How to Avoid Wasting Time on Facebook

As a recent participant in the world of Facebook, I found this wikiHow hysterical and informative...yes very informative.

**********************
Some people love to use Facebook to keep in touch with friends. However, Facebook seems to be set up to try to draw you in and spend (waste) more time there, and to get your friends to spend more time there. If you just want to use it to keep in touch with people, renew contact with old friends, and just maybe do some networking, here are some ways to avoid wasting too much time.

1. Ignore requests.
When someone sends you a request, you may not be able to see the full details of the request. You may wonder if it's important, or interesting. But if you really just want to check out the networks and not get completely into the more frivolous activities (playing vampires and werewolves, for example) then don't feel you have to respond to those requests. They do take time.

a. Leave a note (in your status, on your "wall...") that explains you often won't reply to most requests.

b. Remember, a lot of Facebook applications send requests to all friends by default, so your friends may not really be expecting you to respond.

c. On your "confirm requests" page, you don't have to click "ignore" on every request. Scan the page, see if there's anything of value - e.g. any old friends you're happy to heard from - and after you've approved them, click "Ignore all" near the top right.

2. Stop the constant emails:

a. Click settings (top right) and choose Account settings, then the Notifications. Switch most of the options to "off". You may have to click Show more at the bottom to select for all applications, and you may need to do this again when you add new applications.

b. Alternatively, use an email filter so you don't get distracted by frequent emails from Facebook. Just go to the site regularly enough to catch stuff that you are interested in. Check the requests and notifications on the site itself - if you're a few days late it generally won't matter.


b1. Simple filter example: filter out anything from facebook.com. E.g. if you use Gmail, make a filter and for "From:" enter @facebookmail.com, and in the next step choose "Skip the Inbox (Archive it)".

b2. You might make an exception for emails for certain types of notifications, e.g. with the text added you as a friend on Facebook, if you don't want to risk missing friend requests. E.g. in Gmail, when you're setting up the filter, for "Doesn't have:" enter "added you as a friend on Facebook". (You can add more than one phrase using OR and putting quotes around each complete phrase.)

3. Avoid games and third-party applications (apps).
Playing games, decorating your profile, and rating your friends will suck up your time before you know it.

Bring a timer with you to the computer. Whether it's the timer on your watch, or an actual kitchen timer that "dings" when the time is up, make it a habit to start the clock as soon as you get on Facebook, and get off as soon as your time is up. Fifteen minutes might be a healthy amount of time to spend on a Facebook session.

5. If all else fails, quit Facebook.

A new battery for the Saturn

Last Friday before leaving for Iowa, Nick and I went to get an instant oil change for my Saturn and were informed that a) my battery was on its way out b) my serpentine belt was cracked c) my car was in desperate need of a radiator flush and d)one of my high beams was out.

Now, of course, the lovely men at the instant oil change shop were willing to make all my problems go away (except for the high beam as they didn't have it in stock), but their prices were a bit exorbitant.

Luckily, Nick isn't all brawn and no brains. Today, he substituted my six year old car battery for a shiny new one and purchased a new head light for $12.99. The serpentine belt isn't in dire shape just yet and even if it was, it isn't a difficult repair to make according to the guy at the auto parts store. As for the radiator flush, I will need to get that done soon, but there are ton of deals being offered at the auto repair shops in my area.

Yikes, it appears another crisis has been averted.

Fewer divorces in a bad economy

Article written by Marty Orgel for MarketWatch

The potentially huge cost of splitting up is causing a growing number of couples to tough out bad marriages, even if they have to live in separate bedrooms.

The recession and economic turmoil is creating a new class of casualties: married couples who can't afford to get divorced. In these tough times, many people are finding it's cheaper to stay together, even when they can't stand each other.

"The reason that the economy has such an enormous impact on divorce is that most people in the middle-income brackets are getting by on whatever income they have. They're just getting by," said Bonnie Booden, a family-law and divorce attorney in Phoenix.

A major factor in the divorce downturn, Booden said, is that divorcing couples have to establish two households with current funds -- sometimes a prohibitive factor in hard economic times.

Booden said half of her clients are seeking consultation because the couples can't afford to get divorced. They want to know what other options they might have.

"I tell them about the process, about the cost and what a reasonable outcome might be. And once they hear the cost, and especially how you have to duplicate two households on the same money that currently funds one household, they try to think about some other options," Booden said.

Splitting bedrooms and kids
Some clients have split up bedrooms and continued to live in the same house, she said. Some share child care duties so they don't have to deal with each other and plan to live that way until they can figure out what to do.

"And I've had people who just throw in the towel and get divorces anyway, creating financial ruin for themselves," Booden said.

Circuit courts across the country report downturns in the number of divorce and separation filings. Cook County's Circuit Court in Chicago saw a 5% decrease in filings -- about 600 cases -- in the first three quarters of 2008 compared with the same period in 2007. Similar drops have been reported in other cities across the country.

This domestic situation was also confirmed by a poll by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. The group surveyed its members -- all divorce lawyers -- and found that 37% of them had seen a decrease in the number of couples seeking divorces, while just 19% had experienced an increase in divorce cases.

Gary Nickelson, the president of the group, said people are just "toughing it out" and putting off decisions to divorce until the economy gets better.

"We're in a perfect storm as far as the divorce business is concerned," Nickelson said. "It's not a surprise to me. That's been my experience over the last 35 years. When you have an economic downturn, people are not so quick to change their situation."

Out of options
Some people who come to Booden's office have come from marriage counselors, she said. By the time these couples get to her, she said, they've pretty much run out of options.

Typically, she said, she tries to arrange a deal in which both parties continue to own their house. She'll split up the equity and apply an interest rate to it to make it reasonable to the person not living in the house, and then distribute the cash when the house is sold after the kids go to college.

"People have to realize the financial meltdown changed everything," she said.

That sentiment was echoed by Nickelson. "As long as stocks and financials and major assets are down, you're probably going to see a lot of people wait to file for divorce. There's a lot of fear in filing for divorce," he said. "I think that cuts across all genders, races and all social-economic ranges."

Published Jan. 12, 2009

Freecycle Request (TOO FUNNY!!)

From: freecycleMpls@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:freecycleMpls@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of paxattacks
Sent: Friday, January 02, 2009 5:47 PM
To: freecycleMpls@yahoogroups.com

Subject: [freecycleMpls] Wanted: Compaq Presario V6000 laptop keyboard

Long story made short -- I spilled juice on my laptop and after taking
out the keyboard and cleaning it, my boyfriend thought that it would
be a good idea to dry it in the oven. It melted, now I need to replace
it.

If you happen to have a spare keyboard of this type lying around, or a
Compaq V6000 laptop that is broken or not used for whatever reason, I
would love to take it off your hands.

Resolute-Shuns!

Once again, I am resolution free this year. I'm not going to vow to loose weight, exercise more, eat better, make new friends, learn to play a musical instrument, speak a foreign language, find a better job, reduce my global footprint or anything else. Why? Because I have to look in the mirror in the morning (well, afternoon really) and like myself and I certainly can't do that if I keep making absurd promises that I have not even the slightest intention of keeping!!

So, in lieu of a New Year's resolution, I will call 2009 "The year of Minnesota" and live thus.

Happy New Year!!