Geek. Pirate. Mom

Every so often, I do something silly. A cousin of TheBoy’s has a baby shower at the end of this month, and I volunteered to make cupcakes, mini-quiches and ice cream. For how many people? We aren’t sure yet. But it’s looking like it could be a lot.

So this week I started my search for some amazing strawberry cupcakes. I want something that tastes like strawberry is a little pink, sweet but not too sweet, and can hold up to a cream cheese frosting.

The first recipe I’ve tried is Sprinkles’ Strawberry Cupcakes, found via MarthaStewart.com. They’re a nice cupcake- the texture is right, but the recipe doesn’t use very much strawberry puree, so it’s only a hint of strawberry.

On a recommendation from my mom, I’m going to try this recipe next – Angie’s Famous Cupcakes from Good Things Catered. But first, I need to buy some more strawberries. I bought 4 lbs on Monday, only used a little for the recipe- and my boys ate the rest.

They are strawberry eating machines. Thank goodness we live in Southern California, where the berries are local and fairly cheap. I’d be poor if they were this obsessed with blueberries!

One, I am jealous. The timing just didn’t work out, so we’re going to Vegas a little later instead. Next time (I hope).

That isn’t what I wanted to say. I wanted to warn you- Westboro Baptist Church will be there. If you aren’t familiar with the name, you probably know the name of their leader Fred Phelps or know him as the guy who protests everything because he believes that homosexuality has doomed us all. I’ve seen a fair number of people saying that WBC will probably be beaten by Comic-Con goers, which made me feel the need to make this post.

You see, WBC is the religious equivalent of an internet troll. They say what they say to get your attention. Giving them attention only makes them more vocal. And nothing you can say will make them change their mind.

So when you’re at Comic-Con, you can join a nice quiet anti-WBC protest full of love and tolerance (if one has started- usually counter protests pop up). Or, you can ignore them. Either way, it’s the only way to deal with them. And worst of all, if you do assault them, the entire family are lawyers- so you can expect to be sued. So do yourself a favor and ignore them. Spread the word amongst friends and remind them of one of the first rules of the internet: don’t feed the trolls.

I was going to post some more ad geekery. If you’re unaware, I worked for an ad agency for almost 5 years. 5 years! While I was one of the few people there who study marketing in school, I do pay attention to ad campaigns and the writing and so on. So I understood how it all worked, even if I didn’t know the terms. (So yes, I am going to talk about the Old Spice online campaign in depth soon. And yes, I will make it interesting for non ad-geeks like me)

However, I decided to talk about something else. The heat. It is hot! Which sounds ridiculous to say about July, because of course it should be hot in the summer. However, despite what anyone says about Southern California- our weather is pretty weird. It isn’t sunny every day, nor is it a constant 75 degrees.

Regardless, it is hot and unlike most places where it is hot regularly, most residential homes don’t have central air. I live in a house that has wall units downstairs and central a/c in the addition upstairs. So the upstairs will cool off quite quickly, while the downstairs never seems to. Sadly, we are downstairs.

My oldest son has been complaining about the heat since he’s finally old enough to. However, the heat did prompt this exchange:

Kid #1: I’m hot. It’s hot out in the sun.
Me: It is hot, that’s why we’re inside.
Kid #1: If hot means it’s warm, why do people say it when someone is pretty?
Me: I honestly don’t know how that got its start.
Kid #1: It’s weird.
Me: I think so too, just tell someone that they’re pretty if you think they are.
Kid #1: Mom, you’re pretty. Saying you’re hot just sounds wrong.
Me: It is, but on a whole different level.
Kid #1: What?
Me: Let’s play with trains!

I tweeted that I had some fairly exciting news, but that I couldn’t talk about it just yet. I’m now part of the BlogHer network of blogs! So I do have ads on my site now. I’ve tried not to include anything that would offend people, but if anything pops up, I’ll see what I can do. Meanwhile, if you see something you’re interested in- please click!

I get a fair number of page views that I know aren’t mine. So while not many people comment, I know I have people other than me who read this blog.

For anyone who’s just finding me, I blog about my life. My kids, the food I make, news stories I find interesting. It’s all over the map- just like me. I do try to keep politics out of it for the most part- but will at least label posts I do make about controversial subjects.

If you’d like to subscribe to my site’s RSS, just click on the link in the upper right.

