Hard to believe that it’s been over a month since my last installment of On The Internet. Since then, I’ve gone on vacation and spent the rest of my time just trying to keep up with everything. I have a feeling that the upcoming holidays will be pretty rough, schedule-wise.

• Speaking of holidays, Wii prices have been reduced! As you remember, last Christmas I wanted a Wii, but Santa was not able to find any at the stores because it was the Cabbage Patch Kid / Tickle Me Elmo of 2008. Now that there’s a recession going on and everyone either already has a Wii or can’t afford one, I hope Santa will be able to procure one for me.
• I currently use Mister’s alarm clock so that I know when to get up in the morning, along with my cell phone’s alarm clock feature to remind my lazy ass to get out of bed. Other than that, I don’t have an alarm clock of my own. But hopefully soon I will – I came across this vintage-inspired beauty at Urban Outfitters today. Yes, Urban Outfitters has something other than clothing for skinny cool kids! Check out all the stuff they have for the home in their Apartment section.
• I’m still totally crushing on the Thesis theme, which just came out with version 1.6 and has new options for design and layout. I really, really want this theme and hope to get it within the next few months.
• Some health tips surrounding the dreaded flu this year: Doctor Anonymous discusses his take on the H1N1 flu, the folks over at I’ve Tried That discuss scams that capitalize on the flu scare, Summer Tomato and AltDotLife have some excellent tips on things you can do to avoid getting the flu (or any communicable illness, really), and John and Sherry at Young House Love interrogate Sherry’s little brother, Almost Doctor Dan, for the truth about antibacterial products. As for me, I’ve had my seasonal flu shot and am waiting for the H1N1 flu shot to be more widely available, and in the meantime, I make sure I use soap when I wash my hands.
• Anyone who’s ever worked with the public will love the blog Not Always Right. The stories can be a bit hard to believe at times, but those of us who have worked in customer service will believe every word. Oh, and there is now a book to go along with the blog!
• House of Turquoise recently featured my favorite color combination, turquoise and red. These colors always look fresh and inviting next to each other!
• In the blog maintenance category, ProBlogger has tips to stop scrapers and scammers and Essential Keystrokes has an article regarding disclosure policies. I try to keep spam off my blog, check for scrapers regularly and I hope my own disclosure is clear and complete.
• Also in the blogging category, check out Kristan’s list of what you can do for the blogger you love – there are ways to support your favorite blogger and still stay hidden behind the internet.
• This list wouldn’t be complete without some mention of The Guild! Check out the Halloween Special, an acoustic version of Do You Wanna Date My Avatar, and an educational video from NASA’s Spitzer Science Center featuring Felicia Day.
• More from Young House Love: their dog, Burger, has his own blog now. Check out Hamburger’s House for views on life from a Chihuahua’s point of view.
• And finally, here’s a list from WiseBread of 10 small businesses that are free or low-cost to start up. There are lots of ways to expand your income in any market, but it takes work. Be sure to check out I’ve Tried That for tips to avoid getting swindled.

Now that I’ve spent the better part of the day catching up on the internet and writing this darn post, it’s back to real life for me, at least for tonight. Happy Halloween!

Here I go, surfing the internet and totally slacking on posting. Here’s what I’ve found lately:

