This is one industry that has grown exponentially in the last several years. It was once considered a last ditch effort and an avenue of the desperate or socially inept, but as social media has consistently gained in popularity and use, other forms of online interaction have become more commonplace. Online dating is no exception. In fact, there have been an increase of niche sites that have cropped up to cater to any and every specific dating requirements, including religion and specific interests. You can go online and find almost any kind of person you can think of.

Initially, dating sites were more generic, and the information placed online was basic information. Now sites for specific religions and its practitioners, race specific dating, goal oriented dating – for example: those specifically looking to get married, and even sexual transmitted disease communities are boasting the opportunity for meeting a potential mate online. Some sites, like eharmony.com, do not cater to the LGTB community, but some of the top dating sites are inclusive to all races, genders, and sexual orientations, as niche sites grow in success and popularity.

According to various dating sites and statistics posted on datingsitesreviews.com, one in five people have used the services of a dating website. The same site also offered the statistic that last year, about 17 percent of all those who were married last year met through various online services. These are impressive figures and have increased rapidly in recent years, and these figures are likely to only increase more as people become comfortable with using online services for many social aspects of their lives.

If you’ve wondered whether there are any Drive-ins near you, check out The Drive-In Movie site and take a look at the theaters in your state. I was surprised to find that there are three drive-ins near me; I’d know about only one of them.

Now, back when I was a kid, there were 6 drive-ins close enough to visit frequently. One was right at the bottom of our hill and the the old screen is still standing. That one was close enough that we could walk to it.

I guess traditional theater seating is more comfortable but there are still advantages to drive-ins. Although I no longer smoke, my husband still does and the drive-in allows him to do that while he’s watching his movie. And with snack prices so high at theaters, it’s much more economical to bring in your own food. And then there’s the simple joy of remembering all the great summer evenings spent at the drive-in with friends and being able to pass that on to my own kids.

Hopefully, some of you reading this are in a warm state and can still get to a drive-in this year. And next year, I WILL keep my promise.

For the past year, my kids have taken turns explaining to me why we need to purchase a plasma or LCD HDTV. They insist that if we don’t get new TVs we won’t be able to see any TV at all. They try to lure me into their madness by tempting me with home theater seating and room layouts because they know I like to redecorate my house every so often. Of course, my kids forget that I can read and I know how to search. And so I searched. And I read.

Here’s the scoop on digital TV. If you have cable or satelite TV, chances are you won’t need to do a darn thing. If your TV is really really old, you can call your cable company to be sure you’ll be okay.

If you don’t have cable or satelite, you’ll have a few choices. You can buy new TVs or you can get a converter box. The great thing about the converter box is that $40 coupons are available for them until March 30, 2009. There is a limit of 2 coupons per household.

You may know all of this already but I’d bet that there are people in your life who don’t know the details. My mom has asked me repeatedly about this and she’s so worried that shw won’t be able to get any TV channels after the transition. Just between us, I have to wonder if the wording for some of the new TV’s has been crafted in a way that will bring panic to those who don’t understand. Maybe not but it sure seems like people are clamoring to get TVs that they don’t need and really don’t want. Once again, it’s a marketing thing.

I noticed today that my bedroom TV is the only one in the house that displays closed captioning whenever you mute the sound. I don’t know if that’s a setting on every TV or just this one. Either way, I like it. A quick glance at the text and I can decide if I want the sound on or off. I’m going to check the other TVs to see if they do the same, but I don’t think they do.

Did it ever air? Or was it put on hold because of the strike? Will it be on now? Like I said, I don’t watch much TV and was only slightly aware of the strike because I heard mention of it on the news. Anyone know the scoop on that TV show?

So we’re looking at High Definition TVs and getting kind of excited. No, we’re not really excited about the better quality picture, except for football games. What’s really got us thinking is the decorating options. We have a great wall for a flat panel TV so we’re pricing different models and brands and looking into lcd mount options as well.

Come to think about it, maybe we’ll look at new furniture, too.

Matthew McClintock, the guy who maintains the site, provides a huge database of ebooks as a service to the internet community. Not only can you find all the books from the Gutenberg Project (except for the Human Genome Project and audio eBooks) but also many public domain and creative commons works from other sources.

The ebooks at manybooks.net are listed by Title, Author, Category or Language. I’m not sure how many books are listed but the categories I’ve browsed are filled with great reads. Whether you’re interested in Computers, Humor, Fiction or the Classics, you’ll find something here to download. There are even book covers that you can download! These would be as cool hanging on my wall as rare movie posters or vintage photographs, especially in a home library or reading room.

Free is good. Books are wonderful. Free books are just plain old fantastic. Thanks to manybooks.net, we can all enjoy great books at no charge. Of course, if you want to help out, there are ways. You can donate through paypal or amazon.com to manybooks.net or to Project Gutenberg. If you can’t afford a donation but would still like to help, check out the Distributed Proofreaders site and consider signing up to volunteer to proofread a page or two of the books that are made available online. It’s really a great way to get involved and give something to the Internet community.

