Kelly Abbott's Dandelife : Ashes, Sweetness and Light

Canal du Midi and Minerve

Kelly Abbott — Wed Sep 17 19:11:24 UTC 2008

Yesterday we took a two-hour tour of the Canal du Midi. It's a long canal that cuts through France from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. We were reminded in Barcelona that one is a Sea and the other is an Ocean. For those of you still in first grade geography class out there, this is an important distinction. It is only important to Europeans. They are the only ones with Seas that are not synonymous with Oceans. Ooh la la.
The Canal tour was two hours of pain. D did not enjoy himself. He fussed and cried pretty much the entire last hour. Rare for him, yes. But for the French, not cool. He capped the tour with a douce. A gigantic douce. It stunk the place and I had to stick his butt out the window for it not to affect the interior of the boat too much. I was giving him mental high-fives for that one.
Today we went to Minerve, which is the Cathay city built in the cliffs of a river gorge nearby. It's the city from which the entire region gets its name. We had a gigantic lunch of chicken and ham cooked together in a vat of fat, french fries, pate and salad, and a huge slice of apple pie (nee, "apple torte," again for the first graders). Tonight, we diet.
My camera died, so you are not seeing photos of a 13th century church we saw. But no worries, we're going back on Saturday for a choral thingymabob. We'd tell you more but our understanding of French is limited to days of the week and numbers. Hell, it could be Sunday for all we know.
We capped the day by visiting our local Wine Coop and buying some wine. Turns out that the wine here is actually fucking great. I mean, top drawer. Forget the stuff you get back home. This is the real deal. And I'm not just saying because, you know, I spent a lot of money on this trip. It's like the stuff that ends up in the states is the stuff they couldn't sell here. Sad.

Look for me on Lifehacker

Kelly Abbott — Sat Aug 30 05:54:46 UTC 2008

Funny how the Web works.

One of my favorite blogs is Lifehacker.com. I've been reading it since 'nam. It's a hugely popular blog and rightly so. Much of my daily routine is aided by some of the hacks it has covered. In fact, some of more popular days ever have come as a result of links to our timeline they covered in the past.

Turns out that the editor of Lifehacker, Gina Trapani, lives in San Diego. We have met on occasion since we both travel in the Geek community here. We see each other at SXSW and generally keep in touch via occasional emails.

Recently I was marvelling at how many people on Dandelife are actually not "geeks" at all. As a geek I tend to gravitate toward the same. But as I started reading some of the stories of people here I wondered why so many of my online friends are geeks. In fact, I was starting to miss the fact that in college I used to hang out, drink and smoke and talk all day and night with my friends who were aspiring writers or artists. Where have those relationships gone? My lament culminated in this tweet.

The rest is history. A week later I am a guest writer on Lifehacker. I posted my first article tonight. It should go live on Sunday.

My beat is "Ungeek to Live" which is a direct reference to Gina's regular column called "Geek to Live." Whereas Gina's column is about how to hack as a way of life, mine is about how to live as a way of life. I'm not sure that they are mutually exclusive, nor are they meant to be. I just hope that I can bring strategies for living back into the realm of everyday experience for the Lifehacker audience.

My first article is about making the most of a move to a new city. This is something I have experience with, though not recently. I've bounced around the globe a little and maybe I've learned a thing or two. Maybe. In any case, I'm glad to be writing again. And very grateful for Gina taking a leap on me as a guest writer. It's going to be fun coming up with new ideas each week for the LH crowd.

"Money Solves All Problems"

Kelly Abbott — Wed Aug 20 17:04:53 UTC 2008

As many of you already know, I am a yellow-dog Democrat but I've very seldom felt inspired to make a political donation. That is, until now.

Join me in supporting Barack by making a donation to my personal fundraising page:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/KellyAbbott

At that link you'll find a different kind of political rant. I'm hoping you will find it possible to show your solidarity with my beliefs that change comes from within.

Thanks in advance and, as always, peace,
K

All Things Web

Kelly Abbott — Mon Aug 18 21:27:38 UTC 2008

In my previous post I promised some tidbits from my work life. Dandelife being my baby, I tend to pour as much of my development effort into it as possible. However Dandelife alone is hardly a money-making endeavor. It's a labor of love. Dandelife as a calling card for Kelly Abbott, on the other hand, has been profitable.

