Kat with a K

Web Series Trailer: Dragon Age: Redemption

I've never played the game on which this is based, and I always tend to forget to watch web series, but, hey, Felicia Day and dragons!

What's the plural of Prius?

I think this video is completely adorable, but then, I've been discussing this question for years, so your mileage may vary.

New from Google: Hotpot

Google has introduced Hotpot, with a simple but brilliant concept: Rate places you've been, and they'll recommend places you'll like. And if your friends rate places, those ratings will somehow play into your recommendations too. (Not sure exactly how that works because I don't think any of my friends are rating things yet - are you? Leave a comment so I can add you!) I'm actually pretty excited like this, because it sounds like Foursquare but with an actual use. You can rate a bunch of places in your hometown, and then when you need to find somewhere to eat after your meeting in another city, it will tell you places you might like. And, even better, it's not just restaurants - you can rate all sorts of things. In my town, it's showing me restaurants, the library, churches, hotels, schools, and more. I have to play with this some more before I decide whether I'll make a habit of rating places, but it looks great so far. Oh, and of course, there are mobile apps as well. Of course there are. (I haven't downloaded any of them yet.)

Star Trek Meets Monty Python

(Another unpublished post from late October. I have no idea why I didn't manage to hit publish on anything that day. Whatever. Still funny!)

My friend Laura sent me this, and it's really one of the funnier things I've seen recently. I mean, at least for that segment of people who like both Star Trek and Monty Python. Surely some of you are in that group, right?

Ah, Friday . . .

The week is finally over. Hallelujah. I decided it was time for some pizza:

I need a good crust recipe. Anyone have one?

And make sure you see the best thing on the Internet today . . .

I'll have more actual content for you tomorrow.

Thanksgiving! Politics! Fun of all sorts!

Good evening! How are you? I am tired but not very sleepy, and I hate that combination, because I actually have time to sleep at the moment. Oh well. I am tired because I worked approximately forever tonight - about four extra hours - so I can leave early on Wednesday. And I need to leave early on Wednesday because . . .

Thanksgiving Plans

Remember my cousin Liz? You have heard her thoughts on hand lotion and Gossip Girl and maybe some other things. Anyway, she's home for Thanksgiving, so obviously I must see her. I'm going to leave work around two on Wednesday and drive to a pretty little town outside of Boston to have dinner with Liz and her parents and brother, and wait out the worst (I hope) of rush hour. Then later in the evening I'll head to my parents' house in Connecticut, so I will be there to wake up early Thursday morning to cook* and watch the parade and liveblog. We're having dinner at one aunt's house, but since I don't get home that often I want to see the other side of the family too, so I'll be driving to another aunt's house for dessert. And then back to my parents' house for a few days. Lots of driving, but I have convinced myself that that is PART OF THE FUN. Right?

I realized today that one of the reasons why I love Thanksgiving and Christmas is that people suddenly start publishing SCHEDULES ALL OVER THE PLACE and no one thinks they're nuts. Here's one. For my fellow vegetarians: Serious Eats has vegetarian main dish options, and Maureen Johnson tweets her vegetarian gravy-making process.

* I have apparently decided that I didn't actually have enough cooking to do, because I think I'm going to add Maureen Johnson's vegetarian gravy to the list. My mom has to work Thursday morning, and she said I can do what I want in the kitchen while she's gone, so it shouldn't be a problem. Right, Mom? :)

The Campaign Never Ends

Miss campaign season already? Would an Angle campaign postmortem cheer you up? Here you go. And here's an awful ad the campaign never aired.

Meanwhile, Vice President Biden tries and fails to keep a straight face while discussing Palin's 2012 prospects.

Slate's updates from the President's Facebook feed are hilarious as always.

I was going to make some "Ezra Klein makes everything political" joke, but he doesn't, and charity really is, so. Just read the column.

Other Stuff
(I know that's a nondescript subject heading. Shut up; I'm tired.)

Shep Smith goes deep on car chases.

On the anniversary of Kennedy's assassination, The Atlantic brings us myths about the conspiracy debate.

Salon rounds up the worst columnists and commentators in America.

Carina and Tierney are basically IN MY BRAIN with this list of casting suggestions for Klaus on The Vampire Diaries.

Massive Weekend Link Roundup!

Hello! Now that I've made my word count, I can get back to doing things like dishes and laundry and showing you links. But first, let's going to discuss some things that will be going on around here . . .

Preview of Coming Attractions

In general, I'm really enjoying writing fewer, longer posts, so I am going to stick with that for now. Subject to change in the future, of course. On the other hand, I know some of you are missing Morning Coffee. Starting after Thanksgiving, we will have Morning Cheer each morning through December. That will have at LEAST a holiday song for you, and hopefully some links and stuff too. Once we hit January, I'll try to do Morning Coffee most days.

On Thanksgiving: I will be live-blogging the Macy's Parade, my cooking adventures, and possibly my annual argument with my brother about whether the parade is worth watching! So you have that to look forward to. Or dread. Whichever.

On Black Friday, this blog will become THE CHEER FACTORY. I have a whole list of ways I will be spreading CHEER in December, and you'll get a list that day. (And if you have ideas or requests, let me know!) A few have asked what CHEER means. Basically, it's short for holiday cheer or Christmas cheer. I'll explain a little more about why I'm using it that way soon.

Things to Watch

Alec Baldwin has done some weirdly sincere commercials for Wegmans. No one seems to really understand why. Now, Wegmans is great and I wish I had one near me, but . . . huh?

If you like tea or Nora Ephron or Maureen Johnson's Free Monkey stories or funny things, you must watch this.

Trailers:
Red Riding Hood: This could be amazing or awful. I can't decide. (And, yes, it looks an awful lot like Twilight, but that doesn't necessarily bother me.)
Jane Eyre: Just going with COMPLETELY AWESOME on this one.

William and Kate Forever!

As if the engagement weren't enough, William also rescued a guy on Snowdon the other day.

Anglophiles in America are pretty excited about the whole thing. Uh, yes. I could have told you that.

If Kate someday becomes queen, she'll be the first British queen to have attended college.

One of the funniest thing's I've ever read, about Will's college friend Jules.

Thanksgiving Links!

