Average Jane

Author: Average Jane

  • Average Jane Gets Rained On

    The gig I mentioned on Saturday night was not without its challenges. An hour or so before my husband and I were planning to leave, it started raining and hailing heavily at our house. We waited until the hail stopped and drove to the neighborhood – about 25 miles east of us – where the block party was being held.

    It wasn’t raining there at the time, although it was obvious that it had been raining before we got there. Two other bands had set up the PA gear and drums beneath two tents in front of a double garage. Our guitarists brought their own amps, my husband brought a snare drum and a bass drum pedal and I had my favorite microphone with me. We got everything set up as quickly as possible and started playing.

    As we made our way through the first four or five songs, it was apparent that the crowd was getting rained on, but they didn’t seem to mind. A song or two later, and I was seeing enough lightning to be hesitant to touch my microphone stand. We ended up playing seven of the thirteen songs we’d planned before the rain picked up enough that we had to stop.

    And that was that. It seemed obvious that the rain was there to stay for a while, so we loaded up our gear and went home. My husband and I stopped by Sonic for a quick dinner and I made it to bed before midnight.

    I woke up on Sunday with nothing on my schedule, thinking I might go do something with my sister. As it turned out, I was more tired than I thought. I lay on the couch to read for a while and fell asleep. Eventually I transferred myself to the bedroom and slept heavily for a couple more hours, complete with weird, vivid dreams. It was not one of my more productive days, but at least I’m finally caught up on sleep.

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    So on to this week’s book giveaway. It’s a copy of A TV Guide to Life: How I Learned Everything I Needed to Know by Watching Television by Jeff Alexander, a.k.a. M. Giant, of Velcrometer, Blogging Dad and Television Without Pity. To enter, just leave a comment on this post and I’ll choose a winner on Saturday.

  • So Aside From That, Average Jane…

    First things first: the winner of Off the Beaten (Subway) Track is M. from Elemento-P. I’ll post a new book drawing on Monday.

    Last week was kind of a blur because I could not manage to switch back to Central time and get the sleep I needed. I kept staying up well past midnight and still getting up around 6:30 or 7:00 a.m. I finally went to bed early last night and slept past 8:00 a.m. today, so I think I’m fixed.

    On Tuesday I took a half day off from work and went to Mayhem Fest with A Librarian. It was like this:

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    The most annoying thing about the festival was how difficult it was to get in. There was a sign by the entrance to the parking lot that said, "No big purses." It turned out that they really meant, "No purses." So we slogged back to the car to stuff our money, IDs, keys and sunscreen in our pockets. When we got back to the gate, we were turned away again because one of the containers of sunscreen was an aerosol can. Sigh. I had forgotten my earplugs anyway, so we made the hike to the car yet again.

    They also had a "no cameras except disposable cameras" rule, but obviously I made it in with my BlackBerry.

    Speaking of the BlackBerry, during Dragonforce‘s set, I was IMing my husband just to say "hi." The burly, Mohawked guy sitting on the grass next to me seemed to take great offense at this. He said, "Did you really spend $50 to sit here texting?"

    I just shrugged, but I wish I’d said, "I’ll spend $50 to do what I damn well please!" It’s a good thing he didn’t see all the Twittering I’d been doing before I lost my Internet access.

    I was mainly there to see Disturbed and it was their t-shirt I bought as a souvenir. I enjoyed most of the other bands I saw, though, particularly Airbourne and Five Finger Death Punch.

    On Wednesday night, my husband and I saw The Dark Knight, which was just as amazing as everyone says.

    Tonight, my band Earthquake Jake is playing a block party in our bass player’s neighborhood. We’re only doing one set, but it’s going to be rather uncomfortable out in the heat and humidity.

    So that’s my non-BlogHer life to date. What have you been up to?

  • Average Jane’s BlogHer ’08 Experience, Days 2 & 3

    I officially waited too long to post this and it’s starting to become a blur, so I’m combining the two days of the actual conference into one post.