I have to confess that my musical tastes are eclectic. Some days I listen to Red Hot Chili Peppers and other days I’m kicking back with Aretha Franklin. I’ve been known swipe my daughter’s Eminem or Nellie CDs or borrow my son’s Lynard Skynard. There really is no music that I don’t enjoy.

The internet has opened up a new world of music to many, including me. I’m not sure how I found Jonathan Coulton‘s site or when I first discovered it but I have gone back to it many times, just to listen.

Jonathan is a 37 year old guy who used to write software but quit that job so that he could pursue music. His site offers all of his songs, both those he’s written and a few cover songs. He had this year long project where he recorded a new song every week and offered them for free on his website. I think that might be when I first listened to him. You can now buy any song for a dollar or albums for $10. Of course, you can listen to any of the music before you buy.

Anyway, Coulton’s music reminds me a little of They Might Be Giants for some reason. I love TMBG, by the way, so naturally I enjoy a lot of the songs that Jonathan offers on his site. If you head over and wonder what to sample first, check out Code Monkey. Love that one. Tom Cruise Crazy is good, too. Oh, and I’m not usually one to listen to cover songs but I’m glad I made an exception for the Beatles’ I Will. Memories, you know.

Coulton is a self-described Internet Musician; you won’t find him playing a Vegas hotel or nightclub. You can enter some info to Demand a performance in your town, though. You know I’ve already done that.

To get you started, Jonathan has listed some favorite songs by topic – funny, sweet, funny and sad, geeky – so you can get a taste of his music. This guy thinks of everything, doesn’t he? And if you are musically inclined, go ahead, pick a favorite song, record yourself performing it and send it to him. He might post it to his blog!

Imagine shopping in the neighborhood grocery store, running into neighbors and friends, and then finding that you’re all trapped inside by a mysterious mist that hides some horrendous evil. Then imagine that the people you thought you knew so well begin to behave in uncharacteristic ways. Really, we never know how we’ll react to a threatening or dangerous situation. We can hope that we’ll be in control, but you just never know.

It’s been about 35 years since I found myself in a situation that, even now, makes my heart skip a beat. I was about 13; my sisters were 12 and 5. We were at a picnic and decided to walk down by the lake. We took my little cousin Chris with us; he was around 3.

We stood at the edge of the lake, tossing rocks in and trying to skip stones. I have hay fever and could feel my eyes beginning to burn. I told my sister Monette that I was going back to the shelter and asked if she was coming. Monette said that she, our youngest sister Mary Beth and Chris were staying there a while. So I turned to head up toward the shelter.

To this day, I don’t know what made me turn around. My eyes were itching and beginning to water and I had sneezed a few times. I really wanted to get to my mom for some benedryl. Still, I turned around one last time to make sure my sisters didn’t want to come with me. And that’s when I saw it.

Monette was staring at the water, frozen. Chris was chattering away, pointing at the lake. And in the lake, I could see the top of Mary Beth’s head. She’d fallen in.

I ran toward the lake and even as I approached and ran past Monette, she never moved. She was like a statue, her eyes glazed over. I took a step into the lake, then another and I sunk down several feet. I wasn’t sure if there was another drop so I reached and luckily was able to grab Mary Beth and pull her out of the water.

I had no training for such a situation and I’m not even sure why I did what I did or if it was right. I just turned Mary Beth upside down and started screaming at her to “spit!” And she did! By the time we got to the shelter, Mary Beth was rambling on and on about having her eyes open under water as my mom dried her off and held her. Monette was very quiet and for a long time was unable to talk about the incident. Eventually, when we were all adults, she did tell us that she couldn’t move. She just couldn’t make her body move. I suppose some people freeze in those kinds of situations, some people think logically and others, like me, are just moved by some inexplicable force. I don’t remember having a single logical thought that day. I just reacted.

The more I think about the way that situation unfolded, the more I’d like to explore the differences in peoples reactions to threatening or frightening events. Two of my sons have been talking about seeing The Mist so maybe that would be a good film to see together. This is a great time, too, since they have a long weekend vacation.

Will you be heading out to the movies this weekend? If you see this Steven King thriller, stop back here and let me know what you think. I’d love to read your thoughts on it.

The solution is Shoutcast with hundreds of radio stations listed. Whatever mood strikes me, I can always find a music genre that will fit perfectly. The front page of Shoutcast lists the 20 currently most popular stations. There are over 1000 pages of radio stations listed, though, and you can even search a specific genre and filter by bandwidth.

I know almost everyone these days has an ipod or some other media player. Heck, I even have the ability to play MP3s on my new cell phone. Maybe it’s because I’m so old, but there’s still something appealing about turning to a radio channel and just being pleasantly surprised at the music that’s piped through. Sometimes it’s nice to give up a little control for the sake of being reminded of a song or two that you hadn’t even thought about for years.

Go ahead. Head over to Shoutcast, kick back and enjoy the music.