A non-sequiter of an observation

Do you know what I don't understand about athletes who take performance enhancing drugs and then say 'I don't know exactly what it was that I took'?

If you get paid oodles and scads of money based on how well your body performs, it doesn't seem natural to take something without knowing exactly what it is and how it will affect your body.

Mrs. Dude and the 'orgy of overshare'

I have this ridiculous love-hate relationship with Facebook.

I enjoy Facebook because I can stalk people catch up with people that I might not otherwise have time to stalk connect with.

The people in my life who are my Facebook friends fall into two categories:
1.People I am currently acquainted with either virtually or "In Real Life."
2.People I was friends with at some point in the past but with whom I will probably not become reacquainted with more than superficially.

There are some people who started out in Category 2 who have moved to Category 1, and for that I am eternally grateful for Facebook.

My problem with social networking is--

Wait? You're tired of hearing people rant about social networking?

Humor me.

--something I'd like to call the 'orgy of over-share.'

The thing that made me aware of this 'orgy of over-share' that Facebook is facilitating was that '25 things' meme that every. single. person. on Facebook is doing.

The gist is this:
Get "tagged" by your friend, make a list of 25 things about yourself that nobody knows, tag 25 of your friends.

I have enjoyed learning more about the people I truly am interested in. I even came up with 25 facts about myself. All of them were true, and most of them were dreadfully boring.

But it's growing tiresome.

There is now a 100-question meme and a meme for mommies about the birth of one's first child.

There's an A-Z meme and an iPod shuffle meme.

It's 'meme madness' people!

This giant orgy of over-share is making me kind of want some time away from Facebook. I like you, but I really don't want to know that much about you.

And I posted a status message yesterday that said something about stopping the 'meme madness.'

In response, my awesome friend Amy sent me a link to this article that included the phrase "virtual narcissism."

And that, my friends, is where we get to the heart of my beef with social networking.

For all of the awesome ways in which social networking helps us connect to other people, it's still just another way for us to talk on and on about ourselves.

It reminds me of that thought in psychology that when you talk to someone, you spend more time formulating your next thought than you do paying attention to what they're saying.

I know that I sounds like a hypocritical Jerky JerkFace by saying all of that after having participated in the 'orgy of overshare' myself.

I guess I just wish that all of us, myself included, were a little bit better about self-censoring and not so keen to share so much about ourselves.

Wow. Really?

I had always thought of Oasis when I heard The Bravery. I have no idea why, but I did. Someone suggested to me, though, that The Bravery was closer to The Killers than Oasis. This morning on the way to work, Ethel (the XM channel I listen to most often), played a song by The Killers song back-to-back with "An Honest Mistake" by The Bravery.

It's really amazing how much more The Bravery sounds like The Killers than Oasis.

It's funny, even, considering how "meh" I am about The Killers.

I love it when my personal and professional lives collide

In my "day job," I'm a librarian. It's glamorous, I assure you. I don't talk about it much in this blog because it doesn't really fit with the topic at hand. But as I was reading through some Library Land blogs, I saw my two worlds collide.

I read this post by Annoyed Librarian that referred to this column by Boston sports columnist Bob Ryan.

In the column, Ryan writes about Patriots QB Tom Brady and how the offensive support he has this year outweighs the support he had last year. Ryan argues that Brady is as good of a QB this year as he was last year, but this year the stats match the performance. Ryan also says that you won't actually hear Brady toot his horn all that much. I assume this is because Brady is a gentleman (as evidenced by being a hands-on Dad to his bastard son whose mama he dumped to date a Brazilian supermodel).

In the article, Ryan writes "And you can be sure Brady will be seen in public with a homely librarian before he engages in any discussion about the difference between the receivers he was forced to work with last season and the ones he has now."

Librarians all over this great land of ours got their noses out of joint because Ryan insinuated that librarians are homely. Copious letters to the editor were written about stereotypes and "cool" librarians. It seems, almost a month later, that the seas are less choppy and that librarians have gone back to being the lame, fuddy duddy, "shush"ers we all know and love. It's hard work, my friends, but somebody's got to do it.

I was just amused that Ryan insinuated that Brady was a gentleman...

--Mrs. Dude, Colts fan

The only baseball-related post Mrs. Dude will ever write

You might think that since The Dude covers baseball for a living, I would write prolifically about baseball. You would be wrong, though. I stay out of it, since there's already one of us in the family doing that job and doing it well.

Still, though, as the first game of the World Series of Aught Seven is now in the record books, I am taking a break from writing about things I like to share 5 thoughts about this year's post-season:

1. Josh Beckett's facial hair is awful. Seriously. The Red Sox deserve to lose based solely on the ridiculousness of Beckett's facial hair.

2.Alyssa Milano never dated Josh Beckett. She's taking time away from her busy schedule of providing insightful game coverage for mlb.com to tell us that. Wow, sports media, she sure told you. Don't you feel stupid? You know...it occurs to me that if Beckett didn't have the ridiculous facial hair that Alyssa Milano wouldn't be so quick to issue that stinging rebuke.

3. I am tired of hearing about Daisuke Matsuzaka and his supposed "gyroball." It's not a gyroball at all, if you believe Wikipedia (and who doesn't?). It's a just a changeup that breaks like a screwball.

4. It is inevitable that MLB and Fox will collaborate to showcase artists with records to sell during the World Series. The national anthem and God Bless America are both prime opportunities to pimp one's new project. When Ashanti sang "God Bless America," I kept hearing Ja Rule in my head going "unh unh."

5. Since the World Series is on Fox, at least we don't have to see any more promos for that show Frank TV. Of course, it means we'll get more Joe Buck, but that's a trade I'm willing to make.

Things I kind of used to like: The Jessica Darling books

I try to keep the tone positive over here at A few of Mrs. Dude's favorite things. My aim is always to highlight things that are good in the world and to keep the negativity to a minimum. Yes, I bring the snark. But I don't want this to be a blog where I snark about everything.

But I am seething with rage, so I have to get this out.

Kat(ie) at Kat with a K alerted me to the fact that Megan McCafferty was planning to write a 5th Jessica Darling book.

I was suspicious, but cautiously optimistic that maybe that wasn't the case.

I now have confirmation that Kat(ie) was right.

I've read all four of the Jessica Darling books. It could be argued that Jessica and Marcus are the greatest romance of our generation, literarily speaking.

For teens and twenty-somethings everywhere, Marcus Flutie is every guy they crushed on in high school. He is brooding and sweet and hot as can be. Jessica is all of us--insecure, snarky, and unable to decide what to commit to.

They are Veronica and Logan for the bookish set.

Fourth Comings was terrible. Maybe it was a necessary evolution for Jessica, but it stunk to high heaven. It was tepid and uninspired at best.

It was as if McCafferty couldn't leave well enough alone.

Now we get word that McCafferty is writing a fifth book.

I liken it to going to the hairdresser and getting a really bad haircut. The hairdresser cuts too much off of one side of your hair. To make it "right," she cuts hair off of the other side to even it up, but she manages to make the other side even shorter. She goes back and forth, desperately trying to even things up and you walk out with a dorky haircut that you paid way too much money for.

Maybe the ending of Fouth Comings didn't feel "right" to McCafferty. Maybe it was her plan all along to make a fifth book to resolve things. Maybe she just gots to get paid. I don't know know.

But I wish that she'd stop picking at the scab that is Marcus and Jessica. After all, there is such a thing as saying too much.

You know what the sad thing is? I'll read the fifth book. And I'll probably bitch and moan on my blog.