Friend or Foe....

I saw this video at a social media seminar I attended a while back and I found it to be very interesting.
It raises the question is Facebook and other social media sites a friend or foe? 

For me the answer is it depends.  Jeff and I were in a car accident years ago in which Jeff suffered injuries that has impacted his health and his daily activities.  He had a lawsuit against the driver's insurance company that finally settled in arbitration last week.  The lawyers for the insurance company based 75% of their defense on his facebook page.  For those who are Facebook friends with Jeff knows most of his comments or posts are based on sports, quotes from TV/movies or sarcasm only friends or co-workers would understand.  The lawyers tried using these against him to paint him as a low life who sponges off of society which was completely absurd.  Luckily for him, their attempt to twist and take everything on facebook literally worked in his favor.

Jeff's situation is not uncommon.  In fact, employers both present and future are looking at Facebook pages and other social media sites to give them insight on a possible candidate or help in the termination of an employee.   Is it legal?  I am not sure because I am not a lawyer but there are strong argument for both sides of the coin. 

One of my best friends made a great point and I follow it when I post on Facebook or on this blog, she judges everything she posts based on whether or not she would want her grandma or boss reading it.  If the answer is no, then she doesn't write it.  Some may agrue that they have a freedom of speech and can say whatever they want but in the end, people's perception may not be the message you were intending to get across.  Look how many celebrities/policians have to issue public apologies over backlash they receive about a posting twitter comment that some groups perceive as offensive.

 So I leave you with this question:  Social media- your Friend or Foe?

Never Forget......

Where were you ten years ago today?   Like most people, I will never forget where I was, what I was doing, and how I felt when the Twin Towers fell.  I get goosebumps just thinking of the images played on TV.  I was a student at UB and part of the SA (student government).  In the SA office, we sat around the big screen TV in shock and silence as the towers fell.  Those from the NYC area were frantically calling their loved ones.  There were many tears and a feeling of complete helplessness.

A friend posted this on her Facebook and  I thought this is perfect to post on here to remember those who lost their lives that day and the brave men & women who fought for our freedom for the last 10 years.

I will never forget.

I had it coming...

So I admit I am terrible at taking care of my car.  It's a good thing that condition of my car does not reflect how I care for my four legged kids.  The outside is dirty and the inside is not much better.  Even though I should not say this but my inspection is way overdue.  I already received the lecture about how can I be overdue when it only takes a hour or two at most to get done. 

Well karma already came back and bit me in the butt about not having it done yet.  I was on the 190-90 merge last Friday and I got rear ended by some chick driving a late model Chevy.   My bumper had three scratches on it that I have to have fix because it is a lease.  When it happened, my first thought I really should call the cops and get a police report filed but I didn't because I did not want risk getting a ticket for my overdue inspection.  So we just exchanged insurance information and that was that.  Of course, I did the whole file the claim through my insurance and hers.  Well the other night when I was walking the dog, I received a call from her insurance company.  Come to find out, her policy expired at the end of July and currently does not have coverage through them.  Now my insurance company has to search by her VIN number to see if she has other coverage if not, I have to pay the $500 deductible.  I asked the insurance rep what happens to her and he said  "nothing."  The only way she would have gotten in trouble is if I filed a police report.  Why do I like to learn the hard way on these things?!?!?  I can take her to small claims court to attempt to recover my $500 but this all would have been a heck of a lot easier if I had my inspection up to date.

Preston Knows Best

My horse Preston is smart.  In fact, he is probably smarter than I am. Yesterday, while out trail riding we had a "I told you so" moment.  Luckily for me, he cannot talk or judge me in a human way.  If he could talk, he would have probably told his pasture buddies how dumb his new owner is.

We were trail riding in the woods on the property where I currently board him.  I am not too familiar with the trails but I have a pretty decent sense of direction so whenever we come to a fork in the trails, I would take pick the path in which I thought would take us back to where we originally started.   Well we approach this one fork and I wanted to go right, Preston wanted to go left.  So I gave him a little nudge to tell him to go to the right and he proceeded to fight my command.  He kept on trying to go left, so we fought for a couple of seconds and I finally won so we continued to down the path to the right.  Not too far down the path, we came to a dead end so I stopped Preston gave him the cue to turn around which he did in such a fashion that implied, "I told you so."

Tractor Supply is the new DSW.

The cheapest part of owning a horse is the horse.  It's everything else that comes along with being a horse owner that's expensive. Luckily for me, my dad had enough foresight to save all my tack and horse supplies when we sold my old show horse due to me going away to college.  Thirteen years later, I am up in the loft of my parent's barn searching through totes and boxes seeing what I can use for Preston.  I was a happier than a pig in mud when I found all my old bridles, bits, girths, chin straps, etc.   Some of the stuff looked pretty rough but definitely  could be rejuvenated with a little oil and love. 

I went to Tractor Supply in Alden to pick up some saddle soap and leather conditioner.  As soon as I walked in I found myself ogling over the Ariat Boots display, in addition to looking and touching every item in the Equine aisles.  Yup, Tractor Supply has become my new DSW.  

It is has been awhile.

It has been quite some time since my last posting.  I made a promise to myself that going forward I will post to the blog at least once a week since I do have lots of stories to tell. 

Many things happened since my last posting with my 4 legged babies.  I am down to only one foster bun-bun, Sadie, whom I am still looking for a home for.  The other two were taken to Tompkins County SPCA in Ithaca for adoption.  The SPCA there as been quite successful at adopting bonded pairs and luckily for my two girls, they found their forever home. 

My male cat, Grey decided that he no longer wanted to pee in the litter box and starting peeing on clothes, towels, our new hallway floor etc.  Took him to the vet in hopes it was a medical issue not a behavioral one.  Of course, no such luck, the vet gave him a clean bill of health.  At the time, I only had one litter box for him and his sister that I kept in the "animal" room.  Everyone I told about Grey's little issue told me that I really needed another litter box.  I always had just one and never had a problem.  I decided to clean out of our hall closets and put the second litter box in there so the cats felt like it was their own space.  So far so good!  I noticed Grey pees in the one in the animal room and poops in the other one.  Let's hope it stays that way.  

No new updates with Kodiak and Sammy.   Kodiak is still a terrorist and Sammy is still grumpy.   Actually Sammy is quite fat, he needs to go on a diet because he is having a hard time keeping himself clean.  Gross, I know.  I stick him in the bathtub once a week to rinse him down.  Funny thing is he easier to give a bath to compared to the dog.   The dog whines and cries like we are trying to kill him.  Sammy just sits there with a look on his face, like" I am going to kill you b*&ch."

I saved the best for last.  I have a new addition the "zoo."   A 6 year old Quarter Horse cross named Preston!!!!   More to come on Preston as I get to know him.  I am so excited to finally have a horse again after a thirteen year hiatus!!

Just like Grandma...

Sometimes Sammy and my foster bun-buns need encouraging to go back into their cages especially when they hide behind the outside cages or any other small space.  Being the loving mother that I am, I often gently guide them back in using a broom. 

This morning Sammy was being a pill and would not go back into his Samuel's Grand Manor (as my friend calls it) so I grabbed the broom to guide him back in.  When I grabbed the broom, I started laughing because I remembered my grandma.  She disliked cats so growing up when whenever a stray cat showed up uninvited into her yard, she would chase it away by running after with a broom.  :)