostly non-twitters post on FB like it is a Twitter? )

At any rate, for now, I do enjoy checking in on an email I have received and getting updated. It is simple and easy.

However, here's an update, just today I 'narrowed' (okay, deleted) twenty or so contacts from my Facebook. My relationships are not all one and the same and I did not want those communications to be.

And when I had something really exciting to share this week. I picked up the phone and called my girlfriend, another mom, right her in town, talked it all over. Then I blog about the things in life that we blog. And life is good.

Then I went and put it on Facebook. So the jury is out. I am enjoying the benefits, seeing the downside. Until then, it is good to know that my girlfriend's baby is potty training, and my cousin's baby is happy. These things otherwise, would get lost in the mass of Christmas cards and Christmas letters that attempt to convey these things.

I'll admit it, Facebook "Works For Me Wednesday!" Does it for you? Check out Shannons WFMW and share yours.

What's your take? FB or not? Twitter? Do you prefer to keep those close family and friends separate? In the grand scheme of things, I am a blogger, writer and Tweeter ;) who "Facebooks" too. What about you?

Warmly,

"Win It Wednesday" The BondiBand Giveaway Enter Now

Like wearing headbands but can’t find one that matches your outfit or style?
Then try a Bondi Band

Introducing one of my favorite things "The Bondi Band"." These have sustained Carolina Mama during many Tiger outings, carline, mommy blogging days, jogging, biking and on. The beauty is they make you look like a million bucks even if you did just mop the floor, cut the lawn and chase the children. Obviously they are cute and fun. Here's the challenge try to pick just one. You can't. These are affordable and fun.

Bondi Band has generously offered these up for "Win It Wednesday" Giveaway. Here's how you enter: Go to Bondi Band and click "Go To Fabric Page." Pick your favorite and let me know the name of it and what you would primarily wear it for because believe me, you'll wear it all the time. Register by midnight on July 2nd. ;) *Two winners will receive two Bondi Bands. Good Luck!

Available online at Bondi Band's Home Page.

Trailblazing North Carolina From The Mountains To The Sea

The News and Observers made it official today. The trailblazing begins...North Carolina will soon have a trail from the Mountains to the Sea. Check out the article below by Wade Rawlins who is covering a series of articles in the N&O.
Trail begins stretching across state
After decades of planning and perspiring, a 900-mile trail from Smokies to the shore takes shape
Wade Rawlins, Staff WriterComment on this story
GLENDALE SPRINGS - Following a line of orange surveyor flags, a half dozen volunteers use pickaxes and rakes to claw a narrow hiking trail along a wooded mountain slope near the Blue Ridge Parkway. The freshly turned dirt looks moistly dark and inviting to walk.
It's a long way from this breezy Appalachian mountainside to the sandy flanks of Jockey's Ridge, but one day, mile-by-mile, the two points will be connected as North Carolina's Mountains-to-Sea Trail edges closer to fulfilling its name.

Jim Hallsey, who helped envision the trail three decades ago as a state parks planner, is one of the trailblazers, wielding a pickax instead of the No. 2 pencil he once used to sketch the proposed corridor on a state map.

It's a lucky man who gets to chart an ambitious dream such as a 900-plus-mile hiking trail from the Smokies to the Outer Banks -- luckier still if 30 years later he gets to help realize that vision with his own hands.

Hallsey's crew of volunteers, who work one Saturday a month in Ashe County, are part of a dedicated group of trail builders who have quietly but steadily forged a footpath that connects the state from one end to the other.

"It captures the imagination of people who find peace and renewal in the out-of-doors and are sparked with the idea of being part of something bigger than they are," he says.

Meandering from the Smokies to the Outer Banks through 37 counties, the trail features some of North Carolina's most stunning landscapes: waterfalls, a gorge, three national parks, two wilderness areas and two bird-rich wildlife refuges.

"I like the real variety it has, mountains, foothills, swamps, beach," says hiker Scot "Taba" Ward, 33, of Palm Beach, Fla., who began the cross-state hike in late May. "It has a little bit of everything."

About 485 miles of trail have been completed, primarily in Western North Carolina. The remaining route follows roads. Much labor remains, as do the challenges of piecing together land amid the competing interests of development. After years of struggling, the trail has gained fresh legs, demonstrating how a hiking path gets built in the 21st century.

Connecting the paths

For the first time this spring, state parks leaders committed money to buy roughly 1,000 acres to help bridge gaps in the footpath across the Piedmont. Crews are approaching another milestone: 500 miles of completed trail. And local governments have joined in regional planning efforts. Routes through the Triad and Triangle have gathered momentum, with construction well under way.

It's a far different era than the 1930s, when the Civilian Conservation Corps helped complete great public works projects such as the 2,175-mile Appalachian Trail and 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail. Atop Mount Mitchell, a plaque honors the service of the Civilian Conservation Corps -- "that magnificent army of youth and peace." The group helped complete the Appalachian Trail by 1937.

Today, hiking club volunteers shoulder the lifting and digging.

The 59-mile stretch of trail along the Blue Ridge Parkway was designed by longtime trail promoter Allen de Hart to reproduce the gentle grades and straightaways of the parkway itself. "It was a mission I felt we could do as a group," de Hart says of the trail.

Volunteers with the Carolina Mountain Club, one of the state's oldest hiking clubs, have given tens of thousands of hours and built about 135 miles of trail in the western part of the state. They are currently building a 15-mile section south of Asheville.

"We have five crews that go out one day a week year-round and work on the trail," says Don Walton, a retired finance officer who serves as Mountains-to-Sea Trail coordinator for the Carolina Mountain Club.

complete story at the newsobserver.com

wade.rawlins@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-4528

Have A Blessed Sunday

“The LORD will keep you from all harm— He will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”- Psalm 121:7-8

Holy Bible or online @ BibleGateway