    I know I started Friday with a carb-tacular breakfast in the main ballroom with Cagey and her daughter Anjali. At some point, I went back to the room to get a Power Bar out of my suitcase so my blood sugar wouldn’t plummet during the first sessions. For those working on next year’s sponsorships, might I recommend finding a yogurt company? It’s the official food of women, you know!

    After the opening session, I continued my efforts to find some of the people I hadn’t run across the night before. Liz Rizzo found me while I was being interviewed on video by CafePress about the t-shirt I had on. It took me a while, but I finally ran across Suebob, too.

    I had lunch in the iRobot room and got Suzanne to sign a copy of Off the Beaten (Subway) Track: New York City’s Best Unusual Attractions while I was there. Remember, you can win a copy (sorry, not autographed) of your own by commenting here.

    After lunch, I attended the Midlife Bloggers and Sex & Relationships breakout sessions. After that, I attended the Community Keynote, which I cannot praise too highly. It seemed to me to be the essence of the BlogHer community distilled into twenty readings. I hope it continues each year, even though I know it must have taken a lot of effort to choose the presenters.

    I had an event-filled evening beginning with the reception at Ruby Skye, where I had the chance to talk to lots of different people. Liz and I left a little after 8:00 p.m., met up with Zandria, and took a cable car to the marina for a dinner cruise sponsored by Nintendo. The night views of the city were beautiful and it was cool to cruise right by Alcatraz.

    After being up late yet again, I actually managed to wake up kinda sorta on time for the 7:00 a.m. yoga class on Saturday. Which is to say that I woke up around 7:10 and decided to go anyway.

    At breakfast, I ran into my colleague Jeff Risley, who was at the conference on behalf of the Family Violence Prevention Fund.

    After the morning keynote, I attended the Women Without Children and the Blogosphere session. I thought the lunch break that followed was excruciatingly long – an hour and 45 minutes. Once it ended, Nancy and I went to Karl’s BlogHims Birds of a Feather Meetup to see what motivated various men to attend the conference.

    My last session was Blog to Book Redux, where I discovered that I may be the only blogger in the world who isn’t trying to write and publish a book.

    I watched most of the Closing Keynote with Heather Armstrong and Stephanie Klein, but ducked out toward the end to go to the lobby and meet Fog City Mommy.

    The closing reception at Macy’s was…interesting. I was starving when I got there, so I alternated between meeting people, taking photos and stuffing myself with whatever food I was offered. My equilibrium was off a bit all day, presumably from the previous evening’s boat ride, so I forewent alcohol in favor of sparkling water.

    Even though my own roommate was heading up the book signing, I managed to forget to bring my copy of "Sleep is for the Weak" to the reception. Duh. Thus, I got no autographs at all, but I did take quite a few photos.

    I capped off the evening hanging out in Cagey and Monkey’s room, eating Pakistani food and drinking a Kingfisher beer. It was a great chance to decompress from the chaos of the rest of the conference.

    So that was my BlogHer ’08. I gave away more than 130 business cards, met a different person for every one of them, and still managed to get into work on time Monday morning. Guess it’s time to start planning for 2009.

  • Average Jane’s BlogHer ’08 Experience, Day 1

    I thought I’d better start doing my BlogHer synopses now before I forget even more than I already have. My photo set on Flickr is here.

    My husband drove me to the airport on Thursday, where I met up with my BlogHer roommate, Rita. I had my copy of "Sleep is for the Weak," which she hadn’t even seen yet. Her 150 copies for the book signing had been delivered to the hotel.

    We were on the same flight but not sitting together, so I read the entire book on the plane and loved it! I highly recommend it, especially for moms. In fact, I’ll be giving a copy away here next week, so stay tuned.

    Once we got to San Francisco, we checked into the hotel and explored the surrounding blocks a bit. Then Rita had to go to a meeting, so I met up with Suzanne and Alex for a trip to Cheesecake Factory.

