Bloginality.

via Susan*Jayne. Susan points to a bloginality quiz, which is a brief form Meyer-Briggs type test. As usually happens, I am an INFP. Thanks for the link!

Also, Susan got there through a link from Inner Balance. This appears to be a lovely site that I will be revisiting.


via Kathryn.


What revolution are You?
Made by altern_active

hmmm. The French Revolution, eh? Thanks for the link!

The Joy of Cell Phones.
The phone (land-line...in the bedroom) rang when I got home last night. It was my sister. We chatted, and I hung up. My cell phone started ringing. It's in the living room, in my purse. I rush out, grab the purse, grab a cell phone -- nope, that's the work phone and there's a funny message on it, but no time to look, grab a candy bar -- hey, it was close to the shape of a cell phone, toss it on the couch, and finally unzip the other compartment of the purse and grab my personal cell phone. Clicked on answer...no one there. The land-line started ringing...in the bedroom. Sheesh!

Sweet! My new scanner came with a stripped down version of PhotoShop Elements. Should be enough for my limited abilities.

Go Green!
If you don't like football, I'm going to drive you nuts for the next twelve weeks or so. Yep, it's Spartan Football time! And with the stadium just over there <---- and my boss sharing his tickets and the family tailgate planned for October 26, well, there is going to be a heck of a lot of "Go Green".

Michigan has several state schools, and two of them are big enough to be Big-10 schools. UofM is that big school down in Ann Arbor...people go there to become Doctors. Here in the mid-Michigan region, in East Lansing, is Michigan State University. People come here to be Veterinarians. UofM...hoity-toity. MSU...down-to-earth. Sound like we have a chip on our shoulder? Well, mebbe a little teensy one *grin*. (Oops, I almost typed *green*...guess I'm really jazzed.)

About eight years ago my boss started sharing the tickets he gets from his media advertising. I decided I would take my nephew Baby Bull. He's my sister's only child, and he'd been a special buddy. He was seven at the time, just a little fellow, and I can remember our seats so clearly, way at the top of the south-end bank of seats. He was a serious little boy who loved sports and I knew enough about football that I could explain some of the rudiments to him. (But I always had to hear the calls before I could explain what had happened.)

Now the tables are turned. He's fifteen and towers above me and his sharp eyes and awareness of the game mean that he's telling me what the calls are going to be. I don't know how many more years he'll want to trundle out to the stadium with his old auntee, but for now, I count myself very lucky.

Go Green!

Hmmm. So now there is going to be a Blog*Spot Pro. Guess I'll wait before jumping on that bandwagon.

Link via Rabi:
I WAS A SWEET CHILD
you're parents were lucky with you. you're sweet.
innocent. helpful. and cute.
what kind of child were you?
(brought you by april)

Around my blog world...Jeeem is in summer lust, and not just with Eve, who has found a beautiful piece of writing she shares. And thanks for the shout-out, Eve!

Susan points to this story about The Geek Squad (makes me little old heart pitter-patter) and at Susan*Jayne shares her daughter's beginning her freshman year in school.

Kathryn shares the joys of shopping and finding great clothes for larger women. I'm right there with you on that one, Kathryn. It's easier being a "big gal" than it used to be. And her connection to her grandmother Ruth is a heartwarming story. There are bonds that go beyond memories.

Lynn is still pretty quiet over at Lucid Dreaming, but she's been very busy over at Deviant Art. Check out her work! And Elaine has great Thursday pictures on texture.

Does Size Matter?
We have new model furnaces coming in this fall. These babies are 33 1/3 inches short...that's less than a YARD! If you saw one of these little tykes being installed in your home, what would you think?

Thank Heavens for Orange.
I am not by nature a morning person. I do like a paycheck, so I have learned to adapt to early rising. However, some mornings are such a struggle. Today was one of them, just absolutely no juice (figuratively and literally).

Then I made the bed. I have a big old chenille bedspread that is orange. mmmhmm, yep...orange. Not a clown orange, a flower orange. It belonged to my great-grandmother Alta.

Alta was a farmwife at the turn of the last century. She was one of two daughters, and only had one child herself. My mother remembers her saying occasionally "well, I have the bluesies". But she also had her oranges: the bedspread is one example. I have a couple of vases that belonged to her also. Oranges and greens dominate. And when I pulled the spread across the bed, I did smile.

