Recently in Internet & Blogging Category

233 emails in my inbox... and I'm not talking about work email, folks.

That's right -- 233 personal emails in the last week. This week, only about 10% of them were related to online services/subscriptions (e.g. bills, news alerts, etc.) which means my friends were pretty busy trying to get a hold of me.

I used the Gmail vacation responder which was cool, I thought... kind of like a personal "Out of Office" auto-response. I told you I was serious. Haha.

I've been good at posting at least once a day this month so far. I'm hoping I can keep it up, but I have been fairly swamped trying to catch up on both personal and business-related emails. I'll try!

Vacation recap is still in the works...

That's right, folks... I'm taking a vacation. From work, that is. I'm actually hoping that it means I get to spend more quality time with y'all! Guess the ball is in my court for that one.

So my sister (in-law), Carol is going to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for a week. She's going for business and I'm tagging along for pleasure. (And I mean 'pleasure' in the purest form possible.) She's setup with a beach resort for FIVE DAYS and I'm coming along for the ride. SCORE!!!

I expect that while Carol's working, I will be spending all six days laying on the beach with some suntan oil, my iPod, a good book, and a margarita or two. Can you picture me there? I CAN'T WAIT!!

One of the challenges in my 101 in 1001 days was to go on vacation and not check email/myspace/facebook, etc... and yes, I am going to try to pull this off. I think my initial intention for email was to not check work-related emails, but what the heck. It's only six days and I'll have my phone for emergencies. Think I can do it??

Speaking of 101 in 1001, I do have a few updates for you all. I've been keeping track!

006 | + | dine at fifteen restaurants never visited (3/15)
1: Fogo de Chao (Washington, D.C.)
2: Da Hukilau (San Francisco, CA)
3: PF Chang's (Sunnyvale, CA)

007 | + | donate five boxes of "stuff" to the salvation army (2/5)
1: Box of girly items (April 5th, 2008)
2: Box of clothes & shoes (July 25th, 2008)

008 | X | eat a really good banana split

026 |   | participate in a charity walk/run
1: Scheduled for July 12-13, 2008 - Didn't happen. Boo.

032 | X | drop down two pant sizes (2/2) -- HELL YES!!

033 | X | get a massage

036 | + | go on vacation and don't check email/facebook/myspace/etc.
1: Scheduled for August 3-8, 2008

069 | X | take a bubble bath

087 | + | go to five different states (2/5)
1: Washington, D.C. [3/5/08]
2: Florida [8/3/08]

088 | + | go to four concerts (1/4)
1: Three Plus/Mango Kingz/Aloha Brewed @ DNA Lounge (June 26th, 2008)

I leave Sunday, but will do my best to keep you posted before then. I'm super stoked!!

             

WHOA. I broke the 1,000,000 mark without even noticing. See, I told you I've been busy!

Next on my To-Do List is to work on content. So many plans and changes in the works, so please bare with the random lifeless posts (most personal) until then.

Wow. This has got to be a joke.

I know, who on earth would really devote any time or energy into joking about my Alexa rank, but still.

I think I'm obsessed.

Well, I'd throw myself an ice cream social to celebrate my petty victory, but I scarfed down a king-size Drumstick last night and, as I popped the last bit into my mouth, I looked at the nutritional facts. Big mistake. 430 calories?!?! Oh, and of those 430 calories, 230 of them are fat calories.

Ugh.

Okay -- this isn't going to be nearly as exciting to you as this is to me, but I'm sharing it anyway. I know there are people out there (like Fashion Paramedic) who understand and can relate!

GEMMERZZ.com is my new blog. I had pulled my last blog, EyesOfMine.com, entirely because my boyfriend (at the time) hadn't told his 'ex' (for lack of a better word) that he had moved on. Thanks to Friendster, she had found my blog and was stalking me for the entire span of our relationship which was almost four years since my blog was deleted. (To this day, I still argue that she was also the "anonymous source" that led me to end our relationship.)

Anyway, I was blogging privately to select readers on Xanga after I took the site down, but since I kicked his ass (pardon the French) to the curb, I've decided to get back on track. After being gone from the scene for a while, it's hard to come back with a bang. I've really had to start from scratch, so please bear with me while I soak up the excitement that comes with getting a higher Alexa rank. I know how petty it must seem, but just last week, my rank was almost 6,000,000. This is a huge step up for me. Yay!

I will admit, I wasn't really brought up with an interest in news (local or otherwise) or politics. If anything, I would only hear about what was happening in the Philippines and rightfully so -- that was the home of my parents.

The older I get and, more specifically, in the last year, I've grown a really strong interest in knowing what is going on around me and in the rest of the world. I've subscribed to at least two dozen news feeds this year to make sure I'm conscious of things happening in and around my neighborhood, around the world, in the economy, etc. (I don't watch much TV, so relying on the news wasn't going to cut it!) It dawns on me, though, that current events were not really taught much when I was in school. Up until college, anyway. Sure, in high school I'd had that one teacher who really cared about these things and took it upon himself to educate us.

(This post is dedicated to my nine nieces and nephews... and my Joseph. Ha!)

I want the kids in my family to be aware -- aware of the things we, as a country, are doing to make their world a better place... and aware of the things we haven't done... aware of the realities that exist outside of their Wii's and Xboxes... aware of people less fortunate than them... aware of all the rights and advantages they have within an arm's reach... and aware of how those little things that are tough for them are tougher for someone else in this world.

I want them to know that Guantanamo Bay is not a mythical place where Harold & Kumar went. Hundreds of people are being held there as detainees and prisoners have knowingly been mistreated and tortured since 2002.

