Archive for the 'My Peeps' Category

My Feed, #5

Published on July 11, 2008 in My Peeps and MetaBlogging. 0 Comments

Ah, number five. One of my favorite people blogs (vs. blogs about ideas or Mormon stuff). Joe in and Around Las Vegas, aka VegasJoe, writes a really cool blog that’s a stream of consciousness blend of text and photos of Vegas life as lived by real people, interspersed with links to fun YouTube videos, travel, and his beautiful granddaughter, E.

I found Joe when he found me. He either linked to my blog or found it at random and I saw he’d been there by his IP address. We swapped e-mails a couple of times (remember my unemployed days, Joe?) and found that we are/were both actually FoxPro developers - a very, very small niche. He liked my blog and some of my friends’ blogs and after almost five years we’re still together :)

What I like best about Joe’s blog is that it’s always surprising. He works for a company that has a huge convention center right on site. He posts photos of setup and teardown and sometimes of the shows themselves. His blog gives me a sense of being “on the scene.” His video blogs are also, to hammer the adjective into the ground, surprising. I’m always entertained and amused and often delighted by what he chooses to link. And anybody who can look at the unruly mop of hair on his beautiful, cheeky little granddaughter E and not be entranced has no soul.

Joe’s blog and his generous link policies have made him friends all over the globe. If you go to Vegas, look him up! But warn him you’re coming - I was there last fall, and didn’t give him enough notice, so we’ve never yet met in real life.

My Feed, #4

Published on July 9, 2008 in My Peeps. 2 Comments

Feed Number 4 shall go unlinked, but not undescribed. Ms. K. (who calls me Ms. Banana) is an old, old friend from my early disaffected Mormon days. She is good people, a devoted mother, and a hard worker. She is a private person (a private person with a blog) which is why I’m not linking her. She writes hardly at all, but she stays in my feed so when she does write, I can catch up.

My Feed, #3

Published on July 6, 2008 in My Peeps and MetaBlogging. 0 Comments

I’ve met a lot of people online through ex-Mormon and New Order Mormon discussion boards. One of these, “The Folk of the Fringe,” is where people whose level of belief ranges from “recently released devout Stake President” to “hasn’t darkened a chapel door except for funerals in almost twenty years” have vibrant and respectful conversations. From the Lily Pad is Froggie’s blog. I first ran into Froggie over on The Fringe, and we still keep in touch very rarely by e-mail and over on another ex-Mormon board, The Foyer.

(Full disclosure: I am not an ex-Mormon.)

When I read blogs about people I know primarily from a fairly one-dimensional space (i.e., ex-Mormons), I learn a lot about them as whole people. We are all multi-dimensional; nobody is only “ex-Mormon” or “straight.” Froggie’s blog does a great job of showing all her dimensions. For example, she loves the outdoors, takes wonderful photos, and is a killer cook. If you visit the link, check out “Froggie’s Recipe Box.” Yum!

My Feed, #2

Published on July 5, 2008 in My Peeps and MetaBlogging. 1 Comment

This is number two in a series of posts about the blogs that are in my feed, and why I read them. I will write about the blogs in the order they show up on Google Reader and no preference or ranking should be inferred from the order they show up here in posts.

MikeandJohn.com is the blog of my friends Mike Karpowicz and John Hamer. John is a cultural Mormon; a writer, editor, historian and mapmaker. Mike is his partner, a software developer and business owner. Mike has never been a Mormon, but John’s interest has rubbed off on him. They are co-Executive Director’s of the John Whitmer Historical Association.

They are both great guys, smart and fun. And handsome! They are both just delightful to look at, albeit a little young (maybe that’s why they’re so beautiful). They both have great hair and neither exhibits any signs of encroaching male pattern baldness. I’ve met Hamer (why do I call him Hamer? He’s never John; always Hamer) twice; at the annual Sunstone Symposium last August in Salt Lake City, and for dinner in Ft. Wayne, Indiana on one of my occasional midwestern Mormon meetups. I met Mike for the first time at the Ft. Wayne dinner and I had a lot of fun talking with him about computer stuff.

