HOLY SHIT!

From the Holy See of Blogging comes everything you need to know about the nuts-and-bolts of how to blog, and then some.

FIND OUT:

1) Why he's proud to be on blogspot: "The point I was trying to make... I am proud of being on Blogspot mostly because I am showing the world (that exceedingly small slice of it that actually reads my shit anymore) that it is not necessary to use one of those ready-made templates they give you. Well no, actually you do use one -- pick something dead simple -- and then you hack the crap outta that sucker. That's what I did, yes. On the aforementioned Mystic Bourgeoisie. You bet. I made it so complicated that it took me a month to figure out how to post into it. But you pick these things up. Trust me."

2) Where you can find his Windows-Friendly Blog-Tool Recap at Mandarin: "One thing I should mention is that I switched to the Mac a couple years ago, I guess it was (christ, time flies, does it not?), and as a result, had to rebuild my entire blogging (a.k.a. writing) kit -- my heap big mojo-gris-gris shaman spirit bag o' software tricks, that is to say. (What do they call those damn things? And why does Stephen King have it in for adverbs? He does, if you didn't know that, particularly.) Anyway, yes, I wrote something for Meg (a.k.a. Michelle, a.k.a. Mandarin Design) about the tools I used to use when I was working on a Windows box. So if you still are, I already wrote that one -- employing far fewer digressions, I hasten to add -- and it is here."

3) More Tools (some Mac) & How To Use Them for Blogging, including Amazon, Google, BBEdit, SnapZ ProX, Transmit, and MORE...

GO READ THIS POST for an insider's gaggle of blogging tips and tools.

People should be paying the guy for this stuff as a downloadable amazon short or something, but look, see, he keeps giving and giving. Something about Karma I bet... ;-)

Wouldn't hurt to drop some change in his paypal either.

.....

Phil's 12 Comments & My 12 Sentences

Digital magpie Phil Ringnalda sums up the year with 12 precious comments from readers here.

He riffed off of this meme, which requests that you sum up your year in 12 cut-and-paste sentences from your posts.

And I break with the tradition of ignoring memes here:

January (chow chow chow chow chow)
-->1/8: I have such a bad sinus headache that I'm considering macing myself.

February
-->2/16: In attempting to decode the secret language of the Red-State-Right (Political Twister, anyone?) I've noticed that the died-in-the-wool redneck now uses the words "liberal" and "nigger" interchangeably--they are at opposite ends of the snuff-chewing political correctness meter.

March
-->3/8: Anil, that was a dumbass statement.

April
-->4/15: We turn data into infomercials.

May
-->5/18: We were a funny lot. Now we're just a lot.

June
-->6/18: When you Africanize anything that's what you get--swarming, crazy, dangerous killers who like to fuck with the Europeans.

July
-->7/5: As any seasoned wanabee-smoker/ex-smoker knows, you never fail to justify the potential benefits of a future puff.

August
-->8/9: If you're going to live in the south, and if you think you and your fiance might one day start a family, then do not get married August 7-14 because if you DO one day have a kid, you will learn that back-to-school eve (preceeded by back-to-school supplies rush) will coincide with your anniversary every year, which means you really can't tear yourself away from your child to have a couples' reunion on your anniversary night.

September
-->9/30: We're representin' for who can and who can't send, and we want you to know that we think you are pretty cool and your mom is pretty neat and your dad is too, in fact your whole family is a lot more interesting than you'd imagine at your age--except what about those hamsters kid, you really have to keep a lid on that Coco because she's turning your mom grayer than she was with all this escaping and pooping under the Kitchen stove.

October
-->10/24: Google can wire a nation, and they can't give us new blogger templates for 300-something DAYS?

November
-->11/11: Talk to the hand--got no time to hate you.

December
-->12/6: Dear Microsoft: We could use some innovation on the destkop apps front.

We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy mofo!

Get OFF that schedule!

What's up with this taking time off, bloggers--your hours are already becoming more like corporate america's hours and less like bloggers' hours.

Yes I know this is the holiday, some linkedin folks are even trying to start a movement about somesuch baloney like doing something to your settings as not to interrupt people during their holiday family time.

Clue you in (that's my phrase of the evening) and hello, turn off the computer how about. Why are you going to go messing with your settings. Just disappear for a few days. You aren't that important. No one will be calling the FBI away from Aruba to look for you, okay? Get over yourself.

We used to could rely on bloggers to be posting their asses off over the weekend because they were finally free from their 9-9 realworld ho-hum jobs and finally on the weekend they could rip their pants off and blog free from prying eyes for 48 glorious weekend hours!

Now as more bloggers work in blogspace or get caught up in the RSS feeding schedule of those who do, it's getting to be slim pickins on the weekends, and not so great late at night either. And where are all our overseas friends--don't fall for this bankers' hours blogging bullshit that the Big Blog Men of America think they've earned.

RSS never sleeps.

...

jotspot makes me happy

i like jotspot. jotspot makes me happy.

i want a $49/month account.

so i can invite everyone i know to come and make things with me.

first we start a snowball fight.

then an avalanch.

yodalaaaheeehooooo!

i don't keep track of who's saying stupid things anymore

Used to be I'd get something in my craw based on what someone else wrote and I'd jump right to my task of showing them how many 52 flavors of wrong they were.

I'm older now.

The difference is I can't remember who says what anymore.

But recently I read some big so-and-so talking about how lame Skype is because it can't scale to support the enterprise.

Well clue you in mr. i forget who you are, THAT'S THE POINT. It's all about what Doc said recently and I can't find that either, but he was talking about how consumers are mislabeled as such and what if the tools and bandwidth exist to make every consumer ALSO a producer, which is not only the promise of the Net, but the way I've been living from the same king size bed for a few years now, and suddenly we many of us are becoming -- in our uninstalled-from-corporate-enterprises mode -- as much producers as consumers in our SOHOs and THAT's where Skype matters to me, because I'm talking globally to Really Smart People for free and we've already swapped some strategies and documents and just wait for what else.

Call me sometime. We'll talk.

In the meantime, Mr. Skype Hater, whoever you were that I can't remember, you don't even get it. And I don't know what So-Big-Enterprise you're working for, but just for the record, Skype works fine in MY enterprise, as long as I turn Cops down while I'm cranking out my deliverables.

People.

...

our babies their babies

Lots of folks weren't around when Gary, Michael, and Tom did a brave thing and chronicled the birth and growth of their babies on blogsprogs. It's the time of the year when the little darlings are celebrating their birthdays. I wish my blog brothers would update their shared-dad-space, maybe use a certain photo sharing service to narrate some photo essays so we can see and hear how the not-so-babyish babies have blossomed.

And a wishlist or three over there wouldn't hurt either, eh fellas? What say you guys bring that joint back to life?

In the mean time, happy birthday season Cameron, Ruairi, and Sawyer.

mini bird flew

WTF disease did I have yesterday anyway? Jenna was sick--I had to pick her up from school. Went to the doc because her throat looked like meatballs with extra sauce. Not strep. Wohoo. Got meds anyway. Came home. All's well til I get the fever starting up, so coold so coold, lay down, owe, owe, oh my body, can't move. can't ouch move oh so cold.

It lasted for four or five hours, then was gone as fast as it came? How the heck did I catch that little number? Glad it's gone. (hope it's gone.)

tweet.

Psssssst... or should I say pttttthhhht....

If you haven't used BubbleShare yet, what are you waiting for? No reg. No woopsy doopsy. Just upload, send, and blogit if you want to (and i want you to). [[Hey, check out the voice on the sample BubbleShare homepage album this week... who could that be? Is it she who lisps? Little miss lispy lisp? mith thethum? You got it.

Okay, for real? I don't lisp. At least not like I do on a headset mic. What am I doing wrong. Do I need one of those "puh" "puh" sound sheild thingys the professionals use? Or perhaps I just need to get my TEETH OUT OF THE WAY.]]

thee ya later.

Add Your Own Caption

think globally, act locally, write both.

"Authority can be an excuse for not thinking." -- Dana Blankenhorn on The Academy vs. Open Source

"There are two sides to every development story." -- Dana Blankenhorn on the new Infill Ordinance in Decatur, GA.

"Why is Microsoft wasting money copying what someone else is doing, when it could be using that money doing what no one else can?" -- Dana Blankenhorn on Corante

Me vs. Burger King - Hold the Pickles, Baby.

I heard from an old business associate today -- someone I hadn't talked to in a year or so -- who dropped me an email to say he'd found me online.

