I finally did it...

Yesterday, I did something I never thought I would do....I joined Facebook. That's right, until about 27 hours ago, I didn't have a Facebook page. I was probably one of 10 people in the world who didn't have one (Garth and our parents make up at least 5 of the remaining 10). For some unknown reason, I had a huge thing against signing up. Maybe it was because everyone else was doing it or maybe it was just because I didn't get the point and I didn't want to join to have to figure it out (it would help if they could at least offer a demo without signing up!), or maybe I prefer to communicate the good old fashion way - by e-mail, text or phone.

Whatever it was that was holding me back a mere two days ago, is no longer there. I admit it - I'm a convert! There's something thrilling about determining that I now having 102 "friends" since yesterday. It's not that these people are new to me, it's that there are at least 80 of these people I haven't talked to in a really long time. Forget old fashioned e-mail blasts with pictures from your latest vacation - you can now post them on your Facebook page and all of your friends instantly know about it and can share their thoughts (just don't put that bikini pic up there unless you REALLY want people to see it.)

I thought my blog did the trick. I thought that was enough, but clearly, it's too difficult for people to go to a separate page to read all about you. The genius of Facebook is that you go to one place and get short tidbits of information about your friends. Readthe updates if you want, skip those you don't.

The downfall of this magical online world? Addiction. That's right, I said it. Clearly, people are addicted to this thing. 661 friends, Drew? I mean honestly, how much time can one spend on this thing??? And, is it really necessary to post hourly updates on your life with people you haven't conversed with in years? Probably not. But, this is the new norm. This is what the web is all about these days. I realized today that I am about the oldest 28-year-old in the world. I clearly didn't realize just how much I was missing out on, or perhaps more appropriately, didn't understand about how people communicate today.

What will I think about Facebook in another month or two? Who knows?! I guess it depends on how many more friends I have by then. ;)

ADDED NOTE: Thanks to Christen (see previous post) and Dan for convincing me to join up on Saturday night! I have to give credit where credit is due. I've had plenty of friends and family try to convince me to join Facebook, but you guys were the who got me to take the plunge.

Saturday Night - Good & Bad

The Bad...

If you know how much of a Missouri Tiger fan I am, then you know how upsetting Saturday night was for me. Two weeks in a row of disappointment is bad enough, but it's even worse considering the high expectations for the season. Certainly, all is not lost. If the team can get it together, we can make it to the Big 12 Championship game and hopefully seek some redemption...especially, if we get to play Texas again. I think it's just sad that they didn't play like themselves. They played like they were afraid to lose. Hopefully, this Saturday will be better...especially, since we're going to the game! That's right, Garth and I will be going to our first Mizzou Homecoming together! This will be my first Homecoming since I graduated, so we are definitely excited about that.

The Good...

Even though my beloved Tigers lost on Saturday, it was good to be in the company of fellow Mizzou alumni. We had another watch party at Beyond the Edge. It was especially fun to see Christen, a good friend of mine since college! She and I were in a lot of the same things in college - Journalism school, Tour Team, Summer Welcome, Homecoming Steering Committee, etc. We haven't seen each other since graduation and she happened to be in Nashville visiting her cousin, so they joined us for the game! It was great to see her! Now that she lives in Louisville, hopefully, it won't be another 6 years before we see each other. ;)

Me and Christen at the watch party

Family-filled weekend

On Saturday, we got to spend time with Garth's family - his parents, Amy, Carl and our neice, Sarah. While Sarah was getting her pictures taken, the rest of us went to the Germantown Oktoberfest for some good eats!

Here's the guys with their polish sausages.

Mmmm, mmmm good!

Mommy and baby. Later we all got together for dinner at Anatolia, a great Turkish restaurant in town. Check out the previous post for some pictures of Sarah!

Sarah, The Entertainer

Sarah kept us entertained during dinner. It's hard to tell, but Garth's mom asks "do you sing at church?" She responds with "La, la, la". SO CUTE! She growls with the color orange because she knows that Tigers are orange. Anyway, here's a taste of her many tricks.

Baby on the Loose!

While we were eating dinner with Garth's family, Sarah did a great job of keeping us all entertained. At one point, she escaped. Here's what happened...

The Many Faces of Sarah

Our niece, Sarah, came to visit us this weekend (and her parents, Amy and Carl, of course). We had a great time going shopping and to dinner with Miss Sarah. I took a LOT of pictures from their visit, but here are my favorites...

The "I just woke up from my nap" face

The "I don't know what Aunt Laura is doing to make me smile" face

The "I'm not so sure I like trying on this big puffy thing" face

Ultra cute faces!

The mini-cheese

The mega cheese!

The cheesiest of them all! (This one is my favorite!)

To see the rest of the photos, you can click here.

Debates Come to Nashville

As I'm sure you know, the Presidential Debates came to Belmont University in Nashville this week. We were pumped to have this historical event come to town. As a Belmont alum, Garth was especially excited.

We live less than a mile from campus, so we really hoped to somehow get in on the Debate action. Of course, only a very select view got to see the debate live. Even though we couldn't attend the debate, we just couldn't stay at home. We decided to venture out to see what we could see. Here's our evening...

So, we ventured out to Bosco's (a few blocks from the debates) for a beer and some dinner.

Then, we went to a debate watch party at the Belcourt Theater.

This is us watching the debate on TV, just like everyone else. :)

On the way home, we got stuck in post-debate traffic. They stopped traffic for the McCain motorcade. Right now, we're sitting right next to the Belmont campus. This is about as close to the action as we got. So, it was VERY uneventful for us. We didn't see any media personalities or any political figures. So close, but yet so far away...

A couple of our friends had much better luck.

Garth's lawyer friend, Jonathan, served as a debate volunteer. He got to be Mitt Romney's guide. We were looking at the Nashville Business Journal online and happened to find this picture of Romney. Jonathan is the guy in the red hat!

My friend, Cara, is a politcal reporter for the local NBC station. She got to be in the media tent, or "spin room". She was excited! She got to interview former Tennessee congressman, Harold Ford, Jr. You can click here to see the interview or you can read her blog entry about her time in the spin room.

Tiger Watching

Last Saturday, the local Mizzou alumni group gathered at Beyond the Edge for a watch party for the Mizzou-Nebraska game. Mizzou kicked the pants off of those pesky Cornhuskers and a bunch of our friends were there, so we had a great time!

Mizzou gals - Cara, Jan and Me

Garth and his buddies, Drew, Chris and Blair, were adopted Mizzou fans for the night.

For more pics, visit my new blog for our Mizzou alumni group.