I want them to know that along with grown women, there are little girls their ages in Darfur that are being subjected to sexual violence and rape, and have been for almost 5 years.

I want them to know that, among many journalists and writers in China, Shi Tao is imprisoned simply because he sent an email.

I want them to know that in some countries, kids younger than 15 are being recruited as soldiers and being exploited as combatants.

I want them to know that kids in other countries can still be punished by death for misdemeanor crimes.

And I want them to care about these things and have a genuine interest in them before they turn twenty-something.

Today, we unite as bloggers, fighting for these causes... blogging for hope.

For more information, visit Bloggers Unite.

I'm not sure what it is... maybe a stomach flu or something? I've been feeling pretty nauseous the last few days and it decided to hit me full-force last night. Not a pretty sight.

The worst part is probably that I have to cook quite a bit for our Mother's Day celebration tomorrow. I hate cooking when I can't eat! Hopefully this is a 24-hour bug and will be gone in time for the festivities. Mmmm... tacos, prime rib, cake... I will be so bummed if I can't enjoy everything tomorrow.

OKAY -- so PDX Fashionista (blog) tagged me to do a meme!

The Rules:
1.) Answer the Question.
2.) Tag people.

If a Genie arrived one day and told you: "You have 3 wishes... use them wisely."
What would you wish for?

1.) I would wish for contentment for EVERYONE -- meaning that we're either given everything in life that would make us happy OR that we all become happy with everything we have in life.

2.) I would wish for 10 hours of sleep every night... or, at least, to feel like I'd had 10 hours of sleep every morning I wake up.

3.) I would wish for faster metabolism. Ha!

Now... I tag everyone. Enjoy!

This is the time of year where I get a little antsy when it comes to my sports... (YES - true tomboy in action!)

I'm a football lover at heart. (Go Broncos!) Baseball and basketball are both sports that I enjoy, but prefer to enjoy at the actual games versus watching from home. Rarely will I sit through a whole baseball or basketball game on the tube. I'll always end up switching channels to the Food Network. Ha!

So basketball season is winding down and there are still months to go before the NFL pre-season starts. SIGH. So what do I do? Absorb myself with football online, of course.

At the end of April, it turns out that FleaFlicker was acquired by AOL (article). FleaFlicker.com was this small site where you could play Fantasy Football for free. I thought that was pretty exciting. Hopefully they don't make me start paying, though. That would suck. Click here to read more about AOL's move. The new version of the site is scheduled to roll out in June or July, so I'm excited for that. Just in time for football season!

Any fantasy football fans out there? Wanna play? Let me know -- I'm always down. I'm already looking for my picks. Ha! There are a lot of good sites for helping you choose football picks (site). AddictSports.com hosts an annual game called Addicts Pick-em for Points that I might just check out. We'll see.

With regard to my Broncos, so sad to hear that Cutler was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes (article). My dad is diabetic, so I know the sort of adjustments he'll have to go through. So sad. Luckily it's not a disease that will restrict his football career... so no excuses, Cutler. You better start throwing that ball! Ha!

Okay -- putting the tomboy in me to rest for a while. Getting ready for work now. Later!

Hi, my name is Gemma, and I am the ultimate sorest loser... EVERRRRR. I wonder if they have programs to help people like me. Seriously.

So I recently subscribed to the Fashion Paramedic (blog) and today she introduced me to TypeRacer (site). It's a game that is pretty self-explanatory -- you race people by typing. Now, I type pretty fast, but these people are typing faster that 120+ wpm... and it's KILLING ME. Right now I'm blaming my laptop, but my fear is that I won't be getting a much better score using a desktop computer regardless. I guess we'll see soon enough.

For those of you who are friends with me on Facebook, perhaps you read about my unfortunate cranberry juice incident. I basically spilled half a bottle of cranberry juice on my chair... which I was sitting in. LUCKILY, I had my gym bag in my car, but yes, I spent the entire day at work in my gym clothes. (Note to self: Pack a spare pair of panties in gym bag from now on!!) Anyway, thanks to my lack of ergonomic expertise, I was sitting Indian-style in my chair... and because it wasn't enough that I was completely soaked from the hips down, half a cup of cranberry juice poured directly into each of my shoes.

SIGH.

So I did what I would assume any irritable person like myself would do... I threw them in the trash. Okay, okay -- let me also note that these shoes were wearing themselves out. I promise I wasn't being completely wasteful. So anyway, now I need to find new flats. I think I need to pay a visit to SF.

On a final note for tonight, the Amateur Gourmet (blog) posted somewhat of a recipe today that I found really interesting. It's called The World's Easiest Nutella Ice Cream (recipe). Apparently Nutella is all the rave is Filipino culture, yet I had it for the very first time in March while in Washington DC. Anyway, my nieces and nephews will have Nutella for dinner if it were up to them, so I think I am going to have to give this recipe a shot fairly soon. Maybe for Mother's Day. (Note to self: Need churn!) I thought I'd share in case there were other Nutella lovers out there.

ThursdayThirteen.com:
This week's theme is the alphabet. Last week we asked you to select a letter of the alphabet and use thirteen words that begin with that letter that describe you.

Well, what better letter to choose for me than "G".

1. Girl
2. Genuine
3. Genius
4. Gregarious
5. Geeky
6. Generous
7. God-fearing
8. Goofy
9. Gangster
10. Groovy
11. Grateful
12. Gassy
13. Gross

My list probably gets more accurate the further down you go. Ha!