• My friend Fresh Peaches is at it again on her site Such Cool Stuff. This time she features a mutual friend of ours, Eve, who designs way cool vinyl wall stickers at her Etsy shop, Atom and Eve Design. Go check out Eve’s shop, and check out Such Cool Stuff for interviews with a bunch of great artists and musicians.
• Le Creuset cookware is supposed to be the creme de la creme of cookware. I don’t own any, but I drool on my mother-in-law’s when Mister and I visit – of course, the delicious food she cooks has something to do with that. Since I would love to have some cookware that makes cooking superb meals seem effortless, and since my favorite color is Aquamarine, I wouldn’t mind at all if I received this set as a gift sometime, say, for Christmas or something. Just sayin’.
• Not too long ago, Mister saw something on my computer screen that piqued his interest. I told him he could find at a blog that does nothing but lists. Mister checked it out, and actually spent over 6 hours one Saturday reading through the archives on Listverse. They say that list posts are very popular, and there are quite a few blogs and websites that do nothing but lists, and this one is the best one out there, at least that I’ve found. Go check it out, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. It’s addicting!
• Another web series for you – IKEA Heights is a somewhat campy take on shows like Melrose Place, and filmed entirely without permission at an LA-area IKEA. There are only 4 episodes so far, but it’s fun to watch. (Thanks to Young House Love for the link!)
• Now I need to take time for a public service announcement. Get Rich Slowly had an article on how to avoid phishing scams. This issue also came up at work when one of our employees got an email claiming to be from the bank our corporate card is with. I did some looking into it, and most banks will have an easy to find link on their website regarding fraud. In most cases you can forward the phishing email to fraud@ [insert bank url here]. This also goes for Paypal and other websites that you may or may not have accounts at, and they aren’t necessarily financial. The most important thing to remember is never click on the links in a suspicious email!
• I got my new IKEA 2010 catalog in the mail today! Now I can start planning what I need to get on my next IKEA shopping excursion. Yes, I said need. I need IKEA. Too bad I have to drive to LA to get it.
• I don’t remember if I told you already, but I’m telling you now. Diesel is taking pre-orders for his new novel, Mercury Falls. If Diesel’s blog is any indication, this is gonna be one heck of a book. I already pre-ordered my copy, which will come complete with Diesel’s pathetic attempt at a signature. You won’t get the chicken scratch autograph if you wait until the release date, so pre-order a copy now!
• David Airey has a great post on why you want to search yourself. If you’re online, it’s worth it to keep tabs on yourself to manage your online reputation and just see what others are saying about you. I set up a Google Alert on myself. It’s super easy and like I said, worth it.

I think that’s it for now. I’m fading fast, and I’d like to get in at least a page or two of reading (books, not internet) before I fall asleep. Enjoy!

Those of you who read my Twitter stream might remember a couple of tweets in which I said I would be doing another On the Internet post that same day. That never happened, thanks in part to my husband’s new DIY Network addiction. He got me watching it as well, and the week ended up being filled with talk of home projects. Some of these are on The List now. Of course, if they ever get beyond the talking and list-making stage, I’ll be blogging about it. But for now, here’s what I’ve been seeing on the internet this week (and earlier). Bear with me, I’m cleaning out my email – I have a habit of emailing links to myself when I’m not at home.

• While my husband is a gamer, I am not so into it. But apparently I am turning into a gaming fangirl, to some extent. I love the web series The Guild, and this week a song and video that was premiered at ComicCon (ComiCon?) was made available for everyone to have. You can watch the Do You Wanna Date My Avatar video at the very awesome Felicia Day’s blog, and she links to where you can buy it. Excuse me while I watch it again (as my husband watches Blizzcon on PPV). Oh, and you’d better hurry up and get caught up with The Guild, since season 3 starts on August 25.
• Fu For Thought, a home decor blog that has exclusive interviews with HGTV’s Design Star contestants after their show gets canceled, has moved. Click on the link to go to the new place to read all sorts of home design goodies.
• I’ve gone ahead and joined Goodreads. It’s like a social networking site for people who read. You can list what you’ve read, are currently reading, and want to read, and you can also friend people (like me) and get recommendations based on what you liked and such. I’ve blogged before about how I like to read before bed, so this will be a good way to find new books to read. And I do have more Bedtime Stories planned (one of these years) as I have finished 3 books since the last post.
• Here’s a Table of Condiments That Periodically Go Bad for those who want something a bit (or a lot) geekier than the sniff test.
• Wired recently post a list of 100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About. It’s definitely a sign that I’m getting old when I can remember most of the stuff on that list.
• For Harry Potter and/or Twilight fans, MSNBC recently did a HP vs. Twilight faceoff. I must admit that I am a fan of HP (read all the books and seen all the movies that have been released thus far, and have all available movies on DVD), but when Twilight-mania started sweeping the country, I just couldn’t get into it. A test is to pick up a book, try to read the first couple of pages, and if I want to read more, I buy it. I didn’t get past page 1 in Twilight, so I don’t think I’d be able to get through the entire series. Plus, I think that the HP series was so completely well done, and was one of the few stories in the fantasy genre that I actually get, that it would be hard to top, at least in my opinion. But this faceoff was fun to read, and it didn’t make me want to read Twilight one bit more than I did before.
• Another MSN article (I read the news stuff at work) is Top 10 Songs the Web Brought Back. Be glad I didn’t Rickroll you on that link!

