I know normally Friday Fun involves funny cats or stick figure drawings, but to me, playing around with new platforms is fun. I’ve had hosting for a long time now and just set up this new domain and installed WordPress. Took me about ten minutes. No, really. Though I can [...]
So, my comments are gone. Haloscan was bought out, and, unfortunately, they want to charge for their comment system. So I exported 7,456 comments, over five years’ worth of comments. All the old posts have no comments now. I think this one will have comments–we’ll see. And all that crap [...]
Many of my compatriots have noted how unsocial the groups are in the new dungeon system that automatically groups people together. I have noticed the same, and in fact, that’s why I’m still doing runs with guildies on a regular basis. The other thing about running with these anonymous [...]
Normally, we create our own Christmas cards. I will often buy something that looks nice, sign them, and ship them off to friends and relatives. We’ve done a newsletter or two, usually after big changes in our lives, like getting new jobs or moving. This year I decided to go [...]
Many years ago, I did a poll here for the best and worst gifts you’ve ever received. The answers tickled me. So, what were the best and/or worst gifts you’ve ever received.
My best: my wedding ring in the shape of Queen Elizabeth’s crown
My worst: I can’t really remember, because [...]
(because real work is too hard)
I was dressed all in cotton, from my head to my feet,
And my clothes were all tarnished with flour and sweets.
A bundle of gifts I hauled from the trunk,
And I looked like the homeless hoarding my junk.
My eyes, how [...]
Seriously, after a parent-teacher conference, a trip to the department store, the card store, the grocery store and the hardware store, I need a drink. Too bad it’s only 3:45 and we still have a winter concert to attend and before that, dinner to make. I got 10% of [...]
And all through the house, every creature was stirring, especially the mouse. (Computer, that is).
The stockings are hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that something would soon appear there.
The children are restless, about to unwind,
While visions of vacation days dance in their mind.
And pa in his [...]
We ventured to the giant mall yesterday to do the rest of our Christmas shopping. After eating lunch and walking around for about 20 minutes, we decided to go home and shop online. Things I hate about shopping at the mall:
1. It’s crowded.
2. It’s giant and requires a lot [...]
This was me a couple of days ago, whining to the kids from bed to bring me a beverage:
Yesterday, I baked all day. From 9-5. I took a break for a chat with a friend at lunch, but then I actually forgot to eat. The cookies on the left are Pumpkin Pie Drops [...] 
This comic perfectly describes how I often felt in my staff position:
From Indexed.Please consider donating to my efforts in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk for the Cure
[...] 
Hello people of Earth, Mars, and Wisconsin it is Tween Takeover Monday! Moving on I have been asked a question from one of my "fans" and they have asked the same question to my brother. "How do you feel about screen time for tweens?" he [...] 
Halloween has begun, and, as you can see, Geeky Girl is going hippie this year. I forced her to look at Woodstock pictures to "understand" the time period. The interesting thing about them is that most people look [...] 
When I was in college and in my MFA program, I wrote poems in these hard-back blue notebooks with green ruled pages. Often I would write a draft on one page, scribble through lines, write new lines, mark out words, write in new words. On the [...] 
My very first WoW Wednesday post was about tanking and I'm going to go back to that again. I've been tanking more and more and getting much better at it. It's been very nice, especially, to have some experienced players with me, giving advice during' [...] 
Geeky Boy will once again post something here after school. What do you want to know about from the teenage perspective?
[...] 
A couple of days ago, Collin pointed me to Chore Wars, a site that lets you keep track of the things you do around the house. Better yet, it lets you keep track of what your family members do [...] 
I have some more serious thoughts in my head about WoW, but they're not congealed yet, so instead, let's talk about Halloween. Blizzard has incorporated a variety of events related to seasonal holidays. We actually just had brewfest a couple of weeks ago. I'm now a [...] 
Supposedly, Geeky Boy is going to make a guest appearance here today. Might be later this evening. At any rate, keep an eye out. If there's something you'd like to know from a 14-yo boy's perspective, let us know.
LFG stands for Looking for Group and eventually, you're going to need a group. It might be for a group quest or, more likely, to run a dungeon. There are a couple of ways to find a group and some things to know before you head' [...] 
Our trip to Monticello happened to coincide nicely with some of the work the kids are doing in school. Geeky Girl is doing a whole unit on colonial America. They visited a colonial cabin nearby, a trip I served as a chaperon on. Geeky Boy has [...] 
This weekend, the Geeky family went down to Charlottesville, VA to celebrate my father's 65th birthday. We visited Monticello and Michie Tavern and skirted over to UVA Sunday morning and walked around a bit. Geeky Boy declared it [...] 
Over the weekend, I read Hugh MacLeod's book, Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity. He also blogs at gapingvoid.com. It was an interesting book, quite simple and direct and refreshing. There's nothing in it that I don't think you couldn't figure out for yourself, [...] 
Really? I can't really believe this article proposing that we charge for public school. Um, I already pay over $2k/year in taxes that specifically go to the school district. Should schools have more money? Absolutely. But charging tuition is not the way to go.
This is actually not about managing time in terms of managing play time, but about managing time within the game. When your WoW time is limited, you have to make decisions about what to spend time doing. There are literally thousands of things one could do [...] 
If you haven't seen this, it's really hilarious. One of my favorites--the benefits of electrocution!
' [...] 
Image by lorda via Flickr
The New York Times has this brief article on how parents don't really know how often their teens are checking into social networking sites. My first thought was, duh. Even tech savvy me who sits next to my kids' [...]
My car mechanic knows my name, knows the whole weird my-husband-and-I-have-different-but-similar-last-names scenario.
Image by lorda via Flickr
Last week, I devoured three books about food. First, Julia Child's My Life in France; second, Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food; and third, Julie Powell's [...]
Geeky Boy makes 
