True to form, I seem to be able to hold the tension between ES and FB cyber worlds, and the glow of the real life friendships I made and maintain in both universes. Sweet Cowpoke, from Calgary, whom I met at the Timmer's get togthers 12+ years ago came for a visit on Boxing Day with his best girl and we had a blast reminiscing about the 'good ol days' in the present moment. Our friendship and laughter was as easy now as it was them. I am always grateful for my treasured ES friends, time, space and place, notwithstanding.

From the Horse Apples blog and from me on to you, wishin ya'll a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year too! The New Year In Rearview- Me, I'm thankly for the this one and the many before, Lord willin and with low creek levels, I'll have many more Year in and year out come troubles to tame there's this and then that, sometimes theyre the same The good times I wish I could get more of that stuff, but when rough times come callin, it time to be tough Saddle up your best pony, get on thru the storm, next time be more mindful when dark clouds could form So, this year is corralled, close the gate, flip the latch Set your feet and rope a new one, it's all yours to catch....>m<

'sometimes a great notion' and '50 to 1' while you watch the movies I'll go feed the claimer and ponder this facebook business

The Great On-line Dating vs Facebook Debate- "A poodle is a dog but not all dogs are poodles..." While y'all are pondering that little piece of high quality info, allow me to at least attempt to expand your cyber-awareness with the following - Facebook has little or nothing to do with the art of on-line dating and contrary to cyber-urban legend, Facebook lacks any capability of rendering chat rooms to barren status. The one thing the 2 do have in common is - both venues require some sort of communication device to participate. Beyond that, apples and oranges. On-line dating begins as a skeptical whim which in turn grows into a happily ever after vision which ultimately can manifest itself into an all out, take no prisoners, "I'll bury the bodies later...", hunting expedition but fortunately, only if you allow it to get away from you. On the other hand, Facebook, in all its apple and orange-ish glory, allows you to let all your friends know, for free, that yesterday your dog crapped on the new rug you just purchased from your favorite Target store- Something you cant possibly share in your on-line dating profile because 1) someone may think youre weird for mentioning it in your profile to begin with and 2) There are those who simply will not date a person who owns a dog who craps in the house... So, on-line dating is the search for a better and perhaps more complete life. Having a Facebook page could be simply seen as the lazy persons way of keeping a minute by minute, daily diary, trying to convince others or maybe even yourself, that you have a life. The cool thing about Facebook is - creating a larger life can be easily obtained by just adding more friends, the only limit being your imaginary sky... Finally, for those on-line daters who say - "Well, Ive given up on cyber-dating and have gone to Facebook...", allow me to give you a little Monte insight - Youve just settled for as much un-reality as that of on-line dating. Youve given up on your notion of possible real world happiness, as difficult and as much of a long a shot it may have been to achieve and have settled for - "Hey, who needs a soul mate? Today I have 100 friends on Facebook, by tomorrow I can have 1000..." There is nothing wrong with being an online dater and having a Facebook page at the same time - Claiming that one diminishes the other or a direct competition exists in any cyber form or fashion, well, I would just have to UNFRIEND that notion...>m<

From now on if anyone complains to me about the chat room not being full, I will direct them to this Montewalsh assessment/directive of chat. The Chat reunion was a great success. Members standing in line to get into the room. But, we also have the ability to become easily distracted. That was then, this is now. Personally, I think technology in general has created more cases of ADD,(attention deficit disorder) as there is so much information coming through at one given time. I can barely keep up with Cell phones which can keep you in touch 24/7. And, God forbid you leave the house without it. This can create sheer panic.(and extreme anxiety leading to paranoia.) Our phones keep us connected though calls, texts,and emails, but then there is the BIG F... Facebook. For those with OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) Facebook can monopolize your entire life. We like to stop by ES to chat but now add a room full of chatters talking to each other to the mix. Then there are people contacting you in yellow (private messages that come thru highlighted in yellow) and it can be somewhat challenging. And, then here is the proverbial "falling out of yellow." This is when you send a note to the room that was meant to be in private yellow, which can be embarrassing. I do hope that everyone will spread the word about Chat, because it would be nice to stop by and chat a bit on a Sunday night.Kind of like stopping by the old neighborhood bar. ES Chat was called the 'Cheers' of the Cyber world. But whether Chat will remain to be full or empty depends entirely on how much members want to participate and connect with others through live chat. I must be going because I have a call coming in, and several voicemails, texts, and emails to answer, and a "like" on my facebook page that I must respond to. But I have Penciled in Chat for Sunday night. After all there is multi-tasking.

I dont really know what to make of everyone pilin into the CHAT ROOM this past Sun. Previously, a few members were complaining the room, a FREE cyber-perk given to paying and NON-paying members alike I might add, was below occupancy standards. OK, maybe not complaining, lets just say 'observations" were made. I must mention that the observations did not implicate or insinuate that the ES regime was in anyway responsible, at fault or in direct violation of existing ES MEMBER/CHATROOM contractual fulfillment agreements, because actually, ummm, none exist. In fact, I think somewhere in small print is the following, loosely translated - "The number of members, at any given time, occupying the ES Chat Room is directly proportional to members participating..." Moving forward, the observations were merely conveyed to the ES masses along the lines of- " I miss the days when the room was full and fun so rah rah siscoom bah, lets get that way again..." Something to that effect...So, somebody pulled some strings, does a back room deal and viola, we got ourselves a Sun Nite Chat Room Reunion. Somewhat of a - Revival of the Survivalists... Theres talk of more. Next Sunday and perhaps many Sundays after. If, just like the old days, the room once again is fun and full - I feel obligated to caution- pickpocketeers and blimp drivers love a big crowd...>m<

I wouldnt get too awful carried away here. Next thing you know, Saddler would coerce ADMIN into letting him drive the blimp. What? This would and then in turn, play out in something resembling the scene in the movie NORTHWEST PASSAGE where Cary Grant is being buzzed by the crop duster plane, only Saddler would have a full chat room to work with... HIDEE HIDEE HIDEE, I see nothing good coming out of this....>m<

Monte, we should have had a blimp flying over the full chat rooms Sunday night promoting Horse Apples and the ES Community Blog. Or we could have hired Saddler ( if we could ever find him) to type in Caps across the chat screen: HORSE APPLES - MONTE WALSH - COMMUNITY BLOG...

And so goes the Horse Apples blog... Nuggets of wisdom freely donated with positive purpose in mind or willfully discarded because the owner couldnt get it to work for him/her and then there's the miscellaneous stuff that gets put on the yard sale table marked - "free to anyone". I will say, when an ES Original member does happen to stop by and drops a few cyber-pearls of insight on the masses, I find that pleasin. Kind of like comin back and addressing a school class were you barely managed to graduate...lol >m<

Hey WarP - Oh youre just sayin all the sweet stuff 'cause I now have my name in the ES marquee lites. Back in the day, the general consensus was - "Monte Walsh? Cyberly speaking, yea, he's a real horses-patootie..." Actually, truth known, one by one, all of the marquee lite bulbs have long-since burned out, never to be replaced but only because they dont make that kind of bulb anymore... Refreshing? I never looked at the blog that way (looking now). Um, no, cant see it. I'm not getting any feelings of refreshment. What I am able to see is reminder-isms (good & bad), a little above average cyber-pandering along with in-depth on-line dating philosophies, strategies, and do's and dont's that lend more to the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy in that it has makes me wonder - If you were able to reach the Galaxy in the first place, why are you hitchhiking...? >m<