I haven't been taking photos very much since I returned back from Galveston (maybe taking 120 shots in less than two days burned me out), but I am resolving to put one picture a day into Picture Fish, like I did for so many months. There are a few new photos in there now, including my submission for this week's Theme Thursday.

.: 64 words at 07:52 PM in Picture Fish Update :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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Thanks to Stacy, I now feel all warm and fuzzy after reading this story.

.: 16 words at 07:25 PM in Notable News :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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Don't forget that tonight is the start of the new month so be sure to say "Rabbit rabbit!" at midnight so you'll have lots of good luck (double good luck if it's your birth month too!).

.: 38 words at 06:05 PM in Participation :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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To all my friends and fellow bloggers out in blogland, have yourself a very happy Halloween (just make sure it's not a Jack Chick one)!

(Link swiped from Michele)

.: 31 words at 01:00 PM in Linky Love :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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Today is the last day to sign up for Blog Ornament Exchange 2002. Hurry on over there and register if you haven't done so already.

.: 26 words at 12:33 PM in Participation :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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For some reason, my Amazon.com Gold Box Offers stopped working, so today's list is a short one.

.: SONICblue Rio 600 64 MB Digital Audio Player (MP3/WMA): I've been thinking that the mp3 player I won online (the RCA RD1000 Kazoo Digital Audio Player) isn't really going to work for what I need, so I'm half toying with the idea of buying one. This one looks nice, but the reviews were mixed.

.: Le Creuset 2-5/8-Quart Soup Pot, Blue: I don't think Steven really needs a soup pot, but the color on this was really beautiful.

.: Tanita 2201 Super Ultimate Body Fat Monitor and Scale: I've been thinking, since I've wanted to be more serious about losing some weight, that I should get a scale. I've always been kind of sceptical about how accurate a body fat reading on one of these is. It also stores personal data for two users and that is a great feature.

.: 162 words at 12:24 PM in The Gold Box :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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Scripty Goddess received an all-new look totally done in CSS by Jenn and it looks awesome! She implemented all kinds of little toys in it (including the incredible hotlist feature that allows you to bookmark entries into your sidebar). Go visit and tell Jenn what a great job she did!

.: 50 words at 05:34 PM in Linky Love :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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Since I've been playing a ton of virtual pool over at Pogo, I found today's "It's a Group Thing" term particulary relative. Today's term is:

A Masse of Pool Players

.: 31 words at 02:32 PM in It's a Group Thing :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (5) :.

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If you've ever read to the bottom of my sidebar, you know I have a list of all the books that I've read since I started my blog along with a mini-review when you hover over the tile and the books I'm currently reading. Hovering over the title for a review is kind of a pain, so I took a few minutes and created a book reviews page where you can read them much easier. Since I've already read almost fifty books this year alone, I may start showing only the last twenty or so down in the sidebar. Either way, enjoy the reviews and pick yourself up a good book!

.: 111 words at 11:59 AM in Fish Tales :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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I haven't done one of these for a while, so I thought I'd post my Amazon.com Gold Box Offers for today.

.: NEC-Mitsubishi MultiSync LCD1550V-BK 15" LCD Monitor (Black): nice monitor, but I already have a nineteen inch, so not interested.

.: 294 words at 10:12 AM in The Gold Box :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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File this under "You learn something every day:"

The phobia for the fear of long words is called hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.

.: 19 words at 12:57 AM in Entertainment Value :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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If you're a regular vistor to the site, you've probably been by my photoblog, Picture Fish, at least once. If you have a photolog too, go visit Photoblogs.org which lists tons of photlogs and lets you vote for them. Go list yours and give Picture Fish a positive vote while you're at it. :-)

.: 55 words at 12:49 AM in Participation :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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Today is my best friend Jeanna's birthday. She doesn't have a blog, so you can't go visit her, but feel free to leave her a note in the comments and I'll pass it along. Happy birthday, Jeanna! I love you!

.: 40 words at 04:49 PM in Love Notes :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (3) :.

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My mother sent me a link today to send your name to Mars (she had already signed up me, my dad, herself, my brother, my brother's girlfriend, and Steven; she's so sweet). When the Mars Rovers go up, they will contain DVD discs with all of the names collected. So far 2,999,665 names have been collected. You have until November 15th to add your name, so go sign up!

