---

After my brush with military spying eyes this past weekend [ie, response by the military to an earlier entry of mine], I've been toying with the idea of being concerned.

In the grand scheme of things, 400+ hits from government and military ISPs in six months isn't that big of a deal. And it's not like I'm saying anything that no one else is saying. Still, if I'm mysteriously detained at an airport the next time I fly I won't be completely surprised.

Until then I'm not going to freak myself out over it, because [let's face it] how could I be considered a national threat? *grin*

---

Does anyone know if it's possible to limit hot linking access to a particular folder via .htaccess?

Also...it's fucking hot outside.

---

This morning I found out that I won the "This is Your Blog" contest over at Not Me. I nominated myself yesterday because I'm just that weird and narcissistic, and then Les and Robyn decided to vote for me too.

I really wish this contest came with a tiara for the winner, but Shelli is doing something equally cool which you will get to see soon. Cool!

And since you can't see me, just know I'm doing the beauty queen/royalty wave. *elbow elbow, wrist wrist! general general, specific specific*

---

Best diatribe about smacked asses who feel compelled to tell you what to write and what not to write goes to plastic bag.

So on the days when I write things that you enjoy - relish it! Get pleasure from it! Sometimes people out there even get commercial benefits from stuff that I write - and that's fine! Enjoy it - I want you to! And on the days when I say something that angers and infuriates you, tell me! Write to me and correct me or explain to me why I'm wrong. I want to know. I want to learn. And if it turns out that what I want to write about doesn't interest you, then that's fine - go elsewhere - there's a world of sites out there to read. And you never know - I might even register your absence and try and mend my ways...

But I swear to god, the next person who tries to tell me what I should and shouldn't be writing on my own site - which I produce for free and for which I ask nothing in exchange - is going to get a kick up the arse so fucking hard that when they finally land again they'll have frost in their hair...

Sing it loud! Proclaim it across the land! I wish I would have written that entry.

[Link found via Gary Turner]

---

Just an FYI: I'm trying to skin my comments [thanks to Kathy and a host of others] so my comments will look a little funky until it all gets square away.

Do not panic. Nothing to see here. Move it along.

Update: Well. That was quick and relatively painless. No, seriously. If you use MT and have skinning capability on your blog you really need to go check out Kathy's post about skinning the comments. Best thing ever.

---

Bow before me: I have control over the weather.

If I had known that all it would take to herald in actual Summer here in Philadelphia is posting a bright skin and hosting a Summer-themed bacchanal here at go fish, I'd have done it six weeks ago. Of course, I couldn't have done it alone -- thank you to Cyn, Judi, Lauren, Nicole, Adelle, and Matt, all of whom did an incredible job of guest posting. You guys are just excellent! And apparently filled with the magic of weather control, too!

Since it's supposed to rain again this weekend, maybe I ought to have a virtual rain dance one of these days?

---

Don't bother me, I'm preparing for my Manhattan invasion. Retailers of the city, beware! I come with cash! *maniacal laughter ensues*

There is a real reason I'm crashing NYC for the day -- I have a fundraising conference to attend in midtown. I'll be at the hotel with the revolving bar for at least half the day. Yes, I know: thrilling.

But don't you want to know what has been cooked up for my day away? It's not quite as diabolical [and dirty sock-filled] as Testosterone Day, but it's just as hot. To be honest, I've been craving some summer since the weather has been so icky. So strap yourself in: it's Summer Lovin' day.

So who will be slapping on the sunscreen tomorrow? Well...

• Cyn at Pink Haired Girl, armed with pink hair dye at all times
  
• How Judi of You's very own Judi, my partner in Hank lust
  
• Lauren, the tao of Pooh at My Charmed Space
  
• That Other Nicole from over at Delirity. She'll get you and your little dog, too!
  
• Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey Adelle...fo shnizzle ma nizzle
  
• Matt from Everything but the Blog, boy wonder.

Have fun, and don't track sand all over the place, eh?

