Awards and Excuses

I have been missing in action for over a week and I'm not sure what my excuse is despite the title of this post. Time is slipping by at a much faster rate than usual and our trips to the cabin seem to take me away from blogging. It used to be on weekends I'd sit for hours reading and writing blog posts, but now we arrive late Friday evening at our cabin and then my weekend days are taken up with walking in the woods with the dog, pondering different leaf shapes and wondering what type of tree they come from, and gazing at babbling brooks. I know that it is a good thing to be appreciating nature, but I also miss visiting all the blogs I enjoy and interacting with everyone.

The Yankees being in the World Series doesn't help either. Although as many already know, I was brought up as a Red Sox fan by my Massachusetts-born mother, I went over to the Dark Side in 1986 when the Sox blew the Series and lost to the Mets. I'd had it. I was tired of rooting for a losing team, and my husband was already a Yankees fan so I decided to join him. It was a gratifying change, although eventually the Red Sox did manage to win a couple of World Series, to my mother's satisfaction. At any rate, for the past couple of weeks a lot of evenings have been taken up by listening or watching the Yankees in the playoffs and World Series.

And of course, I do have one other excuse: Facebook. Yes, Facebook is a time-sucker and is very addictive. And a lot of the bloggers I read are also Facebook friends and are posting links of interest and political viewpoints over there, so the conversation is spreading. If you're on Facebook and want to be FB friends please e-mail me and let me know how to find you!

Once it's too cold and snowy to go up to the Adirondacks I'm sure I'll be back here much more regularly!

In the meantime I would like to thank JadedJ from Banquet of Consequences for a lovely award, the Best Blog Award. I am honored to be chosen and to be among some good company - go check out the other blogs that got awards as well as Banquet of Consequences, if you haven't already discovered it on my blogroll.

As always, awards are meant to be passed on. It's going to be hard to pick blogs from such a plethora of excellent choices, so I'll try to pick some that are newer additions to my blogroll.


First on the list is Robert Rouse's new blog, Freeze-Dried Gray Matter. He addresses all kinds of subjects, from politics to sports and more. He even does video commentary! Check him out if you haven't already.

Next, Mr. Macrum from the great state of Maine, over at Lost in the Bozone. Start reading and you'll be sucked in for sure. He covers a lot of ground and it's all interesting stuff!

Fran over at Ramblings. She's definitely not a newcomer to my blogroll but I wanted to send you over there in case you hadn't gone yet. She covers all kinds of political subjects, health care, and more, as well as posting some great cartoons and other tidbits. And of course many of you know her from her excellent, well thought-out comments on your own blogs.

MnMom at Happy to be From Iowa shares her life with her readers as well as her progressive viewpoint. Check her out, you'll feel as if you've met an old friend!

So those are four of the many blogs I enjoy. If you've been awarded please do pass it on if so inclined - it's alway fun to share links and find new bloggers. Of course at some point I'll never have enough time in the world to read them all. But that doesn't stop me from trying!

I'll send Baxter next time to do some more serious commentary. Isn't it kind of sad that my cat has more political interests than I do lately? Something is wrong. But I am finding it hard to concentrate on politics lately. However, I will be interested to see what happens in New Jersey's governor's race, which is neck and neck between Corzine and Christie, with a fairly popular 3rd party candidate in the mix. I'm sure Baxter will have something to say about those results after tomorrow's election!

An Award-Meme!

Many thanks to Marie at the Attentive Aphorist for this "Honest Weblog" award! I am honored!

As part of the award, there is a meme.

These are the rules:

1.You must brag about the award
2.You must include the name of the blogger who bestowed the award on you and link back to the blogger
3.You must choose a minimum of seven (7) blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.
4.Show their names and links and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with Honest Weblog.
5.List at least ten (10) honest things about yourself.
Then pass it on with the instructions!

So here are my 10 honest things about myself!

