www.annkroeker.com

Where am I? Where are my thoughts?

Over at www.annkroeker.wordpress.com

(Sorry about the glitch with the link)

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehn, Good Night

I'm glad to go, I cannot tell a lie....

but before I go, I'd like to say a few words about Blogger.

Ahem.

I have to give it to them, the people who created Blogger were early to the game. For years they've offered people a fairly easy way to get up and running with a blog, and they've offered it for free. I myself have been with them since 2004, when a techie at my web host recommended it and set me up. He did all of the template selection and ftp-ing (whatever that is--something to do with hosting it at my website). Blogger has some very nice features and has met my needs since 2004.

But I think it is for more technically minded people than I. Now the NEW Blogger is supposed to simplify some of the technical mumbo-jumbo I've had to sift through just to put something on my sidebar. But I've read lackluster reviews of the NEW Blogger and decided to just try something new.

I've talked about taking risks, so I just decided to go for it.

I'm starting the year with a new blog.

I was planning to name it something clever, but the more I monkeyed around with it, the more I realized it was turning out more like a personal website. So instead of naming it something memorable, I just left it in my name. My new blog is the "home" page.

Without further ado, I bid you adieu here at Blogger (thank you, Blogger-folks--it was a good run)...

and invite you to my new blog hosted at WordPress (not perfect, but definitely easier):

www.annkroeker.com


Simple as that.

Pay me a visit, if you will. See what you think. Let me know.


And if it doesn't work out, I can always come crawling back here and switch over. I'm not above that.

Small Pleasures

I've grown to love a Celestial Seasonings holiday tea called "Candy Cane Lane." Now those of you who know about this brand, they only carry these during Christmas, and then it's over. Poof. Stores pile them on their closeout tables and they are GONE until next year.

Well, I peered inside my Candy Cane Lane box and gasped--only three tea bags left! My heart sank. Was there still time to find it?

I drove to Kroger, Marsh (another supermarket chain), Wal-Mart, Target. Nothing. Not one box.

Nothing compares. I've taste-tested other peppermint teas, but they aren't the same. Candy Cane Lane is a decaf green tea, and something about the way the flavors blend, it's just right. Perfect. Delicious. Put a little honey in there, and I've died and gone to tea heaven.

Now what?

Well, on a whim I slipped into a Walgreens. There was a Gingerbread tea and a Holiday Spice, but no Candy Cane Lane.

Then, I passed a CVS. I decided to stop. I rushed to the Christmas clearance section, and there on the shelf...

one

lone

box.

I almost cried.

I turned to the man stocking shelves. "Is this it? Just one?"

"That's it."

"Well, I should be happy there's one, right?"

"Yes!"

"But I wish there were more. This has to last me an entire year."

"Sorry." He laughed at me. I was clutching the box to my heart. He saw me again when I was sniffing it through the plastic, squeezing the box slightly to let out a puff of aroma. He laughed again. "You sure do love it."

"I do,"I said.

I really do.

Resistance is futile

Resistance is futile.

Assimilation is imminent.

Soon I'll be absorbed into the NEW Blogger, dragged off in the night to convert.

There is, however, a small hope of rescue. Rebel forces have formed a user-friendly way to blog. No more of this html code and other technical monkey business--I can easily type in blogs in my blogroll and toss out interesting website links. I'm just a writer. That's what I want to do: write. I don't want to scan code and figure out how to paste in things that look like this:


=nba /aj/amper<> upload <>....

and so on.

Just let me drag and drop, cut and paste, hyperlink with one click of a button. Just let me type and publish in real time. Keep it simple, folks.

That's what I was looking for. Something simple.

I think I found it.

Soon I will send you there. When the time is right.

(We've been watching "Star Wars." Can you tell?)

New Year's Resolutions, Cont'd

I've written two posts that I was unable to publish or save. Lost forever. I'm telling you, they contained some of the best writing I've ever produced--people would have been pasting them into e-mails and forwarding them to everyone in their address book, with a threat at the end not to break the chain.

Now you're stuck with ordinary writing.

Nothing like a badly designed computer program to suck the creativity and motivation out of a person.

I may migrate to WordPress.

(Shhhh. Don't tell Blogger. They're about to force me to switch to the NEW Blogger, and I'm resisting to the end...stay alert. I may reroute you in the next few days if they don't get to me first.)

When I evaluated 2006, I ended up writing a poem. I'd post it here, except it's a bit pessimistic. So I think I'm better off looking ahead to 2007.

The past few days I have revisited a conversation dating back 15 years, maybe 18. I was working full time at a church writing, editing and/or producing the creative elements of its weekend services (drama sketches, special readings, interviews and slide shows).

One day a young man who played in the band came up to me with an exciting proposition. Would I like to help a team that was going to found and organize a brand-new film festival that was promoting films with a positive message? "It's right up your alley," he encouraged me, "and you'd be great at it."

"I, um, oh, I don't know. I don't think so."

"What? Why not? It's a perfect fit!"

"I'm, um, I don't know. I'm too busy to volunteer for something else."

He pushed me to consider this golden opportunity--the people involved had a strong vision and it was sure to grow to a significant festival one day. I could be involved from the start. He complimented my abilities--he believed in me and saw me as a critical participant with much to offer.

I didn't.

I didn't believe in myself. I didn't have enough confidence, and I had too much fear.

I turned him down.

I can still see the look on his face: incredulous. "Why wouldn't you want to do this?"

I hemmed. Hawed. I didn't have time or energy or something.

I'll tell you what I didn't have: guts.

I wish my current self could go back in time and advise my younger self to do it. "Life is short," I might have said, "try this venture, even if you don't think you can handle it. Just give it a try and see if you like it! You might be good at it! You might love it! Or maybe you won't, and you can step down. But your only failure is to not try at all."

But my current self wasn't there. Only my younger self. And she was too fearful to take the risk, and in a way, I think she did fail. She failed herself. Today she might be a richer person with experiences that might have taken her in marvelous new directions. Instead, she stayed with what was known, safe, simple, risk-free.

Not that my life isn't rich and marvelous. It's just that avoiding risk is no way to live.


It's a new year, with new possibilities.

This year, take a risk.

Step out and try something new.

Don't be afraid, just because you've never done something before.

I'm speaking mostly to myself--my current self speaking to my current self. It's too late for my former self to take those risks, but it's not too late for my current self. My today and tomorrow self.

Today it's pretty quiet. The girls are building a village out of LEGOs. My nephew is listening to music in the basement. The Boy is playing "Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo" on the computer. No big risk has presented itself.

But the year is young. The year is very young.