when I started this blog five years ago, I was a pet sitter and the name animal-crackers made sense. now I'm a stay-at-home-dad and freelance writer, but rather than confuse everyone by getting a different blog, it's just easier to keep posting things here.

It's a sad day today. Facebook removed Scabulous after Scrabble-creator Hasbro sued.

Facebook itself is a weird experience. Imagine gathering people from high school, college and other previous lives in one room. Most of the people don't know each other. They move in their prescribed circle of friends, and maybe they look at the other people in the room and wonder what their deal is.

I imagine it's like an intervention.

Facebook is like that, except online. So no one actually has to talk if they don't feel like it.

While I was figuring out whether Facebook has a place in my digital life, a friend turned me on to Scrabulous. It's a total Scrabble rip-off. Even the color-scheme is the same.

About 1 million people play Scrabulous. So Hasbro decided it wanted a piece of the action. (Although I don't see how anyone is making money in this deal.)

Rather than strike a deal with the Scrabulous creators, Hasbro had them shut down. And now it's launched an official version of Scrabble on Facebook.

It looks glossy, but it moves too slow. I'm not impressed.

Without Scrabulous, I need to reevaluate my relationship with Facebook.

It's just weird.