I'm a forty-one year old husband and father of two boys. I am an apprentice woodworker, own and operate a small interior home installation business, and am a volunteer firefighter studying to obtain my EMT-B certificate. My wife of thirteen years, Jennifer, teaches the fourth grade. William, age 11, is a sixth grader and orange belt in karate; Jonathan, age 8, is in third grade and an artist; they are both thespians. I enjoy taking care of our property in beautiful Northern California, organic gardening, drawing & colored pencil, hiking, and firearms.
We are what is referred to as rural poor. We have property, but little money to develop it.
If one of my inventions did well, I would like to convert our sixteen acres into a self-sustaining, 100% organic farm, raising berries, various fruit and nut trees, olives, pigs, and milking sheep to make cheese, yogurt, and chocolate. The ideas I get have to measure-up to the following criteria: save money, save time, save the environment, save lives. If it doesn't hit 3 out of 4, it won't make it to the STOX.
Let me put it to you this way - I have been a resistant social networker. Invitations to become a "friend" to people on Facebook, or a part of someone's network on Plaxo, etc...have fallen upon deaf ears with me. It is not that I don't wish to stay in touch - to the contrary I do and need all the help I can get in doing so. It's just that the process feels way too artificial to be of any meaning. In fact, what is the meaning of having 321 friends on Facebook? Does this mean the person has a lot of friends, period, or the opposite? Does this mean the person is friend-ly? If I were to build a Facebook profile but only selected 5 friends, does this mean I am a total Loser (capital L). Why do I want friends on Facebook? Are they more loyal? Are they nicer? So many questions and so few answers, I'm sorry. I know many of you can answer these and I am excited to hear what you think about my idea so let me get right to it...The Ex-Friend List. I think the Facebook community needs the following application developed by one of those crack widget programmers/Facebook application developers: a way to "de-list" friends and explain why you are de-listing them. Perhaps the 'Ex' list says more about a person than the vast tomb of a friends list, illuminating the discriminating friends from the crowd of friends. Who wants a friend who friends around anyway? It reminds me very much of high school; run around with a lot of different boys and a girl was called a slut. Is there such a paralell to online be-friending (a ‘friendslut’) and should we not nip it in the bud before it ruins the friendputation of so many good people? And what are we (me) doing to this word “friend?” Is its very meaning changing before my eyes as I count the 17 mentions of it so far on this idea page? Is no friend sacred anymore? Potential employers are supposedly combing through online profiles...I'd much rather have a potential employer search through my ideas, learn of my STOX VALUES, and my IDEAPartners (who chose me for my ideas rather than my love of social networking). How about you? Vote and tell me if I am off my rocker. The Ex-Friend List, Anti-Social Networking 1.0.
I think I am a good friend to a few people. I have no online friends though I have friends who are online. People tend to like me because I am sometimes creative, sometimes funny on top of being sometimes stupid and sometimes lame. I try hard to be good, and I think my friends appreciate that. I am telling you all of this so you can take this into account as you consider me for employment or friendship.
