Book: Taylor Lorenz's "Extremely Online"

The fifth book of the year for me was Taylor Lorenz's "Extremely Online".  The book follows the rise of the internet 'influencer'.  An influencer is someone who uses their social media presence to influence the buying habits and style trends of their followers.  This is done to make money for the influencer and for the products they promote.

I have personally looked down on influencer culture.  This book didn't change my opinion on them much at all and, it should be noted, that is not the purpose of this book.  Being an influencer, while making a lot of money - millions of dollars in some cases - is not an easy profession.  You are constantly trying to one up your competition and one upping yourself.  Social media abuse along with long hours producing internet content often results in burnout.

The biggest surprise I had reading this book were all the social media sites I'd never heard of  before.  I consider myself internet savvy but I now realize there is a whole world online that I have never encountered.  The more I read the more I think I was lucky not to discover this world sooner.

I gave this book four stars out of five on Goodreads.  I learned something which is always a good thing.

Weekly Ephemera #107

• Most of the week I spent chasing after documents needed to get Mom qualified for Medicaid.  Mom's piling system is not much better than mine.  At one point my head was buzzing so much I just laid down on the floor and stared up at the spinning fan for a while in an attempt to clear my head.  I still don't have everything but I'm getting closer.
  
  We are also spending Mom's money down on some essentials.  It's kinda sad that, to qualify for Medicaid, you have to be poor.  Our medical insurance system is a freaking disgrace.
  
  Mom had a visit with the neurosurgeon.  Everything looks great.  She no longer needs to wear the cervical collar.  The bond fire will be glorious (JK).
  
  Met with the Comfort Keepers, a home aid company, to organize someone to visit Mom to help her with tasks around the house.  We expect Mom will be returning to her home early this coming week.
  
• I called our homeowner's insurance agent to get a second adjuster out to look at our hail damage.  They want a report from our roofer before they do that.  Our roofer, not happy to be doing the insurance company's job, will be stopping by this week.
• The car insurance adjuster called and our car is officially fixable.  Yay!  I was worried it would be totaled and I would have to go car hunting.  Now it's a waiting game to see when I get my car back.
• On Friday the Deacon (formerly known as The Altar Boy) and his family stopped by on their way to a family vacation.  They were a nice distraction from all the mess we've been dealing with.
• As for what's on the boob tube, we are an all Olympics, all the time household.
• I'm hoping to go see "Deadpool & Wolverine" this week ... time willing.

Music: The Offspring With Stratejacket, Save Ferris, And The Urge At The Astro

Needing a break from all the craziness that is our life right now I went to a concert this week.  The venue, the Astro Amphitheatre, was a new one for me.  (I have been to a concert at the Astro Hall attached to the amphitheatre.)  Fortunately the weather was great for an outside concert.  The crowd mix was impressive from very young to my age.

The first warm up was Stratejacket.  They were decent with a lead singer that sounded a bit like Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong.  This is a young band formed just before Covid.  They have potential.

They were followed by Save Ferris.   This band was formed in 1995 so they have a longer history.  The fact they have a trumpet and trombone in their band is a plus in my book.  I liked their sound tho it was a bit hit and miss at times.

The last warm  up was The Urge.  This was probably my least favorite of the night.  They were a bit too hardcore for this old man.  The trumpet and sax did help a bit though.

The main event.

The Offspring came on and they were awesome.  Fantastic music, lots of energy, and lots of audience interaction.  During one song they threw out huge beach balls for the audience to play with.  Twice they fired off confetti cannons that covered the outside venue in colorful confetti.  I wouldn't want to be the person in charge of cleaning up after them.  The only downside was their set was a bit short at around seventy minutes.

Confetti shot number two.

It was a nice few hours of distraction that I needed.  As we left Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" was playing and the exiting audience was singing along.  Everyone was leaving happy.

Pictures can be found in my 2024-07-23 The Offspring w/ Stratejacket, Save Ferris & The Urge, The Astro, La Vista, NE Google Photos album.

Weekly Ephemera #106

OᐧMᐧG.  Seriously?!?  What a freaking week.

• The insurance adjuster came by to evaluate the hail damage to our house.  After hearing what his report said, our roofer called the adjuster "an idiot!"  This coming week either our roofer will provide proof of additional damage, or I will ask our insurance agent for a visit from a different adjuster - this time our roofer will be on the roof with them.  I was hoping for an easy process but it doesn't seem like it's going to be that simple.  More to come.
• On Thursday we were leaving Omaha to visit family in Minnesota with a side trip to the "Dignity of Earth and Sky" statue in South Dakota.  This didn't start out well.  On the way out of the city a car on my right veered into my lane.  I responded by veering to my left to avoid a collision.  This resulted in our car being hit by a semi.  After a lot of spinning, cursing, and sheer panic the car came to a rest pointing nose in at the center median barrier,  We were not hurt (we would be sore the next day or two).  We were not hit by any other cars.  Our airbags didn't even go off - our car's nose scraped the barrier but didn't actually hit it head on.
  
