Oof.

Sixteen days since I last blogged? What??

I? Have been busy. But I'm around. And I'll be back here soon.

So in the mean time, while I finish getting my ducks in a row, tell me something that's new with you.

Ready? GO!

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Grace in Small Things 75:365

1. Opening Day! Opening Day! let there be Sox! and a win! ahhh... life is good.

2. all the new blogs i have discovered thanks to comments left by new visitors as a result of being named a Blog of Note.

3. hearing that my God daughter was so excited about the Easter gift i chose for her.

4. the cool kitchen tool that Daniel found for me. it's called a Citrus Trumpet and i have been just amazed by it ever since i saw him use one when i was visiting. he searched & searched and finally found one for me! what a great little surprise!

5. Heather for being such a thoughtful & understanding friend.


Visit Grace in Small Things

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check me out!

first it was Chele and then it was Krystyn and today it's me! so funny that we all got tapped so close together!

that being said, i just spent 25 minutes deleting spam comments from my blog so i will be turning on comment moderation for a while, just until things settle down a bit. ;-)

and in other news: i managed to impale my finger on a fork this morning while i was putting a spoon in the dishwasher. it's not easy being this graceful! =P

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curiosity killed the cat

i have to wonder if the person who has over a hundred page visits to my blog since Friday--mostly rummaging through my archives--has found what they are looking for yet. with over four years of blogging under my belt, my archives are extensive, the number of blog posts in the thousands. it would probably be quicker just to ask me whatever it is you're trying to learn.

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change.

not talking politics, faithful readers.

i'm talking about... my blog.

my trusty template has been with me for the last three and a half years. i've been ready for a change but was unable to...

...find a new template i liked.
...feel satisfied with what "new Blogger" had to offer.
...summon up the courage to undertake the challenge.
...convince myself that change was necessary.

having overcome all those obstacles, i am about the begin implementation of a Major Blog Overhaul. i have been playing and testing and customizing and tweaking the template i found for days now in my secret underground lab trusty test blog.

things may look odd here while the transition is in progress. fear not (i have that covered for all of us), one way or another we will be up & running shortly. either with a brand new look for my thoughts over here at Broken Road...or with my old template (safely copied, pasted and tucked away) restored to its familiar form.

see you on the other side.
::gulp::

edit to add: and i've pulled it off! without a hitch! ::happy dance::

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i know you're out there in the great unknown

i know how it can be. you follow some links, down some crazy haphazard internet path, and somehow land on the blog of some person you don't know. and you read. and you read. and you feel some sort of connection. maybe with something they shared. or maybe you enjoy their writing style. whatever the reason, you keep coming back. and you really really want to leave a comment, but it seems like everyone already knows each other and you don't really know to ease in gracefully. (ok maybe that's just me...)

anyway whatever the case, you read but you just don't leave a comment. you want to, but something is stopping you. you feel funny jumping into the established group. you don't quite now what to say. you've been anonymous for so long, you wonder if you even should say anything. we all have our reasons.

well, today is your chance. it is the actual official Delurking Day, on which all those blog viewers who read in silence--lurking, if you will!--have the opportunity to make their presence known, to join in the fun, to say their piece! you don't have to...but you know you want to. who knows? once you break the commenting ice, you might decide to stay in the conversation.

so c'mon in! tell me who you are! what brought you here & what keeps you coming back? or you can tell me what's kept you quiet (because i bet i can relate!) til now. or something about yourself. and? you can help me out too: maybe i can start saying i have nine readers instead of six. ;-)

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stating the obvious

i have been a bad, bad blogger. i don't even have an excuse. i just haven't done it. not even for lack of ideas. i have ideas all the time and i think "oh! great idea for a post." and then? i just don't. i get distracted by things like uploading more music to iTunes or cleaning my ceiling fans (seriously, *how* do things that never ever stop moving collect so.much.dust?!) or flipping through a magazine.

so it's not that i don't have anything to post. or that i don't *want * to post. it's just that i haven't. but i will. i promise.

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coming attractions: for your veiwing pleasure

1. photos from vacation - including, but not limited to, Disneyland and an Angels game.

2. photos from Monday night's trip to see the Sox play in Tampa - i love Sox wins (super glad i went Monday & not Tuesday, tonight still remains to be seen). i love Sox homers. i love seats that are practically *on* the field. i do NOT love the lighting in that God-forsaken pit dome that drains me of all my life forces & makes it nearly impossible to get a nice clear photo of pretty much anything.

just need to do a bit more editing. bear with me. there are *many* photos...