Nice! Susan at Easy Bake is building a second blog home at Susan*Jayne. Check it out!

AOL's splash page lists "Five Great Drives". I've not driven any of them.

My list of great drives would HAVE to include: Glacier Park's Going-to-the-Sun Road; Montana-49 connecting US-2 and Montana-89; Pierce Stocking Road in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park; M-22 in the Leelanau Peninsula of Michigan. Your list?

I didn't do the Monday Mission this week at PromoGuy's as it centered around marriage questions. It dawned on me...I'm not married. I probably never will be married. How did that happen?

Kathryn has a picture of an HVAC truck that has been making the rounds of my work email buddies. (We work for a heating and air conditioning company.)

This evening is baking time. Tomorrow is last Tuesday of the month, which is our charity day at work. This is where we pay to wear something funky (previous months have been slippers and headgear) and have a bake sale. The charity this month is the United Cerebral Palsy Association..

This month is "funky bracelet" day. Geez, do you think they're trying to tell Jane and I that we went a little overboard last month with the halo and the horns? I've made lemon muffins and still have to make the sugarplums, so I guess I'd better skedaddle! Later!

Meryl has a story that will wrench your heart.

Well, the weekend sure rushed around, and here it is, Monday morning again. *sigh* And of course, AOL has to have on its splash page the link to the story that the majority of us don't like our work. *sigh* This does not help create an atmosphere conducive to a bright smiley employee this morning. *sigh* Okay, enough with the grousing. (And yes, I know that's a jay not a grouse in the picture. Let me grouse about that too...we were sitting in my mother's backyard, when ... a hummingbird flew up and posed for an infinite second on a branch near us. I don't think I had ever seen a hummingbird sit still, but could I swing my camera around fast enough? Oh, no. But it was wonderful to see, and made my afternoon, and now that I think about it, this week HAS to be great with that in the start of it, right? Right???)

Mom has a wonderful garden with lots of funky areas: the butterfly area, the sunflower house, the trumpet vine arch, trees, a grape arbor that's become hysterical, trees, a wildflower area strewn with raspberry bushes, trees, rosebed, antique pieces from the farm, trees, and two multi-garden beds (one of which is being taken over by the foxglove we brought back from Montana two years ago). The hummer divides its time between the trumpet vine arch and the cannas.

Saw S1m0ne Saturday. It was cute, but the pacing was off. And the soundtrack was out of sync part of the time, which was incredibly annoying.

On the way to the theater I pulled through the Mickey D's drive-through window. (Apparently that's what we here in the U.S. are supposed to do, go to McDonald's and sit on our fat butts...just doing my duty.) I have this thing I like to do at the drive-thru. If the kid looks pretty sharp, I give him/her an extra five and tell them to apply it to the next customer's bill. (I am SO easily amused.) If I'm still in line when the next vehicle comes, it's hilarious to watch the gestures, and usually there are waves and mouthings of thank you. Saturday I was back on the road when the car came up, but it tickled me anyway. *grin*

Well, I've now managed to make it so that I'm going to be close to late for work, so...Later!

Last night we went to see the movie Blue Crush. Okay, not my first choice, but I lost my vote because Simone wasn't playing at the Multiplex at the Meridian Mall. It was a decent flick, and the photography was breathtaking (and won't translate well to the small screen). I especially liked the fact that it was a "surfer girl" movie, which was a nice twist.

One of the previews was for 8 Mile, Eminem's movie that is due out in November. I'm not a fan of hip-hop, I'm not a fan of Eminem, but this movie looks powerful. hmm.

Mike Sanders didn't finish the week with his usual tagline: Have a nice weekend. Hoping it is a quiet one. Both here, in Israel and thoughout the entire world.

Mike, you might not have typed it this week, but I heard it. Thank you.

Yikes! It was a little harder getting back into the work schedule than I thought. That, coupled with the fact that the boss had lent me his library copy of the latest Spenser book, filled up my week. (Not that Spenser ever takes very long, but I kept falling asleep at 8:00 p.m. Argh!) I love the relationship between Spenser and Susan -- such a great combo of strengths and softnesses.

Must remember to order tickets tomorrow. Must remember. Wisconsin game for the big group. Not sure which for little group.
Go Green!

Kathryn made me do it:

What is your Alter-Ego
Personality?

Weekly Wanderings -- August 21, 2002
Here's your topic:

What was the worst job you ever had and what made it so hideous?

