Appetizer
Using only one word, how does grocery shopping make you feel?
Anticipatory.

Soup
What is your favorite part about the season of Autumn?
I’m not sure if it’s the cooler evenings, so that when the sun goes down I can hang out wearing flannel pajamas, but still wear short sleeves in the day time, and so that I can open the windows wide, and not use the a/c at night, or if it’s the smell – that smell of leaves and rain and wood smoke, mixed with a dash of pumpkin. I think, actually, it’s kind of both.

Salad
Have you ever had any bad experiences online?
I’ve been singularly lucky in that I’ve had a few minor annoyances, but nothing I’d classify as major, or even really bad.

Main Course
Name three things that make you happy daily.
– Fuzzy. Even when our only real contact in a day is kissing each other goodbye as he heads to the office (I work from home), there’s a twinkle in his blue eyes and a warmth in his tone that makes me feel loved and safe.
– The dogs. Zorro and Cleo nag me until I take them for walkies, thus forcing me to have daily exercise, and remind me that it’s a good thing to just sit on the deck and bask in the sun for a few minutes every so often. At night (like now) when I’m blogging from bed, they curl up next to me, and every so often, I run my fingers through their fur, and look into their sweet faces.
– My own imagination. I like people, really, but I’m also completely comfortable and at home alone inside my head. I feel sad for people who cannot cope without external stimulus.

Dessert
What one household cleansing or organizing item would you not want to be without?
Windex. Seriously, it does everything: counters, sinks, the top of my glass stove, the inside of the microwave, mirrors, and, oh yeah, it kills ants, too.

Questions provided by Friday’s Feast

I’ve been on a reading jag these past few days, reading novels that take place in France, and living with lamplight instead of bright overhead lights. This is a recurring theme with me; when the weather is cloudy there’s something so cozy about clicking on a single soft pink bulb and it doesn’t matter of the base it’s screwed into is an expensive piece by Murray Feiss or a ten dollar ceramic thing from Target, as long as the mood is right.

With my plush microfiber living room furniture all in cranberry, and warm tones on the walls and carpets, lamplight is especially cozy, and in my head When I move to the bedroom, everything is nautical stripes and medium woods and with the tiny bulbs in the bookcase headboard illuminating just the spot I most need, I pretend I’m in a ship at sea, and the sound of wind and rain beyond my window becomes the sound of surf instead.

Some may think this mental escapism is unhealthy, but I always know the reality of my location. The imagined space simply sets a mood.

Everything I know about poker, comes from one of three sources: Star Trek: The Next Generation, late nights in the common room in college, or my Uncle Joe. Sadly, the first is not interactive, the second is decades past, and the third died several years ago, having smoked himself into an early grave. He died happy, though, and there’s something to be said for that.

While I’ve seen ads for online poker, and I’ve been curious about such sites, I don’t have huge amounts of money to spend on card games. That being said, when I checked out Bet365 I felt like it was a safe environment. No old men in plaid pants waiting to scare you, no cigar smoke and one account lets you access poker, yes, but also bet on football or horse racing as well, all from the comfort of your own home.

It’s a safe environment – especially for women, there’s only one password and login to remember, and best of all? Green visors are optional.

Thirteen Things about MISSMELISS 13 Things that Begin With Q Q: One of the most delightful characters in science fiction. I refer here to the Q from Star Trek not from Bond, as played by John de Lancie. Pure mischief. Quadrille: “Will you walk a little faster?” said a whiting to a snail. “There’s a porpoise close behind us, and he’s treading on my tail. See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance! They are waiting on the shingle – will you come and join the dance? Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you join the dance? Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, won’t you join the dance? — Lewis Carroll Quail: My mother had two pewter quail on the table or the window sill as long as I can remember. Now they’re mine. Quail and pheasant are the same bird, by the way. Quake: I lived in California long enough to become jaded by earthquakes. After you’ve been through a few they are no longer alarming, and you only wake up long enough to identify the reason the room is shaking. “Are we being attacked?” “No. It’s just an earthquake.” “Oh, okay.” Quartet: I’ve played in string quartets but I much prefer to listen to professionals. My favorites are the Guarneri quartet, and a group called Bond. Quartz: When I was five finding a lump of translucent white “quartz crystal” was really cool. The word brings back memories. Quay: Like “strand” it’s one of those beachy, shippy words that are just romantic to me. Questions: If you don’t ask questions, you can’t learn anything. Quiet: There are times when I desperately need, not silence, but quiet. Silence is the absence of sound, but quiet is just the muffling of it, so it’s softer and more peaceful. Quills: Whether it’s a stray sea gull feather worked into art, or an actual quill pen, I have a thing for quills. They’re just so magical. Quilts: I’m still learning how to quilt, but that doesn’t diminish my appreciation for the art one iota. I love the way they’re colorful, and I love the lore associated with them – how certain kinds were used to signal stops on the underground railroad, for example. Fiber arts are so much more than just “things.” Quiz: A quiz is somehow less daunting than a test. It’s such a feisty little word, too. Plus, major points in Scrabble. Quotations: I’m fine with using my own words, but sometimes borrowing someone else’s (as above) are a better way to make a point.

