Archive for July, 2008

I’ve Got a Secret & I Can’t Explain*

Sunday, July 6th, 2008

Do you check your blog stats?  You know, who found you through what search words, who links to you, which posts are read, what links are followed, whatever.  I try not to do this too often as it can lead to a little craziness.  I mean, it’s just a little blog, not my company’s website or anything.**

Though pretty regularly I pop on over and check my stats.  Twice now (that I’ve seen) this one private, locked blog has sent folks directly to me.  Knowing that there are some bored and crazy (if not downright unstable) mofo’s out there, there’s a part of me that’s dying to know who it might be.  I mean, I don’t really care who they are, I just wonder what they linked to that’s sending people to me directly?  I obviously didn’t leave a comment, you know, since it’s all sorts of private and secret and all that.

But I wonder…do they know me? Am I listed on their blog roll?  Are they linking to a photo or a post that I made?  Did they find it witty or useful?  Are they laughing over my many, many typos?  Will they ever leave a comment in one of my posts?  What could it be???

Does anyone else wonder about this sort of shit?  Is this just par for the course of having a public blog? Or am I they only one seemingly, slightly paranoid (uh, yeah, right) since I’ve seen some crazy shit (and some crazier people) in my past?

Hmmm…I just can’t help but wonder.  Well either way, hello to those secret, private, anonymous readers and visitors to my blog.  Hope this finds you well ;-)

UPDATE (8/20/08): After I wrote this post, that particular “secret” blog, that person has yet to return.  And yes, in case you didn’t figure it out, it was actually called “so and so’s secret blog” (hence the reason why I was so interested in the first place).  They must have realized that this post was addressing their specific blog and that it was no longer such a “secret” blog.  Interestingly though, many, many other people have returned to read this particular post - and it’s not like they’re finding it through key word searches.  Seems other people must keep “secret” blogs and think that I’m talking about them…how very odd.  This just assures me that there’s a book in all of this somewhere.

* how great was OMD?  Up until recently, they were actually one of my favorite concerts (then again, it was the 80’s)

** you can’t help but love all the specific data that those analytical site metering programs can tell you - IPs, specific locations and work URLs, keywords on how folks find you, incoming and outgoing links, etc., etc.  Truly fascinating stuff I tell ya.  A great resource and something I always advise my clients to install - especially if you ever need to cross-reference traffic and stats from one site to another.

I Hate When That Happens

Sunday, July 6th, 2008

I was going to write this super thrilling, super exciting, totally fascinating (ha!) post about this strange dream I had where someone stole my cell phone while I was on vacation.  But um…by the time I putzed around, fed the boys, read & responded to some email, caught up on some blogs, contemplated finding some breakfast, well, it’s gone now.  I’ve got nothing.  So yeah, hate when that happens.

And now, I have nothing really to say.  Maybe I’ll blog later.  It could happen.

I Smell Smoke!

Saturday, July 5th, 2008

Yes, it’s nearly 1:30 in the morning and I’ve just sent my husband outside to see if he can find any fires.  I walked around the building with him, but nothing going on.  You can definitely smell the smoke from the street though.  Thing is, you can’t really tell if it’s haze/fog/smog/whatever around the streetlights or smoke.

So he thought that you know, since he’s wide awake after drinking a diet Coke after 8:00PM, that he’d take the pupster and walk up to the corner to make sure all is well.  You see, we have a park kind of behind our street and then over the freeway, we have the massive Griffith Park.  In fact, last May, we had some major fires in Griffith Park that got a little close to home. So it can be some pretty scary shit.

Okay, he just now got home…all is well in the ‘hood.  Whew.

And Now a Yay! Moment

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008

One of my good friends from Spain just called!!!  We used to teach together back in Atlanta.  The year before I moved away, she got into the teaching abroad program.  Since then, I’ve moved twice and she’s lived and taught in three countries - Turkey, Peru and now Spain.

I’ve been lucky enough to visit her a time or two when she’s come back stateside for visits, but she’s never been able to visit me.  Now that I’m in CA and her sister is in northern CA I think we’ll finally be able to visit!!!  I’m so excited.  Especially since I’ll be going to Ireland in November and we wouldn’t be able to meet up that visit.

So we need to decide if she’ll come here to LA and the hubs and I will show her and her boyfriend around.  Or…if we want to meet mid-way-ish and head out to the Santa Ynez or Paso Robles wine country.  Not so sure.  Either way, I’m just so happy!!

On that note, I hope that everyone has a happy and safe holiday weekend!

Stupid Citibank

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008

I’m so worked up right now.  I’ve been a Citibank credit card holder since ‘88.  I have perfect credit. No, really, last I checked my Fico was through the roof good.  I’ve also noticed that each month that I’ve gone to pay my Citibank card my due date has changed.  And not by just a day or two.  We’re talking, over the past year or so, it’s changed by weeks!

I used to be due mid-month, by the 13th.  Then suddenly I’m due by the 7th.  Then the 5th.  Then the 3rd. I’m sure you see where this is going.  Today, the 3rd, I go to pay my bill and it was due by the 2nd!!!!  What.the.fuck?!?!  Basically, I’ve been paying late fees for the past however many months because they keep changing my damn due date and I keep missing it by one day.

So today I called up and asked WTF.  Of course, I get the run around that the dates will always change because of Leap Year and how many days are in each month.  To which I reply, yeah, sure, it will change one or two days each month, but not by TWO WEEKS!  I pointed out that I’ve been with them since ‘88 and that they’ve gotten a small fortune from me due to these damn changes.  Not to mention that they’re charging me 18.99% (lucky for me I rarely carry a balance on this card).  And come on, even my rent has a grace period of a couple of days and isn’t considered late on the 2nd.

Of course once I mentioned how long I’ve been with them, she was suddenly and quite magically able to assign me a specific due date and drop my rate down to 9%.  Funny how that works.  I mean she didn’t even need to think about it or check into anything, she was just able to slice it in half just like that. What a scam!

I’d read that credit card companies were doing this date changing thing now hoping to earn some money in late fees.  It just pisses me off.  I guess I’ll just go back to only using the Amex and making sure that we only use the Citibank card as a last resort.  If it wasn’t for the fact that I like having one credit card in my name only (you never know) and that I’ve been with them for 20 years, I’d just dump them all together.

The lesson here, go with the assumption that anything that’s due to a credit card company nowadays needs to be in their hands BY the first of the month.  Regardless of what the due date actually is.

I Sometimes Wish I Was Stylish

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

Like many women in the blogosphere, I’m starting to worry stress think about what to wear to BlogHer in a couple of weeks.  And like many of other bloggers, I tend to spend most of my day (and night) in total loungewear - yoga pants, sweats, tanks & tees.  I’m not the most stylish, so I can use all the help I can get.

Susan Wagner to the rescue.  I read her fashion posts on a regular basis.  She’s got some great advice for the “regular” gal.  Nothing fancy and better still, nothing crazy expensive.  And today, she’s got a great post aimed right at us BlogHer gals.

Now I just have to convince myself to trust her advice.  I will not go crazy shopping (like I tend to do before a trip of any sort). I will wear what’s comfortable.  And yikes! I will leave my flip flops at home.  Yeah, it could happen.

Young Woman No More

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008

I was looking into joining the Young Women Social Entrepreneurs group.  I figured hey, I’m a young woman, I’m social and well, lookey that, I’m also an entrepreneur.  So I started poking around the site to learn about the LA chapter.  Seems like they do some fun local stuff.  Sounds great.

Then I click over to the membership page.  Turns out it’s only for gals in the their 20’s and 30’s.  While I am still a gal in my 30’s, let’s just say that I won’t be for much longer.  What a sad way to realize that you’re getting older.  I’m aging out of a networking group.  So sad.

Where Oh Where Can it Be?

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008

Today is the day that CA (and WA I hear) go mandatory hands-free.  No worries, I almost always (9/10x) use an ear bud while I’m driving.  Since phones keep getting smaller and smaller, there’s just no way to talk on them comfortably without being hands-free in my opinion. So I’m perfectly fine with this law.

What I’m not perfectly fine with is the fact that I can’t seem to find my Jawbone that I got a while back.  I found one in a parking lot once and figuring that there was no way I’d be able to track down an owner, I let them know inside that I found it and left my contact info.  Needless to say, it’s mine now.  I just needed to buy a charger, which I did.

I was still messing with it and hadn’t yet gotten around to syncing it to my phone.  Well, it was on the list of things to get to anyway.  I had it charged any everything.  I thought it was sitting on my desktop, but now I can’t seem to find it.  It’s clearly no where on my desk at all.

Thing is, I seem to be misplacing quite a few things lately. First the Jawbone and charger.  Then, after my trip to Jersey, I can’t seem to find the inside of my dress (basically a slip, to the more chiffon-like outside of the dress).  It was accidently dropped in the dry cleaning pile, so the last I saw of it was in my car where I left it on the seat to take back inside. Now, it appears to be missing.

A few other things have gone missing as well (though for the life of me, right at this moment, I can’t think of one thing).  So either something is in the air, or one or both of my boys have managed to stockpile my stuff for their own, four-legged enjoyment.  Or we have a ghost - it could be the peanut butter eating one from my childhood.  Maybe.

All I know is that I want my stuff back.  So if anyone has a way to conjure lost or misplaced things, please share the love.  Please.

And now I must go take allergy meds so my eyes will stop this god awful tearing and weaping.  I can barely see straight. Hey, maybe that’s why I can’t seem to find my stuff!