I’ll always be grateful that I’ve been alive during Steve Jobs career at Apple.  My enthusiasm  towards Apple is due to this man’s ability to make complicated technology  so simply desirable that even a Granny can find it delightful.

I consider him an artist who has created a collection of masterpieces I have admired from afar and once obtained results in an emotional devotion that includes becoming part of a community.  Who else has done this with hardware and software?

For me it began with an iPod.

Steve Jobs is the reason I’m known as SwitchinngGranny.  Watching his passion during keynotes caused me to switch from windows operating system to the exciting world of mac.

I  believe that  because of Steve the average consumer has moved into the digital age.

I wish Steve some valuable time with his family,  improved health and most importantly I pray he is able to enjoy divine communion with the master Creator.  May God Bless Steve Jobs.

How has Steve Jobs and Apple influenced your life?

I grow Roma tomatoes particularly to make tomato sauce for freezing.  Just love using the sauce in chili, soups, pasta dishes.

Here is my simple  tomato sauce recipe: *it’s a messy clean up*

Ingredients

Today is my tweet-heart’s birthday.  And I’ve been wracking my brain for ideas as to what I could give him.  Suddenly it occurred to me that a blog post in his honor might be just the perfect thing. 

First you need to know that my “tweet-heart” isn’t my hubby!  He is an “online” acquaintance.  In fact we were referring to one another as tweet hearts for almost two years before we met in person.

A bit of history on our relationship, because I’m sure that inquiring minds are dying to know

I was an early adopter to using the now hugely popular micro blogging platform known as twitter , it was 2007 and it seemed most people I knew hadn’t even heard of twitter.

Having my 1^st iPhone as well as being new to the twitterverse, It was fun checking out different 3^rd party apps that brought new options to tweeting.  One was called “Twinkle”.  The unique thing about Twinkle was that it allowed you to see tweets from people nearby.

Tommy and I were at a festival in Henderson, Ky.  Twinkle informed me that @NibbyP  was tweeting nearby.   As I checked through his stream of posts I realized that I had tons in common with him.  Soon we began following one another’s tweets, as well as friending each other on facebook.

We began sharing emails, which included prayer requests and new things going on in the world of technology that excited us, we both absolutely love gadgets, (especially Apple ones) new applications and useful internet sites. We both share a passion for real foods, cooking and leading healthy lifestyles.  Also we quickly found that we both held deep devotion for Jesus Christ.

I was quoting my new friend  Nibby Priest all the time! Tommy would often come home from work and ask “So, whats going on with Nibby today?”

For a long time we referred to one another as tweet-hearts who lived right across the Ohio River from one another but had never met in real life.

On Valentine’s Day 2010 A dear friend planned a surprise tweetheart/tweetup  dinner so Nibby and I could meet. We felt like we’d been friends for our entire lives. My life is greatly enriched by knowing Nibby!  He is vibrant, kind and genuinely authentic.

Nibby spends most of his life doing things that encourage others. To some he is known as Mr. Henderson because he so enthusiastically tweets and blogs about his hometown. He passion for all things tech blossomed with his use of social media to promote people and causes.  Nibby has provided me this blog and spends considerable time maintaining it and encouraging me to post.  And I know he does this out of a desire to see me engaging with others as I am often somewhat home bound due to multiple sclerosis.

I can’t say enough great things about my tweet-heart.  I can encourage you to benefit from his passions by following his blog:

 Life On Purpose

 Have a very Happy Birthday Nibby! 

Still shedding some tears. I just can’t imagine that I am writing about loosing our beloved Golden Retriever just 6 weeks after posting about the loss of our 18 year old Kitty.

Blog post I wrote then:

Just two weeks after burying Tommy’s Dad. But here I am typing and crying at the same time.

Initially we thought “Bus” was grieving the loss of her lifetime companion “Kitty”. Yet in hindsight I see that she too was dying. A couple of times in the past few weeks I’ve thought “Oh No, not my dog too”! So I think in the back of my mind I knew she was going all the while attributing her decline to her own grief, her allergies and her advancing age.

By the end of last week we pretty much had no doubt. We’d hoped to wait until the end of the weekend to get her to the vet knowing we’d be hearing news we didn’t want to have to accept. By Sunday morning there was no option of waiting. We took her to the emergency care Veterinarian. They were so compassionate and so kind.

