So I had dinner with a two friends last week. Two people with whom I used to work, at a boutique PR agency, smack dab in the middle of the nineties. Which, oh by the way, doesn’t seem like it should be as long ago as it actually is. I realize this almost always when I find myself in conversations such as this one I had oh so recently with two current coworkers…
Me: “Hey, what was that Chumbawumba song?”
Current Coworker: “Huh?”
Me: “You know, it came out in like 97…they played it ALL the time…the lyrics talked about getting pissed.”
Current Coworker: “Pissed? Like mad?”
Me: “No, like drunk.”
Current Coworker: “They got pissed because someone got drunk?”
Me: “No, they’re from England. In England, getting pissed is getting drunk.”
Current Coworker: “So, when English people get mad, they immediately go get drunk.”
Me: “Well, yes. But no! No one is mad! Just drunk! … Oh forget it.”
CC 2: (joining conversation): “I know, what you’re talking about. They take the whiskey drink, they take the vodka drink. Something like that. They talk about everything they drink.”
Current Coworker: “Yeah, I was in middle school in 1997, so I wasn’t really allowed to drink when that song came out.”
These are the conversations I now have. Which makes me feel like this.
But back to the other night, these friends and I were discussing how much more ridiculously slow and complex it was to do our PR jobs back in the day before we had Internet. That’s right. We had no Internet. In fact, we had no email. In fact, we sent out press releases by fax. That is, if we wanted them there FAST! Otherwise, we sent them by snail mail, which, at the time, was just called mail.
And that was only about 18 months before the Chumbawumba song came out. Not that long ago (according to me, but not according to Current Coworker 1).
However, now, I can’t imagine brushing my teeth without the Internet, much less releasing a national news story, much less finding a movie time. In fact, I don’t know about you, but I’m online a ridiculous amount of the day these days. Almost always, actually. And I’m constantly checking out Web sites. I use them increasingly, depend on them slightly, read them religiously, write for them regularly. And so on.
Which brings me here.
So what are your favorite must-reads? Where do you go to get your info, your insights, your what’s what? Your candy? Your cool things?
I asked a young friend of mine today, "You're about the right age to have been an N'Sync fan. Were you? And do you like Justin Timberlake better now?" It's weird sometimes hanging out with people who don't remember things that didn't happen that long ago. I'm not that old!I'm with you on CNN and Salon. For cute food and crafts, I read ljcfyi.com. Interesting consumer stuff at Rage Diaries (http://schmeiser.typepad.com/). Blogging Baby and a ton of Mom-blogs as well.
CNN, MacRumors, MamaDrama, and then all of the blogs I have time to read in my RSS/Atom News Reader. Have you done that yet? Such a timesaving convenience. I like NewsFire.If it makes you feel better I've still got some Cassettes from the 80s of bands I don't want to admit to. They wouldn't even sell on the rummage sale. Old isn't a disease, it's a measure of wisdom (but not for everyone).
I get knocked down, but I get up again…I'm gonna have that song tubthumpin' around my head alllll day today. I'm with you on CNN and the NY Times. MSNBC, Popsugar, Blogging Baby, Go Fug Yourself, Bloglines, CBC, Kraft Canada (they have great recipes…) and Gmail are the ones I use the most.
Daily rituals:*Read blogs. Take time to really read them, especially great ones like byrneunit, dooce, Real Live Preacher, etc. (Yours just got added).*Write: in my journal, my ten-year journal (two journals. God, what a nerd), and on my blog.*Read whatever book I'm in that week.*Think about working out. Maybe actually do it.*Walk the dog.And how's this for feeling old: last month I found out that Pat Benatar is endorsing hearing aids. Pat freaking Benatar! I told my students this and they laughed, like, "Oh, ha ha. How funny you are old."I said, "You just wait until Lindsay Lohan is on TV hawking adult diapers. It'll be sooner than you think."At any rate – love the blog. You're my latest RSS feed addition.
Last year we went to the beach, and the house we rented had no internet connection. We were lost. We order pizza online, check the weather, get movie times, etc. In some ways, it's scary!I spend most of the babe's morning nap online. I try and update my blog first. Then I usually check out CNN, Cool Mom Picks, SI.com, and my google reader. I'm lucky if I fit that all in!By the by, I was a freshman in college the year that song came out, and every single awful frat/apartment party my room mate dragged me to had that song blaring in the background!
Slate, blogs, CNN, blogs, ESPN page 2, blogs, check email accounts (all three of them), blogs, Obscure Store, and blogs. It's amazing I get anything done. Damn you internet! Everything was simpler when we were pissing the night away.