-----Original Message-----
From: My Friend Whose Email Address You Don't Need to Know
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2005 2:37 PM
To: Jeneane Sessum
Subject: Hey there

Did you know that when you Google on Hold the Pickles, Hold the Lettuce, your name comes up first?

I feel honored to know you.

Hope you are doing well --- Rick.

These are the moments that make me proud, PROUD I SAY, to blog, to have ever blogged.

Damn.

The Net is good.

;-)

Jargonless Doc

Doc, you probably missed "C-Suite" then too. That's a more in-crowd way of saying "C-Level." Etymologically speaking, I believe C-Level predates C-Suite, but both emerged in America's large PR and marketing firms in 1999-2000 as a way to "target" those with "decision making power" within "the enterprise."

All part of the service. ;-)

The one thing I'm really not...

Over at AKMA's the discussion about authentic voice has reared it's familiar head. Yours truly is cited for her passionate-if-sometimes-careless blogging style, which I agree describes me sort of kind of, but I attempt to explain more here:

AKMA, If you weren't authentic, you wouldn't still be blogging these many years later. Authenticity can't be inferred in a moment, but over time.

Plus, I've met AKMA, and the AKMA who blogs is very much the AKMA who talks to you and loves his wife and kids and gives sermons from the alter (is that what it's called still--i don't know--it's been a while).

I had the SAME discussion by phone with David Weinberger (HI DAVID!) the summer before last, because David is also a careful writer like AKMA, and David was going through what I thought was a more-careful-than-usual period (he was attending a lot of conferences at the time when I was beating my anti-conference drum) and I wanted to push him to bristle it up some in his writing, and why wasn't he talking about how much he likes the indoors and stuff, well those weren't my exact words, but at that time, David used this very same characterization of the way I write/post/blog, and to be honest it sort of pissed me off, but not until later after I thought about it.

And it pissed me off because David was right: I blog fast, I'm spontaneous... and it felt to me like a synonym for careless but honest... And again, David didn't USE these words, they were basically my interpretation of what he meant by my spontaneous form versus his more tightly-edited form.

Is it academic writing versus poet writing?

Is it business writing versus conversational writing?

I don't think it has anything to do with authenticity. I think it has to do with style.

So I start asking myself--how am I getting this reputation of being a 'spontaneous/careless' blogger? Is this because sometimes I pop off, and sometimes I take some personal/professional risks in saying things a certain way to whoever I think should hear it? or is t because I write right here in the blogger window and I rarely have time to spellcheck or edit before I post? Because I swear? And would I care if David and AKMA both said "YES" to these questions?

Or is it the simple fact that I'm so busy doing what I do for a living that if the writing I do in my blog were to become the same level of "careful" client writing I have to do OUT THERE (to earn a living), that I WOULDN'T TAKE THE TIME TO BLOG AT ALL?

Or is it all of that. Probably. And more.

For the record, I used to believe in getting personal in this space. You haven't seen me say that in a long time. Today, I don't ADVOCATE writing personal stuff on your blog. I DO advocate going to that place of memory or pain or joy or whatever moves you (like, actually changes the expression on your real-world human face), and writing FROM that place. Not necessarily about it. Those are two different things. The distinction is important, especially as the blogworld has transformed from a community of kin to a world of strangers, some of whom will be glad to meet you, some of whom will be out to get you.

okay then.

THIS post was the edited version of the comment I left at AKMAs. That's pretty much how I work in these here blogs. Write it, publish it, fix it, publish it, write it, write it, write it, and so on. I'm basically talking to you in words. I'm not writing about stuff. At least most of the time.

Oh who the hell knows.

LOVE YA AKMA AND DAVID AND SHELLEY AND FRANK AND ALL OF THE REST OF THE ROMPER ROOM GANG!! :-)

me

Bye Gil.

Well, we said goodbye to Gil the Beta today. The family stood around the toilet--even Bando came up to the bathroom for the ceremony. The unmistakable kerplunk. Then the flush, swirl, and oooo-don't-let-him-float-back-into-the-bowl moment.

she keeps asking about the body vs the soul and where is his skin and where is the real Gil and where is Diva and where is...(insert the name of every other person/thing she knows is dead here, including Martin Luther King, Jr.)

a mother's gift isn't exactly changing the subject, but diverting the conversation toward an area of the topic that's just a bit right from where it might be headed. we learn this because our children like to talk about Very Deep Things just when they are about to go to sleep, putting mom in a precarious position--either tell a happy lie so everyone goes night-night with dreams of faries and ponies; tell the truth and expect to be up 2 more hours clearing up the aftermath; DIVERT THE CONVERSATION down a parallel path so your child doesn't know you're not talking about what they'd like to be talking about so that everyone can lose sleep.

Tonight i used the many colors of coral in the sea to steer us away from the 'where is Gil's skin and where is Diva and when are we going to bury her ashes' discussion at 10:30 p.m on a school night.

Go me.

...

Halley Tribute Bubble

Be sure to click the audio!

Enjoy, Halley!

(hmmm, who's up next...) ;-)

Jenna's Dead Fish

Albert won't mind being followed by a dead beta. Much.

Last night George called me on the cell to let me know that Gil, our beloved Beta Fish, oh hell, I mean one of Jenna's live-pet menagerie, was looking pretty limp. In fact, not good at all.

Gil lives on Jenna's dresser in a divided (tank? beta triangular holder? whatever) with another beta named Speedy. Gil came first. Speedy second. Jenna has had Gil for over a year, longer than the dreaded hamsters but not as long as Bando our almost-six-year-old dog.

I don't think a year is very old in beta terms, but I don't know how old he was when we got him at the pet store, and it's actually pretty old according to The Sessum Household pet life expectancy these days, considering the dozen hamsters who were eaten by their mother, and the one really nasty hamster who, err, ran away.

Once we got into the house last night, I told Jenna we'd better go see Gil, that he wasn't doing so well--he was sick. She cried as we separated him out of the divided tank into a smaller cup so he wouldn't have to work so hard to eat, or, um, move actually, and because That Internet said to separate a sick fish from sharing water with any other fish, lest they catch the bird flu or fish flu or something.

I suggested as gently as a mother can that Gil looked pretty close to being gone and that maybe we should send him back to the ocean, down the toilet, set him free like Nemo on that current of intercoastal water fun, to which Jenna replied, "MOM, THAT WOULD NOT BE NICE--HE IS ALIVE AND YOU CAN'T JUST GIVE UP ON HIM!" After which I felt a little bit crummy, but I'm telling you the fish was pretty much dead.

Jenna talked to that sad limp fish in that little cup for a good while. She said a prayer before she fell asleep that God would take care of Gil and make him better, and then I sort of set the stage for the Good Lord by mentioning that EVEN IF Gil didn't get better, he sure had a good life on her dresser, with all the beta food he ever needed, and with all of those colorful stones, and a friend to stare at through plexigass in Speedy, and what more could a beta want.

And then she prayed, through tears, that, well, if by some chance Gil didn't make it, she might find another good pet, not to REPLACE Gil or anything (she said this), because he will always be in her heart (she said this), but to let her love another pet. To which I said, Jenna if you're talking about another dog you can forget it, but sure we can talk about another fish, and she said well that was a good thing at least until she's 9 and can get a puppy (which is something she got in her head one day no matter how many times I say where did you get that idea) and we both thanked God for all the good health in the rest of the family, except for poor Gil, amen, and she fell asleep.

She comes home in an hour and a half.

Gil's dead at the bottom of his cup.

...

Albert Lai, The Man Behind (err... next to) the Bubble

The thing you've heard me talk about in terms of client work around here lately is the blog editing & strategy work I'm doing with BubbleShare. The thing you haven't heard me talk about is my 'boss' there, the man behind the bubble (or next to it as the case may be), Albert Lai. That's because Albert keeps everyone so busy with 110 ideas per hour that I don't have the time to actually tell you about him, which is why I make him blog. To find out more, check out this interview Albert did with One Degree, where Albert talks about Canada, BubbleShare, Skype, marketing, and lessons learned.

One of my favorite parts is where Ken Shafer says, "BubbleShare rocks. Really. It rocks." But that's just me. ;-)

tech tv on commandN

Just got hipped to commandN, tech tv/audio/blogging/bloggy thing from our friends Up North, whereby they give all the tech news that's fit to freeze to death talking about, this weeek with Amber Mac and Mike Lazazzera.

Thanks for the news guys, now get someplace warm. Like inside!

sanquentin

sanquentin04.JPG Originally uploaded by dsearls.