1. I bowled on my company bowling league for 14 years and had an average as high as 142 at one time.
2. I am known for being perpetually late for everything, particularly work in the morning. Morning is not my best time.
3. Nothing upsets me more than hearing about someone abusing an animal. I admit I literally would want to kill the person who did it. Luckily I don't have that opportunity since I'm usually reading about it in the paper or on a website. But if I ever caught someone, watch out.
4. I am most happy when I'm outdoors in nice weather, and tend to hibernate in the cold, gray winter days. I become less social and less apt to want to leave the house. Then as soon as spring comes I am a new person.
5. I love old houses and am a big supporter of historic preservation. I especially love old houses with stories to them. Ghosts are OK too.
6. I was so nearsighted as a child that I remember thinking to myself, "I don't know why they bother putting signs at the side of the road; nobody can read them." Luckily they figured it out when I was around 10 and I got glasses.
7. I have always been the kind of person who tries to stay in touch with all her friends and even former boyfriends. So I love all the new "social media" such as Facebook. I re-connected on Facebook with my really good friend from my earliest childhood. We hadn't been in touch for over 40 years. I am also still in touch with my best friend from 8th grade, and with my 4 closest high school friends, and several college friends, as well as work friends that have moved on to other endeavors.
8. I am lazy. Yes, I admit it. If it's something I am really into, I'll work my butt off. But if it's something I don't want to do? I'm bad. I procrastinate and hope someone else does it or it will go away. These things include projects I don't want to do at work, or walking the dog in the rain, or many forms of housework. DH complains he is always doing the dishes. Of course I DO do the laundry. I'm not totally useless. But I could do more, and I'm trying to correct my tendencies!
9. I love the smell of dog toes and ears. They smell strangely comforting, kind of like Fritos. I don't think I could sleep without my dog in the bed.
10. One of my favorite memories of my father is that when we lived up near Rochester, New York, he used to take me to classical concerts at the Eastman Theater on Thursday nights. I think sometimes it was just the two of us and other times my mother would come too. I remember we saw Vladimir Horowitz play the piano once.

So, that's my 10 honest things. Now, on to the awards. The following bloggers get this award! Looking forward to their 10 honest statements.

The ever-brilliant Randal
Annette over at Just My Little Piece of the World
DCap at Distributorcap NY
Fran at Ramblings
Robert Rouse over at Left of Centrist
Katie Schwartz
Sue J at Nailing Jello to the Wall.

Congratulations all!

Playing, Whining and Thanking!

Well, first of all, you will notice I've changed my blog format. I just felt as if it needed a little freshening up for Spring. It's still a work in progress; I may fiddle with it some more.

As for the whining part, what is it with this weather? It is gray, depressing and really windy out today. It's April. Why isn't it springlike yet? I want to be out in the garden, cleaning up old leaves and other leftover debris from last year. But it's just not nice enough out. The trees and bushes are showing a few tentative buds and there are some crocuses poking up their heads in the yard but it just isn't warm enough yet for anything really impressive to bloom.

I feel as if I've been stuck in the house for months. Oh yeah, that's right - I have been stuck in the house for months.

I love the warm weather, love being able to be outside on the deck or in the garden. It isn't fair that we have winter 6 months a year here in New Jersey. Sure, you can get a nice day once in awhile as late as November or as early as March, but really, you can't enjoy the outdoors here until May, and can't really go outside after October. So why do I live here? A question for the ages.

Moving on...I am trying to catch up with all of the things I've been missing due to my recent addiction to Facebook and Scrabble. I realize that I have neglected to thank two people for awards! One is Utah Savage, and the other, Liberality. These fine bloggers have seen fit to bestow the Sisterhood Award on me so I am finally, belatedly, thanking them both! Rather than re-spread this award to people who have already gotten it anyway, I just want you to read all the bloggers I enjoy. There are so many wonderful female bloggers I read, please go visit all of the links on my sidebar that are written by women! And for that matter, there are a lot of great guys over there too. Go, read, enjoy!

An Award with a Meme!

Thanks to Spartacus for this lovely award! I am honored to receive it and will do my best to pass it on. Because not only is it an award, it is also a meme!

It comes at a good time for me as I am really fed up with thinking about the three-ring circus that is our Congress these days, which is unable to pass a stimulus bill without either loading it up with pork (the Democrats) or insisting nothing will do but more tax breaks (the Republicans); and as a result, nothing is getting done and the final version will be a watered-down thing that is "neither fish nor foul nor good red herring" as the old saying goes.

But I digress.

So, the meme:

Those who receive this award are required to talk about five addictions they have, and then of course bequeath the award to five other bloggers.

This is very easy for me because I tend to be a rather addictive personality. In the past I have smoked cigarettes (gave it up in 1981 after about 9 years of smoking a pack and a half a day); drunk a lot of wine (as well as other alcoholic beverages) - gave that up four years ago when I was diagnosed with a very early case of tongue cancer; and I struggle with my weight (unfortunately I can't just give up food completely; quitting an addiction is much easier than cutting down).

Luckily for me, blogging came along just about the same time I quit drinking, so I was able to channel my wish for wine into something else which is a lot more mentally constructive!

So, without further ado, here are my current addictions:

1) Blogging. Like many of you, I'm sure, I find blogging (including posting, reading and commenting) to be very addictive. When I am away from a computer for any length of time I feel bereft and at loose ends until I can get on-line again.

I first discovered the whole world of blogging when, at our annual neighborhood block party, a new neighbor told me she had a blog. I was fascinated. I had heard of this blogging phenomenon but hadn't even read any blogs, let alone thought of writing one.

