But this meme is from Loz.

Early on in my “career” as a blogger, I signed on to BlogCatalog or one of those other “I’ma blog whore” sites. One of the first stops I made in my journey, was this Aussie named Loz. I loved his writing. Up until that point, I belonged to one of those 30 second visit websites, like BlogExplosion and all I did was watch the countdown clock instead of reading. But Loz was different. Here was a guy that was doing what I wished I could do; write something of substance. Every post of his is a heartfelt and sometimes heartbreaking essay. I love it and I am lucky to know Loz. He is a class act. Thank you Loz!

Here is the original Cut-and-Paste from Sueblimely, the originator of this Meme.

I have gained so much more knowledge of blogging than I could possibly have learned just by researching the subject. This is all due to the help, support and encouragement I have received from other bloggers. I have therefore created the ‘Blogging Mentor Award‘ to recognize and thank those who help us on our path to blogging, be it encouraging and helping us to start blogging or helping us to be the best we can, once we have started.

Unlike most awards, it is not necessary to have received it yourself to be able to pass it on to others. It is free for anyone to use; anyone who wishes to say thank you to their own blog mentors. All that I ask is that you include a mention and link to my Blog Mentor Page. This way I can compile lists of those who have been generous enough to give the award and those who have received it, giving them recognition myself by some backlinks

There are two formats to choose from – the graphic or the button:

What prompted me to create the award was reading that January is National Mentoring Month.in the USA. This is an initiative spearheaded by the Harvard Mentoring Project of the Harvard School of Public Health, with the aim of recruiting volunteer mentors to help young people achieve their full potential. The US ‘Thank Your Mentor Day™’ is dedicated to thanking or honoring individuals who have guided us and had a lasting impact on our lives.

Although the Blogging Mentor award is not restricted for use in January’s Mentoring Month, ‘Thank your Mentor Day‘ may be a particularly good time to use it. The date for 2008 is 24th January.

 

So, now comes the part I hate…nominating others that have probably already been tagged. I consider everyone in my blogroll my mentor, but I will nominate 2 of you that have been around since the beginning.

Dan - not me but the real Dan; the Dan that gives all Dans a good name. He is cool, has a beautiful family, has great taste in American baseball teams and mustard, and has that ever-so-adorable accent that makes him sound very smart…until he says the word PUNGENT, which he pronounces “POONGENT.”

Daizie – She continues to be a mentor and an inspiration to me. If my fingers released as many words as hers do, I would be so happy. She can lob an insult my way and make me feel like I deserved it. But all the ribbing is designed to motivate me. Despite the fact that she is not a true Patriot (ie she does not like the New England Patriots), she is still the one I have in the back of my head whenever I sit down to not write.

There are dozens more of you out there. I stalk you, I email you and bother you. But it is because I am insanely jealous of you.

Keep up the great work out there and thank you Lozster!

There are memes to cover every conceivable topic. Here is a brief list of some that I have seen (ie Googled) recently:

• 10 Things About Me
• 5 Things About Me
• 8 Questions
• 4 Questions
• 5 Favorite Gadgets
• Show Us Your Desktop
• Handwriting Meme
• Middle Name Meme
• Thursday Thirteen
• Interview Me
• What is My Most Common Writing Mistake
• The Christmas Meme
• If I Could Be…
• Super Simple Spiritual Sunday
• The Name Meme
• 5 Strengths / 4 People Meme
• Book Meme
• Inside the Actor’s Studio Meme
• Why Do You Blog?
• The Ultimate Power Meme
• The Birthday Meme
• 101 Things About Me
• The Soundtrack of Your Life
• The Top 5 Reasons The Best Bloggers Come From The Planet Earth
• Link Love Meme
• [your name] Needs
• Johari Window Meme
• Booky Meme
• Blogging Tips Meme
• The Cook Next Door Meme
• Wikipedia Blog Meme Game
• 5 Rules For Really Great Blogging

…and the list goes on.

