|
Welcome newbies! I'm so glad you've joined we sparklers. Returning TwinkleGrammers, THANK YOU! Your shining email responses and cheery notes help me carry on. Sincerely.
I hope yourlives are humming along, or at the very least, hitting on most cylinders. As for my life, I've been "caught up" in a few things lately. As with many, dare I say addictions? (already did!), good intentions blaze the trail, i.e. we eat to survive, but then we can't stop. Although online social networking presents wonderful opportunities to stay in touch with, and/or learn more about our own children, make "friends," reconnect with old ones and enjoy the "company" of complete strangers, sometimes it takes on a life of its own.
If you do NOT relate to TODAY'S MESSAGE, you might know someone who needs it, so please pass it along.
HAPPY SPRING!
|
BUT FIRST, some quick HAPPY NEWS!
 MY NEW WEBSITE FINALLY LAUNCHED!
www.charleneannbaumbich.com
Fun, fun, FUN!
To celebrate, I'm going to hold a special random drawing. FIVE WINNERS! Each will receive an autographed copy of Don't Miss Your Life!: An Uncommon Guide to Living with Freedom, Laughter and Grace. I will draw the winners from emails sent to charlene@charleneannbaumbich.com that include your HONEST reaction to the new site. Winners will be announced in the next TwinkleGram. To be eligible, you must put "TG WEBSITE ENTRY" (sans quotation marks) in the subject line.
THIS month's drawing winner (also for a free DMYL), for which you were automatically entered simply by your TG subscription: Laura from Gainesville TX.
|
Today's Message
I've just about worn out my typing and mouse scrolling
fingers this morning. My back and neck are
kinked from hours hunched over the keyboard, craning to see the monitor. And yet, before I log off for my lunch break, let me just check one more thing, one
more time. And
then, one more.
In fact, between these two paragraphs, I found writing about
checking caused me to have to check again. (Seriously.)
And ... Yup! Good thing I did, because there appeared two more really
interesting items!
Better
whip through the social networking rotation again. Don't
want to miss anything, or be the last one to know. Maybe someone asked or answered me (e-mail), "friended" or "FANed me
(Facebook), followed me (Twitter), responded to one of my travel posts (blog), posted
a family picture (Flickr), found me (whatever).
Maybe there's something that will make me laugh, allow me to cry, or
hurl me back in my chair all wow!-struck.
In fact, that WOW! thing happened, just this morning! A friend sent an email encouraging me to
check out Susan Boyle on Youtube, so I did.
I sat here watching, mesmerized, cheering, crying. "Wow," I said through sobs. Of course I immediately had to "post" the
link on Facebook, then keep checking for everyone's reactions. Turns out lots of folks posted the same link. As I type this sentence, it's the most viral video on the
internet. A phenomena which would not have occurred without all this online
social networking. See!
Hm. One of my "friends" on Facebook got twice
as many reactions to the exact same link as I posted. But who's counting?
Engaging in social networking is so much more fun than the pile
of work on my desk, or organizing my house.
Or making dinner or doing laundry or ...
(one more rotation)
OH! Gotta
go. Just got a phone call. It was a spur-of-the-moment lunch OUT invitation
from a friend. Need to grab my Blackberry
and hit the road.
Blackberry rings once during our lunch date. Wrong number.
If only I could have been STEVE, I'd feel even MORE popular! I could have friended him on Facebook, too!
Okay, I'm back.
(True confession: I
didn't write the previous 3-word sentence until after I checked the rotation. After all, I'd been gone for 1.5 hours.)
LOVED lunch. As
you'll recall, it was with my friend.
Whom I sat across from and actually watched her mouth move as she spoke,
heard her voice in Real Time. Watched the waggle of her eyebrows, the way she
digs through her handbag. I listened to
our twirling laughter, noted the hesitancy in her voice before she answered
that one question--was glad I didn't order her spinach crepes. They looked good and all, but still, spinach
and me ... I'll
spare you the gastric implications of spinach and me.
Which is another of the Good Things about
most of the social networking sites: they don't allow you enough characters to blather
on. Either no details, or one
detail. You pick. And I assure you, one detail about my gastric
implications would not make for a good Tweet.
(I Tweet on Twitter as Twinklechar, in case you want to make sure.)