*mwah*

It’s no secret that one of my favorite ad campaigns as of late are the Isaiah Mustafa Old Spice ads. The banter is clever, it’s intriguing… and oh, that voice!

So far we’re up to four separate spots (I don’t know the actual names, but they are: “I’m on a horse”, Riding Backwards, Motorcycle in the Hot Tub, and Mustache), and just when I was concerned that this might lose steam, Old Spice guy has found a new way to win me over.

Today, he’s replying to comments, blog posts and tweets right on the internet. All posted at @OldSpice – he’s the man that my man could smell like. Each is hilarious and honestly… my enjoyment is as endless as his prop supply.

So OldSpice guy, I might not get any work done on my novel, but oh- I am enjoying today.

Here’s his reply to Alyssa Milano.

I had a lovely weekend, and a lovely morning. Even with Sunday morning’s wicked migraine (so bad that I stumbled downstairs with my eyes closed to get some medicine), it was a lovely weekend. The boys were relatively well-behaved, and we didn’t do much of anything.

However, things changed almost as soon as TheBoy left for work this afternoon. Our oldest son decided that he was going to be in a foul mood. After a 20 minute tantrum, followed by intermittent tantrums… I admitted defeat. Food Network plus a Rum & Coke? It’s like a giant reset button on the night.

Currently the tantrummy one is quietly playing with his toys, and proclaiming his love for Food Network. Really, he loves it. He says that next to CSI, it’s his favorite of the grownup shows. Yes, CSI. I am clearly the best parent ever, instilling a love of forensic science in a four year old. He knows about fingerprints, and asked me to lift some to prove that it was his little brother who got a DVD dirty. Honestly though, I do feel guilty in letting him watch a crime show that is often gory. Though to him, it’s mostly a great introduction with a song he can dance to, and occassionally people putting ink on things and getting away with it. (Thankfully Spike has changed their daily lineup, so I can honestly say that they aren’t showing CSI)

Well, the formerly cranky kidlet is telling me that he is so very tired and that if he doesn’t go up to bed, he’ll be a sad boy. Night, all. Here’s to tomorrow being lovely.

This is a short one. More of a wondering why than trying to look into it.

Today, I’ve seen no less than 4 tweets about how Jessica Simpson is wrong for dating a married man. Nice way to spin the story, people. This week’s US Weekly tried the same thing. The fact is, Eric Johnson and his wife legally separated and waiting for the divorce to be finalized. While it’s possible for them to try to work it out, it’s unlikely.

The tweets have all ranged from “she’s a minister’s daughter and should know better” to “what a man-stealing whore.”

One, we applaud women who have filed for divorce from their husbands when it isn’t working. As a society, we encourage them to move on and start dating while they’re separated- if they’re ready for it. Yet, time and time again, when there’s a celebrity woman who’s dating a man who’s almost legally divorced… it’s a big deal. Either it’s wrong or it isn’t.

Was it tacky that she went to a family reunion with him? Absolutely. But let’s tone down the outrage people. One, you can’t pull the minister card with Jessica. Her father the minister is the same guy who’s talked about how beautiful his daughter’s breasts are and probably micromanaged her life to the point where it ruined her marriage to Nick Lachey. (No, I didn’t pick a side in their divorce. There rarely is one party who was right when a marriage ends) So, no. I wouldn’t say that she should know better- because her dad’s pretty crazy and a horrible influence on she and her sister.

She’s just dating the guy. She wasn’t the reason the marriage ended. I mean, if we want to express some digust, let’s just point all that towards LeAnn Rhimes and Eddie Cibrian- two of the classiest people out there. Who carried on an affair, even while he was supposedly reconciling with his wife. Then no sooner did his wife move out and divorces were filed (as she was married too), then they were everywhere making out and groping each other in public. Now that is disgusting.

But really, can we just save our breath and gripe about something truly disgusting? Why don’t we turn our attention to the shameful way that BP is handling the Gulf Coast cleanup- in having the Coast Guard keep the press from filming clean-up efforts. And having the press ushered out of animal rescue areas, so that they can’t photograph oil covered animals and remind us how serious of a crisis it is. See? That’s shameful. (Sorry, I just read an article on that- I don’t want to seem like we should only get upset about serious matters… but I’m honestly angered by how the press are being treated, when all they’re trying to do is show the world how bad it is)

ETA: Just to clarify, I get the tabloid angle. They’re just trying to sell magazines. What bothered me was that women, normal women, were being so hateful about something when they’d probably be encouraging their separated friend to get out and date. That’s all. -W

[Picture placeholder here]

I know, it seems ridiculous for me to say that I back internet anonymity when I blog under my maiden name and tweet with a derivation of it. Part of the reason that I use it for my blog is that it is my maiden name. I don’t have my address under this name, cell phones… or even anything that one could use to trace me prior to when I got married.

