Internet connectivity at my home is painfully slow. I will resume vacation recap once Time Warner gets on the ball and gets us fixed.

This entry was originally posted at http://fikgirl.dreamwidth.org/168027.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

My baby is seven.

SEVEN.

Yes, my baby was seven on Saturday, but it really just hit me.

SEVEN!

She's a second grader. . .

Where did all the time go?

This entry was originally posted at http://fikgirl.dreamwidth.org/167854.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Just in case I forget to mention it, for those few who actually look for me online in various forms and various contact media: I am leaving for vacation tomorrow morning. I'll be home late Saturday night, possibly alert on Sunday afternoon.

I will be without teh interwebs (*gibbers*), so please leave a message at the beep.

This entry was originally posted at http://fikgirl.dreamwidth.org/166748.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

So, my paid LJ account expired earlier this week. This means that as of this writing, I've lost access to all the LJ paid features. I'm trying to decide how much (Or how little) I care. Yes, DW is still in the beta stages, but I went ahead and supported their efforts by purchasing a paid account over here/there. (Not a permanent account! If only I had that kind of cash lying around!)

I'm trying to decide if I want to renew my paid LJ account. I've imported everything over to DW, and I sign in here/there to make my posts. Posts are automatically crossposted to LJ, but LJ is not set to receive comments or replies.

What are the benefits of my paid LJ account?

Better question, I suppose would be what am I losing by not having a paid LJ account when I have plenty of paid time over on DW?

I liked having a paid account for playing online RPs. I liked having a million different icons to represent my characters and their varying moods. The latest RP, the_lifeboat has seemingly petered out. It didn't put up a fight, and instead went quietly in its sleep, but it is gone.

Leaving me on the fence about whether or not to renew paid time on LJ.

Eh, I guess I'll sleep on it. For a few days.

This entry was originally posted at http://fikgirl.dreamwidth.org/166454.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

I'd forgotten that I needed to go back and tag my entries from LJ that were moved to DW. So, I took some time to do that. I've decided to not overwhelm myself by doing it. If I can do a month/day I'll be done by fall. Maybe.

One thing I discovered is that I actually had some good ideas way back when. I just got bored or wasn't satisfied with them. Also, the writing not as terrible as I believed it was. I still think it could be about 100% better, but again, I'm secure in the knowledge that I am by far my own worst critic. (And all those editors who will never get a chance to reject me because a) I can't finish a darn thing and b) I'm chicken *#$%!.)

All that being said, August 2003 (!!!) has been properly converted and tagged. The (!!!) is from my amazement that I had a LJ that long ago. My daughter was just over a year old, and I was trying (and failing) to get back onto the writing horse. (I soon learned that it takes a while to truly be able to focus on something like writing with a knee-biter around.)

( The Bing Experiment: Day Two )

( Creature of (Sorta) Habit )

This entry was originally posted at http://fikgirl.dreamwidth.org/166005.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

I've had to tell the story too many times already, so I'm really not going to do it again here. Suffice to say that I am okay; achey and sore from being jostled, but okay. DH is also okay and The Girl was not in the car.

Oh yeah, I should mention, we got rear-ended yesterday afternoon. DH came to take me to lunch. On the way back from lunch, we were stopped at a red light and someone rear-ended us.

I like ibuprofen.

This entry was originally posted at http://fikgirl.dreamwidth.org/165868.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Day One results of the Bing test leave a lot to be desired out of Microsoft's search engine. I will admit that my testing has not been a completely true test. I doubt and don't trust Bing's results, so I double-checked them against Google. This was both good and bad. It's bad because it shows that I've developed a deep trust relationship with Google and am unable to consider that someone else might have "the answers." However, it was good (for me, but bad for Bing) because I discovered that Bing wasn't returning the results that I needed.

My first search was for a specific user's blog on LJ. I put in the user's name, the site (LiveJournal) and a few keywords I knew to be in the "title" of the blog. Five pages deep later, I found it on Bing.

( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://fikgirl.dreamwidth.org/165502.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Microsoft launched their new search engine, Bing. I have decided to take Bing for a test drive. (*gasp! shudder!*) Yes, I know, this means I am giving into the Evil Empire (TM), but it's only a test drive.

I am going to use Bing for a week and see what I think compared to Google.

Anyone out there used Bing? Thoughts or comments?

(Note to LJ readers; please comment on Dreamwidth with an Open ID account.)

This entry was originally posted at http://fikgirl.dreamwidth.org/165323.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

My childhood was just wrecked:

Anyone having shades of STAPLES commercials?

I imported my LJ entries over to DW. All 5+ years of them. It was easy and painless. I have nothing but good things to say about the ease of the DW Import Content feature. It took less than an hour (about 15 minutes or less actually) because there was no one ahead of me in the queue. Thus far, then, my experience with DW is going quite swimmingly.

By default all my imported entries are set to private, and (mostly) tagless. Why? Because I am using DW as a "clean slate." I want to clean up my access filters/friends groups and clean up my tags. Over the course of the next few weeks to months, I will spend about fifteen to thirty minutes an evening tagging and setting security on entries. A slow, tedious process, but one I feel will be worth the effort.

