The array of subjects that ends up on MySaline.com pushes a whirlwind in my head at the end of each week as I attempt to zero in on what to tell Courier readers is happening around the county. If you know me personally, you'll say there's already something whirling around between my ears. You personally-knowing-me folks should pipe down, since I'm talking to the people who only know me well enough to still consider me to be as normal and mentally balanced as anyone else.

So I'm looking through the MySaline's activity this week to figure out what's the best thing to share, and I'm just bumfuzzled with all the choices. I decided to ask around and see what some other county folk thought I should write about. This is the first time I have solicited opinions on the subject in which I should have an opinion.

One member said I should talk about how broadband offerings are changing to serve more people in Saline. And they are. But a lot of people still aren't getting those services.

My realtor sister-in-law, Naomi, said I should let people know that real estate is experiencing an upturn, and the title offices are up to their ears enough that she's having to schedule home closings up to four weeks in advance.

My cousin Jennifer had one of the perennial topics: Teenagers that think their parents are stupid. Boy do I know a lot about that. But do I want to write about it? Maybe I can get my teenager to do that for me later since I'm too stupid.

Doug said I should tell all about my cool pastor at church. By the way, Doug is my cool pastor at church. He's also very humble.

One MySaline member, who goes by an alias, is currently having a freakout over how much his daughter is using cell phone minutes and text messages. If I start ranting on this, I might eventually realize that she uses less than me, and how embarrassing would that be?

Finally, an anonymous Benton resident said I should write about the "Find It In Bryant" slogan and billboards popping up around the county. Hmmm. That sounded like a really good idea since I had seen them myself and wondered about the campaign.

I put a some thought into questions I'd ask Rae Ann Fields, the Director of the Bryant Chamber of Commerce, then I called and left a message for her. It was taking a while to get a call back, so I called again. She said she hadn't called me back since she had spoken to Whit Jones about the story earlier. Turns out, he had decided to write about Bryant's new campaign as well, and him being Editor of The Courier and all, I had to think up something else to write about.

Here's what I've got.

This week, it occurred to me that there are lots of fans of all the different "fan groups" on Facebook.com. You know, Facebook - the big social network that used to be the big teen hangout, but adults have caught on now to how beneficial it can be for networking and reconnecting with people near and far. The groups are just one aspect of that site. It helps people to find others with the same interests as themselves. Some groups have a broad appeal, like the one I joined to support American Idol hopeful, Kris Allen from Conway. Many groups have a definite niche, and I figured it was time to make one of my own.

I titled it "MySaline.com." I know, surprising, right? I also made a group on MySaline called Facebook. The two groups link to each other. I immediately notified all my local Facebook friends that there was now a MySaline group they could join, which you might think is redundant. I mean, why wouldn't they just go to MySaline? But what happened was that every time one of my invited peeps joined the MySaline group, it showed up in their activity feed for all their Facebook friends to see. Pretty soon, I had more people joining the MySaline group on Facebook than the number of people I had invited, and statistics showed that only half my invitees had even acted on the invitation. The next thing I know, more people are signing up on MySaline that didn't know about it before. Still redundant? No, still rockin.

Now I'm going to leave you with five of the "25 Random Things About Me" survey that I did on Facebook. Courier reporter Jillian Duke wondered why I hadn't told her some of these things when she first met me to interview me for MySaline, back before I used to write about it every week myself.

#3. I was an extra in the Wayne's World movie and saw the premiere with five friends at the Chinese Theater in Hollyweird.

#6. I can't write in cursive much more than my name, and that's not great either.

#9. I once climbed a three-story apartment building and crawled in the hallway window because my friends didn't have a phone to push the code and open the front door.

#17. I produced television commercials and other content for about three years.

#25. I can whistle through the gap in my teeth and sound exactly like a bird, so I once distracted the geometry teacher that way, while a few of us on the back row compared answers.

This column was originally published in the Benton Courier March 1, 2009. See more of Shelli's Columns.