But I digress. Back
to lunch with my friend. Although she
also "does" FB, I wonder: why hasn't she
posted her picture on her FB page yet?
She joined clear back in mid 2008!
(Just checked.) On March 9, I
even posted on her FB wall about her lack of picture (just checked her Wall for my posting date). And still, no picture! Actually, she barely engages with her FB membership. Says she's too busy and doesn't want to get
"caught up in it."
Whatever that's supposed to
mean.
Right.
__________________________________________________________
RECENT NEWS: Anxiety disorders are on the rise. Wonder why?
__________________________________________________________
THE POINT: When you sit
across from a friend--look into those wonderful eyes, see the way she smiles,
enjoy that awesome connection--and then fret over why she doesn't have her
picture posted on a "social networking" page, you are in serious need of a
Word.
In an effort to give us (me) some perspective, and to help stop
the frenetic rotations, I just went to Bible Gateway
to look up some verses on friendship.
I'm especially hungry for something from the Message, a Bible translation
written in everyday speak. Talk to me, Lord. Seriously, I
did this after writing the above.
Under the first page of verse listings, which I clicked
through and read, I saw a link for "results from Gospel.com" regarding the word
"friends," so I clicked on it, now thirsty for yet more Words.
YIKES! The first
thing I saw was this: a message about
how Twitter can be used in "Christian ministry and evangelism." I also noticed a call-out: "Microblogging using Twitter and Plurk."
Plurk? Says there
that Plurk is a "broadly similar system also gaining in popularity."
My first instinct: Better find out about Plurk! I might need to join!
* * *
Dear Lord,
Help us be wise with
our time. Yes, we long to stay connected
with friends and family, those You've brought into our lives. But keep us mindful who we "friend," and
"follow," keeping You at the front of all
lists. Help us remember that those
around us--those within arm's length and hugging distance--get their due
attention, too. AMEN!
------------------
Because you know you're gonna ... here's the Plurk link. Maybe I'll see you there. Maybe not.
 If you're the friend who received the forward, SUBSCRIBE! |
 COMING JUNE 2
AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW!
DON'T MISS YOUR LIFE!: An Uncommon Guide to Living with Freedom, Laughter and Grace
"Baumbich's text is just what the doctor ordered for a time such as this."
Publisher's Weekly, 4/13/09
Full Review and more information
MORE EXCITEMENT: I recorded the audio version, which is scheduled to release about the same time as the book. VERY emotional. VERY exciting. I FELT VERY VULNERABLE, hearing all my stories OUT LOUD!
|
COMING September 15 
AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW!
Stray Affections
Encounter a flurrious experience with God. Think desires of the heart, dogs, snowglobes, laughter, small-town life, second chances, Love and redemption. But most of all, think, WOW!
More Information
Just finished taping a video promotional for Stray Affections. I'm anxious to see it (I hope). If possible, I'll pass along the link in the next TG. Or, follow me on Facebook or Twitter--or something. But remember today's message!!
|
 TwinkleGrammer
Survey Says RESULTS
about Love (or something)
TwinkleGrammers have spoken. Our just-for-fun survey about Love revealed:
See survey results. I'll keep the results "live" for at least three weeks.
The only question I left open to typed responses (which you cannot see) reveals that our most popular heart throb is GEORGE CLOONEY! A few other populars: Tom Selleck, Harrison Ford, Tom Hanks. We had one vote each for Shreck, Monk and Keith Urban. I love you diversified TwinkleGrammers! Thanks for playing!
If this TwinkleGram was forwarded by a friend, SUBSCRIBE! |
 NEW TwinkleGrammer
SURVEY SAYS:
It's all about
comfort food !
Never done a survey before? Fast and easy. Go ahead and weigh in! (No, not with a scale, thank goodness!) TAKE ME TO THE SURVEY!
|
| An IMPORTANT REMINDER . . .
"Forward email," "SafeUnsubscribe," "Update Profile/Email Address," etc. links are available at the bottom of this e-mail. Those are all hyperlinks for YOU (not me) to do those things. So, please keep a TwinkleGram in your email files so you can handily make changes, like, say, you get a new email address. Please do not e-mail me your new address and think I will get around to changing it. Odds are, I won't--or, due to some settings, can't. Thanks! | |
Social Networking. OY!
