Welcome to The Music Facts !

This is the blog, where everyday -or so- you should find a thought about some piece of music.

We hope you’ll enjoy this adventure with us, react on what is said, and spread the word!

Each Music Fact is tagged cool or uncool. Give your opinion by leaving comments and/or rating the Music Facts.

Let the music play!

Hello my happy go-lucky readers and fellow bloggers,  I’ve got a little story for ya.

A few weeks ago, I received an email from a Mr. Michael Foti claiming to be Director of Marketing for PhontoPhone, Inc.  He said they were running a campaign to highlight some of the top blogs on the internet and that after reviewing mine, they’d like for me to put this banner on my page [they included the code] and to email a response when I’d done so.

Being curious – and confused – I went to their website.

Annnnnnd – totally sketchy.  I won’t go into detail, suffice it to say it was 1) hard to navigate 2) had to many flashing things and pictures of people on phones to be legit and 3) had no mention of any blog anywhere. 

So, I just let the message sit in my inbox.  Lucky for me.

Today, I saw an article on Social Media Law Student’s blog about this “blogger award scam.” After reading the article there, as well as one by Robert Ambrogi [A 'Top 100' honor I can do without] and another by Kevin O’Keefe over at Lex Blog [NewLawyer.com, Attorney.org and Laws.com one and the same animal], the picture became clear. 

Apparently, this company is just trying to drive traffic to its website.  They don’t actually do anything, much less try to help those who can’t afford it gain access to legal help.  I didn’t link to their sites in this post to avoid doing what they wanted me to do anyway.

Newsflash scammer/creepers: if your website has good – or even entertaining – information, people will come.  People will not like it or humor you if you go around soliciting links to your website.

Anyway, just an fyi to everyone out there so you – who also have fantastic blogs – don’t get suckered in.  Rex over at Social Media Law Student has a “Medal of Awesomeness” to help heal any wounds. 

Keep on keepin’ on fellow bloggers.

This is an entry I wrote back in July of this year [2009].  It is just now being posted because I wanted to seek the author’s permission before drawing attention to her blog.  She gave the nod of approval, so I’m posting this for y’all to see.  I think it’s important to have a balanced view of what law school can be like, and this is part of my attempt to do that.  Cheers.

There are many blogs I love and enjoy reading; there are so many that Google Reader – thought designed to simplify – is becoming a bit cumbersome.  I link to many of those that I read on the right side of my page to spread the love and help my readers find some that they too will enjoy.

I’ve never “featured” a blog on my page, aside from the shout outs and links to a few, but I thought that since this is something unique (at least in the blogs that I have come across), it deserves a mention.

Somebody shake me, please is an anonymous blog buy a soon-to-be 2L.  She begins her first entry by stating, “Not a single person I know in real life will know about this blog.”  Her entries reflect that.  I was compelled to read every single one of them; the entries reflect the drama many of us go through and few of us write about.  The archives aren’t long – they date back to July 28, 2008 – so it isn’t a difficult task to read through them all.  I’d actually forgotten about it for a while because she didn’t post for a couple of weeks.  Today, she wrote a post reflecting on the past year, and I thought I should tell others about her story.

Many of the law school blogs out there are in the same sarcasm-lined, school-sucks-but-not-really vein.  Many of us gripe about our trials and tribulations, but keep a stiff upper lip for the most part.  Most of us use wit and sarcasm as coping mechanisms to veil any real or raw emotions.  Not the author of SSMP.

Her entries read like a good diary, one you find left on a bench somewhere and can’t put down after picking it up.  The beginning documents the joy, excitement, anticipation, and angst many of us face before beginning the much-feared 1L year.  The story starts with her apartment hunt – and at this point I can pretty well relate – then moves on to the move, being in a law school section, and dealing with the classmates, the classes, and the coursework.  There’s also the saga of her love-life and the bumps along the way.  And then – there’s a shift.  She writes completely openly and unabashedly how “law school really does a number on one’s confidence,” about feeling less than adequate academically and socially, and about how aside from being difficult in and of itself, law school can cause one’s life to start splitting at the seams.

This isn’t intended to be all doom and gloom – and I’m sure neither is her blog – but I thought it would be important to share because it is something many of us – especially the 0Ls out there – hear stories of but are never privy to.  Even Turow’s One L – which I know many of us read within 2 days of being accepted – has been edited for mass public consumption.  SSMP is raw, like a real diary, and just left outside for passersby to pick up and leave at their leisure.

I started this blog as a way to help out the Pre-L/0Ls out there and to help lift the veil of mystery on the hallowed halls of law school.  I think that providing a balanced view of what this whole adventure is like is an important part of that.  In spite of the Great Anonymity Debate, I think anonymous blogs can be important because it allows people to share things like this with us.  I’m a firm believer of knowing what you’re getting yourself into [look before you leap, etc], and blogs like SSMP, again, are a part of that.