I met Eve (two Eves, I'm so lucky) during the blogathon. She and Kathryn are buddies. When Lynn stopped doing the Wednesday What I thought I would check out The Weekly Wanderings. So here I am.

My worst job was working at a hospital laundry. A hospital unairconditioned laundry. In the summer. A hot summer. That's all I want to say!

*********
Argh! Cybertoad, what have you done??? I keep playing that Bejeweled game you had linked. Argh! Someone save me from myself.

**********
Jeeem (with three e's) has a beautiful rant on temper.

**********
Lynn is back to school! You go, girl!

**********
Oh my, Robert Redford is going to be in Asheville, North Carolina. I'm trying to wrangle an invite to visit my good friend Susan.

**********
And Wendy, whom I also met during Blogathon and is a wonderful artist, was interviewed re: American Idol by People magazine. She met Pink at Christmas. She's just always in the right place.

Argh! This google phrase was in my logs: "how are your teeth? (any cavities" crown..."
It's from one of promoguy's Monday Missions. Well, today my teeth are cranky. The upper left side was prepped for a bridge to take care of the missing number 14. I was so shot up with novocaine that I looked like a stroke victim all afternoon...if I tried to smile my lips went exactly opposite of where they normally go. Worse yet, the novocaine is wearing off now, and they hurt. *sob* Geez, Shirl, whining will get you no where!

Remember Garter Belts???

My ladybug is on my right thigh, and the directions were to not wear pantihose for two weeks. Gulp. I'm a skirt and top person most of the time, so I've really had to figure out how to do things this week. Today I got out the garter belt from my "special" drawer and wore stockings and garters. It's a weird feeling, sports fans. There is a definite difference in the body awareness....plus that heightened risky and risque feeling.

I'm glad they didn't fall down.

***

Alison.

***

Trying something here.

PromoGuy's Monday Mission 2.33
1. Many children have blankets, or a favorite nubby stuffed animal that they like to keep near them for security. Do you recall what you had for your "security blanket" as a child? When did you finally give it up? What brought that about? I was very grown-up as a child, and didn't have a special security blanket. Now that I'm a grown-up, I have my stuffed bear that goes with me everywhere. He even went camping with me this weekend.

2. Now that you are a big kid, what do you have to give you that same sense of security? Well, other than my stuffed bear I have my cellphone. That gives me a good feeling, even though there is lots of *gulp* static.

3. With a little over four months left in 2002, have you accomplished everything you wanted to for the year? Is there anything that you would like to accomplish before the year is over? I've accomplished almost everything to date, but there are fall/winter goals coming up.

4. I don't know about you, but it seems to me children have it pretty good these days. Game systems, computers in the home, microwaves, cable TV, the internet, cell phones and pagers, they certainly have a wider variety of technology than most of us did as children. What modern convenience, if any, do you think it would be good for children today to do without? What would they gain? I think those conveniences are ok, as long as they are IN MODERATION. (moderation would work for some grown-ups (like me) also!)

5. Many of us have one thing in which we believe we excel. What do you do better than most? Hmmm. Reading.

6. In the United States, and possibly other countries, teenagers in High School usually wind up falling into several social circles or "cliques." Stoners, Rich Kids, Jocks, Cheerleaders, Band, Drama, Goths, and so on (though the names are probably different today). What High School "clique" did you find yourself in? Was it by choice or did it just happen? Did you look down on other groups? (Aw it's ok, it was/is High School, we all did dumb stuff) "Smart kids" and "orchestra", which was its own weird little group. Didn't look down on the other groups...there was a lot of overlap.

7. (it begins) I have great news! I won the contest and we now have plane tickets to anywhere in the world. The bad news is we have to pick a place now and leave in the morning. I can't decide where to go, so you get to pick. Where should we go, and what is the first thing we should do when we get there? Paris, and we'll find the elusive Eiffel Tower.

Mighty Mac. (that's it, below)

Everyone has heard of the Golden Gate bridge, but Michigan has a mighty bridge of its own...the Mackinac Bridge. We're a double peninsular state...the lower peninsula looks like a mitten and the upper hooks onto Wisconsin and juts over the mitten. Until 1957, ferries were the only way to get from the Lower Peninsula to the Upper Peninsula (hereafter referred to as "da U.P.". We have home movies of the construction of the bridge. Yes, I know. I'm old. *grin*

For many years Mackinac (pronounced Mackinaw) was the longest suspension bridge in the world. It is currently the third longest in the world, and the longest in the Western Hemisphere.

