As Katie pointed out to me last week, I need to update. I can't believe I haven't posted here in over a week, especially since there are things going on in my life right now that I want to talk about. So, here's random thoughts from the past week or so.

- First of all, it looks like I shall be joining the ranks of the gainfully employed again soon. I don't want to mention anything else until I'm sure and I confirm that it's okay to do so, but let me say that it's an very interesting opportunity and I'm very excited about it.

- Yesterday my parents, Joanna (my brother's ex-girlfriend but still good friend), and I drove to the middle of nowhere (Richmond, Texas which is like seventy miles away from my house) to watch my brother and his roommate put out fires. They're getting ready to graduate from firefighting academy in a couple of weeks and part of the final training is putting out live burns. It was pretty cool and I took some pictures that might make it up here eventually. A few that I took with my phone are currently up over at the Moblog.

- I'm so excited that The El Orbits are playing at the Continental Club tomorrow night. It's been months since I've heard them and I'm really looking forward to it. Katie, Gil, and Irfan should be meeting me there which always make a good time even more fun. Jay, the host of Technology Bytes on 90.1 FM might be there as well. Last week Katie and I hung out in the IRC chat while the show was on and got a shout-out on the air. Woot!

- I can't believe it's been almost two months since I visited Mac and I still haven't blogged about it! In my defense, I made a bunch of notes when I came home so I would remember everything and now I can't find them. Soon, I promise, I will blog about that trip and post some pictures.

- Speaking of pictures, I still have to post the rest of the three random pictures that people asked to see. I absolutely cannot take a picture of my hands and feet until I get a manicure and pedicure. It's been like two months and I would be ashamed - ashamed, I tell you! - to have a lasting record of how terrible my nails look right now. I also have got to get my eyebrows waxed to avoid people asking me why two hairy little creatures are perched on my forehead. I swear I look like a sasquatch. If you want to see three random things from my life, just ask.

- I'm currently waiting on Gratis's Customer Service to credit me with my FreeHandbags.com offer completion. As soon as they do, I should be able to put in my order for my free handbag (still not sure if I want the purple or black Coach). Feel free to sign up under my brother's account since he promised me I could have his so I don't have to choose. ;-) That will be a free handbag, a free flat screen television, and free iPods for both my brother and I. I'm also one person short of getting a free Photo iPod and five people short of a free desktop PC. Not too shabby.

- I am massively behind over at BiblioBlog. I still need to review Magician by Raymond E. Feist (really liked it; reviewed), Red-Tails in Love: A Wildlife Drama in Central Park by Marie Winn (wanted to like it more than I did), The Halo Effect by M. J. Rose (worth reading, but not as gripping as I had hoped), Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire (I really wanted to love it, but just couldn't), and Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks (I really enjoyed it; reviewed). Must get these books reviewed soon.

- About six weeks ago I came across a blog (I think it was Pam's) that had mentioned Rose's Cocktail Infusions. If you've ever been out drinking with me, you know I love apple martinis. I've never know what goes in them, however (Person: "So, what's in an apple martini?" Me: "Um, vodka and apple stuff?"), so I was delighted to find out about Rose's. They have three types of infusions - cranberry, sour apple, and blue raspberry - and they're very reasonable at only $5 a bottle or so. To make an apple martini, you take two shots of the apple infusion, two shots of vodka, shake, pour, and you have a delicious apple martini. The bottle came with a little recipe book and my new favorite drink is a Sour Blue Apple Raspberry Martini (two shots of vodka with one shot of apple infusion and one shot of blue raspberry infusion). Not only is it delicious, it's the prettiest bluish-green color.

- Since I am now capable of making my own martinis, I figured it was time I got some nice martini glasses and a decent shaker. Currently, I'm using these Crown Royal glasses that I won at the local country and western bar and a plastic shaker that I got for free at a liquor store. The glasses are too wide and tend to make it easy to spill (and I'm clumsy to begin with) and the shaker is just dumb looking. As a Christmas gift to myself I ordered these Mikasa martini glasses. I have a feeling that the swirl one will be my favorite (and at half off and free shipping I could hardly pass on them). To go with them, I picked up this three-toned striped cocktail shaker. I feel so swank now.

