Happy New Year!

I had a post written about 2009's accomplishments and 2010's goals, but in the end, I decided to keep it to myself. Instead, I'll just say...

May your dreams become reality in the new year.
God Bless!

Resolve to get it right in 2010

Two very useful, easy-to-use posters:

and

Christmas Week: Santa?

LilGirl has reached that age: she believes in Santa Claus, but is hearing from a lot of her friends that he doesn't exist. She argues loudly with any show on TV that implies that Santa doesn't exist, has debates (mostly with herself) laying out the facts vs. the rumors, and had a very hard time falling asleep on Christmas Eve.

Today, hubby found this video that put her fears to rest. Apparently the daughter of tweeter (and actor) Peter Facinelli set out a spycam to "catch" Santa.  Here's the result:





(In the spirit of full disclosure, I had no idea Peter Facinelli was the source of the video until I started writing this post. Hubby sent the video to me and he didn't know either...so, it really doesn't count as anything Twilight-related. Right? Right? People are going to stop believing I'm not a fan...especially after a post that's coming up in the next week or so...)

Let it snow...but let it stop soon!

These were taken about 24 hours apart, yesterday and today.

Hope you're having a Merry (warm, safe & dry) Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Enjoy the "silent" monks

My mom on the news

She was interviewed just before leaving Rapid City yesterday for being one of those silly people travelling in yesterday's weather:

Christmas is for doggies, too

Wed Pic: Icicles

I didn't have to hang any tinsel - nature did it for me today. :) (I'm so glad I got to stay home today and didn't have to drive in this stuff)

Christmas Week! More SNL

I love this song, and the guys are so a-dor-a-bul!

Christmas Week: Stop! Cookietime!

This is why I use gift bags:

Christmas week! Schweddy Balls

This is one of my all-time favorite Saturday Night Live Christmas skits. (Warning: It's a bit naughty, so if you're offended by that sort of thing, well, check out Friday's post instead)

I miss my Fashion Plates!

I almost teared up when I saw this on Epic Win. If there's a childhood toy I wish I still had, this is it:


see more Epic Wins from the Past

I remember spending hours playing with these. I even had the expansion pack. I would definitely play with this set even today, if I still had it. I poked around Ebay and found a set which included the expansion pack, but it ended up going for $220! Um, I think that's too rich for me, even to relive a childhood memory. *sigh*

Friday Fun: A Charlie Brown Christmas

If you missed it this year, or just want to watch it again, Hulu has posted the entire show (Yes, I'm a Hulu junkie. The intervention is happening soon, I'm sure.)

How big is the Internet?

Created by Online Education

(found via What I Learned Today...)

Happy Birthday, Jane Austen! (Thanks for the reminder, @cjewel!)

I'm a bad, bad Jane Austen fan and forgot her birthday. Fortunately, Carolyn Jewel remembered and wrote up a nice post with lots of cool links at Risky Regencies.

Weekend TV: Part II: Twilight Lab Partners

This is the other funny thing I saw on TV this past weekend. You all know I'm not a Twilight fan, but if I were, I'd have to be Team Jacob. Taylor Lautner is such a cutie and he was fun to watch on SNL, especially this skit (again, sorry for the ad at the beginning):

My Christmas trees on tour with Cheryl St.John!

Every year, my friend Cheryl St.John hosts a tour of Christmas trees on her blog. My Christmas trees are featured today! Go check them out! :)

Weekend TV: Part I: Snoop & The Grinch

I saw a couple interesting things on TV this weekend. Here's the first.

Even though I'm really not into rap music, I get a kick out of Snoop Dogg for some reason, especially when he does stuff like this (sorry for the ad at the beginning):



Check back tomorrow Wednesday for the other fun thing I saw. :)

To play or not to play...Hamlet the Text Adventure!

I remember playing Hamlet the Text Adventure years ago and I was really happy to trip across it again. Nice to see it's still there, text-based and all. I remember the first time I played it, I was somehow killed by Othello...Hmmm, methinks I stumbled into a different play.

From the Versificator site: "Avenge your father's death, defeat your evil uncle, and ascend the throne of Denmark in this long-awaited adaptation of Shakespeare's seminal work. Guest appearances by Macbeth, Richard III, and others." (that explains Othello)

http://versificator.co.uk/hamlet/

This is me playing just about any sport

Friday Fun: It's Frosty!

Hey, it's still Friday...for a little while...



