lost websites of the aughts

Internet Archaeologists Find Ruins Of 'Friendster' Civilization

counting my blessings in 2009

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

Thank you, gchat, for keeping my friends close by in 2009. Sitting at a desk is far more entertaining when I keep one eye on the buzz on the top of my Firefox browser.

So to my friends in DC, Charlottesville, South Africa, China and the Operation Smile Headquarters off Tidewater Drive: I love you and am thankful that AIM too had to grow up and get a real job.

feliz navidad!

Love,

the Weigleins

onward and upward!

For as long as I can remember I have imagined the calendar year as a giant gold ring. There's a tiny seam between August and September and another between December and January. Let me tell you, that stretch between the Aug/Sept seam and the Dec/Jan have been the busiest days of my life. But, I made it! And, as I continue to brag to anyone who will listen, I got a straight 100 in one of my 3 classes. (This is not my typical style, btw.)

I do not recommend working full time while being a full time graduate student. Is it possible? Sure. Can you watch all the TV that you need in order to be sane? No way. This is why I am shedding work much like Jewel shed that weird cocoon costume in the You Were Meant for Me music video. So long, S.!

I also have always imagined heaven as a golden ring floating in space with no beginning and no end. No seams in sight. This kept me awake at night crying as a kid. Who taught me this image? You caused me a lot of fear of boredom in the Afterlife, thank you.

All of that is to say that I am looking forward to 2010. Still don't know how long it will take me to be bold enough to write " '10" though...

father card, tell me where have you been

Rorschach Ink Blot Test

cheers to november

who are you,little i

(five or six years old)
peering from some high

window;at the gold

of november sunset

(and feeling:that if day
has to become night

this is a beautiful way)




ee cummings

let the walls fall down

I have been feeling nostalgic for this anniversary. It's funny, I really don't know or understand much about the Berlin Wall or the circumstances around it's demise. I was 5 when it fell and remember it only vaguely. Thinking about it feels like recalling a dream and realizing that what you had believed to be a historic moment was really just a scene from Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Much like the Lower School's "Paid in Full" stamp, some things you see as a little kid stick with you. Would it be redundant to say that this event is pretty much the symbolic theme of my life?

<3

today in my Annual Review:

S: So what is going on with your nail polish?

R: I'm just trying to dress like my girl LC.

S: No. Never say that again. She is a HARible person.

R: Hm. No, I don't think so...


(And this is why they pay me the big bucks.)

get ye to therapy

The thing I love most right now about studying counseling at ODU is the fact that a day can't go by without a few professors telling me that I need to go to therapy. Every day they say it. To everyone. Oh to live in a world where everyone knows that they have a lot of shat to work through.

It's not taboo, it's refreshing.

public service announcement

Dude, if you love Mad Men as much as me then you best check out Project Rungay's episode by episode analysis. I can't wait til Katie Shields either a) dresses up as Joan Holloway for Halloween or b) gets some office job and struts her hot hot hot stuff all day long.

Neptune Festival 2009

Aunt Sharon, Meredith and I went to the Neptune Festival on Sunday afternoon to check out the sandcastles. I trust that no further narration is needed to explain what transpired.

ROGUE WAVE: Let's get down like the economy

I am sick of this recession marketing. I mean, "FRUGALISTA"? Target, I thought you respected me more. Even SBCC titled their current series "The New Reality: ARE YOU SURVIVING?". Listen, we need to lift our eyes higher. Like to the hood of our cars when Norfolk floods every 5th day.

My boys Jay Sean and Lil Weezie have the right attitude. Let's look at these lyrics that have been running nonstop through my subconscious for the past 3 days:

O baby don’t worry, you are my only,
You won’t be lonely, even if the sky is falling down,
You’ll be my only, no need to worry,
Baby are you down down down down down,
Down, Down,
Baby are you down down down down down,
Down, Down,
Even if the sky is falling down,
...

I’m fighting for this girl,
On the battlefield of love,
Don’t it look like baby cupid sending arrows from above,
Don’t you ever leave the side of me,
Indefinitely, not probably,
and honestly im down like the economy,
Yeahhhhhh


This song repurposes the current negative connotation of the word "down" and instead uses it to refer to deep sentiments reserved only for one's boo.

