Friday Shuffle, Shuffle Me Into The Weekend, Puh-lease!

It's a coupla crazy weeks. And yes, I miss blogging. I think what I miss more is visiting (and reading) the posts of my blogging friends! So in all of this craziness that I have going on right now, I couldn't even find time to hang with Fred. So this shuffle is sans-Fred. Instead, I am using the massive compilation that I have access to via one of the servers at my work. There are over 7 thousand tracks on that bad boy. Everybody contributes. It's kinda cool because you never know what you're gonna get. To that end, I will call this source of tunes "Life".

Take 'er away, Life!

1. "Miss Bonfield", by the Fab Five. Who are the guys, you ask? Only the best Soka band there is!
2. "Say", by the Corrs. I think Hilda added this one to the mix. Not too shabby, I s'pose.
3. "Rimsky", by Arturo Sandoval
4. "Force Ten", by Rush
5. "What's the Matter Here?", by 10,000 Maniacs
6. "It Doesn't Have To Be (Like That)", by Erasure
7. "Major Tom", by David Bowie...and everyone wants to know whose shirts you wear!
8. "Family Business", by the Fugees - Okay, I know some of you are impressed.
9. "The Journey", by Boston - Okay, I know that those same people are no doubt horrified.
10. "Are You Having Any Fun", by Tony Bennett - Wow.

This shuffle has been all over the place. Which is why I guess it reminds me of a family summer road trip, and just like a family trip some of the stops were relished and others - not so much. Well, here is to awesome road trips to all! Have a great weekend!

It's Time To Clean House!

I originally had typed, as the title, "It's Time To Clean Horse!" And while I am not sure if that title is more suited for an educational video on animal husbandry, let me tell you that is not the title of the post. Nope, this is a quick post to let you all know that I've done some spring cleaning on my blog, namely in the blogroll quadrant of the place.

Here are the blogs that I have removed from the blogroll...
Queue Taps...
Dixie Peach - She seems like a nice enough lady but she loses me with the knitting. Knitting scares me just a little.
I Am Husband - The guy has just started his blog so I wanted to give it a chance. At first the premise, How To Be A Better Husband, sounded great but from the tone of his posts, I am concerned he is going to try to sell his readers a book or something. Maybe I'll go back once I learn how to read.
PoppyMom - One of my real world friends, who is also a blogger friend, loves this blog. I just can't get into it. The writing is just a little too biting for me. Yet, Elise's blog, which often features biting, and other forms of pleasure among consenting adults, is still proudly featured on my blogroll.
Shooter McFinney - Another real world friend. She hasn't posted since January, so she's off the island! We bloggers are a fickle lot!
Shoulders of Giant Midgets - I'm not sure how I came across this conquest blog that I felt it should be on my blogroll, but my infatuation seems to be over now.
Southern Muslimah - This young lady came to my blog via another blogger on my blog roll and she mentioned that she too is a huge fan of Chick-fil-a and that was enough for me back then to have her on the blogroll. I've grown. She's grown. It's over but I will never look at another waffle fry the same way again.

Here is the blog that I've added to the blogroll:
Queue drumroll please...
The Wonderful World of Nothing Worthwhile -
The ebb and flow of bloggers and blogs and blogrolls is a neat phenomenon thingy. About a month ago Sari demanded encouraged that her readers at The Geek Inside go check out her friend's blog called Sveedish. So I did and I now go back on a regular basis. While reading the comments there I've noticed some really funny ones from Michael C, so I checked out his blog. I am hooked and I waited the respectable 72 hours before adding the blog to my blogroll. I am taking a queue from Sari and I am insisting recommending that if you're reading this sentence, then after you've left me a comment, go over to Michael's blog and have a good belly laugh!

My Big Foray Back Into Blogging...

It's a new month, everyone.

Happy May 1st everyone!


Okay, that's pretty much all I got!




Except to say that I know we've most of us have had lulls in our blogging activity and I've seem to hit mine this past month. But it's a new month so here's to blogging more frequently! ***raising symbolic glass of Cristal***

Okay, that burst of enthusiasm is spent. Will I really blog more in May? I guess it depends if anyone gives a crap. So how many of you really care that I blog? Please leave a comment and let me know.