Jezebel has had a few good ones: what to wear, how to survive Thanksgiving with your family, how to properly feed your guests who have food restrictions and other issues.

The Awl has a great series of essays called The Real American Thanksgiving Cookbook.

The weird evolutionary story of cranberries

Other interesting things:

Read Housewives of God and then think about what it means when Palin calls herself a housewife. Meanwhile: Inside Sarah Palin's Inner Circle.

Daniel Day-Lewis is going to be Lincoln in Spielberg's biopic. Huh. Okay.

Apparently the Times is as confused by the Cathie Black appointment as the rest of us, because they put FOURTEEN reporters on a three-page profile.

Here's some info on a bunch of shows in development for next year.

The Royal Society's Lost Women Scientists

Blog Recommendation: Frog and Toad Are Still Friends

I know I've linked to Beck at Frog and Toad Are Still Friends on occasion, but I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you that you really should be reading her on a regular basis. Yes, she's a mom and writes about her kids frequently, but don't let that stop you if you don't have kids. She's a great writer but in a quiet, practical way, not that showy froofy way blogs sometimes are, and she writes about things like character and the passage of time and why Eat, Pray, Love has an awful message, and it's all very refreshing, somehow. Warning: Her posts often make me laugh and cry within the space of a few paragraphs. Go read her!

New Yorker Cover Puzzles

Did you know that the New Yorker has GAMES on their Web site? No? Neither did I! But they do! I suppose this is the kind of thing that appeals to a rather narrow audience, but I surely cannot be the only one to squeal with delight upon discovery of online jigsaw puzzles of New Yorker covers. The application is pretty well done, and the third level is actually pretty tough. Have fun!

I forgot to mention . . .

I'm guest-blogging for Alyssa Rosenberg while she's on vacation. So far I've written about why adults should read YA, why schoolchildren should read historical fiction, and what I think should happen on Glee. My co-guest-bloggers have some great stuff up too. But you're all reading Alyssa's blog already anyway, right? Right.

Congratulations, Gail!

My cousin Gail's salon, G Salon in North Haven, CT, was named one of Elle magazine's Top 100 Salons in the Country. Congratulations, Gail! We're so proud of you! And if any of you readers are in the area, I definitely recommend it!

Vampire Fans Support Gulf Aid

As I've mentioned before, Vampire Diaries star Ian Somerhalder is from Louisiana and has been very active in the Gulf recovery efforts in the wake of the oil spill. And fans are trying to help. Particularly impressive is Vampire Support, started by a young fan named Chloe. I ordered an awareness bracelet to help her efforts, and it arrived yesterday:

For more information or to get your own bracelet (or shirt, magnet, etc.), check out her site, or follow @VampireSupport on Twitter.

Catalog Living

Do you ever make up stories about the people who live in the mail order catalogs you receive? Wait, you don't? That's just me? I don't believe you. Anyway, clearly someone else does, because they've started this brilliant Catalog Living blog. (Okay, technically it's a tumblr. I still don't really get the point of tumblr. Never mind.) Really. Brilliant.

All My Posts at Alyssa Rosenberg's Blog

My week of guest blogging for Alyssa Rosenberg is over, and I'd like to publicly thank her for handing over the keys, and my co-guest-bloggers for a great time. Here are all my posts from the week:

Lena Horne (1917-2010)
Who cares how he met their mother?
Gossip Girl: How did Chuck get Blair into Columbia?
Why do vampires like teenagers?
Everything Happening in Pop Culture This Week (That I Care About)
Actors Are Not Characters

Guest Blogging at Alyssa's

This week, I'm guest blogging along with some other folks over at Alyssa Rosenberg's place while she takes a much-deserved vacation before she starts her new job. I'll give you links to my posts specifically, but I really recommend you go over and read my co-guest bloggers as well. I'm in some impressive company there.

Yesterday: Lena Horne
Today: Some thoughts on How I Met Your Mother

Vote for Jamelle!

Jamelle Bouie, of PostBourgie and United States of Jamerica (you read those, right? Right?), is trying to get a Democracy for America scholarship to attend Netroots Nation. You should head over here and vote for him. It's really easy. I promise. And he deserves it. As I'm sure you know, because obviously you're reading his blog. Aren't you?

Want to ask me something?

I don't know if anyone DOES, but I signed up for formspring.me for the heck of it. If you click on that link, you can ask me anonymous questions. I won't promise to answer everything, but I'll do my best, and post the questions and my answers here.

The Slate Podcast Pledge Drive

Slate is running a pledge drive of sorts for its podcasts, but instead of asking for donations, they're asking their listeners to get more people to listen. And I have absolutely no hesitation in highly recommending them. Slate consistently puts out some of the best podcasts out there. I especially like the conversational format of the Political, Cultural, and Double X Gabfests as well as Hang Up and Listen (which is about sports). I also listen to The Big Money, and the book and movie discussions whenever I've read/seen the piece in question. If you're unfamiliar with podcasts, the link above gives good directions. If you can't figure it out, let me know and I'll try to help. No, you don't need an iPod. No excuses. Go listen.

Collaborative Writing

Meg Cabot is creating an audiobook collaboratively. With Twitter. I'm skeptical about the literary merits of the result, but it's an interesting experiment. Want to join in? Go here to read what they have so far and then tweet your suggestion for the next line with the hashtag #bbcawdio. Cabot and the BBC people will pick which lines to use. More info here.

Guest Bloggers All Over the Place

You should be reading Attackerman and Ta-Nehisi Coates all the time anyway, and I'm disappointed in you if you aren't. But you should especially be reading them today because Jamelle Bouie is guestblogging over at Attackerman and Alyssa Rosenberg at TNC.

Josh Malina's Haiti PSA

Josh Malina is one of my favorite actors from Sorkinland (Jeremy on Sports Night, Will on West Wing), and he wants you to donate:

Dilemma

I pretty much hate Facebook, and use it as little as possible. But last night when I couldn't sleep I went through and sent friend requests to a bunch of people - mostly relatives and neighbors from growing up. Now that they're confirming my friend requests, I feel like maybe I should actually post something there. Sigh.

