The Man Blog is Back!

The Man Blog is back! We both enjoyed a nice little break around Christmas and New Year's from a bit of online activity. It is always great to keep everyone updated on the ongoings here at the farm, but taking a breather from it was much overdue. Our introverted personalities sometimes make it a struggle. 

The test to see if our phones would start showing us ads for camel milk was a flop. However, I am still not convinced that the contraption is working. Every time we have a conversation, it seems to fuel what the phone shows us. You always run the risk of seeming like a tinfoil hat-wearing whack job by mentioning it. Statistically, it is impossible for all of the random subjects we go back and forth over to pop up constantly. I feel like there is a better chance of being hit by lightning while being drawn as a mega ball winner. Luck can only get you so far after all. Everybody has a lucky day, but not every day is that lucky. Now I know I can’t be the only one to think the phone pays more attention to what I am saying than my child does. Children at least make you think they are listening while they are not. Every single one of these devices is forgotten, even as it is around during a conversation. Days later, it starts showing camping ads because you mentioned it. My thoughts always go to how intrusive what was supposed to better our lives has become. Everything has a rub; you have to take the good with the bad, I suppose

I have convinced myself that the world needs a Clint Eastwood movie. We don’t need a saddon'tng one. I don’t want to spend hours ending in tears because of a boxing mishap. I want to watch him hunting down bad guys. I want two hours of him and Clyde driving a pickup. Hollywood has not had a creative thought in decades.   It won’t be so new to them to remake an idea. Heck, they can even take a good old idea and turn it into a bad new idea. I am still not over wasting an afternoon watching Beetlejuice II. Don’t get me started. Don't want to see Primate. Spoiler Alert: it was Cujo; they just replaced the dog with a monkey. They didn’t even bother to get a new disease; it had rabies. I feel like we could all use a mind-numbing chuckle watching a monkey win a bar fight.

The lack of screentime has also convinced me that the entire world needs less screentime. I am not calling phones out. I am calling everything with a screen out. We had gotten out of the habit of watching local or even national news on a traditional local network. For whatever reason, we picked that bad habit back up. It needs to be renamed, tidbits of ongoings between advertisements for drugs. I had a notion to clock the time spent on the show versus the commercials. By the time it is over, I need a doctor’s appointment just to discuss everything that the TV said I should. I also wonder just how low the standards are to become a doctor these days. “If you have an infection, TB, or parasitic infestation, or fever,  please tell your doctor.” I can see a couple of those gett" ng through the screening process for the doctor, but a fever? Seems like, at the very least, they should be able to tell if a number is higher than it should be. After the reading of the side effects I wonder how many of the clinical trial patients had an infection of their perineum before the folks testing the drug realized they were causing discomfort in the lowest part of the human body, not counting legs and dangles, of course. Those poor folks scratching their bottoms on a chair, not wanting to tell the Dr that something south has gone even further south. All I can picture is a bunch of folks in a circle talking about the use of the newest miracle drug, scooting back and forth. After the fifth time, the doctor asks if anything is wrong; one of them snaps and says they're destroyed down there. Are they not to be the first to admit that?

I used to find YouTube helpful. If I thought seeing someone do a particular job would make it easier for me, I would watch a video. Now I have to watch 30 minutes of ads to see a 20-second video of how to do something. The part I need to see is only 20 seconds. The video itself is 18 hours long, and every time I skip to where I think I need to be, I get another insurance video with an oversized chicken. That insurance company has wasted so much of my time that I should get free coverage for life.
We are one week away from that magical day in the forecast to have a high above freezing. It will be the first day in what seems to be forever, according to The Mrs. The wife and I are the tail end of the generation that will ask real people for the weather forecast or directions. We are aware that we could pull out our phones and answer the question ourselves, but we are in the habit of not doing so. That is what really makes me worry about the phones. Actual human interaction is no longer second nature because every question is answered with a screen.

Until next month, don’t be afraid to unplug a bit. I have a strong suspicion that you won’t miss out on any great cinematic masterpieces, while living a monkey named Clyde. Stay safe and wash on.

P.S. Dear reader, my darling husband, with too much time on his hands, has incorporated a hidden message inside this blog. The first person to message that you found it and get it correct gets a prize. Sigh, yes, this is how I choose to live. ~Tina