I Never Wanted To Be THIS Social

    I've been on Twitter for what seems like ages. I like Twitter. All my friends are there. But Twitter is broken and it's only getting worse. So, like many others, I've signed up with other social media platforms to try to find a new home.

    If you take a look at the sidebar, you'll see I have a lot of presence on the web. I just added Blue Sky and Meta's Threads comes out tomorrow. I'll be checking that out. I never wanted to be on Blue Sky. I don't like Jack. But the one guy that's a must-follow on Twitter landed there. So, I had to have an account there. 

    Want to know my thoughts of some of the platforms? I'm going to share them anyway.

    Twitter:  Broken, but my friends are there. You can avoid trolls by curating your following list and your feed. It's my go-to place for snarky political takes and politics. It's also where I post most of my personal comments, such as my daily workout report or what my pets have been doing. Twitter collects data from you for its own purposes.

    Instagram/Facebook:  I pair these together since they are both Meta products. Horrible products if you want to follow accounts because Meta doesn't believe in chronological order. I hope Threads adheres strictly to chronological order. It's what everyone prefers. Meta collects A LOT of data from you for its own purposes.

    Mastodon: Quirky little place with it's federated universe and instances. I'll admit, I've been there for a while and still don't know what all that's about. I mainly post my "On This Day" posts there just to maintain a presence, but I have been reading some posts lately. Mastodon does not collect your data.

    CounterSocial:  It's the Pop Rocks platform. You remember Pop Rocks, the candy that pops when you put it in your mouth? That's CounterSocial.  That said, my "On This Day" posts produce a lot of interesting feedback. People will reply and say they met so and so, or visited this place or that. It's awesome to meet these users and discover real life connections to those moments in history. Counter Social does not collect your data.

    Spoutible:  In my mind Spoutible might be the most polished of the new platforms I've joined. It's still a work in progress but it's much further along than you'd expect. I've made some new connections there and my "On This Day" posts seem popular. Some have even told me they look forward to them. A feature of Spoutible is the "Normal" rating. This is a percentage that tells you how likely an account will "engage in targeted harassment, toxic trolling, or use deceptive tactics engineered to cause division or chaos." So, if you're looking for a peaceful experience, you can curate your following list by choosing those with a low "Normal" rating. Spoutible does not collect your data. Spoutible only has an Android app at this time but they are working on an IOS app.

    Post (News):  It's sort of a news aggregator type of social media platform. Individuals can read news articles and there is something called "micropayments" and a points system that's designed to allow individuals to pay for access to articles. So, news producers can make some money here. I haven't spent a lot of time on this site. When I joined everyone was posting pictures of their pets so I can't expand on what daily life is like there. The founder wants polite discourse so there are rules of behavior and moderating. As for data collection, I couldn't find a lot of information. Your log in info obviously. And if you're paying for these points, then probably some financial data. Post News only has an IOS app so check out the specs to read more about data privacy.

    Blue Sky: I only have this account because one person I follow on Twitter decided this was where he was going to go when Twitter gives up the ghost. It's still in Beta testing so it isn't fully developed, which for all the hype surrounding it makes it a bit of a letdown. I mean, they've been working on it for a long time and it's still like this? Anyway, it's based on instances and a federated setup like Mastodon but you don't really notice it. It collects quite a bit of data and uses it to train its AI. That means your photos, videos, words you've posted are all fair game for Jack and his programmers. At present, many of the accounts are people trying to avoid conservative viewpoints. As the company has been very strict on allowing new accounts, many of your favorite twitter personalities aren't there yet. This can make the place seem boring and slow. It seems Blue Sky is the hot ticket for celebs and notable twitter accounts. 

    What does all this mean? If you want less of your data collected, check out Mastodon or Spoutible.  If you want to sit at the "cool kids" table, check out Blue Sky. I'm 1MirandaAllen on all of them. 

New Life, New Love (Times Two)

    After nearly three months, I finally have two new little ones in my life. If you've read the other blog posts, you'll know I lost my guinea pig Barney a few months ago.  I have missed him every day.

    I would check in with the local pet store nearly every day on FB to see if they had any for sale and they never did. She was kind of a disappointing business owner. I had this week off from work so I decided to travel to 'the big city' and get a guinea pig from one of their pet stores. I ended up getting two males who were already used to each other so they can keep each other company in their new enclosure.

    They are so much fun to watch when they chase each other and do zoomies. And they aren't afraid to go up to the second floor. Barney would never go up there. 

    Their names are Henry, the black one, and Ezra, the black and white one, named for a couple of my favorite tv show characters. I am so happy to hear their little noises throughout the day.

A New Routine

    Now that I've been on this exercise and weight loss path for a a few months, I need a new routine. This is because I now have a Total Gym. So I'm going to have to figure out which days to use the Total Gym and which days to use the pilates machine. The stationary bike will be used every day.

    I'm still telling myself that I have to do this the rest of my life. It is a must. Maybe this will stick in my brain and I'll soon believe it. One way to stay motivated would be to find out if I've lost any additional weight, but I don't want to get on the scales to find out that I haven't. That would certainly kill the whole mission.

Lightning in a Bottle

    I have been a yo-yo weight loss person for years. Three times in the past I have "captured lightning in a bottle" and stuck with a diet and exercise plan to lose a considerable amount of weight.  It's really hard to capture that lightning.

    What I'm experiencing now may be the fourth time I've captured it. Since January I've cut out added sugar and incorporated stepping in place in my cubicle at work. I've been using my stationary bike every day and just recently I started using my pilates machine. All this produced a 12 pound weight loss in the last 2 to 3 months and my blood sugar number is now under 100.

    I've ordered a new piece of exercise equipment and can't wait to get it. I've been watching workout videos on Youtube to try to keep momentum. And I've been posting a workout report every day on twitter, thinking that people will come to expect it so I'd better keep up with the workouts.

    So, how long does lightning exist in a bottle? I don't know. I need it to exist for the rest of my life. We'll see.

Hands In the Dirt

    I have been work, work, working away getting a garden set up for this year. I set up my raised bed today and have planted green peppers and green beans. The other day I planted cucumber, squash, and watermelon seeds and grape tomato plants. The tomato plants may not make it. They didn't react well to full sun.

    What's funny is that I probably won't eat any of this stuff. Maybe some tomatoes. I'll give everything I grow to my dad. Last year he forgot about the beans I gave him and let them rot. I'll have to remind him this year. 

    Today was a lot of work. I am exhausted and sore. On top of the gardening, I also mowed some of the pasture with my push mower. That was tough. Hopefully dad will one day get the tractor going and mow the pasture properly.

Oh, Really?

 "Thanks, but I was asking my friends...."

So, you're happy to accept my follow to prop up your Followers numbers but suddenly I'm not a friend? 

Fine. 

Unfollowed.

Vacation, Sort Of

    Today is the first day of my week of vacation. It's a staycation. I have a lot of things to do around the house, and I don't like leaving the house anyway. I never understood why people travel away from home looking for fun or relaxation. Shouldn't you make your home into a fun and relaxation zone so you can feel that way all the time?

    Unfortunately, tomorrow I have to log on to the work computer and do some work. Yes, on my vacation. It wasn't my idea. They are releasing some new program and I have to some testing on it before they turn it on. I was understanding about a couple of hours on ONE day of my vacation. But then the boss said we'd have to tweak my time card on Monday to show that I worked on Sunday. So that's TWO days of my vacation interrupted.  

    Next time, I'm not going to tell them it's a vacation. I'll tell them it's a funeral. They wouldn't ask me to work during a funeral.