About a year ago I got a call from David Katz. He's an ex-Yahoo, ex-CBS guy who wanted to talk to me about an idea he had. I had been referred to him from Mike Jones who has been my number one fan since I worked for him 3 jobs ago. David called and we met in at the Coffee Bean on Sunset and Fairfax. That weekend Steph and I were heading out camping to Santa Barbara with the Cunningham's. We camped out at Eric and Carrie's the night before so I could be there early for this interview.

David and I sat for almost two hours jamming to the key of Sports. He had a theory about sports and web 2.0 and wanted to pick my brain to see if I would be the right guy to help him test his theory.

It's a year later and the idea that David had is now online at sportsfanlive.com.

My role in the launch of the site is what I do for a living. People come to me with ideas they have for their start-up. Usually it's in the form of a business plan. Then I take that idea and produce what in the industry we call a PRD. A PRD is basically an architectural drawing of a Web site. It includes both the technical and creative guideliness for producing a site and is often the basis for the proposals people submit for actually producing the technical or creative portions of a Web site. In every way imaginable, the PRD is the foundational document for anything produced on the Web. As such, I feel very comfortable saying that sportsfanlive.com is partly my baby too.

I won't go into many more details about how David and I started working together. But I will talk about what made this experience worth talking about here.

I was having a conversation with my dad a few weeks ago about what it is I do for a living. Much of the Internet is a mystery to him and his generation. So he was asking me to explain the basics of how I got to be the guy I am known to be in some circles. What's more we also were talking about the fits and starts I've had with Dandelife. He knows that some of my most successful projects, like sportsfanlive.com, are NOT ones that I own. While that may be true from a legal perspective, he pointed out that being creative and actually having evidence of the creative process online with thousands of people participating is what really matters.

Even though Dandelife may not be profitable, it has led to profitable work. Indeed, the proceeds from that work helps fund more good work at Dandelife. But the tradeoff is certainly there. The more work I do for others, the less I do for myself. I'm hoping that the Dandelife community has not suffered from absences related to getting sites like SportsFanLive.com published.

There's an additional trade-off that I hadn't anticipated when I started consulting. Namely, that I'd have a capacity for more than one love in my life. Before David contacted me about SportsFanLive.com I had done some light consulting for products that weren't necessarily Web 2.0 in nature. They certainly borrowed on my knowledge of the space. But when SFL came along, I realized that I had a passion for the product from day one. David picked up on this, of course, which is probably why he made the decision to work with me.

This is the entrepreneur's dilemma. Being creative by nature, and having a drive to get things produced that I feel are lacking on the current Web, I find that there's something new every week I wish existed. As a result I'm working on version 2 of Dandelife now which represents a completely different approach to "lifecasting." On top of that, I've been working on a business plan for two other products totally unrelated to Dandelife and consulting for another company in LA full-time. Where to draw the line has never been my forte. It's something I struggle with when developing products AND with taking on work.

So when my dad asks me what I do, the answer is not simple. I build stuff. Communities. Apps. Sites. Momentum. Brands. I make friends. I get worked up about all things Web. Somehow, someway, I have sites I can point people to and say "I made this."

Uptime report

Kelly Abbott — Wed Aug 06 23:53:25 UTC 2008

BTW (if haven't noticed, shame on you) the site's been much healthier the past couple of weeks.

Check it out:

You want to thank Dilshod for this.

How it's going

Kelly Abbott — Wed Aug 06 23:46:54 UTC 2008

Someone asked me recently how it was going. This came at the end of a business conversation where it could have been easy for me to just say, "Hey, you know it's going alright. Thanks for asking." Instead I launched into an explanation about where life is taking me these days.

Where is life taking me these days?

I've been working for myself for over two years now. I love it. It's really hard work. It's constant work. Working for oneself gets in the way of some things (vacation) and makes room for others (working in your PJ's). The tradeoff that matters, though, is the security part. Having a job that I have to go to 40 hours a week has upsides of being able to take vacation days and not have to think about healthcare. 9 to 5 jobs are easy too. Work that I can do in my sleep, quite frankly. Thus the opportunity for slacking off or filling hours with other creative endeavors is nice. Having never been one to slack off, I'm sure I would have found work to do at work, whether for the boss or for myself. Be that as it may, esthetically, I couldn't go back to a cubicle now. Could I ever? I really doubt it.