(via Unplggd)

Snowed-in Netflix: Lost in Austen

Being snowed in, I should be getting a lot done. [Insert maniacal laughing here] The truth is, I've spent most of my energy trying to excavate my driveway. After several attempts each day, more than a third of it is still buried in a four-foot drift that refuses to be moved by my measly shovel (Santa, I want a snowblower). When I come back in from shoveling, I have no ambition left for anything else but to collapse on the couch and turn to Netflix.

Yesterday, I discovered Lost in Austen had been added to the titles available for streaming. I've had this one in my DVD queue for some time (ironically, it was finally second in line) so I was excited to sit down and watch it at last.

In Lost in Austen, Amanda Price is obsessed with Pride and Prejudice, and would generally rather spend her time re-reading the book than living her life. When Elizabeth Bennett turns up in her bathroom, Amanda trades places with Lizzie and proceeds to completely muck up the story. She fails to help Jane and Bingley reveal their love for each other, causing Jane to marry Mr. Collins, and things go downhill from there. Through it all, Amanda tries to make sure that Darcy falls in love with Lizzie, which is difficult when he's never met her.

If you're a fan of the 1995 Pride and Prejudice miniseries, you'll probably enjoy this scene as much as I did (heck, if I met Mr. Darcy, I'd probably ask the same favor from him)



If you're unfamiliar with the earlier miniseries, this scene may help clarify Amanda's request (or there's the link if you just want to watch it again...over and over. I won't tell).

As a writer who has often had a character do something unexpected and then gone "Where did THAT come from?" I'm sure Jane Austen would have the same thought if she ever watched this. When a couple characters act particularly, um, un-characteristically, Amanda can't help but comment:

"Hear that sound? Duh-uh-uh-uh! That's Jane Austen spinning in her grave like a cat in a tumble-dryer"

and 

"Goodness. Jane Austen would be fairly surprised to find she'd written that!"

The whole show was a fun romp, kind of the ultimate Jane Austen fanfic. I highly recommend it!

Wed Pics: Snowed In

We had a doozy of a storm yesterday and last night. When we woke this morning, this is what greeted us:

I'm sooo glad I scooped the steps yesterday so they wouldn't be so bad today. Um, yeah...

The yard usually slopes down back there.

 

I don't remember buying a conehead vehicle

Friday Fun: So I Married an Axe Murderer

Allow me to go a little, okay, a LOT fangirl here...

Before he was Austin Powers, before he was Shrek, Mike Myers was Charlie Mackenzie. So I Married and Axe Murderer is one of my all-time favorite movies. It's up there with The Princess Bride as one of those movies I love so much I can recite them by heart. Or as some people I know would put it (and you know who you are), it's my Galaxy Quest.

Charlie's a poet, and several of my favorite poems ever (or at least ones I recite a lot, to the annoyance of all around me) are in this movie, especially the one that begins "Harriet! Sweet Harriet! Hard-hearted harbinger of haggis." My absolute favorite poem from the movie is in the opening scene, but you'll have to watch in order to hear it - it's better that way.

Multiple viewings have also given me a sort of Axe Murderer Tourettes Syndrome: I will randomly shout "Head! Pants! Now!" or "Two words: therapy" or any of several other quotes at odd moments just because they popped into my head, and it makes life goood. (Yes, I'm strange. Hadn't you figured that out already?)

So, even though Hulu took away Dr. Horrible, it seems they gave me So I Married an Axe Murderer in return, so life can go on. You can watch it here. Go! Do it now! You won't regret it. (sorry, Hulu wouldn't let me imbed it).

Candied Bacon Fudge, anyone?

I love fudge. I love bacon. But I find it hard to believe that mixing the two can be anything but horrible. Or, it could be one of those things that turns out to be just evil-ly good. Either way, if you make this stuff, don't offer me any. I don't think I could handle it. After all, I already need a little Obi Wan in my head saying "These aren't the snacks you're looking for."

How to Make Candied Bacon Fudge at The Kitchn

More confessions of a less-than fan of musicals

I've blogged before about my aversion to musicals in general, but I've recently found one I can't get enough of. I even bought the soundtrack! Gasp!

Here's the preview for Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. It doesn't seem to be online for free anymore (Bring it back, Hulu! I haz a sad!)

What I learned from NaNoWriMo

Whew! I made it! I wrote 50,000 words in one month, actually less than that, considering I started a week late, I finished a day early (25 hours, to be exact) and there were a handful of days scattered through the month that I didn't write at all. In total, I wrote 17 days this month.

