Red Nose

Rest In Peace, Cosmic

I started keeping an online journal on January 1, 2002. I don't remember exactly how or when I found Karen Murray's diary, but what I do remember is how much I enjoyed it. Here was a woman who pulled no punches, who had a wicked sense of humor, who had battled breast cancer through a double mastectomy, and who was my age in what seemed to be a sea of kids.

I've followed her ever since and she's followed me. I always loved her comments. I knew I had made it when she put me on her email joke list! She sent around some great jokes, too.

I met her in person at JournalCon 2004 in DC. We had lunch together with several other women of our age; it was a highlight of the conference for me.

Karen -- but I'll always think of her as Cosmic -- died yesterday. She had serious chronic lung problems, and pneumonia was the last straw. She died her way, refusing a ventilator. I hope I'm that brave when it's my time.

Rest in peace, friend. I'll miss you.

Can You Tell I'm A Little Bored?

All right, I've caved.

I joined Twitter and promptly found a bunch of people to follow, and several of those folks are now following me! I feel like I'm in a Verizon ad, only with far fewer followers behind me. But what the heck, it's another new toy. Feel free to follow me -- no guarantees on how often I'll drop a breadcrumb of wisdom. Actually, no guarantees on the wisdom either.

You might have noticed that I also switched up the template and cleaned up the sidebar. This template appeared to be rather jazzy, so let's go with it for a while. However, it might be a bit too jazzy. I don't know -- what do you think? The sidebar just seemed to be getting kind of junked up, so boom! Away with extraneous stuff! So there!

I think everything is copasetic for the weekend. Assisted Living notified of Mom's Big Adventure, reservations made for tonight at Legal Seafoods, tickets for hockey game firmly in purse, bills paid (more or less), phone calls returned.

Best thing? I do not have to cook for Thanksgiving! All I have to do is show up for dinner. After dinner we will kiss everyone goodbye, jump back into the car, speed down to the beach, and kiss everyone hello.

Good times.