So I checked out her blog (which is Finslippy) and was highly impressed. It was funny, it was poignant, it was well-written, and she got tons of comments on it. (She has also been written up in the newspapers and been featured on TV).

I had always loved to write - I was a journalism major in college and kept journals for quite a few years - and here was a new medium to write in. So I started this blog, and then in a fit of irrational exuberence, my medical blog Medicana and my travel blog that so far only has one real entry in it.

I discovered the hard way that the easiest thing to do is have a general blog where I can just express opinions and whatever else I want to write about. Writing about subjects that require research and actual work take up a little too much time for me right now! So I've been pretty much sticking to this blog for now, but someday when work doesn't get in the way I will try to go back to the other two as well.

2) Food. Yes, food is necessary for life. But there are two kinds of people in the world: Those who eat to live and those who live to eat. I seem to fall into the latter category.

I wasn't always this way. When I was a kid, I really couldn't care less if I ever ate anything. My family worried that I didn't get enough nourishment and I was required to sit at the table until I finished my dinner. It was a battle of wills with my mother, since I would sit there for two hours dawdling over my meal well after she and my father had left the table. It didn't help that she let me read while I ate dinner. Finally I would get tired of the whole thing, shovel in the stone-cold food and get up from the table.

I was also a very picky eater. I didn't like anything mixed together. The meat, the potato and vegetable had to be separate on the plate, not touching, or I'd be grossed out. I didn't like fish, certain vegetables (like anything but green beans, really) or lima beans, which I consider in a class of their own (still don't like those). I'd eat chicken or beef and baked potatoes. That was about it. I did have certain odd exceptions. My mother used to make beef tongue in her pressure cooker and I liked it. I liked it because I had no idea it was a real tongue; I thought that was just what they called it.

We seldom had any ethnic food, not even Italian. My mother grew up in New England and cooked plain stuff. Her idea of eating Italian food was to get one of those packets of Spatini spaghetti sauce mix (which apparently has been discontinued by its manufacturer, Lawry's, I discovered when Googling it), and follow the directions to make the sauce, mix it with browned ground beef and serve it over spaghetti. It was tasty and was my only exposure to "Italian food" until I was much older. I didn't even eat pizza until I was about 13. We lived in upstate New York at that time and unlike here in Northern New Jersey, Italian food was not as prevalent.

Then when I was in college (in Boston) and in my early 20s I started to really like food, food of all kinds. I always liked a good steak, or lobster with drawn butter; but then I began to eat Italian food, stews and chowders and other things that were mixed together.

I learned to like Indian food on DH's and my first trip to London in 1983 when we discovered a little hole-in-the-wall place called Motijheel, which serves up fragrant, spicy curries and is still there today. It serves until late at night and is a haven for the local London University students, who come in and have a beer while they're waiting for their takeout food. We ate there last time we were in London a few years ago and it is as good as ever.

Sushi didn't come until a bit later, but once I tried that it became another addiction. Thai food came next; there are several excellent restaurants in my immediate area and we go to them regularly.

I could go on, but you get the picture. And of course since DH and I both work full-time, we tend to go out to eat a lot. When we cook at home, we try to make it fish (we love salmon, tuna and swordfish in particular) to make up for all the fattening and less healthy stuff we tend to eat when we go out.

3) Coffee. Yes, this is a definite addiction, complete with withdrawal symptoms. I once tried to give up caffeinated coffee because I was having some heart palpitations and thought it might be from the caffeine. I discovered that going to decaf meant I got a terrible headache for three solid days after my last cup of caffeinated coffee. Nothing would help it. And then when the headache went away, I still felt as if I never completely woke up. This went on for six months, until I finally decided it didn't really make any difference in my heart palpitations (which were harmless ones anyway) and I really hated not drinking real coffee.

So I threw out my decaf and went back to regular coffee. I have at least 3 cups a day and feel great about it, especially since the medical world keeps finding that caffeinated coffee actually is good for you.

I like espresso and cappuccino but there is nothing like a good cup of strong coffee with one spoonful of sugar and half-and-half. Yes, it has to be half-and-half. Milk is tolerable but anything less is not. I'd rather drink it black than with skim milk or even 2%.

4) Ice Cream. This is a fairly recent addiction for me. I used to be sipping my red wine after dinner and feel satisfied. Now when I finish dinner I want a little something sweet. In the summer this means ice cream. My favorite flavor is coffee but I also love mango ice cream (which is not easy to find) and even pistachio now and then. When we go out for sushi I have to have the green tea ice cream afterward but I haven't found one at the supermarket that is as good as the one we have at our favorite sushi restaurant.

I don't need a lot. I'm not one of these people who will get out the container and just eat it from there. I put my little half-cup serving in the bowl and savor it, a little at a time, until it's gone.

