12/23/05
Out of curiosity tried the alphabet meme mentioned on one of my 'and more...' favorites list (in the sidebar), Science and Politics. Supposedly this time waster, achieved by typing each letter of the alphabet in the address bar of one's browser and seing what the auto-complete function jumps to, is supposed to reveal something personal about me besides the fact that I have nothing better to do.
a: annualcreditreport.com - get yours free! By the way, my blood type is A. Negative.
b: bloglines - a place to search, susbscribe, publish, share your favorite blogs, news feeds, etc. I haven't figured out how to post my blogroll in my sidebar; for some reason the easy cut and paste text they provide didn't do what I wanted it to do
c: cupcakewalk - a hiker's journal that I read after talking to a friend the other night in Tiny Tavern, where he introduced me to the hiking subculture from the perspective of a red naugahyde barstool. Steve and his son hiked the Pacific Crest trail a few years ago, which I remember because I ran into him in the geography department when he came there looking for maps. See below under 't' for more on hiking. I don't actually hang out at Tiny's more than once or twice a year, and it will probably be less than that now that Nancy (the barmaid) is retiring after 27 years. Anyway, talk about a subculture! I could go on...
d: dictionary.com - very handy, though not nearly as much fun as looking it up in the big dic
e: electoral-vote.com - one of my favorite feeds before the election; I watched this religiously. I don't think he plans to post anymore, at least not on a regular basis. He was rooting for Kerry and voted absentee from the Netherlands. I voted for Kerry, but mostly in protest against Bush. I can't think of any republicans in our family, other than my nephew Hank and maybe D#1 and my son-in-law, who may also have voted against Bush also though I'm not sure. Check this spot later for all of our blood types.
f: food for lane county - our local food bank, which underwent a crisis not this last summer but the one before and received a new director as well as a brand new website. It looks pretty good. A friend of mine worked there during the upheaval. It wasn't fun
g: galfromdownunder - journal of Lynette Chang, writer and world cyclist, who is really going places, and I don't mean on the internet. I learned about Lynette through the Willamette Valley Writers group, which I haven't attended this year because I'm, uh, too busy. Lynette wrote a book called The Handsomest Man in Cuba. I think she also made a short film, which I intended to go see but didn't
h: french-english dictionary - ooh la la (my grandmother used to say that all the time, and I find myself inadvertently saying it sometimes, too)
i: identitytheory.com - a literary website, sort of... I love the interviews, fiction can be good too. I stumbled across the site and read an interview of Ilan Stevens, who wrote a book called On Borrowed Words that I decided I needed and subsequently bought. Like I don't have enough reading to do already. shit.
j: http://jfi.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/24/8/966 - shopping for books again
k: http://www.kevinsites.net/ - blogging from Iraq
l: PSU library - I'm a student; where else did you expect to find me on a Thursday night?
m: http://www.mentoring.org/ - grazing for ideas
n: how to pack and ship a brain - I'm guessing I got this gem on www.boingboing.net, another favorite feed
o: overstock.com/ - hint: have you been naughty or nice?
p: http://pharyngula.org/index/weblog/comments/abcs_of_pzm/ - link found on the trail of this meme's source... cool background looks like bubble wrap, but it's really zebrafish embryos. Coincidentally enough, PZ graduated from UO, a few blocks from where I live, but he'd already moved on by the time I came to town from Southern California in 1994. But I think I told that story in a previous post.
q: career assessment stuff - maintenance on the ol' parachute
r: rottentomatoes.com/ - movie reviews. I went with my friend Mary Jo to see Ray at the $1.50 movie. It was great. I came home and put on one of his CDs... yeah. My favorite movie rental this year was The Triplets of Belleville. If you haven't seen it, give it a try! The grandmother reminds me of my grandmother, minus the orthotic shoe. I loved this film
s: graduate school of social work homepage - more PSU student stuff
t: Yogi's trail journal - are you seeing a pattern of me reading about other people's interesting lives while I sit around and blog about memes? Steve Savage told me about this hiker the other night. Yogi mentions Steve and Peggy a couple of times in her journal. They do trail magic every summer on the Pacific Crest Trail.
u: MBSR training - Kabat-Zinn at U MA. Did you know he's married to Howard Zinn's daughter? I read his book Wherever You Go, There You Are over and over again. If you don't know about stress reduction, you probably should. And if you haven't read Howard Zinn, you definitely must!
v: virtual-bubblewrap.com - another form of stress reduction: popping bubble wrap (it's free). I don't know where I got this. Compare to 'p' above
w: walkamile.org - a cool program that links policy makers (ok, so they're probably all members of the choir) with low income constituents. I got this link from the Food For Lane County website. Check it out!
x: currency converter - how 'bout them euros?
y: yeohlee.com - can't remember what induced me to navigate here
z: didn't have anything -
I was mildly interested in where this meme originated. I first saw it today posted by Coturnix on: science and politics, who got it from PZ Myers at pharyngula.org, who cited his source as Alex at:
(Halavais, A. C. (Dec. 22, 2004). Address bar knows all. A Thaumaturgical Compendium. ), who lifted it from Jack's 12/21 post that referenced KC Lemson's 12/14 appropriation of Bill's 12/11
ripoff of Scott's purloining of Elliott's 12/9 post, stolen from Neil, who got it from Richard courtesy of Dina via The Daily Meme, where it was submitted by Gary, who found it on Shut Up Dude, the author of which has seen it "floating around." So there, for what it's worth.
