Since I don’t watch daytime TV (The View, Today, etc.) I somehow missed seeing this video which was apparently very popular on Youtube last year. Get out the tissues!

Here’s a follow-up story from MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25797678/
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This video cracks me up. I don’t think I have ever gagged while changing a diaper. Weaklings!

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I’m wishing that I took this week off to have some fun with the kids during their February vacation. It’s tough to try to work at home while they are vying for my attention. Tonight we went to a members-only event at the New England Aquarium, which was much better than fighting the crowds during the day. I took all 3 kids on the Green Line alone (Can I have some props for that, people?!?!), which was only $2 because the kids were free. It was the best $2 I’ve spent this year…it bought relative peace and quiet until Norah screamed a swear word loud and clear. I told her it was inappropriate blah blah blah and that I wasn’t happy with her behavior. Aliya said, “Are you happy with my behavior?”, Adlani chimed in, “What about me?” and when I said they were behaving well, Norah said, “Me too!” I said, “No, I’m not happy with your behavior,” and she stuttered, “I-I-I’m gonna sh-sh-shut up!” It’s hard not to laugh at that but the earlier inappropriate language was a little embarrassing. Oh well.

Ben met us at Government Center and we had dinner at Legal Seafood and headed over to the aquarium. It wasn’t nearly as crowded as it would have been during the day, and the kids had a lot of fun. They started getting tired and cranky on the way to the car, but we made it back without incident…until we got to the Riverside T-station anyway. When Ben dropped me off to get my car, I dropped my keys and they landed right by his rear wheel. As I started to bend down I thought that maybe I shouldn’t do that in case he ran over me. Luckily I didn’t bend over because he peeled out as soon as I closed the door, and was about an inch away from running over my keys. I’m lucky I don’t have tire marks over a limb right now.

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I have recently connected with a bunch of my old friends via Facebook, and it’s very addicting. Whenever I think of someone I have to go check to see if they’re on Facebook, and whenever I get a new friend I immediately check their friends to see if I know any of them. The first day I started exploring Facebook I found a picture of my 6th grade class! I found my long-lost cousin and my best friend from first grade. I found the kid I picked on incessantly and was finally able to apologize. I found current friends, old friends, coworkers, PTO Moms, and fellow Fire Door Inspectors. And lots of people found me.

WOO-HOO! I’m on Facebook! I’m “with it”!

Then I read the article below (thanks Sherry).

Why Facebook is for Old Fogies
By Lev Grossman
Time Magazine, 2/12/2009

Facebook is five. Maybe you didn’t get it in your news feed, but it was in February 2004 that Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, along with some classmates, launched the social network that ate the world. Did he realize back then in his dorm that he was witnessing merely the larval stage of his creation? For what began with college students has found its fullest, richest expression with us, the middle-aged. Here are 10 reasons Facebook is for old fogies:

1. Facebook is about finding people you’ve lost track of. And, son, we’ve lost track of more people than you’ve ever met. Remember who you went to prom with junior year? See, we don’t. We’ve gone through multiple schools, jobs and marriages. Each one of those came with a complete cast of characters, most of whom we have forgotten existed. But Facebook never forgets. (See the best social networking applications.)

2. We’re no longer bitter about high school. You’re probably still hung up on any number of petty slights, but when that person who used to call us that thing we’re not going to mention here, because it really stuck, asks us to be friends on Facebook, we happily friend that person. Because we’re all grown up now. We’re bigger than that. Or some of us are, anyway. We’re in therapy, and it’s going really well. These are just broad generalizations. Next reason.

3. We never get drunk at parties and get photographed holding beer bottles in suggestive positions. We wish we still did that. But we don’t. (See pictures of Denver, Beer Country.)

4. Facebook isn’t just a social network; it’s a business network. And unlike, say, college students, we actually have jobs. What’s the point of networking with people who can’t hire you? Not that we’d want to work with anyone your age anyway. Given the recession–and the amount of time we spend on Facebook–a bunch of hungry, motivated young guns is the last thing we need around here.

5. We’re lazy. We have jobs and children and houses and substance-abuse problems to deal with. At our age, we don’t want to do anything. What we want is to hear about other people doing things and then judge them for it. Which is what news feeds are for.

6. We’re old enough that pictures from grade school or summer camp look nothing like us. These days, the only way to identify us is with Facebook tags. (See pictures of a diverse group of American teens.)

7. We have children. There is very little that old people enjoy more than forcing others to pay attention to pictures of their children. Facebook is the most efficient engine ever devised for this.

8. We’re too old to remember e-mail addresses. You have to understand: we have spent decades drinking diet soda out of aluminum cans. That stuff catches up with you. We can’t remember friends’ e-mail addresses. We can barely remember their names.

9. We don’t understand Twitter. Literally. It makes no sense to us.

10. We’re not cool, and we don’t care. There was a time when it was cool to be on Facebook. That time has passed. Facebook now has 150 million members, and its fastest-growing demographic is 30 and up. At this point, it’s way cooler not to be on Facebook. We’ve ruined it for good, just like we ruined Twilight and skateboarding. So git! And while you’re at it, you damn kids better get off our lawn too.
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Aliya and I went to Disney on Ice with Michelle and Erin G. and Erin’s Brownie troop. The girls were enthralled with the show, and Michelle and I spent the time pondering the big questions – How are they driving the cars around on the ice? Is there someone in the car or is it remote control? Does the fairy godmother floating above the ice get paid less because she doesn’t have to skate, or more because she has to fly? Do the male skaters holding the women up in the air ever do anything inappropriate?

The only negative was that now Aliya wants to join the Brownies. I’ll be building forts out of matchsticks and sewing on patches in my free time.

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