So, how does that foot taste?

Yesterday my August Mom friend LSM and I were of like mind. I had just finished going through my Google Reader feed at lunch and grumbled in my head about some sites that only have partial feeds when viewed through the Reader. Meaning that in order to read the whole post, I would *have* to (oh my gawd), take All That Time to click through into their blog directly (we are talking one click here – horrors!) to read the whole thing. While I was bitching in my own mind, LSM was kind enough to post about it. A friendly little “hey, I have a question” post which asked folks how they read, if HER posts came across in full (they do) and how does one control that function anyway? Her first commenter confirmed that hers were fine and then ever so kindly gave step by step instructions to word press bloggers on how to check your settings for that and fix it.

Here is the comment I left at her place:

Same as above and it REALLY bothers me when others blogs only show a partial feed!! Funny because I am reading on my lunch right now and two of them came up with the partials and…I didn’t click through because I don’t have the time and I wondered if those blog owners even know?

Now, did I check my own blog settings before saying that? Of course not!!

On my way to my work out last night, this email from LSM buzzes me on my phone:

Hey, thanks for the comment on my post today.  I thought you might want to know that your blog entries just show up as excerpts on Google reader.   I’d love it if you changed it, so I can more effectively waste time at work!

Oooof!! Chomp chomp chomp. Boy does my foot need salt!

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And yes, I changed my settings! I don’t know how to do it in Blogger or any other host, but on WordPress it is Dashboard->Settings->Reading->Full Text (which is a box you have to click. )

Honest Scrap

The lovely Amuirin bestowed this award upon me some time ago. I don’t really know how long ago since this post will be written over time.  Here’s why:

“When you get the Honest Scrap award, you are meant to grace your readers with 10 honest things about yourself, and then pass on the award to other blog friends who write honestly and truly about themselves and events in their life.”

See, the problem is that I AM honest. All the time. So to come up with 10 things which I have not already posted here is quite the challenge. So I am going to have to make notes as I go about my days and think of things and come back here to update until I get to 10  – either that or I bore long time readers with crap they already know

1. As a child, my mother often called me crabby and equated me with Lucy from Peanuts. In my own mind, I’m much more like Charlie Brown – wishy washy. Which, I know, does not match my very opinionated self that I project! But it takes me a long time to get to those strong opinions really.
2. For instance,  I can love/hate being around people with an equal passion. It’s nothing personal. Certainly on my less social days people who already annoy me anyway will loom as larger pests.  Yet even people who I normally look forward to being around lose their glow. There is no trigger. It’s utterly random as to when these anti-social Moody Loner clouds will descend. But because of those days I do not view myself as a true “people” person. And since I am not a Moody Loner all the time I don’t view myself that way either. Wishy-washy!
3. I hate to be the one who has to choose where to eat or what to do for other people. Pick a place and I’ll go along, but I really rarely have strong opinions about it and I don’t want to be put on the spot. One could go into all sorts of deep reasons why -don’t want to disappoint people or be criticized for my choices maybe?- no, I happen to think it’s just that I am LAZY and cannot make a decision! Ya see? Wishy washy! (actually, there’s a lot of underlying laziness going on here)
4. I’m blessed/cursed with the ability to see both sides of just about ANY argument. It’s why I called myself pragmatic on my political site. The hard part then, is choosing a side. I can flip flop with the best of them and I freely admit it. But it’s also why I cannot abide by extremists. People who take a hard line stance with no respect for or desire to understand what drives the other side. If I can predict exactly how you will react to a particular event based on what I have found to be your pre-existing biases/brain washings? Buh bye.
5. I hate coconut.
6. I love potatoes. (thought I’d throw in a few absolutes there )
7. I have a very juvenile sense of humor. The idea of someone farting loud enough to startle and wake up a cat as was reported over twitter a few weeks ago  sends me into fits of giggles. Probably for the best since I have boys
8. In that vein, something we discussed in DC – I will involuntarily react to someone falling by laughing. Once my older son did a complete flip around a metal bar he had not seen outside a grocery store and my first reaction was a loud guffaw, then “oh god, are you ok?!” then more guffaws. My own kid! Yes, he was fine & laughing himself, but still…Given 7 & 8, shows like America’s Funniest Home videos were created for me!
9. I really don’t like fans of sports teams or politics or..anything..whose idea of being a fan is to trash the other team and make the other fans feel BAD. The fan who loves to “dig” at anyone else about results. The fan who gloats and trash talks. You can cheer without jeering, ya know?
10. I *honestly* cannot think of anything else without sort of cheating like I did with 5 & 6 so there. I clearly need to be more mysterious about myself so that when these topics pop up I can actually BE revealing something!!

As for passing it on, well, in order to elicit some actual blog posts from these fine ladies who have grown rather silent over this past year I shall give this award to ALL the August Moms on my blog roll. C’mon now – some of you need to dust off that keyboard and get posting!!

