adidas Star Wars Celebration

All I did was ask my husband if I could go to New York next week, and I sent him the copy about the event from StarWars.com. He re-edited the copy. His "improvements" are in bold.

The REAL story...

If you're in New York on February 4th, join adidas Originals and Foot Locker for an Imperial March to celebrate the launch of the adidas Originals Star Wars collection. Led by some pompous short guy from the 501st in platform shoes and a Rubie's Darth Vader costume, the march will begin at Foot Locker (43-45 W. 34th St.) at 9:30AM with a celebrity guest, most likely some asstard that appeared in the background in one of the prequels for half a second. Or Andy Dick. joining at the Times Square Foot Locker (1530 Broadway) at 10:00AM.

The first 50 customers to purchase a shoe at each location will receive a special Star Wars gift, being anally raped with a Hasbro lightsaber while on-lookers gasp and cry "You paid HOW MUCH for fricking shoes with Star Trek stickers on them?" Everyone will have the opportunity to get their photo taken with Star Wars characters, actually more of the self-loving losers from the 501st who are still savoring the smell of the smoke Lucas has blown up their asses while laughing at them for being a free PR machine for his empire. The March will continue south and culminate at the SoHo ('cause it sort of sounds like Solo, y'know from the movies) adidas Originals store (136 Wooster) at 11:00AM where the special celebrity guest will break wind whilst staggering around in a drunken stupor and hitting on the least fat female fans and then unveil the adidas Skywalker shoe , which will be available for purchase for the first time in the US. DJ Neil Armstrong will be on hand spinning for the crowd. By "spinning" we do mean break dancing. And at his age, once he hits the ground he likely to break every bone in his body. Or at least the ones that haven't been replaced with space bone by his alien overlords. Nerd.

Oh, and he nixed the trip to the Big Apple.

A Few Thoughts on "Avatar"

Hubby and I saw "Avatar" on Sunday afternoon in 3D. It was playing to an almost full house, not completely sold out but quite a good crowd for the movie being out for several weeks already.

Beware of spoilers ahead!

We'd heard a lot about the story, and for us nothing that happened in the movie was very unexpected. Certain plot points were set-up well in advance, and maybe we're just old and jaded, but for example, as soon as they encountered the large orange dragon-like creature and told the story that only five leaders had even ridden one, we knew that Jake Sully would be the sixth. When they tried to save Grace by transferring her into her avatar, it was obvious that Jake would choose that option and it would work, because he was not so weak. Immediately after the film, Tim commented that Grace would become the Obi-Wan character, if Jim Cameron made a sequel, and since then, he read an article that said Sigourney Weaver would be back for the follow-up.

The computer effects were very good for the most part; there were only a few moments where I noticed poor CGI. Notably they are the shot where Neytiri reached out to grab Jake when he's first following her through the forest and nearly fell, and then later when the guys are all climbing the vines to get to the creatures that they're going to try to ride. It's like their biceps weren't flexing at all, so it seemed there was no effort to the climb. For only a couple of moments to jump out at me as being poorly animated in a movie with this much CGI, that's pretty good.

The 3D effect was very well done. I must say, I did not have any "reach out and grab" it moments in the theatre, which I have felt like doing at Disney World -- but
I think it's because the Disney 3D movies were designed and filmed to capitalize on the 3D effect, whereas Cameron was telling a story that just happens to be in 3D. I must also say that whenever a shot seemed to call particular attention to the 3D aspect of the film, it pulled me out of the moment. They missed a few opportunities to take advantage of the 3D, such as when Jake is first trying out his avatar and his tail is knocking things over. Something could have been knocked towards the
camera or the tail could have flicked by our faces; Tim believes Cameron chose not to do that, because it would have pulled the audience out of the moment and reminded them that they're watching a film.

