7 Quick Takes--in which I discuss blogging, tweeting, and John Mayer

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The Blogosphere is a wonderland. Ever since I started blogging a year and a half ago, I've run across many fantastic blogs and discovered countless Catholic and Christian writers, priests, pro-life leaders, and of course, bloggers. Shortly after my first blog post, I opened a Facebook account; since then I've re-connected and grown closer to many family members and acquaintances who I might not be in touch with otherwise. Soon I learned I could share my blog with my Facebook friends. After Christmas when I got my Android phone, I opened a Twitter account. I like to think that my time on Twitter, even though it's time taken away from household chores and--perhaps to a larger extent--just reading good books, hasn't been a complete waste of time, because I've discovered other good Catholics there as well. (I also seem to be more in touch with current events, becaue I follow several TV and newspaper journalists, and some Catholic and secular news websites. I've become something of a news junkie that way.) More recently I joined a site called Christian.com, which allows people of all Christian faiths to connect with each other. I don't spend much time on that site, but there are a few people there who I've also connected with on blogs and on Twitter. My personal relationships are the most important ones, of course; but Pope Benedict himself encourages Catholics to use social media to evangelize and encourage each other in faith. I hope I am taking that to heart. Recently the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops came out with a set of guidelines for using social media--I haven't read it all yet, it's quite extensive and interesting--check it out here. (Matthew Warner has some interesting things to say about this on National Catholic Register; read about it here. )

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For those of you who clicked on Matthew Warner's article, I will tell you that I did NOT ask Matthew's permission to share it with you. I know he won't mind. Nor have I asked John Mayer if I can talk about him or link to his website; more on him later.

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Still Waiting...waiting...Waiting on the name to change

I mentioned back in December that I was thinking about changing the name of my blog. I read a great book recently by Catholic blogger and writer Danielle Bean called My Cup of Tea: Musings of a Catholic Mom. Ever since I found out about the existence of Danielle's book I've been trying to come up with something different; something original and catchy. When Danielle was interviewed by Greg and Jennifer Willits on their radio show (the same one where I called in to promote my blog, and I talk about in the link above), I sent her a series of "tweets" to tell her how much I liked her book, and my blog is called Musings of a Catholic Mom, isn't that funny? And, I swear I didn't know about your book when I named my blog, so honest, I didn't steal the name. She tweeted back and assured me that it was perfectly fine that my blog has the same name as her book; after all, she doesn't own the phrase "Musings of a Catholic Mom." (She still isn't following me on Twitter, though, dang it; although she did accept my friend request on Facebook.)

Fast-forward (I'm so glad that TV show got cancelled, by the way; it was really getting on my nerves--oh wait, that's Flash-Forward. Never mind) to last month, when I decided to set up my own geocaching account. My kids aren't as interested in going geocaching as they used to be, so even though it's not as much fun to hunt for caches by yourself, at least now if I want to look for a little one in the Wal-Mart parking lot, and I'm shopping there anyway, I can do so without feeling guilty about spoiling the fun for the rest of my "team." Anyway, I had to think of a good geocaching handle, and I came up with "Mom4AllSeasons." I think that name sums me up quite well, and it hints at my Catholicism, too. (You know, like the movie, A Man for All Seasons. About St. Thomas More, who was martyrd because he stood up for the Church. Pope John Paul II's favorite movie.) I even set up a new email just for this blog, momforallseasons, at, gmail, dot, com. There's a link to it on my profile page. So yesterday I was thinking, What a perfect name for my blog! A Mom for All Seasons. I did a quick Google search on the phrase, just to be sure, and to my amusement and slight disappointment, the name is taken.

To make a long story short (which I didn't), as of right now this blog remains "Musings of a Catholic Mom." Maybe someday I'll call it something different. (I also found out about a great blog called "Musings of a Catholic Lady" yesterday. I think the "Musings" part just might have to go. Just not sure when. I like my blog name, so I'm in no hurry to change it.)

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I've had John Mayer's songs in my head since yesterday, when Chuck Todd from NBC tweeted that John was going to performing this morning on the Today show. Chuck (aka @chucktodd) used John's Twitter name (@johncmayer--I wonder what the "c" stands for?) which will link you right to the person's Twitter page. I looked at John's, liked what I saw (interesting tweets, and not too many), and decided to follow him. I don't follow too many celeberities, so we'll see how it goes. I'm only his 3,426,955th follower. Some people will tweet you a quick "hello and thanks for following" message; I'm still waiting for one from John.

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The "C" stands for Clayton. His birthday is October 16th. In case you were wondering.

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This morning I was able to catch a little bit of John's appearance on the Today Show. After he sang a couple of songs, Matt Lauer decided to interview him, and that's when I was reminded of the time back in February (I had totally forgotten) when John put his foot in his mouth during an interview and made a lot of people mad. I also remembered a video that had started circulating around the Internet of John at a concert in Nashville (bad quality, taken from someone's cell phone), in which he broke down in tears, apologizng profusely over his bad behavior. After a quick search I realized that I had surpressed this because it was GOSH-AWFUL what he said: he used the N-word, talked about his you-know-what, and said lots of other disgusting things I won't repeat. (Here's an article I found describing what he said; read it if you must.) Geez, no wonder he was crying; I only hope it was for the people he hurt and not for himself.

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I still like John Mayer's music, and he isn't bad-looking (although I really don't want to know how many women he's had sex with--spare me the details, please, John), and I hope he has learned his lesson. I also hope he's cleaned up his act and he's now a better person. Maybe I'll say a prayer for him today.

(Here's a clip from The Today Show--he still rocks. Even if he wears funny-looking pants.)