As it happens today I am in New Mexico. David is over in the sun room with Mom and Dad and Steph. The TV is on and the dog is playing fetch with Mom. David is on the floor being adorable. Steph is playing with him and Dad is watching highlights when he's not watching D do something adorable. Me? I'm in the living room with my feet up on the coffee table, laptop in my lap. Up until 5 minutes ago, when I started writing this, I was cranking away on work. I told everyone before I left that I was going to be working while they were having fun. So far, that's exactly how this trip has panned out. We spent Monday in Colorado and I did the same from there. Tuesday was a travel day where internet access was mostly out of the question (it takes 3 hours to drive through the mountains from Albuquerque to Lincoln) during the commute from Denver. Still, I managed to keep on top of my mail and let those who needed to access me on the phone regardless.

I like working like this. The change of scenary is key. I don't need inspiration because I tend to ind it no matter where I am. It's the curse of an active imagination. But being in a different place makes your mind a little more productive. Having worked from home for the past two years has trained me well in cutting out distractions. I may be missing out on the fun here, but I'm still inspired by it even though I might not necessarly be paying attention to it.

Where is life taking me? I plan on answering that more and more these days. I'm surfacing from some pretty big projects (not Dandelife-related) and will be considerably more chatty. Welcome me back, yeah?

Direct message me, btw, for a teaser on Dandelife's new brother. It's up but super top secret!

A Dandelife Update

Kelly Abbott — Tue Jul 29 04:42:35 UTC 2008

Hi, everyone. I'm Kelly Abbott, the main hombre here at Dandelife.com. I just wanted to a take a minute to talk about some of the issues we've been having and give all of our members an update. I guess you could say this is a heart-to-heart talk, so feel free to post your comments for all to see. You're all in my heart as I hope we are in yours.

So, as many of you have noticed (and directly to me in some cases), the site has been extremely slow lately. It's true. We have been slow. The site has grown considerably since it was originally built. And as a result, it's beginning to show some wear an tear. We have almost two gigs of storage for all of our stories, which is quite a lot when you consider we're not actually storing any of the images and videos here but instead relying on services like Youtube and Flickr for that. Although we haven't seen an explosive amount of growth in the past, we have simply reached a tipping point in size. As a result of some of the background processes we do -- like send emails, back up data, and run a chat server -- we've had to fine tune our code to work with having more cold storage than we used to.

The good news is that we are back up and running at acceptable speeds.

Here's a chart:

As you can tell, we've had better months. While before July 18th, we had a slue of 100% uptime days, now we're running consistently just under 99% uptime. That means, for every 24 hours we're down for only 35 minutes. On a day like today, that downtime looks like this:

So, after all this, what next? Well, more uptime for starters. Anything less than 99% is unacceptable. I aim for 99.9%. Also, quicker page loads. We have done a considerable amount of work to get our pageloads to go very quickly. Especially once you log in. You have have already noticed this in the past. Well, every day, we strive to make you wait less to record your life. In the meantime, we are working tirelessly to make sure that dandelife continues to be a community that thrives.

Thanks for indulging this public service announcement. Please resume your normal activities.

Thrive,

71% Geek

Kelly Abbott — Fri Apr 04 05:10:21 UTC 2008

Because I knew who shot first, Greedo or Han. '

71% Geek

My Nike+ Running Goal for the next 4 weeks

Kelly Abbott — Thu Mar 20 05:18:03 UTC 2008

After looking at the photos of myself from vacation, I have decided that it's time for me to take better care of my body. Of course, I take technology to the task. Tomorrow I will go for my first run in months (if you don't count the soccer I play on weekends). My goal for the year is to get rid of my gut and drop my weight down to a respectable 180 lbs. I'm currently porking it at 205 lbs. That's 25 pounds in 9 months. That's not the tough part. The tough part is maintaining the discipline. Less beer. Less cheese. Less red meat. I quit smoking ages ago and don't do many other things that qualify as unhealthy. It's chorizo burritos, cream in my coffee and a love of beer that's doing it. Well, those bad boys and my habit of sitting in front of the computer for work and fun. Time to get outside and enjoy some of this sun we have here in SoCal.

