Because Support Can Be Beautiful

Well, I didn't win anything, but it was an honor to be nominated, and for all three of you who voted for my blog in the Best Writing category of the 2009 Okie Blog Awards, it was much appreciated. Just having my name on the list brought a couple of hundred new folks to check out these pages, and hopefully added one or two new faithful readers. Because I like writing knowing someone out there is listening.

I have to say I am very impressed with the caliber of Oklahoma blogs these days. And not just because I was nominated. I'm serious! Just a few years ago the Okie blogs were pretty slim pick'ns. Remember Slim Pickens? He died in the early '80s so you probably don't. I am very impressed by the improving quality of blogging in Oklahoma. Sure, there's The Pioneer Woman, who is now a national phenomenon. But there's a growing number of really good blogs out there.

If you haven't taken the time to check some out, jump over there and see what our fellow Okies are up to. Here are a few I discovered along the way. Plus one of my favorite new bloggers who wasn't on any list...

Goldilocks and Her Fabulous Bears - Not nominated but one of my all time favorite Oklahoma bloggers. A very funny window into the life of at the State's University.

Tasha Does Tulsa - Winner of Best Culture Blog and Best Tulsa Blog. Think there's nothing to do in Tulsa? Think again.

Napkin Dad - Runner up for Most Inspirational blog.

Jeremy and Kathleen - I like the style of their blog. It won in the Best Kept Secret category.

Enjoy! And thanks for your support. At my age, everything needs a little more support.

LOST is baaaccckk

Tonight we finally get to the final season of LOST. I'm not good at deferred gratification! Seriously, we have to wait until when to see the next season of Glee? Anyway, I wanted to share this map. If The Island had a subway system, this is what it would look like. Love it! Luv it!! Click the image to go to John Cabrera's site - the brains behind the map madness.

Things to during "Winter Storm 2010"

So if you're stuck in the house today because of "Winter Storm 2010", which, I have to say, is better than being stuck in the office, and if you give up on trying to actually accomplish meaningful work, here's a little entertainment.

The Gary England Drinking Game - while I'm not advocating actually taking shots as the instructions direct, because as The Lost Ogle points out, you will soon die of alcohol poisoning, this is very funny. Maybe you could make it into a bingo game. Or eat M&Ms instead of taking shots. And of course, you have to be an Okie and familiar with our very own millionaire weather man to think this is even slightly amusing. ( I bought one of those shirts for my niece. Yes I did).

From this blog I was highly entertained for about 8 minutes. "Curb Mining" was very popular when we lived in Bulgaria. And in Bethany for that matter!

Blu Dot Real Good Experiment from Real Good Chair on Vimeo.

Visit the home page of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me and catch up on their podcasts, play the Daily News Quiz game, or find out Harry Reid's reaction to the State of the Union address at Wait Wait Don't Blog Me .

Or you could do something old school like read a good book or take a nap. Just don't plan to go to Starbucks. They are closed indefinitely. They closed at 10:00 a.m. so their associates could get home before the weather got really bad. Where do the associates live? Texas? Seriously, they could have waited to close until 10:30 so I could have drown my irritation at my boss for calling me to say we were working from home today AFTER I was in the office already. But no, all Starbucks are closed. So don't go there hoping for solace. Panchos Liquortown, however, is still open and very busy.

Either you love it or you don't

As a rule I've not been a big fan of beards and mustaches. I mean, there are occasionally men who look better with a beard or mustache than without. I've never met a woman who looks better in either. Which is why I'm a big fan of a good wax job.

My first boyfriend showed up one day sporting a mustache. I wouldn't talk to him until he shaved. Yuck. OK, Mark went through a brief period of beardedness and it looked pretty good. Wish I had a picture. But it was too itchy, and it kind of bothered Mark too.

But there's good news for those who admire a good face full of the prickly stuff. You might want to plan a vacation to Anchorage, Alaska in June for the World Beard and Moustache Championships. (photo from http://www.time.com/)

I never cease to be amazed by how people join together. If you have a hobby, an illness, a cause, there's a group for that. The Internet adds a whole new dimension to this type of community. Interesting.

Wondering if there are any Okies registered at the National Beard Registry? You betcha. My favorite is Santa Charley - Charles Wright from Medicine Park. That's a 40 year old beard! Alright, I appreciate Santa beards. But that's a whole 'nother category.

Linkage and stuff

I have to share this site. YouVersion is an online, interactive Bible. It is soooo easy to look up topics, mark text, keep track of what you've already read. You can even change languages. I know a little Bulgarian from living there for a couple of years in the 90's, and I was able to switch to Bulgarian on one side and English on the other. Cooler than cool. There's even an app for that for my iPhone.

Another site I've been checking out is Twitip. If you need help exploring the Twitterverse (Twitter Universe) or want to learn about Twittiquette (Twitter Etiquette), it's the place to go. If you're new to Twitter or are thinking about trying it out, click here for some great tips (Twips?)

