Way to go Raleigh! Last night’s Ignite Raleigh event was a very entertaining blend of technology, entertainment and education. I could go on and on about the awesomeness of the event but let me try to keep things brief by highlighting a couple of particularly fantastic contributions…

Everyone Needs a Dumb Guy
Chris Moody (@cnmoody) did a presentation about the “dumb guy” in the office who asks the often dumb and difficult questions the client will ask. It was a very quick look at the benefits of broadening your advisers; diversity of POV leads to more information and better decisions… sounds like he’s read ‘The Wisdom of Crowds‘! Chris did a great presentation with some really nice slides and I enjoyed the reaffirmation of things I’ve read about from other folks who agree it has potential…

What Happens to you Digital Identity After you Die?
Evan Carroll (@evancarroll) spent five minutes making me think about a social media world without me in it. There were a number of things I hadn’t considered – the preservation of my online content, sharing passwords with the right people, and the potential for my thoughts to be heard long after I’m dead. Since I’m not sure anyone’s listening now, let alone in 50 years, this wasn’t a presentation that compelled me to action but it did make me think. And remember that I don’t have a will.

Presentation Zen
Bethany Smith (@bethanyvsmith) is a fellow NCSU-er so I have to give her props for braving the stage and sharing her advice on good presentation design. I was already sold on her agenda of short, to-the-point, bulletless presentations that use lots of pictures. But I definitely want a copy of her presentation to give to a couple people I know…

Why My Cat Can Get a Job Before You
It’s totally true. Her cat is legendary. Laurie Ruettimann (@lruettimann) did a very engaging presentation about her favorite cat (yes, she ranks her 5 cats). Scrubby, the fantastic cat has a blog, Facebook profile, Twitter account and is on LinkedIn. He’s done more than most of us to build a solid, reputable online identity and that goes a long way with employers in this day and age. Very compelling, humorous and well-done presentation.

Nerd Girls Unite! Women Don’t Have to be Lame
So I actually got into a heavy discussion (re: argument) with a couple of guy friends prior to the show about the difficulties of being a woman in technology. Guys don’t understand what you’re doing in their domain, there’s plenty of cultural obstacles and I’ve had my share of outright discrimination from men during my history in the technology field. In the end, I did a lousy job trying to explain my frustrations so I was delighted that Charlotte Moore (@cavaticat) showed up on stage to explain my challenges far more eloquently and entertainingly than I did.
Charlotte was a great speaker and had fantastic slides. Her presentation had some excellent examples of everyday frustrations girls have when navigating the Geekdom. She made me proud to be a geek girl.

In fact, I’d say the evening was a great day for geek girls in the triangle. All the ladies had great talks and represented very well. Much of my morning was spent following these fascinating women on Twitter and I’ve started a Twitter list, ncgeekgirl to help consolidate the awesomeness. Somewhere in the back of my mind is the idea of a Geek Girl Camp in the Triangle. Or a least a geek girl tweet-up. These ladies are some great resources and I’d be glad to know them better.

So to recap: #igniteRaleigh was awesome and awesomely inspiring. My friend Jason (@opus2008) and I had toyed with the idea of presenting on a little pet project we have, @wordassociation but time and nerves got the better of us and I regret it now. Maybe next year… And along those line kudos to the planners and ALL presenters at 2010 Ignite Raleigh. It’s tough to get up there and you all did a great job!

Can’t wait for next year!

On a snowy morning in April, my Canadian-born mother and American-born father struggled through the final hours of labor. At 7:35am on April 5th, I was born in a small apartment in Belleville, a suburb of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

For five years my family moved: in and out of three Canadian cities and two provinces, until finally, shortly before I entered kindergarten, my father was offered a transfer. My dad was an employee of the Toronto-based Northern Telecom (later known as Nortel) and he and my mom jumped at the opportunity to try a warmer climate and better cost of living. We moved to Nashville, Tennessee. I have not lived in Canada since then, though I still have family there (grandparents, numerous aunts, uncles and cousins) and I travel there at least once a year.

The last week or so has had me thinking about being Canadian – the Olympics are going on in Vancouver so the spotlight has truly landed on Canada and has lingered in a way it rarely does. Certain circumstances: the death of a Georgian luger, flaws in the opening ceremonies and Vancouver weather and the Canadian hockey loss to the US, have inspired some frustration. Of course I am American; I know I live here. But I’m also Canadian and these Olympics have made me defensive of Canada. It’s unbelievably frustrating to hear the running commentary, the jokes (even those made with good intentions add up) and the criticism, and to feel like you’re the only one around to defend your team.

