NaBloPoMo Is Over and I Survived---Now What?

Yep, it's over. And as much as I enjoyed participating, I know my content dropped here. Yes, I know, there's not much "content" to speak of anyway, but some of the things I posted usually would've come fully equipped with witty commentary and quirky descriptions. Instead, I resorted to posting short things.

The funny thing is, it's not because I didn't have more to say or that NaBloPoMo was stressing me or anything. It was more like....I knew I was going to have to be posting every day and I was afraid I'd run myself thin by the end....which somehow lead me to be "thin" all month long so I didn't have to think about it. And there were days where I had 2 or 3 posts I wanted to make, but then I'd tell myself to wait until the next day, but then not have time to put the effort into them that I wanted.

And now that the month is over, my "Things to Blog" folder is just as full as ever and I still have several things I want to talk about. Notice I said "talk about"....so they won't necessarily be the quick posts you guys have gotten used to. They won't be a mile long either, but there are some quirky products I'd like to toss out there to you guys with a bit more than "hey, click this link...it's cool," lol.

For now, though, this is my last post of the event and we'll be back to regularly posting a few times a week with a bit more emphasis on each post. Thanks for sticking with me and I hope you all had fun. :)

Why We Do Not Let Men Take Messages

Yep, another short entry....just trying to tie up some loose ends, hehe. I'll be back to normal, longer posts once NaBloPoMo is over. :D

Do You Ever Feel Like You're Not the Favorite?

Is life stepping all over you and it's clear you're not the favorite? Well, you're not alone. That poor bird is in the same boat, lol. This was originally sent to me with the title "How to Tell If You're Not Mom's Favorite." Mother Nature playing favorites....and you're not it? Hehe. :P

Ah, the Wonders of Photoshop

Untwirled Pedophile

So many of you are more than familiar with Adobe Photoshop (and some of you have probably never heard of it). Most times, it is used to manipulate photos. In this particular case, though, it was used to catch a suspected pedophile after he had previously altered his photos to prevent identification. It's old news at this point (me and my tossing things in the "To Blog" folder)...but still interesting (very quick article).

How Good is Your Hearing?

Hearing Loss--Can You Hear it All?

There are some students that are using high pitched ringtones because although their young ears can still hear it ring, the teacher cannot. The site above mentions selling the mosquito ringtone...annoying, at best, but still interesting. Did you notice your hearing start to decrease at a young age or was it not obvious until there was enough of a decrease at older ages?

Silicone Potholder Puppets--Hot Heads

It took me a bit to track these guys down finally, but I found them. There are a few different online sites selling them, but the prices are all about the same, so it's up to you. Check out Ebay or Amazon for slightly reduced prices (depending on shipping) or grab it from Vat19. I normally wouldn't bother mentioning the latter because the price isn't necessarily the lowest, but it has videos with the product reviews! (And I just used their photo, so it's only right to linky, too.)

They're made of silicone that are perfectly safe for both cold and hot temperatures. Completely dishwasher safe and totally fun in the kitchen, hehe.

They come in a few different varieties, depending on where you're shopping. I've seen green frogs, yellow/red dogs, and blue/red hippos (at least that's kinda what it looked like, lol). What a fun gift idea!

Bucket Loss--And How I Found A Plastic Alligator

Huh? Yeah, the title is a bit...strange...but that's what I do best, and it's what I'm going to quickly blog about. I've been meaning to link to Erin for a while and she's unfortunately sat in my "Things to Blog" folder for too long now.

Why?

Back in October, I had a one year blog birthday, and posted about my visitor facts. I'd said that 9 unfortunate visitors were still using dial-up and jokingly apologized for all the graphics on my site....I really didn't know people were still on dial-up!

But low and behold, Erin replied to the post. She was on dial-up and visited my site. *Squeals!* Oops! It makes sense that she just can't get access to anything else where she lives. I lived out in the country where we couldn't get cable or even satellite installation...much less high speed internet. In fact, we opted to not have internet at all, and that about killed me (fortunately, I was still in school and used every ounce of time I could get to play on the internet, hehe).

