Dueling Hybrids Update

2 Comments / Daily Dose, Day to Day /

I finally made some time to call my dad yesterday. I was procrastinating dealing with my inbox and figured I’d just call half the people on my “Really should call X” list – he was one of those. Of course every time I call my father, it’s a bad time – which is why I rarely call him and just wait for him to call me. This time, he was taking the little grand kids to see the American Girl movie (which I did not even know existed.)

We chatted about North Chicago and the Great Lakes Naval Station. I guess I’m going to have to video tape the area to figure out where I lived when I was three. He sort of makes sense when he talks about landmarks but he keeps saying things like “cliff” and I saw no cliffs. So, next weekend I’ll video tape and we’ll see what he thinks.

I asked him about his hybrid Honda and he still likes it but he’s not nearly as happy with his gas mileage as he’d like to be. 38 in the city (I’m getting between 46-48 in the city.) He didn’t drive it to NC for the Heir to the Throne’s birthday party last weekend so he doesn’t have a good highway driving comparison for me. I’ll keep ya posted on that.

I’m still thrilled with my Prius and after reading all of the GM Hybrid posts I don’t think I’d ever buy a non hybrid. If I was going to buy another big car, it would have to be a hybrid.

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Sleep is for the Weak

3 Comments / 2008, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction, Women /

Yay! The first BlogHer book, Sleep is for the Weak, is awesome. It’s also difficult to review properly but I’m going to give it a try.

I picked up my copy (and my sister’s copy), at the Macy’s party, and walked through the line to have it signed (that’s me in the weird brown jacket) by a bunch of the brilliant bloggers in the compilation. Lisa said, “have you read my essay?” When I said I hadn’t, she gave me THAT look and laughed. I looked at what she wrote in my copy and it made me very very nervous…

Fast forward to later that evening, back in my hotel room, I picked up my copy and read the acknowledegement and flipped through the index thinking about which bloggers I’ve been reading for years, which I used to read but stopped reading, which I read from time to time, which I’ve never read at all and which I have tried to read but just never felt a connection to. And then, I put the book down and went to sleep.

I picked it up again when I got home and immediately flipped to Lisa’s essay, nervously. And then I laughed. She’s such a TEASE. (TW read the book last night and her response to Lisa’s essay was “THAT is Lisa Stone. That’s who she is, that’s what she sounds like all of the time.” Heh. So true, but she’s also a TEASE.)

I flipped back to the beginning and read Stacy Morrison’s forward and it was awesome. Really awesome. Who knew the EIC of Redbook could use the word FUCK so often? Not me. (TW’s response to the forward was “The book is worth buying just for the forward.” – she’s right, it is.)

Then, on to the rest of the essays – and I loved it. Some of them I had read on the writer’s blog – Three Kid Circus, Fussy, Mir, Mom 101, Not Calm Dot Calm – all bloggers I read every single day. When I read an essay that I remembered from the blog, I immediately thought “oh I wish Rita had included this and that and that other post too!” Blogging is like that – one post sparks a memory of another one and I think it’s good that the book sparks the same thoughts.

There are bloggers who I’ve never read and will now start reading because I loved their essays.

There are bloggers who I have never read, though have tried to read them because everyone loves them – but they didn’t grab me on their blogs. They still didn’t grab me in the book. And again, I think this is good. We don’t all love the same bloggers. We don’t all love the same voices or stories or experiences or ideas. That’s what blogging is and that’s what a book written by bloggers should feel like.

Rita – you did a great job with this book. Congratulations. Seriously.

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Off the Beaten (Subway) Track

2 Comments / 2008, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction, Travel Log, Women /

I have been looking forward to BlogHer Contributing Editor Suzanne Reisman’s book, Off the Beaten (Subway) Track, for ages. It sat in my wishlist folder for a long time. It sat in my shopping cart for an even longer time. I finally took it out of my shopping cart and decided I’d just buy a copy while at BlogHer ’08 and have Suzanne sign it since she’d be there too.

TW bought it, while I was in a session, and it was already signed. But, I wanted a PERSONAL note and Suzanne graciously complied and I love it.

I started reading it on the trip home from the conference and didn’t stop laughing until I finished it last night. I should point out that I find it a lot more amusing than TW does because I have spent a lot more time reading Suzanne’s writing, listening to her talk, interacting with her via email and on the phone. The book sounds like Suzanne so it’s more personal for me than it will be for someone who just picks it up from the shelf (or orders it online) without knowing Suzanne. Even someone with only a passing relationship with her may not find it as amusing as I do. Or maybe I find it amusing because Suzanne and I share the same type of sense of humor?

