Facebook is quiet today...

As if I needed another reason...


Facebook is conspicuously quiet today. I wonder why? Ha!

It probably doesn't matter where you get your news from, you've probably heard that Facebook and its owner are coming under fire for the recent finding that Facebook Apps provide personal information to 3rd Parties... who knew! Wait... I did! In fact, many people did. The problem is, a lot more people didn't know and shared everything about their lives on Facebook. This causes me to bring up the question, how much information is too much?

I have seen people post intimate details about their lives on Facebook. Sometimes it is to get sympathy or to share some news. At other times it is as though I am reading a personal entry in someone’s diary! I think that if it makes someone uncomfortable to read it... don't post it! Who’s the judge though?

Now on to the problem...

Facebook is leaking information.

I have to say... I have tried to severely limit the apps that I use on Facebook. If someone sends me a hug or a kiss, or a heart, or a request for ammunition, or anything else, I usually ignore it! If I'm feeling like a warm and fuzzy moment I will sometimes click to "accept" the sent item, however, as soon as the system tells me that the application requires access to my page and information, I usually remember why I don't always accept the item and back out of the system. Knowing my luck, the one application that I usually accept (Family Tree or something like that) will be the biggest hole in security and all my family contacts and information will be happily flitting through the web waiting to be snapped up by some marketing firm, or worse… a political calling service!

I guess we sometimes need these little reminders of how vulnerable we can become if we stop paying attention and let our guard down. Will I still use Facebook? Probably. Will I accept ANY invitations or application requests? Nope! I guess my best bet is to use it as a brief communication tool to say hi or something and I can use my blog(s) for providing deeper thoughts, just nothing too personal, unless it's a credit card number because someone asked really nice, or my bank account and routing information so I can get that long lost inheritance...

Yum!

Bottling went great! No surprises and a great tasting product! Judy made some great/fun labels and we will deliver the bulk to the other participants in the group (four batches, each split four ways).

Here are the bottles filled but not yet labeled:

And here are two of the labels we used on some of the bottles:

We had a lot of fun and we're looking forward to making the next (much smaller) batch!

First bottling!

Well, tomorrow is the first bottling for the first batch of wine! Judy is putting together some labels and we're very excited about getting this first batch done. It was started on August 28th and has been clarifying for an extra week so I'm hoping it will go well. Given that this "kit" takes less than 2 months complete allows for several batches per year, however, each batch makes 30 bottles and thats a lot of wine!

For my next batch I will be trying some one gallon batches and I will be going from scratch. This should take anywhere from 4 to 6 months per batch so there will be more lag time. I'm hoping to come up with a really good apple wine for next year.

I'll try to remember to update after the bottling, but anyone following this blog knows that I'm not that good at keeping it current. :o)

Bands at Football games

In 5th grade I started band. I began on the clarinet and in 7th grade I moved to the Tuba. I loved it so much that I wanted to teach music when I got older. I started my college career as a music major back in 1985. I was in, and loved, marching band from 7th grade through college.


For those that don’t know, there are certain rules and etiquettes that should be followed when playing in a band at a football game. First and foremost, people go to football games to watch the game, not to be entertained by the band. Other rules include:
- If there are two school bands, the home band gets to play first, then the bands alternate when playing for time-outs and between plays.
- The scoring team’s band gets to play their school fight song
This next one is huge…
- He band only plays between plays if there is no penalty and/or only until the offense breaks huddle and moves to the line of scrimmage.


Why the lesson in band etiquette? My wife and I went to a local college football game tonight and were appalled by the actions of the band. The school does not have their own band and uses a local “One More Time Around” band made up of people that were part of a band in past years and still love to play. The director had the band playing every time the play stopped on the field and kept them playing until the ball snapped. Because the band was playing, both the away AND home teams could not hear audible calls on the field and the play was delayed multiple times because of the inability to hear. The band played during penalty calls and we couldn’t hear the referee… it was extremely irritating!


I plan on contacting both the school and the band and discussing the normal etiquettes of bands at football games. I hope that they will be amiable to the idea of cutting back on the music so that the game can be better enjoyed.