AliThinks

While We Wait For My Zit To Subside...

(you know, so I can make the let's-hold-our-breath-ooh-la-la video you've been on the edge of your seats for)

...while we wait for that to happen (hello, zit, come to a head already!), let me direct you to my friend AndreAnna's other blog, Chop. Stir. Mix.

She and the other founder of C.S.M. (ooh, sounds almost like a band, doesn't it?), Cass, have started a contest. They're giving away some sweet kitchen schwag from Crate & Barrel (and more, if you help promote the contest), and all you have to do is leave a comment to this entry. Of course, if you actually read the entry, you'll increase your chances!

I entered the contest by leaving a comment with my worst kitchen disaster, which I documented on my long-defunct blog AliGator. And although I did mention that I don't need any kitchen crap stuff, I'm happy to promote the contest for an extra chance to win - because I will donate the prize if I am the winner. So go leave comments. If I don't win, you might!

New Year, New Banner

I said I was going to do it. I asked for suggestions. My friend Le Mille Pattes back in France pulled a Horshack* and his enthusiasm was such that I asked him to make me a new banner.

And that was that. I didn't give him any ideas. He didn't ask.

One month later...

Mr. Millipede is on vacation right now, and over the weekend he and I volleyed e-mails about the banner. This is the final design. I think it's great, as in I totally *heart* it. What do you think? (If you can't see it, do a hard refresh or clear your cache.)

*Mille Pattes: Arnold Horshack est un personnage (connu pour son enthousiasme devant son prof) d'une série télé des années 70. Je ne sais pas si elle a été diffusée en France.

Time For A New Banner

My banner up there is starting to bug me. Anybody have any brilliant ideas or suggestions? I don't know when I'll get around to making a new one, but if you throw me a bone, it might motivate me.

What Day Is It?

That's right! Spearheaded by the Rude Cactus himself, today is the day we delurk and post comments on the blogs we silently (or not-so-silently) read. So let's have a show of hands. Who's out there? Say hello in the comments!

Graphic courtesy of Aimee Greeblemonkey. Thanks!

Next To Last Day

This is Day 29 of NaBloPoMo, and I've pretty much succeeded in posting every day. Was most of it fluff? Yes. Did I grit my teeth at the thought of this thing? Yes.

But here I am, Day 29, and I'd like to introduce you to my good friend. She's local, but we met through the innernets, via RadioParadise to be exact.

As I told someone the other day, she's a real kick in the pants. In a GOOD way. She makes me laugh and she has been a great friend these past 11 months.

She also started blogging a couple of weeks ago. So please go check out Grits, Tits, And Oven Mitts. Tell her I sent you.

It's Been A Long Time Coming

For weeks now I've been trying to wrap my brain around a way to keep my feed reader and my blogroll on the same wavelength. I'd subscribe to a feed, thinking I would add it to the blogroll, but then I'd forget because I never read from my blogroll anymore. There was a pretty big discrepancy between my roll and what I was actually reading.

Then Neil came to the rescue by eliminating his blogroll and making his Bloglines feed public. And that, my friends, is what I have just done. If you check the side bar, you'll see a section called "Things I Read Online." That's where my "blogroll" is now.

And here's the part where I announce the creation of a site called Indie Bloggers, which I have joined. I quote:

Indie Bloggers is about giving exposure to bloggers who need to be read. Indie Bloggers is a showcase of written talent - stories, almost - that you may not see otherwise. Anyone can submit. Everyone may not be published right away or at all, but there are few restrictions (i.e., I don’t want to hear about your sex life). Please don’t be intimidated. We want your best!

So far I have submitted one post, Ancient History. But I have read a number of other interesting posts from great bloggers whom I might not have discovered otherwise. The link to Indie Bloggers is also in the sidebar now. Consider it another link resource, a complement to my Bloglines subscriptions.

A Pre-Internet Pregnancy*

Before the existence of parenting websites and mommyblogs, we had to cope with our pregnancies the hard way. Motherless and in a foreign country, I read What to Expect When You're Expecting and wrote in my journal during my first pregnancy. I was the first of my family or friends to have a child, and boy, was I clueless. It all worked out, of course. I had a healthy baby girl three months before I turned 25.

For my second pregnancy, not only was I more experienced, but I was also fluent enough in French to feel comfortable reading parenting magazines. My favorite was famili, and I bought it every month. One of the rubrics I enjoyed was "La Future Maman du Mois," which profiled a different woman every month.