The penis jokes in the book – awesome.

Her review of the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors had me laughing so incredibly hard, I could barely breathe (and this is probably related as much to my children’s worship of Alex Grey as it is to Suzanne’s irreverent writing – my kids, they are insane about A.G. and his sacred mirror-ness.)

Also, Suzanne is not aware of this, but TW was supposed to take me to the NYC Police Museum many years ago and didn’t come through – so any book with a review of that museum within the first 50 pages has me sold.

I want to book a trip to NYC right this second and visit every spot highlighted by Suzanne – that’s my kind of sightseeing! Now if I could just convince her to write the same type of book for Chicago…

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My BlogHer 08 Do-Over List

2 Comments / Daily Dose /

I’m very happy to report that my “do over” wish list from BlogHer ’08 is considerably shorter than last year’s. Yay me.

The biggest disappointment and the most important do-over I’d take would be to attend the Chicago Bloggers ROYO. I had it on my list to attend. I blogged that I was going to attend. And then I had a little work issue to deal with, and then another, and another and I completely spaced on it. I walked out of the Queer BOF, right past the Chicago bloggers waiting in the hall and didn’t even realize I’d done it – until an hour later when TW said “where were you???”

I also wish I had skipped the Mommyblogging Radical Act panel, I think that question has been asked and answered enough for me.

I wish I had made more of an effort to round folks up for the Liz Mair/Fausta session about what it will take for Republicans to win in November.

I’m sorry I didn’t see Jen Lemen in person. I’m sorry I didn’t have a chance to talk to Becky Carroll. I’m sorry I didn’t get to say #suckit to @queenofspain more often. Just pointing my phone at her wasn’t enough.

I’m sorry I didn’t see Susan Wagner and Chris Jordan until late Saturday.

I’m sorry I didn’t book a later flight on Sunday so we could stay for more of the UnConference. I’m also sorry I didn’t make more of an effort to talk up the UnConference before registration. I only discovered at the event that some folks didn’t attend for reasons that could probably have been soothed away.

And that’s it. I had a great conference. My Do-Over list is short and only the Chicago bloggers thing is really troubling to me. I’m going to take them all out for a drink (and when I say take them out I mean take them out and pick up the tab.) Seriously. Pick a place and time, folks. I’m so there.

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My personal highlights from BlogHer 08

13 Comments / Daily Dose, Women, Work /

In the order in which they pop into my head, which means pretty much nothing, these are the moments that stand out as highlights from my attendance of BlogHer 08….

1) Seeing Whymommy in the elevator. I didn’t really see her anywhere else, just there. And it was so damn good to see her there. It’s hard to explain, it’s just how I felt.

2) Having the opportunity to declare my love and respect for Shannon at rocks in my dryer in person.

3) Being at the right place at the right time to help a friend who was struggling. I just wish I’d had some kleenex for her.

4) “Crashing” the midlifebloggers ROYO and talking to the midlifers in person, rather than on the forums or in comments. Hi Byjane!

5) The women without children panel. I loved it. Really loved it. In some weird irrational way that makes sense only to the people who know me really really well – like TW and my kids.

6) Screaming in the lobby of the St Francis (and I do mean screaming) “Big Yellow Houseeeeee”. and making Chris Jordan blush and cringe at the same time. Awesome.

7) Kissing Badger! hahahaha and every other woman at the conference, at least it seems that way.

8) Listening to TW gush about Kaboodle.

9) Kristy Sammis. I can’t really pinpoint one thing about her. It’s everything about her. Even when something is going terribly wrong or on the verge of going terribly wrong – she’s calm, cool, collected and fixes it all. Or when she’s not calm, cool and collected – she’s funny as hell. Oh wait, she’s funny as hell all of the time. I cannot imagine what BlogHerCon would be without Kirsty. I don’t want to think about it. Nightmare. Actually, I don’t want to think about a world without Kristy, so let’s move on, ‘k?

10) Passing out vibrators (thank you Maria and good vibes.)

11) Watching Macy’s employees cringe with a smile every time a wine glass hit the floor in the handbag department.

12) The community keynote.

13) Watching the expressions on faces the first time they were exposed to The Bloggess.

14) Dodging the roombas in the cafe.