Because she not only visits me, but took the time to leave a comment, despite the dial-up connection...I wanted to give some linky love!

As I said before, she's sat in the folder for a bit now, waiting for me to get to her....and it wasn't until I read her say " not a lot of people have read this blog anyways," that I decided to go ahead and mention her.

The bucket photo is from this post. There's another about a "bukkit loss support group," hehe. The post itself is about missing/temporarily stolen (sorta, lol) compost buckets...and what she's doing with her compost "supply" in the mean time.

You know you can't resist. Go check her out. ;-)

Flip and Tumble Pop Out Bag

The middle image looks a little wacky, but I love this idea. We've all seen reusable bags and some of us even own them...but how often do you actually use them? Some of you are die hard fans while others, well, you don't even know exactly where the bag ended up.

This little guy, though....he makes it easy. It folds up into a small ball that fits easily into your purse or even large pockets. It's easy to carry with you anywhere, so unexpected stops or quick pit-stops are convenient...without being a waste of plastic/paper bags.

Check out this part of the site for a really informative look at the goal they have for these bags. It's not meant to replace other reusable bags even (unless you don't use them, of course). It talks about the design they chose for styles-sake (the picture shows a bright teal, but it comes in black, brown, and green, too) and how many plastic bag this would replace on average use.

And guess what? After it's long life (because it's built strong to last....toss a couple bowling balls in, because it can easily carry 20lbs....and there's a shoulder pad, too, so no excuses!), don't just toss it out....return it to them and they'll take care of the recycling for you. So environmentally-friendly easy!

I haven't tried it out for myself yet, but it seems really cool, useful, and even a decent design/look to it, so it's worth a shot, I think.....the price isn't even bad ($15 + $4 dollars shipping on up to 3 of them) Plus, who can resist that it can be rolled into a ball and put away neatly (ok, so tossed into your purse with all the other stuff...but at least it can be used, unlike half of the other stuff you probably have in there! :P). Let me know what you think!

Happy Turkey Day

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. :)

FreeRice.com---Which Words Do You Know?

Free Rice

I really don't know the legitimacy of this site, but it doesn't hurt to boost your vocab anyway. Check out the details there.

How Disgusted Are You?

Disgusting?

The test/survey takes a bit of time, but it's incredibly interesting at the end. It basically goes through and tells you how tolerant you are to certain 'disgusting' things (I'm talking disease, bees, perfectly healthy people, etc)....and then it also breaks down 'why' people are turned off by certain colored goo and such. You don't have to think much.....look at a picture and rate it....as simple as that. It's really interesting, so worth your 10-15 minutes if you're curious about this sort of thing.

A Boy Who is Allergic to Almost Every Food

The Boy Who Can't Eat Much of Anything

I really don't have much to say about it...other than, wow, that's gotta suck. He seems to understand and works with it, but still. That's gotta be rough. :(

Which Way Does She Spin?

I've had this sitting in my bookmarks for a while and I know it's traveling the web quite nicely by now, but many of you may not have seen it yet.

Counterclockwise means one thing and clockwise means another. No, I'm not going to tell you. You've gotta accept my linky love and go check out Foo Logs for the analysis. :D Don't forget to glance through the comments to see the discussion on people who see it 'both' ways or who can will her to turn a different direction.

Which way did you see her turning?

Influences--30 People Painted On Top of One Another

One guy, 30 inspirational people, and 20 hours of painting.

I've had this video saved forever and just never got around to showing you guys. His description of the video is:

30 different people that influenced my life were painted one on top of another on my torso. I either painted a picture of the person or an object that represents the person.

It's painted so that you can see the whole process. Amazing really. He gives a few more details on the YouTube site (like why Hitler is included) and still shots of the different paintings can be found on his site.

The ABCs of QuirkyJessi--Who Is She?

So we're officially over the hump of NaBloPoMo. So far, I've posted mainly short topics, both in an attempt in an attempt not to get bored/stressed by this and to keep people's interests....because most of your randomizers want quick fixes and move to the next blog.