I believe the recession will be ended by you and me and a viral grass roots campaign. I haven't yet figured out my "buddy band" product (if you will), so until then I will pull myself up by reclaiming "down".

I wish my name was January Jones

And I wish I had this headboard! It makes pouting so much more attractive...

congrats on your emmy, ms. fey!

“Mrs. Palin is an inspiration to working mothers everywhere because she bailed on her job right before Fourth of July weekend. You are living my dream. Thank you, Mrs. Palin.”


Tina Fey

the big fish

If I ever called Tbone "Hubs" it would be entirely this meal's fault. I came home from class the other night to find The Hubs had made me this quinoa stuffed bell pepper, guac goulash and kiwi slices. Hell what?

Sir: shawty, you da'best.


blog checklist:
-photo of home cooked meal
-referred to the hubs as so
-check and CHECK!

not for all the tea in china

you know how to make old Rutha feel like a million bucks? Ask her to throw you a dinner party before you move to China for the year. Bon Voyage, Jonathan! May your students fill their cellies with your picture.

as for the post title, I have waited years to reference the Magnetic Fields.

<3 cousin love

Addie Strickland welcomes Olivia Simone to her 1st Birthday Party in Charlottesville this past weekend. How stinkin' cute is this?!

See Addie's personal blog for the whole low down on her party.

in honor of my fav new blog

Here's a trinket That I Must Have or I'll Die.

If you follow a fashion blog it might as well be written by someone you'd follow off a cliff and into a shark's open mouth. And that's not a confusing metaphor for trends, ok?

Cassette Nano Case by Contexture Design

From the desk of R. Weiglein:

And just like that, I am back to working full time. Keep your Gmail chat status changing, guys--- I am back in the game!

ooooo the flossy flossy

So we went on this kick-ass yacht last weekend for Natalie's bachelorette party. And what was the most exciting party (you know, besides the Aldo's catered food, the full time staff, the boat's logo on the solo cups, docking up at Chick's in a floating apt building)... STAUVEY the PUG!

Here is KW posing with Stauvey's likeness stitched into a pillow. Stauvey wasn't available for pics.

why did I ever stop wearing purple eyeliner?

I went through this "stage" in 8ish/9th grade where I didn't know much about makeup but I just wanted my eyelids to be all glittery. I did a bunch of whack stuff, like putting glittery Bonne Belle lip gloss on my eyes in the ratty upstairs bathroom in NCH. Well, I'm pretty sure that bathroom has been bulldozed along with the rest of that wing of my adolescence, but I sure wish I had some purple eyeliner to wear to work tomorrow. Tell S. that shit is straight trendy.

Tbone and I saw Funny People tonight and Leslie Mann rocked some purple eyeliner. Not in this pic, but in the movie. Go see it, I mean, if you wanna laugh about boys having balls.

tough commute?

"Police are hoping she'll call to explain how she managed to get stuck in that position."
click here for the whole article.

New term of the day: "Bridge Tender". My life just keeps getting better.

for the breitenberg-millers:

A fight worth joining.

tupac "changes"

I can't stop cracking myself up about SarahPac like NoofPac and NoelPac.
But, the point is that image of Alaska as the Hole in America.

3 cheers for maps! 4 cheers for 2pac!

and now in Italian: gli Stati Uniti!

like a blonde beacon in the city

Being that I live in the urban center that is Hilltop, I often forgo my car to walk places. Picture me walking my posh teacup puppy and carrying a baguette. Often we walk like this around the drainage ditch behind Michael's parking lot. Let's refer to it as The Reservoir for the purpose of this post. Sometimes we head over to the ole DQ or even Borders.

But tonight, Bobito and I marched over to Panera and lounged in the bath water heat on the bistro chairs with Ana and Peter. Upon parting ways, my mother and brother got into their respective cars and headed out to different parking lots. I walked on home.

I walked home only to find that I had no keys and the bath water was collecting on my forehead to the point I could almost wash my hair-- if I could get into my apartment to grab my shampoo. I reached to call Ana and realized that she had just told me that she somehow misplaced her new iPhone. Since her house is a wreckage of remodeling and she has no TV, she chose to walk the aisles of Target until they kicked her out. Still sweating I started to panic. This Eagle Scout I live with once broke us into our apartment with only a credit card and a furrowed brow. I almost busted up my new Wild Water Rapids season pass trying to mimic his success.

