2002-07-24

Miz Jenna, who makes blog templates, used a picture I took from our hike in Gatlinburg (with my permission) to make this set. Like I told her when I emailed her on Sunday, she took a pretty good picture and made it just awesome. I keep going back to look at it, thinking “Did I take that picture?!” Heh. * * * Yesterday, I finished the book I was reading – L.A. Woman – and when I closed the book, I noticed that the publisher was Red Dress Ink. I had never heard of that particular publisher before, so I looked them up online and found that I’d read one of their other titles – Confessions of an Ex-Girlfriend – which I enjoyed, and I also own Milkrun and See Jane Date, which I haven’t read yet. And here’s what I find particularly funny – Red Dress Ink is a Harlequin offshoot! According to the articles in USA Today and Newsweek, which are linked from the front page at Red Dress Ink, Harlequin launched Red Dress Ink to attract younger readers (the average age of a Harlequin reader is 44), those interested in what they’re calling “chick lit.” You know, the kind of books I named “Zany chick” books. It cracks me up, because I’ve always whined about how Harlequin heroines never have hot, steamy sex and how much more interesting they’d be if they did, and it’s like someone was listening! * * * After being together for six years, Fred and I are going to fly together for the very first time tomorrow. Considering how often I’ve flown since I moved to Alabama, it’s amazing that Fred’s never flown with me – but then, he hates flying, and has actually only flown once since I’ve moved here, and that was for business. The most recent People has an excerpt from a book about September 11th’s Flight 93, which is probably something I shouldn’t be reading directly before flying. I’m not really nervous about flying, but it does seem like I’m rather tempting fate by flying four times in the space of a few weeks. When I started reading the excerpt from the book, I turned to Fred and said “Huh. According to this, there were many people on Flight 93. I didn’t know that.” My tone was ironic, and Fred smiled at me. “You mean Todd Beamer wasn’t the only one on that flight?” He knows how pissed I am that the media holds up Todd Beamer as the only hero on that flight – there were many heroes on that flight, but I didn’t see Jeremy Glick’s wife sitting next to Laura Bush days after September 11th, when the President addressed Congress, did you? Though I guess it’s entirely possible that she was invited – I don’t claim to know the details. Anyway.]]>