You Can't Make This Stuff Up

Well here we are at July 31st and my 31st post for the month. (Did you notice I made up the two I missed?) I've never posted so many times in a month before. I also had more hits on this blog this month than any other month for the past year. For some reason you people kept coming back day after day to hear me blab about whatever I felt like. Joking aside, I just wanted to say thanks for all of the nice comments. I love to hear that you like my blog. It makes me want to blog even more. :)

After tonight I'm going on a little posting haitus. Don't worry, it's just for the weekend. I wanted this month to go out with a bang, though. So I hope you enjoy this FOR REAL phone conversation Steve had with a woman on Sunday night. I promise I didn't make any of this up.

***Oh, and for those of you who were babies in the 80s, Steve Perry is also the name of the lead singer of Journey.

The phone rings at 10:45 PM. I pick it up and look at the caller ID, not recognizing the name or number. It didn't seem like a solicitor, so I hand the phone over to Steve.

Steve: Hello?

Pause.

Susan: This isn't the Steve Perry, is it?

Steve: No I guess it's not. But it's one of them.

Awkward pause

Susan: I've been trying most of my life to find the Steve Perry.

Steve chuckles

Susan: It's not funny. . . . Well, I guess in a way it is.

Pause

Steve Chuckles

Susan: You're not a musician are you?

Steve: No.

Susan: Do you happen to know how I can find 'im?

Steve: No

Susan: You're in California, aren't ya? So you ought to know . . .

Steve thinks, "Ok, so I'm a Steve Perry in California, so therefore, I MUST know THE Steve Perry."

Steve: I don't even know if he's in California.

Susan: Do you like his music?

Steve: Not when he went out on his own. I liked him when he was in the band, ‘cause they rocked.

Susan: You must be in my age group then. ‘Cause I did feel sorry for him when he went out on his own.

Susan: Well, if you ever decide to give in and give up his number, give me a call.

Pause.

Susan: This is Susan.

Steve: Have a good night, Susan.

Susan: You, too.

Click.

We hope you find what you're looking for, Susan in Atlanta.

More Thoughts on Privacy

Thanks for all of the comments!! I was glad to hear good, reasonable opinions for both sides of the private/public blog issue. I got the impression, though, that most of you have private blogs just because you want your privacy -- not necessarily because you're afraid of weirdos. I guess that never occurred to me because I'm a pretty open person. Like, really open. If you pick the right topic, I'll talk your ear off and probably tell you more about myself than you'd like to know. (Thus, I'm really bad at keeping secrets, but if I tell just one person, I'm OK. Luckily Steve is a vault. Or forgetful. Ya, he probably forgets. We're a great pair.)

So, for now I decided to keep my blog public, but try to keep it as separate from my food blog as I can. I may either move this blog to Wordpress or have a separate Blogger account for Perrys' Plate. Logging in and out of Blogger for two different accounts might drive me batty, though. Sigh. I'll think about it some more.

Oh, and one final matter of business and also a case-in-point for my argument against private blogs...

BETH?? Are you there, Beth??

You've told me a couple times that you don't have my email address to invite me to your newly private blog. Because I can't get to your profile anymore, and I don't have your email address, I couldn't send you mine. The only way I can contact you is posting on my own blog. (Sorry if I'm embarrassing you.) So . . . I'd love an invite! And I'm sorry again for forgetting to leave a comment before your blog went underground. To find my email address . . .

Click over to my food blog from the "What's on the Plate?" widget on the right.
Click on the "Contact" tab at the top.
Voila, there's my addy.

I'm sure you won't mind a couple of clicks to find my address because I'll be clicking on your blog more than I ever did when it was public. *wink*

Thoughts on Privacy

I've been thinking a lot about privacy and blogs lately. No, I'm not going to make my blog private (. . . yet. But the thought has crossed my mind.)

Over the past year I've gotten a lot of traffic to my personal blog from my food blog via my profile. I've taken my personal blog off my profile, then put it back on, then off, then on, then off, then back on today. I can't decide if I should be paranoid that some random person searching for Applebee's Fiesta Lime Chicken (that's the most popular Google hit) wanders over through my profile, clicks on my personal blog and sees pictures of my kids. Most people who wander over are probably harmless, I'm sure. I can't imagine many pedophiles search for recipes online.

I'm usually good about not giving out exact locations or any identifying information about us. It helps having a Google-proof husband, too. (Try googling "Steve Perry" and see if you find him. I dare you.) And I think of the thousands, if not millions of blogs out there, many of which are family-oriented. With all those blogs out there is someone really going to search through my blog to find a slip-up or honestly try to find me? I doubt anyone would be able to find my blog if they happened to find a piece of garbage with my name on it, either. I've also had problems with spammers leaving comments, but all they want to do is advertise some lame website. Putting comment moderation into place elminated those entirely. But still . . . the unknowns sort of eat at my brain.

Private blogs drive me crazy, though -- mostly because you have to manually check them instead of letting a feed reader do the work. (I have over 200 subscriptions in my reader. There's no way I would be clicking on all those sites everyday if I had to.) And half of the private blogs that I have in my bookmark folder aren't even updated more than once every few months.

I guess what I'm trying to say, is . . . I want your opinions. If you have a private blog, why did you do it? Do you really feel threatened? If you're blog isn't private, do you feel completely comfortable that way? Why?

Thanks Honey

Dear Steve,

Thanks for letting me sleep until 8 this morning. I promise I wasn't being lazy. A gigantic T-Rex with razor-sharp teeth was chasing me up a mountain, and I needed to reach the top to go through the exit portal back into our dimension. I could have hidden from him, but in his eyes, I had a fluorescent green aura around me. Luckily I made it in time.

Thanks for bringing me breakfast, too. I love toast and eggs -- especially when someone else makes them for me.

It was because of you I was in a chipper mood and didn't completely lose my head when Sophie gave Ivy her first bloody nose at 8:30 AM. I ran upstairs to grab the laundry basket just in time to hear frantic crying. I should have seen it coming when Sophie fanned me with her puzzle board right before I went upstairs. I guess she tried to cool Ivy off, too.

Now there are blood stains next to the sippy cup stains on the couch -- right next to the ginormous hole that we constantly try to cover up. Don't worry, we'll make that poor couch last a couple more years.

I just remembered that you were going to call me this afternoon, and that I need to turn my phone back on. It's been off since last night.

Love you,
Me

Mother-in-Training

This is something that a lot of toddlers do, I'm sure. What is funny to me is how she holds the blanket at the end -- just like mama. She's a very observant little girl. :)

(Sometime around 7 AM, when she usually wakes up.)