I've had this blog for over a year now and have yet to really talk about myself. To be honest, up until just now, I had every intention of keeping it that way. I have separate identities across the web and although I don't explicitly try to hide them from one another, I don't make it a point to connect the dots either.

It's 4:30 a.m. and I should obviously be sleeping. After tossing and turning for an hour, though, I decided to get up and go through some blogs instead. Why waste my time if it was apparent I wasn't falling asleep, right? I figured I'd quickly get drowsy again and shut my laptop before finishing the journey.

Boy was I wrong.

Instead, I landed on Momisodes' blog and found myself staring at yet another meme. This one caught my attention, though. I still can't put my finger on what it was about it that made me actually skim it for more than 5 seconds, but it did. There's nothing unusual about it--just another chain-letter-in-disguise-reformatted-for-blog-addictees, instructing those who are 'tagged' to write any number of things that have been seen a million times in other memes.

But it was different, wasn't it?

Otherwise, why would I be here during the wee hours of the morning, suddenly wide awake, and getting ready to spend another hour typing up something that most people won't read. After all, you guys want quick fixes.

So after a long year of semi-anonymous blogging, I've decided to tell people a bit about the person behind the name. And if the above babble wasn't enough to convince you of my random irrational reasoning....then I'll just loosely blame it on Sandy, saying that she 'made' me do it. She "tagged" everyone who read the post, so I just had to do it. She even said that she watches who visits the blog and she'd been lurking here soon. So, um, that's a threat, right? Gotta do what I can to avoid the wrath that what surely occur if I didn't heed her warnings. It's like when the chain letters say you'll have bad luck for a year.....yeah, I don't want that, hehe.

(But for the record, I have *never* forwarded an email that even closely resembles a chain letter with horrendous side effects attached. Those things drive me crazy! And memes get rather annoying, too, but this is for a good cause, so bear with me!)

(Now I remember why I write much shorter posts now. When I first started blogging, I was in a phase where I would write between the hours of 3 and 7 in the morning. That's when I tend to ramble, no matter how awake I am.)

Okay, so yeah, right. This is going to be a long enough post as it is without all this rambling. Gah! Onto the rules:

Rules: List a word that describes you for every letter of the alphabet. Offer as much or as little explanation as you wish. Please keep the words positive (for example, don’t use “fat” for F or “lame” for L), and feel free to get creative. Tag as many or as few people as you wish.

A: Ambitious--I always have tons of short and long term goals and work quite hard to accomplish them. I don't expect to "make it big" or become the best at everything, but I've done a pretty good job so far and will continue to work my butt off to succeed at the things I work toward.

B: Busy--Oh boy am I ever busy. My high school friends used to tease me that I was going to have a heart attack by the time I was 21 and would hit my midlife crisis at 25. I used to be such a workaholic and now I'm, well, okay, so I'm still quite the workaholic, but on different things. I only work one job now (instead of 3), and just have several projects going at any one given time.

C: Crazy!--Self-explanatory. Extra tidbit--my first license plate was "CrazyJ 1" because everyone thought I was absolutely nuts on so many levels. I still am, I think. I have some odd habits and phases I go through, too, so it's apparent.

D: Dangerous, Daring, Dirty, Ditsy? Nah, we'll go with Daughter of an amazing mom--Seriously, I couldn't ask for a better one and I don't think I've ever told her that specifically. She knows I think she's great and she's one of my best friends, but words can never express how much she's appreciated.

E: English expert--The English language is pretty screwed up, but somehow, I have a knack for it. You won't see it in this blog really, because I intentionally loosen up my own rules so that it feels more conversational around here and less formal....but if you had me an article or essay to edit, I'll tear it apart with all those rules you never knew existed and will wish didn't exist after I'm done. I'll be nice about it, of course, and in fact, I'll even leave some mistakes, just so it doesn't seem so harsh, but I can pick them up with ease. It's scary sometimes.