We were camped just 12 miles to the west of the bridge, so of course we had to make the stop again this year.

Ahh....blogger came back to me!

Continuing on in the "new experience" vein of this vacation, today I had my first full-body massage. Couldn't help but snicker. Monday I was hanging out at the tattoo parlors on the east side, today I spent the morning at the toniest day-spa in the county. I'm definitely putting a massage on my every six week list of things to do. It was Wonderful!

I think I've spent most of my 50 years living inside my head, not inside my body and head. (We old-maid amanuenses are kind of silly like that.) The tattoo and massage were both "body" things. And tomorrow I head up-north to join with the rest of the family in a week-end camping trip. I'll be a smart-ass and sleep in a sleeping bag directly on the tent floor instead of using a cot or an air mattress. Bet I'll REALLY be aware of my body then.

Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said. "One can't believe impossible things."
"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometime I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

It has been so nice to have a few days to just chill out...to sleep and wake as the mood struck. I've made one mistake so far on this vacation. I went to see Austin Powers. It was raining yesterday, and I wanted something light. Sorry to any AP fans, but that movie wore mighty thin mighty fast.

It also appears that I need to reassess my time use. I needed to find an IEEE cable (skulking in my closet) to reattach my printer, as I had to use its USB port for the new scanner. I went to the closet and pulled out two boxes of what I thought were Beanie Babies. Oops. It turned out that it was one large box of old photos (which do need scanning) and a box of scrapbooking supplies (I had wondered where they had gone).

Somehow I need to become more disciplined in my use of time (and money). Drat! I'll probably have to curtail reading and internet time. Why can't I just have six months off from work to get caught up instead? Oh yeah, right. I have to eat and pay rent and pay the bills. *sigh*

Thanks to all for the tattoo support! It was something I really needed to do.

Ruh-ro. Today's plan was for walking and photoing the town...but I just heard thunder. Now, what was the back-up plan???? oh yeah, something about a nap, to make up for wondering around in the middle of the night looking for meteors.

Brother Boo and girls are up in the U.P. near Whitefish Point. They just called on the cell phone...a bear crossed their path. Oh boy, Boo....I'll bet you have some nightmares to contend with tonight with the three baby divas with you!

Ok doke! Here she is!

Next year I'm going to throw a meteor party.
Well, I went out on the balcony and observed for 20 minutes. Saw three meteors, one good one. Clouds started rolling in. Bat flew by. I flew back into apartment, slamming the balcony door behind me. (Apartment below me is empty right now.) *sigh*

Ahem.

I am now sporting a sweet little lady bug...tattoo.
Yep.
I did it.

Pictures at 11.

PromoGuy's Monday Mission 2.32
1. If I could guarantee that the Fashion Police would not lay the smackdown on you, which favorite out-of-style article of clothing do you wish you could wear right now? (and if you have photos of you wearing it, post 'em) Hmmm. I'm always sort of out-of-style.

2. In your opinion, who is famous but shouldn't be? Any doubt? Pamela Lee Anderson

3. Are there any new movies or TV shows that you are forward to this fall? CSI Miami, Moonlight Mile September 27 and The Banger Sisters September 20....oooh, they're close together, with Susan Sarandon.

4. If you had a time machine that you could use only one time (there and back), where would you go and what would you do? I would go back to 1804 and the Lewis & Clark expedition. Sacagawea could have used a female friend on that trip, don't you think?

5. What cologne of perfume do you like to wear? Which brand do you prefer that your partner wear? Tresor by Lancome...studly sweat

6. Do you recall your first "French kiss?" Tell me about how that felt, and how it came about. Do you like them? nice girls don't tell *smirk smirk*

7. Excluding your partner...If you had the opportunity, who would you most like to French kiss?Brad Pitt

Virtual Train Trip ~~ Destination
And if we were on the Empire Builder, that grand old train named after James J. Hill, we would be pulling into Glacier Park Station in the next few minutes. We would be pulling into heaven.

The Northern passage across Montana is called "the Highline". U.S. 2 and the train tracks race each other across the high prairies. The towns tick off. Wolf Point. Fort Peck Dam, setting for Ivan Doig's Bucking the Sun. Glasgow. Malta. Chinook.