Phew! I got my emailed links cleaned out, and I think that’s everything I wanted to tell you about. Until next time, happy surfing!

I’m trying to kick my butt into having some discipline about posting more regularly (that is, more than once a week). The plan is to try and publish 3x per week – two regular posts and one link roundup. My first link roundup was very popular, thanks to my very first stumble, so that made me feel really good and made me want to do more of these. This one will be looooong since it’s been a couple of weeks.

That being said…

• I have my very first guest post today! A while back, I posted a comment on a Top Ten Blog Tips post entitled 10 well-known blogging tips – and what I think of them, and it inspired me to actually write a guest post. It took a few weeks, and Ben helped me come up with the last tip, but I did it, and he’s publishing it today. Go check out my 10 Tips for Personal Bloggers.
• Since I wrote about my favorite color the other day, and forgot to mention this, I’m mentioning it now. There are two blogs that I’ve been reading for awhile now that are dedicated to turquoise. It’s light reading and some fantastic eye candy. Check out House of Turquoise and Everything Turquoise. They’re part of the Decor by Color group of blogs, so if turquoise isn’t your thing, there are other options as well.
• Because I am a home decor whore, I read a lot of home decor blogs. AtticMag recently had a picture of a gorgeous mosaic tile floor in a bathroom that reminded me of the Roman style mosaic floors. I love mosaic, and I told Mister that as soon as we have the means, we are having a floor like that in our bathroom. And for all you fans of Polyvore, who want something more house-based, check out My Deco. You can’t upload the pic directly to your blog like polyvore, but you can save a screenshot using a Firefox addon like Picnik.
• A blog I stumbled on this week, The Future Buzz, declares that Blogging Never Went Away. Amen to that! Don’t listen to the articles on the internet that try to tell you blogging is dead. My theory is that the people who say that are trying to get rid of any perceived competition. If you love it, blog to your heart’s content!
• A music blog that I found recently features a high proportion of music that falls into the “angsty chick music” genre that I prefer. (Thank Mister for the name of that genre.) Music & More even has full length song samples of the artists that are featured embedded into the post so that you can add those albums to your list of CDs to buy.
• Jordon just got home from two whole months backpacking around Europe, which is something I think a lot of people want to do or wish they had done when they were younger. I did it for a month in 1996, though I didn’t see nearly as much as Jordon did. I don’t think Jordon will be forgetting this trip anytime soon, or ever. This is exactly the sort of thing I talked about when I told you all to step away from your comfort zone. Good things can happen.
• My friend, Fresh Peaches, did a recent feature on artists that make vinyl wall decals. Wall decals have been popping up all over the place lately, and they’re great because there’s no limit to how you can use them, they can easily be removed, and they are way cooler than wallpaper or traditional art. Check out the offerings from Dali Wall Decals or their cool sister site, Badass Wall Decals. The best thing about them is that you get a lot of personality for not a lot of money! Budget decorating, anyone?
• This might be old news to some of you, but a few weeks ago Dave2 witnessed a miracle.
• Did I mention that I did my first guest post this week? Because I totally did. Read it here.

So that’s what I’ve been seeing around the internet this week. Have a great weekend!