Text messaging...

...and why I do NOT like it.

1. It is anti-social. Whatever happened to a good friendly phone call? Or getting together to tell your best friend about your most recent date? Instead we depend on receiving text messages.

2. It encourages illiteracy and bad spelling. People can't spell anyway and now we encourage it with texting. I am positive there are plenty of teenage girls who are convinced that "l8r" really is how you spell "later."

3. It really is NOT faster to text me. No this reason does not apply to everyone. But I can guarantee that texting me is not your fastest way of communicating with me. I will respond to emails much faster than I respond to text messages. There are several reasons for this. One, I have not had my phone surgically attached to my body, which means I do not carry it with me all the time. I also cannot work the numeric pad very well and despite my best efforts I can't intentionally misspell words, leave out punctuation, and forget capitalizing things. If you text me, I will most likely respond by just calling you. And really, it would have been faster to just call me in the first place.

4. If you can't call me then you probably shouldn't be texting me. I hear this excuse a lot "what if I can't call you, like I'm in class or something." Wait for you class to end then call me. Here is a news flash: if flipping your phone to call someone is socially inappropriate then flipping your phone open to send a text message is also socially inappropriate - and rude.

5. It is not an emergency. A true emergency would not leave you time to text me. No, a true emergency would require a phone call and if I did not answer a frantic voicemail saying "CALL ME BACK RIGHT AWAY!"

I do understand that there are sometimes when texting is appropriate. For instance, maybe I am meeting you at a concert and I can't hear you on the phone then texting comes in handy. Or maybe you had a baby in the middle of the night and you sent out the announcement so I can see it first thing in the morning instead of waking me up at 2am. So next time you go to text, think twice about it. Maybe that person would really appreciate a phone call. Especially if they are me and do not have a text plan with their cell phone.

Samuel's To Do List:

Help Dad start a fire - check.Unpack box - check.Unload dishwasher...
...with a smile on my face - double check.

Help Dad with computer stuff - yep.

My work here is done.

"Where all your dreams come true!"

Before I overload you with pictures - I will give you a few comments. First off - Orlando was a blast! If you have never been to Disney World or Disneyland I highly recommend it. Even if you are 23 years old like myself. It was so much fun and I can't wait to take our kids there. Secondly, I finally experienced a real roller-coaster. The roller-coasters at Frontier City are baby's play compared to Universal Studios. WOW! My favorites: from Magic Kingdom I liked a lot of the traditional rides, Pirates of the Carribean, Haunted Mansion, Carousel of Progress, and a new 3-D show called Mickey's Philharmagic. From Universal Studios - Revenge of the Mummy, MIB, and Jaws. From Island's of Adventure: The Hulk, Dueling Dragons, Spiderman (an awesome 3-D ride), and Jurassic Park. Really everything was fun. My advice: save up your money and go to Disney. And now onto the pictures:

Epcot - also a blast. They have the World Showcase there which is just amazing.
Me in front of a statue in "Italy."
Cocoa Beach - it was so nice. My first time to see the Atlantic. In fact, my first time to the East Coast.
Orlando Temple. It was so beautiful and peaceful.Samuel saying good-bye to Florida on the airplane!

For more photos you can go to our Flickr account (link on the right).