The excitement of the trip ramps up near Chinook. Sixteen miles to the south the Bearpaw Mountains appear, the last spot on Chief Joseph and company's flight to freedom. The new traveler often thinks we're close to the front face of the Rockies now, but we still have many miles to go.

Havre is the last refueling stop. Here I would jump off the train, around the station, and snap a picture of the statue of J.J. Hill. Then back on the train and up ahead: is it clouds? Is it smog? Is it...the Front Face of the Rockies? It is.

One last wait to go over the single track bridge at Cut Bank. Speeding past Browning, which is the winter East Glacier stop. Then over the Two Medicine, rising, rising, slowing...and we're there.

Virtual Train Trip - con't
Can't seem to help myself. We would have been taking the Amtrak's Empire Builder to Montana today if we hadn't had a complication develop. I'm just mentally doing the trip.

It is amazing how fast sleep comes after M-SP. People get out their sheets, blankets, or afghans and curl up. The lights are dimmed. And the train continues, clackety-clack through the darkness.

I've never been awake at Grand Forks, never been aware of crossing the Great Red River of the North. Consciousness begins to seep in as the train slows and stops at Devil's Lake. Devil's Lake is a run-off lake, with no natural outlet. It shrinks and increases, shrinks and increases.

By eightish we're in the snack car, finding some sort of breakfast. We sit on the left side of the train, because we'll be passing Rugby, N.D. There is something special about Rugby, and the first person who finds and enters it in comments shall receive a $5.00 gift certificate to Barnes and Noble. (Okay, so I'm in a really really REALLY goofy mood this morning *grin*.)

Next stop, "whynot Minot" North Dakota. We camped there one year when we drove out to Montana. The people are exceedingly friendly. The KOA folks let us double camp on a lot. Tash had an ear infection, and her folks took her to emergency. She came back with a big stuffed animal.

Minot is the second refueling station. This allows us enough time to get off the train and walk around. Minot's newspaper stands don't work. Never have. Not once. *sigh*

There's a station at Stanley, North Dakota. It is a tiny town. We have driven through it (my dad's name was Stanley, we're sentimental). It was early morning when we drove through the streets, and I think the newspaper boy on his bike was a little concerned about two vehicles from Michigan making their way through his town.

Right about now, we'd be pulling out of Williston, North Dakota. Here we change to Mountain time. And here we begin to follow the Missouri. Lewis & Clark country. Badlands of North Dakota. Eighteen miles to Montana.

Virtual Train Trip.
Midnight. If we were on the train, the Empire Builder, we would be pulling into Minneapolis-St. Paul's station right about now.

We would have left Chicago about three p.m. We would pull out to the north, following Lake Michigan for awhile, stopping at various bedroom communities, because the Empire Builder is also a commuter train.

At Milwaukee we would say good-bye to Lake Michigan, and begin a more westerly route. The Dells area would appear, and we would begin our deer counting contest. One hundred and five was the highest number we saw. We would go to the dining car when our seating was called (and not before, or risk being chewed out over the public address system -- the public address system that shorts out quite often, making it very hard to hear if your seating is called.) We would choose from the limited menu -- a beef, chicken, or fish entree -- and meet folks who were heading somewhere. If they were from the sleeper cars they would invariably and indubitably be upset about something. Coach is much more relaxing, I think.

After dinner we would go back to our seats. Dusk would settle as we went through LaCrosse, Wisconsin and crossed three rivers...the LaCrosse, the Black, and The Mississippi. The Mississippi crossing is much longer here than it is at its headwaters up at Lake Itasca. There, the mighty river can be crossed on a log.

We would be tempted to nod off as the darkness settled, but we're seasoned travelers and we know that Minneapolis-St. Paul is coming up, with at least 20 minutes of off-train time available. So we switch to slippers, but we stay alert, and at MSP we're the first out the door. Fresh air...cool fresh night air. We walk to the end of the train, then back to the station. We go inside and get Sunny D and Ruby Red. We come out quickly, because we don't want to be stifled inside for an extra minute.

Sorry folks...I'm missing Montana. Next year. *grin*

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Vacation time. Ten days of no grind, no hassle. Yes!

This is where I'm headed this afternoon.

Lynn has been accepted into her program! YAY!

It has been a good week all around! Eve got her bank loan for her business! Congratulations!

