Confessions of an Internet Geek

Closing Time

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end" ~ Semisonic

While I'm not ready to make it official yet, I do think my blogging days at the Herald are reaching an end. Suffice to say, after a staffing change, I'm left feeling that their blogs are very far down on the food chain, and it's no longer worth the time or effort to keep mine updated. I have many other areas that need my energy and attention at the moment - we recently moved again (yes, I know, and it makes it a grand total of twenty times in twenty years for hubby and I), and we're trying to weed through things before moving them in an effort to downsize. Our friend and former housemate is okay with our stuff still being in her huge basement for the time being, but I don't want to take advantage of that for too long. I'm also doing NaNoWriMo for the first time ever, after many years of good intentions, and I really want to hit the goal of 50K in 30 days (you can watch my word count climb here).

]]> So many directions, only so many hours in the day - so don't be surprised if this little facet of my cyber presence fades away quietly. However, I'm not gone for good - who knows, maybe Fosters will start a blogging community... *grin*

In case this is farewell, thanks to all who have read and supported this blog - your comments and encouragement will be the things I miss most.

Stay until you've finished your drink - no rush. I can wait, and lock up after you've gone....

Extra! Extra!

Read all about it...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Traci York or Kate Wiggin
Faerie Mystique
Lee, NH
(603) 292-5622

Local Witch Shop Virtually Opens

Seacoast, NH - July 14th, 2007 - Ribbon cutting is a challenge when the doors of your shop exist only in cyberspace. However, Faerie Mystique owners Kate Wiggin and Traci York anticipate the day those virtual doors become reality. Together with webmaster Kylen Wiggin, these hometown witches are hoping to cast their spell on the internet.

]]> Faerie Mystique materialized back in September, 2005 to showcase Kate's Goddess Rosaries and Hair Glories. The decision to open an online store came about after Traci and Kate realized they both had the same dream of some day opening a "Witchy Shop". While their initial thought was a physical location, practicality demanded they start online.

Their prayer beads and pretty hair thingies are rather novel in and of themselves, but... bottles of water? The women smile as they explain. "A friend and sister witch said her constant consternation was rain water - while an essential element of many rituals and spells, she never thought to collect it. She'd searched everywhere but couldn't find any for sale." So after much research, they realized there was a need that the company was in a unique position to meet.

The ever-expanding product list will soon contain more items from the Faerie Mystique team, including a selection of child created magical supplies handcrafted by their four young children (who double as the magical creatures in the company logo).

For information: http://www.faeriemystique.com
Contact: traci@faeriemystique.com or kate@faeriemystique.com
Phone: (603) 292-5622

# # #

The Write Stuff

If there is any justice in the world, Bully now has NKOTB stuck in her brain.

I've been inspired to work on my stories again. I have a friend who attends a local writing group, and she encouraged me to join. Given that I haven't written anything recently other than blog entries, I decided to dig up stuff from my fiction writing classes at UNH back in 198...cough... cough... ahem... 7... cough... cough. I even brought in an original copy to illustrate how ancient they are (written on Eaton's Corrasable Bond, no less). Strangely enough, they not only liked them, they also didn't discourage me from submitting them to various places for possible publication. I wish this was the part where I could say I'm now a paid author, but I haven't gotten that far yet. *grin*

]]> But now that I've announced to the world (or in this case - all seven of you, my faithful readers), I fully expect harrasment from everyone until such time as I get my ducks in a row and my manuscripts in an envelope. Kind of like telling people you're going to quit smoking, so if your friends catch you puffin' away, they can go all peer pressure-y on you. I also discovered this pretty cool local resource -

The New Hampshire Writers’ Project

In other news, our launch date for Faerie Mystique is... TOMORROW! Stayed tuned for more information!

Stick a fork...

