Netflix and FaceBook

One thing that happened this Fall was that we joined the mainstream internet users and joined both Facebook and Netflix. We're a little challenged with Netflix right now, as most of their "new" movies are ones we saw this summer. Between the two plane flights and the cruise itself, we saw:

He's just not that into you
The Reader (think I missed something in this one)
The Watchman
Bride Wars
Made of Honor
Hotel for Dogs
Bolt (very cute)
Mama Mia
Last Chance Harvey
Wall -E
Benjamin Button
Bedtime Stories (most of it)
Marlee & Me
Horton Hears a Who
Monsters Inc.
New in Town
Yes Man
Mall Cop
Definitely Maybe

And possibly some others I'm forgetting. So we're scraping the bottom on Netflix right now, but hopefully this situation will improve.

I joined FB because someone invited me to be their friend, and the only way to do that was to start my own account. Plus the Girl wanted to, and I told her she could only do it if I was her friend (and could monitor the situation.) It's been around for years, but I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I do. It's a great way to keep up with people you don't see a lot.

I've noticed a few things about FB politics. First, FB got right into my Yahoo contact list in order to suggest people I should befriend. This brought up pictures of people whose blogs I've read and communicated with, altho I'm not sure that they were ready to be that known to me. Now I know what they look like! That seemed like some kind of violation of privacy, but I seem to be the only one who's against it.

Then, the Boy blocked me from his posts when I complained that his cousins could now see his questionable language and pictures. So he filters himself somehow, which I guess is fine, but I still wish he'd be more appropriate. I only hope he's filtering his cousins too.

Then I noticed that the Girl hadn't seen some pics I'd posted, and I figured out that she blocked MY posts! I asked why she would do such a thing, and she said she was just mad at me. Mad at ME? Whatever for? So I tried to unblock myself and think I may have completely deleted myself from her friend list instead.

Sigh.

I've found that there are different ways people can post too much. The first is like my original friend from HS who invited me to be his FB friend. He posts multiple times a day to say things like, "I'm up. I think I'll have coffee now." or, "Time for bed." OK, we all do those things. Should we all post similarly?

And don't get me started about people who post things, but never seem to comment on other people's posts. Why? Do you only care about yourself?

Then there are people my sister calls page hogs, and they post 4 things in a row that take up your whole page! They post their every accomplishment in Farmville, every video of songs they like, things like that. OK people, get a life! Maybe they just like to share.

But I have to admit that there were a few weeks when I first joined that FB helped me immeasurably in my efforts at procrastination. Particularly, Zanga Poker. I was supposed to be studying for a BIG TEST, and I was trying not to think about people drowning in Alaska, so I found FB poker to be a great outlet. Plus, I won lots of money! I started out with $5,000 and now I'm up to $290,000. Now my husband wants to send me to Vegas, but in real life I'm sure people don't go "all in" with such junk in their hands.

At least I hope not.

The rest of September

OK, so what happened in the rest of the month? First, K started having problems at his job. First, they gave him a crumby shift = the worst shift you can get. Basically he has to work during ALL the holidays. He was offended because he works really hard and should get some kind of seniority, but it doesn't work like that. This shift was weak and he is strong, so they stuck him there to balance it out.

Meanwhile, management has been implementing changes that make it harder to do K's job, and not staffing the place correctly to cut costs. K told them he wouldn't be Acting Supervisor during his shift anymore if the staffing levels were short. As it is, K still thought it was weak, and told a Supervisor that it was "a setup" to fail.

K went to work after the shift change, and tried to talk to his supervisor about his shift. His supervisor said that if he wanted to be promoted, he should help him with a mentoring program he's putting together. He implied that the shift would be changed if K agreed, so he said yes.

Then, K did something to tighten things up. Later, after he got home, he found out he was "under investigation" for doing so.

First, he might be promoted. Now, he might be fired? All in the same day. Wow.

Then, he took a shift off for a little "staycation." On Friday night (during his regular shift), there was a riot! Sheriffs were called, kids were shot with paint pellets, people went to the hospital. So much for cutting costs.

Of course Management never took any responsibility for what happened, but one Supervisor kept telling K, "You said it was a setup! You were right!" But, again, nothing has changed, including K's shift.

THEN...

We got a call while K was at work that one of his best friends had died. His friends from High School in Indiana take a hunting trip every year, and this year Rick didn't make it back.

There's one friend from that group who lives out here near us, I'll call him Don. Don looks forward to this trip every year. This year they went to Alaska, a place that Rick had been before and loved. His daughter even lives up there now, so they visited with her before they took off hunting.

They were on their way back to start home. Don had shot a Caribou, the only game any of them had killed. He and Rick were carrying the meat on their backs as they crossed the river. The river was mostly not deep, but somehow Rick lost his footing and got swept up in the current. Don tried to go after him, but didn't get any closer. Finally he got scared that HE wasn't going to make it out, and somehow he dragged himself out of the river.

Anyway, they didn't find Rick for 6 days. Don felt guilty that he couldn't save him and that Rick had been carrying his meat. But they all do that for each other, and sometimes you just can't save people.

It just so happened that K saw Rick in June, right before we took our big trip. He flew back for just a few days, and now he's so glad he did. He hadn't seen him in about 8 years before that.

Anyway, we flew to Indiana, but it took Alaska a long time to release the body, and they had to keep pushing the funeral back. Finally I had to get back, but K was able to stay another day and help carry the casket, etc.

On the plus side, we found that Long Beach has a little airport, and it's really cute.W e also came out of it closer to some of our friends.

But we were glad to see the end of September, and October was a big improvement.

More about that later.