From the monthly archives:

May 2007

“Lost”: Making me proud once again

by Marilyn on May 24, 2007

A lot of people have jumped the “Lost” ship this last season. And they had some pretty good reason. For one thing, the first half of the season pretty much sucked. All we saw were Jack, Kate and Sawyer and those stupid “Others”. The storylines started to get a little strange and a lot of people had a hard time keeping track. And then, they moved the show back to 10pm. Which, if you’re a mom, can be a struggle to stay up for. Let’s not forget that ridiculous hiatus we had to endure midseason as well. A method of torture is what that was. So I cannot blame these people for ditching “Lost”. But at the same time, I weep for them because last night’s season finale was SO FREAKING GOOD.

It would not be an exaggeration at all to call it the best two hours of “Lost” that I’ve ever watched. I may even go so far as to say it was the best two hours of television I’ve seen this year (and yes, that includes “Heroes” and that totally awesome episode where Bennett had the Haitian wipe his memory of Claire to protect her) , if not EVER. It was THAT GOOD. I had chills during a large portion of the finale and I laughed, I cheered, I hollered in anger at the television… I was even damn choked up at one particular part. And when it ended, I was left with a satisfied glow, knowing I had just watched some damn fine television. And that glow lasted for quite a while, at least until I remembered we wouldn’t be seeing “Lost” come back until JANUARY. Let’s not speak of that just now. For now, let’s talk about last night. I’m going to put “spoilers” behind the “more” tag. But just in case, I’m going to warn you now that you should not keep reading if you didn’t watch last night yet and want to remain unspoiled. And I heartily recommend being unspoiled because I was and I know it made everything even better for me.

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On Notice: People who truncate their feeds

by Marilyn on May 23, 2007

You might think that maybe I’m running out of things to bitch about with this one, but I’m totally serious. If you have any experience with reading blogs and using feed readers, you understand a little of what I’m talking about here. But for those of you who aren’t aware, here’s a little example (all efforts have been made to protect both the innocent and the horribly guilty):

a truncated feed

This is a snapshot of an offending feed in my Google Reader. You get the title of the post and a little “teaser” but you have to click through to the site to see the rest of the post. That? Makes me ORNERY. I can understand, especially on the more commercial sites, the need to have visitors come to the actual site and see all the shiny ads and whatnot. But you can put ads in feeds these days and there are other ways to encourage the visitor to click through to the site every now and then. When I just want to catch up on my blogs, however, and I come across a site that makes me click through… well that just raises my ire a little. And, I have to admit, I might skim the excerpt a little bit and decide if I really do want to click through or just skip over the post. Because I am “slackermama” and I am lazy. And having to click and open another tab is not on my list of things I want to do. Sorry.

The “experts” agree with me on this. Check out this article from Blogging Pro. One of their suggestions for getting more traffic and subscribers (and keeping them) is:

Offer a full feed, even if it means people visit the site less often. A person reading you is always better than a person not reading you. Make it easy.

Amen, brothers! You tell it! Besides, nothing makes me happier than seeing a favorite blog of mine has updated and I click it, only to be treated to the full post without having to click through to anything. It’s the blog equivalent of being able to kick off my shoes and put my feet up.

the whole post and nothing but the post
the feedreader equivalent of heaven right here… an entire post.

So, you know, in case anyone out there offers only a tiny snippet of their post and coudl have a heart and take pity on a poor, pathetic slacker like myself, I’d be very appreciative.

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What’s new, pussycat?

by Marilyn on May 22, 2007

I’ve been such a turd about posting lately, that I thought maybe I should post SOMETHING about some of the stuff that’s been going on around here lately. Hearing about my stupid insecurities (thanks for all the comments on the last post, by the way, you all ROCK) or my technological problems or how sick I’ve been doesn’t really give any particular insight into my life. Well, okay, it sorta does. But there’s other things as well, believe it or not. So I’m going to regale you, in grand bullet form. Aren’t you feeling privileged right about now? I know you are. You can’t hide it from me. No one can resist the bullet.