...in me. I'm done. Finito. Sin-é

Not with this blog, mind you - just a certain topic that won't go away, no matter how many times I kick at it and yell for it to leave me alone. Of course, I'm my own worse enemy - we just passed the three year anniversary of Dewey's death, and I thought it would be a good idea to post a brief rundown of my side of the story, along with the emails. After many discussions with some very smart people, I decided it was time to put the story to rest once and for all.

]]> So - no more Dewey.

No more open letters to people who most likely will never see them. No more attempts to clear my name - far as I can tell, the only people who believe I installed the keylogger are people who believe that Shannon and Erin killed Dewey by mistake. No more offers from me to publish their email exchange - they are part of the court transcript, so if anyone really wants to see them, they are available.

No more.

Time for me to completely focus on important things - my burgeoning business attempt with my best friend, working with hubby on our new living space, and enjoying every second of my kidlets while they are still kidlets. Oh, and writing - lots and lots of writing... *grin*

Location, location, location

Hello from over here.

I just realized that I haven't mentioned anything about our move on this blog, so this might seem a bit out of the blue, but we are in our new digs, and are in the process of cleaning, unpacking, and adjusting to our rather unconventional (yet awesome) living arrangement. Given that I tend to wear my rose-colored glasses more than I should, I will attempt to keep my enthusiasm about this to a reasonable level, but I have to say that in the short time we've been here (we drove away from the apartment in Rollinsford on February 28th at 11:57pm), things have gone amazingly well.

]]> I will update everyone more in the coming days, but suffice to say not only have we found a situation that benefits our family, it is also helping my friend and her family (it's her basement we're cleaning out and turning into our new home), and has inadvertently led to a new business possibility. All the while, my kidlets are busily exploring the huge space we now occupy, and happily planning new adventures every day with their best friend and surrogate sister (my friend's daughter).

More soon! (can you tell my brain is cramping from overuse? *grin*)

You Never Forget Your First

I remember as if it were only yesterday...

Strange to think that almost eight years have gone by since that fateful day in April 1999 (the 29th, to be exact). Sure, I had other flirtations before you (alt.tv.xena, alt.tv.ally-mcbeal, rec.arts.sf.tv, alt.fan.tom-servo) but you were my first true love. From the moment you first appeared on my screen, I knew we were destined to be together. Then when VenomSoup shouted out that you needed rescuing, our fate was sealed.

]]> Those early months were so special - discovering new things about each other every day, venturing into places I never dared dream I'd be brave enough to wander, all the while finding new confidence in my abilities with you by my side. I even found new talents - Wackylacing will always have a special place in my heart. I met interesting people - in fact, I can now say I'm two degrees from Godwin's Law.

New relationships brought some name changes over the years (Traci_icarT, scaperchick, InternetGeek) and while some new romances were doomed to failure, I still have hope. The offspring of our union has withered from neglect while I spend my time with others. Still, you hold a special place in my heart.

You will always be my first and truest love. Happy Valentine's Day, alt.tv.farscape - maybe some day the fates will bring us back together again... oh, one last thing.

Akita!

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

I found a quick way to lose 20 pounds –it’s called h-a-i-r-c-u-t.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t quite that heavy, but once the scissors detached my ten-inch pony-tail, it certainly seemed to lift a heavy load off my neck. I’ve wanted to get rid of this hairy albatross ever since my out of control frizzies began getting caught on my pocketbook strap, but I kept postponing in the hopes that I could hit the 12 inch mark (what I thought was the donation limit for Locks of Love), and therefore making the hair that was annoying me into something positive for a sick child. However, while giving my neighbors daughter a ride to school Wednesday morning, a long strand of hair got caught in my seat belt strap - as I pulled it over my shoulder, it snagged and yanked, and I had a momentary flash of doing a Demi. I decided instead that when in Gloucester to pick up my eldest from her early birthday sleepover at Nanny’s, I’d make a quick dash to my old salon and get my caterpillars ripped to boot, since I've discovered that if I don’t pluck for more than a day, the follicles stage a revolt and take over the top half of my face. The only thing that will beat them back into submission at that point is hot wax.

