Embarrassment time!

It's that time again. Time for another round of Birthday well wishes, remembrances, e-cards, and silly jokes. Are you ready? It seems like just yesterday that he was running around in his diapers with our dog Sugarbear nipping at his butt. Ahhh, I remember it well. Or maybe that time when he broke his wrist playing soccer. How about that day at Grant Park when he rolled his skateboard in front of my bike and I flipped over the handle bars onto the cinder track ... ouch! We both wish we still had some of those star wars toys we blew up too.

All that was at least 15 years ago. Are you feeling old yet? I'm sure my brother is. Today is his Birthday. He's 27 and just going back to school for his Masters in Philosophy. What do you do with that, I hear you cry. I don't know either.

In other news Cnet news has implemented a new advertising plan. Instead of the banner advertisements you see across the top and bottom of the screen on many pages, Cnet has moved the ad to take up rougly 1/5 of the page in the browser (much like a picture or graphic for a story). This is supposed to induce more people to 'click through' and make advertising online more attractive. I suspect that I'll be able to ignore these ads just as well as I have been banner ads. For whether online or offline I only look at ads that pertain to my life at that moment. Even if the ads are targeted at me as a reader (for instance, if I'm on Cnet in the Mac area, I probably want to see ads for Mac products, not mouthwash or ISP services), I still won't click through unless I am actually shopping for Mac products at the time, and an ad for a product I need shows up. On the otherhand, if there is a sponsorship in addition to the ad, and I enjoy the website and want to support its owners, then it's is very likely I'll return to that site and click through to the sponser's site so the original site gets credit for the referral. I do this on LaughingPlace.com all the time. In fact, I wouldn't mind it if the website came right out and said "please support our sponsors. it's the best way for us to make a living and support this website."

Happy New Year

Well, Happy Chinese New Year anyway. If the weather outside wasn't so gloomy, I'd consider a quick bus ride to chinatown for lunch today. But instead, So Cal has been hit by another 'stormwatch' and by another rash of people who can't drive in the rain. So today's commute took an extra 45 minutes this morning. Twice the normal time makes for an extra grumpy Indigo.

I've been meaing to write about California Adventure but I just haven't had the time. So you'll have to wait. Sorry. In the meantime, check out Ammy's account of her recent visit.

Wow

Sometimes life can pass by in the blink of an eye. For instance, I can't believe the last time I wrote here was on Jan 12th. It's already Jan 23rd. My Brother's birthday is coming up, Stacey is in Las Vegas again, and I've already visited California Adventure 4 times. Where has the time gone?

I received a 'travel journal' from Nathan Heidt last week. He's one of my cousins in Oregon. I can't believe he's now in 5th grade. I'm supposed to fill up a few pages with history and stuff from around my State (being California) and then pass it on to someone in a state the book has not yet visited. So... if you don't live in California, New York, or Washington, and think you can whip out a few pages of interesting factoids for Nathan, let me know and I'll send the travel journal to you next. Otherwise, I'll send it randomly to someone on my list. Who knows, it might be you.

I try and post more later tonight after I make an attempt at cleaning up my room. If I don't make some headway tonight, things could get ugly.