Little Island at Radio Userland
I'm trying Radio Userland so for now I am updating at that site. Please visit me there. I just purchased a domain name so www.alittleisland.com will bring you to the island as well.
[ Sunday, November 30, 2003, 09:09 p.m. ]

Saving the Mermaids
Mermaids saved from an uncertain fate...at Weeki Wachee
[ Monday, October 6, 2003, 08:41 p.m. ]

Teen Speak
Jenny brings up the recent AOL Teen-Wire survey that should underline to all of us "adults" what I have been seeing here at home real-time. IM is the communication form of choice for kids - highly efficient yet simple to figure out and use - it provides an immediate connection to their universe of friends and acquaintances. It's also on all the time - whether in use or with away message up - until the lights snap off at night. The phones are still ringing away, some with a complete suite of special ringtones, but IM is intrinsic to the teen communication structure here in this suburban space.
[ Thursday, October 2, 2003, 08:37 a.m. ]

Harry Potter for Grown Ups
Same story...New Ads. Smart thinking.
[ Thursday, October 2, 2003, 12:27 a.m. ]

Talking Like a Pirate Goes Mainstream
Thanks to Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining, who goes by the pirate name of Dirty Jenny Flint, I have a pirate name too! It's Captain Charity Flint, and my pirate self is summed up thus:
Even though there's no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you're the one in charge. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky. Arr!
Furthermore, I have learned after the fact that I missed International Talk Like A Pirate Day. It's never too late to talk like a pirate to my mind but if you have no time to learn then simply plug in to this english to pirate translator.
I'm shovin' off -happy sailin' until t'next time.
[ Sunday, September 28, 2003, 04:00 p.m. ]

Priceless
That Grrl shares a good story about how so many of the things we all do in life get overlooked by our significant other. I think it is probably true for men and women and for kids too. I find that often what doesn't get done is what is the big topic and the things that have been accomplished go ignored and without the smallest drop of recognition.
[ Saturday, September 27, 2003, 07:26 p.m. ]

Robert Palmer
When I think of Robert Palmer, I think of his Addicted to Love video with the guitar chicks in the background. Icons are leaving us left and right. At 54, he was still a reasonably young man and had a clean bill of health not two weeks earlier. A man who was influenced by the likes of Nat King Cole and Lena Horne, he departed from Paris, PM, after dinner and a movie. Perhaps not such a bad way to go. This is two good-byes in one afternoon.
[ Saturday, September 27, 2003, 05:34 p.m. ]

Saying Goodbye to Ol' Lonely
Gordon Jump left the world of Maytags and character acting on September 22nd. I only learned of his death because I was researching Maytag refrigerators as we lost our GE gold-tone beauty of 25 plus years from one too many power loses during Isabel. I was sad to hear about Gordon Jump because he was such a great character actor and a wonderful icon of dependability for Maytag, whose products according to Ol' Lonely, as Gordon Jump's Maytag repairman character was known, were just - too darned reliable. As my old Maytag washer and dryer whirl happily and dependably away in the background, I say a fond farewell to an old friend and a suburban figure if there ever was one.
[ Saturday, September 27, 2003, 04:39 p.m. ]

Do Not Call Takes a Fall
I got on the Do Not Call list on the first day it was open for sign ups. My life is plagued by pesky unsolicited phone calls by telemarketers. Last Christmas I got the Telezapper but some crafty folks still get though. If I hear a pause when I pick up the phone, then I know it is the one-second warning to just hang up. I am getting very good at the drop-the-phone-back-in-the-cradle hand-wrist action that I like to call the telemarketer drop. Free speech - I hardly think bugging the crap out of people in their home is an aspect of that liberty in action. Of course, there are those that might enjoy a good telemarketing call. Do Not Call List - I hope you are back in play again soon. I applaud the gutsy FTC for staying the course and appealing the recent court decision in Denver that strives to make your home a marketplace in the name of free speech.
[ Friday, September 26, 2003, 09:15 p.m. ]

Have coffee...
will wake up and stay up. Which of course leads inevitably to the desk and brings me to the Desktop Project.
[ Friday, September 26, 2003, 12:57 a.m. ]

preparing for the storm
Whether you are in the thick of it and are already prepared for Isabel or are loitering on the outer edges and need to do some last minute prep, FEMA's a good port in a storm giving preparation advice and links to storm watch sites. NOAH, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is another good source for weather and storm info as well with top stories, maps, and images.
[ Thursday, September 18, 2003, 11:56 a.m. ]

