Now that I've got your attention

Um, wow. Hi!

I'm not quite sure what to do here. Leah just gave me an award, and I'm honored and flattered but now there are a lot of people coming here to read something think-y. Hi, everybody!

Also, hi Sara! Congratulations!

The problem is that I don't have anything think-y to write about. I want to write a post-Minneapolis trip wrap up, complete with photos which are on the camera at home.[Update: my sister and I have had a discussion, and so I'm taking this part out becasuse she doesn't want me writing about her on the internet]. Also, there's a post in my brain somewhere about how worried I am about our newly vegan friends, who have managed to go an entire month in their new lifestyle without eating any beans or lentils or many veggies, but who seem to be eating a lot of frankenfoods made from soy and wheat gluten, which, OK, but if your digestive system is that messed up maybe you should think about having some more balance in your diet. The problem with writing about these topics is that I know that I have way more of an audience than I did a year ago when I was first really writing here, and because of that audience, some of whom I know will read, some of whom may read (hey, it's the internet), down comes the self-censor.

Hulk has been feeling mighty poorly as of late (poor guy, sick for his spring break!) and I think I have what he has, only I'm in the earlier stages. So yesterday I took a pre-emptive sick day to rest up some, and it turned out to be a really nice day. We had a good sleep-in, a leisurely breakfast, and I spent some time looking at dresses on the internet that I might think about wearing to get married in (hey, there's a lot of things we can't research until we pick a date and a place, but I can look at dresses all I want!), and I found a dress that I liked and found a store downtown that might sell it. We headed out to take a look, only to find the doors of the place shuttered tight and no hours posted.

Which brings me nicely to my mini-rant about the wedding dress industry, which, um, what the hell? I find it completely bizarre. First, the designers all have these gorgeous websites that show you all kinds of dresses, complete with color options (what will it look like in brick? in chartreuse? in slate?), but you can't buy dresses directly online, nor do they tell you how much they cost. You have to see samples of the dresses in bridal stores, most of which are the wrong size for most people, and it's highly unlikely that they have every style number or color from a given designer. Then, there's the bridal store itself - you can't just pop in and try on dresses, oh no. You have to make an appointment and the whole thing is just weird and secretive. The only other option is Wedding MegaMart, rhymes with Mavid's Midol, which has such a horrible reputation from what I've been able to glean reading message boards and stuff that I'm afraid to even look at their stuff, let alone go to one of their stores.

So, we walked away from the store without even knowing when the damn place is open, and went to the movies. I'm sure Hulk will be doing a review of 300, but let's just say I got to see enough rippling abs and pecs and boobies to last me a good long while. I did like the movie, despite its incessant fighting and gore, because of the comic book style and over-the-topness. Plus, there was a lot of eye candy, and it didn't overly concern itself with plot. I mean, it's hard to make a 2 hour movie out of the story of Thermopylae (story: 300 Spartans fight a crapton of people who are trying to conquer the world. They all die.), a well-known historical event that happend 2500 years ago. So they did it in myth/legend style, and it worked for me.

Oh yes, the award! Well, um, I never thought much of myself as being a thought-provoking writer - and I'm certainly not influential in any way, seeing as how I think I have about 8 people who actually read this thing regularly (including SOMEONE in Brisbane. Who are you?). But I do read a lot of blogs, so I can easily pass this award on to some known and not-so-well-known bloggers.

1. Samantha at Sunday School Rebel. I love how mindful she is about her writing and the world around her, and even though she's religious and I'm not, I find great beauty in her posts about God and religion. She also takes yummy pictures.

2. Flea at One Good Thing. While her blogging has been sporadic as of late, due to her job at Big Machine, the issues she writes about always make me think about my opinions on those same issues: how to handle life with an exceptional child, feminism, cats that eat your shoes.

3. Dutch and Wood at Sweet Juniper. This blog is mostly written by Dutch, who is the kind of dad I wish I had, even though he's like two years older than I am, and I love how he approaches each new adventure in parenting. I love reading how their parenting styles mesh together, and about how much they love each other outside of their roles as parents.

4. Todd at Death Wore a Feathered Mullet. I love the way he's able to combine profanity, outrage, and bizzare events in the world at large to create incredible diatribes in a way I never could, about a lot of things that I completely agree with. Plus, he's got a great comment crowd.

5. Hulkster at Great Big Nerd. OK, I couldn't help myself. He is my fiance. But there's a reason I fell for him over the internets in the first place, and that's his great writing and ability to make me really think about things. If it weren't for those things, both of which are captured on his blog, we never would have been a couple.

So I have been awarded, and I have awarded, and it's time for me to go hop back on the elliptical to hamster my way out of winter pudge. Gotta work off that amazing dark chocolate/spice birthday cake, another Hulk from scratch original.