]]> I had my youngest snap a shot of my out of control locks -

I dropped my youngest two off with their sister and my mom, and headed over to the same place I've been going to off and on forever. At this point, the place is called "Salon 127" (former incarnations were Price Kutters, Hair Excitement, and so on). The very nice stylist (who's name I never did catch) decided to first get the torture out of the way first, and began ripping... errr, reshaping my overgrown eyebrows. In between howls of pain, I mentioned that I felt bad giving in to my hair annoyance before it was long enough to donate, and she replied, "Are you kidding? We do LoL all the time, and I'm sure your hair is plenty long - want me to measure it?"

Five minutes later, she was holding up a 10+ inch ponytail and asking me if I wanted to say goodbye. I laughed and told her I wasn't that attached to it (and as my six year old astutely observed upon my retelling, said, "Yeah Mommy, and now you're REALLY not attached to it!"). Here is my after picture -

It's a few inches shorter than I wanted (and I almost gave myself whiplash brushing my hair yesterday morning), but I'd do it again in a heartbeat. In fact, after I showed my kidlets all the cool before and after photos on the LoL website, then the gallery of wig recipients, my daughters started talking about letting their hair grow out so they can donate (my son's still "thinking about it"... *grin*). I may just spend the next couple of years doing that myself. Knowing how often I actually make it to a salon, it might not be all that difficult.

Reality Bytes

My status as Google queen is in danger.

When my eldest was first eating solid food, we discovered a yummy snack called puffed corn. Very simple ingredients - organic corn, and air. It soon became a household staple - while other kidlets were munching Cheerios, my kidlets were addicted to their "puffs". Over the years, it became harder and harder to find them - every Shaw's supermarket used to carry them, then only the one in my old hometown of Gloucester kept them in stop, until the only place I could find them was at the health food store on Main Street, Gloucester.

]]> Just before the holidays, hubby and I had opportunity to travel to Gloucester by ourselves. Hubby had work to do for a customer, and the kidlets were having a sleepover at a friends, so I was able to tag along. I recently discovered that there is a Trader Joe's on 114 in Peabody, MA, and I was anxious to peruse the store on the way home, knowing that they, of all people, would carry our beloved Arrowhead Mills Puffed Corn. I mean, how could they not?

After a very eventful service call, we had all of five minutes to run in and run out of the store - plenty of time to grab a couple of bags, right? Well, much to my dismay, they don't carry it - just like every other store I've checked, all they carry is the puffed rice. The bemused clerk didn't even offer to order some bags, even after witnessing my gnashing of teeth and pounding on the counter - she wished us luck, and we returned to New Hampshire empty handed (if you don't count the organic cookies, crystallized ginger, the salt & pepper chips, white chocolate bark... did I mention we hadn't eaten much all day... *grin*).

Disheartened, we arrived at my friend's house to pick up the kidlets, and I told her of my failure. She then innocently asked, "well, have you tried looking online for the puffs?".

No.

No, I hadn't.

No, the thought didn't even cross my mind to Google for them.

I realized then and there that my internet geekiness was slipping. Me, the person who susses out everything on the net, didn't even try checking out the Arrowhead Mills website. Given that I had the name of the company, the search wouldn't have been anywhere near as complex as say the search for the Spanish song lyrics for my friend Mary, or the crochet pattern for an old baby blanket for my mother (and yes, I found both).

As my dear friend chuckled while the light bulb flashed above my head, I grabbed hubby's laptop computer, and all of three minutes later discovered not only was it on their site, I could purchase 6 bags for under $10. It gave me pause though - how soon before I forget to check my email for a whole day?

For my penance, I think I should do 15 journal comments on RvB, read 10 articles on fark, and perform an act of contribution.

Ask A Geek

Time to dust this concept off a bit.