Because they ARE my team. I am Canadian. I have friends who tell me I’m not Canadian all the time and it drives me nuts. I know I don’t live there. I’m a wimp; I’d probably cry if I had to do a whole winter there. But I can vote there, I can own property there, I have lived there and I have a lot of people I love who live there. I know all the words to the Canadian anthem and I tear up for it the same as I do for the Star-Spangled Banner. There are parts of Canada that are as much home to me as anything on American soil. I feel better when I’m in Canada, as soon as I cross the border. And I want to see Canada win the gold medal for hockey so badly it hurts.

I know Canada has flaws – I hate their system of government, they’re practically socialist, they’ve got that French sliver in the middle and I’m not even going to bring up the weather. But I could write a book about what’s wrong with the US, too.

Canadian relatives have told me of their frustration with us Americans. We’re cocky and entitled, rash and bossy. And usually I feel bad- caught in the middle of two sides I love. Well this week, at least until the closing ceremonies, I’m all Canadian. I’m going to continue to be angry when NBC calls the US v. Canada hockey game a “clobbering” (it was 5-3!!!), I’m going to pray for some snow for Vancouver and I’m going to cheer for the Canadians to “own the podium“, even at the expense of the US. It’s Canada’s day and it’s been a pretty crummy one so far. Canada has been an ally, partner, defender and supporter of the US for hundreds of years. I’d really like to see the US appreciate them, or at least call a moratorium on the jokes for five minutes.

Thanks.

So I’ve actually been spending a lot of time with my blog lately, though you wouldn’t necessarily know it… To begin with you can see that this isn’t the same theme that was up here on my last post (sorry Evan Eckard… it really was a nice theme!). I’m easily bored and distracted by the “look n’ feel” of my blog so I’ve been playing around. Hopefully this theme will be here for awhile.

I’m also taking a class this semester on Social Media as it relates to business. I didn’t realize it but this is actually something I’m pretty interested in, and as one of the assignments and my new quasi-un-imposed hobby I started a blog to talk about my thoughts on the matter. Visit http://jen583a.wordpress.com/ and you can also follow me on a separate Twitter account: http://twitter.com/techtalking/.

Finally, my lovely and charming friend Twanda mentioned a new “thing” wandering the blog-o-sphere: Project 365. The idea is you take a photo every day for a year. I’ve created a new blog for this endeavor: http://www.jenreally.com/365photos/. And yes, I realize that I post rarely so this may not really happen every day but I’m working on it…

I have lots to talk about related to work and school. And even a few things to say about life and the new year. Sadly I have more ideas than time, at least for now, so I’m not promising a stunning revival of sharing. But you know, that’s what RSS is for. So stay tuned and we’ll see what’s coming!

What? You didn’t notice? Huh. Shocking.

Yeah so I accidentally deleted my blog. All but the database that is. Naturally I had no back up, nor could I remember the WordPress theme I had so lovingly modified to my liking. So here we are with a new design (thank you Evan Eckard), though please don’t look too closely- I’ve modified it a fair bit and it’s still a work in progress.

If you happened by jenreally.com at any point in the last ~2 weeks you may have found yourself disappointed by its absence. Or relieved (it’s ok, you can say it). Anyway I’m back for more updates on the STUNNINGLY FUN AND ADVENTUROUS WORLD OF JEN. Big news this week: I’m getting dumber.
That’s the only explanation I can come up with for how I screwed up this blog thing. Sadly I’ve also been unmotivated lately so I’m not really working on getting smarter: I’m a dumb slacker. I have a number of theories on how and why this might be happening but I really can’t be bother to think them through… or even finish this sentence… Yeah. Motivation. Lacking.

So yeah, I’ve been ok. I should be working on schoolwork right now but I’m not. Christmas cards have not been purchased, parties have not been planned and my house doesn’t remember what “clean” is. I can’t seem to let go of the idea that my life has passed me by and I’ve missed so many things- and I’ve been dwelling on it way too much. I also know that’s dumb and there’s plenty of time for doing what I want- as soon as I figure out what it is. Yeah, maybe I’ll work on that after the holidays. See? Dumb slacker.

Please review my Twitter feed– I made the effort to be Thankful last week during that season for Thanking. I’ll give it another go in a real post sometime soon. Maybe think about checking back? If it’s not too much effort…

Ok. Nap time.

