Everything I know about poker, comes from one of three sources: Star Trek: The Next Generation, late nights in the common room in college, or my Uncle Joe. Sadly, the first is not interactive, the second is decades past, and the third died several years ago, having smoked himself into an early grave. He died happy, though, and there’s something to be said for that.

While I’ve seen ads for online poker, and I’ve been curious about such sites, I don’t have huge amounts of money to spend on card games. That being said, when I checked out Bet365 I felt like it was a safe environment. No old men in plaid pants waiting to scare you, no cigar smoke and one account lets you access poker, yes, but also bet on football or horse racing as well, all from the comfort of your own home.

It’s a safe environment – especially for women, there’s only one password and login to remember, and best of all? Green visors are optional.

Last weekend, I spent a happy couple of hours reading the descriptions of apartments in Paris. This evening, I relocated (virtually) to Rome, and spent some time surfing at http://www.romaclick.com/, this great site for finding accommodations in Rome, as well as general information on life i n the city, and links to guided tours.

I’ve learned that when staying in Europe for any length of time, renting an apartment or house ends up being far less expensive than staying in a hotel, and also gives you room to spread out. You get to cook your own meals, hang out on a sofa in just a t-shirt, if you want to, and really experience living in a foreign city, instead of merely visiting one.

Most of the Rome apartments listed on RomaClick.com are upscale, and steps away from one or more tourist attraction or points of interest. The fees listed include utilities and a formal cleaning service after you check out, but not daily cleaning – but that’s really the point. Fees are listed in Euros, but there are various sites where you can convert that to Dollars if you need to – I’ve always found that it’s easier not to convert. If I’m in Mexico I think in Pesos; in Europe, it’s easier just to think in Euros. It’s the conversion that makes you insane.

Aside from apartments, RomaClick.com also offers information on hotels and Bed&Breakfasts.

My parents are planning a trip to Italy next spring. I’ve made it a point to tell them about this site, so they’ll know where to look for their Rome accommodation.

If you came here looking for this week’s Wordless Wednesday post, it’s here.

It’s a bit before six in the morning, and I should be sleeping. In fact, I was tired before one, but lingered online until Fuzzy came to bed around two, chatting with a friend. It’s been raining – a slow, gentle, soaking rain – pretty much constantly since about five yesterday afternoon, and since the temperature was in the mid seventies, I actually turned off the a/c, opened up the house, and let in the moist air and the sizzling sound of the rain falling into the pool, combined with the thicker, wetter sound of raindrops against leaves, cement, and wood.

We slept under fresh-from-the-dryer sheets until Zorro woke me up around four, asking to go out. It was still raining, and he doesn’t like to get his feet wet, but I knew if he had to pee badly enough, he’d deal with the wet. Apparently, this wasn’t a bladder emergency, because I tossed him gently outside, closed the door so he wouldn’t bolt right back in, and proceeded to watch him stare pointedly at the point where the sliding door meets the wall for five minutes, in that very focused chihuahua way of his.

I gave up, and let him back in, rubbed him down with a towel, and told him he was an impossible little dog, but I loved him anyway. I don’t know if he understands the words – dogs, like people, are capable of selective listening, and will respond to ‘treat’ and ‘walk’ in the same day they pretend not to understand the word ‘no.’

Walking back to the bedroom, I decided the house was stuffy, so I clicked the a/c back on. (Amazingly, our electric bill for August, the hottest month of 2007, so far, was almost $100 lower than usual. Because of this, I do not feel guilty about having the a/c set to my version of cool, instead of Fuzzy’s, though lately I’ve been really sensitive to cold. I wonder if that’s an unwritten side effect of alli.) I closed the bedroom window, took my own elimination break, and then crawled into bed.

At that point I realized there was actual thunder and lighting outside – of the sort that is not at all ominous, but rather like the weather is murmuring comforting thoughts. “Let your creativity shine,” the lightning says, in pale flickers, and the thunder adds, “and don’t worry so much if about what people like. Write what you like.” In my head, Michael “Worf” Dorn is the voice of the thunder.

I like to watch and listen to storms, and I was kind of awake at that point, and hungry, so I’ve been sitting up in bed since then, visiting Wordless Wednesday participants, and trying to use words and water to kill the hungry feeling, so I can snatch a couple more hours of sleep.

And on that note, I shall close the lid on the computer, snuggle up with Fuzzy, Zorro, and Miss Cleo, and see if there might not be time for another dream or two before I have to get up for real.

If you’ve been on the Internet for any length of time, you will, at some point, consider changing – or choosing – a hosting company for your website or blog. If you’re like me, you begin this process by polling your friends.

But what if you aren’t blessed with geeky friends? Or what if you’re turn between two of their recommendations? What do you do then? The answer is simple. You go to http://www.webhostingunleashed.com/, and use their newly re-tooled site to do some objective research.

Web Hosting Unleashed features a searchable database of web hosts – a host of Hosts – if you will. You can search by type (vps vs. reseller accounts, for example), or alphabetically, and even better than mere searching, you can also compare several hosts, to see how their features differ.

User opinion is a big part of this site, and I spent a good half-hour reading reviews of my own hosting company before I sat down to write this post, to see if what was posted meshed with my own experiences. By and large, it did, and I was happy to see that negative posts are represented, because it tells me Web Hosting Unleashed is about real information, and providing good service.

