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March 31, 2004

Mad About Al

Note: What's really funny is that I edited out most of this post, then I suppose I forgot to save the edits. The hell with it, I'm leaving it as is!

This is an official Virtual Friend Appreciation Moment.

There's something about Al.

I've come to know a bit about him since the day I asked his permission to link to a bear photo on his site. I've no idea what it is, but Al is my kind of guy. Don't misunderstand, I mean that in a nice, friendly way and not in a teenager/crush/obsessive/fatal attraction manner. He strikes me as someone you instinctively know you'd get along with in person. Al isn't about playing the blog game. He's not interested in the whole A-Lister brouhaha though he's certainly up on all of it and he isn't an A-Lister-Ass-Kisser. He's no-nonsense, intelligent, and when the spirit moves him, he spins out stories that leave me wanting more.

Al's site changes like the seasons of the year. Recently I noticed yet another iteration of Al's personal site at the fulton chain address. I've followed the changes and have developed a true appreciation of his aesthetic applications, variety of layouts and technical know-how. He's helped me out of many blogjams in the time I've come to know him. (As I stated in a post last year: Al, you da man!)

I'm forcing myself to stop this before I begin to sound like a blubbering idiot or worse, a love-struck puppydog. Here is just another reason why I'm such big a fan of Al's -- he tells it like it is.

"You're not going to see links to other weblogs who are linking to other weblogs who are linking to the NY Times (read the Times yourself). You're not going to see the weather in my town (you donít care and I can look out the window). What you might see is some truth. Not the truth about the war in Iraq or the latest tech fad, but the truth of what it is like to raise three children in an absolutely gorgeous community in the middle of nowhere. This personal site is going to become a lot more personal and for most, duller than watching grass grow. But I may learn something along the way and thatís what Fulton Chain is really about. Me."

Posted by me, of course!

For My Fellow Aries

Aries: Once your mind is made up, itís a done deal. Tough, fierce, and determined to conquer demons and obstacles, you can be a formidable enemy and a protective, loyal friend. Anger, impatience, and anxiety may nip at your heels, especially in your youth. You cannot stand to be ignored, restricted, or patronized and may act out when you believe justice is not being served. Justice is a personal matter for you. Common societal laws may seem quaint and crusty, light-years behind your view of the world. When massive government, societal or religious organizations seem to go astray, you tend to be indignant and want to do something about it. Some of you eventually shut out the world and create your own private haven - a kind of protest against hypocrisy or craziness you see in society. But more of you go into public service with every intention of making the world a better place. Your motives are pure, and your passions are deep. At times, you operate more as a lone wolf than a team player and may lose touch with the people youíre trying to champion. It is essential that you balance your active, intense life with a variety of activities, loads of healthy exercise, and plenty of honest feedback from friends and family. You may feel more comfortable performing some sort of service than idly flitting about at parties. You generally feel more comfortable and secure with a certain amount of organization and form. Random events that seem to have no rules or precedent leave you feeling oddly out of place. Although youíre independent and very motivated, you donít need to be top dog. You navigate very effectively while operating in someone elseís shadow.

Give or take a couple of things, that about sums it up for me. Does it sound like you?

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Blah Blah Blah

The birthday festivities began early for me (March 29 here in the US, March 30 in Australia) with a lovely bouquet of beautiful flowers featured on Ozg's blog. I was extremely touched by the gesture, and it felt really nice to be acknowledged like that. Thank you so much!! Unspoiled diva that I am, the birthday blog partying didn't stop there.

Yesterday was less depressing than I expected thanks to the lot of you who were threatened by Zoe and more gently kicked by Kat to pop in here and wish me a happy birthday. Thanks so much for following their orders ;-)

I'm highly amused by the number of commenters who wrote "I'm here because I'm scared of Zoe." All those comments were made by men. Kat's readers were a bit more lively and happy-go-lucky. Nevertheless, it was nice to have some new folks stop by the virtual party, and it's really a shame I can't hand out slices of the fabulous cake I got yesterday. Oh well. Next year we'll just have to do a real party somewhere. I'll let Zoe plan it. ;-)

On a separate note, I was terribly disappointed that some of you (and you know darn well who you are) didn't even bother to blow some of your sunshine my way. Do I have to name names here? Sheesh.

