Every year around this time I look at my life and what I have accomplished.  I try to keep things in perspective.  I hear so many people who only talk about what they haven't done (which I have a huge list of, too) but seem to lose track of what they *have* done. This is the "cliff notes" version of this years evaluation: - Today is my 9th wedding anniversary with the man I adore. - In about 3 weeks I will be 33. - I only have a 2 year degree, but I never let that stan...

Back in December, I wrote an article called "I'm Disappointed": http://karmagirl.joeuser.com/index.asp?AID=58691 Well, here I am again with many of the same thoughts.  I will admit that I was guilty of getting a bit into past flame wars.  It's sometimes hard not to when you moderate a site and people send nasty emails to you, and you can't simply walk away from the site for a few days when you moderate.  But, I have mellowed out over the years, especially wher...

To be perfectly clear, this is a "personal" blog and is no way related to moderation. However, being that I moderate, I try to look at issues from every angle that I can, and try to see all view points. There is a current trend that makes me very sad.  I have very little faith in humans being a kind species to begin with, but lately I have been losing even more faith. What is going on?  What is with all of the oneupmanship of "he said, she said" around here?  Why are ther...

I am starting to see a trend.  A trend that almost always lead to disaster and a huge flame war. This is what happens: Blogger 1 writes something. Blogger 2 responds with something Blogger 1 doesn't like. Blogger 1 Blacklists Blogger 2 Blogger 1 writes the "last word" Blogger 2 starts a new thread in response to the "last word" The flames begin. 1) Let's try to avoid that 2) If you have to respond on a new article, or flames have started on your thread, please take it o...

After much consideration, I decided to change my presence on JoeUser.  Why is that?  Because, life is too short to deal with things that you don't have to. So, I would like everyone to meet "JavaBrain".  JavaBrain is a nickname that I used prior to becoming "KarmaGirl".  I quit using it because people always assumed that I was a male Java programmer.  (Java being for coffee, not programming).  Why is JavaBrain now important?  Because JavaBrain is now my admi...

I want to make something perfectly clear about the forums- they are moderated because they are syndicated.  The admins of this site have the right to decide what will be allowed on the forums because of this. Articles that we do not feel are appropriate for the forums will be hid.  This is not censorship of your blog, as the article will remain on your blog.  It simply will not show on the forum. If you don't want moderation, please do not post your article to the forums. ...

I have a 10 year old daughter that I refer to as "mini-me" (see exhibit "a" below).  She's a crazy kid.  She snowmobiles (exhibit "b"), Drag races (exhibit "c"), plays soccer (exhibit "d"), tames Weasels (exhibit "e") and is a vegetarian (exhibit "f").  And, she'll eat just about anything if it's vegetarian, but not a lot of anything at a time.  This has always been an issue for me because I pack her nice lunches and half it comes back uneaten. However, the Easter Bun...

OK, so this is a rant.  It won't be written well, and it might not even make sense.  It may also have swear words and objectionable text.  So, if you are sensitive, quit reading and go about your happy little fluffy day. Today, Draginol posted about a Mom who chose to put her family's life at risk (ultimately killing two of them) rather than wait for a train to go by: http://draginol.joeuser.com/index.asp?AID=162120 That was the last straw for my current mood. People suck....

So many times I catch myself saying things like: "when I was a kid, we didn't wear bike helmets, and somehow we lived", or "we only had like 3 channels, and I can remember how our first remote was on a cord" or "It used to be that only the kids who were good made the team and played, not everyone who showed up" and things like that. Well, I was listening to the country station today (all my regular stations had commercials playing or were in 'talk morning' mode..and I was too lazy to dig out ...

I had a Birthday party for my husband over the weekend, and there was a discussion about how everything is made in China nowadays. It started by him opening a gift from me.  It was a pair of shoes.  The company used to make the shoes in the US, now they are made in China.  "Isn't everything?" I said.  Everyone started talking about this, that and everything else that was made over there.  Then we started talking about food.  As we know, the pet food recalls we...

I was meditating on the concept of "peace" during my morning commute.  It's a great idea, isn't it?  The world living in harmony.  Mankind being civil.  People existing without fear.  Families building a home and feeling safe...living a life without violence or senseless loss. Peace It'll never happen. There are signs up all over the place saying "Peace- No War!"  What war are the referring to?  One would argue that they are referring to the war in Ira...

I started this as a comment on KFC's article "Santa vs Satan" found at: https://forums.joeuser.com/?forumid=39&aid=139116#1082282 However, it got really long and looked like an article, so I decided to move it out of there.  Please read her article first, so that you understand this...or just throw caution to the wind and read this first This is what was going to be the comment from me: I haven't read all the comments, so please forgive any statements that I make that have ...

I feel "off" today.  I've been very productive at work this morning, so my work load is fine.  But "I" feel off.  A bit cranky, a bit temperamental, a bit melancholy, a bit frustrated and a bit lost feeling. It's an odd state of mind that hits me now and then.  It's not like being bi-polar (though I had a shrink try to diagnose me that way once).  It doesn't happen very often, either.  I wouldn't really call it depression, either.  It's just "off".... like I...

We have a term around here for employees of Stardock.  We call ourselves Stardockians.  Makes sense, right? Well, one may wonder what a Stardockian is.  In a current blog by Zoomba (who is becoming a Stardockian) I mentioned that he already seems like one. Stardockian is more than just an employee.  We have a whole company culture around us that makes us a bit of a "family".  For instance, I was just in a car accident.  "Stardock" sent flowers to my house and ...

Random things about Karma... that you may not have ever wanted to know: - I have only hit two animals in the 19 years that I have been driving: one was a skunk when I was 17, the other was a couple years ago when I hit a bird while driving my sister's mini-van.  How do you miss a bird? - My ears are pierced 6 times (well...more than that, but those are the ones I use).  4 on the left, 2 on the right. - I haven't slept more than 4 hours straight in over a month. - I sleep wa...