Last week for our Weekly Wednesday Creativity Contest on Facebook I asked the question, “What’s something that is only good to do once?” We had a lot of answers ranging from “Eat blowfish” (I laughed but my colleagues here agreed that blowfish probably isn’t good even the first time,) to the winning answer, “being born.” The answers weren’t quite what I expected, but that’s what makes our Creativity Contests so much fun for me.

I got the idea for the question from the Dr. Seuss quote above which suggests that people go try things. It’s something I wish I took to heart at a younger age. There are so many things I shied away from out of fear of the unknown. Some of them being:

• Going on an RV roadtrip with friends right after college
• Working as a bartender
• Teaching English in Asia
• Going to grad school

Many of these chances have been missed by me. We all have regrets, c’est la vie. As my oft-quoted Uncle Frank said, “Whatever you didn’t do, you get your kids to do.” (Frank was a college dropout, minor league baseball player, whose kids, my cousins, grew up with intense school and baseball regimen.) I certainly want my kids to experience more of life than I…well to a certain extent. There is a little danger in trying everything. Trying everything can lead to some bad consequences. Doing things is fun, but being broke or lost or hurt isn’t. But when thought a little further, most things won’t likely have terrible consequences, at least not the things I listed.

It’s great advice still. I just wish Dr. Seuss would complete the thought to say “If you never did you should, because these things are fun, and fun is good, as long as it’s done safely and with regard to consequences.”

I was at a cafe during my vacation in Argentina, listening to several kids (I call them kids, but they were in their mid to late twenties,) arguing loudly in English. My excuse for eavesdropping was that they were the only one’s speaking in English and my Spanish is terrible. But I don’t really need an excuse to eavesdrop now do I?

Girl: “several and plural are synonyms. Several means anything 2 or more.”

Boy: “No! Two is a couple, three to five is a few, and six to eight is several. Several means about seven”

Girl: “That’s ridiculous. Seven and several have nothing to do with each other.”

Boy: “Of course they do. They have the same etymological root.”

This is the first pic on Google when you search “several.” I wonder why.

I though their conversation was quite funny. It was more flirtatious banter than a true argument, but you could see that it was getting a bit heated and both sides wanted to win. They started polling other people in the cafe and asking their opinion, even though many of the other patron didn’t speak English.

I never thought of it myself. I agreed a couple was two. A few I usually think of being less than several. But to the boy’s discredit, “seven” and “several” don’t have the same root. Several shares the same root as “to sever.” Several means a smaller portion severed off a larger portion. Not that it matters…

The kids could see me sneaking glances at them from across the aisle. They knew I was listening, and I knew they were going to ask me my opinion next. I decided to help the kids out to help their intellectual pursuit and speak before they could get their question out to me.

“I heard your argument. Here’s my opinion: Why do you care?”

That shut them up. I kind of like imparting Old Lady Wisdom. Bring on the Golden Years.

As most of you should know, I handle the social media and user engagement here at My Shop Discounts. I love representing our awesome money-saving service to the public, and our users. Since this occupation involves  social media, I’m basically on Facebook all day. Most of the time I love interacting with all you lovely people on social media. But sometimes people do annoying things. Here are a few rules I’ve put together that I hope we can all follow for a better online community.

Don’t let companies “Post on your behalf.” This holiday season, my feed was covered in promoted posts saying “Your friend, Jane, wants a Lanvin sweater” etc. etc. More that annoying your friends, it just makes you look bad. Facebook is for connecting with people.

If you like something, Share it! There is so much information online. We need each other to filter all the junk so that we all can enjoy the funniest memes, most interesting articles, and cutest pictures.

Don’t share your political views on anyone else’s page but yours. Yes, we get that you are red-blooded American liberal/conservative/Democrat/Republican/pirate/vegetarian. But guess what? We don’t care. If you want to plaster your views on your own page, go for it. Just keep it off of public walls.

Treat people as if you were face to face. This isn’t a Facebook rule, as much as a life rule. Yet I can’t believe how ordinarily nice people can be so rude to each other online. Maybe the lack of intimacy on the internet is to blame. People who never would raise their voice in person, seem to willing swear at each other on the internet. Part of my job is dealing with complaints. While the complaints are sometimes valid, I didn’t cause your problem, and I can’t help yo if you are just typing rude words in caps lock.

Still not cool

Don’t take a photo of yourself in the mirror. Reflections reduces attractiveness by at least 12 points. They also make you look like a tool.

Always assume everyone you know sees everything. This one is important for parents! (And kids for that matter.) I see so many of my friends whose kids are on FB, typing inappropriate comments on different walls assuming the kids won’t see. Maybe you aren’t FB friends with you children, but they can still see a public post. This goes for anyone who thinks they can play a different persona online as in life.

Yeah, I think that’s about it. Be smarter on Facebook everybody.