The designs of the hardware were good, but also kind of disappointing because everything Cameron does features very similar machinery. We saw the hunter-killers from "The Terminator" and the power loader from "Aliens." Very early on,
I heard a clip of music that was probably right off the "Aliens" soundtrack, thus confirming for me that the hack James Horner did the music. Most of it was good and seemed original, although after becoming disillusioned with his work after hearing
so much of the "Star Trek II" & "STIII" music rehashed in "Aliens" I have not gone out of my way to listen to his music. For all I know the pieces that sounded like Native American flute music could have been rehashed Celtic music from "Titanic"
played on a different instrument. In the final fight between the Sarge (was he a Sergeant?) and Jake, ooh, surprise, the same "thrilling moment" music Horner used in both "Trek" films, and "Aliens" and "Clear and Present Danger" and "Krull" and everything else he's ever done. I suspect he probably used it in "Titanic" but it wasn't as recognizable being played on Celtic instruments. And Lord save me from the "hit single" that was played over the credits. That was painful.

Lest you think I didn't enjoy the movie, I was entertained, I cared about the characters, and I had a good time. It just wasn't as special as the $1.6 billion+ box office would suggest. If the plot were quite so simplistic and predictable, it could have been an excellent movie instead of mediocre. I suppose mediocrity doesn't really matter when you're getting butts in seats and winning all kinds of awards for the cleverness of getting butts in seats.

Before the film, they played several 3D trailers, which surprised me. I wasn't expecting that at all. "Alice in Wonderland" was one, plus "Shrek Forever," "Piranha 3D" (interesting choice, since Cameron directed "Piranha 2" when he was first starting out as a filmmaker), and something else about a supervillain and his young nemesis but I can't recall the name.

So, that's my review of "Avatar." It's not the best review the movie will get, nor is it the worst. Ultimately, it's making Cameron even richer, and I suppose that's all that really matters to Hollywood.

Oh, my aching back

I'm tired all the time, but when I get the chance to sleep in, I wake up achy. I blame it on the mattress. We bought our mattresses at Koala Mattress in Pensacola probably seven or eight years ago. Very soon after we bought them, hubby heard some of the wood supports in his start to crack. It was under warranty, but it's a major headache getting the mattresses home, much less borrowing a truck to take it back to the store and doing without while it's being repaired. So, they've just continued to get worse. Funnily, we were looking at a mattress-in-a-box option at a local department store and talking with someone else who was looking and he said (with no prompting from us), "Don't waste your time with Koala Mattress." So, we are not alone in our bad experience.

Right now, I am pinning my hopes on winning a new mattress from Sealy Posturepedic. Sealy is giving away several of their new Sealy Posturepedic Innerspring Signature 11 Series mattresses through some of the popular blogs. The winners get to choose the size mattress they get.

Here are some links where you can enter:
Mommy Mandy
Bizzie Mommy
From Dates to Diapers

Hubby and I use two Twin XL mattresses on a Queen frame, and all our linens are Twin. If I win, clearly I'll have to choose Twin XL for the size, and hubby will be on his own, because I will claim the new mattress in the name of Spain (my birth country). If the mattress helps me sleep soundly enough, maybe even the tag team of Wicket and Kali will not be able to disturb my slumber. One can only hope.

The Power of the Pea

I just ate my fourth bowl of black-eyed peas of the day and will be dipping in for more in a few minutes. You see, when I was a child my Pap-pa told me that for every black-eyed pea you eat on New Year's Day, you'll earn a dollar in the coming year. I figure that if the going rate was a dollar per pea in Pap-pa's day (when a dollar a day was a good, living wage), that the value has to have gone up by now. Eating a crock pot full of black-eyed peas, therefore, will ensure a very successful year.

So, how exactly does this work? Because it has seemed to work for me these past few years. I've won a good amount of cash and some valuable prizes. I think it works for me because I believe in the power of the pea.