Now, the Eagle Scout is in Nicaragua and I have no iPhone but something I do have is Target's phone number saved in my phone (...). I call their customer service line and carefully explain to the kind employee how I am locked out of my apartment and my mother has lost her phone but she is wandering the Target aisels and I need her to be paged. I give the lady my cell phone number, confident that after 8 years my mother still never learned it. I then request that she please page "Ana Strickland" and ask her to call me. At this the woman exclaims, "Ana Banana?! Are you RUTHIE?!"

Oh my gosh. If I wasn't embarrassed by this situation, I am now. Barbara knows us, she says.

Within 1 minute Ana calls me and I am saved. She of course gives me an earful about how they paged her over the ENTIRE TARGET but hey, so soon she forgets the thousands of childhood hours I spent hiding in the clothes racks at TJ Maxx. I know her tricks.

save the date:

10.31.09

Banqueting Table. Invitations to follow.

(Photo: Vogue December 2003- Alice in Wonderland series)

And then the wolfpack of one was a wolfpack of two.

While I am on the subject of popular fiction, I need some answers. Why do you think Stephenie Meyer named all the Indian's in La Push after Old Testament figures? No, you say. Yes, I say.

Let's name the wolfpack:
1) Jacob (son of Ephraim Black)
2) Sam(uel)
3) Seth
4) Paul (oops.. NT)
5) Leah
6) Rachel (sister of wolfpack)
etc etc etc etc etc (Quil and Embry almost throw this all off)

Tommy tried to shut down my impromptu literature discussion by saying SM is a Mormon (oh, and he can talk Twilight). Anyone out there half working on Excel half reading this that wants to share their keen insight?


I don't even need to take a Twitter quiz to tell you that I am:

Manifest Destiny (or the most romantic phrase since Santa Maria Novella)

Have you ever been pissed bc someone stole your idea? And did it better than you? Well, I am looking for someone to read this book so we can hash it out. Please. Tommy will eventually, but listen, I'm talking like now!!! OK? (He hears this kind of thing enough already.)

Synopsis: Oscar Schell's Heavy Boots, Boy Cartographer, dancing around talking about feelings by mapping things. Hoboin' on a train from Montana to DC. Endless illustrated margin notes.

I heard about this book and my heart ached 1) to read it and 2) bc I was pissed I didn't create it.

In the spirit of the Jewel, there are a few parts I would like to rewrite. But no one asked me. But I am asking you: Please read this book so we can discuss it before it becomes a blockbuster flop!

While you are deciding if you can commit to my challenge, check out the book's site.

O' the Bros Wagaline

Well, we've had a big weekend. On Thursday night Tbone got backed into, smashing up the front of his car in the Tau Togs parking lot. On Saturday night he got rear-ended coming off an exit in Charlottesville. On Sunday Mike Weiglein got married. And at some point in the midst of all of this, Mike got new glasses. Tbone is pissed.

Mission control, are you tweeting?

I've been trying to get obsessed with Twitter the past couple weeks. What? Yeah. It started when my cousin Becca moved to Nicaragua for the summer and announced that she would be tweeting about her adventures on the farm. Times have changed. In a moment of desperate hysteria I tried tweeting about the giant roach that had me hiding on top of my bed in hopes that TBone would some how read the message over Becca's shoulder, but blahhhhh, that roach is still hiding out somewhere.

So yeah, I have been trying to get into Twitter. I started following Spidey and LC, a little Mariah Carey too. But what has really gotten me nearly hooked is this.

In between now and Monday (the moonwalk's 40th anniversary) they are tweeting a "live" play by play of Apollo 11 Lunar Landing. This way those of us who never sat around Kevin Arnold's black and white screen to watch it ourselves can READ the dialogue between Mission Control and the astronauts from our slow office desktops. And wow, it's been beautiful in 140 characters.

(click to enlarge)

For more over the moon tweets, follow me. Or don't, I got enough weirdos reading about my roach problems.

brace yo face

for an upcoming entry by a guest writer. this writer has been teasing me with his/her entry, as he/she often does. stay tuned.

The Best Party I've Ever Been To!

BridePac Shameal was born ready to party like a bachelorette! The real question: Was Rehoboth Beach ready? Or the kind boy in the bottom left who let a gaggle of girls pile into his red jeep like a Barbie commercial come true? Probably not.