I use it for writing and artwork because it’s who I started off writing as. Thankfully now, it’s given me the opportunity to be able to separate my life as Mrs. TheBoy and Mommy from the Fabulous WhitneyD. Which is nice. I can tweet vaguely about my personal life without worrying that strangers might find my husband and know things about our life. (This is also why I don’t blog or tweet about anything that’s too personal)

In addition, I’ve been stalked in the past. The first time was in high school, there was a young man who was interested in me that went to great lengths to tell me of this. After I informed him that I was no interested, he made it very clear that he would be wherever I was, he would be there. And he was. It wasn’t a harmless crush, as the school and his mother said. At Disneyland, there were a few annual passholders that would figure out what my schedule was and would show up. (All but one of them was harmless. The other one, well, my managers went to lengths to keep him away from me and the other women he stalked in the park.)

These were things that all happened before the internet was readily available. My name wasn’t out there, with addresses and whatnot. If any one of those things happened today, it is entirely possible that they would be able to find out where I live, where I visit… not good at all.

So why am I bringing this up? I’ve already said that people should try to lock their Facebook account down as tightly as they can. Because Blizzard- who I paid plenty of money to playing “World of Warcraft” has announced that when it introduces its Cataclysm event, their forums will begin using the full names you registered your accounts with.

This is a problem. While it would eliminate people having multiple accounts with the sole purpose of promoting themselves online, it suddenly exposes real identities to trolls and internet bullies. It exposes the real name of that cute girl in the guild who goes by a pseudonym to keep the creeps at bay. Those geeky celebs who play Warcraft like Felicia Day or Mila Kunis? Don’t expect them to ever post on the forums in the future, or to stick around the game in general.

They seem to think that it’ll force people to behave responsibly if their name is attached to it, but honestly? People are jerks on Facebook under their own names. While yes, it will expose who the jerks really are- at the same time, all it’s going to do is make a lot of people think twice about participating in a discussion because they know that they could be putting themselves at risk of harrassment in the real world. And nobody plays Warcraft for that.

I admit, I miss the days that I wrote fanfiction under my pseudonym and blogged about every aspect of my life on LJ using that name because I knew that nobody would find me. It was freeing, that I could separate those aspects of my life. As much as I enjoy blogging here under my name, part of me misses that freedom. (I do occasionally write fanfiction, but it stays saved on my computer) However, I remember deleting email addresses (I’ve always used multiple ones to keep the creeps at bay) and changing screennames because of unwanted attention from people. And I have been grateful that at the most, they only knew that my name was Whitney and that I’m from CA. Hard to pick out the exact Whitney from that information.

If you happen to play a Blizzard game, have in the past, or plan to- please… please do your part and let them know that this is the wrong decision. It’s one thing to make a unified account that any game links to- it’s another to force everyone to do it under their real name.

Jezebel seems to think so. Citing its frequent turnover with female correspondants, Jezebel alleges that it’s a boy’s club and girls just aren’t welcome- unless you’re really hot, because who cares if you’re funny if you’re hot? The women of the Daily Show fired back with a note that essentially blames the story on disgruntled women, that there’s no real merit to the accusations.

Both seem to have missed the real point. This isn’t about any show in particular, it’s about our society at large. Comedy is subconsciously a man’s world, and women are still struggling to be accepted. Start naming women who are funny. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Now name men who are funny. Odds are, your list of funny men is longer.

Read More…

I am in love with my ice cream machine. If it were possibly to marry an inanimate object, I might become a polygamist. Making your own ice cream is easy, and the end product you get is just as luxurious as Ben & Jerry’s or Haagen-Daaz, but at a fraction of the price.

For the Fourth of July, I decided I’d make a cherry ice cream, after I saw bing cherries at the market for a pretty great price. Of course, I bought too many cherries, so expect to see a fair amount of recipes. (Tomorrow I’m making a pie!)

This recipe is a slight tweak from AllRecipes.com, and adjusted for my 2 quart machine. Read More…