Google Becomes…Topeka

The Google blog reports that as of today, you won’t be “googling” anything—you’ll “Topeka” it. Sounds good, right?

‘Topeka Google Mayor Bill Bunten expressed it best: “Don’t be fooled. Even Google recognizes that all roads lead to Kansas, not just yellow brick ones.”’

Starbucks Goes “Plenta”

Ever wanted a super-mega-sized mocha latte?  How about a micro-sized green tea?  Starbucks has it all.  The pictures are awesome.

Kodak Announces “Aromaphotography”

Kodak has made a breakthrough: they’re now using “Neuro-Optic-Nasal-Sense Imaging” to enhance your experience every time you look at a photo.  Now you can smell those beautiful pictures of wildflowers, cookies, and your dog getting a bath.

Be sure to read the fine print at the bottom:

‘*Neuro-Optic-Nasal-Sense Imaging is also referred to as NONSense.’

Ben & Jerry’s Creates Virtual Ice Cream

Lick it.  You know you want to.

Google Wave Gives Notifications

We all know how taxing it can be to check your inbox for all those important updates.  Now, Google solves the problem by sending you notifications in person whenever you need them.  Handy, no?

Your turn!  What are your favorite April Fools pranks?

~The Management

…is a magic number, according to Schoolhouse Rock.

…is the number of years Beth has been blogging.

Normally I might pull out some cool statistics or something, but frankly, the statistics for this blog aren’t very cool and are generally single-digit numbers.  Ah, well.

Instead, you get this post, and a huge thank you to those of you who read the not-so-frequent updates around here.  You keep me going.

(Inversely, this means that if you aren’t fond of this blog and would rather the not-so-frequent updates be even less frequent, I would advise you get in touch with the 17 daily visitors and convince them to adopt your way of thinking.)

I have a geeky and talented big brother.  He made a movie for a film contest, and is now in the top three finalists.  Your votes determine the winner, and I’m sure there’d be many happy people if you’d take a minute to rate the video five stars.

Vote by logging into your YouTube account and viewing this video. Rate the video five stars, and if you’d like, leave a comment informing the world how perfectly awesome it is.

Easy, no?  Check out more details here.  Many thanks!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnmJBYZfEUs]

(Double click the video to rate)

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I think God makes families like puzzles.  One person winds up with a nice set of character qualities and few whopping quirks, and so the next one along is bound to fill in the blanks, so to speak.  Unfortunately, since Person #2 lacks in the areas that Person #1 excels, and vice versa…well, it gives rise to dilemmas.  But overall, I think it’s a pretty efficient system.

For example, look at a purely hypothetical situation:  If Person #2 is prone to inactivity because Person #1 has been given the rare gift of leadership and orginization, in the end everyone ends up happy because Person #2 enjoys relaxing while Person #1 enjoys having them out of her hair while she goes about her business.

And that’s what’s so awesome about big sisters.

Happy 19th birthday, Toni!  Love you!

One year, three months, and three days ago, I left a comment at a blog.

This was not a terribly rare occurrence. It was a comment of introduction—one of those brief three-liners in which I said hello, made a few notes about the post, and wished the recipient luck in becoming ambidextrous. (Nowadays, even those brief three-liners are rare.) In any case, it was an average, ordinary comment on an average, ordinary blog.
The day before that, I received a reply. (No, that was not an error. I left my comment on February 2nd, and received a reply on February 1st.) It was undoubtedly the most lengthy comment I had seen to date, and was ended with the statement that the author would like to become a “regular stoppingbyer here.” Signed—Altariel.

So it began.

In the days, months, and more than a year that followed, I embarked on a wonderful and fascinating friendship that stretched halfway around the world. I learned about New Zealand. I argued passionately about the American Civil War with someone who shouldn’t have known enough to put up protest. I received a gift package with chocolate, pink kiwi socks, and…chocolate. I worked up the courage to suggest a Skype call. I convinced the other party that such a call would be fun. I spoke with my friend for the first time, and drooled over her wonderful accent. I sat in the closet at one in the morning so I could talk without waking the family. I met her younger siblings. I began to look upon her as my twin—and didn’t take the term lightly.

Meanwhile, she put up with a lot from me, and gave a lot in return. She left me thousand-word comments. She critiqued my poor attempts at writing. She sent postcards and letters and pictures. She agreed to Skype against her better judgment, and immediately was hooked. She laughed at my American accent while I admired her New Zealand one. She threw me a birthday extravaganza on her blog when I turned sixteen. She pushed me out of my comfort zone during NaNoWriMo. She raced me to the finish line, and fell asleep on her keyboard at the end. She laughed with me—and at me. She prayed for America with me and others during a disappointing election. She became so much more than a twin, but a dearly loved friend.

The internet is criticized often, and most people don’t but a high value on friendships conducted solely online. Over the past year, however, I have learned just how effective such communication can really be. Of course it lacks the final dimension gained in “real life,” but too many of us probably underestimate the full potential of the technology we have at our fingertips. How else can a friendship so easily grow to surpass the barrier of such an incredible distance? It is truly amazing, and not something to be either devalued or overvalued.

But where is all this headed? Today, my friends, is Altariel’s seventeenth birthday.

To my dear twin Gabrielle, fondly known as DT: I love you, and I’m sorry this birthday post isn’t nearly as exciting as mine was last year. I love your desire to know what you believe, and base your beliefs on the truth. I love your family, and I want to meet all of you so badly. On a less sentimental note, I love your accent, too.

Your wit and wisdom continually astound me, as does your unending ability to be mean in the sweetest way possible. As a writer, you are sheer amazingness. As a critic, even better. As my Dear Twin…well, you’re pretty cool, no doubt about it.  Cool enough to warrant a post that breaks every rule of good blogging and will probably turn off most readers since it’s a solid block of text.

Happy birthday, DT!

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To my little buddy:  I love you.

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Please pray for the Szajner family during this time, as well as their friends.  Caleb was a Christian.

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” –2 Corinthians 4:17-18

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This doesn’t mean I’ll be leaving HSB–on the contrary, most of you will be viewing this from my old address.  You’ll be able to access everything like you would normally, but in actuality the content is at the new domain.  Pretty cool.

But Beth, why move your personal blog to your own domain?

The short answer is probably “because I can.”  Aside from that, I’ve been looking to relocate my blog for some time, and the domain was so cheap I couldn’t resist.  Besides, WordPress is just awesome.

So where’s the archives?

The archives exist at my HSB account.  I’m hoping to transfer everything over here, but that may or may not work out…we’ll see.  As you can see, I’ve brought over a couple posts just to give things a “lived-in” feel.  I may or may not get all the archives re-posted.  But however it turns out, I’m happy.

BethMaisano.com is live!

ETA:  It should probably be noted that, for the moment, this is all a huge experiment.  Hopefully it’ll move out of the experimental stage shortly, but if you happen to find any problems in the meantime, please let me know!

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