Any hints on how to make the thing more user friendly?

I make it user-friendly by never going there. I'd rather have the creeping guilt from the "Consuela, you have notifications pending" emails than the discomfort from actually logging in.

... I may be a bit prone to avoidance. Really, I should just cancel my account, but it does seem to be the only way to keep in touch with some folks.

Congrats, flea! Hope it works out wonderfully.

a short blooper reel of astronauts tripping and falling on the moon.

That was AWESOME.

I make it user-friendly by never going there.

BWAH! I think I could parrot back every bit of your post and it would be exactly what I'm thinking about the whole thing.

I'll be honest, I miss the heyday of LJ.

I feel about the same about Facebook, Anne. I go there because there are some people that I do want to stay in touch with that I would otherwise completely lose track of, but I put it off for weeks at a time because something about it really puts me on edge. Using non-Facebook interfaces helps some - i think Yahoo might have one, but I haven't looked into it because I am in the avoidance part of my Facebook cycle at the moment.

Yeah, Facebook triggers my introversion in a way that all my other online sources don't. But I still use it regularly because my kids do. Although THANK GOODNESS the one boy has finally figured out how to filter me out of his getting high posts.

Jessica, your relatives in medicine almost certainly knew my grandfather - he was the chair of Pharmacology at UC from 1948-1974, when he retired

Oh, cool! Small world.

Congrats, flea!

Still fighting with this cold. Ear infection is vanquished, I now am fighting with my sinuses. Uhg.

Got a long day tomorrow; doing a Citizens on Patrol thing from 7-11 tomorrow night. Get to ride around with another neighbor and a walkie-talkie connecting us to the neighborhood patrol car. Could be interesting or mindnumbingly boring. I hope it is boring for the sake of the 'hood. I've not 'met' this neighbor before (she lives several blocks over) but she's one of the neighborhood cat ladies' There is a loosely organized group who rescues, fosters and places. Turns out, I put her in touch with my work's cat ladies and they've found homes for several cats together.

Speaking of which, Pumpkin is getting more relaxed around the other cats, Loki especially. She tried to get him to play by whacking at his hind legs. I think he was a little confused, as she still hissed, but then ran after him when he vacated. They need to work on their communication styles.

Oh, it's so good to find that I'm not the only one who finds FB innately distressing. I was really wondering if it was just me.

Although THANK GOODNESS the one boy has finally figured out how to filter me out of his getting high posts.

I could see how that would be awkward, to say the least.

Sara, I am loving the stories about Pumpkin integrating with the rest of the household.

Yay flea!

I think I am in love with Pumpkin!

I think the key to Facebook is to be OK with missing things-- I log on once a day, read the featured posts and move on.