Wednesday Hodgepodge on Thursday...it's allowed.

1. Are you ready for new? Is 2016 likely to be very different than 2015? Do you want it to be?

I kind of liked 2015 so if 2016 is similar, that would be fine with me.  We're hoping to get an in-ground swimming pool this spring. Looking forward to that!

2. January 6th is National Technology Day. Currently, what is your single biggest struggle or frustration when it comes to technology?

I have a roaming dead spot on the screen of my Droid. I'll be swiping, typing, opening, closing and it randomly shows up for days at a time... then moves.  We won't even discuss my lap top! 

3. It's that time again...time for Lake Superior University to present a list of words (or phrases) they'd like to see banished (for over-use, mis-use, and general uselessness) in 2016. You can read more about the decision making process here, but this year's top vote getters are-

So (at the start of every single sentence), conversation (as in hotly debated topics where we're invited to 'join the conversation'), problematic, stakeholder, price point, secret sauce, break the Internet, walk it back, presser, manspreading (common in larger cities where some men take up the entire bus or train seat by sitting wide), vape, giving me life (refers to anything that may excite a person or make them laugh), and physicality

Which of these words/phrases would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word not on the list you'd like to add?
These phrases don't bother me, but "Give it up for..." annoys me. We can't create a sentence without words containing more than 4 letters?  and "Have a good one," as I leave a store or restaurant. What happened to the words, "day", "life", "hour", "vacation",.  When did the word, "one" become all inclusive? Just bugs me. 

4. Share one of your current health related goals.

I really need to get more exercise but I'm too short to use Bill's equipment; the highway has too much high speed traffic for safe walking; the tree farm lane is too short and in and out of the rows is a bit monotonous.  However, I am going to try to eat better.  That's a start!
5. Let's talk fifty shades of gray. As in the color. Gray is currently a popular color in home decor, paint, wardrobes, hair, wedding party attire, and more. Are you a fan? Do you have the color in some variation in your home or wardrobe?  Gray hair, the old gray mare, gray matter, gray area...which gray idiom can you most relate to right now?
I don't really like gray. I have a gray skirt I seldom wear and I vaguely remember a gray sweater but just now realized I haven't seen it in years. I must have given it away. I have a short-sleeved gray top trimmed in blue and green that looks nice when worn with something other than that gray skirt.  My gray hair is exactly that color... gray; not silver, not white, but mouse gray. I tried letting it go this past summer. September came and the gray left. I don't like it at all and and returned to using a nice light golden brown to hide it.  I'll do it til the day I die if that gray hair doesn't begin to sparkle or remind me of snow.  
6. Certain foods are considered 'lucky' if eaten on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. Cooked greens to bring economic fortune, black-eyed peas or lentils also symbolize money, pork which symbolizes progress, fish for good luck, and if you're in Spain 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight. Did you eat any lucky foods on the first day of the year? Is that a tradition in your home? Of the foods listed, which most appeals to you?

I don't believe in luck and never heard of that tradition. I like pork and fish. We're pretty stuck on turkey for Thanksgiving and Christmas but New Year's demands something different. This year we had roast beef, baked potatoes that were slightly sliced open, pickled beets and from the splendor of my summer garden we ate butternut squash, carrots cooked with maple syrup and peas.

7. What's the single biggest time waster in your life and what, if anything, will you do about it this year?

Probably Facebook. I've cut back a lot, usually just checking notifications and messages first thing in the morning, but not responding or changing my own status until evening. Now that I have "messenger" on my cell phone, I may begin checking that in the AM and let the notification go til evening. As far as my cell phone, it stays on vibrate all day and ONLY phone calls make it vibrate...no messages, notifications, emails. NO WAY!
8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Once upon a time, January would have me dreaming of re-opening Grandview Mini Golf. I would already be plotting  a few changes; perhaps new flags, new golf balls in varying colors; watching sale papers for sales on beverages; perusing online wholesale candy and ice cream selections for the stand and freezer. No more! Now, I'm plotting vacations! I love being mostly retired!