Oh, and I couldn't decide on a special Summer skin -- I made two and kind of liked them both. So I went with the brighter one, but you can certainly choose my Sir Mix-a-lot inspired skin, or change your skin to something completely different.

---

OK, so I'm going to be in Manhattan on Monday for a fundraising conference and shopping. I have one brave soul who volunteered to guest post. I know someone else out there will offer, right?

Oh, and I decided to make it a theme day of some sort. Last time it was Testosterone Day -- all boys, all the time. Suggestions for this time?

As always, there are bribes small tokens of love and devotion involved with this should you undertake the challenge of a guest post. Here's the deal: you have 24 hours [12:01am-11:59pm] during which to make at least one post, but you can post to your little heart's content.

So. Ideas? Volunteers?

---

Just some housekeeping stuff:

• I retooled skin #6 [the olive green skin, formerly the hot pink skin] and made it default for today. If you hate it, please pick a new skin.

OK, only one housekeeping item. Go about your business. Nothing to see here.

---

Admittedly, I need to have something to keep me amused at all times. It sort of explains why I have about 12 billion hobbies -- the cooking, knitting, bookbinding, etc. For about an hour today I just played with all the digital photos I've taken recently. Since I'm planning on having some sort of official mix CD of go fishgiveaway sooner or later anyway , I decided to make my own album cover...you know, because I'm just that cheesy.

What do you think, am I the best rock star ever?

It needs something -- perhaps some spinach in my teeth, or a booger. Definitely a better album title...as is, it's my Ed Grimley/Peter Frampton tribute.

Do you, you feel like I do?

---

I suggest you take yourself over to Pixelsphinx and wish Kathy a very happy birthday.

Happy Birthday, ya big poopie head!

---

As promised, there's been some turnover on the playlist [on the sidebar, down at the bottom]. I'm feeling nostalgic and cheesy, so there you have it.

---

I think I might rotate the playlist tonight, so if you want to nab any of those songs, I suggest you do it soon. Any special requests?

The Cure songlist has been rattling around in my head for most of the day. And If You Leave by OMD.

Right now there's some Climaxx Blues Band playing on the radio at my desk. Rest assured, there will be none of that.

---

I rarely write about the act of blogging. The topic is boring. How I blog and why I blog will be different from how and why you blog. Why anyone would need to spend $10 to read the Blog Traffic School manifesto is beyond me.

Chris Pirillo shows you, in 10 quick steps, the fastest, easiest way to build traffic to your blog, involve your community, post efficiently, get known for your blog's quirks, how to handle complaints and more. Learn the fastest way to build an audience.

Sure, having an audience to read your [my] thoughts is gratifying. It's nice. But I can tell you the secret to having a good blog without the $10 -- be interesting, be nice to other bloggers, and have an easy to read and attractive layout. There ya go -- on the house.

From my perspective, if you're keeping a blog strictly for the attention and the audience -- well, you have issues. I love the fact that people read what I write -- it helps me be a better writer. However, I'd keep a blog even if no one read it. I think most people would agree to that. Writing is therapeutic.

[Link found via Ain't Too Proud to Blog]

---

I could jump for joy that all the weirdness going on here for the last twelve hours or so is finally over. It turned out to be, as many suggested, a php upgrade problem. Thank you to my wonderful hosting company for working that out, and also to those crazy girls from Blogmoxie for being at the ready, jumping in and making sure that everything was kosher with the coding. Really, I can't thank Joelle, Kathy, and Sara enough.

Because you know I'm just too challenged to fix it for myself.

I had lunch at Las Cazuelas with Cyn, and I was whining about my journal problems. Cyn is all computer programming goddess-like and was probably ready to push me into on coming traffic. That girl has got serious patience. And very pretty pink hair. Plus, she didn't even care that my nose was running after I consumed my jalapenos rellenos. That's love!

---

There's something screwy going on around here. I'm trying to fix it. It is MT- and skinning-related. If you have any suggestions on what may be wrong, please email me.

