Time Off

Hope you all have a great, fun week! I'm taking some time off from the blog this week, as my husband is on vacation and we've got tons of friends in town this week and a lot going on.

Those of you going to Comic-Con, have a blast for me, too!!

Commenting Thoughts

If you know me in real life or in any kind of social media, you should probably know by now I like to talk. But I don't just like to hear myself talk. I like to have conversations. I like to respond to people. Yesterday's post is a prime example of that. Plus multi-sided conversations can lead to great and interesting discoveries.

To that end, I've decided I do not like Blogger's commenting system. Eventually, I'd like to go self-hosted and switch to Wordpress, but for now, I'm gonna be cheap and stick with what's free. That means I'm thinking about changing my commenting system on this site to either IntenseDebate or Disqus. I've used both of these services on other people's blogs and like them a lot. What I'm looking for, specifically, is the ability for people to reply directly to others' comments, instead of posting a new comment at the end and using an @ to address the specific person.

From what I've been told, I might lose my old comments on old posts, but I guess that's a price I'll have to pay if I want a better commenting system.

Any thoughts, suggestions, and/or advice on this?

**Edit: After a very short time and lots of feedback, I think I'm going to remain as is for the time being and just to a little research. If it seems to be a good idea in a month or so, I may go to WP. We'll see. I may give up on this silly little idea and do absolutely nothing. But thanks for the input!**

Star Wars Bacon

Yes, you read that correctly. This is one of the many reasons I love Twitter and my geeky friends I've made there. If you are a regular reader of Crayons and Cylons, you know that I am quite the fan of bacon. But as we all should know, I am not the only one. It all started out as an innocent tweet about my dog:

Then it began to elicit responses such as this:

To which I responded:

It began to spiral out of control from there...

...as everyone had their own opinions on the epic epicness of bacon.
But what Nick said caught my attention. I mean, come on. Star Wars bacon?! How incredible is that?!

I issued a challenge. My friends were game...

Lo and behold, there was success!

We feasted our eyes upon this:

Not a TIE fighter, but an AT-AT. Nick's work was astounding. He won the Internets last night!
I would still like to see a bacon TIE fighter. If you ever see one or make one, please share it with me!

While Nick was using his Google skills, fueled by the power of 34 (though, technically, 32, as this was not Star Wars bacon pr0n), other things were happening. Scary things.

I discovered there is a Twitter baconbot. His name is @Bacon_FTW

Then, Nicole had to go and do this:

It led us to Bacon Today, and their story about some crazy guy who's figured out how to DYE BACON! Why would you ever commit such an atrocity?!

Her find started to bring down the bacon high we were all on from the discovery of Star Wars bacon.

But then CT from Nerd Lunch rode in on his trusty PhotoShop steed and presented us with teh awesome.

And with that, I called it a night.

It had been an epic adventure that would not have been possible without the power of teh Tubez. It is both a blessing and a curse. And for that, I thank you, Al Gore's head in a jar.

fin.

Hump Day Hotties #13

I can't help it. The more I watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the more I grow to love Spike. It's not just James Marsters (though he doesn't hurt, right), but the character is just so bloody brilliantly written! Well written characters who are also easy on the eyes are quite possibly the best kind.

 Damn right, I'm impure. I'm as impure as the driven yellow snow.

You'll find her just in the nick of time. That's what you bloody hero-types do.

Don't forget to catch him when Caprica returns this fall. Also, at Dragon*Con. *squee* 

Poetry Blog Hop: Where I'm From

As I've not been doing a whole lot of creative writing in a long time, when @metta1313 suggested last week, an assignment fit for we English teachers, I jumped at the opportunity. I remember the 8th grade teachers using this same assignment as a "getting to know you" exercise with their students a few years ago and thinking how cool it was then. Now I'm trying my hand at the skeleton poem inspired by George Ella Lyon, "Where I'm From". 
-------
I  am from mountains of books

from cookies I bake and novels that consume me

I am from the silver-blue walls 

of my hideaway that hide me from the night

(calm, and at the same time 

mysterious, like a sky before the storm)
 

I am from the delicate, pink petunias spreading,

The errant sassafras against the fence 

whose long gone limbs I remember

as if they were my own.

 

I’m from big holiday dinners and perfectionism 

that makes them complete

from a neurotic, analytical, overly-talkative mother 

and a painfully distant father.
 

I’m from a nose stuck in a book 

and baking cookies at Christmas

and from sitting at a little table 

away from everyone else with my favorite Cousin at meals. 
 

I’m from "Hold your horses!" and "Stop picking your nose!"

and "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."
 

I’m from big family holiday dinners 

with meticulously 

roasted meats and ever-present mashed potatoes

I’m from the suburban South and heaths and highlands,

sweet corn on the cob and whoopie pies.

From the time when my grandma brought home 

all the old books 

on record from her classroom 

when she retired,

my cousins and I hid in the back bedroom

red-striped record player on, Frog and Toad are Friends.

In a box in my closet
where it's not too far away,
are piles and piles of family photos
that I treasure,
but am too distracted to do anything with.
Someday, maybe, a scrapbook or
album, but for now
from piles of memories.
------