I signed up for NaNoWriMo once before, and tried it unofficially another time, and I didn't finish either time. I didn't even come close. Finishing, and finishing early on top of it, felt really, really good!

Here are a few things I learned over the last month (in no particular order)

• It's good to have a plan. 
• I'm usually a pantser (someone who discovers the story as she writes, rather than plotting first), but this time I started out with what I called a Fuzzy Synopsis (as opposed to the legendary Dreaded Synopsis) - it was just a vague plan of my story arc and the points I wanted to hit. I kept the file open a lot and it became a place to throw things I saw coming down the road, but that I hadn't gotten to yet.
• I also used a calendar. For years, my writers group's "Goals Guru" *lizzie has encouraged us to use a desk calendar to track our writing progress through the year. I've never been good with the paper calendars and usually track it in my Google Calendar instead. NaNoWriMo turned out to be an exception, thanks to a lucky purchase. Months ago, I bought a $1 calendar mouse pad at the craft store. It was a horrible failure as a mouse pad, but it's the perfect size to keep on a little stand between my keyboard and the shelf my laptop sits on. On it, I tracked each day's goals and progress.
  

• I needed a better plan for laundry. I washed the clothes, but very few of them got put away. I've been wearing wrinkled clothes from a basket for three weeks. Hopefully by next November, LilGirl will be well-trained in putting away her own clothes. I won't hold out the same hope for Hubby - that's a battle I gave up on years ago. But we will have a better system in place by then. We won't even talk about the rest of the housework.
  
• It's good to reward yourself. Some nights it was tough to make my word count. On Monday nights I bribed myself to get done early so I could watch Big Bang Theory. Other nights, I told myself that as soon as I was done I could watch the new episode of The Guild. Once or twice, the bribe was a shower. I tried to keep the bribes non-food-based, but I have to admit there were nights the bribe was a piece of dark chocolate.
• It's good to reward your family, too. The last couple days of writing were tough on LilGirl. Her reward for letting me finish was getting out the Christmas dollhouse we haven't taken out of the box since we moved into this house four years ago.
• Sometimes you have to be your own Jillian Michaels. Sunday, the final day, was the hardest. I knew I had to do 8000 words in two days, which is more than I've ever done in that amount of time. A strong feeling of being overwhelmed started to come over me, but I knew I would kick myself forever if I came so close to finishing and didn't make it. So I broke out the sticky notes and the Sharpie and wrote myself a note that said "Four sets of 2000 words and you're done!" 2000 words is less than I had been doing each night. It was do-able. I promised myself a break between each set and got to work on the first one. It worked. Even though I had another day to finish, once three sets were done and it was only 6:00 pm, I knew I'd finish on Sunday. The last 2000 words were the hardest. My brain was full of all sorts of other things I could be doing, like reorganizing my bookmarks or cleaning my keyboard. I wrote another note, "2000 words to go! WooHoo!" and stuck it to the calendar, then dove in. A couple hours later, I was done. (You can see the sticky notes stuck to the calendar in the picture above)
  
• The rumors that you don't shower much during NaNo is totally true. Sorry to those of you who had to put up with my stinkiness.

The biggest thing I learned:

• I can do this! After struggling along with another story for literally years, it was good to set that one aside and come out with a whole new story in under a month. Yes, it needs a lot of editing (boy, does it ever!) but it's light years ahead of the other story for the amount of time I've spent on it. This has extinguished one doubt among many about my future writing career - that I can work to deadline without having to spend years on a single story. I've given myself a deadline for editing and submitting my NaNo story, then I hope I'll be able to return to the other story with renewed vigor and finish it. By next November, I should be ready to jump into another fresh story and do it all over again.
  

I did it! #NaNoWriMo

I'll post more details tomorrow. Right now, it's time for bed. It's been a loooong November and I'm tired.

Narnia, discovered today

I don't want to know where this librarian works...

...Or maybe I do, so I can avoid that library.

(*sigh* This cartoon makes me a little sad)

The only two things you need in your toolbox

see more Funny Graphs

Arrrrgh! It be time for pirate chickens!

Avast! There be no easy way to embed them, so follow the link if ye dare! And apparently I'm not the only one with Jedi wandering in to my pirate scenes.

