I love the idea of Wikipedia, but the reality is less interesting. For some reason, the editors of the French language page have a vendetta against external links. I honestly believe that my French site is one of the best French sites on the internet, but every time I add it to Wikipedia, someone takes it out. I understand that they don’t want spam, or a hundred sites that all say basically the same thing, but my site is nothing like that. Plus, other language pages at Wikipedia have dozens of external links, so what’s the deal?
Traveling Overseas
So far, I’ve been to 11 countries: Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, England, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Italy, and Morocco. My favorite is France (of course), but I also love Costa Rica (for the natural beauty) and Italy (for the food and architecture). At the top of my list of places I’d like to see are Tahiti, Greece, and Australia. What about you?
Collecting
Just about everyone I know collects something. I collect silver jewelry with people motifs and pretty much anything purple. I also have a thing for multi-colored pens and Fiestaware stick-handled cups. What about you?
Learn French
This isn’t the kind of thing I would normally blog about, but I’m just so happy. For about 8 months, I’ve been trying to get my site into the top spot in Google for the phrase learn French, and today I’m finally there. It may not last, but it feels great right now! 🙂
Computer Problems, part 2
Another common problem I see with (Windows) computers is that most people don’t update them. Microsoft has an online tool called Windows Updates which automatically determines which updates your computer needs and downloads/installs them for you. All you have to do is go to the site regularly (at least once a month), follow the on-screen prompts, and reboot when installation is complete. (Newer versions of Windows have an automatic updates option which is good too.)
Note: If you’ve never gone to the Windows Updates site before, there will be many updates waiting. After you download and install them, reboot your computer and return to the site – there may be one or two others that had “prerequisites” which were installed during the first visit.
Language Learning
I will never understand how anyone can think there is no value in learning a second language. While speaking several languages is obviously more useful for some people than others (e.g., people who travel a lot, or work for a multinational company), it’s not as if speaking a second language is a total waste if you’re not one of them. There are so many advantages to language learning; I just wish everyone could see them. My family, for example, used to say stuff like “why are you learning French? We speak English in the US!” They just didn’t get it. It’s a little better now, since I obviously use French and Spanish for work, but they still don’t have any idea about why I find language so fascinating.
What do you think? Am I missing some obvious argument *against* learning another language (other than a simple lack of time)?