Well, thanks (I guess) Billy

So within an hour of the news that Billy Mays had died, I was just moseying over to my blog stats page and noticed this huge spike. The hits were all going to a post I wrote earlier in the year about the products one could buy on TV and it included a picture of Billy Mays since he was the quintessential pitch man. The day ended with over 1500 hits!!! WTF? So I tested it out this morning and apparently when you do a google image search on Billy, the first version of this picture is the one that I used:

I shows up on the first page of serach results. Now, I had noticed that in the last month this post had been getting an increased number of hits so somehow my site must have been moving up in the google rankings and the combination of that and his untimely passing (attributed to heart disease, NOT the bump on his head from the plane) created a perfect storm of blog hits! Really interesting how that works!!

Consider this a call out August Moms!

All right ladies – I am calling you out! We all jumped into this blogging thing together a couple of years ago (some of you had to be dragged into it, I know) and I think we’ve all had quite a bit of fun right? We’ve all made new friends, perhaps dragged other friends in and introduced them to each other (Robin, Wreke, Dee, Heidi, Calvin, etc) my apologies if this hasty post leaves anyone out who I’ve ‘found’ thanks to the August Moms.

Anyhoo – I miss you guys! I know some of you have posted now and then but….you are my ‘base’ ya know?   My Reader used to be filled with your voices and it’s been pretty quiet the last couple of months. I’m hoping summer provides you some time and travels and stories to share. I loved the travel blogs we all got to follow last year and I hope a couple more of you will try that out.

Oh, and while you are pondering what to write about – here s website that was featured on the morning radio show today. RunPee.com - for the movie buffs who’s bladders can’t quite make it through that soda you bought with the popcorn, it tells you exactly the right moment in a movie that you can run and pee and how long you will have. Funny as hell and also truly brilliant! I mean – only on the internet, right?

Let’s talk about SPAM

OK, not that kind, this kind:

Also the kind you get as comments on your blog if you have one. So here’s the discussion – why in the blazes do they spend ungodly amounts of time and money sending out these things? Have you ever really looked at them? Who would EVER bite on these things? Even when they do get through my spam filters, they are so random and poorly written and attempting to sell products I would never buy under any cirucmstances. Often they are not in English as you can tell my tonight’s Gmail account spam bucket. I just think it must be a huge waste to send these out and I knew someone who made a damn good living as a spammer for awhile! I wonder what the minimum number of ‘hits’ needs to be to justify that expense and do they *really* attain those goals?  And I am certainly not sending MYSELF messages? Really, because an email comes from ‘me’ I am suddenly going to read it and purchase the product? Because I really send those messages to myself?? Because seriously, I don’t need viagra. Or collection software. Or to enlarge a certain organ that I don’t even have.

Just one of life’s mysteries that I really Do Not Get.

Hello..hello..hello……..?

I tell ya, if not for blog stats showing me that more peeps than ever are clicking in, over the past month or so I would think that I am largely talking to myself

Now, I could start stomping my feet throwing a hissy fit and such and order you all to “COMMENT dammit!” but that would not be very accomodating. Plus, it would also be hypocritical ’cause I don’t comment very much around town either. And while I write in here mostly to get stuff outta my head and not really for attention..well…a little comment love now and then does not hurt. But you gotta give to get and I realize that I truly need to cut down on the items in my Google Reader. I skim way too much which is just not fair to some really wonderful friends. So this weekend I shall be marginally brutal and cut out some Reader items and also vow to drop at least a comment a day around bloggy land – heck maybe even 2 or 3!

So, here’s a few questions to spark some conversation (hey, if you are on WordPress, have you noticed that we can Reply to specific comments now? Totally cool)

Are you watching American Idol? If so, dare I ask what you think of Adam? I’ve been playing on another site where they discuss Idol and I am floored a bit by the Adam hate and blase opinions about him. I keep joking that you might as well call me Paula because I absolutely melt when he sings. I’ve bought all his Idol songs and listen to them at least once a day. Mad World and Tracks of My Tears are my favorites and I suspect that If I Can’t Have You will move up to the top. Yes, I do prefer his slower stuff as Simon predicted – that man is always right! I figured out this week why I love Adam so much though – he reminds me of Steve Perry. Same vocal range and same ability to get into a song inside out and pour his soul into it.

I described the last 5 contestants like this: 3 boring white guys who can sing, but otherwise are a dime a dozen (Danny, Kris, Matt with Kris as the best of that group), 1 gay glam rocker who is one of the best entertainers ever on the show (Adam) and one Latina teen rocker who is a firecracker of vocal ability (Allison). Can you tell I want it to come down to A vs A? What do you think of the Top Five?

Are you a sports fan at all? I love this time of year when baseball is getting started and hockey and basketball are in their playoffs. Tons of fun to watch. I’m rooting for the west coast hockey teams (Sharks & Ducks). I will root against the Lakers as long as Kobe is on the team so, I’ll root for the young MVP who has proved to be a stand up guy – Go Cavs! And of course, my baseball team is the Padres who are off to a rather miraculous start. We are going Saturday night with a group from work to get ourselves an old school 1969 jersey. The Padres are celebrating their 40th season all year with some really nice give aways.

