JISE moved

This blog has been moved to indepath.com/blog just because.

Please update any bookmarks, feeds, et cetera. Or don't if you don't want to, but there won't be new content here.

Aberrant Physiology FTW

I apparently have developed a weird mutant immunity to poison ivy.

12yo daughter has not. Yet.

Random Reading

Today's random website find:

Texts from last night

I either didn't misspend my youth enough, or I am damn lucky we didn't have texting cell phones when I was out partying.

Haven't decided which yet.

Wintergirls

Yesterday I read "wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson.

I wish I didn't.

I'm glad I did.

New Personal Blog

I set up a new blog at InsaneJournal (as Blogger doesn't have the ability to filter posts) because there are some rants that just aren't suitable for public consumption.

caliedo.insanejournal.com

Back from the deadish

I am fighting my way back to the land of the living, or at least what passes for it nowadays. There's probably a lot of things I should catch up on for y'all, but that's not gonna happen this post. (And I'm discovering all these cute 'improvements' as I reanimate ... sigh.)

Briefly ...

The last two weeks have pretty much been a tour of the third level of Hell. I've barely been online, and as I am a rather private person by nature I'm not likely to post much about it.

I will, however, share the fact that my dad is home from the hospital now and doing much better (on his couch, watching his soccer, without random medical people poking him every half hour). I plan to see him today but have to call first - as he said, he has a 5k run today, and then is helping this guy move furniture. (I wonder where I get my smartass sense of humor from ...)

The Dad Update

Just got word that my dad is recovering well and will be moved out of the ICU today. They will also be giving him a nicotine patch so he will stop being so mean to the nurses. :)

Crazy Week

This past week was fairly insane ... did more running around in five days than I usually do in a month. Then my dad had a heart attack on Saturday, so Sunday was spent at the hospital with my mom and brother. So now I'm even further behind than I usually am ...

Lessons from Cinema 2

1. When the blonde asks if you're flirting with her, you're gonna die.
2. When some one asks if you're a god, you say yes.
3. When the computer asks if you wouldn't prefer a nice game of chess, do not insist on playing Global Thermonuclear War.

Subscription Poof!

Dunno what happened, but my subscription count through Feedburner went from 20 on Friday to 0 on Saturday. I'd be twistedly proud of myself for that except some of my subscribers have told me they haven't unsubbed.

Well. Anyway. Since Feedburner is nagging about making the migration to Google, might as well do it now, since i don't have to worry about losing my subscriber count.

W00T!

Milestone #2: JISE is one year old today!
Milestone #3: This is post #200!
Milestone #4: I got my new template just the way I want it!

No can haz!

Nope, didn't work. DAMMIT!

Today's the day ...

Hope this works!

Template Challenge

I found a template I really like, and put a lot of work into it yesterday ... And it needs a lot of work. Unlike other templates, I can't just use Blogger's drag-and-drop GUI to arrange the modules. I have to go into the code and move things. So I'm also getting a crash course in JS and a refresher in CSS.

The really fun part is, half of the documentation comments are in Portugese (the native lingo of the adapter) which I don't read as fluently as Spanish ... sigh ... so I'm getting some edumacatin' in that too.

Blogger Templates

This blog's first anniversary is coming up, and I'm contemplating a layout change ...

And as I was browsing the interwebs I found this great site, so I figgered I'd share. :)

Blog Templates

I'm Not Alone!

Other people think geeks are sexy too:

as seen on Double X Geeks

January Top EC Droppers

1. Politicus US
2. Three Fates Design - Beaded Jewelry
3. Deronda
4. Mutual Love
5. MARKFE
6. Glue 4 Families
7. Basketball Daily
8. Enjoy Work As Leisure
9. THE Andrea
10. iWalk,U2?

Who's the Bad Guy?

Listening to a show on History Channel about the religious Apocalypse ... they've gotten to the bit about God casting the devil out of Heaven. And I can't help but think of "The Devil's Advocate," Pacino's insistence (as the Devil) that he is a fan of man.

Ramble ...

I've done some studying myself, and although it's clear that Satan's supposed to be the bad guy, I can't help but wonder. In some versions of the old stories, it was the bad guy that insisted Man be given free will, to choose to love God or not, unlike the angels which had no choice.

My favorite story (rarely found nowadays) is that the bad guy insisted Man not be left lonely in Paradise, but given a mate to love and be loved by, to cherish and be cherished by, and yes, to be challenged by. God wouldn't do it, so the bad guy did: Lilith, Adam's first wife. And she wouldn't kowtow to Adam, but insisted on being treated as his equal. And Adam threw a fit when she wanted to be on top for sex, and beseeched God to rid him of her. And God did, driving her from Eden; but she turned to that fan of man, Satan, and he gave her the strength and wisdom to find her fortune alone.

