Google Reader

One more piece of the cyberworld has won me over! I think I may be even more enamored with Google Reader than I was with del.icio.us, although I'm disappointed by it's mundane name.

I've subscribed to a handful of updates that I thought might be interesting, and not only am I getting what I was looking for (like knowing when people post new blogs), but I'm finding fun things that I never would have looked for. For example, my parents hometown news posted their favorite restaurant's special lunch menu for Valentine's Day. I'm guessing my mom will end up with the cream of tomato soup and veggie pizza while my dad will opt for the "Nasty Nick with Fries," a "...chicken patty tossed in homemade BBQ sauce- topped w/bacon, swiss, lettuce & tomato."

So it may not be the most exciting news, but it made me feel more connected, just for a second, to my family that lives halfway across the country. I'll have to ask if they got the white-chocolate dipped heart-shaped cookies for dessert.

Collective Behavior

In chapter one from Six Degrees, Norton mentions how Leonhard Euler developed the first theorem in graph theory, by proving that one cannot walk across all seven bridges in Königsberg without crossing the same bridge twice.

Euler happens to be one of my husband's favorite mathematicians. I'm told that the next dog we get will be named Euler, which I have no problem with except for the fact that we'll be pronouncing it like "Oi-ler" because that is technically the correct way to pronounce Euler's last name (those crazy Germans!). I can just see taking the poor mutt (I always get mutts) into the vet, and the vet saying "Hi "Yu-ler," and I'll have to say, "Actually it's pronounced 'Oi-ler,' he's named after Leonhard Euler, the famous mathematician. My husband is a nerd." Then maybe I'll go on to tell the story about the bridges.

Then my dog, my husband, my vet, and I will all have connections to the same piece of knowledge, but each of us for slightly different reasons, and each of us with different connotations. We'll have our own mini-Euler network, and all of you will be a part, now that you've read this post.

Now the next time someone mentions Euler, an odd thought may pop into your head about dogs, or about blogs, or about people who are really big nerds. Well I suppose that the nerds are the natural link there, but you get what I mean. This is just one tiny example of the way that we get and receive and link information in our minds. It's amazing, really if we think about it.

I think that it is also a great example of how the internet works, with networks formed by myriads of links. Just think back to the last time you followed all the interesting links in a Wikipedia article. If you're anything like me, you ended up on some page about fruit farmers, wondering how you got there from Northern Irish Murals. So there is the internet as an extension of our brains. It mimics patterns that we have always used. It gives me a sense of wonder, and also a sense of comfort. Sometimes it seems like a strange new world, but there's really nothing all that new about it.

Change is Good!

Well, I couldn't wait any longer. I know this template doesn't reflect what is going on outside, but it's a good representation of what I'm thinking these days.

I went to the grocery store yesterday, and there were flower seed packets for sale, a sure harbinger of spring!

Today I went to the post office to mail Valentines (I spent yesterday evening making them instead of planning my menu for the week...), and buy stamps. I ended up with flower stamps, and mailed cards bursting with Zinnias, Tulips, Irises, Gerber Daisies, Magnolias, Cone Flowers, Water Lilies, and Poppies.

So it may be 18 degrees out today, but it is February, and in Missouri that is only a month away from life and vitality.

It is time to wake up and to come back to life. I’m ready.

Life as an Amateur

I loved Lauren's post full of McLuhan quotes, particularly the last one which read, "the amateur can afford to lose." In the original context, McLuhan was praising the freedom of amateurs. They are not obligated to succeed, so they can take risks and break rules if it pleases them, which can at times lead to great success. What an inspirational way to approach daily life!

However, when I originally read the quote, I took it out of context. I read it to say that being an amateur is a safety net. It is the exact opposite of taking risks, and this is the type of amateurism I have banked on in the past.

Take a few steps back to high school. I went to a really small high school (graduating class of 12), so sports were something that everyone participated in, regardless of talent. They were more of a social thing. Now I'm going to admit something embarrassing. I ran on the x-country team, but I am a terrible runner. I'm over 5'8," I don't weigh a lot (even less back then), and I look like I could be OK at it. But I'm not. I am truly awful.

However, I wasn't willing for everyone to know that. Instead of admitting that I'd be lucky to ever run a sub-8-minute-mile in my life (10-12 minute ones suit me just fine), I set myself up as "the encourager." I ran at the back of races and came in dead last. Every time. If a girl was having a rough race, I'd just jog next to her and talk her through it. That may seem nice, but my real fear was that if I actually tried to be good, I wouldn't be. So I just didn't try. How pathetic!

So this will be my new goal: I can still embrace being an amateur freely (thank God, because odds are I'll stay that way for the rest of my life, like most of the world does!), but instead of using it not to try, I can use it to try things in my own way and have confidence that I can afford to fail. Or, as Juanita pointed out in Thursday's class, maybe it isn't failing so much as it is discovering that one approach didn't work. (Isn't there a famous quote about that, too?) Now lets try the next theory...