- Speaking of martini glasses, I love these four. Even though they are gorgeous and hand-blown (heh, that's a funny phrase or maybe I'm just dirty-minded), $40 a piece is a bit steep. Even more expensive are these hand-blown flamingo cocktail glasses, which totally crack me up. At $80 a piece, though, they are definitely a bit pricey. I don't care how much gold leaf was used in making them.

- I have a new cell phone number, so if you want it, just send me an e-mail and I'll pass it on to you.

- Someone needs to invent a blogging dictaphone. Whenever I'm in bed trying to get to sleep, I come up with all these posts but when I wake up, they're all gone. I need something so that I can speak into the microphone (limited time download to thank you for reading this far; don't forget to right click and save as) and the post magically appears on my blog.

.: 1149 words at 09:54 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (4) :.

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Last night after letting Lucy and Pascal (Aren't they cute? They're really well-behaved too and were a joy to puppysit) out to run around free in the backyard, I went to The Galleria to look around (pictures of the big Christmas tree are up in the Moblog).

I should be completing my FreeHandbags.com referrals soon, so I thought I'd see the purses available (Kate Spade, Prada, Coach, Fendi, Christian Dior, Burberry, and Gucci - they just added several more designers in several different colors) in person so I could decide which one I wanted. The Galleria is full of high end shops, so I actually found all of them but the Fendi one.

I had originally planned on getting the Prada Mini Hobo, but after seeing it, I'm changing my mind to the Coach Signature Demi Pouch. The Prada one was cute, but it was made out of nylon and I just wasn't that impressed (they're $258, a bit pricey for nylon in my opinion). Now I'm torn on which Coach to get - the purple one or the black one. The black one goes with everything, but the purple one is so pretty. Click the picture below to embiggen and feel free to leave a comment on which one - the black or purple one on the top shelf - you like better.

If I get lucky, my brother will get enough referrals and then he can get whichever color I don't choose and give it to me. He said I could have it since I helped him get an iPod. Nice kid, huh?

.: 266 words at 09:42 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (9) :.

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It's that time of year again! ThinkBlank's Secret Santa program is back for another year.

It's simple: you fill out some basic information and give the address to your Amazon.com Wishlist. On December 10th, you get an e-mail with someone else's info and Wishlist. You then buy a gift and send it off to them. The limit is $15, so it's a cheap enough exchange.

This will be my third year and I've really enjoyed it in the past. If any of this sounds interesting, go check it out. After all, who doesn't like getting and receiving presents?

.: 101 words at 09:16 PM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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Katie is out of town (she's a arguing a motion in California with her mad lawyering skillz, yo), so I am housesitting and watching Lucy and Pascal her two beagles. Let me tell you, they are cutie pies.

So, who wants to come over and help me trash her place? Party! ;-)

.: 52 words at 04:46 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (5) :.

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I have a question for you. If you have a car that's been gifted to you, do you have to just pay the $10 gift tax or do you also have to pay the sales tax part too? Trying to put my car in my name since the loan was under Steven's until I paid it off. When we broke up he gave me a letter saying he gifted the car to me, but I'm not sure what I have to pay.

.: 82 words at 02:51 AM in I'm Looking For...., ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (4) :.

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Apparently last week was Blurker Amnesty Day (a blurker being a blog lurker who doesn't leave comments), but since I missed it, I declare the next seven days Blurker Amnesty Week here at Neurotic Fishbowl.

So, if you're hear, speak up! Say hi, tell me you love me, spin me a yarn, whatever it is that you want to do. Just say something, damn it!

(Link courtesy Sara.)

.: 69 words at 07:44 AM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (13) :.

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There a bill out there that might be voted on in the Senate that should concern TiVo and other DVR owners.

The bill would let people use technology to skip objectionable content - like a gory or sexually explicit scene - in films, a right that we already have. However, under the proposed law, skipping any commercials or promotional announcements would be prohibited. The proposed law also includes language from the Pirate Act (S2237), which would permit the Justice Department to file civil lawsuits against alleged copyright infringers.

So, not only would you not be able to skip commercials with your DVR, you could be sued for doing so. You also would be forced to sit through previews on DVDs. Critics also argue that the vague language could apply to a person who uses iTunes.