A few days ago, I had lunch with a friend who's as avid a sweeper as I am and another old friend who saw our sweeping chat on Facebook and wanted in on the action. They've both read The Secret - the popular book about the Law of Attraction. I've never read the book, but I have seen a few minutes of the video online, and I've read about it. I was introduced to the concept some 20 years ago, by an actor friend who had read Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain. This friend told me that when she was looking for a new place to live, she imagined the perfect townhouse in the perfect neighborhood at a great location in the city, and she turned down a street and there it was, just as she had imagined, down to the color of the buildings and the layout of the rooms.

Ms. Gawain was not the first to write of this concept. On Wikipedia, you can read The Science of Getting Rich written by Wallace D. Wattles in 1910; he called the concept Thinking Substance.

Imagine what you want. Believe it will come to you, and it will. That's the Law of Attraction. Creative Visualization. Thinking Substance. The Power of Prayer.

I remember hearing a story long ago about a friend of a friend who was not well off financially, she may have been disabled, and she really wanted a piano. She prayed and prayed for delivery of a piano. When out of the blue things fell into place in such a way that she was offered a piano at no cost, she gave credit to God and prayer. My dad told me the story of helping their new preacher move into a parsonage house recently purchased by the church. Standing in the room designated for the preacher's youngest daughter, the church members offered to re-paint it. Not necessary, the preacher said, for his daughter had prayed that in their new house, her room would be pink and purple, and that's exactly what it was.

Gives you chills, doesn't it?

So when I eat my bowl of black-eyed peas, I'm believing in the goodness and prosperity they will bring me over the next 364 days. Perhaps a grand prize win of thousands of dollars cash. Maybe another trip to New York or L.A. In the past year, I've won a laptop computer, a jousting helmet, DVDs, free food coupons and gift cards, books, and all kinds of products.

I credit the peas of 01/01/2009.

As you go through 2010, believe in yourself, be steadfast in your dreams, and may the year bring you everything you desire.

My Entry For the Kia Sorento Ultimate Road Trip Sweepstakes

In 1987, I decided I wanted to go to the official 10th Anniversary Star Wars convention in Los Angeles. It would be cheaper to drive than to fly, but it meant being on the road for at least 10 days by myself, age 21. My mom decided to go with me, and we turned it into a great adventure, nearly three weeks on the road. We stayed at really cheap motels (except in L.A. where we stayed at the conference hotel), and we stopped anywhere that looked interesting: national parks, state parks, tourist traps ("You don't want to miss THE THING, 25 miles ahead!"). We saw the Grand Canyon, and played the slots in Vegas. We visited the London Bridge, Hoover Dam, and photographed every cactus in Saguaro National Park. My parents and I had traveled a lot when I was growing up, but I didn't appreciate it like I did this time.

My husband's travel experiences have been far less interesting. His parents would drive across the state for a piece of pie, meaning hours crammed into the car with two other kids. His dad drove around town for work on the weekends, and carried the kids with him. These excursions were more boring and frustrating than anything. Nowadays, my husband just wants to get where he's going and get back, and usually time constraints mean that's what we have to do.

As unrealistic as it is, I would love to take my husband on a two- or three-week trip like the one I had with my mom. I think that if we weren't rushed, and if we stopped anywhere and everywhere that looked interesting, he would have a good time. No telling when we'll have the freedom and money to do that, but it's a dream that I will keep in my heart until the time comes.

Now, tell about your dream road trip at MomLogic for a chance to win big.

When a Child Drowns....

It's very easy for everyone else who wasn't there to criticize and blame the parent or caregiver, the one who was "supposed to be watching." I have been and will continue to be critical of how many people parent (or don't parent) their children. In the Shellie Ross case, I think people are making some assumptions that I am not prepared to make.

I don't know how big Mrs. Ross's property is or where the chicken coop is in relation to the pool. 25 years ago, before cell phones and blogs and tweeting, the very same thing could have happened. Mom walks out to the chicken coop to check on them or gather eggs or feed them, the toddler walks away while she's doing her chore and falls into the pool.