---

I'm such a little joiner --

26 Things: July 1, 2003
seek out the twenty six themes/objects on the list
and photograph them over the given period of time

Sure I signed up. Remember the May Day Project? It was fun, and I'm a sucker!

Wouldn't you like to be a pepper, too?

[link found via 27 Things -- thanks Dusty!]

---

You know, I was going to keep it all under wraps. I was going to keep my mouth shut. But I'm just so excited about Testosterone Day here at go fish, I just have to share!

First, there's your guest posters. Or, as I like to call them, the Virtual Virility Posse. OK, not really. But as far as testosterone goes, I think they're all chest hair--

• There's Mikey from Electric Bugaloo who is so hot he burned out his own blog. Ooooo, sizzling!
  
• And then there's Andrew, of The Clumsy Twirler Diaries. He's cooler than Starsky and Hutch -- smokin'!
  
• Who can forget about Scott from The Gamer's Nook? He's the Shaft of political commentary...and we can dig it!
  
• What's the buzz -- Dave from Buzzstuff, that's what! He really loves your peaches, wants to shake your tree.
  
• Last but not least, Matt Sledge, the hardest working man in show business. Hot pants!

A studly and manlier collection of guest posters there never was.

Secondly, there's a limited edition skin that goes with the big day -- you can catch a sneak peak here, skin #9 all the way at the bottom of the list. It'll become default tonight at midnight and last all the way through the end of Testosterone Day tomorrow.

So yeah, think of me while I'm wilting away at my all day long meeting tomorrow. Let me know if there are any problems with the special skin [note: I did not say foreskin, although I was tempted to because I'm cheesy like that]...oh, and if you have a penis and would like to be part of the musky manliness tomorrow, let me know by 10pm EST tonight.

Note: this post updated at 11:12pm to reflect additional guest posters. Oh, and the temporary design is live now. Hope you like it!

---

Yeah, so I'm going to be stuck in a meeting all day tomorrow. I need some tips and tricks to keep myself from falling asleep face first on the conference table. As you might know from my incessant bitching, I'm not so good with meetings. I develop ADD and my ass falls asleep, and then the rest of me follows. So I need your help.

But I have entertainment being lined up as we speak...well, for you, anyway. It's going to be testosterone day around here tomorrow. I'll have new manly skin and everything [but don't worry, you can always change it], plus a couple of hot guys guest posting for me, sharing their chest hair virile viewpoints.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

---

As you might remember, Kathy encouraged me to try designing some new skins and play around with the skinning capabilities. I made a new skin the other day and I wasn't crazy about it. So, since I wasn't sleeping this morning anyway, I deleted the first skin I made and worked on two new ones. Ah, the benefits of insomnia!

I kinda like the way the two new ones came out, but I need some feedback. Who wants to take a look and speak up?

---

With the encouragement of Kathy, I made myself some brand spankin' new graphics and messed around with Kathy's Moxie-d design and came up a skin half my own/half Moxie. It's nothing very pretty, but it's something different -- and you know I'm all about choice. Don't worry, I won't give up my day job.

---

Aw, lookit the little blonde girl -- she's all growed up and has her very own cable modem installed on her home PC! She's too big for her britches!

Yep, that's right -- look out! I'm now able to upload at the speed of light, and you know what that means, right? Let me be the first to introduce you to the go fish playlist in the sidebar. Down a little further....yes, that's the spot! Right underneath the rings.

Hey, mi casa es su casa, but if you direct link to them I keeeel you! Got it? Good! Now, go take a listen.

---

I've spent my morning so far avoiding work [as usual] and updating my comments to reflect the new color scheme on the new skin and doing some plug in work in MT. What a fun and productive morning.

So here's the thing: what are your favorite MT hacks and plug-ins? You know, because I can never avoid enough work on a Friday.

---

So here's something fun -- I think someone spoofed my email account. I received an email today in my account from a @thegofish.com address that wasn't mine and now I'm worried that some smacked ass is sending out billions of spam emails in my name.

Anyone have any ideas what I can do to a] find out who did it; b] prevent it in the future?