Recent Search Terms

I deal with search all the time at the day job, so I always like looking at what search terms are leading people here. In the past day or so, people have found this blog by searching for the following:

janel moloney
BRADLEY WHITFORD DIVORCE REASON (sorry, no idea!)
bradley whitford (2)
The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers (possibly my most popular post ever. Hint: the book was really, really bad.)
sarah dessen that summer summary (I have a review, but not exactly a summary. Do your own homework!)
kat
LOOKING FOR A KITTEN PATTERN OF LACING FOR PRE-D (I don't even know what that means.)
bradley whitford divorce (yeah, still don't know anything.)
that summer by sarah dessen
sarah paulson
"Jonah weiner"
rachel ray show recipes cranberry orange January 27, 2010 (uh, not here. Sorry.)

First Thoughts on the iPad

1) If you haven't seen it, Gizmodo has tons of coverage and pictures. Oh, and now it's up on the Apple site here.

2) Yes, the name is exceedingly dumb, for a few reasons. First, it sounds way too much like a sanitary product. Second, as a friend just pointed out, "It sounds like a guy with a Boston accent trying to say iPod." Third, it's so close that it spell-corrects to iPod, which is actually kind of a mixed blessing for me right now personally.

3) I kind of want one. I was undecided until they brought up the "unlimited data for $30 a month with no contract" bit. I've been wanting a cell modem for my netbook for a while now but wasn't willing to pay $60 a month for service. But half that? I'm really, really tempted. And the device itself is less expensive than I'd feared. And it's just so PRETTY and does so much more than my netbook.

4) But maybe it's one of those things that would be more useful in my pretend life in my head rather than the life I actually have. Like if I traveled more. Or took public transportation to work. Or something.

All in all, I'm glad it won't be available for a few months, so I can think about it before deciding whether to buy.

An exciting day...

It's Apple announcement day!

And it's State of the Union day!

And it's the day on which I will finally finish watching Battlestar Galactica!

I'm kind of worried that the combination of the first two there will break Twitter. But anyway - as long as the Apple announcement comes at some sort of reasonable time, I'll write about it during one of my breaks at work, so look for that post later. I probably won't liveblog the SOTU, but I'll give you some suggestions as to where to follow along later today.

Hey, look! My dad's in the paper!

This article about financial aid eligibility quotes him (David Welsh) in the second half of the first page. Yay Dad!

Just like old times...

Good news, longtime readers of Jezebel! This weekend, former editors Megan Carpentier and Moe Tkacik are guest-editing, so make sure you head over there repeatedly!

The Times SHOULD charge for access.

Everyone's been talking about how the New York Times is going to start charging for access, at least for people who access the site a lot. As someone who accesses the site a lot, I say: fine. Good. I want the Times to stick around, and I am happy to pay for it. (They do say that subscribers won't have to pay online, but I only subscribe on Sundays. Will I get online content free? Just Sunday content? It's unclear.) And the metered method means that people who just want to read a story or two - perhaps from clicking on a link elsewhere - will get to do so for free.

Recently I've been feeling like the "everything on the Internet is (or should be) free" concept that seems to be generally accepted may be approaching the point at which it does more harm than good. If there are sites or services I really like, I want them to survive, and I'd rather pay a small subscription fee than have to worry about things vanishing. (I worry about Twitter.) And this idea of free news online seems so entrenched, but really - 15-20 years ago, well within my lifetime, if you wanted to read a newspaper, you either paid for it or went to the library. So all of those now having fits about their universal right to whatever content they want for free - really? Really? Where do you think the content COMES from? Journalists need to eat!

A few interesting takes on this: Jack Shafer at Slate thinks the Times should focus on improving Web advertising revenue instead. Ezra Klein muses on the implications for bloggers and wonders whether bloggers will become a "black market" for news. And Matt Yglesias considers whether this means he should stop linking to Times articles so frequently.

Delurking, anyone?

Apparently National Delurking Day was earlier this week and I missed it, but I'm going to declare it Delurking Weekend here. I know many more people are reading this blog than usually comment, so... say hi! And tell me what you want to read about, because I know I can be scattered. Knitting? Book reviews? Cooking? Politics? The West Wing? Other TV? Any/all of the above?

E-mail issue resolved!

What, you didn't know there was an e-mail issue? Yeah. I finally have my comments being e-mailed to me at an address I actually use. I know! It's like - welcome to 2002! Yeah. Anyway, this means that I will likely approve them more quickly and, more important, actually respond!

Beck has won the Internet.

(Not to be confused with Dave Weigel, who has won 2009.)

Beck is very, very funny, and Christmas gift suggestion lists from magazines are often very, very ridiculous. When you combine the two, you get the best thing on the Internet today: Oprah + Presents = MAGIC.

You should be reading Beck just in general, really. And her gift list reviews have inspired me to try some of my own, so look for the first of those this weekend.

Girl on a Flying Trapeze

YA author Maureen Johnson lost a bet with the Internet. This is what happened:

By the way, if you aren't following Maureen on Twitter, you should be.

Facebook-Enforced Friendship

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the hugest fan of Facebook. It's not so much that I have a problem with the concept. It's a convenient way to keep in vague touch with people, and I guess to share photos, although I never actually bother to put photos up. And memo to a large segment of you people from my high school who are friending me: Do you actually remember high school? And specifically the way that you were either mean to me or didn't notice I existed? Why do you now want to be my "friend"?

ANYWAY. All that was by way of saying that I rarely actually log in to Facebook so I haven't seen this phenomenon for myself, but apparently they are doing some sort of thing in which they decide that you have certain "friends" to whom you haven't been speaking (so far as they know) and prompt you to contact them. Repeatedly and annoyingly. I have heard from THREE different people just this week that Facebook told them to talk to me. And - what?? Why??? It's certainly not as though Facebook seems to be in any danger of people not using it. What are they hoping to achieve with this "helpful" service? It just seems so ridiculously and needlessly invasive.

And yet - and yet. Two people got this message in reference to me and we just had a good laugh, because they were people with whom I communicate literally every day, via IM and e-mail and Twitter and text messages. Just not via Facebook, because I'm never on Facebook. But the third was a friend with whom I actually hadn't spoken in a while. We used to work together but have both moved on to new jobs, and both have busy schedules, and . . . well, you know. We had a flurry of e-mails a few months ago about getting together but never figured out a time. But a few days ago she sent me a "Facebook keeps telling me to talk to you" message, and I e-mailed back, and now we have plans to have dinner together, actually live and in person, next week.