John and Mike write separate and very different posts. John’s most recent post was a video that VegasJoe would get a kick out of - A YouTube video that’s an image montage of the “Nixon Now” reelection song. Mike’s is a photograph of SBBRPC 85 Pork Coating. John writes a lot about politics, while Mike writes about adventures - scroll down from the Pork Coating post to get a taste.

I read their blog to keep up with their interesting lives; which are very different from mine. They travel, they write, they have adventures. I, on the other hand, rarely leave my house. They don’t update their blog as often as I would like, but that’s not surprising, considering how much time they spend actually living their lives (vs. living vicariously through others).

Stuff You Get When You’ve Had Surgery

Published on March 4, 2008 in Miscellany and My Peeps. 1 Comment
  1. Your mother-in-law comes to visit, help with the cooking, and takes care of The Kid while you are in the hospital.
  2. A very nice person you’ve known for over 15 years and who you do work for sometimes sends you a lovely bouquet of spring flowers.
  3. Your online friend, who you’ve only met once in Real Life, but who lives so close you really ought to have lunch some Saturday in Hattiesburg, sends you the cutest card (Thanks Nancy-Jamie/Mommy-OldFart!)

Blogs I Read

Published on February 16, 2008 in My Peeps. 6 Comments

Ever since I put an RSS feed on my iGoogle page, I rarely click visit the sites of the blogs I read. I just “read with the feed.” The upside is greater speed and efficiency. The downside is that I rarely comment on people’s blogs any more.

Here are the blogs I read every new post on:

  • Behind the Infamous Veil - BIV’s personal blog is on hiatus for safety reasons.
  • Brain Barf - Keri is an ex-mo friend in Eastern Washington whose rare posts read like a brilliant stream of consciousness riff using words instead of a guitar.
  • Joe in and Around Las Vegas - Vegas Joe is a programmer, gardener, and handy fellow who takes lots of pictures and writes really interesting stuff about parts of Vegas tourists don’t see.
  • Joy in the Journey - Hope is a Fringe-y friend whose journal/blog recounts her day-to-day life. Best part is her “happy today for” daily comment.
  • Michael Homan - Michael is on the faculty at Xavier. Our youngest children were in the same pre-school for a year. Michael’s house was destroyed by Katrina, and he is very active and engaged in rebuilding New Orleans right along with his own life. I stumbled on his blog by accident, and he doesn’t know me from Adam.
  • Open Vein - Caroline is an ex-mo friend and wonderful writer who has excellent insights into feminism. She doesn’t write much, either.
  • PsyRel - Michael Nielsen’s posts and announcements about the study of the psychology of religion, which subject he studies and teaches at Georgia Southern University.
  • Puddle of Nothing - Randy’s blog. Randy is my very dear friend. He blogs about movies, television, dreams, and his two sons, A and T.
  • Stephen M (Ethesis) - Stephen is a Mormon who blogs with perception, gratitude and candor about life after grief.
  • the adventures of - very few posts from a lovely red-head ex-Mormon woman friend graduating from a big school in the desert very soon.
  • trail seeker - Alan is a farmer who lives in the PNW and loves to hike. He stopped writing ages ago, but I can always hope!
  • Wry catcher - brilliant feminist ex-mo buddy
  • Gardner family - fun musical friends here in town

In addition to these “people blogs,” I also have in a feed: Pound (Wendy McClure’s blog), I Blame the Patriarchy (radical feminism at it’s cutting-through-the-crap best) and NO Notes, a New Orleans/Saint James Infirmary Blues blog by Rob Walker, who wrote the amazing little book Letters from New Orleans. If you don’t own it, you should buy it.

So, if you are writing posts, but wonder why I don’t say anything, it’s not because I’m not reading, or because you aren’t interesting. It’s because I’m reading you efficiently. Furthermore, I’ve discovered that I really needn’t comment on everything, and the world still spins just fine without my editorializing.

I am thinking of adding a blogroll. If you want to be on it, just let me know.

Purge

Published on December 31, 2007 in Miscellany, Life in Louisiana and My Peeps. 0 Comments

Today I spent most of the day working on The Kid’s bedroom. Gosh it was a mess. We cleaned out old toys, sorted, organized, bagged and boxed. I posted three different ads on the local Freecycle, grouping the available toys by age group. I found five pairs of excellent jeans, size 7, that I had been saving for when he grew into them. He’s already outgrown them :(

DH is going to repair (again) the little bookcase. We still need to sort through books, change the bedding, dust the corners and vacuum. I’d like to get some new closet doors, but that won’t happen tonight.

