I think this morning I'm going to limit myself to writing about uplifting things. And, man, have I found something that makes my heart sing: the running totals for money donated by bloggers to Spirit of America. Three groups of bloggers, headed by Castle Argghhh!, Dean Esmay, and A Small Victory, are raising money for alternate media sources in Iraq. So far they've raised over $30,000! And bloggers are starting to auction things: an original Cox & Forkum, a picture from Saddam's palace that Chief Wiggles took, plane tickets, bayonets, everything!

I didn't join up with any specific "team" for the competition, and it's probably too late to join in since it ends Thursday. If I had been paying more attention to getting in on this, I would've knitted a sweater for the reader who pledged the most. Instead I will just have to encourage you to go pledge through someone else...

And now that I see how much money everyone else is giving, I have to go donate more! $30,000! Look at the impact we bloggers can have.

Posted by: Sarah at 02:58 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 181 words, total size 1 kb.

The only blog I read where I can remember precisely the first entry I ever read is Lileks'. It was his post on Ed Harris. Ed Harris, you say, Mr. Link on Andrew Sullivan? I like him. Let's go see what this so-called Lileks character has to say about him. How's that, Harris said something moronic? And this Lileks guy writes about this kind of stuff every day? I'm hooked.

That was January 2003. I've followed Lileks ever since; he holds a sweet spot in my heart, though he'll never know it. I listen to all the crappy music he makes. I look at all his regrettable food. And I feel a certain connection with him today when he apologizes for not making more time for his readers. And he means it, you can tell he really means it.

He makes me smile.

Posted by: Sarah at 03:15 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 145 words, total size 1 kb.

The moment you've all been waiting for: the before and after of my trip to visit Tim.
You can also read Tim's infuriating before on his blog.

I've had some extra thoughts since I got home. The funniest one is that my mother encouraged me to go meet a total stranger from the internet. I think we look at blogging in a different way than we look at internet dating...

Posted by: Sarah at 08:39 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 72 words, total size 1 kb.

Remember when Roger Simon went to Paris and met The Dissident Frogman, Merde in France, and Nelson Ascher? Man was I jealous. I wanted to make a blog trip too. I want to meet these people whose lives I follow every day, more closely than I follow any of my friends' lives.

So I bought a train ticket yesterday.

That scenario could lead me off in a whole different direction, by the way. I could talk about how I tried to put to use the German I've been studying and say Ich möchte am Samstag nach Frankfurt fahren bitte, and how the girl behind the counter gave me this exasperated look when my German wasn't as fast as she would've liked, and how finally I just gave up and let her do it all in English, and how I walked out of the train station fuming and wondering why I even bother to study German in the first place. But that's a diatribe for another day; we need to stay on track.

Last week I decided that I needed some support. When my friend remarked that my house is entirely too quiet and that she doesn't know how I can stand to be alone like this, I started to think that I'd like to spend some time with someone who knows exactly what I've been thinking since day one.

So the grokkingest girl on the planet is going to Frankfurt...to meet Tim.

We had planned to meet once CPT Patti returned, but after last week's extension and missions, I figured there was no time like the present to just make it happen. So I'm going tomorrow to meet my first fellow blogger.

I'm a little nervous, to be honest. First of all, I have no idea what Tim looks like! I referred him back to my sweater photo and told him to be on the lookout for me at the train station. He also promised me a big hug -- something I have not had in two months -- and I'm honestly afraid that I might break down weeping there in the Hauptbahnhof. But it might be the best thing for me.

The hardest part about making this trip is explaining to people around here where I'm going. Do you want to come over on Saturday? Actually, I'm going to Frankfurt. What are you doing there? Visiting a friend. Are you staying the night? No, just a day trip. That's eight hours on the train -- why not spend the night? Because it's probably not appropriate to get a hotel with someone else's husband and a man I've never met before. Wait, who are you going to visit?

Just joking on that last part; I haven't said that because I know how odd it sounds. I've circumvented the whole thing really, just saying that I'm going to visit a friend. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Blogging resumes on Sunday, starting with what Tim looks like...

Posted by: Sarah at 02:39 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 502 words, total size 3 kb.

1 Cool! Ask Tim if he'd like a real blog

Posted by: Pixy Misa at April 23, 2004 02:41 AM (kOqZ6)

2 Your opening line led me to think you were going to France. Your experience so far reminds me of my trip to Germany to meet a friend I had only known online. Neither of us had any scanned pictures handy, so we had to guess each other's identity at the train station. I did manage to get the ticket using Dutch for most of the transaction - the counter person and I broke down and resorted to English briefly, then switched back. I'd like to read your linguistic diatribe, but I do realize that's only a footnote compared to what awaits you. Looking forward to your report. Pixy, Your generosity knows no bounds. Thanks for helping David with Rishon Rishon.

Posted by: Amritas at April 23, 2004 04:01 AM (h6KqA)

3 Language...everyone wants to speak English. I tried the same in Panama, and finally gave up. In Costa Rica, in a tiny town, I finally put my Spanish to use. Have fun on the trip.

Posted by: Mike at April 23, 2004 07:21 AM (cFRpq)

4 Hello, could you all tell me your opinion of a few of my military heroes, Smedley Butler, Scott Ritter, and USAF lieutenant-colonel Karen Kwiatkowski? Click on my name if you need to know more about the latter.

Posted by: florian at April 23, 2004 08:28 AM (hgLPQ)

5 Funny...I'm heading to Germany to welcome my very lucky daughter from the 1/4 ADA, 1AD back to Germany...I thought about trying to look Tim up as well! He's kept me going this long last year, as have you. Hope your visit is wonderful! And please post a picture of this wonderful guy. Keep on blogging, it keeps us going.

Posted by: beckie at April 23, 2004 03:35 PM (AaBEz)

6 http://www.booksforsoldiers.com/index.php Link to it. You're the one with the military husband.

Posted by: Taron W at April 24, 2004 09:18 PM (s915e)

7 I remember the first time that the woman at the ticket counter answered me in German... It only took 6 months of buying monthly tickets, too!

Posted by: Dominic at April 27, 2004 07:26 AM (0h0BM)

8 hi guys , cool blog and great site http://casino.vmedical.us casino

Posted by: casino at September 03, 2005 03:09 AM (7+3Q2)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

I didn't check my email until it was too late, so I didn't get to participate in the Right-Of-Center Bloggers Select Their Favorite Contemporary Dinner Guests over at RWN. The list sounds pretty good to me -- I wouldn't mind eating dinner with most of these people -- though my list would have leaned more towards bloggers. I can safely say I'd feel more honored to meet Victor Davis Hanson than Condoleezza Rice, more excited to eat dinner with James Lileks than Mel Gibson, and more nervous to meet Steven Den Beste than just about anyone in the world.

Posted by: Sarah at 04:48 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 101 words, total size 1 kb.

Only on the internet could a blogger come up with a great product idea and have it made, marketed, and sold in less than two weeks.

(Thanks, Overtaken By Events.)

Posted by: Sarah at 07:33 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 32 words, total size 1 kb.