The last Weekly Wrapup of January. For the sake of clearer answers, I’m going to use “blog” even though I write a journal/blog.

1. Why do you blog?
To be honest, I’m not sure. I like the idea that there are people out there who read what I’ve written. I’ve always loved writing, and blogging gives me an audience. I also blog to keep my mother more up-to-date on my life, though nobody else from real life reads my journal (as far as I know).
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This looks like a lot of fun - City Creator. It’s one of those build-a-scene toys, like StorTroopers or the generate-a-Lego-version-of-yourself sites. It’s very detailed, though, and you can build an entire city rather than just one person. (I admit that I’ve yet to play with it myself - I tried, but you really need a web connection faster than 28.8kbps.)

After lunch with Caitlin on Monday, I decided to go shoe shopping again. I’ve been trying to find flats for some months now, because all I have are my casual loafers and then 3″ pumps. I’d checked all over the place, from Payless to some boutiques on Fifth Avenue. I should have checked the mall before, but I don’t have time on my breaks from work to go shopping! The first place I went was Naturalizer, and I immediately fell in love with some shoes just inside the door:

They are the Odessa style, and they have a 1.75″ heel. I told my girlfriend about them and she teased me for getting a heel when I was shopping for flats, but I’ve come to the conclusion that the type of shoes I want just aren’t in style right now. I tried on my size in the store and found them quite comfortable, but they didn’t have the color I wanted. The cashier said they could ship them for free, so I went with that - and they just arrived a few minutes ago! They really are adorable, and they will dress both up and down - I finally have something that’s between loafers and pumps! I love these shoes.

Well, I certainly didn’t expect this! I was supposed to do a high school in the early morning and my elementary school in the late morning, but I ended up staying home altogether. I got up when I needed to, got out the door a few minutes late, and was waiting in a long line at a traffic light when I heard Bill Redlin mention school delays. To my surprise, my county was running two hours late - which meant my jobs were entirely cancelled. I turned around and came back home, where I have been sitting around for the past several hours. Supposedly there was ice on the roads in Maryland, but it seems fine here. I still have to do the well child visit at the pediatrician in Baltimore, but that’s not bad. I’m definitely disappointed I don’t get the money for the interpreting work, though…I’m getting two billable hours today instead of six.

I’ve got plenty of things to take care of today, many of them online.
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I found the slogan generator though a post by Kristine, who had gotten the idea from Lisa to combine the generator’s results with Blogstickers. I hadn’t played with any Blogstickers for a long time; the site is totally different now. I submitted a few many months ago, but I don’t think they ever made it on the site.

Anyway, I felt like playing with the slogan generator. Here are my favorites among the results.
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I really enjoyed meeting Caitlin today. She’s the first blogger I’ve met, and of course blogging was a major focus of our conversation. I felt like my usual star-struck self, and worried the whole time that I was talking too much. I forgot all of my questions and babbled about myself a lot, but she was kind enough to listen. The food wasn’t the greatest - it was at least overpriced - but I really enjoyed her company. She is a lovely woman, gracious and intelligent, and I was pleased she’d put up with a little girl like me. I hope our schedules will work out so we can have lunch or dinner again, hopefully not at the mall this time!

Oh, and she has great hair.

The high school I went to this morning is in a dead zone for my cell phone, so it wasn’t until I was on the road toward the beltway that the director at my interpreting agency was able to contact me. I spoke to him at about 9:40am, and he said the elementary school had canceled, but they had a one-hour assignment at the Catholic hospital in Baltimore so could I be there by 10:15? I griped a bit, then agreed to take the job. He mentioned that I could still bill the elementary school, so I’d get to bill four hours for no work - I hate to do that to a public school system whose budget is probably hurting, but then again my budget is hurting too. So I raced up to Baltimore (thank you, B-W Parkway) and made it to the clinic just ten minutes late.

The first appointment took more than the hour I’d been told (this hospital is cheap, so they will book a very short time even though we bill for the actual time worked), and it turned out the couple had another appointment elsewhere in the building. So of course I had to go with them to that, and because they were late for that appointment we had to wait until their doctor was finished seeing another patient. At 12:45 all procedures were finally finished, all future appointments had been scheduled, and all forms had been appropriately filled out. I rode down in the elevator with the couple, then wished them luck and hustled out to the parking garage…only to end up behind a car that crept v-e-r-y slowly down the seven levels to the gate. I paid, got my receipt, and hit the streets of downtown Baltimore at 12:56pm.

Under normal conditions, it takes about an hour to travel the 40 miles between my house and my parents’ house. When traffic is very light (usually around 5:00am), it takes about the same amount of time to drive the 50+ miles to get to downtown Baltimore. During normal daily non-rush traffic, it takes about an hour and twenty minutes to get home; it’s about five miles less if I’m going to the mall. I was supposed to meet Caitlin at 2:00. By some incredible luck (and quite a bit of speeding and changing lanes), I made it to Tyson’s Corner in 40 minutes. I would never have imagined such a feat possible, but it worked. I hurried to the Apple store to check my e-mail and confirm Caitlin was coming (I’d expected to have a couple of hours at home post-elementary school), which she was. I absolutely cannot believe I made it from there to here that fast - and without harming myself, my car, or anybody else’s car.

I was supposed to interpret at one of my high schools today for just a single class in the morning, but the student in that class turned out to be absent today. It’s still rush hour out there, so I’m hanging out in the library enjoying the fast connection. I’m due at my usual elementary school at 10:00, but it’s just a couple of exits around the beltway so it shouldn’t take long to get there. I’ll be done with that by 12:00 (or maybe a little earlier), and then I’m going to go home and have lunch before heading over to the mall. I’m working there tonight, but I’m going several hours early so I can meet Caitlin for lunch. I’m really looking forward to meeting her.

Now this is fucking scary. If today were April 1st, I’d be able to laugh. gomer43 found a Rolling Stone article about bug chasers - men who intentionally seek out sex with men who are infected with HIV.

Added 26 Jan 03: Okay, I feel better. After reading a couple of articles in the New York Blade about it, I am confident the Rolling Stone article isn’t 100% truthful. An article from the Advocate debunks major parts of the story, as do several other articles with similar information.

Whee, I’m only a day late with the current Weekly Wrapup.

1. Have you ever been nominated for a blogging award? Which one? What happened?
I think I got nominated for one of the Kevin’s Blog Bloggys, but I probably put my own name in. I certainly never won!
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