Read The Good Doctor on Arnold and Accountability.

...

And from Sir Shakespierce (I knighted him today), A Word About Kwanza...

If you have questions about your faith or your Koofi, please consult Sir Shakespierce, who again crafts a classic:

worst thing you could do to a racist is go to his church, stand next to his daughter, sing the songs better, know the word better, and exclusively talk about america as if its your home and has been for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years longer than him.

watch him smile when you talk about africa, cuz thats where he wants you.

keep your koofi.

pass the turkey.

read the bible.

f old santa

and the kwanza

and the reign deer

and the pooh bear.

and the sleigh bells

and the dead trees.

get on your knees

thank the savior

wrap your presents

say your dumb prayers.

America looks more and more like that picture.

From Bicycle Mark's Communique:

The last phone call they make will be to rich Austrian-American who a few years ago decided he should be governor and make such decisions about whether people should live or die. Apparently he can be trusted to make the right decisions. He spent a few days reading the case, and he’s now qualified to decide if the case of a prisoner on death row was fair or not. Even though everywhere there is evidence that the cases are anything but fair and properly carried out. Case after case have appeared where lawyers and judges and trials were botched and flawed, and yet they keep killing people anyway, believing they’ve carried out justice.

Americans know that no one can read hearts, except for God and the Republican Party.

it's good writing night!

From The Known Universe:

My friend Stephen always had plenty of art supplies around his apartment, but when the doctors told him that he only had a year to live, he went all-out and stocked up in defiance. In classic Sprouse style, he didn’t simply buy a bunch of small canvasses to dabble on, but instead bought huge, six-foot-tall pre-stretched monsters. He was going to paint, and he was going to paint BIG. Sadly, he never got to finish them, and left behind a large stack of stark, white panels.

I’d been Stephen’s friend and assistant for roughly fifteen years, and was helping his family sort out his belongings after his death, when his mother offered the canvasses to me. She knew I liked to paint, and thought I might be able to put them to good use. All I had to do was get them out of the apartment, and they were mine....

Remember, you too can go to new blogs and read them. It's the strange and beautiful thing about life outside the aggregator!

unhook your aggregators...

and go looking for some fabulous new-to-you voices. Like Zulieka:

Saturday afternoons I would pretend I had a stomachache and take a book with me into the bathroom and lock the door hoping my mother would give up on making me practice another four hours. Sometimes I would lay down on the bath mat and take a nap.

I loved music naturally, but hated so much being forced to play, and the long-fingered ears of my mother reaching into me from beyond the kitchen to tell me when I was out of tune or playing too slowly--she really was stupid in so many ways, not understanding that a student plays more and more slowly as they listen more conscientiously. Non-musicians do not realize that it takes much more concentration and effort to play slowly than it does to mechanically rip through notes.

My teachers felt sorry for me. But I wish that even one of them had had the courage to tell my mother to quit pushing.

I wanted to play beautifully for myself, but I wanted to play badly for her, to disappoint her, and to make her angry. I wanted to practice for myself in freedom from her constant criticism, with her in a different country, or dead.

Hey, I resemble that market!

So they've canned Mr. Six Flags, which will ultimately peeve my kid off, along with her swim friends, who delight in dancing like the old guy for prizes and money at summer pool parties.

BUT HEY, look on the bright side, that must mean they're looking for someone or something to replace him... HMMM... something to appeal to "mothers with young children..." HMMMM...

NANNY 911 GOES TO SIX FLAGS!

It's an episode in which little billy humps a clown's leg while sweet sally mae sets the funhouse on fire, and tommy hurls a ninja star from a moving roller coaster, scarring the ferris wheel operator for life.

Following Desperate Housewives...

Film at 11.

Frank's Paynting Again!

The "How do you blog" series is getting started. Honored to be asked to say how I blog, in a few different ways...

Two non-mentions by MSM that piss me off.

The mainstream press continues to rewrite our history with two non-mentions of important contributors to big deals today.

First, Adam Curry gets Dave Winer's RSS software credit in Business Week. Now Dave and I have had our moments, hours, days, years, etc., but what kind of nutjob wouldn't give Dave the nod over Adam on the tech side of podcasting? That's just bad reporting and I'd have to think some kind of bias.

Second Blogads and Henry Copeland are omitted from the NYT article on MSNBC's big blogad buy (that thingy you see on the sidebar; thanks Henry!). It's easy to forget now that advertising on blogs is a legit advertising strategy for BigBiz, and a sweet spot for BigBloggers looking to gang up, that Henry was there when it wasn't. And he takes care of the little guys too. Don't forget that.

So rewrite your versions of these stories at home with me, kay kids?

How Does Frank Blog?

Oh wait, it's going to be all about how WE blog. Stay tuned to Frank's place for an upcoming post entitled, How Do You Blog?

I contributed, but will I make the cut? Only Frank's hairdresser knows for sure...

Meg at Mandarin brought the question to life with this cool grafik.

She also gives a hint at how I answered the question--GREAT MINDS, BABY!

Final party pictures

Well, in addition to KC & The Sunshine Band, we also saw Martha Wash, one of the weather girls, who put out the favorite hit of my college days, it's raining men. Her voice is still awesome. I wish she brought a band rather than track singing, but hey. She's Martha Wash. She's still standing. In my book she can sing however the hell she wants.

There was also a very cool but odd fashion show of very very TALL large invididuals dressed in rather odd funky fashions. I snapped some of the runway models for Frank.

There are also some of George and I as we decide which to send to SXSW for the brochure. Vote if you like. Or don't if you don't like.

Now, I need to recuperate.

More later...

The Anti-Pierce and the Shake Shake Shake Guy

Tony Pierce goes to all these sexy Buzznet parties with 20 somethings dancing on his head and stuff, and then he comes home and writes about them and puts up pictures of old girl friends or half-naked groupies. AND he is so GOOD at it.

I live vicariously through Shakespierce because I don't go to those kind of events in my old age. I'm an old married mom with an old married husband and a kid who talks too much who I love so so so so so so so. So we go to things like the annual XMAS Party and it's like we've died and gone to vegas, and for me, I get pretty excited about the baby sitter and buffet line.

Something changed between 19 and 43. I wish I could pinpoint when.

ha ha ha fricking ha.

So, when we got there, I was thinking in my glass-half-empty sort of way, KC & The Sunshine Band, great. I didn't like them the first time around. How much better have they gotten in 30 years?

But you know what? Old KC got himself some backup talent on stage, a kickass musical director from back in the day, and those folks put on a GREAT show. I mean, they worked their asses off. The horn section, rhythm section, guitarist, percussion, keys, and dancers, and KC working it as hard as he could, they all did an amazing job bringing new life to some, well, let's just say new life.

You want to see them move a little? CLICK HERE.

Of course we got to hear the hits, like shake shake shake... and get down tonight, and heck if i didn't forget KC ever did Babe (Babe, I love you sooo, I want you to know... that I'm gonna miss your love...)

ANYWAY I told George that even with my steady-eddie musical memory, some songs are stuck way way back behind my left lymph node some reason--maybe because they should say back there. Well, THAT's where Babe was. A song I forgot I knew and then instantly remembered where I'd put it.

So before you say, K-Who and the Sun-WHAT? you better lay back and appreciate determination, because KC's 55 now, and he's worked hard to rebuild what he lost and get by in this suckass business, so I'll keep Babe up in my mid-term memory for as long as I need to. For you, KC, and your sunshine band.

Captain Planet XMAS Party...more

Hey, about that XMAS Party, did someone say bison?

Captain Planet Does It Again! XMAS PARTY a Blast.

The sessums don't leave their house much, but once a year we make the trek down to the Tabernacle to be part of Captian Planet's XMAS PARTY, which I've mentioned before here for it's great charity work AND FUN PARTIES!

Last night George took the night off work and we worked it at the XMAS Party. I have some great video and pics of the event, which I'll get posted eventually, but thought you'd be hankering for a taste of one of our favorite parts of the night -- the buffet!

Here's how it all begain. More later. Remember to click the audio button. ;-)

Another old dog, some other old tricks

Ever since our old dog diva died about a year ago, Bando's been lonely. It's a rather obvious thing, isn't it. You spend your whole life with someone -- someone to terrorize, to love, to chew on, to sleep on in the winter -- and then one day you find her curled up, asleep for the last time. I mean, that's how it was for him. And he's not the brightest biscuit in the box, so add that to the mix here and you'll get an idea of his emotional state a year later.