15) Being able to thank people for a lot of things, in person. Being able to answer a lot of questions, from a lot of people, in person. I’m quick with email and my customer service is pretty damn good but being able to touch bases in person with someone I’ve helped in email is really nice.

I could actually go on and on and before long have highlighted the entire darn conference… these are just a few of the small things and a few of the big things that will stick with me.

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A clarification – for umm – nobody?

Daily Dose, Day to Day /

So my use of the word nobody was apparently troubling to y’all nobodies. I get it, my snarky (with a smile) comment down there notwithstanding.

The point I was trying to make was not about readership. (I actually talked quite a bit at the conference about how I’m happy with the 50 people who do read this blog.) I was talking about my personal justification for not being serious about blogging and not making a commitment to blogging.

You know that anything I commit to doing, I will do even if it means not sleeping or not eating or not doing anything else that’s not important. So where was that “nobody’s reading anyway” justification coming from? It was coming from me – the woman who doesn’t justify – the woman who doesn’t really do guilt – the woman who meets her deadlines every single time.

Except when it comes to being serious about blogging (and again, I’m not talking about HERE – I’m talking about BlogHer blogging.) Why did I let that go? Because I have contracted great writers? Because nobody’s reading and looking for serious posts from me there? (or here – y’all are nice and you take what you get here and you often get squat.) Because why?

Who the hell knows. I was just saying that hearing Y read her post, that was spurred in part from my post which was spurred from reading a really interesting book caused me to re-think the lack of commitment and to wonder WTF I’m doing.

That’s it. It isn’t about finding my current readership lacking. It isn’t any lack of confidence in myself, good grief I do not suffer from lack of self esteem (can you imagine?) It’s about me asking myself questions. Period.

Will I recommit to writing posts regularly on BlogHer.com? Who knows. Will I blog more real stuff here? Who knows. The keynote got me to stop and think about it and that’s where I’m at. If I get beyond that, I’ll let ya know.

Until then, it was just me telling you what I walked away from BlogHerCon 08 with.

OK back to work.

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The biggest lesson learned from BlogHer ’08

10 Comments / Books in Bed, Daily Dose, Health and Wellness, Non-Fiction, Women, Women, Work /

I’m not sure it’s really a lesson learned, more like a very big reminder of something I already knew. A very big reminder of something I already knew and should be doing but probably won’t.

I should blog more often.

That’s it. That’s the big lesson. The big reminder. It’s not anything new, I say it all of the time. I need more time to blog. I don’t have time to blog. I missed my own damn deadline (no CEs are reading this, right?)

I’m not blogging much and while I miss it, I don’t really spend a lot of time thinking about it or trying to juggle my schedule or my energy so I can do it. It’s not a big deal, nobody is reading my blog anymore anyway. And, I keep contracting great writers on BlogHer so I’m not missed there either.

Except, that damn community keynote on Friday reminded me that I actually have been known to write posts that are important.

When we were reading the zillion entries for the community keynote and I saw Y’s post about body image was one of the submissions, I cringed. I cringed because I knew I’d get all weepy if I read it again. I had a hard time writing my post about Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters. I had a hard time reading Y’s post when she published it and I was right, I had a horrible time reading it again during the selection process. And then listening to her read that post…during the keynote… ack.

That damn keynote.

Emotional subject matter with a little something else thrown in – the reminder that I really should blog more often because I do occasionally write stuff that other people appreciate reading.

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My boss, Lisa Stone, is the BEST

10 Comments / Daily Dose /

I’ve had some great bosses and some not so great bosses but none of them compare to Lisa – freaking – Stone. Seriously. I could tell you a million reasons why she is the best woman to work for, and with, but this photo says it all…

cops

See, I have this hot cop fantasy… and Lisa Stone went out of her way to get pulled over, in front of the BlogHer 08 conference hotel…. all to try and help fulfill my fantasy.

Lisa Freaking Stone… indeed.














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Life is a Circle Game

3 Comments / Daily Dose /

It seems as though a few of you heard the news about the strategic partnership between NBCU and BlogHer and a few of you are wondering how I, in particular, feel about this strategic partnership.

Rather than answer a bunch of emails or IMs, I’ll just go public with my feelings…

Awesome. Win, win, win. I’m thrilled. Could not be happier. Seriously.

What? Don’t look at me that way, I’m serious. This is a fantastic opportunity for women bloggers to get the exposure they deserve. It’s also a great opportunity for the iVillage (and Bravo and Oxygen) communities to gain some incredible content. Seriously. Win. Win.

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