I know that a few people here on LJ are on DW. If you haven't already, please find me over there. I'm going to continue to cross-post all entries, however.

I suppose this means I have to stop saying "We never win anything."

Going back to our Saturday night at the ballet, I spent lots of money on raffle tickets.

And I won something. I won the Mattel Wizard of Oz dolls.

Don't laugh, have I ever mentioned that the Wizard of Oz is one of my all time favorite movies? (And yes, the ballet was "The Wizard of Oz.")

Once every few years, I start thinking about getting back on the (writing) horse; sometimes, I'm even inspired (not to mention daunted, scared, and overwhelmed) by the idea of actually doing it. However, I think that this time, I'm going to jump right in there and just do it.

Maybe.

That's right, just call me indecisive girl.

( Read more... )

This is my effort to get into the habit of blogging something every few days. In this case, it's a rambling nothing post, but it is a post.

Still mulling about the pet thing, but that one has time for consideration. The Girl has to do well in school for the rest of the semester and then we can worry about pets.

This past week had me fighting the Migraine from HellTM. I hadn't gotten a migraine in years. So many years in fact that I didn't even recognize the beginning signs until that bad boy hit me like a freight train. At that point in time, it was just a matter of pouring meds into me to keep the pain at bay. Finally couldn't take it anymore on Thursday night and went to the doctor, who gave me a lovely shot of something for pain (in my rear!) and I slept.

I was much better on Friday, survived work at an actual functional level. Took the Girl to swim classes, then dumped her on her dad and watched some tv.

Saturday was spent running around like a madwoman. The local ballet company put on a production of the Wizard of Oz, and a big group of us went. My "niece" was in it, and she was the most adorable little munchkin ever.

Today, my plans are to sit (or lie) upon my ass and do absolutely nothing. The house is a mess, there is laundry that needs done, but isn't Sunday supposed to be the day of rest? It probably won't last more than a few hours, but I intend to try it.

(As two quick side notes: I've rediscovered Terry Brooks. He has out a new trilogy that I thought was completely different, and totally just post-apocalyptic. (I like post-apocalyptic.) Turns out it's actually in the Shanara world. It's how Shanara came to be Shanara. The series is called Genesis of Shanara, and has anyone read any of it?

Thing the second: Is anyone out there on my f-list watching "Dollhouse," and have any thoughts? Other than it's FOX and Joss should already have gotten out the lube and bent over?)

The Girl has requested a pet with which she may actually interact. We're not allowed dogs or cats where we live, so it has to be something that can be caged. Let me retract that: The Girl has asked for a hamster. I'm not so sure about that.

I'd like to get some feedback on what the best small pet for a 6 (almost 7) year old child would be. I've heard that hamsters are mean and stinky, gerbils high energy and need to be in pairs. Our neighbor had a guinea pig and discovered she was allergic to it. The Girl has allergies so I guess that makes me hesitant about guinea pigs.

Anyone out there have any ideas, special memories or insight to share?

I now have an account at Dreamwidth, so here I am posting to it.

I'm going to try and post more journaling/blogging type entries, and they will be mirrored on both sites.

The account is free, though I'm considering going to paid if it seems to be worth it. I'm still mulling that over but I like the extra perks. :) We shall see how that pans out though.

Nothing more to say (yet).

Inspired by sinanju's post here, I've decided to make a post to LJ.

Surprise! Yes, I am alive. However, this post will be mostly rambling and babbling about writing, so if that doesn't interest you, I won't be offended if you move on now.

Anyone who knows me, or found me via my writing, knows that I love writing. I adore it. It's my passion, it's what I'm made of. It's my thing. It's what I do. Sadly? Unfortunately?) For whatever reason I don't write a lot of original fiction. Scratch that. If you were to compare my original fiction to fan fiction, the ration would be 98% to 5% and that 5% is only there if I go back throughout the entire course of my life. I could say that I don't get it and there are those who would say that I'm wasting my time writing fan fiction (and focusing on online RPGs), and I go back and forth with agreeing and disagreeing with that sentiment.

( Read more... )

I'm doing the meme/quizzes thing today:

First, the Woordles:



And a little bit of a color and font change, just cause I could:




OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets


OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets

( See more (if you really wanna) )

Because I'm a lemming... not so shamelessly stolen from kerravonsen

1. Open your music library
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press Play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie. (As if this were somehow worth lying about?)

( The Soundtrack )

I get it, and if you feel that's the way to get your message across great, but I can't do it.

This is my creative outlet. Right now I'm paticipating in RPs that are part of this creative outlet. I *need* that type of creative outlet for my sanity and mental health. I'm not going to go over to IJ - for one day for that needed release - when the bulk of my RPs and friends are here.

Tomorrow I'll be here. And I'll be posting.

. . . and it has to be done . . .

I've added "watching lj implode" to my interest list.

Today's featured screw-ups: Censored Interests and More in a Nutshell.

Now, really, I *like* it here. I like my friends. I have made connections and communities. But really, if LJ keeps going like they are ...