Ack!

We changed registration companies, and somehow my site was redirected for a while. Oh well, we’re back now! Off to blog!

I think my comments are fixed now, so please give ‘em a check for me!

I know its a pain in the rear, but I’ve switched to make it so that registration is required in order to comment on my posts. That’ll cut back (or hopefully eliminate) the dirty spam. Oonce you’re registered you can subscribe to be notified when I post something new, just in case you’re interested

Sometimes I do protected posts too, and only registered users can see them

I promise never to sell your name or spam you if you register :>>

OK, now scroll down to the good stuff in my latest post about our raunchy culture

ETA: OK, now its working again! I upgraded my blog software

I don’t normally think of myself as too much of a tree-hugger, but I really had a moment this weekend…

We drove all around the beautiful state of Colorado and visited quite a few of the ski resorts on our way. We did some gorgeous nature hikes and learned a ton about the native plants and animals.

While we were on a guided hike at one of the resorts, it ended up being just our family and the guide. We went up to 11,500ft and learned all about the plants and animals that were living around us. The guide pointed out a 4-year-old tree to my ds. She first asked him to find a tree that was 4, and he picked one that was almost exactly his height. Then she showed him that they only grow about an inch and a half per year.

I’m sure this isn’t shocking to many people, but as I stood there and looked at my 4yo standing next to a tree his height that was nearly as old as me, I couldn’t help but think of all of the times I’ve stuck a 7′ tree in my house. I never considered how many years it took for that much growth to occur. Here in Colorado you can get a permit to cut down your own tree, and that was our plan, but now I’m feeling pretty guilty about it. Who am I to rob that much growth just for a few weeks of pine smell?

So then I started researching and see that wikipedia explains that there is almost just as much controversy over fake trees. The use toxic chemicals and often parts of real trees, so they’re really not too much better better. Its also impossible to recycle them.

Then again the Christmas tree farms use a ton of chemicals and provide hostile environments for animals. You can find organic trees. I never would’ve considered that…

So anyways, that’s my enviro-friendly depressing thought for the day. Wikipedia quotes Dr. Patrick Moore, a co-founder and former president of Greenpeace as saying

Whether you choose a cut or growing tree to enjoy this holiday season, I believe that a sensible environmentalist would opt for renewable over non-renewable every time.

I guess I’ll dig my fake tree out of the crawl space and keep using it until I find some way to recycle… Or I’ll decorate a tree in our yard…

Eh, maybe I don’t need a tree. They’re just a pagan symbol anyways, right?

Colorado – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is something that has been driving me nuts for as long as we’ve lived here. What is with this state’s pronunciation? Everyone says it different! After a few long, heated debates with fellow Coloradans, I decided to look it up.

For all of you people out there who are as confused as I am, apparently the appropriate pronunciation is “Call-uh-rad-oh” That sounds so dorky. I’m a “Call-oh-rod-oh” girl myself, which apparently means I pronounce it like a Canadian

Apparently Nevada had the same problem and altered their license plates to set people straight. They say “Nevăda”.

Thanks for all of your support and patience. So far so good

For those of you who are looking for GCM answers, here ya go

GCM has been taken offline by the company that co-locates their shared server. GCM has gotten too big and was using other people’s resources. That’s what has been causing the errors. The co-locating company finally got fed up with it and shut off our permissions to the site until we can find a solution.

Basically the only solution is for GCM to get its own server, but that is going to cost money. Jeri has set up a fund for us to donate so that she can afford to move GCM to its own server. We saw that this day was coming, but were hoping that it had a little more time.

So if you want to donate, here’s the link. Jeri is looking at a cost of about $100 a month plus a one-time setup fee of $40. My husband and I talked about it, and we want to set up to give monthly. I’ve talked to a bunch of other GCMers and we’re thinking that if we can just get 50 people to do $2/month, then that’d cover it. That’s just the cost of a 2-liter of soda and when you work out the price per hour… well, its a good deal!

We’re also planning on doing a larger one-time donation just to get everything going

I’ll keep ya’ posted if there is any new news.

PS NO DATA HAS BEEN LOST FROM GCM. Don’t worry about that – its all there, we just need a new server that can handle all of us accessing it at once.

Could someone please comment or email me and explain why in the world everyone uses blogrolls… I have a perfectly nice linking system, and yet I’ve noticed that there is a bit of a sub-cultural issue where people only want to link to me if I blogroll link to them I’m feeling blackmailed What makes it so great?! Is it seriously worth it? Will you blogroll me if I blogroll you?

I decided to switch my skin for a little while. The old layout looked too fall-ish for me, but I’ll probably bring it back (or something similar) after summer is over