Facebook's Response to Google+?

Google was like, ha, Facebook! We're going to get some social networking competition up in here.
*Google introduces Google+*
Then Facebook goes, BOOYA, Google! Watch this. We're going to SHUT. YOU. UP.




I just read this Time article about the upcoming nth wave of changes Facebook is making to its site. Ok, so I know I'm kind of a Facebook whore in that I keep the page open right next to my email whenever I'm online. These changes are crazy. I don't mean bad crazy or good crazy, but if I were to use an analogy it's like Facebook is trying to make the internet revolve around it. I guess if I could draw a picture it would be Facebook in the middle, with all these nodes coming out of it connected to other parts of the world wide web.

I don't really like the idea of "frictionless" sharing. I like friction. There has to be something to stop me from knowing when this friend of a friend is going to bed for the night or is tired from work or is getting cramps from her period (yes, I have seen that one multiple times), or when so-and-so is using that stupid check-in app at McDonald's and just became mayor of blah blah blah (thank you, Foursquare. I like you almost as much as all those requests I used to get to play Farmville). Don't get me wrong, I like sharing. But please share interesting things, like insightful articles or things that will make me laugh. I'm ok with some integration. I integrate my Twitter and Yelp accounts with Facebook, which I think are kind of cool because I don't have to double-post articles I want to share. But the other day I linked my Spotify account with my Facebook account to see what it would do, and Facebook started posting each song I was listening to in real-time. That got a little too invasive. This is an example of the part in that video up above when it says when you link certain apps to your Facebook account, the system will automatically update your profile with your activity. Look at me, I'm cooking! I'm running! I'm watering my plants! I'm having sex!

I used to be ok with being kind of personal with my status updates, because I didn't feel that by doing that the whole world would know. But for me now, it's gotten to the point where I don't really feel like sharing anything personal on Facebook. Maybe I won't be careful enough with my filters and I'll share information or pictures I don't want certain people to see. And it's not so simple to just click and make some changes so some people will see while others won't. Besides, having to custom-create all these settings is pretty annoying.

For a short while I was entertaining the thought of moving my social networking over to Google+ because I liked the idea of circles. This made it a lot easier for me to post things I wanted some people to see, but not others, because much like real life, you don't act the same way with your co-workers as you do with your best friends. But I didn't because it would have been too much of a hassle to find everyone on the Google+ network, essentially re-add them, move my pictures over, and basically start from scratch. Now I'm thinking, if it was hard then, imagine now, when Facebook is rolling out a platform that may integrate every aspect of your life, virtual and physical, into its network. It's like a huge black hole that is setting out to capture every action you take (and if you're not careful, announce it to the rest of the world). Don't be surprised if you wake up one day and you can't tell if you're in the virtual or real world.

I think I liked Facebook best sometime when it rolled out its 'Like' button and still served as a useful tool for me to keep in contact with people while occasionally seeing what other people who I hadn't talked to in a while were up to. I will try this 'Timeline' thingamabob for a while. If it becomes too difficult to manage, or if I find it's taking more time for me to improve my online persona than myself as a real person, it may be time to go off the grid, so to speak.

Food, Friends, and Famine

My friend Jessica bought me enough tea to last a year. So happy.


We also had the most delicious Farmer's market dinner tonight at Auntie Em's in Eagle Rock where Jess used to work. Everything was so fresh and beautiful. Paired all dishes with a bottle of cabernet sauvignon and it was the perfect meal with lovely company. Speaking of which, I feel absolutely guilty about my friendship with Jess...in the sense that it's so unbalanced. She puts in so much more than I do. Take tonight's meal for example. I know she's been planning it for weeks because she asked me a long while ago if I would be free tonight. And then I went on Auntie Em's website to read more about the Farmer's market dinner and I saw that it was 45 dollars a person. Oh my goodness. Not that I put a price tag on friendship, but I just feel bad when people spend so much money on me. The fact that it's to celebrate a birthday doesn't alleviate that. And then I made the stupidest mistake today by saying her birthday was in October...when it's really in SEPTEMBER. I wanted to crawl under the table and hide when I did that.
I need to be a better friend.

Peach+heirloom tomato+burrata cheese salad. I love tomatoes, so this was a no-brainer for me. Love!

Yummy, yummy, yummy cheeses. I LOVE CHEESE. Especially goat cheese. Those square blocks on the far left were my favorite. It was a classic blue log goat cheese from Wisconsin. I ate it and went to goat cheese heaven.

Peach and pluot shortcakes with creme anglaise and fresh vanilla bean whipped cream.

Miscellaneous stuff that's been on my mind:
I didn't know there was such a thing as a pluot until tonight. They're not very sweet by themselves, if you're into that. I prefer a nice juicy peach or apricot.

Google Labs is being slowly shut down so Google can focus more on a few projects (ahem, Google+) and make them better as opposed to staying in an experimental stage where they are throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks.

Famine in Somalia. There's a severe, severe food shortage crisis that's been ongoing in Somalia. It was really bad in 1992 and 1993. The US began sending aid then, but cut it off after the Black Hawk incident. I wonder if it's because of natural conditions like drought, and hence less food production, that are contributing to the food crisis, or if the distribution is characterized by gross injustice. I post all these pictures of the food I ate tonight, so full in my belly I was going to burst, and then I think about this. There's a lot of self-contempt involved in my thinking process, but I'll have to save that for another post. Sigh.

Is Michele Bachmann's husband gay?

I should go to sleep. Every night this past week I've been telling myself to sleep by 1 AM but of course, I fail. Then I don't wake up until 10 the next morning and the vicious cycle continues...