Happy Saturday to you all!  I hope you’re being productive, lazy, or whatever feels best to you on a day off.  Most of all, if you have a family I hope you are spending some great quality time with them!

This Saturday we’ll start off with a quick look at at a plug-in I use with Facebook called Social Fixer.  This plug-in is available for the Firefox and Chrome internet browsers.

Why do you need Social Fixer?  Let’s look at some reasons:

Do you have friends that talk about subjects that drive you crazy? You need Social Fixer.

Do you have friends who constantly send you game invites or other app updates…and that drives you nuts? You need Social Fixer.

Do you hate seeing profanity in your Facebook news feed, but have a few friends who use that kind of language? You need Social Fixer.

Would ‘defriending’ some of your Facebook friends for any reason possibly cause trouble? You need Social Fixer.

I have been using Social Fixer since September 2012.  There are certain things on Facebook that just get old after a while.  I am on Facebook to share fun, positive things about my family and life.  I enjoy reading fun, educational and inspiring information from my friends.  Some people use Facebook as a sounding board for other ideals and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.  In fact, I am glad we live in a country where people are free to share their opinions using one of the most powerful pieces of technology we have ever known.

You are probably like me and try not to upset anyone or hurt anyone’s feelings.  You could always ‘defriend’ people who constantly post things that you don’t want to see.  Or you could use Social Fixer to filter out content you don’t want to see.  You can input keywords that you would like filtered out of your news feed on Facebook.  These could be hot topics, people, curse words, anything really.

Social Fixer also divides your news feed up into the various sources it was generated from.  For example you might have tabs for news feed, Twitter, SongPop, etc.  You can quickly skim just the feeds you want to see and block out categories all together…like SongPop notifications.  Social Fixer can also restore old Facebook features that you might have preferred.

The only negative I have experienced with Social Fixer is the constant updates.  This is no fault of the programmer.  Facebook is constantly changing their code and structure and the programmer that makes the plug-in does his best to keep up with their changes.  If you don’t keep the program up to date it can lead to errors.  Give Social Fixer a try and see if it streamlines your time on Facebook.

And now for the roundup of interesting and weird things:

Become an Early Riser – This tip-filled read from wisebread.com gave me some encouragement for my new sleeping pattern.  I have been going to bed by midnight at the latest and getting up between 6 and 7 every morning, sometimes earlier.  My productivity has skyrocketed.

Tie Shoes into Velcro Shoes Tutorial – A quick tutorial from one of the Mom blogs I follow.  Great idea on quickly and cheaply turning tie shoes into velcro shoes.

Put a Magenet in Your Pocket to Hold Screws for Easy Access – Genius!!!!  I usually just hold them in my mouth which has to be horribly bad for me.  I wouldn’t recommend this if you have a pacemaker.

Switching to Real Food– I wouldn’t call myself ‘granola nut crunchy’ but we have been taking steps to get away from eating so much processed food.  This is a great read with suggestions for local sourcing food (as in meeting the cow you’ll be eating).

Inspirational Messages – I’ve been following Jon Acuff for a while and he has a knack for finding quality inspirational messages that you can surround yourself with while you work…if you’re into that kind of thing.  Some of my favorites this week included – “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” – Picaso — “It’s the possibility that keeps me going not the guarantee.” — “Create a life that feels good on the inside, not one that just looks good on the outside.”  Click any of the quotes to see the associated image.

Disguise Your iPad Mini with this Holy Bible Case – for my friends with an iPad mini who want it to look like an old time Bible.

 

Vintage Suitcase Cat Bed – Don’t ask me how I found this link.  This is a woman who truly loves her cat.  I think the framed photos of the cat are a nice touch.

Speaking of cats – 10 Helpful Non-Kitty Uses for Cat Litter – who knew that stuff was so handy?  About the only extra use it gets at our house is sticking to the bottom of my feet when the cat flings some out of her box.

You could make your own playdough with the kids.

Say, Cheese! – This is perhaps one of the strangest things I have seen all week.  A photographer had a Pentax K1000 tattooed on her forearm so she can hold it over her face to make it look like she is taking your photo.  Best part – her mother did the tattoo work!  I’ll be getting a tattoo just as soon as my Mom learns to ink people.

And finally – Are Tablets Worth It? – I really enjoy the makingsenseofcents.com blog.  On Friday, one of the staff writers posted up an entry about the value of Tablets (iPads, etc).  I actually had this conversation at a youth worker’s luncheon this week.  It’s an interesting read and the comments are even more interesting.

Have a great weekend!  And as always, thanks for reading.