Addicted To Texting? You're Sick!

Is the first thing you think about doing when you get home from work to log on and check your email? If at home during the day, are you in front of your computer screen several times a day? Do your thumbs need physical therapy from all the texting you do? Is a vacation without a computer just not worth taking? If so, some Australian researchers have expressed their concern for your mental well being in a recent issue of American Journal of Psychiatry.

In the article, Dr Jerald Block said there were four symptoms: suffering from feelings of withdrawal when a computer cannot be accessed; an increased need for better equipment; need for more time to use it; and experiencing the negative repercussions of their addiction. Dr Block said that although text messaging was not directly linked to the Internet, it was a form of instant messaging and needed to be included among the criteria.

You can read the news report here. I really should text my friends about this. . .

A Singer's Fairytale

Do you ever wonder what talent goes undiscovered within people working on assembly lines, in office cubicles or selling mobile phones? One of the most inspirational videos on You Tube is that of an unassuming phone salesman in Britain who looks like anything but an opera singer, but who opens his mouth and pours out his heart in song. Paul Potts eventually won Britain’s Got Talent, but here is his audition. Even if you don’t like opera, you’ll like this.

And if you want to hear a trained voice sing Puccini's beautiful Nessun Dorma, take your pick of Andrea Bocelli, Placido Domingo or Luciano Pavarotti.

Daddy

March 4 is the anniversary of my Dad’s death. I'm still missing him, wanting to talk to him and hear him laugh. Thankfully, it’s my Dad’s laughter, his sense of humor and fun, that is beginning to make things easier. I’m remembering him with a smile more often than with tears. Rodney Atkins’ new song, Cleaning This Gun is making me smile a lot these days. My Dad actually greeted one of my dates with a gun in hand which he just happened to be cleaning at the time he knew I was being picked up!

Like in the lyrics, I think my Dad’s worst fear was that I would fall for a guy who reminded him of himself as a young man! [Which, of course, is exactly what I did!]

There’s another song out that always makes me think about him, Alan Jackson’s Small Town Southern Man, but no song really captures Daddy like Holly Dunn’s Daddy’s Hands.

A Feel Good Story

I love watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. It just makes me feel good to see families in need get the help they need and in some cases, see dreams come true. I love the sappy, feel-good stories news anchors love to save to end their shows with. I love fairytale endings.

So, it was especially gratifying to read a friend's recent blog post and read about her experience being the "fairygodmother" as it were. It just filled me with warm fuzzies! You can read it here.