Yes. You. Watch it. You won’t be sorry. Have I ever steered you wrong? My god, you remember EVERYTHING! But I’m right this time, I swear.

http://www.fox.com/dollhouse/

I have been so busy posting to my blog on a regular basis I belatedly realized that I have hit 1000 posts on Twitter! I guess my micro-blogging habit has really interfered with my regular blog updates (not that I was doing terribly well at blogging before the distraction of Twitter…). I spent some time going back through all my fascinating posts and realized that I’ve nearly hit another milestone: 1 year on Twitter. My first post was September 18th, 2008.

It was at times sweet, nostalgic, painful and hilarious to read my thoughts on events of the last year. There were very few things that I couldn’t find a context for in my 140 characters; my memory is bad but Twitter gave me just enough thread to unravel huge sweaters of ridiculous stories. I’m in awe of Twitter all over again for giving me back the highlights of day to day life that I would never have remembered otherwise.

So in an effort to actually post something on my blog, and to effectually recap the last 12 months in collections of 140 characters or less, here they are: my favorite (amusing, nostalgic and/or topically relevant) tweets of the last year.

• I’m web 2.1 baby! 8:59 AM Sep 19th, 2008 from web
• Trivia night! Tonight’s team name: “Recession: fragrence for men” 5:28 PM Sep 24th, 2008 from web
• #ncsu_oit has some really great empolyees- here’s to you guys! 1:23 PM Oct 7th, 2008 from twhirl
• Tried to vote over lunch but the line was out the door. Nice to see democracy in action! 12:18 PM Oct 29th, 2008 from twhirl
• in Google apps session at #unccause08 — it’s standing room only! 1:31 PM Nov 18th, 2008 from twhirl
• I got my iPhone! 2:08 PM Nov 26th, 2008 from twhirl
• Waiting for health services to finish their parents orientation session. They’re talking about student mortality. Welcome to NCSU! 2:15 PM Dec 12th, 2008 from TwitterFon
• Happy Christmas to all! Got a Wii fit, season 3 HIMYM, a Pi plate and gift cards! Yeah! 4:56 PM Dec 25th, 2008 from TwitterFon
• In NYC! At upright citizens brigade improv show 8:01 PM Dec 30th, 2008 from TwitterFon
• Happy new year twerps! NYC is f%<+ing cold. 12:50 AM Jan 1st from TwitterFon
• Sad day: Nortel files for bankruptcy protection http://is.gd/fR8K — My Dad worked there 16 years and they moved us out of Canada. 11:10 AM Jan 14th from twhirl
• Direct TV is starting to make me angry… 4:43 PM Jan 16th from twhirl
• Sleeping in tomorrow and then up to watch the annual NC flip-out-over-2-inchs-of-snow event. 12:00 AM Jan 20th from TwitterFon
• Having “fun” at “playmakers” with my work “friends”. 6:23 PM Feb 6th from TwitterFon
• I’m a good girl: went to the gym! Also, I ate a cupcake. So I’m just a regular girl now. 8:32 PM Feb 17th from web
• Social experiment: Word Association on Twitter. I post a word and your response is what my tweet made you think of! 11:30 AM Feb 24th from twhirl
• Watching hockey and working on taxes. I think the announcement of a $4 trillion budget has made me want my return as soon as possible… 9:07 PM Feb 26th from twhirl
• Octuplets mom breakfast special: 14 eggs, no sausage and the next guy has to pay for it. (Thanks @opus2008!) 7:44 PM Feb 27th from TwitterFon
• The burrow has landed! http://twitpic.com/1sk08 12:29 AM Mar 2nd from TwitterFon
• I thought the Dow was at it’s lowest point in 11 years LAST week. Such a tease. 4:13 PM Mar 2nd from twhirl
• @jason_austin Where did you find hope? I only found frustration today. 6:04 PM Mar 10th from twhirl in reply to jason_austin
• Learning about tree sex. Seriously. 1:43 PM Mar 12th from TwitterFon
• Lovely evening with the Consortium. Great #bsg, great Dollhouse 1:32 AM Mar 14th from TwitterFon
• Cute doggie: http://twitpic.com/2u9zk 6:40 PM Apr 4th from TwitterFon
• I just heard a rumor that Ty Lawson injured his toe kicking walkers out from under the elderly. Be careful out there, Detroit. #final_four 9:26 PM Apr 4th from TwitterFon