I'm teaching a Technical Communications course at a local university for five Monday nights, so I'm missing the last episodes of Dancing With The Stars. Major problem. But wait! Not such a big deal because I can watch it today on Hulu. The only thing I can't find on Hulu is Big Love. I love that show (definitely not for kids). But I can find just about anything else and watch it on my time. Cheaper than TiVo, although I'm still holding out for TiVo someday.

Well, that's all the linkage I've got for you today. I'm headed to have lunch with Angela at her elementary school. I've been missing her sweet self.

Old news

In case you were hiding under a rock last week, you might have missed the big ta do about Twitter. Ashton Kutcher beat out CNN for 1 million followers, and Oprah made her first tweet. Hello! Where has she been? Now people are whining that Twitter is slow due to the Oprah effect - 350,000 new people jumping in the system. Twitter denies there's a problem.

Knock knock

Who's there?

Orange

Orange who?

Orange you glad you're cool enough to already be on Twitter?

Ok then. Sorry. Annnyyywayy, here's a fun article on the subject. Just between you and me and Twitter

The other big news, of course, is the new dog in the White House. Old news now that it has been talked to death on every talk show. But I couldn't resist sharing these photos, in case you haven't seen them - from the official White House website. And just FYI, I'm fascinated by two people in the White House: Pete Souza, Chief Official White House Photographer, and Reggie Love, Obama's body man.

A case of the Mondays

Wow that was a short weekend, considering I worked eleven hours on Saturday. I'll take a day off in a couple of weeks to make up for it, but not this week. It's gonna be a busy one. Yesterday I slept and lounged and went to church online and did not leave the house. My idea of a restful day is when I don't set foot outside my front door.

Oh, I did manage to squeeze in "Marley and Me" and bawled like a baby. And I have to say I've been much nicer to our dogs since then. I also joined Facebook. Lame. Yes, I know I said it would never happen. The peer pressure was just too great. But please note that I did NOT ask anyone under 39 to be my friend! They can friend me if they so desire, but I'm not going to make the first move. I wouldn't want to intrude on the secret life of twenty-somethings. Not that anything on Facebook could be considered secret.

Also just thought I'd throw in a little pic for your Monday morning, since I mentioned firemen in a recent post. Read more about it at The Lost Ogle. And have a great day!

Finally Friday

Here's a picture of the amazing iced sugar cookies I was drooling over in my tweet yesterday. I think iced sugar cookies trump any other kind of dessert. I gave a couple to each of my coworkers since we all had a rough start to the day. I'm not sure if it's good or bad that I've finally darkened the door of Clark's Bakery here in Bethany. First Tessa's perfect, fluffy pink birthday layer cake, then these awesome cookies. I can tell I'm going to have to treat it like a special-occasion-only place or I'll be in there every day.

I know you'll probably all be busy out with your sweetheart doing astoundingly romantic things together this weekend. Or not. But in case you have some time, here are some fun links.

One day recently I was listening to NPR and luh,huh,uved this story. It's the full hour of This American Life, but it's worth it. You can download it and listen while you're road tripping, or just treat yourself, get a latte, put your feet up and enjoy. Maybe it's just because I'd much prefer a good true story over fiction, but the story of Bobby Dunbar is fascinating.

And another truth is stranger than fiction thing...from my Dad. I'll post it since my siblings didn't.

And if you need a cute last minute Valentine's project, check here and here and here.

And, and, and...it's been a while since I posted the basic dogs on couch photo, so here you go.

Cocktail schmocktail

Last night I had to attend a work related cocktail party/reception attended by lots of "important" people. At the end of the day when I'm tired and the brain has shut off, I really struggle to make small talk, look perky and interested...basically act like I care. And I needed to act like I cared because funding for my program was a hot topic. While I don't have any problem talking with strangers, I'm way more over into the introvert side. I only leave my house because I'm forced to by the desire to pay my bills, buy groceries and get that last kid through college. Otherwise I'd only leave the house to go to Starbucks, Hobby Lobby and Home Depot. Of course, I'd have to have a computer at home. But otherwise, I'd be content.

The good news was the reception was in our building, so when I got too tired of trying to look engaged, I'd cheat and sneak back to my office and surf the internet for a while, or whine on Twitter. My twitter peeps suggested the cocktails are what makes these types of social events doable. But I'm not much of a wine drinker, and the bartender didn't look prepared to make a cute little fruity beverage that makes the alcohol more tolerable. I'm just not into the hard stuff and I had to drive home. Although that last thought didn't seem to stop anyone else. I checked the headlines this morning and didn't see reference to DUIs and "important" people, so that's good.

On a completely different topic - sorry, couldn't think of a proper seque - oh wait, I could have said something about feeling "important". Anyway, my point is I wanted to share a couple of nice mentions from other blogs here and here. An unexpected bonus to this blogging thing has been connecting with people through the blogosphere. See, I told you I'd never have to leave my house.