I have a lot more to share about our Sweet Bus yet I’m not ready to offer up her tribute yet. So I’ll share some favorite pictures as a sort of obituary and work on a more fitting post about her life later.

RIP Bus 2000-2011

Todays devotion was  powerful for me: 

“Be on guard against the pit of self-pity. When you are weary or unwell, this demonic trap is the greatest danger you face. Don’t even go near the edge of the pit. Its edges crumble easily, and before you know it you are on the way down.  It is ever so much harder to get out of the pit than to keep a safe distance from it. That is why I tell you to be on guard.

There are several ways to protect yourself from self-pity.  When you are occupied with praising and thanking Me, it is impossible to feel sorry for yourself. Also, the  closer you live to Me, the more distance there is between you and the pit. Live in the Light of My Presence by fixing your eyes on Me.  Then you will be able to run with endurance the race that is set before you, without stumbling or falling.”

Wow, powerful truth here.  It is especially easy to get all to close to the edge  of the pit of self pity when you are dealing with chronic illness.  Who would want to add being trapped in a nasty pit with crumbling walls on top of being weary or unwell?   Not this Granny! And I hope not you!

Immediately after reading today’s devotion I prayed and thanked God for this warning and ask Him just what I should do to move myself even further from the edge.  In His faithfulness He brought to my mind many who were lonely and hurting today.  I prayed for them then made telephone calls to a couple of those that He brought to my mind.

What do you do to keep from nearing the crumbling walls of the pit of self pity?

Yet I do have particular issues with fatigue among other symptoms.  Most recently I’ve endured more difficulty with this paralyzing fatigue than usual.  Not sure why but I have some fever and heat of any kind really slows me down.

This school year I’ve committed to having my seven year old grand daughter dropped off at my house so she doesn’t have to ride along in the bus her Mother works on as a special needs attendant.

I offer my little Breanna aka “SparklesGlitter” a snack and then sit with her while she does her homework.  If she completes this before her Momma comes to get her she gets some free time for play or dancing or whatever. I’ve been posting almost a picture each day in an album on facebook.

On my worst days just getting myself up off the sofa and dressed having a healthy snack prepared and just being upright for her arrival requires huge effort on my part.

Knowing that I have the opportunity to make a lifelong impact on this precious little one and minister the love of God to her is incentive enough to make me  push myself beyond what I might otherwise not have been able to accomplish.   For Breanna this is a valuable time of one on one attention that not only gives her great memories of me; but also provides routine and good study habits. Its a win-win situation. Only once have I had to remain on the sofa in my pj’s during our visit.

Lately I’ve told Breanna “You have no idea how good your visit is for MeMaw- I was very weak today and on the sofa; yet seeing you has made me feel so much better.”  Then I’ve said “You, precious one are good medicine.”

So her new saying/ song is “Remember before you call the Dr.- call me, because I’m good medicine.”

Gotta love my little ballerina!

This grief affects me particularly hard due to several reasons. One is that before my diagnosis of multiple sclerosis I was a school bus driver for nearly 17 years.

The fact that the 38-year-old man killed was the father of two young girls also breaks my heart.

My husband works in the school bus garage and drives as a substitute as part of his daily job. Today he had to look at the school bus involved knowing the facts and seeing the scene of the fatality first hand.

My heart goes out to the bus driver because this was in no way his fault and could have happened to anyone. Yet he was in charge of 30 students who were witnesses to a gruesome and shocking situation. I am praying the students who were on this bus and for the first responders to the scene and the driver of the pickup truck that was initially hit by the motorcycle before the motorcycle ricocheted into the path of the oncoming school bus.

The people who ride motorcycles in our community are grieving as well. This man did have his helmet on.

We’ve had a remarkably warm spell as of recent. People are out on their bicycles and motorcycles. Runners and walkers are now training outside.

Besides praying for all of those who have been shocked and grieved by this accident; we ought to take this time to pause and think of how quickly a life can be over and how dangerous our roads can be.

Please everyone be cautious.

Yes twitter will draw you in

Initially insidious. Seems people initially don’t see the need for a micro blog community. In fact describing twitter to folks in itself isn’t easy to do. And in the explanation the most you might get is a slight interest in the concept (if they indeed understand), but no genuine desire to join on.

