In Facebook Privacy Changes (p1) I discovered my photos were compromised.  After that bit of unsettling news, I decided to check ALL my settings from top to bottom and everything in between.

Like I said, there went my morning.

These settings were not acceptable to me.  I do want everyone to be able to find me who are looking for me on facebook, that is the only way I would have been able to have coffee later this week with people from high school.  Some I have not seen in…well, a long, long time.

But, I don’t want everyone to know my current address, or my phone numbers or to even send me a message.

I also didn’t want applications that other people are using to have access to my information (those games and tests that compare me to you…)

See that “what your friends can share about you” after this morning, that is a big nothing.

Sorry folks.

and because I was feeling particularly violated after this ordeal…I deleted several applications I had previously given granted access.  Good Bye “family links”.  Goodbye “know it all trivia”.

After an hour of deleting and purging.

I felt much better.

To fix your application settings :

• Head to Settings
• Then to Application Settings (instead of privacy)
• Select Authorized from the drop down menu next to the word Show:
• Start deleting any application you no longer use
• After you have purged that list check through each of the remaining applications and adjust your sharing settings next to each one
• Also note that there is a photo and video  category in this menu as well
• Once this list is cleaned up proceed to “Granted Additional Permissions” and edit those items as well

I hope that helps clear up some of the mess that the changes have presented for several casual facebook users.
Frustrating!

Facebook Privacy Changes (part 1)

Facebook Privacy Changes (part 3)

This is at least a two parter, maybe more once I get going with it.

My day started simple enough, the only thing on my calendar was a blog post about a toy when I was a kid.
As I was checking my google reader at the office for my work related feeds (my personal feeds are on a different g-mail account so I don’t goof off in the office-most days) I ran across a blog post called “Is Facebook Really a Brand You Can Trust” and it got me thinkin’ about my privacy settings.

I had checked the basis when the “new” system was announced, but I didn’t dig deeper and I thought that I probably should…

and there went my morning.

See that last one, my wall photos were tagged for EVERYONE to see as were the folder where I shared images of my son and family.  Photos used to have one setting, now each folder has a different one.  Anyone on facebook at any time could see images of my family, my pets, OTHER peoples pets and children.

Oh, this was very bad!
But, luckily, also very easy to correct.

Here’s how:

• In the top blue banner next to your name is “settings” click that
• then click on Privacy settings from the drop down menu
• Then click on profile information
• While in this menu, I would verify all those settings are to locked down to your degree of comfort*
• scroll down to the Photo Albums and click on Edit Settings button
• change the settings on each album, there is now a custom option that would be great for sharing with just certian groups (more on that in a later post)

Oh and while you are on that Profile information screen, be sure you have this box checked IF you want people to be able to post comments on your wall (instead of only being able to reply to comments on your wall)

Now that I have those changes made, I feel better about the information I have on facebook.

Facebook Privacy Changes (part 2)

Facebook Privacy Changes (part 3)

More comments on my facebook account on this one entry than any other.  Funny thing-almost everyone of them:
“I See it”

Of course you do, the feature doesn’t work like I thought it would.
ALL of my facebook friend see it.  Heck my friends of their friends see it.  That is just two shakes of a lambs tail from the whole darn universe seeing it.

It appears to be another useless feature.

This morning I went to the elementary school where my son attended, way back when.

Right after September 11th every kid in school at that time painted their hands, red, white or blue and left an imprint on the sidewalk with their name. Each classroom got one sidewalk square.

They are all old and faded now, some of the classes are no longer visible (like my son’s) so, I snapped this picture to remember, because soon, most traces will be gone.

The spouselet is Indian.  Born in Malasyia, raised in Africa (until the age of 15) and then transplanted to Iowa until he moved to Kentucky to join my family.  His parents fell in love in college.  His dad was from a different caste than his mom.

Bad news.

Both families were upset with them choosing to marry.  They left the country.  
Both of his parents were teachers at Universities around the world.  He used to tell me how he was treated differently because of the choices his parents made.

Sins of the father…

I always thought he was exaggerating.

One day we were shopping in Walmart, killing time while the 15 yr old was at soccer practice.  There was an Indian man who worked at Walmart and he stopped to have a conversation with The Spouselet.  I guess if you are from India, you can kinda tell the region someone is from by their color, features and other characteristics.  The talked for about 10 minutes when the man asked why he grew up in Africa.

The spouselet told him.

The man immediately turned so he was no longer facing my husband and diverted his eyes.

He quit looking at him and ended the conversation as fast as he could and almost ran away.

I was mortified.

The spouselet says, it happens all the time.