If you’re considering law school, are in law school, or like good true stories, you should definitely check out this author’s blog.  It’s a reminder not all of us have such semi-charmed lives.  It definitely reminds me how lucky I am to even have my omgigotintoUTlaw post.

Grateful for the reality check,

Mariel

QUESTION OF THE DAY…………11-10-09

THIS IS A LITTLE IDEA THAT HAS BEEN FLOATING AROUND IN MY HEAD BUT IT IS MORE OF A SERIES OF QUESTIONS, MORE SO THAN JUST ONE.

1. HOW MANY POST HAVE YOU POSTED ON YOUR MAIN BLOG?
2. HOW LONG HAS YOUR BLOG BEEN UP AND RUNNING?
3. WHAT MADE YOU BECOME A BLOGGER?

IT IS ONLY FAIR THAT I ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FOR YOU ALL TO READ ABOUT ME AND THIS BLOG.

ANSWERS:

1. THIS IS THE 477TH POSTING ON THIS BLOG. I SET A GOAL TO HAVE 500 WITHIN THE FIRST YEAR.
2. THIS IS THE 8TH MONTH THAT THIS BLOG HAS BEEN UP AND RUNNING, IT WAS STARTED IN APRIL OF 2009.
3. THIS STORY IS FUNNY IN A STRANGE WAY, MY WIFE HAD BEEN RESEARCHING HOW TO MAKE MONEY WITH BLOGGING AND SHE WANTED TO TRY A BLOG. SHE IS NOT A COMPUTER PERSON BY ANY MEANS AND WE FIRST TRIED THE WORDPRESS SYSTEM YOU BUILD AND DESIGN NOT TO MENTION PAY TO HOST. THIS WAS A VERY BAD IDEA FOR A PERSON THAT HAS NO COMPUTER KNOWLEDGE. THEN WE STUMBLED ON TO WORDPRESS.COM THAT HAS TEMPLATES AND EASY TO USE. SHE WAS OFF WITH A BANG POSTING AWAY EVERYDAY, FEELING GOOD ABOUT PUTTING WORDS OUT THERE FOR OTHERS TO READ. A COUPLE MONTHS GOES BY SHE IS POSTING EVERYDAY, SHE HAD VERY FEW VISITORS AND NO COMMENTS. I THOUGHT IT CANNOT BE THAT HARD TO DRIVE PEOPLE TO YOUR BLOG. THAT IS WHEN I STARTED THE MADMAN HATTER BLOG TO SEE IF I COULD FIGURE OUT HOW TO MAKE IT WORK TO HELP MY WIFE. LITTLE DID I KNOW THAT IT WOULD BECOME AN ADDICTION OF MY VERY OWN. LONG STORY SHORT MY WIFE NO LONGER BLOGS AND I TRY TO POST SOMETHING EVERYDAY. THE FUNNY THING IS I REALLY NEVER CARED IF MY POSTINGS WERE EVER READ OR LOOKED AT. IT WAS AWAY TO RELEAVE SOME STRESS IN MY LIFE, THEN WHEN PEOPLE STARTED LOOKING AND COMMENTING I WAS HOOKED! THAT IS WHERE I AM TODAY I HAVE TO LOOK EVERYDAY, I HAVE TO POST EVERYDAY, I HAVE TO LEAVE COMMENTS ON MY BLOG AND OTHERS EVERYDAY. I GUESS I AM A BLOGGER NOW!

Howdy!

SO, it’s NOVEMBER.

We’ll pause so all the law students can run screaming for the library in anticipation of the horror that is finals.  Unless you’re a Baylor law student, in which case you have finals right now. (Good luck!)

Okay, now that that’s done, it’s time for my monthly reader thank-you.  Those of you who’ve been there from the beginning, thanks for sticking around, despite the real drop in substantive posts recently.  Those of you who are new – howdy, hello, and welcome! Pardon the occasional lolcats; law school apparently drains one’s brain such that lolcat images are the only way to express oneself at the end of the day.

If you’re an old friend: I hope I haven’t let you down yet.  I worked hard to get FTS up and humming along.  The hum isn’t as loud, but it’s still moving…slowly.

If you’re new: I hope that something on here makes you laugh, makes you smile, makes you think, reminds you of your time in law school, makes you glad you’re not in law school anymore, makes you excited to get to law school, and generally gives you a break from the madness that is every day life.

As always, feel free to shoot me an email at freshthoughtsoup [at] gmail [dot] com.  I do check it, I promise.