We had a very nice dinner and blew off the church party. Fireworks aplenty are going off outside.

Here’s to a productive and successful and prosperous 2008 for all of us! Happy New Year!

The Post I Didn’t Want to Have to Write

Published on November 21, 2007 in Miscellany and My Peeps. 5 Comments

Internet Friend #2 died today. Peggy was diagnosed over three years ago with malignant melanoma of the eye, a very rare disease. Last year they found it had metastasized to her liver. By mid-summer it had begun to spread to her lungs and spine. There is no effective treatment. She had been taking a trial drug for about two months that they hoped would slow the tumor growth, but it didn’t help.

She went to the doctor on Monday. They didn’t make any plans for follow up or offer any additional treatments. Her most recent scans showed her body riddled with tumors. Tuesday morning she started hospice treatment. She passed away this afternoon.

I’m so, so, glad I went to see her in August. She showed me her poetry and played the harp for me. I met her husband (who she had never mentioned was HOT!) and her daughters and we went to a party and she looked so good. I forbade her from dying. She didn’t listen.

Oh God I will miss her so. She was probably one of the best friends I’ve ever had, a true friend who loved me as I was and was willing to tell me hard things. She helped shape the course of my life over the last decade. I am a different person because I knew her.

Road Trip

Published on August 11, 2007 in Miscellany, Mormon Stuff and My Peeps. 7 Comments

I have been away from home for over a whole week, and will be gone for almost a whole week more. My sex life has suffered as a result, which I’m sure my husband is happy to know.

I worked in the office for two days last week, then on Tuesday evening flew to Salt Lake City, Utah. I came here because I have always wanted to attend the Sunstone Conference, and visit my friend Peggy again. Peggy has a very seriously bad disease, and I thought it was important that “again” become “2007″.

The trip has been a whirl of activity. I have spent a great deal of money that we don’t have, but not as much as I would have spent without the kind and generous hospitality of my husband’s aunt and uncle. They have housed me in a comfortable room that their briefly absent granddaughter lives in. They have fed me vegetables from their garden and fruit from their trees. Fortunately, I am leaving before the Big Canning Project on Monday and Tuesday, where extended family members will come together and can 35 quarts of tomato juice. Whew.

The Sunstone Conference was an almost three-day immersion in Mormon Stuff, and I am DONE. It was different and interesting, but really, I’m done. Done. Donedonedonedonedone. I have commented briefly about my experiences at By Common Consent. Feel free to hop over and read if you are interested.

The best part of the trip, of course, has been visiting with Peggy and meeting some wonderful internet friends in Real Life. I met Todd, with whom I have been discussing Mormon Stuff for over three years, and his wife Stephanie, and it was like hooking up with old high school pals. I met Mormons, New Order Mormons, and Ex-Mormons that I have been reading and talking with for anywhere from a few months to five years, and it’s been wonderful and fun. Oh, and tiring. Did I mention that I’m tired? I was out until 2:00 a.m. last night partying with the MoBloggers, and then another two hours tonight with the NOM/FLAKers. It was awesome.

Peggy looks great. Absolutely great. I was just amazed at how terrific she looked. Hard to believe she’s sick. I forbade her to die, which was incredibly socially inept of me.

Tomorrow I leave Salt Lake to fly back to Columbus.

Internet Friend #2

Published on April 2, 2007 in Miscellany and My Peeps. 4 Comments

Internet Friend #2 was the second internet person I met in Real Life (the first being Internet Friend #1). I first met Peggy on the newsgroup soc.religion.mormon. She was a frequent poster and a wonderful writer. She had interesting ideas and expressed them well. I think the first comment she ever made directly to me, rather than to one of my ideas, was “could you please quote something from the post you’re responding to in your posts, so we have a frame of reference?” It was a eureka moment. “Wow, if I put some of the text of what I’m responding to in my post, people will have context for what I’m saying!” It was the first of many useful insights Peggy gave me.
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