Gray Glitter: The Weekly Hodgepodge

Want to join the party?  Go on over to From This Side of the Pond  for the Hodgepodge link-up!

Are you ready for new? Is 2016 likely to be very different than 2015? Do you want it to be?

Good Lord, YES.  2016 MUST be different from 2015, and yes, I want it to be.

January 6th is National Technology Day. Currently, what is your single biggest struggle or frustration when it comes to technology?

Being behind.  No, I don't mean I have to get the latest, greatest tech toy, however, I am usually years behind in technology.  CD's were common for more than a decade before I could afford the player, much less the discs.  I didn't get a smart phone until late last year, and then only at the behest of someone else.  I'm running programs I purchased 15 years ago on my laptop (which is running Windows 7 because I loathe 10) because the newer versions are so expensive.  Heck, I'm not even reading my Kindle books on a Kindle; There's lots of free Kindle books, but the price of the reader is outside the budget right now.  I don't want to spend all my money on toys, but I don't want to become a dinosaur either.

It's that time again...time for Lake Superior University to present a list of words (or phrases) they'd like to see banished (for over-use, mis-use, and general uselessness) in 2016. You can read more about the decision making process here, but this year's top vote getters are-

So (at the start of every single sentence), conversation (as in hotly debated topics where we're invited to 'join the conversation'), problematic, stakeholder, price point, secret sauce, break the Internet, walk it back, presser, manspreading (common in larger cities where some men take up the entire bus or train seat by sitting wide), vape, giving me life (refers to anything that may excite a person or make them laugh), and physicality

Which of these words/phrases would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word not on the list you'd like to add?

I hadn't heard of any of these until now.  Some on my list would be:  like (as in, like, you know, using like the word like instead of finding something like constructive to say), couldn't care less, epic, tolerance (for it's misuse to mean "put up with anything"), and bae (the kids use that one a lot--I have no idea what it means).  Do I need to play Word Crimes again?

Share one of your current health related goals.

Run more 5k's.  Finances and health issues kept me sidelined for a good portion of the running season.  Here's to a better year of running and health.

Let's talk fifty shades of gray. As in the color. Gray is currently a popular color in home decor, paint, wardrobes, hair, wedding party attire, and more. Are you a fan? Do you have the color in some variation in your home or wardrobe?  Gray hair, the old gray mare, gray matter, gray area...which gray idiom can you most relate to right now?

I don't mind my gray hair. I call it "God's glitter" on my head.   I consider myself one of God's art projects in progress, so a little glitter never hurt anything.  I only look good wearing dark shades of gray.  Light gray makes me look fat..er. 

Certain foods are considered 'lucky' if eaten on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. Cooked greens to bring economic fortune, black-eyed peas or lentils also symbolize money, pork which symbolizes progress, fish for good luck, and if you're in Spain 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight. Did you eat any lucky foods on the first day of the year? Is that a tradition in your home? Of the foods listed, which most appeals to you?

The South has that tradition, but I'm not a big proponent of it.  My take on it is; why are we working so much harder at preparing and eating "lucky" foods and staying broke than we are at changing the behaviors that would get us prosperity faster than eating greens? 

What's the single biggest time waster in your life and what, if anything, will you do about it this year?

The internet.  I'm going to start setting a timer.  Unless I'm doing something constructive like blogging or taking a webinar, once the timer goes off, that's it.  I think it will do a lot to help my mood.

Insert your own random thought here.

I'm working on setting goals for the year.  No, not resolutions, things I actually plan on doing.  I've watched a couple of webinars on the subject. It's been interesting.  Let's see how it goes.