blogosphere

My words, elsewhere.

by

Write what you know, right? Thus my most recent post at Get Rich Slowly was called “Prepare to get sick.”

In it I explained how I stay relatively ready year-round for illness or injury, from having basic foods and OTC meds on hand to figuring out a way to telecommute in case of a longish period of immobility. Specifically, I noted that one reason I could have surgery on really short notice was that I already had most of my ducks in a row.

I also got to work in a reference to the exchanging of body fluids. This pained one reader, who left a comment asking if this were truly necessary. My reply: “Yes.” After all, it was Valentine’s Day when I got sick.

Read more

Blog roundup: Attack of the choleliths edition.

by

A few nights ago I had what I thought was a really bad case of indigestion and nausea. Zantac couldn’t touch it. It got worse. I tried to make myself vomit and couldn’t.

Eventually I realized that (a) indigestion shouldn’t feel like this and (b) I had eaten a fairly healthy dinner. A doctor’s visit and an ultrasound determined that it was a gall-bladder attack.

Read more

Black Friday and sex.

by

My unconventionally coiffed friend J. Money is nothing if not a realist. He figured that “about a bazillion” Black Friday posts would go up in the PF blogosphere right before the big day.

So he decided to make his own post about sex. Pretty much what you might expect from a guy whose site is called Budgets Are Sexy.

Of his “10 ways Black Friday is like sex,” my favorites were:

Read more

My first half-million.

by

At some point on Tuesday, Nov. 1, this site achieved a milestone: 500,000 page views. To say I was surprised would be putting it mildly. To say that I’m happy would be stating it precisely. That’s because 18 months ago I wondered not just whether I could sustain a personal website, but whether anyone would care if I did.

If writers are the most insecure people on Earth, bloggers are proof that self-doubt has a sub-basement. Like the 2 a.m. disc jockey a whole lot of us wonder, “Is anyone even listening?”

 

Read more

Scenes from the Financial Blogger Conference. (Now with more Klingons!)

by

I got mugged on my way to the first-ever Financial Blogger Conference last week. Fortunately that was not a portent. Can’t remember when I’ve had so much fun.

The robbery occurred in downtown Seattle, as I took the escalator to the light rail tunnel. A trio of young knuckleheads, one of them quite physically imposing, were involved. It took three of them to take down a tired middle-aged woman. Some heroes, huh?

They got a little over $80 in cash and that by the time I got Citibank on the phone they’d already bought themselves sandwiches.

Suffice it also to say that I hope all three of them get bleeding piles.

 

Read more

Blog roundup: Cartesian dualism edition.

by

You’ve got to love a blogger who can work the phrase “Cartesian dualism” into a post. In this case the blogger is my daughter, Abigail Perry, and the article is about us both. (But mostly her.)

Don’t let the title “Glorifying my mom (who’s glorifying me)” fool you. It’s not an exercise in mutual admiration, although I do admire the hell out of her. The post is about her re-reading “You can’t even tell perfect bodies apart,” a post I wrote about Abby’s near-fatal illness, and then reflecting on who she was then and who she is now.

Read more

Live from Cornwall: Blog carnivals and the Amazon winner.

by

Pam F. is the winner of the $20 Amazon.com gift card. She’ll use it to birthday gifts for her little sister. (Cue the girl noise: Awwww!) Thanks to all who entered.

I entered two blog carnivals this week and was happy to get into both:

On the train ride to Cornwall today I met a delightful woman who has traveled extensively and once shot photos of a tiger while riding on an elephant. She suggested accompanying me to Paris on a day trip (boy, does that sound weird) this weekend or, if the Chunnel train tickets are too costly, to tour me around Windsor (the region, not the castle).

Read more