Nice review! Very detailed. And so cool about both actors who helped make a couple of my favorite films - Jack Black (High Fidelity, The Holiday) & Emily Blunt (Devil Wears Prada). I think they're both great at their craft. What would I do if I washed up in Liliput? Start scavenging for food, since if it's all that small, I think I'd be pretty hungry!

Thank you Julie. I think you've hit this on the mark in so many ways. The other thing we can do is push for more investment in clean technology in general. And push for oil companies to do some of that investing. Eventually oil will dry up and they will have to come up with other ways of supplying energy to stay in business. I spent my weekend at the Truman National Security Project conference in Washington DC and it's even more clear to me how tied oil is to national security. I won't go into the details here, but if our resources keep going to cleaning up environmental disasters and fighting wars that relate to oil, we have less resources to put toward preventing nuclear attacks, cyber attacks or other threats. And the less we have to put toward prevention. It's a vicious cycle. The other point I want to make is that before this incident, most people thought BP were the good guys in oil, as oil companies go. They're British based, they generally have high quality products, and they had a decent global reputation. I'm not sure they're any better or any worse than other oil companies even after this disaster - just more of their poor practices and bad decisions have been made public. I think there should be greater safeguards, oversight and accountability in general applied to oil companies moving forward, regardless of who they are. And that, I'm afraid, goes back to the Bush era. Too much lenience was granted these companies and that needs to stop. I don't want them to go out of business either; I just want them to change their business, and that takes courage as well as advocacy from the public.

Great post, Meghan. And welcome!

You couldn't pay me to go into that kind of heat! But then again, I'm a figure skater, so I'm accustomed to a slightly cooler climate for my workouts. ;)

Hey G, we pack alike! I follow all of those rules too, learned over many many trips. And I have a standard list for my daughter as well. Even my husband now has adopted that. My other key (that I told Pamela when she was pre-travel panicked) is to pick one key color or color combo to base the clothing off - usually whatever I have the most comfy shoes in for that season (like black) - easier to mix/match. Black/gray or beige/brown or navy/white. That sort of thing. I'll add in a splash of color in a blouse, sweater or scarf and then I'm set.

Thanks everyone for your kind comments and support. It's such an easier battle to fight with friends beside you than alone.

Yeah except shouldn't we put it on digest mode if we're trying to simplify? LOL. Seriously though it wouldn't be a bad idea to be reminded to slow down on occasion... take a moms' time-out.

Very cool!

Phishing scams are rampant. They're a huge contributor to identity theft. SecurityFocus.com has some good, detailed articles about how it works also.

Just to clarify, the Silicon Valley Moms Blog Group held 3 parties in conjunction with BlogHer. Here's how they worked out: Thursday was for all members just of the SVMoms group blogs at a bar where we drank, ate, chatted and collected swag bags. Friday was in conjunction with SFBayStyle where we had makeovers and headshot photos and more drinks and nibbles at Saks. Sunday was a brunch with MOMocrats. GM and Yahoo sponsored all 3 events. The decision to add a platform-building exercise was added to the brunch plan much later in the game, after the invitations had been sent out to ALL members of the SVMoms group community. It was advertised as a "patriotic" brunch all along, we had Republicans present and independents and Glennia did a fabulous job explaining to everyone who was there that we wanted their input in the platform-building exercise and that their names would only be listed on the final document if they wished that to be the case. It was a very transparent exercise and the reason it was also posted on the SVMoms Blog was to make sure everyone in this community was given the opportunity to participate who wanted to participate who was not able to make it to the brunch (either because they were not at BlogHer or they had to catch an early plane.) Overall, we had the most people at the SVMoms-only event Thursday night (near 100? Beth can confirm the numbers), we had a fairly significant group at Saks (80 or so), and then we had a much smaller group at the very low-key brunch (like 25-30). Not everyone likes fashion, not everyone likes politics, but everyone was welcome to participate. If we had an affiliated Republican moms' blog, I firmly believe they would have been included as well, and perhaps we could have split off into 2 platform building exercises which would have been great to see.

I've been to BlogHer twice now and I have yet to set foot in one of the mommyblogging sessions - not for lack of interest necessarily, but just because I've been really engaged in the political and the nuts&bolts panels. Just because we're moms doesn't mean we have to only focus on that, radical or not.