Blogging helps you remember things. Or makes it harder to forget them. I hadn't realized that it was the anniversary of old Diva's death, but I think Bando has. A couple of weeks ago, he started escaping from the yard. By hook or by crook, by digging under the fence or hopping over. These are things he could have been doing for six years. Same house. Same fence. Same ground. Same dog. For some reason though, he's determined now that his yard will not have the boundaries they once had.

Or he's looking for Diva.

He howls still--something he started the week after she died.

It would make sense, wouldn't it, for us to have spent more time with him this last year. To play with him not just at dinner time and in the morning, but more often. I did take him to carpool once. But that's pretty lame.

Partly, it's hard for me to recognize that he's not a young bothersome puppy anymore. That was always his role when Diva was around: Bando, the pain in the ass puppy. But now he's six, and his muzzle's gray, and he's not really so young anymore.

Except that he can jump a four foot fence. And he runs up to meet the kids at the bus stop.

Anyway, I'm writing this post partly to remember Diva, whose absence somehow grows the longer she's not here, and to say to myself it's time to change up how I see our little mutt, who's not so little anymore, and not so young.

Redneck Santa

Welcome to the neighborhood! Our santas are some of the laziest and drunkest in the southeastern united states! Thanks for stopping by!

Hey Atlanta, It's Willy's Time

One of my favorite things to eat out, since gaining my 833 pounds post-quitting-smoking and swearing off fast food, sort of, is a Willy's Super Veggie Burrito. Willy's has the best burritos in town, although the talent it takes to assemble and roll a truly delicious burrito varies by location, with the most talent at the Roswell Road Willy's, if you ask me.

Unfortunately, that's a little far for us on an average school night, so every now and then Jenna and I head over to the Willy's near us to crunch on some chips, cheese, and cilantro. Or one of those honking burritos they roll up into a stove pipe for you.

Of course, watching your burrito get rolled up in 8 megapixel zoomosity kind of, uh, takes the dreaminess out of it...

so as i was saying...

You all know by now that this is my 'group' night, so I'm back from seething and grieving, and sort of tired but mellow but tired but excited. I guess it worked.

Have I mentioned that I need to give a big SHOUT OUT to my ex-BigPR brother in arms, Michael O'Connor Clarke for his clarity of vision and all around big brotherness (it's a weird sibling thing--I'm the big sister and he's the big brother, only possible on the blogs you see) , as well as his incredible hookups and winning personality lately? I mean, when we talk by phone it's like lilting kersplosions of funniness and what ifs and knee slaping, wrapped up in conspiracy theory and good natured surrender. You can't beat that for any given monday.

In fact, the man's a gift to behold and a fit to be tied, whatever that is.

Thanks, bro.

You Be My Client, You Be Blogging

Obviously a lot of what I'm doing this week is getting my head and hands around my new friends at BubbleShare. Somehow I've managed to push (bully? convince? inspire?) both of my CEO blog clients into blogging. Matt Willer at ElimiTaste will have his blog up soon. And Albert Lai at BubbleShare has entered the blogworld in record time at Simply Albert, located on blogspot at least for now.

Both Albert and Matt are incredibly brilliant business men and inspiring leaders within their young, edgy companies. They know their industries, they know their markets, they know they want to be closer to their markets.

I have nothing to teach them in that regard.

What I can teach them is how to fall in love with blogging, and how to make meaning out of what we do here.

What a time to be alive. What a time to be a cat.

So, meet some of the folks at BubbleShare courtesy of Albert's blog and listen to Albert introduce the gang. (Click the little audio button to turn on the sound.)

Brought to you by Bio Protein Bars, our corporate sponsor (HAHA!)

Rocking Chair Study

I'm no Shelley Powers. Okay, we all know this. But still, I have an eye for ordinary things and what about them is a little bit special. I was at Jenna's friends' house and noticed this kid's rocking chair. Had some fun with it.

a geeky little christmas

George is getting me a headset/mic (a REAL one) for the holidays--he told me after I set out in search of one this morning--"Just wait a few days," and I said, "Why?" and defeated at having to blow the surprise, he said, "Cause one's on the way from Amazon," and I said, "I am SOO excited!" because I AM! Isn't that sweet? As much as blogging is a giant marital pain in the ass over the years, he still gets me the one thing a girl can't be without - a skype/podcast ready headset.

mmmm--dreamy! THANK YOU HONEY!

Voic.us Getting Better and Better...

Atlantans, if you haven't been over to Voic.Us yet, you should get over there and start reading, and hook up with Dana Blankenhorn about what you think of the blog engine. Don't be afeared. Just get going on it. I posted a couple of things formerly posted by the artist formerly known as me. Voic.Us has a sweet little backend on it. Give it a spin. And add it to your blogroll.

Atlanta Voic.Us

weee!

free me from menus

I was thinking yesterday as I was doing what I do a lot of - writing in MS Word - that my experience in 'browsing' over the last several years has made me tired of menus. Menus are so 1990s, and yet foundational applications like MS products (MS Word is the one that matters most to me) have changed very little in bringing a more web-like feel to word processing. And should we even call it 'word processing' any more?

Dear Microsoft: We could use some innovation on the destkop apps front.

Now, as I was writing something that required a little extra imagination yesterday, I decided to use a couple of the MS Word language tools that I don't use very often, one being "Thesaurus," and I realized after highlighting the word, that the menu item giving me what I need (essentially synonyms) is buried three levels down, right?

To get there, you select the Tools menu item, then you choose Language, then you scoot out to the right and pick Thesaurus.

I don't know about you, but by then I forget wtf I am doing because - thanks to the web - i have no attention span left.

Then I got to thinking if my 'word processing' tool were web-based, couldn't I just right click on a word and have everything I needed instantly available - synomyms, antonyms, origin, part of speech, pronunciation, spelling variations, related communities, related tags, who else used that word today on the net, common connotations, usage in a book title (via amazon), domain names associated, and so on. You could exclude words -- like articles (the, an, a, etc.) -- you could do lots of things.

Right?

In that way, every WORD (not just every link or every title or every tag) explodes into possibilites with a right click of the mouse button. That would tickle me pink: MS Word meets Google meets Wikipedia meets Friendster meets Amazon meets open source. The Best Part: I'm freed from the old Windows Menu, which I can't stand to drag my hand up to anymore, and my creativity soars exponentially as creative possibilities and storehouse entries of HOW I THINK multiply.

That's kind of what I was thinking about when Doc tackled monocultures and search recently and I responded about intitiveness and how search has to expand now to bring world of possibilities to us more intuitively than before, WAY more intuitively than me needing to frame a question or search phrase and reach to a menu or button to ask for assistance in finding some related stuff.

Okay--I ask, you answer.

That's how it works, right?

If you build it, at least I'll come. ;-)

If it's already built, someone tell me where and how much $.


Anyway,

What you really like

Is when you announce something really cool on your blog, and then your blogging service goes down for the rest of the day. Nice. Really. Thanks, blogger.

Well Blow Me a Bubble!

You know that I come to you first with all of the exciting news of my life, which thankfully doesn'?t happen too often, leaving me plenty of time to write about hamsters and PR and strep throat and Jenna.

But today is one of those big news days--?OH BOY!

Since leaving The Content Factor, I'?ve had lots of interesting opportunities pop up, but one is especially exciting and it all has to do with bubbles and pictures and sound. It'?s exciting for you too -- even though you might not know it yet. Not only do you get to sample the delectable posts I create using the awesome service called BubbleShare, but you can use it too. And you'?ll want to.

The long and short of it is this: Smart, geeky, energetic Canadians have been working like Santa's elves to build the world'?s simplest photo sharing tool. No registration. No profiles. No hoochie coochie community stuff. No muss, no fuss. No eyeballs to aggregate, no open marriage to consummate.

Just upload and share.

But what'?s even better is that BubbleShare is more than PHOTO sharing made easy. Because you can assemble albums, add voice or other audio to your pictures, along with captions and comments, and even post your albums in your blog.

So it's pretty much: Ready, set, tell stories. Just the way you like it.

Now this original cast of Upper North Americaners at BubbleShare, led by Mr. around-the-clock himself, Albert Lai, has decided to add some foreign aid to their all-star team, including yours truly. I'll be serving as blog strategist (read: chief blogging and editorial maven) for BubbleShare, and I'm pleased to join such a smart, funny group of people in enhancing the world of online conversation.

Even better than the fact that I get to consult without having to live among the snowdrifts Up North like I used to, is the fact that YOU can try BubbleShare too. A new Flash tutorial is up to show you just what to do.