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Last weekend, I spent a happy couple of hours reading the descriptions of apartments in Paris. This evening, I relocated (virtually) to Rome, and spent some time surfing at http://www.romaclick.com/, this great site for finding accommodations in Rome, as well as general information on life i n the city, and links to guided tours.

I’ve learned that when staying in Europe for any length of time, renting an apartment or house ends up being far less expensive than staying in a hotel, and also gives you room to spread out. You get to cook your own meals, hang out on a sofa in just a t-shirt, if you want to, and really experience living in a foreign city, instead of merely visiting one.

Most of the Rome apartments listed on RomaClick.com are upscale, and steps away from one or more tourist attraction or points of interest. The fees listed include utilities and a formal cleaning service after you check out, but not daily cleaning – but that’s really the point. Fees are listed in Euros, but there are various sites where you can convert that to Dollars if you need to – I’ve always found that it’s easier not to convert. If I’m in Mexico I think in Pesos; in Europe, it’s easier just to think in Euros. It’s the conversion that makes you insane.

Aside from apartments, RomaClick.com also offers information on hotels and Bed&Breakfasts.

My parents are planning a trip to Italy next spring. I’ve made it a point to tell them about this site, so they’ll know where to look for their Rome accommodation.

If you came here looking for this week’s Wordless Wednesday post, it’s here.

It’s a bit before six in the morning, and I should be sleeping. In fact, I was tired before one, but lingered online until Fuzzy came to bed around two, chatting with a friend. It’s been raining – a slow, gentle, soaking rain – pretty much constantly since about five yesterday afternoon, and since the temperature was in the mid seventies, I actually turned off the a/c, opened up the house, and let in the moist air and the sizzling sound of the rain falling into the pool, combined with the thicker, wetter sound of raindrops against leaves, cement, and wood.

We slept under fresh-from-the-dryer sheets until Zorro woke me up around four, asking to go out. It was still raining, and he doesn’t like to get his feet wet, but I knew if he had to pee badly enough, he’d deal with the wet. Apparently, this wasn’t a bladder emergency, because I tossed him gently outside, closed the door so he wouldn’t bolt right back in, and proceeded to watch him stare pointedly at the point where the sliding door meets the wall for five minutes, in that very focused chihuahua way of his.

I gave up, and let him back in, rubbed him down with a towel, and told him he was an impossible little dog, but I loved him anyway. I don’t know if he understands the words – dogs, like people, are capable of selective listening, and will respond to ‘treat’ and ‘walk’ in the same day they pretend not to understand the word ‘no.’

Walking back to the bedroom, I decided the house was stuffy, so I clicked the a/c back on. (Amazingly, our electric bill for August, the hottest month of 2007, so far, was almost $100 lower than usual. Because of this, I do not feel guilty about having the a/c set to my version of cool, instead of Fuzzy’s, though lately I’ve been really sensitive to cold. I wonder if that’s an unwritten side effect of alli.) I closed the bedroom window, took my own elimination break, and then crawled into bed.

At that point I realized there was actual thunder and lighting outside – of the sort that is not at all ominous, but rather like the weather is murmuring comforting thoughts. “Let your creativity shine,” the lightning says, in pale flickers, and the thunder adds, “and don’t worry so much if about what people like. Write what you like.” In my head, Michael “Worf” Dorn is the voice of the thunder.

I like to watch and listen to storms, and I was kind of awake at that point, and hungry, so I’ve been sitting up in bed since then, visiting Wordless Wednesday participants, and trying to use words and water to kill the hungry feeling, so I can snatch a couple more hours of sleep.

And on that note, I shall close the lid on the computer, snuggle up with Fuzzy, Zorro, and Miss Cleo, and see if there might not be time for another dream or two before I have to get up for real.

If you’ve been on the Internet for any length of time, you will, at some point, consider changing – or choosing – a hosting company for your website or blog. If you’re like me, you begin this process by polling your friends.

But what if you aren’t blessed with geeky friends? Or what if you’re turn between two of their recommendations? What do you do then? The answer is simple. You go to http://www.webhostingunleashed.com/, and use their newly re-tooled site to do some objective research.

