Ramblings-n-Writings

Archive for July, 2008

I feel better knowing this…

83 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Superior Take the test!

Sometimes it’s easy to get overwhelmed with household chores and duties (especially when extra work abounds from moving). Watching an old movie or old TV episode like “Leave it to Beaver” really makes you wonder how the women did it? How on earth did they manage to keep everything so neat and tidy, have multiple homecooked meals everyday 365 days a year, wear an apron all day, and still look so put together when going to bed at night?

I stumbled on the above test at Coffee, Tea, Books and Me. Now I feel better! I must be on the right track! =) Of course, dear hubby had to chime in and we took the test to see how he would fare as a 1930s husband. The little stinker beat my score! But at least we know that we’d be a happy couple and survive the 1930s quite nicely. =)

How did you score? What did you think of some of the questions? Leave a comment!

Here’s an excerpt from a letter I received today…

“Dear Kara,

You were recently appointed as a biographical candidate to represent xxx,WV in the 2008/2009 online Cambridge Who’s Who Registry Among Executive and Professional Women.
We are pleased to inform you that on July 9, 2008, your candidacy was approved…..The office of the Managing Director appoints individuals based upon a candidate’s current position, and usually with information obtained from researched executive and professional listings. The Director thinks that you may make an interesting biographical subject…”

I was happy to read the letter and take a look at the information they wanted to know. I remember being in a Who’s Who book in high school and college. They asked all sorts of information on the biography form, included a photo, and wrote a great little summary piece about me.

However, this letter and response card struck me as a little odd. (Guess that was my gut reaction kicking in.)

First, the response card asked for all of the pertinent information that I assumed they already had – business name, address, phone, industry, type of business – considering that they obtained my name from a professional listing.

Second, the card was two-sided, postage paid with no privacy at all. Of course, an online option exists for those of us concerned with privacy and the USPS.

Oh, and there’s that phrase “interesting biographical subject.” Makes me think of some laboratory experiment gone bad! “Yes, Kara, you are definitely a most interesting biographical subject,” stated the Mad Scientist. “What can we learn from you today as we mix a little of this with a little of that?” =)

Fourth, the phrase at the bottom of the letter and the bottom of the reply card says, “Cambridge Who’s Who is proudly not associated or affiliated with any other Who’s Who Publication or Organization.” Proudly not associated? Sounds a little odd to me. And what’s with the weird capitalization of Publication and Organization?

So being the savvy person that I am, I googled Cambridge Who’s Who. First up was their own website where I learned that my “free” inclusion was only in the online registry and no one but members could see my entry. This told me that I would receive no benefit from being included. If it was a searchable database made available to all the world, I would consider it.

The next few entries on Google were enlightening. I particularly liked Victoria Strauss’s entry at Writer Beware even though I never finished reading it. The first few paragraphs alone will warn you to beware of Cambridge as well as other Who’s Who!

Needless to say, I won’t be sending in my reply card. How about you?

I’m so excited!!! The UPS man dropped off two boxes of books today! I thought that was really nice of him, although he did forget to give the dogs their treats. =)

Our local library doesn’t have any of these books and I’ve really wanted to read them. I finally gave in and splurged on Amazon. Technically, I was still spending some birthday money, so it wasn’t really a splurge. =)

And the two HTML books are birthday gifts from my brother. Now I’ll be able to make progress with my business website. Well, when I’m not reading other books in the pile… =)

I had every intention of showing you photos of the lake that I mentioned last week, but Blogger is being stubborn and not uploading my photos. While I love technology, sometimes it can be sooooo frustrating! Maybe tomorrow…

So, instead I wanted to share two little tidbits with you. First, did you know that you can install iTunes on PC? Yep, I’m still using a PC. I can’t quite justify draining my bank account for a Mac. Don’t worry, I’ve used Macs frequently over the years and enjoyed my experience with them, but honestly, my PC can do everything a Mac can, especially now that I figured out I can have iTunes!

I used to listen to the radio via iTunes when I worked at the newspaper. Since our house is in a radio deadzone (we get one station clearly), I’ve really missed fresh programming. CDs get old after awhile. Now with iTunes, I can listen to my favorite station – Whisperings: Solo Piano Radio. Talk about a way to relax. Nothing compares to solo piano music to keep the creative juices flowing and the stress level down (in my opinion).

The other tidbit today comes via Robin’s Writing Thinking blog. A team of historical romance writers is planning to start a new blog, Writes of Passage, at the end of the month. Woo-hoo! In case you didn’t figure out from my last post that I’m a huge historical fiction fan, I am. I’m excited that some of my favorite authors will be blogging too. So excited that I already added the blog to my Bloglines so I won’t miss any posts! =)