Almost five months ago, my husband joined FriendFeed and I heard of little else. I’m not a geek (a term I use with the utmost love and respect) so I don’t get excited about technogeek stuff. I thought that Josh’s new obsession would die out eventually. I was wrong. I kept a bite on my tongue and bided my time. (Except there was that one time he brought his phone to the dinner table to check up  on his “other family” and I straight out said, “That’s rude.”) So I waited.

I suppose I was naive the way some children are when they take their first drag of a cigarette or sip of beer and think they can avoid the horrors of addiction. One time, just to try it… what harm can that do? Besides, Josh was posting pictures of my baby and I wanted to see what he meant that people left comments. The idea of FF is to have almost real time interaction with other people who have joined. I learned what a feed was by checking up on what Josh’s feed (things he posted) looked like and what people were saying in response. Perhaps my pride was ignited when I saw that a dozen or so people thought Zoe was cute (and they didn’t seem like social deviants out to kidnap her). I didn’t check it everyday, but it began to seem less of a threat. Maybe this FF stuff isn’t so bad, but still I waited for Josh to get tired of sitting at the computer refreshing over and over again.

Imagine my consternation when Josh announced that he was going to do a weekly podcast with two guys he met on FF. All I knew of a podcast was Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht sitting together with their laptops and microbrews talking geek… like a radio show. I kept biting my tongue, but I felt a little jealous—fine, go play with your friends, I thought. Ffundercats, ho! I was still leery when I saw Josh go from speaking Pirate (who knew that geeks celebrated Pirate Day) to anguish at the emotional and personal attacks of some people getting into debates over the Presidential election. I still kept FF at a distance.

I was too busy to do more than check on Josh’s feed periodically. I even clicked on a few names of his friends, and from the comments that were left I began to recognize their names. And I sometimes asked Josh about them. John is in Australia? Yes, he takes good pictures and his daughter is adorable. And Mark is in Canada. Right. I like to read what he had for dinner. Which one is the one that’s crazy about Rahsheen again? Oh, yeah, Monique. She’s funny. Which one is Faboo Mama? Oh, she’s the one that got you to do the macarena. And Tina is the one that went by Stupid Blogger but added her name and shocked everybody by not only turning out to be a girl and uber geeky, but cute to boot. Oh, and of course, there’s Mona who gets the boys stirred up and Lindsey (with an e) who sometimes posts pictures of hot girls, but she’s straight. Rochelle and Akiva are expecting, Tad and Lindsay (with an a) are married, too, and Ladybug Heather is engaged to Scott from Canada. There’s a Trish R and she lives just over the bridge from us. Yolanda is also in Texas.

I got to know more names of people when I finally caved and joined last month. Josh’s brother Morgan also joined, and he is the only other person I know in real life that is on FF. I learned the names of more geeks who post things that are way over my head, but I still read them and maybe I’ll learn code by osmosis. I learned what a LOL cat was and how to speak it. I know what a meme is and how to pronounce it. We have since received advice on how to get out of our cell phone contract, why we should buy iPhones, and what laptops are good when you can’t afford a Mac (or would rather not switch religions). And now I sit at the computer and hit refresh over and over again. It’s just fun! Especially when you’re on prime time and there are a lot of people engaging in conversation from recipes to hard drives.

I am fairly liberal with the “like” button which you can click to show that you like what someone has posted. The more people you subscribe to the more things you will see on your main feed. You can catergorize them into Favorites or other customized label. I decided when I joined that I wouldn’t judge and I endeavor to use tact in my comments. There are a lot of people from different parts of the world and from different backgrounds on FF. Some post things that I would rather not see. Some say things in language that I would rather not use. So I don’t respond to the things that I don’t care to engage in conversation about. I have the option of hiding the things that I don’t want to look at, and I can even block someone so that I don’t ever see their feed or their comments. I have yet to use that feature, though.

The really cool thing about FF that I didn’t really consider since I’m not a geek is that you can hook up your other online services to FF. Like your Facebook or your blog. Why is this cool? I don’t know. I just live here. No really, if you want to find out you’ll have to check it out. There are tons of blogs and tons of geeks out there who will attest to the benefits of “aggregated social media”. You have been warned, however, and may have to wait longer than you think to get over the addiction. I’m surprised that I have lasted this long.

I joined Myspace because my husband really wanted me to. I was sucked in for a while, but the maintenance of something so frivolous in light of real life responsibilities made its novelty wear off pretty quickly. I keep my account to steal band pictures for work and every now and then check up on my cousins who are on there. Facebook is more interesting to me because of the ability to throw cows at people… that and the fact that it is a much cleaner Myspace. Kind of like the difference between dressing up goth as opposed to casual dressy. Facebook also has flair which I think is a fun way to express yourself, however, its novelty has also begun to wane. (Side note: I won’t add anymore applications on FB to avoid the viruses that crashed my desktop, so if you’re sending me karma or any other requests, don’t be sad that I don’t accept or send any back. It doesn’t mean I don’t love you.)

I’ve come to my own conclusion that Twitter is like the status bar on Facebook and that’s it. I don’t have a Twitter account, though. I’m content to leave my addiction with FF for the time being.

If you’re reading this, you’re either related to me or are a friend with a blog. And most of my family and friends are not geeks, so you probably don’t know about FriendFeed. This is my attempt to draw you in or help you understand this addiction. Maybe you will take the plunge with me. You’ll be completely confused at first, but if you are actively engaged, you will find that there are plenty of people who will help get you adjusted.

For my part, revenge is sweet. Josh now has to deal with the glassy-eyed lack of attention from me that he so often dealt to me while he was feeding off friends on FriendFeed.