And Like a Wildfire It Did Spread

So it's been a while since there has been a meme on this blog and this next one, I believe, will have been worth the wait. This meme was first brought about into "my circle" of bloggers by Seven. Holy crap, I have a circle of blogger buds! Okay, it's more like a lopsided oval, but its mine! (Oh, and while Seven isn't officially in MY circle, she is in Sari's so she's the dot in the two overlapping circles that you saw in Statistics 101.) But I undress, I mean digress! I digress. Anyway, so Hilda picked up on it over at The Geek Inside, and then Matt picked up on it over at The Mind Wobbles. And now it's my turn! Here's the deal:

Instructions:
1. Open your music library (iTunes, winamp, media player, iPod, whatever)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question below, type the song that’s playing
5. New question — press the next button
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool

Here we go:

• opening credits: “Big Stick” by Bruce Hornsby - I do like the occasional well placed innuendo, even if it is based solely on fiction
• waking up: "Come Pick Me Up" by Ryan Adams - I imagine I'd might need a ride.
• first day at school: "When The Stars Go Blue" by Ryan Adams - Pardon me, I am reminding Fred, my Ipod, that by the very definition of shuffle, we shouldn't have back-to-back tracks by the same artist
• falling in love: “Shut Up” by - Direct and straight to the point, I suppose
• breaking up: “Joking” by Indigo Girls - Okay, so like, what, I don't really hate your guts?
• prom: “Girl From The North Country” by Johnny Cash - well I guess she'd be a better date than the boy from the south depot.
• life’s okay: “Gamblers Blues" by Lightnin' Hopkins - or maybe life's not okay?
• mental breakdown: “Live With Lonesome” by Little Big Town - yep, that qualifies as a reason
• driving: “Science Fiction Double Feature” by Original Broadway Cast of Rocky Horror Picture Show
• flashback: “Crazy Love” by Poco - Flashing back to Buffalo Springfield
• getting back together: “30,000 Pounds of Bananas” by Harry Chapin - There is no getting back together for the main character of this 10 minute story-song...just lots of separation and pasty fruit!
• wedding: “Fantasy Girl” by .38 Special - I married my fantasy girl!
• birth of child: "Endless Love” by Lionel Richie - Amen! Okay, in a different context, but an endless love, nonetheless
• final battle: “Middle of the Night” by Jimmy Buffett
• death scene: “Ventura Highway” by America - metaphorically speaking, I guess it could work. If I saw "Alligator lizards in the air", I would certainly hope I was dead
• end credits: “Walk Away Renee" by Vonda Shepard - damn, if only my name was Renee

Cool, huh?! Now it's your turn, if ya wanna and you know you wanna! Leave a comment for please once you've done the deed over at your blog.

Funny Is as Funny Does

So I'm over there at The Geek Inside and I decided to check out her......blogroll. Again. This time I go to Electronic Replicant. Funny guy. Prove it, you say? Well, simply click here, my blogging friends and take a gander, or some geese, for yourself! Note: My favorite is number 33!

So, this leads me to two questions:

1) How many of you cringed at my use of mixed tenses? Ha, you should see my messed up elevenses!

2) Which is your current all time-favorite blog entry? And no, you can't select one of your own! Post about it and let me know in my comments.

And Our 1000th Customer Is...

...someone from Binghamton, New York at 3:47 pm today. Okay, so I know this isn't as a big deal as 25,000 hits but it's a start. And I don't even know if it counts because this is a repeat visitor. Six hits since I turned on Sitemeter on Sunday. But, hey, I'll take whatever milestones I can get!

Sorry, no trips to the islands or even a toaster. Your prize is my genuine appreciation for taking the time to visit! I hope it'll do.

Oh My

I have been trying to increase my circle of blogger friends. One technique is that I click on stuff that I put in my profile to see who else shares that interest. Then I go over and if I like what I see, I say "hi". Riveting, huh? So, I worked through the list of interests, and then started adding some I hadn't thought of. Harmless enough, right? I was in a warm-and-fuzzy mood the other day, so I added thinks like kindness, sharing, etc. When I clicked on sharing, it brought up a profile and I then clicked on their blog - oh-my-Gawd! Folks, I don't blush easily...but I must've looked like a summer tomato. I found a blog where someone has an interest in "sharing", in the the...shall we say...Biblical sense. And the blog was complete with pictures. Now for those of you that are still reading this post and haven't gone off to recreate my discovery, let me tell you, the real joyous part of this endeavour was...I was doing it at work. Luckily no one else was in the room when my 17 inch monitor showed helpful photos of this person's hobby. Yikes.

Stories Are a Wonderful Thing.

Memory Lane make for an interesting trip. We all have stories that we can recall; I believe it's important that we tell our stories. Mrs. Pheasantly is encouraging me regail my fellow bloggers with some trips down my memory lane and she, like most better halves, does have an ulterior motive. She wants to save them for our boys. So, I will begin collecting my blog posts and will commit to posting often so that whenever our children wish, even once we are dead and buried, they will be able to feel connected to us, because after all isn't that what stories are all about...connection?

Want to hear a story pulled from my memory lane, you'll just have to wait, but not too long.