Friday Fun: Momisms

I should save this for Mothers Day, but this week has just been way too much like this video, so I'll share it now:

Wed Pic: Dragon eating the moon

Dragon eating the moon, originally uploaded by mdesive.

Made my Minano goal!

My local RWA chapter, Heartland Writers Group is doing a Mini-NaNo, or Minano, with a goal of 25,000 words rather than the 50,000-word goal of NaNoWriMo. I'm doing both and I hit the Minano goal last night, shutting down the computer at 25,528 words.

*Happy Dance!* 

Now, onward with NaNoWriMo!

I've been saying this for years

see more Lol Celebs

It's about time someone made a poster of this. I need to get my hands on a good Ginger/Fred movie so LilGirl will stop saying "Ginger who?" when I say this. Unfortunately, my all-time favorite Ginger Rogers movie, The Major and the Minor, doesn't have Fred Astaire in it to illustrate the point of the saying. Any recommendations?

(I'm deep in NaNoWriMo mode, so there may be a few more days (or 15) of these short posts)

If it's not one thing it's another

Faceliftbook

Friday Fun: Do You Wanna Date My Avatar?

Saturday is National Gaming Day! Libraries across the United States will celebrate with programs which cover board games like Candy Land to MMORPGs like World of Warcraft. I'll likely mark the day with some Tetris time and watch hubby play Fable II.

Hubby and I recently started watching The Guild, which, ironically, we watch through our Xbox (or maybe that's not so ironic, really). The series follows a group of gamers and the challenges they face meshing "real" life with their "life" in a MMORPG. If you're curious, here's the original episode (yes, that's the entire episode. They're short.)

The Guild released a music video, too. The song is one of my current favorites (running through my head 24/7 lately) and now I'm passing the earworm on to you:




Just a bit of an aside here: I know some of you probably think there is nothing one can learn from a video game to use in life. I disagree. I can always tell which baggers at the grocery store play Tetris, and those who don't. Seriously. :)

Unfortunately, I have to be a bit of a teetotaler when it comes to role-playing games. I know me, and I know if I even touch WoW, Fable, or even The Sims, soon people will wonder if I died, was kidnapped, or simply fell off the face of the earth, because I would never been seen again (think of Codex in the episode above). If you want a further illustration of what would happen, listen to Felicia Day talk about her experience with WoW in this interview (at about the 1:30 mark) - I love her comment "After about two hours of that, I mean, two years..." Yep, that'd be me.

Wish more girls realized this

see more Lol Celebs

Wed Pic: Is Robin Hood in there?

I'm pounding away at my take on Robin Hood for NaNoWriMo. Alas (or fortunately?) there were no outlaws in the forest near Norwich when I was there.

Already??

Halloween is barely over and we're already inundated with Christmas. I saw a commercial featuring a Christmas elf the morning after Halloween and one of my neighbors already has their lights, blow-up figures and music playing! I love Christmas, but I have to agree with Santa in the cartoon.When people put up their decorations and start advertising so early I'm sick of Christmas by the time Thanksgiving rolls around.

Cartoon source

Friday Fun: Dysenchanted - 1 Day to Halloween!

I put a spell on you: 2 days to Halloween!

Here's a scene from one of my absolute favorite Halloween movies:



And my favorite line from the movie:



Okay, now go run AMUCK!!

Wed Pic: 3 Days to Halloween!

My top 10 (or so) vampires - 4 Days to Halloween!

A few weeks ago, Entertainment Weekly listed the 20 Greatest Vampires of All Time. I disagreed with at least half of the list - after all, if I've never heard of them, how great can they be? And Edward Cullen? Don't get me started...

In response to EW's list, here are my top 10 (or so) most interesting vampires, in no particular order:

• Dracula - has to be near the top of everyone's list. In my mind, Dracula will always be Frank Langella's version. I remember sneakily watching this late at night when I was really too little to be seeing such things. So now you know where it all started... I liked Gary Oldman as Dracula, too, but nobody holds a candle to Langella for me. I remember this scene in particular:
  
  
• Lestat -I like him much more in the books than the movies, and I like Stuart Towsend's version in Queen of the Damned better than Tom Cruise's in Interview with the Vampire (although if you want to know how I really imagained Lestat - despite the description of him as blonde - watch Farinelli)
  