Try playing Apples to Apples with a bunch of girls under 25. "Who is Quentin Tarantino?"Just put me in a home right now.
I taught middle school in 1997 and my students all knew the words to Tubthumpin'. Maybe your co-worker is Amish.My rituals are getting dressed, listening to the radio, drinking hot tea and visiting several blogs (queso, ntyamb, piglet, Ross the intern from the Tonight Show) and websites (luckymag.com, pagesix.com, statesman.com, style.com, ellemag.com, shopbop.com). Mostly, I spend 2 hours doing what could take 20 minutes if I could get off the dang internet. Curse you, Al Gore!
Baby, try talking to flat-bellied 20 year old co-workers about Wang Chung and remembering the debates on which was better- beta or VHS? Don't even get me started on the Apple II.I like news, but that's what cable's for. I am a total blog ho.
I have been known to stay in touch with my roots by visiting The Toronto Star (I like my news to come from outside the US), http://www.cbc.ca/22minutes and http://www.cbc.ca/mercerreportI used to read Salon and The Onion religiously, but now I frequent blogs instead…As for using the internet for everything, I know EXACTLY what you mean. (Ie. this morning, when I used the internet to find out what to do when there was an animal in my chimney.)Remember when you couldn't just type something into google to answer a question? People were just content to WONDER things. No more of that, thanks to the likes of wikipedia.
I have been known to stay in touch with my roots by visiting The Toronto Star (I like my news to come from outside the US), http://www.cbc.ca/22minutes and http://www.cbc.ca/mercerreportI used to read Salon and The Onion religiously, but now I frequent blogs instead…As for using the internet for everything, I know EXACTLY what you mean. (Ie. this morning, when I used the internet to find out what to do when there was an animal in my chimney.)Remember when you couldn't just type something into google to answer a question? People were just content to WONDER things. No more thanks to the likes of wikipedia.
One of the first things I do is check my blog to see if wonderful people like you have made a comment. Then after I get to work, I start reading many blogs that I just adore. When I am slow at work I usually get all of my reading and posting there, but if not then once I get everything settled at home I finish up there.
The first thing that I do is check my blog to se if great people like you have left a comment. Then once I get to work I read everyone's blogs that I just love and if it is slow enough I usually read them all there. Whatever I havent finished reading I do at home after the kiddos are taken care of.
Fark.com is the site that I check even before my email in the morning…and then after email, my favorite blogs. They are a collection of all of the parts of my personality, including the fact that "I get knocked down, but I get up again".
I'm a news junkie. When all else fails I read the news. I'm a clicker, so I never know where I'm going to end up.I know about old. I work with people that were toddlers when I was in college. Makes for an interesting day. Pat Benatar selling hearing aids?
I graduated in English without ever owning a computer and without the Internet. Quel nightmare!And now I am addicted. This is a good topic. I was just getting tired of my usual local news and wondering about some other sources.
It's so weird to reach that point where you're the Golden Girl. We were talking age at a Super Bowl party and a friend mentioned the year he graduated high school. "I was born that year!" young wipper-snapper McYoungGirl chimed in.What the….? Now I say it to younger people for fun, but it's really not going to be amusing when I telling someone from the younger generation "I could be your mother" and it might actually be true.
Speaking of Queso, I like to sit in front of my computer and watch a live broadcast of cheese molding when it's late at night, and I can't sleep…www.cheddarvision.tv
Cheddar Vision. Nice.
I have a child starting High School next year…that makes me feel really old.And I hear that song all the time. The glories of Satellite radio.
Hated that song! (Although I admit to liking "Too Sexy For My Shirt.")My daily reads include several on-line newspapers and an embarassing number of celebrity gossip sites including The Superficial, Babyrazzi, and People.com
No Internet?!? I can remember it…but I choose not to go there.
Daily for me includes: CNN, The Huffington Post, Salon, lots of blogs, and I Google EVERYTHING.
you! you're my reference. so no pressure then!x
As you know I'm addicted to blogs. Can't stop.But on the non-blogging front I can't live without Goldenfiddle.com and The Superficial.Because I'm shallow.Also, I'm old. (According to my 25 year old coworker who makes me want to beat her with my cane occasionally.)
I knew I was old when I didn't get txting, the point or how to. My son's social studies teacher looks just like Justin Timberlake only even younger. My son was not amused when I asked him if Mr. L was bringing sexy back.I have no daily rituals because my whole stupid life is kid driven and I never know what the week will bring. But, throughout the day or week, I sign in to yahoo, check the weather, major headlines, my email and then I read blog favorites. I then google or Wiki any interest of the moment.