Belated Blog-iversary To Me!

Yep, that's right...December '07 marked the 1st birthday of Pheasantly Fascinating. So, in a celebatory fashion, as I reflect back over this year of blogging, I ask myself, what have I learned? Here is a top 10 list of lessons learned by PoultryBoy during year one of this blog.

10. Don't meme. Okay, fine, you can meme; but don't tag.

9. A meme is a way to generate visitors to one's blog.

8. Blogging takes more effort than one would initially think.

7. Blogging is more rewarding that one would initially think.

6. It's fun sharing my blog with friends and family that are non-bloggers.

5. The blogging community brings people together that otherwise might not connect due to beliefs or interests. Those passions seems to take a back seat to blogging. Or, while they exist, they don't get in the way of making connections.

4. Blogging doesn't necesarily make one less verbose - see # 5.

3. I know how to embed links!

2. Friday Shuffle is a great way to share musical selections with others - and to be the recipient of said sharing.

1. I am not the sum of my blog.

My New Year's Resolution(s)

A meme of sorts - except that I am not tagging anyone. If you want to post your NYRs, do so and let me know about it, please. Here are mine:

1. Blog more often.
2. Manage my time better.
3. Write and speak more gooder English.
4. Be less "my way or the highway" in polictical and social views.
5. Be friendly to ultra right wing conservative Christians. Wow, that's gonna be a toughie!
6. Read more.
7. Laugh more.
8. Love more.
9. Live more. This one will be a challenge because I already live a very full life.
10. Don't make promises that I can't (or won't) keep. Yep, there IS a difference.

Your turn!
(If you so choose)

A Little Bit is Better Than Nada

Ah man! I just wrote a very funny post, if I do say so myself, and poof: it vanished. I was highlighting the whole thing to do a spell check and away it went. No, I didn't cut the text by mistake. I don't know where it went. A quick recap: I am recovering from hernia surgery, which is my very plausible excuse for not blogging more frequently. Okay, the three year old is insistently, yet pleasantly, asking for some toast. Yes, it's evening, odd but I am grateful he isn't asking for something sugary.

Back With a Roar!

So Hilda over at The Mind Wobbles has honored me with a blogging award...my first, by the way. You're noticing those pretty words that are neatly underlined, aren't ya? Another first for the Poultry Boy. That's right; I finally figured out to have links in my postings - thanks to Hilda and TraceyMichelle - who you're not suppose to refer to as Ray, by the way.

So it is about here in this posting that you'd see the image for the award. Except I can't seem to paste it into the post. So, I reckon y'all could go over here to see it. Neat, huh - hence the reference to the roar.

[It's Hilda here, I'm going to insert the graphic for Troy, 'cause I'm nice that way]

As posted on Hilda's Blog, here's the scoop:

Those people given this award to are encouraged to post it on their own blogs; list three things they believe are necessary for good, powerful writing; and then pass the award on to the five blogs they want to honor, who in turn pass it on to five others, etc., etc. Let's send a roar through the blogsphere! The image at the top right can be [apparently] copied and pasted onto other blogs. Also, a small size of the award for sidebars can be found over at the writing circle site.

So, what three things do I think are necessary for good, powerful writing?

1) Sincerity. I know an unpublished author who is trying to get me to read his book and I just can't do it. The words on the paper don't ring true to me. I can't get into it. Gosh, I hope my dad doesn't read my blog.

2) Be succinct and to the point. Life is too short to read words that don't have meaning.

3) Know what you're talking about either from personal experience or by doing research.

Now the difficult part...picking five Bloggers to receive this award.

1) Matt at The Scribbler's Nook - a very close friend and fellow blogger.

2) TraceyMichelle at Tracy Michelle Unplugged - what this woman can do with a box of rice and a chicken thigh. Frugal, full of faith and funny. Now there's a combination.

3) Purple Passion at Gimme Patience - A fellow foodie and a friend of a friend who is fastly becoming a friend of a Troy - no middle friend needed, but we'll keep her in the loop none the less.

4) Sari at The Geek Inside - a very funny gal who gets freaked out by the rain. For that alone, she deserves an award, or a sedative.

5) UmmFarouq at Southern Muslimah. A fellow blogger who came across my blog several months ago and she shares my love for Chik-Fil-A. She's definitely a keeper!

I hope you enjoy these blogs as much as I do! Thanks Miss Hilda!

Funny

I was blurfing (means to surf blogs, or to vomit out of a fast moving train, plane or automobile) and I came across a cartoonist's blog: Basic Instructions. Here is a link to a funny strip on his blog:
http://www.basicinstructions.net/2007/08/how-to-open-snack-quietly.html