For a while, I thought that I might have been the first AOL employee to have a blog. I know that can’t be true, but I’m curious as to who the AOL Blogfather is (term stolen gracelessly from Reid, who is one of my blogfathers).\
If you’re an AOL or Netscape current or former employee and you have a blog whose first post is older than 7/20/2000, please let me know (you know, post a comment). It would be nice if the blog was still active.\
Why do this today? Well, another great AOLer has started a blog, Jacob Rosenberg. Jacob’s a great guy and one of my favorite operations folks. His second post is a short history of the many web servers that have come out of AOL. I’ve used all of them at some point, and remember them (mostly) fondly.\
Only nine days until this blog’s sixth birthday. I still haven’t decided what to get it yet.
Author: Kevin Lawver
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Searching For The AOL Blogfather
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Guess what?
You have to actually open your e-mail program to see if your wonderful-but-traveling husband sent you something before he went to bed. It’s true. ::Nods sagely::
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Doctor Who?
I love my doctor! He called in an antibiotic prescription for me without making me come in for an exam! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee.
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Mash It Up
Hello from sunny and sleepy Northern California. I’m here for Mashup Camp, and presenting tomorrow on AIM Pages and ModuleT. My presentation’s done, I’m wearing a screaming pink shirt and I got four hours of sleep (thanks, United – delayed flights are awesome). I’m ready to mash it up!\
I rented a car, and was expecting to get to drive another G6. What did Avis have available? I ultra-awesome. Chevy HHR! It looks like an almost-butch PT Cruiser and drives like a brick. It feels like I’m sitting in a submarine. The pillars on either side of the windshield are so wide that it looks like a small porthole, not a windshield, and it’s almost at 90 degrees (as is everything on the dash), so it’s a very strange driving experience. I don’t recommend it.\
But, whatever. I’m here for the mashups, not driving, right? -
A thought:
I have never had a boyfriend.\
Hmmm.\
Kevin needs to come home and be my boyfriend.\
Yea, I guess since we’re married with children, that isn’t quite going to work.\
Speaking of Kevin, while I was at the store today, I bought Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey, which I had never had before. It is awesome! Banana ice cream, with fudge pieces and walnuts. Yum! Kevin hates bananas though, which is probably why I have never tried it. But while the cat’s away, the mice’ll play. And eat lots of ‘nanas! -
My body went on strike
My body went on strike Friday morning, but we all managed to make it through the weekend. On the way back from taking Kevin to the airport today, I stopped and got some specialty medicine, so management is hoping that the body will be back on the job soon. It will have to work overtime, with no pay of course, to make up for the days it took off.
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Why I Love Mr. Smokler
He’s on stage, and he owns it. Not in costume, not in character, but he owns that stage. Kevin, you’re a star.
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WTF?
NY Supreme Court rules against same-sex marriage. This decision just boggles me. While not affecting me personally, gay rights are very important to me. Lately my church has taken a more active role against gay rights, urging its members to write their politicians in favor of the Gay Marriage Ban. I can’t support that at all. I am even thinking about leaving the church over it.
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Test Drive Monday
Since AOL was nice enough to give us the day off today (well, I hope they did, because I’m not at the office), I decided to go test drive cars! Here’s what I drove and my impressions of each (in chronological order):
- 2002 Volvo S60: I loved it, roomy, comfortable, gorgeous ride and a great looking car. It’s a little older than I wanted, and a few more miles, but it’s in the price range and absolutely a joy to drive. The interior is amazing.
- 2006 Honda Civic EX: Not bad. It’s roomier than I’d been told, and pretty comfortable to drive. The ride is pretty rough and it feels under-powered. Interior’s not bad.
- 2006 Toyota Yaris: It’s cheap and feels like it. Totally underpowered, cheap interior, but oddly enough, a better ride than the Civic.
- 2006 Toyota Matrix: Nice ride, much nicer interior than Civic or Yaris, the right amount of power and a lot of interior room. I kind of drove this on a lark, but it was worth it. Better than either the Civic or Yaris.
- 2006 Volkswagen Rabbit 4-door: Loved it. Better interior than anything but the S60, great ride, peppy and a lot of fun to drive. Right in the price range too.
- 2006 VW GTi: I shouldn’t have driven this one, but I’d seen a great review on Top Gear last year that I had to try it for myself. I love this car. It’s got amazing amounts of low-speed torque and the paddle gear-shifting is way too much fun. The VW sales guy was really cool as well, and loved showing off all the neat touches in both cars. I’m hoping I can talk Jen into this one (it’s a little out of the budget and it’s only a two-door), but I’ll probably go with the Rabbit.\
So, it’s down to the G6, which I’m renting next week, an S60, a Rabbit or, if Jen goes for it, a GTi. I had a lot of fun today, and was really impressed by the attitudes at Don Beyer Volvo and Lindsey Volkswagen. All the dealers were friendly, but the folks at those two dealerships were better than the rest by far.\
I’m hoping to make a decision after I get back from Mashup Camp.
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Transcending CSS
If you can wait until October, you should get Transcending CSS . Andy showed me some of it at WWW2006, and it’s really cool. There are only a few designery standardsy books I own, including the orange bible and Dan’s second book and The Zen of CSS Design. This one will join ’em on the shelf.