On Social Media and Connection

The great promise of social media is that it connects us with people. Be it people from high school, your previous job or friends from across the country, it's never been easier to stay connected with people you once cared enough to know, or at least accept a friend request from. That guy you sat behind in high school who helped you on your science homework before class can catch up on old times. The girl you had college algebra together and became friends all though college can reminisce about the good old days.

That's the great promise.

While I can only speak about my own experiences, I'd say the great promise of social media is not that we're more connected to people, we're merely more informed about people. Just a quick sampling from my facebook feed shows that a coworker is going to the gym, a high school friend is looking for a small Komodo dragon figurine for her son's science project, someone has a cat stuck in their chimney, some guy loves his wife and someone else is excited that it's snowing.

I don't feel any more connected to those people after reading their updates. I know a little bit more about what's going on in their lives (and that I may need to keep an eye out for a miniature Komodo dragon figurine for when my kid needs it one day,) but lost in all the sharing on social media is the connecting on social media. The promise is connection. The practical use is it's one-way communication.

I'm guilty of this too. I spend my time on Twitter following a multitude of writers who are sharing links to stories they wrote or they find interesting. I have to constantly remind my wife that when I'm on Twitter, I'm not wasting time, I'm reading about various topics and opinions on those topics I want to know more about. (It's very likely that's also a rationalization, but in my defense, I have a list of articles I've saved that I'll likely never get to, so at least I can say I'm trying to read about those things.)

All that leads me to today, which is my favorite day on social media. It's my birthday, and dozens of people have taken just a few seconds out of their day to write me to wish me a happy one. I know it's not much. Maybe 15 seconds of their time to go "oh, it's Luke's birthday, I'll write something really quickly." But that's the point, for a moment in time, however brief, people who have been a part of my life, no matter how big or small, took time out of their lives today to try to connect with me. And because of that, I do everything in my power to respond to each one. Not just "liking" the comment, but by taking time out of my life to say thank you individually to each person.

I'm not going to promise that this is the start of a new me where I drastically change the way I use social media. In fact, I'd say I'm likely to fall back to my routine of looking for the little red numbers on the top of my facebook page a few times a day and briefly skimming it the rest of the time. But hopefully, maybe I will do better about trying to reach out to people a little more often, even if it's just to say hello to someone I haven't spoken to since high school or ask how a friend from college is doing these days. If I do it more than I did last year, that'll be a start.

1 2 3 4 Everybody Walk the Dinosaur

First things first.

I'm guilty of doing what I'm about to write about. I've done it before and I'm going to do it again. When I do it, please remind me of this blog post and call me out on it. Seriously. Post this link in the comments or facebook me. I want you to do it. I need you to do it to make me better. It won't hurt my feelings. It'll hurt my feelings if you don't do it.

With that being said, I've noticed a proliferation of articles, blog posts and other writings that are essentially lists with a few explanatory sentences. "Five Things Every Agnostic Extrovert Needs To Know When Talking To Their Buddhist Introvert Spouse" is not a thing.... yet, but we're practically there. Take a minute and scroll through your Facebook feed right now. I can bet that you won't make it far before you see a listicle.

Here's the thing. It's lazy writing. The writer is essentially saying that he or she has five ideas but no clue how to tie them together in a compelling way. It's the written form of a PowerPoint presentation. It's quick and easy, but lacks any effort in the composing of the ideas.

It's a dumb thing to complain about. I know this. I realize these types of articles are quick and easy for people to read and digest. But they're also easily forgettable. I click on a few and read them and then five minutes later couldn't tell you a single part of the list. Maybe that's on me.

Hopsitals

For the second time in a week, I'm at the hospital.

For the second time in a week, it's not for me.

Fortunately, it doesn't appear to be anything life-threatening for either of my two trips up here (one for my wife, one for my son.)

Hospital waiting rooms are interesting places. Everyone's sitting around with their small group of family/friends just waiting. There's a television on a channel that's not riveting enough to keep you entertained, but not distracting enough to keep your mind off the fact that you're in a hospital. There are a few magazines, but again, nothing that would hold your attention. (I only saw two "Redbooks" around when I was there last week.)

Hospital rooms aren't much better. Sure you have access to the television, but there's not a whole lot on and in my current situation, nothing I want to watch are things I can/should watch with a five year old.

Assuming things continue on their current trend, my wife is going to let me go home and she'll stay with my son tonight. People who end up staying days/weeks at the hospital with a loved ones are saints in my book. I'm not sure my sanity could take sitting day after day in the same room.