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since you've been gone

let's just say last week was a bad internet week & leave it at that. by the time i could be online, i needed a break from all things internet. now i feel nice & refreshed. and you know what they say about absence & the heart. ;-)

in no particular order, things that have happened since i last checked in:

1. just about the time i got myself caught up on Google Reader... well... let's just say i have a lot more catching up to do. again. so if i haven't been around in a while, i promise i will be.

2. i got tagged by a whole bunch of bloggy buddies for various things, so expect those to pop up all through the week. i also didn't get to a couple of regular posts that i do, so i will catch myself up to speed there. to my knowledge, i have tags from Julie, April and Steph. anyone i missed?

3. since they faced each other in at the Trop, the Sox have gone 7-3 and the Rays 3-7. the Sox have outscored their opponents 60-30, while the Rays have been outscored 49-36. as we roll into the All Star Break, the Sox are 57-40, with a 21-29 road record, but a strong 36-11 at home. they have played 3 more games than the Rays, thanks to the Rays having a rainout in Baltimore and the Sox playing 2 games in Japan, so while both teams had 10 scheduled days off in the first "half", the Sox will get 9 in the second, while the Rays get only 7, plus a doubleheader in the middle of a 7-day roadtrip to end their season. the Rays record stands at 55-39, going 19-25 on the road and 36-14 at home. in comparison, the Rays have played 50 home games & 44 away, while the Sox have played 50 on the road & 46 at home. this bodes well for the remainder of the season, as the Sox will play 34 more games at Fenway this season, and 31 as the away team. the Rays, on the other hand, will play 43 road games and only 25 more in Tampa. i will take that schedule and see how well the Rays fare playing considerably more road games in the second half. all that to say the most important part: the Sox will start post-All Star Break with a half-game lead in the AL East.

4. Brett Favre may be considering a comeback. i know people are all over him, saying they are sick of this game. i blame the media for it. if everyone wouldn't have been riding him for a decision right after the end of a heart-breaking season, when he was worn out mentally, emotionally & physically, perhaps given the chance, he wouldn't have retired after all. everyone is entitled to their opinion. mine is that he was rushed into a decision, making it while emotionally charged, which in my experience is the worst possible time to make choices. i think he should play for as long as he can still lead a team to the playoffs. and i think it stinks that Green Bay won't let him play somewhere else, but have instead announced that if he returns to the football field, it will be as their backup QB. after everything he has meant to that franchise, i think the least they could do is set him free, if they have in fact moved on. and while i understand that they cannot outright release him (and thus risk facing him as a division rival -- and the fact that they fear that speaks volumes), they *could* trade him. while he may not be the greatest QB in NFL history, he is by far my favorite player, because his enthusiasm & love for that game cannot be touched by many, if any at all.

5. i have photos on my camera from over a month ago. i really need to get them properly saved & backed up. as soon as i do that, i will have new albums for my trip to Connecticut and the Sox game i went to. you know, for those of you interested in such things.

6. lest i be remiss, Youk hit his first career grand slam; Wakefield pitched another beautiful game *and* got run support; the Sox scored 18 runs on the Twins; Lugo took a 4-6 week Matt Clement Vacation; JD Drew continues to shine, aching back or not; Manny is back to being Manny from home runs to RBI to hiding in the Monstah (drinking Gatorade & making call on cell phones); Matsuzaka never ceases to make games feel like an eternity; Jeemer is still loading up bases with opposing batters, but at least now he's getting out of the inning; Pedroia is on a tear at the plate & appears almost unstoppable; Papelbon seems to enjoy giving me heart failure when he gets called in; and Tek is finally remembering how to hit again, which does my heart good.

hmmmm... i think that's about it. expect posts at regular intervals to begin... soon.

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come out, come out, where ever you are!

i am hiding.

ok, that's not true. actually, i lack motivation. completely & totally lack. my ambition level is to sit some place dark & cool. and do NOTHING.

do not talk to me about going outside & getting fresh air. the air is hot & stale & dripping with 93% humidity. and did i mention hot? you people, with your snow & slush & ice (which i do not miss), hibernate all Winter. *i* hibernate now.

and, yes, i suppose that with all the hibernating, i should have lots of time to blog & reply to email & keep up with your blogs.

but it's hot. and i have no motivation.
(have i mentioned that yet?)

and now i have (seriously) 233 emails in my inbox. i haven't blogged in like a week. (and yes, i know, the last several almost can't be counted as blogging even.) and i swear all of you are blogging faster than i can read, because that number in my Google Reader continues getting *bigger* even though i keep checking off posts as read.

so yeah... if anyone needs me, i am either drowning in my inbox. or working my way through a week's worth of blog posts in my Google Reader (while you all keep blogging! at warp speed! why can't you do this much blogging when i'm caught up & bored?!). or ummm... hiding.

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if Mega says it...

...it must be true, right?

seriously, i have no clue why you people continue to come back here, but i love that you do!

and speaking of blogs, i have a new one for my recipes for those of you interested in such things. i really started it as a resource for myself to have all the recipes that i've tried & liked available to me in one place (and the label feature allows me to organize them easily), but since some of you often ask what i'm cooking for dinner, i thought i would make it public & share. it's only in its infancy stages, but i suspect it will grow quickly! =)

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overload

i have email to catch up on.

i have two blog makeovers to work on.

i have my own blogging to do, including a Sox post, photos from this weekend and several memes & tags i've wanted to get to.

my Google Reader is growing by the minute. (i swear you people blog more when i don't have time to actually sit down & read, but when i am bored silly, you're all suspiciously quiet.)

i have a to do list that keeps multiplying.

i think my brain might explode.

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worth bringing to your attention

you see that siderbar over there on the left? it has a new feature. you can find it under the "check this out" section (you will have to scroll down just a little). i recently made the switch from Bloglines to Google Reader (love it!) and they have this nifty little tool that will let you make a little clip of the blog posts you want to share! so when i am not posting at a frequency that meets your standards (heh) you can now find some posts i have deemed share-worthy! some made me think. some made me laugh right out loud. some are just too well-written not to be shared with as many people as possible. but there they are, for your reading pleasure.

that is all. as you were.

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you fail to amuse me.

bad blogger. bad!

yeah, yeah, i know...
soon. i promise.

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it only *looks* like i haven't blogged yet today

in actuality, after giving my blog its "Go Patriots!" makeover for the duration of their appearance in the playoffs, i started doing a little housekeeping.

i changed up my wish list (though i am still not sure i like it's present location, so we shall see... it doesn't really fit anywhere else as a slideshow though...)

i reinstalled my playlist now that imeem got itself back in order. some of you missed it. and for those of you that didn't, you will be happy to know that it is not on autoplay. anyone who wants to listen will just have to push the little play button. ;-)

and now over there in the right sidebar, for those of you who just can't live without knowing what i might be doing at any given moment, i present to you: Twitter.

keep a lookout. you never know what else might appear before i'm done...

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i missed it!

December 26 was my third blogiversary! 2200+ posts later...

whoa... maybe i talk too much.
=P

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hooray!

ok, so a while ago, Blogger had removed the option for blog visitors who don't use Blogger to link to their own blogs when they left a comment. i was pretty sad, since i think when someone comments, they should be able to link to their own blog. well, now, if you have Typepad or WordPress (and a couple others), you can sign in for leaving comments with (i believe) your blog id!! when you leave comments, the place where it says to sign in with your Blogger/Google account is now a drop-down menu!! if you open up that little menu, you can see the options for signing in with your own blog info & then the link to your blog will work again!

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in case you were wondering...

...i've been MIA from my blog, as well as from yours, because my computer is sick, so i have had no internet at home since Saturday morning.

...Mike Lowell still has not signed a new contract with Boston. =(

...the Patriots continue to "run up the score" without caring what you, i or anyone else has to say about it. (sorry, Sue.)

...i don't know how much blogging or visiting i will get to do from work over the next couple of days, because i am getting ready to be out of work for a week, so in an effort to avoid as many potential disasters as possible, i am working hard to get ahead of the curve. (how's that for a run-on sentence? =P )

...i should have more time to answer email, check blogs & do a little of my own blogging while i am on vacation, *if* i can figure out how to make Blogger work when accessed from a Mac.

...my computer should hopefully be fixed while i am on vacation so i should be back to normal when i get home on the 29th.

anything else you're wondering about or need to know?

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the dark ages

just to forewarn you all.

when i left the house this morning, i had no internet connection. i have no idea what i am facing when i return. it may have been restored as part of a wider spread problem that was corrected while i -- ahem -- worked all day.

or... it might not.

so... you might all have to make due with what i've already posted today.

if you run out of material, there is a mighty big archives to entertain yourselves with.

my apologies. you can call & complain to Bright House Tampa if you like.

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no, really!

i swear i am posting today & making my rounds to everyone's blogs.

stop shaking your head at me.

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