    When I got back to the hotel, I changed my clothes and got on a shuttle for the Alltop/Kirtsy party at Guy Kawasaki‘s house. I didn’t see anyone I knew on the shuttle (although it turned out that Bossy was back there somewhere), so I sat in the front. It was a long bus ride, made longer by the fact that the driver got lost. The party was lovely, though, and I got to talk to a bunch of old and new friends, including White Trash Mom, who says she is going to start stalking me now.

    After that, I made my way to the People’s Party, which I found by getting on the elevator and following the sound. Seriously, it was the loudest party I’ve ever been to. I ran into Schmutzie, Jane, Mocha Momma and lots of other people. (I know I’m being horribly inconsistent when it comes to referring to people by their names vs. their blog names. Sorry.)

    When I could no longer take the volume level of hundreds of female voices in a small room, Jane and I went to the lobby and split an order of Kobe beef sliders, which were quite tasty. I stayed up as late as I possibly could trying to get my internal clock shifted over to California time, then crashed around 1:00 a.m.

    Tomorrow: The conference, another nice party, and a boat cruise on San Francisco Bay.

  • Average Jane Returns

    Hey, remember me? I just spent four days in San Francisco at the wonderful, friend-filled, informative, fun, overwhelming conference known as BlogHer. I stayed busy every moment but still didn’t meet everyone I meant to meet, photograph everyone I wanted to photograph, or attend every session I wanted to attend.

    I’ve put a few of my photos on Facebook and I’ll try to put a more comprehensive batch on Flickr sometime tonight.

    I have a full week of work and other activities, but I’ll do my best to write up my post-conference impressions between now and Friday.

    For now, I’m still adjusting back to Central time and the beastly heat and humidity of Kansas City. I need to get ready for work and gather up my extra swag to share with co-workers.

    A big shout-out to everyone I met at BlogHer. I think I set a record for most hugs received in a four-day period (and I’m really not a hugger – that’s just now nice everyone was).

    If you couldn’t make it to the conference for one reason or another, I urge you to start clearing next July’s schedule and saving your pennies now. It just keeps getting bigger and better every year.

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    Finally, I have been purchasing a lot of books written by bloggers lately and for various reasons have extra copies of several of them. I’ve going to give away one per week for the next three weeks, starting with Off the Beaten (Subway) Track: New York City’s Best Unusual Attractions by Suzanne Reisman. Just leave a comment on this post and you’ll be entered to win. And no, you can’t have my autographed copy!

  • Average Jane Packs for BlogHer

    This is one of those trips where I can already tell I’m going to forget something vital. I have the packing checklist in front of me, so let’s hope that carries me through.

    I hope I don’t have a repeat of my Jamaica experience, where I managed to hide my sunglasses and contact lens case in my luggage so thoroughly that I ended up buying both items at a premium when I got there.

    Speaking of losing things, yesterday I had to go to Nordstrom to re-buy my favorite bra, which I have somehow lost. It vanished around the time of the great clean-out, and my fear is that it may have made its way into one of the clothing donation bags. However, now that I’ve spent $75 buying another one, I suspect the original one will turn up promptly.

    I printed all my cards yesterday. 150 of them are recipe cards with my contact information on the reverse. The other 200 are regular business cards. I have company business cards, too. Since I doubt I’ll manage to meet more than 400 people, I imagine I have plenty.

    Amazon keeps bringing me goodies, so I’ll have stuff to read on the plane. I’m pretty sure I’ll even have my copies of "Sleep is for the Weak" before I leave, so I can spent the weekend stalkerishly pursuing the contributors for autographs. Also on my autograph stalking list, Suzanne Reisman, who’s debuting "Off the Beaten (Subway) Track" at the conference.

    I’m not thrilled with the breadth of my clothing options for the conference, but I think I’m going to keep things casual. I’d considered dressing up for Saturday evening’s cocktail party, but I don’t have anything decent to wear and I really don’t feel like exposing my fish-belly-white legs in a dress. Perhaps I’ll wear jeans and sandals instead of jeans and sneakers. That’s dressy, right?