In the winter I stop eating the ice cream - it's cold enough without eating that! Instead I'll have one piece of high quality chocolate or a truffle from Whole Foods.

5) Discovery Health. The Discovery Health TV channel. It has such wonderful shows as "Mystery Diagnosis," "Diagnosis X," "Dr. G, Medical Examiner" and a whole bunch of shows about plastic surgery and other fascinating and ghoulish subjects. I bypass the ones about people giving birth to large numbers of babies and following their lives, and have no interest in the lives and times of the Duggars and their 18 kids.

But I love watching the medical ones and trying to figure out the proper diagnosis. Sometimes I find myself yelling at the screen "Will you PLEASE go see a neurologist!" (or an endocrinologist, or gastroenterologist, as the case may be) to some of these people who keep going back to the same general practitioner despite tons of horrible symptoms that refuse to get better. Other times I yell at the program "Check your vitamin B12, you moron!"

I am always gratified when I pick the right diagnosis. Of course sometimes it's some rare genetic anomaly that no one has ever had before so I can be excused for not figuring it out.

My husband gets tired of watching these shows so I usually only inflict them on him occasionally; or I switch to one after he falls asleep. It's my guilty little secret.

So those are five of my addictions. I'm sure I could come up with more if I gave it further thought but I only need five, so I'm done.

Now, who can I pass this award - and this meme - on to next? How about:

FranIam
Sue J at Nailing Jello to the Wall
Katie Schwartz
Randal
Comrade Kevin.

Enjoy!

Awards! Killing Two Awards With One Post

Way, way back in September, Christopher very kindly awarded me the Brillante Weblog Award. While my thanks are late, they are highly sincere! Here are the rules of the award:

-Add the logo of the award to your blog
-Link to the blogger who awarded it to you
-Give it to at least 7 other blogs
-Link to those blogs
-Leave a comment for your nominees on their blogs

I happen to recall that many of my fellow bloggers have already received this award. So I'm not going to pass it on to seven other bloggers, as instructed. But I will pass it on to three and hope it isn't a duplicate! And here they are:

- Snave of Various Ecstacies
- Jess of I Was Just Wondering
- Sue J of Nailing Jello to the Wall

All three are brilliant bloggers and I'm honored to pass this award on to them!

And, in the meantime, Ruth of Ruth's Visions and Revisions has honored me with the Superior Scribbler Award! Thanks so much, Ruth!

So I'll use this opportunity to pass this award on to some deserving bloggers whom I don't think have received it yet. If it turns out that they have, well, the more the merrier! Here are the rules for this one:

*Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy Friends.
*Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award.
* Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to This Post, which explains The Award.
* Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post (above) and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we'll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor!
*Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.

Without further ado, here are the five bloggers I am passing this award on to (or should I say, to whom I am passing this award on?):

-Deb of Drivin' 55
-Quaker Dave at The Quaker Agitator
-Kevin over at Comrade Kevin's Chrestomathy
-Libhom at Godless Liberal Homo
-Dave Dubya over at Dave Dubya's Freedom Rants.

I highly recommend all of these blogs - they are all staunch members of the progressive blogosphere and their posts are always thought-provoking!

Belated thanks for a lovely award!

D.K. Raed of Redheaded Wisdom bestowed the "Arte y Pico" award on me a couple of weeks ago, so I wanted to thank her for the honor and pass it along to some other deserving bloggers!

This award, which originated in Spain, is given to bloggers who inspire others with their creative energy and talents no matter whether it be in the form of writing, artwork, design, interesting material, or contributions to the blogger community. When a blogger receives this award, it is considered a special honor and, once presented to you, it is to be passed on to 5 other bloggers who meet the criteria. So first, let me thank D.K. Raed for the honor, and now go into the rules of the award:

These are the rules for keeping the nominations going forward. The newest recipient must:
1) Do a post naming 5 blogs for this award with a link to each blog;
2) Notify each blog you awarded by leaving them a comment;
3) Each award-winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award;
4) The award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the original link of Arte y Pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award; and,
5) Do a blog post showing these rules.

So far I think I've done everything except list the 5 new awardees. So here goes - since many of the blogs I read have already received this award, I am going to concentrate on some blogs that focus on poetry, writing, art or photography, since this is a kind of unusual award and I thought I'd branch out a bit in spreading the link love. So here are my five:

1) Odessa over at Freefalling Me blogs about her life in San Francisco, and posts lovely pictures, and poetry in an eclectic mix that is always engaging.

2) Ruth at Ruth's Visions and Revisions. Ruth writes about her experiences and reflects on them with a wider vision - seeing the parables that occur in our daily lives. She also posts lovely pictures and is a gardener, sharing her life with her readers.

3) CR over at Little Bang Theory. Fantastic photography and commentary mixed with an occasional dash of politics.