---

I'm just an exhibitionist at heart, I guess. How else can you explain that I've now joined the writing staff at two group blogs?

• Cat just started Edible, a group blog about food and cooking [still pre-design, but great posting going on so far!]. You know I just couldn't resist that!
  
• Homewreckers, started up by Bran and Sherry, is devoted to DIY projects and gardening stuff. Again, I couldn't resist!

So be sure to visit them often!

---

There's no way to go through 300+ entries in an hour, but here are my favorite May Day Project entries so far:

• Farrago
• Brass Rubbing the Ocean
• Marka
• Inflatable Sheep
• Moonmilk
• Two Muses
• Cow and Sheep

What strikes me is how similar everyone's day is, at least on some level.

---

Please note: this project will be updated throughout the day until I go to sleep. Hold your cursor over the photo to see the time and location of each photo, and double click to get a larger version.

---

---

Why is it that comment trolls never have a journal/blog themselves? They think nothing of taking things that you say out of context or taking things too seriously and portraying you as the anti-christ, but they don't have the balls to put their own thoughts and opinions out there.

Not that blogging requires courage, but if you want me to take what you have to say seriously it certainly helps.

Now watch, this will somehow turn into me have some deep-seated prejudice against non-bloggers that makes me no better than a white supremist. I'm taking a stand, no more feeding the animals. You can disagree with me, but don't be an asshat.

---

Anything in the name of research...

Please post the three most diametrically opposed songs on your playlist, and then post two songs that no one would ever guess you'd have. (Five songs total.)

Fine.

1. Tangled Up in Blue - Bob Dylan
   
2. Let's Go to Bed - The Cure
   
3. Body Count - Body Count
   
4. Rime of The Ancient Mariner - Iron Maiden
   
5. MmmmmBop - Hanson

Hanson -- my secret shame.

---

You know, I rotate some of the links on my index page blog reads every now and then. Some of them stay put -- Mrs. Roboto is never going to be rotated off. If you don't read her, than you should:

"So as I'm speaking with my father there are numerous interruptions. My dad puts his phone down and yells a few times at various people. This is unlike my father. Finally, I ask what the deal is. Apparently, the idiot my father works for has banned one of his employees from coming into the office for the next three weeks. Why, you ask? Well the guy was in Toronto attending his daughters college graduation and the Big Bossman is convinced he must now be carrying SARS. He wants the guy to stay at home for three weeks with no pay and what's worse, he wants my dad to hire an armed guard to stand watch at the office building just in case this employee tries to get in. The employee in question has no symptoms of SARS. Ridiculous, eh? So my father, whose job actually has nothing to do with personnel (although as he likes to say "we have no Human Resources department because no humans work here") is busy screaming about how stupid the whole scenario is to anyone who will listen.

Did I mention that when they were talking about the whole possibility of chemical warfare attacks a few months back, the Big Bossman made all the administrators get on the phone and find him space suits for himself and his family to wear so that they would be safe. He spent over $5000.00 per suit. My father has said that if there was a chemical attack and he was with the Bossman he'd simply inhale deeply because he'd rather be dead than left alone on this planet with only that asshole for company."

Every time Amy posts something new I almost get fired for giggling uncontrollably in the office.

---

Now is your chance to see me buck stark nekkid as a jaybird. Go a head, I know you wanna.

See, having the day off does have it's priveleges! *grin*

---

Two quick things --

1. There's a new entry up at the old photoblog today.
   
2. Dude, I just bought a Dell. Hooray! By the end of next week I will have entered the land of CD burning. I smell a host of file sharing violations in my future. So let me know your favorite sites to get music, OK?

---

You know, since it's my special day, I'd like to tell you about my blog reading habits. I read over 300 blogs. If you have an RSS feed, your blog gets read every day, every single post. If you ping your blog when updated, your blog gets read if I'm in front a computer when Blogrolling updates your listing. If you neither ping nor have an RSS feed you get read maybe once or twice every week. I'm basically lazy -- the easier you make it for me to read your blog, the more I'm going to read it.