But I'm still not going to talk to her on Facebook.

Edited to add: I realized when reading Rachel's comment that I somehow missed a point I was trying to make, which was that my dislike for Facebook comes less from the purpose/utility (which I'm generally fine with) and more from the actual practical usage and interface. I don't know if it's a weird mental block I have or what, but I find it extremely clunky and difficult to use. Even when I want to do things on there, I often end up frustrated.

ALSO, I should say that all of the above notwithstanding, I will be in line to see the Facebook movie on opening night, because it is written by Aaron Sorkin. That is all.

What's with Google Reader?

Okay, I sincerely hope that I am not the only one having this problem. Does anyone know how Google Reader decides how many unread items to keep? It seems like it used to keep them for about a month, but recently it's down to a week, or less. And if they just said "We will keep them for a week," then fine, I'd know how to manage my reading. But there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it - it will suddenly delete a few hours' worth of posts for no apparent reason. Or is there an apparent reason that I'm just not seeing? Maybe it has something to do with the ridiculous number of feeds to which I subscribe. Is there some magic number of unread posts under which I could be sure to keep my account to prevent these mysterious deletions? Or is it as arbitrary as it seems?

Cooking with Laura

Over at Eat Close to Home, Em is starting a collaborative project designed to cook through the Little House Cookbook. Come join in! It looks like it will be loads of fun. I dug out my book and am definitely planning to take part - now to decide what to make . . .

Another New Widget...

I practically live in Google Reader, so I often come across things I want to share. I do some of that in the Daily Reading posts, but Google has recently improved some of the social aspects of Reader, so I figured I would try sharing things there as well. If my code worked correctly, you should now see a "Recommended Reading" box over to the right. It will show the last ten things I marked "Share." You can also read my shared items here, and if you use Google Reader you can "follow" me by searching on "Katie Welsh" or "katelinnea AT gmail DOT com" in the people search. Or, hey, you can get an RSS feed of the items here. I've only been using this feature for a few days, so I can't make any promises about content, but so far it's been a mix of news stories, recipes, cartoons, book reviews, etc.

New Books Widget

I know my sidebars are horribly out of date, but that's one of those things that I sort of vaguely notice and then never seem to have time to do anything about. So. I'm going to try. I noticed this morning that Ezra Klein, one of my favorite policy bloggers, now has a little Amazon Widget showing what he's currently reading. So if it's good enough for Ezra, it's certainly good enough for me. You should see my new widget over on the right. I'm hoping that it will prod me into actually only reading a few books at a time and finishing them. We'll see.

I also rebuilt all the archives to make this show up everywhere and delete remnants of old things that had been deleted from my templates but were still showing up on some of the archive pages. Including, you know, my John Edwards banner from the primaries. Yeah. In doing this, I seem to have also messed up my Weather Pixie. Oops. I'll try to get that fixed when I'm updating other stuff tomorrow.

Two New Sites You Should Be Reading

Ezra Klein, one of my favorite policy bloggers, is now blogging over at the Washington Post. He blogs about health care policy, economic policy, environmental- and food-related issues, politics, and more, and he makes it all both enjoyable and understandable. (And he's cute.) Here's a good sample post: What Can Comic Books Tell Us About the Guantanamo Debate?

And Slate has launched Double X. Their description:

Double X is a new Web magazine, founded by women but not just for women, that Slate launched in spring 2009. The site spins off from Slate's XX Factor blog, where we started a conversation among women—about politics, sex, and culture—that both men and women listen in on. Double X takes the Slate and XX Factor sensibility and applies it to sexual politics, fashion, parenting, health, science, sex, friendship, work-life balance, and anything else you might talk about with your friends over coffee. We tackle subjects high and low with an approach that's unabashedly intellectual but not dry or condescending. The blog is at the heart of the site, but we also publish essays, reporting, and other features.

The best quiz ever.

'Star Trek' character, NPR personality or food additive?

I got 93%.

(No, I haven't seen the movie yet.)

French Toast Alert High!

Local people have probably already seen this, but just in case... the French Toast Alert System.

Anyone Plodting?

Okay, let's back up for a minute. Amanda Hesser's Cooking for Mr. Latte is one of my absolute most favorite books ever. After reading it, I started reading her in the Times. And so I was very sad when she left the Times.

But! She is part of the team behind the new site Plodt. I signed up because I'd sign up for anything Amanda Hesser was doing, but it's actually pretty cool. It takes your Twitter posts that you label in a certain (easy) way and puts them on a graph that lets you track whatever you want - your mood, your thoughts on food, politics, whatever. And you can see who else is tracking those things and what they're saying. It's kind of hard to explain, but it's neat, I promise. (It's sort of like a really really advanced and much better version of imood, I guess. That's the best analogy I can come up with.)

If you're curious, you can see my Plodt page here. And let me know if you sign up!

Google the Past

Search Google - in 2001. Endless hours of entertainment there. (Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan.)

New favorite skirts!

I have a random clothing recommendation for you, especially for those of you who are always looking for comfortable, affordable, cute long skirts. I got two of these long plaid skirts at Kohl's last Saturday, and I'm wearing one (the red one) for the first time today. I LOVE it. It's all pretty and flowy, and the fabric is nice and thick for fall/winter. It's a polyester/rayon/spandex blend, but it feels almost like wool. (But not at all scratchy!) They were $16.99 in store on Saturday, and are $19.99 on the site right now - a good deal either way. I just ordered two more.

Sudden News + Social Networking Craze

At the end of last week, I noticed that the New York Times had launched TimesPeople, a social networking aspect of their site that looks like it will let you recommend articles to friends. But I don't have any friends on there yet, so you all should sign up! And then come friend me.

And this morning, NPR.org has NPR Community. It looks like it will have a similar purpose as TimesPeople, and will also foster communication between listeners and NPR staff. Here's my profile. Come play!

TotalFark?

I see that a lot of people are coming here from TotalFark.com. Since that site is password-protected, I can't see what link is sending you all here, and I'm curious! Please comment and let me know. Thanks!

Knitting Scholar!

Chappy's Mom has started a new site, Knitting Scholar. Its goal is to be a comprehensive archive of knitting book reviews. There's not much up there yet, as she's just getting going, but go add it to your RSS reader! It looks like it's going to be great.

