Moving On

I was contemplating the other day why it is that I don’t blog as much as I once did. I brought it up to David saying we haven’t been going out and doing things as much lately and I was wondering why and how we have gotten so boring. Of course he was ready with an answer and said, "It’s winter, there isn’t so much to do and this is when people typically stay indoors more." That’s exactly it…we’re hibernating. “Plus,” he said, “don’t you like not spending money?” He had an excellent point there! So, we’ve been either hanging around our apartment, going out to eat once in awhile, going shopping when I can convince him, and watching Netflix movies when they decide to send them. It's quite a change of pace for me since I'm always go, go, going, but I think I can get used to this.

In honor of my newfound hibernation phase, David took me to the library to get some books out. I got some good ones, including The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. D and I read his second book, Blink, last year and absolutely loved it. The Tipping Point is a book about sociology, about how little changes can have big effects; when small numbers of people start behaving differently, that behavior can ripple outward until a critical mass or "tipping point" is reached, changing the world. Gladwell's thesis that ideas, products, messages and behaviors "spread just like viruses do" remains a metaphor as he follows the growth of "word-of-mouth epidemics" triggered with the help of three pivotal types. These are Connectors, sociable personalities who bring people together; Mavens, who like to pass along knowledge; and Salesmen, adept at persuading the unenlightened. (Paul Revere, for example, was a Maven and a Connector). Gladwell's applications of his "tipping point" concept to current phenomena--such as the drop in violent crime in New York, the rebirth of Hush Puppies suede shoes as a suburban mall favorite, teenage suicide patterns and the efficiency of small work units--may arouse controversy (Thank you to Publisher's Weekly). I'm totally into this book. I love sociology-related research. There's another book along the same lines called Freakonomics by Steven Levitt. That was very good, too. Well I didn't mean for this to turn into a book review, but reading will be a regular part of this hibernating phase. That and finishing up my Portfolio for my Master's degree. Do I know how to have a good time, or what?!