And, I forgot to say this last month [I think], but if you’ve linked to my blog, feel free to let me know! Shoot me a comment, an email, a reply on twitter, whatever, just let me know you’re out there so I can help spread the blog love and link back to your site.  I can’t begin to describe the epic ::sadface:: when I check my stats, and realize I’m getting referrals from someone who is clearly also AWESOME that I just didn’t know about.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful start to their month.

Cheers,

Mariel

p.s.  I read your blogs, I promise.  I’ve just fallen into the bad habit of putting it off and then reading them in a flurry and not leaving comments.  Just because I don’t comment doesn’t mean I don’t care.  Fellow blawgers, please keep up the good work, somedays my best laughs come from y’all.  Cheers.

My friend Leigh Ann has put Jerk Chicken with Fried Plantains and Cuban Style Black Beans and Rice on her menu for this week and has kindly linked over to my blog for the full recipes.  As a result, I’ve had lots of visitors checking these recipes out.

I just made some important updates on two of those recipes I thought I should announce:

Jerk Chicken: Coat the chicken with half of the pureed mixture, unless you’re not afraid of some serious warmth. I’m not a fan of lots of spice, so I enjoy less of the rub on my chicken. But even with the full batch spread over the single chicken, it was uncomfortably warm, not deathly spicy, in my opinion.

Cuban-Style Black Beans and Rice: Though it says the limes are optional, that may very well be the ingredient that makes the most difference in this dish.  Erich and I LOVE the fresh-squeezed lime juice on the rice.  I wouldn’t skip it.

I just updated my Green Lemonade post and wanted to let you know that pictures of my very small and handsome helper chef and juicer extraordinaire have been added to it.  See it here.

I saw this post over at Goateed IL [1L @ the University of Miami] about a girl who shared her contempt for her classmates on her blog, and I just thought I’d share with all you aspiring – or even current – bloggers, the most important thing I think I’ve learned:

Don’t say anything you don’t want everyone to know, or don’t feel comfortable having everyone know.

It’s okay to vent, but make it constructive.  Talk about something you’ve learned – like how much you appreciate your friends, how you keep yourself sane, how naps are AWESOME, etc – or keep it benign.  Don’t talk about your classmates; it’s just not nice.

You stay classy, blogosphere.

Cheers.

Wow! I just won my very first “official” accolade: The Best Blog Award!

The award was given to me by my friend Audra, author of the PennyPinchingPenguin blog.

This is a neat kind of award, because everyone who gets it then gets to pass it along to 15 other bloggers.  I’ve just been introduced to this out-of-this-world, crazy-huge blog scene. So, I only have 7 picks at this time.  If I find other award-worthy blogs, I’ll be sure to let you know.  Until then, here are my top picks along with a brief description of each:

Keeper of the Home This woman is about 50 steps ahead of me.  She beautifully models on this blog-style-website how to be both a composter and a Christian.  Both worlds can be melded together for God’s glory! What an encouragement to me! (And she’s part of Sovereign Grace too!)

Passionate Homemaking Another incredible, doctrinally sound healthy homemaker. And again, way ahead of me.  She’s got a lot of terrific resources on her blog-style site.

Justin Taylor: Between to Worlds I visit here just about everyday to find out what kind of gospel-centered news, book commentaries, and links he has posted. When I first stumbled upon Justin’s blog, he had a post somehow related to Christians and politics. Though I don’t remember the specifics of it now,  I was immediately interested and thankful that I found someone who could speak wisely on these kinds of matters. His posts are usually brief and always edifying.

Guilt-Free Homeschooling I have just recently entered the homeschooling waters.  Fortunately for me (and my beautiful little student and handsome student-to-be), I discovered this blog written by an 11 year veteran homeschooler, Carolyn.  I was first intrigued by the name and was immediately encouraged by Carolyn’s reasonable homeschooling mindset.  Any homeschooling mom who struggles with the ever-frantic-because-there’s-SOMETHING-I’m-missing-I’m-SURE! mindset that I have all too often should check this out.

Elana’s Pantry I’m not an all-out gluten-free person, but I love Elana’s healthy alternatives for cakes, breads, and more.  Once I got a few of the strange staples she uses (almond flour, arrowroot powder, agave nectar), I was all set and ready to improve my family’s health one delicious muffin at a time.  I have featured several of her recipes on my blog.

The Duttons This blog is written by a sister in Christ, Leigh Ann Dutton, with whom I am privileged to share church life.  She is younger than I am, but so very wise for her age.  I have benefited from her input and humility many times.