    Okay, enough thinking out loud. This will be my last post here until Monday, but I’ll be on Twitter all weekend. Later, folks!

    Update: 7:50 p.m. I found the damned bra under a comforter on the folding table in my laundry room. D’ya think I could have looked there before I spent $80? Heavy sigh.

  • Average Jane Gives Out Prizes

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    ByJane has given me the coveted Arte y Pico award, "a token of one’s style and substance as a blogger." Judging by the look of the award, that makes my style overwrought and my substance resin and iridescent paint. I kid! I kid!

    According to the rules of the award:

    1) You must choose 5 blogs that you
    consider deserve this award for creativity, design, interesting
    material, and contribution to the blogging community, regardless of
    language.

    2) You must publish the name of each award-winning author as well as a link to his or her blog.

    3) Each award-winner must post a picture of the award and link back to the blog that has given the award.

    4) Both the giver and the recipient of the award must link to the “Arte y Pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

    5) You must post these rules.

    Here’s my list, keeping in mind that I’ve done quite a few blogger awards lately, so I’m making a point of honoring blogs I haven’t mentioned before:

    Always Curious

    Kennon’s Art Blog

    Sarcastic Mom

    Itty Bitty Kitty Committee

    I Am Bossy

    Happy nominating, you guys!

  • An Average Jane Family Heirloom

    When I was growing up, I loved going through my mother’s closet and looking at all her interesting clothes. She had formal gowns, a sequined Mexican skirt, fancy nightgowns and robes, and sparkly high-heeled shoes.

    One favorite of mine was a corduroy skirt that she’d embroidered herself and worn in college in the early ’60s. I remember her explaining each embroidered image and what it meant to her at the time.

    When she died, I ended up with the skirt and it has hung in my closet until now. I thought it would be an interesting bit of living history and folk art to share photos of it here and tell the stories one more time. Sorry for the poor photo quality, but I think you’ll get the idea.

    I’ll start with what I think is the front:

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    As you can see, my mother was a Purdue University alum. "Hecho en Mexico" referred to her major in Spanish, while Uncle Sam represented her other major, Political Science.

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    The red-haired singer was her. She sang with a variety band and also acted with the Purdue Players, which we’ll see more of soon.

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    Here’s the other side of the skirt:

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    At the left we see a matador, echoing the Spanish theme from the other side. On the right from top to bottom there’s her Plymouth Fury (I believe it was the car she named "Blue Toeprints," for no adequately explained reason); her cat, Inca (nicely embroidered in fluffy angora); her college boyfriend, Ray; and a section devoted to the Purdue Playshop and the specific plays in which she performed.

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    My mother was engaged to Ray when she met my dad. That story, when told by anyone in the family, always ended with, "Poor Ray, he’s dead now." Presumably the broken engagement and eventual death were unrelated.

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    Finally, here’s a closer look at the symbols for the three productions in which my mother had roles, "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter, " "The Crucible," and "Damn Yankees." My mother had the Jayne Mansfield role in "Rock Hunter," and what you see there represents a fur stole and a string of pearls.

    It’s nice to have such an interesting piece of craft and history. I’m sure I’ll show it to my niece and nephew when they’re older. Hope you enjoyed it as well.

  • Average Jane from A to Z

    I haven’t picked up a meme in a while, so I think it’s time. This one’s from Mom to the Screaming Masses.