I don't know if the critics have children. I don't. I have cats. I keep a pretty good eye on them when I'm at home, but yesterday, hubby and I were having dinner on the sofa, watching a show on TV, and Petra jumped up on the kitchen counter maybe 12 feet away (and behind a wall, but not behind a door). She pulled down a burrito that was cooling on the counter and started helping herself to the contents. Hubby walked in with his plate and caught her at it.

Do I think that a lot of parents could play closer attention to their children? Absolutely. Mrs. Ross probably tweets from a cell phone, an accessory some people consider as important as their heads. If you make or receive more than three cell phone calls on an average day, I think you're on the phone too much. I see people talking on phones while they drive, walk, bike, and use the toilet. They make and receive many personal calls or text messages at work. I recall hearing stories of children drowning in a pool or mop bucket or tub while their caregiver was on the phone. Doesn't even have to be a cell phone; the old landline variety can be blamed for some of those deaths. A landline phone ties you to the wall where the phone is plugged in.

Mrs. Ross had her cell phone with her and was outside with her son. She says he slipped away in two seconds. Maybe it was really 30 seconds or a minute or five minutes, but it wasn't long.

If you have ever turned your eyes away from a child in your care, what happened to Mrs. Ross could have happened to you, Twitter or no.

Bryson's death is a horrible tragedy for the Ross family. Mrs. Ross will live with this for the rest of her life. She will second guess her actions. She will question her choices on December 15, 2009, for as long as she lives. She doesn't need anyone else to do it for her. On that evening, her life was spinning and her heart was contracting in her chest and she turned to her friends for comfort. 25 years ago, she might have screamed for a neighbor. She might, even today, have called her mother or her sister or her best friend in order to ask for prayers, to express her grief and her horror and her fear. Instead, she texted. It's second nature to her. That brief message took just a few seconds and reached many people who Mrs. Ross considers to be her friends.

I don't know if her harshest critics follow her blog or her tweets or if they heard about that tweet second-hand. It sure didn't take them long to hop onto the internet to tell everyone in their circle of cyberfriends what they thought of the incident. It's kind of hypocritical, isn't it? To condemn someone for spending too much time on the internet in an online forum. To chastise someone you don't even know for not spending enough time with real people, from the computer in your house where you're presumably not talking with a real person because you're too busy typing. To do telephone interviews with magazines so you can get some attention from someone else's tragedy.

My dad died two years ago. It was an expected death from cancer, and my mom and my husband were there with me. When he passed, we each took turns on the phone calling the hospice worker, the funeral home, the church, and family. It wasn't long before I got online and sent some emails and posted on some forums. When you're hurting and grieving, you're in a daze, I'm sure even more so when it's sudden. You need to do something but there's nothing you can do. While the paramedics were working on her son, Mrs. Ross had to stand back, out of the way, and wait. She was restless and frightened and aching, so she tweeted. She asked people to pray for her son, because it's all she could do at that moment.

So cut her some slack.

It needed to be said.

Do you know the difference between "right" and "write"? If not, you should watch this video by Chris Pirillo.

Remembering Pap-Pa

My mom's brother, my Uncle Howitt, is in town for a couple of days, and I had dinner with him and my mom on Sunday and hubby joined us for dinner on Monday. We had great conversation about food and customer service and the legal system and how things have changed. He and mom recalled the outhouse they had when they were little, and even after they got indoor plumbing, as kids they'd use the outhouse to avoid catching their momma's eye, because she was likely to put them to work if she saw them.

He told the story of how a reporter from the paper was out visiting him one day, and Pap-pa (what I always called my grandfather) mentioned that they were in for a harsh winter. This was in 1976. The reporter asked how he could possibly know that. Pap-pa showed him the dog's coat and said if the fur doesn't thin out in the spring, it's going to be extra thick for a cold winter. He showed the reporter an anthill that was close to the ground. If it was going to be a mild winter, Pap-pa said, the anthill would be eight inches off the ground, but instead, the ants were digging deep, to be ready for a cold winter. The reporter took it all down and wrote a tongue-in-cheek article about this old country farmer's antiquated ideas about weather forecasting. Come October, though, and an early hard freeze or two and the reporter came back, to do a follow-up story about how accurate the old farmer's predictions had been.