Outside of the above, I had good intentions to do a few things yesterday -- self-focused, all-about-me stuff that I never do, but that plan went out the window and it ended up that I didn't have the time. Marcus phoned from Nashville and sang 'Happy Birthday' to me one too many times and I begged him to stop singing. Still, it was nice that he took the time to call. Late last night my friend Holger called from Berlin while in bed (I'll leave the imagery up to your dirty little minds) which just helped to end my day with lots of laughter.

Today I began my day with two phone calls and both were from someone's misdialed fax machine (do you have any idea what it's like to be on the receiving end of a fax call? It's murder on your eardrums.) And there ya have it. Nothing riveting went on but in blog space, I had a great time and thank you again!

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March 30, 2004

Miss Piggy Eats Cake

The buzzer rang and now ...
I've got a HUGE chocolate birthday cake, thanks to a very thoughtful and dear friend. This is really great, because now I don't have to do any food shopping for the rest of the week. This cake is guaranteed to slap on extra pounds and soon I'll be able to roll myself down the stairs and out the door.

I'm so lucky that I've got the most wonderful friends. Aren't you jealous? ;-)

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Live from Belgium

I just got out of bed, had one eye open and one hand on the coffee pot when the phone rang. I picked up the phone and heard a female voice on the other end begin singing, in full-blown Marilyn Monroe Happy Birthday Mr. President sex kitten tone.

This confused me, and I thought the person dialed the wrong number and had the wrong day, that maybe that call was meant for my brother, whose birthday is tomorrow. Then I realized who was singing -- it was Zoe, calling me from Belgium. I think she should make an audio recording of herself singing Happy Birthday. It certainly managed to wake me up, that's for sure. :-)

Thank you for being so thoughtful AND so funny, you loopy chick!

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It's My F---ing Birthday

WELL, IT'S MY FUCKING BIRTHDAY AGAIN. One year ago today I remember being so sure that this was the year that everything would turn around. I could sense it. I could feel it in the air. But here I am, a full year later, just as screwed up as ever, still making the same mistakes over and over. So I am initiating a new tradition. My plan is to carefully scrutinize my past in the name of not being condemned to repeat it by writing myself an annual report on my birthday. Kind of a personal state of the union to help me chart my profits and losses or at least get a clearer picture of what I am doing right and wrong. I'm not stupid enough to think it's going to keep me from making mistakes ever again but it would be nice if at least I could start making new ones.
- from the book, It's My F----ing Birthday by Merrill Markoe

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March 29, 2004

Early Blooms

These flowers are fighters. Through snow, cold, warm, rain, cloudy, sunny, they couldn't care less. Instead, they displayed their defiance and puffed their way right out of the soil. I can't say that I blame them. Here in the Northeast US, we're all a bit weary of the dreary grey skies, cold temperatures and snow.

Click on the image to enlarge.

I'm looking forward to warmer temps and sunnier skies!

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March 26, 2004

whoopsadaisies

I tripped on the cord, went up in the air, fell *thwap* on the chair.
The filled cup flew out, went *splat* on the floor, and now I need more.

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Friday Fiddlefaddle

What do you call a soup or stew that has everything in it? Isn't there a word for that, where you empty the contents of your refrigerator into a pot and cook it up? Sheesh. I'm losing my brain cells. Anyway ...

The last 3 days I found myself unexpectedly having to access the Web via dial-up. Though not shocking to me, it did prevent me from my online routine -- reading all the blogs I read, leaving comments, etc. It took way too much time that I didn't have and the time needed to be directed toward preparing my taxes. So be it, I tried to leave my mark where I could.

One of the more amusing things that happened during my unplanned switch from broadband to dial-up was the visitation of the cable guy yesterday. I'd venture to guess that he was maybe 20 years old, or he just was blessed with having a young face. I took one look at him and thought "kid." It's terrible to stereotype, but that's what happened. The majority of his 10-minute visit was spent talking with me about Windows vs Macs, pros and cons, and different browsers. When he had me test the broadband connection and looked at my desktop he said, "Oh! I've never seen THAT browser before. What is it?" There I was, explaining the browser to him and continuing our discussion of operating systems.