Despite my apparent distaste for meme-ing, the truth is I don’t mind them. I actually enjoy reading about both of you and I am flattered that you are interested in me. The only problem is the “tag, your it” part. I HATE THAT PART!

So for now until the remainder of 2007, I am declaring a Meme-atorium. This means that I will happily allow myself to be tagged by you with a promise that I will “get to it” sometime in 2008 (just around the time that blogging becomes un-cool and Time magazine has a cover article entitled: The Death of the Blog. I am always on the wrong side of the cool curve!).

But I have only one request. In order to tag me for a meme, I asking that both of you include a meme, started by me, called: A Blog Better Than Mine Meme. All you need to do is review someone else’s blog that you think is at least as good as yours. Many of you already do something like this with your weekly reviews of blogs or Blog of the Week segments.

This isn’t about self-promotion or massive propagation. This is about genuinely acknowledging the talent and creativity of others. No reason to link back to me or anyone else. Simply include a post entitled “A Blog Better Than Mine” and review it.

I am only thinking this through as I type and I know I am getting incoherent, so to make a short story long, here are the key points of my “meme.”

1. Tag me for any meme you want. In fact, I welcome them.
2. Be patient and wait until 2008 (only 2 months away!)
3. In the same week, write a post called “A Blog Better Than Mine” and review it.

One day, I will come up with a logo to make it pretty and some “rules” that actually make sense.

Thanks for listening.

When Avery says to “take it like a man” and Deb happily blurts out that she tagged me not because she likes what I have to say but in order to punish me “because he NEVER does the meme’s he’s assigned. For shame, Dan! For shame” (scroll allllllll the way down as that is where Deb puts her afterthoughts), then I know my blog is no longer about me. It is now about responding to the “Tell me 37 things your high school classmates would say about you, if they saw you today” meme or the “Tell me the name of your favorite 28 insects” meme or my favorite “What would you do if you found out that all words ending in -ing were made illegal tomorrow” meme.

Firstly, in my own feeble defense, I am only behind on two tags that I have neglected. One was too complicated to figure out and the other one was one I already did before (“If you owned a family of albino gerbils, what would you name them” meme). One day, I will do those too, but squeaky wheels and all that, I will do Deb and Avery’s because these chiquitas are the very frozen definition of cool and I am a mere mortal in their presence [by the way, spell check doesn't like the word chiquitas. It preferred it capitalized and I am not ready to take it to that level...yet].

********WARNING: MEME ZONE***********

So, Avery is first. It is called 8 Things:

8 things I’m passionate about:
1. Thinking about writing
2. Not writing
3. Reading about writing
4. MEMES…accompanied by insults!
5. Nuclear Hot Buffalo Wings – despite being a vegetarian. I SOOOOOOO miss them! Sorry, poor buffaloes.
6. Skepticism / Atheism / Anti-Superstitionism
7. The New York Times Crossword Puzzle
8. Oh right, I am supposed to say family here.

8 things I want to do before I die:
1. Just one thing – Live

8 things I say often:
1. BoMR – acronym for Both of My Readers
2. Fuck-damn-shit-piss-nipple-penis is my swear of choice
3. I overuse the word “clearly”…clearly
4. I tell my kids to “figure it out” all too often
5. NO!!!! – with all the exclamation points
6. “OK, just this one time” when #5 doesn’t work
7. “Are you watching Law and Order again?!”
8. This may count as 3 things, but so be it:

Every day I come home and lift my 4 year old daughter up in the air and ask her 3 questions:
“Who is the only man that will ever really love you?” She answers: “You, Daddy!”
“What do all boys have?” She answers: ” Germs, Daddy!”
“What does wearing too much makeup make you look like?” She answers: “Cheap, Daddy!”

I will happily pay for the therapy bills.

8 books I’ve read recently:
1. Me Talk Pretty One Day
2. The Assault on Reason
3. The God Delusion
4. God is Not Great
5. Why Darwin Matters
6. A Short History of Nearly Everything
7. The Road
8. Ender’s Game

(nothing above was meant to offend anyone….SORRY all you Bill Bryson haters!)

