December 23, 2006

Holiday Eavesdropping

"Guys don't buy clothes for other guys as gifts."
- A guy talking to his girlfriend, overheard at Target while Christmas shopping this weekend.

I never really thought about that, but I suppose it's true. Gentlemen? Is there a reason for this? Are there exceptions? Do tell!

December 20, 2006

Fear not!

The drive to post is still there, I haven't forgotten or fallen back into my malaise of non-posting days. No, it's just the upcoming holiday. The last several nights have been so occupied making this and wrapping that, that I just haven't been able to keep my eyes open long enough to be coherent. I would tell you in more detail what that has involved, but that would surely take some of the fun out of it for the intended recipients, so you're just going to have to wait...just like they do!

The good news is that I'm on vacation now through the New Year (and a few days into it) so hopefully there will be more hours in the day to accomplish the kinds of things that have been keeping me up too late.

Before I seek sanctuary in the comfort of my bed for the night, I wanted to share with you a story that caught my attention on the news today, which you may have already seen. It was revealed today that a woman "accidentally" put her month-old grandson through the x-ray machine at LAX this past Saturday. What can you say about something like that? One official claimed it "was was an innocent mistake by an obviously inexperienced traveler," while another (more accurately, in my opinion) said that "there's an obligation on the traveler to use some common sense." There's the crux of it, really, isn't it? People have abandoned common sense at the same rate that they've abandoned common courtesy in the last decade or so. Guess they're not really so "common" anymore.

December 16, 2006

Person of the Year: Me?

I'd like to thank the members of the editorial staff at Time who decided that my contribution to the Information Age via the Internet warranted naming me Person of the Year.

Wow. Didn't see that coming and I don't really have a speech prepared. But, in addition to the editors, I'd like to thank my mom (because I think it's required or something), the aforementioned five of you who still come around, and all the other people who used to stop by before I took a temporary powder. All those late nights of searching for synonyms for "neat" and "delicious" were totally worth it, in retrospect.

I would appreciate it if Bill Gates would take my calls now, seeing as how this is an honor we share that makes us part of a rather elite group. Well, it did until they invited the rest of you riffraff along for the ride.

Part of me wonders if they didn't cook this one up because there wasn't any single person worth honoring this year, while another part thinks they did it just to stir debate. Then the really cynical part of me pipes up to opine that they did it to sell more issues because we're a narcissistic society that won't be able to resist claiming a piece of the collaborative pie.

Damned if this isn't going to make me go out and actually pay for an issue of Time, though! That mirror on the cover could come in really handy for reapplying my lipstick before I'm interviewed by Oprah and Larry King.

December 15, 2006

My new favorite quote

Exercise is a dirty word. Every time I hear it, I wash my mouth out with chocolate. *
- Charles Schultz

*Seen on the wall at the Ethel M Chocolate Factory. Sadly, site of the least-best part of the trip. Heaven -- gorgeous, delicious, wonderful chocolate all around -- one minute, Hell --April's painful solo flight -- the next. The only silver lining (not counting all the chocolate that I had, fortunately, already purchased before the trip to the hospital): Las Vegas has just the nicest all-male paramedic team I've ever met!

December 14, 2006

Step One*

Admitting you have a problem. Wait, no, wrong set of steps. (From a staircase that, fortunately, I've never needed to climb.)

We need to talk. Or, more precisely, I need to talk. No talky, no bloggy, right? I guess the last several months have left me a bit mute, so to speak, and it may take me some time to find my Internet voice again.

Lucky for you, it will take me less time to develop that once more than it will ever take for me to develop my singing voice. Lucky for me, there are maybe only five people still coming here and asking me when I'm going to blog again so it's a small stage upon which I may stumble.

I don't really intend to go into the whys and wherefores of what has been keeping me from posting. It would be boring and pointless, from my perspective, so let's let bygones be bywent and just move forward.

Having something to actually say or talk about would be a really great follow-up to that sentiment, I bet. But I've got nothing. Tonight was more an exercise in babysteps; getting back into the habit of actually sitting here more than once a month and letting my fingers wreak what havoc they may. Someone sent me an article last week that initially stirred those twinges of interest in once again putting words to post, so perhaps I'll run with that next time.

Hmm, I'm actually looking forward to tuning in for that. On to Step Two...


*With apologies to The Fray. It's one of April's favorite songs and since she took me along to Vegas and that jump-started the whole return to blogging thing, it seemed only fitting. I would have expressed this apology yesterday, when it might have made more sense, but I went off on a tangent and forgot. We hoes tend to do that sometimes.

December 13, 2006

How to Save a Blog

How? Hang out with a bunch of really great poker bloggers, which is how I spent the last five days in fabulous Las Vegas. They so inspired me that I actually played poker at one of the casinos (on what I thought would be my last night there, but wasn't), something I had resisted doing the last trip, out of fear. I not only survived, but enjoyed it and felt pretty energized by it. Following that, I felt the only thing I could do was to revive the blog from its near-death experience.

And what do I find upon my return but someone dissing me in the comments of my last post. I've never been referred to as a garden implement before, and certainly not a hoe. I always thought of myself as more of a scythe, actually, but I suppose a case could be made.

Hey, smartass -- the article, which isn't even available anymore, wasn't about the burger or the establishment you referred to at all. If it had been about some Irish pub, I would have mentioned it. It was some golf or country club and it sure as hell didn't come with a bottle of champagne, or there would have been no post at all. Do a double-check on whose facts are skewed before you go name-calling around here next time...especially if you're going to misspell the insult.

Ah, it's good to be back.