Unnecessary Analysis: Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer

I'm debuting a new feature that will run randomly whenever I get around to it. As the title suggests, I'll be unnecessarily (over)analyzing something relatively harmless for the fun of it. 

"Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" is one of the most polarizing holiday songs ever written. You either love it (my kid, for example), or you hate it (me, for example.) Regardless of how you feel about it, you can't escape it this time of year. It's a part of your life whether you want it to be or not. Originally released in 1979, the song slowly grew in popularity, first among country stations and then into Top-40 stations until it became the seasonal song you've grown to know and love, hate, or tolerate. Let's dive in.

Grandma got run over by a reindeer
Walking home from our house Christmas eve.
You can say there's no such thing as Santa,
But as for me and Grandpa, we believe.

First things first, we start out a beloved holiday song with the apparent hit and run of grandma. I guess they couldn't make "Grandma was the victim of vehicular homicide" work with the music to go with that title. We're presented no reason to suggest Santa doesn't exist, but the singer proposes there may be some who do not believe in his is existence.

She'd been drinking too much egg nog,
And we'd begged her not to go.
But she forgot her medication,
And she staggered out the door into the snow.

This loving family allowed their (presumably) elderly grandmother to stumble drunk out the door to what I can only assume is a nearby home to get her medication. That the family begged her not to go shows they clearly care about her, but the fact no one bothered to actually walk with her to her home in her inebriated state makes me wonder about them.

When they found her Christmas morning,
At the scene of the attack.
She had hoof prints on her forehead,
And incriminating Claus marks on her back.

WHAT?!? They found her Christmas morning? No one bothered to say "hey, where's Grandma?" at some point during the party. They let an elderly drunk woman walk out in the snow to get some important medication and no one there bothered to check on her. This seems irresponsible at best and negligent at worst. And then we find out there are hoof prints on her forehead, which makes sense) and incriminating Claus marks on her back.

Walk through this with me. If the hoof marks are on her forehead, she must have been hit from the front. A force strong enough to leave hoof marks would have to knock her on to her back. Yet we're told there are Claus marks on her back. So either Santa attacked her before the reindeer attack or he doubled back to inflict even more pain on this unconscious (maybe dead?) woman. A third theory that remains unexplored in the song is that of an elaborate conspiracy to frame Santa for someone else's crime.

Grandma got run over by a reindeer,
Walking home from our house Christmas eve.
You can say there's no such thing as Santa,
But as for me and Grandpa, we believe.

Now we're all so proud of Grandpa,
He's been taking this so well.
See him in there watching football,
Drinking beer and playing cards with cousin Mel.

So wait, the day after his (I assume) loving wife is killed under mysterious circumstances, Grandpa is watching football as though nothing happened? He just moved on, just like that. No sharing of stories or funeral arrangements? Nothing. A life just ended here people. I know we all grieve in different ways, but drinking beer, watching football and playing cards seems, well, it seems like what I want to do this weekend, not what I want to do the day after my wife is murdered.

It's not Christmas without Grandma.
All the family's dressed in black.
And we just can't help but wonder:
Should we open up her gifts or send them back? (send them back!)

Finally, the song starts to take a turn towards normalcy. There's sorrow that Grandma isn't there, everyone's in black and it appears that except for Grandpa and cousin Mel, there might be some semblance of a family in mourning. But no, it just couldn't last. In their time of grief and loss, their primary concern is of the material possessions they wanted to give to Grandma and what should should happen to them.

Now the goose is on the table
And the pudding made of fig.
And the blue and silver candles,
That would just have matched the hair in Grandma's wig.

This is the first we hear of Grandma's hair issues. While not a major plot point in the song, it seems odd to throw it in this late for no reason other than it rhymes with fig. And it's also nice to see the family sitting down together to share a meal during this tragic time.

I've warned all my friends and neighbors.
"Better watch out for yourselves."
They should never give a license,
To a man who drives a sleigh and plays with elves.

Again, as the song nears its end, we see someone finally starting to take responsibility. If there's a crazed madman driving around with no regard for human life, someone should at least warn people. Granted, it doesn't appear they bothered to notify law enforcement to investigate and try to catch the person who killed their beloved grandmother, but at least the warning is getting out. I presume it was "don't let your drunk grandmother walk home alone at night," (which is really good advice for all of us to give our grandmothers.)

