Why I Deleted / Downgraded My G+ Profile

Maybe G+'s next requirement will be that profile pictures have to be actual pictures of you!

When G+ first came out I was thrilled that finally perhaps there was a real competitor to Facebook, which I hate, but I use because...everyone else does (well not really everyone else - my own husband refuses to sign up for it).  I *thought* Google+ was a social network.  I think that's what they wanted me to think.

I know I must have been living under a rock to have missed this (I am a wife and mother you know, and have other things to do like pack for a trip to our Adirondack cabin or repair the dishwasher while our cat supervises instead of worrying what Google is up to), but a month or so ago, I discovered that if you do not use your real, full name in your G+ profile, your account can be suspended.  You then have a short time frame to prove that the name you provided is your real name, or else fill in your real name.  Upon further investigation, I discovered that G+ is not really a social network but an "identity service".  You can read about that in this Forbes article:  Google's Eric Schmidt Says Plus is an "Identity Service" Not a Social Network.

And I thought Facebook was bad!

My problem is this:  I do not want to put my last name on my Google profile because I don't want it showing up associated with my blog.  Or anywhere else, for that matter, unless *I* choose to make my full name "public". (For the sake of my own privacy I'd like to at least make a stalker WORK to figure out who I am!)  But if you have a G+ account you are required to use your full name, and you have no option to show any other name but your full name across any service where your profile is displayed.  (Actually, it looks like from a recent news article (linked below) that you may be able to display a nickname - BUT IT WILL STILL LINK TO YOUR REAL NAME.)

From the Forbes article, Eric Schmidt is quoted as saying, "Regarding people who are concerned about their safety, he said G+ is completely optional.  No one is forcing you to use it..."

Okey dokey, then!

I'm not the only one upset about this - while I was living under a rock there was such a firestorm over the "Real Names" policy when G+ came out, that there is a Wikipedia entry on it! Read about it here: Nymwars

Fast forward to last week, about six months after the Nymwars fiasco, Google finally decided maybe they need to revise their real name policy - you can read about that here:  Huffington Post "Google+ Real Names Policy Gets Revised".  However, there is nothing at all in the latest "revision" that changes the fact that in 99% of cases your real name will still be public.

In fact, with the recent well publicized Google privacy policy change, they can now link information across any of their services - so if you use your real name on Google+ it's now going to be linked to everything that you do on any of their services (searches, posts, pictures, etc.)!

I decided I don't need Google+ (G+) enough to compromise my privacy, nor do I have a need to be a part of an "Identity Service", so I "downgraded" from Google+.  If you'd like to "downgrade" from Google+, here's how:  Downgrade From Google+.

The bigwigs at Google are making the same mistakes the CEO at Netflix did - their heads are so fat from their success they start thinking they can make/sell the products THEY want, the way THEY want.  They forget that in order to succeed, you have to make/sell products YOUR CUSTOMERS WANT, the way YOUR CUSTOMERS WANT THEM.

Count me as a former Google+ customer.

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Facebook Fun (or not so fun?) and Games

Angel and Frieda Enjoying Milkshakes From Snoopy's Street Fair

My daughter sent me this "Snoopy Snap" which you can do from the game "Snoopy's Street Fair" which is a very cute game, although like SO many other Facebook games it always offers lots of tempting options that cost REAL money.  I mean, I can't blame them, but some games are kind of "worse" than others with what they let you do for free and what they want you to pay for.  I mean, I don't expect to be able to customize Snoopy or Charlie Brown's house down to a choice of JoAnn's or p kaufmann fabric, but sheesh, at Christmas time I don't think there was one "free" decoration for the Christmas tree.  But it's fun enough to play for free, and it's very cute.  These companies have to make money and cheapos like me aren't helping them pay the bills, lol.

So I mentioned in a previous post that I was enjoying Words With Friends.  Well, I'm not enjoying it as much anymore, lol...  I *thought* I was a fairly well-read, intelligent person with a pretty good vocabulary, however, in the first week or two of playing Words With Friends I could not believe how many words people were playing that I had never seen or heard of!!  Ok, I know since I hit 40 the brain cells are starting to die off but, wow!  I am much dumber than I thought!!  Well, finally somebody kindly tipped me off that there are apps and computer programs that you can use to make the best words out of the letters you have - even helping you maximize DL and TL spaces and the like, as well as lists of obscure two and three letter words to play, etc. etc. etc. :-/  Ok, #1 - Um, isn't that cheating?  #2 - If I were playing you face to face I would not, on my turn, turn to my computer to find my next move - would you?  #3 - That doesn't really seem like fun to me - to let your computer figure out some of your moves?  But I guess that's just me.  I'm also not super competitive, so maybe that's part of it.  #4 - The least you can do if you're doing this is LET YOUR OPPONENT KNOW so you can BOTH play with "help" because it's not really very fair to use your computer to help you make words no one's ever heard of while I'm only using MY BRAIN, now is it??   Sheesh!  Blah.  Whatever.  (Btw, I *know* not everyone is doing this, but I'm kind of put me off the whole game - I can't keep track of who seems like they're getting help and who is just playing brain-to-brain with me - it's sucked the fun out of it.)

