Okay, so I promised myself I wouldn’t even talk, think, or dream about holiday gifts until AFTER Thanksgiving (which, in my opinion, is a forgotten holiday now that the hype for Christmas is so early).

However, then I thought about it, and realized that if you are buying online, lots of stores sell out quickly, and the postal service gets backed up, yada yada yada.

So to make a short story long, I have decided to give you all the gift that keeps on giving, which is a fabulous site of gift ideas.

Surprise.com contains user-submitted ideas for every possible category you could think of, such as “hates to cook”, “recently retired”, “works from home”, etc.

The neat thing is that even though you (obviously) don’t have to use any ideas on the site, it’s a great source of inspiration for coming up with your own gift ideas.

Because a fruitcake can only go so far.

I was having a moment of nostalgia the other day. Maybe it was because my high school reunion is coming up in a week, but I don’t know what that has to do with blogging. Unless it’s because I was thinking about my 11th grade English teacher. Mrs. Marge Kimpton.

Every time she assigned us a paper, we used to badger her with the million-dollar question for a student: how long does it have to be? There was nothing worse than being forced to agonize for hours over five pages of filler material. In fact, in college, we had one professor whom we swore did not read our papers, he just placed it on a scale. If it was over the amount that seven pages should be, we got an A.

So whenever we asked her about the length, Her answer was always the same, and priceless:

“I always say writing a paper, or an article, or a review can be compared to a lady’s skirt. Long enough to cover everything, but short enough to keep it interesting.”

That’s all I have to say about that.

So, let?s see. Yes, yes, it?s been awhile. My blog, which is my echo of all my thoughts, and I?ve been gone for so long. I will try not to let that happen again.

Here?s a quick summary:

I?ve been doing quite a few Lotus Notes projects. I?ve also been doing lots and lots of home computer repair and training, which I love. I?m also in the works to give some seminars in the Parks & Recreation department about tips for home users to combat spam and learn about protecting against viruses. And lastly, I am trying to get an outline going for a possible free seminar for parents on how to keep the Internet safe for their children.

And, after lots of great feedback from the home users I help from day to day, I?ve also decided I?m going to try to write a book. Though I have never done this before, it should be interesting. I don?t want to give too much away, but I can tell you my (working) title, which will at least give you an idea of my target audience: ?How big is a gig??

I am having a blast, and slowly but surely finding my niche, which I have been trying to do for years, and not successfully. Take this blog for example, I always have great ideas about Notes and lots of views/opinions on Internet technology and such, but the fear of sounding like I have no idea what I am talking about always takes over. Over the past month, working with primarily end users, I have discovered a self-confidence I never knew I had. It was comforting to know that I DO have something to offer.

Not to mention I have made an interesting realization. It?s a known fact that it is vital to stay current in the technology field. However, it seems like home users always seem to get the new technology first, and then once the usefulness is discovered, the same principle gets applied to corporations. Therefore, I can rest easy knowing I?m not going to get TOO behind doing home users at the same time I?m getting up to speed on ND6.

So that?s my story and I?m sticking to it. And in the meantime, I thank all my friends for wondering what the heck happened to me. I have to admit, it was nice to be missed.

Oh, and I can?t forget my remaining hours are trying to keep Reboot under control and happy. Now, Reboot also happens to be a stick connoisseur, and this is one of her favorites. But, I thought Shepherds were supposed to be smart, and Elkhounds were known for their problem-solving skills?