And Kathryn has a wonderful story in Miraculous Phenomena.

Update: Kathryn has a wonderful care for her clients and has redone Miraculous Phenomena. Kathryn, the people you come in contact with are indeed lucky people.
**********

Very unserious test, but I liked the graphic *grin*.

Book Worm Meter

Shut In 71% . . 29% Out Of The House Intellectual 95% . . 5% Moron High Attention Span 95% . . 5% Low Attention Span Bookitude 96% . . 4% Book Burner Book Worm 89.25% . . 10.75% Bug Stomper

Take your bookworm readings.

And another:

You are 35% geek

You are a geek liaison, which means you go both ways. You can hang out with normal people or you can hang out with geeks which means you often have geeks as friends and/or have a job where you have to mediate between geeks and normal people. This is an important role and one of which you should be proud. In fact, you can make a good deal of money as a translator. Normal: Tell our geek we need him to work this weekend. You [to Geek]: We need more than that, Scotty. You'll have to stay until you can squeeze more outta them engines! Geek [to You]: I'm givin' her all she's got, Captain, but we need more dilithium crystals! You [to Normal]: He wants to know if he gets overtime.

Take the Polygeek Quiz at Thudfactor.com

Too Old Too Soon

Sometimes I think I've been old all my life. Now I want to be young, but it's a little bit harder to be young in a 50-year-old body. Oh well, pass the Bufferin and let's get going!

My vacation starts in ten hours and 45 minutes. YAY!

Jeeem! Quit playing with your food!

Okay, enough fooling around. I gotta go to work!

Back End of Summer.
One of the radio stations was trying to make things sound better Tuesday, saying that we were halfway through summer (using the June 21-September 21 numbers). Nice try, but it doesn't really fly. We all know that summer here in the U.S. is Memorial Day to Labor Day. We're counting down fast now. Waaaaaah!

Only good thing is...September brings MSU football games! Go Green! Oops, I guess there actually is a game in August. Whoa.

Sometimes blogger sites don't ping weblogs. Wonder what that is all about?

you are a book called



what
dr. seuss book warped you?

Link via Joni...thanks!

Alice Roosevelt said of her father, Teddy Roosevelt: My father always wanted to be the corpse at every funeral, the bride at every wedding and the baby at every christening.
My mother's gentleman friend passed away this week. He was an exuberant man, loving people and being the center of attention in his world the same as T.R. loved attention. It is a shame that men like this have to miss their own funeral.
He will be missed.

'Bye Lynn! Best of luck!

Oh yay! Wendy had the best visual arts project for Blogathon 2002! Congratulations, Wendy...it sure helped me keep going through those 24 hours!

Monday Mission...by promoguy:
1. Ever considered just deleting your Blog and not doing it anymore? What prompted that and what stopped you? Yup! I actually did it, but here I am again. It was prompted by two things: 1.) I was seeing a new guy (now defunct) and 2.)I can't say. *grin*

2. How about a quick review of the last movie you saw? Signs. Better than I expected, a fun watch, but the good feeling didn't last.

3. What's your favorite gadget? Are you lusting for any new ones? Will you ever be satisified???
Cameras...and I'm NEVER satisfied. Looking for a better digital right now, and also larger format. *sigh*

4. Saturday night I played "UNO" for the first time in years, I mean it has been over 10 years since I played it. It was great fun, but it really made me want to learn how to play Backgammon again. What "table game" do you enjoy playing most with other people? Have you played it lately? Hearts (over last Christmas). Monopoly...over five years, I think.

5. About a year ago I was obsessed with loosing weight, and I dropped pretty low before I got a handle on things (I've actually gained about 8 pounds of it back, and it is still a struggle sometimes to not try to loose it). Thankfully, I like fattening sweets and buttery popcorn too much to live like that for too long. Have you ever been obsessed with something so much that it was close to causing you physical or mental harm? If not, have you known anyone else who has? I don't think so...

6. Did you grow up in a family or community that displayed racist or prejudice attitudes? Did it influence you in any way, either toward or away from those views? How did you manage to avoid it, or did you? The church I grew up in was racist, unfortunately, and I knew I didn't want to be like those people.