You can follow me at Nike+ Dot com too.

Today was a good day, btw. I ate well. And in proportion to what a guy like me needs. Not too much. Not too fattening either. And no beer. Day 1.

Obama! Obama! Obama!

Kelly Abbott — Fri Feb 29 22:51:13 UTC 2008

Yes, We Can

Kelly Abbott — Tue Feb 05 05:48:19 UTC 2008

Jenna sent me a link to the music video that by now you've already seen. It's Will.I.Am's powerful retelling of the Obama Concession Speech in New Hampshire. The song itself is a jangly guitar number - the kind I can easily imagine singing around a campfire with friends. That the song's lyrics are a mash-up of words from Obama's speech help elevate it from a mere ballad to a true political fight song. As such it is related both in form and in spirit to Bob Marley's song War which was a re-rendering of the War speech made by Haie Salassie to the UN in 1963. In the same way that the song transcends the speech from which it came, "Yes, We Can" both reinforces the the speech, making it into a watershed event where the noteworthiness of it might have waned.

I feel a deep sense of passion about the Barack Obama that I see and hear in his speeches. I remember packing our apartment while Steph was at school one night during the summer of 2004. We had just bought our condo and I was left home alone to pack up the bed room. It so happened that this was the night of the Democratic National Convention. Obama's speech was early on. And from the moment he started until the applause died down after, I was in tears.

I've never cried during a political speech before. And, yet, each time I tune into Obama's rallies, I find myself increasingly overcome with emotion. There is this person in me -- the one who may not strive daily for righteousness, but who believes in good and wishes it upon others more than its opposite. It is that person who is awakening in me when I have such an emotional response to his speeches. It's that person in me who has not had a resonant voice in the real world accept for the speeches he heard as a second-grader in Mrs. Adams' class at Fairfax Elementary School. The feeling is that deep.

Here is the video:

Here is the video of the original speech:

Here are the lyrics:

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality.

Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.

Yes we can heal this nation.

Yes we can repair this world.

Yes we can.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics...they will only grow louder and more dissonant ........... We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea --

Yes. We. Can.

Here is a transcript of the original speech:

OBAMA: Thank you, New Hampshire. I love you back. Thank you. Thank you.
Well, thank you so much. I am still fired up and ready to go.
...
Well, first of all, I want to congratulate Senator Clinton on a hard-fought victory here in New Hampshire. She did an outstanding job. Give her a big round of applause.
You know, a few weeks ago, no one imagined that we'd have accomplished what we did here tonight in New Hampshire. No one could have imagined it.
For most of this campaign, we were far behind. We always knew our climb would be steep. But in record numbers, you came out, and you spoke up for change.
And with your voices and your votes, you made it clear that at this moment, in this election, there is something happening in America.
There is something happening when men and women in Des Moines and Davenport, in Lebanon and Concord, come out in the snows of January to wait in lines that stretch block after block because they believe in what this country can be.
There is something happening. There's something happening when Americans who are young in age and in spirit, who've never participated in politics before, turn out in numbers we have never seen because they know in their hearts that this time must be different.
There's something happening when people vote not just for party that they belong to, but the hopes that they hold in common.
And whether we are rich or poor, black or white, Latino or Asian, whether we hail from Iowa or New Hampshire, Nevada or South Carolina, we are ready to take this country in a fundamentally new direction.
That's what's happening in America right now; change is what's happening in America.
...
Our new American majority can end the outrage of unaffordable, unavailable health care in our time. We can bring doctors and patients, workers and businesses, Democrats and Republicans together, and we can tell the drug and insurance industry that, while they get a seat at the table, they don't get to buy every chair, not this time, not now.
Our new majority can end the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas and put a middle-class tax cut in the pockets of working Americans who deserve it.
We can stop sending our children to schools with corridors of shame and start putting them on a pathway to success.
We can stop talking about how great teachers are and start rewarding them for their greatness by giving them more pay and more support. We can do this with our new majority.
We can harness the ingenuity of farmers and scientists, citizens and entrepreneurs to free this nation from the tyranny of oil and save our planet from a point of no return.
And when I am president of the United States, we will end this war in Iraq and bring our troops home.
We will end this war in Iraq. We will bring our troops home. We will finish the job — we will finish the job against al-Qaida in Afghanistan. We will care for our veterans. We will restore our moral standing in the world.
And we will never use 9/11 as a way to scare up votes, because it is not a tactic to win an election. It is a challenge that should unite America and the world against the common threats of the 21st century: terrorism and nuclear weapons, climate change and poverty, genocide and disease.
...
We know the battle ahead will be long. But always remember that, no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.
We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics. And they will only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks and months to come.
We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.
For when we have faced down impossible odds, when we've been told we're not ready or that we shouldn't try or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can.
It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation: Yes, we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail towards freedom through the darkest of nights: Yes, we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness: Yes, we can.
It was the call of workers who organized, women who reached for the ballot, a president who chose the moon as our new frontier, and a king who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the promised land: Yes, we can, to justice and equality.
Yes, we can, to opportunity and prosperity. Yes, we can heal this nation. Yes, we can repair this world. Yes, we can.
...
Together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story, with three words that will ring from coast to coast, from sea to shining sea: Yes, we can.
Thank you, New Hampshire. Thank you. Thank you.
END