The thought occurred to me after he left that we always refer to those who visit from the cable company as the "cable guy." I couldn't help but wonder if there aren't women who do that job also. It's not as if we're not capable of it. I suppose some folks, myself included, just automatically think that when it comes to certain jobs, a man is the stereotype and that's who will show up. I recall one instance when the telephone company repair person showed up to fix my phone line, and to my surprise (and delight, actually) it was a woman. Now that's progress! Too bad we don't see more of it.

Hopping off the "I am woman" soapbox now, some of you mentioned that you were getting the login/password box when accessing this page. I'll tell you what happened. My bad. I found that something/someone/whatever was sucking quite a bit of bandwidth and I attempted to password-protect my images directory. Well oops, I did it again and that's why you were getting that prompt. Thanks to those of you who pointed it out, as I thought I had fixed that last night.

ION (in other news), huge festivities going on this weekend. Sunday marks the next birthday for friend Marcus, who says he might spend the day camping(?), and it is the big, annual, no-holds-barred blowout party at my mom's house. My youngest brother and I share birthdays that are a day apart (with some years in-between, mind you,) and I've been served my family summons to appear and take part. Last year I showed up with my own cake, where I'd had the folks at the bakery write "happy birthday to me" on it. Typical of my sense of humor, mom didn't find it funny at all, and was hurt by my attempt at laughter. She said she felt like I did it because I was trying to tell her that she was remiss in her duties as the mother. It took a great deal of explanation to change her mind. Sometimes my attempts at humor land with a huge THUD.

Technically, my BD isn't until Tuesday. For some reason, this year my mindset about it is pretty subdued. Actually, most years it is like that overall. I used to get really excited about my birthday. I used to go out and buy some small present for myself because in all honesty, I'm just so madly in love with me that I deserve it. (wink, wink.) I can tell I'm getting old because I can see the shift in my mindset. Call it aging, call it times-a-changin', call it anything you want, I just dont' think that way anymore. *shrug*

Other than all the above, I've got maybe 5 files pending on my desktop of stories and other goodies that are just sitting there, waiting to be transferred to this space. Procrastinator? Yup. Sometimes. I tend to write things up, re-read them and ask myself, "who the hell wants to read this shit?" It's Friday, and it's becoming one of those days.

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March 25, 2004

Birthdaze

Birthdays come and birthdays go. Some are terrifically exciting and chock full of surprises, and other times they're just downright ho-hum, boring and chalked up to just another day.

So I was thinking (always a dangerous occurence,) that maybe y'all would humor me and put the date of your birthday in the comments. No, I personally don't give a damn how old you are, so feel free to leave out the year. Just the date itself would be grand.

Just curious to see if any of you do this. Of course there might just be a damn good reason why I'm asking. :-)

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March 24, 2004

EU Orders Microsoft to End Monopoly Abuse

Reuters:

European Union regulators ordered U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp on Wednesday to pay a record fine for violating EU antitrust law and change its business model fundamentally to stop crushing rivals. The European Commission said Microsoft must act within four months to give competitors in audio-visual software and servers used in millions of offices in Europe a fairer chance to compete "because the illegal behavior is still going on."

The Commission -- enforcer of EU competition law -- levied a record 497.2 million euros ($611.8 million) fine, ordered the unbundling of Windows Media Player within 90 days and required that "complete and accurate" information be given to rival makers of computer servers within 120 days. "Today's decision restores the conditions for fair competition in the market concerned and establishes clear principles for the future conduct of a company with such a strong dominant position," Competition Commissioner Mario Monti said.

In a historic decision mirroring a U.S. appeals court finding, the Commission described Windows, which runs on more than 95 percent of all personal computers, as a "near monopoly."

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What's Your Inner European?

You are a Bavarian.

What's your Inner European? - brought to you by Quizilla

Gee, no surprise there. ;-)

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27 Types of Man

Gender expert Dr Stephen Whitehead has published a handy A to Z of male types - 27 distinct and recognisable types of men - to help women make their way through the labyrinth of the male mind. Dr Whitehead, a senior lecturer at Keele University, and member of the Cabinet Office Forum on Gender Research, spent 15 years studying and writing about masculinity, travelling the world researching his book The Many Faces Of Men. Drawing on interviews with sociologists and philosophers, it gives a fascinating insight into all men. - Evening Standard

(see the list in the extended entry)

A-Z of the Male Psyche

Backpacker: sexy but dangerous; a relationship daytripper

Chameleman: adaptable, smooth, urbane and attractive - but never the man you think he is

Club Man: blazers, old school ties, football shirts. Into male bonding

Cool Poser: fashion-conscious

Corporate Man: relishes security, a follower not a leader, but faithful

Gadgetman: techno-freak, poor eyesight. Insular and socially inept

Jeffrey: social animal in a world of half-truths. Compelling character.