Like Mac said, "(i)n essence, this bill is a gift to corporate interests - if you’ve been paying attention, lo, these last four years it should come as no surprise whatsoever."

Have I mentioned how much I hate this fucking administration? Go here to write your Senators and urge them to vote against HR2391.

.: 190 words at 09:36 PM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (3) :.

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I never watch award shows, those watching the American Music Awards last night got to see Anna Nicole Smith introduce rapper Kanye West smashed out of her gourd.

Luckily, thanks to the Internet, you can watch it here. Apparently she flubbed her lines because of bad eyesight not because she was drunk or on drugs. Yeah, I talk like that when I don't have my contacts in too.

And after a bottle of vodka.

(Link courtesy of Mac.)

.: 81 words at 09:19 PM in Notable News, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (3) :.

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Today is my lucky day! I have placed my order from FreeFlatScreen.com for a free Sony 27" Trinitron WEGA flat screen television (retails for about $400). Now the waiting begins, though this one is supposed to be much quicker to get than the free iPod since they're predicting a couple of weeks until it ships.

Just goes to show that with a little persistance and a blog you can indeed get these free offers to work. If you're interested in participating in any of them or getting your link listed, here's the scoop.

.: 94 words at 06:04 PM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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Despite the fact that the poll I ran overwhelmingly picked the Vamp (purple) over Sonic (blue) iSkin, when I was in Fry's a couple of weeks ago, they only had Sonic and Artic, so I ended up buying the Sonic one. It has a tendency to get dust on it (but the forums over at iPod Lounge suggested rubbing baby powder on it to end that problem), but otherwise I've been really pleased.

Their newest product is another must-have accessory in my book - iShades. They replace the screen protector on your iSkin with colored screens and look just too cool. Right now they're half price with the purchase of an iSkin.

I'm already half way to getting a free Photo iPod from FreePhotoiPods.com, so if I do end up meeting my referral requirements, I'll have to buy a new iSkin. Seems like the perfect excuse to pick up some iShades while I'm at it!

.: 158 words at 10:08 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (4) :.

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Ever since fiding Mighty Goods, a blog dedicated to great shopping items, I've been obsessively checking their finds. Anything from books to clothes to make-up to handmade sock creatures has made the list and I love to see what's next.

I personally love this purse, this bracelet, these boots, and I simply must have these notecards. (Really, any of these would make fine Christmas gifts.)

(Link courtesy of Christine.)

.: 75 words at 10:32 AM in Linky Love, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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Since I'm a member of both Netflix and Blockbuster Online (did that one to complete one of those free swag offers) I've been watching a great many movies.

Some have been good (Dawn of the Dead, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Stuck on You) and some not so good (Reign of Fire, Starsky & Hutch).

The one that I was really looking forward to seeing, though, was Van Helsing. I figured it had Hugh Jackman (he's so gorgeous), vampires, cool effects, and should be entertaining even if the story wasn't all that great.

I wanted to love it. I tried really hard. Alas, I did not. For those of you that want to save yourselves the trouble seeing it, just read Van Helsing in Fifteen Minutes. It's far more entertaining than the movie ever was.

.: 146 words at 04:06 AM in Media Consumption, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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I saw this over at Christine's and couldn't resist playing along.

If you want to play, type the letter from the alphabet into your URL bar and list the first site that comes up.

A is for Amazon's Associates.
B is for Big Pink Cookie.
C is for Cameras4Free.com.
D is for DVRs4Free.com.
E is for eBay.
F is for FreeDesktopPC.com.
G is for Google.
H is for Hot Jobs at Yahoo!.
I is for I Don't Think.
J is for Jay Allen's Master Blacklist.
K is for KDEWeb.
L is for Little. Yellow. Different.
M is for MP3Players4Free.com.
N is for Neurotic Fishbowl.
O is for OPI.
P is for Pesky Apostrophe.
Q is for QVC.
R is for Reflect.com (let me know if you've never shopped there and want to try it out so I can send you a $14 off coupon).
S is for SnazzyKat.
T is for Tenth Muse.
U is for US Lightspeed Consumer Panel.
V is for Vern's Blog.
W is for Woot!
X is for nothing at all.
Y is for Yahoo!
Z is for ZonkBoard.