• Eric Northman from "True Blood" - He's new to my list, but ooooh, la la! (I hope you won't beat me up if I admit Bill Compton just doesn't do it for me)
• Selene from Underworld -She's a kick-ass heroine first, vampire second. Bella could certainly learn a thing or two from her.
  see more Lol Celebs
• David from Lost Boys- My first bad-boy hot vampire (Michael doesn't make the list on a technicality - he was never a full vampire)
• Claudia from Interview With The Vampire - Forever a child in body, but not in mind, and that makes her very interesting
• Jessica on "True Blood" - From an ultra-restritive environment to vampire - she went through a total "no rules" phase and then has done a lot of growing up very quickly. 
• Spike from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"- yummy! Bad boy with sensitive interior (and a really bad poet!)
• Harmony  from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" - went from whiny spoiled human to whiny spoiled vampire and was a hoot to watch
• "Naughty Willow" - Willow wasn't usually a vampire, but in the "Buffy" episode "Doppelgangland," a vampire version of Willow from an alternate reality comes to Sunnydale.
  
• Godric - I wish he'd had a longer story arc on "True Blood." I want to know more about his backstory. I haven't read the books yet - is there more on him in there?
• Angel - Yummy. 'nuff said
• Drusilla from "Buffy" and "Angel"- A good girl gone mad

So, who are your top vampires? Have I forgotten anyone I should have included?

Five Days to Halloween!

Friday Fun: This, Jenn, is the Internet

After the Friday Rant (which was really supposed to be the Thursday Rant, but I forgot to hit "publish") here's your regularly-scheduled Friday Fun.

Here's another clip from one of my favorite shows, The IT Crowd. Jenn, head of IT (even though she knows nothing about computers), has gotten Roy and Moss to write her speech for the company shareholders meeting and the boys decided to have a bit of fun. I wish I could embed it here, but I can't, so here's the link to This, Jenn, is the Internet. Enjoy!

I keep hearing this over and over...

As posted at FlickFilosopher: Question of the day: Is ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ too dangerous for children?: "I wondered in my review of Where the Wild Things Are whether the film wasn’t the beginnings of a shift away from overprotecting children from themselves and the world. After all, it offers a very dark portrait of the most secret workings of a child’s imagination, and it fully embraces of the fact that children are people and that they can be angry, resentful, and bitter." (You can read the rest at the link above)

My answer: As with any movie, I keep saying "You've got to know your child." LilGirl was watching the Lord of the Rings movies when she was three and was fine with those (and proceeded to explain the Balrog to her uncles one day). She also liked Hellboy, but when we watched Hellboy II (on video), she excused herself about 15 minutes in because "It's creeping me out." I have to admit I was a little surprised by that reaction, but I noted it. Besides the cost, we tend not to go to many movies in the theater for exactly that reason. At home, she knows if anything in the movie is too scary we can talk through those parts, or she is free to go to another room and find something else to do (this happens if the movie just bores her, too).

If we do see something in the theater, it's generally something we know is pretty innocuous, or something we have familiarized ourselves with enough to attempt to prepare her for "the worst." We tried to do that for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, but a classmate had already revealed the Big Bad Moment to LilGirl, so when we mentioned it she waved it away with "Oh, I already know about that." Occasionally there will be something we didn't know about or that she reacts to unexpectedly, but the key is to keep an eye on her reactions throughout the movie. Most of the time, just an arm around her shoulder is enough. Once or twice, a well-timed "bathroom break" was a good idea.

Obviously, this is just my experience of what works with my kid. Every kid is different. You have to think about YOUR kid, not kids in general, when choosing a movie to see. This is Basic Parenting 101, folks, which is part of why the whole "Is it too scary for children?" thing bugs me.

All this said, I'm still on the fence about Where The Wild Things Are. I don't think it will be too scary for her. I have heard it may be a bit depressing, and that worries me. Scared is one thing, brokenhearted is another. But I think my biggest hang-up may not be about LilGirl's reaction at all. It's about mine, which I've blogged about before.

Photo by  http://www.flickr.com/photos/uaeincredible/ / CC BY 2.0

You won't hear me say this often, but...

I can't wait until Monday!!!

Actually, I guess I do say it fairly often in reference to The Big Bang Theory...but especially this week.

Signed, Geeky McGeekerson  ;)

Wednesday Pic: Just Keep Swimming

Taken at the Henry Doorly Zoo

Where the Wild Things Might Be

I don't know how soon I'll get to the theater to see Where the Wild Things Are but I'm half holding my breath. It's one of my favorite books and I soooo want the movie to be good, but there's always that fear that the filmmaker's vision is nothing like your own.