Jester: loves laughter and an audience but prone to melancholy

Libman: pro-feminist male, politically correct, very well read

Manchild: ageing stud with rich tastes and little dignity

Mr Angry: moody, aggressive but doesn't see his actions as damaging

Murdoch: Napoleonic self-belief, usually justified. Ruthless, untiring

Neanderthal: anti-feminist with outdated views on relationships

Preacher: fundamentalist views. Single-minded, fervent and intense

Risker: optimistic and overdrawn at the bank, likes to push his luck

Romancer: calculating seducer, dislikes women but pursues them

Rottweiler: lager drinker who loves his mates and his country

Sigmund: lots of inner angst, low self-esteem but reliable and caring

Teddy Bear: sensitive, vulnerable and a good listener - but not sexy

Trainspotter: middle-aged, plenty of brown cardigans, and obsessed with data collection

Uniform Man: emotionally insecure. Rigid, brittle temperament

Wallflower: unambitious couch potato with predictable behaviour

Wayne: heroic, unchanging, loyal and steadfast. Think John Wayne

Zebedee: floundering and confused. Needs nurturing. Unreflective but busy

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March 23, 2004

Evil at a Young Age

When you're a baby and awake at 4 or 5 a.m. bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and mom and dad are sound asleep, you can do things in your crib. You begin by removing your diaper. Easy, just pull and tug at it until it comes off. Then jump up and down in the crib, and make sure your feet land inside the diaper. Sing while you do this, because none of the grown-ups are coming into the room to silence you.

After a while you become bored. You decide to liven things up, and pick up the diaper from under your feet and play with it for a while. You find things in the diaper, strange-looking things. You pick up the things and begin throwing them across the room, hitting the walls, the floor, and your sister, who is asleep in her bed. Then you look down and see some of that stuff on your hands. You decide that the bars on the crib would be a good place to wipe it off. Then you're suddenly tired from all this activity, and find a corner of the crib that is untouched by the earlier commotion. You sit down, then you lay down, falling fast asleep.

Suddenly you awake, hearing things. You open up one eye while rubbing the other one with your hand. The next thing you know, one of the grown-ups is there, and her voice is REALLY LOUD. Since you don't speak that language yet, you wonder why it's so noisy all of a sudden. You pull yourself up, put your arms up in the air with hands open wide, speaking your own language of "pick me up!" Then you hear the loud noise all over again.

According to my mother, that's what I did when I was a baby.

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New Domain Names Pending Approval

Nine new Internet domain names, including ".xxx" for adult content and ".mail" for spam-free communications, could join the more familiar ".com" and ".net" Web site suffixes later this year. Internet governing body the Internet Corporation for the Assignment of Names and Numbers (ICANN) said 10 organizations had filed proposals for the new Web domains in time for last week's deadline. A month-long public comment period starts on April 1.

The domains will go through a two-month approval process before possible ratification later this year. If each is accepted, it would bring the number of top level domains to over 20. Among the new entrants is ".mobi," proposed by nine companies including Microsoft Corp, South Korea's Samsung Electronics and Finland's Nokia. The consortium, named Mobi JV, aims to create a new domain specifically for Web sites designed for mobile phones and Internet-ready devices.

Other new domain candidates include: ".asia," ".jobs," ".tel," ".post" and ".travel," ICANN said. The new suffixes were proposed to help Web surfers locate sector-specific information on, say, travel and employment. The London-based Anti-Spam Community Registry, meanwhile, proposed ".mail" to better identify the authenticity of online marketers in an effort to combat spam e-mails. - Reuters

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March 22, 2004

Blogs: Those Lippy Web Sites

Sunday's New York Times Magazine includes the following Clive Thompson essay, The Honesty Virus - When online, we are oddly prone to telling the truth.