Way back in the beginnings of this blog, I tried out a "Dear Internet Geek" kind of thing. Now, instead of waiting for people to post questions here, I've decided to go ahead and give some examples of things friends and family have recently asked me to find for them. Feel free to chime in with your own posers.

]]> *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Dear Internet Geek,
Thanks to Santa, we now have two iPods, but only one computer. Our boys have very different taste in music, and don't want to share a song library - how to I manage both? ~ B in Lee

Dear B
I haven't clue one. But luckily, I do know how to Google, and smarter people than myself have encountered this same issue. Here's how they resolved the problem -

Do more with your iPod

Creating Custom Playlists for Using Two or More iPods on One Computer

*~*~*

Dear Internet Geek,
I had a very strange dream about my high school love. I'd really love to find out if karma worked, and he's now fat, ugly, bald and poor. Any good places to snoop for him? ~ S in Madbury

Dear S
There are a few places to check out, but keep in mind -if he's poor, then he may not be online. : )

Classmates seems to be the most popular - my account there has gotten many more pages views in less time than my account on Reunion (which is why I ended up adding more info to my Classmates page... positive reinforcement, baby!). Both have free services, but Classmates offers a 7 day free trial that lets you experience what the Gold membership has to offer. Reunion has a three day trial of the full membership, but you have to complete your profile and invite 20 eligible contacts to join (kind of a MLM scheme, if you ask me).

You could also try the infamous Myspace, and look up your school. I emailed the account of an old friend sometime in the spring of last year. Then a little over a month ago, I heard back from her, and it's been awesome catching up after all this time.

*~*~*

Dear Internet Geek,
I serve the Great Old Ones, anxiously awaiting the return of great priest Cthulhu from his tomb at R'lyeh. I'm stumped on what to get my fellow cultists for xmas - any suggestions? Cthulhu fhtagn! ~ K from Lee

Dear K,
I'm so sorry for not getting to this sooner, but I have a suggestion for next xmas. (assuming we're not all breakfast treats for the hungry god by then). Get a bunch of this amazing mugs from CafePress and fill them with a packet or two of hot cocoa, and the seasonal versions of Hershey's Hugs and Kisses. These will come in handy during long nights of preparing for the walpurgisnacht ritual. Have fun!

*~*~*

Dear Internet Geek,
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? ~ C, T, and C from Rollinsford.

Dear C, T, and C
At last, an easy question! Seriously, I just saw this on the news not too long ago (bit of a belated headline), and scientists think they've finally come up with the answer.

Chicken and egg debate unscrambled

Now please finish putting your laundry away, so we can get back to the Brain Games on Cosmeo.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

That's all for now, folks. Shout out if you need some cyber-guidance of your own!

Happy, Happy, Joy... Ouch

The best laid plans... *sigh*

We had a very nice New Years Eve. Totally and completely different from what we planned, but still a happy time was had by all - for the most part. You see, the universe at times has a very strange sense of humor, and sometimes it seems my purpose in life is to amuse it by making plans.

]]> The kidlets and I spent most of yesterday cleaning, and getting things ready for our usual trip to our friend's house and their bonfire celebration. We made a fresh batch of thumbprint cookies, and hubby planned to stop by the store on his way home from work to grab some pub cheese and garlic crackers. Add a re-heated casserole for a quickie dinner, and the night is running pretty smooth, right?

Well, hubby got back from the store, walking like an eighty year old man. Turns out, on his very last job, he was following a line around a house, and stepped onto some snow covered boards. Yep, ass over teakettle he went, and landed just the right way on the meter strapped to his belt (the wrong way, and we'd have spent the new year in the emergency room, getting his cracked ribs taken care of). He knew he'd pulled his back a bit, but felt okay - until the ride home, when he realized he was very sore.

He tried some ibuprofen, but after some very sad discussion with the kidlets (who, amazingly enough, never even suggested leaving Daddy behind while we went to the party), we decided we should stay put for the evening.