Shirley Writes Back

Kelly Abbott — Fri Jan 25 18:25:54 UTC 2008

My mom's cousin who wrote me out of the blue yesterday got my response and herself wrote back this morning. It didn't surprise me to know that she was thrilled to make my acquaintence. In this age, it seems so common that one sends bottles into the ocean. Her message reached me. And likewise, mine, her. And now, it seems, we are pen pals.

I sent my mother and my aunt Shirley's letter yesterday. Mom wrote back and is also eager to know more about that side of the family. This morning, I logged on to Geni.com and whipped out "From Prairie Marble..." to flesh out (sic) as many of the missing relatives as I could find. With what Shirley related to me via email, I was even able to reach over into her family tree and invite her to join. We'll see what becomes of it when we put two heads to the task now, not just one. Why stop there? I also invited mom and Nancy to join and as of this posting, Nancy has joined. So one can only hope we learn more and archive more and begin writing letters and sharing more in time.

I personally am excited by the prospect of having a new family member to talk with and learn more from. The fact that Shirley's in Zimbabwe makes the prospect no less thrilling. I would love to visit after learning more about her, her family and the way of life she's made for herself and that family line there. In the meantime, we have our words and Geni.com.

Today is a Friday and so far a bright and sunny day here in San Diego. My little experiment with Dandelife has proven very effective as a beacon for serendipitous connections. That makes me proud as an entrepreneur and just downright happy as a lifecaster.

From Prairie Marble to Streets of Gold

Kelly Abbott — Thu Jan 24 18:56:23 UTC 2008

I just received and responded to a letter from one Shirley DeWolf in Zimbabwe. Shirley is a decendent of my mother's mother's parents which, naturally, makes us distant cousins. It turns out the Shirley was doing so searching online for relatives from that clan and came across a post of mine here which mentions the book that one my mother's mother's sisters wrote. The book is called "From Prairie Marble to Streets of Gold" and tells about the founding and homesteading of that side of the family in Montana back in the early 1900's.

Shirley asked who of the many Nees's I was related to and if I knew anyone who could help her fill the pieces of the Nees puzzle that we missing. I wrote this in response:

Shirley (Culver - Murphree - Nees) DeWolf!

You found me. That's fantastic. I put up that page, as you noted, nearly a year ago. And since then you're the first person from the Nees family to contact me.

I am the grandson of Dorrie Nees - she was the youngest daughter of the Nees clan in Montana and as such Grace's younger sister. Nana, as we call her, died last August. She was 80 years old. Her memorial service was held in New Mexico, where she had raised my mother, Pam, and my aunt, Nancy. Dorrie retired to Roswell and then Albuquerque after living for a good while in Dallas, Texas and Columbus, Ohio (with us).

