Google+ and the minuses

Dear Google+,

You came into my life with promises of being the savior of my social networking needs. I knew there would be a price to pay - personal information doesn't stay personal where the web is concerned - and I was prepared. When you insisted on access to all of my pictures in order for me to get your app on my smartphone, I was concerned, but I thought we could work through it. So, I took all of the photo albums that you had and deleted them.

I didn't realize that you would turn around and stab me in the back for my actions, removing each and every picture from every blog post. Perhaps I should have know, the all powerful Google wouldn't have kept any boundaries between the gmail and the plus. It's all or nothing and I just didn't understand.

I've learned a hard lesson Google+. I don't know whether to let you go, or to focus on the good things you bring to my life and try to rebuild. We just met, but I am not ready to let you go, no matter what my friends say. I think you have potential to be great and I am willing to give it another try.

Sincerely (with potential love),

Sus

How to get around being poor...

Glimpes of good weather + Summer vacation = Itching to get on the road

Us:Poor + Gas:Expensive = No trips

No trips + Me = So Sad

It used to be that taking a road trip was the cheap option because people couldn't afford to fly. That is no longer the case.

I'm not completely losing out however, I will be heading to Ashland, OR for the Shakespeare Festival and also to Lake Chelan for our annual family vacation, but traveling to a specific destination is not the same as a road trip.

How can I solve this dilemma? Priorities do shift constantly and in the summer my priority is to acquiesce to my nomadic tendencies and hit the road. I don't know if I will get the chance - I'll be on the lookout for opportunities.

In the meantime, I will re-live last years adventures as I slowly finish blogging about them. Needless to say, I'm disappointed I didn't do them immediately, but if I got anything out of that trip it was knowing that we learn as we go.

Catching Up

So, uh, yeah. I kept thinking I would have time to finish up last summers post, but the funny thing is that thinking is not doing. I thought about it a lot - obviously didn't do it. The combo of school, work, kids, and life pretty much sucked away any spare time or desire I had to upload pictures or write about them.

Originally I had thought I would blog on the road as I went but I did not leave myself enough time to do that. It's something to note for future trips and would probably lead to more success as far as my stopping for the night early enough instead of driving for, oh, 16+ hours in a day? (Watch for that story).

Anyway, my point is that now that I am quasi-graduated and currently unemployed, I hope to finally catch up on last years trip and be prepared for whatever trips this summer may hold - which currently the only scheduled trip is to the Shakespeare Festival with my Mom in July. No doubt that will be a trip full of "help me" posts. Just kidding Mom. No, really. Love you. Mean it.

I hope to squeeze in at least one solo trip or maybe +kids trip in the van before summer is over. As my friend Shannon says, last year was the summer of spontaneity, this year, not so much. But, it's only the beginning...