So now It’s way after midnight and I’m checking out my new and improved (tripled RAM memory and new “fatty” 500Gb Hard Drive) computer that Josh installed tonight… like without even breaking a sweat. I revere his geek gene that he has nurtured since the day we were married. (Seriously, he used our loot from the money dance at our wedding reception to buy our first computer.) Believe it or not, there was once a time when I knew more about computers than he did. Laughable, I know! Unbelievable, I know! In human growth terms, he went from zygote to teen wonder in less than a year. I served my time (hanging out at computer stores, going to sleep with him still surfing the net–with dial up no less, and watching him spend $20 on one CD to burn and dying inside when it didn’t take because he would have to buy another one), and now I am reaping the benefits. We got great deals at Fry’s today and my boss agreed to pay for it… woo hoo! And I am marveling at the speed at my fingertips. I feel like Flash Gordon… I’m singing the Queen song in my head…. Flash… Ah-aahhhHH! Savior of the Universe!

Now I have no excuse… I have to get those other calendars done. I did three today, so that leaves five more. I can do it. I think I can, I think I can.

I’m so ready to pop! I had three contractions in a 20-minute period today at the doctor’s office. They put me on a monitor and I had to click the clicker every time I felt baby move. I was clicking away and the nurse commented about how the baby was moving around like a “jumping jelly bean.” (It doesn’t look so good in print, but she was a black lady and she quipped it with conviction and flare, so I decided to write it anyway.) And then the doctor said that the baby “is looking really good.” He was a little bugged that I have been skipping testing my blood a lot, but only three more days of this and hopefully I can eat whatever I want!!

OK, who am I kidding? I’ve already been eating whatever I want lately… within reason… most of the time. But I think mostly, I haven’t been eating. I get busy doing something and pretty soon it’s noon and I haven’t eaten breakfast. So then I go down whatever is quick… protein or not. And I can’t seem to keep drinking water. That’s why my crocs are tight. Especially on my left foot. My entire left leg looks 15% bigger than my right. I wonder why. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that it hurts in the “hmm hmm” to stand on that leg by itself. It has been like that for months, but the swelling only started in the last three weeks. And if I wore anything on my nose, it would be tight, too… my nose is totally swollen.

I took pictures of all this, but I don’t want to gross you out. Some family members have already been “treated” to a picture of my naked belly with stretch marks and darkened belly button. I think I’ve said enough here.

Other than that bit of unpleasantness, today was a rather rewarding day. I was able to wake up on time and be at the church to set up for our first Primary Quarterly Activity of the year — Meet Your Teacher Breakfast. The newest members of the Primary presidency were there as promised and ready to rock. I just love these women already. Josh set up 9 round tables practically on his own, and we put tablecloths and chairs out. Sarah and Zack were helpful putting up table tents and Articles of Faith cards at each setting. Susie came a little later after having baked from scratch 80 sausage and cheese kolaches. She also brought orange wedges, pineapple rings, and grapes. We were fortunate enough to get leftover orange rolls that our former Nursery leader made because of a youth planning meeting that took place at the same time.

We had a pretty big turn out with 31 children showing up in pajamas. Our music leader did an excellent job introducing the theme for the year, and the teachers seemed to enjoy getting to know their new classes. I am especially grateful for dedicated teachers that come every Sunday prepared to teach and love the children.

We had plenty of help cleaning up, and then after the closing prayer, the children went home and the teachers stayed for a Teacher Improvement meeting. I thought it went very well. I feel like we will all mesh well this year and have success in our goals for Primary. Of course, I’m leaving everything in the capable hands of Susie and the new counselor and new secretary for this month, but I am feeling really excited about what the coming year has in store. I am passed being completely paralyzed with fear of being the president, and I feel like I’ll do better and make less mistakes.

There are still some issues to take care of, but I know that all the challenges I face are no surprise to Heavenly Father, and he would not have put me here if he didn’t think I could do some good and learn a lot along the way. He trusts me with the teaching of his little ones, so I have to trust that he knows what he’s doing and try not to mess up!

I took a good long nap when I got home and after Susie brought by some cinnamon rolls that she made from scratch. They were so good! And she was so good to think of us. I can’t say enough about how much she rocks. I’m so happy that she’s past her morning sickness and back to her normal self.

After my nap, I went through the coupons I bought. I haven’t bought newspapers since mid-December. There were a lot this week. So then I dragged Sarah to Kroger with me (since Susie wasn’t answering… must have hit the sack early after all her baking). I got $211 worth of stuff for $122. Not quite 50% off, but a good run all the same. I’m especially happy about getting a package of diapers for $5 and a thing of wipes for $1.

We start church at 2:30pm tomorrow. It will be weird, but nice that I have all day to prepare my Sharing Time lesson.

Now I have to go do some breathing exercises or get in a better position… Zoe is starting her aerobics/yoga session now.

My mom doesn’t read my blog, I don’t think. So I’ll tell you a secret… I’m going to see how she feels about giving me her super duper really nice laptop. She bought it last Christmas when she was here and I’m taking lessons from Josh…. I talk her into giving me the “obsolete” year-old computer and then she can get a “nice, new shiny one” when she gets here next week.

I’m on the phone with her right now feeling her out. She’s currently laughing in my face. And now she’s telling me that she wants a camcorder. OK… I’ll have to try another route… tears? crying? nah, that never works with parents. Maybe the trick will be just getting her to bring it… and then we take a trip to Fry’s and see what’s out there and maybe she’ll see something she likes. And I’ll be in the right place at the right time… yeah, baby.

Shameless! I wasn’t going to blog about this. I was actually trying to post pictures of the boys’ haircuts… that Josh did! I helped, but it was pretty much mostly Josh. They look good.

Gotta go. More later.