Straight from camera to Internet?

A company called Eye-Fi has come out with what they're calling "wireless memory cards." Now, I object to the name, because when's the last time you saw a memory card with a wire, anyway? But the basic idea seems to be that these cards connect directly to the Internet and let you immediately upload photos, without being near your computer. Nifty. Although, I have to say, I pretty much never want my photos to be online before I've cropped them, so... it's an interesting concept, but I'm not convinced that I'd actually find it useful. Thoughts?

New toy!

My wonderful parents gave me an iPod Touch for my birthday. This is something of a test post, to see how blogging from the new toy works. Loving it so far!

Google Reader

I've finally gone ahead and made the big switch from Bloglines to Google Reader as my RSS reader of choice. So far, I'm seeing a few definite advantages that Google has: It doesn't stop aggregating after 200 unread posts in a given feed, which was my main problem with Bloglines. And it lets you mark posts as read manually, rather than marking all posts from a given feed as read when you open the feed. So there's no more having to decide whether you have time to read all 175 things Andrew Sullivan has posted in the last day - you can read a few posts from anyone, and then move on to someone else, and the rest are still there nicely marked as unread when you go back. I realize that these things might not bother the less obsessive and methodical among you, but believe me, not being able to easily keep track of what I've read and not read DRIVES ME CRAZY.

I'm finding the interface to be a little clunkier than that of Bloglines, but I hope I'll get used to it soon. And the above good qualities more than make up for a clumsy interface, I think. So. Any of you use Google Reader? Have any good tips or tricks to share?

Daily Reading (7/11/08)

You've probably noticed that I've mostly stopped with the daily politics links, mostly because the primaries are over and there's not all that much going on right now. So I think I'm going to transition that into a "Daily Reading" post, with suggested links on politics as well as whatever other subjects have caught my interest that day. I think it's a nice way of sharing a bunch of links without tons of one-line posts. Yes? No? Let me know.

A list of the Top 10 Flawed Romantic Heroines. Now I want to read most of those. And reread Possession. Mmm. What a great book.

What's the best argument for Obama picking Nunn for VP? The headline possibilities, of course. (Want to learn more about Nunn? Here's a nice profile.)

A fantasy all-media administration. Hee.

A nice mosaic of lots and lots of Obama magazine covers.

Wait. Did John McCain really just realize how Social Security works?

The Times goes on a quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie. It's making me hungry.

Last.fm

A few people suggested that I use last.fm to explore new music. I signed up last night, and I'm loving it! And it's not even blocked at work! (Knock on wood.) I've found a few people through their friend search, but I'm sure there are more of you on there. What's your username? Wanna be friends? (Mine is katelinnea.)

Goooosh!

Hee. Sorry. It's just fun to say. Anyway, take a look at Goosh, a command line interface for Google and Wikipedia searches. It's pretty nifty. (Thanks for the tip, Adam!)

PackRat on Facebook

If you're on Facebook, have you discovered PackRat? Seriously, it's the most addictive game ever, and way more fun than it seems like it should be. Let me know if you're interested and I'll send you an invitation.

Useful Site

Is Twitter down?

I still hate moving. Just in case you were wondering.

Sheep at the White House!

Those were the days... I wonder who got the wool?

Ravelry Store!

The Ravelry store is open! Lots of good stuff. And yes, of course I placed my order before I told you all about it. :) Things are selling out quickly... I'll have to get the totebag when it gets restocked.

Isn't this what the Internet is for?

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

(First seen at Aswim in Knits.)

Political social networking site

I just discovered My Political World, which is a new politics-based social networking site. I haven't looked around much yet, but I thought I'd mention it in case anyone's interested. My username there is katwithak. You can read about it here.

Ever wondered what you'd read in space?

Here's a list (warning: PDF) of the books, music, and movies that are available in the library of the International Space Station. There are lots of classics and sci fi, and, I feel, a weirdly large amount of Daniel Boorstein.

Instant queue!

Netflix now has a separate queue for Instant watching! I cannot even tell you how happy this makes me. (We've mentioned how much I love lists of all kinds, right?) And this will let me mark things I want to watch instantly later without filling up my DVD queue.

Do crosswords really need to be replaced?

Well, I certainly don't think so, as I'm a big crossword fan. But Crickler, a potential "replacement," is kind of fun. In addition to crosswords. Not instead of them. Anyone tried it? Opinions?

Typing Game

Try out TypeRacer. I'm torn between "Ooh! Fun!" and flashbacks to the horrible learn-to-type programs we had to use in middle school. Anyone remember the one where you had to type quickly enough to get "friends," and if you messed up too much, then no one would "come to your party"? What were the people who made that program for kids thinking?

Oooh!

This is probably old news, but I just noticed that Ravelry is now linked up with WorldCat. My life may in fact be complete.

A bit of Friday amusement...

Pride and Prejudice, acted out with toys.

The Net Generation

I've never been happy with the "Millennial" thing, generationally. My brother is one, sure, but it just doesn't seem to fit most of the people I know who are around my age. Joshua Glenn instead dubs us (1974-1983) the Net Generation, and I think his characterization is right on. Opinions?

Structured Procrastination

This has been around for years, apparently, but I just came across it today: structured procrastination. It's really quite clever.

15 minutes of blog fame...

Hello, everyone finding me through the Achenblog link! I'm afraid you've happened by at a bad time, as I'm leaving for a trip tomorrow and posting will be sporadic. I'll try to put up my thoughts on Eliot Spitzer before that, though...

Update on posting situation

So, as you see, I eventually managed to post that post from the other day. It worked from home, so perhaps it was my work connection being wonky? I'm not sure. We'll see if it happens again...

test

I can't seem to post my politics post from yesterday, so let's see if this works...

Update: Apparently I can post new things but not that one post. Not even if I copied and pasted it into another post. Weird!

Procrastination Flow Chart

Brilliant.

A nuw! Mae bywell yn fy mhen i!

This has probably been around a million times and I'm just oblivious, but I just came across it and it made me giggle, so I figured I'd share: How to say "Oh my God! There's an axe in my head! in lots of languages.

What's your zip code like?