4) Two Crows and Mary Ellen over at All That Is. Two Crows has been posting for quite awhile now on the progression of the soul via reincarnation. If you have an interest in this philosophy, check it out - it's fascinating. Mary Ellen also has some great posts on the Catholic Church. Go, read, think...

5) Randal over at L'ennui Melodieux for his great blog full of satirical, astute commentary and great pictures.

So that's it - congratulations to the deserving awardees!

Update: I just noticed Randal already has this award on his sidebar - what the heck, so I've awarded him again! He's worth awarding twice!

Catching Up - And an Award!

Sorry I have been missing in action this week. Between going away last weekend and being deluged with work-related stuff, my brain didn't even have the energy to do anything after my day but passively watch The Daily Show and fall asleep during Colbert.

First of all, I would like to thank Let's Talk for bestowing upon me the E for Excellence award! I really appreciate it!

And I must also belatedly thank Sue J. of Nailing Jello to the Wall and Dr. Zaius of Zaius Nation for honoring me with this award back before I went on vacation last month. And Tomcat from Politics Plus gave me the award as well although with his many posts I can't locate the exact date!

So to all of you, thank you so much, you are all Bloggers of Excellence and I am humbled by being honored by you.

I think by now so many of the blogs I read have received the award that let me just say I award it to all of the blogs on my sidebar, which are all excellent and I hope you will browse through and enjoy them.

Moving on...

I'll give you a quick update on our trip to the Adirondacks. First of all, we were really lucky with the weather: It was a beautiful sunshiney weekend and the temperatures were springlike. There was indeed snow in the higher elevations where we were looking for our weekend getaway. The snow was piled high everywhere, but it was old snow; you know, that kind of crusty, ice crystally snow that has a coating of black road dirt on it, not the pretty white fluffy stuff. Plus it was in the process of melting with much vigor, especially after the big rainstorm they had had up there on Friday. This resulted in mud - lots of mud, everywhere. And of course it hadn't occurred to us to bring boots, so we had to give up any thought of keeping our feet clean while walking around.

The realtor who took us around to the places we were investigating was new at the job, and not that familiar with the area. In fact, she hadn't seen the houses she took us to herself, so it was a learning experience for us all.

The first one we were looking for was down the end of an unpaved road. We kept driving and driving, following the realtor's car, and finally came to a barricade that said "Road Closed." She was sure that the house was supposed to be on the left side of the road so we assumed we hadn't reached it yet as we hadn't seen anything on the left that matched the house's description. So we decided to walk a ways down the road and see if we could find it after the barricade. Diva was with us so she joined us and we marched on down the increasingly muddy road full of ice and potholes.

After about 3/4 of a mile we realized there was no way this house was this far down the road, and turned back. Going back was mostly uphill, so by the time we got back to the car we had had a better workout than we'd had in months! Diva was satisfied for the day and slept in the back of the car for the rest of the afternoon.

Once back in the cars, we drove back up the road and realized we had gone right past the house without realizing it; it was on the opposite side of the road from what the realtor expected. So we finally got to see this house, which turned out to be quite nice inside; lots of knotty pine, a fireplace, nice flow to the rooms.

The other two places we looked at were not as tempting; the first was still unfinished inside and had no fireplace, nor any hope of putting one in from the way it was arranged. The other one needed a great deal of work and was being occupied by a 36-year-old bachelor whose housekeeping habits, to say the least, left something to be desired. I have a good imagination and can picture what a place would look like if it were cleaned out, but this was a bit beyond what I'd want to deal with. It's too bad, too, because it had a great view.

So, we continue our search for a weekend getaway. There are many more places for sale up in that region and we will want to see more of them before making a decision to buy something.

While we were up there, we had dinner in a nice old restaurant in Johnstown, where we were staying. The restaurant is in a Greek Revival house that was built in 1798 and serves relatively gourmet food. We were seated in the bar area as the restaurant side was full.

We ordered our meals (salmon for me, pork tenderloin for DH), and the waitress explained they included several courses. After we finished our soup, she came back and said "Are you ready for your corn fritters?" We had noticed on the menu that we had a choice of corn fritters or sorbet, but the way she said "corn fritters" made us feel that to order anything else would just not be the thing to do. So we said "sure," and a few minutes later, she brought out these dishes with what looked like large round pieces of fried dough, covered in - maple syrup. We dug in, and while they were extremely tasty, corn fritters with maple syrup seemed a very unusual palate cleanser between courses!

Naturally once our main meals came we weren't quite as hungry as we would have been, but we enjoyed them anyway.

