When I started this blog, I had two concerns.

Would anyone read it?

Could I make it interesting?
As I have started typing down my thoughts, I find I worry less and less if anyone else sees this. I mean, I have no way of knowing who’s accessing this site. This is the joy and the curse of the Internet. I could have hundreds of thousands of people whose only reason for getting out of bed in the morning is the knowledge that there’ll be a new entry here. Or, it could be the only person looking at this is my mom. (Hi mommy!)

But since I have a very strange mind that I have been told is like a bad neighborhood which one should not walk through alone at night, I began to worry. What if I posted something negative about someone and, some how, they found this site and read it? Then I thought, nah, I’m just being paranoid. There are a gazillion sites out there. What are odds that the one person I don’t want to read this WILL read it? But the thought lingered in my mind.

So I started this blog and, unbeknownst to anyone else, I also started another blog. A secret blog.

Pooka Thoughts was my Dr. Jekyll, the tales of the good life, suitable to be read by small children, domestic animals and my mom. (Hi mommy!) But the other blog, that was my Mr. Hyde. There I let loose and named names. I called it like I felt and with no regard to who would every read it since it was hidden behind the sheer number of weblogs out there. I figured the odds of anyone I knew actually finding that journal were worse than me winning money at Vegas. With odds like that, I felt invincible.

So I was surfing around the ‘net today trying to learn more about this whole weblog thing and I come across this article about how to make a good web journal. The information seemed pretty innocuous. Don’t have lots of pictures that drag down the load time, use a spell checker, don’t posts thoughts that start “I have nothing to post” and, here’s the kicker, don’t post anything you don’t want the world to know. Whoa there Nelly! What was that all about? So I stop skimming and actually read that paragraph. The author said that no matter what you think, if there is someone out there you don’t want to read your thoughts, rest assured, they will find them. If you are putting something on a website, it will be read and it will be found. If you want to write intimate or private thoughts, do it in a journal. Don’t put it on a public access site.

Now this scared me. I quickly popped over to Hyde and began to read. I counting the number of people I didn’t want to read Hyde and when I ran out of fingers, I realized I could be in trouble. I mean, here I am venting about my boss and co-works, complaining about acquaintances and uncovering feelings I thought long dead. If any of this got out, I would never live it down.

So I did the only sensible thing. I deleted it. That’s right, no back up copy was kept, no print outs made. I decided a public forum for private thoughts was a very very bad idea. I have decided to write them in my journal which can be hidden safely in my house. Perhaps this journal would be more interesting or read by more people but I’ll never know and that’s fine by me.

Which reminds me to post about my addiction to snooping. But my stomach is rumbling so maybe, if things stay slow here, I’ll get to that after lunch.

(Bye Mommy! Thanks for reading!)

Oh my goodness, this is too funny. According to this site, if I were a pirate, my name would be….

Mad Charity Roberts – Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. Two things complete your pirate persona: style and swagger. Maybe a little too much swagger sometimes — but who really cares? Arr!”

Yup, that’s me alright, stylish and crazy! If you get a good name, post it in the guestbook so we can all get a good laugh (or arrrgh, depending on ones taste…)

Well, it looks like we have another documented case of “Slacker Stress”. I have questioned Andy further and it appears this condition can be treated with large amounts of beer. Interesting.

Going to be a busy weekend. On Sat we are helping Josh and Kat move into their new apartment/palace. 3 bedrooms, 2 bath with airconditioning and fireplace. I offered to move all the pillows and lampshades. Strangely enough, they weren’t quite as impressed by this offer as I hoped. I don’t think they realize the level of expertise necessary to safely transport these items.

Sunday is also a move day for Kevin’s dad. I have been told that my pillow/lamp shade moving skills are not needed as professionals have been hired. Instead, I’m going to the bridal shower for Carla. Which reminds me, I need to pick up a shower present for her.

I haven’t had much luck with my shower presents lately. When I buy them, they seem like such a good idea. But once I’m at the shower and the co-workers and relative gifts turn out to be useful things like kitchen gadgets and books, the edible cherry underware suddenly seems like not the right way to go. Might have to reign in my present this time and run with the crowd on this one. We’ll see…..

If you ever want a good laugh, I’d recommend listening to a two men discuss fashion. It is simply hilarious. I thought I would die laughing. Kevin & Josh were discussing the finer points of fashion last night. Oh lord, I wish I have a tape recorder to capture the discussion. Talk about the blind leading the blind. Anyhow, I’ve decided to do some investigative research into the dark and mysterious world of men’s fashion. What I need to know is:

How many pairs of shoes does a man own? (Excluding the specialty pair like snow boots or hiking).

Drop me an email or pop your total into the guestbook (if you wish to be anonymous) with your total if you’d like to participate in this ground breaking research. If I get enough of a response, I’ll put something good together.

Oh yeah, Kat and Mikey, thank you for supporting my blond dream.

Sorry for the lag in postings but I’ve been having problems with the web page. For some reason, only IE will link to our blog from our homepage. Netscape, for some reason, can’t seem to find this page. Sigh. Kev’s on shift and pretty grumpy right now so I don’t think I’ll be able to get him to fix it until later this week.

Thought I should probably put up a general disclaimer here. The ultrasound on our homepage IS NOT our child. That’s my sister, Suzy’s, new baby. I realize that at first glance, it’s a little deceiving. My friend Kathy emailed me and said at first she got all excited thinking we were going to be proud parents. Sorry Kathy, no kids in our future yet (if you don’t count Artie of course).

Had a run in with the police yesterday – it was kind of cool. I’m on the bus, heading home like normal, and the bus driver notices this guy running toward the bus. So, being the nice bus driver that she is, she waits a little longer at the stop for him Some bus drivers are not this kind and I have had many a bus pull out instead of waiting. But that is another story. Once he’s on, she starts to joke with him about how he almost missed he. He takes a seat one in front of me and we head on down Sandy. We haven’t gone far when we start to hear sirens and the traffic piles up. I’m thinking, accident up ahead. We inch along and final clear the snag leaving the sirens behind. Now, we haven’t gone more than a mile when all of a sudden, we start hearing sirens coming up behind us. The bus driver jokes it must be her bad driving. We all start to laugh until the cops surround the bus and pull us over. Two officers hop out of their police car and pound on the bus doors to be let in. They have their hands on their guns and jump on the bus, say a few words to our driver who points them to the back of the bus. One officer looks back toward us and says “Alright, put your hands up where I can see them.” I’m thinking, “Me???” The guy who ran to catch the bus shoots his hands into the air and the police man runs back and grabs him. They hussle him off the bus and handcuff him. Once he’s in the police car, they come back on and search his seat where he had dropped a jacket and baseball cap. Turns out he had just robbed a store and was trying to make a fast get away. All in all, it was pretty cool. Although, I did have a flashback to Speed for a moment there. I wonder what would of happened it I had put my hands up too???