7. Good grief, I am starving! You got anything to eat around here? Corn on the cob, grapes and rice krispie treats.

Link list.
Okay, at the bottom of the link list it says powered by blogrolling.com. Well, I haven't got it set up yet, so it is still the template list for now. I'm going to print off the template so I can get all you wonderful folks with the proper URLs. (I tried earlier and goofed mightily.) So if you're pinging weblogs.com when you post, we'll get to see a *fresh* note on the list. Any ideas as to how many hours should be considered *fresh*?

Susan has a great entry on It's a Blog, Blog, Blog, Blog, World. She hits the nail smack-dab on the head.

I thought Fred First from Floyd (West Virginia) was a codger. I was wrong...he's a redhead!

Would you buy a book on blogging?
Several books on blogging are out or coming out in the next month or so.
Due in September is Essential Blogging from O'Reilly, by Shelley Powers, Cory Doctorow, J. Scott Johnson, Mena G. Trott, Benjamin Trott.
Out now is We've Got Blog: How Weblogs Are Changing Our Culture by Editors of Perseus Publishing (Introduction), Rebecca Blood.
Rebecca Blood has her own book out, The Weblog Handbook: Practical Advice on Creating and Maintaining Your Blog.
Going to any of these Amazon links will give you links to more blogging books.

Now I have two shelves full of computer books...one over there ---->
and a more outdated shelf in the bedroom. But I'm not so sure I'd snag a book on blogging. Fellow bloggers are just so helpful, and it seems like you either want to do it, or you don't. But we all know how goofy I am. What do you think?

Good Morning!

From Lynn, who says it is from almost everywhere:

A mental exercise: using only two words, describe the following:
Your home. Needs changing
Your car. Chevy Corscia
Your job. Information amanuensis
Your S.O. In dreams
Your Family. Best friends
Your Friends. Scattered afar
The Internet. Positive Change
Television. CBS rules
Books. My friends
Today. Somewhat Pensive

I do have August 12-16 off still, so I'm setting up plans for how to spend this vacation time.

1. Tattoo Day. Yep, I'm gonna do it. Any more suggestions as to where it should be? Jeeem has given me a few pointers, but I'll listen to any advice anyone has to offer.

2. Spa Day. I think I am totally in need of a day at the Spa, another thing I have never done. I'm in need of a change, and a massage sounds perfect.

3. A couple of days at Lake Michigan. A soul restorative.

4. Cooking. I've missed experimental cooking. One day I think I'll just cook up a storm. Got a recipe you love? Lay it on me!

Montana trip postponed to 2003.
Unfortunately, we have had to postpone Montana for a year. This year I was going with my mother. Her boyfriend fell two weeks ago and broke his hip, but they have had such a hard time stabilizing him that they have not yet been able to fix his hip. Things don't look promising at the moment, but Mom is coping fairly well. Life can change in just a twinkle, just a misstep.

Oops! Sorry that I didn't finish that last entry. The combination of the Blogathon last weekend and the busiest month at work since November 1999 wiped me out. I was dead to the world by 9:30 p.m. Feeling rested and a might bit perkier this a.m. Hope you are all having a great day. I plan on doing some cleaning and some puttering around the place, then seeing SIGNS this evening with a friend. I wasn't going to bite, but I can seldom pass up Mel Gibson.

Sheesh. Just over at the Signs website. That looks like the Field of Dreams farmhouse. Guess I'd better go to IMDB and see where it was shot. click click click Nope, it was fillmed in Pennsylvania.

They keep messin' with my bookstores.

I am a bookstore fanatic. I have my favorites, and I have a routine that goes with visiting there. I should say, I HAD a routine, because both favorites moved, and I just can't get in sync for some reason. Tonight I went to Schuler Books. This used to be a stand-alone bookstore close to a grocery store. I would spend an hour or two there, get a nice bag of books, choose one perfect pastry from the coffee shop, go to the grocery store and get their salad bar, head home, and be in ecstasy. Now they've moved to the MALL! I love malls, but the energy is totally different, and I can't browse more than 20 minutes. *sigh*

Susan writes lovingly of mother/daughter relations. Your mother is lucky, Susan.

Wheee! I shirley do love end-of-month at work. Not. Well, it is okay, but it is draining...I work for a heating and air conditioning company and with the great heat we've been having we have been busy busy busy. And then, like an idiot, I have the company Newsletter come out at the end of the month also (guess who writes most of it...mmmhmm). Dork I am, I am.

Here is a question. Do you ever use the f*** word? And if so, is it easier to speak it or write it? Jeeem with three eee's has been at it again.