  • Liam is, I believe, allergic to milk. Did I forget to mention that? Yeah. Believe it or not, we’re down to the last handful of frozen milk in our deep freeze. I never thought it was possible because I had enough milk stored in there to feed a small army of babies. Kile was positive we were going to be throwing some away. But nope, I plowed through that stuff. So we had some of those trial cans of formula they give you in the hospital sitting around. I cracked one open and made Liam a bottle. No harm, no foul. Fed him lunch in his high chair and noticed after lunch that he had a rash on his chest and around his neck. Interesting. I wondered about the formula but wasn’t sure. We decided to give him more formula while we were at home and could watch him. We put him down for a nap shortly after giving him the bottle and when he woke up? COVERED IN HIVES. Oh my God. All over his face, arms, legs, etc. BAD. I stopped giving him the formula and voila. No more hives. Not even a hint of a hive. Called the pediatrician and the nurse suggested trying soy formula. Found a trial can of that and gave it a shot. No hives. One can only deduce from this that the child is allergic to milk. Good grief. This means, what with me drinking only skim, that eventually we’ll have three kinds of milk in our fridge at any given time. That’s just goofy, ya’ll.
  • Harry’s last day of First Grade is on Friday. BOO! That means that in just over a month from now he’ll be starting SECOND GRADE and I’m definitely not okay with that.
  • Speaking of, when Harry starts second grade, Liam will be one year old. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
  • If anyone has invented any sort of device which can stop time, I’d be happy to purchase it. Just drop me a line via my contact form. Seriously.
  • I guess this means I should start working on Liam’s birthday video. Gulp.
  • I’m trying to get Kile to agree to getting up early and going into work early so that he could come home earlier. He was going into work around 8:30 and was coming home around 6:30, if not later. And with the boys going to bed around 7:30/8:00, that’s not a lot of time with Dad before hitting the hay. He went in pretty early today (7 am) but I don’t have my hopes up that I’ll see him too early this evening. I’ll let you know what time he rolls through the door at.
  • How awesome was the Heroes season finale last night? (SPOILER ALERT! LOOK AWAY!!) (I’m serious here, people. If you haven’t watched yet, you better stop reading this bullet.) I guess Peter and Nathan are dead? Nathan for sure, I’d think. BUMMER. I liked Nathan, despite myself. Love that Bennett’s name is Noah. Hee! Volume Two looks to be interesting. I’ll be interested to see what the significance of the eclipse is. Cuz you know it is. And that other “hero” that the little girl was describing the one that will see her if she tries to find him? Freaks me OUT.
  • I love season finale season (did that make sense?). The shows are fantastic and gripping and exciting. It’s just a bummer that once they’re done then we’re left with crappy television the rest of the summer.
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Not the “cool kid”

by Marilyn on May 21, 2007

Have you ever noticed that some people have that “it” factor?  That certain thing about them that draws other people to them.  It might just in person, it might be just online (or, for the lucky few out there, both).  And then there are the rest of us who have NO factor whatsoever.  And we don’t draw people to us online OR in person.  Ever.  Some people cultivate this factor as they get older.  Maybe they weren’t so cool back in school but now that they’ve grown into adulthood and come into their own, they draw people to them like flies to honey.  Or is that bees?  Anyhow.  Or maybe some people have lost it over time.  They were big shots back in school but now tend to be loners and out of the social spotlight.

Me?  I never had it.  Ever.  Never did.  And apparently, never will.  Which is to say, I don’t really have a hard time making friends.  I’m not THAT awkward.  But I do tend to be a bit of a homebody and an introvert and without the necessity of daily school sessions, nothing to really put me out into public that often in order to meet anyone.  Which is why I’m so happy to have NewFriend and OtherFriend because I know how hard it is to come by friends like that.

But even now, I feel a little awkward and out of place at times.  I never feel as if I’m wearing quite the right outfit.  I certainly am not doing my hair quite the right way (I never have really known how to).  My makeup never looks right and I often will say the wrong thing or be a dork at the wrong moment.  And it’s really no different online.  Oh, online I can pretend that I look right.  I fix my blog up all pretty-like and try to make it look like I know what I’m doing.  But no one ever comes up to me and tells me that I look nice (or rather, if we’re sticking with the metaphor, that the blog looks nice) so I think that perhaps I’ve failed yet again to look quite right amidst the “cool kids”.  I try to say the right thing, but my readership never grows beyond a few people at a time and I still have more entries without comments than with.  So I start to wonder that perhaps I’m not saying the right thing after all and that I am instead being a gigantic dork.

This isn’t a fault with anyone out there in blogland, but instead a symptom of my goofy insecurities.  For at the heart of it, all of us who are not “cool kids” are a little insecure about ourselves and our blogs.  It comes with the territory and the years of feeling like a giant dork.  Maybe the insecurities are keeping the “adoring public” away.  Or maybe I just don’t have anything all that interesting to say (which judging from this post could be entirely true).  Maybe my external person is showing through to much on my internal person’s blog.  Who knows.  But after being on this planet for 31+ years now and being used to my lot in life, I think if I were to ever suddenly become a “cool kid”, I’d probably just die of shock.  So maybe it’s just better this way.

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The fungus among us

by Marilyn on May 17, 2007

Yep, sick again.  This time it’s a lovely (or not so) cold.  It’s been brewing for almost a week now, so its not like it’s an entirely new development.  But late last week it was mostly a throat issue.  Now?  It’s throat, nose, eyes, chest… bleh.  SICK!  I’m so sick of being sick.  I feel like I’ve been sick for weeks now.  Which, looking back, I pretty much have been.  And that, my betches, sucks.  And I just have to ask: What. The. HECK?!  I’ve never been this sick this often before.  Ever.  This is insanity and I swear it’s more than the average person can be expected to endure.

*sniffle*

At least I was able to enjoy being doped out of my mind last night.  I was Kile’s night “on duty” with Liam so I took some Nyquil and blissed the heck out.  I didn’t regain consciousness until after 7am this morning which is a VAST improvement over the 4am I woke up at on Sunday.  And I wish I could say I woke up feeling fresh and willing to tackle the day.  But I didn’t.

I’ve done well with what I’ve been given so far.  A lot more time at home this week.  Everyone that I normally hang out with is SICK.  And I wonder if I got the sick from them or if they got the sick from me?  Or if maybe (just maybe) we got the sick from each other.  Because large congregations of children are notorious germ factories.  It has been quiet, I’ll give it that.  But I am starting to feel a touch closed in.

I swear, if I don’t wake up tomorrow feeling a bazillion times better someone’s gonna pay.  I don’t know who, I don’t know how.   But I can promise you now, someone will pay.

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