I came across an article in the LA Times which talks about how different from other children's books Where the Wild Things Are was when it came out. I figure I probably first encountered the book 12-15 years after it was published, at which point it seemed (to me) to have always existed, to always have been accepted, and I was initially surprised now to hear that it was considered controversial when first published.

I think director Spike Jonze "gets" the book, at least, and seems to come at it from a similar childhood view of it. In the LA Times article, he says

"How crazy is it that he invented those monsters?" Jonze asks. "Those creatures seem like they always existed. They seem like they were always there."

and

"As a kid, you gravitate to things that feel true. I didn't know what it was about, but I knew what it meant."

Exactly.
 

I hope against hope the movie will be good, that I won't sit there seething that the filmmakers "ruined" the book. Sadly, the best I'm even hoping for is a solid "Eh, it was okay." I'm not even remotely expecting that my reaction will be "OMG that was sooo good!" (That would be a nice surprise, though. Here's crossing fingers, toes, eyes and anything else I can.)

Maurice Sendak rewrote the rules with 'Wild Things' -- latimes.com (Posted using ShareThis)

Wednesday Pic: Happy Fall!

In case you were curious about The Rules

Finally! ReadWriteWeb has clarified The Rules of social media (please note "The Rules" (with caps) should be spoken in a loud booming voice).



Are you ready?



Are you sure?




Okay, here they are...

"Blogging? You should be posting twice a day. No, actually that's too often; it abuses people's attention. Wait, actually that's not often enough; other people will eat your lunch. Actually, blogging's dead, so move to Twitter, where you absolutely must follow everyone who follows you, unless you absolutely mustn't, so don't, unless you do. And when they do follow you, sending them an automatic direct message will either lift you into the Twitter elite or damn you to eternal ridicule. Possibly both."

If you're still confused, here are Chris Brogan's rules (which ReadWriteWeb was nice enough to remind me of).

Okay, everybody clear now? :)

Banned Books Week: Map of banned books

View Book Bans and Challenges, 2007-2009 in a larger map

Friday (Not So) Fun: 100 Banned Books

Banned Books Week: Author speaks out, Part 2

She has some very good points, especially near the end. I like the football analogy.



via Kids' Right to Read Project

Banned Books Week: *BLEEP*

Banned Books Week: Author speaks out

via Kids' Right to Read Project

Banned Books Week: Puppet Time!

Banned Books Week: The List

Each year, ALA publishes a list of books challenged or banned in the past year:

"The challenges documented in this list are not brought by people merely expressing a point of view; rather, they represent requests to remove materials from schools or libraries, thus restricting access to them by others. Even when the eventual outcome allows the book to stay on the library shelves and even when the person is a lone protester, the censorship attempt is real. Someone has tried to restrict another person’s ability to choose. Challenges are as important to document as actual bannings, in which a book is removed from the shelves of a library or bookstore or from the curriculum at a school. Attempts to censor can lead to voluntary restriction of expression by those who seek to avoid controversy; in these cases, material may not be published at all or may not be purchased by a bookstore, library, or school district."

See the list of books here

Banned Books Week: Manifesto

Get a PDF of the poster here

Friday Fun: Dragon*Con Thriller

I know Dragon*Con was weeks ago, but here's a fun video of costumed con-goers doing the Thriller dance. The video is a bit long, but there are a few costumes which make it worth watching the whole thing - like the alien from Alien (who knew it could dance?), Westley & Buttercup, a disco-ball stormtrooper, and zombie Quidditch players.

An iTricorder?

Some (more) interesting stats

A bit of a compaion to my earlier post about social media.



(via Mashable)

Arrrrrr, Matey! It's the Shelf o' Pirates!

This year, I be givin' ye landlubbers a peek at me piratey interior decoratin' - I may decerate fer Halloween and Christmas fer a few short weeks, but I decerate fer Talk Like a Pirate Day year 'round with my Shelf o' Pirates. I know not where that scurvy Jedi wandered in from, but I see he gave that lass Elizabeth Swan a might purty lightsaber - now she can cut down e'en more scalawags!

Friday Fun: Too Much Butter

Finally (I've been such a bag BAD, bad! blogger this week), today's Friday Fun, from one of my favorite shows:

Wednesday Pic: Signs, signs...

