duffel vs duffle

As the Spanish gets better, the English gets worse. You might not notice from my proof-read posts, but I'm struggling here. Yesterday I caught myself using the wrong form of "your," and the other day I typed "they're" instead of "there." What a nightmare. It's times like these, therefore, that I am grateful for words like "duffel." First, its got a great connotation- sports, travel, adventure!- but, above all, it has flexible spelling! Who knew?! On my second read-through of the skirt story, I found that I'd spelled it "duffel" the first time, and "duffle" a few paragraphs down. "Odd," I thought, but not surprising given my recent record. Not one to feel comfortable publishing spelling errors, however, I took to the books- answers.com, that is- and what to my wondering eyes should appear but

duf·fel or duf·fle (dŭf'el) n.
1. a large cylindrical bag of heavy cloth; for carrying personal belongings
2. a coarse heavy woolen fabric

Incredible! You can't go wrong! For consistency's sake I chose one for both accounts, finally going with "duffel" because a) it was the original instinct, b) it is, after all, listed first of the two [alphabetical? ...I think not], and c) the original word is Dutch, after Duffel, a town of northern Belgium.

Even better? The synonym for "duffel" is "duffle." thanks.

the case of the missing skirt

I received an email from Dan this morning, wondering if "the long skirt story is real" and, if so, could he please have the whole story. Of course it's real, Dan, and of course you can have the whole story. I've also decided to respond via the world wide web so as to benefit all (ahem, both) my readers. It's a pretty good story, if I do say so myself.

It was a blustery, winter day in Idaho, cerca 1995. Eighth grade. I had a basketball game that afternoon, and while I generally hated dressing up per team tradition, I had no hesitation in selecting my wardrobe that fateful morning. My closet boasted a new outfit bought specifically for my Christmas piano recital but not yet worn to school: a dark green silk, long-sleeve shirt; black knit vest; and dark green, long crinkle skirt. I completed the outfit with black boots, twisted my hair into my 8th-grade trademark bun (another story for another day), and felt myself to be the epitomy of junior high (Idaho) fashion.

After a quick breakfast of my dad's scrambled eggs and toast [I hate toast], I grabbed my coat, backpack, and duffelbag and went outside to take my place in the Honda Accord. The morning seats were strategically assigned since Katie and Nick were dumped off at the elementary school while I continued with Wayne to where the Vallivue Junior and Senior High schools were located side-by-side. I therefore sat back-left, directly behind the driver, and Katie and Nick were right-siders so as to bail as quickly as possible when we came to a near-stop at West Canyon.

The Honda had studded snow tires, but the roads weren't slick that morning and- after dropping Katie and Nick- we pulled into the Vallivue parking lot in pretty good time as the Smashing Pumpkins blared from the radio. As Wayne directed the car toward his normal spot, however, I was suddenly yanked to the door. Before I could scream, my dark green, long crinkle skirt had ripped down the side, around the waist, and out the door. "Stop! STOP!" I cried, but it was too late. "What?" said Wayne. "MY SKIRT RIPPED OFF ME! MY SKIRT RIPPED OF ME!" Near tears. Wayne, the Accord, and I were in our normal parking spot by then, but I was sitting back-left in my underpants. Official tears. Wayne got out, walked back 20 yards, and came back with some dark green silk remains, which he tossed back to me. "What're you gonna do?" "Call Mom, I guess." sniff. "Alright."

I had apparently shut a sizable amount of my skirt in the car door back at the house, an amount that got caught on the tire's snow studs as we went over a speed bump there in the VHS parking lot. Pulling myself together, I grabbed my yellow basketball shorts out of my duffel bag, put them on, and walked to the Junior High where I proceded to leave a shaky, most-likely confusing message on my mom's answering machine before going to first period. By second period, I was able to relay what happened to friends questioning my green-silk/yellow-shorts/black-boots combo, and by third period I had borrowed a pair of black warm-ups which went nicely with my knit vest. Throughout the day, people came up to me having heard that I was "hit by a car," "fell off the bus," or "caught on fire." At lunch, when I went to the bathroom, I discovered my dark green, silk waistband still sitting pretty around my waist.