In fact, I'd like you to take it for a test drive and let us know what you think. Email me as usual, or skype me if you'd like -- jeneanesessum. And please contact the folks at BubbleShare with your feedback and ideas (maybe tomorrow, after they get some sleep) at feedback@bubbleshare.com.

You are so right when you say the moon is made of green cheese

Oh man. Oh man oh man.

Exactly.

Please do yourselves a service today and read Susan Mernit's post about the lengthy, investigative Craig's List article from the SF Weekly. While Susan praises the article for its look at the life of master Craig, she also points out at the end of her post the suspicious absence of women as sources--and folks there are a lot of sources in the article.

Yep, one interesting side note here, not the focus of this terrific story--is that every single person mentioned or quoted in it--except for Craig's unnamed girlfriend--is male.

It's clear that the article's author left entire layers of the citizen journalism perspective out of the article. What wasn't clear when I initially heard about it is why. Was the writer being 'unthinking'? Was it easier and quicker to find the men to interview? Was there some bias or hidden agenda? Were all the women having PMS that day?

I'm glad I waited to post because the writer answers some of these questions in comments here. And the answers were worse than I thought:

Sadly, you are right. Few media critics and leaders of the citizen journalism movement are women.

Sphincter says what? Oh tell me this is flame bait and not the view point of a ''''''legit'''''' journalist. Rather than naming the hapless reporter, I will name the women who commented on the article with some sound advice: Elisa Camahort, Liza Sabater, Nancy White, Sylvia Paull, and Halley Suitt.

head-splosion, head-splosion, head-splosion!

Finally just finished working for the day. hmmm. started at 7:50 so that brings it in at about 18+ hrs and more work to do. I went out to office depot to look at headsets about 8 so that was a break. Bought one that I hate and am taking back--wish I'd seen Ken's comment below before going. Ken, is this the one you were talking about?

You're right--it looks really nice and not whimpy/twisty/all/flimsy at all. This one I bought tonight that sux-so-bad is the kind that goes behind the neck and over the ears and through the woods to grandmother's house and by the time the sound gets to my earholes, there's nothing to hear, PLUS, whose head is shaped like that: one size fits all, potato-headed, non-adjustable doo doo.

I think I might go for the real deal. Ken has never steered me wrong. Come to think of it, he's never steered me period, but he has been a fellow gonzoengagedite for a long while. And you never bite the hand that blogs you. Well, at least not more than twice weekly. Unless it's Dave Winer.

In the mean time, I found a $7 mic at Office Depot, and an old pair of headphones from my dresser drawer, and that combo worked okay for my i-m-p-o-r-t-a-n-t business call this eve.

Can I confess something I haven't done since we were giddy with blogging back in aught-two. I did a lettermanesque test to see if anyone else was in on the secret.

After picking up the headset, ink cartridges, a ream of paper, and the little mic which became a big life saver, I plopped the commerce down on the counter belonging to the young guy in the computer area to make my purchase. And I said to him:

"You know what? This is Web 2.0. Did you know that?" And I'm goofin kind of like, hey, let's play Net banter, blog with me real time in person, because you know I'm jazzed about my new stuff and the feel of the web right now.

Right?

Kay?

helloo.

He says "wha?" and then I know he doesn't know what the hell I'm talking about. Just to make sure I ask my girlfriend as she rounds the corner looking for me - "You know, it's Web 2.o right? I'm on Skype and talking business and have 8 projects due at once and I'm sure I'll be up til 3 a.m. SO--get it? That's what it was like the last time."

She said 'what are you talking about' first, but I could tell she was ready to go to Chick-Fil-A and thought I was up to my usual time wasting activities. All the computer guy said was: "I have no idea what you're talking about, but it sounds great."

Now, we can sit here and be old fuss-budgets who, of course, are right when we say things like: web 2.0 how stupid. what day did that announcement come out and how come i wasn't cc-ed, and how come no one woke me when 1.0 was over. SURE we can be like that because we are really good at not believing hype and spin, because THAT's why we spend time here in the first place, to get away from Empty Promises.

But even you old fuss-budgets have to admit that something's going on.

And it's feeling kind of fun.

And if we're not careful, we might get a little giddy all over again.

Cut. It. Out.

Skype. Oh man! hello, is the 21st century home? Well of course I've heard about it, but I'm getting set up and I'm pretty much (you know me) thinking this is the best thing since orkut. (hee hee--had to be there w/ me kinda). Anyway, I'm all googleyeyed over skype now, and I need to know something for folks who have been using headphones and mics with their computers for the last three decades: what kind of headset really rocks? I mean, for comfort, sound, easy speaking while typing very fast, fast as I can go?

1) I don't like wrap around headsets (i know that bec/ i got some crap at office depot tonight and am taking it back.

2) I do like snug ear muffins (as jenna calls headphones)

3) I think I want a built in mic because sometimes (mostly) I lay down when I have to think and write simultaneously. (try to avoid it, but some days there's just no use.)

4) It has to be durable--I'm going to be ripping this thing off and on about 3939 times a day.

So I guess I'm looking for the three Cs of headsets: Comfort, Clarity, and Cuality.

Thoughts?

I'm Gonna Disco Like It's 1981!

You remember last year we were fortunate enough to be invited to attend the SO COOL xmas party hosted by the Captain Planet Foundation, right? Well, these folks were actually silly enough to invite this Cobb County couple back to the ATL this year for another round of food, drinks, merriment, and amazing stuff being bought by some really red-cheeked party-goers.

WAY!

We'll be hitting xmas party 2005 on December 9th where the theme is Disco and the mission is to save the planet, or at least move it in the right direction, raising money for children and the environment.

The most glitterific news of all? K.C. &the Sunshine Band will be there. AND so will my digital camera.

Again, Way.

This is some of the stuff we get to see:

• The “Disco Power Princess” arrive on her white horse
• The “Pollution Armor Entourage” where you get to dress in armor from the sets of Warner Bros. Studios
• Disco Diva and pop icon Martha Wash
• And if it's like last year, FOOD TO DIE FOR, from Whole Foods Market, prepared by A Legendary Event.
• “I Love the Nightlife Lounge and Open Bar”

DID someone say open bar???

AND the official word on why this event is so important (and if you have the dough you should go):

Over the past 10 years, proceeds from X-MAS Party have raised over 1.8 million dollars for homeless children and the environment. This year’s X-MAS Party beneficiaries are Captain Planet Foundation, The American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund, Atlanta Children’s Shelter, Center for Health, Environment & Justice, Our House and Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper’s Educational Waters to the Sea Program.

Now that's boogilicious!

My Life as a Top 10 Non-Sexy Source

Hey Cool! I'm a source on Halley's new Top 10 Sources page, on what looks to be a site about neat larger website sources on stuff--that's the non-tech definition. Honored I am to be among the likes of Shakespierce, Andrew Sullivan, Denise Howell, the gang at the Huffington Post, Dooce, Mindy, Joi Ito, Thoughts in Random Patterns and Fish is just fish. Now three of those folks I hadn't read much, if at all, and I've looked at them since seeing them in Halley's list--GLAD to have found them. I haven't been this excited since I won Fishrush's Five Fish Blog Award back in O2.

Halley promises more to come -- I'm assuming sexy is right around the corner, and isn't it always with Halley? Look forward to seeing what develops. ;-)

Okay

Thanks to the ton-a-yous who have been telling me to STOP worrying about what kind of camera I DIDN'T get and start posting some pictures, I've seen my way clear to take your sage advice.

You know, I like this new age of crisp digtal photos. I think I see more than I ever meant to. I still prefer the sound of vinyl for music, but I can get used to digital pix. And so, I give to you, the simple joy of what every child in the South would do, if they could do, on Thanksgiving day:



They like to jump and jump and leap for joy, and this they do AFTER their tummys are full of turkey and dressing and sweet potatoes and pie. This particular athlete and his sister are two of Jenna's best friends, and the trampoline lives at their house. This is the infamous trampoline upon which my dear daughter broke her wrist a year ago. She's much better at it now.

So jump and jump and jump they did until dusk fell like a cool mist upon their little reindeer games.



Then it was on dancer, on prancer, on donner and vixen, off to the bowling alley where we'd get a few trix in.



Hey, Jenna, is that gravy on your shirt?

Okay, and a bonus shot of me looking tired like I am this evening:



Next up, some impressive, deep photos of local cemeteries and more from a day in the life of this old mom.

Who can say they've been blogging half their life?

My kid can.

She started at 4, she's past 8 now.