How awful.
To be shunned by a Walmart stock-boy.

Whole Foods.

My sister and I have a difference of opinion when it comes to my favorite grocery store.

Last week we went on our annual shopping trip with our momaw and our cousin in-law.  Momaw has been taking us Christmas shopping and to lunch for over 20 years.  My cousins wife hasn’t been going with us all those years, because she is relatively new to the clan.

So, we are at the Panera Bread at the local mall scarfing up some good ole soup on a chilly December morning when my sister decides that she wants some Parkay for her bread.

Margarine.

EW.

I mentioned that butter is better for you because it may be a fat, but it is a natural fat.  She didn’t want to hear anything about it, she remembers when Margarine WAS the healthy alternative-but she doesn’t eat it at home, she eats Bummel and Brown*.   She did end up using a small pat of butter because she didn’t know Fleschman’s.  The conversation progressed on the topic of hydrognated oils and how I really never realized how it was in so many foods.

She thought that all trans fats had been made illegal.
God love her.
(and if she ever reads this, I am a dead woman)

I don’t mind spending money on good healthy food.  I am trying to eliminate high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils from my diet and the quickest, easiest and most cost effective for me is shopping at whole foods.  Because none of their food contains those two ingredients.

Sure I can pick up a few items at my local Kroger that are HFCS and/or Hyrdogenated free, but I have to read 20 labels to find them.  That takes me longer than driving the 20 minutes to the closets whole foods and just picking out what I need.  And, while they do have a pretty good natural market section, there are still items that they don’t carry.

I told her that is why I shop at Whole Foods.

“Whole Paycheck!” She exclaims.

“I don’t have as much wasted food, because if I pay that much for it, I am sure to eat it.”

“Whole Fat!” She giggles. “I picked up an item in there once and there was a TON of fat in it.  Just because it is Whole Foods, doesn’t make it Whole Healthy.”

“Nope, but it does make it better than the alternative, for me.”

Once we were done eating we got up to get a refill on our beverages and someone had dumped their tea glass with a nasty stained and squeezed lemon on the grill of the Soda machine.

I said “EW”.  Unfortunatley, it was the same time my sister was pushing the Diet Beverage button.  She assumed that I was “ew-ing” her choice of drink.

“Look sister, I am gonna knock you out if you don’t quit with this health business.”
I wasn’t about to say anything about her choice of drink other than it definately did NOT contain HFCS.  I just pointed to the lemon as I refilled my glass with unsweetned ice tea.

With out lemon, Thank you.

*I am so not telling her that even though it is made with yogurt, it still has hydrogenated oil in it.

I was just looking through all the great images from last night when I noticed some of the pictures had very clear shots of my windows.

This is just another one of those small annoying things that I have lived with for the past 4 years. These are the original windows installed when the house was built. At the time, over 30 years ago, they were high fa-lut-in’ stuff. Double paned with the cute little mullions between the panes…only issue, in those first generation super high efficient windows, they did the fake mullions in WHITE TAPE.

Yes, white.tape.

So, when these super high efficient windows are exposed to the warm sun, year after year, after year…..the tape gets a little stiff. The heating and cooling of the white plastic tape becomes brittle and the adhesive wears off…and then it peels from the glass…and then it cracks…and then it crumbles. Since the tape is between two panes of glass for super high efficiency there isn’t anyway to get in between the two pieces of super high efficiency glass to remove the crumbled plastic tape.

It wouldn’t be so bad, or noticible if all the windows had this problem, but only some of them, like the ones that are exposed to the sun all day long. The ones on the upper floor are fine. It also wouldn’t be to bad if all of the plastic in all of the window cracked, crumbled and settled in the bottom of the window, because then you could only tell there was something wrong if you were up close.

So, the next project for this house is…moving the fence so the 15 yr old can have a place to park his car next year.

Heh. No, the windows are the next project.
Finally, after four years.

wow.

Opening Gifts

Last night the family (and two of the 15 yr olds buddies) came over to our house for a birthday celebration.

We have a tradition in my family that before we say the blessing and eat dinner everyone says one word about the birthday boy/girl. It usually makes at least one of us cry (tears of joy or pride or something)…it is great fun!

Some of his words were:

Athletic
Fun
Honest
Strong…

I really should have written them down, but I couldn’t see through the tears

It was a great evening and if I though this year was hard…next year is the begining of the whole growing wings…leaving the nest business, at least right now, I still have him for 20 minutes a day, in my car

See the green sticker…
He said “hey mom take a picture of this, classic.”

He’s right.

Get it?
no?

War is not earth friendly.