F: Fan of chocolate--I used 'crazy' for C, so gotta add it here. I don't eat chocolate often...I don't even crave it much....but I make it clear to most people that I like chocolate and will exaggerate my obsession with hit. Hey, the stuff is good!

G: Giggle-worthy--Hehe. You'll see me use this phrase around here quite often, along with quirky-worthy.

H: Happy--I'm a generally happy person. I was brought up to believe that I have control over myself. I definitely have fits of emotion outside of 'happy' and I'm not one of those overly happy people that are oblivious to the world....but I do my best to keep a positive outlook and take advantage of good moments to enjoy happiness.

I: Indecisive--When it comes to big decisions, I have no problem weighing the options and deciding on the best choice. When it comes to the smaller stuff, though, I have a bad habit of not being able to choose the simplest things. Don't ask me what I want for dinner, what my favorite song is, or what I want to do tonight. I'm more likely to tell you what I don't want/like/need, and leave the rest up to you. Side-note---I'm really struggling with choosing which words to use for which letters, but my ambitious side has made a goal to resist the urge to choose more than one word for each letter, hehe.

J: Jessi!--That's what the majority of people refer to me as now, but I didn't choose the shortened form myself. I also respond to variations of Jen/Jenny/Jennifer, too, because those who can't remember my name, have a 99% chance of calling me one of those. It's never bothered me much, but it's certainly become an adopted nickname, heh.

K: Kitty cats--(Doesn't that make me sound like a third grader?) I've always had a soft spot for cats, although I'm an animal lover, in general. It's not uncommon for me to take on the persona (ironic use, heh) of kitties, too, but I won't give too many details for fear or being deemed crazy. Oh wait....I already did that myself. Nevermind. ;-)

L: Laughable--I love to laugh and I love to make others laugh. It's part of being happy and I truly enjoy seeing others smile...and a laugh is even bigger, so I love it!

M: Make--Okay, I wasn't sure how to word that, so we'll just leave it with one word. I enjoy making things....whether it be Christmas gifts or home cooking meals from scratch. Because I'm so busy, I don't really put that into practice as much as I'd like, but it's still something I enjoy.

N: Naive-breaker--Again, not sure how to make it work, so we'll leave it. I have prejudice against naive people, however, I have no problem bursting their little bubbles and telling it how it is. Sometimes I do it carefully, but other times, I'll be as blunt as possible and really put them into shock....and for those who I choose to do the later, they always appreciate it in the end.

O: O-H....I-O!--For those who get this, great. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, no, I wasn't born and raised in Ohio. I do, however, attend school there currently and was brain-washed to yell I-O every time I hear O-H.

P: Procrastinator--I'm stealing Momisode's here. I put things off till the last minute, no matter how much I try to plan it out to do it sooner. I have a 20 page Lit Review due Monday and I'm sitting here at 5:15 a.m. blogging. What gives? Lol. Also, I'm getting my degree in journalism, which is pathetically ironic considering I'll be expected to hit deadlines on a daily/weekly basis. It's just another one of those incidences where I'm doing something that pushes me further than what my procrastinating side would like, heh.

Q: Quirky!--Okay, so you can't tell me you didn't see this one coming. I have so many little quirks that I could probably go through these ABCs with a list of quirky things about myself alone. Maybe that's what I should've done. Hmmm.

R: Responsible--I think I took on a greater sense of responsibility at birth. Yes, it was me who brought myself into this world and not my mother's pushing, heh. I've always taken on more than was expected of me and I've enjoyed every moment of it.

S: State-hopper--I've never lived anywhere incredibly interesting, but I've never lived in a place more than 3 years. In fact, it seems that we moved 'every' 3 years with the exception of once or twice when I was growing up. I'll have been here for 3 years next Fall and plan to move after that, too. Old habits die hard, I guess, but I love the experience! It's certainly not for everyone and I do plan to settle down into one spot later one....I don't want my kids to do that kind of hopping....but for now, I wouldn't have changed all the moving.

