2012 was a great many things, but, chief among them, for me, and likely a great deal of you reading this--? 2012 was stressful. Not that I didn't have enjoyable moments in 2012. I thankfully reached a milestone of years at my job. I unexpectedly sold my old used car and purchased a newer used car. I'm newly responsible for an older cat -- is it really still pet-sitting if it's for six mont  Read more 

I'm going to tell you a secret that really isn't a secret. I am a resident of the Second Life virtual world with the name, Valsadie Springvale (http://www.facebook.com/valsadie.springvale). The proper term for Valsadie Springvale is avatar, but thanks to James Cameron, when I say that, people think it means I'm blue, 12 ft. tall, have dreadlocks, and am running around an impossible jungle ha  Read more 

After I read a news story yesterday morning about Florida -- "Voter-Purge List Appears Flawed (http://ow.ly/bcaKB): State records alleging non-U.S. citizens as registered include 21 in Polk, but county officials say nearly half appear to be legit." at http://ow.ly/bcaKB -- I decided to go out to EACH state (and DC) website and find out how you could check your voter registration status. I  Read more 

(As I write this, I haven't quite gotten to 500 tweets yet -- but it's only a matter of minutes until I do, at the rate I tweet and re-tweet, so better to have this blog post all ready beforehand--!) @RebelliousVal (http://twitter.com/RebelliousVal) started tweeting in conjunction with the @RebelliousMag (http://www.twitter.com/rebelliousmag) revolution on April 17, 2012. I had a very  Read more 

One of the episodes of The Cosby Show that stays with me is the one where Clair is invited to participate in a Sunday morning roundtable TV show. The three-person roundtable consists of an affected, supercilious host who leads and moderates discussion between a staunch, disagreeable conservative and a tweedy, condescending liberal -- and presumably any resemblance of these three white male cha  Read more