In the meantime, a group of men came in and sat at another table in the bar. There were two older men with white hair, and three younger men in their 30's - all dressed casually, flannel shirts and jeans. They started talking about guns and which guns are the best guns, and one of the younger men went off on a long paean of praise about one particular type of gun, and what a great gun it is, and how you can use for anything, and how he once shot a moose at 400 feet right in the forehead with it, and he uses it to get white tails all the time, and so on.

I was sitting there listening to this and I said to my husband, "This sure isn't a conversation you would hear in suburban New Jersey."

I also couldn't quite imagine either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton sitting around with those guys talking about guns. McCain would probably have been able to fit right in.

Driving through the towns in upstate New York I could see the way prosperity has kind of passed them by; the houses are all older, many need paint. There are a lot of makeshift repairs on houses and on cars. The people aren't poor, but they aren't rich, and haven't been rich recently. I felt as if this is the "middle America" that is suffering the most from the Bush administration's policies, and that these are the people that the Democrats need to address in a lot of states that have similar issues to this region of New York.

But unless the Democratic candidates can make them believe they understand them at a very basic level, what they say about economic policies may not matter. I hope they'll be able to make that connection.

Friday is Memeday!

I'm trying to catch up here since snow gave me the opportunity to stay home - and I'm done working from home for today.

First of all, I want to try to address a few backed-up memes and award tags that I've been letting pile up.

Kuanyin asked me if I'd like to pick up a "Never Ending Story" meme that had gotten sidetracked last year. This was similar to the Viral Story started by Splotchy awhile back. Kuanyin credited Kilroy of Fear and Loathing with beginning the story, which has not gotten that far yet. I'll tag a few people to see if we can get it moving for them!

Here's what Kilroy sent Kuanyin:

"The telephone rang. I counted, one...two...three..."

Kuanyin:

"...and let it ring til the answering machine picked up. Would that hot-to-trot sex-crazed druggie ever stop calling?"

Mauigirl's contribution:

"I muttered out loud, 'I swear I'm going to have to get an unlisted phone number if this moron doesn't knock it off.' The phone beeped and I picked it up to check the message, only to hear the sound of a click as the caller hung up. This was unusual; the druggie sex addict usually liked to leave a message, starting with a lot of heavy breathing.

I was alone in the house and a sudden shiver went up my spine."

For this meme, I'd like to tag:

Dr. Zaius of Zaius Nation
Nick of This is It
Phydeaux of Phydeaux Speaks
Fran of FranIAm

Hope at least one of you will pick it up and run with it! Have fun!

OK, one down, more to go.

Back in January, PunditMom very kindly awarded me a "Just Posts" award for December of last year over at Jen's blog, One Plus Two, for my post about New Jersey abolishing the death penalty. I had posted the logo and link to the site on my sidebar but am just getting around to thanking PunditMom for the honor! The "Just Posts" are for posts regarding issues of social justice, and I urge you to visit her blog and read some of the other great posts on various subjects.
Kuanyin also awarded me a "Mentoring" award (which seemed ironic, as I feel she has been more of a mentor to me!). Of course, she did qualify the award in general as being for mentors, inspirations, or people who urged her to continue blogging, or those that are, and I quote, "such characters that I've got zero clue as to what drives them. They're forces of nature on the blogosphere." Now, she did not specify which category I fit into, so you can draw your own conclusions!

I am going to go with the basic spirit of the award and try to pick a few people I feel have been mentors to me in my still-nascent blogging "career." Actually, I could pick almost anyone on my blogroll for this one but I'll have to limit myself to a few in particular as I've included nearly the entire blogroll further down anyway!

So here goes:

Larry of Lydia Cornell's blog has always been a great commenter and has given me lots of good advice on how to expand my blog's reach.

Tomcat of Politics Plus has also been a great help to me and a loyal commenter.

Robert Rouse of Left of Centrist and Blog World Report has also been a real mentor, and has posted my blog posts on his Blog World Report, which always increases my traffic quite noticeably!

I could add many more - suffice it to say that I love all of you and appreciate all of your comments and thoughts!

Last but not least, here is the Technorati meme, if you want to call it a meme.

FranIAm recently posted her entire link list as part of this kind of viral meme that is spreading about the Blogosphere, in order to improve Technorati ratings.

I confess I know nothing much about Technorati although I am listed on the site. I sometimes check to see my ranking and find I do not make it into anywhere near the top of the list so the chart they calculate for me is basically at zero.

Since this little exercise gives a lot of Link Love to everyone's blogs, I thought I'd play along, whether or not it has any effect on Technorati rankings for any of us or not. So below is my full list of personal/political links, please have fun perusing them!