Yes, so 2004 was a rough year. Perhaps it will become known as her dark period, her days of writer's block and a first-grade teacher who gave homework out the wazoo, but don't tell Jenna where or what a wazoo is. She's impressionable.

2005 holds much promise for her blogging prowess, since now she knows how to type herself, and she's even made her own amazon wishlist--I don't have to sign her in anymore to Amazon and thank goodness she has her own login [[one-click pony]] even though I think that's against the law, her being 8 and all.

Whatever. I'm pretty sure her posting will pick up some velocity as she enters her 8s.

She wrote about Thanksgiving tonight. I typed the post because it was past bedtime to say the least. But I was amazed when she decided to share something pretty personal -- the fact that she didn't make it through her scheduled sleep over on Thursday night at her friend's house.

Because she missed her mom.

"I missed my mom..."

That goes something like this at midnight:

Ring ring... "Hello?" "Hi momeee." "Honey, what's up--why are you crying?" "i miss you momeee." "Oh honey, I miss you too but it's time to go to sleep and I'm right down the road. I'll be there in the morning." "but momeeee i trieed (sniff sniff) four times and i can't do it--i can't sleep and everyone else is asleep and i miss you momee." "Oh baby it's okay, just relax and let sleep come to you, don't try so hard." "i did momeee i miss you pls canicomhome?"

Now the sleepover parents had to get up VERY early for work, or I would have probably made her stick it out. But as it was, Jenna was the only one awake in the house. So that made the decision for me. I had to go get her.

Oh who am I kidding, I'm not going to leave my kid crying herself to sleep at someone else's house; I would have gone and gotten her either way.

So I got her. And I let her know I wasn't PLEASED about coming out to get her, but that I understood. And that it would be a long while before we'd try this again.

Although, we had to go over there at 7 the next morning because I was time-sharing the kids with the other mom during the holiday week off school.

So that's what she's talking about in her post.

When she says: "I missed my mom. So my mom came and got me."

(and you know what: i missed her too.)

One last comment on comment dilemmas

Read the comments to my comments post--they're smart and they say things that Blogger and RSS enthusiasts should hear.

Here's what it's like to be only sort of techy and a blogger

You hear these conversations going on about Ruby and then you know there's a blogger named Sam Ruby, and you glean from the folks raving about Ruby that it is some kind of programming language and then naturally you think it must be a language developed by Sam Ruby because how the hell would a coincidence like that occur -- a blogger named Ruby and a techno-advancement named Ruby at the same time -- and then you start hearing about Ruby on Rails, and all the time you're thinking Sam Ruby must like to ride trains, or he wrote a book with a railroad track on the cover, like an O'Reilly book or something, and now these tech bloggers are going on about Ruby on Rails, like a rollercoaster ride or something, and everyone has a ticket but me.

Then you see stuff about Ajax and you're not stupid enough to think it's a household cleaning aid, and you're smart enough to know it has something to do with making shit work, maybe it's an OS or maybe it's a language or maybe it's end-user software, you're not really sure, and you're not interested enough to pay rapt attention, but you're wondering if it's something that you'll be seeing boxed on the shelves, or is it like Ruby on Rails and invisible to those of us that wouldn't know what to do with it.

Don't get me started with podcasting and how magical I thought all of that was until I realize that it is: 1) having a blog, 2) having or recording an mp3 file, and 3) knowing how to put a little enclosure tag around the mp3 file. Badabing--you're podcasting. But before all that, I hear about it here and there and assume that you must own an ipod and you must have a studio and on and on, and it comes down to a little tag, man, but as an only-sort-of-techy, it takes months to figure this out.

Never mind tags and taxonomies and constructs like that--things that border on the fine line where the philosophical meets the symantic meets the stand up comic. I mean really.

Move on to OPML and I have to wonder why Dave Winer names everything with initials, mostly consonants, and was he deprived of vowels as a young man, or is it to scare those of us afraid of initial-caps away, and what the heck is OPML, I'm assuming it's like HTML, because of the ML, and I know what HTML is, I know basic HTML tags, hell I even know bookmaster tags, but what is OPML and what does he mean by "outliner," and then ONE DAY, Dana Blankenhorn sends me a file to open with my OPML editor thingy which I don't have but I certainly can download it and install it, so I do, and magically I see that it's a way to pass lists of all the feeds in our aggregators back and forth, and I remember ASKING for something like this like a year ago, and all this time when people are yada-yada-yadaing about OPML I have no idea that's something an outliner does, and I wonder why did they have to make it all sound so secret and difficult

And then I wonder what does Sam Ruby have to do with all of this anyway.

That's kind of what it's like.

Note to my really smart readers...

(and the others too)...

To clear up any confusion, I never said that the ONLY post you could comment on was the post I wrote about comments.

see, other posts have comment opportunities too.

See them all, readers?

just wanted to make sure you understood.

since you're being really fucking quiet.

Rethink Your Processes

Tony Pierce isn't the only one with uberletterwriting talent. Enter engadget, with a friendly note to some unfortunate business owners:

Dear Counterfeiters,

We’re totally not trying to tell you how to run your business, but when the printer you’re using to pump out counterfeit hundies and fiddies breaks, it’s probably a good idea to remove all the fake money jammed inside of it before you send it out for repair. Otherwise you’ll end up like that gang of geniuses in Arizona which just got busted this week for pumping out $160,000 in counterfeit cash.

Your friends,
Engadget

That is so sensitive the way they give advice over there at engadget. And wise advice too. 'Cause that is something I can so totally see myself doing in a rush to be productive. And then, that little voice in the back of my head: "Drat!"

catching up on...

Big Box Mart from jibjab

Isenberg Speaks

Remind me to listen to this when the link is up. Smart guy. Smart talk.

No one, but no one, writes letters like TPie

Tony Pierce writes an ode to Jessica Simpson in her time of quiet desperation. Moving. That's what he is. The man is moving:

dear jessica simpson,

dont be sad that youre divorcing nick. you know what i say about boybanders: kiss em but dont marry em.

you dont see my girl anna k marrying enrique do you?

no, and thats cuz gay boyfriends are fun, but gay husbands arent so fun. they want you to clean up around the house, they want to play dress up when you want to be in sweats, and they end up just breaking yr heart babydoll so dont blame yourself, blame nature.

now the good book says a lot of things about married women and divorce and technically i cant really marry you since youre always going to be married in the eyes of the Lord to nick.

but.

but we dont have to get married. and to be honest, youre so fucking hot we dont even have to get it on. and from what i could gleen from your tv show it didnt seem like you were that into getting it on anyways.

so heres what i propose. i propose that you move into my hollywood bachelor pad and be my girlfriend. if you wanna buy a dog you can buy a dog. if you wanna call tuna chicken you can call that shit chicken and you know what i'll do, i'll say baby i love you. thats what i'll say.

you know who tells someone as sweet and as hot as you that youre wrong and ditzy? xhusbands.

youre perfect. and you look good in uggs. you sing like youre having sex and i cant name one song of yours but you can sing em all around the house and i'll just say louder baby louder.

and then we'll get some food delivered and heres another thing, i will never interrupt our days or nights by watching college hoops and calling my buddies on the phone in the middle of the game and say holy shit that was a fucked up call.

what i might do is call them up and say jessica is dressed up as a school girl and shes thinking about buying a new purse.

yes i know im not handsome, but your handsome boy just broke your heart.

yes i know im not buff but people who are constantly making their muscles grow are making up for a muscle that will never grow

their heart.

i know youre being passed around by the jackass boys but you need to get out of that world cuz dudes who are that nuts about getting their balls shot at by firehoses and aligators dont know how to treat a dainty southern girl whose dreams have been crushed.

what you need is a blogger.

a failed poet.

a hetrosensual.

a very old one who will look at you from across the room and say stand up on that coffee table baby and spin around real slow.

and when you do it he'll say damn girl.

you might even persuade me to move to calabassas, but only if tsar can play in the backyard on new years.

Jessica, girl, you know what to do.

The problem with half great

The problem with having half-great technology is that even though you spend GOOD money on a new device, ALL the money you can afford to spend in fact, and even though you ENOY your new device very much, you nonetheless can't shake the nagging feeling that what you could afford is half great, and therefore you covet the devices of those who spent more on the truly great.

Oh man.

I like my new camera. Don't get me wrong. And yah, I'll post pictures. I just, you know, I'm having some personal issues with my camera not being what I covet.