Here is the Eulogy, which my father wrote.
http://dandelife.com/story/33852

The only other Nees sister (or brother) I ever met was Laverne who lived in Dallas with her husband Raymond. I forget their surname. Nana was married 3 times, I believe. The first to my grandfather, Glenn Dennis, then twice more to ne'er-do-wells, I think, for stability, such as it was. She kept the surname Dennis through the years.

As for the other Nees's, I've never met them. My mother claims there is one in San Diego (where I live now) but that since we come from Nana's line, we've had a difficult time earning their favor, as it were. I've neither been to Kalispell nor Zimbabwe for that matter. Both are places I would love to visit for more reasons than to help complete the picture Grace started. I'm a nomad, myself, and can think of no greater comfort than a place to stretch my legs, good conversation with new friends, a drink and a hot meal after a long trip in coach class. Perhaps this Dandelife experiment of mine will result in the two of us sharing a table together one day.

I'm so glad you reached out, Shirley. If there is anything I can do to help you in your efforts to find more Nees's, please don't hesitate to ask.

Peace,
K

Last.fm and Dandelife - A Match Made in Licensing Heaven :-)

Kelly Abbott — Wed Jan 23 18:12:18 UTC 2008

Last.fm has just announced that they will be allowing users to listen to whole tracks from all artists. This is good news for Dandelife. We've always wanted to be able to embed the actual songs from Last.fm into the pages that refer to them on Dandelife. The only problem is that more often than not the songs themselves were not available for streaming. When they were available, only a 30-second preview was the experience. It appears as if Last.fm is also solving our problem for international listeners. The UK, Germany are now in the fold with plans to expand to more European nations (and the Pacific Rim, we hope). Regardless, look forward to seeing embedded players in Dandelife in more places. Last.fm rocks and we're sticking to it.

Enjoy!

P.S. Here's my recent playlist with full-length songs for your listening pleasure! (Updated: Full-length listening is not yet available in this embedded widget.)

Carver Redux (The New Yorker Edition)

Kelly Abbott — Tue Jan 22 08:31:11 UTC 2008

Last month's Fiction issue of the New Yorker featured letters from Raymond Carver and the original version of "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" (nee "Beginners"). The New Yorker has a habit of not re-printing in long form the same content from their magazine online. On this subject, however, they have published not only what was in the fiction issue at the end of the year, but also another gem that could, well, only really survive on such a medium: re-print of the actual editing process as well.

Here are some links. Enjoy!

K

The back story: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/12/24/071224fa_fact
"Beginners" Edited: http://www.newyorker.com/online/2007/12/24/071224on_onlineonly_carver
Letters from Carver to his editor, Gordon Lish: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/12/24/071224fa_fact_carver
"Beginners" (before it became "WWTAWWTAL": http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2007/12/24/071224fi_fiction_carver

Friday Night Lights

Kelly Abbott — Wed Jan 16 08:12:17 UTC 2008

Steph and I love this show. I'm hoping that NBC doesn't kill it off after this season. It's one of the few shows on TV that shows small towns (especially a small "hick" town) in a way that is both true and melo-dramatic at the same time. Sure, its episodic nature, works well with gossipy plot lines (love scandals, rivalries). But the real charm in the show is character. You get a real sense of consequences for actions. You feel people living in that small-town way, of and by each other. It's one of the few dramas that Steph and I tune into on a regular basis. I hope to be watching it for years to come.

Posted using LJ Talk...

Kelly Abbott — Fri Jan 11 01:39:32 UTC 2008

Hello LJ from my jabber client.

posting from Jabber

Kelly Abbott — Fri Jan 11 01:39:31 UTC 2008

Hello again, this time with a subject line (I hope).

Posted using TxtLJ

Kelly Abbott — Thu Jan 10 21:38:57 UTC 2008

Hey there live journal!

Torrey Pines North Course with Jason, Kyle, Sam

Kelly Abbott — Sun Dec 30 06:16:53 UTC 2007

North course. Front 9 I shot 47.
Back 9 I was 12 over going into the last 4 holes. I had a total meltdown on 18. Shot a 10 there. I honestly don't know what my back 9 score was but it definitely put me into triple-digits. Couple of highlights. Hit a perfect tee shot on 11. Par'd two holes. One-putted 18 on an extreme right-left downward slant at about 10-15 feet.