8 songs that I could listen to over and over:
1. Pavarotti singing Non Ti Scordar Di Me (Do Not Forget Me)
2. Audrey Hepburn singing Moon River
3. Diana Krall singing The Look of Love
4. Wuthering Heights sung by either Hayley Westenra or the insane Kate Bush
5. Shiver by Natalie Imbruglia
6. YoYo Ma playing Bach’s Cello Suites
7. The Theme from my favorite movie, Cinema Paradiso, sung by Josh Groban
8. Dream On by Aerosmith

8 things that attract me to my best friend:
With musical tastes as above, do you really think I have a best friend? It might be a sad commentary, but I can’t say I have a best friend. It would be too easy to say my wife, but that is not same to me. So, for now, I got nothin’.

8 things I’ve learned this past year:
1. SQL
2. What pyoderma gangrenosum is – I have it and my life sucks
3. How to debate the creationism v evolution issue
4. That I feel borderline hatred for George Bush
5. Bloggers make great friends
6. That you can find almost ANY song on YouTube
7. That I no longer have infinite patience…In fact, it is INFINITELY finite
8. Netflix is very cool!

8 people who should do this meme and not complain:
1. What goes around, comes around, Deb.
7 other people that want to do it.
Sorry, I am awful like that.

Thanks Avery!

********WARNING: MEME ZONE***********

Now to move on to Deb’s Meme. This is the crazy one where you tell people your middle name, just in case you wanted to be stalked even more closely by a lunatic. Never mind, here is the cut and paste:

The Rules:

1) You have to post the rules before you give the facts.
2) Players must list one fact that is relevant to your life for each letter in your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name then use a name that you like.
3) When you are tagged, you must write a post containing your own middle name game facts.
4) At the end of your post, you must tag one person for each letter in your middle name. Don’t forget to comment them telling that they are tagged and to read your post to get the rules.

I was so ecstatic that I do not have a middle name. Finally a meme that I really cannot do! But, alas, I got to rule 2 which clearly states to make one up. So, Deb, here you go:

N – For “Say No To Memes”

Y – For YouTube-irrific

Dan

Missives From Suburbia

has once again tagged me for another meme. Despite my protests and argument that no one really reads memes, she persisted and threatened. So without further ado, here are my answers to Bernard Pivot’s questionnaire (you know the one you see on Inside the Actor’s Studio).

I know this is gripping stuff so I don’t want to waste any more of your time with all this backstory.

1. What is your favorite word?
Rendevous – literally the best thing that French have given us….that and fries…and the bidet.

2. What is your least favorite word?
Blasé – just to remind me that the French are not all that special.

3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually, or emotionally?

In myself: I am still trying to figure that out.
In others: A combination of passion and risk

4. What turns you off?
Superstitions

5. What is your favorite curse word?
I have a habit of saying a string of curses together. My two favorites are:

fuckdamnshitpissnipplepenis
slutpigbitchwenchwhoredouchebag

In all honesty, I can never get through the second one without my tongue getting knotted.

6. What sound or noise do you love?
Kid’s laughter is too easy, so I will have to go with the sound of rain….I guess that was too easy too.

7. What sound or noise do you hate?
The “tada” sound pc’s make when starting up. KILL ME!

8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
I wish I was smart enough to be an astrophysicist working on those big questions of life, the universe and everything.

9. What profession would you not like to do?
A salesman of any kind! At one point in my life, I sold cars and I totally sucked at it.

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
“You can come in, Dan; I just sent all the fundamentalists to hell.”

So now i need to tag 5 people. Well guess what, I am a rebel. I am tagging ANYONE in my blogroll who has not already done this meme before. I know this is cheating, but it is my blog sometimes.

If you don’t feel like participating in a full on meme, then feel free to comment here with any thoughts.

Question for Both of My Readers (BoMR): What is your favorite word?

My Desktop…this week

Originally uploaded by danleone.

My newly discovered blog buddy at Missives From Suburia tagged me for a meme. This is the one where, you upload a screenshot of your desktop to share with the world.