Find out at Zipskinny. It gives you all sorts of census data for your zip code and lets you compare to neighboring zips, your state, the whole country, or any zip code you enter. (I had fun comparing my hometown in CT to where I live now in NH.) Fascinating!

SimCity + Climate Change

The new version of SimCity lets you make various environmental decisions and see how they affect your simulated world. Read about it on the Bits blog here. Sounds like fun!

Lifelines

It can be hard to picture what women's lives are actually like in other parts of the world. This site tries to bridge that gap. You can entire information about your own life and browse similar elements (work, family, education, etc.) of women's lives around the world.

Word fun AND a good deed!

Go look at Free Rice It's sort of like those sites for the rainforest and what have you where you click and they donate a penny or something. But this one is more fun, because you have to take a vocabulary quiz and get things right for your donation to count! Okay, maybe that's not fun for everyone, but I'm loving it. Me, a nerd? What? (Thanks to Chappysmom for the link!)

Who's writing your encyclopedia?

As a librarian, my feelings on Wikipedia are somewhat mixed. On one hand, I find the blurring of authority in reference sources to be somewhat frightening. I like knowing where my information comes from, and while I know that many people don't necessarily feel as strongly about this as I do, I think that makes it all the more important that proper distinctions are maintained between authoritative and non-authoritative sources, and that people, especially students, are educated about these differences.

On the other hand, I love Wikipedia and I use it all the freaking time. When nothing actually depends on whether the information found is correct, Wikipedia can be great, and it often has more information about pop culture than can be found in more traditional sources. It definitely has its uses. I just don't want students citing it in research papers.

Anyway, my actual point here is to show you WikipediaVision. It's a Google map that shows almost-realtime edits to Wikipedia. Right now, it's telling me that two minutes ago, someone in Lithuania edited the "Disk formatting" article and then someone in the U.K. edited the "Oasis (band)" article. Of course, it doesn't tell you anything about the credentials of the editor, so it doesn't actually help you determine the quality of the information. But it's fascinating in and of itself, in much the same way as is Watch WorldCat Grow. Watching the map can be mesmerizing, and if there's an article title that catches your fancy, you can click on the provided link to see the entry itself or details about the edit that was just made. Ooh, someone in Lancaster, CA just edited the article about Rome. Off to see what they said...

Ravelry!

As of tonight, I'm on Ravelry! Yay! I don't want to go on about it and annoy those still on the waiting list. So, for now, I'll just say: if you're there, friend me! I'm KatwithaK.

Blog Reader Survey!

Have a few minutes to spare? Please take my Blog Reader Project survey. Thanks!

Come play!

(First, a quick note: some of you have asked why there haven't been any pictures of Dewey or anything else recently. I'm taking pictures, I promise. But I'm still using a borrowed computer, so I'm trying to minimize the amount of stuff I save. Plus, it's a different operating system than I'm used to, so the software is all different, and I'm not sure if there's any photo editing software on it, actually. I'll try to get some pictures soon. I promise.)

I wanted to briefly discuss a few Web sites where I've been spending time recently. I tend to assume that everyone knows about these things, but that's not necessarily true.

1. A few of you have asked whether I'm running a Summer Reading Program this year. I'm not, but a good friend of mine is, and I'll be participating. You can read about it and sign up here. Hope you'll join us! It's in Wiki form... if you have any trouble figuring out how to add your info, just let me know and I'll help out.

2. GoodReads! In some ways, this is similar to Library Thing, but I use Library Thing (or would, if I ever updated it) for books I own, and I've been using GoodReads for books I read. In my case, those are very different lists. Any of you on there? You can read my reviews (which are mostly the same as the reviews I post here), view my books, and add me as a friend here.

3. Twitter! I'll admit that some days I just sort of forget about it, but it's cute. And I have both Barack Obama and Buffy Summers on my friends list, which amuses me muchly. You can find my profile and add me as a friend here.

4. Ravelry! I'm actually not playing there yet, but I'd like to be. So if anyone has any spare invitations floating around...

Shouldn't targeted marketing be... targeted?

You know how Amazon periodically sends out those "You liked A so we thought you might like this new book/CD/DVD B" e-mails? They usually don't annoy me too much. Sometimes they're even helpful, if they mention a new book by a favorite author I'd somehow managed not to hear about. But today's was just bizarre:

We've noticed that customers who have expressed interest in books by L.M. Montgomery have also ordered A Pocket Guide to Epidemiology by David G. Kleinbaum.

Um, what? (For those of you who might not know, L.M. Montgomery was a Canadian novelist in the early twentieth century who wrote, among other things, Anne of Green Gables.) I cannot imagine how these things are possibly connected. I mentioned this to a friend and he told me that he got a weird recommendation from them today too. Anyone else?

Let it snow!

No, it's not actually snowing. But this is the next best thing.

Like LibraryThing, but for crafts?

I haven't had a chance to look at this in detail yet, but it seems like it might be interesting. CraftMemo - organize your craft supplies and projects.

Pancakes!

Exceedingly fun YouTube video. Yummmmm.

Part sad/part happy penguin story OR Why I love my cousin

Exciting roadside penguin rescue! (But: Warning. A few of them are not okay.)

And why I love my cousin:
She sent me this story, and the accompanying comment:

"Didn't you have something about penguins? Apologies if it was a you-and-ex thing, in which case you might want to focus more on the ones that got run over."

(It was a me-and-ex thing, or really more just an ex thing, but I still like them, and do not want any penguins to be run over.)

Vox populi

Today I was pulled in to Vox, the new service from Six Apart, the people who bring us TypePad, Movable Type (which I use for this blog, and which is now free!), and LiveJournal (which I use as well). So obviously I don't need another blog, but, well, I'm a sucker for anything new and shiny. And Vox is certainly both. There's some drama behind it: rumor has it that SixApart is planning to "force" adults to move to Vox in order to make LiveJournal for teens only. What representatives of SixApart are saying is that Vox just fits a different niche: more slick and user-friendly than LiveJournal, more private and community-oriented than traditional blogs. It should be interesting to see how it all plays out.

But anyway, for now, I'm enjoying playing with it; some of the features are frickin' shiny. You can find me here. (But don't worry, I'm certainly not abandoning this blog!) Do any of you have accounts? Let me know so I can add you to my neighborhood! Also, Vox is invitation-only right now, and I don't have any invitations at the moment, but I should be getting more soon, so let me know if you'd like one.