Luckily, I get to relive the moment at most holidays and family get-togethers, as well as any time I dare put on a longer skirt. "Get it ALL in the door, Wendy. teee." Thanks, guys.

what relief

The past 48 hours may very well have been the most embarassing of my life. [Anyway it's up there with the time I shut my long skirt in the car door and the thing ripped off me when it got caught on my brother's studded snow tire as we went over a speed bump.] As for the defective blog- and to this minute I'm not sure how I did it- I managed to delete some semi-essential tags. I wrote my friends at Blogger, but (them being too slow for my taste) I finally took matters into my own hands, created a second blog, and copy and pasted its default tags into my precious page. All of my previously-customized stuff is unaffected, and I'm back in business. I'd have done it sooner, but I had two interviews today, wanted to prep, and knew that I'm not (yet) being read world-wide anyway. Actually I just wanted to see you guys writhe in your addiction to my daily thoughts. Writhe no more.

ruby tuesday

I never thought I'd be writing on here daily, but I'm enjoying the "crap frap" discussion way too much. Long term, I figure once a week should more than suffice. You can see that I've changed the official title to Wendy's World; sorry you were greeted by "Wendy's blog" for so long. That was never my intention. I had a difficult time deciding between Wendy's World and The Batt Cave, but in the end it came down to my template. I figure the "world" goes well with the blue, green, and orange balls I have lined up there at the top. Anyway, I can always return to The Batt Cave at the request of my readers. My readers ha ha, that's a joke. I am beginning to pass the link on to a few more friends, though. Well, to Moose at least (hi?), so we'll see if we can get her to comment. I'm working on my links section tonight. Next large effort: pics.

In search of the Green Tea Frappucino...

Failure. I hate to start off a paragraph like that, but failure. Friday morning I set off for my local Starbucks, hoping against hope that their menu would boast the controversial Green Tea Frappucino. Keep in mind that- unlike Meri's down-the-stairs deal- my "local" Starbucks happens to be 2 metro-stops- or 25-minutes walking- away. I might move. Anyway, I went with the 25-minute walk on Friday morning, given my recent neglect of the word "exercise." Arriving at Starbucks, Calle Orense #6, I wiped my feet on the doormat as the automatic doors slid open to welcome me with the scent of arabica coffee grounds. My eyes darted to the menu board and quickly scanned the options, but I knew I was in trouble when there was no mini-cardboard "NEW!" sign on the cash register. My heart sank as my eyes found and rested on the "Other Frappucinos and Tea" section, an extensive menu of two: Mango or Black Tea with Raspberry. I stared at the menu boards a few minutes more, somehow hoping to find the elusive Green Tea tucked away between mochas and syrups, but I finally ordered a Caramel Macchiato and walked away.

It doesn't stop there. Discouraged, I took the metro back (2 stops) to my apartment and finished packing my bags for Heidelberg. I arrived at 7 that night, but the next morning we hit up the Hauptstrasse for an attempt at the Green Tea Frappucino, Germany. I entered the store, my eyes scanned the board, the tears lined my face. Strike Two.

In a last, valiant effort, I went to Paris, France. Okay, I was actually going there anyway, but I made a pointed effort to visit the Starbucks at Opera... to no avail. Strike Three.

And so it seems that Europe is on a standard no-green-tea plan. I'm pretty upset about not being able to cast the deciding vote but, to be honest, I feel like I would like it...

The "no-post" post

Hey Meri and Dano, just a quick note to say that (obviously) I haven't made any changes today, nor do I intend to. I'm going to check out my (semi) local Starbucks tomorrow for the deciding vote on the Green Tea (crap?) frap issue, and then take off shortly thereafter for noneother than Heidelberg, Germany. I'm mostly excited to get out of Madrid's 100+ degree weather. Toasty.

Thanks again for all the input... and unnecessary comments, ha ha. More soon! (probably Monday)

possible poems

It's really against my better judgment to post twice in one day (look at me with the blogging jargon- "post," ha ha), but Meri's comment inspired me. cough. Unfortunately, she failed to vote for my personal favorite, "Wendy's World," which has been the basis for the majority of my poem drafts. No worries though, because they are, after all, drafts! Again, your votes, please, and again, in no particular order:

I.
Wendy's World
Her photos and links,
Ideas and dreams,
And whatever she thinks.

II.
Wendy's World
A page just begun
For writings and ramblings,
Photos and fun!

III.
Some rambling words
Some photos to share
From Caldwell... Espana...
Or any old where.

IV.
To keep in touch
Though I'm far away,
Some photos to post
A few words to say.

V.
Malibu, Monterrey, right now Madrid
Via the Idaho sticks,
Check in for updates, reflections, and thoughts
Occurrences, weblinks, and pics.