So if this was a perfect world, everyone would have an RSS feed. I know not everyone has the ability to lay an RSS feed, but if you can do it, you should. More to the point, you should have a full post RSS feed, not just an excerpt feed. I found instructions for how to make an RSS feed for Blogger blogs and there are likely instructions for all kinds of other blogs elsewhere.

See now, everyone can ping -- even if you have a Diaryland, Diary-x, or other type of blog. It's true. You can ping Weblogs through their ping form or through Blo.gs at their ping form.

So if you love me you'll create an RSS feed for yourself if you don't have one, or you'll ping your site when you post an entry -- think of my poor overworked eyes! Think of how much extra time I'll have to spend being an upstanding citizen! Think of the children!

---

So, as of this posting I have 1,004 posts and 1,974 comments. That's a lot of talking for one year. I don't think I've really learned anything new or become a better person or anything. It hasn't been a spiritual journey. But I have made friends with a lot of really wonderful people, both locally and not-so-locally...and I am really happy about that.

I would venture to say that out of those 1,004 posts over the last 365 days, I don't remember most of them. But if I had to pick out my favorite post, I would say it's the faux punk series that began way back in August. So in honor of today I'm going to post the links to the whole series, in order. Let the hilarity ensue...

• Nicole takes notice of the house of faux punk
  
• House of faux punk attracts the police for the first time
  
• Nicole risks a karmic hit for Fishtown peace
  
• Nicole goes berserk and makes a faux punk cry
  
• Girlfriend of faux punk sent packing
  
• Faux punks have a party and invoke neighborhood wrath

Ah, good times.

---

Just wanted to share one of the entries emailed to me as part of the blogaversary contest extravaganza. Alan made the playing card above for me since I was bitching about those ludicrous "most wanted" playing cards the other day. And he said he used that particular photo of me because the entry it appeared in made him a regular reader! Thanks Alan, you rock!

---

Huh. I just noticed, my last entry was my 1000th entry at go fish. It really is a banner day! Or maybe that's just proof I can't keep my big mouth shut -- you decide.

At any rate, the moment you've been waiting for, the winners of the tell-me-you-love-me-and-win-a-handmade-by-Nicole-journal contest:

• Kathy
• Alan
• Chris
• Sarah
• Dr. Suzie
• Hoopty Mike
• Shannon

I'll be emailing you today with instructions on how to claim your journal -- and thanks for, well, for professing your undying love and devotion.

It's nice to know my journals will have nice new homes with fabulous people!

---

Happy 1 Year Blogaversary to go fish!

And a big thanks to you for reading. I've kept a journal since I was in the third grade, so I'd be writing even without an audience but I must say knowing that someone will read what I'm writing forces me to be just a little less stupid. So thanks for keeping me from being dumb, eh? *grin*

Contest winners will be announced shortly....

---

I was just reminded by receiving an absolutely wonderful photoshopped tribute to the fish, that tomorrow is my

one year blogaversary

and today is the deadline for the contest. What contest? Don't you pay attention? I'm a bookbinder in my off-time and I make writing journals [you know, actual paper journals] and you can win one [click here to see the journals you can win]. All you have to do is send me an email and tell me why [or even that] you love me or love my fish style. Creativity counts, yo -- I already mentioned the photoshopped lovefest I just received, but I've also received sonnets and songs. Get crackin'!

Entries due today [Thursday, April 24] by 7pm EST

Winners will be announced tomorrow

---

So I'm a joiner, so what? Now you'll get the sheer excitement of spending the day with me on May 10, without actually having to be near me. I know, I know, it's a big thrill, but calm down.

Why don't you sign up too? You know you want to...

---

So, uh, notice anything different? Maybe a brand-spankin' new design from Designer to the Stars, that little minx, Kathy from Pixel Sphinx? Sometimes it's scary that she picked this design out for me without any prompting at all. That girl, she's like fucking Kreskin!

