New Subscription List

I heard from several people that the NotifyList link was not working properly, so now I am using Feedburner. There is a new widget off to the right to sign up for notification emails when I post new content. Give it a try; I think this one will work better. Fingers crossed!

Happy Blog-iversary to Me

Well folks, it has been a year of blogging fun over here at Chez Inertia. I've certainly covered a broad (and probably uninteresting) range of topics in the last year and 119 posts. Thanks for indulging my need to put my deepest thoughts and silliest observations out there for others to enjoy. Here's to another year of fun!

Yes, You've Come to the Right Place

So instead of doing the homework I should have been doing, I've been playing with the ol' blog. First I added the countdown clock--the one that tells the world exactly how long until my 40th birthday. (I'm giving you all plenty of time to pick out just the right gift...oh, I jest!) You can't miss it, it's the big green monstrosity on the right.

Then I decided to try a new template. I'm not sure that I'm all on board with the change yet, but I can easily go back to the original one if I get the proverbial wild hair (or is it wild hare?). Feel free to comment honestly--I have no vested interest at this point.

New Leaf Turning and All That Jazz

After my horrible blogging record for the month of July, I've made a promise to myself to blog more during the month of August. Of course, now that I've typed out those words, I realized that I'll be on vacation for eight days during the month (and presumably completely off the web, since we'll be staying in a rental cabin in the ginormous metropolis of Driggs, Idaho) as well as starting my grad school coursework. What can I say, people? I'll do the best I can with the resources I've got. If I can log onto a web connection during the ol' va-cay, I will. And I suspect that I'll be willing to take any excuse to take a break from the new studying routine, so it's probable that I will blog more.

In the meantime, some housekeeping...

Books I've read during The Great Blog Blackout of 2008:
The Wentworths by Katie Arnoldi (a bookclub selection) I guess my reaction to this one would have to be a resounding "meh"*. Arnoldi has crafted a satire of Southern California culture using one wealthy family as a stand-in for the entirety of a rich, vacuous, lost society. Reviewers praised its laugh out loud humor, but it must have been lost on my unsophisticated middle-American outlook. It wasn't badly written, just ultimately unsatisfying. Reading it was a little like eating a meal consisting entirely of marshmallows. It starts out great but leaves you feeling bloated and irritable.

Origin: A Novel by Diana Abu-Jaber loved it! I couldn't put this one down. It was a loaner from a friend of mine and I ripped right through it in about a day. The author said that she set out to write a "literary" mystery/suspense genre novel and I think she succeeded. What could have been another overwrought forensic whodunnit (babies have been dying from what might be muder or simply SIDS) was made fresh with the inclusion of an intriguing main character and an amazing subplot. Kept me guessing until the very end.

* Meh (according to the Urban Dictionary) - a word that conveys "indifference; to be used when one simply does not care" or "the verbal equivalent of a shrug of the shoulders".

Don't let it be said that I'm not teaching you all things!

I've Topped 1,000!

The day finally came, people. I've had over 1,000 visitors to my blog. Of course, that isn't 1,000 different people, just 1,000 times that someone accessed it. I'd say that a good quarter of my blog readership is made up of my relatives (either in-law or by blood), so hat's off to all of you. The special 1,000th reader was from London , England and got to my blog by Googling "Richard K. Morgan" -- from my Readin', Readin', Readin' post. Congratulations Mr. (or Ms.) Random English Dude (or Dudette). This honor gets you exactly nothing but my undying gratitude. TLS tried very hard to be the magical visitor as he was both Mr. 999 and Mr. 1,001. Sorry, hon. In the interest of fairness, I was going to call TLS and ask what his view count was on his two YouTube videos, but I didn't want to depress myself too much.

I thought I'd also show you the world map from my Sitemeter account showing where the last 100 visitors were from. I've gone global!

P.S. In case anyone is interested, TLS and I had a fabulous anniversary dinner last night. We were so stuffed by the time we left the restaurant, but I have a doggie bag full of my entree that has my name written all over it for dinner tonight.

Also, I will be in blog blackout until Monday (or more likely Tuesday) of next week. I leave tomorrow morning for my cousin Brittany's wedding in Illinois. Hopefully I'll have some good stories to tell (and I promise to change the names to protect the innocent if it comes to that).

Later, taters!

Hey Inertia Girl, Do You Know How To Work The Internet? Apparently Not All The Time.

The post I wrote the other day about our idea for "classic Father's Day gifts" was meant to be an open dialog with my numerous readers; however, apparently when I posted the entry, I did not include the ability to enter comments. How I did this, I'm still not sure. Maybe I should have my internet blogging license revoked.

Of course, I did finally figure out how to do this: strikethrough. I can't adequately describe how excited that one, simple application of HTML code made me. I kept reading other people's blogs and seeing them do it, but Blogger doesn't have a "strikethrough button" which meant that I had to go in search of instructions and that I'd have to face the scary "Edit Html" tab in the publishing section. But I did it. Hooray for me!

The Next Person I Have to Mow Down in My Conquest of the Internet

Said person turns out to be my husband, TLS. "Oh," you ask, "How is he a bigger Internet sensation than you?" Well, it turns out that he is a YouTube rising star. Granted, he's not in the LonelyGirl or Obama Girl stratosphere, but he has a more than respectable view count (6,440, combined) for his two short videos on how to make a potato battery. Especially since they were really only intended for Youngest's oldest kid--codename River Rat--and the completion of his science fair project. While over here at Blogger, I, dear reader, have less than 750 hits for my blog. Not that this is a contest between the two of us. Nooooo. Never. There is absolutely no taunting or not-so-subtle reminders being bandied about the house. How could there possibly be room for competition within the bonds of matrimony? (Whatever. Bring it on, big guy!)

I am not going to link or embed his videos, because, really, I am not in the business of helping my esteemed opponent--no matter how cute he may be.

I Think I Have Blog Performance Anxiety

As you might be able to guess from the list of blogs I read religiously and also because I think I confessed my blog addiction in a prior post, (I could go looking for it and link, but then I'd probably get side-tracked reading my own old posts, critiquing them and considering whether or not I should "improve" them at this late date.) but I read a lot of blogs. I love reading them because they give me a window into the worlds of other people who lead different lives than mine. I read blogs by moms, professional writers, ER doctors, expatriots who live in Europe, and linguists and since I am none of these things, I get to live vicariously through them. I get to try on another lifestyle and think, "I could do that." or "Good lord, who'd want to do that?" or "If only I were younger/smarter/more brave, I'd do that." (And occasionally, while reading about someone else's crazy drama, I get to feel smug and superior with my boring and yet comfy, cozy life.)

And while I love the insights and laughs I get from my internet friends (and by friends I mean someone I know by reputation who doesn't know me at all), I start to feel that my own writing pales in comparison. That subconsious nay-sayer gives me the message that my insights are dim and my wit is dull. "I can't possibly measure up!" I want to scream. But I guess in the same way that no matter how bad your own situation is, you can always find someone in worse shape than you; you are always going to be around people who are better than you at something.

And Over On The Sidebar...

Turn your attention, folks, to the sidebar on the left. I've added a link for a notify list. If you sign up, you'll receive an email when I update the blog. Or you can just check back at your leisure. Either way.

I'm In Triple Digits

Just checked the site meter and I've had over 100 site visits. Woo! Just a few million more to be an official internet sensation...