Internet Addict (originally published on 4/17/09)

I remember when it began, I was in college. I had gotten an e-mail account through the University and started going into internet chat rooms. I even remember who tipped me off to e-mail. It was a friend from middle school.

And since then, I have spent countless hours on Blogger, Facebook, Yelp, Yahoo Mail, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, MSN, NY Times and other dot coms. Has it been worth it? No. Would it have been better to call up one or more of my friends and meet them and actually talk? Yes!

Could I have read a few - or maybe very many books instead of surfing online? Yes. In fact, I am slow going these days on an Oprah book. Oprah book, that's supposed to mean something, isn't it? I should have been finished with it in one day, haha. Well, who knows what the Oprah stamp of approval means, I don't even watch her show. All I know is I saw the Oprah stamp on my copy of "She Comes Undone" by Wally Lamb. It's an intriguing book with an unusual main character and I like it.

In a way, there are cool features and tons of information online. It can become time consuming. When I was growing up, did I expect that 80% of my life would be spent behind a computer terminal? No, not at all. I should make like some of my friends who avoid Facebook and other social networking sites. To my credit, I did go out to a Happy Hour with some people I know from Yelp.com this week. I had a good time. How did we comment on the Happy Hour later? Online, of course.

Every Day I Write the Blog

(This was originally published on January 8, 2009 and is being brought back out of draft after re-visiting my blog.) Here I have attached a pretty picture, at least in my opinion, for you:

Happy New Year to you, I hope you are in good health. There seems to be a wave of colds going around with a strong cough. I know this because I have it. At first I thought it was a cough confined to one geographic area, but I have heard from a friend in a different region that he has it, too.

My only theory as to why this cold came about is the temperature (too cold for the comfort of the residents of the area) and perhaps increased pollution. I have plenty of motivations to get well soon, including a dinner invitation tomorrow night and a lunch with friends planned on Monday. So I should really concentrate on getting well. The dinner invitation is at a restaurant I never heard of before but my friend has good taste so I think it should be good. The second one is In-N-Out, a total pleasure of a hamburger place. Where else could you get so wonderfully fed for $5?

I went to Chik-Fil-A to increase my pleasure and make me forget feeling sick. This was a tasty treat. I had the regular chicken sandwich - not grilled, the one with the delicious skin, fries and cole slaw. I felt better afterward. Hmm, makes me wonder if I should repeat that for tomorrow's lunch? Or I could heat up one of the assorted cans of Campbell's chicken soup, good for colds. Pho would also be good; man that soup is good. The best Pho would be in Westminster, I am not sure if I want to be driving that long right now.

I think about subjects other than food. Recently watched a bit of the comedy "Scrubs". I was laughing, a definitely good distraction. Tomorrow: focus on getting well and not passing the cold to anyone. It's a good goal, I'm sure of it.