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This is hysterical, especially if you’ve been using WordPress for a long time.
Via Petrona
I’ve been tasked by Literate Kitten to come up with 10 things I like that start with the letter “A” (because the opposite of “Z”?) So …
1. Aardvarks. Well, not the actual creature, but the word. With that double a, it reminds me of classrooms and who got to beat out the erasers in second grade. We all fought for that dubious honor.
2. alibris. That would be alibris.com–great for out of print books. I’m still holding out for a hardback copy of Ann Moray’s Rising of the Lark that’s under $50. I loved that book as a kid, but the paperback simply will not do. I need that pale blue cloth cover, and the squidgy old-fashioned font.
3. Amazon.com. Is this cheating? Two book sites? Well, I adore Amazon, though I rarely order from them. Frankly, they piss me off. Like they’ll say 5 day shipping, but it takes an additional 5 days to leave their warehouse. What’s that about?!? I order from bn.com instead. So why, then, is Amazon on the list? Because they are great to research books and perfect to store to read lists. Just not so good to order from.
4. Apples. And not just apples from the store, but sweet tart honeycrisps with their streaky skins on a brisk fall morning.
5. Absolutes. As in aromatherapy. I just spent an ungodly sum on a small vial of rose absolute, and it is the most divine thing ever. Alas, all the scents I really love–rose, Mitsouko perfume–make Steve tell me I smell like his grandmother. Apparently, this is not sexy.
6. Arpeggios. I love the word; it sounds like what they are. I liked arpeggios when I took piano lessons too, because I have big hands and was good at them. Well, mainly those for c and g. Too many sharps and flats kinda stumped me.
7. Almond paste. Not marzipan, but the almond paste you can buy for pastries. YUM.
8. Astrology. It’s kind of pathetic, but I love reading my horoscope. Never mind the fact that you can apply pretty much anything to pretty much anyone. Really, I think most horoscopes are basically about self-affirmation. But hey, it works.
9. Auctions.I’m a huge, huge eBay fan, mainly for Japanese prints but also for books and household sundries. Artelino.com is a wonderful Japanese print auction site (and even better for research). Also, I’ve started branching out to some local auction houses, where you can leave your bid and then they tell you whether you’ve won or not. Haven’t won anything yet, but it’s fun.
10. The alphabet. How could any reader/writer skip this one? And who came up with the tune, anyway?
Let’s keep it going! I am going to copy Litkitten and say that if you want a letter, leave me a comment.
Bill just sent me a link to Dark Room, which is, in their words:
… a full screen, distraction free, writing environment. Unlike standard word processors that focus on features, Dark Room is just about you and your text.
The thought of just me and my text is terrifying.
It’s also green on black, like those old Wangs the State Department used to use.
I used Firefox for a brief period a while ago, and didn’t like it at all. It was the tabbed browsing. It was hard to get used to.
Then I got downloaded IE7 and really got into the tabbed browsing thing. But sheesh, my antispyware programs were dizzy with overuse. It seemed like I had an “attempted browser hijack” every single day–this with regular use of Spyware Blaster (with real time protection), AdAware, and Spybot AND TrendMicro AND an enabled firewall.
So I’ve gone back to Firefox. And is it just my imagination or is IE7 a) really, really slow and b) memory hog?
*** I just posted this, and it seems like WordPress is responding much more quickly too. I’d noticed that WordPress was CRAWLING. Does it have something to do with IE7 not handling AJAX well?
A word that describes me is …
Grumpy.
My favorite word is …
Cunctation. Because it sounds like it’s dirty, but it’s not. Also because it’s obsolete, so it makes me feel smart. (It means a delay.)
My least favorite word is …
Classy. Let’s face it, if you have to describe something as classy, it’s probably not.
Use the two words in a sentence …
When her date finally appeared toward the end of Act II, he excused his extreme cunctation by explaining that he had to buy a classy suit.
A word I always have to think twice about pronouncing is …
Manure. My mother always said matyoor for mature, so I always want to say manyoor. And that just doesn’t sound right.
Dictionaries … printed or online?
I have a gazillion dictionaries, but still tend to use dictionary.com.
A word whose meaning I cannot seem to retain no matter how many times I look it up …
Bathos. Admittedly, one doesn’t come across bathos very often, but whenever I hear/read “pathos,” I remind myself to look up bathos for the umpteenth time.
Open a dictionary to a random page and find a word you don’t know. Post the word and the definition.
facinorous: atrociously wicked
Use the new word and the word you can never remember in a sentence.
Despite the vampire’s attempts to look facinorous, he only succeeded as a bathetic figure.
One of the most overused in my area of work/study is …
Leverage. God, I hate that word. Impact (as a verb) is a close second.
Three full years of managing to keep a blog somewhat current. Six different names, 10 different templates, and two different platforms (Blogger and WordPress). Ah, the halcyon days of yore.
And may I just point out that the people who used to make fun of me for blogging now have blogs of their own?
via pages turned
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate. Egg nog is just gross.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree? We don’t really do the present thing so much anymore, although the mothers do. When I was a kid, Santa wrapped. So did the cat, the dog, and whatever undead goldfish I had at the time. Strangely, the gift tags all bore my mother’s handwriting.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Our neighbor Adam accused me not too long ago of “having to do everything differently.” It’s not intentional. We had white lights up last year, liked them so much we never took them down, and then they died. So no lights at all this year.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? I would if I weren’t so lazy. The thought of kissing Steve senseless under it appeals. He, no doubt, would shudder in horror.
5. When do you put your decorations up? What decorations?
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Roast beef with yorkshire pudding.
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Trimming the tree. Every year. I loved it. Taking the tree down? Not so much.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? It was more of a slow dawning realization. As I said, Santa’s writing resembled my mother’s.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? No, but we always opened stocking presents before breakfast. My stocking was WONDERFUL. It was enormous. It finally broke under the accumulated weight of years of overloading. One of the great sadnesses of my life.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? I’m so proud; we managed to get a tree this year. No ornaments in sight; I stuck hair accoutrements on it instead.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? LOVE!
12. Can you ice skate? Not for years.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Hmmm. Not really.
14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Staying away from families–always traumatic.
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? I have no idea.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? The music
17. What tops your tree? This year? A big pink hair clampy thing. Hey, there was nothing else.
18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? I’ve been trying to get away from the holiday gift-giving for years. It all seems so silly; people rushing around buying crap that no one wants or needs. This year, I’m giving away soap (shock), and also flocks of geese to families in developing nations in person x’s name.
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Not really a song, but The Messiah. The whole darn thing. It’s just not Christmas unless you’re sick and tired of it.
20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? It’s sugar, so yum.
Just logged into Amazon and saw a new link called “Zia’s Plog.” It even had a TM sign after the plog. In their words:
Your Amazon.com Plog is a personalized web log that appears on your customer home page. Every person’s Plog is different (hence the name) and just like a blog, your Plog is sorted in reverse chronological order. Each post also gives you the opportunity to provide feedback to the sender as to whether you liked the post or not. This feedback loop means your Plog becomes even more relevant and interesting over time. Your Plog will appear if you are logged into our web site and is visible only to you.
Oh good grief.
Someone actually came up with the word plog? And then they felt the need to trademark it? Stupid marketing ideas … smog? F**** dating mining … fog? Yikes.