Too often we forget or discount the old ways, but that ancient wisdom came from experience and from having to make do without the internet and live Doppler radar on the 10pm news.

What digital SLR should I get?

My mom has indicated that she will buy me a digital SLR for Christmas. She's going to get the same make and model for herself, so I can figure it out and help her. I've read good things about Pentax, plus you can use 35mm Pentax camera lenses on their digital cameras (so I've heard) and we have some of those. Big benefit.

I have also heard some really good things about Nikon and Canon models.

What do you think?

Banner Ads can be so misleading.

I was on Facebook, and I should have known better. The ad showed a couple of small pink Tupperware containers and a pink ribbon and said that the free sample offer would be ending in 11 minutes. Mm-hm. And the next free sample offer will start in 11:01.

But I fell for it. I clicked. It took me to QualityHealth.com and asked for a little basic information, including mailing address, age, and general medical concerns. The next thing I knew, I was responding to page after page of "don't you want to buy a Nissan?" and "don't you want to get 180 health-related e-newsletters two or three times a week?" questions. Grrr. But I finished the survey (honestly, I'm afraid to stop, because what if I end up signed up for something because I specifically didn't say no). Did they say that my free samples would be in the mail? Did they even mention what free samples I would receive? Of course not.

So, I hunt around and look for a way to contact the company, and when I find the form, what options do I see listed in the drop-down menu for subject? Stuff like "Complaints" and "Advertised Offer Not Available" and "Samples Not Received." A little further digging finds that this site (and other sites targeting people looking for information on specific diseases and conditions) is run by Marketing Technology Solutions." Based on their own corporate website, linked-in page, and a press release about a lawsuit they recently filed against a rival, MTS seems to be in business to put ads in front of people seeking medical information and to "generate leads" -- in other words, collect personal information from people so that pharmaceutical companies (and apparently other businesses like Nissan) can try to sell them stuff.

Now, I know there's no such thing as a free lunch, except that the reason you're giving me the free lunch is in hopes that I'll want the same thing for lunch tomorrow and I'll be willing to pay for it. Luring me into the restaurant, having me fill out a bunch of surveys, then sending me away hungry is not the way to win my trust or my business. All I'm asking for is a little honesty in advertising.

Marketing Technology Solutions should be ashamed of themselves, but they seem to have come up with a scheme that brings them in a lot of money from medical companies and that's all that matters to them. Same for Facebook. They ought to ban misleading ads, but they're in it for the money, too.

Enter to win a Kindle

Click here to enter at Noobie.com.

I would love to have a Kindle, because I would like to read some books that are only available as ebooks, and I would like to carry the complete works of Shakespeare and some reference books with me all the time.

The Soggy Book

Over the summer, I won a book called Counting the Cost. It's a depression- era love story, inspired by real-life events recounted by author Liz Adair's family members. A couple of weeks ago, the book arrived in the daily post. It was soaked.

A wet book is a ruined book, and as we have not had any satisfaction from the local postmaster, the branch manager, or our carrier on those few occasions in the past when we've had a serious issue with mail delivery, I didn't bother with them.

Going back a few months, when the USPS was talking about cutting back to 5-day-a-week delivery and raising postage rates again, I sent a letter through the USPS.gov website. I pointed out the damage that one of our carriers did to a package by jamming it into a too-small mailbox instead of driving down the 600' driveway to deliver it (we were home at the time) or leaving a slip. The branch manager told us the package should have been insured if it was important. The carrier said, if it's important, use FedEx or UPS. Seriously.

I got an email back asking for some very specific details, which have been forgotten over time. This was more than five years ago, before we moved to our current house.

I went back to that e-mail and hit reply. I explained that I'd just received this book, and it was soaked through, meaning it did more than get wet from the mail truck to my mailbox. The box itself was closed; the doors (front and back on this model) were up tight.