Agitprop
American Politics Journal
American Street
Blog Against Theocracy
Blog World Report
Crooks and Liars
Fire Dog Lake
Huffington Post
Jonestown
Lydia Cornell
Suzie-Q
Talking Points Memo
The Blue Republic
The Cosmic Message
The Daily Kos
The Political Voices of Women
The Smirking Chimp
TPM - Election Central

An Average American Patriot
Axis of Evel Knievel
Blognonymous
Blue Gal
Boxer Rebellion
Chapterhouse
Comrade Kevin
Dashiell
Distributor Cap
FranIAm
Freida Bee
From the Left
I Can't Believe It's Not a Democracy
I Was Just Wondering
I, Splotchy
Impeachment and Other Dreams
Informed Voters
It's My Right to be Left of Center
Kelso's Nuts
L'Ennui Melodieux
Last Left Turn Before Hooterville
Left of Centrist
Let's Talk
Liberal Journal
Liberal Values
Little Bang Theory
Little Country Lost
Makanani
Mock, Paper, Scissors
Monkey Muck
Morning Martini
My Saturday Evening Post
Nailing Jello to the Wall
Phydeaux Speaks
Pissed On Politics
Politics After 50
Politics Plus
Politits
Preserve, Protect and Defend
Pundit Mom
Pygalgia
Ragebot
Ramblings
Reconstitution 2.0
Sumo Merriment
Suzi Riot - Rants from the Left
The Devil is in the Details
The Divine Democrat
The Existentialist Cowboy
The Future Was Yesterday
The Gypsy's Caravan
Various Ecstacies
Watergate Summer
Who Hijacked Our Country?
Yikes (BAC)
Zaius Nation

And here are some of the other blogs I enjoy:

Aim for Awesome
Balls and Walnuts
Basket of Puppies
Blog Blond - Blogging Tips
Cats Working
Chirky
Crazy Aunt Purl
Dooce
Figuratively Speaking
finslippy
Flotsam
Fussy
Inside Betty's Head
It's All About the Walls
Jonniker
Jurgen Nation
KGMom Mumblings
Lawyerish
Looky Daddy
m's blog
Marge's Words to the Wise
Martta's World
Mimi Writes
Miss Doxie
O My Word
Ransom Note
Schmutzie's Milkmoney or Not Here I Come
Slouching Past 40
Stop Katie
The Boomer Chronicles
The Constant Whiner
The Needs of the Few
This is it
Who's Yo Mama?
Wonderland

Freefalling Me
In a Dark Time
Laketrees
Me, My Life, My Garden
The Flames of Eden

Bay Area Love Letters
Double Brush - Hawaiian vacation/gifts
Must be that girl!

Addicted to Medblogs
Denver Doc Online
Doc of Ages
Dr. Anonymous

If you want to participate and do the same thing, it is very easy - you highlight your blogroll on the side of the page, copy and then paste it into your post in the "compose" mode. The system will then include the links as well as the description.

That's it! I may have more memes that I've forgotten about and if I remember one, I'll post it. In the meantime, enjoy browsing among all of our blogrolls.

Catching up!

While we were rusticating in the lovely Adirondacks, Beverly of Makanani presented me with not one, but three awards! As I told her, I am blushing! First are the "Best Kept Secret Award" and the "Breakout Blogger Award" - and the other is the "Totally Fabulous Award." See below - clicking on them will bring you to the original sites that started them.










Naturally the next step is to pass along the compliments to other bloggers. I don't know how much of a secret any of these bloggers are, but they are certainly award-worthy. Here goes:

Best Kept Secret/Breakout Bloggers:

Elizabeth of Inside Betty's Head. Always very well-written, thoughtful posts.

M of m's blog. M writes very interesting posts about various subjects, ranging from her daily life to finances and beyond.

Odessa of Freefalling Me. Odessa's blog is a great mix of wonderful photographs and poetry.

And for the Totally Fabulous Awards:

It's always hard to pick blogs for these awards because ALL the blogs I read are absolutely fabulous! So here are just a few:

PunditMom - informative and enjoyable, always writes about interesting topics.

Rhea of The Boomer Chronicles posts generally Baby-Boomer-related stories, facts and information on her blog, but her subject matter is of interest to everyone.

Lisa of O My Word!. Her blog is addictive and she also has another great blog, Politics After 50, which you should check out as well!

Last but definitely not least, Evil Spock over at The Needs of the Few. This blog is unique and if you haven't experienced it yet, head on over! Evil Spock's subject matter ranges from politics to various and sundry other subjects as the mood strikes.

That's it for now. I love all of the blogs I read so it's always hard to have to pick a few out, and it takes a lot out of me!

Moving right along, I'd like to summarize what I learned about the Adirondacks in our trip there, which was our first time in this lovely region.

What the Adirondacks have:

-Gorgeous scenery - everywhere. Leaves that are every shade of orange, red, gold, brown, and yes, some that are still green, contrasting with sparkling blue lakes everywhere you look.