What goes around comes around

Recently I was going through some old letters. Mark and I were apart one summer during college and we wrote pretty much daily. I have all those letters stashed away. It's not like the reading is all that exciting. Mostly just sharing our daily lives in the days before the internet and cheap long distance phone service. One entry talked about how my Dad had yelled at me because the house was a mess with my stuff strewn all around. Hmmm. I guess there's really nothing new under the sun.

Well, anyway. Here is my usual weekend installment of things to check out if you have a lot of time on your hands.

Thought this was fun. For all I know Bush had a blog, but here is the link to Obama's blog. Some interesting history stuff and of course, an attempt at government transparency.

Check out these Oklahoma blogs. You can't vote unless you are an Oklahoma blogger, but you can find some interesting reading. If you ARE eligible to vote, then vote for Extreme Gardner in the "Unusual Blog" category. That's my sister's blog and it's a great blog, of course.

Angela is here and we're having this deep conversation about how Communism was finally defeated in Eastern Europe. She just read Michener's book "Bridge at Andau". So I gotta go. This is the sort of conversation I love!!!

So Random

In honor of the upcoming inauguration I thought I would Obamicon myself. Frankly that campaign poster of Obama's kind of creeped me out. It reminded me of those political propaganda posters you used to see in communist countries where the leaders were both worshiped and feared. This is a democracy for pete's sake. But the posters did have the cool factor they were undoubtedly aiming for.


Speaking of cool factor, I picked up my cool new sunglasses. When I showed them off Tessa said I looked like a blind person. Thanks. And the truth is I can't see the gauges on the dashboard when I wear them because they are so dark. I have no idea what the speedometer says, which I'm sure will be a legitimate defense when I get stopped for speeding.

Speaking of driving blind, I drove in my new glasses to get my hair cut and highlighted this morning so I feel like a new person. Woohoo! Except I just hate having to stare at myself in the mirror for a couple of hours. Is it just me or does every woman get up and do her hair and makeup before going to the salon where they immediately wash your hair and redo it anyway? And I always add more makeup than usual because with my hair all wet and my body slumped in the chair under that capey thing it's just not attractive. I look like John Travolta in drag.

Speaking of John Travolta, did you see him in Hairspray? My current favorite musical turned movie is Mama Mia. Makes you wanna get up and dance.

Speaking of dancing, I wanted to jump up and start dancing yesterday when I heard that everyone survived that plane crash in New York. They are calling it the Miracle on the Hudson, but most of the commentators were praising the pilot and the ferry boats, etc. They had everything to do with the positive outcome, but seriously, don't you think God had a little something to do with it too? It was just too perfect to be completely man made.

Speaking of -well, can't think of how my brain linked to this, but anyway - I was reading my new Real Simple magazine and there was an article about comfort food. I was trying to think what my comfort food would be. It was surprising the number of different answers they got. I'd say bread products of any kind, but especially toasted english muffins with honey. Or maybe pizza. Or roast and mashed potatoes. Wondering what your comfort food would be.

Speaking of wasting time, another fun time waster since you're wasting your time with me, is wordle. You can type in your words or link it to a site and it will create a word map for you. You can see mine at the top right of this blog. Click on it and it will take you to their site.

Speaking of word maps, decor8 is doing a creativity series on Thursdays. You might want to check it out if you want to get your creative juices going. I don't know about you, but this time of year is not a very creative-inducing time. Kind of makes your brain dull and fuzzy.

Speaking of fuzzy, I just love getting my brows and lip waxed. So satisfying. The instant gratification makes the pain worth it.

OK, this has been the most random post ever. I'm going to put a gag on the neighbor's dog since she has been barking for the last hour, then go take a nap.

Links and stuff

Writing a blog is a strange thing. "Never before have so many with so little to say said so much to so few."

So true.

I think that quote came from Despair.com. It's making the rounds on family blogs. I LOVE Despair.com. I use it when teaching the motivation segment of Organizational Behavior. But I digress.

Apparently we bloggers a) yearn to see our words in print b)have too much time on our hands and c) don't need the gratification of a response. I don't fully understand the tracking numbers from this blog, but what it's telling me is quite a few people actually do read it. But it appears most of your are creepers, popping in to read the day's rambling thoughts, then moving on before the urge becomes too strong to make a comment. I've even had people confess with sheepish faces that they (using a hushed tone) read my blog. Shhh. Here's a tip. THAT'S THE POINT! I'm glad to hear you read it. I hope you tell others about it.

Speaking of telling others, I thought I'd share a few of my favorite blogs to entertain your Saturday. After you do all those Saturday, catch-up, didn't get them done during the week kind of things. Or if you need something to do while football is droning on in the background...

Don't remember how I came across this one, but this is how I want to write my blog. It just doesn't come out that way. Bye Bye Pie! (What a surprise that I would like a blog with food in the title)

Decor8 is doable decorating and artsy inspiration. You would think as much as I like decorating magazines and websites my home would be a show stopper. Hate to say it's definitely not, but I do the best with what I've got. Didn't mean to make that rhymn. I just find myself doing that all the time. OK I'm stopping now. If only I knew how.

Here's a cute story from Short Stop...by way of Rocks In My Dryer.

Have a great weekend!