So, without further ado, here is my desktop. If Chapter 1 of my book didn’t put you to sleep, then this is guaranteed to. I am all about minimalism on my desktop. I have removed all the icons that I can and as soon as I figure out how to get rid of those two, I will! The image is one I stole (shhhh!) from Flickr. It is of a Moleskine notebook. For those that don’t know, a Moleskine is what non-writers use to pretend that they are writing when sipping espressos at Starbucks. I have 3 of them that I have managed to fill with doodles, non-writing and a food log (I am a pig by the way!). You can click on the image to see it in all its full screen glory.

Now, I USUALLY do not tag other people which makes me the worst kind of human imaginable. But this seems like a lot of fun. So, my blog buddies, you have been tagged:

Dan at All That Comes With It – Actually, I am scared to see this one! Hey Dan, I know you are a Mac user so just click on that “IHateMicrosoft” button to get a screenshot using your elbow)

Terri at Terri Terri – Since Terri is an excellent photographer, I hope there is one of her images on her desktop!

Jodi at Looking Beyond the Cracked Window – A writer this good, MUST have something juicy on her desktop!

PiTS at People in the Sun – He just scares me!

…and who can ever forget Mel at Momma Mia Mea Culpa?

I have been to all your website lately and haven’t seen this meme before and I know you all know how to put images in your posts, so this should be a lot of fun! How was that for a run-on sentence?

Here is a cut and paste of the instructions:

A. Upon receiving this tag, immediately perform a screen capture of your desktop. It is best that no icons be deleted before the screen capture so as to add to the element of fun. You can do a screen capture by:
[1] Going to your desktop and pressing the Print Scrn key (located on the right side of the F12 key).
[2] Open a graphics program (like Picture Manager, Paint, or Photoshop) and do a Paste (CTRL + V).
[3] If you wish, you can “edit” the image, before saving it.

B. Post the picture in your blog. You can also give a short explanation on the look of your desktop just below it if you want. You can explain why you preferred such look or why is it full of icons. Things like that.

C. Tag five of your friends and ask them to give you a Free View of their desktop as well.

This meme revolves around gadgets and 4 questions:

1. What is the most pointless gadget you have?
2. What is the most useful gadget you have?
3. What is your biggest gadget extravagance?
4. What is your favourite gadget?

It was created by Sam at Rabbit Confused With Raisins , I believe.

I decided to focus only on NON-DIGITAL gadgets.
Most Pointless Gadget I Own:

Believe it or not, this is called an Egg Topper and it is designed to decapitate a soft-boiled egg. It would be a very useful gadget IF I ate soft-boiled eggs and eggs came in an ultra-small size since the scissors’ opening is more appropriate for hummingbird eggs.

The Most Useful Gadget I Own:

With this toothbrush, I actually look forward to brushing my teeth more than once a week! You know that feeling when you walk out of the dentist’s office with freshly de-furred teeth…you know, where your tongue glides across your teeth and you need to catch your tongue before it slides out of your mouth? Well, you can have that feeling every day with the Sonicare toothbrush! Word of warning: the ultrasonic pulses can shatter your teeth like gallstones if you are not careful!

My Biggest Gadget Extravagance:

This is very much a cooking household and unlike most people that use have let their mixers collect dust in the basement, we not only use ours, but have recently upgraded to the largest size Kitchen Aid makes for the home. way cool to make double batches of cakes and pizza doughs. The only problem is that it cost a billion dollars.

My Favorite Gadget:

Despite the fact that I have been on a self-imposed coffee fast for the last few months, I have always enjoyed an occasional espresso. I know the brew that comes out of this type of stove-top machine is not technically an espresso, and I do own a real espresso machine, but nothing compares to this ultra-low-tech method of brewing coffee.

I am not one that likes to tag others and have always felt uncomfortable with the process, I am simply tagging either of my two readers.

But if you don’t want to do your own full-fledged post, here is my question for BoTM (both of my readers): Tell me some of your favorite, pointless, extravagant gadgets: