Operation Pink Herring

So much to say

My mom asked me a few weeks ago if I'd lost interest in my blog. The short answer is, no! I haven't! Not at all! 

The longer answer is... long. And I don't know if it matters. For one thing, I don't really have time to write at work any more, which is where I previously did most (all) of my blogging. "I just don't have time" isn't really a valid excuse, though, because I have plenty of time after work. I just have a hard time convincing myself to start up the computer at home when there's laundry to be done and a Tivo cache that isn't going to watch itself. I've long been a believer in guilt-free blogging, so I try very hard not to let myself feel bad about letting the space between posts slip from days to weeks. But I miss it. And the longer I go, the more overwhelmed I feel when I do get the urge to write something. Where to start, when a month has gone by? I don't delude myself into thinking that anyone is really dying to know what they've been missing (hint: not much), I just sort of lose my place and then wander away to eat another of the cookies I made this weekend. They're pretty goddamn delicious, if I do say so myself.

Anyway! The point is, I haven't lost interest. It's just the ebb and flow of internet life, with an extra side of ebb. To try to snap myself out of it, I'm going to let go of my perfectionist tendencies, which dictate that things I write should ideally have a beginning, middle, and end, and you know, make sense. Poppycock, right? Being less hard on myself has only been a goal of mine for the past two decades, so I'm sure it will be no problem at all.

The point of that point is, I do miss you interent.

Hey, want to see a picture I took?

The end.

See, this is working better already.

Technical difficulties

For those of you reading in a feed reader (does anyone NOT read in a feed reader?  I can't remember how I lived before I discovered Google Reader), there may be two versions of my last post.  That's because Typepad is currently battling out Twitter to see who can be the most annoying bit of technology.  Twitter's got deleted tweets and huge lags in posting updates.  Typepad has the worst spellchecker in the universe (right now it's helpfully suggesting that I change "Typepad" to "Typeset" or "Typeface".  Other words it doesn't recognize: "internet," "Google," "spellcheck") and a fondness for deleting posts. 

When I went to spellcheck that post last night, Typepad deleted it.  I didn't feel like re-writing it so I just re-posted the picture and wrote two sentences, and honestly, it's probaly better that way.  I was too busy losing sleep over the ghosts haunting my house, anyway.   

But I opened Google Reader this morning and saw both posts.  It's a Google miracle!  So that's why  you have two posts about my cats' trip to the vet.  ENJOY.  And I think the lesson here is that no one should ever spellcheck anything.  Amen.

Tivo update

A few weeks ago Laurie commented about the fact that my little "In my Tivo" sidebar item was still proclaiming that I had an "impossible backlog" of shows to watch.  Yeah, that's a lie.  So I figured it might be time for an In my Tivo update.

For the time being (until all the writers catch up and start putting new shows back on NOW PLEASE), this is our paltry TV lineup:

Monday: One Tree Hill (I'm not even ashamed to admit that I CANNOT GET ENOUGH OF MAH PRIMETIME SOAPS); New Amsterdam (Joel likes it, I love the concept but find the show sort of meh)

Tuesday: NCIS (I still don't understand how the whole world thinks CSI is soooo awesome and this show gets ignored!)

Wednesday: Girlicious.  Enough said.

Thursday: Lost (although we are currently three episodes behind, because I forgot to record it the week that Joel was away on Spring break, and uh... watching it on the internet is hard when you have dial up.  Halp!); Smallville (for the record, I am so over Lana that I almost can't watch this anymore, and if the CW cancels Supernatural (LOVE) and keeps Smallville for a billionth season...well, I am going to be pissed.  And I know the CW doesn't want that.  RIGHT?)

Friday: BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA.

I feel that this last item deserves a whole entry of its own, because OMG.  Did you know that BSG is like, the best show ever?   I can't believe I just typed that either, but there it is.  I am officially and completely converted.  I still find "frack" annoying, but I'm willing to look past it because OMG STARBUCK IS BACK.   Or is she really a Cylon?   THE SUSPENSE.

And while we're on the topic of sidebar items, maybe you've noticed that I now have a big spankin' BlogHer Ads section.  I'm not really expecting to make any money off this here blog, but I figured that if someone is willing to pay me any amount for doing something I'm already doing for free... well, why not give it a try?  So, if you're philosophically and morally opposed to blog advertising... just pretend that's not there.  I switched to a three-column design to accommodate the adspace without pushing the rest of my sidebar down too far, but I've already gotten one complaint (from Joel) that the new format is "too skinny".   I am assuming that, like me, most of you use a feed reader and probably don't even notice when a blog's design changes.  But let me know what you think of the format or if you  have any suggestions.  I am wondering if any of you more savvy web people know if it's possible to modify the template so that there's not so much unused space on both sides of the page -- and if so, can you tell me how?    Do you just not care at all, since you never leave your feed reader (again, like me)?  Speak now or forever hold your peace.

(Except, not really, because forever = until whenever I next change the template)

glitch

Stephanie alerted me this morning that this site was showing 43 new posts in her reader, all posted supposedly at 11 last night.  I have no idea what is going on with that, but my own ready is showing 41 "new" posts from OPH, which are an assortment of really old posts from last year.   I'm trying to figure out what's going on.  I think it must be a typepad error, because I am also showing an impossible number of updates from other sites in Google Reader.

So just ignore them, I guess?  Mark All As Read, and carry on?

Na-Blo-Po-HELLZ NO

Well, I guess anyone who was wondering has by now gathered that I am, in fact, not participating in National Blog Posting Month.  Aka, NaBloPoMo.  Aka, NOT Na-Po-Bla-Mo, which is how I have been saying it in my head for the past year. 

Oops.

My schedule this past month was insane and unfortunately, my little piece of the blogosphere has born the brunt of my neglect.  But it's not the only thing that's been forgotten.  May I present to you: My laundry pile.

October was insane.  Two trips to Chicago, one trip to Connecticut, one wedding weekend, one trip to San Francisco, two trips to Occoquan, VA to watch Joel's team race, and one emotionally draining family event that I am still building up the stamina to write about later, it's over.

Phew. 

November is going to be busy, too, but I am determined not to let that stop me from posting every day every other day at least twice a week whenever I can.

Starting today!  I know you're excited.

So, Daylight Savings Day.  It's my least favorite day of the year.  I love summer, I love daylight and I hate when it gets dark at 5pm.  I was going to wear all black yesterday in mourning of my beloved daylight, but... then I forgot.  Instead, Joel and I went hiking in Gunpowder State park.

It was purty.  And because I FINALLY got to see some freakin' foliage, I temporarily forgave The Worst Day of The Year.

On the way home we stopped by the grocery store for a few essentials, you know, carrots, celery, eggs, and cream cheese (we eat some weird shit) (and I've been trying to eat less meat, hence all the veggies).  We got home, unloaded the groceries, took showers, made dinner and watched some TV.  I was totally ready for bed.  I looked at the VCR and the timer said it was 7:30pm.

Well, I thought, at least that's one good thing about Daylight Savings: it's the first time I can remember that we've eaten dinner before 8pm!  We always mean to eat earlier, and then stuff happens and whoops!  It's 10pm and the pizza isn't done baking.   

I was in the middle of patting myself on the back when Joel told me he hadn't changed the VCR clock.  So it was actually 6:30pm.

I was in bed by 10 and asleep by 10:30.  I woke up this morning feeling rested.  It was bizarre.  I guess turning back the clocks isn't 100% bad.  But I still think it's 99% suckitude and I just might cry tomorrow when I walk out of my underground office at 5pm and find myself in total darkness. 

Because I like anything that has Mofo in the title

Since all the cool kids are doing it, I'm going to do it too: jump on the International De-Lurking Day Bandwagon.  Lately the traffic here has jumped quite a bit, and I would love to know who's out there.  So get into the holiday spirit and leave a comment.

In general, I have mixed feelings about the supposed etiquette of blog-commenting.  Some people believe that you should leave a comment on every single blog you read, just so the author knows that you were there, and that you read what they had to say.  Some people make it a habit to respond to every single comment they receive on their blogs, to let their readers know that they appreciated their comment.

Personally, I am just too lazy to do either of these things.  I certainly do not comment on every blog I read.  Sometimes I just have nothing to add (especially on the blogs that get millions of comments); I don't necessarily feel that adding another "Good luck!" or "Funny story!" would add anything to the inter web world.  I know that some people just like to see a greater number of comments, but if I don't have something at least moderately meaningful to say, I generally keep my mouth shut.  Of course, it varies depending on the relationship I have with the other blogger.   I'm much more likely to leave a comment on a post if the other writer is one of my internet BFFs.  Some of this is my social anxiety, which does bridge over into the interweb.   I don't want to leave a comment and have the other person think "who the hell is this person?" 

I also tend to respond to comments only if I actually have something to say.  I know that some people make a point to respond to every comment, visit the commenter's blog and leave a comment in return.  I can see the reason behind that, and I think it's great... but I don't do it myself.   I do respond to comments if they asked a question, made me laugh, or if I have something to actually say back.  But I don't do the "thanks for your comment" email.  I almost always visit the commenter's blog, if they have one, because I love to see who it is that's reading here (hence, the delurking post), but I don't always leave a comment because of the reasons in the paragraph above.   I certainly do read every single comment, and I appreciate all of them.  It's great to know who's actually out there!

I'd love to know what the rest of you do.  Do you think I'm a big, rude douchebag for not responding to each and every comment you leave?  Do you comment on every blog you read?  Do you think the whole etiquette of commenting is kind of silly?

Happy Delurking Day to all, and to all a good night morning!