Check definitions? Play podcasts? Why choose?

I'm so nerdily thrilled with this: a dictionary AND mp3 player, all in one!

Upgraded!

While I was sleeping, the magic upgrade fairy (also known as Becky, my lovely hostess) upgraded me to a new version of Movable Type! Hurrah! I'm still figuring out how it all works, so if things seem wonky, bear with me, and leave a comment so I know something's wrong.

Speaking of comments: this new version will make it much easier to prevent and deal with spam. Yay! As an experiment, I'm trying to make it so that if you sign in with TypeKey (a free account), your comment posts immediately. If you don't want to do that, you can still comment, it just won't post immediately - it will wait for me to review it so I can weed out the spam. Let me know if you have any thoughts on this or any trouble commenting.

Also coming soon: a gallery and message boards. What forums would you like to see available?

Knitty alert!

The new Knitty is up! My quick favorites, on first look: Fetching (I have a weakness for fingerless mitts), Carpathia (lace! gloves!), RPM, Maze, Sock Monkey Hat (well, not for me, but I have a few friends who'd love it...), Swell, Manresa

Widdershins may even make me try toe-up socks. I mean, really, just the name! Allete is cute - not sure why I'd need wings, but I'll keep it in mind in case the situation ever comes up. I am also excited about learning to knit backwards. I knew this was doable, of course, but had never actually come across an explanation of HOW to do it before. Oh, same with finger knitting. Ooh, and a fun article on fiber festivals by Steph.

Cure for phone phobia?

I hate the phone. Really. I will go to fairly great lengths to avoid calling people. It's not quite so bad when people call me, but I still get really anxious about what to say, how long to talk, whether they want to chit-chat or just get to the point and get off the phone, etc. (Incidentally, it's vaguely comforting to talk to Vickie on the phone because she always sounds as traumatized as I feel.)

But... if the TARDIS rang when someone called me, I might just start looking forward to it.

Best headline ever

Vegetables Fight Global Warming!

I know, I'm a dork.

But seriously, people, isn't the Swissmemory Swiss Army Knife with USB Flash Drive just the best thing ever? My first Swiss Army Knife met an unfortunate end in an unreachable spot beneath the porch of my previous apartment, so I've been considering getting a new one anyway. Hmmm.

I spy with my little eye...

From JenLa:

1. A blog which you think people have not discovered: The Magpi
2. A blog whose author lives close to you physically. Just get as close as you can, it’s all relative: The Stitch Witch
3. An unusual or weird animal picture: Many of Chaos
4. An entry that made you laugh and got you strange looks from family or co-workers: Oh, so many. Recently: Peukalo is thumb. by Steph
5. An idea you wish you’d thought of: Buy More Yarn. I mean, really. 'nough said.
6. Something you’d like to knit: Rogue
7. A picture of something you consider beautiful: Juno's Highland Triangle
8. A blog whose author you’d like to one day meet in person: FemiKnit Mafia
9. A blog of someone you have already met in person: mamacate

P.S. 10 Reasons Why Liberal Men are Better in Bed

Because I am SO good at this.

My advice - about a social/romance question, even! - was quoted on my favorite advice blog: Got Advice? So exciting!!!! It's in this entry, and I'm the second quote under HOW TO DO IT. (The question was about asking a boy to the prom.)

Ask him! Make it casual and ambiguous - so you COULD be asking as a friend or maybe not. "Do you have a date yet? I was thinking we could have fun at prom together, and I wanted to make sure you had a chance before someone else snapped me up." That way it sounds like you are doing HIM a favor rather than begging him or anything. And it's funny, which always helps with boys.

Can you TELL how thrilled I am about this? Hee! Michele even kindly omitted the part about how I asked THREE guys to the prom in order to find one who would go. Actually, I think I do give pretty good advice about that sort of thing. Those who can't do, teach, right? (Actually I'm pretty fine with the current state of my romantic/social life. Just for the record.)

AND, even more exciting: I don't have to work this weekend! Two whole days off! Someone at the bookstore was looking to pick up some extra hours, so she's taking my Saturday shift. I am beside myself with delight.

Books and TV and blogs, oh my!

I was all conflicted this morning: do I post about Black. White. or do I do a book meme? Decisions! Luckily, Cate made the decision for me by starting a new group blog: Reality TV Sociology. Come read or blog along with us if you're so inclined.

So the book meme! This is from Carole, even though she forgot me in the librarian list. ;-)

Meme instructions: Look at the list of books below. Bold the ones you've read, italicize the ones you might read, cross out the ones you won't, underline the ones on your book shelf, and place parentheses around the ones you've never even heard of.

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Great Gatsby - F.Scott Fitzgerald
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J. K. Rowling
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
Animal Farm: A Fairy Story - George Orwell
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
1984 - George Orwell
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J. K. Rowling
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
The Secret History - Donna Tartt
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C. S. Lewis
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Atonement - Ian McEwan
The Shadow Of The Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
Dune - Frank Herbert

Hmm. There are some that might be on my bookshelf but I don't remember that they're there. (Someday I will complete my inventory...) Or that I've borrowed. Yeah. The Atwood is on my night table, actually, now that I think about it, but it's not mine so I didn't count it.

Also, apparently I do not decide that I won't read books. I mean, I'd read pretty much anything if you put it in front of me. (Vickie, this means you.) Also, yes, I've heard of all of them. Lit degree + enough time as a bookseller will do that.

Oh, and I forgot to tag people. How about Erica and Rachel and Kristen? (Sorry if any of you have already done it.)

Random Wednesday

1. This is really the first down time I've had since my trip, and... I'm tired. Really tired. Even the combination of caffeine and Franz Ferdinand was barely keeping me awake at work this afternoon. But tonight I did not have work or class. So I came home, took a quick nap, went to a nice dinner with friends, and am now home, in my pajamas, watching the Olympics and drinking chai. Yay.

2. Meet my cute little avatar:

3. Have you seen BlogShares yet? I haven't had time to totally figure it out, but it seems to be a fantasy stock market game - with blogs as the companies! Don't you want to know how much your blog is worth, and even who "owns" shares of your blog? Yeah, I thought you did. Click on the link and get sucked in like I have. :-)

4. Olympic knitting is... going, I guess. I'm a bit stalled, still on the cuff of the second sock. I just haven't had any time. But I'm determined to finish.

