The Junk Drawer

Results of having cleaned out my refrigerator. You may have some questions. Go ahead. Shoot.

Every month I have to prepare a report of activities at work. I keep notes in my calendar for each task and then quantify them.

Taking a look at one item today, I realized I might have been on drugs or something when I recorded the following:

9/17: Met with Tim to have him login and mortyupe his data; help w/email; sent Thunderbird-at-home instructions.

I have no idea what it means to “mortyupe” your data. But it sounds painful. And who’s Morty? For the record, I asked Tim to review his data to make sure I backed it all up.

For all of you who are irritated you didn’t win a Junk Drawer magnet in yesterday’s contest, here’s another chance.

Any idea what I meant by that? I actually typed that word straight to my laptop. From my head. It wasn’t a case where I couldn’t translate my own handwriting.

Help me. Tell me it was an easy mistake to make. What was I saying?!?! If nothing else, reassure me that these mental blips are OK and I won’t soon start speaking in a language no one understands, not even me.

Today’s post is doing double duty.

First, for those playing What’s That? Wednesday, you have another chance to win a Junk Drawer magnet if you can guess the object pictured here. Remember, this photo shows only a small portion of a larger object.

Congratulations to blogless Marlene for guessing that last week’s photo was stick deodorant. Ah! The smell of sweet success! Your prize is on the way.

                                        ****

Next up we have the first ever Junk Drawer interview with — drum roll, please — ME! I have a nasty habit of asking my readers questions about themselves, but I seldom answer the questions myself.

My pal Beamer of BMW Rules either decided enough was enough, or he’s really interested in digging deep within the recesses of my cob-webby brain.

Either way, I owe you guys some answers. Depending on how well it’s received, I may never agree to another one.

One side note: I disclosed my miserable high school SAT score in the second half of his two-part interview. A day later, I told him I had regrets about telling the world how lousy it was, and he graciously allowed me to pull it.

You might learn more about me in the interview, but you’ll never know my SAT score. It dies with me.

So head on over to Beamer’s place and check out Part I of The Junk Drawer interview!

UPDATE: And now you can read Part II of The Junk Drawer interview. Beamer posted it today. Maybe I should run another contest to see if anyone can guess my SAT score?

—–

Let’s say this post is doing triple duty. Smiley me at Humor-Blogs.com, will ya?

Soup: Tomato Tortellini

Hunger level at time of photo shoot: STARVING

Number of seconds cracker had yet to live: 4

Mmmm mmmm … crackery!

Check out my other food that looks like stuff! And don’t forget, if you see something fun in your food, don’t play with it. Send it in! (kathyblog07 [at] gmail [dot] com.)

I think I need an intervention. Since I started blogging last summer, my daily routine has changed dramatically. It’s gotten to be like a second job.

I sometimes joke that I need an assistant to accomplish everything I want to do in a day related to my blog.

Writing for the blog is a walk in the park. It’s the “… other blogging duties as assigned” requirement that takes up a good chunk of my time.

See how you compare.

Herewith is my typical blogging day (don’t worry …. somewhere in here I have a life, but just barely):

5am – 7am:

Review spam comments and release those incorrectly tagged;

Review and respond to comments, about 25 per day;

Update the number of days the plastic bag is still stuck in the tree (see count in sidebar);

Check my stats (total visitors from day before, backtrack interesting places visitors came from);

Check blogs where I’ve been backlinked (based on Technorati and WordPress dashboard links);

Check BlogCatalog discussions and comment if something piques my interest;

Check Humor-Blogs for posts from my fellow humor writers and vote up my favorite ones;

Check Twitter for responses to my Tweets; read other Tweets from my Tweet Peeps;

Drop the maximum Entrecard cards (300) while commenting along the way;

Study effectiveness of having purchased ads on Entrecard sites to see which I should buy again;

Write a new post, mull over a new post or stress about not having a new post;

8am – 5pm: The Day Job

6pm – 8pm:

Review spam comments and release those incorrectly tagged;

Review and respond to comments;

Check Twitter and BlogCatalog again and engage if the mood strikes;

Return to comments left during the day and follow them back to the author’s blog; comment on theirs when the mood strikes; buy an Entrecard ad if they are an EC member and I can afford them;

Enjoy other blogs and comment. I religiously follow 26 blogs daily;

Respond to direct emails from other bloggers;

Write a new post, mull over a new post or stress about not having a new post;

9pm: Watch Family Feud.

10pm: Lights out and hope to literally dream up a blog post.

OK, so that’s four hours a day during the week. You thought this was a part-time job? Hell no!

Weekend duties:

Research and consider new WordPress plug-ins to use;

Read and comment on blogs I didn’t get a chance to visit during the work week;

Explore new ways to market my blog;

Sweat profusely if my host server goes down for Saturday morning maintenance or has a load issue;

Write a new post, mull over a new post or stress about not having a new post;

Check Copyscape to see if anyone stole my content;

Respond to direct emails from a half dozen close blogger friends.

Call or visit friends and family who haven’t abandoned me for being chained to my blog.

—

So there you have it. My blogging life. If I ever manage to take a week’s vacation, is anyone up to the task of filling in for me? There’s nothing in it for you except the satisfaction of helping to keep The Junk Drawer breathing.

Although you’re probably too busy with your own blogs and might wonder, like I do, what you ever did before you started blogging.

Can you remember what you used to do before you gave yourself over to the Blog Monster?