I am so excited to not only have one of my best friends enter the sacred world of marriage, but enter it in with a introverted, red-head man!

The woolly mammoth is melting, Shameal!

NURTURERS BE NURTURING

Another post for Spencer:




This weekend I was told I wasn't welcomed in Rehoboth unless I brought Bobito. Good thing he is in constant orbit of my ankles. He had the time of his life--- his life that was almost finished when he ran in front of a car that only stopped because I was hysterically crying in the middle of the road.

My point is that Alice, I can't wait to meet your new puppy!!! You will be a great planet for a tiny dog to orbit- all morning, work day and night.


Dave Curtin also loved "The "To" as he affectionately named him. If you are support Alice's new puppy say Heyyy Gurlll Heyyyyyyy!

King David and The Computer Screen

or, "We want to focus on beauty"

It was Christmas Eve at Joyce Hatcher's house when Mariah leaned in close to my ear and whispered, "Can you keep a secret??" I slapped both hands over my mouth and exclaimed (in a muffled tone, I guess): "No!! No, I can't!!"

By the look on her face I could tell that was not the right response. Luckily she decided to tell me anyway.

And so it began: 6 months of wild anticipation.

Mariah and Andrew were married on June 6 at Sajo Farms, a place so untouched by the rest of Virginia Beach that I thought I was in a Ralph Lauren ad. Everything about the event, the ceremony was beautiful and inspirational. Good thing there was a cocktail hour because it gave KW and I a good 45 minutes to twirl around gushing and being
proud of ourselves for attending such a lovely affair.

When Mariah's secret finally materialized, it was worth the wait. Andrew's reaction made me feel like a billion bucks, and I had nothing to do with it.

I wish I had a glass to raise right now to the newlyweds, who are lovely and full of visions of peace, creativity and community.





On a more melancholy and full circle note, I mourned the end of their wedding evening, much like that awkward early evening time of Christmas day-- when you know you must savor every last moment because what you've waited so long for is almost done.

Cheers to Andrew and Mariah Miller!

Beware of Crazy Ramblings:

12th grade AP Literature stands out in my memory as being pretty traumatic. Actually, as I type this up instead of studying for my Final tomorrow, I realize how I am displaying my own irrational cognition. Blah blah. Anyway, besides the fact that I loved every second of English class, I just remember my teacher Mrs. Linz pounding one fact into my brain: MARRIAGE=DEVASTATION. Gee wiz! Why would we talk about that? I have no clue. Must've been those books they made us read.

I digress. One thing that horrified both EP Playa and I was when Mrs. Linz went to great lengths to describe how your high school lovers will soon slip out of your conscious and by spring semester of your first year of college, you won't even remember their names. Now, I believe the direct quote from her was: "many soft caresses I felt and lips I brushed up against in dark cars at night and while I remember the sweet touches, their names have long since slipped my mind."

My point is, I am married now and I am not devastated.

But my real point is that I bumped into this poem the other day in the ODU bookstore and it is to blame for the flooding memories of AP Devastation (as we took to calling it). Ted Kooser is a jerk for stealing my imagery, but I will forgive him because it is clunky at best. Also, cool poem.


TECTONICS - Kooser


In only a few months
there begin to be fissures
in what we remember,
and within a year or two,
the facts break apart
one from another
and slowly begin to shift
and turn, grinding,
pushing up over each other
until their shapes
have been changed
and the past has become
a new world.
And after many years,
even a love affair,
one lush green island
all to itself,
perfectly detailed
with even a candle
softly lighting a smile,
may slide under the waves
like Atlantis,
scarcely rippling the heart.

Say hello to Jacob!

We have a new nephew!



Congratulations to Tommy's sister Carrie and her husband Bryan on the birth of their second son! Jacob was born on Sunday evening. We can't wait to meet him at Uncle Mike's wedding in July!!!!!

Happy Bday KW!!!!

For the past 17 of my 24 years, June 23 has been a red letter day in my summer's social calendar. For years Kristin Ward's midsummer Birthday Pool Party was my main social event. We have since changed the location from the Larry Avenue pool to the Catch31 bathroom, but the heightened excitement and squealing remains.