I received an email back asking for specific information about the date of delivery, where it was mailed from, and a few other questions. They were not responsible for compensation, but they would investigate.

I answered their questions and hit send, and I got an automated response that said, basically, I was sending it to the wrong place, the address had changed, yadda yadda. Long story short, I ended up copying the Postmaster General of the U.S. with my final report.

A couple of days later, I get a call from my local postmaster, the same person who, when we tried to call him about a previous problem a few years early, said we needed to talk to the branch manager without even listening to our complaint (which involved the branch manager's attitude). This time, he was really apologetic. He was going to go to my house and look at my mailbox and talk to my carrier and find out what happened. Wow!

An hour or so later, he called again. Said the carrier told him the package was wet when it got to Pensacola, and because he didn't follow procedure and package it up with a note explaining what happened, he was going to reimburse me for the price of the book.

At the same time, the Ms. Adair's PR lady had kindly offered to send me another copy of the book, which arrived about 10 days later (I was beginning to wonder if my carrier was taking revenge) and it was in great shape. I have offered to pay for the book, since the Post Office came through, and I'm waiting to see how to make out the check and where to mail it.

I know that the post office handles a whole lot of mail without any problems or damage. I know that accidents can happen. I do wonder what befell that first package. Did it fall into a puddle? Was there a leak in one of the mail trucks en route? How long did it sit in water? If it fell into a puddle, as long as it was retrieved quickly and wiped off, it wouldn't have been ruined. As you can see from the photo, the package was torn in several places -- did that happen before or after it was exposed to the water? Was it really nobody's fault, or was someone having a bad day and when the book fell into the water said, "Screw it, someone else'll pick it up." The Postal Service uses plastic tubs to sort and carry the mail; if water got into one of those tubs, either being carried through a downpour or because of a leak in the truck or some other reason, the mail in that tub would just sit and soak until it was re-sorted or delivered.

It's up to every person in the chain to be alert and considerate to ensure the safe delivery of the mail. I thank the outstanding men and women of the U.S. Postal Service who give their all to make sure the mail gets through. To those who think their job is not important, that they don't get paid enough to care, I hope you find a new job really soon, something that really isn't important or meaningful to anyone, because we'll all be better off without you.

Something I Don't Get About Google Alerts

Google Alerts is supposed to be a great tool, and I have a really unusual name so it should be easy. The thing is, I get the same page, the same mention of my name, fairly regularly. One of the few other Auriette's in the world is a racehorse. She was racing '96-'98, from what I can tell. These same old articles keep showing up in my Google Alerts. I'm alerted about some of my tweets. Today I got an alert about a comment I made on another person's blog three weeks ago. I don't receive alerts about most of the blog prizes that I win, which are often posted on the giveaway blog. I signed up for Google Alerts to try to help me find out about wins, just in case the sponsor doesn't notify me directly or the e-mail gets lost. Unfortunately, it just doesn't seem to work that well.

New Salad Dressing is Coming

I have this morning off work, so I was at home during business hours, and I called the number on the O'Charley's Honey Mustard again. Now, the name on the bottle is Donelson Foods. I couldn't understand what the phone system said the company's name was, so when I reached a person, I asked if this was also Donelson Foods. She mentioned the O'Charley's Dressing and asked if I wanted HR. I explained I had a bad bottle of the dressing and she transferred me. That person (I didn't make a note of her name) mentioned clearly Choice Food and Diversity Food. I left a detailed message, then I started looking around. Apparently, what the phone system says is Vietti Foods. I guess they still make some foods under that umbrella, but then I found a press release that referenced "Choice Food of America formerly Vietti Foods" and how they were teaming up to form Diversity Food to reach the multicultural market. I was going to follow up with an e-mail to someone, if I could figure out their email address protocol, when the phone rang. The woman apologized, told me the person who handles these things is out of the office until Monday, but there's been another complaint about products with the 13Oct09 date stamp, so they would send me a replacement two-pack next week. She gave me a direct-line phone number to call if I don't receive it in the next couple of weeks.