.: 70 words at 12:52 PM in Notable News :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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Amancay set up skins on her site, so I monkeyed around with some images and made her a skin for her site. Go visit her and say hi when you get a chance. :-)

.: 34 words at 12:01 PM in Linky Love :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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Time for Christine's This-or-That Tuesday:

• Apples or pears?
Apples. I don't like pears.
• Oranges or grapefruit?
Oranges, but grapefruits are good too, especially when the fruit and juices are mixed with Grand Marnier to make a yummy soup-like concotion.
• Broccoli or cauliflower?
Blech. Neither.
• Green beans or lima beans?
Again blech on both of these.
• Winter or summer squash?
I don't like any kind of squash. Ick.
• Blueberries or strawberries?
Strawberries. The only blueberries I like are Blueberry Pop-Tarts.
• Tomatoes or potatoes?
Potatoes, especially french fried or baked.
• Peaches or plums?
Neither.
• Peas or carrots?
Carrots, but only raw.
• Asparagus or corn?
Corn, especially on the cob with butter.

.: 110 words at 11:57 AM in This-or-That Tuesday :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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It's Monday, so time to start the week out right with Jess's Participation Positives!

• Jeanna and I had an excellent time hanging out together and she loved her birthday presents
• I got some extremely cool make-up from Sephora
• Rannie choose me as one of the people in his next 300 Exposures in 30 Days project
• Even though I wasted several hours getting no experience, I had a kick ass time playing EverQuest this weekend and I can't wait to duo up with Brian
• Christine bought me a yummy lunch today at The Black-Eyed Pea just because
• I had a wonderful lunch with my parents on Saturday
• Steven bought me a Longhorns shirt when he was at the game Saturday because he knew I wanted one
• The book that I ordered from Amazon six weeks ago is shipping tonight (thank god for customer service people who finally get it right)
• I love and am loved

.: 155 words at 05:06 PM in Participation Positives :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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My friend Jeanna actually did end up coming over Saturday afternoon. I had given her a gift certificate to Sephora as one of her presents, so we set out to the mall and the new store that opened there a few months ago. I'd been in once before during the week they opened, but with Jeanna and I there together, it was like a religious experience. We both bought way too much make-up, but had such a good time. To day, my purchases are in the $125 range and this is everything I've gotten:

.: Cargo eyeshadow in Nepal
.: Urban Decay eyeshadow in Lounge and Gash
.: Urban Decay nail polish in Big Bang, Cult, and Strip
.: Urban Decay Duo Color Lipstick in Manic/Depressive
.: Sephora Collection Glitter All Over Color in Violet
.: Sephora Collection eyeshadow in two shades of blue (can't remember which ones, but they are so pretty)

I have also fallen in love with Stila's Creme Bouquet Eau de Parfum Spray. It is the most heavenly scent every created! It smells like cookies. Yummy! I have a friend who had perfume created especially for her by a perfume maker in New Orleans and it smells almost exactly like this. I am so going to have to get some.

While I am having so much fun shopping in such a girly store (I hardly ever by clothes or make-up; I'm not a girly girl usually), I am going to have to be very careful or I am going to spend all my money there. I just love all the pretty colors!

.: 267 words at 10:52 AM in Fish Tales :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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As Matt pointed out, yesterday was probably the longest time I've gone in between posts and it was all the fault of EverQuest. I played for about ten hours yesterday, but the sad thing is that for about four of those hours I had grouped with people that were significantly higher in levels than me so I received no experience for all of the fights I did at that time. I did, however, loot a lots of corpses and get a lot of money, plus I got more familiar with the game, so it wasn't a total waste, I guess. I am now a level nine paladin and I should be able to start casting spells.

I have often lamented over the past several years that I was no longer a gamer chick. I guess I am back to gaming with far more of my time than I should!

.: 150 words at 10:35 AM in Fish Tales :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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So, remember me mentioning that I had finally decided to play EverQuest? I was going to be a human monk, but after talking to Brian (my manager; we're going to be duoing together in the game), we have revised our initial strategy of my being the ass-beating, fists of fury monk and he being the healer shaman. We are now going to be a paladin (human knight, basically, aligned with good) and he's going to be a shadow knight. It's almost like we're going to be the different halves of the same coin. Last night one of the programmers in our office gave us amazing, very rare, weapons and armor, so I'm ready to start powering up and catch up with Brian, who's already level 23. My name in the game is Ibocea and I'm right outside of West Freeport, so if you play, stop by and say hi.