Have you tried Zynga's Drop 7 game?  That's a lot of fun, but once I figured out some of the strategy the game can last a looong time...although I still am not very good at getting rid of the "1s" - I end up eventually with the bottom rows filled with them...

And of course I'm still playing Farmville.  There's a rumor we may finally be getting "shared storage" across all the farms, but I'll bet that will cost Farm Cash (= real money).  Don't forget to check under the game window for the occasional surveys you can do for a couple of farm cash - I did one today for Turbo Tax, took about a minute.  Over time those Farm Cash add up!  Also, in case you don't know, there is an official Farmville Blog where they publish the "Quest Guides" so you can see what tasks lie ahead and plan accordingly.  And regarding all the quests lately - it got too stressful for me to try to complete them all, so I just look ahead to what prizes are offered and I don't even bother with the quests unless there are prizes I want.  The game is much more enjoyable now.  I have enough stress in my life, I don't need to be worrying about my blueberries withering, lol!

What Facebook games do *you* like that I should try?

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More Thoughts Too Short for a Whole Blog Post

This is me when I was a baby.  Looks like I was already having more thoughts too short for a whole blog post, eh?  :-)

The Husband refuses to join Facebook - which I can understand.  He's heard too many horror stories of stupid things on Facebook hurting people's careers, so he lives vicariously through my Facebook.  (Although, he told me the other day that there's this whole other secret site called UnFacebook where all the people go who don't want to be on Facebook.)

We ran out of Italian Seasoning and when I was grocery shopping I was going to purchase more until I saw the price - $6.10!!!!!!!   For a "vial" of Italian Seasoning????  Are they putting gold in Italian Seasoning these days?????  That was McCormick brand btw - they didn't have a store brand or any other brand.  We are just going to have to live without Italian Seasoning for now cause I'm not paying no $6.10 for it!!!

The Daughter got Just Dance 3 for the Wii for Christmas and it has this great feature called "Just Sweat" for exercising (thank you btw to all those who gave me suggestions on how to get rid of my Christmas Blubber - I'm still looking into/considering ideas).  So far my fave song to dance to surprisingly is Lenny Kravitz's "Are You Gonna Go My Way".  I can get 4 stars on that one.  :-D

Besides the show "Gold Rush" I am also now hooked on "Flying Wild Alaska" - I've watched all of Season 1 on Netflix and tried to watch as much of the current season as I could remember to.  The Husband is getting worried with my fascination with Alaska and he's already told me we are NOT moving to Alaska, and not to get any ideas - the Adirondacks is as far north as he's willing to go.

Now that the Husband and I have hit our forties, our inability to remember things at times has become quite amusing.  The other day the Husband couldn't think of the word for a particular item and called it, "the fart balloon thingy" (whoopie cushion).

Speaking of being in your 40s...I went for my first mammogram the other day.  I can't decide whether to blog about it or not.  I'm pretty sure my description of the ordeal I went through would give you a laugh, but on the other hand it just might be tmi....lol...

Speaking of laughs...I am reading a book by a local Hudson Valley author called, "A Real Piece of Work".  It's a detective/mystery/thriller story - I'm three quarters of the way through it and so far I'm really enjoying it - not too gritty, just great storytelling THANK YOU!  I happen to follow this author on Twitter and he occasionally tweets lines from the book, such as this, "Briefly I wished I were that other detective, Spenser, who could make a gourmet meal out of vitamin C tablets and an onion." As I was reading, I came across this gem I think should be his next quote, "I rolled over a drift and scrambled behind a tree, my thighs as nimble as two frozen hams."  This books has some very witty lines, lol.  The only thing I'm worried about regarding this book, is that there is a sequel - already written - but the author (Chris Orcutt) won't release it until he sells 1,000 copies of *this* book - gah!  I have no idea how close he might be, but if you want to check it out here's a link to the Amazon page - it's in Kindle format (you don't need a Kindle btw to read it - you can download an app to read it on your pc or ipod/ipad) and it's $4.99 - Chris Orcutt's A Real Piece of Work.

It's actually snowing here today in NY - hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Anyone Know of a Diet that Really Keeps the Weight Off??

Ok, ok.  I know *no* diet will "work" - it has to be a lifestyle change.

Ok, so does anyone know of a LIFESTYLE CHANGE that actually makes you lose weight and keep it off, and isn't torture and doesn't involve eating 10 bowls of cabbage soup a day, or diet pills or anything weird?