5. Speaking of which, I have a few media links to add to the KO links list. I'll get them on there soon. I promise.

6. I used to laugh at my mother and her "power naps." I insisted that the idea of just closing your eyes for 5 or 15 minutes was preposterous. Couldn't actually help. Um, apparently I just wasn't tired enough then. Because now I get it. Totally. It's a lifesaver. And man, does the "not quite asleep" state produce some funky dreams. (Including those involving kissing people about whom I generally do not think in that manner. Weird.) But yeah, I'm totally behind this concept now. Thanks Mom!

7. Like many knitters, I'm often torn between knitting/starting whatever I want and trying to actually finish things. I recognize that I'm a process knitter, and that knitting is supposed to be fun and there are enough deadlines and stressors in the rest of my life. But on the other hand, finishing is kind of fun. And my unfinished projects are numbering, well, in the dozens by now. And just knowing that they're there adds to my general guilt level.

So I'm going to try a compromise. A new system, of a sort. It's pretty simple: ten projects are allowed to be on the "actively knitting" list at a time. If I want to knit something not on the list - either something new or an unfinished item - then I have to finish one of the list items first. I think this actually has a chance of working. Ten is a reasonable number, I think, to keep track of, but it is large enough to allow for plenty of variation. And maybe by the end of the year, all my projects will fit on that list of ten. (But don't hold your breath.)

A Bloggers' (Silent) Poetry Reading

This midwinter poetry celebration is the brainchild of Grace's Poppies. This is probably my favorite winter poem, and it seems particularly apropos these days when I leave the house by eight and don't get home until midnight:

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

It's Robert Frost, of course, via the Favorite Poem Project.

Firefly Barbies!

Alas, no, they're not for sale. But they're pretty darn shiny.

"I am quite sick with delight"

For anyone who has ever read a bad historical romance... it's The Victorian Sex Cry Generator! (Not workplace- or child-safe. Don't say I didn't warn you.)

Happy birthday, Roe v. Wade

Today is the 33rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Honestly, this is an issue I've struggled with, but I have come to realize that the goal is the creation of a world in which abortion is not necessary. Since we do not live in that world, however, abortion needs to be safe, legal, and available. So I am joining hundreds of other bloggers in "Blog for Choice" day. Click on the icon for more information and to see the list.

Ta-da List

I discovered a fun little service this morning (thanks Ais!): Ta-da List. I have five lists so far: a running shopping list, a To Do list, books I'm in the middle of, books I've finished this month (so I remember them all for my "October Books" post), and current knitting WIPs. One nifty feature is that you can choose to make any or all of your lists public, so, if you'd like, take a look at my Knitting WIPs. (I'll probably get the link in the sidebar here eventually.) I must say, though, that those are certainly not ALL the projects I have in progress. They're just the ones that came to mind. I'll add other things as I come across/work on them.

Web searching for kids

I'm writing a paper about KidsClick!, which bills itself as "web search for kids by librarians." I think it's an interesting idea, although not terribly well executed. It is bringing up some other questions in my mind, though...

Does a "search engine for kids" really help kids find the information they're looking for? Or does it hinder them because it searches such a limited set of sites? Or both, depending on the context? Or the kid? Does it end up functioning as a form of censorship, or is it just a study aid? Do kids actually use it? Parents, do you find such sites useful for your kids?

Blogathon 2005

No, I'm not participating, but I wanted to make sure everyone knew about it. I first heard of Blogathon two years ago... no, three, because I remember a certain friend was pregnant and her son is over two now. Anyway. It's a neat concept: blog every half hour for 24 hours. People sponsor you for the charity of your choice. Simple but really really cool. I want to try to participate next year, but for now I thought I'd give you a round-up of the participants that caught my eye. Go look at them. Sponsor if you can. Cheer them on by reading/commenting if you can't.

Crafty Blogs or Causes
Agape and Afghan-Making/Afghans for Afghans
Hippycriticism/Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
MEW.nu/Blankets4Canada
Reusablog/Project Linus

Those Blogging for Causes I Particularly Like
Apeystar/AFSP
Bella Luna/Book Aid
Note of the Day/Cat Adoption Team
Eclectic Mind/Alley Cat Allies
Imagine This/Wonder of Reading
It's Just My Life/March of Dimes
Jamelah.net/Book Aid
Parade of Animals/Anti-Cruelty Society
Precious Baby/March of Dimes

Fun Gimmicks
Bluewolf's Howl/AFSP
DisconnectedBlog
SciFi Ranter Girl/The Planetary Society
so you want to marry a racecar driver/foodnotbombs
Wisdom of the Illiterati/Heifer International

Others That Happened to Catch My Eye
Another Day, Another Diaper/Cure Autism Now
A Better Wife/The Lullaby Closet
Blogathon Unzipped/Modest Needs
Dizzy Girl/American Federation of Police and Concerned Citizens
Hip Young Mom/American Cancer Society
Melyssa's Family Blog/Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
MissMeliss: Scritture/Habitat for Humanity - Women Build
Perfection on a Curve/National Fibro Research Assoc
A Tale of 2 WAHMs/Rupert's Kids
This Mom/Cure Autism Now
Three Moms and a Single Lady/MISS Foundation

Whew. Have fun, and good luck everyone!

This could eat up lots of time.

(Yes, it's snowing again. I told you it would.)

In my reference class last night, I learned about Google Whack. Sorry if this is old news--it was the first I'd seen of it. I'm determined to find one. Some day.

Two fun timewasters

Here's one for name geeks and one for library nerds. For those just fascinated by useless information, try both.

Are you visitor 500?

I can't believe how much traffic this site has been getting! I'm excited. :-) So we're going to have a little contest.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and check the sitemeter. If it says 500, take a screenshot and e-mail it it to me along with your name and street address, and you'll get a little surprise in the mail.

Because I don't have enough to do...

Come see my newest online adventure, 101 Things in 1001 Days.

Hello out there!

This is really just a test post, but while I'm at it I might as well say Happy New Year's Eve to anyone who happens by! Watch this space--I have some exciting stuff planned for the new year.