Yeah, so this new look for the casa de go fish is part of the Year One Blogaversary celebration [there's still time to win the great journal giveaway, by the way]. If you don't like the old lady or you just like my original design better, do not panic -- just go here and switch it back. But honestly, I don't know why you would want to do that!

After all, this design is a little loud, a little weird, and full of fish, just like me.

---

Hey, I don't have this posted anywhere, so I'll just say this...

If you use a newsfeeder and are looking for my XML/RSS feed, use this:

http://www.thegofish.com/index.xml

It is a full post feed, rather than an excerpt. I'll post that on the sidebar in a day or two, but for now.....

---

So I gave in to peer pressure and downloaded Newzcrawler. I think I might be missing something vital -- it seems like it's just as easy to visit blogs and read posts as to click on each blog link and read the entries in Newzcrawler. Have I not set it up right? Is there better way to view newsfeeds?

I'm a little confused.

UPDATE: I see now the error in my ways. I wish all of the blogs I read had an RSS feed -- hint hint.

---

So I got into work today and checked my email. Oddly, there were four messages complimenting my new eyeglasses. And then I checked my stats, because four people commenting on the same month-old entry is a little strange.

Apparently someone who really likes girls with glasses found my site and posted the URL to that entry on the Admirers of Girls with Glasses bulletin board, and now the fans are just coming droves. I don't know know whether to be amused and flattered, or completely squicked that my photograph avec glasses is likely being besmirched and defiled by someone with a glasses fetish.

And, I have to admit, at first I thought maybe Mikey had posted the link...because he's got a thing for chicks with specs. However, I don't really think Mikey has that kind of a thing going on. So, sorry Mikey, I will never doubt the depth of your fetish-ism and depravity again!

---

I forgot to mention this, but Cyn gave me an excellent hand-crafted gift Saturday night on the way to Sugarmom's. Aren't they the cutest? They're magnets!

I don't think they're particularly work friendly, what with being a shining badge of my [and Cyn's] alcoholism and all, but I'm thinking no one will notice them nestled in with my magnetic doll of Marilyn Monroe and magnetic poetry.

And did you notice there's a Pabst Blue Ribbon top? If that doesn't remind me of my favorite drag show bar, I don't know what does.

Goddammit, I love gifts! Thanks again Cyn!

---

I was making my rounds through journal/blog reading this morning when I noticed something really horrible happening as a result of Saturday's bloggery goodness.

As you might imagine, a get-together of random people means that there is going to be a diverse group. Some of us are going to talk blog talk, some are going to just try to get to know each other, and some are going to talk politics. And if you're talking politics [especially right now], there are going to be people who disagree with you. Personally, if you don't like my politics, fine -- let's agree to disagree. It's doubtful that you'll make me change my mind unless you have some cold, hard facts...because I make up my mind based on facts. And sometimes people can't just let it go at that. There's a lot of arm-waving and yelling and feelings get hurt and people get sucked into being snarky just to defend themselves.

That's the last thing I wanted to come from this whole thing Saturday night.

---

And for those of you who want to make sure professing your undying love for me and/or go fish is going to be worth your while, below are scans [a little slow-loading, but worth it if you're interested] of the journals that are available to win in the One Year Blogaversary Contest!

*for a larger view, click the photo*

Approx. 8x6", this journal is made from bookboard covered with light green mint handmade paper with flower petal inclusions. 80 pages of ivory text weight paper. Signatures are coptic sewn onto ivory ribbon using ivory waxed linen thread. Ivory ribbon is tied into bows along the spine.

This journal [approx. 8x6"] has a hinged spine held together with furry purple and green yarn sewn in a mock japanese stab binding. The bookboard is covered with forest green handmade paper with bark and grass inclusions. There are 96 pages of ivory text weight paper.

The front cover of this journal [8x6"] is covered in strands of big colorful yarn. The spine is an open coptic stitch sewn in robin's egg blue linen thread. 96 pages of ivory text weight paper.

This 8.5x5" journal is bookboard covered with handmade bone colored paper and the front cover is decorated with sheer blue star ribbon, a bone star bead, and dark blue seed beads. The spine is open, sewn in coptic stitch with ivory linen thread onto more sheer blue star ribbon. 106 pages of ivory text weight paper.

