Virginia Breeze

I must have gone to see this bear ten times to try and take his picture for my grandson Charlie. But the bear was always hiding or playing on the other side of the quarry. I thought he must be a really shy bear or maybe introverted like me. So this Thanksgiving I decided to try something different.

My grandson has this poster of Yogi Bear and Smokey the Bear so I borrowed it and unrolled it on the inside of the stone wall that protects the bear from all of us.

And then next thing I know here he comes! He ran down the hill and over to where I was standing in about thirty seconds. Then he picks up a stick, sits back and starts holding this pose for about a minute. It was amazing.

I felt bad when I had to leave and take the poster with me. It belongs to Charlie. But I’m thinking about trying to find another one and giving it to my new friend for Christmas.

http://davidnotes.com/2007/12/02/rss-hugger-chugging-along-my-stocking-stuffer-stats/

http://www.american-election.com/2007/11/16/are-you-sick-of-bad-stumble-friends-i-am/

Bernie stumbled this post and therefore it showed up on my list of stuff in StumbleUpon. That’s how it works. The things your pals see that are interesting show up on your list and then you can add your two cents. Or not.

Well this post is about the “or not” part. Because it seems like everybody just goes in different directions most of the time. And you can spend time lavishing praise on lots of posts and then three days later you send out something to them all and it gets ignored by nine out of ten.

Or they give it a “thumbs up”. I didn’t realize this was happening until a few days ago. Someone gives you a thumbs up and they don’t bother to write a review of say two or three words. Even though that is all it takes. Bernie does a great job of summing up your post in three words. Mine are only worth two words so I’m very grateful when he throws in an extra word. But that’s three too many for some folks and so you never even know they did anything. At least I am not aware of any benefit from it or any way of even knowing they responded. So you end up with one person thinking he did something good for the other person. And the second person thinking that the first person just ignored his request. And the first person wonders why he was never thanked….and so forth and so on.

It’s kind of a dumb trap just waiting to ensnare stumblers and create confused or negative feelings on both sides.

It’s just better to do a short review and I’m sure Bernie would be happy to do a class if we can get enough folks together in Southern Indiana on a Saturday morning.

But if that doesn’t happen here is a great summary of the process.

http://www.american-election.com/2007/11/16/are-you-sick-of-bad-stumble-friends-i-am/

Update: So this morning I have been contacting my SU circle about this post and the one it is based on that you can click above. And do you know what? Hardly any of them know how to add a review! It’s not that they don’t care. They don’t know how and they think it is too complicated or time consuming to learn and do it. I have been working with a lovely friend in Belgium for the past hour and a half on this. She sincerely wants to leave a comment and boost this post. Because she is a gentle soul and doesn’t like people misunderstanding each other. We are working with a language barrier and that is part of the problem. But the other part is that she didn’t understand that it takes five seconds to click on the cloud and say “This is an interesting and useful post”.

And it is useful. If it keeps you from losing one potential friend it is worth as much as any plugin or list of good things to do. So here’s the deal. The cloud is located next to the ’send to’ button on the toolbar. Be sure to have the latest update of SU’s toolbar. And then AFTER doing the thumb’s up just click on it and put down 3-5 words if you are busy but still agree with what’s being said. It makes all the difference. The person on the other end can see your support in a tangible form. And one that will be useful as well.

Update2: Well, finally some success! My Belgium friend and also someone else here in the US have added reviews. They both wanted to do it from the beginning. But they couldn’t figure it out!! And if I had not contacted them I would have just imagined they did not like my post or didn’t care. I would still like and enjoy both of them because they are wonderful people with great blogs. But in the back of my mind I would wonder, “Why didn’t they like my post?” And this has been happening a lot. It’s an impediment to closer relationships with circle members and it leads to posts like the one above that started all of this train of thought.

I hope this post will help some folks in the future. It has helped me greatly already. Do I mind not having the absolutely most stunning photo at the top of my SU blog all the time? Because when you write those 2 or 3 or 200 words in a review it’s coming to the top of your page? No. I don’t I would rather form a relationship with someone who is working their way up through the ranks of SU. That’s where the blogging satisfaction comes from for me. I understand that there is a different and perhaps majority point of view in regards to all this. This would be that I should simply push stuff up that I like! Aesthetics rule! But I respectfully suggest there is another point of view. And, besides, I can put the photo of my grandson Charlie up at the top at any time by editing and unchecking the time box. Charlie is the most beautiful thing in the world in my eyes. And in yours too, right? I’m just kidding. Your child or grandchild is the most beautiful thing in the world. I forgot! And I would enjoy seeing the little guy or girl up there as well.

I just enjoy pushing people up more than photos or articles! It gets them excited and makes them happy. And that makes me happy. Maybe they are just starting out and don’t have the greatest stuff on the blog. So what! It can be on my blog for awhile and it will gradually get pushed down. At the end of my SU day I can spend a few minutes stumbling the best material picked out by the world’s best stumblers and put it up on my blog for the night and until I start stumbling again. I used to be a social worker and for years I enjoyed working with people who had very little or nothing. You got someone a place to sleep and some warm food and you went home feeling like you did something good. It was tremendously satisfying. So now I am retired and I do this because everyone needs a little help now and then.

So you can come to my SU site and see a few really nice things. And you may see some things that don’t seem very special. But look more closely and you will see someone trying to express their pleasure with something in this world. They have made a connection and want to share it with the rest of us. And I am right there with them. Because my taste is not always the most aesthetically pleasing either. Maybe we will all grow together! And maybe we will all get to the same place in the end. I hope so.

Back to 3/Writing About Blogging

http://davidnotes.com/2007/11/23/weblogs-i-follow/

Beth and I had a very nice time today. We drove up to Lynchburg, Virginia to help my grandson Charlie celebrate his first birthday. I am going to write about it tomorrow but thought it would be nice to put up a photo of Charlie and maybe one of the mountains tonight.