Good lord the amount of money tax payers have had to dish out on Britney Spears in the last few months is a godamn joke. Court costs and armored caravans and paparazzi control. It’s just… blah. At first I thought the whole media circus was kind of LOLful but it’s gotten out of hand. Seriously, they are going back to court AGAIN to fight for “conservatorship” because she apparently hates her dad? Well she’s FUCKING BIPOLAR!! That means she probably loves her dad now and will hate him in 5 minutes. It’s her DAD and he pretty much can’t screw it up because if he so much as buys a pack of gum with her money, the media will alert us in real time. With video.

And it will be BIG NEWS! BREAKING STORY! Jamie Spears bought GUM with Brit Brit’s money! A court hearing is scheduled for 8:00AM tomorrow to BAN HIM FROM HER LIFE. FOREVER.

It’s kind of sad when there are primary elections going on all over the nation but the 5 o’clock news opens with a Britney Spears update.

Speaking of primaries! California’s is tomorrow which means I have about 24 hours to make a final decision between Obama and Clinton. They really are so close on so many topics and on MY “big ones” they’re practically twinsies. When I take those cute little online quizzes there’s a 5-10% split between them so it will basically come down to two things for me:

1) Who do I think is more likely to win against McCain who I think (and hope) will end up winning the Republican nomination.

2) Who do I think will actually keep their campaign promises.

I’m split at this point. I think that Clinton has a lot more experience with this, obviously, and will have the support of a man I already voted for once. And I know that people are saying to judge her separately from Bill’s presidency but realistically, you have to consider that he’ll play a large part in this one too. And also, HELLO! Bush’s DAD was president. Like he’s never turned to pops for advise?

And I think that Obama is a little too “green” to be President. I’m a more than a little wary of putting somebody in office that’s had so little experience, but I do think that he’s probably more likely to beat out a Republican in the general election.

I get all sick and nervous when I have to make a decision about a vote like this because I feel like, what if I choose the wrong person!? I’d feel like I was partly responsible for some kind of failure on a NATIONAL level! Oh, the pressure! And since CA is a blue state it’s even more important! *bites nails*

Okay, I’m going to stop being a melodramatic spaz case now and get back to work.

HAPPY MONDAY, EVERYBODY! I promise not to drink so much RedBull next Monday.
PS - If the comment links aren’t showing up for you a refresh seems to work. Also, you can click the title link to get to the comments. Not sure why they aren’t showing up on the initial page launch and will look into in this evening.

I really grew tired of the dark theme and the custom theme I’ve been working on is taking longer than I expected… because I am teh lazy.

So, Becca installed the Intense Debate comment plugin on her site and it’s awesomness made me giddy. It requires an account but you can sign up right here in the comments and then you get a cute little avatar, you can thumb up/down comments ala Digg, and the more you comment the higher your “reputation”. It’s full of fun bells and whistles. If you have a blog, check it out. You don’t have to do any special coding or CSS work, they do all that for you. Plus, reputation carries over to other blogs and you can keep track of the comments you’ve made on every blog that has it installed from one place.

Okay, enough of the sales pitch.

I also added google ads and I’ve had that other ad there for awhile. I’m part of a “test program” with that top ad and they are paying me pretty damn well to keep it there. I was going to sign up with blogherads too but they won’t let you advertise if you have another “above the fold” ad in place and since I have a six month contract to keep that ad there, I can’t do that. Frankly, I think it’s a little silly you can’t have both there as long as they are both above the fold. Lame.

Anyway, that’s what’s new. Enjoy! Non sales-pitchy post to follow!

Honestly? This is why I love this man so much. When I’m PMSing and I come across this thing that I think is SO GODDAMN AWESOME but will probably end up with me being shot at by a disgruntled asswad driver, he’s there to talk me down off that cliff.