We played a round of Cranium Family Fun (the boy team won - I told hubby it was because we took pity on him and let them win... *grin*), and did one set of turns on Diploma Dogs (both games were Santa presents this year). Then I made "kettle corn" (the kidlets call it that because I pop it in our stock pot, but there's no sugar in it - just kernels, olive oil, and salt), and poured some fresh apple cider into Dixie cups for our midnight toast. After watching the ball drop on ABC's Rockin' New Year (which always makes me nostalgic for the year a friend, her boyfriend and I were in NYC for the big night), we finished the last bit of "Ice Age 2 - The Meltdown", then the kidlets crashed. Hubby and I finished off the night with some Irish tea, and the last quarter of the Patriots game (have I mentioned before how much I love our DVR?).

All things considered, even though having hubby on the couch with the heating pad wasn't my idea of a perfect year's end, it still turned out to be happy. The good news is today he is still sore, but he was mobile enough to help me with our brunch (pancakes, eggs, and bacon - oh my!).

I hope everyone else found happiness to start 2007.

New Years Intentions

I'm being more realistic this year.

Instead of making resolutions, I'm simply stating my intentions for the coming year. There are things that I really want to focus on, and I get the feeling once I have these firmly in place, life will start being less "interesting".

]]> My New Years Intentions are:

~ To start on the FLYlady program in earnest
~ To write more often, and in the process, get my blog back up into the top seven
~ To not allow our "family nights" (game and movie so far) to be cancelled because we're too busy or tired

Hubby had to work today, so I decided to do a "crisis cleaning". Not because we're having company - in fact, after hubby gets home, we're making our annual trek to our friend's New Years bonfire. I'm doing it so tomorrow we can have a relaxing family day without having to worry about laundry, dishes, piles of xmas stuff attacking... *grin*

I hope everyone has a safe and happy year's end!

Holiday Bliss

I think we're finally getting it right.

For many years, December was a time of stress, fighting, guilt, and all around yuckiness (though most of it existed solely in my psyche). This year, even though we had to wait until almost the last minute (the 22nd) to do the bulk of our shopping, hubby and I got to do it together, and we had an amazing time. When all was said and done, there was enough under the tree to make the kidlets happy, but not so much that our overcrowded apartment spontaneously exploded.

]]> This month also marks the five year anniversaries of the deaths of my grandmother and father (Nana, a week before xmas, Dad on New Years Eve). I still miss them terribly, but I know they're out there somewhere, and they enjoyed the kidlets on xmas morning as much as my mother did.

Happy Holidays to all!

Smile

Now my bite can be worse than my bark.

However, given the level of discomfort and downright pain, I may not be flashing my new pearly whites too often over the next few weeks. Silly me, I assumed that I'd just pop them in and be good to go. After only a couple of days, and a few hours (okay, more like six total) of wear, I have two sore spots on my lower jaw, and feel like Winthrop Paroo.

]]> I've already scheduled an appointment for Monday (the soonest they could get me in), and hopefully I won't have to go through months of readjustments and such. I wonder if, once they're comfortable, I'd be able to get them customized for special occasions. I'm thinking fangs for Halloween, bunny teeth for Easter, red and green flashing grillz for Xmas... hmmm....

Little Things

I should be a basket case.

At the moment, I have no idea when my "permanent" teeth will arrive at the dentist, let alone how we'll come up with the few hundred dollars still left to pay on them. My van wouldn't start this morning (on a day that I bring a neighbor's daughter to school), and our front tire keeps going flat. Which in turn means that we will most likely miss a big gathering of my internet RvB friends in Concord, unless we can resolve this in the next few days. Our budget has been stretched to the limit, and this week we start paying almost $50 per week for our insurances. The Patriots and the Celtics both tanked recent games. Oh, and even after getting off my duff, my blog is still only at number nine. Yet I've been in the best mood the past few days.

