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Other Harry Potter fans are probably a little smarter about this than I am, but just in case, I suggest that you not read any Harry Potter fanfic from new sources for the next few days. My cousin emailed me a link to a "great new fanfic", and it was not great. It also had a little note at the end that what I'd read was actually the epilogue from the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Lovely.

My cousin claims she actually didn't read the story and just forwarded the email to me, but the email didn't look forwarded, so that's strange. And if I'm really spoiled, then I'm irritated as heck, and I'm now tempted to check the last page just to see if I really was spoiled, which irritates me too. (I'm not going to do that, but the temptation is still there.)

I know there are photos of the book pages supposedly floating around, so I guess it's possible that someone typed up the ending and disguised it as fanfic, but what I read is not what I want the official ending to be. It was just too wrapped up, and that's all I'm going to say because I don't want to inadvertently spoil someone in case I was really spoiled myself.

Maybe it's silly that this is coloring my mood so much, but I'm not as excited about getting my book now as I was. Whoever put that "fanfic" up stinks whether it's really the ending or not.

I've gotten up at 5am two days in a row, and it feels incredible to have so much done before I even eat lunch! Seriously, my mom and the pope could invite themselves over for afternoon tea, and I wouldn't panic a bit. The apartment is the cleanest it's been in months, and I walked to the store this morning to stock up on all the items I need for this week's meals.

I'm back to doing a weekly meal plan, and it's kind of crazy how happy that makes me even when we don't stick to it 100%. Structure is such a good thing for me. I know it suffocates some people, but having structure gives me a nice solid base from which I can do the things I want to do without so much worrying. Knowing that the basic things are definitely taken care of is such a nice feeling, and it keeps my afternoons free for all my other projects like organizing all my domains, putting together a portfolio for my grad program, and adding the rest of our books to LibraryThing.

We're also planning a couple of trips in the next month or so. One is just a short trip to hang out with my grandmother and give my mom and dad a chance to take a breather from spending so much time at her house. Her health is actually fairly good, but she gets a little nervous when she's by herself, so she likes having company. She likes card games, so I'm taking my Star Trek Uno and Fluxx to try those out with her, and we'll definitely be playing a lot of rummy because that's her favorite. Then next month, we're going somewhere for our anniversary. We're trying to decide between somewhere along the Blue Ridge Parkway and Charleston, SC.

And I'm also finishing up my second summer session course and looking forward to my fall schedule. I'm signed up for courses in human-computer interface design, multimedia instructional development, and a seminar on virtual reality and education right now. I might add a media literacy class in there too, but that depends on if my advisor can get it added to the schedule this week. Lots of good stuff going on!

I've never talked much about my job on my blog, but I've spent the last few months working on the Vox Help team. It's been a real pleasure getting to work with people I'd known through their blogs for years, and I've enjoyed being a part of helping Vox live long and prosper.

Lately, I just realized that I was trying to do a little too much at once, and nothing was really getting as much attention as I felt it deserved. It was time for me to make some decisions about my time and energy, and it came down to deciding to leave my job at Six Apart in order to focus more on grad school and my family.

Today was my last day as a Six Apart employee, but I'm still going to be around Vox. I was a Vox member before I started working on the support team, and I'll continue to be one for years and years to come. :D

Thanks to everyone that made working with Six Apart such a great experience!

Kristine shared a library meme a few days ago, and I've had it on my list of things I want to do since I read it. Yay libraries!

1. How old were you when you got your first library card?

My mom loves to tell this story for some reason, so I guess this is for her. My family went to the library at least once a week, and I got it in my head when I was four years old that I needed to have a library card of my own. I asked the librarian at our local library, which was a small country library that was absolutely wonderful with the most awesome librarians, how I could get my own library card. She told me that I needed to be able to write my name on the little paper card.

I could write parts of my name but it was in that big scrawl that kids have, and that wouldn't fit on the library card. I went back to my mom and told her that I was going to get my library card the next time we were at the library. Over the next few days, she and my dad must have helped me write my name hundreds of times, and each time, it got a little clearer and a little smaller. And I did get my own library card the next week.

It ended up being a little embarrassing because the librarians put up a little display with my photo as the youngest person in the county with a library card. (I did mention that it was a tiny little country library, right? LOL) I probably still have that little yellow card in my one of my keepsake boxes at my parents' house.

2. What’s the first book you can remember reading from a library?

Wow, I honestly don't know. I was really into kids' books from the 1940s and 50s for a while like the Betsy, Tacy, and Tib books by Maud Hart Lovelace that Kristine mentioned along with the Eddie and Betsy books by Carolyn Haywood and the Borrowers series by Mary Norton. I loved series (and still do) because I liked going back and seeing all my friends again, and I probably got hooked on older books because my library had a lot of those.