It started when I was at a birthday party with jenna this weekend, and the uncle of the newly-turned nine year old had a GREAT Cannon and I of course HAD to take a picture with it of the whole family at the restaurant, and of course he HAD to show me his lenses and the tricks it could do, and then he HAD to tell me for $1200 you can really get everythng that would really make you happy in the life of one who takes pictures, and of course I KNOW that we can be happier for less money than that, but then I start to sort of twitch, and I know that I couldn't afford that little wireless number that lets you avoid hooking up a USB cable every time you want to dump photos, and sure some day I'll have the extra dough to get one of those dandy photo printers I didn't know even existed until a week ago....

But somehow knowing all these things does not erase the nagging feeling of someone else's better, cooler, heavier, multi-lensed, feature-rich camera in my hand. Or the memory of standing in BrandsMart in a 'if shopping is sugar, then I'm in a diabetic coma' moment, staring at all of the many many many wonderful things that now belong to others.

I don't covet my neighbor's wife.

I covet his Cannon.

I hope that's okay.

comment update

I've found that switching back and forth between registration-only and totally-open comments seems to be working well to thwart the spERmmers pretty well. If I can spend the majority of your time offering no-hoops commenting, by golly I'll do it! Plan B, based on your advice: Moderated.

Can you imagine having had this conversation four years ago? That was when we had to get up a 6:00 to register in the two-hour window YACCS had open for new registrants so that they could keep up with the tide of nerdy bloggers wanting to add comment functonality to their blogs. And the only people who ever commented were people on your blogroll.

Time sure flies when you're having blog.

On Being a Cold-Weather Football Fan

I was talking with my friend yesterday who had been home to Greenwood, Mississippi for Thanksgiving, where one of her relatives is married to Kent Hull, former Buffalo Bill who is a three-time pro-bowler and who went to The Show four consecutive seasons.

Kent was the center and anchor of the offensive line during the greatest era in football (at least to those of us in Western New York). He played 121 straight games in his 11-year career. During that time, the Bills enjoyed eight winning seasons and won four consecutive AFC titles. Kent was also one of the team's captains for his final seven years.

Being a Bills fan during that era was probably as wild a sports fan experience as any in history. No team before or since has run the hurry-up offense like the Bills did during those years. No team has come from behind more times to earn more surprise wins like the Bills during those years. No team rushed back and back and back and back to the Superbowl with the same players like the Bills did.

And no team handed as many heartbreaks to as many loyal fans who loved them as completely as we loved the Bills during those years.

God, those were the days.

Mmmm. Sleepy Sundays. TV and radio on at the same time. All night call-in shows after the games. .... yes they were the days.

Which isn't to say that I want to get stuck there.

So let me keep going with why I started this post in the first place.

Right.

So, during my friend's conversation with Kent Hull, she told him that she and I had been talking about the team last week. We were talking about the amazing players during that era, especially the offensive line and Kent at the helm, and we were trying to remember Steve Christie's name, and it was one of those tip-of-my-tongue moments where I got stuck on Norwood and couldn't get past it. yada yada yada.

Next she was telling Kent about how her friend-and-bills-fan thought he was one of the most amazing players to have ever graced an offensive line with his presence.

His response: "Wow, I'm just happy someone remembers me."

REMEMBERS HIM?

Remembers him?

I said, "Did you tell him he kept me alive?"

And that's the thing really. From 1980 - 1994, which is when I left Rochester, football kept me alive. Partly, that's the kind of football fan I am. And partly, that's just how it is when you spend half the year at or below freezing temperatures. When autumn hints that it's on its way, you might drive your car into a guardrail without knowing that football season is there to ease you gently into winter. By the time the superbowl and pro bowl are over, you're well into the worst of winter and spring is next on the agenda.

That transitional power of football season is no accident.

And there were some dark times, very dark yes, when it was the reason that this resident of the icy tundra of the Great Lakes decided to go on another day. A reason to brush 8 inches of caked snow off my car one more day. To shovel the driveway one more day. To step through slush one more day. To wrap a scarf around my dry mouth and lungs one more day. To stay hermetically sealed in a 61-degree house one more day. To slide my four tires for a half hour down 390 to work on top of a sheet of ice one more day. To fall on my back walking in pumps one more day. To stand on the register feeling the forced air heat on my legs until the hives on my skin went down one more day. To wipe freezing snot from my nose one more day. To zip up, pull on, wrap around, strap on, and seal up one more day. To trudge through three feet of snow to get the bills from the mail box one more day. To weather dark grey skies, whipping wind, and frozen ear lobes one more day. To never, ever, ever be warm one more day. To coat my cracked, bloody lips with lotion and squeeze my bleeding nose until it stopped one more day. To slide into one more light pole one more day.

Knowing that a game is coming, knowing that it matters, knowing that the guys in the uniforms in a stadium with no roof and no heat and 20-below temperatures with frozen fingers and bare arms are going to bust every inch of their skin and bones for me -- one more day. Knowing that it's never, ever over, and the two-minute offense is a game within a game, knowing that it starts again next Sunday and next Sunday and next Sunday, like the blanket of snow and sleet that is constant...just knowing that.

Remember you?

Kent, you kept me alive.

i had a dream last night

that tom matrullo put up a bunch of animated gifs and he was really excited that the ones he made himself were among those he chose to post. Thing is, the ones he made himself didn't jiggle, wiggle, jump or flash. They stayed still.

They were really cool looking though. I can see some of the thumbnails in my mind. A large cat -- like a running cheetah, and a coffee-pouring-into-mug gif.

Kind of sux that the ones he made didn't move though.

Kinda like the one in the post below.

I really don't know.

Just reporting.

Over and out.

Don't read me

Read the comments on my comments post below--specially ken's. VERY VERY interesting take on RSS and its accidental(?) cultural inherent circumnavigation (ACIC) of comments.

ACIC must not be allowed to stand. VOTE NO to ACIC, or, why, I'll....





Alright--that's supposed to be an animated gif whereby this hand punches through paper right at you. How come it's not animated. It's not in my firefox. is it for you?

tomorrow i will blog actual thoughts.

This was just a test.

i've been real busy.

no excuse.

but when you add in my late afternoon nap, well, NOW you understand, right?

I haven't de-aggregated in so long...

my feeds are all filled up.

got tickets see ya lata

Off to the Theater in the Square tonight to see George-who-still-wants-to-blog-but-somehow-never-finds-the-time doing bass duty in the musical, The 1940s radio show. He'll be doing the show from now until the end of December every night except for tues and weds. Wave to the brown guy with the long locks if you go.

I'll report back on how someone who looks like my husband made out in the 1940s....

OH WAIT--it's a radio show!

And, there was Lionel Hampton...

Catcha later!

crawled out from under the dining room table

HI! so that was fun! Hope your thanksgiving was merry, or thankful or something.

I need to know something about comments here. Okay, right now I have blogger's 'let anyone comment' feature selected. I'm assuming that means that, like me, to comment on this blog you just wite your little witty nugget and excrete it into my comment box AFTER typing in the cryptic code designed to fend off spam bots. Right?

But spammers still come. Those bastads. So, about a week ago I selected the other feature in Blogger that lets you only let registered users comment. But I noticed not so many people commented. So I changed it back to open.

SO, when I had the 'registered users' option selected a week or so back, did that mean that the only folks who could leave comments were those who have registered with blogger? Does that turn you off as a reader, commentor, trouble maker, or passerby? I know that I for one like to be able to leave comments without jumping through hoops, and truth be known, I will generally shut up rather than be bothered registering to comment someplace. Unless I really heart the blog.

To make things a little more interesting (read: confusing), Blogger has recently added 'moderated comments' to our plethora of conversation-continuing options, which is very cool. I think most businesses should use moderated comments and that they should respond quickly to accept all comments but spam.

But again, as a blog READER, it bums me out to make such a witty statement as I may make over at someone's blog but then not see my wit (or something that rhymes with wit) come to fruition for a while. So I don't know whether to try the moderated comments. Do you like moderated comments? Would it piss you off and make you go away if I tried them?

Because I do have abandonment issues.

As if you may have missed that along the way.

And we're not done yet: Blogger's OTHER commenting option is to let only a designated 'team' comment on the blog. I'm sure that's handy somewhere along the line, although I can't think of one single reason that any pubic blog should exclude everyone but a select group from commenting. For that reason, this option is out for my blog.

Which leaves me with a question: What kind of comments work best for you, o great and powerful readers?

1. The all-open (sprinkled [potentially littered] with spam) option
2. The registered-people-can-comment option
3. The moderated-comments option
4. The really-stupid-team-commenting option
5. None of the above - yer blog sux.
6. All of the above - it's all about you, J.

