Beach House Rules


Current mood: sheepish

One of the few perks of being a teacher is that we get these random holidays off that not everyone gets, such as Lincoln's birthday. So, no work tomorrow. Time to catch up on Strong Bad's e-mails on Homestarrunner.com and catch up on my own.

Wait! What's this? An e-mail entitled "Jinx" is waiting for me when I check the e-mail address I've assigned to my blog. Here it is, in its entirety:

"This is so amazing - we are kindred souls - have you seen my site?
http://annewhitney.typepad.com/beach_house_rules/? I mean, it's like
we're twins or something - thank goodness I've found you! Did you
ever see that movie Single White Female? Because it's just like the
beginning when they're great pals and everything - you know, before it
gets all creepy weird . . .

Thanks for the flattery,
Anne-Whitney"

Gulp! Okay, here's the scoop. When I was thinking about attempting blogging again, I knew that I not only wanted to post it here at myspace.com, but also on my own website, http://www.geocities.com/1angelcares/angelblog12005.html

Trouble was, I couldn't think of how I wanted the layout to be. So, I went surfing for source code to copy and paste onto a page. I've done this many times before...copying the code, changing the info to make it pertinent to my needs, putting in my own backgrounds, etc. That's basically how I taught myself HTML so many years ago. I'd just remove some HTML code, see how its removal affected the page, then put it back in, and change it some more until it became "mine".

When I found this woman's blog, Beach House Rules, I really liked the way she had it laid out so I decided to follow suit. I copied her entire page, links, photos, blog entries, and all. Then, methodically, I exchanged her photos for my photos, her entries for my entries. One part I didn't change were her links. She had tons of them: "mommy blogs", "daddy blogs", "Buddha blogs", blogs about politics, etc. I was curious to see if any of these blog sites would be of interest to me, so I held onto them, exploring them, keeping or deleting them whenever I had time.

One part I couldn't change was the fact that this woman, far more net savvy than I, had used what are called "cascading style sheets", a way of adding syle to HTML web documents that I had never learned. Because of these CSS codes, the banner from her Beach House Rules website became an integral (and undeletable) part of my new page. Try as I might, I couldn't get rid of it. So, I left it on there, serving as an homage to Anne Whitney's site.

I'm still curious as to how she found me. On my stats page, it tells me the link that people have clicked in order to reach my blog. Perhaps one of the people who looked on my site clicked on one the many blog links and that blog owner got curious and went to my site and noticed how similar it looked to Beach House Rules (granted, there is that telltale banner floating at the top!) and told Anne Whitney about it. Either that or she was doing some ego-surfing (a pastime that I have engaged in more than once myself, I might add) and since her name is embedded in the CSS source code, stumbled upon my page.

I honestly don't think I did anything wrong. Now, if I had claimed that the blogs she wrote were written by me or if I used her photo instead of my own, claiming to be the mother of four kids...yeah, I could see how that would be freaky. But to have used someone else's code? Not so freaky.

Even so, I felt really bad about it. Especially about the Single White Female comment. Ouch! Before I copied her code, I did read her blogs and this woman's been through hell lately. The last thing I wanted to was cause her more stress. So, I crafted this e-mail in response:

"LOL! That is so funny! In a weird way, I think I've been waiting for you to e-mail me (okay, but not in a SWF-type of weird way...rest assured!). How did you ever find me, I wonder?

Yes, ya got me. I loved the way you set up your site, so I source-code copied it and started making changes. I'm still trying to learn the nuances of HTML, it seems, although I've had my homepage up since 1996. I truly hope that you do take it as flattery. As you can see, I am making my way down your "favorite blogs" list and deleting the ones that don't speak to me as a childless teacher in California. However, I thank you for your great taste in bloggers and it has been kind of fun reading how "the other half lives". I also love all the "fun stuff" I never would have found (or at least it would have taken me much longer) on my own.

Speaking of "other half", I haven't read your blog for a while, but I am really happy that you and your family have left your mother-in-law's house. She's a trip! Yet, you kept your sense of humor through it all. I think I would have been a wreck.

Thanks for the use of your source-code and for writing to me about it.

Sincerely,

Angel"

I haven't heard from her again but, believe me, I'll be spending this weekend making my blogsite as much "me" as I can. If anyone knows how to do CSS in the three-column style, do let me know!

On a lighter note, here's the other e-mail that I received in my inbox:

"How are you.
i see your picture, you are very peuitful.
please sorry i don't speake english very good.
this is my e-mail.
do you know i would like to come to Syria in the summer its a nice country, if you like this please tell me.

yours

Saad"

One, two, three...aaaaaawwww! Isn't that so sweet? I wrote him back and told him I was married, but not before I asked him about what they eat for breakfast in Syria (my favorite meal...when I travel, that's one of my biggest gripes. You can't find a decent Denny's!). Here's what he said:

"me to i consider the breakfast is the bases meal, i can't go to university without
eaten my breakfast.
the breakfast generally in Syria made up of bread, eggs, coffee ,cheese ,thyme ,and many kinds.
Here in Syria littleness eat a cold meal such as kellogg's Cornflakes,
rather the most of pepole have a long time to preaper a breakfast.
but when you came to Syria i will prepare to you all you like it to be happy.
your pisture is a nice, i think you have a good husband."

Almost makes me want to go!