-Friendly, down-to-earth people who greet you with a smile.

-Lots of beautiful old houses, ranging from ornate Victorians to colonial homes that must be 200+ years old. Some may be a little down on their luck but it is amazing to see the wonderful housing stock that exists in this area.

-Quaint, unspoiled towns, each with its steepled church and its historical society (surprisingly, even the smallest towns all seemed to have a historical society - maybe that's why the old houses haven't been torn down). Many towns have gas stations and motels that look as if they haven't changed since the 1950's.

What the Adirondacks don't have:

-Crowds
-Traffic
-Graffiti
-Surly waiters/waitresses or cashiers
-Malls
-McMansions
-Ethnic restaurants (one drawback!)

We did eat at a pretty good Italian restaurant a couple of times, but I have to say the pizza didn't measure up to that of Star Tavern in my native New Jersey. But that is a sacrifice I am willing to make for relaxation and lack of stress! We will definitely be back again next year. It was a very successful first trip to the region.

On our way back from the Adirondacks we took the long way home, through the park, and then down Route 87. When we hit the Garden State Parkway, that is when I returned to reality, as the traffic built up to rush hour proportions. I could feel my blood pressure rise 10 points.

Power of Schmooze!

I am honored to report that Amanda of It's All About the Walls has nominated me for a new award called the Power of Schmooze Award. The purpose of the award is to reward bloggers who not only blog but also participate in a conversation with other bloggers, creating new communities.

As a result of a quick Google search, I believe I have found the origin of this award, from a blog called Ordinary Folk. The author, Mike, and another blogger, Danielle, who writes the blog Pink Reviews apparently made this new award up. And I think it's a great idea.

When you're a new blogger, as I am, there is still such a thrill to see that you have new comments on one of your posts. It shows that not only are people reading what you wrote, but they actually care enough to comment or respond to the ideas being presented. I don't know whether that ever loses its novelty.

It reminds me of when I was back in college and the biggest event of the day was waiting for the mail to come. And when I looked at my little pigeon-hole and saw a letter in it, or better yet, several, it caused such a great feeling of joy and anticipation. (I happened to have friends at home who were excellent letter writers and their missives were usually hysterically funny. Sort of like reading some of my favorite blogs now!)

So, without further ado, I am happy to now pass on this award to other great bloggers who are also faithful commenters.

Of course, my first has to be Ruth of Me, My Life, My Garden. Ruth was probably my first commenter and has been one of my most faithful blogfriends ever since. She has several blogs, many of which feature her beautiful photographs of her garden, and chronicle the details of her life. Ruth has blogfriends from around the world.

I'm also happy to nominate Evil Spock of The Needs of the Few. His blog features posts by himself, Tootie the Uber-Tribble, Ensign Redshirt, Lt. Marlena Moreau, Medusan-in-a-box, and The Collective, as well as The Sophie. Evil Spock and The Collective are running for President and Vice President in 2012. Evil Spock has been a very loyal commenter on my blog and responds to all comments on his as well. An excellent schmoozer!

"M" of m's blog is another great schmoozer - she posts prolifically and comments on others' blogs and responds on her own. She also authors a great blog about my favorite area of the country, the San Francisco Bay Area, called Bay Area Love Letters.

I'll stop with three for now! There are lots of other great schmoozers out there (Hi Larry and Tomcat!) but I might have to pick some other blogs in the future - maybe "great political bloggers" perhaps? Hmmm, anybody know if there is an award for that out there? If not perhaps we should invent one.

Thanks again, Amanda, and congratulations to the new nominees!

Keep on rockin'!

I am honored to report that Kuanyin of Who's Yo Mama? recently nominated me for a "Rockin' Girl Blogger" award! Thanks so much, Kuanyin!

And, as is the tradition, I will now nominate some others that I feel deserve this award. I know I've already nominated some for the Thinking Blogger Award so this time I'll try to pick some other blogs you may or may not have noticed on my sidebar.

The first is Inside Betty's Head. Elizabeth's blog is beautifully written and her subject matter always worth reading, as her observations and stories are full of insight.

Rhea of the The Boomer Chronicles writes an entertaining blog that any Baby Boomer will relate to, and everyone will enjoy. Her blog is updated daily and her subjects are always interesting.

Third is Miss Doxie. Many of you may already know that Leigh has three adorable dachshunds (hence her blog's name), a boyfriend named Dukay, and humor to spare. Her dad recently was seriously ill so she has not posted since late June, but you can entertain yourself for days in her archives until that wondrous moment when she posts a new entry. Be careful if you're reading at work, as most of the time her blog will make you laugh out loud. Sometimes, though, you may cry. Both are difficult at work. And please, keep her dad in your thoughts.

Also...there is a new post on Medicana if you'd like to check it out.