
Just did a post for Target, where I found a few nice host gifts they offer for under $15. It’s over here. Go have a look.
Famous among dozens

Just did a post for Target, where I found a few nice host gifts they offer for under $15. It’s over here. Go have a look.
For those of you wondering who won the $5,000 Intel Tech Makeovers, we announced the winners over here. When we started out, three makeovers seemed like so much, but if you read any of the entries you know how many deserving folks threw their hats in the ring. Even if you didn’t win, I hope entering the contest gave you the oomph you needed to find another way to make your dreams go. I’m still rooting for you.
When I had Hank, I obsessed a little over the hospital bag. When he came a week early, I was glad I had. If you remember nothing else, toss in a couple of comfortable knit dresses to wear as nightgowns. Half the cost of maternity PJs, and you’ll be cute for all the photos. The rest of our ideas are over here:

Me: Do you ever wonder what the world would look like if humans hadn’t dammed up all the water?
Bryan: A little bit. You mean you want to see the towns that are underwater now?
Me: And to see what the canyons looked like, and how the water paths have changed. Water is a transformative force.
Bryan: So is the power of dance, Maggie.
Me: Touché.
Entries are closed for the Intel competition, but you can still vote for your favorites. Here are a few of mine:
– The New York Neo-Futurists entered! Hello, lovers.
– Panchajany, a high school student who shares a room with her single mom.
– Christina, a photography student who has to go across town to download her photos (taken on a borrowed camera).
– Cathy Yuen, a teacher at an inner city school with a simple request for her students.
– Mother Andi Stern, a talented quilter, whose son takes online classes on a dial-up connection.
– A sheep farmer who sells shares in her wool online.
I’m increasingly excited about this. Please go vote for your favorites!
http://www.db798.com/pictobrowser.swf
So, if you’re wondering why I didn’t beeline for Blogher this year, it’s because the guy who made my first few years of blogging possible was getting hitched.
Ev and Sara are now Mr. and Mrs. Ev and Sara.
It was touch and go for a minute there, because they decided to Ro-Sham-Bo at the altar to see who would say vows first. After they continuously threw the same weapon for about fifteen minutes, the crowd began to stir. Sara finally prevailed, which means Evan has to do what she says from now on.
Bryan and I had an increasingly excellent time at the wedding, despite my insistence that he refrain from dipping me. Due in part to the No Drunk Dipping rule, I’ve officially made it through wedding season without falling a single time. (The trumpets, they sound in the distance.)
More on the wedding later, after I’ve slept for twenty hours, and the Internet has returned from Chicago.
It’s been a rough period around the Mason household. When Bryan gets stressed out, he loses things. Expensive things. I can figure out how distracted he is by how much equipment disappears.
In the last few months, we’ve replaced phone, a digital camera, and an Apple laptop (as you may remember). Bryan also spent a few hours crawling around in the grass, searching for the only set of car keys we have.
This, my friends, is why my poor husband has been so stressed out. As you may or may not know, Bryan is the COO of Adaptive Path, which is the company that created Measure Map. That means he has spent a lot of time on the phone lately.
Congratulations, Mr. Mason! Screw the roses, this is the best Valentine’s Day gift a girl could ask for. I’m so, so proud of you.
Any day now, I’ll let you start carrying the car keys again.
-So I the only vaccination I have left is Hep B, but there’s yeast in it, which I’m allergic to. So I have to get a note from my allergist saying they can give it to me.
-How do you get Hep B?
-That’s the thing, it’s like, body fluid exchange. I don’t plan on engaging in a lot of that.
-True.
-But apparently you can get it by, like, sharing someone’s toothbrush or razor. Though I also don’t plan to approach random strangers and ask them for their toothbrush.
-True, and it’s not likely someone is going to come up and spit in your mouth.
-You never know.
-That might be a local custom.
– Right. You’re in some remote little town, surrounded by a group of angry villagers who are offended that you won’t engage in the local custom of spitting in each others mouths as a friendly greeting.
-But I didn’t get my shots!
-They’re all screaming, Spit in my mouth! Spit in my mouth!
-You’re cursing the guidebook authors.
-Spit in my mouth! The gods will be angry!
So, I’ve told you before that my friend Jennifer Traig just wrote a very amusing book called Devil in the Details — my favorite excerpts are here. Today is her virtual book tour, and because this site is totally virtual, and because Jenny’s book is amusing and deserves to be very successful (buy it!), I’m posting a brief interview with her.
I met Jenny at 826 Valencia, where we both volunteer. She was wearing a suede skirt with a colorful, yet tasteful, suede village affixed to the front. She has great big hair and great big eyes, and a little tiny voice.
MG: I had no idea you that you suffered from OCD until I read the book. Has it been strange telling the world?
JT: Oh, heavens yes. I wonder what I was thinking almost every day. It�s very odd knowing that people are watching me for little obsessive-compulsive quirks now, even though I�m pretty much all better. I�m very self-conscious about what I do with my hands in public these days — does it look like I�m washing too often? Will people think I�m trying to avoid touching something? But ultimately, I�m not really embarrassed about it. OCD is a disease like diabetes or any other and there�s no shame in it. Though needing to tap doorknobs is slightly weirder than needing to inject insulin.
MG: How has your family reacted to having their lives on display?
JT: They�ve been amazingly good sports. Really, unbelievably great. At one reading they all sat on stage with me and then offered a rebuttal. I keep saying I�m going to get them great holiday presents this year to thank them. I better pony up.
My sister, meanwhile, has her own book coming out in February. You can see a preview here.
MG: How did you manage to get your OCD under
control?
JT: My senior year of high school was spent in pretty intensive therapy. This was before drugs like Prozac that would have made the process much easier, but I got better anyway. By the time I started college I was ready to let go of the few little compulsions I still had.
I thought I was completely cured until I started doing the research for this book. It turns out that some of my charming little habits, like needing to walk on the left side, aren�t charming habits but compulsive behaviors, little remnants of the disease. They don�t really impact my quality of life, though, so I let them go untreated.
MG: How did you learn to laugh at your idiosyncrasies?
JT: I took myself pretty seriously at my obsessive-compulsive worst, but even then I�d sometimes make a joke at my own expense if I thought it would get me out of trouble. That was sort of how things worked in our family: A great one-liner would really mitigate any parental discipline. Then as I got older and healthier it started seeming funnier and funnier. Paper towels on my head? Oh, yes, I could see the humor in that.
MG: Tell a story about one of your readings.
JT: There have been a few funny ones, like when a whole high school class came for extra-credit and I had to sign everyone�s homework to prove they�d attended. But the strangest one — and I think you may have been there — was when this lady, who clearly hadn�t heard of me or my book, kept charging the podium to have one-on-one discussions with me in the middle of my reading. It was very odd.
MG: You’ve written a memoir in your 30s. Where do you go from here?
JT: Oh, there are a whole bunch more things wrong with me. I�ve got plenty of embarrassing conditions left to write about. Next up: skin rashes!
MG: So, would you like people to buy your book?
JT: Yes, I would like people to buy my book.
You heard the lady, friends. Amazon beckons.
(Thanks to very organized Kevin Smokler for putting all this together.)