The piece begins with the mention of the Cornell professor who, after conducting research, concluded that people lie more on the phone than by email. (New Scientist) Mr. Thompson's essay delves further into the topic, and his piece is an interesting read. (By the way, Thompson's blog can be found at Collision Detection.)

This snippet from the essay made me laugh:

"I spend about an hour every day visiting blogs, those lippy Web sites where everyone wants to be a pundit and a memoirist. (Then I spend another hour writing my own blog and adding to the cacophony.)"

(I now have visions of all blogs with big red lips on them, not unlike the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse "kisses" urinals.) ;-)

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The Scenic Route

Greg @ Mr. Helpful has some lovely photos of his neck o' the woods (Washington State) along with some geese pooping in the lake commentary.

Ozguru @ GDay Mate has been posting photos also, including some from his walk to work each day. He's working on a new photo page, so be sure to go through his blog posts to see all the photos.

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Here and There

It was good to get out of the city. Before I knew it, I was home again. Outside of getting a lot of work done, I managed to keep up with my blog reading, and I discovered that ...

Zoe's (MBIAT) writing continued to promote giggles with a recent post about tracksuits, huge bellys, prairies and curtains, Joanie @ DaGoddess moved into her new home and her excitement was evident after caffeine (exclamation mark) and when the cable guy showed up (exclamation mark.) Ozguru @ GDay Mate was busy in CSS and MT plugin hell, Al @ Fulton Chain gave us a look out of his upstate window, though I couldn't tell whether that was a window in his house or his car. Either way, it ain't Spring yet where he is! Paul (who needs a shorter blog title) debates pro athletes juicing up and Kat's (Mostly Fluff) been on vacation - hopefully she had a good week off. That's all for now!

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March 19, 2004

Panda to Watch Sex Videos

From the print edition of the NY Daily snooze:

A San Diego-born panda named Hua Mei has been flown to Beijing to watch sex videos featuring pandas mating to prepare her for "blind dates" with Chinese suitors.

Officials say the crash course is necessary because 4-year-old Hua Mei, who was born in captivity, is clueless. "We hope she can get pregnant by the end of March -- but first of all, she should have some sexual education," said a spokesperson of the Giant Panda Protection Research Center.

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Last Day of Winter

Click on the image to enlarge.

It may be the last day of Winter, but it may not be the last day of snow. :-)

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March 17, 2004

Wacky Weather

And here I thought I'd be riding my bicycle yesterday! Somehow I missed the fact that the spring-like temperatures of Monday would turn into winter snow all over again. Click on the images to enlarge:

Hopefully that's the last of the snow. I'll see if I can ride my bicycle on the snow-covered roads 'round these parts. :-)

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March 16, 2004

Off Like a Dirty Shirt

I'm travelling this morning, heading out to see my darling deer. Just in case you don't remember what he looks like, here's a photograph I took during the summer.

Catch ya later ;-)

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Guinness Record for Toshiba's Tiny Hard Disk Drive

Guinness World Records has certified that Toshiba Corp's tiny hard disk drives are the smallest in the world. The 1.8 inch HDDs are used in Apple Computer's iPod digital music players; the 0.85-inch HDDs, with storage capacity up to four gigabytes, will be used in products such as cellphones and digital camcorders. Reuters

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March 14, 2004

MBIAT: Now Feed-Endowed

You go girl! Zoe's got a feed as of today. It's about time, you bitch. ;-) I'm happy you're happy that you're now RSS-endowed. It's my pleasure to blow the sunshine up your feed. Can ya feel it? (yuk yuk.)

p.s. I've successfully added your feed to my aggregator. It's looking good, chiquita.

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From One Resident to Another

Dear Neighbor:

It's early Sunday, and our paths crossed on the street while I was headed to the newsstand to get my morning newspaper. You were walking your golden retriever, and the lovely and adorable pup stopped dead in her tracks and looked right at me. I walked over to pet her. This seemed to be the most offensive thing I could have done, judging by the look on your face.