Occasionally one will decide to join. This initial step generally begins with a little post regarding what they are doing.

Then.. time passes… often months. But something draws them back to twitter. A friend makes mention that they twitter, so you follow them.

you become interested in following others

Then maybe an email shows up that someone else is following you.

A rather uneventful evening comes round and you decided to check into those profiles of different people who folks follow. And maybe you begin to search for locations or particular topics. You click to follow those people who interest you.

Soon enough you have developed a little community of people who interest you. You find that @replying is much like IMing between folks on the whole of twitterland. And that sending and recieving Direct messages is indeed IMing. You will soon be clicking on all sorts of links that people post whom you follow. In turn finding more & more folks of interest to follow.

And you will look for links that may be of interest to those who follow you.

A desire to go deeper gradually overtakes you. You begin sharing more and more of the interesting things in your life. And some of the not so interesting things.

You are already to post links to news sites even before finishing reading the news yourself.

Twitter becomes your main source for news, and for friendship, and becomes your home page!

And eventually you find yourself having to check twitter first thing when you rise up in the morning, and last thing before you go to sleep. My tweet-heart (fellow I met tweeting who has become a dear friend) @NibbyP has even bought me a tweetie bird night light

Tweetie bird Night Light from my TweetHeart @NibbyP

Then the worst happens.. You wake up in the middle of the night and check twitter so that you can return to sleep and

be convinced that you are up on the most recent posts.

OH MY… OH MY.. Twitterholic Syndrome!

The whole of life becomes a tweet. You take pictures of your dinner and post them. You loose track of the real world around you. You begin tweeting not about what you are doing; because posting and following tweets is indeed what you are doing.

Things spiral as you add every available application to use twitter on your desktop, your cell phone, even your camera.

Then you are doomed- a warning that you are exceeding the twitter API limits!

Facebook is like a hometown newspaper society section; yet Twitter is an interactive real time worldwide cyber newspaper.

1. Twitter reaches far beyond my inner circle of family and friends
2. Twitter is a real time communication tool.
3. I can get immediate feedback unlimited sources on any subject.
4. I don’t have to “friend” anyone.  The people who choose to follow my tweets may not be the same ones that I follow
5. Twitter is simpler to learn and to navigate.
6. There are amazingly awesome 3rd party apps that make twitter even more useful.
7. Twitter cuts the unnecessary conversation and forces one to make interesting statements in 140 characters or less.
8. Tweets can be searched real time.
9. Hashtags (#) allow tweets to be categorized and clicking on a hashtagged word shows you all the other tweets in that category.
10. With Twitter I’m able to travel the world rather than sit at the table at a family reunion.

My life has been greatly enhanced by folks I’ve met via twitter. Many of us have also met up In Real Life (IRL).

I turn to twitter for news events in real time. I turn to twitter for tech questions.

Truth is I turn to twitter because it’s more comprehensive.

]]> http://switchinggranny.com/10-reasons-twitter/feed 2 http://switchinggranny.com/what-every-grandparent-needs http://switchinggranny.com/what-every-grandparent-needs#comments Mon, 31 Jan 2011 13:45:49 +0000 iGranny http://switchinggranny.com/?p=304 Every Grand parent should have Face Time or Skype to be in touch with their grand kids.

• To have a before school video chat
• Your grand kids can show you their new art project in real time
• The excitement of seeing their smile when they loose their 1st tooth
• Sharing of ideas (with my SparklesGlittern- a new dance move- she’s developing)
• Your grand child can read a book to you
• The ability to have sweet before bedtime ritual’s
• Nite Nite kisses
• And my favorite of all: When they want to video chat just to say “I love you”

Heart Melting

You can do this now with FaceTime which can be installed on a new iPod touch or an iPhone 4 or any Mac running Snow Leopard. Or you can just use skype on your PC. Both of these services allow you to talk (when on wifi) without adding to your used minutes. Remember although I’m showing a gallery of screen shots I took while Face Timing with the Grandkids that this is real time video.

Just like the Jetsons!

Then your 7 yr old grand daughter can ask ” Me Maw what are the Jetsons?”

F

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