T: Trustworthy--Stealing Momisode's again. There aren't many people who I would confide in, but everyone seems to confide in me. People know almost immediately that I can be trusted...and I can be...with anything.

U: Understanding--And again with the word theft. This fits me, also. I may not always understand the way a person wants me to (they may want me to sympathize with them, while I choose to understand 'why' they want that sympathy and respond in a way I think is beneficial)....but I always do my best to put myself in others' shoes and take things into consideration.

V: Versatile--Tell me what you need, and I'll make it work. I take on numerous different roles on a daily basis and have no problem switching to coordinate with what's expected of me. I can't make everyone happy and I won't try to, to say the least (that'd be sure to have me taken advantage of...no thanks). Being chameleon-like works to my advantage (and others') more often than not, though.

W: Why-asker--I like to ask the question "why?" even when it's not necessarily needed or when I already know the answer. I want to know people's opinions and I enjoy delving into their minds. Asking "why?" can do so much....

X: X-rated--Okay, this is the last word theft of the night, lol. I wouldn't have chosen the word on my own, but because she said it first, I'll go with it. Select portions are x-rated...but I keep my identities semi-separate, so that's okay, right? Hehe.

Y: Yaarrrr! dater--I associate my boyfriend with pirates, and therefore, 'yaarrrr' has special significance to me, lol. Don't ask. Seriously, you'd regret it.

Z: Zapatos-freer--I had to come up with a word other than 'zany' or 'zoo', so zapatos it is. And that's Spanish for shoes, if you didn't know. And by 'freer', I mean, I was instructed not to use negative connotations, so I'm saying I like to 'free' shoes....and by that I mean, I hate wearing them, lol. I would much rather be barefooted and will instantly slip off my shoes whenever possible (this means class, work, as soon as I sit down in a car (I won't drive with shoes on), any time I'm sitting). This poses a problem when winter hits because I wear boots and not something that's more easily slipped off--but I will still remove them as soon as I get home, when I start to drive, and will even occasionally unzip them while in class, at work, etc, just so I can slip my foot up out of them partially without it being obvious I'm taking them off, lol.

Okay, so that's it. And here is my list of words that were synonymous with "quirky" and "crazy" that I forced myself not to repeatedly use in the ABCs. Yes, I'm that out-there that people often describe me as such on a daily basis. Anywho, here ya go:

Batty
Bizarre
Cracked up
Crazy
Eccentric (I actually used this one and then changed it)
Freak
Goofy
Kooky
Loony
Nonsensical
Nuts/Nut case
Odd
Screwy
Silly
Strange
Unique
Weird
Zany

And I'm sure there were others, lol. So it's almost 6 a.m.....and my alarm is set for 10. Sounds perfect! Good night guys!

National Pickle Day--November 14th--The Pickle Bunch

Gah, yesterday was National Pickle Day and I completely spaced blogging about it. Oh well. Just mark it on your calendars for next year, I guess. *sigh*

And the picture is from PodcastPickle. You can get it in a much larger, wallpaper size on the site, too!

The 'Real' History of Blogging

Actually, it's just the origins of the word "blog" and a few other little tidbits, but I still thought it was rather convenient to run across this today after my post yesterday. I didn't go searching for the history...didn't even consider it actually....but this was a quick, informative read.

(Comic found here.)

The History of Blogging

I found this on Indecisive Peach (she shows Demon Kitty, too, so click on over there) quite a while ago and tossed it into my "Things to Blog" folder. Well, I'm just now getting back to it, so here it is. The history of blogging, all summed up into one image. Pretty cool, huh? Hehe.

Quirky Search Engine---Ziggy!

I don't see the word "quirky" around often like this, so I couldn't help but post it, hehe.

Interactive Autopsy

http://www.deathonline.net/movies/mm/autopsy.cfm

Yeah, I think the title says it all....

The Most Expensive Junk Food--Truffle Burger Anyone?

For only 120 bucks, this bad boy is yours. The description:

His version of the classic ground beef burger is stuffed with red wine-braised short ribs (off the bone), foie gras, a mix of root vegetables and preserved black truffle.