Food Pyramid Re-Design
I'd like to see a food tower personally but I don't think that's very likely.
[ Wednesday, September 17, 2003, 04:14 p.m. ]

John Ritter Exits
I was surprised to hear the new of John Ritter's death today. Three's Company was a dinner hour standard for me when I was in my first apartment and consequently there has always been a kind of nostalgia for me about that show. I was glad to see him up to bat again with his new sitcom. Also a goodbye to Johnnie Cash, whose voice my mother always loved.
[ Friday, September 12, 2003, 11:31 p.m. ]

Mothers To Be - Get Writing
Expectant Mommies - you might want to check this site out. It could be fun to keep a pregnancy diary and check out other pregnant mom's diaries as well. You can create a baby record book and album too. I am sure they are much slicker than what I came up with for my kids.
[ Friday, September 12, 2003, 01:53 p.m. ]

Empty Nest May Not Be That Bad
Maybe seeing the last kid head out of college and launch themselves into the world won't be such a bad thing. No tuition to pay and kids off on their own can mean more time and maybe even more money on parent's hands to spend on themselves. I hope I don't nap through that part because I'm tired now and the kids aren't even out of high school.
[ Thursday, September 11, 2003, 09:10 p.m. ]

Driving with Music
Now if I could only fit my piano into my car, maybe I could get some extra practice in at red lights and backups.
[ Wednesday, September 10, 2003, 09:38 a.m. ]

Lost in Transit
This group weblog by expatriates and emigrants has been bookmarked on my favorites for a while. I think the concept is intriguing. The viewpoint of those who have moved from living circumstances that are familiar to them to places new and different, makes for interesting reading. I find myself as drawn in by reminiscences of what was as to their take on their new circumstances.
[ Tuesday, September 9, 2003, 12:42 p.m. ]

Very Clever
Someone else has been writing about taking care of baby squirrels and these squirrels look just as cute as the ones that fell out of the tree by our house. The article led me to the Clever ezine, which is a treasure trove of interesting articles, photo pieces, stories, jokes, and even my weakness - quizzes. There are movie reviews and a book club feature too. The whole ezine makes me feel a bit more clever myself and consequently, I'm adding it to my suburban diversion list on Little Island immediately.
[ Tuesday, September 9, 2003, 08:04 a.m. ]

What Ben Said
Need to whip a proverb out of the hat? Ben had a lot of them. For instance - He that riseth late, must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night. Ben has me pegged.
[ Monday, September 8, 2003, 08:07 p.m. ]

Silence - Reading Room
Some people have a sense of humor. Some people don't. Nancy Pearl knows a good shush when she sees one.
[ Sunday, September 7, 2003, 09:32 p.m. ]

Alternative Tourism
Are you a rebel at heart? Experimental tourism may be just the ticket for you. Take pictures facing away from famous landmarks, use the local monopoly gameboard and a pair of dice to plot your course.
[ Saturday, September 6, 2003, 01:47 p.m. ]

Music that Sells
Got that song sticking in your mind - like something you heard on a car commercial or store ad? For me, it was the Target ad that ran Peggy Lee's Sweet Happy Life as the background. It just made me stop in my tracks - I loved that song but it took me a while to track it down. That's not happening to me again because now I am just going to go to adtunes. Got a song running on auto-loop in your head? Need to find out what it is and how to get it, so you can play it for real? Here's the source for you.
[ Friday, September 5, 2003, 12:53 p.m. ]

Falling Squirrels
There are squirrels in them there trees and sometimes baby squirrels fall out of trees or other baby critters need help. What to do? We found a couple of baby squirrels recently and had to ask that question ourselves. I went straight to my computer and found St. Francis Wildlife. Their site really helped me get some basic facts about what's entailed in helping out a couple of orphaned squirrels. I also found some great info through my states game and fisheries department and even found that a list of licensed rehabilitors in my area. Got squirrels - got help.
[ Friday, September 5, 2003, 08:37 a.m. ]

whichbook.net
Which book, which book? I've been doing a lot of reading lately and I usually find my books by browsing the tables at the bookstores - title, author, cover art, the little blurb at the back of the book - that is usually what sells me. I like the appoach of whichbook - it gives you a mood meter - happy to sad, funny to serious, larger than life to down-to-earth, easy to demanding, short to long and so on. Set your parameters and then just click go to come up with suggestions with excepts. Would you rather search by type of character, plot, or setting? - whichbook.net will let you do that too. The drawback is that the titles are recent - starting at 1995 and it seems like a fairly limited number of titles. Still, I found some good possible reads that I might not have discovered otherwise.
[ Monday, September 1, 2003, 11:58 a.m. ]