The Shortcut to Enlightenment?

I have always been a very curious person. When I feel like I am out of the loop on something, I have a compulsive need to educate myself on the matter. For most things, I do not immediately delve into the deep, dark domain of decidedly detailed data.

(...might have gone a little overboard with the alliteration there.)

I am typically looking for more of a surface understanding. My most useful tool? The internet. Some days, my best friends turn out to be Wikipedia, IMDB, Acronym Finder, Amazon, Snopes, YouTube, Dictionary.com, and (of course) the almighty Google.

Here is a very incomplete list of things that I regularly search the internet for information on:

• Seemingly topical allusions/references I do not understand
• Song lyrics I can't quite figure out
• Status messages that seem like they might have a double meaning
• Apparently common conversation topics that I am unacquainted with
• Definitions of words I don't know
• Summaries of books I think I should know
• Jokes on TV I don't grasp
• Actors I recognize but can't place
• Current political events I have no actual knowledge of (but that keep popping up in discussion)
• Internet memes I have encountered but do not "get"
• Relative locations of places on maps
  

When I identify something I'm unfamiliar with, it niggles in the back of my mind until I can solve the puzzle. (niggles: 3rd person singular present (v.) 1. Cause slight but persistent annoyance, discomfort, or anxiety.)

So I look it up. I satisfy my urge to be in the know. I figure out the lay of the land before engaging in conversation on the topic. A quick internet search tends to give me a decent overview of the situation, allowing me the confidence to discuss things and feel like I am doing so in an intelligent manner.

I don't think there is a problem with educating myself. But what about when it comes down to discussing things with other people? Could my constant and instantaneous internet searches be construed as... cheating? Taking the shortcut to enlightenment? Am I misrepresenting myself to my peers by bandying about ill-gotten facts as though I am an expert on the subject?

I desperately want to appear intelligent and well informed when I talk to people. If you bring up a book I've never heard of, there is a fifty percent chance I will have it's Wikipedia entry open in 2 seconds flat. In fact, here is an example of a time when I did exactly that...

[A conversation I had in 2006, where I come clean about my internet search tendencies, mid-deception.]

Bonnie: We read Crying of Lot 49.
One of my least favorite books ever.
Me: Ah, the muted horn.
So deep.
Bonnie: Out of all the books we read this semester the one I truly sincerely hated.
Muted horn!
Holly, I am impressed by your knowledge of books you have never read.
Me: What's to hate about world wide conspiracy theories?
Bonnie: I don't know. It's a mystery.
Me: (You do realize I'm reading the Wikipedia article, and do not know such information off the top of my head? Though I am tempted to let you think I do.)
Bonnie: Wow.
I feel sheepish.
You were looking at Wikipedia the whole time and here I thought you were just brilliant!
I stand corrected.
Me: Now I'm sorry I corrected you. I like when people think I'm smart.
Bonnie: lol

A different friend of mine was recently telling me that she dislikes when I Google things while chatting with her. Once I am armed with the knowledge of the internet, I feel more comfortable talking about things authoritatively. This is a favorite past time of mine. But apparently, she feels like I am talking down to her.

And I'm not sure what to do with that. Obviously it's okay to let someone else be the expert sometimes. But... does that mean I should stop the searches? Can't I learn more from the broad spectrum of opinions that the internet has to offer than I can from hearing one single viewpoint?

So should I keep doing the searches but keep my findings to myself? Should I just cut them down to a more appropriate level? Or do I need to stop all together so I can live my own life and think my own thoughts?

I'm really not sure what the answer is here. Maybe I'll go ask Google.

Leaf peeping? Is that something we do now?

So Martin is big into Christmas. She has a ton of Christmas decorations in big storage tubs up in a spare bedroom that we refer to as the "Christmas Room." Turns out, one of those tubs is full of autumn decorations. Which we put up this weekend!

The most awesome part is not a decoration at all. We've had a "Spice Market" candle burning all day and now our entire house smells like Thanksgiving. The smells are the best part of the holidays, don't you think?

My second favorite part is the lights. I talked Martin into a putting up a bunch of Halloween lights in our front windows. It's really hard to take pictures of twinkle lights, so this is the best I can do. They're warm and glow-y and awesome. I keep waiting to go get the mail until the sun goes down so I can see them in all their glory.

We strung fall leaves most any place we could think of. Woven into the chandelier, up the banister, on the ledge of our key rack, and in front of the television. You can probably guess by the very large, very angsty looking Edward Cullen that we were watching Twilight when I took this picture. I think it's best not to delve too deeply into how that decision got made.

Martin keeps referring to our cat Humphry as a 'decoration' just because he is black and it is October. I keep telling her she's being racist. Apparently she's okay with that. Here you can see him turning up his nose at the weird pumpkin-made-of-orange-flowers. Actually, he's probably just plotting to chew on it as soon as I leave the room.

I put some spooky spiders on this mirror in the entry way. It also fell prey to the fall foliage campaign. Actually, we just finally got around to hanging this mirror today specifically so we could decorate it. That's not weird, right?

We also sprinkled a few cheesy seasonal trinkets to round out the picture. A cheerful scarecrow, a tiny little crate of strange nature-y looking things, and a Halloween cat! (Humphry keeps knocking that one over. We think he is jealous.)

And last but not least, some adorable sock pumpkins my niece made for me last year. We tucked them into one of the DVD shelves next to Ghost Whisperer. It seem appropriate.

Guys. I know that was a ton of pictures of things you probably don't care that much about. But guess what? I WAS HOLDING BACK.

Just wait until the Christmas decorations start going up.