• Looking forward to a nice low-key dinner with the #consortium at The Point. 5:09 PM Apr 5th from twhirl
• Ugh… History paper on Asbestos is done. Finally. Recap: Asbestos is bad. Don’t eat it. 10:59 PM Apr 8th from twhirl
• Just got a haircut by a man who spoke two words of English: “hello” and “balloon”. Guess how my hair came out… 11:54 AM Apr 16th from TwitterFon
• Canes WIN!!! http://twitpic.com/3hxyw 9:27 PM Apr 17th from TwitterFon
• Uh oh. Mac vs. Windows argument in my history class. Getting strangely defensive (she writes on her iPhone). 7:04 PM Apr 22nd from TwitterFon
• @opus2008 Know what’s good for fuzzy teeth? Port. 11:08 AM Apr 25th from TwitterFon in reply to opus2008
• Saw Sidney Lowe on the walk back to the car. Opted not to say “better luck next year”… 9:25 PM May 8th from TwitterFon
• RT @akacooties: avoid only what experience has proven you don’t enjoy. Try what you have yet to experience and might like. Taste! Watch! Go! 11:52 PM May 13th from TwitterFon
• it’s official: @NathanFillion is precious and Joss Whedon a genius. Loving ‘Firefly’, re-enjoying ‘Buffy’ and singing with ‘Dr. Horrible’. 12:02 AM May 21st from Twitterrific
• Woops. Turns out my very loud lunch conversation about corrupt NCSU administration was 10 feet from Provost Nielsen. 12:05 PM May 21st from Twitterrific
• @wordassociation zombies = picky eaters 4:56 PM May 28th from TwitterFon in reply to wordassociation
• Just tried Absenthe and Dave’s Insanity Sauce for the first time. Dave’s actually has the better aftertaste. 10:14 PM May 29th from TwitterFon
• Apparently I went and bought myself a car company yesterday. 6:13 AM Jun 1st from web
• The Pit of Despair is really quite nice. Sure it lacks natural light but it’s cool in summer and has a good floorplan. 9:14 PM Jun 1st from web
• I’m excited to come back to the office just knowing there’s an iMac waiting for me. 12:10 PM Jun 5th from twhirl
• #robotpickuplines Your lips say 0 but your eyes say 1. 3:34 PM Jun 5th from web
• My cat is being NICE to me! It’s the most bizarre thin– oh, wait. Never mind. 11:33 PM Jun 6th from TwitterFon
• Board of Trustees email: “To the Students, Faculty and Friends of NC State University”. Gosh, I guess he really isn’t writing to me at all. 9:06 AM Jun 8th from twhirl
• My dad reading his grandson a book. Simple joys of life! http://twitpic.com/7yo0w 8:15 PM Jun 20th from TwitterFon
• PSA: Turns out ceiling paint is not water soluble… 11:43 PM Jun 22nd from TwitterFon
• Have you ever done something so bizarre, so out-of-character that it seems robotic and makes you question your humanity? No, me neither. 9:08 PM Jun 26th from web
• @wordassociation naked hiking = stunning views 10:40 PM Jun 26th from web in reply to wordassociation
• Hoover Damn means means heat stroke to me. http://twitpic.com/8zpdd 6:15 PM Jul 1st from TwitterFon
• Saw a spider and by the time I’d gone for reinforcements it was blocking the stairs and had the cat hostage. #OrkinFAIL 10:41 PM Jul 12th from TwitterFon
• Just gave my Google Voice number to my insurance agent. It’s like it’s real now… 3:41 PM Jul 23rd from TwitterFon
• Just found a chunk of dried banana on on my shoe. Ahhh, Vegas… 8:59 AM Jul 31st from twhirl
• Repeatedly mentioning you love Chapel Hill does not IgniteJen #IgniteRaleigh 7:02 PM Aug 5th from TwitterFon
• @opus2008 It’s the tax-free weekend at an Apple store; that place is going to be hotter than the chocolate Axe guy at a female fat camp. 9:50 AM Aug 7th from twhirl in reply to opus2008
• Just watched the NCSU Marching Band Dirty Shuffle through campus. #iheartband 4:02 PM Aug 18th from TweetDeck
• Good morning, interweb! It’s a bright, shiny Monday! 7:58 AM Aug 24th from TweetDeck
• OMG, @usaussie loves Groupwise! Nick and Groupwise sittin’ in a tree… 8:34 AM Aug 25th from TweetDeck

I’m going to skip the guilt for not posting this time. For the record I did post, and a pretty good one at that, about a month ago. But seeing as it dealt with work, and in a pretty negative way, I decided it was neither the time nor place (yeah, censorship!) and took it down after about 15 minutes.