.: 204 words at 03:35 AM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (3) :: All the Voices Say... (3) :.

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Thanks to a helpful tip from Quixy it looks like my site is back up and running again (seems the problem had to do with MT BlogTimes.

I had deleted the single BlogTime that displays on the bottom of the page but since the BlogTimes Archive page that I created was still rebuilding, it still broke it every time. Things should now be back to normal now. Yeah!

.: 69 words at 01:58 AM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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For the last couple of days I've been pulling my hair out over this blog. Thursday I posted - no problem. Friday, I come to make a post only to get the following error:

Internal Server Error The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator, webmaster@neuroticfishbowl.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
Apache/1.3.33 Server at www.neuroticfishbowl.com Port 80

New posts would display, though they would show up in my last five entries in my MT menu.

I called Christine thinking it was a hosting error to find out it was an MT error. I posted on the support forums, but so far no one's had an idea on how to fix it.

After mucking about, I believe it's an index error since changing back to the default MT template (hence the funky look of the site) at least lets the new entries be displayed. I checked my error log on my cPanel and found the following error:

[Sat Nov 13 15:53:05 2004] [error] [client 24.174.56.81] Premature end of script headers: /home/kymfish/public_html/mt/mt.cgi

Does anyone know what might be the problem? Anyone want to login to my MT and see if they can fix it? I'm desperate here.

.: 254 words at 02:56 PM in I'm Looking For...., ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (3) :.

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Awhile back I blogged about how I was getting paid (and a pretty good rate, I might add) to put a couple of text links up on my site. If you'd like to get in on the action, leave me a comment or send me an e-mail and I'll pass your name along to the powers that be so you can get paid to do nothing too.

.: 67 words at 12:26 PM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (7) :.

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So far I've five people have asked me to take a picture of three random things, so here's what I have so far. KB's is going to have to wait until I leave the house tomorrow since, surprisingly enough, my house is not my favorite part of town. Better cleavage pictures may ensue as well.

First, we have Mace's requests. He asked for my monitor with my favorite p0rn site up, but since I don't surf p0rn sites (no, really, I swear), here's my desktop instead (image is from Pixel Decor if you like it). Next up he requested my booty. Finally, he wanted to see my toilet. Notice what I read when I'm in there without a book (which, admitedly is rare) - Card Player Magazine.

Next Guy wanted to see what was under my bed. Not much, apparently. Continuing the under theme, he then asked for the view under my sink and my favorite underwear.

Hilary wanted to see my kitchen, my bedroom closet (this is actually one of two closets I use. When I moved back in with my parents last year, my brother's stuff was in the larger closet, so now that he's gone, I'm using both), and my front door.

Finally, Mikey asked to see my good luck charm, if I had one. I actually have two - a lucky flying pig (bought when a friend and I found them on eBay. The auction said that everyone had to have a lucky flying pig and we agreed) and a lucky frog I bought in Galveston (I believe). Next up was my signature, but I've taken that down for now. Finally, he asked for a shot of my cleavage. I never did get one I liked, but this was the best of the bunch.

I'm still taking requests, so if there's anything that you've ever wanted to see around Casa McGuire, now's the time to ask. Hopefully I'll get KB's up soon.

Thanks to everyone who asked to see something!

.: 344 words at 12:19 AM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (5) :.

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The Dark Tower by Stephen King: the final chapter in King's magnus opus, The Dark Tower series. (I've posted this at BiblioBlog as well, but since this is the second longest post I've ever written, I wanted to put it here also.)

Warning: This will contain spoilers, so if you haven't read the book, you may want to stop now.

I honestly don't know what to say here. I've been reading the Dark Tower series since I read The Gunslinger for the first time in the late 80s. There was something about the book that hooked me and I was desperate for the next novels in the series. The Drawing of the Three drew me even further into Roland's universe and with the additions of Eddie and Susannah, made me wonder what was going to happen and fear for these characters that I was beginning to love. The Waste Lands, with Jake coming back into Roland's life, and the new band of gunslingers left in Blaine the Mono's insane grasp only underlined this fear. And then the waiting began.