Lifesong This is another blog by another godly, sister in Christ, Megan. She’s one of those moms who beautifully catches everything on film and then poetically encapsulates the moments in words.  Just about all the moms I know would like to print her posts, swap out the faces of the children, and put it in their own family scrapbook.  Her stuff is that good — better-stated and with more artistic photos than most of us can manage.

Though I know most of these bloggers are much “bigger” (more established, better-known, etc) than I am and likely won’t be listing my award (much less my blog as the giver of the award), I wanted to take the opportunity to share them with you, my few faithful readers. 

If any of you would like to accept this award, here are the rules. (And just so we’re clear, I didn’t make these rules up. They were passed along to me. )

To accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his/her blog link. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you have recently discovered and think are great! Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Can you recommend other great blogs? If so, please leave a comment.

That’s a question that was asked in an email recently.

Fresh Thought Soup?

Hate is easy…Love takes courage??

Well, here’s the answer:

“Fresh Thought Soup” is the real and actual name of my little spot here.  In entries, I sometimes refer to it as FTS.  When I began this blog, and had the infinite cosmic power of choosing the name for my blog’s itty bitty living space, I thought FTS would be an accurate description.  I try to keep things original, entertaining, and upbeat [read: fresh] and this blog is a “soup” of my thoughts on different subjects.

Now, “Hate is Easy…Love takes Courage” is the phrase that got put in the “title” spot because of the different character of this blog when it began.  Of course, times they are a changin’ and I’ve thought about putting “Fresh Thought Soup” in place of “Hate is Easy…”  Yet, I am still really attached to the message that phrase sends, and I think the more people who read it, the better.

So, the name? Fresh Thought Soup.

The message? [well, a message] Hate is easy, love takes courage.  Here, I try to spread the love because everyone can use a bit more of it – especially law students.  It’s easy to decide it’s all for naught and that everything is awful.  It takes courage and a fight to find something to love in everything one does; that’s what I try for.

Those of you who have linked to my blog under “Hate is easy…love takes courage”  - don’t feel the need to change the name of your link.  I’ve been around enough that people know where/how to find me, even if they’re still not quite sure what to call me.  Besides – it’s just another way to spread the love; even if they don’t click on the link, they might have gotten something out of reading that phrase.  To me, that’s a win.

Cheers.

p.s. bonus points if you caught the Aladdin reference.

Blogger fail.

I haven’t checked my blog-related email in over a week.  If you emailed me, and I just now got back to you, that’s why.

I’ll do better at checking that in the future.

Cheers.

I’ve got a blogfession to make, my life is not that interesting and I’m not prepared to try and fool either you or I into thinking that it is. True, this is a breach of blog protocol but you have to understand I didn’t ask to live a Blog-life, it was thrust upon me by the times. Like Bob Dylan once sang, “Hey Mr. Tambourine man.”

Since launching this blog I have received quite a few emails asking for my opinion on important issues. Let me just say that if you want my opinion, I’d much prefer you guess it. I’m not prepared to dawn the title of “Blogger” and be tied down by all the responsibilities that go along with it. Having said that, I would appreciate your continued hits to this blog. While I can’t promise daily blogging, I can promise you that I will, on occasion, post current weather conditions to keep you checking-in and to keep your interests peaked.

Waterloo, Ontario 13 C (overcast)

Not only are those words from the FANTASTIC Golden Girls theme song, they are my first words to you, my awesome readers, in this month’s reader thank-you.

I know the posting frequency has really dropped since school started, and for that I’m sorry.  But fear not! FTS will not die! In fact, some of you have no idea how happy it makes me to have this little spot on the interwebs.  I love having a place to come and write about things and I love knowing there are others out there who can relate.  And, I love that there are others who enjoy reading the ridiculous goings on of my life.  [If you're new, welcome! You'll learn soon - I'm pretty ridiculous.] I try to keep things upbeat here at FTS, and I hope that some of you have managed to found a giggle or two along the way.  I know as a 1L I certainly need it.

The readership here at FTS just keeps going up, and I’m so glad to have even more of you  Of course, with increased readership is increased responsibility, so I’m going to do my best to keep this a happy place where y’all can come and feel free to leave comments and vent and rant and generally discuss the madness that is law school.  Don’t hesitate to speak up, or shoot me an email [freshthoughtsoup at gmail dot com].  And if you’ve got your own corner of the interwebs and it’s linked to mine, let me know! I’m all about spreading the blog love, and I’d be totally happy to add you to mine.

I’m gonna go ahead and throw out there that I have some of the best.  readers.  EVER.  Just sayin’.  Thanks for giving me a place to go, thanks for your supportive and motivational comments, and thanks for stopping by and making this law-school experience a little less lonely.  However you find FTS, I’m glad you stopped by, and you’re welcome anytime.

Cheers.