Mariannes Motifs

Derby Day and Wimbledon are Coming

There is something about certain sporting events that just conjures up imagery of class and distinction.  I have not yet attended the Kentucky Derby, or Wimbledon in person, but I fully intend to someday.

The Kentucky Derby in particular holds a very special place in my heart - it was Jin and my first date together - 13 years ago.   We watched the race at my friend George's house, made bets just for fun, and then spent the day together.  Every year we celebrate our "unofficial" anniversary on Derby day and make sure to watch the race and pick a horse to cheer for.

Someday we will attend the Derby, and I will wear a big hat!

Now another fantastic and classic event I would love to attend is Wimbledon.  I have always wanted to go to England, and what better thing to do than see the oldest major championship in tennis.   Whereas at the Kentucky Derby the spectators are sipping Mint Juleps, at Wimbledon, the traditional snack is strawberries and cream.  Did you know that according to Wikipedia,  approximately 62,000 pounds of strawberries and 1,540 gallons of cream are sold each year during the Championships?

I wonder how much it would cost to buy Wimbledon debenture tickets?  Wimbledon tickets are in great demand.   I read on Wikipedia that would be spectators wait in line overnight to get the same day tickets that are available to the public.

Attack of the LOLCats

I swore I would never do it. 

see more crazy cat pics

see more crazy cat pics

And specifically for Melissa...
see more crazy cat pics

Moose Murders rears its Ugly Antlers Yet Again

As reported in the New York Times, Broadway's most infamous flop will be again staged on the Great White Way.  See the worst play ever staged on Broadway at Sardi's in NY Aug. 9.  Coming off two highly praised run throughs,  most recently at L & M bowling lanes in Rochester, N.Y., the latest incarnation of the play is an irreverent conceputual artwork directed by John Borek.  Mr Borek, as the Times would say, is a conceptual artist who hasn't quit his day job as an aide to a Rochester city councilman.

The play features the beautiful and talented artist Krysia Mynick, a personal friend of mine.  As well as a mannequin, and a blow up Moose head.  How can you go wrong?

I signed up with Social Spark

I signed up for a new blogging social media and promotion site called SocialSpark.

This is a really interesting new invention from the folks at Izea, who created RealRank, PayPerPost, and Zookoda.  Izea, has been no stranger to controversy, with some being critical of the concept of paid blogging.   Social Spark I think is a next step move by the company, as the links are required to have the no follow attribute that Google requires for ad links. 

Social Spark is set up like a social networking site - like a myspace for bloggers with the addition of a a marketplace for posts, links, and comments on blogs and sites.

The site is still in beta, and I felt like there are some things that Izea will likely improve as the beta goes forward.  Some bloggers have been confused about the way the opportunity "queuing" works, and I was a bit lost in the flashy interface.  It seems a bit like the wild wild west out there, and I bet it will settle down once people get used to it and a few new views and features are added.  All in all I will give it a shot.  I like to make a little mad money through the blog, so I am glad to try out a service that will enable that. 

One of the more interesting things I found was that alot of people were doing free opportunities for promoting their blogs - things like if you write a post about my blog, I will write a post about yours.  Kind of a fun way to get your name out there and get more readership.

10 Superstitions, Traditions, and/or Personality Quirks

This is from the 10 on Tuesday meme.

1.  I have to "knock on wood" if I say anything too positive in case I might jinx it.

2.  I feel it is unlucky to brag too much about my kids health, smarts, how great my life is, etc.  Just asking for trouble.  I don't want to bring attention to the bad luck, right?  Also, don't want others to be jealous.  We all have ups and downs good and bad in our lives - no need to brag about being any better than anyone else.

3.  Must kiss hubby and kids goodbye every morning and say have a good day I love you.

4.  Must say "drive safe" to anyone leaving.

5.  In my house I do not allow "professional" wrestling, camoflouge, or toy guns in the house.   These are house rules.

6.  Jewish tradition and superstition is that you do not name a baby after any living relative because if death comes he might take the wrong person by mistake.  You name a baby after a deceased relative as a tribute to them.  Ben's middle name is Nathan after my grandfather, and Adam's middle name is Hyun after Jin's grandfather.

7.  At work I always carry around the same type of little green notebook to take my notes in.  I have to have that exact type of green notebook or I am just not happy.  I order them a dozen at a time and go through about 1 a month.  Strangely, I write alot of notes in the books, but seldom have to refer back to them.

8.  My friend Melissa and I have a tradition of packing the kids in the back of the minivan and driving around to look at Christmas lights.  We leave my husband at home and he is much happier that way.

9.  We celebrate Jewish holidays but I don't mind celebrating a little bit of Christian holiday traditions too since the kids have that ethnicity as well.  We do Korean traditions as well.  Its a big mix.

10.  My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving.  It reminds me of my grandfather, who really went nuts cooking and gathering everyone together.  My mom makes the best stuffing in the universe.  All the foods of Thanksgiving are my favorite foods - turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie... YUM.