3. Did you ever participate in a summer reading program or other kids’ event at a library growing up?

Of course! I participated every summer I was eligible. We had a limit of 20 books per person out at a time, and I was checking out and reading 20 every week, which made some people think I was lying to get to the top of the list of participants, which really upset me, so then I really did start lying and halved my weekly totals. The librarians caught on to what I was doing and were so sweet in talking with me and letting me know that they knew I really was reading those books and that it wasn't anything I needed to be worried about.

4. Do you remember when card catalogues weren’t computerized?

Yep! Sometimes I miss digging through that big cabinet with the little stepladder that I had to pull out in order to be able to reach the top row of drawers. And related to that, I loved seeing the history of all the names that had checked out a book before me on the card inside the book. I kind of miss that too even though I love being able to browse and reserve books online like we can do now.

5. When was the last time you went to the library?

This is really sad to me, but it's been a long time. The libraries closest to us have some funky hours that seem to change all the time, and they're not that convenient to where we live. The last couple of times that Matt and I have seriously looked at buying a house, I've been focused on neighborhoods within walking distance of one of the good libraries. Heck, it wouldn't even need to be one of the nice ones with all the inter-library loans you can do now. I could sign in online and request whatever I wanted and then just walk to the library when I got the email saying they were ready for me. That sounds like a little slice of heaven right now.

6. How many books do you usually check out of the library at one time?

It varies, but I usually get a good stack of maybe 5-10 books at least.

7. Name one great author you’ve discovered at your library.

I became really hooked on the Castle series by John DeChancie years ago because those were shelved near the Charles de Lint books, and one of his covers caught my eye. I read the whole series in a week or so, and then decided it was one of those series that I really needed to own, so I spent a few months looking for them at used bookstores to find just the ones I wanted. Some of the editions had better covers than others, and I wanted ones in good condition that looked like they belonged together. I'm a little obsessed with details at times.

8. What was the librarian at your elementary school like?

I could never ever in a thousand years say enough good things about Ms. Wilma Greene. She was seriously like another grandmother to me, and she always had book suggestions for me. She talked to me about books like she really cared what I thought and what I liked. As I entered the upper grades of our school (4th and 5th grades), she let me help her select books for the younger classes, and I'd write up reviews to share with teachers and parents. I felt like such an important person! She did wonderful things for my self-esteem, and I just loved her.

I saw her for the last time right before Matt and I were married in 1996, and we had a huge love fest because we each had some happy memories of the other. I heard that she died a few years ago, and I've looked for confirmation of that here and there, but I've never been able to find out for sure. She was one of the most influential people in my life as a little girl, and I was so lucky to have known her for all those years.

9. How many times a year do you go to the library?

As I mentioned before, we don't go nearly as often as I'd like, but we usally make it there 15-20 times a year.

10. If you could change one thing about your library, what would it be and why?

I'd pull it a few miles closer! :D

I started craving a tuna sandwich on 7-grain bread with provolone, sprouts, and cucumbers from our local deli around supper time, so I thought I'd give Matt a call to see if he was heading home from work yet. I got his voice mail, which is typical when he's driving because he knows I'd rather him wait until he's somewhere safe than be scrambling for the phone while he's driving. I figured I'd missed my chance to get the sandwich, which wasn't a big deal.

He called a few minutes later to see why I'd called him, and I told him that I'd just been wanting a sandwich and that it wasn't any big deal. We got off the phone, and he walked through the door about 5 minutes later with a tuna sandwich on 7-grain bread with provolone, sprouts, and cucumbers. He'd actually been in the deli ordering sandwiches when I called. He had a feeling that I'd be in the mood for a sandwich, and he even picked the right one out of a selection of likely possibilities.

Being married long enough that you develop super powers is a really good thing! Maybe we'll get some more powers when we celebrate our anniversary next month. :D

Video:  Show us the first video that appears when you search your name on YouTube.

I was pleasantly surprised by this one. Searching for Brandy can definitely be an interesting experience in some search engines. :D And then I'm also not a big fan of Brandy, the singer, and I thought getting one of her videos would be likely. Someone once asked me right after her first album came out if I was named after her. Huh? She's 3 years younger than me, and she didn't get popular until I was in my late teens, so how would my parents have named me after her? Anyway, that's another story.

Instead I found Red Hot Chili Peppers covering "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)", the song I (and most of the other Brandys I know) was named after. I'm not sure if I like it or not, but it's so much better than I was expecting when I searched for my name.