Web Hosting Unleashed features a searchable database of web hosts – a host of Hosts – if you will. You can search by type (vps vs. reseller accounts, for example), or alphabetically, and even better than mere searching, you can also compare several hosts, to see how their features differ.

User opinion is a big part of this site, and I spent a good half-hour reading reviews of my own hosting company before I sat down to write this post, to see if what was posted meshed with my own experiences. By and large, it did, and I was happy to see that negative posts are represented, because it tells me Web Hosting Unleashed is about real information, and providing good service.

As I said, I’m not in the market to change web hosts – and I am blessed with a bunch of friends who are at least as geeky as me – but I’d recommend Web Hosting Unleashed to anyone seeking honest comparisons, and ease of use.

(WordlessWednesday is the next post down.)

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A slightly fictionalized account of What I Do For a Living, as told to my mother and aunt, via email..

One of the parts of my job is to write articles on command. I don’t usually get to pick the topic, just the angle. M2 (who is in charge of selling links) will email me and say, “I need 500 words about hybrid technology for a green website” or “Please write 1200 words about different anti-theft measures for cars.” Generally, my turnaround time is 4-8 hours, when I can easily research stuff on the ‘net.

On Thursday, M2 said, “I need you to write something technical about vintage pickup trucks for this website.” He gave me the URL, and I went and looked, and it was really overwhelmingly technical. Stuff like, “How to modify a flat six engine in a 1949 truck.” or “How to replace the hinge in the windshield of a 1941 truck.” I was a bit daunted, but I love a challenge. “Okay,” I said. “I’ll write something, but I need the weekend for something this specific.” Making my task even more difficult than I originally thought was the fact that the website in question, is THE AUTHORITY for restoring vintage pickups. Everyone links back to them. No pressure.

I did what anyone would. I begged a friend for help. “Rana,” I said to my friend who grew up in West Texas, and knows the difference between types of shotguns the way the rest of us know the difference between Dolce & Gabbana and DKNY. “Rana, I’m a city girl. You say ‘truck’ and I envision something with ‘FedEx’ emblazoned across the side. I have no clue what to write about – they’ve even covered upholstery.” (No pun intended.)

We brainstormed on and off over the weekend, and finally we hit upon an untouched subject. “Radios,” she said, “No one wants a truck without tunes.”

“Oh, good idea,” I said. “They were still using tubes back then, weren’t they? It was pre-transistor.”

So I fired up Firefox and Blingo, and found some information about radios and trucks, partly from some links Rana found, and partly from my mad Blingo skillz, and put together 381 words on “common technical problems with vintage truck radios,” including a lot of stuff about tubes and vibrations and capacitors…and as I was writing, I was back in Grandpa’s basement watching the wavy lines on the oscilloscope.

So what began as the assignment from hell ended up an interesting trip down memory lane.

Thanks, Rana.

I grew up watching MASH, and I remember very vividly an interview in which Alan Alda said that the dog tags the cast wore belonged to real soldiers. I thought that was cool. I also remember a time when dog tags were used as a fashion accessory. I remember wanting some.

Now, there’s a company, Quick Trophy, offering fashion colored dog tags as an alternative to medals or participation prizes for school or community sports teams. I don’t play any kind of sport (well, unless improv counts), but I liked the idea of using these dog tags as a form of advertising for my website, especially after I learned that one of the colors available is pink.

I first had to choose my sport, because each tag comes with a little icon, representing the sport or event in question. I selected LaCrosse because I think it’s an underrated sport. When I order more, I’ll probably pick cheerleading or music. Since I was ordering only one tag, I only had to fill out one set of engraving information, but the website is set up to allow customization within each order, so if you want different names on each of ten tags, you can do that.

The interface was easy to use and intuitive, and I received an email confirming my order after I’d completed the checkout procedure. A few days later, I received another email telling me my order has shipped, and a couple of days after that, my pink dog tag was waiting for me in the mailbox, with the 18″ ball chain sealed in a baggie, just as promised. (Each piece is wrapped in plastic, so that nothing arrives scratched.)

The chain was a little bit tough to link together, mainly because I didn’t want to break a nail, but it snapped into place, and the shiny pink tag can be worn around my neck with no fuss, and no discomfort because it weighs almost nothing. The color of the pink, by the way, is the same as the pink iPod shuffle.

I would definitely use Quick Trophy again, as I had my tag within a week, even without special shipping, and I really liked the ease of use of their site. As well, I like that there are discounts for ordering items in larger quantities.

Of course, they sell other sorts of prize trophies as well – including actual medals.

But I really like the dog tags.