A plethora of Jeff.

 

Assorted Facebook profile shots. Too much Jeff?

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Hey! Tim Hensiek! I hear the Feds knocking on your door!!!

The Facebook page, WI State Workers against Scott Walker, for all it's worth, is a rant against the actions of Wisconsin governor Scott Walker. Obviously, this "felon" is not representative of most of the people on this site. They do make points (doesn't matter that I disagree with them the majority of the time) and that is their right.

This man, Tim Hensiek, should be arrested for threatening a government official. And the nerve of commenters on WI State Workers against Scott Walker to say I spread hatred with my trolling on their FB page?

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I'm this far from getting the boot.

They, like many liberal/anti-Republican FB sites do not like to hear varying opinions. That is a fact. I've got booted off two others and I'm treading a fine line here. But as I told the FB admin for this site, what good is it doing your cause if you have 10 people commenting on a post with the same opinion, slapping each other on the back congratulating each other? You wanna talk about name-calling, Democrats? I've seen plenty of harsh, derogatory words aimed at myself and others. Yeh, I know..."but the Republicans do it, too". OK - take your ball home now so none of us can play anymore. Does that make it right? Enough with this holier-than-though bullshit. Reps, Dems, libs, conservatives....they all make good points and bad points. There's morons represented by each. I get all that. Fine.

We live in a democracy...yet these people who profess to bring about change in our state by recalling every Republican in office run their social network sites like a dictatorship. Or a socialist-run society. Interesting. I guess that is their right. (But collective bargaining...THAT ain't a right.)

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Anti-Walker group doesn't care about being taken seriously.

Since World War III broke out in Madison over Governor Walker's budget plan - specifically, paring down various unions' collective bargaining rights, I've had the luxury of hearing both sides of the spectrum. That's because I'm a moderate - we try and see issues from all angles.

I've visited a number of anti-Walker sites that have popped up on Facebook - Wisconsin Against Rebecca Kleefisch, 540,000 To See Scott Walker Out of Wisconsin January 12, 2012, etc. One genius, Trevor Teeters, referred to the "Republicunts" and called me an "asshole". I've posted about the various signage people carried...not once - but twice.

So I'm on the "recall Kleefisch" page and the administrator refers to the governor as "Scotty". I suggested "Governor Walker". You know, a bit o' decorum, I thought, would lend credibility to their cause. But no one seemed interested in that. I was told to "get off my high horse" and then I was give a "time-out" (this was all before they discovered I wasn't really on their side and got booted).

Now that comment comes from the ADMINISTRATOR of that page. Interesting. "Not concerned about being taken seriously."

Call it "trolling" if you'd like. However, I've said this before and I'll say it again. How is having a one-sided discussion beneficial to your cause? 40,000 members of a FB page sitting around and echoing every other commenter while patting each other on the back accomplishes what? Not that they'll agree with me but perhaps my comments (and others) might force people to look through their blinders and see the other side of the issue - and not act like an asshole.

But be fleet of foot. You'll get booted real quick.

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Ahhhh, ye ole Farmville days.

I remember when Match.com was the only way to meet women via the computer.

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I'm gonna kill Shelley Edlin! My FarmTown addiction.

Above: My "avatar" - Jeffrey James. My farm is named after my dad's R&R trio from the late 50's, early 60's, the Glenn Mar Trio (wait - that name doesn't even make sense...it should be Glenn Mar Farms; I'm an idiot). I fashioned by avatar with a blue mohawk because it stands out while I'm in the middle of the marketplace trying to get hired by some other farmer. It's chaos...I can't even explain it.

If you're not aware (or your dead), Farmtown is a game where you and your friends design, grow and maintain your own farm. It's quite intense, complicated, realistic and addicting. There are currently over 11,948,808 monthly active users and I have 17 friends that partake. Many of the players I interact with I have never met.

My high school friend Shelley emailed me and said, "hey, you should do this...there are some people from home on it and it would be fun!". Now I desperately want to kill her! What's interesting is that you not only "farm" your own farm, but you can hire out to other farms and harvest and plow their acreage. By doing so, the farm owner makes more money and the worker makes money - and both parties accrue experience points so you move up the ladder and can aquire additional seeds, buildings, animals and more property to farm. Do you even care? Thought not. Silly muggles.

Above: One stage of Del Mar Farms on Facebook's Farmtown. It's changed since then

How does this affect my life - or anyone else's? It doesn't. It's a stupid game and it's wasting all our time. But it's addicting and competitive as hell and, if nothing else, it's helping me to communicate with people I already know. I could regale you with all sorts of Farmtown stories but you wouldn't understand or care unless you play the game. If only my father knew his 44-year-old son is addicted to this. He'd have me committed.

Look for my series, "The Further Adventures of Jeffrey James Avatar in FarmTown" , here and on Facebook. It's a hoot. At least I think it's a hoot. Alright, gotta get back to Del Mar Farms - I should say "Glenn Mar Farms" now - my coffee is ripening.

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B.K. to J.I. = "Great job!"

A few months ago, my friend Janelle received an email from Barry Keating, who wrote the music and book for the "Starmites". He had just watched the videotape of the Theatre Cedar Rapids "Starmites" production Janelle and I were in wayyyyy back in 1995. So I emailed Barry myself and he sent me this lovely note:

Barry Keating on Facebook
March 24 at 4:50pm
"Hey Jeff - Just saw your performance on a dvd yesterday. Great job!"

Nice. That's me in the foreground (1995) decked out in leather, as Space Punk, leader of The Starmites. Kick-ass show. One of those shows you either like or hate. Not unlike the musical "Blood Brothers" which I was in 3 productions of - once as Mickey (one brother) and twice as The Narrator.

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Facebook slanders me.

I could go on and on about how Facebook's recent upgrades suck. Here's one example (not even sure this has anything to do with their upgrades but it still sucks).

FB has applications you can send to other FB members - flowers, drinks, sports-related stuff, whatever. In this case, you can choose from "Brian Wilson Gifts" and send gifts to people. So I sent selected FB "friends" the album cover for Brian Wilson's Smile and this is the FB confirmation that was sent out and published on my FB page.

"Jeff hates..."? HATES? WTF? I don't hate these people, Number 1. Number 2, it makes it sound like a "Smile" gift is a bad thing. So it not only comes across as a rip on me, but as a rip on Brian Wilson as well. Sounds slanderous to me, don't you think?

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Still locked out of Facebook! Damn them!

Tried changing my email on Facebook yesterday, following all their instructions to a tee. However, my password didn't work and now I'm locked out of my Facebook account.

Amazing how you miss something when you don't have it. I'm always the last to jump on the bandwagon regarding anything technology-related. Last to get a CD player. And a DVD player. Last to get TIVO. Last to get a cell phone. Scoffed at Facebook but signed up anyway so I could keep in touch with theater friends in Iowa and my cousins.

I WANT MY FACEBOOK!!!

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My photo's in Tom Wait's Magical Trunk!

Not really. Tom Wait's Magical Trunk is an application on Facebook. The smaller picture below is the one from Wait's "magical trunk" that looks like mine.

The picture below is the one I took in Santa Barbara last year at a piano recital/concert.

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