Hold the ketchup though, the pièce de résistance is a double helping of fresh black truffles on top.

This burger, if you can call it that, is served on a homemade toasted parmesan and poppy seed bun with a touch of fresh horseradish, oven roasted tomato confit, fresh tomato, red onions and frisée lettuce.

And, of course it comes with a side of French fries -- or pillows of pommes soufflé if you prefer.

...is almost scary. Not your type? How about this fancy dessert instead?
Description:

The restaurant's golden opulence sundae is covered in 23-carat edible gold leaf and is also rich in flavor thanks to Tahitian vanilla ice cream infused with Madagascar vanilla beans and chunks of rare Chuao chocolate from Venezuela.

In lieu of Hershey's syrup and a maraschino cherry, this sundae is drizzled with one of the world's most expensive chocolates, from Amedei Porcelana, and then adorned with candied fruits, gold covered almonds, chocolate truffles and marzipan cherries.

The dish also features a dollop of sweet Grande Passion caviar served with a mother of pearl spoon and a gilded sugar flower.

The whole shebang looks as good as it tastes, served in a Baccarat crystal goblet (yours to keep) with an 18-carat gold spoon (not included).

And guess the price?

A whopping $1,000.

Check out this article for three more incredibly expensive foods you probably haven't heard of before, including macaroni and cheese with white truffles and a philly cheese steak gone seafood.

Isn't it amazing how they can turn ordinary food....typically 'cheap', fast food type food....and turn it into something extraordinary? Personally, I wouldn't touch any of it (I'd be afraid I'd break it and have to pay for the crumbs that fell off), but whatever floats people's boats, I guess....and their wallets!

DonorsChoose.org--Helping Teachers Across the Country

Jenny's birthday is coming up and she has a unique birthday request.

Who is Jenny/Jennifer/Jen? I have no idea, lol. I ran across her on the NaBloPoMo forums where she spoke of her birthday desires. It caught my attention and I thought I'd pass it along.

Now I don't typically like asking for money and I'm not going to do it this time either. I'm going to let 'her' ask you, hehe. Basically, she found a site called DonorsChoose.org and this is how she describes it:

a site that allows teachers to submit project proposals for materials or experiences their students need to learn. Individuals or companies can search through literally thousands of proposals categorized by region, subject, type of school, project cost, etc and add them to a challenge. As people donate you can track the donations and the impact those donations have on students.

Jenny has chosen a few causes that she'd like to help out....like one is asking for help raising the money to get internet access in the school and another is...and another is hoping to get a decent digital camera for daily activities/projects. If technology isn't quite your thing, some of the causes include getting new books and one is a request put in by the school's first theatre arts teacher who has no supplies at all to help teach her students.

Point being, it's not only a good cause, but it's 'several' good causes that are helping America's young people when the schools can't afford to offer them better. Each request ranges from just a couple hundred dollars to a thousand or so. Jen's birthday goal is to raise $5,000 by her birthday (December 24) and help several of these small requests (which are huge improvements in their lives). Let's see if we can help her and her causes out some.

Boo Boo Kisses Bandages

Do plain old skin-colored band-aids just not cut it? Maybe these will do the trick. Here's what the site says about them:

Ouch! That smarts! Treat your minor cuts, scrapes and scratches with the incredible healing power of a designer bandage. And if a fancy bandage isn't enough to dry up your tears, how about a FREE TOY! Each comes in a 3-3/4" tall metal pocket tin and contains a small plastic trinket to help make even the ouchiest owies feel all better in no time. The 2-1/4" x 1" Boo Boo Kisses are cut into the shape of lips and come in four different colors. Fifteen per tin.

Kisses not for you? Maybe bacon and eggs are better....or how about sushi instead? The bandages aren't cheap compared to normal ones you might buy from wal-mart for a buck or two, but for $4.95 a box, they could be a cute novelty item/gift idea or just what your daughter needs when she's scraped her knee and wants unicorns and rainbows. And don't forget, they come with a free trinket toy and a special tin box.