.: 150 words at 01:26 PM in Fish Tales :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (4) :.

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I was supposed to meet a friend today, but the weather on her side of town is so bad that we decided to try and meet tomorrow instead. So, I called my mom, and I'm meeting her and Dad for lunch. :-) I haven't seen them in a while (despite the fact that I talk to my mom on the phone every day and only live about twenty minutes away; I am such a bad daughter!), so it will be nice to see them.

.: 84 words at 01:13 PM in Daily Ramblings :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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Thanks to Google, I know that today is Pablo Picasso's birthday. Go check out their logo.

.: 17 words at 02:33 PM in Daily Ramblings :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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Thanks to the amazing Robyn, there are now nifty little buttons in the comments template so that you can bold, italicize, underline, and turn URLs into links to your little heart's content. Enjoy!

Update: download the instructions as a text file

.: 45 words at 02:08 PM in Geeky Things :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (3) :.

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I don't know how I missed it before, but Kristine posted a quick little MT hack awhile back that makes it so when you post a comment on your site (as I frequently do), you don't get the e-mail notification. Get the quick and easy directions here.

.: 48 words at 01:35 PM in Geeky Things :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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It's Friday, so that means time for another edition of Discovery Friday!

.: Book of Days - Kristine alerted me to this new site. It is simply gorgeous (take a look at her Exposures section; I love the image of the beaded curtain) and I look forward to reading her site.

.: Dandelion Wine - I love the domain name of this site and the new Halloween skin is beautiful. Really makes me wish I would have thought about doing one for the holiday. Maybe next year.

.: Gratuitous Sax and Senseless Violins - a sharp wit, sexy pin-up girls, and an invitive blog title are only a few of the reasons to visit. She also runs Skittish Sims where you can see tons of bloggers turned into Sims characters. Very cool.

.: Joy Unspeakable - I decided to visit this blog after seeing its name pop up time and time again in Name That Blog and I'm very glad I did. Cheryl is a very sweet person and I wanted to let her know, that even though I haven't left many comments, my thoughts have been with her.

.: Miz Jeanna - not only does she have a new lovely, simple design up to complement her wonderful blogging, she also runs the Blog Ornament Exchange 2002, which you can sign up for until October 31st. There are already ninety-three participants, so go sign up so we can make it to 100 participants.

.: 245 words at 11:50 AM in Discovery Friday :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (4) :.

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Today is Kenny and Elaine's fourth anniversary. I want to wish you two a very, very happy anniversary. :-)

.: 19 words at 10:57 PM in Linky Love :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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I came home from work tonight and, despite Steven's best efforts, Arnold was dead. We figured he wasn't going to make it since he wouldn't eat, even though he actually looked better. I wanted to thank everyone that sent me an e-mail or left a comment. I know Steven is going to take this pretty hard and I really appreciate all of your support. I know he was just a fish, but we've had him almost as long as we've been together.

.: 82 words at 10:21 PM in Fish Tales :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (4) :.

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So, after trying to not be sucked into the vortex known as EverQuest, I gave in and bought the Trilogy software, The Shadows of Luclin, and a 90 day pre-paid card. My manager and I are going to be playing as a team and it looks like I'm going to be a female human monk and he's going to be a male wood elf shaman since it's a good duo. I've been trying to come up with a name tonight so I can start playing tomorrow. I visited one of those fantasy name generators (so I'm not all that creative some times; sue me) and came up with a list of about twenty that I liked. I thought I'd ask you which ones you like or dislike. Feel free to mix and match names and come up with new ones.

• Nydaethien
• Ereveth
• Iboeclya
• Ocalinna
• Choressa
• Dwalesien
• Kaeadith
• Adirathiel
• Larilacien
• Arilanna
• Felidien
• Saewen
• Drelisien
• Adraywen
• Qoithien
• Alilindra
• Ciremeth
• Kedeania
• Kaearia
• Jerycien

.: 161 words at 12:54 AM in Fish Tales :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (3) :.

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The other night Steven gave me an ultimatum regarding Bella - she had until the end of November to become litterbox trained or she was going to have to find a new home. We've had her now for over two and a half months and she's peed in a few places dozens of times.

Since I love my kittles and don't want to get rid of her, I did some scouring around the Net and found some excellent resources. Based on articles that I read, we put a second litterbox upstairs and used citrus smelling carpet deodorizer on places we didn't want her to pee.