Of course, God gets all the good PR, and Satan and Lilith are cast as evil enemies of humanity. But I wonder. Wisdom carries its own painful price for those who dare seek it - how rational is it to think we should be punished further for daring to use these amazing brains supposedly given to us by a beneficent God?

Milestone #1

Five Thousand Visitors to JISE!

Thank you, everyone!

"Not Your Typical"

Gripe time ... as I am doing EC drops, I see blog after blog referring to "not your typical [blog/mommy blogger/mom next door/etc.]."

I suspect none of these people have bothered to read any other blogs.

They are typical. They talk about kids, budgets, marriage (or divorce), housework, shopping ...

I mean, really. Dictionary, maybe? Look up the word "typical" before deciding something isn't.

Gosh golly

I was terribly slack the last couple of days, as far as keeping on track with projects and whatnot ...

But yesterday was an awesome day. I helped one of my best friends a bit with a relationship problem she was having with her beloved, although of course I worried that I was only going to make things worse. Seemed to work out all right though, and I have hope that things will continue to improve for her.

Then I spent the evening hanging out with my other best friend, and we talked of cabbages and kings and things that go with a life of style, and I found I was able to really open up about some things that I had never felt safe enough to talk about before.

Couldn't sleep for sh*t tho, and it'll be a drag-assy day. If that's the trade-off, I'll take it, gladly.

Friday?!

Not sure how the week slipped by so fast! A good week, to be sure, both productive and pleasant ... But yesterday I managed to not post or tweet much, the day just whirled by.

Wonder what delights today will bring ...

And into another night

Today wasn't quite as productive as yesterday, but I don't have any complaints, either.

Random thoughts...

I have been making progress with productivity, but now I feel I need to reconsider the order in which I am attempting to tackle my tasks.

And there are still things I want to get done online that I am not getting around to ... my email is totally out of control, mostly thanks to the dozens of groups I belong to and never participate in.

I haven't gotten to Facebook in a while, nor MySpace in forever (tho I hate MySpace, so, meh) ... I've mostly lost interest in using LiveJournal since they moved their servers out of the country. I did pop in at Tribe.net today, but only because of a message from one of the Wild Aspies Tribe members; I didn't even read any posts there.

And the list goes on ... Wild Wear tee-shirt designs I'm not making, friends' blogs I'm not commenting at, other social networking things I just don't have the mental energy to slog through.

I've been working on simplifying, but there's still more work to do.

Best of all, though, was today's technomancer luv ... Life as always is ups and downs, but I am learning better to appreciate the ups and let the downs roll by.

THIS IS SO WRONG

Seriously. So wrong I couldn't accept the responsibility of ganking the picture. And this is ME saying it's wrong. So, yanno, only click over if you're not going to blame me for what you see.

Late Start

Up late last night, and was left to sleep in despite my orchestrations to be awoken early. Sigh. Getting better at time management and staying on-task, tho.

And now, for no particular reason, the bunny with a pancake on its head. :)

Today

Today was definitely a good day. Quite possibly one of the best I have had in quite a while. And it was all just little things going well.

Nice how things can work out that way.

More bits and pieces ...

EntreCard is being horribly slow and still hasn't straightened out the widget issue for my Today^ blog ...

But on the plus side, Sheta^ called, and we got to talk for a while. Her Internet connection has finally been fixed so now we can get back to our usual online babbling. :)

Good start

Got up early enough today to get some writing done - aimed for 3k words, got 3.6k done in under three hours. Go, me!

Also heard from Igora, Lady of the Drum; might be starting circle early this year, indoors of course, but sounds good to me.

Supper Success

Everybody ate, and nobody died! It's certainly a red-letter day ... And to think all I had to do was follow the directions on the package.

Next time, I'll be really daring, and go for the chicken tartar ...

Stir Crazy

I don't usually cook dinner - I am lucky to have a Husband who is not only an excellent cook, but enjoys cooking as well.

But tonight I venture forth into the strange territory of domestication and the alien realm of that place called the kitchen, and am at this very moment creating something that hopefully will be both edible and accepted by the pickier members of the household.

Wish me luck!

Favicon!

Thanks to these folks^ at FreeFavicon.com, we now have the ever-so-spiffy JISE logo in place for our favicon.

w00t.

Taxes done!

And here's hoping that next year's return is a lot more complicated to file.

Changes afoot ...

... And some landmarks on the horizon.

February fifth marks this blog's first anniversary, and I'm closing in on 200 posts.

I'd bake a cake, but, well, who am I trying to fool? I don't bake, and the last time I tried to feed a blog it took three days to get the crumbs out of the USB port.

Past and Present

I suppose, in a way, MLK's dream has come true, at least in my kids.

They don't understand what all the fuss is about with President Obama.

"He won the election, didn't he? Somebody always wins, right? So what's the big deal?"

We explained a bunch of times what the big deal is. But they don't believe us, I think. How lucky they are, to be able to scoff at the idea of a whole society discriminating against part of itself based on the color of the skin. In our little neighborhood, there is nothing to support these old tales of segregation.