Adopt a Turkey--And That Does Not Mean Eat It!

As promised, I told you I'd tell you about the adopt-a-turkey program I discovered. I'd never heard of such a thing, so I couldn't help but giggle at it. I mean, it's Thanksgiving time--most aren't thinking about selecting the perfect turkey to feed and love. They're thinking about eating it.

Obviously, there are many people who are far from celebrating that tradition and instead, work to save turkeys (and other animals) all year round. Vegan Chai is one of many who does just that, and one of her fellow adopters, who commented on the post, even hangs the pictures of her sponsored turkeys on the fridge. :)

Read more about it on her site and let me know if you decide to adopt!

(And as for the picture, yes, I'm sure that the same people are are saving the turkeys would also approve of saving the pigs....but I couldn't exactly find a picture of a turkey that said "eat salad or pasta." :P)

(How about another set of parentheses? Hehe. Just another note to say that I do realize the photo is watermarked.....so go check 'em out!)

QuirkyJessi.com is Live!!

Yay! It seems to be working correctly, so please let me know if you see anything screwy. *Does a little dance*

On a side note, I just went to my profile to mess with something and noticed that it had me listed as being from Afghanistan and working in the Accounting field. I don't know when they made those fields required, but it automatically listed me as the first in the alphabetical list. Weird. You might want to check yours in case you didn't have those specified before.

~Edit~ This woman (I'm not sure of your name, lol) asked if links needed to be changed. While it would certainly be appreciated (I'd rather have the main domain listed places than the old one), you don't *have* to in order to still find me. Blogger automatically forwards links of quirkyjessi.blogspot.com to the new www.quirkyjessi.com. I'm still working to get quirkyjessi.com forwarded, too, but regardless, I shouldn't lose many people with the switch. :) That being said, I don't know if it might have slower page load if you don't switch links because you go to the blogspot.com address first and then get redirected....it's instant on my computer, but others with slower connections might notice a difference.

~Edit Number 4 (because I edited that last edit a couple times, too, heh)~ QuirkyJessi.com is now officially working, too, although I know for sure that this one takes a bit longer to load (it has to redirect a couple times the way it's set right now...will try to fix later on.) Once your cache is updated, though, it shouldn't take any longer on future visits....you've just gotta get here first for your computer to remember the site and then you should be fine later on. :D

Placeholder Entry

Okay, so I've got half an hour to post a blog entry, but I'm on a different computer, right in the middle of another project and it is soooooo slow. I've got 30+ blog ideas saved, so no worries of me trying to skip out. I knew the beginning of this week would be hectic, but I will definitely be making it up to everyone. I think my next one will be about how to adopt a turkey for Thanksgiving and save him from being someone's dinner. :)

QuirkyJessi.com----Did I Really Do That??

Okay, so I went ahead and purchased QuirkyJessi.com and have begun the process of changing CNames, etc, so now I'm just waiting a couple days until I know that everything has registered and my site will show once I point Blogger in that direction. Thanks for all the input guys and cross your fingers that this goes smoothly!

Custom Domain on Blogger.....And What Should It Be Called?

Alright, so I've been doing more research and now I've come to a dead-end for the time being. First of all, I checked out a few of the different recommended hosts for my site and found a few that similar really similar in terms of service, satisfaction, and prices.

(Speaking of which, April, you recommended Bluehost. I can't get to your blog because you have your Blogger profile set to private. All the reviews I read for Bluehost complained of downtime....do you experience much of that or is it exaggerated by huge businesses losing money by a tiny bit of downtime? Also, if you stop back by and comment again, leave me a link to your site so I can come by and see you. :) And so I can link to you when I say stuff like this! Hehe.)

Anywho, all that aside, I remembered that Blogger now allows us to publish to our custom domain without actually having to host it somewhere ourselves. I'm seriously considering this as a first step for me, so I don't have to devote the time to completely rebuilding a new site and maintaining it. I can keep my blog, continue tweaking the HTML, and have my own domain as I originally wanted in the first place.

