to widget or not to widget

i keep seeing this "link within" widget on everyone's blogs. including the blogs i love most, like tangobaby, ramblins... and what possessed me. at first, i didn't like it. for one, i don't think the posts it links to are that related to the post at hand. and despite being gadget girl, i'm not really widget girl.

but as you can see, i've succumbed.

i'm still not sure i like it.

but i hate being left out.

the peer pressure made me do it.

i sure hope you guys don't decide to jump off a bridge.

a new world dawns

just a quick post while my new work laptop does its installation thang in the background. it's a dell latitude E4200 and while i'm normally morally opposed to dell (them being evil thanks to michael dell being a huge contributor to bush-cheney campaigns), this computer is so tiny and so light that it almost (but not quite) makes up for it not being a mac. and i do so love the technology and gadgets. it's so tiny it's practically gadget sized. but enough about that.

you can look forward to a lot of new terminology here on MPC in the foreseeable future. there will probably be a lot more talk about longitudinal bulkheads and hatch coamings, ballast tanks and water ingress detectors, maximum sailing draughts, propulsion, starboard, port and aft. so many fun new words.

but now i'm off to the graphics department to see the new designs of my magazine (that's so exciting!), so i'll catch ya this evening.

on gadgets and being back at work

this morning, i threw my glasses and my toothbrush into my makeup bag, stuffed it into the suitcase with the work clothes, put on my raincoat and set out in the pouring rain for the airport and a 55-minute flight to oslo. it was time to head back to work. i felt so ready to turn my brain back on and although the public transportation system in denmark went totally stupid in the rain and i wasn't sure i would make my flight, i did make it. but there was no time to grab breakfast in the lounge, so i was pretty hungry when i landed (since i prioritized checking out the new pilgrim fall line over buying some breakfast).

i grabbed a quick lunch and then the train to work. can i just say that i love my colleagues! everyone was rested after having most of july off. there are three new people and it was fantastic talking to everyone and catching up and getting to know everyone. i got great energy from everyone and feel so ready to dive back into writing stories and preparing presentations for the fall conference round. i do so adore networking and the fact of being a woman in the man's world of shipping and that's exactly what i get to do in the coming months. i think that the blahs i felt last week were just my brain trying to tell me that it was time to go back to work.

as i unpacked to settle into my hotel room in oslo, i realized that i have to admit that my gadget use has reached absurd proportions. i have in my possession 1 HTC so-called smart (not to mention ugly) phone, 1 slightly dented sony ericsson K800i phone, 1 3G iPhone, 1 black 4GB iPod nano (my podcast iPod), 1 nikon D60, 1 dell D430 laptop and 1 red nintendo DS. this is getting ridiculous! but they all have their purpose. and since i'm suffering horribly from iMac withdrawal (amazing how quickly i have blocked out the PC habits), i may have to get a MacBook Pro in the near future, which will be yet another electronic wonder to haul around in my giant crumpler messenger bag.

but, on the bright side, being away from the house has helped greatly on the inspiration front. just reading the IHT on the plane and paging through the august Scanorama (how did i miss an entire issue--i didn't fly anywhere in july!!), caused a whole page of scribbles in my blog idea notebook. but it does disturb me that i went an entire month without flying! that hasn't happened in at least 5 years. no wonder i had the blahs last week!

so, i hereby wish everyone a week full of inspiration and refreshed beginnings...