1880 Train 08, originally uploaded by mdesive.

Musings on my clutter

Blogger's Blog of Note today is Ramblings of the Bearded One. In skimming through his posts, I came across one about how he makes notes in the margins of his Sudoku books. This sounds like my process for most of my notebooks and other scraps of paper [bold type is mine]:

Before I can throw an old Sudoku book away, it has to be meticulously gone through and any important information needs to be transferred to a different scrap of paper, to be put in a pile, lost, briefly refound and placed in another important pile, lost again, then rediscovered 2 years later when it is no longer relevant.

My piles of paper are legendary. But I am getting better. Really! Truly! I'm trying to implement GTD in my life, but like anything else, I can't just follow the directions, I have to add my own twist, so it doesn't quite work out the way it's supposed to.

Still, even partial GTD has helped me vastly. By simply asking myself "What's the next action?" I've gotten past the overwhelm of dealing with my clutter. I can now use my garage, family room, and home office all at the same time. Not one is full of the boxes and clutter from all the other rooms, which is how it used to be. I've spent years shuffling boxes from one of those areas to another, depending on which area needed to be used at the time.

I never remember to take "before" pictures,
but here's a "before before" picture ;)

The most improvement still needs to come in the garage, but I keep whittling away at the stuff out there. For now, I'm happy I can get my car in. Someday, we'll be able to get both vehicles in! (It's great to have lofty goals, isn't it?)

It's 9:00 on 9/9/09

Just thought you'd like to know.

Motivation

I came across this today in GTD Times. Great advice about a way to keep yourself focused on your goals: send yourself reminders of what your goal is. (I definitely will be implementing this.)

Send a letter to yourself! Mothercraft Tip (Life Coach Carley Knobloch) from Carley Knobloch on Vimeo.

Friday fun: Medieval tech support

Once upon a time, books were "new media" and this might be how some encountered them:

Wednesday Pic: Butterfly

DSC_0287, originally uploaded by mdesive.

September is Library Card Sign-up Month!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Now that school is in full swing, there's one more supply you need to get your kid (or yourself if you don't already have one): A Library Card! [Insert heavenly music and golden, glowing card here! Sorry, didn't have any, you'll have to supply your own]

I remember getting my card on a school trip to the library (our school was small enough that we didn't have a proper library, so every few weeks, we took a trip to the public library). I remember having that feeling I still get every time I go to the library:

OMG SO MANY BOOKS CAN I TAKE THEM ALL HOME????

If you aren't convinced you need a library card...

52 Ways to Use Your Library Card
by the American Library Association

1. Get to know your librarian, the ultimate search engine @ your library.
2. Update your MySpace Facebook page. [my strikethrough - MySpace = bleh]
3. Research new job opportunities.
4. Find a list of childcare centers in your area.
5. Learn about local candidates for office.
6. Pick up voter registration information.
7. Check out your favorite graphic novel.
8. Pick up a DVD.
9. Get wireless access.
10. Participate in a community forum.
11. Find out how to navigate the Internet.
12. Prepare your resume.
13. Get new ideas for redecorating your house.
14. Get a list of community organizations.
15. Attend a lecture or workshop.
16. Hear a local author reading his/her latest novel.
17. Join a book discussion group.
18. Attend preschool story hour with your child.
19. Get homework help.
20. Look up all kinds of health information.
21. Research the purchase of a new car.
22. Trek to another planet in a Sci-Fi novel.
23. Call the reference desk if you have a question.
24. Research your term paper.
25. Learn about the history or your city or town.
26. Decide which computer to buy using a consumer guide.
27. Check your stock portfolio.
28. Borrow or download an audiobook for your next road trip or commute.
29. Use the library’s resources to start a small business.
30. See a new art exhibit.
31. Volunteer as a literacy tutor.
32. Find a new recipe.
33. Ask for a recommended reading list for your kids.
34. Make photocopies.
35. Get a book from interlibrary loan.
36. Enroll your child in a summer reading program.
37. Take a computer class.
38. Hear a poetry reading.
39. Take out the latest fashion magazine.
40. Enjoy a concert.
41. Trace your family tree.
42. Check out a special collection of rare books.
43. Check out a legal question or issue.
44. Find out how to file a consumer complaint.
45. Learn about home improvement.
46. Borrow some sheet music.
47. Learn how to use a database or computerized catalog.
48. Find the latest romance paperback.
49. Pick up tax forms.
50. Connect with other people in the community.
51. Find a quiet spot, curl up with a book and enjoy.
52. Read a newspaper from another country.