I meant to post about this on Monday. I really did. But then I got hungry. And wanted a nap. And then I forgot. And then I had to darn my honey's socks. And do the laundry. And mop the floors. In a hoop skirt. And a smile.

Sean just posted some great links to women bloggers, pointing out the new hot debate of "Where are the girls?"

Where are the girls?

Here are my theories...

1. We aren't psychotic networking freaks like men. Men have no problem walking up to other men and starting a conversation, swapping business cards, and adding each other to their blogroll. What happens when a man approaches a woman and does the same? The women go on the defensive, not sure of the man's intention, and are far less likely to share about themselves and network. A great opportunity is lost. This, however, is not the man's fault nor the woman's fault. It just sucks
2. We aren't as numerous as men. It's simple numbers. The women are there, but they are far overshadowed by the much larger percentage of men.
3. We aren't as brazen / foul mouthed / controversial as men. When we are, it is considered "cute" or "sexy" or "sassy".
4. We are more niched and marginalized than men, or our niches are "too cute". There are plenty of women bloggers; women that blog about crafts, women that blog about babies, women that blog about animals, women that blog about other women. There are far fewer women that blog about the things that men do; technology, blogging, politics, etc.
5. We are more personal than men. The voice of a woman, which is usually the same as her writing voice, has more nurturing, is more emotional, talks to a reader on more of a base level. Seems like this would be a GREAT thing. But look at the blogs that get the most readers; very editorial, very disconnected, very sterile.

I'm sure there are a lot more, but I need to go cuddle with my cat and bake 50 loaves of bread. In my nightie. While I think about the 10 million babies I can't wait to pop out.

Speaking of Collin's heinous yogurt, he and I have stumbled into a couple enormous sinkholes of free mp3's, which has lead to an orgy of new content on my iPod. A lot. Which is saying a lot. I have been stuck in the constant state of sameness since I moved back from San Diego, at least musically. That was 4 years ago. So the story goes a little like this.

I met Matt while working at Music Trader, an Empire Records-esque chain on music stores in San Diego county. We were both entirely too cool for school, which is in stark contrast to the old boring nerds we have become in the 6 years since then (NOTHING makes me feel older than realizing that I have been with the same boy for over 6 years). My musical tastes grew in ridiculous leaps and bounds from being surrounded by people that were equally too cool. I listened to music 8 and half hours a day at the store, whenever I was in the car (which is a lot longer in California since you drive EVERYWHERE), and usually when I was at home as well.

When we moved to Chicago, we loved the deafening silence of not having to listen to music all day long. We loved not having to evolve at the breakneck cool kids pace, jumping on every new bandwagon and trying to stay 2 steps ahead of everyone else (god, just writing this makes me realize what a horrendous bitch I must have been, cuz I was "so fucking hardcore"). I ignored music for the most part. I picked up some new things here and there. For the most part, I ignored Napster and Kazaa and other crap like that - on principle. I worked as a manager at a music store for so long that I was morally opposed to free music download and piracy and all that crap.

With great speculation and fear, I started download a couple songs here and there. It was like crack. Just a little bit. Maybe just once. And then, all of a sudden, I am up to 700 megs of the free shit a day.

The point of this long rant is that I would like to use some karma and post some of my favorite new finds for you to devour. It is the least I can do to help feed another junkie. If you are some big, nasty record label buffoon, do me a favor and ask me to remove the link before you send the RIAA to bust down my door and confiscate my goodies. tanx!

matt pond PA - Copper Mine (like it? buy it!)
So, a couple months ago Brianne and I bought 4 tickets to go see the New Amsterdams at the Abbey Pub. Because of reasons that I can't remember, neither of the boyfriends could attend, and we were left with 2 extra tickets. So we got there early and tried to hock them off. 2 couples walked past, but already had their tickets. A couple guys walked past, and they kind of smirked at us. In our heads, we both thought "Assholes". We finally found 2 people to buy our tickets and headed inside where the opening band, matt pond PA, was setting up. And we both froze dead in our tracks.

We had tried to sell matt pond PA tickets to their own damn show.

We continued to feel like idiots for the rest of the night, and get harrassed by some nasty drunk guy who thought we were all best friends since he graduated from the same college as Brianne, albeit 7 years earlier. He apparently ignored the fact that a large fraction of the state of Illinois shares this distinction with my sister, and this binding thread made him in no way special.

Death Cab for Cutie - A Lack of Color (like it? buy it!)
Remember when you were like 13, and you really really liked some stupid song and would put your bitchin new boombox WITH A CD PLAYER on repeat and just listen to it for hours? And then your boyfriend would make you a mix tape of just this one song over and over and over again on the whole tape? And you would think he was totally THE ONE because his CD player didn't have repeat and he really had to sit there and stop the recording, rewind the source tape, and record the song again for 90 whole minutes (Chris Semenchuck totally did this when we were freshman in high school, with the resulting cassette being D Yer Ma Ker on repeat. I realize now that this is totally lame, but am pretty sure he got to second base as a result of his thoughtfulness)

Or, remember like 5 minutes ago, when you were having a weird crisis and started writing this post and were doing the same thing with "A Lack of Color" on repeat in iTunes? Yeah.

Ambulance LTD - Anecdote (like it? buy it!)
I have no idea where this song came from. It just followed my iPod home one day and snuck in. This song reminds me of doing a jig and making homemade rootbeer at Girl Scout camp. I don't really know why.

As compiled by Erika and I

1. Digging in a dogs butt for worms
   
2. Eating boogers with toenails in them
   
3. Eating plain yogurt
   
4. Having to clean diarreah off the walls when your awkard ex boyfriend comes over
   
5. Having a pierced triple nipple
   
6. Random centipede legs
   
7. Fruit flies in your glass
   
8. Those people that always smell like poo
   
9. Wet wool and wet bread
   
10. Apartments that smell like 50 gross things are being cooked at once
    
11. THROWING AWAY the 3 month old sausage in the fridge
    
12. Fresh and dried cat barf with food and hair in it, inside your Sega Genesis
    
13. The swab and the nasty pickle and the old condom and the frozen dog sweater outside the door
    
14. Ordering indian food and eating half of a bright green bug not indiginous to america and also, ordering Peas and Cheese and receiving PEA and cheese
    
15. Ordering 2 Cokes and having "2 Cocks" on your receipt (for the bargain basement price of $1.50!)
    

In a shocking turn of events, and by that I mean totally not shocking at all, I turned into a total pantywaist at SXSW and passed up the chance to meet about 50 bajillion new people. Ya, I met some people, but didn't get my rock out with complete strangers all day long or anything. And now I feel like an ass. Which is totally not different than any other day.

In related news, blogging is the new breathing. I swear to god, iBooks must be powered by embryonic fluid because they were everywhere and connected to their owners. I am totally victim of this as well, but just because there was no wifi in the Four Seasons guest rooms. 4 stars my ass.

Anyway, blogging has started this whole new form of vanity and pseudo-rockstardom. I can't even count the times I heard a panelist say "Is someone live-blogging this right now?". If I counted it on my fingers, I would have 50 thousand arms. It just seemed so oddly pompous. Maybe I am just being a snot.

So I am all cranky, and still sick. My calves hurt from walking all over the world in heels, my ears still haven't unpopped, and I left my favorite curling iron at the hotel.

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