Where do you do your online shopping?
I do 99% of my online shopping with Amazon. The remaining bits and pieces I do occur rarely, usually with specialized vendors for customized products or unique gifts.
What's on your holiday wish list?
I have lots of items on my Amazon wish list... the usual books, movies and music. I'd really like the World of Warcraft expansion pack, but it's not due out until January.
Who's the hardest person to shop for on your holiday list?
My mother is now the hardest person to shop for. Years ago, I knew she liked certain things, collectibles like Swavorski. I'd also know that I could get specialized Lenox pieces to go with her Christmas china pattern. But between the increasing cost of such gifts and her growing clutter, I've since not known what best to get for her. It doesn't help that she says she doesn't want anything.
So usually I end up giving her a framed holiday picture of my son, maybe some Godiva or coffee. This year, she did ask for two specific cookbooks, so I've gotten both and I might put together an Italian themed basket -- pasta, imported sauce, good cheese, maybe some prosciutto from the Italian market.
Do you keep a journal or diary? How often do you write in it?
Submitted by Kim.
I do keep a virtual journal and I try to write every day or every other
day. Some days I write a lot, other days not so much. A lot depends
on time and topic. I do not keep a paper journal. I've tried over the years, dabbling with different formats and purchasing new, pretty notebooks, but my handwriting is not great and I get frustrated with the lack of readability.
What's your favorite Thanksgiving dish?
Submitted by Brennan.
Actually, I like it all... the turkey, the stuffing and the cranberry sauce. I really like having homemade mac & cheese, too, but that's not really a Thanksgiving dish. Last year, I finally tasted sweet potatoes and I was surprised to enjoy them so much. My son tells me he will have only corn, but he's six and doesn't appreciate the full menu.
For turkey, I like Alton Brown's brine recipe. I'm not picky about stuffing since I've only known the boxed kind, and I prefer jelled cranberry sauce to whole. When my grandmother was still alive, she'd make an Italian meal of, say, lasagne or baked ziti, and then later there'd be the American meal of turkey, etc. I can't imagine such a big meal these days, and though my extended family are rather cruel and flakey, I occasionally miss those old traditions.
My mom is making Thanksgiving this year and I feel kinda funny... I don't mind not having to do all that cooking, but I feel strange not planning to get groceries and cook.
What's the most drastic change you've ever made to your appearance?
Submitted by Laurie.
The most drastic change, aside from losing a lot of weight in my mid-20s, was actually involuntary.
When I was ten years old, a friend of my uncle said she could cut my hair. It was waist length at the time and I wanted it to be shoulder length. Well, she was a talker and she talked so much that my hair ended up extremely short. I looked like a boy when she was finished, and I was very, very upset. Growing it out was an exercise in torture, but I tried different shorter styles in junior high to deal with the consequences. I had a chaotic bob and then I tried the feathered mullet look and I tried bangs... nothing really worked.
Since then, I've never cut my hair shorter than chin length, and even then, I get very anxious at the hairdresser.
Windows, Mac, Linux - What's your preference and why?
Submitted by ramblingsbymark.
At home, I've been a happy and dedicated Mac user for about 3.5 years now. My spousal unit switched a few years before that, when the titanium Power Books first came out, and I was attracted to the clean, pretty interface and ease of use. Our Gateway was getting old and uncooperative and I longed for the freedom of a wireless, portable computer. I saw that Macs were very reliable, too, and since I wasn't a gamer, I didn't worry about what I might be missing.
When Apple opened a store in Virginia, I loved to visit and play with the technology there. Eventually, I managed to convince a few people at work to get some Macs for a lab, those big bulky old eMacs, and it was nice to use the photo and movie making software that came standard. By the time I got my own laptop, I was ready to switch. I ordered my "Precious" and anxiously tracked her arrival to my home. Within two weeks of getting the laptop, I was fully acclimated to the new operating system.
At work, I have to move between Windows and Mac because our IT staff don't fully support Mac, especially with networked issues. Most of the software I use is available for both platforms so it's easy to move back and forth. I really dislike having to work on a PC, because it hangs and chokes and sputters even though it's only a year old, but it's a necessarily evil given the constraints. But I've managed to upgrade an entire computer lab with Macs and convert a half dozen faculty over to using Macs. Some have even gone out and bought personal Macs for their homes, which makes me happy.
What's your favorite radio station, past or present?
When I moved back to the States after spending six years in Germany, I'd only had the Armed Forces Network for my radio listening. I used to listen to Casey Kasem's Top 40 every Sunday, but that wasn't quite the same as a radio station.
In Maryland, I discovered a mix station called MIX 106.5, and they played the music I liked -- a mixture of 70s and 80s, and as the new decade started, 90s. I listened to the morning show, more for the music than the hosts, and I'd keep the radio going throughout the day while I worked. Sure, I often heard the same hits and there was a lot of advertising, but I could still get access to my favorite tunes.
Once I left daycare, I ended up in an office located in the basement where there was no radio reception. I could only hear my station while driving to/from work. Another mix station offered a stream for a short time, but I didn't like the DJs as much. I turned to CDs, then movies, to entertain myself at work. For a short time, I had an office with a window, and I got my radio working again. Then I moved to another building with no windows, and my radio time ended again.
My spousal unit introduced me to NPR when we got married, and now I listen to it while driving to work. Sometimes I listen to archived stories or download podcasts. I occasionally flip over the mix station, and sometimes I like what I hear... but mostly, I content myself to using my iPod where I can guarantee the content and eliminate ads, pledge drives and chatter altogether.
What's your dream career?
Submitted by Something.
I'd like to write, edit and create publications -- any topic of interest to me, whether it's writing or early childhood education or technology or parenting. I'd like to hone my voice, build a readership, discover new things and become a resource. I wouldn't mind doing this online or in print, just as long as I could keep myself busy and be satisfied in the process. I'd like to work from home or a small office close to home with flexible hours and a casual, family-friendly environment.
But is that really a dream career? When I was a teenager, I imagined myself in journalism or publishing, pursuing my career with a creative passion that now escapes me. I suppose that thinking about writing and editing and creating layouts after twenty years means this probably is something that's really taken a hold on me, so I guess it is a dream career. Creating content and passing it on to others is an enjoyable task for
me, and I suppose that's why I kept a public blog for as long as I did.
How did you pick your Vox name? Does it mean something?
Submitted by LeendaDLL.
I am terribly unoriginal... I went with my first name.