This one of my favorite journals [8x6"]. It's bookboard that is covered with hand-dyed [by me] strips of paper that are layered. The spine is open and sewn in coptic stitch using dark grey linen thread and a purple bead at the top of each line on the front cover. 80 sheets of ivory text weight paper.

This journal, approx. 11x4", has a hinged cover, held together with purple thread in traditional japanese stab binding. The bookboard covers are covered with lime green handmade paper and the front cover is decorated with hard clear bubbles. 100 pages of ivory text weight paper.

This journal has a cover that is hinged and bolted at the spine. The jagged covers are bookboard hand-painted with acrylics and decorated with a brass moon and text. Approx 10x4", the journal has 100 pages of ivory text weight paper.

Well, there you go -- seven journals hand made by me. So if you want to win one of them, please click here for the details of my One Year Blogaversary Contest.

*note: I cannot accept requests for which journal you win. Journals will be handed out randomly, maybe according to your creativity.

---

As promised yesterday, below are a few photos from Cosi Saturday night during the Philadelphia area blog meetup. You'd think after 2 mochas I'd have been running around taking pictures like a crazy person, but when you have all manner of interesting people in one place, it's hard to stay focused on a task, you know? Also, I have this fear of flashbulbs in public places making me look like a dork, so I tend to take photos with the flash off.

Now that I've made excuses for myself, here are some photos....

---

You know when you're sort of in charge of organizing something, and then the day finally arrives and you're just afraid it's going to be a total bust? Yeah, that didn't happen -- the first full on Philadelphia area blogger extravaganza came off pretty well [if I do say so myself].

First, I'd like to say thanks to the following excellent people: Statia, Cyn, Rob, Jesse, Kathy and Mr. Sphinx, Jon, Jim, Isaac and Judi, Melissa, Jason, and Kamil, Danny and Susan [did I miss anyone?]. We even had a guy stop by who doesn't keep a blog, just reads a bunch of ours! Thank you for not letting my worst nightmare come true, and thanks for coming out for this momentous occasion!

I'm just going to say this -- we've got some really wonderful and fun people blogging/journalling in the region! It was really nice to meet so many cool people. And apparently Jim and I shop at the same store [we were pretty much wearing exactly the same thing]. It's just a shame that I had to assault everyone with my awful coffee breath [note to self: remember mints next time].

Oh, and next time -- there will be no group bill, that way leads to madness and not enough money to cover the check. Damn waiter...[not to worry, it was taken care of].

Tune in tomorrow for photographic evidence [to protect the innocent, only photos taken at Cosi will be posted]!

---

Just a reminder for any of you crazy kids in the Philadelphia area --

Tomorrow night is the big blogger extravaganza at Xando/Cosi, located in beautiful and historic Olde City [325 Chestnut Street]. To my knowledge about 20 area bloggers will be in attendance.

The very nice manager at Xando/Cosi has promised me that a section is being closed down just for us, so keep your fingers crossed that we don't get screwed. Also, I'm trying to wrangle some signage to make us easy to identify, but if you're having problems trying to figure out where we are look for me...or a person who is much easier to identify would be Cyn, since she has hot pink hair. Or you could just ask the counter people.

---

Did I mention that my year one blogaversary is fast approaching? That's right, my very first post ever was April 25 of last year.

Yeah, it was nothing special or spectacular.

Considering I had the great hat giveaway for my six month blogaversary, I feel I should do something special. I started the most awkward teen photo contest a few months ago but never finalized the details. I don't know that I want to start that up again though.

I know! I have a couple of artfully made blank journals I made that are just lying around my studio space. So here's the deal: email me a list of the reasons you love me so [be sure to reference the blogaversary contest in the subject line] and I'll pick the biggest and most creative suck ups to receive the journals.

All entries must be received no later than 7pm EST on Thursday, April 24.

Happy sucking up!