I started thinking about all this recently because at least three of my "Lost In Francelation" bloggers are pregnant. Riana, Aimee, and Deb are all expecting their first child. These future mamans have an advantage I didn't: a built-in support system via the internet. I think it's wonderful that they are able to tap into the rich source that is the interwebosphere, and that they are blogging about their pregnancies. Oh! If I'd only had a blog when I was expecting. (Sample entry from my journal: March 31, 1995. I can't believe I'm going to have a baby! Here I am with my huge belly, two weeks from my due date, and I just can't fathom the fact that a real live baby is going to come out of me. I know it's in there, heck, I can feel it moving! But it's a little person and it will grow up to be a big person and I made it! With some help from J, of course.)

But I digress. So I've been thinking about these three American bloggers in France and how lucky they are. And I got to thinking about how I dealt with being pregnant, eons ago. I thought of famili magazine, and how I sent my photo and a description in to the magazine. I thought of the phone call I received from Anne Wieme-Dufour, inviting me to be a Future Maman du Mois. I thought of that November Wednesday that I spent in Paris, being dorlotée by famili. I thought of that March day in 1998, when (with my baby son in his sling) I bought famili and opened it to this page:

Linky Goodness

Welcome to Bluegrass Airport! We have plenty of time before our flight (you need to click that link), and we've exhausted the retail possibilities here. There's always the bar, but it's not even 4 p.m. yet.

I thought I'd leave you with some links to Blogs I Have Been Enjoying Recently. I hope you enjoy them too, and that they can tide you over until my next post. [insert winky emoticon here]

It wouldn't be a day without reading The Morning Meeting, hosted by The CEO. If The CEO doesn't make you laugh, then surely Mist1 of Must Get Hobby will. Once you've made it through those, you might be feeling peckish. Go see Ms. Glaze, who recounts her life as a stagiaire in a three-star restaurant in Paris. On the other hand, that might leave you feeling fat, so check out Stephanie's Back In Skinny Jeans blog. Typepad recently spotlighted BISJ as a Featured Weblog. Yay, Stephanie! And if you're a grammarian like me, then you'll enjoy Zemblan Grammar. At the very least, check out these e-mails from university students. University! Students!

See you when we get to the other side of the Atlantic.

Bitacle: Aggregator or Thief?

The other day I got a trackback notification from Typepad; it was for a site called Bitacle. I clicked the link in the notification, and got taken to a page that had my exact blog post, complete with a place to comment and everything. I looked around the page, and there were my archives! 

I asked Chris if he knew anything about it, and he said he'd received a similar trackback. He asked me to let him know if I found anything out.

An e-mail to Bitacle got no response.

At the bottom of the Bitacle homepage there's this sentence: "Bitacle is reader feeds by web." Yeah, okay. Whatever. So why do they reproduce my whole post? And leave space for comments? Granted, there's a link to my blog in their post, but why would anyone reading there bother to click through to AliThinks? There's no need! Everything is there; everything is archived! The page is (apparently) loaded with ads, but Adblock is doing its job; I can't see them.

There has been some discussion on other blogs about whether Bitacle is simply an aggregator or a splog, and whether the language barrier plays into the perception of it. (Bitacle is Spanish). My gut is telling me there's something fishy about it. I don't care if there's a disclaimer at the bottom of every blog post ("Articles are copyright their respective autors [sic]"). Or that their FAQ states:

What type of blogs are   inlcuded in the search?

All blogs that has a feed. This it can be RSS or Atom.

What happens if I don’t wish to appear in the list?

If you doesn’t publish feed, it won’t be   included in the blog’s search. Nevertheless, if you previously has   published feed of the site that was indexed, the old entrances will remain in   the index, although the new ones aren’t added.

Sorry, but Bloglines and Technorati and whatnot are not republishing my entire content!

Stop Bitacle.org is a blog dedicated to creating "negative momentum" against Bitacle.  The folks behind it are outraged, and I am, too.

UPDATE: Allan Jenkins has a spot-on synopsis of what's going on.

About Me

I asked you to ask me some questions. Here are my answers. Thank you, all of you, for reading and caring. I've divided the questions into somewhat fuzzy categories. It made sense to me; I hope it does to you, too. Enjoy!

Oh, and I will link to this entry on my About page.

PERSONAL

Does it bother you when people spell your name the wrong way?
Yes! But it happens less and less these days. For the record, it's ALISON.

What is a day in the life of Ali like?
I exist. I create. I love.

Here’s a difficult one that you don't need to answer. How do you cope on a day to day basis not being with your kids?
I just do it. Sometimes it hits me hard, and I ache. Mostly I try to look at this time as a gift of freedom; some day, the kids will live with me, and my life will change again.

So what besides weird questions gives you the heebeejeebees?
Creepy-crawlies. Jell-O. Heights.

Do you have hairy toes?