BlogFerret

I was a longtime fan of Fraggle Rock in childhood, but I don’t remember this episode. Still, this vid’s got three of my favorite things: music, knitting, and muppets! Enjoy.

As some of you may know already (because I emailed you) I have messed up a lot of the contacts on my phone. My phone contained many of your phone numbers, email addresses, and physical addresses. If you think you are one of the contacts I lost, please contact me via email, Facebook, IM, the contact page on my website (www.midnightferret.com for anyone who’s reading a crossposted version of this entry), or telephone and help me replace what I lost. Thanks!

Hey y’all. I would love it if you would try this  game, called Vikings, Pirates, Ninjas!

You can join with me as your referral by clicking this link:

http://www.vpnwars.com/meteor/vpn/redir/signup/?ra=51641

When you do a quest, and gain levels in certain increments, it gives me a certain amount of fame.

I suppose this is the latest game I’m interested in.  It’s a browser game that’s good for playing while you wait for other things to happen. (You know, that life stuff everyone keeps talking about.)  You can choose a faction: Viking, Pirate, or Ninja.  Of course, you get three toons, so you can actually be one of each, if you so desire. The game works with Flash and other apps, and you can do quests, buy stuff with the money you earn, or play mini games.  It’s only been live since April 27 or so, but it’s got a pretty good following. It was made by the creators of Neopets, which became hugely successful. This is a tiny bit more adult that Neopets, though. OK, in all honesty, I’m pretty experienced with Neopets, and it’s a lot more appealing to an adult audience than Neo is.  Apparently they know what they are doing. Also, this would be a good time to join, since you can “get in on the ground floor,” as it were. If you’re into that kind of thing. I’m totally digging it. It’s a bit more robust than many of the Facebook app games where you only have so many “moves,” but it’s still light enough that you don’t feel like you have to devote hours just to get anywhere. Many games are based on “time spent” type rewards, but I think this one is going to end up pretty balanced — if you make good decisions about where you need to use your energy, I think you can do pretty well.

If you join, be sure and friend my characters so that I can give you an “energy boost” when I see you on - energy lets you do more quests. My characters’ names are “Flintybones” (pirate) and “Kisi Wartooth” (Viking).  Facebook has this game as an app, but I don’t know how to get Facebook to do the referrals yet. But yeah, if you are even remotely interested, join through the link above and do a quest. That would rock. I don’t uusally ask for this sort of thing outright, but I thought this would be fun. I may even hit some of you up on Gtalk.  Sorry about blatantly trying to get referrals, but I figured that just this once it was worth a shot.

I have four words for the masses regarding the swine flu, and they are: “Give me a break!”

I admit, that when the whole thing began, I was a little nervous. I would be fine during the day but then I would go home and see the news, and people were totally wigging out. Last week, many drugstores here  sold out of their supplies of anti-virals. That means that doctors here were prescribing them for people who weren’t sick and might not even become sick.

A few schools have been closed here, to the point that my students haven’t been coming to class, even though it’s adult education and we just use the building of a school that has not been closed.

Sure, I got a little creeped out when I saw the reports about how fast the virus was spreading, but I managed to get over it. More and more the evidence is that if you take reasonable precautions (wash your hands! don’t touch your face!) you will probably be fine. My issue is that otherwise reasonable people are jumping on this bandwagon.

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In a few Dickens novels, and also a couple of other 19th Century English novels, the end involves a marriage and also, often, the distribution of a large amount of property. Many times, the heroine is gifted with her very own cottage (or even full-blown manor).

I deserve such a cottage! I am the heroine of my own story, aren’t I? So where’s my benfactor? I know, I know, this is the 21st Century. I suppose I have to be my own benefactor.

My Dickensian cottage sits on a decently sized plot of land. I also think that one should be able to bike into the nearest town, so it can’t be more than 5-10 miles away. The kitchen is on the ground floor, and opens, typically enough, onto a kitchen garden with all kinds of herbs and things that don’t grow well in Texas. Because, you know, it’s in England. It’s made of stone or brick, and has a high peaky roof and at least two chimneys.  Upstairs would be home to the bedroom (with a fireplace in it) and the bath and a small sitting room, while downstairs would house the large kitchen ( complete with huge tables, coutertops, and an honest-to-god cooking fireplace, not to mention a complete stainless brewing setup and a stone oven), library (again with fireplace) and dining area. I suppose there’d have to be a laundry/utility room and some storage.  Guest quarters would be nice, too. Maybe those could go upstairs.

I’m currently taking any offers of cottages any wandering Dickensian benefactor might wish to bestow on me. Anyone who wants to give me a cottage would have an open invitaton there, and I would treat him or her to a full Dickensian meal as outlined by Cedric Dickens in his book Dining With Dickens. Hehehehe.

The Way the Future Blogs, an online memoir by science fiction writer Frederik Pohl » Blog Archive » My Worst Prediction Ever: Corporate Leisure Time

He’s intelligent, insightful, and admits when he was wrong… what a guy! Oh yeah and there is still all that groundbreaking Sci-Fi he wrote to be considered.

I was chastised this weekend for not updating the blog, but all I could come up with was a really good recipe for pulled pork in the crockpot. I posted it on my recipe blog.

I also added my other “in progress” beer. I will try to think of something interesting to post tomorrow or Thursday. I like to do things on Thursdays because I don’t have to teach in the evening.

Hmm. When I start thinking about my own beer recipes, will I have to put them in the recipe blog or in this one? Neither of them even have a “beer” category! What a travesty! A travesty, I tell you! Anyway, I’m a long way off from making my own beer recipes.

I got an email on the Austin Zealots‘ Yahoo group today. (The Zealots are a local hombrewing club here in Austin, and a great bunch of people.) A member was expressing his disappointment with the contents of this article:

Austin home to a few good brewpubs

I read the article, and went to reply on the list, but as usual I waxed verbose and was forced to move my opinions to a forum in which I (mostly) reign supreme. I did this to avoid spamming the list with my copious rants and opinions. I’m sure people everywhere are grateful I have my own website.

In short, I share the disappointment of my fellow Zealot. Allow me to elaborate. Read the rest of this entry »

No really, I am. Now, this is going to seem a lot like some of my friends’ experiences when we were younger. I had friends who “came out” to us, their friends, and we all said, “Oh, really? You think we didn’t know already?” And I think anyone who has known me for, oh, five minutes or so, will have a similar reaction.

But I find it necessary here, to make some kind of public announcement. I’m a big nerd. I like to do nerdy things. I thought that as I got older and/or made more time to really look at my life and my interests, I would somehow find more “adult” and “sophisticated” versions of the favorite activities of my younger years. To some extent, it’s been true. I am able to do things now that I wasn’t able to do when I was younger. So what do I do with my time now that I have a little money and I have finally reconciled myself to the fact that I do have more time, and that’s ok? [editor's note: This is a very long entry. It is also very self-absorbed on my part. You have been warned.]

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It’s the Economy, Girlfriend - NYTimes.com