Multi-tasking. Good or bad?

I guess it depends. If you're at work, typing up a quick email to the boss while you're waiting for something to download, I guess it's a good thing. Time is money in the workplace. But enough already! Does your entire life need to be multitasked?

A friend asked me to come over and watch a show with her last night. I figured we'd watch and enjoy the show together and then talk during commercials. But the whole time, she was on her laptop, clicking away, talking to herself (and sometimes to me), and distracting me from enjoying the show.

She was filling out a job application online, telling me stories of jobs she used to have, and occasionally watching the television show. How much of her attention was really going toward this important job application? One third, at best.

Which leads me to this--how do you develop a real relationship with someone when they're "too busy" to give you their complete attention? When's the last time you sat with a friend, maybe outside with no tv or radio, neither of you doing anything other than talking (and listening) to each other? REALLY talking and listening? Does that only happen in the movies? Because it sure doesn't happen in my life. People have to have noise. They have to have distractions. They have to be DOING something--like having a nice conversation isn't doing something.

I have an acquaintance who I see several times a week. I've been trying to get to know her, but it's difficult to carry on a conversation with her. If I say something that takes longer than ten seconds to get out, she starts smiling and nodding her head like she fully understands the point of what I'm saying, and all I've said was, "I was just at the store..." She seems too busy and too distracted to really hear me.

And then there's the whole memory thing. We're all guilty of not remembering a conversation we've had with someone. But I know people who never seem to be able to remember much of anything that we've ever talked about. You can tell these people the same story over and over, and each time it's completely new to them. I think that goes hand-in-hand with the whole multi-tasking thing. Of course you won't remember much of a conversation if you were doing something else at the time you were having it. And chances are whatever else you were doing at the time wasn't being given much attention either.

If you're in the habit of multi-tasking while talking to your friends, do me a favor. Stop what you're doing and LISTEN. You may actually enjoy your time with them. :)

Seen at my neighbor's bird feeder this evening:

I really don't like the Fourth of July. It's too noisy, which stresses me out. Remmy doesn't have that problem.

I guess it's time to update my blog since it's been over a month. :P

We had a fun Jeopardy-type game at my house a couple weekends ago. Here's a short video of Debbie, AKA The Dog Whisperer. Notice how quickly Dakota obeys her commands and strange hand signals. :)



My grandfather was in the hospital most of June. He had part of his colon removed, along with a piece of his liver. He came home this week and is doing well. But recovery is taking a very long time. My father has been staying with him in his little garage apartment.

One of my orders from China was refused by U. S. customs last week because the factory didn't label the items with "Made in China." Now someone in the U. S. has to label 17,000 items with "Made in China" stickers before they'll release them to me.

Then the other day our forwarder called to say that a second order (from a different factory) was being held in customs because the paperwork was incorrectly done. So now I have two orders being held in customs!

I'm leaving for Florida on the 23rd, so I fully expect both orders (over 100 boxes) to come in while I'm gone. ;P

On a lighter note, my friends Jason, Carlos, Marshall, Debbie, Brandon, and I are taking a five-day trip to Destin, Florida on the 23rd. I'm REALLY excited and can't wait to take a ton of photos. I'm so glad that Marshall and Debbie are going since they're my only friends who are willing to model for me and my camera. :)

Earlier this week, I went to dinner with a group of folks from the old 20 Something group (now Out and About) that I was in years ago. I really enjoyed myself. I'm trying to get out and do more things with different people, but things like that have never been easy for me. So I'm always proud of myself when I do them. It boosts my confidence.

And before I close, I must include a shot of my lazy cats enjoying the sunshine on the porch. :)

My father's snowball stand (along with other places) got hit by a tornado last week. He's been closed since and not making any money. They're supposed to start construction soon. He'll need a new roof and new ceiling. A lot of the decor that I did got wet and ruined, which means I'll have to redo everything again. Sigh. New Orleans weather sucks. But I guess no matter where you go, there's some natural disaster crap.




This photo shows the outside of the building. Some of the fake vines that were inside are now outside. Apparently, the roof lifted up, the vines blew out, and then the roof settled back down (crooked).



Here's a short news clip of my father and his store.

Ms. Janey has tagged me with an "Honest Blogger" meme, so here goes:

1. I often thought of killing myself when I was a teenager. I never really tried because something always told me to hang on and things would get better (they did).

2. I taught myself to swim after I had a pool put in--and I was damned proud of myself.

3. I've always had a horrible body image and the thought of taking my clothes off in front of someone makes me want to vomit.

4. I'm proud of the fact that I'm an entrepreneur and started my online business in 1995, back when the internet was a youngster and Yahoo (there was no Google) personally went to each site and reviewed it before putting it in their search engine.

5. I've always wanted children. I very recently gave up that dream but think about it every single day.

6. In spite of having a high IQ, I'd always considered myself stupid because I didn't do well in school.

7. As I kid, I would steal tons of candy from stores and then resell them at school.

8. At 15, I was arrested for shoplifting--fake fruit, baby shoes, and a bra that my sister picked out.

9. I can't stand hearing sad things that happen to people and (especially) animals. I'll think about them off and on for years and get really upset. So I don't watch, listen to, or read news.

10. If a six year old child won't eat it, I probably won't either.

I can't believe I thought today, at noon, would be a good day to go to the zoo. After about 45 minutes in the blazing sun and stifling heat, I started getting a throbbing "I'm having heat stroke" headache.

Most of the animals were hiding in their cool caves or in the shade sleeping. They have a lot more sense than I.



I did get to see a couple of charming flamingo babies, but not much else. Other than this:



The trip and headache were worth it, I think, for this shot. :)