As soon as Steven set the second litterbox up and moved it upstairs near my side of the my bed (a place she's particularly fond of peeing on), we took her upstairs. We placed her in the box, praised her, petted on her, and made a fuss about her, giving her a kitty treat to eat. We backed off and Steven went downstairs. I moved to the end of the bed and watched, with amazement, as she climbed back in the box and peed! I called for Steven and we fussed over her and gave her two more little treats to eat.

Later on, Steven went to the bathroom where we keep her during the day to play with her. The articles said to play with her and pet her in there so she doesn't feel like it's a punishment to be put in there. He looked over, and lo and behold!, she'd actually already pooped in the box down here!

Tonight she went upstairs and I waited a little bit and followed her up there to see what she was doing. She was in the box, but me showing up with cat treats was enough to distract her from doing her business. I told her she was a good girl for getting in her box and gave her a treat anyway so that she'll associate getting in the box with positive reinforcement. I went upstairs later and she'd gotten back in and done her business.

Last night and tonight she actually seemed to be happier too, though that might sound funny. She was a lot less skittish than she'd been the past few weeks and wanted to be played with and cuddled with a lot more. All the articles said that the was probably stressed over the fact that she felt like she had to use the floor to pee, so not only are we going to be happier now that she's using the box, she is too. I hate to say after only a few days that we've solved the litterbox problem, but she's three for three on using the box. Steven and I are both crossing our fingers that now she'll continue to use her box.

If you're having the same problem we were, here's some of the links that I found particularly helpful. Also, Cats International welcomes both mail and phone calls to help you with your feline problems, free of charge. They had a wonderful mission statement and I will probably make them one of the charities that I donate to.

.: It's a Cat's World - Litterbox Training
.: Cats International - Prevention of Litterbox Problems
.: Cats International - Litterbox Problem Solutions
.: Perfect Paws - Litter Box Training Your Cat
.: Perfect Paws - Basic Cat Training or How Cats Learn
.: King County Animal Services - Adult Cat and the Litterbox

.: 585 words at 12:23 AM in Kitty Tales :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (5) :.

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I love alliteration, so I was delighted to find today's "It's a Group Thing" term. Today's term is:

A Zeal of Zebras

.: 22 words at 11:33 PM in It's a Group Thing :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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Does anyone know why my list items both unordered and numbered don't show up in my individual archives? If you were to actually read this post or this post you'll see what I'm talking about. Is it a CSS issue? That's my guess.

.: 43 words at 09:51 PM in I'm Looking For.... :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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After much mucking about, my individual archives now reflect trackbacks both sent and received like Kristine and Robyn's sites do. I still have a bit of tweaking to do on the main template so everything links to the right place, but it the code should be in place now. If you want to be like me (and who doesn't?) go get the directions from Scripty Goddess.

.: 67 words at 09:49 PM in Geeky Things :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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Robyn found the coolest referral script yesterday and I finally had a chance to install it to my blog today and I love it. It records where people came from and where they went when they left you. I messed around with it a bit and added a date stamp and I might make it skinnable later (it does work with skins, but I have to go through and mess with the CSS to make it look right). You can learn how to install the script here. Props to my homie on the east coast for finding such a cool little script!

.: 103 words at 11:59 AM in Geeky Things :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (5) :.

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Our fish Arnold, that we've had for at least three years who got the name Arnold because he is indestructible like the Terminator, is really sick. He was fine this morning and when I came home tonight he was at the top of the tank, belly side up, with a lot of red coloring to his face and fins and a red spot on his stomach. It looks like a bacterial infection, and I am praying that we caught it early enough to treat. Steven just loves him and I know he's really upset. If it's not asking too much, can you send some good thoughts my fishy's way? I know most people don't think of fish as real pets, but this guy means a lot to us.

.: 128 words at 10:15 PM in Fish Tales :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (6) :.

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Yesterday was Lee's birthday. Not only did she miss her party, but her little boy broke his wrist. Go and give her some loving, will you?

.: 26 words at 03:25 PM in Linky Love :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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Christine's out of town this week, so Amancay is doing this week's This-or-That.

• The Cosby Show or A Different World?
The Cosby Show was way better though I did watch A Different World for a while.
• Happy Days or Joanie Loves Chachi?
I really liked Happy Days and I never saw an episode of Joanie Loves Chachi, so Happy Days.
• C