Bits, Bytes, and Reader Mail

Lacking a solid subject, I've come to discuss a little bit of this and that.

I saw Voyage of the Dawn-Treader again yesterday with my partners in crime, and it gets an extra vote from me because there are not many movies that can make me cry twice. One thing that resonated with me more this time than it did on my previous viewing was the part where Reepicheep tells Eustace that "extraordinary things only happen to extraordinary people." I'm not sure how extraordinary my own life has been, but it's certainly been interesting, so maybe that makes me an interesting person.

More surprises awaited me on Twitter this week; for the first time ever, the number of people following me is bigger than the number of people I'm following. The latest and most inexplicable addition would have to be Rich Arons, who members of my generation may recognize as having been part of the production team for such noteworthy cartoons as Animaniacs and Freakazoid!. I still haven't figured this out, but I thought the least I could do in return was give him a shout-out here in the blog.

In other Twitter news, the nominations have been opened for the Shorty Awards! If you're unfamiliar with the Shorty Awards (like I was until yesterday), they're an annual hunk of etched glass presented to the highest-rated Twitter users in a number of curious categories. The reason that the awards came to my notice is because the Geek Girls Network has a Twitter feed at @geekgirls, and thanks to the tireless tweeting of our fearless leader Kristin, we have been nominated for the Shorty Award in the news category! As you can imagine, we contributors are all terribly proud. If you have a Twitter account and would like to give us your vote, click here, then use the little form and change "TwitterUser" to "geekgirls" and add a reason after the ellipsis. ("Because some crazy chick with a blog told me to" is probably not a valid reason, but I'm sure you can think of something.)

I've started receiving reader mail, which is exciting because it's been notably lacking in offers to sell me cheap Viagra. Specifically, I received one request and one suggestion for things to include in this blog, and I'm going to share them both today. However, I know how my own mind works, so I'm going to share the serious one first; if you're anything like me, once you see the funny one, you won't remember to come back to this.

The serious one comes from a relatively new reader, Barbara, who found me by way of the oft-mentioned Debbie Tenzer of Do One Nice Thing. Barbara sent me information regarding something called Caps For Good, which is a special program from Save the Children. If you knit or crochet and would like a nice, crafty way to help others in need, this is something you might find interesting. This grassroots initiative, which will be coming to its conclusion at the end of February, invites crafty types to knit or crochet a cap for a baby in need. At the end of the project, these caps will be distributed to pregnant women and new mothers who are in Save the Children programs in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. The idea is that many babies die within the first 24 hours of life from preventable conditions, so Save the Children wants to equip their mothers with tools and education that will give the babies a fighting chance. The caps will help; as you might have learned in health class, much of our body heat is lost through our heads, so the caps will play an important role in keeping the babies warm. To get started, just go to the website and download the information kit, which has free patterns and more information.

Serious and time-sensitive having been covered, now for the fun bit. My good friend Jaclyn -- she of the clothing drive post -- sent this to me, suggesting that I do an entire post full of "dead of cute and annoying songs." This was her example, and she said that anything this guy (Parry Gripp) does would qualify. Having watched this video, I'm definitely almost dead -- of laughing. This is adorable and hilarious. If you get a kick out of watching small fuzzy-wuzzy critters do stuff (mostly eating), you will definitely want to watch this. Ladies and gentlemen, I conclude today's blog post by giving you..."Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom."