If you have a chance to see Matrix Reloaded on a huge IMAX screen, I highly recommend doing it. The sound was incredible, the movie was huge, it was all I expected and more. Most excellent!

I’ve discovered something rather interesting this past week. As I’ve been more of a social butterfly than normal, it seems I have nothing to say once I go to post here. I’ll think of things that I want to write about, but by the time I have a chance to stop and write, the words don’t come. It seems to be the introvert side of me revolting due to the extrovert side of me taking over in real life. Interesting, if you ask me.

Obscuration. That is my new word of the week, thanks to The Original Blurker. No formal meaning yet, I just like the concept of obscuration.

Know what today is? It’s Matrix Monday! Why? Because at 7:05pm CST today, I will be sitting at the Edwards Marq*E Cinema here in Houston, enjoying The Matrix Reloaded on the IMAX Screen. 8 stories tall. Whoa… Party on, dude!

(Oh, come on, admit it. You think that every time you see Keanu Reeves too.)

Tired of shamelessly begging for help? Willing to give for the code that you receive? Need something? Head on over to BlogBarter and start trading! [via Donna]

Kathy headed up north tonight and we went out for dinner and then over to see “Finding Nemo”. I don’t think I’ve been to a “kid’s movie” without Jason since he was born. It was really cute - I’m glad I went to see it. I’m even more glad that I got to spend the evening with Kathy! What a blast - she’s a great date!

Kathy and I first met back in 2001 or so, when she ran the Bayou Burb, a group for Houston bloggers. It took us until summer, 2002 to meet in person finally - and I’m so glad we did. If you live in an area with other bloggers, go out and meet them. It adds a whole new dimension to blogging, and it is so worth it. Sometimes you should walk away from the keyboard, get out, and meet the people behind the monitors! You won’t regret it!

Maybe it’s just me, but I think that Dave Winer needs to read Natalie’s post from earlier this week. Then Dave needs to get a grip on reality.

I’ve had a blog in one form or another since 1999. I started writing regularly in 2000. I have never read Scripting News on a steady basis. I only recently started reading it to learn more about RSS. Dave tosses out there that the RSS feeds generated by MT are funky - but won’t say what is wrong. Whatever. Does he not realize that to probably 98% of all bloggers out there it’s just noise? We don’t care. We blog, we share, we enjoy it all. If my RSS validates, which it does, then it is alright with me.

If you want to know the honest truth - I probably don’t read the blogs you think I read. There is a lot of noise out there, and I’ve learned to filter a lot out. There are some things I just don’t need in my life. It’s interesting to me when I notice.

Sorry Dave, but I won’t miss you. I appreciate the part you played in creating RSS, and it has become a daily part of my life. But if you go, someone else will take your place, someone else will fill your role. We’re all giving to the blog community in one form or another, but the blog community will not grind to a screeching halt if any of us leave.

“Don’t frown. You don’t know who’s falling in love with your smile.”

(Seen at FontGarden.)

Pssst… head on over to Shawn’s place. Be sure to check out this post for the secret code. Tell her that Christine sent you. Shhhh…

Lunch with Chelsey at Pappa’s Barbeque. (BBQ Sandwich, not a cheese sandwich.) The sky is finally going from grey to blue. My skyline is sparkling again. I’ve found helpful information in this interview with Jeffrey Zeldman that will help me explain web standards to the boss. All is good in the world.

For some reason I have this feeling like I should start singing “What a Wonderful World This Would Be” or something like that. Come on and sing along with me…

What a wonderful
wonderful world this could be…
(more…)

Wow - there is so much going on right now I seem to have nothing to say. Jason left Wednesday morning with my parents for a road trip across the country, and I’ve been taking advantage of the down time. They are driving from Houston to Minnesota, over to North Dakota, down to the Black Hills in South Dakota, and then back to Texas. Just under three weeks in a motor home that they rented. They did a similar trip last summer, so Jason was really looking forward to it.

Wednesday night I went out with Sydney. Last night, at the last minute, I went with a co-worker and a friend of hers to see “The Italian Job”. I had seen a few commercials for it and didn’t think they looked very good - however, others had said they really liked it, so I gave it a chance. I’m glad I did - I liked it too. I am a sucker for movies with twists in the plot, and a good chase scene never hurts.

Tonight the plan is dinner in downtown at Josephine’s with “the Friday Gaggle of Friends” (including Mike, Kathy, Elaine, EJ and many others) followed by some time at Twelve Spot, a club on Travis in downtown. I’ve never really hit the downtown nightlife - when I was going to clubs all the time, there was nothing down here! So I’m really looking forward to it.

In the plans for the future? Seeing The Matrix: Reloaded at the IMAX (whoa… big screen!), getting together with J-Mo, making plans with Mike for “Boston Bound, Baby 2003″ (If you’re in Boston, please raise your hand - I want to set up a “H-Town meets Bean Town” gathering and I want to be sure to include you!) and deciding if we’re going to New Orleans for the 4th of July.

Speaking of which - I’ve never been to New Orleans, and I’ve wanted to go since I was in about 3rd grade and we studied LaFayette’s travels across America back in Illinois. If you’ve been to New Orleans and have some tourist advice to share - things to see, things to avoid, etc. - feel free to leave comments!

Whew! When Jason gets done with his vacation, I’m going to need a vacation!

Update: I was feeling a bit dyslexic this morning. That’s Boston Bound, Baby 2003. Not 2004. 2003 - August 1st - 6th or so. Oops!

Mad props to Kevin who worked code foo magic on my CSS file and fixed it so the sidebar displays correctly now on the new grey skin (and the alternate photo-free skin) for IE 6 users. I have to pick through the code still to see what he did to fix it, but for now I’m just thrilled that it’s working! If I broke it for IE5.x, Mozilla, Phoenix, or Safari, let me know, ok?

With all of these different skin choices now, which one are you using?

In case you were wondering, last night was exactly what I needed. No, my problems didn’t magically disappear - they were still there when I woke up this morning - but I felt a lot better about them, and I have ideas on how to deal with some of the issues now. In the end, that is what matters most.

I’m leaving the office and heading to the Cantina to meet up with Syd. Oh, I didn’t think it would ever be time. Don’t you hate that feeling? When you’re watching the clock so you can go do something you’re really looking forward to? I spent my whole day like that - and now it’s finally time. Yeah!

Maybe I should call the bartender and tell him to have my margarita ready. Frozen, with salt please. How do you like yours?

Headache. Sinus pain. Hormonal. Moody. Stressed. Tired. Quiet. Sore. Grinding my teeth. Sad. Worried. Busy.

Seriously looking forward to girl time with Sydney tonight over margaritas, chips and queso at the Cantina.

Blogdaddy has written a really interesting post about the ongoing debate over using RSS feeds to read personal blogs. (Not to be confused with the current programmer debates over RSS in general, but I won’t go there.) Is something lost in the translation when you use newsfeeds to read blogs? I don’t think so. Sorry, if I have seen your site 10 times or more, and I pop in to comment, then when I read your posts I can still visualize your site. RSS allows me to read blogs fast and to comment more often. Proven fact. (Well, proven by me. That’s scientific enough, right?)

I noticed a lot of people over there commenting that they didn’t get what RSS is, so I decided it was time for a summer rerun. So here it is - “What is XML? And What is RSS? Why Do I Want It Anyways?” There is more at Scripty if you are interested, including tips on how to set it up, how to set up feeds with comments, and more.

And for those of you thinking that you’re not important enough for anyone to download your RSS feed, you’re wrong. If I even find just one post interesting on a blog and they have RSS available, I will pull the feed in to Newzcrawler. It has truly helped to diversify my reads, which I find to be a really good thing.