Try it! It's delicious!

I was cleaning out some of my accumulated Internet gatherings today and stumbled across a nearly-abandoned del.icio.us account of mine (apparently just called delicious.com now that Yahoo! owns it).

If you're unfamiliar, delicious.com a web-based bookmarking service that I used for about 5 seconds before getting distracted by LOLCats or FaceTube or my own reflection or snack food... yummmm...

Nonetheless! It was kinda fun going through some of the sites I wanted to remember once upon a time. So now, I'm passing the weird savings* on to you, gentle reader:

• Want to learn how to make your own Kombucha Tea?
  
  
• Mac users! Ever wonder how to make those tricky French accents?
  
  
• Need to buy a $12 Rap from a Rap Master?
  
  
• What about learning how to take a nap (from a nap master)?
  
  
• Say, you office cutup! Where's that instant rimshot when you need it?
  
  
• You guys, learning about Seattle's history is awesome!
  
  
• So is this photoset of my band, "Awesome"!
  
  
• Are you having a baby, or would you rather visit Saint Louis**?
  
  
• How would you translate this entire post into binary? And for Pete's sake,
  

• when do you use "that" and when do you use "which" in a sentence?

*actual monetary savings subject to not existing.
**recommendation: do the latter before you do the former. Got that? It's former after latter, or, latter first, then former. Not vice versa. FOR GOD'S SAKE ARE WE CLEAR??

Late to the party... again

So I went and joined Twitter for real this time (over to the right, third section down). I'm not usually an impulsive person, but sometimes I study and weigh an issue for a stupidly long time, come a decision and then proceed to completely do a 180 when someone makes even a remotely good argument against what I'd decided.

In this case, the decision had been "I'll use Twitter under a mysterious handle and refuse to say anything informative. By keeping it cryptic, I'll fly in the face of the very shorthand that is Twitter culture! Using guerrilla poetry tactics, I'll knock the system on its ear!" What happened, what always happens when I get a wild hair to rage against the machine, is simply that people didn't notice and got confused. The truth is, I'm not really an against-the-machine rager. More like a make-a-reasonable-change-from-inside-the-machine- while-providing-team-building-spirit-and-good-humor. Also in this case, the agent provocateur was my dad. As is his way, he managed to inadvertently point up, once again, a simple truth: Some things just aren't important enough to use for any purpose other than what they're meant for. Like using a screwdriver as a swizzle stick. Sometimes a cigar is just a euphemism for a long thing that you put in your mouth and light on fire. Life is short and often boring. Pick your battles. He didn't say all this, I'm still working out some guerrilla poetry.

So yeah, Twitter. Getting to know you... just don't try anything funny. I've got whole machine in here just waiting for a reason to get all raged against. I mean it this time!

Why I love living here: part 837

I know this stuff is old news to Seattle folks in-the-know, but just this week I've used all three of these and thought 'pon how insanely convenient they are. And the only thing better than insane clowns is insane convenience. I totally missed my calling as a copywriter.

Anyhoo:

1) BECU's Snapshot ATMs - Man, do I love these. No deposit slips, just pop in your card, press a few buttons, in goes your signed check or cash, and you're done. It'll even spit out a receipt with a snapshot of your check on it (hence the name, duh). Fight the power: join a credit union!

2) ORCA Card - Just so much easier than cash or even a bus pass. No worrying about zones or transfers or switching from KC Metro to Sound Transit or whatever. I'm testing my limits of nonchalance whenever I get on the bus now. Just how little energy can I use to pay my fare? It's a fun game.

3) OneBusAway.org - A few minor glitches and negligible functionality oversights are nothing compared to the fact that this is like having a magic, real-time bus finder in your pocket (or on your desktop). Honestly, once I found this, I rethought our current car situation (we still need a car, but hey: rethinking!). It made me love public transit all over again... for the very first time.

Simply enchanted by the sound of my own voice

In case you haven't deduced that I tend to let things go for a while by the frequency of posts on this blog (oh, hello April 2010!), I am proud to announce that after more than 12 years of procrastinating, I have finally recorded a Professional Voice Demo. TaDa!

No more idle complaining that I never get hired for voice work, to say nothing of the fact that this is a long-overdue checkbox for my agent who took me on specifically to cast me as a voice talent (at least I had acting to fall back on... uh, right?).

Well, better late than never. Let the Pizza Hut radio spots commence!