I knew something had to be wrong with it, and I didn't let it go. I was polite on my message, but I also mentioned that I'd left a message before and never heard anything, and that I really hoped someone would call me back this time. Maybe the message didn't save correctly, or the person I left the message for has been out of town all this time. With voice mail, you never can tell. The person today seemed genuinely apologetic that no one had called me back. It pays to be persistent.

Why do places not return calls?

We bought this O'Charley's Honey Mustard dressing, made by a place called Donelson Foods, and it turned out we still had another bottle (we get them in 2-packs at Sam's Club), so it was sitting around for a while, but the expiration is not until October and the stuff we just finished was good until June according to the label, and it was still fine. So, it looked really dark and separated, the new stuff, and I shook it up and I poured some out, and it was really runny and looked nasty. I keep forgetting to take the bottle to work with me to call, so I called one evening, and they were closed, but they said I could leave a message, so I did. No one called me back and I'm really irritated about that.

HP is addictive.

HP is giving away a really nice laptop and a mini. And an awesome Timbuk2 bag to carry them in. I have an HP desktop that I love, and you know what? The DV6 Laptop they're giving away in a series of back-to-school blog contests is even more powerful. More RAM. Slightly bigger hard drive. Plus a Blu-ray player, which I don't even own one yet, so that would be a really nice added feature.

The mini is tiny, but it would be perfect to carry in my purse (I'd have to clean it out of course) for comparison shopping while we're on the go. Don't you hate it when you're out and you see something and you wonder if it's really a good deal. What do the other stores have? Are there any sales? Pop into the nearest hotspot and you have your answers.

Head over to Daddy Forever right now for your chance(s) to win. You can enter up to four times using different methods. This blog I'm writing? This is one of my four entries.

There are a few more days in this ongoing HP promotion, and you can find more participating blogs and details about the prizes at HP's Back to School site.

Yes, I know I just blogged that I won an Acer laptop. Am I greedy? Maybe... But hubby's parents don't have a computer at all, so if I win this very sweet HP package, I will choose one of the smaller computers to send up to them so they can have e-mail. I think that if they ever used the email, they would enjoy being able to communicate with family members who don't live close by.

Think about your own reasons to win and start visiting Daddy Forever and the other participating sites for your chance.

Finally!

I won a laptop! Thanks to Deal Seeking Mom and the fine folks at Acer, I will be receiving an Acer Aspire Timeline. It sounds great! Only 3.5 pounds, about an inch thick, and 8+ hours of battery life. From what I can tell, the processing speed is only moderately slower than our desktop, and the Acer has more RAM. It's got a 13.3" screen, which is a little larger than most netbooks. The 80gb hard drive is small, but external drives are not that expensive if I find I need more space. What I mainly want it for is checking email & entering sweepstakes online and for word processing (will I finally finish that novel?).

I got the notification on Thursday and Deal Seeking Mom confirmed receipt of my shipping and contact information on Friday. I'm hoping Acer will be able to ship next week, so I'll have it in time for my road trip on the 18th. I'm driving my mom to Indiana and flying back. It's going to be incredibly awesome to have a laptop for the trip!

That reminds me, I should start looking for wifi hotspots at the Indianapolis airport!

The Spirit of Cooperation

So, over at StudySuccessful.com, they're giving away some HP computers. Regular readers will know that I'm obsessed with trying to win a laptop or netbook, and here's my chance to win both and shut up about it.