For almost six years Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake, and Oy sat in Blaine and I waited to see how their dreadful rhyming contest would end. When Wizard & Glass was finally published, putting an end to Blaine and giving us all the information we needed to see why Roland became the man that he became, I was estactic. Surely, this would be the greatest series ever written. Surely, a series with four incredible novels like these could only be destined to be the best epic ever told.

.: 1464 words at 09:07 PM in BiblioBlog Updates, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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I spent a good part of my afternoon (because you can do things like that when you don't have a job) reading Improv Everywhere's site.

They're an improv group that does random things at random places in New York (think similar to flash mobs, except everything's scripted and they know each other, so not really). Their conquests, especially The Moebius and the Circle Line Tours ones, are hysterical. Go check them out and be envious that nothing like this happens where you live. I know I am.

(Link courtesy of Ernie.)

.: 92 words at 06:42 PM in Entertainment Value, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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If you're like me and have an Amazon.com Associates Account, you've probably done all your shopping through your own referral link. However, they've made a change to the rule that now you don't get credit for anything you buy through your own links. (I figured this out when I had almost $20 deducted from my account. Ouch!) Feel free, then, to shop though this link or through the Amazon.com search box located in the sidebar.

Just a little public service announcement from me to you.

.: 86 words at 07:05 AM in Notable News, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (4) :.

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I know I was going to try and stop blogging about all those free swag offers from Offer Centric and Gratis Networks, but Offer Centric has made changes to their DVRs4Free.com, MP3Players4Free.com, PVPs4Free.com, and Cameras4Free.com sites that I thought people might like to know about.

Now, instead of getting a camera, a TiVo, an Apple iPod or Photo iPod, or personal video player, you have the option of taking cash instead. $275 for DVRs4Free.com, $275 for MP3Players4Free.com, $450 for PVPs4Free.com, and $325 Cameras4Free.com. If you've already got one of these items, it's still worth it to sign up and complete one of the offers (there are several trial offers that you can cancel before you get charged or only have to pay $7 or so for shipping), especially with the holidays coming up.

.: 141 words at 06:43 AM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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This is a little late to the game since everyone has done this meme before, but I figured better late than never, right? Besides, maybe this will get me posting again about something other than free swag.

Here's the deal:

Think of 3 pictures you’d like to see. Leave whatever you’d like to see in the comments. Things around my house, or whatever… something I can take a picture of easily. Once I have enough requests, I’ll start posting them. If I can’t, or won’t, take a picture of something you’ve requested, I’ll let you know.

So ask away. What do images do you want to see from my life?

.: 112 words at 09:19 AM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (6) :.

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I know it seems like I can't shut up lately about all the free offers I'm finding, but ever since I got my free iPod from FreeiPods.com, I've been trying to rack up the free swag.

Since finding an offer for a free Photo iPod, I've since found one to get a free 5.0 megapixel camera. My current camera is okay, but I'd certainly love to upgrade. If you'd like a new camera too, sign up here and complete an offer to get started.

If you're interested in seeing what else you can get for free, you can get the complete list here. It includes TiVos, portable video players, flat screen televisions, Dell Dimension desktop PCs, and more.

.: 122 words at 04:46 AM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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Looks like Gratis Networks (the people behind FreeiPods.com, the company that gave me a free iPod) are at it again. They are now giving away the new Apple 40 GB Photo iPods.

Don't you want one for free? Then go sign up.

Do not post your own referrals links here! I will delete them. If you want your link added, go here and follow the instructions.

.: 69 words at 10:14 PM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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Today is the brithday of that talented, gorgeous girl Joelle. Happy birthday, girlie! Hope it's a great one!

Go over there and give her some birthday lovin', won't you?

.: 31 words at 10:26 AM in Linky Love, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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audio post powered by audblog

.: 5 words at 10:06 PM in Hear My Voice..., ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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I've decided to extend sign ups for Burn It - The Fall 2004 Edition until tomorrow, November 2nd. If you haven't signed up yet, go read the rules and send me your info!

.: 34 words at 06:32 PM in Burn It, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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