"I knew he was gonna win, anyway," the boy said the other day.

"Oh?" I asked.

"Sure," he answered. "He's from Chicago."

Blog Directories

I spent a good chunk of the last few days submitting this blog to directories. And I'll tell you, I am damn sick of typing the same information over and over and over and over and over ... (Has anyone else ever noticed that if you type or write the same word multiple times it stops looking like a real word?)

Being new to the directory game, I haven't developed an opinion yet. Most seem like a directory, nothing more: a list of blogs. A few are different, though, and strive to be more like a online community or social network.

One really stands out: SlogBite^. Although the site itself is a bit rough around the edges, that is to be expected with any new venture. It is the owner, Mel, who makes it shine: personal attention and a clear dedication to this project. It is still in pre-launch officially, but I feel confident in recommending it to other bloggers interested in increasing exposure through a directory.

My collection of mini-badges reside in the right sidebar, but I'm throwing them in here too for good measure.

expand

GetBlogs Blog Directory

Buzzer Hut | Promote Your Blog

Blog Folders Blog Directory

My Bloglog

UFO over Chicago?

Articles at Many Rivers Blog of the Weird

Oh, the horror ...

The song in this video is one of my daughters' favorites ... and the images are from a videogame fave of the Hubby and son.

Shared because ... well, why should I suffer alone? :)

Only As Old As You Feel

"Listen, Mom!" my 12-year-old daughter, Blossom, said to me the other day. She was working at my old laptop, and as she struck the keys a metallic, mechanical sound issued from the machine. "I made it sound funny!"

"That's a typewriter sound," I told her.

"Listen!" she repeated, hitting (I know) the 'Enter' key, and eliciting that old-school ratchet-and-ding. After a few more feverish taps, she looked up at me. "A typewriter?"

"Yes," I said, suddenly feeling about a million years old. "Remember when we went to the museum last summer, and saw those old machines in the Newspaper display?"

"Ohhh," she said. "You had one in grade school, right?"

"Yes," I said again, finding a chair and easing my ancient bones into it.

"Neat," Blossom opined, typing a few more lines. "That was before CD-ROM, right? You had to use floppy disks."

"No, dear," I answered. "Something even more archaic. It's called paper."

Educating the Masses

When my oldest daughter, Rose, started kindergarten, she was excited and I was sad - my baby was growing up! She had taught herself to read before she was out of diapers, and the classwork was so boring for her that she spent more time assisting the teacher than being a student. The next year, she was even more bored: the school asked if she could help with remedial reading for third graders, but even this didn't keep her busy enough to keep from disrupting classes. So before first grade was over, we decided to pull her out of school and teach her at home.

We tried "homeschooling" at first, but before long realized that her learning style was far better suited to "unschooling" - and in the years since, her siblings have also been flourishing in this loose, self-directed learning environment.

Now, my eldest baby is teaching herself Japanese, and has decided she will become a forensic scientist (joining me in yelling at the television when we watch "Forensic Files" and the investigators miss the obvious). Her younger sister, 12, is torn between cinema and diagnostic medicine (she loves "House, MD" and the new-to-her Sherlock Holmes mysteries); and my son, 9, wants to be an engineer (or maybe a pirate, or possibly a astronaut, or an invisible ninja) and has already taken apart and reassembled most of our clocks. And the youngest, well, she's bent on world domination, and heaven help anyone who stands in her way.

It would have been so easy to send them to "real school" - but I shudder with horror at the thought of what would happen to them in the local conformity factories. There is nothing in my world as thrilling as hearing one say "learning is awesome" and another responding "shh - I'm trying to learn this."

A passion for learning is probably the best gift a child can receive - and it's free, infinite, and will last them the rest of their lives.

Reconnecting with old favorites

This week I've been able to enjoy some of my favorite old movies, and introduce the kids to flicks they've seen spoofed and referenced in pop media.

So, in no particular order (and as a way to cheat on posting because I am lazy), here's some blast-from-the-past cinema choices:

• LadyHawke^ (1985) Rutger Hauer, Matthew Broderick, Michelle Pfeiffer


• Real Genius^ (1985) Val Kilmer


• Ghost Busters^ (1984) Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver


• The Blues Brothers^ (1980) Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Carrie Fischer


• Twelve Monkeys^ (1995) Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt


• Big Trouble in Little China^ (1986) Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall


• Arsenic and Old Lace^ (1944) Cary Grant, Peter Lorre


• Grosse Pointe Blank^ (1997) John Cusak, Dan Aykroyd

Back to it ...

Well, if you're reading this, you too survived the holidays. I think we need an official non-holiday day to recover from the end-of-year madness.

If not for the colds and flu going around, it would be a good time to gather family close and snuggle in with something quiet and restful. But everyone's sick, it seems, so instead we have to grab what little bits of peace and happiness we can.

To you and yours and happy, healthy 2009!

Mood:

Recovering