Which actually ties nicely into my gloomy post for this evening. I’ve noted several times of the past few months that this year sucks. At first I thought it was just me feeling sorry for myself for turning 30, but there’s a lot more to it than that. Aside from work troubles I’ve been sick three times this year. The family dog unexpectedly got sick and died, and two weeks the neighbors dog died- surprisingly painful events both. And yes, I realize the world doesn’t revolve around me: a friend of my brothers drowned on July 4th weekend; another friend’s mother is in a coma after falling down the stairs. I have friends who’ve been in car accidents and another who had a family member commit suicide. I know several people without jobs, many buckling under the strain. Under the circumstances I’m delighted my family has only lost a dog (I know that sounds sick, but it’s true).

I do believe that life ebbs and flows and I suspect humans have had a pretty good time of it lately. One has to make it through the bad times to enjoy the good. I’m trying to remember that I can appreciate the good anytime: I have a good job making decent money; a nice house; great friends and family; my health. And this too, shall pass. In the meantime I’ll struggle through an uninspired workday, hug my brother extra hard, take pleasure in fun evenings with friends, pet my terribly needy cat and be grateful for all of it. It’s also so fleeting.

Sorry for the gloom. I’ll try to be a little more perky next time…

So here we go: my well-overdue review of my Mac Mini entertainment center. A quick refresher: I bought a Mac Mini, the cheapest one ($599) that had baseline RAM, storage, no keyboard or mouse etc. My plan was to plug it into the nice TV and use Boxee, among other things, to contribute to my general entertainment.

The Mini showed up quickly but I was stuck without the right cables or my keyboard and mouse so I spent a very frustrating night just looking at the box. While I was working on picking up the cables (comes with DVI to mini-DVI but I needed a DVI to HDMI for my TV connection) and the keyboard (more on that in a moment), I got some extra RAM (and had it put in by a very talented and gentle friend) and an external hard drive and those piece rounded out the specs I wanted without spending $$$ via Apple.

So, I really wanted a keyboard with an integrated mouse. I borrowed a wireless keyboard and mouse from a friend for a few days but that confirmed my thoughts: sitting on the couch, there’s not a good surface for a mouse. So I did my research an ultimately ordered a “Logitech DiNovo Edge” (perhaps the only product ever created for a Mac that is actually less than the Windows version of the same product). I’ve been extremely happy with it: the keyboard has a good tactile feel, the mouse has a scroll element built-in (takes some getting used to but still awesome) and it has all the keyboard short cuts of a regular Mac keyboard. And best of all, it’s less expensive than the wireless keyboard and mouse the Apple Store sells. It, more than any other one piece of the project, has made this a success since it allows me to be sitting/lying wherever I want and still use the keyboard and mouse without issue.

And I’m very happy to say that I have been using the Mini a lot. I have friends over pretty often and we frequently watch YouTube or other Internet videos, TV, movies, etc. with Boxee. While planning our upcoming trip to Vegas we sat around in the living room and did our trip research on my TV. I got a video camera for my birthday recently and those videos have been replayed often via the Mini. Has it replaced cable? No, though I do watch less of it. The big issue now is all the talk of Time Warner Cable increasing fees for downloads- which obviously is not awesome timing for me. But if it weren’t for sports and my evil, suck-ass two year contract with Direct TV I would quite likely either abandon or cut way back on my cable TV.

So check back… I’ll post “soon” and I think I’ll talk more about Boxee, the fantastic open-source application which is the foundation on which all my network entertainment is built. And in other news I’m heading to Vegas in July (woot!) and I’m enjoying watching the Hurricanes make a run at the post-season (SO STRESSFUL!). Happy May, folks!

I turned 30 this past weekend. I knew it was coming, and I did my best to ignore it. Ultimately it was a very low-key day featuring breakfast with the family, a nap and then dinner and drinks with friends. There was very little fanfare (friends gave me a whispered rendition of “Happy Birthday”) but it was nice and now it’s passed so I only need to think about it when I have to check the little boxes for ones age range. I hate the age boxes.