]]> I blame many things. We had two wonderful visits lately from a dear friend (and fellow... or should I say sister blogger) who is one of those people that fills me with positive energy every time I see him. I have people in my life that I call "psychic vampires" because being around them for any length of time leaves me feeling emotionally drained. He most definitely does not fall into that category. Listening to his observations on how our lives are progressing helps remind me that in the grand scheme of things, we have it pretty good.

We also managed to finagle the money for a new toaster-on-steroids. Long boring story about our slumlor... errr, landlord aside, we've been without an oven for over a year. We made due with the functioning cook top of our stove and our large capacity toaster oven until last spring, when our little guy went to the appliance store in the sky. Since it was almost summer, we put off getting a replacement - we grill more than we cook when the weather is nice (and even some times when it isn't) so it seemed an easy sacrifice. Then, as the air turned colder, my kidlets thoughts turned to homemade bread and cookies, and I realized I hadn't made anything like that in ages. While shopping this past weekend at WallyWorld, the kidlets spotted a convection oven that was less than $40. Last night, along with my hubby's delicious beef stew, we had homemade biscuits, and I couldn't believe how such a small addition made such a huge difference in the attitude at the dinner table.

We also scored some "real" plates whilst we were shopping. Since our rather hasty departure from the duplex in Newmarket, we'd been using my bazillion pieces of Tupperware to dine on (I have more plastic plates, bowls, cups, containers than any sane person should have - but that's a story for another day). I've held off buying any "nice" dinnerware until after we moved again - I figured what was the sense in accumulating more breakables. But then I spotted the $1 dinner plates that Satan Sam placed near the convection ovens - and $7 later (I also grabbed a couple of fifty cent mugs to try) our kidlets were again more thrilled than if we'd bought them a new video game (well, maybe not more... but they were pretty psyched).

October 31st also marked our very first Samhain with other Wiccan/Pagan families. It was a small gathering, but to be able to connect with old friends as well as new helped reaffirm for me that we are on the correct spiritual path for us. We're already planning a Yule celebration, and I was so inspired that I de-cluttered my altar space and we're planning to start doing family rituals again. Speaking of cleaning, it's truly amazing how much better it makes me feel to see my clean and shiny sink every morning - who knew?

Interesting and somewhat related website - 43 things...

Come Fly With Me

My life is in chaos.

More accurately, my apartment is once again clutter filled. It's not to the point that my home was at the height of my PPD (post-partum depression) - for those RL friends who remember that wonderful bit of insanity, take heart that it isn't that bad again. Yet. But if I don't do something about this soon, there are stacks of Tupperware that I swear are planning to overthrow the household and kick us out on the street...

]]> I found a website a few years ago called FlyLady.net , and I immediately signed up with the associated Yahoo group. I spent many months reading the emails, meandering around the website, and my house was still a disaster area. I got so caught up in the research that I kind of side-stepped doing the actual work. Part of my problem is that so many of the "baby steps" listed on the website were such common sense solutions that I got a bit indignant about having emails command me to put my shoes on and shine my sink - I was a college educated woman who could certainly get everything under control all by her lonesome. Did I mention the part that I never did actually do anything? *cringe*

Given that the Wiccan New Year is next week, I figured this was a good time to start working on some resolutions. I went around the apartment this morning, and snapped shameless pictures of all my mess. I started with baby step number one - shining my sink. This is what is looked like before I began...

After an hour and a half of catching up on dishes (I'd wash a load, the kidlets dried and put away), I was ready to complete the task. Granted, I tried my best not to get sidetracked, so instead of re-organizing the entire under-the-sink area (which I desperately wanted to do, but would've taken me most of the day), I stuck to clearing just the one side. Here's the final product - not perfect, but better.

Best part is, I'm not exhausted, we got other things done today, and the kidlets were so inspired by my effort that they took it upon themselves to do some impromptu cleaning themselves. There could be something to this after all...