Can you even believe I am going to work out with a personal trainer on Saturday?!! I go to an old friend’s 40th b-day party last weekend and end up with a damn trainer! Heads may have to roll It’s actually a group session and the trainer *assures* me she can handle a total work out wimp who should best be described as ‘couch potato’ at this point. Have you ever worked out with a trainer? Do you love it? Hate it? Why?  And will you give me mouth to mouth when I pass out? ;->>

Attn educators

Can you please read this post and share any info you might have? It’s truly amazing to me how many brick walls this family hits everywhere they turn.

De-Lurking Day – Time to come out of the closet!

Thanks to Greeblemonkey for designing this very cute badge and for spreading the word about delurking day ‘09! So, come out come out wherever you are!! Click that little comment link at the bottom of the post and say hello. You don’t need to create an account – in the true spirit of exposure I’ve turned off all commenting rules Of course I would love a little *hint* as to who you are and/or how you found me. Facebook? Twitter? Someone elses blog roll? Random blog surfing? Considering that I was going to write this week about how much fun I have chatting with my internet family every day, I think this is a great way to start. If you have a blog, put up a Delurking ‘09  post of your own and see if you can rustle up your own readers.

So, come on in. Introduce yourself. Take off your coat. Have a seat. But do watch out for the cat hair should not have anything on under that coat

I forgot my own blogiversary!

Would somebody please help me remember that 12/10 is my blog anniversary? Thanks. Sheesh.

Let’s take a walk down memory lane shall we? A review of day 1 – Dec 10, 2005. In a different location back then. Blogspot hosted and shared just with August moms and a few C&J folks.

1. Is This Thing On? – oh, that was original!
2. Where I love to be – previewing a still dominant topic three years later – busy with baseball club stuff for SportsBoy & talking about my beloved Torrey Pines – the original blog name was Torrey Pines Reflections.
3. Me in my other favorite spot – oh holy balls!! Look at those glasses! Obviously taken pre-surgery. Sporting the DailyKos Mojo 4.0 shirt while standing on the back of a cruise ship on the cruise to Mexico that SP and I took in the fall of 2005.

How funny that I started day one with three posts and yet I struggle with daily writing assignments now!

However, here is something that will make Amuirin happy – three years into this and I will now admit to being a writer. Sure, I am a bloggy-type writer, but she is right, I should not short change myself about it. Yes, historically I hated writing. In school it was the bane of my existance (yeah, I get SB’s loathing of it quite well). Yet I also can point to two papers that I wrote that were were not too bad. One written senior year of high school for English class in one of those all-nighter situations where in the middle of the performing arts tour I had to read a book and write and essay. I had to get it done so fast that I didn’t have time to overthink it and psyche myself out and apparently the thoughts thrown together that night were pretty good. It was a teacher who I loved and really wanted to impress, but who also intimidated me with his own intellect and razor sharp wit. I had him sophomore and senior year and that paper was only full A I ever earned from him. The other paper I still have! Freshman year at UCSD taking an earth science class and I wrote a paper on the book Silent Spring by Rachel Carlson. I think that was my first taste of writing on a topic I was passionate about. It was a newly discovered passion inspired by the book itself and my own early love of birding and hiking. Got an A on that one too Still, those experiences were not enough to make me change my opinion of writing in general. I am a reader though, and what blogging brought to me was a world of very very talented writers. Like, all of those folks on my sidebar. And I know that I have picked up tidbits from each of them along with a new eye towards everyday events which could potentially become blog topics. Or Twitter fodder if I can nail it in 140 characters or less If I combine that with a passion – like the baseball game post below, or the football game post from last year,  then I do end up writing pieces that are good.

So thank you to those who have been here supporting me form the beginning. Thank you to the people who I have met along the way who are now a part of my daily visits. Thank you for your voices which have helped to shape mine. Thank you for your comments and encouragement and inspiration.

Losing my mind – again

Didn’t I say that I hated appointment blogging? Right? I even avoided/resisted NaBloPoMo this year just for that reason, even though I had loved the new sites I found from participating last year. Quite frankly though, I’ve too damn many blogs in my google reader as it is, the last thing I needed was to add more. IOW, there are TWO solid reasons NOT to participate in some crazy blog every day challenge within a social circle that entices you to check out other places. Apparently, I need at least THREE good reasons and whereas last month I was still way too busy to consider anything like this, well, I had to admit that my time has loosened up just slightly. And despite the many blogs I already peruse, I am always excited to find new ones. Oh, and I officially blame Kitty for dragging me into this. OTOH, I also officially THANK Kitty for this fabulous post with her introduction and advice on participating in Holidailies.

Now the first thing I have to do to get through the weekend when I will be away from the internet is pile up some posts (like this one). We have a baseball tournament of course. A way-the-hell-out-there one which means a hotel stay and I am not lugging the laptop and paying $10 for the internet. Thankfully though, that is the only obstacle this month.  Should be fun