Rather than whining about the birthday, which we all know I can do, I thought perhaps I should share some of the wisdom I think I’ve gained over my 30 years. So below are 5 things I’ve learned, many the hard way, and that I think are important.

1. Don’t smoke. I’m sure your doctor, your mom and your local news channel have all told you this but I’m going to reiterate it. It’s very difficult to stop, it’ll haunt you forever after and whatever you tell yourself about why you do it, it’s a very self-destructive act.
2. Try to enjoy what you do. I’m not saying love your job- that would be fantastic and by all means aim for that, but let’s get real: not everyone is going to love their job. What I’m saying is look at the job you have and try to find one thing you do that you really like. And then, if it’s within your power, try to do more of that. Ask your boss for more time, try to justify it, and if all else fails and there’s no support, do it anyway whenever you can. You’ll do it well because you care and eventually people will notice something that’s well-done. Even if those people work at another company.
3. Get a pet. This isn’t rocket science, people. They’re good company, they help lower blood pressure and they’re cute. Like stuffed animals that play with you. It’s a no-brainer really.
4. Smile at people more. I’ve heard that this makes a big deal. When you smile and say “hello” to everyone they notice. You get better interactions everywhere you go. I frequently forget this but I have made more of an effort at the “hello” part and that has made a difference.
5. Appreciate everything. I don’t claim to know the secret of happiness but if I did I think it would have something to do with our ability to appreciate things. If you can keep an open-mind to everything that’s potentially good, even the little things, I think that helps make a bad day better and a good day great. We so often take for granted the food, the car, the house, the job, our health; the next time you hear a song you love on your iPod or inhale a spring breath without pollen, pause a moment and enjoy it.

So there you have it: wisdom a la Jen. I will add that most of these things tie into work in some way (definitely 2, 4 and 5) and also that I’m really terrible at most of them (definitely 1, 3 and 5) so I’d like to try to use my 30’s to get a little personal improvement. Wish me luck.
Also, I got a video camera from my beloved cousin (who also made me cry three times over breakfast. Evil!). I do plan to share some video on here eventually but sadly right now it’s all of me crying or drinking; two events that look oddly similar and which no one wants to see.

So there you have it, the story of happy birthday to me. Please feel free to share your own wisdom, god knows I could use more, and please forgive me my sappy post. The next one will be much more stoic, I swear.

There are a few of you, I would even say “several”, who will read my next sentence, look up to the heavens and exclaim with frevrent joy “It’s about time!”.

I got a speeding ticket yesterday.

If you know me then you know I drive pretty fast. I like to be in control (which is why I have a stick shift) and I get very impatient when stuck behind slow drivers or sloppy drivers or drivers overly cautious of rain or snow or, oh hell, anyone not going 55+. I like to get where I’m going and I love getting there on a nice windy road at high speeds.

Which makes yesterdays ticket that much more insulting. I was heading through NC State’s campus late in the evening. I’d been at work all day, followed by a three-hour history class and I just wanted to be home. Classicly, I was stuck behind some good ‘ole boy driving through campus at (what I would call) exceptionally slow speeds so I got impatient and made a right to get away from him and exit campus a different way.

My alternate path was a road that’s under-utilized most days and downright dead at 9pm on a Wednesday night. There are no dorms down there, only administrative buildings and as I drove I did not see a single car- not even headlights in the distance. Until I saw the cop. The NC State cop. He was hiding on the side of the road. I passed him and he pulled out and followed me. Strangely he didn’t pull me right away. He actually waited until I was on a “real” road, off-campus (actually, I wonder now if that had anything to do with my ticket…), a road that is quite heavily-traveled.

Probably because he was an NC State cop I didn’t think it would be a “real” ticket. I was wrong. Under the circumstances, I really didn’t think I was going that fast, but 42 mph sounds a lot worse when you find out the speed limit on that road 25 mph (I honestly thought it was 35 mph!). So if I do the math… carry the one… that’s me going 17 mph over the speed limit. I don’t know how that translates in points on my license, but it can’t be pretty.

Ironically, I haven’t had a ticket in four or five years. My driving record is decptively clean considering my little speeding habbit. And this is where those family members and friends start cackling and rubbing their hands together: I think my brother has had three tickets in the last few years and I doubt he drives as fast as I do. I think I was due, and despite the crummy circumstances, my whining will stop here. I’ll try to be a good girl, drive the speed limit (ok, plus 7mph or so…) and avoid all windy roads for the next few months.

Dammit.