Fear of the External Hard Drive

I so want to blog about my trip today. I really really do. But, dangit, I want it to be good.

Here's the thing:
I want to write about the trip but I want to include pictures... and the pictures are on the external hard drive which is, I think, connected to the TV right now? This is a bit of an issue as I'm terrified to even walk too close to the external hard drive being that it holds very important photographs; wedding, honeymooon, every significant and insignificant event that the Trevor Chapmans have ever documented with a camera is stored on that little machine.

Since I don't even like to walk near it, I'm most certainly afraid to actually touch it, much less figure out how to attach it to my computer and then, like, download(?) the trip photos to my blog... (Btw, please do not tell any of my potential employers that I'm scared of my external hard drive. I mean, they always throw things into job descriptions like "must be proficient in database, blah, Excel, etc..." and I always think to myself, "hmm... proficient? probably not. teachable? definitely..." and then I'm sure to include something in my cover letter about what a quick learner I am.) :)

Bless my dear sweet techie husband... (Isn't he handsome?)














I love that he has so lovingly stored our memories. I just wish I could get to them. If I remember tonight, I will ask him to work his magic so that I will have pictures to share with you, dear reader. I promised trip blogs and I will deliver!

To Tweet or Not to Tweet

I know what you're thinking! What does Twitter have to do with Chelsea's trip? Well, the answer is nothing. Not a dang thing. I know that I promised juicy trip details and I intend to make good on that promise, I... promise. :) In the meantime, though, I need help! The question I am currently pondering, struggling over and praying about (okay, I'm not really praying about it) is to tweet or not to tweet. Yes, my friends, I'm talking about Twitter!

The site describes itself as, and I quote, "Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?" Um... excuse me! Hello! Can we say - knock off of the facebook status update?! Of course we can. That's exactly what it is... and the thing is, it's brilliant!

Let's be honest! After easy photo sharing, the status update is truly the most fun aspect of facebook. Up until now, this has been my primary reason for not tweeting. I am perfectly satisfied in my relationship with facebook status updates. Status updates and I have been doing just fine, thankyouverymuch. In fact, we've been very happy together.

Until the last couple of days, I haven't even thought about seeing other social networks!

I blame the current crisis on 2 friends: My dad and Jerret Sykes.

Yesterday, my dad (shown at left - he's so cute) spent, like 8 and a half whole minutes talking to me about how much he loves Twitter... and my dad is not a man prone to exaggerated praise for things. I mean, he's pretty chill... but he was genuinely enthused over Twitter. He likes to follow professional golfers. Yesterday, he was enjoying the fact that he knew that this one golfer who he likes was in the fancy hair salon with his kids. I mean, I guess that's pretty cool... to feel connected to your favorite golfer... to know that he cares about his kids' appearance. That's pretty cool.

Then, today, Jerret Sykes explained to me how he can even send a text message to Twitter! He can twitter from his phone via text message. He explained to me how he updated his Twitter from bed at 4:30am! Pretty cool.

But, wait. It gets better. He even has his Twitter set up so that, when he updates Twitter, it also immediately updates his facebook status. Whoa, friend. Stop right there. Back up. Repeat.
It updates your facebook status?!

Now there's something I could get excited about! That is efficiency.

Oh, and Jerret follows his favorite pastors. I mean, that's pretty cool too. You can know when your favorite athletes are chillin at the hair salon and you can learn the insignificant details related to the lives of your spiritual leaders. What's not to love?

Well, my friend Erica says that Twitter is kind of complicated... You have to learn different codes or something. She doesn't like how sometimes people don't use their real names on Twitter and, she says, do we actually think Paris Hilton is really updating her own Twitter?

One more issue I have and then I'm leaving it up to the committee (yes, dear reader, you're on the committee): As Nikki Alexander (shown at left - adorable) lamented in her recently recorded original song, it's difficult to always be sharing all the time! I mean, dang, every time we get on the computer, every time we look at our phone, every time we have an original thought, must we share it with the whole world? I'm not sure I can handle the pressure!!

But, still, it kinda seems fun to tweet.

And there's an iPhone app for it.

And I might really need to know what Julia Roberts is up to this summer... I might really want to find out what Meg Ryan's 4th of July plans are...

So, to tweet or not to tweet?

Please. Share. :)

My Excuse

It's a good one, I promise.
My blogging delinquency is due to the fact that I have been out of town (sans laptop, PTL) for over a month! Yes, Trevor and I had the delicious pleasure of spending 31 glorious days on vacation.
Anecdotes and reflections from this 31 days of fun will be soon to follow here at paisleyleather.blogspot.com and I hope you'll return here over the next few weeks and journey with me as I process my thoughts, record my memories, post photos and laugh and cry again over all the things I felt and experienced.
Here's a little something to whet your appetite: I decided... after almost 6,000 miles in the car with my husband... that life is most definitely about the journey. We spent hours upon hours in the car together going from place to place. The destinations were surely delightful, the things we saw memorable, the people we met amusing but, had Trevor and I had the seeming luxury of a "beam me up, Scottie" device, we probably would have taken it and we would have missed out on so much. The hours in the car were time we will never get back, time we couldn't have had any other way; unique, precious, delicious time... and I'm so grateful for it. I think the cheesey saying goes something like, "the joy is in the journey". I definitely agree... all 5,832 miles of it.