UPDATE: if you need motivation to submit your cheesy love-filled musings, go here to see the journals you can win!

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If you haven't read the following posts from today, I encourage you to do so:

• Nope
  
• Sympathy
  
• Librarians' Opposition to Patriot Act Becoming More Vocal
  
• An Open Letter. [be sure to also read the comments because the entry itself is just pure drivel]
  

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I forgot to mention this earlier, but Carnival of the Vanities #29 is up at Solonor's. My submission for this week was my bloody tale of needle-filled woe.

My vow is to submit something silly to the Carnival every week. One thing I learned from my week hosting the Carnival is that there are a lot of people who take themselves really seriously. I never want to be one of those kinds of people, because those people are just no fun to be around. I'm not saying that all the serious entries aren't good writing, but some of it is a lot of self-important indulgence. Who amongst us hasn't been guilty of that, right? It's not as if we blog or anything.

I encourage all of you to submit something to the Carnival every week that is not in any way serious. Submit something funny or stupid or just plain weird...because with your help we can cure deadly seriousness.

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Name: Nicole
Location: Philadelphia
Age: 31

Long story made short....
Born in February of 1972, Nicole was birthed on an army base in New Jersey but grew up in Berwick, Pennsylvania. Nicole attended public school [K-12] in Berwick and quickly came to know that she did not belong in a small town with small-minded people. She was a cheerleader from 1984-1990, with the exception of 6 months in 1986 when she was expelled from the team for threatening to kill the coach and her family. Nicole's experiment in cheerleading was a subversive attempt to undermine the male dominated neanderthal sports community in Berwick. Aside from her work as a revolutionary, Nicole wrote for a variety of newspapers, poetry magazines, and periodicals while in high school.

Escaping the trauma inflicted upon her by the Berwick school district, Nicole moved to Philadelphia to attend Temple University in 1990. She continued to cheer at Temple, but only as a means of schnookering The Man into purchasing her books. Upon leaving Temple, Nicole held down various careers -- waitress, temporary office worker, sales clerk for art objects, secretary. It was only by accident that she started fundraising professionally. Nicole enjoys making art, cooking, gardening, reading, writing, seeing bands, and obsessively ranting over politics and current events.

Nicole married the oldest friend of her college roommate in October 2000. Nicole and Craig both hate weddings, but love each other and Halloween, so they had a Halloween themed wedding during which they led their guests on a ghost tour of Old Fort Mifflin. They live blissfully in Philadelphia with their cat, Sassy.

Nicole hasn't missed a Henry Rollins or Rollins Band show in the Philadelphia area since 1990 [with the exception of one show].

Want to know more? Read the FAQ!

January 01, 2002

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Fishies without a country

note: if you would like to be placed in the correct time zone/category, please let me know

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International fishies

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PST fishies

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MST fishies

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CST fishies

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EST fishies

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The fine print

Hey, thanks for visiting go fish! I love comments and emails, and I appreciate the fact that you're reading. I would, however, like to set some ground rules regarding being an asshole.

If you disagree with something I say, that's OK. I'm not one of those people who believes they're right about everything, and there's no room for debate. I love debate, and I'm glad to see it when someone has something interesting to say that is in direct opposition to my own viewpoint. Just don't be a jackass. Don't attack me or anyone else who comments at go fish. You can have a differing opinion without being confrontational and rude and mean about it.

If you can't control yourself and you just decide you have to get nasty for no reason, than I reserve the right to do whatever I want with your comments. I may publish rude emails. I might ridicule you publicly. I might just delete your comments. All you have to do is not act like a smacked ass and these things won't happen. It's not a lot to ask.

Also, I'm just letting you know -- if you get pissy with me or other commenters at go fish and you don't currently keep a weblog/online journal, your opinion will get exactly 0 consideration. If you're not brave enough to put your own thoughts out there, you don't get to pick on those that are.

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's talk about how go fish looks. My design changes from time to time. You don't have to keep the design that is currently up. To change the way go fish looks, pick a new skin.

Thanks again for visiting!

January 02, 0023

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