The Baby Name Wizard : A Magical Method for Finding the Perfect Name for Your Baby

Laura Wattenberg

I've found a new website to play with. Nymbler is a "personal naming assistant" based  on name info from  Laura Wattenberg, author of The Baby Name Wizard, one of my favorite baby name books. 

Yeah, I have a collection of baby name books that all my expecting friends love to go through. I'm like a library that's always open! And my mom is so cute when I mention some baby name book, and she asks, "Is that a hint?" She really wants it to be one, but I've been collecting baby name books since I was a little girl because I'm fascinated by names and because they're always handy for naming characters in stories or role-playing games.

Anyway, I found Nymbler on Laura's blog - Baby Name Wizard Blog -  and I think it's really cool. Type in a name  that you like the style of, and  Nymbler gives you a selection of names that are thought to be similar because of the sound  or "feel" or the origins or the popularity. I don't agree that Brandy is similar to Farrah, but I do see that whole 70s connection, so I get it. (I just don't like it. LOL) I also get Shaun, Misty, and Sunny, and I think they have a similar 70s feel to them. Plus, Misty and Sunny have that whole hippie nature connection and end in the same sound as Brandy.

What names come up when you enter your own name or your favorite name? What do you think of them? And if this helps all those families in my neighborhood expecting their own bundles of joy, then even better. I'm having so much fun with this! I'll probably mention this again as I play with it more.

Thanks to Krissy, Phisch, and Amy for playing along with my "two truths and a lie" post.

Item #1 that I was kicked out of children's choir for noting that ewes and rams are different is technically true though oversimplified a bit. We were doing a program called something something like All We Like Sheep, which was a strange children's musical with talking animals learning about forgiveness if I recall correctly. All I really remember is that the two main characters were a ram named Ramsey and an ewe named Eunice. The ram had the biggest speaking/singing part and I was one of the better ones in the choir for memorizing parts, so they decided to make the character a girl by changing the name to Ramona in order for me to play the part .

I pointed out that it was silly to change the name to Ramona since Ramsey and Eunice were supposed to be playing off "ram" and "ewe". I suggested either leaving it a boy part with me still doing it or coming up with another "ewe" name. The director had a meltdown and kicked me out of choir for "trying to shame an authority figure". I was overjoyed because my mom had been "encouraging" me to stay in the choir even though I didn't want to be there. They later tried to get me to come back to the choir, but my mom gave them a piece of her mind about the whole silly situation, and that was the end of children's choir for me! The next year I was able to join youth choir because I started middle school, and that was much better.

The second item about never being a vegetarian because I could never give up steak is definitely a lie, which Krissy correctly guessed. I'm actually not a big fan of steak. During my years as a vegetarian, the only non-vegetarian item I really missed were bacon cheeseburgers. I'm a simple girl.

I also really hate raw meat, so cooking with meat is a little bit of a hurdle for me. (And that aversion is something I still don't really understand because I dealt with a lot worse than a little raw meat on my grandparents' farm.) If Matt were willing to give up meat, we'd definitely be vegetarians at home at least. Oh, I also said in that item that I don't like most vegetables, and that's a lie too. At the moment, I can't think of any vegetable I don't like unless you count tomatoes as a vegetable. I do not like tomatoes at all.

Then there's the third item about wanting 26 children. That was actually a reduction from the number I mentioned when I was really young. My earliest opinion on the matter was that I wanted to adopt a boy and a girl from every country in the world. I think I was fixated on my coloring book with all the little kids dressed in native costumes.

Then I realized there were a lot of countries, so I cut that number by half and said I'd just adopt one child from each country. I got a little older and came up with the coolness of using the alphabet to name my 26 children. At one point, I had all the names picked out with A-Z for the first names and Z-A for the middle names in the style of Abigail Zinnia to Zoe Amalia or Andrew Zane to Zachary Asher. Then I decided an even dozen would be a good number.

Matt was thankful that I'd dropped down to wanting four kids by the time we got married. Now I'm 31, and we've been married for close to 11 years with no kids and no kids planned for the future. It's funny how plans change over the years. Sometimes, that makes me sad, and other times, I don't even think about it one way or the other.

Tell us two truths and a lie about yourself.

OK, you tell me which is the lie.

1. When I was in 5th grade, I was kicked out of my church's children's choir program for pointing out that rams and ewes are different.
2. I could never be a vegetarian. I'd miss steak way too much, and I don't even like that many vegetables.
   
3. At one point in my life, I wanted 26 children so that I could name each one with a different letter of the alphabet from Andrew/Abigail to Zachary/Zoe.