Yeah, what is it about movies and TV that has perpetuated the whole concept of white trash as people sitting around watching the tube in recliners with cup holders? I think your babysitter is high-tech, personally. ;) The geek babysitter - reprogramming our lives... TiVo is my friend in a big way for our daughter... we keep all the Dora and Mickey episodes on and she's advanced enough now (at two) that she knows which episodes are on my laptop/ipod and which ones are stored in TiVo. And since she's only watching those and like 2 movies that she can't watch straight through, we don't have to worry about commercials yet. Whenever the episodes are over, I rush in to kill the TV before the ads come on. If it weren't for TiVo, she would be watching much worse stuff during the times that I'm not in the room and can't monitor the content completely. Don't worry about your kids learning from TV - at least they're learning some good things... my daughter has learned some of her alphabet, numbers and some Spanish so far from the shows she watches. All in moderation, right?

Oh no, I'd never attempt to cut my own hair if it were straight, JB. No way. It would be easier to close my eyes and do it... Cutting my daughter's bangs were harder than cutting my whole head of hair. I'm taking her to a pro next time. (Me too! When it gets long enough again.) And yeah, Laptop TV Mom - your hair is sassy. I love it! Mine would never do anything like that though. As to baseball caps, I don't wear real ones, but I wear the smaller girly versions sometimes. I have a favorite I love from Patagonia that's super comfy and I'm in the high risk category for skin cancer, so hats are a big help in that department. But I know what you mean... it is part of the mom uniform.

You are doing soooo much more than the average person, don't give yourself a hard time. Just little steps each month are the best we can do to be realistic as technology goes more green and as we figure out which of the things we're trying are really better for the planet. Even just blogging about it is a good step. But yeah, I get ill too when I think about our Tivo energy output, let alone keeping computers plugged in all day, etc., etc... I feel your pain. I still feel like I'm constantly seeking more information and better solutions.

One number above needs correction - there are 2700 firefighters, last I read. The more I read and find, the more it amazes me how much it takes to fight and contain these fires.

I've done some more digging and for anyone who wants to donate to help with the recovery efforts, here is the link for the Santa Cruz County Fire Recovery Fund - http://www.cfscc.org/page10002588.cfm

I've been going through this lately as well & I decided to keep my daughter's bangs because that's what she wanted, they look cute on her, and even though they are not as prominent out here now, they are actually back in style from what I read. My daughter's only two though, so my biggest challenge is getting her hair brushed.

I don't think tech savvy means first adopter, necessarily, just someone comfortable with technology - old or new - but who knows the difference between the two and can use it as opposed to fearing it, as so many people do. A tech savvy mom can pick up someone else's cell phone and help them figure out how to use it, or she can hold her own with a VCR or a video camera without freezing up when she sees the remote control for the first time. I think the other key in terms of the 'mom' aspect is that a tech savvy parent knows which techie tools present potential dangers to her kids vs. those that do not. She knows which gadgets to ban at bedtime and she can set up parental controls. For example, a friend of mine had no idea her daughter could watch movies on her iPhone until she found her watching one in bed at night. That mom is the first person to admit she's not tech savvy.

My grandmother is almost 95 and she continues to amaze me. She gets up and goes to "seniorcize" two times a week, she still travels the world (currently itching for another cruise), and she still remembers vivid memories from throughout her life. If only we could all be that lucky. Here's a Mother's Day toast to the over 90 set!

Aside from being in full agreement with you on this post and being intensely impressed by everything you mentioned, I'm floored by the amount of time it must have taken to link up that post. That's a whole lot of link lovin', Tech Mama!

Take it with you. Trust me - iPhone withdrawl is worse than caffeine withdrawl. My iPhone was run over last week (it fell out of our stroller) and I was without it for a few hours until I could get a replacement. I was panic-striken. On a serious note, it's great for travel and really useful in emergencies. Here's a test: turn it off and leave it in your bag. See how it goes. I'm getting into bed now, writing this from my iPhone, charging in its cradle next to my bed, so I can wake up in a few hours and nurse my addiction. Attachment parenting at its finest.

If we're lucky, my husband and I remember to ask each other that question once a week... usually we're too busy with the little things that add up to accomplishing nothing, like the laundry, rinse, repeat. And more often than not, when we do ask each other this question, it's in a mode of jest in reference to the June Cleavers of another time.

And what did I do tonight, so far during the first few innings? Laundry, dishes, cleaning up the house (can't use past tense here - it's a constant), replaced the laser printer toner cartridge, and so far I've changed one poopy diaper, along with playing with my daughter and feeding her, of course...