Two questions, though:

• One--Has anyone done this and how did it work out for you? Okay, so that was kinda two questions on its own, but it was the same sentence and the same subject, so leave me alone! :P
• Two--What domain should I use? Any of the basics like quirky.com or quirkiness.com are of course taken. QuirkyJessi.com is open, but do I want that? (Shush it...still on the same subject/question...it doesn't count as more than one.) The name of this place is "The Quirky World of Jessi," but it's rarely about me anyway, so I'm thinking something more like TheQuirkyWorld.com might be better. I say that because it's available and other combinations aren't necessarily. Neither is that memorable, in my opinion, especially since most people end up spelling Jessi with an 'e' or 'y' or 'ie', so if they heard it or were trying to remember it instead of just clicking a link, they're unlikely to end up at my place. It's directly linked to my name and even though people I meet across blogs/forums know me as such, it's quirky 'stuff' that I blog about (that's taken, heh). I know the simplest of solutions would be to buy both and forward to one or the other, but if I'm keeping with Blogger, then they only automatically forward to one place, and I'd have to deal with the other. And then, which is it that I would want as the main site.

Your guys' turn to help me out again! Which domain should I buy?

Interesting Juggle--That Is All I Can Say

Interesting Juggle

(Click my link, it takes you to another's entry, and then click the link there that says "Juggle This." It automatically opens a video in Media Player. Sound isn't necessary.)

All I can say to this video is...wow. Just wow. Watch all the way through, because it's the last 10 seconds that are a kicker.

And, uh, please don't hate me in the morning, heh.

Changes for November/NaBloPoMo '07

So NaBloPoMo has officially started and while most people took yesterday to reintroduce it and do some chit chat about the event, I decided to hold off. I made a few changes around here, but nothing too noticeable.

...well, except for the fact that I am officially back from my month of pink! It feels so good to be blue again. I noticed on one of the sites I'm a member of that I still have a screenshot of my first layout/color scheme posted. I definitely like this one better, but I'm thinking it's about time for a new banner, too. I may put together something specifically for the holidays later on and then work out a new semi-permanent one later.

My sidebars have changed a bit, too. I didn't have much of a blogroll here because I read blogs through other places and generally just talk about the blogs I like here, so I got rid of the few listed. I tidied up the "other places to visit" section, too....some of the sites didn't even exist any more and it was just taking up room.

I've added in the NaBloPoMo participant badge on the side and there's some talk about a survivor badge for afterward, so this is a nice placeholder. I really don't like having so much in the side bars, but I'm not ready to lose it all yet either....at least it's not splattered with ads instead, right?

On a slightly different note, I've considered getting my own domain. I like Blogger, to be honest, minus a few little disadvantages, but from my involvement on some blog forums, it keeps coming up how it's sometimes better to have your own domain. At this point, it's not like QuirkyJessi is really headed anywhere big, but at the same time, it'd be kinda nice to start working on traffic 'now' to my own domain instead of getting my .blogspot.com address so built up and then starting over. I'm not sure. What do you guys think? Have any suggestions for a good place to buy the domain and host a site of my own? The cheaper, the better, of course, because I don't use ads, but at this point, I'm just browsing around.

~Edit~ One of the main reasons that sparked this post, I didn't even talk about. I also added a Bookmark button to my post layout so that you can see it at the end of each post. If you scroll over the top of it, you'll notice that it'll pop up a list of other sites you can bookmark the posts at (all the major ones are there: Digg, StumbleUpon, Del. icio.us). I've never used them much, but I know other people love them, so I thought I'd make it easy on y'all. Also, you guys know I'm all about linky love, so if you happen to place something of mine there, I'll return the favor in some way or another.

And the Most Creative Costume Goes to....

Last year, I blogged about all the costumes I saw on Halloween and how repetitive many of them were. This year, it was pretty much the same thing. I saw this woman's post tonight, though, and loved the costume. I've never seen someone dress up as a Myspace page before, hehe.