Number five might be a little long, and I fear it might not fit in my sidebar. Room for improvement in all options, and of course it all comes down to the actual, chosen title. Oooo but it's dinner time. Paella!

Title options

Today I went to starbucks, whipped out my Post-It booklet, and began brainstorming potential weblog titles. I appreciate your opinions (Dan, this is your cue to comment). In no particular order:

-Wendy's Blog
-Wendy's World
-Wendy's Webpage
-Wendy's Words
-Wendy's Word
-The Batt Cave
-Words of Wendy
-Words by Wendy
-Words from Wendy
-A Word from Wendy
-Webdy Batt

Obviously, my caramel macchiato was running low there toward the end. Ooo, and don't hesitate to throw in some new suggestions... I have apparently hit a block. Capitalization is flexible. As for now, I must get some food before the grocery store closes its doors in my face. "To market, to market, to buy a fat hog... home again, home again, jiggity-jog."

Road block

Drat. Just as I'd finished putting together a fine collection of photos, I discovered that- much to my dismay- Fotoflix allows me a whopping 10MB. That's nice, since the 5 "random pics" I already have on there amount to 4MB, or 40%, of my allotted space. I must admit this is quite the blow, but am bound and determined to overcome the obstacle without paying $65/year to get 1GB. Brainstorming... in the meantime, I will continue organizing my potential collections and work up an appropriate poem description. All in good time.

Problem solved

Knocking out the issues, one at a tiny time. "View my profile," bothersome issue #1, is successfully on one line, and I managed to squeeze in an "about me" profile paragraph to top. Thanks to a little work with profile tags, I'm back in business. I guess if I go back to black I will have done all of this for nothing. Well, all in the name of education. Meri, are you reading this? Saluuuuu. I think I'll enable comments for you. Temporarily at least. Ah, and I think I'll turn my picture from orange to blue so as to blend in with the dotties.

Questions/Issues

1. Decide title, work up clever poem description.
2. Keep "dark blue dots" background, or go to black?
3. If keep dark blue dots, change profile pic to blue? green? normal colors? stay orange?
4. What pictures to include and how to organize them.
5. How much to include in profile? (hate automatic astrological crap)
6. Sidebar summary paragraph? Or include in profile.
7. Allow comments or no?

HTML lessons

Figured out a few things.
- my photo links are blue instead of orange like other links because i'd clicked on them. idiot.
- semi-centered the "happiness is like jam"... not perfect, but think it depends on different computer screens/display size settings, etc.
- "view my complete profile" on two lines is KILLING ME but there's nothing I can do about it. Automatic blog stuff.

Still giving the whole website deal some serious thought. Seems like a lot of work, especially when I'm so picky with formatting yet don't know how to fix it. More pics would be nice, but the writing is where it really comes down to the line.

- will now test out some more sidebar stuff.

Improvement

Definitely wish I knew more HTML. Blogger does a pretty good job of making it easy for non-programmers, but not easy enough for formatting freaks like myself. Bothering me right now:

-"view my complete profile" doesn't appear on a single line
- I don't know how to center my "happiness is like jam..." quote on the footer
- My photo links are blue instead of orange like the other links
- I couldn't figure out how to add the sidebar paragraph supposedly there in HTML

Not bad, though. Just hope no one is reading this in its testing state. Also still deciding about the template, the name, some sort of clever description, etc. I like the Batt Cave idea, but that almost requires I use the black template... a commitment I'm not sure I'm ready to make. Could always go with the dark blue spots and the Batt Cave name anyway, although it does detract... would just have to tie it all together. Anyway, more soon.

Today

Today I'm just experimenting a bit more with Blogspot. I've been pretty impressed, overall, but I have been a little disappointed with the profile options. Profile's huge, you know. I think I'll mess around with pics for a bit, hang on.

My First Blog

It's a girl! just testing.