For my chance to win, StudySuccessful wants to hear about a great cooperative experience in my academic career and something that went terribly wrong. Many of my experiences working with people in school went pretty well (except for the evil girls in middle school science, but there's nothing positive in that story). The best example for the purposes of this story was "Of Thee I Sing." That's a musical that the University of West Florida theatre department put on in the fall of 1984. I had a couple of lines and the rest of the time I was in the chorus. The "star" of the show was Edd "Kookie" Byrnes, but he only rehearsed with us the last week or so. But I digress. The great spirit of cooperation was within the cast. A lot of us were in theatre classes together. This was about the third show I'd ever done in my life (not counting the Christmas play in elementary school where my big part was ripping off bits of fake fiber snow and throwing snowballs), so it was all very new to me. The director was kind of crazy or at least forgetful; I remember one of the actors standing up to him when the director was yelling at us for not doing what he wanted because he had changed his mind and forgot to tell us. During rehearsals my friend Michelle gave me a great piece of advice. She said, "No matter what happens, just keep smiling," a piece of advice that I had to use on this particular show, because something did go terribly wrong.

I had a quick change backstage, and somehow the button on my sleeve got caught in a hairpin or something, and it took me a minute to extricate myself and pull my clothes on. By that time, the dance number had started and I wasn't in place. All the guys had partners except Bob the actor, who left dancing alone and wondering where I was. Michelle was backstage (she wasn't in this number) and I whispered, "What do I do?"

"Get out there and keep smiling!"

So, I put on a big smile and sashayed across the stage and joined the dance. I wonder sometimes if the audience knew what had happened or if they thought it was just part of the number.

Working on a big musical like that is a great experience in teamwork. Everyone relies on everyone else doing what they are supposed to do, being in the right place at the right time, for everything to go smoothly. When something goes wrong, you have to help each other out to get things back on track. To work together successfully on any project, you have to fulfill your duties, and when something goes wrong, you can't just point the finger at someone else, you have to step up with help or solutions or just part of the problem.

Fiber.... It's not just for breakfast

I remember about 15 years ago or so, Disney built a Stepford town called Celebration just outside Orlando. One of their big pitches was fiber optic cable instead of coax for better internet and cable connections. People started complaining because, as I recall, the fiber was in the houses or apartments, but not on the street leading up to it.

Today, my mom complains about her cable and internet connections because the coax running up to her house has literally been there since I was in high school, in the '80s. She blames a lot of her connectivity issues and poor picture quality on the antique (ooh, make that "vintage") cable, but the company refuses to change it.

Me? I got my cable installed for internet only about five years ago. Yep, good ol' coax.

I know it's expensive, but Cox and and the other internet and television providers are making money. We're paying for these services, a little more every year. The companies are constantly asking us to upgrade and bundle and give them a little more hard-earned cash every month.

So, why aren't they investing in us and giving us a better quality product?

All this came up today because I discovered a new website: fiberforall.org. It's run by AU Interactive out of Sarasota, Florida, and its purpose is to educate people about fiber technology and which communications companies are taking the initiative to switch over.

If you don't know anything about the great fiber debate or if you're very interested and one a one-stop-shop to keep up with developments, check it out. Hopefully we'll all get the chance to experience fiber connectivity at home in the near future.

Win from author Eve Silver

Eve is a two-faced writer. As Eve Silver, she writes dark contemporary paranormals and historical suspense. Her alter-ego, Eve Kenin, writes speculative romance (think science fiction). It's kind of like if Superman decided to write for the newspaper, too. You'd get excellent writing from him and Clark Kent, but they'd have a different perspective.

Eve is having a contest at her site to celebrate the release of her latest Silver book, Seduced by a Stranger.

GRAND PRIZE: $50 gift certificate to the online bookstore of your choice PLUS an authographed trade paperback edition of the anthology NATURE OF THE BEAST.

FIRST PRIZE: $25 gift certificate to the online bookstore of your choice PLUS aN autographed trade paperback edition of NATURE OF THE BEAST.

SECOND PRIZE: Autographed Trade paperback edition of NATURE OF THE BEAST.

So if you win, you get to sample Eve's writing, and you might even get to stock up on some of her other books. I haven't read any of her Silver book, but I'm definitely a fan of Kenin!

Here's the URL to enter http://www.evesilver.net/contest.html. Stop by before August 31 for your chance to get in the drawing.