Chatbug Karen

After hearing my son rave about seeing the Broadway hit, Wicked, I am ready to head to New York City. It has always been my dream to take a flight to New York City, stay in a beautiful hotel and see a Broadway show. Wicked is playing at the Gershwin Theater on 51st street.

In case you are not familiar with the story Wicked, I will give you a short review. Based on Gregory Maguire’s novel, Wicked is a prequel to “The Wizard of Oz”. The darker side of Oz is chronicled. The story centers on Elphaba who has the misfortune of being born emerald green. She is wild and misunderstood but overcomes her burden and becomes part of the in crowd. She makes it her mission to save the animals that are doomed to exile if the Wizard has his way.

I want to see this and feel the euphoria that being in New York City brings. Staying in a beautiful hotel where they put mints on my pillow, riding in a limo to the show and wearing a beautiful evening gown will happen even if I have to ask the Wizard for help.

I am anxious to watch American Idol tomorrow night. David Archuleta hasn’t performed as well as when he started the contest. I think, if it weren’t for all the young teenie boppers who watch, he would be voted off. I wish their was a way to really vote for talent but I suppose that is how dvd’s are sold. The popular ones are popular because the buyers like the music as well as fall in love with the performer.

I thought David Cook had a great performance last week. I do not care for the type of rocker music he performs but he has so much talent. I wonder if he has a following.

I was so surprised that Chekezie was voted off. He was Luther Vandrose reincarnated. I am sure a record label will have an offer for him as well as Amanda Overmyer.

Oh my goodness! I just saw the funniest video about addiction to Girl Scout Cookies. The link is on Mrs. Hannigan’s blog. You have to check it out. I think I am going to have to give away all my cookies and not buy anymore. All those cute little scouts will just have to be mad at me.

As a blogger, I am interested in how people find my blog and if they like it. That encourages me to write. Not having readers is like having a conversation with yourself. You don’t have anyone who says if they agree with what you say or not. I like to know what others think. I love conversation and put ideas out there for others to ponder over and let me know what they think.

I have tried several ranking systems to get a feel for how my blogs rank in popularity. I cannot figure them out. One gave me a ranking but then took it away even though I have twice as many readers now than I did then. I cannot trust a ranking system that is not fair to everyone. That is why I am excited about a new ranking system. I need one that uses real data to let me know how much traffic my blog gets. I want to be able to compare my blogs to other blogs in the system and see how it measures up. I want to be able to tell when I have written something that has enticed readers to read my blog. When I see that my rank number goes down, that means I am having lots of traffic.

Writing things that interest others as well as myself is fun because that is how I get those “conversations” started that I talked about earlier in this post.

It want an ranking system that is easy use. Once you register and put a piece of code within the workings of your blog, the statistics start coming in. Then the fun begins as you look at your graph and see how your blog ranks from day to day. You can compare your own blogs to each other and even compare other blogs in the system. It is also a great way for advertisers who are thinking about putting an ad for their product on blogs. They can look at my blog statistics to see if I get enough traffic to make it worth spending their hard earned money. They can see that my blog gets enough traffic to ensure that their product will be seen by many consumers.

Well darn. I did my civic duty but they didn’t want me. I headed to the courthouse this morning to see if I would be selected for jury duty. I showed up right on time and almost didn’t have a chair to sit in. Last time I was early and had to wait and wait until anything happened. Soon after I arrived, we were ushered into the courtroom. I was number 30 of potential jurors and they selected six before they had to interview me. It was interesting to watch. The people that I thought for sure would be relieved were the ones chosen to sit on the jury. It goes to show me that I have no idea what they are looking for in the way of an impartial jury.

This trial is about a man suing for pain and suffering from injuries he received in an automobile accident 3 years ago. I would have liked to have stayed to listen to the details. I wonder if it took this long for the case to come to court or if he just decided to sue 3 years later.

So many people acted like they hated being there. I didn’t feel that way at all. I find the whole thing very interesting.

Oh my goodness! I think I have found the most wonderful clothing site online. Their website offers the highest quality junior clothing and everything is $17.95 or less. Can you believe it? I try to buy tops and jackets that are shaped to flatter my body and make flaws not so obvious. I found a half sleeved office jacket that is pin striped that will look great with a pair of loose fitting corduroy pants in their pants section. See how the sides of the jacket are curved? That type of top looks so much better on me. These are designer name brand clothing styles people! You have to check out this website. Especially now that we are changing seasons and will get to put those heavy sweaters away. I cannot carry around my heavy winter purse and have my eye on a metallic gold tote. It is only $17.95! We are all going to need some new things for spring so why pay more than you have to?

We all have been working on our blogs lately. At least those of us who I usually read every day. It is fun to see how someone decides all of a sudden that they need a new layout and attack their blog. I have been tempted to do that also but I am just too lazy. I have a ton of sewing projects that I want to do and I know if I start changing themes on any of my blogs, I will get sucked into being online for two days straight.

Do you have conversations in real life and bite your tongue because what you have to say will mention what one of your friends on the net had to say about the subject?

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What happened to my Sunday afternoon? I have spent most of the day marking samples in our store and making sure things are in order for my mother in-law to take my place in the showroom tomorrow. I have jury duty! I do not mind being called for jury duty. I rather enjoy the concept as a whole and want to do my best to be a good juror. The only thing that bugs me about jury duty is all the wasted time. I will have to be to the courthouse very early and then I will get to sit and wait.

I have been gathering tax charts to put in their proper places throughout our store. Our sales tax here in Indiana is going up on Tuesday. If any quotes are made tomorrow, they might as well be at the new taxed price. I rarely place orders the same day a customer walks in the door. I have to ingrain 7% into my brain. I still have trouble typing 2008!

Have you been watching the price of gold as it increases in value? My husband and I have an envelope full of broken chains and other gold jewelry that we hope to cash in. Our Akoya pearls have sentimental and monetary value but they cannot compare with the value of gold. On January 21, 1980, gold closed at $825.50. Today, it takes $2,200.00 to buy what $825.50 bought in January 1980. Over the past five years, the dollar has lost 50% of its value versus the euro. Large institutions and central banks are moving their dollar-based assets into non-dollar-based assets. This is coming at a time when the U.S. economy is slowing to a crawl. In order to stop the U.S. economy from slipping into a recession, the Federal Reserve has no choice but to reduce interest rates in order to stimulate the economy. As rates decrease, the dollar collapses. As the dollar falls, investors are moving their dollar-based assets into assets such as gold – increasing demand and pushing the price even higher. With that reasoning, I hope to cash in on investors insight and sell those broken pieces of gold that hold no sentiment.