As I said, I’m not in the market to change web hosts – and I am blessed with a bunch of friends who are at least as geeky as me – but I’d recommend Web Hosting Unleashed to anyone seeking honest comparisons, and ease of use.

(WordlessWednesday is the next post down.)

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A slightly fictionalized account of What I Do For a Living, as told to my mother and aunt, via email..

One of the parts of my job is to write articles on command. I don’t usually get to pick the topic, just the angle. M2 (who is in charge of selling links) will email me and say, “I need 500 words about hybrid technology for a green website” or “Please write 1200 words about different anti-theft measures for cars.” Generally, my turnaround time is 4-8 hours, when I can easily research stuff on the ‘net.

On Thursday, M2 said, “I need you to write something technical about vintage pickup trucks for this website.” He gave me the URL, and I went and looked, and it was really overwhelmingly technical. Stuff like, “How to modify a flat six engine in a 1949 truck.” or “How to replace the hinge in the windshield of a 1941 truck.” I was a bit daunted, but I love a challenge. “Okay,” I said. “I’ll write something, but I need the weekend for something this specific.” Making my task even more difficult than I originally thought was the fact that the website in question, is THE AUTHORITY for restoring vintage pickups. Everyone links back to them. No pressure.

I did what anyone would. I begged a friend for help. “Rana,” I said to my friend who grew up in West Texas, and knows the difference between types of shotguns the way the rest of us know the difference between Dolce & Gabbana and DKNY. “Rana, I’m a city girl. You say ‘truck’ and I envision something with ‘FedEx’ emblazoned across the side. I have no clue what to write about – they’ve even covered upholstery.” (No pun intended.)

We brainstormed on and off over the weekend, and finally we hit upon an untouched subject. “Radios,” she said, “No one wants a truck without tunes.”

“Oh, good idea,” I said. “They were still using tubes back then, weren’t they? It was pre-transistor.”

So I fired up Firefox and Blingo, and found some information about radios and trucks, partly from some links Rana found, and partly from my mad Blingo skillz, and put together 381 words on “common technical problems with vintage truck radios,” including a lot of stuff about tubes and vibrations and capacitors…and as I was writing, I was back in Grandpa’s basement watching the wavy lines on the oscilloscope.

So what began as the assignment from hell ended up an interesting trip down memory lane.

Thanks, Rana.

I grew up watching MASH, and I remember very vividly an interview in which Alan Alda said that the dog tags the cast wore belonged to real soldiers. I thought that was cool. I also remember a time when dog tags were used as a fashion accessory. I remember wanting some.

Now, there’s a company, Quick Trophy, offering fashion colored dog tags as an alternative to medals or participation prizes for school or community sports teams. I don’t play any kind of sport (well, unless improv counts), but I liked the idea of using these dog tags as a form of advertising for my website, especially after I learned that one of the colors available is pink.

I first had to choose my sport, because each tag comes with a little icon, representing the sport or event in question. I selected LaCrosse because I think it’s an underrated sport. When I order more, I’ll probably pick cheerleading or music. Since I was ordering only one tag, I only had to fill out one set of engraving information, but the website is set up to allow customization within each order, so if you want different names on each of ten tags, you can do that.

The interface was easy to use and intuitive, and I received an email confirming my order after I’d completed the checkout procedure. A few days later, I received another email telling me my order has shipped, and a couple of days after that, my pink dog tag was waiting for me in the mailbox, with the 18″ ball chain sealed in a baggie, just as promised. (Each piece is wrapped in plastic, so that nothing arrives scratched.)

The chain was a little bit tough to link together, mainly because I didn’t want to break a nail, but it snapped into place, and the shiny pink tag can be worn around my neck with no fuss, and no discomfort because it weighs almost nothing. The color of the pink, by the way, is the same as the pink iPod shuffle.

I would definitely use Quick Trophy again, as I had my tag within a week, even without special shipping, and I really liked the ease of use of their site. As well, I like that there are discounts for ordering items in larger quantities.

Of course, they sell other sorts of prize trophies as well – including actual medals.

But I really like the dog tags.

1. The quarterback is the most important player on a football team. He controls the action, and the responsibility for the team’s success is on his shoulders. Which musician is your choice for musical QB?
   It’s completely cheesy, and totally dates me, but I have to say Billy Joel. If you’ve never seen his episode of Inside the Actors Studio, you’ve missed a treat.
2. What album scores a touchdown for you (i.e. it’s just the best)?
   One of my favorite albums EVER is Barenaked Ladies’ Stunt, but right now I’m really digging the newest offering from Mandy Moore.
3. What song needs a game ejection?
   There are only two songs that I’ve had intense negative reactions to, and neither are terribly recent. The first was Uncle Kracker’s “Follow Me,” and the second is the Kid Rock/Sheryl Crow duet “I Put Your Picture Away.” It’s the lyrics I have an issue with, especially – the first actually has kind of a kicky melody.
4. Football is about intense, bone-crushing excitement. What song or artist gives you that same feeling?
   All summer I’ve been listening to this ancient Eric Carmen song “Make Me Lose Control” – it just has that summer sun-sand-surf bonfire on the beach, retro chording sort of feeling. It’s exciting in a nostalgic sort of way. Otherwise, I’m kind of partial to Robbie Williams’s “Let Me Entertain You,” and have been ever since I heard it used in a skating show several years ago.

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