  The asshole who swerved into our lane was never seen again.  The truck driver stopped and asked us if we were alright.  The back driver's side door was mangled and the wheel well scraped against the tire now.  Highway patrol stopped traffic so we could limp off the freeway into a parking lot where we called a tow truck.  The car was towed to a body shop.  We took an Uber back home, got in the Wife's car, and completed our trip as planned.
  
  When I filed my insurance claim over the phone and described the condition of the car, we were told it would very likely be considered totaled.  If this is confirmed then I'll be looking for a new car this week.
• Our visit to the "Dignity of Earth and Sky" statue was in the rain but we had enough of a break in the weather to get out of the car to get good pictures.  The statue is at a South Dakota visitor's center on a bluff overlooking the Missouri river.  The view from there, despite the rain, was amazing.  The rain precluded taking any good pictures of said view though.
  
  

  

  "Dignity of Earth and Sky"

  We followed the statue visit with a visit to the Atka Lakota Museum and Cultural Center in nearby Chamberlain.  The museum is located on the Saint Joseph's Indian School campus.  The museum covered Lakota history as well as school history.  Very interesting.  To support the museum and school we dropped some money in the gift shop.
  
  

  

  The inside of the school church.

  On the way out we visited the school Church.  The lights were off when we entered and the Wife started flicking switches on and off to see if she could get the lights on.  Turns out she was turning the confessional lights on and off.  We took some low light pictures before discovering the sign in the hall pointing out the button to light the church interior.  The 'picture' behind the altar is actually beadwork.
• In Minneapolis we had a good day visiting with family, watching a cousin's baseball game, and celebrating the seventieth birthday of the Matron of Honor and Best Man.  There were a lot of people, and dogs, at the party and despite being tired (and a bit sore from the accident) I recovered as the party went on and I enjoyed the people and conversation.
• Oh yeah ... Saturday was my Birthday too.  Whoopee.  With the house, Mom, and now the car I don't really feel like celebrating my new year.  I was hoping this weekend away would help me relax and relieve some of the stress I've been living with but I returned home with more on my shoulders.

Weekly Ephemera #105

I totally forgot about my weekly post this weekend.  I have to say that my brain has become a quagmire lately and I'm lucky if the right things bubble up at the right time for me to function.  It didn't help that the news exploded on Saturday.  Here is what happened last week:

• Last Monday a roofer stopped by to evaluate the hail damage.  Despite having hail resistant shingles, our roof had significant damage.  I filed a claim with our homeowner's insurance and an insurance adjuster will be here this week to inspect the damage.
• Thursday was our twenty-seventh wedding anniversary.  We celebrated by visiting an elder care attorney, setting up durable power of attorney for my Mom, and eating delicious burgers at Stella's Bar and Grill.  The elder care attorney is putting together options for how we can fund the services Mom needs to be happy and safe.  The follow up of this meeting is scheduled for next Monday.
  
  One benefit of all this is, when Mom's situation is all settled, we will know what we need to do to prepare for our future care.
• I walked three times this week for a total of 19 miles (30.6 km).  I was going to walk today (Monday) but it felt like 88℉ (31℃) at the time I normally would have started and it was just heading up from there.  The humidity is a bit stifling to say the least.  Fortunately temperatures are supposed to moderate after today.
• We caught up to the current episode of "Alone".  We are still catching up with "Alone: Australia" and discovered today that there is an "Alone: UK".   We should be totally caught up this week.
  
• At the end of this week the Wife and I are going to Minneapolis to celebrate birthdays.  I think I need the break from reality.  Next week's Ephemera post will likely be late as well.

Weekly Ephemera #104

• A week ago I got a call from the rehab center my Mom is at.  She had gotten out of bed and fallen.  They said she was not physically injured.  On Monday morning I received another call.  Mom had a large knot on her head and she was incoherent so they sent her to the hospital.  (The incoherence was probably a bad side effect of a muscle relaxer she'd been given for severe shoulder muscle cramping she was experiencing.)  When I got to the hospital she'd had a CT scan which showed her head to be fine but ... she had a bad fracture on her right hip.  *sigh*
  
  She was transported to another hospital where, on Tuesday afternoon, she had her hip fixed.  From Sunday afternoon, when she was on the muscle relaxer, to Tuesday after her surgery, when she was on fentanyl, Mom was pretty much hallucinating.  She has no memory of the fall and only a little of the surgery.  By Wednesday she was off all the hardcore drugs and her lucidity returned.
  
  After spending the fourth of July in the hospital, she returned to the rehab center on Friday.  She is now in a private room (she had been in a double room) not far from the nurses station.  She restarts physical therapy (PT) this week with modifications due to her hip repair.  The PT evaluation this weekend was pretty good.  I expected a broken hip would take more time to heal but she has few restrictions.
  
• We sat out on our deck and watched a half hour of the fireworks on Independence Day.  You could smell the smoke in the air.  I just hope this isn't the last true Independence Day celebration.  I hope yours was fun and safe.
• I didn't walk this week due to all the things.  I will restart this week.
• We are still watching "Alone".  We should be caught up to the present this week.  I finally caught up with my Marvel stuff and finished "What If...?" season 2.  I liked it.
• I am tired.