    A is for age. I’m 41 and two days.
    B is for Burger of Choice. Fuddrucker’s makes a delicious burger.
    C is for Car. A silver Honda Insight Hybrid.
    D is for daughters. I have three cat daughters. They sass me and won’t clean up their rooms.
    E is for essential item you use every day. My iMac. It may be the best computer I’ve ever had.
    F is for favorite tv show. I am a big "Lost" fan. My summer shows are "30 Days," "My Life on the ‘D’ List" and "Burn Notice."
    G is for groceries. I don’t cook at home very much, but I buy a lot of berries and Fage yogurt for breakfasts.
    H is for how often you embarrass yourself. It takes a heck of a lot to embarrass me these days. When I was younger, it seemed that I was in a constant state of red-faced humiliation, but I don’t remember feeling that way in years.
    I is for ice cream. Don’t get me started. I love ice cream far more than is healthy.
    J is for juice. I like cranberry juice cocktail. Also, pineapple juice, but not too much at once.
    K is for kids.     Just my niece and nephew.
    L is for Lipstick. Because I’m lazy, I get the two-stage stuff that stays on all day.
    M is for Mexican food. Ever had tacos al pastor? Man, those are delicious!
    N is for number of piercings. I used to have pierced ears, but they’ve long since closed up.
    O is for Optometry. I wear contacts every day, but I have some cute glasses, too.
    P is for People You Were With Today. Co-workers, friends and family members.
    Q is for Quiet Time. I spent too much quiet time online, but I’m a big reader, too. (And napper. I love to take naps.)
    R is for Biggest Regret. I still kick myself for not buying a condo I once rented. I could have sold it at a nice profit later on, but I was young, broke and too chicken to purchase real estate. I ended up buying my house less than a year later.
    S is for sports you play. Sports and I aren’t on the save wavelength. I can never grasp game play and rules and movements. However, I care a great deal for yoga.
    T is for tattoo. None. I’ve thought about it, but so far I haven’t found the perfect design.
    U is for what is unique about you. How many other women in the world sing in rock bands, love baking, can crochet a dishcloth and embroider a pillowcase, like to drive really fast, and enjoy science fiction and action movies? If that’s not unique, I’d guess it’s at least rare.
    V is for Vegetables you Love. Sweet corn, cauliflower and cabbage.
    W is for Worst Habit. Procrastination. One of these days I’m going to get around to conquering that.
    X is for number of x rays. Lots.
    Y is for Yummy Food you ate today. Basil fried rice with chicken. 
    Z is for Zodiac. My sign is Cancer, which would be bad enough just because of the name, but then a crab figures in. Seems rather unkind, I’d say.

    Leave a comment if you decide to pick up this meme from me!

  • Average Jane Prepares for BlogHer

    So who’s going to the BlogHer Conference in San Francisco this year?

    I went in 2005, 2006 and 2007, so you’d think I’d be all organized and ready to go already, even though the event is more than a week away. Ha!

    The one thing I’ve done is purchased some jeans that actually fit. I thought it would be nice to be able to think about something other than my waistband while mingling with the 999 other attendees this year. I’m trying very hard not to think about what size those jeans were. The new exercise regimen begins when I get back from SF.

    Next on my list is business cards. I made some rather cool ones last year, then turned around and changed my e-mail address almost immediately. Of course, this year I’ll want to include my Twitter ID, so I would have had to update them anyway.

    My idea is to make 3" x 5" cards featuring a variety of different recipes I’ve already published here. I’ll set them up like a postcards with my blog and contact information on one side and a recipe on the other. It’s going to be a challenge because I don’t have much in the way of page layout software anymore.

    The pre-conference guide has good packing ideas. I wouldn’t have thought of bringing one of my reusable water bottles. On the other hand, there’s that intimidating "prepare your personal pitch" thing. I’ve never been one for elevator speeches, but I’ll do my best to think of something halfway decent before I meet anyone new.

    I think I’m going sans laptop again this year. I hate carrying the thing around all day, and I think it’s more important for me to meet and talk to people than to breathlessly update the world about what I’m doing each day. Besides, I’ll have the BlackBerry and Twitter for that.

    This year’s conference is shaping up to be a really great one: parties, book signings, great sessions, and lots of opportunities to reconnect with all the people I’ve met at previous conferences. Nine days and counting down…