Benjamin: http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/8e9a/
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/8e9a/images/2422/
me: OMG!!! I WANT! I WANT!
me: I seriously want that.
Benjamin: Although its a funny idea, I still think that it might be a bad idea for you me: there are no cuss words!
And I bet my ’smile’ to ‘idiot’ would be better than you think.
*ratio
Like 3:1 at least.
And since I could actually SHOW the person what I’m thinking it would mean I’d be less likely to yell it at them when only you can Cassidy can hear it… because they’d KNOW. And that would be the ultimate satisfaction. No yelling necessary!
Are you serious though? I can’t have it?
Benjamin: I’m writing an email right now work related, I’m not even sure if its legal in CA
me: What if I promise not to use it while I’m PMSing?
Benjamin: is it legal in CA?
me: If it’s legal in CA can I get it?
Benjamin: its around the price point that you don’t need to ask, so I don’t know why you’re asking me
me: Because generally, with things like this, you are a better judge of good idea/bad idea.
Benjamin: bad idea
me: heheheheh
(k)
I love you. Even when you are trying to save me from myself.

A few minutes later:

me: hahaa I asked Claudia about it. I usually drive to lunch. Her answer: “As long as you never use it when I’m in the car with you!”

Yesterday Cassidy and I took turns playing Guitar Hero III all day long. Then today she went to her friend’s house (and ended up spending the night) while I did laundry, played a little WOW and went to see Charlie Wilson’s War with Lisa.

And then tonight I came home and found out that Amy died. I’ve read her blog on and off for quite some time and she was a pretty active member of a message board that I frequent. This is the first time that somebody from an online circle has passed away and I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.

I read back through her archives, and look through her flickr and it’s just… surreal. This person that was so upbeat and young and expecting her first child is just… gone. And what we have left of her are these blog posts and pictures and forum posts chronicling her life.

I’m always fascinated when people throw the “narcissistic” ball at bloggers. And there really isn’t a valid way to argue against it, right? I write about me because I assume that you are going to be interested in what I have to say about me. So yeah, anybody that has a personal domain carries around a healthy amount of The Veinâ„¢.

My dad likes to tease me about the narcissism of blogging and self portraits but we laugh about it because, it’s TRUE! I love me! IT’S ALL ABOUT ME! And my dad bought me the PJ’s to prove it so really, I blame him.

My question to YOU is why YOU care so much? I write about me because I think that I am awesomely fantastic. But why do you read about me? And when you do, and you’re so appalled by it, why do you come back? Over and over. To read more and more. Why do you take time out of your day to comment or email and tell me how vein I am? Because all you’re doing is inflating the ego. I HAVE FANS! I must write more! MORE!

It’s this never ending debate I see rampaging the internet every where I turn. The bloggers write about themselves and the haters write about how much they hate you writing about yourself. “Mommy bloggers” are especially prone to this because a lot of parenthood is about failure. Lots and lots of bumps and bruises and finding out what works by realizing what DOESN’T. I’ve not come across a SINGLE mommy blogger that doesn’t have at least ONE regular commenter there telling them in every comment thread:

“I can’t believe you gave your child SODA! You fucking monster!”

“I can’t believe you posted yours child’s PICTURE on the INTERNET! What about predators?!”

“I can’t believe you told the WORLD about when your child fell down and cracked open his head! Where were you? Probably BLOGGING, you horrible, unfit, asswad! Get off the internet and raise your kids!”

And here I am saying it: I don’t get YOU. At least my focus is on ME. I write because it’s an outlet. I have this grand illusion that people will actually want to read what I have to say, that maybe they will enjoy it and get a little chuckle, or walk away with a new perspective, or just slightly less bored than when they sat down. But at the very core of it, I write because when putting it down “on paper” I have to actually form my thoughts and opinions into complete sentences and organize them in paragraph form and I’m foced to confront them. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve gotten half way through a blog post and gone, “Ohhhhhhhhhhhh.”

Epiphany!

I sit down and blog knowing that today I will probably learn something new about myself, and two years from now I can look back on today and see how stupid I was back then. YOU sit down to read what I have to say to pick it apart and twist it into something evil and wrong and *gasp* vein!

So you tell me, who sounds like the bigger fool here?

P.S. - I don’t really have any haters. The “I” here was written to speak for bloggers as a whole. Remember, I’m too awesomely fantastic to have haters. BAM!