AliThinks

Love-Hate

Every damn day I hate Facebook for one reason or another.

But then I look at the good stuff about it, and I relax. I still hate it. I will always hate Facebook to some degree, but that kid knew what he was doing. So I commend him for that, and I continue to use his service, which changed my life here in Lexington. (See? I can't hate it that much. It really helped me in a social way.)

I heard about Facebook when you still needed a .edu email to join, so I got an alum email address from my alma mater. I was an early adult adopter, and some of my earliest friends on Facebook were my blogging friends. And I don't mean that in a hipster way, like Facebook is so uncool now that they let everyone in.

(Although I'm sure that folks who were in college five years ago feel that way. To that I say I GET YOU.)

The changes Facebook has made annoy me. To be sure, rare is the FB application that I will allow. And I clamp down on my privacy settings as soon as I hear about a change. For this bullshit, I hate Facebook. But for all the rest, I love it.

And I hate that I love it.

I Wish I Had A Snappy Title For This Post

Today a Facebook friend from high school posted an AP photo of President Obama. She said "This picture was actually attached to an AP article entitled Many Obama 2008 supporters defecting to GOP....is it just me, or do I detect a little craziness in his eye? maybe its just the full moon...."

I thought of commenting that the media often uses unflattering photos of personalities. Then I thought better of it, so I said nothing.

Then I saw that another guy who was in our high school class said this about the photo: "He's a liberal...of course he's nuts."

I took the bait.

I replied, "Gee, based on that logic, I must be nuts too."

To which the guy said "That would be correct."

I replied back, "Wow. Have a great Sunday. See ya!" 

I just didn't want to get into a political argument with someone I wasn't even friends with back in high school.

My friend who'd posted the link called him out on the name calling (he'd also spewed some other stuff about liberals, then said "You can't fix stupid. LOL"), and I have to commend her for that. It was also her space that was being used, so I don't blame her. 

I addressed her, and agreed with what she had said regarding politics. She is more conservative than I am, I am pretty sure, but she seems to be open to other points of view, and doesn't label people.

The point here is two threefold: No matter our political beliefs, those who are on the other side of the spectrum are not crazy or stupid. And yes, it took a lot for me to write that. But being labeled "nuts" and "stupid" by someone whose beliefs are more conservative than my own made me realize that we tend to operate in generalities.

The other second point is that we can always learn something from the other side.

The third is that it's important to vote.

And there's another thing I thought about all afternoon: I'm proud of who I am, of my principles and beliefs. That might be another blog entry, although as my t-shirt rightly states, I never finish anyth

Well, That Was Fun

The 2010 Alltech/FEI World Equestrian Games are over, and so is my paid role of raising awareness for Alltech's Sustainable Haiti Project.

It was a great experience, a definite learning experience. And there's one more video to come: me reading a poem to Heather. I can't wait to embarrass my kids with it. (Because me? I'm 40. I just don't care anymore.)

Many thanks to David Wescott, who brought me on to the Haiti Project, and to Heather Chapman, my partner in crime.

So it's back to normal here at AliThinks. And boy, have I been thinking. I just have to deem what's blogworthy. Wish me luck with that.

One Last Contest

We're almost finished, folks. Heather has posted information about the last prize we have, and her blog entry is just so good I wish I could copy every word. Please go read it.

She beat me in our last contest, and so I had to write a poem about her. Tomorrow she'll film me reciting it, and OH JOY, put it on the internet.

It was all for a great cause, however, and that's why I'm willing to shed a little dignity. In fact I'm proud, proud to have been asked to help spotlight the work that Alltech is doing in Haiti, work that is long-term and will directly benefit Haitians.

And now, if you live in Lexington and would like Sunday (October 10, last day!) passes to the 2010 Alltech/FEI World Equestrian Games grounds, where there's all sorts of cool stuff, leave me a comment. Like Heather, I'm going to ask you to also tell me what you think Haiti needs.

The contest ends at 5 pm. tomorrow, Friday October 8. I'll draw a random winner and will notify the person via email.

Thanks so much for playing along with me and Heather these last three weeks. It's been a trip.

I Lost

Heather got way more votes than I did, so I have to compose a poem in her honor and read it to her in a public place. Videoed, of course. I was going to riff on Walt Whitman with the poem starting "Oh, Chapman, my Chapman," but then remembered that the poem is about death, specifically Abe Lincoln's. Back to square one. At this point it will be more Mother than Ode on A Grecian Urn. (No, I don't have a theremin.)

The good news is that another Heather (Here's where I say "No, Heather, it's Heather's turn") won the tickets to Saturday's Cross Country event at the 2010 Alltech/FEI World Equestrian Games.

There's one more contest to go; this time it's another pair of event tickets. We'll post the details soon.

Thanks to everyone who participated this time. We have raised a nice little chunk of change for the Alltech Sustainable Haiti Project!