But then we get in to some ad hominem attacks on Santa. Simply because a man drives a sleigh ad plays with plays with elves is no reason to deny a man a license to drive. So long as he passes the driving test, what he drives or who he spends his time with should have no impact on whether or not he gets a license. This kind of attack on Santa's character destroys what little credibility these accusers have in this matter.

Grandma got run over by a reindeer,
Walking home from our house Christmas eve.
You can say there's no such thing as Santa,
But as for me and Grandpa, we believe

One last time they try to convince us of their conspiracy. They joy with which they sing reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where (do I have to do a spoiler alert for a show that ended in 1998? If so SPOILER ALERT) they're discussing George's fiance' dying from licking toxic envelopes. The doctor who described his reaction as "restrained jubilation." The same can be said of the singers of this song.

Breaking up is hard to do

They keep me company in the car. They distract me (and sometimes my coworkers) during my time in the cubicle farm. They’re with me when I’m mowing the grass or doing the dishes or just relaxing. Unfortunately, they annoy my wife, so they don’t come around often when she’s around.

We’re friends, or at least I l like to think we are. It’s kind of tough since I’ve never actually met these people. I refer, of course, to the numerous podcasts I listen to. But over the course of the past year, three of my favorites have ended their podcasting careers. Two of the by choice and one that seems to have had their corporate overlords end it prematurely.

A quick recap of the three that have gone to podcast heaven for those who aren’t privy to my iPod. Baseball Today ended first in January. Produced by ESPN, this one featured Eric Karabell as co-host with either Keith Law, who previously worked with the Toronto Blue Jays before transitioning to ESPN, or Mark Simon, a “stat nerd” in the kindest possible usage of the word. Especially the episodes with Karabell and Law, the show was a smart take on the game of baseball. Unlike most things I’ve found on ESPN, this wasn’t just filled with talking heads talking in cliché’s and restating accepted narratives. This was a critical, analytical look at the game. It was sadly replaced by a show similar to nearly every other baseball podcast available.

Law currently has a weekly podcast that takes a broader view of the game, but doesn’t provide the same kind of analysis Baseball Today did. It’s excellent, just different.

Fantasy Focus Baseball is in transition. At the end of the season, Nate Ravitz and Matthew Berry announced they’d be leaving the show as the demands associated with the daily podcast became too much for the pair to do in addition to their other responsibilities at ESPN. While not quite the analysts that Law is, Ravitz and Berry provided daily baseball notes for your fantasy team as well as more than their fair share of nonsense. (My personal favorites: Rapper or World Capital -  a game in which Berry had to guess if a name was that of a rap artist or a World Capital…. I feel this would be a fun game for social studies teachers to use the first week of class -  a debate regarding the most famous city in Tennessee, and the ongoing effort (finally realized) to get Daisy Fuentes to appear on the podcast).

This show will continue, and it’s my hope that frequent guest host Eric Karabell will get the job hosting next year. I tweeted at Karabell shortly after the announcement was made that Berry and Ravitz were leaving and he told me he wasn’t sure if he would be the host. Even with Karabell, the show won’t be the same.

And finally, on a podcast released Tuesday that I wasn’t able to listen to until today, The Baseball Show with Rany and Joe announced they were retiring from the podcasting game. Hosted by Rany Jazayerli and Joe Sheehan, two of the founders of Baseball Prospectus, the pair have been friends for nearly 20 years who essentially recorded their phone calls they were having anyway and made a podcast out of it. These two were ahead of nearly everyone in pushing for the statistical revolution that has changed the game. I felt a little like I was eavesdropping on a conversation between two really intelligent people talking about something I really enjoyed. They profoundly changed the way I look at the game and made me a smarter fan.

The end of podcast comes as a shock. With all three, there was no warning that any change was coming. Just about 15 minutes at the end of each one saying how grateful they are to have had the opportunity and how much fun it’s been. And with Fantasy Focus and The Baseball Show, I understand the reasons they won’t be doing them any longer. Work responsibilities and family responsibilities are completely valid reasons to no longer do something that is essentially free.

I’m not upset they’re not doing it any more. (Ok, that’s a lie, I’m a little upset.) I’m upset because I feel like my friends are leaving me. Friends I’ve spent time with and grown to know. Friends who I laughed with, learned from and came to count on to keep me company. I’ll miss inviting them in to my car, my home. So if you’re currently hosting a podcast I listen to, please don’t quit. Or if you do, can you at least call me weekly and talk to me on my way to work?