Now I understand that we all have our good and bad moments, times when we really don't feel up to talking to anyone, let alone strangers. However, the "you're invading my space" scowl you displayed brought new meaning to the worldwide stereotype of "unfriendly New Yorker." I mean really. All I did was pet your dog, for a full 4 seconds of your life. Would you have preferred that I pet you instead? Were you suffering from just-out-of-bed, wife nagging you to walk the dog so it could poop anxiety? What was the problem here?

Regardless of my obvious disruption of your dog walking, I wonder if you even heard me when I bid you a LOVELY DAY. It's people like you that give this city its stereotype. Jackass.

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March 13, 2004

Meatballs, Anyone?

It had been a thorn in my side for a long time. Year after year, failure ensued with each attempt to make a delicious, orgasm-for-the-palate perfect italian meatball. Disgruntled patrons of La Dolce Squip complained in absolute disgust, "this is the equivalent of eating hockey pucks," or the distressing, "how much cardboard did you put in these?" After all my tried-and-failed endeavors to produce a schwing-inducing meatball, one of my unimpressed customers handed me a recipe for italian meatballs found in a newspaper. I became determined to get it right this time.

Excitement was in the air while I shopped for fresh ingredients, attempting to remember all the required elements to create a happy meatball. With two grocery bags full of prime grade-A magic, I walked back from the store and headed toward my apartment. Suddenly I recalled one very important item that I didn't own. Uh oh.

The recipe calls for certain ingredients to be pummeled via puree'. Since previous culinary exercises had taken place off-premises using someone else's handy kitchen appliances, the thought never entered my mind as to how this puree' would happen without owning a blender or food processor. Time to buy myself a blender.

Garlic cloves, sweet onion, chili flakes, eggs, bread crumbs, and some parmigiano reggiano cheese (along with other, super secret ingredients) made the most spectacular meatballs I've ever tasted. Rave reviews for this culinary delight came flooding in. Meanwhile ...

I was in the mood to cook and decided to make the meatballs yet again. Some 24 meatballs later, I wonder if I planned on feeding those meatballs to anyone in particular ... a minor oversight on my part. Come and git it! ;-)

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You're Too Small for Me

Upon receiving an unfavorable ruling from a female Manhattan Criminal Court Judge, the male defendant belligerently suggested that the judge perform a sex act on him. The female judge came back with a less than honorable retort: "You're too small for me," she said. Daily News

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Nun Faces Jail

Bless me father for I have sinned.

WARSAW (Reuters) - A Polish Benedictine nun is facing jail for driving a tractor into a car while drunk outside her convent in southwestern Poland, police said on Friday. The 45-year-old nun will be charged with drunk-driving and causing an accident, which carries a prison sentence of up to two years, Dariusz Waluch, police spokesman in the southwestern Polish town of Dzierzoniow, told local news agency PAP. He said the nun was 17 times over the country's legal alcohol limit for driving.

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pffft

There were two additional entries I wrote up to accompany yesterday's post about Oz's hand + leg experience. One entry attempted to tell the story of a stranger helping himself to my breasts, the other focused on how I am always felt up at airports by security personnel.

The thing is, both posts became too wordy, (editorializing, as a former boss would put it,) and I became frustrated in my attempts to fix the problem. Needless to say, the entries are sitting there tapping their impatient little feet, hoping I'll either exile them from their temporary home in Pending, New York, or find someone to edit them. Perfectionist? Nah, not me!

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March 12, 2004

Get Your Hand Off My Leg

Ozguru of GDay Mate tells the story of the stranger who sat down next to him on the bus and brazenly placed his hand on Oz's leg.

In Oz's case, he was polite about it and the offender took off, but not before asking Oz if he was homophobic. (Oz=happily heterosexual, married dad.) The guy who helped himself was really lucky that Oz didn't beat the daylights out of him.

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March 11, 2004

RSS Explained

From How to Save the World: What's This RSS About? This is a terrific explanation of RSS (really simple syndication) ... just in case you're wondering what its all about.

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Exposure

By the way, there are some photos of yours truly around here. If you look at my 2003 archives, you'll find some included at the top of a few the pages.

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March 10, 2004

Waiting for Spring

Even though I caught something snowflakey in the weather forecast, I can still sit here and pine away for Spring...

... and then I can go hiking again and enjoy the view above. Next time around, I'll be sure to stretch first before climbing the 1,267 steps.

