Hey look Sheila! I found your brush.
So few updates, yet so much to say if I could just find the time… Ah well, no point dwelling on what has or hasn’t happened.
Monday was the Mid-March Holiday (aka St. Patrick’s Day), but it was also a day where a huge snowstorm hit many parts of the province.
Some of the folks online were insisting that Monday’s storm was Sheila’s Brush. Some voices online felt otherwise. I didn’t really care what it was called, beyond “OMG 30+ cm of snow?!”
Yesterday I saw a post where someone was asking about breakfast ideas on one of the Facebook groups where I’m a member. Some of the suggestions were the usual peanut butter on toast with banana, which is a regular staple for me. But then I saw someone mention they wanted to get a breakfast sandwich machine…
Wait, what?!?!
Last year I talked about a possible trip to Holland. But not the type of trip most people would expect.
It’s that time of year again and the Tourette Sydrome Foundation of Canada’s national conference is happening in Mississauga, Ontario.
I’m happy to say that both Matt and I are attending thanks to the amazing generosity of Dan Pruitt who along with his wife Sheryl (Sherry) are like another set of parents to me. This sort of thing can happen when you stay in touch with so many great people who are connected to TS; they become an extended family.
Dear Facebook,
I get that your purpose is not to connect me with friends, family and long lost high school classmates.
No, no, your purpose is to sell advertising. You get money for ads that are created by companies who want to reach select target markets. This all happens on a social media platform that’s free of charge and I can access it 24/7 on lots of different types of technology.
It’s key to remember that you get what you pay for and if you haven’t paid for something, then you’re not really the important person in the relationship/business arrangement.
I understand, I really do. But it still bugs me when I see advertising like this…
Way to play on a woman’s self esteem Facebook!
It’s bad enough when there are Hollywood stars who have personal trainers and mounds and mounds of money so that they can afford to have the pounds melt away.
And even if a woman has a great metabolism, losing weight and getting back into your pre-pregnancy form isn’t always easy. You may have stretch marks, or some extra jiggily parts… but that’s OK, it’s all part of pregnancy and you shouldn’t worry about it.
Heck, there’s pressure enough to be the prefect mother and just getting a shower every few days can seem like a challenge (especially in those first few weeks!).
I don’t want to throw stones from my own glass house either. At the end of April, I returned to Weight Watchers (WW). I became a lifetime member back in 2009. I loved attending the meetings and found it to be a program that encouraged me to eat healthier and to exercise and move more at they’ll say in WW speak. I’ve lost almost 20 lbs, I’m really proud of my progress so far and I’ll write more about it later.
As a marketing and communications professional, I understand the drive behind advertising. But it doesn’t mean I have to like the approach that is sometime involved. So I’ll say what I’m thinking, “Not cool Facebook. Not cool at all.”
I’m on Facebook so that I can keep in touch with friends, family and even some professional contacts that have become friends whom I want to share more than the odd random interaction with every few months. I like to read the latest location and national news. I enjoy seeing photos of someone’s adorable dog, their vacation photos, or a cute child that deserves to have someone click the like button.
It’s too bad those advertising bots and their fancy algorithms can’t read this post to help refocus their ads for me.
At the end of the day, it’s nothing personal; it’s just business. But it still as frustrating as hell.
And that’s my rant for the week. ;)
Have you ever had an itch that you just couldn’t scratch? Something that started off very small and you just tired to ignore it. But the more you ignored it, the worse the itch became. It just stayed and stayed and got worse and worse. Creeping out until the itch was much bigger than it originally started. And then, even though you couldn’t really scratch it properly, you couldn’t wait any longer and just had to try and relieve the feeling?
Well that’s what it can sometimes feel like for someone who has Tourette Syndrome (TS) and they’re trying to hold back a tic. I’m speaking from personal experience here. Everyone has different tics and they can range from something as simple as wanting to touch a door four times, wanting to wiggle your nose, or needing to yell out a word or phrase.
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