Blog Hosting Options

I really like Typepad for my blog platform because it is so easy to use.   I don't mind paying for it - I feel like I get my money's worth as I get templates, the ability to easily ad widgets, and can make my blog look pretty an personalized without having to do any programming.  And yes - you can use Typepad and still have your own domain name and be able to take advantage of all the good thing that allows you to do.  See - I am mariannesmotifs.com running on Typepad.

But my blog has been loading really slow lately - I think because I loaded up on flashy ads and widgets.  I wonder if Typepad itself could be part of the performance issue? Should I switch to self hosted and Wordpress?

Alot of people use Wordpress and their own server.    Did you know you can actually get a dedicated server for $29.95 a month through a company like ServerPronto top ISP?

I don't really feel like monkeying around with Wordpress, however.  I do technical stuff all day at work and by the time I get home at night I just want to post and chat for fun, not delve into html programing to make my blog look professional and hip.  Its probably worthwhile though if you need to have a shopping cart and stuff like that for a bigger site to have your own dedicated server.

The Vegas Strip Effect

I noticed that the blog was loading slowly, so I removed some ads and widgets.  Although they are fun,  if they take a long time to load I am afraid that people will not get to my quality content and just give up on me.  I turned of the Widget Bucks ad.  I have only made 5 dollars on the things, and I am just not sure that it is worth the screen real estate it is taking up.  I might change my mind and try putting it back up - but I want to make sure it wasn't what was slowing doing my page loading time.

So you might see some experimentation going on with the blog design and sidebar widgets.  I want to get a perfect balance of fun widgets that load fast and are easy on the eyes.

military surplus

I remember when I was a kid my mom used to shop at the military surplus stores and and my brother and I wore chinos, and belts and stuff from there.  Those Vietnam ere Army jackets with the guys name on them were really popular back then too.  We had ammo boxes, bags, web belts, all kinds of cool stuff.

Nowadays alot of people buy BDU Pants for all sorts of different reasons.  That's Battle Dress Uniform, for those of us who haven't a clue about military lingo.  I was reading where a physical therapist wore them in black as uniform pants.  I gather that they are comfortable, indestructible, and have lots of pockets where you need them.

Did you know that I don't let my kids to wear camo?  Yeah I just have a thing against it - its my pacifist nature.  I saw some really cool self striping "camo" yarn at the craft store the other day!  How funny to knit some camouflage.

Vote for Juliana's Video on Unavision

My co-worker Juliana is in a Univision Contest to be in "Objetivo Fama" (like a Spanish American Idol)

You can listen to her video on the web and vote for Juliana! Here are some instructions from her for those who don't read Spanish -

Now there is 10 videos not 20 and I am still in the contest thanks to your votes so please keep voting and telling everyone you know!!!

Please vote for me every day until May 18^th, 2008, so I can win the contest!> You can watch the video too, just click on it, my husband acts on it…

This also gives you the opportunity to win $10,000. I am the only one representing Georgia on this contest!!!! If I win I get to participate in Objetivo Fama (like American Idol in Spanish). http://www.univision.com/content/channel.jhtml?chid=6&schid=10589&secid=11974

Here is the translation for the information you have to fill out to vote:

Nombre: Name
Apellido: Last name
Sexo: Gender
Fecha de nacimiento: Date of birth
Direccion: Address
Ciudad: City
Estado: State
Codigo posta: Zip code
Telefono: Phone #

On the right side just put NO, so you don’t receive information from them on your e-mail. Then accept (Aceptar) and click on the red sign that says “envia tu voto” Thanks!

Juliana

8 Great things you can do on ANY cell phone with Google SMS

I don't care if you are "techy" or not this is a free service you can use!  Program GOOGLE 466453 into your cell phone and you can text for great information on the road.  Don't know how to program it into your phone - click the web link below and Google will send you a link.

This woks with ANY cellphone with SMS which is really almost all cell phones.  (Check for how your provider charges for SMS messages - some charge by the message)

Click here to have Google send you a link on your phone to get started!

Google SMS info page

1.  Price Check

Out shopping and need to check prices to make sure you're getting a good deal?  Text the name of the item and then the word "price" to GOOGLE (466453 ).

Examples of what to text to get the prices returned back to you as an SMS messages are indented.  (It can take a few minutes to get it back)

price bluRay player
price Keurig coffee maker
price sony wega television
price upc code number

2. Help - get a list of commands

help (returns a list of commands)
help flight (returns a list of commands regarding flights)

3. Google Local - find stuff in your area

Starbucks 02116
pizza 30022  (returns pizza places in that zip code)
 

4. Fight Status

ua 14 (United Airlines flight 14 status)
dl 123 (Delta flight 123 status)
atl airport (gives current conditions at the airport)

5. Weather

weather 30022
weather atlanta
w atlanta

6. Movies

movies 30022
Baby Mama 30022 (movie name and then zip code)

7.  Directions

directions street address, city, state to  street address, city, state
directions Atlanta to Savannah

8. Sports Scores

Score Mets
Score MLB

Google SMS info page

Click here to have Google send you a link on your phone!