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End of Feed Topic

I greatly appreciate all the offers of assistance in regard to the RSS feed work I was doing with Al. I should have provided a simpler, better explanation in the first place, so here it is.

There is an aggregator that includes my RSS feed (this is not the aggregator I use to read blog feeds, but a feed list made public by someone else.) This particular aggregator clearly displays the feed for my blog; however, that feed does not include any images I may have put in with a particular post, only the text. If I have links included in my post, that doesn't display either.

As such, it was my thinking that perhaps I had not included something in my RSS template. I asked Al if he'd take a look at it for me. He checked my feed via various aggregators and found no problem. I looked at my template thinking that perhaps something wasn't coded properly or left out. We found nothing wrong with my template or with my feed, even though I replaced the template with one Al sent to me.

The problem, we discovered, is via that particular aggregator and has nothing to do with my neck o' the woods. Al and I have gone through it enough where we need not pursue it further.

Again, I appreciate the offers for further investigation, but it's not necessary. Thanks anyway!

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Found Under the Cushions

More fodder for the list.

• I have a headache, and it's got "database" written all over it.
• I gave up on the RSS feed. If you can't see the photos in my posts via your aggregator, oh well, I tried.
• Spent an hour in the geek aisle at Barnes & Noble ... it's all a big blur now.
• Fog is lifting, I can now see things like mySQL, hacks, networking, perl, programming swirling in my head.
• Did I write that I have a headache...? Oh yeah, I did.
• Bought 2 books to teach myself stuff. I'm certifiably nuts.
• Yes, stubborn is my middle name, in case you're wondering.

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Swirling Items in the Mental Dustpan

• Notice to contest winners: as of this morning, the keychains are in the mail -- via Air Mail for winners from the UK, First Class for those US-based.
• Bragging, part I: I donated ten keychains to a high school in Virginia for use in their teen mentoring program.
• Bragging, part II: Two of my keychains, custom designed in patriotic red, white, and blue, are hanging in the office of a US military flight engineer.
• Marcus received the dreaded YOU AIN'T GETTIN' NO STINKIN' TICKETS email from the Vienna Philharmonic. Now I'm totally bummed.
• Relational databases. Anyone? Let me know in comments.
• I've been eyeballing the box my new laptop came in. The dead Titanium is in there, and I'm tempted to fire it up, or try to, just to be the greedy little thing I am in order to get the extra gigabyte out.
• Someone please set a bottle rocket directly under the chair of the person who keeps sending spam to my jewelry biz email address.
• I've got new eyeglasses -- leopard print frames.

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Bragging Rights

There I was, out for my morning stroll in ether land. As always, I popped by Casa de Daisy, and happened upon her Quick Caption Competition for the photo below. She liked my caption. So be it. :-)

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March 9, 2004

Testing that RSS Feed

Update: the change in the template tags for RSS 2.0 obviously threw something off. I've changed it back to its original state pending further investigation. *shrug*

I've been tweaking my templates to get the kinky stuff out so that links and images show up in RSS feeds. My hero worship will come later once I've got this feed thing straightened out.

I was going to use a photograph I have of my legs but ...

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Testing

I'm testing something...

Testing, testing, testing.

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Jezebel Diary Tapes

Greg @ Mr. Helpful is sending out free VHS tapes of the Jezebel Diary's recent live performance in Seattle as the opening act for the Suicide Girls. See Greg's recent post for the details if you want a tape.

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Propagate vs Procreate

I've been waiting for a domain name to propagate so I can get to work on it. For some reason, my mind keeps replacing the word propagate with the word procreate.

Go figure.

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T-Shirts Pour Geeks

I'm loving these laFraise t-shirts: Bill.Not and Streets of Cupertino.

Thanks to Daisy for the find!

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March 7, 2004

The F Word

Need I say more?

The F Word Has Many Uses

- via Mookie

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New York City in 20 Years

A humorous look at New York in 20 Years via photographs, courtesy of NewYorkish:

Taxi Cabs
Parking Garages
Pay Phones
Korean Delis

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What Were They Thinking?