Thank you for voting.

brandsmart?

Have you ever been into one of these places? Have you ever been shopping in Atlanta during the holidays? If you can say "no" to both of the above questions, your life will be all the more peaceful for it. Holy Heck, as Halley would say, in between writing steamy sex scenes and such, this place BrandsMart or BrandSmart or whatever you want to capitalize is in-sane. I mean excess and more and stuff and then some and everything and more and what you want and what you need and what you might need and what you'd never need but would be nice ALL under one roof. washersdryerstvsphonesrecordersdvdscamerascds
surroundsoundwatercoolers--i mean everything. Add in a thousand hurried shoppers and two sales associates and you get the picture.

and i get the picture too because i bought myself a digital camera. shhhh. i got caught up in the moment.

shhhh

i bought myself a digital camera (i really shouldn't have).

more soon...

Pope Says Recovered or Passive Gays Okay for Priesthood

Looking for a new career? If you're a would-be catholic priest, you better steer clear of the new pope unless you've been clean and sober, homosexually speaking, for at least 3 years.

I believe that's the platinum chip.

"If instead it is a case of homosexual tendencies that are merely the expression of a transitory problem, for example as in the case of an unfinished adolescence, they must however have been clearly overcome for at least three years before ordination as a deacon."

The pope also announced that anyone born gay would be slaughtered like the fatted before sundown tomorrow.

In other news, the Bruce Willis of popes, Benedict XVI, has gotten a firm grip on those pesky friars, known for their peace marches and other madness.

Vittorio Messori, a conservative Catholic commentator, told The Independent the 1986 conference was marked by excesses, including allowing African and Indian rituals.

OH NO, not African Rituals. The excess of it! Hold your babies tight. Under the reign of Ratzi, Interreligious gatherings are now a no-no too.

Doesn't this guy have, like, some praying to do to keep him busy?

Atlanta Bloggers...

Raise Your Voic.us!

If you're an Atlanta area blogger or want to write about local Atlanta topics -- from soup to nuts and then some -- check out voic.us. Blood-and-sweat child of longtime journalist, Atlanta resident, and Corante columnist, Dana Blankenhorn, Voic.us is an Atlanta community blog with a pretty neat blog engine AND other tools that are being tailored for writers. If you sign on, you'll see what I mean. Like half of Web 2.0, this site is in BETA and Dana REALLY wants to hear from Atlanta bloggers on what you think--stuff you like and stuff they can make better.

Atlantans are opinionated by nature -- after all every day here is a motherfucking opening day -- so sign in and add a Personal Blog Entry of your own. It’s easy to keep track of your new posts. During the beta testing, all your entries will flow automatically to the top of the main page.

I like the various ways you can enter a post. The blog engine has some pretty powerful word processor-like features, OR you can go with plain text or straight HTML. I copied a couple of posts out of Blogger's compose window and they went across great--including ready-made pictures and links.

You can email Dana with questions.

Oh to be young and in love and....

...pissed off at each other? Ponzi and Chris Pirillo go at it on vacation. And not in a good way.

Are they warming up for SXSW? Honest couples blogging?

Or is this for real, and is there an actual living human being who sets up two flat screen monitors in Hawaii and complains about the heat?

not the time to be in a blog funk

what with turkey hormonal anesthetization right around the corner, I'm feeling like there's nothing to read on the blogs these days. Oh sure, I've got my aggregator full of feeds from him and her and them, but I'm so used to them I think that I could post for them now.

Is anyone still "just starting out" in blogging? Where do we find the newbies--where are the new people who I don't know about--how do I find them: the ones who aren't writing ABOUT stuff but are writing stuff. More more. Leave me some links in comments.

First holiday off in a long time

It looks like I might actually have NO work to do on Thanksgiving.

I'm nearly anxious with excitement.

I'm not counting blogging in this no-work decree, because blogging is blogging even when it feels like work. I mean no client work, no business work, no DEADLINES. These last three years have been DEADLINE driven, well hell the last 23 years have been, oh well why not count college too and little miss summa 4.0's work ethic...

Well, now that I'm back out on my own I've decided I'm going to do it differently this time, take on two or three projects I care about, and downstream/outstream the rest to folks in my knowledge network, which includes and is mostly made up of bloggers.

I thought that was what I was going to be able to do in my last venture--outstream to bloggers. It didn't work out that way. And what I'm telling you has little or nothing to do with deadlines but everything to do with DEAD LINES because blogging is neither dead NOR linear, so how much easier deadlines will be to meet with the resources of the LIVE WEB!!!!!

oh i can't wait!

Some things I wish I would have seen the first time around...

Like The Niggar Family by Dave Chappelle.....

oh that comic genius...and so well spoken!

That's not a SNAIL, That's Thanksgiving Dinner!

Holy Crap!

Is that a snail in your pocket or are you......

Thinking about adoption?

It's national adoption month. Thinking about the pitter patter of little feet? Big feet? Excellent! Got some good links for you.

When the net goes zzzzzzzz

When there's not much to interest me in my wanderings through RSS feeds (yawn) and technorati blog finder fuel (zzzz) late at night, I usually think up a couple of words, throw them in Google, and then look at the images associated with those words.

I find wonderful things that way. It's the last best unexpected place around.

So tonight I was thinking about being tired and that old phrase 'rest assured' came to mind, and so i put that in google and clicked images and I found the most delicious (no tags intended) looking bed, people!!!



From a site called online beds, comes the Rest Assured Pocket Spring 1200 Venice Ortho.

HELLO JETHRO granny's sleepin tonight!

Look at that puppy, will ya.

I look at beds and bedding like some people look at cars. You tell me stuff like Luxury damask fabric, Heavy duty springs, Sumptuous cotton and super soft polyester mattress fillings, Felt tufts and I'm nearly in tears. And when it comes to Rest Assured, I'm gathering that the Jubilee is the Roles Royce of the line.

I love beds. I love bedding, comforters, quilts, throws, pillows, cotton, duvet covers, dust ruffles, I AM A LINEN FREAK.

And google reminded me that it's okay. I feel better now. No really, rest assured, I'm fine.

Happy Birthday Michelle!!!!

For the wonderful lady who does so much for the rest of us blogknownots, a lady indeed, Happy Birthday Meg!!!! Peace, you.

Weighing In...

Sure, to carry firearms maybe.

Chris Rabb Raps on Race & the Blogosphere

Hadn't heard this before. It's interesting listening. It's from I don't know when--I think earlier this month when Chris Rabb was on Tavis Smiley's show.

Chris needs to tell Tavis to get blogging. May? Huffington? Naw.

Introducing Blackster(TM)

Are you a conference planner who has trouble ensuring the right percentage of diversity at your events? Are you a pomo-web-2.0 company looking to get your groove on with that untapped demographic of color? Planning a blog meetup in your town and embarassed by that last showing of all grey-and-balding-50-something white guys with the stains on their ties?

Then Blackster's for YOU.

It's a social network, an online equalizer, and an RSS feed all at once! With Blackster, you find out how 'in' you are by how dark you link.

You may be Linked In, but are you sharing your link love with bloggers of all hues? Can you prove it the next time you get called on the carpet? Or will you try to be wiley like Tim O'Reilly?

Blackster is THE proven 'great equalizer' for the Web--and the protection you need from the bad PR of online brophobia.

AND for a limited time, if you purchase Blackster for $99.99, you get Blackster Desktop, which tailors your user experience to make you as diverse as you wanna be.

FEATURE LIST

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AND MORE!!

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• This month only--get tips on how to get the Internet's most popular blog brothers to add you to their blogrolls without dropping $20 on Miss Clairol Mod Blonde hair color.

Investors interested in our transaction-based business model (transition to subscription / advertising model planned in 2006), please inquire with this blog's author.

BLACKSTER - 'cause once you blog black you never go back.

When Zach Braff Gets a Pool Room.....

He'll have this really cool light show thing going on.

Next Week Goals

Spend more time reading blogs than I do posting (last week it was about equal--i think a ratio of 3/4 reading to 1/4 writing is good).

Spend more time with Jenna since the kids are once again out of school for a week.

SLEEP IN.

Try not to shop.

Maybe shop a little.

Lock up the debit card.

Clean this fricking house.

Feed the hamsters.

Change the hamsters.

MAKE Jenna clean her room.

Make clients oh-so happy.

Bill.

Clean my frigging car.

Email four friends.

Await a package from India.

EAT SOME BIRD.

Pray more.

.....your turn.