Sadly, my iPhoto archives don't go back to 1st grade, but they do go back to the Summer of 2k7!!! I wonder if Bobbi can hook me up with the old photos... I know I have some new ones of her...

To my dear friend Spencer

This post is for you.

A Twilight Toast

This weekend TBone and I went up to Alexandria to celebrate Noof and Noel's engagement with a night of toasting. It was a fabulous party with beautiful friends, flowers, atmosphere, and all the sweet treats that Tbone could imagine.





And as a very special surprise indeed, Dr. Andrew Badke flew in from Seattle Grace to get the party started. Let's just say that the Big Top was raised once more around the three rings of the Andy Badke Circus.



Too bad my pictures don't capture the lovely details of the party, but I trust you get the point. Congratulations Noof and Noel!

hi dad!

Emmanuel Dunand / AFP - Getty Images

a young summer's tale

Once upon a time there was a man whose only wish was to dress up his tiny puppy in silly costumes. He dreamed of a tiny life jacket with a handle that he could parade his dog around in at pools and laugh and laugh at. Lucky for the man he had a WONDERFUL WIFE who searched high and far for the tiniest life jacket a doggy has ever worn. And she gave it to the man as a surprise.

He was so happy.
























































The puppy was a natural! He swam faster than the man could run in the water. The man was so proud of his puppy that he bragged and bragged and now refers to the dog as his son. The wife was very pleased with herself, and her little family.

songs about bridges

Tommy often asks me why I didn't go with the name he came up with for my blog: "Dollop of Ruthie". He is making fun of me you see, because Tbone completely understands how that horrible "D" word conjures up images of mayonnaise pie and sour cream and all the lovely things that make me wanna vom.

Once upon a time when I use to write poems and hide them, I came home from work overwhelmed by my new vernacular. Ugly words like "termination" and "separation" were now my daily language. While they are very technical and professional words-- they aren't that veiled. "Termination" is a pretty loaded word.

I have a friend who moved to Hong Kong with her family in high school. When I asked her the specifics of her father's job and why it was sending them to Hong Kong, she said very matter of factly, "He is a bridge-builder. Every few years my family moves to follow the bridge building circuit." I never told her this because we aren't that close, but I think that is the most romantic thing I have ever heard.

So back to that poem. I am obsessed with the idea of human (and landmass) separation. I want to build bridges. And besides, I hate mayonaisse.

While I know that words don't make the most sustainable bridges, they are a good start. And I gotta hand it to this guy for the way he uses words:

All of us share this world for but a brief moment in time. The question is whether we spend that time focused on what pushes us apart, or whether we commit ourselves to an effort — a sustained effort — to find common ground, to focus on the future we seek for our children, and to respect the dignity of all human beings.

-Barack Obama

from his address in Cairo yesterday

wicked interesting

I read this article today about a Brown University student who was caught off guard when he met his first evangelical Christians during his freshman year of college (love it!). Kevin Roose, who described himself as being the product of the "ultimate, secular, liberal upbringing", transferred to Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA in order to fully immerse himself in what might as well have been as foreign to him as any typical study abroad program.

Kevin went undercover and blended into his newfound Christian community. He spoke like his peers, answered test questions like them and lived life like them. He has now written a book describing his experience.

Now, I love this story as it sounds like a plot line from my fav show GREEK. But it does make a me a little nervous as I have tender heart for Fundy Culture, and live a life of constant tension in trying to figure out what to do with the 14 years of my Christian school upbringing. Challenge it! I say from the background, quietly afraid of what will be said.

And that is the best part. I was so convicted by his Liberty friends. His experience was so positive! O' RuthA of little faith, quit worrying about who (on NPR) might make you (the Christian) look bad (besides yourself)!

I will stop babbling so you can just go read the article. Please take his mock Liberty test and see if you can beat my score-- "Champion for Christ" baby!!

i want to go to there:

I saw a girl with this micro mini computer at school yesterday and then I saw it again today at Walmart for roughly $280. Clearly I want one (for Bobito!).

I do have a few reservations:

1) I use the computer for two things only: Gmail and Microsoft Word. I fear it lacks the later.
2) I am a Mac. Obviously.


Curtain.

Happy Memorial Day from the Weigleins & Simones!

What a great weekend!

Make way for Summer 09!
Say HEY to Summer 09! (to be sung in voice of the Genie)