Some fashion designers are truly off the wall. What were they thinking when they put antlers on the model's heads? It's funny, yes, but it distracts you from looking at the clothing collection, which I think is the goal of most fashion shows. Perhaps they were showcasing their new line of antler headgear for the fall/winter. ;-)

Models presents creations as part of Dutch designers
Victor and Rolf's 2004-2005 Autumn/Winter
ready-to-wear fashion collection, in Paris March 5, 2004.
REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer

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March 6, 2004

Verse

For today ... a piece by Heinrich Heine:

Wir haben viel für einander gefühlt,
Und dennoch uns gar vortrefflich vertragen.
Wir haben oft "Mann und Frau" gespielt,
Und dennoch uns nicht gerauft und geschlagen.
Wir haben zusammen gejauchzt und gescherzt,
Und zärtlich uns geküßt und geherzt.
Wir haben am Ende aus kindischer Lust
"Verstecken" gespielt in Wäldern und Gründen,
Und haben uns so zu verstecken gewußt,
Daß wir uns nimmermehr wiederfinden.

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Radio Vox Populi

Discovered in my server logs: Radio Vox Populi, a project of Media Lab Europe.

Radio Vox Populi is a realization of the people's voice, taking the content of the weblogs and broadcasting it back to the world. As weblog authors update their sites their writing is collected, synthesized into speech, and streamed to listeners as an Internet radio station. Live from the commons 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Hearing a robotic voice reading aloud someone's blog post is pretty strange.

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typographic illustration

...is very cool. - via Daisy

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March 5, 2004

Erase Your Memory

Bringing you the revolutionary painless non-surgical memory erasing process.
Remember, with Lacuna you can forget.

The folks at Lacuna offer a free evaluation that includes questions like,
"Do you think your life would be better if certain people were never born?"
- via Christopher

Now I can't get Lacuna's dorky site music out of my head. I'll have to get zapped by them in order to forget. ;-)

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Pogo's Recipe for British Gas

I'm happy to see that Pogo has returned to the blogging world. Don't miss out on his recipe for British Gas. ;-)

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Tell it Like it is, Dale!

I will read whatever I fucking well want to read.
I will write whatever I fucking well want to write.
I will say whatever I fucking well want to say.
Any questions?
- Dale Keiger, author of scribble, scribble, scribble from his recent post, Declaration.

I'm a huge fan of Dale Keiger. I'd love to be in one of his writing classes. If you've got the time, be sure to check out his post, "Professor Keiger's Writing Prejudices, which you'll find in his archives (Literary + January 29, 2004, "They're Back.")

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Blogs Can be Infectious

Interesting blog research happening at Hewlett-Packard Labs.

Wired News: Warning: Blogs Can be Infectious

The most-read webloggers aren't necessarily the ones with the most original ideas, say researchers at Hewlett-Packard Labs. Using newly developed techniques for graphing the flow of information between blogs, the researchers have discovered that authors of popular blog sites regularly borrow topics from lesser-known bloggers -- and they often do so without attribution.

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March 4, 2004

More Beach Photos

Here are some of the color photos from my beach visit.

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No Surprises Here

I've been receiving the same email for 3 years now:

Unfortunately we were unable to comply with your order for the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concert.

Orders for tickets far exceeded the number of tickets available. Therefore, their allocation was decided by electronically drawing lots and your application unfortunately was not selected.

Yours faithfully,
The Vienna Philharmonic

Faithfully? Yes, of course! Each year the Vienna Philharmonic will faithfully send me this email when I try to purchase tickets -- at least until I give up trying to get them.

I give up.

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March 3, 2004

Rattlesnake Roundup

From March 11-14, Sweetwater, Texas is hosting the World's Largest Rattlesnake Roundup. Snakes are captured and weighed, followed by a fried snake dinner and eating contest and the Miss Snake Charmer pageant.

Ooh, fried snake. Yeah, I'm there! (not.) Don't tell me that rattlesnake tastes like chicken. Ew.

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March 2, 2004

Playing Hooky

The weather was splendid, and I found myself dreaming of the beach. So I went.

I have the option of shooting in black and white or color with my digital camera. The color photos I took (none shown here but maybe later) turned out okay, but the black and whites here aren't as crisp as I'd like. I hate relying on Photoshop to give me the intense blacks and bright whites I want in my photos, but I'm not sure how to make them that way without resorting to the manual settings on the camera. Perhaps there are other options for black and white digital photos that I'm not aware of ...

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