I have done Weight Watchers countless times now.  It works to take the weight off - I am able to succeed in that endeavor time and time again.  The problem is, the weight creeps back on and it seems like now every January I have to go back on it to re-lose the weight again and I'M TIRED OF DOING WEIGHT WATCHERS.  I just am.  And clearly once I lose the weight, I don't maintain it.  Because I like to eat.  That's the problem ya see.

So here it is January, and I have the usual Christmas Blubber I want to lose and I just don't know what to do this time.  I really don't have the motivation or desire to do Weight Watchers again...but all the other diets I've looked at require you to eat in a way that I'm sure I won't be able to stick to for the long term.

The *only* thing I can think of is to exercise a lot.  But if you know me, you know I *hate* to exercise and I *hate* to sweat.

Quite a dilemma here.

I need some ideas, inspiration and motivation.  I even thought of "bribing myself" with a new purse or new rustic furniture for our cabin if I could lose 30 lbs.  But I don't even know how to lose 30 pounds other than Weight Watchers.... :-/

If you have any suggestions on how you lost weight and kept it off, I'd be interested to hear what worked for you - please share!!

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More Thoughts Too Short For a Whole Blog Post

Sorry for the lousy picture - didn't think to take one until we'd nearly eaten the whole thing.

Our daughter recently celebrated her 13th birthday and she wanted a vanilla and strawberry ice cream cake (like from Carvel or Dairy Queen with the "chocolate crunchies").  Which you totally can't get this time of year (a custom ice cream cake).  But then I got to thinking about it.  And I decided to try making a homemade ice cream cake and the "crunchies" myself.  It turned out to be quite easy, and it was REALLY YUMMY!  Maybe I'll post the recipe/instructions on my other blog (www.sensiblehomemaker.com) if anyone's interested.

We are addicted to the Discovery Channel show, "Gold Rush"!!!!

I forget if I've mentioned it here, but my Dad is getting married, so I am getting a Stepmom!  (My Mom passed away over 10 years ago.)  They already went and looked at diamond engagement rings and picked one out, and I believe they will be marrying some time this year.  Funny how life can be so full of surprises.  If I had told my Dad 5 years ago that he'd be remarrying he would have told me I must be smoking crack.

OMG this cold I mentioned in my last post is still doggin' me.  BLAH!

I know I mentioned I got an iPad2 for Christmas, but now that I've had it for a little while I thought I'd share some of my favorite apps, and maybe you will share some of yours?  I think my three fave apps so far are:  Flipboard (this is AMAZING - it turns your Facebook, Twitter, News, etc. into a sort of magazine you can flip through and see all your "stuff" at once), AppStart (saves you the trouble of searching out the best apps for whatever you want to do - super, super handy), and Words With Friends (I am "Carolesthought" on there if you want to play with me). If you're interested in more great suggestions for iPad/iPhone apps, there's a list at The Older Geek - Must-Have Apps for the iPad.

Now that the Adirondack Cabin project is done (it will be a year this month since it was finished, I can't believe it!!!!) and we can't go visit there until spring, we're finally back to doing some geocaching.  The Husband's latest "quest" is to try to find a cache a day for as many days as he can to set our "personal record" for longest cache finding streak.  I think we've found a cache for 16 days in a row so far.

We are currently waging a war against mice in our basement.  We are using mousetraps, which have been intermittent in their effectiveness.  The Husband uses peanut butter as bait.  Sometimes we get a mouse, sometimes the traps are licked clean with no dead mice to show for it, and other times we've caught mice in the already "licked clean" traps.  Last night a mouse was caught right after the traps were set.  The Husband went to dispose of it, and I guess since the mouse had been caught so recently it was, er, floppy.  The Husband, who is not normally squeamish said disposing of mice after rigor mortis has set in is a lot less "gross".  He definitely prefers disposing of "stale" mice over "fresh", lol.

Got any good mouse trapping techniques to share?

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I'm Still Here...

Our daughter got some "fashion" color duck tape for her recent birthday, and my niece made her a pair of sandals out of it - pretty cool, huh?

Sorry for the lack of posts the last week or so.  Between getting back in the swing of things, I had a couple of nights where I hardly got any sleep and I ended up coming down with a virus that's made me feel like doing nothing the last two days.  You should see what a disaster my kitchen is from neglect.

I didn't really make any New Year's resolutions, per se, however one thing that I want to focus on going forth is paying more attention to people's actions and making judgments based on those, rather than words.  Talk is cheap and I tend to believe the talking, rather than what is actually going on in front of my face and so many times I've ended up feeling like a naive idiot.  Maybe it's even denial - that I don't *want* to believe what I see...I gotta wake up and smell the coffee better.  They say wisdom comes with age...I'm 41 - I wonder when my shipment is due?

Did you make any New Year's resolutions?

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